#its the war where they tear each other apart thinking the other is in the wrong
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Moon peppers (1)
were!Abby x witch!reader
Summary: Abby runs away from her (former) pack and into your forest. You're not happy with your new (woods?)mate.
Tags: fantasy au, sloppy worldbuilding (fuck it we ball), fem!reader, alpha!abby, witch!reader (so not an omega), sentient forest, stubborn idiots in love who annoy each other.
A/N: This is basically God of War 2 x Witcher fics (i didn't watch it) x Tolkien x some of my original worldbuilding for my own stories x kinda omeraverse. I have no idea where this is going, but I'm having fun.
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Abby runs. Her speed is fueled by adrenaline and fear. She is hurt and her fur is so red from blood that it's impossible to see her sandy coat at all. Abby is not sure she will survive even if she somehow escapes Isaac and his dogs: she is getting dizzy and tired.
The Moon shines on her and Abby tries to see any path she can follow and shake Isaac off, but Abby knows the smell of her blood is so prominent nothing will hide her.
If Abby was in human form she'd have probably given up by now, but she is a wolf now and her instincts push her forward, push her into survival, no matter what it will take. So Abby keeps running through the fields, hearing Isaac’s wolves from every direction as if they're circling her. Abby speeds up, not feeling her wounds, and follows the Moon.
The Moon shines on the dark tall forest: it looks intimidating. Any other time Abby would avoid this forest because she is not insane, she can feel this forest is not just woods. This forest is alive and will swallow her if she goes inside, but between her former pack trying to tear her apart and slowly getting killed by the forest, Abby chooses the forest.
She can't be sure it will kill her anyway: nature is odd and has a mind of its own. But her packmates will kill her, there's no doubt.
And all for what? For her standing up for her friends who refused to kill innocent people so their pack would have more resources? Isaac really didn't like hearing his killings and raids are nothing more than cruelty and despotism than any kind of holy war on humans who hate werewolves and want them dead.
(Humans rarely care as long as you stay human around them and don't go on a rampage.)
So Isaac wanted to make an example out of them. Abby held off while others escaped - she is the strongest in the pack and can take a few wolves at once in the fight - but then she had to escape as well.
And now she is getting closer to the edge of the woods and her heart is trembling from anxiety. She has no idea what will happen when she crosses the line, but if her pack follows her, the forest won't be kind to them either.
So Abby takes a deep breath and runs into the forest.
Inside the forest Abby hears nothing. Well, she hears rustling and can feel the wind, but there is no sign of the outside world. Her ears can't pick up on the footsteps of her pack that were deafening when she ran. No smell of them either, no heartbeats, nothing. As if they just disappeared. It's uncanny and Abby is scared, but nothing comes at her.
Abby cautiously goes on a trail in front of her - she is not questioning this, this forest is weird - and her tiredness catches up with her. Her paws are barely moving but she pushes herself forward anyway, trusting this place to guide her since it didn't go hostile immediately. Abby looks back just to be sure and yes, the trail is still there, the forest isn't tricking her.
Her heart is still beating crazy, but she feels safe from the chase and doesn't try to run anymore. The trail leads her to the river which shines strangely - or that what Abby thinks until she sees this is just the Moon reflecting in the water. Abby lies on the shore and laps at the water until her thirst goes away - she doesn't turn into a human, too weak and too scared: the wolf is stronger and heals faster. She feels so tired, she lost so much blood it scares her, she feels like she is very close to death now, but somehow Abby finds some strength to quickly bathe in the river and clean her injuries.
She is also hungry, but she just can't. Abby sniffs around and catches some damp smell that feels like the inside of the cave and she follows it. There's indeed a den, probably used by a bear before, but the scent of it is so weak it's not coming back. So Abby curls around herself and falls asleep, trying not to think about not waking up ever again.
The woodpecker starts knocking on the trees and you try to ignore it, but then the sun shines through your window and this is it, no sleep for you. You huff half-heartedly, but you don't mind forest's games. Sometimes they're grumpy and you wake up in a damp hot fog that clots your lungs, so the annoying woodpecker is not bad at all.
The morning is beautiful: it's quiet, sunny and warm, even though the summer is ending. Probably this is why the woods are in a sweet mood - they're already mourning, which means they're celebrating the beginning of something new.
This is the last day of the full moon and you plan on collecting some of the flowers that bloom only under the moonlight. It's not your favourite activity, since it's so dark and this forest is living its own life - they don't really care if there is a witch or not and if this witch is alive or not, you're just a passing in their lifetime.
Useful passing though - you know the woods like you because you keep them clean and healthy when they can't; you keep the passing people from hurting them and the villagers from exploiting them.
You've lived in the village for a few years before moving here - the call of the forest was too strong, and the times when you'd come to harvest some of the ingredients they wouldn't let you out. At first you thought they were mad at you - but then they saved your ass multiple times from animals (or, in one particular case, a werebear who really wanted to rip your throat out). So you went there for a few nights one time and lied in the bog, trying to connect with them - and they did, and told you they want you to be here. So you stayed, knowing better than arguing with a sentient forest.
The villagers were not super happy about losing their witch to the forest, but you visit them almost every other day, healing people and getting food in return, or clothes or anything which is available to your patients. They rarely come to you - they're wary of the woods, since some people got lost there and some only returned after a week, almost driven mad. The forest is not some kind of god or deity, their mood changes with wind, and by the end of the day, they really don’t care who gets hurt, unless they’re in the mood to save you. Or if they’re in the mood to kill you, then there’s no escape.
You get ready for the day, putting your salves and tinctures in your basket to head out to the village - there's always someone who is hurt and who needs some kind of help. Plus, sometimes it's nice to just be around people - and around your people, since this village is not entirely human. There's a dwarf and an elf who live close by - you have no idea why they're here, especially since the elf comes from an important old family, she is not just a peasant. But you don't ask questions, and they don't ask you questions about your past.
You leave the forest at noon and walk to the village, enjoying the weather and the sun that warms you. Children see you and run towards you, putting their curious noses into your basket, so you spare some flower milk for them, since this is what they're looking for. They ramble about anyone who needs help and lead you to the houses. It's not a busy day, but you get stuck with an old lady whose back is hurting her.
“Wow.” You sigh when you feel the knots in her muscles. “What were you doing yesterday? Carrying rocks?”
“My grandson came to play. We ran around a bit, he jumped everywhere, such a naughty darling!” Mari laughs. “I felt like I was a young lass again.”
You chuckle at this and press at her muscles, releasing tension. Mari squeals and twitches in pain, but she is a tough lady, so you keep massaging her with a bit of magic to make her feel better.
You like lazy days - lazy days mean everyone is okay and you won't have to stand at another funeral: your magic is not some kind of miraculous cure, not for humans, anyway. It doesn't connect with them the way it connects with non-humans, so your help is still limited.
You go around, giving people some tinctures for the upcoming cold season - children are especially vulnerable during autumn, so you want to prevent their illnesses as best as you can.
The sun is slowly starting to set when you make it to Vi and Caitlyn’s house: it's on the edge of the village and it's odd. You don't know why, but looking at the clash of elven grace and dwarven coarseness makes you feel funny. It doesn't belong together, but then it does, and you always giggle when you visit them.
They're an odd pair as well: Caitlyn opens the door, elegant and tall, and hugs you.
“Oh, darling, I hope your day was easy on your heart.” Caitlyn speaks as if she only knows poetry, while...
“Well she doesn't look like shit today.” The short, buff Vi comes into your view and you laugh.
They don't belong together, but they do, and you can't help the flutter of your heart when you see Caitlyn caress Vi’s head gently, tracing her tattoos with her pretty fingers while Vi flexes her big biceps.
Caitlyn makes tea for you while Vi takes her special tincture (read: magic booze) from your basket.
“Best one yet, witch.” Vi smirks and sits next to you and Caitlyn. “Make me a few of them and I'll make you something nice.”
“Deal.” You do need a new dagger, and Vi is an amazing smith.
It's been a while since you visited them, so you spend the whole evening in their house, catching up, listening to Caitlyn's complaints - which they never sound like, because she is the most graceful person you know - and sharing your own struggles. Vi for the most part works in her workshop, but now and then she'd come and give you her thoughts as well.
You leave their house when the Moon is full and bright in the sky, and you make your way back to the forest.
They don't greet you this time, but you don't mind - the mood of the woods is not your business. You cast a spell that will lead you to the moon peppers and follow it carefully: you can see pretty well in the dark, but you don't want to fall with a full basket of elven treats and dwarven booze, and your new tunic from Mari.
Moon peppers - and they're not, in fact, peppers, they're flowers that look like peppers - are on the other end of the forest, and it takes you some time to finally get there, but you can't help your pleased gasp when you see them. The flowers shine in the moonlight, fully fluorescent - they're beautiful. You look up to the Moon and nod to her for her wonderful work.
You crunch in front of the bush and take your knife out, cutting the beautiful blooms - not only do they look nice, but moon peppers save the moon magic in them forever, and you can use them in truly powerful potions that can help with serious illnesses.
You cut almost all of the blooms when you hear rustling behind the bush, and you look curiously: usually it would be a hedgehog going on his way.
Then the bush gets separated in half and you freeze in terror.
You blink at the wolf.
The wolf blinks back.
You scramble to your feet, take your basket and start moving away slowly, not sure of the wolf's intentions. The eyes of the wolf are golden - it's a were - and it snarls at you, baring the sharp teeth.
Oh fuck no, you think as you swallow. Not fucking again.
The wolf growls and you don't need another cue, you run for your life - you don't know how lucid this werewolf is and you don't want to wait to find out; you have scars from the last encounter with a were and you're not eager to repeat it.
The wolf chases you, low growling is loud in your ears, but you know these woods and you pray they won't play you now as you run to your hut. Your lungs are on fire, but you only need to make it to the protective circle that the wolf won't be able to cross. The basket is clinking and you somehow make a spell to save the contents when you hear the wolf getting closer.
“Fuck off!” You yell, annoyed and terrified. “Leave me alone, wolf!”
The wolf just growls again and you hear it right behind you, so you send a pulse of magic to trip the wolf. It hurts, why the fuck does it hurt? You don't know and don't care right now, just running as fast as you can. You won't be able to take a werewolf in a fight - haven't been able for quite some time now - but you can slow it down. You hop over the branches like a trained horse, looking ahead and making shortcuts whenever you can, because your home is a long way from the moon peppers and your stamina is nothing compared to the stamina of a werewolf. The wolf however struggles to catch up, and you’re grateful - is it forest helping you or the wolf being stupid doesn’t matter.
