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#i let this fandom gut me once
jamespotterismydaddy · 4 months
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Capture the Flag
luke castellan x reader
pt 2
A/N: now that i'm writing for other fandoms, feel free to let me know if you only want to be on a hotd taglist. But now, please enjoy the strongest swordsman in camp halfblood
TW: MAJOR SMUT, slight bondage, rough smut, violence, lowkey dark(ish)!luke
word count: 1,699 words
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You want Luke Castellan’s head speared on your sword.
It’s like you spend every minute preparing for capture the flag because of him. He spends every last minute of each game cutting down your teammates and stealing your flag, so now it’s time to change the tactic. You ditch your father’s usual battle advice of going for the kill and hope that defence is the best offence for once. You also pray that he will guide your sword anyhow. So there you stand, guarding your flag with two of your most vicious teammates. You dodge the blue team’s first attack that was supposed to draw you off. You may have a short temper but you aren’t stupid. And you’re more than pleased to see the look of surprise on Luke’s face as he approaches.
“Fucking Ares kids.” He grumbles, sword drawn.
“Were you not expecting me, Castellan?” You ask with a vengeful smirk.
He goes right for you. You’re the biggest threat there but he likes to think you’re not even close to his skill level. You would believe that the man plans to cut you down and then your teammates. He always aims for the glory of it all.
“How’s your team gonna get our flag if you’re here?” He asks as he makes the first swing. It’s much better to start off on offence and he’s the one coming at you.
“Who cares. When you’re done, so is your team.” You block him, hating to be on defence but he’s too quick.
“Gods, you didn’t plan ahead of that? There really isn’t anything in that pretty little head of yours, is there? Other than rage of course.”
  You’re a hothead. He knows it. You know it and it doesn’t take much to rile you up. When you’re riled up, you get sloppy. At this point, you don’t care if he guts you, you go for the little fucker’s ankles. You’re actually surprised when he stumbles from blocking your attack. It’s a stupid mistake, especially for him. Though, you aren’t going to let a chance like this slip by. You keep pushing him back, trying to leave him no chance to think in between swings. He trips over a log behind him, the sword falling from his hand. He has no chance now, not on the ground and you won’t be letting him get up.
“Who’s the idiot now?” 
He looks at you as you approach slowly, taunting him. He then grabs his sword and makes a break for it. You’re too shocked to even keep him down.
What the fuck.
You don’t think you’ve ever seen Luke Castellan run from a fight. Not in your 4 years at camp. So you chase after him.
He’s fast, faster than you but you push yourself. He trails away… and away. Then you lose him. 
“Godsdamnit!” You scream into the woods as you jog around where you last saw him. 
You know you can’t stray for long if you’re not fighting Luke so you turn to make your way back to the flag. That’s when he jumps out at you with his sword swinging. You barely have time to block and it puts you off your balance. He swings at you again and again. You fall as you continue to block the merciless strikes. You’re practically holding your sword in the air and hoping for the best. The best doesn’t come as the weapon flies from your hand. He descends on you, straddling your waist as he holds the blade to your throat. He’s smirking.
“You don’t try nearly hard enough.” He says to you. “I know you’re not very clever but hades, my teammates probably already have the flag over the barrier.” 
That’s when you realize how easily you were deceived. Luke didn’t run from you because you bested him; he ran to draw you off. It was a pathetically simple plan and it worked. The heat rises to your cheeks from humiliation. He grabs your two hands and pins them above your head, his grip gentle but also firm.
“I’ll put you in your grave.” You spit out at him.
“Will you now? While I have you essentially restrained?” He’s clearly amused.
You struggle beneath him with all your force but all you manage to do is roll your hips against him, earning a groan from the man. You feel it too, the burning ache between your thighs. You want him. Worse yet, he wants you.
“Let me up.” 
“No. I think you quite like how I have you pinned to the ground.” He smirks.
“You’re delusional.”
“You’re wet.”
He slips a knee between your thighs and rubs it against your clothed pussy. It takes everything in you not to whimper.
“S-Stop.” You stutter out.
“Make me.” He murmurs, continuing to make you grind down on his knee as he leans down and forces you into a hot kiss. You hate how you kiss back, so hungry for him. Your mind is clouded with lust for a moment before you realize the advantage he is giving you. You never technically conceded.
As swiftly as you can, you wrap your free leg around his waist and use your whole strength to throw him off you, startling him enough to free your hands.
“You bitch.” He groans as you jab him in the stomach to try and give yourself enough time to grab your sword but it doesn’t work. He grabs you by the ankle and yanks hard. You slam to the ground right on your stomach. He moves to restrain you by sitting on your thighs so you can’t move your legs and holds your hands behind your back. You clearly didn’t consider how inevitably stronger he is than you.
“Shit.” You whine. His hold isn’t nearly as gentle this time.
“That was a cheap fucking shot.” He says cruelly. He’s pissed now.
“Fuck you. Castellan!” Gods it goes straight to his dick when you call him by his last name. He grips your hair with his free hand and pulls back hard so you have to look at him. You whine again at the sharp pain.
“You just can’t play fair, can you, princess? Maybe I won’t either then.”
 He drops your head and you hear him rustling with something. You realize it’s his belt when you feel the leather against your wrists. He’s binding you.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Your voice is full of rage but to him, you just sound petulant. 
 “What you need.” Is his simple answer.
He shifts down so he sits, or rather kneels, with your legs between his. He’s amused by your renewed writhing as an attempt to escape. It is pitiful really. Oh well, he’ll have you writhing for a different reason soon enough.
His fingertips glide across your waist, to your hips and then to your thighs, causing your back to arch upwards slightly, your stomach dipping. He brings his lips down to your ear, his voice is deep and lustful as he says, “Your body seems to know what it wants.”
“I’ll kill you.” You promise.
“Oh, i’m sure you will. But right now, you fucking belong to me.” He yanks on your hair again so you have to look at him and your eyes water from the pain. “I think you like me hurting you.” His other hand slips between your thighs to rub your clit and you let out a strangled moan. “For a girl who is so controlling, it’s interesting how badly you enjoy me manhandling you.”
He yanks your pants down and slips your helmet under your hips so your ass stays high in the air with your chest to the ground.
“This is fucked up.” You say.
“You love it. Your panties are soaked.” And he’s completely right. You’ve never been so turned on before but not a lot of men are as strong and good-looking as Luke Castellan.
He pulls your panties down and groans at the sight of your dripping pussy. He begins to palm himself through his pants and unzips them. “You have about three seconds to tell me if you don’t actually want this.”
You are silent and he chuckles. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” 
Before you can even prepare yourself or form a thought, his fat cock is shoved inside of you, splitting you open.
“Ah, Luke!” You moan at the pain and pleasure.
“Gods, this is the tightest little pussy i’ve had.” He begins to fuck in and out of you relentlessly, giving you no time to adjust. “Yeah, you’re good for me now, baby. Such a good little cocksleeve.” He punctuates his last words with hard thrusts, the head of his cock bullying into you each time.
All you can do is repeat his name like a mantra as you get pounded on the forest floor by the strongest swordsman in camp. It’s even worse as he begins to rub your clit again, sending you so close to the edge.
“Never gonna have enough of you after this.” Luke murmurs as he feels you squeezing around him. “My good girl.” 
That’s what sends you tumbling over the edge, bringing Luke with you as you do. He never could’ve kept going, not with the way your walls were squeezing around him. He pulls out almost instantly so he can watch his cum spill out of you. He doesn’t wipe it. He just pulls your panties back on and fixes the both of you up. You’re thoroughly spent, he can tell by the way you pant as he releases your wrists.
“You okay?” He asks as he helps you sit up. He grabs your hands so he can kiss the marks on your wrists. After all you’ve done, that’s the act that makes you blush furiously. 
“Um, yeah.” You breathe out.
“I’ll be nicer next time, I promise. Somebody just had to put you in your place first.” He grins wolfishly.
“Next time?” 
That’s when you hear the horn. The blue team has won again.
He pecks a kiss to your cheek. “Time to claim my kleos.” He says cockily before jogging off to meet his team.
taglist (comment to be added):General: @valeskafics @urmomsgirlfriend1 @girlwith-thepearlearring @darylandbethfanforever9 @lovellies @juhdoche @papichulo120627 @watercolorskyy @ophelialaufey @aerangi
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5ummit · 4 months
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AO3 Ship Stats: Year In Bad Data
You may have seen this AO3 Year In Review.
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It hasn’t crossed my tumblr dash but it sure is circulating on twitter with 3.5M views, 10K likes, 17K retweets and counting. Normally this would be great! I love data and charts and comparisons!
Except this data is GARBAGE and belongs in the TRASH.
I first noticed something fishy when I realized that Steve/Bucky – the 5th largest ship on AO3 by total fic count – wasn’t on this Top 100 list anywhere. I know Marvel’s popularity has fallen in recent years, but not that much. Especially considering some of the other ships that made it on the list. You mean to tell me a femslash HP ship (Mary MacDonald/Lily Potter) in which one half of the pairing was so minor I had to look up her name because she was only mentioned once in a single flashback scene beat fandom juggernaut Stucky? I call bullshit.
Now obviously jumping to conclusions based on gut instinct alone is horrible practice... but it is a good place to start. So let’s look at the actual numbers and discover why this entire dataset sits on a throne of lies.
Here are the results of filtering the Steve/Bucky tag for all works created between Jan 1, 2023 and Dec 31, 2023:
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Not only would that place Steve/Bucky at #23 on this list, if the other counts are correct (hint: they're not), it’s also well above the 1520-new-work cutoff of the #100 spot. So how the fuck is it not on the list? Let’s check out the author’s FAQ to see if there’s some important factor we’re missing.
The first thing you’ll probably notice in the FAQ is that the data is being scraped from publicly available works. That means anything privated and only accessible to logged-in users isn’t counted. This is Sin #1. Already the data is inaccurate because we’re not actually counting all of the published fics, but the bots needed to do data collection on this scale can't easily scrape privated fics so I kinda get it. We’ll roll with this for now and see if it at least makes the numbers make more sense:
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Nope. Logging out only reduced the total by a couple hundred. Even if one were to choose the most restrictive possible definition of "new works" and filter out all crossovers and incomplete fics, Steve/Bucky would still have a yearly total of 2,305. Yet the list claims their total is somewhere below 1,500? What the fuck is going on here?
Let’s look at another ship for comparison. This time one that’s very recent and popular enough to make it on the list so we have an actual reference value for comparison: Nick/Charlie (Heartstopper). According to the list, this ship sits at #34 this year with a total of 2630 new works. But what’s AO3 say?
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Off by a hundred or so but the values are much closer at least!
If we dig further into the FAQ though we discover Sin #2 (and the most egregious): the counting method. The yearly fic counts are NOT determined by filtering for a certain time period, they’re determined by simply taking a snapshot of the total number of fics in a ship tag at the end of the year and subtracting the previous end-of-year total. For example, if you check a ship tag on Jan 1, 2023 and it has 10,000 fics and check it again on Jan 1, 2024 and it now has 12,000 fics, the difference (2,000) would be the number of "new works" on this chart.
At first glance this subtraction method might seem like a perfectly valid way to count fics, and it’s certainly the easiest way, but it can and did have major consequences to the point of making the entire dataset functionally meaningless. Why? If any older works are deleted or privated, every single one of those will be subtracted from the current year fic count. And to make the problem even worse, beginning at the end of last year there was a big scare about AI scraping fics from AO3, which caused hundreds, if not thousands, of users to lock down their fics or delete them.
The magnitude of this fuck up may not be immediately obvious so let’s look at an example to see how this works in practice.
Say we have two ships. Ship A is more than a decade old with a large fanbase. Ship B is only a couple years old but gaining traction. On Jan 1, 2023, Ship A had a catalog of 50,000 fics and ship B had 5,000. Both ships have 3,000 new works published in 2023. However, 4% of the older works in each fandom were either privated or deleted during that same time (this percentage is was just chosen to make the math easy but it’s close to reality).
Ship A: 50,000 x 4% = 2,000 removed works Ship B: 5,000 x 4% = 200 removed works
Ship A: 3,000 - 2,000 = 1,000 "new" works Ship B: 3,000 - 200 = 2,800 "new" works
This gives Ship A a net gain of 1,000 and Ship B a net gain of 2,800 despite both fandoms producing the exact same number of new works that year. And neither one of these reported counts are the actual new works count (3,000). THIS explains the drastic difference in ranking between a ship like Steve/Bucky and Nick/Charlie.
How is this a useful measure of anything? You can't draw any conclusions about the current size and popularity of a fandom based on this data.
With this system, not only is the reported "new works" count incorrect, the older, larger fandom will always be punished and it’s count disproportionately reduced simply for the sin of being an older, larger fandom. This example doesn’t even take into account that people are going to be way more likely to delete an old fic they're no longer proud of in a fandom they no longer care about than a fic that was just written, so the deletion percentage for the older fandom should theoretically be even larger in comparison.
And if that wasn't bad enough, the author of this "study" KNEW the data was tainted and chose to present it as meaningful anyway. You will only find this if you click through to the FAQ and read about the author’s methodology, something 99.99% of people will NOT do (and even those who do may not understand the true significance of this problem):
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The author may try to argue their post states that the tags "which had the greatest gain in total public fanworks” are shown on the chart, which makes it not a lie, but a error on the viewer’s part in not interpreting their data correctly. This is bullshit. Their chart CLEARLY titles the fic count column “New Works” which it explicitly is NOT, by their own admission! It should be titled “Net Gain in Works” or something similar.
Even if it were correctly titled though, the general public would not understand the difference, would interpret the numbers as new works anyway (because net gain is functionally meaningless as we've just discovered), and would base conclusions on their incorrect assumptions. There’s no getting around that… other than doing the counts correctly in the first place. This would be a much larger task but I strongly believe you shouldn’t take on a project like this if you can’t do it right.
To sum up, just because someone put a lot of work into gathering data and making a nice color-coded chart, doesn’t mean the data is GOOD or VALUABLE.
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thankskenpenders · 7 months
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Amy's fortune cards
The Sonic fandom has long been the kind of fandom that takes minor details very seriously, for better or worse. On the one hand, this means fans will really dig for the diamonds in the rough, latching onto fun character interactions, animations, bits of background worldbuilding, and more in pieces of Sonic media that many would write off as "the bad ones." But it also feels like every week another needlessly hostile debate over Sonic minutia erupts on Twitter, whether it's over individual lines of dialogue, fanart that makes Tails' shoes blue, or the ideal length and volume for Sonic's quills.
So it was probably inevitable that a fandom-wide debate would erupt upon seeing Amy's new gameplay style in the DLC for Sonic Frontiers, which takes the once-obscure fact that she enjoys reading tarot and shines a spotlight on it like never before.
I mean:
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The thing is, while I basically always try to tune out Sonic fandom bickering... for once, I kind of sympathize with the detractors? Don't get me wrong, I like Amy's tarot stuff, and people on all sides of the discussion are being overly nasty about their opinions, as usual. (Sonic Twitter remains my personal hell.) But when I set aside the hyperbole and zoom out, I do think I understand why some fans are put off by the sudden shift in focus for the character, even if I think it's cool.
It's complicated. Let me attempt to present the cases for and against Amy's fortune cards
For years, I was always one of those fans who thought it could be fun if they played with Amy's tarot reading, or even leaned into some kind of magic with her. Part of that is my own biases showing, but there's just something that makes sense there, especially when you look at Sonic, Tails, and Amy as a trio. (I would argue that's the real "Team Sonic" these days, especially in the comics where Knuckles is more likely to be stuck on Angel Island or otherwise doing his own thing.)
You could argue that Tails is all about logic, relying on science and technology and deductive reasoning to solve problems. But Amy is all about emotion. She wears her heart on her sleeve, is extremely empathetic, and is very prone to magical thinking - both figuratively and sometimes literally. Her origin story has always been that her tarot cards told her it was her destiny to meet Sonic on Little Planet. She's claimed to be able to "sense" peoples' presences - particularly Sonic's. She's the type to believe that The Power of Love is a literal magical force. So, on some level, it makes sense to mirror Tails's science by having Sonic's other best friend believe in magic. And then Sonic is somewhere in the middle, primarily following his own gut instincts but taking advice from both of them as needed. This isn't totally accurate to how their dynamics actually function in canon stories, but I think it's a mode that could work for them.
Going off of that, it's fun to lean all the way into Amy being a magical girl, or even a witch, using her fortune telling as a foundation. Take, for example, this version of Amy from Diana Skelly's old Sonic cast redesigns from before she freelanced for Archie and IDW. This is one of MANY such redesigns for Amy.
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Fast forward to the 2020s, and Amy's tarot cards are, in fact, finally getting brought up again in canon. Which is fun! I like seeing that. I like all of the individual stories involving Amy's fortune cards. This is a fun character trait for Amy, a fun nod to old lore, AND a fun storytelling device, all in one. It's really cool that the Sonic universe has its own thematically appropriate arcana, and that the cards are getting made as physical merch. And sure enough, the official card backs and borders were designed by none other than Diana Skelly, in yet another cool example of an ascendant fan leaving their mark on the series.
BUT... when you step back and look at the big picture, I get why some fans find this shift in focus jarring. At the moment, it's starting to feel like every new story about Amy involves her fortune cards to some degree.
The most recent mainline comic arc to feature Amy as the lead character, 2021's Trial by Fire arc, prominently features a sequence where she reads fortunes while camping with the girls. The Origins version of Sonic CD now bookends the game with scenes of Amy and her tarot cards. Sonic randomly mentioned it in a scene in Frontiers. And now, just this week, we got the (very cute, gorgeously illustrated) Amy's 30th Anniversary comic with a story revolving around Amy's tarot cards, followed the very next day by the Frontiers DLC in which she gets a brand new tarot-based moveset. Even her base melee attack now has her throwing tarot cards instead of swinging her hammer. Again, I like all of these individual things, but after years of it almost never coming up at all, it's VERY noticeable that Amy's tarot cards are suddenly everywhere.
To be fair, I'm looking at this from the perspective of a superfan who's actively following ALL Sonic media. Casual fans - especially kids - aren't necessarily going to be reading the comics every month, buying the thousandth rerelease of the Genesis games, or playing the ultra-hard new alternate ending DLC for a game that came out last year. Each of these stories is going to be someone's introduction to the idea that Amy can read tarot, and that's probably part of the idea behind this unified push.