You see the hut and speed up, crossing the line of your circle and immediately falling down on the ground, coughing out your own lungs. It takes a few seconds for the wolf to get to you, and it pounces - and even if you know it won't cross the circle, it's terrifying. You close your face instinctively and shriek in fear, but of course, nothing happens: the wolf smacks into the invisible wall and falls down. You use this moment to get up and run to your house, closing the door and casting a few spells just to be sure there's no weak spot in your shields. You walk to the window on your shaking legs, all covered in mud, and you look out. The wolf is circling your shields, growling and scraping the walls with its gigantic paws. It sees you and gets more aggressive, so you move away from the window and sit on the floor.
You're still panting, and even your shields don't make you feel better - last time the werebear broke them and maimed you until the forest actually intervened and dragged the bear away from you. It was nasty and took so long to heal, but the scarring was minimum - most of the injuries healed without a trace.
You calm down, your breathing is getting normal again, and you look at your basket with a bunch of moon peppers in it.
The wolf will not get away with it, you decide. You'll show it who is the boss here.
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I am never going to be over what the movies did with Steve and Tony's dynamic, because- listen, listen. The reason Civil War was (supposed to, it was kind of a hot mess) hit so hard in the comics was that these two were *best friends* and had been for decades of comic time. In the movies, they never are friends, so Civil War is just two colleagues who never really got on, and not the devastating tearing apart of a long-established friendship group.
Dude I literally burst out into like... outraged, furious laughter in the theater when Tony said, "I thought I was your friend?" because, umm, footage not fucking found?
I completely get and respect the comic readers here for whom Steve & Tony and Steve/Tony were, in fact, the best of friends! But the MCU never ever actually showed it.
To cram that line, which felt lifted from the comics, into the MCU was genuinely laughable. How could Tony possibly think he compares to what we've seen of Steve and Bucky's relationship, since childhood even if you don't ship them, as the only person Steve has left from his entire life pre-WWII? How could Tony possibly think he compares except through the lens of a galaxy sized ego and being totally self-involved to the exclusion of all else? How could any work colleague, since that's what they are at best when not outright antagonists to each other in the MCU, think they'd compare to a childhood friend in danger, that Tony is actively putting in danger? Who Tony is blaming for the death of his father despite the fact they've got piles of evidence that Bucky was a mind-controlled prisoner of war being actively tortured at the time?
It's literally staggering, it beggars belief that this line was uttered. And wildly enough, it's not even my least favorite line in Civil War. (That one goes to Vision's stupid fucking comment about how strength invites challenge, basically victim-blaming the superheroes for having villains, which only possibly makes any sense if you ignore Thor, the greater galaxy, all of the infinity stones, and basically every other part of the MCU timeline before Steve Rogers got the serum, Christ that line makes me mad.
Oh, and the line about Tony just handwaving signing the accords because their lawyers can fix it later as the most boneheaded line of insane privilege I've ever heard. Kids, never fucking sign something just because you can supposedly fix it later, christ it's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.)
ANYWAY, I have major beef with Civil War's logic. It never should have happened where it did in the MCU. Cap 3 should have been dedicated to its original plot before they found out RDJ was staying on in the MCU and they had the pieces to make Civil War (the original was the hunt for Bucky and an examination of Captain America's legacy through the lens of Bucky killing off the pretenders the US government set up to be him over the years, and I still weep that we never got it) But I do honestly, deeply, have sympathy for comic fans and why they're mad about the Steve and Tony friendship never actually appearing on screen in any meaningful way.
Civil War shouldn't have happened then. Civil War is a plot you run now, when you've got the rights to the X-Men and too many damn characters running amok. Civil War would be perfect now for pairing down some of the ballooning MCU nonsense. The cast was literally not big enough circa Cap 3 to make Civil War. And I'm eternally bitter that they pivoted away from the smaller-scale Cap-centric movie we should have had and instead made another Avengers movie in its name.
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Hunting Hearts NeteyamXF!Omaticaya Reader
WARNINGS: fluff, mention of death, a little hot at one point
WORDS: 715
*Once again, sorry for the mistakes
-Take a deep breath - one of Neteyam's hands rested on your waist, the other was on your hand wielding the bow. You could feel his hot breath on your neck and his chest behind your shoulders.
-Now align your posture-with one of his legs he slightly pushed the back of your knees
You took a long breath, feeling your lungs fill as you aimed a large arrow at a deer in the distance.
-Ready, shoot when you want
You breathed out silently before letting go of the arrow from your fingertips. It was fast, in a matter of seconds the deer was down, ruffling the grass and making various dying sounds.
They both rushed to meet the animal that was still sending signs of being alive. You took out your sharp knife and knelt next to the animal. Neteyam could see your shaking hand and the scared look in your eyes.
-I can do it if you don't feel ready
-It's ok, I can do it.
You slowly brought the knife closer to the animal's chest, where you knew its heart was, recited a thank you for the deer's life before driving your knife deep, ending the animal's pain.
-Okay, you did well-Neteyam approached you hugging your shoulders allowing you to rest your head on his neck, you couldn't help but shed some tears.
Life was the most sacred thing for you and it was the first time you had to take it away. But you were thankful that it was your Nate who was with you at that time.
They didn't know how long they had held each other, but honestly neither of them cared. The feeling of being so close to each other was enough to disconnect them both from the outside world.
When they finally broke apart they spent a long time looking into each other's amber eyes.
-You will be a great hunter - Nete stated very confidently, placing one of his hands on your cheek.
-How are you so sure? -you certainly didn't think you could make hunting the main job of your day
-Because you hunt my heart, as stealthy as a snake and as innocent as a dove
You felt how your cheeks warmed with his words, as sweet as he was.
-I see you- his tender eyes did not separate from yours while he pronounced those words spoken so low that he thought that perhaps you had not heard him.
-I see you - you answered in the same way, and from one moment to another everything made sense to you. How your heart raced every time he taught you how to use the bow and how his hands sweated every time they were so close. You perfectly understood the heat that surrounded your heart at that precise moment.
Neteyam took you by the bare waist and placed you on his lap, your legs on either side of his, he looked at you questioningly, almost asking for permission before kissing you. Very tender and deeply.
You felt his hands run down your back and legs, his soft hands touching every portion of your skin with each second that the kiss intensified.
You ran through his arms, strong and long, until you reached his neck and left your hands caressing the strands of hair at the bottom of his head.
They parted his lips and you could feel his wet kisses on your neck feeling his sharp teeth caress your collarbones. You released several sighs and light moans at the sensation.
On the other hand, you started kissing and biting Nete's ears, drawing several sighs from her as well.
At some point, you felt how his tails got tangled between them and new sensations began to fill your entire being.
When both of them ran out of air, they barely parted. Neteyam put his forehead against yours, he did not open her eyes when he spoke again.
-I swear to you, in front of the forest that surrounds us now, that neither war nor peace, nor chaos or tranquility, nor life nor death are going to separate me from you.
And while they kissed again, you wished with all your heart that his words were true.
#neteyam#avatar the way of water#avatar#avatar 2#fanfic#neteyam x reader#fluff#jeke sully#lo'ak#kiri#neytiri#tuktirey#the way of water#female reader#god dam im in love
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Obey me! but with the brothers having had always been demons, formed in kid/baby-form as manifestations of the seven deadly sins. Lucifer was raised as the right hand man of Diavolo, appointed the brother of Mammon, then Levi, then Asmo etc. etc.
A version where they are more depraved and dark than they otherwise would've been 'cause they were essentially raised in the outermost layer of hell (think VERY questionable morals, moves like uncanny valley characters, where Satan tears and rips beings apart in his fits of rage, they don't understand MC's sense of right and wrong). I wonder how Lucifer and his brother's dynamics would have been with each other, with Diavolo and Barbs growing up. Would Belphie still have hated Diavolo for his absolute authority? Would baby satan still have formed as a manifestation of Lucifer's wrath, again adding to his rage due to his circumstances?
Lilith based on mythology was described as the 'queen of demons'. If the story was somewhat compliant to that, imagine she fell into the Devildom after the whole 'fall-in-love-with-human shtick' and Diavolo fell in love/took pity on her, which the brothers didn't respect or understand at the time (why feel bad for someone who fell in love with a puny mortal?). The bitter parallels it would draw when they fall in love with MC years down the line.
Imagine that instead of just reincarnating her soul as a human, Dia REPLACED the soul of a human infant with hers (again, being very morally dubious). Maybe he saw it as an interesting experiment of sorts, to see if it would have any effect her human off-springs. He purposely kept an eye on her descendants (hence, mc being brought into the DD). Cunning, manipulative and conspiring Diavolo (Soo-won type character) omgomg
I want the brothers to legitimately handle otherworldly, gory demonic entities (think of that monster from nocturne of nightmares), sort political Devildom affairs, kill/mess around with humans instead of just sitting around attending the demon-equivalent of highschool! They're eons old for crying out loud, why subject yourself to 1000's of years of the Academy??? If anything, their attendance at RAD should be a refresher course that happens for 5 - 10 years once or twice every century or so.
AKA Obey Me! but more Devildom-centric, where the characters got to actually deliver their role in Diavolo's government, where Diavolo had ulterior motives making the exchange program (perhaps to instigate an uprising, an all-out war to overthrow the demon king?). Where the other characters are actually fleshed out instead of just meaningless plot-devices (Barbatos with his powers, Monsolo, Lilith, and etc. all had so much potential)!
Sorry I wrote a lot, this is just everything I hoped OM! would be.
NO OMG I think about this sometimes too!! like I know why they didn't do it but still can't help but wish for more
demons are often depicted as everything but sweet and kind, which is what we see in the game. dia would not be this golden retriever type character (although I love that) he's supposed to be the next king, so he would be much more devious as for lack of a better word. god i wish they explored barb so much more. like why are we brushing over him like he's part of the wall?? he's so powerful it's insane. I'm glad solomon is getting more of a spotlight in nightbringer but I hope they use it to its full extent. i also wish they explored the general worldbuilding more and made it feel more real, like there's stuff outside the relationships mc has with the named characters
i absolutely love the lilith queen of demons thing, like it makes sense as to why it was mc in specific. of course they would bring back someone that important to them over and over again
another thing that feels totally ignored is that it's hell!! most people there are there for a reason! while personally don't know where the line should be drawn for what counts as being a sinner or not, for a fact i know that mc would 100% be meeting murders down there, like actually terrible people.
you put this entire thing so wonderfully so i hope you don't mind if I incorporate aspects of this into my obey me as horror piece! like don't get me wrong I love my silly little demons but realistically they would be anything but silly lol
#obey me#obey me!#obey me satan#obey me asmo#obey me beel#obey me levi#obey me belphie#obey me lucifer#obey me mammon#UGH OBEY ME HORROR#love this anon#hope it hasn't been too long since this was sent in and that this anon is still around!!!!#omswd#obey me shall we date#obey me mc
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Pride
Masterlist
Summary: When hatred and pride speak louder, even a childhood love can fall apart.
Pairing: Senju Tobirama/Fem!Uchiha, Uchiha Madara/Fem!Uchiha
Word count: 2.6k
Overall warnings: angst, bittersweet ending
All characters belong to Naruto, and all rights are reserved to the original work whose author allowed me to translate it.
A/N: The lyrics come from this song. Whoever cried, raise your hand.
Please, leave your opinions and criticism in the comments.
posted on ao3
I was there, standing on top of that mountain where I could see the sunset that covered the village below with golden light. After so many battles, Konoha finally flourished in peace.
Peace that hadn’t existed in my heart for a long time since I met her: Alexia.
──
In the heart of the war between Senju and Uchiha, in the small moments when there was a truce, I, Tobirama, youngest son of the general of the Senju clan liked to get away from all that suffering for a while. During the day, I found a way to escape to the river, just to be able to see and hear the current that followed its path without caring about what happened on its banks. It just flowed.
And it was there, on one of those days, that I saw a little paper boat with a yellow flower inside going down through the crystal-clear water, and then one more and another. Like the curious child that I was, I went up the river in the opposite direction of the boats, until I saw her.
A little girl with long, black hair messed up by the wind. She was kneeling on the riverbank and placing paper boats with colorful flowers in the water one by one, while her black eyes watched them move away. Until her eyes fell on me, and we stood staring without saying anything on either side of the river. Then, she got up, smiled at me and disappeared into the forest.
──
Without realizing it, a soft smile curved my lips as I remembered that day. How the silent meeting of two children could change so much.
──
After that meeting, I went to the river more often, wanting to see her again. But it was weeks before I saw the little boats go down the current once again. I found her in the same place and this time, I walked over and crouched down next to her.
“Why do you do it?” I asked.
She looked at me with those dark orbs, smiled and responded as if it were the simplest thing in the world.
“Because I think it’s beautiful.”
I saw her pick up another little boat with a red flower and place it in my hand. I quickly put it in the water and saw it go away down the river. I smiled without realizing it.
“See? It’s so pretty,” she said and looked at me again. “I’m Alexia. And you?”
“Tobirama,” I replied, hiding my surname, because during the war it wasn’t wise to say it to strangers and apparently, she knew that as she didn’t say hers either.
We stayed there talking for hours, without ever saying where we came from, until I heard my brother Hashirama calling me from inside the forest. I went home but not before making her promise that we would see each other again, right there.
The months passed and as the war worsened, our meetings began to become rarer, until she never appeared again.
──
I felt a lonely tear run down my face. Even though we were just children, the loss of my first love hurt a lot.
But I moved on with my life, and during the following years, thanks to the war, I didn’t have much time to rummage through the past. Until...
──
Until, at the peak of my 21 st year, I became the second-best ninja in my clan, second only to my older brother.
Even though the years passed, and I became a man, I still had the childhood habit of going to the river.
That day, I bent down to wash my face in the cool water, and I felt my heart speed up when I saw a little paper boat with a pink flower touch my hand.
I ran as fast as I could, going upstream and I saw her... she was there and looked at me as if she was waiting for me.
Her black hair, now longer, swayed in the breeze. Her body, that was once small and thin, had become beautiful and curvy. She was a woman now, but her eyes, oh those dark eyes, were still the same ones that haunted my memories.
I approached, and the only thing I could say was her name.
“Alexia...”
Without knowing why, or without caring if I was going to be rejected, I kissed her. That old childhood love turned into an urgent desire to erase all that longing that I had stored deep within my being. Alexia responded to me with passion. She seemed to feel the same thing as me, and she wanted to make up for all the lost time.
We pulled away from each other with difficulty, but the feeling of being complete surrounded us like a golden aura. We didn’t need to say anything to know that time hadn’t changed the feelings of the two children.
We talked and kissed for hours on end, until we heard sounds coming from the forest, and before I knew it, she broke away from my embrace, looking me in the eyes and said:
“Tobirama, I need to tell you something very important.” Her face became serious. “Meet me here tomorrow night. Please don’t miss it.”
I nodded and let her go.
I didn’t know that conversation would change my entire life.
──
The night of our meeting had arrived. I managed to leave without being seen by my brother and went towards the agreed location. My hands were sweating, and my heart was racing with every step I took. I thought what I felt years ago was a child’s thing, but the closer I got, the more I knew I was madly in love with that woman. When I arrived, she was already there waiting for me, her gaze fixed on the waters of the river. She seemed sad and that made me worried.
“Alexia, are you alright?” I asked and without waiting for an answer, I hugged her.
Feeling her warm body pressed against mine, the kiss was inevitable. It started out soft, but when she opened the way for our tongues to mee, I could no longer resist. We made love right there, on the riverbank, listening to the water run and taking our secret with it.
Leaning on my body, I heard her soft cry and little by little, hot tears touched my chest, making me look at her.
“What happened? Did I hurt you?” I said with concern.
“That’s not it,” she got up and started to dress up. “This shouldn’t have happened. Not without telling you first.”
“Telling me what?” I started to worry even more, seeing her crying.
“I know who you are, Tobirama Senju,” she whispered between tears, emphasizing the word ‘senju’. “And I... I am... Alexia Uchiha.”
My heart almost stopped when I heard her say her full name. It couldn’t be true. It couldn’t... the girl I loved since I was a child, the girl I loved there, on the riverbank, was from that damn clan that had been at war with my family and friends for years. I looked at that familiar and now strange face for several moments, until she broke the deadly silence that hung on us.
“I wanted to tell you sooner, but I was afraid,” she took a step towards me. “Say something, Tobirama.”
“Alexia... Uchiha...” I could only repeat her name, still not believing that joke of fate.
She got closer to me, and with her trembling hand she tried to touch me, but my body involuntarily took a step back, avoiding the contact.
“Please, say something,” her voice was already starting to get exasperated with my silence. “Say that this doesn’t change anything. Say that you love me. Say that everything will be alright. Just say... say it and I will wait for you.”
But I didn’t say it. Even though my heart was screaming like crazy inside my chest, I didn’t say the words that she wanted to hear. I couldn’t.
I caught a glimpse of her beautiful eyes fading with the tears that came flooding back before she left.
──
When I found out who that little boy was in the river, I knew I had to stay away for my safety and his. However, the war helped me maintain my decision. I was sent to another village along with other women and children who could not fight. But fate found a way to bring us together again many years later. I wanted to see him, see how he grew up and try to make possible that childish love that I always carried in my chest, despite the situation.
An Uchiha and a Sunju. It seemed like a joke, but I didn’t care. I wanted to fight for that feeling.
But...
But my hope faded that night, after we made love. He ran away from my touch like running away from a venomous snake when he learned the truth. I saw the hurt in his eyes, and anger. I was willing to face everything and everyone for us, I just needed to hear him say it. But the words didn’t come.
──
After that fateful night, I still hadn’t given up on us. Maybe he just needed some time to put his thoughts in order, maybe there was still hope. But I was wrong.
Every day that followed, I went to the riverbank and one by one, I placed the little paper boats with flowers in the current and watched them slowly descend into the clear waters, waiting to hear his footsteps on the gravel. The long-awaited steps never came.
And every time, I cried. But this time, I held back the tears and noticed that someone placed a coat over my shoulders and spoke to me in a soft voice.
“Alexia, what are you doing here?” he said in a worried smile. “It’s getting cold. Let’s go before you get sick."
I looked at him as I stood up. His long, black hair was tousled because of the wind, which I didn’t even realize was blowing strongly, and his dark eyes, so similar to mine, stood out from the strong, beautiful face that smiled at me. Madara Uchiha, the new leader of the clan. I had known him for a long time, but only at that moment did I really pay attention to him. I took one last look at the waters of the river and followed him back home.
──
That image of Alexia waiting for me, words I didn’t say and the sadness in her eyes, the plea in her voice haunted my thoughts.
Every day I went to the river, and I saw, day after day, the little paper boats going down the river. I knew they were for me, that she was waiting for me just behind that curve. But my pride prevented me from going there and taking her in my arms and never letting her go.
Another little boat came down and came closer to my feet, and before I could pick it up, it sank and dissolved in the water. I didn’t know why, but that image made me cry. Nevertheless, I still didn’t go after her.
──
A year has passed since that day, and there have never been any paper boats for me on the river again.
Same bed, but it feels just a little bit bigger now
Our song on the radio, but it don’t sound the same
When our friends talk about you, all it does is just tear me down
‘Cause my heart breaks a little when I hear your name
It all just sounds like ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
And as the world loves to play tricks, that same year the battle between the Senju and Uchiha clans ended, beginning an alliance that led to the founding of Konoha. If I had said something, if I had waited...
Mm, too young, too foolish to realize
That I should have bought you flowers and held your hand
Should have gave you all my hours when I had the chance
Take you to every party ‘cause all you wanted to do was dance
Now my baby’s dancing, but she’s dancing with another man
But I hadn’t said anything, I hadn’t waited, and I lost her. Now, we live in the same village, our families are no longer enemies and there is no more war. But it’s too late for us.
My pride, my ego, my needs, and my selfish ways
Caused a good strong woman like you to walk out of my life
Now I never, never get to clean up the mess I made, oh
And that haunts me every time I close my eyes
It all just sounds like ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
I see her almost every day, but her eyes don’t look at me anymore and her smile doesn’t shine for me. Now, another man holds her hand, another man is the owner of her look and the reason for her smile.
Mm, too young, too foolish to realize
That I should have bought you flowers and held your hand
Should have gave you all my hours when I had the chance
Take you to every party ‘cause all you wanted to do was dance
Now my baby’s dancing, but she’s dancing with another man
Although it hurts
I’ll be the first to say that I was wrong
Oh, I knw I’m probably much too late
To try and apologize for my mistakes
But I just want you to know
I could see him day after day gluing together, piece by piece, Alexia’s heart, which I broke. Healing her wings, which I hurt, and giving her the love that, out of pride, I couldn’t give.
I hope he buys you flowers, I hope he holds you hand
Give you all his hours when he has the chance
Take you to every party
‘Cause I remember how much you loved t dance
Do all the things I would have done
When I was your man
And today, I’m here, at the top of this mountain. Down there, I can hear the happy laughter and the music that rose up to me.
It was Alexia’s wedding, my Alexia... I lost her the moment I was too weak to say I loved her.