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But to play devil's advocate, for my fellow superfans, I understand why it feels like a very minor footnote of Amy's character is suddenly becoming the entire focus of her personality. While Amy has always been said to enjoy fortune telling, that wasn't really a character trait in and of itself, but rather an example of her being a typical girl who hopes she'll be able to find true love one day. It's less that Amy can literally predict the future and more like her using a cootie catcher or going "he loves me, he loves me not" while picking the petals off of a flower. So I get not vibing with this stuff, or feeling like it's being pushed very hard out of nowhere.
What I don't agree with are comparisons like "it's like if they made Knuckles' moveset revolve around him liking grapes." Like, I get it. Ian Flynn loves shoehorning in his little winking references for us nerds, and mentions of Amy's tarot cards were previously on the same level as other random bullet points from old Japanese manuals. But a multifaceted hobby like fortune telling that opens up so many narrative and aesthetic possibilities is obviously very different from having a favorite food. It's ALWAYS been a part of her story, not just a random fact, and there's no reason why the fortune telling can't be elevated to something more.
And, hell, even if it wasn't an established character trait, there's nothing inherently wrong with injecting new ideas into a character. One of the best Amy stories in recent years, the Free Comic Book Day special "Amy's New Hobby" written by Gale Galligan, came up with the idea that Amy's secretly been drawing little comics about her and her friends. Is this based on Lore? No. But it's cute, and helps tell the story of a younger Amy who's still coming out of her shell as both a hero and a friend.
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Certain fans are also looking at Amy's Frontiers moveset and using it as evidence that once again the Vile American Contributors like Ian are CORRUPTING Sonic Team's perfect vision of Sonic with their misinterpretations. And like. Come on. Ian does not control the gameplay. He's a freelance writer. The tarot stuff is clearly something that Sonic Team likes if they made it the basis of Amy's new moveset - and, you know, if they keep approving comics and animations about Amy's fortune telling. None of this gets made without their blessing, and lord knows how much they can micromanage shit and shoot down ideas over the most minor of details.
Like, yeah, Amy's fortune telling was probably conceived less as a sign that she Knows Magic and more as a pretty mundane hobby for a lovesick young Japanese girl to have. But you're gonna sit there and tell me that using Amy's tarot cards for more than that could only be the result of a cultural misunderstanding? That nobody in Japan uses tarot card theming and aesthetics (or the general idea of magical cards) for the cool factor? Stardust Crusaders? Persona? The Astrologian class in FFXIV? Cardcaptor Sakura?? Hello??? Do you think Capcom put Gambit in Marvel vs. Capcom ironically because they thought using magic to throw cards at people was stupid? There's tons of precedent for this! It's nothing like Knuckles throwing grapes at people, be for real.
Giving Amy a very magical girl-esque moveset also just makes a lot of sense. For decades her hammer attacks have literally made sparkly heart shapes appear around her. Leaning into both that and her tarot cards in her new moveset makes a lot of sense to me.
But, admittedly... I do think it's very odd that her hammer is treated as a secondary element here, rather than having her primarily use her hammer and adding the cards for extra flair. If hitting the attack button made her swing her hammer instead of throwing cards, I'm not sure we'd even be having this discussion right now.
But the tarot-cycle and Amy riding her hammer like a witch's broom are fucking SICK and I will not concede on this point
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The thing is, this whole fortune card discourse is but a small piece of a bigger problem. Amy's been a character who needed some work for ages, but there's basically nothing you can do with her without pissing SOMEONE off.
Years of stories where Amy's crush was her primary motivator and Sonic went "Ew, cooties!" have lead many casual fans to believe that being Sonic's obsessive fangirl is Amy's entire personality. At best people might call her Sonic's Minnie Mouse. This isn't just a matter of Amy having haters within the fandom - venture outside of that bubble and you'll realize that this is how MOST video game playing people seem to see her to this day. I don't feel like this is a fair assessment of the character, but this idea didn't come from nowhere. No matter how much good deeply entrenched Sonic fans may see in their old dynamic where Amy perpetually chases Sonic, this is a very real problem that Sonic Team has to contend with for their leading girl. Of course all those games where the way-past-cool protagonist thought Amy was annoyingly clingy and tried to get away from her made people think less of her.
If new stories were to go back to emphasizing Amy's crush on Sonic a little more, they'd probably be taken as confirmation that Amy's just the girl with a crush on Sonic and that this is her entire personality. Conversely, when the crush is played down, you piss off the hardcore SonAmy fans who don't seem to understand that they're Charlie Brown and Sega is Lucy holding the football. You can't win.
And so here we are. In the absence of what was once her defining trait, now reduced to an occasional blush or wink in Sonic's direction, new stories are trying to mine Amy's past for additional material to work with. Having been a thing fans wanted to see for years, right now we're getting a lot of tarot, but we're also getting reminders of her compassionate nature and her desire to go out of her way to help the little guy. This is an ongoing process. I continue to hope that her bubbly, exuberant demeanor can shine more in future stories. Now, I also hope that the tarot stuff gets balanced out a little better with other traits of hers. But I don't want it to go away. I think it's fun.
This course correcting is far from exclusive to Amy. Knuckles is getting stories that remind us that he's a competent fighter, an experienced treasure hunter, and even a self-taught archaeologist after years of him being perceived as either the dumb one or just the guy who stands in front of the Master Emerald all day. And Tails has been getting some stories reminding folks that he's a capable hero in his own right and not just Sonic's timid kid sidekick.
But no supporting character will ever compete with the sheer number of new ideas Sega has tried with Sonic himself. Like Amy, his Frontiers moveset has also given him half a dozen new superpowers that he never had before, from the Cyloop to air-slicing projectile attacks to his own take on Shadow Clone Jutsu and beyond. He's also been a hoverboarder, a swordsman, a time traveler, an Olympic athlete, a racecar driver, cursed with a Flame of Judgment, imbued with alien power, a fucking Werehog with stretchy powers, and on and on and on.
If Sonic can do all that, Amy can try out using a tarot-cycle.
Anyway TL;DR the REAL problem with Amy's current characterization... is where the FUCK is Amy's bestie, Honey the Cat???????
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sister-lucifer · 3 months
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A Bullet in the Chamber
Proxies (Hoodie, Masky, Toby) x Gender Neutral Reader
Genre: Horror/Dark Angst 
Summary: They want you to prove your love, to prove that you truly believe you’re meant to be together…with the help of Tim’s revolver, of course.
Content/Warnings: God, where do I start…obviously massive use of a gun, they play russian roulette, descriptions of gore, the proxies are super manipulative and emotionally abusive to reader, just a super obsessive not healthy relationship, this is NOT a feel good fic, it’s implied reader is being held captive 
Like my writing? I take requests! NSFW or SFW for any fandoms in my bio (request rules + masterlist in pinned post)!
Also, please reblog! it’s free, takes two seconds, and really helps me out 
Feedback is encouraged and appreciated:)
Not fully proofread! Let me know if you see any errors!
“We just wanna…play a little game with you, that’s all,” Tim drawls, his voice deep and lazy as he looks at you from behind his mask. 
You’re nervous suddenly. Unbearably nervous. A cold chill runs throughout your body and makes your stomach convulse in an agonizing manner, and you don’t know if you’re going to vomit or pass out first. You don’t know why. He’s only just started speaking. Maybe it’s the way he drew out the last part of that sentence, or the way he immediately tried to soothe you before you’ve even fully understood what’s going on, or just that look in his eyes that says ‘I want to fucking gut you.’ 
There’s a reason you learned to keep your guard up around these three.
Suddenly the little circle you’re all sitting in on the floor feels much, much tighter than is comfortable, and it doesn’t help that Toby slides in closer, bumping your shoulder with his and flashing you a knowing smirk. What exactly he knows, though, is a horrific enigma to you.
Brian is on your other side, and although he doesn’t move, for a split second he glances at you out of the corner of his eye before his gaze returns to Tim. He’s managing to hold a straight face, but you can see the corners of his mouth just barely twitching as he internally fights to keep the emotion bubbling beneath the surface at bay.
There’s silence for a few moments, you’re not sure how long, but you don’t realize they’re waiting for you to speak until Toby nudges you.
“I, uh…what, um— what kind of game…?” You stammer, immediately regretting your question despite the curiosity that’s gnawing at you like a starving animal. You shudder when Toby giggles, clearly trying to stifle the sound as he bumps your shoulder again. 
Tim thinks over his answer for a moment, scratching at his stubble in a manner that is far too casual. You think he’s going to speak, you’re expecting it, but he doesn’t say anything at first beyond a tired sounding sigh. Your eyes are locked onto his hand as it reaches behind him, and when it emerges once more it’s holding onto the grip of Tim’s revolver. 
“There’s one bullet in the chamber.” 
The world is spinning suddenly as you watch him place the weapon on the ground, and the sound of it sliding across the floor to you makes you sick. You bite back a gag as it slows to a stop in front of you. Your mouth hangs open uselessly as you struggle for words, desperate to pull out some sort of protest to what you know he wants but no sound comes. 
They watch you grapple with yourself for a few moments before Brian places a hand on your knee. It’s supposed to be a comforting gesture, and normally it would be, but now it feels like a threat. 
“Hey, don’t freak out so soon,” He says, lips curled into a subtle smirk, “We did this all the time when we were younger, it’s practically a rite of passage.”
Unsurprisingly, this does little to quell your fears. You’re shaking now, unable to wrap your mind around how they could be acting so nonchalant about putting your lives on the line like this.
“Listen,” Tim huffs, “I’m gonna be straight with ya, kid. We know how you’ve been feeling recently.” 
That hardly narrows it down. You’ve been feeling a lot of things recently, none of it good and all of it confusing. That’s just the sort of conflict born from this kind of captivity. You shrug, unsure what to say. 
“We know you w-wanna leave,” Toby clarifies, “I saw you staring out t-the window the other day…you just s-sat there for hours.” 
That…made you feel a bit guilty. You shouldn’t, but you do. You could’ve at least made it less obvious. 
“We trust you, hon,” Brian adds with a nod, “But we also think we could all use a little…what did you call it?”
He turns to Tim, who yawns before answering. 
“…Group bonding.” 
You shudder at the phrase. Disgusting. 
“I…I don’t think this is the best way to…t-to do that,” You murmur, but your words hold no weight when you can’t even look them in the eyes. You’d never take the risk of making any sort of real fuss anyways.
Tim shrugs, seeming to consider your words. 
“How would you do it, then?” 
You…don’t have an answer for that. Why don’t you have an answer for that? 
“I-I don’t know, I mean…can’t we just have awkward group sex like other, uh…groups, or whatever?” You ask, hesitating to call your dynamic any sort of relationship.
You make sure to tack on a nervous laugh at the end to make it seem lighthearted, but no one is amused. Toby giggles, but he’s laughing at you, and it’s painfully obvious. 
“Don’t stress about it,” Tim says, “Just think of it as a…a test, you know?” 
He sighs when you shake your head no.
“Ya know, like…a way of proving yourself. I mean, you trust us, right?” 
You hesitate to answer that, but nod quickly when Tim narrows his eyes at you. 
“Good. Well, think of it this way: if we all survive this, it’s a sign that we’re…meant to be together.”
“There has to be a better way—“ You blurt out before you can stop yourself, and Brian instantly takes to calming you. 
He wraps an arm around your waist and pulls you into his side. His other hand comes up to your face, holding your head against his shoulder.
“Calm down, baby,” He says softly, “Don’t jump ship so fast. I told you, we’ve all done this before. We’ll even go first to show you there’s nothing to be afraid of, alright?”
He’s not really giving you a choice. 
You nod.
Maybe you’ll be able to just get this over with. If you sit here for much longer, you’re gonna be sick. 
Toby reaches out to grab the gun first. That doesn’t surprise you at all. He’s never been one for forethought, or common sense in general. One day his hubris will get him killed, you think, but for once you’re hoping it won’t be today. 
Not today. 
Not here.
Not right in front of you. 
Brian doesn’t let you go, continuing to hold you against him as Toby makes a show of spinning the chamber, letting it run until it stops on its own. He giggles with deranged amusement as he presses the end of the barrel to the bottom of his chin, looking back at Tim with a crooked grin. 
There’s silent for a few moments, and you can’t look away from him until you follow his gaze to Tim, who is staring back with furrowed brows.
He’s still for a beat, and then he nods. 
A signal. 
Go. 
You have a split second to process Toby preparing to pull the trigger before you bury your face in Brian’s hoodie and he, in turn, covers your face with his hand and squeezes you tight. It’s hardly comforting, but it’s better than nothing. 
The soft click of the trigger seems to echo endlessly in the silence that follows. 
Silence. 
You quickly look back up and are immediately met with Toby’s hazel eyes looking back at you, their corners crinkled with the wide smile that’s spread across his pale face. 
“Lookie there,” He drawls with a laugh, “This h-handsome face is still in tact.” 
“Hardly the better outcome,” Tim mutters with a roll of his eyes.
This prompts Toby to slide the gun to him next, crossing his arms in feigned hurt. 
“You go n-next then, wise guy. If you blow y-your brains out, at least we’ll know you h-had one.” 
“Shut up,” Tim hisses back as he, too, brings his hand up to spin the chamber of the revolver. You’re still trying to catch your breath. You didn’t think they’d be so eager. 
You’re gripping onto Brian’s hoodie so tightly your knuckles burn as you watch Tim press the barrel of the gun to his jaw, angling it upwards toward the dome of his skull.
He’s not nearly as giddy as Toby. He’s straight faced and silent, which isn’t odd, but something in his eyes is darker than you ever remember it being. You can only see his eyes with his mask on, yet you know his expression exactly. He’s staring right at you, and you’re imagining his brains dashed against the wall behind him, his face and any identifying features that once made him human reduced to a splatter of viscera that barely resembles the pieces of a person. 
And when it’s all over, you think, you’ll surely be the one left to clean the mess of what used to be Tim. You’ll be left to scrub the red stains from the floorboards while the others continue on as if nothing has happened, and suddenly you can’t breathe.
The world stills as once more the trigger is pulled with a click.
Then relief hits you like a shockwave when that click is followed by silence.
Silence.
Your lungs fill faster than you were ready for, and you cough and sputter as your chest heaves with newfound breath. Brian rubs your shoulder gently, his other hand reaching out to grab the revolver as Tim slides it to him. The gun is exchanged without a word, only piercing eye contact as Brian lifts the weapon and spins the chamber, just as his companions had done before him. 
It seems so natural for all of them. In the half a second it takes for Brian to lift the gun you wonder how many times they’ve done this, if you’re the first  person to witness this ritual, and if not, what happened to those who came before you. 
You don’t find any hope of getting answers, though, as you watch Brian press the barrel to the side of his head. He gives you a squeeze, and you can’t tell if he’s assuring you or saying goodbye just in case. 
You still haven’t released his hoodie despite the throbbing pain in your fingers. You’re barely a thread away from tearing out a patch, but you can’t let go. You don’t look at him this time, unable to pull your head away from where it rests on his shoulder. You wrap your arms around him and squeeze like you’re trying to crush him, but he only lets out a breathy chuckle and ruffles your hair in response as if he’s amused by your terror. You’re a scared kid to him, a foolish little child running from an imaginary monster despite the very real threat. 
You can hear his hoodie shifting as he adjusts the position of the gun. You can hear the slight scratching against his hair as the barrel moves against his head. You can hear him suck in a quick breath as he readies himself to pull the trigger. 
You hear the click. 
And then silence. 
Silence.
You’ve never been so grateful for silence. 
You nearly jump out of your skin when Toby claps and laughs loudly, practically howling with wildly misplaced celebration. He shakes you in his excitement, unable to get any intelligible words out through his giggling. 
“Shhh,” Brian says with a finger to his lips, “We’re not done yet.”
He’s right. Goddamnit, he’s right. Not everyone has played yet. You were hoping that maybe just this once the higher being that trapped you in this hell would have this minuscule mercy on you, but you were met with a resounding no. 
Brian places the gun on the floor in front of you. You can’t hear the sound of the metal gently knocking against the wood floor, but it makes you feel ice cold. Your world is rapidly going dark as you struggle to make yourself breathe. 
You can feel the others’ eyes on you, three pairs of eyes staring right at you and boring a hole through your skull that’ll surely be identical to the one the bullet will leave. Maybe they’re imagining it, too. 
It seems you’re not moving fast enough for them.
Toby reaches out and grabs your wrist a bit too roughly, forcefully placing your hand on the gun. You wince like you expect it to burn, but you’re left with only the cruel sensation of metal on your palm. 
You weakly curl your fingers around the grip of the gun. It feels impossibly heavy as you lift it, trembling like a leaf in the wind. You force your other hand up, placing two fingers on the chamber of the revolver as you prepare to spin it.
You press the pads of your fingers against the metal, pushing down in an attempt to spin, but the gun slips from your shaking hands and clatters to the floor. You yelp in surprise and clamp your hands over your mouth, tears suddenly forming in your eyes but refusing to flow over. 
Brian sighs. You can’t tell if he’s annoyed or just disappointed. He picks up the gun, and you think that maybe, just maybe he’s going to let you out, grant you some small reprieve and tell you you don’t have to do this. 
Instead he wraps an arm around your waist and holds you close, and his other hand presses the barrel of the gun right to your head. 
“I’ll do it for you,” He says, as if it’s nothing serious. Like he’s just grabbing a box off a high shelf to be nice. 
You feel like he’s strangling you. He might as well be. It would be a more humane death. 
He’s going to kill you, you think, you’re going to die in this godforsaken house with these bastards, you’re going to die in isolation with no one to honor your body. 
They’ve sentenced you to death. 
You think back to that question of how many have come before you. Is this what they thought about, too? Is this the first, third or twentieth time someone like you has been here? How many unfortunate circumstances have stained the floorboards red over the years this cabin has stood? 
It doesn’t matter. 
None of that matters. 
You’re going to be the next. 
That’s all there is for you to be now. 
A stain of red on the old wood floors will be your only legacy. 
You can hear your heartbeat in your ears as you look up at Brian. His expression doesn’t move an inch. There’s no trace of the humor he always seems to have, not even a hint of feigned compassion or sympathy for your position. He’s not letting you out of this. None of them are. 
You reach down and grab Brian’s hand where it rests in your hip, your nails digging into his knuckles. He doesn’t react. He doesn’t even move beyond adjusting his finger to pull the trigger. 
Each second seems to go on for an eternity, yet at the same time everything is moving far too fast. You can’t process what’s happening but you just want it over with, that’s your only choice. 
He’s lifting his finger, preparing to bring it down on the trigger. 
He’s pressing the barrel of the gun into your skin just a bit harder as he readies himself for whatever happens next. 