My life ended there, on the edge of that river. Those waters witnessed who foolish I was, how my hatred and my pride took from me the woman I loved my entire life.
The sun had already set on the horizon and the stars were beginning to emerge in the dark blue sky. That was when I noticed someone approaching, a servant, who handed something into my hand that made my heart skip a beat.
It was a paper boat with a white flower. My eyes clouded with the threat of tears, until I saw that there seemed to be something written on the paper. I unfolded the little boat and read the words that seemed a little shaky.
‘Tobirama,
I want you to know that despite what happened between us, I have no regrets. On the contrary, you will always be in my heart, as my first love. It’s a shame that it’s too late for both of us, but I wish from the bottom of my soul that you find someone, and that you don’t let your pride speak louder than your love again. Be happy.
Alexia.’
As I read that, my fists clenched the paper tightly and the little flower fell apart on the floor. And I couldn’t hold it back any longer. I fell on the ground and cried, cried until my eyes had no more tears to cry.
I cried for the lost love. I cried for the future without Alexia. I cried for the regret of not having said the words she expected to hear. And I cried even more for having my heart in pieces while my pride remained whole.
#senju tobirama#oneshot#songfic#romance#warring states period#madara uchiha#uchiha oc#tobirama x reader#tobirama x oc#translation#konoha#sad ending#oc#i wrote this while listening to ABBA#madara x oc#madara x reader
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What are heaven will be mine & coquette dragoon?
oh my goodness, thank you for asking!! the short answer: they are incredibly good visual novels that I highly recommend, especially if you're a fan of mecha, sci-fi, great world building, yuri, and generally just amazing art created by transfems
long answer:
heaven will be mine (aside from being where I got my url) is the second VN made by worst girls games, best known for their first outing, we know the devil (also an absolutely amazing game). hwbm tends to ask a bit more from the reader than its predecessor- while wktd almost exclusively featured three characters and dealt with rather plainly stated themes of alienation, loneliness, and religious trauma, hwbm presents a setting cloaked in metaphor where human will literally shapes the universe and psychic mech pilots read spacetime like a narrative.
the cast is bigger, with the three routes allowing insight into each of the three main girls in addition to members of the factions they belong to, all in service of a beautiful story about queer people connecting with each other and finding/making their place in a world that would want to deny them their happiness (and a lot of other things, but I'm simplifying some here). begging to be replayed over and over, i've had different characters and details stick out every time ive played through the game, while also gaining a deeper understanding of and appreciation for hwbm's characters and setting. I've loved hwbm and wktd for years and expect I will for years and years to come, which, incidentally, is why I got a pair of tattoos based on these games LMAO. in other words: they're fucking fantastic and hit like few other things out there, imo
coquette dragoon is one of those other things, because holy shit does it excel at hitting incredibly specific and relatable emotional beats that are liable to absolutely tear you apart. created by ivy burgeroise, who (by her own fantastic description) makes art for sad perverts, coquette takes place during a seemingly endless war between the lilac fleet and the duchy of lucia, two spacefaring societies inhabited by animal people who have very differing opinions on magic.
focusing (so far) on xiomara rosales of the lilac and lady honey rose of the duchy, coquette explores painfully human stories from both sides of the war. (to that point, I'd be remiss if I didn't advise you to look out for the content warnings- coquette gets into some very heavy stuff and speaks about it very frankly and honestly, which is to its credit imo but i also understand that that is not something that everyone is in a space to deal with.) more than anything else, I feel, coquette is a work that puts words to feelings that you'd never before been able to describe, and, through the vulnerability of its author in making something so emotionally honest, makes me want to be more openly and happily myself. all of this in a story that examines war, exploitation, and the societal structures that prop them up, among many, many, many other things. I could keep talking in circles gushing about it, because I am so so obsessed with what's been released so far and so indescribably excited to see how it progresses in the future, but to keep myself from going on for too too long i'll cap this off with a tweet about coquette that i frequently think of and is one of the best recommendations I can offer:
OH and also coquette has wibbleburger, which, as we all know, is your favorite
#(the joke is that wibbleburger's slogan is ''it's your favorite'' i am not arbitrarily deciding what is or isn't your favorite)#anyways. i dont know how else to say this but theyre both absurdly good and make me cry a bunch#heaven will be mine#hwbm#coquette dragoon
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Letters to My Love // Part III
Blue Moon
Series Masterlist
Pairing: Bob Floyd x Female Reader
Summary: When you signed up to volunteer with the USO, you never anticipated that you would meet a man like Ensign Robert Floyd. Fate brings you together one balmy spring evening in Charleston—the night before Bob is set to ship off across the Atlantic. Pen and paper become your only means of sharing your heart with the naval aviator who’s captivated it, igniting a correspondence that spans the distance between you. Can love blossom even as war rages and thousands of miles keep you apart?
Word Count: 2.8k
Author’s Note: I’m making a serious effort to be as historically accurate as possible in each of these letters, but I also realize that I may reference things that some people are unfamiliar with or confused about. I’d be happy to answer any questions about the time period if you have them!
Set the Mood: If you’re looking for some 1940s vibes, check out the playlist I made to pair with the story!
Song(s) referenced in this chapter: Chattanooga Choo Choo // Blue Moon
Dedication: As always, dedicated to my sweet friend, @luminousnotmatter, as well as everyone who has offered such lovely support for this series!
Warnings: Alternating POV, references to war and its impact, allusions to rationing, plenty of fluff.
July 6, 1942
Dear Peach,
Is it alright if I call you Peach? I suppose being in and around the Navy for as long as I have, I’ve become sort of used to the notion of nicknames. We’ve got one for everyone around here, and Peach just seems to suit you. I admit, it’s how I’ve come to think of you. But if you don’t like it—or if it seems too familiar for me to be calling you a silly nickname—you let me know right away and I’ll be sure not to do it again.
Gosh, I can’t tell you how happy it made me to receive your letter. Mail Call is always a good day—you should see the smiles around here when the fellas get letters from their sweethearts and families. But it felt a hundred times better the day I got your letter. Benny was about ready to tear it out of my hands and open it himself, and Tommy Boy wasn’t too far behind. Paul practically had to knock their heads together so that I could have a little peace. I kept it in my pocket and saved it to read until after dinner that night. Let me tell you, it was certainly sweeter than any dessert they could cook up in the mess (although, admittedly, their dessert could use some work, even on a good day).
I’m sorry that it took me so long to write back. You wouldn’t believe this, Peach, but they’ve really got us working hard over here. It’s almost like there’s a war on or something.
I’m sorry, was that a terrible thing to say? I don’t mean to make light of it. None of us do. But I think we’ve found that if we look for a little bit of levity every now and then, it makes this whole thing a bit easier to bear. We haven’t been here long, but we’ve already seen and heard things we’d rather not remember. So we look for the good where we can find it—like Mail Call, when we get special letters from lovely girls back home, just like you.
To answer your question, I’m doing just fine. I suppose I won’t try to get one past the Office of Censorship this time around, but we’re still in the same region of Europe and expect to be so for the foreseeable future. I wish that I could paint you a beautiful picture of what life is like here, but it’s rather bleak at the moment. You can still see the pockets of beauty though—I’m sure it was a wonderful place before this war. I hope that one day, it will be again.
But I’m sure you don’t want to hear me ramble on about the sad state of the world right now. Should we talk about something happier? How was your Fourth of July? I hope it was swell. I admit, my mouth was watering a bit the other day when I thought about all the things my mother always makes to celebrate. I’ll never know how she manages to get it all done, but she prepares a feast for us every year. My favorite part has to be her apple cobbler—drop a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, and I swear, it’s heaven. All of us were missing home a little extra this Independence Day, so we ended up swapping stories of home and all the ways our families celebrate. I have to say, it did help to dull some of the homesickness. Tommy Boy had us all dreaming about parades marching through town, and Benny couldn’t stop talking about his mother’s berry icebox cake. We made him promise that when this is all over, he’ll have us as dinner guests so that we can sample it for ourselves. Do you have any special Fourth of July traditions?
Speaking of families and traditions, I’m so glad to hear that Paddy, Dottie, and little Frankie are doing well. Although I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting your sister, from everything you’ve told me, it does sound like Paddy has found his perfect match. She sounds like a woman who can certainly keep him on his toes. By the way, please let Paddy know that we all played a rousing game of Rummy in his honor. We look forward to getting to play with him again when we get home.
Gosh, there’s just so much I want to say. But it’s kind of hard, isn’t it? Knowing the right things to say, I mean. I’ve always been kind of amazed at how eloquent people’s letters can be. Mine sort of just end up coming out like a jumbled mess. It’s like I want to tell you everything that crosses my mind—as if we were sitting on that bench together on King Street—but I can’t think of a proper way to do it. So I apologize now if this letter is horribly scatter-brained and messy. I’ll try my very best to be more organized in the future.
What I do have to tell you—and I should have said it earlier—is how much I appreciated your lovely description of your day back in Charleston. Unfortunately, it was rainy and gray here the day I received your letter, but reading your words made it feel as though the warm southern sunshine had been delivered right to us. I hope you don’t mind, but I read that part of your letter to some of the other fellas. They really appreciated it. They’re also very grateful to know that you’re thinking of us and wishing us all the best. So am I. It gives us the boost we need when the days get hard.
Nothing would make me happier than the thought of you saving a dance for me. Maybe next time, I’ll even get to hear that pretty singing voice of yours. I know you said I couldn’t be certain that you were a good singer because you were just humming, but trust me—I know. We listen to music over here sometimes when we’re able, but I do admit it’d be much more fun to be listening to it at another USO dance. Sometimes I’ll hear a song that played that night, and it makes me smile.
Anyway, they’re calling us now, and I should probably stop running my mouth so much. It’s funny—I’ve never been much of a talker (just ask Paul), but with you, I feel like I could write pages and pages, and it still wouldn’t be enough.
I hope this letter hasn’t bored you to tears, and I do hope to hear from you again soon. Thanks for sending along the sunshine.
Sincerely Yours,
Bobby
July 22, 1942
Dear Bobby,
Peach is just fine! It’s lovely, in fact. I’ve never had a nickname just for me before, so that one makes me feel quite special. On top of that, it’s also officially Dottie-approved. She insists she only happened to glance over and “accidentally” catch sight of the beginning of your letter, but I think she may have just been snooping. See? I told you she’d get on wonderfully with Benny and Tommy Boy.
Mail Call sounds like a wonderful day for all of you. The USO has been reminding us how important letter writing can be. They’ve been saying how much it boosts morale for our boys overseas, and clearly they were right. I’m touched that my letter seemed to mean so much. If it really does brighten your day, then I’d be happy to write hundreds of letters. I’m not so sure my words are really sweeter than ice cream or pie, but I will try my hardest.