This is it. 
This is it. 
This is it this is it this is it this is it this is it this is it this is…
The trigger clicks. 
Then there’s silence. 
…it.
Silence.
And then Toby erupts with animalistic, ecstatic laughter. It rings in your ears and echoes around your skull in an almost painful manner. You can’t stand the sound. 
You’re alive. 
The game is over. 
All at once relief floods your body in such an overwhelming manner your vision goes dark. You can’t speak a word before you’ve gone limp in Brian’s arms, and he barely has time to put the revolver down and catch you. He holds you in his arms and makes a half hearted attempt to wake you, but when you don’t respond he looks up at Tim with a smirk. 
“Out like a light.” 
Tim can’t help but chuckle, and for a moment it’s even a full on laugh. This only encourages Toby, who’s flopped over onto his back as his body writhes with mirth. 
Brian groans as he stands, pulling your body up with him. He throws you over his shoulder and nods to the others. 
“I’m taking this one up stairs, gonna put ‘em to bed. I’m sure they’ll be whiny when they wake up, and you two better deal with it.”
Tim and Toby nod and wave him away. Toby’s finally stopped laughing enough to pull himself off the floor as Tim picks up the revolver. He shoves it into Toby’s chest, nearly pushing him over. 
“Go put it up,” Tim orders. 
“Or what?” Toby teases as he takes the gun, “You g-gonna get mad ‘cause I won’t clean up y-your toys?” 
“Just do it,” Tim demands with a growl, clearly not amused. Toby rolls his eyes and huffs like a defiant child, but nods. 
Tim starts to walk away, headed upstairs to his own room, but he pauses on the first step and turns to Toby. 
“Oh, and don’t forget to load it,” He adds, “If it’s empty the next time I need it, I’m gonna kill you.” 
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suguann · 3 months
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Hello! My name's Anne | An adult in my mid to late 20's | A hobbyist writer
RULES:
• I write for many fandoms, including Call of Duty, JJK, Shadow and Bone, Star Wars, Game of Thrones, Haikyuu, One Piece, etc.
• This is an 18+ space, and I also write dark content, so please read all content warnings if that makes you uncomfy!
• Don't copy, paste, or translate.
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LINKS:
General tag
Writing tag
Fic Recs
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MASTERLIST:
JUJUTSU KAISEN
ও GOJO
• Possessive Gojo (18+)
He gives you another once-over, thinking of several ways to describe you, silly not being one of them.
• I Hope You Stay (18+) | Long Fic
He’d asked why your coworkers weren’t waiting outside with you—it's not safe here—at the same time you asked for a kiss. It just sort of slipped out.
• Virgin Gojo (18+)
His last slip of restraint is when he finally looks down to find a wet patch on the front of your panties and how you're starting to form a dark gray spot on his sweats.
• Messy (18+)
You look so small like this—smaller than usual because everything about him is big in comparison—and that stirs something foreign in his gut that he can’t name.
• Three's A Crowd (18+)
“If you ask nicely for what you want, maybe he’ll give it to you,” your husband offers evenly. (Gojo/ Reader/ Nanami)
• Be With Me (18+)
The feeling sneaks up on him without his knowing, a throbbing in his chest that festers and grows over time until he can’t ignore it anymore or contain it in the proverbial cup of his hands no matter how hard he tries.
• Everything Comes Back to You (18+)
"Did you know we'd end up here?"
ও GETO
• Possessive Geto (18+)
In times like this, he wishes he had never come up with the rule about keeping your relationship a secret—so nobody thinks I’m picking favorites—regret is a thick pill to swallow.
ও MULTI
• Prettiest Baby (18+)
They can't help it, they're kind of obsessed with you.
• Fuck It, I Want You (18+)
They're so infatuated with you.
CALL OF DUTY
ও GHOST
• Good (18+)
“Just a little more,” a small lie because there’s never just a little more when it comes to you.
• Let Me (18+)
There comes a point where Simon finally admits that he hates your new boyfriend. [Part Two]
• I Left It Wet For You (18+)
Simon doesn’t share, but he makes an exception this time after his best friend’s date is a no-show, and he isn’t heartless enough to let Johnny hang out at the pub alone. [Simon/ Soap/Reader]
• Smitten
He watches you swipe lipstick across your mouth, grinning at your reflection in the mirror atop the dresser, and it's the cutest fucking thing. 
• In Threes (18+)
Your ex-boyfriend makes you think you are the problem. Simon shows you that's not the case.
• New Girl
He has a feeling that the new girl running the front desk at the gym is going to be a problem—a distraction disguised in a gym uniform polo and khaki pants.
• Neighborly (18+)
Simon looks at you with a cocked brow and something akin to amusement as he watches you squirm in his doorway. 
ও PRICE
• Redamancy (18+)
You tried not to grow feelings—you really did. Feelings make things complicated, but you can’t help it. John’s just…John.
BALDUR'S GATE
ও ASTARION
• Oh, Darling (18+)
He’s in a perpetually strange mood for the rest of the day, quieter than usual and more sulky, and you have the sneaking suspicion he's upset with you.
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orphicwitt · 3 months
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YOU DON'T DESERVE THIS FATE
note; yes i somehow got into poppy playtime fandom and here a little treat.
-
You were exhausted, scared yet you continue to push foward. Shaky hands gripped onto your shirt, wrinkles formed on the battered dirty used to be white fabric.
you wanted to leave the moment you step into this place, your very gut screamed to get out while your logical side of your brain begged you to leave and don't go further.
but you didn't, you ignored every red signal that was present to you. you continue foward like it was nothing, it was your own action and you once questioned yourself.
do you regret being here?
the answer was, ...Maybe
one side of you regret setting a single foot here yet the guilt consumed your very being, it haunt you to the bones. you hated it, you want to get rid of it, to relief it, to ...
Focus! you thought, shaking your head. you are getting distracted from your main task, the longer you take. the more time you are forced to stay at this damn wretched place.
you came across an area, an area that look like a prison cell judging by the numerous cell that was littered and sat beside each other.
as you look around the place, a voice spoke. scaring the shit out of you, "you... you're poppy's angel" the voice was raspy yet sounded so tired, you turn around to look for the voice, only to be horrified to see who's belong to.
it was a smiling dog mascot, hanging, you guess it was dogday due to you encountering his cardboard. "come to save us" the mascot wheezed out, it sound like it was taking a toll on him heavily just to speak.
well... he only has half of his body afterall, dear god. it must be so painful for him just do the simplest thing.
"nothing left to save,..."
"not here"
you furrowed your brows, progressing the dog mascot's word. before you could let out any words, dogday continued. "you're in catnap's home, angel... their home"
their home? is he referring to the little smiling critter version of them? you guessed so.
"a million pairs of eyes are on you, now" dogday lifted his head up trying to meet your gaze, gosh. you will never get over how some mascot are just giving you creepy vibes.
"watching, waiting, hungry. they want nothing more then just to crawl beneath your skin, and eat away at you bit by little bit..."
now that's just... you shudder unintentionally at his word, well. your not letting yourself to become food or basically fresh meat to them also not him aswell.
dogday took a short intake of breath before he continue "and fill what empty inside themselves." he then fully face you, "that ...thing... catnap" you take notice of his change of tone when he mentioned catnap, a lingering of fondness yet so distant.
"the prototype is his god"
"and this is what he does to heretics, these little toys... they followed catnap to avoid that very fate...- and in return, they are fed"
"we tried to fight it, the prototype control."
"i'm... the last of the smiling critters" he then look at you, despite his endless depth of darkness eyes and the never ending wide smile, you could tell he was desperate.
"listen to me angel, you need to get out of this place" this time you spoke up, "without you? i don't think i can do that" you huffed, crossing your arms.
"angel... you don't have to, i will only slow you down-"
"Dogday, i'm not leaving you, not on my watch." you stubbornly stated, even he was half of catnap's size without legs, you don't want to leave him, to die in an endless painful toture. you wanted to save him, it was the least thing you can do after defeating huggy wuggy and mommy long legs.
you shakily curled your fists up, you didn't mean to kill them but can they blame you? you did it out of self defense yet you still feel terrible. you wish you can save all the toys.
from this mess.
from this toture.
from this pain.
"you can say all you wanted but i will state firmly that i won't leave you behind." after saying that, you went to set him free. it took some time as well firing some flare to keep those nasty little smiling critters away from attacking.
although you doubt you can carry him but you still tried it away, oddly successful and huffed as you stood up with dogday wrapping himself around your form.
"angel... are you sure this is not heavy for you? i can-"
"i am doing very wonderfully, dogday. don't mind it" it was a flat lie, he was heavy by dear lord. but you endure it for him.
"thank you, you're ...really are a angel in disguise."
"you're welcome, now Off we go!"
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wrengrif · 2 months
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I rub my hands together..
Because I am having more Thoughts.
Big thanks to @badaziraphaletakes for pointing out the fucking obvious to me.
We talk a lot in this fandom about trauma, how Heaven and Hell leaves different kinds of psychological, and physical scars on our angel and demon. Mostly though, we focus on the psychological damage that comes from Heaven and the physical torture that comes from Hell. I am of the belief that Heaven and Hell drop a lot of both on their environs, but that's a post for a different day.
Trauma isn't that simple, though. It doesn't matter what kind you face, your reaction to it is going to fall under animal instinct. What is truly horrifying is the realization that Crowley's and Aziraphale's gut reactions are completely the opposite of what their Bosses are.
When Crowley feels like he, or Aziraphale is in danger, instead of fangs out, he's looking for the nearest escape route. The easiest way to make the problem go away. He runs away -- but of course he runs away. If he doesn't run away, he's going to be tortured. He is going to receive physical damage for making a mistake. So flight is the best option. The ability to get away, to think of how to avoid that pain, one way or another, is so Crowley-coded. I've always stated that Crowley is the strategist, the one who makes the complicated plans. He takes himself away from the problem, so he can analyze the problem. He runs away, and then he turns back. Once he has enough physical safe space, he can sit back and look to see what can be done.
He never had a chance to do that really in the last days of Armageddon, because Hell was nipping right on his heels and he had to keep retreating. Until he was put in a corner, and then you saw the Serpent come out. His fear of pain lasts until he is more afraid of losing his life, or Aziraphale. For example, the bucket of holy water. Walking into a consecrated church. Walking into a burning bookshop. The M25 - he literally drove Right Into The Fire, even with Hastur there because he had to get to Aziraphale and he had to survive driving through a ring of fire. Crowley runs from pain, but that doesn't stop him from attacking if he's got no other options.
Aziraphale is the opposite. His trauma is one I am well acquainted with, and that is psychological abuse, and torture. Don't let it fool you - just because you aren't having someone hurt you with a screwdriver doesn't mean it's any less devastating to your body, much less your mind. What Heaven does is use Fear. Fear like a scalpel, or a baseball bat to your knees. The Fear of Falling, the Fear of being considered Unworthy of God's love. The Fear of being considered less than your fellow angels, although you'll always be lesser than archangel. Fear of being yourself, fear of being anything less than perfect. All the fucking time. Nothing can save you, but us, and if you turn against us, you're screwed. Aziraphale, though, he doesn't run. He's never run. He's a Guardian. A Principality. He held a flaming sword and he held it well. Oh, he will bald-face lie to God, to archangels, to Crowley, but he doesn't run. He will try to find a way out of it with the most convoluted stories. He'll smile, look pleasant and distant and not quite there. Don't notice me. Don't worry about me. I'm not doing anything wrong for you to hurt me. Only thing he fears more than Heaven is Hell, and he's not even scared of Hell as a concept, but as a fact of Hell will hurt Crowley. Hell will take Crowley away. Hell will reach up and snatch Crowley away in a heartbeat and there isn't anything Aziraphale can do about it. Fear, fear, fear. Yet he doesn't run. He fights. He fights with words, and when there's nothing left with that, he fights with his wits, and then when he has no more left of that - he stands his ground with a weapon. A sword. A halo. His own physical body, if necessary.
Where am I going with all this?
That Season 3 is going to be You Reap What You Sow. Crowley is trapped in his misery and he can't run from it, because Aziraphale is in danger. Aziraphale is trapped and afraid, and he can't do anything about it because they'll hurt Crowley. What neither Heaven or Hell has realized yet - and I especially mean Heaven in this juncture -- is that they haven't given Crowley or Aziraphale any choices. They've been trapped in a corner by both of their abusers.
Their abusers who have never seem to learn the lesson that if you trap Crowley and Aziraphale in a corner, they're going to turn around and bite. Bite as hard as they possibly can - just to protect one another.
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fizzyxcustard · 8 months
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Under Your Spell
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Masterlist of fan fiction
Fandom: The Hobbit
Pairings: Thorin Oakenshield x Fem!Reader
Warnings: Smut, insecurity, a little angst (with a happy ending)
Word count: 1571
Comments/Notes: From the imagine, "You put a spell on Thorin to make him fall in love with you, but as the spell wears off, you find out that he has always loved you." Requested by @asgardianhobbit98
Written while listening to Journey's Greatest Hits.
I hope you like the fic. As always, like, reblog and comment if you enjoy. If you wish to be added to any of my tag lists, let me know.
Thank you to everyone who supported me during my posting hiatus. I felt like it was needed to get back into a better mindset after I become incredibly overwhelmed by another one of my fics' reception.
The last twenty four hours had been beyond perfect. The spell which you had been keeping for the last few months, ready for the chance to use, had worked better than you could have imagined. Thorin had declared undying love to you as the sun set; the two of you having just shared dinner together with a large group. Then once on your own together, he had been so open in his affection toward you, blushing and smiling as the words tumbled out of his mouth. 
“I love you more than anything,” he had told you, confident and bold. He had taken your hand, kissed it, then asked for you to join him on the royal balcony. 
The two of you had sipped wine, while Thorin gazed at you over the top of the glass, unable to tear his gaze from you. 
You shared tender kisses, hand holding, and Thorin had held you as you fell asleep. Then you woke in his arms, warm and content. He had been watching you, and as you woke from your slumber, he smiled at you and kissed your head. 
All of that day and you had remained in Thorin’s presence, sharing meals, conversations, kisses. 
“Would you join me again tonight on the balcony? It is forecast that we should have a clear night sky.”
“Of course,” you had replied. Only now, sadness began to seep from your words, unable to hide any further. The realisation that all of this would be over at sundown was growing heavy in your heart and gut. The spell would only last for one twenty four hour period, and could only ever be used on one person once in their life. After sundown, and Thorin would return to his former self, purely a friend to you and your King, nothing more than that. 
It was almost sundown, and you excused yourself from Thorin’s chambers, telling him that you wished to quickly write a letter to a friend. He just smiled at you, his eyes so full of adoration, as you disappeared out of the door. 
As you walked the corridors back to your bed chamber, you felt tears fall down your cheeks. The pain was so heavy and hot in your chest. Just to have Thorin adore you for twenty four hours had been perfect beyond any kind of comprehension. However, the fall back to reality was going to be excruciating. In time, another woman would have Thorin fall for them, and this time it would be of his own choice.  
You lit your candles and sat down on the edge of your bed, staring at the vase of roses that Thorin had had brought to your chamber. They could now be disposed of as they would just serve as a reminder of your pathetic need to have Thorin love you. 
All sense of time slipped away from you as you fell asleep on your bed, still fully dressed. Once you had lay out on your bed, you had not moved. Tears had flowed, pulling you into your subconscious world where you could be happy temporarily. 
Dreams came and went, flickering pictures of far off lands that you had explored with the Company, months earlier, where you had fallen for their leader. Flashes of sunlight bouncing off swords and the calls of armies became a jumble in your mind. 
Your eyes opened slowly, adjusting. The candles had gone out hours ago. There was a dull thump behind your eyes and you winced, blinking hard. 
For a second, you felt as if you were still in a dream somewhere. You could feel something resting on your waist, curled around. Blinking again, you looked down and could make out a hand. On the middle finger was a ring. 
You gasped and shifted away suddenly, almost dropping out of bed. “What?” you choked. 
Thorin was lying on your bed, and was now rousing. His eyes opened slowly and he smiled at the sight of you. “Come back to bed, my love,” he said sleepily. “It’s still early.” 
“But…how?”
He just smiled again and sat up. “You think a spell could make me love you?” 
“How did you know about it?” 
“I’ve known about it quite some time now,” he replied. “I will not name any names, but I was made aware that you acquired the spell from someone in Lake-town, did you not?”
Shame hit you hard and you lowered your head, feeling the tears fall once again. “I’m sorry,” you said softly. “And now you are playing along to mock me; the spell wore off at night fall yesterday.” 
Thorin got up from the bed and followed the edge of it towards you. “Why would you think I’d ever mock you?” He stood before you, his head to once side in question and disbelief that you could ever think such a thing. 
“I was stupid to ever think you could love me,” you hissed. 
Anger flared in Thorin’s eyes and on impulse he grabbed your hip and threw you both into a kiss. It was hot, demanding, needing. So much unlike the day earlier. All you could do in your weakness was cling to him, your backside resting against your dresser. He was pressing into you harder now, his tongue desperate in your mouth. 
Thorin drew back from you, his blue eyes ablaze. They were no longer soft like the day before, but they were on fire. That had always been the true Thorin, and as you had known him for the last six months: passionate, on fire. He pressed his forehead to you and then kissed it. 
You closed your eyes as you felt his hand become buried in your hair. His other hand was still on your hip. There was a desperation in his actions. The day earlier and he had wanted to be in your company, to look upon you. Now, he needed to touch you. 
The two of you kissed again, hard and needing. You could feel your inhibitions let go, and your hands became tangled up in his hair, your breath lost, your heart pounding. 
He whispered your name, needing you. 
Within minutes and the two of you were back on your bed, disrobed and exploring each other. Thorin’s lips caressed every inch of you, and when he was kissing down the inside of your thigh, he looked up at you. “Why did you ever think you needed a spell to capture my heart? It was always yours.” 
The two of you joined, exhaling in relief at the pent up frustration. Thorin was over you, his one hand gripping yours. To feel him connected with you, feel him inside you, giving himself over to you by choice, that was the true magic. 
Your bodies were synchronised, moving together in rhythm so well. 
Each and every time Thorin’s gaze connected with yours, and you could see the love for you there. It burned. The spell you had cast had diluted his true love, and his gaze the day earlier had been as if he weren’t quite in the room with you. Now he was present for every second. 
Every thrust was now making you build upward towards climax. The sensations feeling as if waves were cascading down your body, until the last one took hold. It came from the base of your stomach, and shattered outward. You shook, and as you rode out that one spectacular wave, Thorin kept his gaze locked on you. 
The sensation of you gripping Thorin’s girth in your plateau pushed him over the edge, and he spilled. He dug his head against your neck, groaning at the wondrous pleasure that washed over him. 
Both of you fell down beside each other, panting and sweating. Thorin reached for you, and you rolled over to him, and put your head on his chest. “Is that what true love feels like?” you gasped. 
“No spell could ever replicate that,” Thorin said softly. “When you first placed the spell on me, it was as if I couldn’t control my words, and no longer could I keep my feelings for you secret. But the expression of my love for you, it…I cannot describe it. It was as if it was dulled, and when dusk came, the spell having ended, my heart and my body burned for you again, like it always had. The spell stopped me feeling that love in a true sense.” 
“Why did you never tell me how you felt?” you asked, propping yourself up on your arm. 
“I was terrified of rejection. The spell at least took away my cowardice.” 
“You’re the bravest man I’ve ever known, and yet you couldn’t tell me you loved me?” you asked, not quite able to believe such a revelation. “You lead a kingdom, and armies, yet you couldn’t tell me three simple words.” 
Thorin sighed. “You did not tell me either.” 
“I had reason not to,” you scoffed. “You’re a king. Declaring your love to a king and expecting them to love you in return is just ridiculous.” 
You saw that anger flare in Thorin’s eyes again, and his jaw clenched. “I am a king in name and by my birth right. But I am no different to you in heart. There is only one that I bow to, and that is my wife and Queen. And those positions will only ever be filled by one person…you.” 
***
Follow Forever tag list: @lathalea @middleearthpixie @linasofia @xxbyimm @luna-xial @knittastically @meganlpie @guardianofrivendell @asgardianhobbit98 @rachel1959 @mrsdurin @quiall321 @missihart23 @lemond57 @evenstaredits @catthefearless @the-fragile-heart-of-a-lady @glassgulls @sazzlep @aliasauthor @solairewisteria @littlebird-99 @court-jobi @heilith @absentmindeduniverse @albionscastle @way-too-addicted-to-fandoms @for-fuck-sake-im-alive @bookworm-with-coffee @danzalladaggers @ourlonelymountain @phantomessangel @estethell @windb3ll
Thorin Oakenshield tag list: @emmyspov @dumbassunderthemountain @braidedheart
Middle-earth tag list: @mismaeve @sotwk @valkyrie-of-the-light @deadlymistletoe
Special tag for this fic: @kurlyfrasier @littlesweetdressmaker
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Note
ngl kinda curious what happens if mc gets shipped with one of the nobles more often than the kings instead?
You know the AO3 ship popularity chart? Let's say they did one of those for the "child of Solomon" fandom.
Mod Jjok: The most popular ship with Mc for this month is... Mc x Sitri! With over 20k words in the longest running fanfiction on the ship reaching peak popularity in the middle of the month!
Dantalian: Sitri? Isn't that his majesty Satan's blood bag?
Glasylabolas: It turns out he has a name.
Paimon: I think this must be mistakeeeeen. I just recently wrote in collaboration with Astaroth a 25k words fanfic about Mc x Satan
Eligos: Oh, I mass-reported that one. I would apologise about that, but demons can't lie
Paimon: You're so sillyyyyy
Paimon: You just lost cuteness session priveledgessss
Eligos: :'(
Eligos: It was for the greater good of Tartaros
Bimet: Very noble of you, Eligos
Dantalian: Bimet! You fucking bitch, where's my MC body pillow????
Eligos: @Dantalian please take this in private we don't vibe with this negative energy here
Dantalian: Speak for yourself, I vibe with it!
Gamigin: Guys, what happened????? I was asleep, it's like 5 AM in here.
Gamigin: HOLY FUCK
Gamigin: How did Sitri of all people win????
Paimon: I mean, he's not that baaaaaaad
Gamigin: 20k words isn't even that long! How?!
Gamigin: I think we all have to come together to break the two up
Gamigin: Sitri is a common enemy and we shall stop him!
Dantalian: I'm sharpening my knife as we speak.
Gamigin: His Majesty Lucifer said I'm not allowed to leave Paradise Lost :'(
Dantalian: And?
Gamigin: And ... what?
Dantalian: He's not your dad! Even if he was, you don't have to listen to him. Do you think I listen to everything his majesty Asmodeus tells me to do? No. He may be my dad and my king, but I am in control of my own future.
Glasylabolas: Preach brother, preach
Gamigin: But I don't want to go against Lucifer's orders
Dantalian: Pussy
Glasylabolas: Pussy
Dantalian: First! Suck it old man!
Gamigin: Wait, doesn't Paimon live in the same country as Sitri?????
Gamigin: @Paimon, dearest, could you please kill Sitri for us? At least tranquillise him or something. Make sure he doesn't move anymore.
Paimon: I'm not murdering Sitri over thisssss
Paimon: I'll just ask him if it's true he's dating Mccccc
Dantalian: I think we should vote on Sitri's fate
Glasylabolas: Absolutely. I am for democracy.
Dantalian: Knife or gun death?
Glasylabolas: I prefere knife. Gun's make everything messier. How am I supposed to get arroused by a pile of guts?
Dantalian: Ask Ronové or Phenix and they'll tell you
Dantalian: I once saw Ronové remove an angel's intenstines and fucking them
Eligos: That's why nobody wants to visit Abaddon.
Dantalian: In his defence, it was kind of hot
Glasylabolas: I can imagine
Glasylabolas: I should call Ronové again...
Dantalian: He charges for one night stands now cause Abaddon lost its health care recently
Gamigin: Yeah, Morax told me about how you started getting curious about his eye hole.
Dantalian: I don't even blame Ronové for that one. I'm also curious what happens if you cum down someone's eye socket.
Paimon: Ok guyssssss
Paimon: I talked with himmmm
Paimon: It turns out that he just had a lot of black tea recently and wrote 20k words in a dayyyyy
Paimon: And a lot of people read it because Asteroth recomended it on his bloggggg
Dantalian: ah, yeah, shipping
Dantalian: Asmodeus x Mc for the win
Eligos: In your dreams
Dantalian: Yes. I do dream about that often.
Dantalian: I don't even know why y'all care so much for Mc's sex life
Dantalian: Having sex with only one partner is boring
Gamigin: Keep your shitty opinions to yourself.
Dantalian: Only if you make me
Eligos: I'm going to mass report it
Gamigin: I already did <3
Sitri: All of you are so mean
[Mod Jjok stopped comments on this post]
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dyaz-stories · 4 months
Text
how long will I slide? || Eun Hyuk x Reader
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word count: 1.4k
warnings & tags: angst, big spoilers for s1 of sweet home, that should be it?
A/N: Written for day one of @neohumanmonster's fandom event, Turning a New Leaf. Prompt: The Other Side. He's the one I had an idea for for that theme, but I actually haven't watched s1 of Sweet Home in a couple of years, so I hope this feels in character for Eun Hyuk, and that it's not too incoherent for the setting of s1!
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Eun Hyuk has eyes everywhere in the Green House apartment building — as much as he possibly can, at least. He’s used to studying efficiently,to taking as much information from a page as possible in a single glance. He’d never thought his abilities would be used in that way. That he’d end up sitting in front of footage coming from surveillance cameras, making sure not to let anything go unnoticed, because that would be the best way for him to be helpful to the people around him.
Oh, he doesn’t just do that. He’s taken up most of the tasks that require organization, wouldn’t trust others with it, if he’s being honest, but this is where he spends the bulk of his days. In front of a screen. Staring. His books forgotten and gathering dust in a corner of the room.
He doesn’t get distracted. If his eyes linger when you appear in front of ones of the cameras, it’s just because you’ve been vocal about thinking that other solutions were needed, and he doesn’t want you to endanger everyone by trying to put one of them in action. That’s all there is to it. He doesn’t have time for anything else anyway.
So when one of his screens flickers, he notices immediately. His mind starts running through the possibilities as he leans toward it, all of them bad. Any kind of system failure would be disastrous. Loss of electricity would be close to a death sentence. A camera being destroyed could mean that the monsters are getting better at finding them, smarter, which would mean they’re evolving.
And the last possibility, that he’s having a hallucination because his monsterization symptoms are progressing…
Well, he coldly evaluates, it would depend. Maybe it wouldn’t be that bad, if the residents could evacuate before he loses control completely.
When the screen lights back on, and he’s met with his own eerily smiling face and eyes gone completely black, he’s almost relieved.
Good, he thinks. I’ll be able to help as long as the cameras work.
“Will you?” his other self asks as it spreads to the other screens like a virus, voice coming out like a screech through the speakers. “Are you sure you’re helping them?”
He supposes it shouldn’t surprise him that the monster knows how to get under his skin, and yet he sits straighter at the question.
“Of course I am. Without me—”
“Maybe if they’d run when they wanted to, most of them would be safe right now,” the monster says, admitting out loud a fear that’s been eating at Eun Hyuk since the very start of this forced confinement. “Maybe you’re killing them by making them stay here. And really…” It laughs, high-pitched and maniacal. “Using that kid when you’d never have the guts to step out there by yourself?”
“I would,” Eun Hyuk protests, even if he’s aware that there is no actual argument happening here. “But I’m not the same kind of infected person as him. And I’m doing my part here. It’s not like…”
“Like you’re sending a kid out to be tortured only so he can be ostracized here? Sure looks like it.”
“It’s not,” Eun Hyuk repeats, weaker this time.
The monster opens its mouth to speak once more, when there is a soft knock on the door.
“Eun Hyuk?”
It’s you, and the monster’s face lights up as Eun Hyuk’s heart rate picks up.
Out of fear, surely. He doesn’t want you to know about his issues.
“Well how about that?” The monster practically purrs. “The thing you won’t let yourself have. Won’t even admit how badly you want—”
Eun Hyuk’s not really thinking when he picks up one of his notebooks to throw it at the screen. It bounces without any effect, of course, and the monsters starts laughing once more, until that’s all Eun Hyuk can hear, while it gets louder and louder and louder and—
The door opens behind him.
“You weren’t answering—”
“Don’t—”
You freeze in the entrance.
“Don’t what?”
He knows before turning around. Of course he does. Rational, human him is deeply aware that there is no way for you to see the things that his mind is creating.
“…come in before I tell you it’s okay,” he finishes with an even voice. “If you see something you shouldn’t, I don’t want to have to deal with everyone else’s panic.”
You click your tongue at him, and he immediately hates himself for saying it. He doesn’t even mean it. You clearly have everyone’s best interests at heart, even if you believe in a very different way of handling people than he does.
“Well, I just noticed you hadn’t eaten your share yesterday,” you say, and it stings that your tone is biting, particularly when he knows how soft-spoken you can be with others. “I was bringing you something to eat.”
“You should let someone else—”
“You can’t let yourself go weak,” you reply, pushing the food in his hands and folding your arms over your chest. “You know how much people rely on you here. We may not see eye to eye, but the last thing they need is to start worrying about you and thinking you’re not able to lead them anymore.” There’s a second of silence before you add, almost as if you can’t help yourself “Also, you know I already think these rations are too small. You really shouldn’t go a day without eating at least that.”
 He glances down at what you brought. True, it’s meager, and yet he feels a smile forming as he looks at it, at the acknowledgement that you were worried about him, even if you didn’t phrase it that way.
“Thank you,” he says.
And just like that, you soften. There’s part of him that finds it ridiculous, how you’ve given him a million second chances, how he’s let you down every time, and how you keep affording them to him still. The other one is so, so infinitely thankful for your kindness.
“Are you okay?” you ask.
He sighs.
“As okay as I can be,” he answers, pushing his glasses higher on the bridge of his nose. “I don’t think anyone is doing good.”
You nod gravely, then brush your hands over your jeans.
“Alright. Well then, I’ll leave you to—”
His hand shoots out to grab your wrist before he can hold it back and before you get too far away. You turn around to look at him, surprised and a little confused.
“Can you— would you mind eating with me?”
He could justify himself. Tell you he doesn’t like eating alone, even if he’s been doing it since his parents died, tell you he needs another set of eyes on the screen while he’s eating, tell you he needs to talk to you about one of the residents. He doesn’t, though. You read him a little too well, could probably tell that he’s lying. And he hopes that, with that big heart of yours, you’ll just…
“Sure,” you answer.
You grab a chair, pull it so you can sit facing him. As you sit down, your knees brush against his. The gesture feels surprisingly comfortable, in a way that he hopes doesn’t bring too much color to his cheeks.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“It gets lonely in here,” he answers, which technically isn’t a lie.
There’s a wrinkle on your forehead as you study him, one that forms whenever you’re concerned.
He’s more used to seeing the one between your eyebrows directed at him, the one that’s there when you’re annoyed.
“You can always ask me to keep you company,” you say, and his heart skips a beat. He’s sure you didn’t mean it like that, tries to pretend that it’s the monster that stirs his mind in that direction, but he knows, deep down, that that’s not the truth. That he’s actually desperate to know that someone like you could see value in someone like him.
But the truth is, if anything, you see value in everyone but him.
It doesn’t matter that you’re looking at him with these eyes, that you’re sitting with him, that you brought him food. You’re kind. You’d do that for just anyone.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” he tells you flatly once he’s gotten himself back under control. “Thank you for doing that.” Then, after a moment, “Anything I should know about what’s going on out there?”
You start answering, soft voice describing all sorts of meaningless details that you’ve noticed and apparently care about. Eun Hyuk keeps his back to the cameras. He still sees, from the corner of his eye, the monster taunting him. But as long as you’re here, so real, so soft, so human, he knows he can resist its pull.
Too bad he doesn’t know how long you’ll stick around for him.
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first time writing for eun hyuk and it was quite interesting to do! also i think i need to try my hand at writing him before s3 comes out lol. i hope you enjoyed it! reblogs and comments are strongly appreciated and keep me motivated and writing :)
more writing for sweet home
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bad268 · 4 months
Text
4+1 (Arthur Leclerc X Reader)
Fandom: RPF/Formula 2/3
Requested: Yeah on Wattpad (look at me actually checking my wattpad messages woah)
Warnings: none.
Pronouns: You/Your/They/Them
W.C. 2113
Summary: The 4 times the reader surprised Arthur and the 1 time Arthur surprised the reader (plus a bonus scene).
As always, my requests are OPEN
MASTERLIST // HITLIST
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~(^Pinterest but I'm pretty sure Carla posted it too)
1) Austria 2021
The weekend was not off to a good start, and that’s what caused you to drop everything to go to Austria. Qualifying did not go the best for Arthur, but where he qualified left him with a great opportunity for points, starting in fourth place. 
You should have listened to your gut when it said something was going to happen this weekend. Instead, you were at work when Lorenzo called you, saying that Arthur had been gone off the track and had to retire early, and he was beating himself up over it.
You told your supervisor that you needed to head out and that you would do work remotely for the remainder of the weekend and probably the next week. They let you go without a hitch, so you were on the next flight out.
When you landed, Race 2 was just about to start. Lorenzo came and picked you up, taking you to the track and into the Prema garage. Arthur was starting down in 27th place. He was already in the car doing the formation lap, so after greeting most of the team, you asked if you could wish him luck over the radio. Thankfully enough, Rene was there and let you use his headset, but told you to make it quick.
“Bonjour mon amour (Hello my love),” You said as soon as you had the headset on. “Bonne chance, je t’aime (Good luck, I love you).”
“Wait, what are you doing here, mon beau (my beauty)? I thought you had work,” he responded immediately as he pulled around one of the last corners.
“Came to surprise you, but I need you to focus on the race now,” You replied with a small, shy smile as the team was listening in on the conversation. “I want you to do what you do best. You’ve got this.”
~
2) Silverstone 2022
At the beginning of the week, you were not sure if you would be able to make it to Silverstone in time for the feature race. Nothing seemed to line up, so you had told Arthur you would not be able to make it.
However, it seemed like the world was working for you when everything you had to do worked itself out by Thursday night. The weekend shifts that you could not find coverage for were canceled due to overstaffing, your assignments’ due dates were pushed back another weekend, and flights just went on sale. It just seemed like everything was working for you.
Immediately, you got on the first flight out Friday morning to London. Just before taking off, you texted Lorenzo, knowing that Arthur was most likely in his practice or qualifying session. You sent Lorenzo your flight info quickly before shutting off your phone for takeoff. 
Landing in London, it did not take you long to meet up with Lorenzo since you only packed a carry-on. You were able to get right off the plane and meet up with Lorenzo in arrivals. He took you back to the rental car and you stopped off to get food before arriving in the F1 paddock where Arthur was hanging out with Charles in between races
You saw him standing against the doorway of Charles’s room with his race suit tied around his waist. You walked up behind him, immediately wrapping your arms around his waist as you hid your face in his shoulders. Arthur stopped talking abruptly, confused at who was hugging him until he turned around and saw your familiar hair color against his chest.
“You said you had work, liar,” Arthur gasped as he lifted you and held you against his body.
“What happened to ‘hello’ or ‘how are you’ or ‘I missed you’?” You laughed once he finally set you down. You leaned in to place a small kiss on his lips before whispering, “I couldn’t miss this. I always try my best to support you.”
~
3) Australia 2023
You recently got a new job that would allow you to travel with Arthur, but he didn’t know about it yet. It was only finalized it on the Tuesday before the race. You were hired by Ferrari to be their social media coordinator for their academy drivers specifically, and it was a ticket to follow him around for the season.
You had flown with him to Australia for the race, but you told him in advance that you would need to be doing work during the weekend. You told Arthur that morning that you had an early morning meeting which was not a lie, but he did not know it was at the track. By the time Arthur arrived at the track for prerace, you had already gotten acquainted with everyone and were in a grove. 
You two didn’t actually run into each other for a while because you were following Fred around, listening to everything he wanted from you before actually getting on with your job. About halfway through the day, Arthur wanted to call you, but he was pulled into a meeting before he could actually dial your number. 
Upon arriving in the Ferrari garage, Arthur sat next to Ollie off to the side. They were told it was a basic meeting to go over a new social media plan. The last thing Arthur expected was to see you walk in beside Fred. 
His eyes grew wide as his jaw dropped, causing Ollie to chuckle beside him. “Don’t you have a significant other?” Ollie whispered to Arthur. The man in question just ignored his friend.
You looked around the room, almost immediately making eye contact with Arthur. A wide smile spread across your lips as you waved shyly at him.
“Everybody this is Y/n,” Fred introduced you, “They will be working with the academy drivers for their social media.”