You don’t have to apologize! I can only begin to imagine what it must be like for you over there. As happy as I am to receive your letters and to know that you’re doing alright, I understand that it may take a while for you to be able to write me. And you most certainly don’t need to apologize for trying to do what you can to preserve your peace of mind. My heart breaks to think what you and your friends, and all the other men over there fighting, have already seen and experienced. They say war is hell, and I absolutely believe it. I could never dream of being even half as brave as you are, Bobby. I mean that. If your heart ever feels heavy with all the burdens you have to carry, please know that you can lay it down with me. I’m more than happy to listen. I know that I won’t have all the answers—who does?—but I’ll always try my hardest to help you carry the load as best I can.
I’ve never been to Europe before, but my parents went to Paris for their honeymoon back in 1916, and my mother still talks about how beautiful and magical it was. It makes me so sad to think that countries that were once so full of life and art and beauty and culture have been reduced to war-torn husks. Like you, I have hope that one day very soon, this horrible war will be behind us and all those wonderful places will be filled with magic once more. And maybe one day in the future, I’ll get to travel there. I’d like that very much.
My Fourth of July was very nice! I have to admit, reading about your mother’s apple cobbler and Benny’s mother’s icebox cake had MY mouth watering. There must just be something about mothers because my mama also LOVES baking up a storm to celebrate Independence Day. One of her favorite desserts to make is—can you believe it?—peach tarts! Maybe we can convince our mothers to swap recipes.
This is the first Fourth of July that I haven’t celebrated with my parents back home in Georgia, but Paddy, Dottie, Frankie, and I had a wonderful day. It was Frankie’s first, so we took him to the parade in town, though I think he would have been more than happy to stay home. Poor baby is teething, and he’s been downright miserable some days. I’m sure Paul knows what that’s like, and I’m sure Natasha is dealing with the same with Paul, Jr. right now. It’s hard to watch him suffer—I know it just about kills Dottie.
Speaking of Dottie, she was rather upset that her baking plans got a bit derailed by our ration cards. I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but sugar is being rationed now. We pooled together as many ration cards as we could save, but there’s been such a demand for it that there was hardly any to be found. We settled on a simple pound cake with strawberries, which Dottie wasn’t happy about, but Paddy made sure to cheer her up by making a big show about how it was the best pound cake he’d ever tasted. Personally, I do think it could have used more sugar, but please don’t tell Dottie that I said that.
Thankfully, Frankie took a good nap that day, so he was in much better spirits by the time the fireworks went off. We went down by the water to watch them, and he was mesmerized. I enjoyed them, too, but it felt sort of strange to be having such a nice day when I thought of you and all the other men who have gone off to fight for us. It felt wrong somehow to be celebrating as though there wasn’t a terrible war waging halfway across the world, a war that’s been taking more and more of our men every day. But Paddy helped to put it into perspective for me slightly. He said that the men who are over there fighting—men like you, Bobby—are doing so precisely so that the rest of us can enjoy these freedoms. He said that, if it were him, he’d be happy to know that we were safe and still getting the chance to celebrate our independence. Was he right, Bobby? I hope it doesn’t feel like rubbing salt in a wound, me telling you about our Fourth of July.
Can I tell you something? I think Paddy’s been having a hard time wrestling with the fact that his job allows him to remain stateside during the war. I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but I heard him and Dottie sitting up in the kitchen one night, talking. I think he feels a bit guilty, being a part of the Navy, but not having to go fight the same way you all are. Dottie has been trying so hard to reassure him, but I noticed that he’s been working even longer hours now—he wants to do whatever he can for the war effort, and to help bring you boys home as quickly as he can. That’s what we’re all hoping for.
I have to admit, I giggled a little bit when I read the part of your letter about feeling like what you write is a jumbled mess. I feel the same. It’s a little tricky to have a conversation on paper, isn’t it? It’s much easier when you’re sitting face to face. Tell you what? I’ll forgive your messiness, if you forgive mine. Does that sound like a deal?
Oh, I’m so glad to hear that the talk of sunshine made you happy, even on a gray and rainy day. And I’m happy that your friends enjoyed it, too. Would you say hello to Paul for me? I’m not sure if he even remembers me, but I’m still so grateful for his kindness at the dance. Maybe say hi to Tommy Boy and Benny for me, too? Even though I haven’t met them officially, I feel like I know them so well through your stories about them.
I’m not sure about where you are, but it’s brutally hot here in Charleston now. Still sunny though, so I’m picturing scooping some of it up and sending it your way. Unless we have errands to run, Dottie and I have been staying mainly inside with the baby. I know we’re supposed to be conserving as much power as possible, but Dottie doesn’t care a fig if there’s a war on when it’s this hot—she’s got all the fans running on full blast. I hope wherever you are, you’re able to keep cool.
I have to say, Ensign Floyd, you really are going to give me a big head one of these days. I assure you that I am not as talented a singer as you seem to think I am, but perhaps I’d be willing to sing along to one song at the next dance we attend. But you have to promise not to laugh when you discover I’m terrible at it. Humming, I promise you, is very different from singing.
Now that I’m on the topic of music, however, I wanted to mention that every time Dottie puts on one of her Glenn Miller records, I think of you and your mother. I know you said she was a big Glenn Miller fan, and I like to think that maybe somewhere in Iowa, she’s listening to “Chattanooga Choo Choo,” same as us.
Just last night, while we were cleaning the kitchen, Dottie and I were listening to the radio and “Blue Moon” came on. Do you know that one? The Al Bowlly song? I think he has such a lovely voice. Anyway, I was listening to the song while I was washing the dishes and it got me thinking about the moon. Gosh, that sounds so silly now that I actually write it out. But it’s true. I was thinking about the moon, and it struck me that the moon that was shining down on me was the same moon that was shining down on you. Even though I don’t even know exactly where in the world you are, when I look up at the moon at night, I can be sure that it’s the very same moon that you’re looking at. I don’t know, maybe it’s silly, but it kind of brought me some comfort. Does that sound horribly hokey? I’m sorry if it does. Maybe if it doesn’t strike you as too terribly sentimental, you can share it with Paul the next time he’s feeling down about missing Natasha and the kids. This war might be keeping us all apart, but at night, when we look up at the moon, we can remember that we’re not so far apart as it seems.
Your letter certainly didn’t bore me to tears, Bobby. On the contrary, it made my day. Now I just hope that MY letter doesn’t bore YOU to tears. Maybe when all this is over, you and I will feel more confident in our letter-writing abilities. I certainly do hope that’s the case.
Stay safe, Bobby. Sending you all my very best.
Sincerely,
Peach
#robert bob floyd#robert floyd#bob floyd#bob floyd x reader#x reader#x female reader#top gun#top gun: maverick#lewis pullman#WWII AU#1940s AU
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One Piece Shipping War - Round 2 Side A
JinBrook art by @r0ttkins. Check out the full piece here.
Propaganda under the cut.
Propaganda for Yorki x Brook
They are married. Have adopted a giant baby whale as their child. Had a tearful goodbye where one was dying and showed only the other the pain they were feeling. They were captain and first mate.
Why Oda why? ;(
That moment when Yorki's ill on his bed, but he's still laughing and telling the crew to be happy, but the moment Brook's the only other one in the room they both go to pieces? That's what fucking gets me.
Propaganda for Jinbe x Brook:
both old, both former captains, both smoke, both got big tiddies (YES! I VOTED FOR BROOK IN THE BEST TITS POLL!! HIS BIG BLUE HUSBAND IS SO PROUD OF HIM!!! *that husband being Jinbe, not Franky, but I can see the confusion)
Jinbe is a whale shark fishman. Brook loves whales. Whale sharks are, however, *sharks* but with no visible teeth, yet Jinbe looks like an orc............ but all is well. Brook thank he cute~
Straw Hat old guys snuggling up with a couple of "Best Uncle" mugs~
Ok hear me out, they both used to be pirate captain, they both watched their old captain die, they're both very silly despite being the oldest in the crew, their birthdays are one day apart, and most importantly I love them both very much. I just think that despite seemingly being so different they would understand each other really well. Also you can't tell me their dynamic wouldn't be really cute and fun.
they understand what it's like to not be a regular "human" like the rest of the crew.... also they have amazing fashion sense togther!!
they're the oldest strawhats, the most polite to an extent, and I just think they're cute
I could reference the recent stream from facefullabugs but goddamnit cant a man just like seeing some badass big guy use pole man as a spear its all i needed in life.
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twilight zone (1/3)
summary: when you and steve get trapped in the upside down, you work together to survive.
pairing: steve harrington x henderson!sister reader
title 🎵: twilight zone by golden earring
word count: ~1k
a/n: while i was outling this fic, i realized it was getting pretty long so i decided to split it into 3 parts 🩷🩷🩷
part 2 ->
Everything happened so fast…
It all started when you thought that you had a lead in tracking down Vecna. You believed that gates to the Upside Down were opened at each spot Vecna kills his victims. So you and Steve decided to follow your hunch. You took Dustin’s compass and a boat out to Lover’s Lake, where Patrick died, to investigate if your theory was accurate.
You and Steve stopped rowing after the compass started acting haywire. Steve volunteered to go into the water to check it out. When he resurfaced, he told you that he found a small gate. Your theory was right! But before you had time to celebrate this little win in the big war, Steve got abruptly pulled underwater. It was horrifying to watch, like a moment in Jaws came to life.
“STEVE!” you scream frantically.
Without thinking, you dive into the water to help your boyfriend.
Steve is dragged into the Upside Down by the creature that pulled him underwater. Once Steve makes it through the gate, the creature lets go of its tight grip around his ankle.
Steve breathes heavily, trying to catch his breath after being underwater. He rises to his feet and takes a look around.
“Shit,” Steve curses to himself.
He hears the sounds of electricity sparking, thunder rumbling in the distance, and then-
“Steve!”
Your boyfriend turns to see you rushing toward him. His jaw drops when he sees you. When Steve was in trouble, you jumped in the water after him. If that’s not love, Steve doesn’t know what is.
“Y/N!”
As soon as you reach Steve, you pull him into a big hug.
“Holy shit! When you got pulled down….I thought I lost you…” you tell him breathlessly.
Steve hugs you back tightly.
“I’m alright,” he softly assures you, then looks you up and down, “Are you okay?”
You nod and then let out a deep breath, finally taking in your surroundings. Your eyes widen as you look around the Upside Down. It’s like Hawkins but it’s colder, darker, and much more sinister.