Needless to say, when Arthur got his maiden F2 podium, the fans could definitely tell who was your favorite driver.
~
4) Monaco 2023
It was his home race in his own backyard. How could you not attend? Not only did you love the atmosphere of the Monaco Grand Prix, but it was his first time racing in his home country. Let alone, down the street from his house!
The F2 race had started a few minutes ago, and you were on your way back to the F2 paddock. You had run a little long with Dino’s post-race pictures, so you weren’t there for the start of Arthur’s race. You felt horrible.
You felt your heart sink when you heard the clashing of metal and the gasping of spectators. You glanced up at the big screen, and the one car you did not want to see was shown losing control and crashing into the barriers. It was the Dams number 12, Arthur.
You and Arthur would jokingly poke fun at the Monaco Curse, as Charles referred to it, but you never thought it would affect Arthur. It’s times like this when you really wish you never made those jokes in the first place. You unintentionally manifested this. 
By the time Arthur got back to the garage, you had an icepack at the ready. Despite him already having stopped by the medic tent, you knew that an icepack wouldn’t hurt. Especially with how hard the impact was, his head was bound to hurt.
You stood in the back of the garage, updating the FDA social media as you waited for him. When he did, he immediately put his helmet to the side, giving you a sad smile as he approached you. You looked back at him, offering an encouraging smile in return as you opened your arms for him. Arthur did not need to be told twice as he collapsed in your arms as soon as the space was available. You ran one hand up and down his back as you kissed his temple held that was already forming a bruise before holding the icepack to it gently.
“You don’t have to say anything right now,” you whispered as you twirled some of the hairs at the nape of his neck, knowing it calmed him down, “Just know, I am so incredibly proud of you. You did amazing while you were out there, and trust me, next year, you’ll come back stronger.”
~
+1) Las Vegas 2023
Being from Las Vegas meant that you wanted to attend the grand prix that was taking place in your backyard. Despite not actually racing in it, Arthur was planning on going anyway to support Charles, so you convinced them to bring you along as a tour guide of sorts. 
That being said, they all knew you were coming. There was nothing to surprise anyone with. At least, that’s what you thought. Arthur decided it was his turn to surprise you. He did not have all of the specifics settled, but he knew for certain that he wanted to propose to you.
It was Friday afternoon, and despite being on the track until 5 that morning, you still dragged Arthur out of the hotel by 2 to explore. You knew for certain you wanted to take him for slushies and to your favorite place to people-watch: Fashion Show Mall.
“It is way too early to get drunk,” Arthur laughed as he took a drink of the large slushie you two were sharing as you walked hand-in-hand through the streets of Sin City. “And this is comically big.”
“1, that's what she said. 2, it's not that high in alcohol percent. 3, we’re sharing it. And 4, it’s never too early to get drunk when you’re not the one driving,” you chuckled as you pulled him up the rainbow stairs to the top level. There was a grass patch that you loved to sit on while growing up, and it was the perfect spot to overlook the entire city. “This is basically where I grew up. I didn’t have many friends, but I would watch everyone from up here after school. It’s a nice view as long as you don’t look straight down.”
He followed you to the grass and jokingly fell beside you with his head in your lap when you sat down. He smiled up at you, causing you to chuckle, as he held your hand in his. 
“Your hand is cold,” He whispered.
“I’ve been holding the slushie since Elvis Presley Boulevard,” you joked, “I wonder why?”
“I can warm it up,” He joked back as he took your hand in both of his as he placed small kisses along your knuckles. You closed your eyes and threw your head back as you laughed at his antics until you felt a foreign object being slid onto your finger. You looked down at Arthur to see him smiling smugly up at you as you noticed the object was a ring, and Arthur had placed it on your left ring finger. “I’ve been trying to find the words, but I couldn’t wait any longer. Mon amour, you are my best friend and you have been by my side for as long as I can remember. You always surprise me, so I thought it was my turn. Will you marry me?”
“You’re crazy, Arthur,” you cried as you hid your face behind your right hand, your left hand still being held tightly by Arthur. His face dropped, thinking you were turning him down, but before he could try to remove the ring, you continued, “You’re crazy for thinking I would say anything but yes!”
~
Bonus scene: Average screen time
“Your screen time is more than five hours,” Olli Calwell read off as part of the challenge they were doing for the Prema Racing YouTube channel. It was a little game to see who uses social media more.
“I know, I check mine every day. I have a problem,” Paul laughed as he pulled out his phone immediately. Arthur looked off to the side where you were sitting as he chuckled, knowing his screen time was through the roof because of the Facetime calls you do every weekend. 
“Mine is 13 hours,” Arthur spoke up. Both Olli and Paul’s eyes grew wide in shock as they snapped over to him, questioning if that was really his average. “Yes, look!” Arthur spins his body around to show the other two his screen time as you also lean forward a bit to see, and he’s right. It was 13 hours on average, causing you to laugh to yourself.
“Are you okay?” Olli asked and that’s what broke your cover. The fans heard you laughing in the background of the video and immediately spammed the comments asking about you. That’s when you decided to go public with Arthur.
~~~~~
© BAD268 2024. DO NOT REPOST WITHOUT PERMISSION.
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cloudninetonine · 6 months
Text
A Player's Aid: Chapter 15
Fandom: Legend of Zelda, Linked Universe
A/N: Hey guys! Finally more APA :))) There's been slight editing to this chapter as it got too long so those memes I made are a little incorrect :')))
Warnings: Bad language, Talk of conflict, talking of fighting (both verbal and phsyical), mentions of past pain, Tears spoilers (Purah Pad)
Waking up the next morning had never felt so draining.
The muscles in your eyelids fought desperately to stay closed, eyes stinging from the sun’s light with a tiring red edging your sclera and dark bags hanging in a show of your exhausted expression. God, you were tired. Void of any energy, your body felt a mere husk in the light of the morning sun as you lazily glanced around the entirety of the area, gaze falling once again to the fire pit that had been moulded by the boys the day before.
The scene differed in this instance, the sleeping bodies that once surrounded those burning embers were now animated frames ambling about for their morning routines; packing for the oncoming journey that awaited you and others simply standing for the sake of standing, chatting amongst themselves while their residential cook got to work on breakfast.
God, the idea of walking for another ten hours only brought a sickening sensation to your gut, churning with an audible curdle that caught the attention of some closer to you.
Hyrule’s face broke out in relief as he crouched down just beside you, his hand coming to gently cup your cheek. “I feared you wouldn’t wake until late afternoon, how do you fare?”
Closing your eyes your body naturally sought the comfort the brunette could so easily give you. “I’m tired.”
The back of his palm pressed gently against your forehead. “Are you ill? You do not feel warm.”
“No, just tired, Rulie.” Just wanting to curl up in a ball, cover your head and hoping to stay in the comfort of your blanket and floppy sleep mat.
Nearly dying would do that to a person.
“The Champion is preparing something easy for your stomach.” Time had stepped a little closer, not yet decked out in his usual intimidating chestplate and chainmail skirt as he leaned down in a similar fashion to your impromptu nurse. “He expected possible ailment or fatigue- tell me, do you think you will be able to journey today?”
The look Hyrule sent the eldest was smouldering, bubbling hot anger with a side of daring. “You can clearly see, they are not.”
The blonde sighed. “They can speak for themself, traveller-”
“Oh? Is that right? Is that what they did when you thrust your little plan onto them?” Your eyebrows furrowed at those words, glancing between the two in a quizzical manner as you watched the hero practically spit pure spite. “Or did you even let them speak? Just assumed they would be so eager to please you and would sacrifice their life for the sake of your precious theory?”
Ah, now you got it. Understanding the weight behind his actions, you knew it would have taken Time a while to finally bring forward what he did. He was a noble man, one able to admit his faults and wrongs in the faces of the many, that was the vibe you got from him anyway- and you were right. It came soon, sooner than you had expected but here was the proof right before your very eyes.
A very angry Hyrule.
If you knew he was going to throw such burning words you would have told the eldest hero that it best this secret lay low.
“Traveller!” Twilight snapped, walking forward- Oh? Is that why you felt a little more lonely that morning? Such a shame, Wolfie was so comfy. “Watch your tongue!”
Hyrule’s head snapped back. “Just like you watched your own? You just love to lick your ancestor’s boots, don’t you, ranch-hand?”
The whole group gaped- Time included.
Oop. Gagged.
“So eager to please the man you let sleeping dogs lie?” Twilight flinched at that. “You make me sick. Both of you do.”
Tension rose from 0 to 100 real quick. The expressions on everyone’s face held similar tones of surprise and nerves at the aggressive growl that their usual passive and caring healer held. You didn’t like it, not one bit, you hated the very obvious disgust that Hyrule plastered on his face as he looked between two of the oldest heroes, his brothers. 
Glancing back at Wild, you expected him to react- nothing. The blonde continued to stir the cooking cauldron with a grouchy pinch to his lip.
Him too?
Legend’s words seemed to grow truer and truer with each passing day, at least to your eyes. You in no way wanted to cause a wedge between these men, this group of heroes who shared the same name and adopted an unyielding affection towards each other from the hardships that they all faced. You didn’t want to drive them apart, to drag any away from their beautiful bond just because of mistakes. A mistake. A stupid mistake made by a man who held the weight of the world on his shoulders.
You refused to be the person that Legend so strongly believed you to be.
“Watch your mouth, Link.” Hyrule paused, turning back to look at your hardened expression- you didn’t want to be rude to the man, you had come to care about him so, but if it was your job to put him in his place then so be it. “You have every right to be upset but you shouldn’t say such horrible things to your friends.”
Time seemed surprised; Twilight looked surprised; Hyrule was surprised.
“Everything turned out okay.” God, would they stop staring at you? You hated being acknowledged. “He needed to know something important and he got his answer. Yeah, it was a stupid and shitty thing to do but for the sake of literally billions of people I would let him do it a hundred times if it meant it had you guys one step closer to defeating the Shadow.”
Silence.
“...Are you listening to yourself?” He asked, not venomous but certainly not kindly. “You could have died, (Name). Died because of his selfish little want-”
“It’s not selfish if he was thinking about the well-being of others-”
“Stop defending him!” You jumped a little at his voice, blinking wide with a look of surprise burned into your features at his own panicked eyes. “Stop. Stop putting yourself below others like you’re some insect in the mud, you are better than that-”
“You don’t fucking know me!”
The yell echoed through the air, sharp as it sliced the tension similar to a butcher knife with fresh meat, the others around the camp turning all eyes on you as you pushed your body up, your finger pointed right in the face of the traveller. Gaze burning, slightly wet with tears as trembling emotions swam through your bloodstream with repressed memories gnawing at the back of your mind.
“You don’t know where I come from, you don’t know who my family are, nor my friends or who the hell I even am!” The scream from yesterday had torn at your throat leaving an uncomfortable hoarse feeling as you yelled, voice cracking from the strain. “Don’t speak like you fucking know me, Link! You bloody well don’t! For all you know, I could have deserved to die on that day!”
Everyone flinched; Sky stepped forward.
“Now isn’t that going a little too far-”
“Shut up, Sky!”
He fell back, sharing a look with Four at your yell.
Turning back to Hyrule’s expression you almost faltered. He looked like a kicked puppy, face fallen, eyes wide with hurt and confusion with his hands up in surrender- he didn’t want this and neither did you, but hey, maybe this would get Legend to back off if Hyrule decided to avoid you after this. “Don’t you ever assume my character. You don’t know it, we met a week ago for fuck's sake! Do yourself a fucking solid and don’t ruin your damn relationships over this damn burden.”
With not much room for an exit, you collapsed back into your bedroll and dragged the blanket over your head, blocking out the view of them all in an effort to hide your wobbling lip and misty eyes. You hated confrontation, you hated making people upset, and seeing Hyrule look so broken over your yelling only made you feel like dog shit. How could you talk to your hero like that? Such a kind, humble man who only wanted what was best for you?
Here you were, acting so childish because he cared.
You turned your back to him, not that it mattered being covered by the comforter, but you needed to hide yourself even further and to you, this was the only way how.
Hide. Hide like the coward you were.
There was movement- the sound of footsteps in grass and the gentle call of one of the boys, the concerning, soft “traveller-” only squeezing at your heart, tears running down your cheeks at the thought of Hyrule wandering away.
There was more movement, more talking but you didn’t budge. You stayed there, curled into a ball with your mind only focused on the feeling of melancholy as those things happened around you. Even when Hyrule returned, even when Wild shook you gently to eat breakfast and when a group of footsteps collectively began to move back towards the castle, a lessening silence hanging over you and another soul hovering around the camp. Curled, still silently crying.
----------
“They didn’t mean that.”
The traveller’s head lifted slowly, glancing over to the Hero of the Wild with eyes still dim as the Champion kept his slacking pace, the others near yards ahead.
“You don’t know that.” The ache in his chest still present, the brunette kept his gaze to the dirt of the castle path. “The emotion in their voice was very heavy.”
The blonde spared him a sympathetic glance. “A lot has happened to them these past few days- I don’t think they meant the malicious tones.”
“...”
To see such raw emotion directed towards the fairy boy certainly wasn’t something fun. Hard on his heart, it weighed down all the way to the dark pit of his stomach as your words from that morning replayed in his head like a broken record. 
“You don’t even know me!”
It was a harsh hiss echoing through his head with every step. Every lasting memory in his mind taunting him as he thought about that guiding light back then. 
So bright, so mirthful and so wise- you followed him everywhere in the place of his courageous heart, motivating him at every turn. You helped him through puzzles, you sang his praises through every battle and tended to his wounds in the evening glow by the dancing fire while telling tales of old- you knew of the old hero too, his predecessor and even his predecessor’s predecessor. You had been with him for more than just those two journeys, no, you had been there for him for lifetimes.
And now here you were. Still bright, still mirthful and still wise- but your mind fogged at the mention of your honoured title. To you, you were not his guide, held so highly in the light of his eyes, but the burden cast upon the shoulders of the heroes, on top of the already heavy duty of protecting Hyrule.
“We don’t really know them…do we?” Hyrule’s voice was small, hesitant to speak the words. “We know a version of them that has seemed to be lost to time but-....is that really them, back there? Our Guide?”
Hyrule had doubted in those past few days, of course he had. You may have had their voice but that did not mean you were his guide- maybe he had been mistaken that day? Caught up in the shadows of sweet memories hearing the kindness and care that honeyed your words. Did he really know you?
“...I don’t know.” Wild’s eyes stared ahead, focused on the backs of the many other heroes. “But I do know this- they care for us, just like our guide did.”
The brunette glanced over, a feeling washing over him at the light that sparkled in the reflection of the blonde’s eyes- glowing in the sun, they resembled the beauty of a blue sapphire as he continued.
“It’s all I can see. In their eyes, in their actions and in their words, I don’t remember the last time I had ever seen such an emotion after finally waking from my century of sleep- handled with such softness.” He sighed, blissful, “And I know they don’t remember, I know they may not even be who I long for- but still, they feel the same. They feel like home. Like a bed after a hard day's work and I feel safe, brother.”
…Hyrule knew that feeling. He knew exactly what he was talking about. The traveller felt the same around you, felt that long awaited sense of comfort and stability that came with your mere presence. It was why your words felt like a dagger in his chest, your anger sharper than any blade that scathed his skin.
“Those nights ago, when I said it hurt that (Name) did not remember, I meant those words but- not as much as I expected. I am a new man, one born from our time together and from being with all of you. I want them to experience the new me and I want to experience the new them- make new memories.”
Hyrule wanted that too- he wanted you to know the new him. Know how your influence had changed him for the better.
Wild’s hand came to rest on his shoulder and Hyrule shared a look with him, understanding. “...I pushed them a little, didn’t I?”
“You were upset but yes, I believe so.”
Hyrule released a wet laugh, rubbing at his eyes. “I will apologise once we return.”
“Good plan, brother of mine.”
----------
“Are you going to stay underneath this blanket for the rest of the day?”
The glow of Gilda’s magic was calming, a forest green that hummed with the magic of old as she laid comfortably against your chest. She had joined you a little after the boys had left, fighting her way underneath the heavy fabric of your duvet to see your face still wet with tears after your ‘confrontation’ earlier that day. The fairy did not press you, only stayed a quiet presence- well, until now.
“Yeah maybe,” you croaked, sniffling slightly, “maybe I’ll just stay here and die like I deserve.”
The fairy’s wings fluttered gently, “don’t say stuff like that.”
“I shouted at Hyrule-”
“My brother will not collapse over some words said in anger.” You looked down at her as she shifted, her eyes catching yours through the soft glow of her magic. “Even if you were the person to say it- my brother has gone through worse hardships than being yelled at.”
You felt tears once again grow in your eyes. “But I was still so rude and he was just trying- he-”
Gilda shushed you gently, crawling up to your cheek and wiping at your eyes gently while you whimpered. “Oh Guide, the legends were true about your bleeding heart, it seems.”
You blinked in confusion, voice wobbly with confusion. “Legends-”
“(Name)? Are you okay?” Sky’s voice caught your attention, muffled by the comforter around your head. “....do you want to talk about it?”
No. No you did not, but you didn’t seem to have much of a choice when Gilda quickly flew up and dragged the blanket off your face to reveal to the Skyloftian knight the internal conflict that currently raged in your own head. A dirty trick by the dancing green wisp, your hand swiped to grab her but she had already zipped away to Epona and hid in the strands of her beautiful platinum blonde mane.
Bitch.
“...I’m fine.” A sight to behold, a mess of snot and tears as you laid in your bedroll, “I don’t need to talk.”
Sky paused before readjusting himself, the piece of wood he had been gently carving settled onto his lap along with his carving knife. “....do you need to eat?”
You glanced over.
“Sometimes when I’m upset I just need to fill up my stomach- pumpkin soup usually does the trick.”
“...are you asking me if I’m hangry, Link?”
“....I think?” He shrugged his shoulders, gesturing with his head towards the cauldron of food that Wild had left. “Would you like me to make you a bowl?”
You laid there for another moment, considering your options for just a few passing seconds before finally pushing your body up into a seated position with a small nod. “Yes please.”
It was…awkward. The man stayed quiet through the whole ordeal, just spooning some simple morning porridge into a bowl and handing it over to your awaiting hands. You thanked him quietly, sitting back with your eyes focused on the soft meal so as to not catch his gaze, as you could feel his stare still focused on your hunched figure.