“Toto… I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore,” you joke in an attempt to lighten the mood.
Suddenly, sounds of shrieking and squawking can be heard in the distance. You and Steve both turn your heads to see a swarm of demobats flying right towards you.
“Oh fuck!” you gasp.
Steve quickly scans your surroundings and notices an Upside Down version of the little rowboat you used to get to the middle of Lover’s Lake. The boat has two paddles. Steve grabs them both and hands one off to you.
You and Steve raise your paddles like weapons, readying yourself for the oncoming threat.
WOOSH
The demobats start swarming around you and Steve. The two of you smack them away with the paddles. You try to stay as close to one another as possible but you eventually break away from each other to fight your own little battles.
You’re able to hold your own pretty well. While repeatedly hitting one of the demobats over and over again, part of your wooden paddle breaks off into a sharp edge. You take advantage and start using it like a knife. Instead of swatting the demobats away, you stab them. You pierce holes through their chest, killing them instantly.
Meanwhile, Steve is fighting off demobats left and right. One of the bats extends its tail and wraps it around Steve’s neck, choking Steve and causing him to drop his paddle. Steve grunts as he pulls the tail away from his neck. Steve keeps hold of the demobat’s tail and repeatedly smashes the creature into the ground. Then he steps on the bat’s chest and tears its body apart. A panting Steve tosses half of the demobat’s body behind him and spits out some blood as thunder booms in the background.
And then, just as quickly as they came, you and Steve watch as most of the demobats suddenly fly away. A few of the creatures stay behind and circle around the gate, effectively blocking it off.
“There’s not that many. We can take ‘em. Right?” Steve wonders aloud.
SQUAWK
In the distance, more demobats start to converge. Your heart drops. Those bats weren’t leaving the fight, they were getting more back up. You and Steeve need to get out of here immediately.
You take Steve’s hand.
“C’mon!”
You and Steve run as fast as you can into the nearby woods. You don’t stop running until you reach the Upside Down version of Skull Rock. You both need a moment to catch your breath.
After a beat, you look Steve up and down. Before he dove into the water to take a look at the gate, he took his shirt and shoes off. You can’t let him navigate the Upside Down in nothing but a pair of sweatpants. You take off your sweatshirt, which was actually one of Steve’s old sweatshirts before he gave it to you, and toss it over to him.
“As much as I enjoy watching you walk around shirtless, you look like you need this more than me.”
Steve gives you an appreciative look.
“Thanks Y/N.”
You wink cutely at Steve. He smiles to himself and puts on the sweatshirt.
Then the earth abruptly starts shaking. Steve wraps a protective arm around you and tries his best to keep hold of the rock. You both cling on to each other until the shaking stops. You can hear creatures baying and snarling in the distance.
“We need to find another gate to get out of here. There’s no way we can use Lover’s Lake,” you tell Steve.
Your boyfriend nods in agreement.
“I think the next closest gate is Eddie’s trailer, where Chrissy died,” you say.
“Yeah, but that’s like 15 miles away,” Steve shrugs.
You sigh. Ooof. That’s going to be a long walk! Unfortunately, it might be the only other way out of the Upside Down. You have to get to Eddie’s trailer. But first, you and Steve should stock up on supplies to prepare for the journey ahead.
“My house isn’t too far from here. We can go there to pick up anything we might need before heading to Eddie’s trailer,” you suggest.
“Good idea,” Steve nods.
“Let’s go.”
#stranger things#steve harrington#stranger things fanfic#steve harrington fanfic#steve harrington imagine#steve harrington x reader#steve harrington x henderson!sister reader
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Tenya being the guy who buys all the baby books so he can help with Teddy. Who seriously questions Tsu or anyone in the room about their siblings. Tenya who proudly shows picture after picture after picture and videos of Teddy changing his hair or eyes or whatever. (Izuku being the nicest of the class about it but even he debates about shoving him out a window once it’s been five minutes)
Tenya sitting through classes about PTSD for his soulmate. Learning how to cook for him. Learning about magic and deciding: alright then imma learn everything.
Harry who will tear apart AFO for Tenya so no more tears come. Who has Hizashi by his side (Hizashi with a broken mark who sobs when being near Kurogiri makes it whole again) trying to help.
Harry and Tenya getting to know each other. Long walks in the park. Ice cream dates. Both playing with Teddy.
(Harry who whispers to Izuku whom had a mark that shone when Shigaraki was around of a girl who’d had a diary and her mark was to bright. Who had to move on)
… this got away from me
Tenya who cries when Teddy changes his hair to dark blue rather than its normal cotton candy blue for the first time. Who offers to babysit so Harry can get some much needed rest when Hizashi is out on patrol and Harry can’t let his guard down because that would leave Teddy unprotected. Who took a page out of Izuku’s book and carries around a notebook or notebooks where he jots down information of psychology or child rearing whenever he can. Who pushes himself even harder in his training to make sure Harry isn’t put in a place that will hurt him so badly again. who swears to be the hero so Harry is free to live a life of comfort and safety like he has never been able to.
Tenya who puts two and two together and asks Harry if his quirk isn’t a quirk and comforts him through the following panic attack. Who proves each and every day that he doesn’t see Harry’s magic as something other or freakish. Who further proves, even after he learns about Harry’s fame and the blood on his hands to get it, that he still sees Just Harry.
Harry who holds Tenya as he shatters in the hallway of a hospital, his magic making the lights flicker as he tries to breathe through the rage that someone hurt one of his people. That by hurting them he also hurt Tenya. Harry who is stopped at the door by an all too knowing Hizashi who makes him sit and think it through (he wasn’t alone anymore. Didn’t have to run half cocked to certain doom. He had people, adults, who would listen to him, help him, and would watch his back.) Harry who has to stop Hizashi in turn when they put two and two together for why their mark shines around Kurogiri and promises them with a voice steady as stone that the man who did this to them, to their soulmate, will pay. Who has the bearing of a general as he swears that no one else will be taken by that monster.
(Who curses that promise even as he apparates into what looks like an active war zone in time to face off with a monster to save Tenya and his friends. Twice.)
The slow healing and building of trust in quiet moments that neither Harry nor Tenya allowed themselves to believe they would have.
(Izuku who learns through Harry’s sad smile and all too knowing eyes that soulmates aren’t always good for you and sometimes it is better to let go and look for happiness elsewhere. That learns that destiny and fate and years long wars set on their shoulders aren’t something they have to bow to. That they can forge their own path even if it’s not the one that was expected of them even if it hurts.
Izuku who mourns for a boy they never met and vows to fight in his name even if he’s fighting against the man he became.)
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Happy Friday and welcome back! How about for Connor x Bull and "I'd rather deny my feelings than have to explain them" 👀
I've been sitting on this prompt for a while and finally have words for my thoughts!
I didn't think anyone could be dumber than Connor and Cullen but I think these two really take the cake.
wc: 950
@dadrunkwriting
“So. You and Cullen huh?”
Connor looked up with a start from the laces of his boots as he tucked the tail ends of them into worn leather.
“Do we have to talk about this now?” he asked, trying and failing to appear as nonchalant as Bull did, who still laid lounged out across his bed, fully nude and head propped up on one elbow.
“No time like the present, boss. And if we’re gonna keep doing this, we’re gonna have to talk about it.”
Connor sighed in quiet resignation. He and Bull had been casual—as casual as Connor was capable of, at least, with his desperate and constant need for reassurance, trust, and consistency. Bull was accommodating, but Connor was acutely aware that this was an arrangement, something that they both pretended didn’t exist beyond the bedroom, with set boundaries and rules.
“Fine. What about me and Cullen?”
“Are you guys a thing?”
The question gave him pause. Were they? Nothing official, certainly. It was just a flicker of feelings, a connection through the things they had suffered, stupid stories shared over ale and deeply competitive chess games when they weren’t busy yelling at each other over the war table. They were no more of a ‘thing’ than this was, so he shrugged.
“No, not really."
Bull eyed him carefully, watching him shuffle around the room, gathering pieces of clothing that had been haphazardly discarded earlier that evening.
“That’s not what it looks like.”
“Oh? What does it look like, then?” Connor tried not to sound defensive, but the words came out harsher than he intended. He was always a little more on edge when it was time to leave, when he had to walk out of Bull’s room and pretend like nothing happened, that he was okay with it, that he didn’t want to simply curl up and sleep tucked into Bull’s side. That wasn’t the agreement they had though, so he tried to shove the feelings away, where he wouldn’t have to face them.
“I dunno. You seem close. Just wanted to know if you were serious about him,” Bull replied, pushing himself upright.
Another pause. Why did it matter? Connor shrugged on his coat halfheartedly, trying to smooth out some of the wrinkles from being left in a crumpled heap on the floor. He was almost certain Bull was seeing other people, so why couldn’t he? So what if it was serious? And even if it was, he was in no position to ask Cullen for the kind of release he found beneath Bull’s hands.
“Would it be a problem if I was?”
“Depends.”
“On?”
“If you think we should keep doing this. If it’s still working for you.”
Connor felt his anxiety rising, panic creeping its way into his chest and making it difficult to breathe. He tried to swallow it down. What did he expect? Of course he was going to have to face this at some point—to ignore it would be selfish, cruel, keeping Bull trapped in their arrangement. He knew that Dorian was becoming more and more of a prominent part of Bull’s life, someone he could be with in public, someone that could offer a real relationship, something more than secrets behind closed doors. It only made sense that Bull was looking for a way out, a way to end things gently, so he could move on.
“If you don’t want to do this anymore, just say so.”
He couldn’t parse apart the look Bull gave him, and he felt his frustration begin to bubble over into tears that he tried to hide as he turned to the washbasin, splashing his face with the cold water. He shouldn’t be crying. This was supposed to be casual, for fun, for stress relief, there wasn’t supposed to be emotional entanglement. It wasn’t supposed to feel like drowning. It wasn’t suppose to feel like he was grasping for something to hang onto and gasping for air he couldn’t reach, like the falling feeling in the pit of your stomach when you expect the next step and it isn’t there.
“That’s not what I’m saying,” Bull grunted. The bedframe creaked under his shifting weight as he stood. “I just figured you’d want something more stable, and if Cullen is gonna be that person for you I don’t want to get in the way of that.”
“I don’t…” He didn’t want to break this off. It felt like the only thing keeping him anchored, the only thing that kept him sane through the torrent of emotions and sudden onslaught of responsibility and expectations, freeing him from the immense weight of it all, if only for a moment. It was selfish, he knew that, but he wanted to be selfish, just a little longer.
“I don’t want to stop,” he finally whispered.
“Then we won’t.”