You knew you couldn’t just wallow in this self-pity for the rest of the day, but it felt like the only familiarity to you after being away from home for so long. It was like greeting an old toxic friend after a ghostly parting, you couldn’t quite dismiss them but you did not want to welcome them in any shape or form. However, after already so long, the rest of the Chain now away in that castle of darkness and pain- you knew you couldn’t run from your own actions forever.
You started off slow. “I’m sorry.”
Sky hummed but you still refused to look his way. “For what I said earlier- I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that.”
“That’s alright-”
“No, no it’s not alright.” You raised your head, you couldn’t hide from this. “I didn’t want to be interrupted but it was still wrong of me to tell you to shut up, I’m sorry for how I said it.”
“But not what you said?”
“....I needed to finish what I was saying earlier….I didn’t want to, but it had to come out before it became something worse than it was.”
The knife against the wooden carving gently chiselled further along its surface, a shape being moulded from the small piece of timber the further along Sky worked. It was interesting to see him actually craft, in Skyward Sword it was only ever hinted that the man liked to do such hobbies, and never in your life would you think you would be able to see Link himself actually whittle right in front of you.
“...what are you making?”
“A remlit,” looking closer, you could see the two giant ears to the cat-like creature in full. “An animal from my era- they’re quite sweet usually but in the night they would become temperamental.”
“...” You knew that a little too well, dodging too many attacks from those little shits while trying complete missions on the mainland of Skyloft. 
“My instructor, Mr Horwell, he used to say that the reason they would get temperamental was because they would bottle up every negative emotion in the day and let it out during the night- as everyone slept they would rage, and whoever would come across them would deal with the consequences..” You watched another wooden flake fall onto his lap as he carefully sculpted the face. “But they were kind creatures, purring and pawing the next day with love in their eyes. They never did want to cause harm, but sometimes it’s just inevitable. That did not mean they were cruel creatures- they were still worthy of love.”
“...ah.” You weren’t quite sure what to say. You knew where the knight was coming from, you could decipher the metaphor he so smoothly hid under the words of his old instructor and felt appreciation for his subtle attempt to make you feel better- everyone had bad days, sometimes the wrong people could be hurt from them but that did not mean you were a bad person. You could fix what you had damaged. “....thank you, Link.”
His smile was cute, lips upturning with ocean blue eyes warm with a beautiful kindness. “For what? I was just repeating the words of an old professor, that’s all.”
You huffed a laugh, “yeah, sure.”
Sky brought the remlit carving to his lips and gently blew at the statue, ridding it of any remaining shavings before gently grabbing your hand and placing the figure in your palm. “Please, have it. I have many more back in my own home.”
“Oh you don’t have to-”
“I insist.”
After a moment’s hesitation you carefully brought it up higher to inspect the beautiful detail that Sky had put into the carving.
…you needed to apologise to Hyrule.
-----------  
“Well, that was uneventful.”
“You could say that again.” Wind moaned, trudging behind Warriors’ form with a disgruntled look on his face. “The Shadow couldn’t even bother to stay? We just trekked over a whole fucking castle for nothing!”
“Language, sailor.” The captain’s quip wasn’t as fast as usual, a tired drip to his tone yet his disappointment did not yield. “What have I told you about your unnecessary curses?”
The young boy’s mouth opened, his eyes swirling with a devious intent only for his lips to slam shut at the look that the eldest of the group sent him. “Be calm, sailor, I don’t think now is the time.”
Wind deflated and that was that from him.
The castle search was deemed tedious- it was empty. Every corner of the palace swept proved  vacant, only the webbing of the hulking arachnids left behind, with the few remains of the usual skulltula drops that they only strayed away from- the men were overflowing in materials and a mere monster claw here and there wasn’t the biggest of discoveries that they cared to deal with.
So, after a few hours of wandering, investigating, and turning up seemingly more empty-handed compared to how they were when they entered- the boys left. It wasn’t that late when they had, mid afternoon with the sun still fairly high in the baby blue sky, puffy clouds dotting the expanse of colour with a calming silence as they continued to trek the dirt path leading up the famous Hyrule Castle.
Hyrule’s fingers unconsciously fiddled with the material of his vambrace, nails scratching against the old, weathered leather with the tips of his fingers pressing against the seams. The nerves were stronger now, thoughts of returning to the camp causing uncomfortable palpitations that almost mimicked sharp talons digging into the beating muscle with a cruel vigour that only seemed to make the panicked beating worse-
“Traveller.” Wild’s hand came to rest on his shoulder, “it’s okay, everything’s going to be okay.”
Hyrule ignored his reassurance. “Do you think they’re still upset?”
“Brother-”
“I don’t know how I’ll be able to resolve this- what could I even say?” Had he not already been walking the brunette would have been violently pacing, his footprints making dents in the dirt. “I know I need to apologise for pushing but what could I possibly say-”
“Link.” Tightening his grip, Wild tugged the man back before he could push himself into a dead sprint- he was always a good runner. “You won’t know until you face them- let’s not get in over our own heads, aye?”
However, Wild was never really good at comforting others and by Hylia did he feel awkward in his attempt.
Hyrule bit nervously at his nails, pupils shrinking at the sight of the camp growing bigger and bigger, along with your hunkered figure beside the Skyloftian Knight with an easier expression compared to that morning. Ah, his heart seemed to relax at that, maybe this would be easier?
Your eyes turned to him and suddenly he felt like that little 10-year-old on his way to face the incarnation of Evil in his dungeon of destruction and darkness.
You weren’t Ganon, of course you weren’t but the shadowing feelings of insecurity and doubt made him want to run like you were.
The two of you stood to greet them all, Sky moving to talk to Time as the eldest moved closer but you pretty much rushed past them all, not bothering to glance at the others as your eyes stayed focused on the brunette and blonde duo with a cocktail of emotions swirling in your gaze. He wasn’t sure what he was looking at, unable to decipher the intentions behind them, when you had finally stopped just a few paces before them, awkward but not backing down.
“....Can we talk for a few minutes?” You glanced between them, “Both of you? I think there’s something we need to talk about.”
You left no room for argument as you quickly grabbed their hands and began to drag them away. The many others turned to look at your trio quizzically as you rushed off into the haze of trees surrounding your camp, wandering a distance further enough so the others wouldn’t hear your talk as you finally turned to the boys, standing there awkwardly with a look similar to constipation as you tried to figure yourself out.
Moments of silence passed.
You finally opened your mouth-
“I’m sorry-”
“No.”
Hyrule blinked, glancing to Wild who shrugged in confusion as you cleared your throat, fidgeting nervously on the spot, your hand dived into your pocket to toy with the small remlit. “No, I’m sorry- you shouldn’t say sorry. Well, not to me maybe Time, and Twilight- but that’s not the topic of the moment. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry for snapping at you, I’m also sorry for the fact I probably look like I’m ready to pass a kidney stone- leave the questions till after Wild- I find it hard to apologise about things that present themselves as moral dilemmas. I feel like I was right about what I said but the way I said it wasn’t right- which leads me to saying this.”
Grasping their hands, you brought them together in an action of care, thumbs gently running over the skin of the back of their hands. Hyrule’s was softer compared to Wild’s, the champion’s skin marred with burns from those guardians that long century ago- you brushed it with care.
“I….I don’t remember.” The weight on your shoulders seemed to lessen, but you weren’t quite there yet; you continued. “I don’t remember a thing about being the guide. I don’t remember your journeys, I don’t remember the stories you talk about and I just don’t remember being your guide. I’m not sure if it’s some mental block from being from another world, or my memories were taken after finishing your games- hell, I don’t even know if I am the guide. I know you guys seem so sure but if I was someone this important I’d remember, right? I don’t know, I just- just-”
Your head was cast downwards during this talk, a mixture of shame and fear climbing up the expanse of your spine as your throat seemed to tighten with each word. You rambled, you were a rambler and you couldn’t help it- you needed to explain and you just couldn’t stop: the truth, your own feelings, your own doubts, your own fears and so much more. In your mind you had been tricking these men, deceiving them, living a life of lies that you let them crown you with like it was a veil of honour instead of what it really was- a mistake. They were mistaken. You were probably mistaken and if you were the person they had spoken so highly of all this time then you would finally spill the beans.
Looking at their face, you couldn’t fight back the tears. “I don’t want to trick you guys. I don’t want this to come back and bite me- a little selfish but the truth. I don’t want you guys to mistake some rando to be this highly respected entity. Maybe I am somehow related to this person in some weird soul link but I will no longer let you believe a lie that would only serve to harm both you and me.”
Gasping for breath, you hiccuped. “Please. Please forgive me for not saying anything earlier I-”
Wild’s hand moved gently, taking his scarred appendage from your grip to gently hold your cheek, catching your eyes with his own. “We know.”
A few seconds passed, you blinked as you managed to whisper a cracked, “...what?”
“We know you don’t remember.” Hyrule’s face filled with guilt, eyes shining with regret as he continued. “We’ve known for quite some time- we just didn’t want to place that weight over your shoulders.”
“But it seems we did so anyway.” A single tear that fell was gently brushed away by Wild’s thumb. “Forgive us.”
You hiccuped once again, “but- but why didn’t you say anything-”
“We thought maybe with time you would remember- with your name, your presence and your affiliation with magic, it never really crossed our mind that maybe you aren’t them. So, we decided to wait for the memories to come in.” Wild looked pained, “to force important memories would not be good for your health, (Name), trust me I know what that can do to one’s mind.”
More tears and more sobs, your body shook with the exhaustion of the emotional turmoil that once hung heavy on your shoulders, now free from the strain and feeling lighter than they had for days. Carrying guilt like this was always a burden, breaking you down day by day, hour by hour and minute by minute. You were never one to easily carry lies like they were leaves in your pocket- they felt more like a tiger stalking an antelope, following and following until one day they would strike.
Being pulled into the arms of the heroes was solace, collapsing into their warmth, still crying from the whirlwind as they held you protectively in their grip.
“I’m sorry, (Name).” Hyrule’s voice was heavy with emotion as he spoke, “I would have never said those things if I knew you felt that way, I-”
You tightened your grip, “it’s okay, Link-”
“No no it’s not and you don’t need to think it is.” When the brunette pulled back his face seemed soft but his eyes burned with a passion that was almost too bright, “However, I will stand by what I said- whether you are our Guide or not you are just as important as the rest of us. I will not have you be any kind of bait ever again, nor will you come close to death for as long as I live.”
When your eyes met his, you almost melted at the affection. “I would rather give my life than let you ever step on death’s doorstep…okay?”
“....Okay- but-”
Wild groaned, “dear goddesses, you're as stubborn as a mule.”
You pressed a finger to his lips, smiling when his eyes crossed to see it. “Shush pretty boy- this goes for you too. Anyway, I also want you to apologise to Twilight and Time for how you acted- not what you said. I know why you said it, don’t get me wrong, but as I said earlier, you’ve known these men longer than you have me, you’ve got a brotherhood with them and the way you spoke to them earlier was not okay.”
Hyrule huffed, “They needed to hear it.”
“Time did and he had, from both me and Twilight, but the rancher didn’t deserve that- he was just defending his old man,” you joked, gently booping Hyrule’s nose. “So, if you’re dishing apologies make sure to plate those two as well- okay fairy boy?”
Ears flickered happily at the name while his face was downturned, red seeping into his cheeks as the traveller tried to avoid your warm expression. “Okay.”
Glancing to Wild, you raised a brow. “Well?”
“I didn’t say anything!”
“Knowing you, you probably poured bugs into their sleeping bags!”
“No- that’s something the sailor would do, but I-”
“Oh, shut up.”
Tugging the two boys close once again the three of you shared lighter laughs, the tension that once hung heavy now gone within a moment as you joked mirthfully in spite of the earlier stress. You were grateful for the break, needing a moment away from the horrors of reality and trauma from earlier days that you knew unfortunately lurked in the depths of your mind, waiting for the worst moment to pounce.
However, right here, right now, you didn’t have to worry.
“Let’s rejoin the others- you both need to apologise.”
Both groaned, but did not fight your insistence as you tugged them back.
----------
An awkward apology at the least- Hyrule was able to manage the words, his usual kinder nature allowing him to offer both the old man and his descendant with only the most subtle hint of hesitance while Wild stewed in his defiance, kicking at the dirt with a harrowing sigh. The blonde only really broke when you sent a glare across the camp, eyes narrowed with a scowl that grew with disappointment every passing second until finally he managed to grunt a “sorry” that you knew wasn’t quite true but you let him off when the two older men seemed to accept it.
Silence rang out.
“Can we have dinner- I’m dying over here!” But thanks to the sailor’s flapping mouth, in the next half hour plates were served with steaming dishes of herbs, spices and the usual dinnertime chatter made sure to pave the way for a much calmer evening.
Sat between Hyrule and Wild, you felt more at peace compared to the last day and a half, spooning the contents of the champion’s amazing cooking into your mouth as you watched everyone converse. Wind joked with Warriors, the young sailor throwing playful jabs at the older captain while next to him Legend and Four were idly chatting. Twilight and Time seemed more interested in their food similar to you as Wild and Hyrule discussed in unwanted detail the scarring that marred Wild’s left side with Sky’s disturbed look not even hidden as he stared at the two with a disgruntled look.
Quiet, you raised the spoon closer to your face, more aware of yourself than you had been for a long while when you finally noticed, your hand gloveless- the yellow of the Sheikah eye.
Yellow?
Since when?
Pulling back the appendage, you studied it in confusion. The veins that ran up your arm had a similar tint, having changed from the luminous blue that had once decorated your skin into the sunshine yellow. How had you not noticed this? When did this happen? But then again, running for your life in the palace was probably more important than studying yourself in a mirror.
Glancing over to your side you caught the glimmer of Hyrule’s sword, shimmering in the light of the evening sun. Without hesitation you grabbed it, being careful with the beautifully crafted blade as you slightly pulled it from its sheath and stared at the reflection of the polished steel-
Your eye also glowed in a similar way, with only a single ring of Sheikah blue surrounding your iris.
“What the fuck…” You breathed, pulling at the skin under your eye to get a better look. “....looks like fucking piss. Piss eye.”
Piss eye.
Thank fuck your friends weren’t here- you couldn’t deal with hearing that for however long this new development stayed.
“Huh?” Sky seemed to zone in on you, looking at you with the same odd expression on his face he had already been wearing. “Are you okay, (Name)?”
Hyrule and Wild’s conversation stopped instantly, glancing over to you along with a few others- you weren’t exactly paying attention to them, still looking in the reflection of the sword.
“My eye is yellow-” Hyrule’s speed was almost comical as he leapt to his feet, grasping your face to study your current predicament.
“Does it hurt?”
“No-”
“Are you sure?”
“Hyrule, I’m alright.” You laughed, pushing his hands away. “Don’t panic yourself because then I will panic and I think I’ve had enough of that recently.”
Wild’s hand gently ran over the skin of the glow, studying the mark closely as the yellow reflected off the skyline blue of his eyes. “Reminds me of Stasis on the slate.”
“That thing you used to freeze the Shadow?” Wind hopped over to poke at the sigil. “Would be pretty useful if they could use it, huh?”
Four looked sceptical. “And how would that work, sailor?”
“Well, uh-”
“I did use it.”
Another silence hung over the camp when the words had left you, Hyrule stopped, Wild stopped, all eyes were on you as scenes from the other day played in your head. Yes, yes you had used the Stasis, you remembered how the yellow chains jingled and how the Shadow raged ferally in his imprisonment, those manic red eyes glaring down at you like a rabid dog ready to pounce-
You swallowed the anxiety building up in your throat, hands suddenly shaking in your lap as you blinked away fearful tears. “I- I used it on the Shadow- I- I stasised him when he was going to kill me-”
You let out a shaky breath.
Were the trees suddenly closer? Was it getting darker around you guys? But the evening had only just begun, it wasn’t supposed to be dark yet- no, the darkness was moving. Oh God, was Dink here? Was he coming to get you? Were you about to die?
Blood pumped in your ears viciously, drowning out the earlier noise as you frantically glanced around for any sign of the monster that lurked in the shadows, waiting to pull that dark sword of his and finally slice your neck-
“Hey!” You managed only a small yelp when Wind shook your shoulders, the world falling back into view as you caught ocean blue eyes staring back at you. “It's not here, okay?”
“Wha- what-”
“The Shadow isn’t here.” Hyrule moved back into view as Wind finally released you, looking concerned along with the rest of the group- minus Legend, the man just looked unimpressed. “....it must have been pretty scary if mentioning it made you this upset.”
You looked down.
“...I’m not used to running for my life.”
The animals of Hyrule chittered.
“Let’s see it in action then.”
You made a sound of confusion only to tense up at the sight of an apple heading right towards you. Muscle memory kicked in, all those PE sessions of tennis balls, cricket balls, shuttlecocks and more flying towards you at a speed that seemed more mach 2 than anything causing you to ball up with your arms flying to protect your face. A squeak of slight fear left your mouth as you braced for impact.
Waiting.
Waiting.
And waiting.
“Vet! What is your problem!?”
Peeking open an eye, you saw a hand reached out, the fruit that had been previously hurled towards you secured in its grasp as the champion stood taller with a look of rage plastered on his face- you could practically hear the apple cracking under the pressure of Wild’s seething grip.
“What?” Legend shrugged, leaning back. “If it appeared when they felt in danger it was really the only logical option.”
Twilight stood when Wild growled. “Champion, step back.”
“If he wants a fight I’ll give him one-”
Legend grinned snidely, also standing. “I’d like to see you try, cook.”
More people were standing and the tension quickly jumped to dangerous levels, heat growing on your face from the sudden nerves as you also hopped to your feet, rushing to grab Wild’s shoulder and yank him back.
“Let’s not!” You yelped, tightening your grasp when Wild tried to shrug you off. “I don’t need to be defended! Walk away!”
“I-”
“I suggest you listen, Champion.” Time looked furthest from pleased, his scarred eye opening to reveal the milky white that encompassed the whole of the organ. “Walk away, there will be no fighting in this group.”
Tension threatened to bubble out of the pot, bursting into a horrid brawl that would only serve to pull the boys away further than they already had from one another. Legend was a prick, that was your impression of him at least, but you also knew that he wasn’t always a prick from the friendships he had formed with each one of these men. If they were willing to defend him as they did each other then you didn’t want to cause more unnecessary drama, you may not have liked him in this moment but that did not mean you were about to have people fight him just because he was a dickhead.
Wild scowled. "He started this-"
"And I'm ending it." Time stepped closer. "I will see to it that he doesn't do it again, go cool yourself down."
Wild stood for a few more moments, still glaring at Legend who glared right back before taking a deep breath and turning his back towards his friend- out of sight, out of mind. You smiled at him encouragingly, feeling proud when he managed a smile back-
"I guess the ranch-hand isn't the only obedient mutt."
It felt like slow motion. Time turned with an angered look, lips pulling back to scold the veteran with Wild spinning in a similar raged way, eyes narrowed. Twilight also seemed to be disturbed by the words, all around the boys looked both surprised and unnerved by the veteran’s cold hiss. Even the man himself looked slightly surprised by his own words, a flash of regret reflecting in his eyes-
Just before your fist made contact with his cheek.
Not much was said amongst the crowd, only a shared look of shock as he stumbled a few steps, red quickly blooming on his cheek while you ground your teeth together in a burning fury, hissing.
“Watch your fucking mouth!”
He didn’t even give you a second before he shook it off, everyone frozen as he stopped his stagger and spun back around to deliver a similar blow right to your own cheek, the surprising force behind his fist strong enough to send you back on your arse with a pained flinch.
Silence once again gathered around you all.
Wind blinked, “Damn.”
And suddenly they all kicked into gear.
The shouting was loud as your world spun, the burning sensation on your cheek from Legend’s punch dulling the throb of your knuckles from your own attack as you tried to differentiate up from down. You could see bodies moving rapidly but you couldn’t quite focus on what was happening, even as you were quickly tugged to your feet and heard a voice right by your ear that you couldn’t quite focus on. 
Fuck, that was embarassing.
You had been downed so easily by a man shorter than yourself- but honestly, what had you expected with punching an experienced hero?
“I have had enough of this!” Time’s voice was very distinct, much deeper compared to the others with a growl that could freeze armies upon hearing the rage in his tone. “Acting like brats at a time like this!? You are not children, I will not have you fighting as such and the mere fact that I have already had the need to repeat myself, multiple times, about this is ridiculous!”
You blinked, finally focusing in- Legend had been grabbed and restrained by Warriors, the anger still evident but overshadowed by shame while Twilight held back a near frothing Wild, Hyrule in a similar position with Time, huffing as he stared down the veteran with burning eyes. Taking in your surroundings you noticed you had also been restrained, glancing back to see Sky with his brows furrowed and lip upturned as he watched the scene- your eyes making contact made you shrink in guilt.
‘....That had been an over reaction.’ He hadn’t even said that to you but why would he even say that about his friends in the first place?
“Take a walk- all of you!” Time’s hand had moved to hold the bridge of his nose in frustration. “I cannot handle the sight of any of you!”
Legend roughly fought his way out of Warriors’ grip to stomp away, the captain very close behind him. Wild and Hyrule had similar reactions, stalking off in a different direction with Hyrule quickly grasping your wrist with a gentle touch once Sky had finally released you, pulling you away from the scene and disappearing into the surrounding wooded area as the complaints began to spill from their mouths.
So much for trying not to split the group.
----------
The next morning was quiet.
Way too quiet.
The guilt ate at your stomach from the silence, keeping your head focused on the food currently sitting on your plate to not see the obvious tension on everyone’s face. The sudden brawl (if you could even call that embarrassment a brawl) last night had left everything strained, a horrible stillness over everyone once you had returned with no more words exchanged except for nervous goodnights from those like Sky and Four- you really hadn’t meant to cause something like this but here you were it seemed.
Legend hadn’t glanced at you once which you were honestly more thankful for. Having an enraged glare on you after everything would have only made you feel worse, especially with the belief that you were the one to go overboard the evening prior. You really just weren’t in the mood to have his acknowledgment over your shoulders with everything else.
Getting ready was a little more eventful, quiet chattering amongst the men as they gathered all their belongings to stuff them away for travel. You stood away with Gilda sat on your shoulder, leaning against the side of Epona who playfully nipped at your hood, her huffs shaking the piece of fabric laid over your head- it wasn’t exactly raining but the clouds certainly did not look good in those dark shades of grey.
You wanted to help pack up but the fear of the men’s anger overshadowed your want to help, merely keeping your head down while waiting patiently until finally everyone had their things gathered and once again you were on the road.
The settlers had waved you off from a distance, some wishing good luck while others stayed silent as the view of Hyrule Castle got smaller and smaller the more you walked, following the path Eastward that held Hebra Peak just on the horizon. You had no real idea where exactly you were all headed but you prayed to the heavens that if you were to somehow end up walking towards the beauty that was Rito Village that you would have the chance to speak with the amazing musician, Kass.
Man, that would have been cool.
Your heart dropped a little when instead of following the path your group broke from the stone trail and began to tread the grassy plains of Hyrule Field, the visual of Central Tower an hour or so ahead.
Something looked off though, your eyes narrowing to catch the sight of small movement and splodges of brown that seemed to encase the entire thing, working its way down the tall, slim Sheikah device and disappearing behind the hills that laid before you.
Wind had slowed down to meet your pace.
“Ya know-” He started, seemingly nonchalantly, face folding with a familiar cheeky grin as he looked up at you. “That was a good punch.”
You blinked and from behind you Twilight let out a grunt. “Sailor, knock it off.”
“I’m just saying!” His hands flew out, showing he meant no harm. “Listen, the Vet ain’t got the same strength as the ranch-hand but he’s got the resolve of a hero and we don’t go down easy! You nearly knocked him on his arse!”
Taking a glance to the front of the group you could see Legend glance back with a scowl and quickly moved your gaze when you nearly locked eyes. “I just surprised him.”
“Nu-uh.” Wind’s arms crossed with an even more evil smirk. “If I talked shit all the time I would learn to expect to get fists thrown at me- actually, I already do-”
Warriors came to yank Wind’s head towards him, gloved hand moving to cover the boy’s loud mouth as he let out muffled cries of frustration and tried desperately to rip off the older man’s palm.
“Maybe we need to sew your mouth shut, pirate.” He raised an eyebrow towards the smaller blonde when you noticed his mouth moved- “You licking me will do nothing.”
You tried to hide your smile.
“I will say though- I think it’s high time we gave you a weapon.” Finally releasing the youngest hero the Captain clapped his hand on your shoulder, shaking off his spit covered hand behind him. “And we'll teach you how to fight- that first.”
Your heart dropped- fighting? Like going up against actual monsters? ….Had your heart just stopped?
Wild and Hyrule exchanged a look at your haunted expression. “Maybe we should give it a while-”
“Learning now would be best if (Name) will be joining us indefinitely.” Squeezing your shoulder gently, he finally released his hold. “I know for some who have not held a blade before it would be a daunting thing to achieve but you will be learning from the best, I assure you- and we will not throw you into conflict by your lonesome- uh.”
When his expression curdled into something awkward you couldn’t help the laugh, your hand coming to rest over your stomach as you belted out a belly laugh that only made your companions sweat- the sudden foreboding feeling now replaced with comical mirth at the sight of Warriors’ face.
“You look like you sucked on a fucking lemon! AHAHA-”
So the handsome man could fumble- that was good to know.
----------
Scaffolding. It had been scaffolding around Central Tower- tall and honestly intimidating as it encased the Sheikah construct while fellow Sheikah and Hylian folk seemed to….tear the build apart.
Huh?
Scurrying, they used unknown tools to yank and pull the contraption apart. While the tower’s platform still remained it would only take a few more working men for it to leave the once intricate monolith to an intimidatingly tall spike within the surface of Hyrule’s great field. How sad…and here you thought that maybe you’d be able to try climbing one to experience just what Wild had to go through each time you hauled his arse up those things.
You wouldn’t have lasted getting a foot off the ground- nevermind a 100 feet-
“‘scuse me!” You side-stepped carefully, watching some more tradies walk past with the massive dripstone that bore the Sheikah mark over their shoulders- casket style. “Thank you!”
You heard the subtle whispers of Sheikah craft, the eye flashing a soft blue before it fell silent once again as the men hauled the abnormal tech towards a reinforced wagon bearing two horses.
“What are these guys doing?”
Wild’s eyebrows pinched, “I’m not quite sure.”
The Chain shared similar quizzical expressions, unsure of what to say. It seemed none of them had heard of the news, nor did they understand what was happening, but that was no surprise really, after all Wind had told you not much had happened in those months they were stuck in Hateno. Sure, Wild would teleport them here and there for updates but they preferred to leave the younger man’s timeline’s business to him- and if he had no such idea as to what was going on then why would the rest?
You saw Time open his mouth-
“LINK!? IS THAT YOU DOWN THERE!?”
Boisterous yet far, the whole group glanced around at the mention of their name before finally glancing up at the tip top of the tower, noticing a small head of white hair leaned far off the monument. Their body leaned forward so only the tip of their toes touched the edge (a petrified looking Sheikah holding desperately onto their form) as they tried to get a closer look towards the blonde just by your side. 
Hold on…was that?
Wild placed a hand over the arch of his brows, squinting. “Is that you, Robbie?”
The mad scientist laughed, an old man's cackle that echoed around the surrounding field. “Perfect!! Just the hero I wanted to see!!”
After a few minutes of frantic running with Jerrin, his wife, following after, demanding he slowed down lest he died on this scaffolding from hell until finally he was with your group. Poor old Jerrin looked wiped, panting up a storm while still hunched over from her sprint down the not so safe looking staircase while Robbie greeted you all brightly.
Throwing you his famous pointed pose with a dazzling little smile.
…did you just hear a guitar riff?
“What are you doing here, Robbie?”
The scientist leapt back into a normal position, smile still plastered as a conversation brewed- you quickly tuned it out as you glanced around. Similar to most of the Champion’s land, rubble and ruin surrounded you in the form of crumbling stone. This was once a great structure, you could tell, intricate and great as it stood tall- a church? A baron’s home? A noble’s? The stone beneath your feet bloomed stray strands of grass as nature slowly swallowed this great building and returned the stone to its rightful place, the soil below.
“-you!” You yelped when something was thrust in your face, pressed lightly against your nose from the apparent height difference between you and Robbie as he addressed your figure. “What’s your name!?”
“(Name)!”
“Just who Purah described- come! I want to see about those marks of yours.” The old man began to waddle towards a tent in the far corner of the yard, feet fast despite his old stature before he turned towards you, still frozen in surprise. “Come on then!”
Ah, great- once again prodded by scientists.
----------
“An interesting find indeed.” Robbie’s eye was massive within the magnifying glass, staring right back into your own Sheikah infested pupil for proof for the mad theories his mind had conjured. What did he search for? You had no clue but you did know that if he snapped some weird contraption at you again you would start biting.
And you bit hard.
Some people knew that from experience.
“And you say that you actually stasised the monster, correct?” You leaned back when he leaned forward.
“That’s right.” Pressing a hand against the tool, you pushed the older man back into his seat in an effort to gain your personal space back, and in a victorious moment he finally caved. Placing down his instrument while he tapped his chin in interest and muttered some words you couldn’t quite catch before he turned away to scribble down something into a notepad behind him. 
A mirror just by your hand showed that the ghostly yellow had fully taken over, sclera finally enveloped with your pupil a more pastel in the sea of lemon gold. You wondered how odd you looked to passersby with the magic that swirled, you wondered if it was hard for the others to sleep with the bright horrid glow that came from your person- god you’d probably have to start covering that up.
“Got any ideas for us, Robbie?” Wild asked from the corner, sat with Hyrule and the three other eldest as they waited patiently for the scientist’s upcoming ramble.
“Well...” Building up an atmosphere was probably something this man seemed to love, jumping off his tall stool as he placed hands on his waist and waited patiently for everyone’s attention. The heroes, of course, grew intrigued by the silence, their curiosity singing as they all leaned in for the old man’s news.
Robbie’s hands moved up with his shrug. “I got nothing.”
Silence.
Warriors sighed. Twilight sighed. Time sighed heavily, dragging a hand down his face. “Is that it?”
“Your guess is as good as mine! I’m an alchemist- not a doctor!” Robbie grumbled, crossing his arms. “Sheikah magic has always been an odd magic, but this is unheard of! Taking refuge in someone’s eye- you’re better off to ask the goddesses how such a thing could occur!”
Another dead end- the roots of knowledge only decayed further and further in the soil of the unknown. The measly plant that you had dubbed your mind withered the longer you thought about how exactly you were supposed to get answers for this. Would Hylia be your best bet? Would she even answer? Gag, the thought of getting on your knees to pray only made your stomach churn from both the anxiety and the scenario- if she were to answer, how could your mind cope with the knowledge that such a higher being actually existed? And if she didn’t? Well then you’d just be a tart kneeling before a statue in another universe.
You’d rather shit in your hands and clap.
“I guess there is one thing we could try! Or maybe two.”
The Purah Pad was a tool that Robbie had created using the scrap of existing Sheikah tech and the ruins of Guardians strewn across the land. Similar to the Sheikah slate in a certain way, it didn’t carry as much power as Wild’s important tool but still allowed things like teleporting and communication between others- like him and Purah, of course. Nifty little device it was, quieter than the Sheikah slate as the magic whispered and twitched, voices of hundreds rather than thousands harmonised as Robbie slapped his hand against his desk to reach for it and lay it gently in your hands.
“So!” The old man watched you, “You feel anything?”
Your eyes stayed focused on it for a few moments, then you slowly shook your head. “Not really…it’s just…talking.”
“Hmmm….” Robbie held his chin, tapping a finger against his cheek before he clicked his finger. “Ah! Come now.”
You followed the scientist outside: first, like a shadow, Hyrule close to your side along with your second, Wild, following behind. The eldest trio didn’t look too sure as to what was about to happen, abandoning the tools within his workshop to the open world outside his tent as the small man led you over to the Sheikah stone that you had passed earlier.
“If the pad is too quiet, I’m sure the slate is the same- so why don’t we try something bigger.” Patting the vacant object, he grinned. “Go ahead and touch it.”
The remainder of the Chain, who had scattered to explore the small area or simply rest watched with an interest as you stared at the grey eye, void of magic. “It’s not even on.”
“And you currently have its magic flowing through your veins- something could happen, but only if you try.”
That was a good point- but what would happen if you did that? Schrodinger’s cat, both dead or alive until someone opened the box. Was the Sheikah stone the cat and you, the unfortunate soul to open the box? The one to see the ending result, no matter how pretty or ugly such a thing turned out to be- this wasn’t something you wanted. You remembered the screaming of the teleportation magic when Wild had teleported you to the tip of the Dueling Peaks, loud and irritating. Though it did not compare to the pain of that day back in Purah’s lab.
Your mind had blocked out those memories for your own good.
“You don’t have to do it.” Hyrule said quietly upon seeing your hesitation. “Don’t push yourself for our sakes- I’m sure we’ll know soon enough.”
Wild seconded that motion along with Twilight. Warriors gave you a friendly smile and Time nodded his head in a similar understanding. The man had learned it was not his place to push.
But…there were answers that you needed. Why did this mark now paint your skin? Why did its magic flow through your veins? So many questions with so little answers, the longer your eyes glared back into the mark of the Sheikah etched into the stone, you wondered if maybe you could finally understand.
When a hand came to hold your free one you paused, looking down to see Wind’s face. “I got ya in case anything weird happens.”
It took a moment before you were able to smile. “Thanks, little man.”
You ruffled his hair and he playfully smacked at your hands.
People around waited with bated breaths, the other tradesmen also stopped their relentless work to watch in interest as your hand hovered lightly over the rock’s smooth surface. 
Was this a remedy to the unknown or another deep dive into a world of pain? Back at Purah’s lab was certainly agonising, a brutal hit to your seemingly weak body as such a devastating power possessed you- would you really be reduced into a spasming mess on the floor once more? Your brain pounded in sync with the nervous churn of your stomach at the mere thought, hand shaking from strain. 
You would never really know until you tried, right? Many theorists risked their own lives for answers that lay just beyond your reach, but then again some even sacrificed others for their own self preservation. Were you the theorist or the sacrifice in this moment? Hell, were you even a thought to the people you stood amongst?
“...”
You pressed your hand against the stone.
202 notes · View notes
theladyfulcrum · 1 year
Text
Come here children. Come here. Sit down. Take my hands. Listen.
Here’s what we are not going to do. We are not going to let them unravel us and leave us in a heap of bawling bodies. They want us to sob until our eyes fall out and we rupture our abdominal organs because they’re heartless and sadistic and part of STAR WARS—shhh, steady—but we are going to remain CALM. Call it denial, call it call it bargaining, call it what you will, but he’s not gone.
Deep breaths, all together now. Crying is cathartic and necessary for coping with the emotional abuse we endure at the hands of Filoni et al., but don’t cry from lost hope. I’m serious. Was it among the worst things we could have possibly been forced to watch? Has a good majority of the fandom been mulling where the hell we are supposed to find the will to go on after that? Of course. But they’ll be back. And Tech will be, too.
Hush, child. Listen to me.
There was a reason he fell into cloud-cover. He could have been falling into anything. Water can be lethal from that height, yes, but let’s all just remember what Hunter pulled in War-Mantle with falling OUT OF A SHIP and down a LITERAL MOUNTAIN and surviving that with JUST HIS KNIFE. HIS KNIFE, KIDS. Tech accepted what he was doing, and he was okay with dying if that was what this meant, but he’s Tech. Once he fell from view he did whatever he could to increase his odds of getting out of it alive. Trust.
Speaking of falling from view— we know the Clone Wars rules. No body, no confirmed death. Forget that— we know the STAR WARS rules. Even if someone gets SLICED IN HALF before your VERY EYES and FALLS AN INDETERMINABLE-BUT-DEFINITELY-NOT-SURVIVABLE DISTANCE, they STILL aren’t dead. Further still, if you had put the two scenes in front of me with no context, I would have said Echo’s death in an EXPLOSION of FIRE seemed more final and certain that Tech falling away from us. And no, I don’t care about the argument that it’s a kId’S ShOW so they wouldn’t show us the body. Go watch Colt’s death and get back to me. Or you know, pretty much any Clone Wars episode.
BUT THE GOGGLES, you wail. I know, dear heart, I know. I see the cracks in them every time I close my eyes. But Hemlock getting his hands on those isn’t confirmation of anything other than what we already know— no matter where he wound up, Tech is having a Very Bad Time™️. Whether he lost them on the extremely unpleasant way down or whether he’s being experimented on in critical condition is hardly a nicer thing to know, but we’ll take just about anything right now if it means we’ll see our boy again, won’t we?
Shhh, I’m not through. We also have that scene with Phee. If it had been a true goodbye, if Tech had shown an ounce of the development he had with Omega about differences in emotional processing and communication, you’d have seen my soul depart through the atmosphere. But no. That scene’s entire purpose was to be unresolved. Was it just to make us incurably sad in retrospect? Maybe. But my gut says no— there’s more he needs to say to her.