The heat of Bull's chest pressed against Connor's back, and a gentle yet heavy hand rested on his shoulder, as if anything more might break him. He wished Bull would do more, wished he could do more, but knew he shouldn’t ask—he was already asking so much. He set his hand over Bull’s, resisting the urge to lace their fingers together, to press the warmth of it against his cheek, and nodded.
Bull only sighed in response. Connor wanted to imagine it was relief, that Bull wanted this as much as he did, and he closed his eyes against the guilt that was reflected back up at him in the basin—of himself, disheveled and half-dressed, and of Bull hovering over him quietly, patient in even this.
#dragon age#the iron bull#iron bull x trevelyan#iron bull x inquisitor#connor trevelyan#my writing#dadwc#why is connor so messy#and sad#quick someone teach him how to communicate before he explodes#connor x bull
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Ask Game: After Izuku is diagnosed Quirkless, his father brings out a knowledge that was almost lost during the Boxer Rebellion, Qi cultivation. By the time he enters UA Izuku has the equivalent of a superstrenght stockpile Quirk, though he also figured out how to use his abilities to float (and once he’s stronger he’ll be able to fly and do other stuff) and is developing the ability to sense danger… So what is this One for All thing that Sir Nighteye and this weird masked Villain think he has and want him to give up? Is this related to how his senpai, Hado Nejire, suddenly became stronger and faster?
A long, long time ago, there was a terrible war, and in the destruction, a child died. The boy's mother fled to a nearby river where she could be alone as she wept for his loss. A handsome stranger heard her cries and asked her what was wrong. When she explained, the man thought long and hard and came up with a solution. A way to cheat the cycle of reincarnation so that she could have her son again. But the method would take hundreds if not thousands of years. The woman agreed.
Anyway, in the present day, Midoriya is born with a few scattered scales on his skin. Everyone assumed this was an early sign of his Quirk, but it was in fact not; he inherited some secondary mutations but no actual Quirk.
Izuku was despondent when he was diagnosed Quirkless. Inko and Hisashi looked at each other and came to a silent agreement. That day, Hisashi retrieved an old box tucked away under some floorboards (They live in a house in this AU). The box contained the scattered scriptures of many different Cultivators which have been fashioned into something of a Cultivation Manual.
Izuku began his journey as a Cultivator that day, meditating alongside his parents to properly get his Qi circulating. Of the five elements flowing through his Qi, Izuku best associates with Wood, but like all Cultivators he has some affinity for them all. He also starts learning swordplay because martial arts is a useful means of aiding the physical part of Cultivation, although it's not something his parents can help with as much.
AFO took notice of him at the USJ incident, when he obliterated the Noumu (he tried to mess with its Qi but being a Noumu that made it tear itself apart) while Nighteye spotted him at the Sports Festival. Both reached some rather incorrect assumptions.
+1. Unlike Spiral Energy, Hado got One For All in her Second Year. Midoriya can sense something up with her Qi, almost like she has a pseudo-core. It's very weird to him.
+2. The Celestial Courts don't like Cultivators because becoming immortal is infringing on their territory. This is generally handled by a good old-fashioned lighting bolt to smite someone. Because of his theft of longevity Quirks, All For One has had this happen to him about once a decade or so. He's so confused by this phenomena that he earned a PhD in Meteorology to figure out why it keeps happening.
+3. Izuku is totally desensitized to electricity because he's seen both of his parents struck by lightning on at least one occasion.
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Lonely Traveler
Part 3 of the Home to You series now posted on AO3! Part 1 Part 2
I'll put a preview below. All 3 chapters of part 3 now posted!
Summary: "I thought I'd lost you." "I love you too much." War does its best to tear love apart, but that doesn’t mean love goes away. It just becomes something that can hurt you more.
Total Word Count: 10,101
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Preview:
War messes with your mind in a way that a civilian will never fully understand. It messes with your body, with your heart, and with your soul. It goes after love, even, grinding it down like another enemy, when all it is is collateral damage in the raging gunfire. People like to think of war as somehow romantic. Maybe some parts of it can be, in a way.
But war is not, never will be, kind to love. Especially not in a POW camp deep in the Reich, where if the guards don’t kill you, the cold or starvation just might.
And if none of that does you in, well… war sure does mess with your mind, doesn’t it?
–
Who knew the sound of bombs in the distance could carry so much hope. It’s a sick side effect of the human condition: one person’s suffering is another’s salvation. The world isn’t so black and white, though, and when you think about it, it could be said that a few bombs over Berlin isn’t nearly enough to make the Nazi’s pay for what they’ve done to this planet and its people. In a few years time, the human species will wonder how such violence can be natural, if this is just how people are meant to behave. How could this possibly be true? But then again, how could it not?
In a POW camp in 1944, the sounds of an air raid play like a symphony.
The gunshot outside, the man on the ground, the dog trying to tear him limb from limb, the shouting – those instead are the sounds of tyranny, of wielding power just because you can. Suffering for suffering. Death for death.
When the guards yell at the airmen to get back inside, Bucky tells Gale that the goddamn Nazi goons are gonna take them out one at a time. Gale says nothing. He can’t stand it here any more than anyone else, and he is well aware that a toe out of line could mean fade to black. But at least here, he knows that he and John are both alive. They’re alive. They have each other, and at least Gale isn’t alone. He clings desperately to these facts that he knows to be true. This could be worse.
Days pass, and hope is tangible in the barrack once again as the men gather around Gale, watching intently as he fiddles with the crystal radio that Bucky had spent days gathering the measly materials for. News from the front seems to be the only thing anyone really wants these days, short of being far, far away from here. It’s the only thing that carries any promise of an end. The only proof they can get that they aren’t stuck here for nothing, that their sacrifices are worth the pain they’ve endured.
When Gale slams the headphone down on the table, he can’t believe he’s failed. The bubble of hope pops like a sad balloon.
When Bucky asks him one day if, when the weather clears (will it ever?), they should make a move, Gale tells him all but no. Tells him to find a plan with better odds. Tells him “my plan is to get home in one piece.”
He remembers all too well the deadly state John was in when he stumbled into camp months ago. He remembers the sleepless nights spent trying to keep him alive. His own harrowing journey to the Stalag he barely lets himself think about. He has nightmares – about John dying on him, about hands and ropes around his own neck, about crashing through the sky in a tin can in flames, about being the only one left standing like a lost little kid in the street with no one to call home. Sometimes he feels like he’s holding on by a thread to the only sense of hope he has – the fact that they are both here and they are both still breathing. Beyond the fences of this camp, none of that would be guaranteed.
Bucky’s the opposite. Sure he has nightmares, just like everyone else in the sleepless night – about getting beaten to death in a burning town, about Buck’s plane going down, about hiding behind marsh grass with a gun just waiting to be killed, about everyone he loves getting taken out one by one until he’s alone with nowhere to go. This place, though, is not the answer. He’s damn sure of that. The Luftwaffe doesn’t care which of them lives and which of them dies, and Major John Egan is not about to stand by and let them use him – or, God forbid, Buck – as target practice. Why doesn’t Gale get it?
“You’ll die here in one piece,” Bucky tells him.
Gale stays quiet, and Bucky doesn’t even notice the way that he nervously grabs at the ring hanging on the chain around his neck. Gale clutches it for all it’s worth though. Why doesn’t Bucky get it? This could be worse.
They go on, living day to day but hardly living. They eat their rations and assemble for appel and try to sleep in rickety bunks and freezing cabins. Occasionally, Buck gets a letter from Marge: news from home, sending thoughts and prayers for him and John, telling trivial stories to make him smile. She’s even started including baseball stats and scores for Bucky to follow. Gale tries to get Bucky to read them, to maintain a connection with the outside world and understand that someone beyond these fences is thinking about him. John refuses, won’t even touch them. Gale writes Marge that he’s concerned about Bucky. Her heart breaks for them.
None of the men can seem to find a balance between thinking of home and trying not to let the thinking drown them.
They find ways to entertain themselves. Books, music, sports, the occasional play. Gale has started holding classes for some of the other POWs, teaching them about physics, mathematics, and astronomy. It feels good to learn just to learn, to understand something about the world that isn’t shrouded by the war. It’s Gale’s escape, his offering to the men who offered up there lives. Bucky used to love listening to Gale go on about these things, would look at Gale like he’d hung the stars himself, smile and kiss his nose and make him blush before insisting he keep talking. He could listen to Gale talk for hours, and Gale had rarely felt so loved.
Now Bucky leaves the room when Gale starts teaching about the beauty of their universe. He doesn’t want to hear it anymore. Somewhere deep within himself, it hurts too much. It doesn’t line up with the situation in which he’s found himself. He can’t stand the way he feels alone in a crowded room. He can’t stand accepting that this is who they are now, where they’re meant to stay.
Sometimes, Gale will find him, will try to hold Bucky’s hand. He’s getting worried, doesn’t know what to do. Bucky tells him he’s fine, just needs some air, just needs some space. He’s just cold, just hungry, just tired, just angry at the fucking world. He’s fine. Gale tells him he loves him. Bucky doesn’t say it back.
He doesn’t feel right anymore. He hasn’t in a long time. He can’t say why. Words like depression aren’t commonplace yet.
Gale thinks it’s his fault.
After Gale manages to sand down the copper wire of the radio, he’s thrilled to hear actual transmissions coming through the headphone. The BBC, news from the front, their saving grace. Suddenly, the fact that they’re all stuck in this camp means something again. They went down swinging for something far bigger than themselves, and the allies had filled in the gaps. They hadn’t narrowly defeated death for nothing. The men scramble to start copying down and disseminating information, and the bubble of hope starts to grow.
Something like that is awfully fragile, though. It ebbs and flows and hesitantly tries to fill the cold and musty corners of the barrack, wrap itself around these men like a blanket. It’s enough to keep them going, but never quite enough to keep them warm. To keep them sane.
After dozens of men are executed for trying to escape the camp, that bubble bursts again. Things are about to get worse around here, not better, and Gale wonders if they should’ve taken a chance when they had it. Maybe they’d die trying, but maybe they’d die anyway.
But Bucky tells Gale that he might’ve been right, they shouldn’t be so hasty with an escape after all. Gale has about two seconds to feel like maybe they’re on the same page again, maybe Bucky is finally coming back into himself. About two seconds of that hope he’s been trying to cling to. Then Bucky declares that he has nothing worth rushing home for anyways.
Gale’s heart drops. The hope flies away, fading tendrils swirling in the air that he can’t quite keep a grip on. He wants to scream, aren’t I enough?