On that note, the same goes for Tech and Crosshair. I refuse to believe we’ll never see them together again. I don’t have anything stronger than my refusal, but my feelings on this are rock solid. There’s also the important issue of THE Bad Batch theme— you know how they’ve established a precedent of not using it unless the whole Batch is together? Collectively, we’re going to refuse to believe they’re going to break that now. And there’s too much love for that theme to never hear it again.
Finally, beloveds, we come to our old favorite: story analysis. You know I’m insufferable about this, but listen. If we look at screenwriting, if we look at story structure, if we look at BEATS, this is the old “DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL” for the Batch (and us obviously). It’s the ALL IS LOST. The EVERYTHING IS AWFUL AND THE HEROES ARE AT THEIR LOWEST LOW. It’s the classic “oh my god this second installment is EMOTIONAL TORTURE HOW COULD THEY DO THIS TO ME” that we can point to in novels, shows, and film series again and again. It’s the ESB ending, it’s the Catching Fire ending, it’s the Rebels S2 AHSOKA IS D E A D AND ANAKIN KILLED HER ending. S3 will open as they enter Act III, where they use what they’ve learned to move upwards toward the finale of this particular story arc. Doesn’t that sound like something nice to cling to?
There now. If I’m wrong, I’ll give you all the choice of k!lling me first or tossing me alive out of a plane with no *hard swallow* parachute, jet pack, or functional grappling gun. But I truly believe you won’t have to.
In the year or two we have to wait, cry for his absence, cry for the Batch being more fractured and farther apart than they ever have been, cry for Hunter feeling like he’s failed everyone he loves, cry for all of it, but not because you’ve lost hope that all might not be lost.
Tech will be back.
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mins-fins · 6 months
Text
LABYRINTH (L.CH)
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SUMMARY . . . it's really easy to just say "i'm fine" and go on with it, anton doesn't take it, though.
PAIRING . . . anton lee x male!reader
GENRE . . . fluff, light light angst
WARNINGS . . . mentions of sleep deprivation
WORD COUNT . . . 0.7k
NOTES . . . *taps mic* hi anton lovers, hi again riize fandom, i love anton hes just so 😢 anyway i didn't willingly make this the demons stole my computer and typed it out for me 🙏 *crowd cheers and applauses and fire alarms go off and the place explodes*
. . . my beloved mother (aka the best and only elif i know) @jinkiseason asked to be tagged so here you go (you better read this 😡) (i made it in your wc range/j)
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"y/n".
said boy startles, almost hitting his head on the counter. he groans, covering his face for a moment. once his eyesight registers, he looks up to see his roommate, whose eyes are focused on the textbooks set on the kitchen counter. "shit sorry, what time is it?" he asks, rubbing his eyes and yawning.
"it's two am" y/n swears he almost gasps out loud when he hears. two? as in two in the morning? that can't be.. "i— i'm sorry did i disturb you? i didn't mean to fall asleep i just—"
"no no" anton cuts into his sentence. "your not disturbing me.. i— why are you sleeping on the kitchen counter?"
how long did i doze off for?
"i was.." y/n pauses as he catches anton's gaze, he recognizes that gaze. he's seen it from his parents, his older siblings, his ex lovers, his friends, and just.. strangers. anton already knows how he's going to respond. "studying".
anton closes his eyes, sighing, and y/n feels that recognizable shame curl in his gut. "y/n.. what time did you start studying?"
y/n goes silent once again, disappointedly looking down at the kitchen counter as he begins to drag his finger up and down it, trying to distract himself. he feels another curl of shame in his gut when he hears anton sigh, again.
"y/n—"
"i know i know, i'm sorry" he immediately says, feeling like he did something wrong, anton's tone of voice was really stressing him out, he hated that tone of voice, he hated the way it was so recognizable and how anxious it made him feel. "i didn't mean to upset you".
anton simply blinks, then shakes his head. "it's not your fault" he whispers, walking up to y/n and rubbing a hand up and down his back. "y/n i worry about you".
y/n musters up a smile, but he's so tired he can't even keep it up, frowning immediately. "i have so many exams this week.. this is my best bet—"
"no, you need to sleep".
y/n chuckles sleepily, his eyes barely able to stay open. "it's okay, i can rest after my exams are ove—"
"do you really think i'm gonna let you do that?"
y/n pauses, biting the inside of his cheek. he almost laughs once again, but he stays silent. anton looks at him for a moment; then closes his textbook. "come on".
"come on where?"
"your going to sleep" anton states, he doesn't ask or even wait for an answer, he just says it like he knows what he's doing. y/n looks at him like he just said something crazy, but anton doesn't budge.
"what?"
anton looks at him for a split second, sighing. "i don't want you to disagree with me, your going to sleep whether you like it or not".
y/n scoffs; "i'm not even tire—"
"its two in the morning, you studied all day, you are going to sleep".
anton grabs his arm, helping him stand up and dragging him away from the kitchen counter. y/n lightly yelps, but it's quiet. "anton, seriously, i don't need sleep, i'm fine i don't—"
"you need to stop trying to argue with me" anton mutters, turning on the sink and handing y/n his toothbrush. "i care about you, and your going to sleep, whether you like it or not".
y/n finally sighs, he stops trying to argue with anton, which makes the other smile. he grabs his toothbrush, hoping he's not that tired and can successfully do it.
"when was the last time you even got a full eight hours?"
y/n gives anton a look, not being able to respond because he's brushing his teeth, he lightly shoves his shoulder and anton laughs. that's pretty ironic considering anton barely gets sleep himself.
"your talking about eight hours?" y/n says, rinsing his mouth before looking back up. "you barely get sleep yourself".
"yeah but this is about you is it not?"
"i hate you".
anton deadpans for a moment, snickering. "no you don't" he easily responds, smiling. "now chop chop, you need to sleep".
"don't rush me".
"i will if i want to! come on, sleep!"
y/n sighs, yawning, but follows.
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jisungchan · 1 month
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notice me | lee jeno
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or: where your friends set you up (accidentally) so you end up alone with your hot college professor, lee jeno
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⚔︎ warnings: professor!jeno x student!reader (therefore powerplay), unprotected penetrative piv sex (pls wrap it we cannot have anymore children in this economy and society), oral + fingering (f receiving) softdom!jeno x sub!reader (ish? not really strong dynamics tbh), bigdick!jeno agenda, light degradation/praise (idk he just yappin fr), oh yea... YAPPER JENO idc🗣, sexy consent, he finished inside so BEWARE (once again PLEASE do not bring anymore poor children in this world), light nipple play, marking ?? (hickeys galore), afab!reader with she/her pronouns, NO race specific descriptors (skin colour, hair texture, etc.), NO body type specific descriptors (size of reader body parts, height, weight, etc.). also this is basically porn w/o plot ngl but it's whatever ig
^^ let me know if i forgot anything hehe
2k word count
a/n: i completely gutted this blog and deleted all my old posts because that was a completely different audience/fandom and i have now ventured here... i haven't wrote something like this in a while so it's quite bad
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“yeah i mean, he is hot, but he’s our teacher.” you exclaimed to your friends, gossiping about your teacher, professor lee jeno.
the way he would loosen his tie in class sometimes and peer at students through his glasses was just too much to handle. the dark haired older man was definitely easy on the eyes. 
“okay… so? i would let him hit any day.” your friend said, and you all laughed, yet were all in agreement. 
next thing you knew. it was time for class with the devil himself.
you sat in your usual seat next to your friends. while they all usually messed around during class, you always paid attention. your education was very important to you, and you weren’t going to let anyone get in the way of that. so you sat there, studiously taking notes and listening intently to everything said, taking it all in. 
as you were taking notes, a note got passed to you. “listening extra hard to your boyfriend today huh?” you rolled your eyes at the familiar handwriting and shot your friends an irritated look. 
professor lee got a glimpse of this, he peered through his glasses, and shot you a dangerous glare. 
“y/n, see me after class please.” he said, before swiftly turning around to finish his lecture. 
you couldn’t focus the rest of the class, so you settled for writing your thoughts in your notebook. how were you supposed to see him one on one? you could barely handle him in class. you made note to go off on your friends after you were done seeing mr. lee. 
then, the bell rang. students fled the room, nobody quicker than your friend group, feeling a little guilty for getting you in trouble. 
“so, y/n, passing notes in my class, are we?” he said, his back turned to you, erasing the board filled with an hour’s worth of notes. 
“i’m sorry, it’s just a stupid note my friends passed to me.” you mumbled back. He motioned you to come to his desk as he sat down in his chair. of course you obliged, immediately going to the opposite side of his desk. 
“let me see it.” he said emotionlessly, his hand out expecting it to fall in his palm.
“no sir, please, it’s just a stupid joke.” you pleaded, but his hand still was expectantly extended.
eventually, you dropped it in the palm of his large hands. he opened and read the note aloud, finishing with a hint of a little smirk.
you shuffled in place, cheeks burning and blushing from him reading it out loud, it was so embarrassing and you wanted to die on the spot. 
“i see someone has a little crush. you’re a good student, you know that y/n?” he said to your surprise. 
“thank you sir, i try my best.”
“and i think good girls deserve a little reward, wouldn’t you agree?” 
you looked up to him loosening his tie and taking his jacket off. 
“come, sit.” he said as he patted the desk right in front of him.
blindly, you obeyed. mind blurry from the very sudden and odd words coming from your teacher. you sat atop the desk, right in front of his sitting figure, and more importantly, his face. you kept your legs clamped shut, and you regretted wearing such a short skirt today.
“don’t be shy now love, like i said, good girls deserve rewards, now let me reward you, yeah?
you nodded, and with that, he separated your legs, staring hungrily at the wetness leaking through your underwear. 
he laughed.
“already? i see that ‘stupid little joke’ must be getting to you, hmm?"
this was all too embarrassing, you tried to close your legs back, but jeno was too strong. he tsked and widened your legs even more. then, he scooped your underwear with one finger, tugging it down your legs. 
“was so excited when i saw you with that note, finally had an excuse to get you alone.” he said, his hands lightly grazing your inner thighs.
he stood, hovering over you, and kissed you. 
it wasn’t desparate and harsh, but slow and sensual. he licked your lower lip, then took it between his teeth. he placed his hands on your hips as he continued. he moved down to your neck, embedding hickeys into your skin. 
“how true is that note? is that why you’re such a good student in my class?” he questioned you once again.
“yes, no? i do genuinely enjoy your class, sir” you breathlessly replied. 
he sat back down, you could feel his breath on your wet, eager cunt, just waiting for him to do something about it.
and as soon as you uttered a 
please
jeno wasted no time to please you.
his wet, experienced tongue masterfully landed on your clit, giving you little kitten licks. then, he pressed his lips on you, making out with your sloppy mess of a cunt. his tongue circling around your entrance, teasing it until finally replacing it with a finger. his tongue went back to stimulating your clit as his finger repeatedly abused your hole over and over again. he added another, and you’ve never felt so full. as if his long, veiny fingers weren’t enough, he curled them, hitting your sweet spot causing broken whimpers to fall from your quivering lips. moans escaped your mouth as he kept going.
as he heard your gasps of exasperation, he looked up, boring his brown eyes into yours.
  “such a sweet pussy for a sweet girl.”
he continued his actions, until eventually you started getting restless, pulling on his hair tightly and squirming around.
“go ahead, cum on my fingers darling” he commanded softly.
and with that, you were sent over the edge, making a mess of his fingers and all over his mouth. you thought your ‘reward’ was finished, but jeno had other plans. 
“you thought that was all? y/n, you are my top student, i have to treat you accordingly.”
then, he flipped you over on your chest, ass out in the air.  
“no spanking this time, but if you act up again, i will have to punish you, okay?”
“yes sir!” you replied eagerly.
with that, he placed his throbbing cock at your entrance, teasing you and himself with just the tip. you hadn’t even seen his dick, but from the tip, you could tell it was big.
he leans over, chest to your back, speaking lowly in your ear,
“i’ll show you how a real man fucks,”
he pushes himself in a bit 
“how you should be fucked”
he pushes himself halfway into you, you’re already whining at the stretch 
“you’re gonna walk out of here and never want anyone else’s dick ever again.”
and with that, jeno forces the rest of his length inside you, licking the shell of your ear as he stands back up.
your pussy squeezes in shock from him throbbing inside of you. he hasn’t even moved yet, but you can already feel yourself becoming undone. 
“you still with me baby? hmm? can’t have you fucked out when i haven’t even fucked you yet, can we?” he asks mockingly, squishing your cheeks with his hand to turn your face toward him.
jeno just thinks you look so beautiful, face flushed with lust and eyes glossy with desire as you shake your head no. 
“use your words baby, need to hear how much you want your professor’s cock.” he starts shallowly thrusting, just enough to make you let out a quiet moan.
“please, fuck, please fuck me. needed you for so long.” you whine, attempting to grind back on him in effort to get some friction for your poor needy cunt. he picks up the speed, starting to drag his dick in and out at a more rapid speed. you can feel each vein massaging your gummy walls. 
“fuck, me too baby. every time i saw you walk into class, just wanted to bend you over the desk and fuck you just like this. let everyone see how much of a slut you are for me.”
your head hangs down, forehead against the desk as he presses his hand in your back, causing you to arch even more. high on euphoria and need, you start bouncing your ass back on him, meeting him halfway. you hear a small laugh that turns into a low grunt at your actions, when he suddenly pulls out. 
sad at the feeling of emptiness, you didn’t even have a chance to protest before he flips you around, ass on the desk and your arms keeping you sitting up. 
“wanna see those pretty tits bounce when i fuck you.” is all he says, before he ruthlessly enters you again, going even faster than before. 
you moan and clench around the feeling, never having felt so full before. you’re gushing around him still, causing his length to be covered with your slick, it even dripped all over his desk and over both your thighs; though, you’re too turned on and needy to even be embarrassed. all you need right now is to cum around him.
you lift your shirt up, granting his wish of seeing your chest bounce and jiggle as he fucks up into you. he groans and takes one in his hand, kneading it and rolling your nipple before pinching it, making you yelp. he then brings his head down to paint more hickeys all over your now exposed chest, leaving so many littered across your skin. 
“is my pretty girl enjoying herself on my cock?” he hums as he kisses back up to your neck. 
you moaned in response, not able to formulate words. his gentle question was contrasted by how hard he was ramming into you. with every thrust you heard your skin clapping together; you swore you both were going to break his desk.
“you’re gonna let me cum in you, right? be my perfect little student and let me cum in you, yeah?” 
“yes please, god, i need you to cum in me. wanna be so full of you, please.” you choked out, furiously nodding your head. 
he kept going at a steady pace, fucking himself into you over and over again, chasing after his release. he placed his thumb on your clit rubbing circles, with the other gripping your waist.
“cum with me, yea? make a mess on my pretty cock, okay?” he cooed in your ear once again. that was all you needed to finish, and you came all over him as he came inside of you. 
after a moment of each of you catching your breath, he pulled out. you whined at the feeling, especially as you felt his cum start to leak out of you. he took his finger, gathering it, and pressed it back into you. you hissed at the feeling of his finger in your sensitive cunt again, but he kept fingering you through your overstimulation. the moment he placed his thumb on your cunt, you came for a third time, crying out his name. 
he cleaned you up with his handkerchief, slipped your underwear back on for you, and even helped you fix your clothes and hair. he looked at you fondly as you soothed face, still showing evidence of your semi-fucked out state. 
“you were so good for me, how about a free private tutor session at my place? i could go into so much more depth than what we discussed here.”
i do not give permission for my work to be translated or reposted.
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goddessofroyalty · 2 months
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Fandom: One Piece
Going through my One Piece scribbles to do a final clean up before FF7 takes over my life from probably tonight and found this one that was me playing around with trying to match the more silly tone One Piece can get.
Law is used entirely as a convenient outsider POV.
Pairing: Zoro/Sanji
Tags: omegaverse, mpreg, accidental pregnancy
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“Are you kidding me!? Again!?”
Law makes a point of trying to ignore the Strawhats’ antics as he travels with them. Strawhat’s crew is as insane as their captain is and often loudly bicker amongst themselves seemingly just to give Law a headache.
The shrillness of Nami’s voice and way Blackleg practically prostrates himself at her side in pathetic submission has him tuning in.
“What happened?” The Strawhat’s sniper asks as the rest of the crew’s attention is drawn onto the situation as well.
“Sanji’s pregnant. Again,” Nami informs them as Blackleg lets out a pathetic whimper that would perhaps be more worrisome if it wasn’t the exact same candor as the one he gave when the strawberries he was using the previous night for desert weren’t large enough for him to carve into perfect flowers for the girl’s. Law doesn’t try and understand why a man who would happily kick anyone’s head in if they suggested he may be less for being an omega immediately breaks out the keens and whimpers associated with his designation at the first sign of any even slight offence to the women on his ship.
The navigator’s offence is deserved from Law’s perspective. While they had hidden them well the fact of him travelling on the ship with them had necessitated he be introduced to the two other children that had resulted from the unique relationship between swordsman and cook of the Strawhat crew.
“Woohoo! New crew member!” Strawhat himself crows, completely missing the gravity of travelling with a pregnant omega aboard.
Although considering they had already successfully done it at least once before Law supposes the confidence is somewhat justified.
Strawhat rattles off his list of demands following the exciting news. A feast the first, most detailed, and apparently most important, among them.
Not that much attention is being paid to him. Nami still standing with her hands on her hips looking at Blackleg expectantly.
“It’s not my fault my m- the only option I’m stuck with for my heats is a mossy brute!” Blackleg justifies. And Law is sure they all caught the slip in his words. And all know exactly what he was about to say.
Despite the two – soon to be three – children they share and the fact the world knows them as the Monster Mates of the Strawhat pirates, both Blackleg and Zoro’s necks stay bare of a mating bite.
“I didn’t do anything you didn’t ask for,” Zoro says from where he had been napping on the ship. He had had their youngest asleep with him but the boy had woken up with Strawhat’s excitement, running off to join the noise.
Blackleg glares at his not-mate and Zoro moves to quickly block the foot aimed at his gut for it.
“It’s your stupid knot that keeps breaking the condoms,” Sanji says, driving his heel into the sword Zoro has blocking him.
“It’s your fucked up fertility that keeps getting pregnant so easily,” Zoro snaps back, pushing against the food driving down onto him.
“Enough,” Nami says, before they can go into any details of how they managed to conceive three children together. Her hand coming up to massage her temple.
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