How many days and nights had they spent dreaming about a future? About a life after the war? It’s enough for Gale to hold onto, but his gut twists as he wonders if the private vows they’d made to each other before they shipped out, the rings they’d had engraved and carefully gifted to one another, had been nothing but words and hunks of metal. What the hell had happened to I made it home to you? Did it all mean so little to Bucky, now? Did Gale mean so little?
Sometimes the words you don’t say hurt the most. He tells Bucky that it’s just this place getting to him, but he doesn’t know how much he believes it. For the first time since Bucky made it back to him, Gale starts to feel alone.
---
Continue reading on AO3
#masters of the air#mota#john egan#gale cleven#clegan#bucky egan#buck cleven#gale buck cleven#john bucky egan#buck x bucky#clegan fic#bucky x buck
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400 words about two nameless lovers in P-2, as told by Sisyphus (who was told about them by Hell)
"Did you know, angel," Sisyphus said, "that in the complete privacy of the Panopticon, Hell is very talkative? It taunted me with details of the rooms outside my cell, and the guards it placed there. There's a couple that it liked to torment me with."
Sisyphus leans forward, resting his forearms on his thighs. From this angle, Gabriel can't tell his expression.
"On a corridor deep in the city of Dis, there are a pair of knights. One of mine, and one of yours. A husk and an angel."
An analogy? It's not like him to speak in such a roundabout way. Gabriel has half a mind to tell him so, but his ingrained sense not to interrupt a superior holds him back.
"The husk was a far too devoted man for his own good. He's been sent to guard the Prime Sanctum by Hell, knowing that, despite having never talked to the general directly, he still believed in the cause." Sisyphus adds, amused. "The cause as he understood it, at least. Which is wholly incorrect."
It sounds less like a story and more like a report. Is this really...?
"This is how he came into an understanding with the Virtue also stationed there. They spoke at length about the waning faith that they both held for their kings. The service and devotion they're defined by, now bereft of its focus. The fact that, despite all the deeds they've done in their life and death, they're both guarding the same corridor. In the end, they're nothing but humans. It's built on love as much as it's built on horror.
"The virtue is succumbing to the corruption of Hell. It– they know it's happening, know that they can't bear to face themself afterwards despite their lover being similarly doomed, and that the shame only drags them down faster. They make half-baked plans to flee, too attached to really leave and too disgusted to stay.
"The husk is tearing himself apart. It's always been in his blood to fight, and seeing, at last, the full fate that Heaven imposed on both of them has him dreaming of bringing back the insurrection. But he knows it's just wistful thinking - he can't take another lost, he can't imagine a life after the war. He knows, in every moment standing in that blood-red cathedral, that he's too broken to fight again. Hell calls him The Deserter. It thinks he's interesting.
"Messy, terrible people...They really don't know how much they mean to each other." He carries on, amusement tinged with pain. "Now where have I seen that before."
//
What if Minos and Sisyphus were exes. Live is kind, love is patient, but nothing can survive a decapitation <33
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I think it’s weird how the monarchy is never really punished in Wings Of Fire.
The go-to solution is always just “replace the old evil queen with a new, not evil queen!” The sandwing sisters? Replace them with Thorn. Scarlet? Replace her with Ruby. The rainwing queens and Battlewinner? Replace them with Glory. Aside from a couple comments about how the rainwing’s contests being a nonviolent way to determine the queen while also giving everyone regardless of status a chance to rule, there isn’t much criticism of the monarchy when the New Better Queen rolls in.
The first arc is practically a powerpoint presentation on how bad it is; the three sandwing sisters tear apart the continent because Blister and Blaze couldn’t win in a duel so they drag everyone else into their mess. The correct thing here is getting Thorn to become the queen, who stops the war and does literally nothing about the Scorpion Den despite living there for mostly all her life.
Queen Scarlet openly supports and profits from this system. She runs a gladiatorial arena filled with P.O.Ws and makes them fight each other for the amusement of her court and Burn. The solution to these events which presumably would leave a lasting scar on the skywing kingdom is just get Ruby to replace her. Ruby chooses to stay out of the war, turn the arena into a hospital, and work on expanding relations with the other kingdoms. This is fine in theory, but it does nothing to stop a new queen from doing the exact same things that Scarlet did. Hell, in her brief coup Scarlet does this:
Queen Coral, while not a major supporter of the war, still allies with Blister and kills or dismisses multiple of her own subjects intentionally as a punishment for those who fail her (Webs’s wife, Snail, Herring’s brother, Tortoise). Tsunami’s gradual disillusionment with the royal lifestyle reaches its peak when her mother orders her to get thrown in jail, but the buildup to that is Whirlpool’s existence and Tortoise getting her teeth ripped out in front of her. We never loop back to this, just get a couple comments about how she’s better now that Blister’s gone. As much of a throwaway line as it was, Coral still enforced classism and neglected her other children, but as far as the series is concerned, she’s a new person.
The Rainwing court suffers from and entirely different problem (Kestril’s abuse towards Glory is because she’s a “lazy rainwing” and this turns out to be true? how is that the direction you go in?) but still falls in the same pitfalls as the others. Glory becomes the queen and she is clearly more fit for this job than those awful, vain, common rainwings from before. It also turns out that she’s Grandeur’s relative, who was still around when there was an actual rainwing royal family, so she’s even more fit for the job!
The nightwings are more similar to the other monarchies. Instead of looking at how their isolation caused them to develop a system circled around lies and their own supremacy and how it could be dismantled, the two guys at fault (Battlewinner and Morrowseer) get exploded and now Glory’s their queen, who despite being six (or however old that is in human years), has enough sense to rule over two entirely different groups of dragons that she has rarely interacted with aside from a few days.
The icewings are given the most criticism in-universe because they’ve got a monarchy and class devision! Winter sees how the icewings in the upper circles only treat their children as extensions of themselves in order to further their own goals and how those in the lower circles are forced to live without luxuries he gets just because of where they were born. The solution to this is to make the new queen have magic empathy visions and just destroy the class devision wall and racism crown. Sure, some older dragons give mean looks, but everyone else claps!
Mudwings. Uh. I really wish I could say something here but Tui hasn’t given us much to go off of. Moorhen is just being bullied by Burn into joining her side?
I’m not really going into the arc 3 queens because I honestly forgot what happened with a lot of them, but Wasp’s defeat is salt in the wound. You have a whole oppressed group of people with fire powers and two of our main characters who directly oppose Wasp are part of that group, and the way she gets taken down is… venom-blasted by a rainwing who has no significant connections to her and then locked up in a throwaway line.
I don’t know. Maybe I’m looking too deep into a kids book about dragons, but I feel like there’s something better that could have been done.
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star trek update time. once again, i've fallen behind, thanks again to hades. sunday* we watched "equilibrium" and "second skin" and last night* we watched "the abandoned" and "civil defense."
im typing this at fuck o clock monday night its scheduled to go up without me tmrw morning
equilibrium:
hi, sorry, the cold opening of them having dinner here......i could have watched a whole episode of this alone. odo learning to cook. kira thinking he's cute (HI???). bashir being precious about beets. sisko best cook ever. it was so good and i was a little wary when jadzia ruined it with a trill mood swing or whatever i was like damn this episode won't make me like dax any better unfortunately
actually though the episode was fine. the hallucinations were decently scary and i liked getting to know jadzia a little better ie about her hatred of doctors
it was also nice that 1. bashir stopped being a freak about her and 2. her hair is less big now. her falling asleep in his quarters (and her wanting the bottom bunk bc of curzon falling out of a tree) was so cute actually. i want to like her!!! i'm trying hard.
i also really liked the mystery in this episode, but if we're talking times a trill has been traumatized by going into a bad host, what about that one guy who stole her in like season 2 or whenever...?
i wish dax had gotten to apologize to kira also :( women should be kissing not fighting
i do LOVE when sisko calls jadzia old man. i think it's so fun. the gender of it all. i also really liked his little line about how he still misses curzon sometimes but would also be devastated if anything happened to jadzia. dax both is and isn't curzon, both is and isn't jadzia...where that divide is and what makes up dax vs what makes up jadzia is really fascinating to me, i wish we explored it more
scene in the pool at the end i was so afraid she was gonna get naked. thank god.
second skin:
hhhhholy fuck
so, i loved this episode right up until the very last second. firstly, every kira episode is great. she's fantastic and so well-written and such a talented actress, i'm obsessed with her. secondly, we flirted with an amnesia plot for a hot second which was so fun. thirdly, what the FUCK
i love also, hi, that kira unpacked so much of her thoughts about the missing week of her life in odo's office. he's literally her sounding board. is this thing on? they love each other
the sheer raw fucked up factor of kira waking up AS A CARDASSIAN. she looked like she wanted to tear off her own skin and who can blame her. i hardly recognized her
GARAK IS HERE. i really love whatever he's going going on with sisko. "this is extortion" "yes it is" and also "that's the first totally honest thing you've ever said to me" every single conversation they have is like. garak flirts for fun and for sport with everyone in this show (INCLUDING KIRA???) and sisko is constantly meeting him in the middle . also, him putting the fear of god into that ship that tried to board them <3
the mystery of this episode was so intriguing. i was on the edge of my seat waiting for the gang (INCLUDING ODO!!!) to rescue kira. i wanted to figure out the Truth, bc obviously she's not a fucking cardassian. but i do feel they dropped the ball a little at the end
firstly, it seems too convenient that kira happens to look SO much like the real illiana that her OWN FATHER could not tell them apart. yeah, yeah, ten years, but are we serious rn?
SECONDLY, i don't think kira getting teary when given this keepsake (which was already weird) and declaring this cardassian dissident to be a "good man" is very IC. she's only come to that kind of understanding with one cardassian before (guy who pretended to do war crimes), and given the traumatic nature of this whole ordeal, i would have expected her to have mixed feelings/have trouble expressing this aloud, even if she did believe it. so we ended on kind of a weak note there, overall though incredible experience
the abandoned:
first, when i said "give odo a baby" i did not mean it like this.
second, dad sisko. my best friend sisko. sisko holding a baby, sisko missing his own baby, sisko sisko sisko my beloved
uhhh sisko not doing good with his own son because...drummroll please...jake is still dating the dabo girl
i genuinely thought this was a throwaway line but we have a whole fucking PLOT in here
i don't understand sisko at the end of this ep being like "yeah they can keep dating." ik this show is 30 years old but JAKE IS SIXTEEN. THE DABO GIRL IS 20. she seems nice and definitely she shouldn't be judged for being a dabo girl and if this character were like 18 i'd be like, okay, that's two years, she's only technically an adult, but TWENTY? at this age, 4 years is a HUGE gap
also, her tits were pushed so far out i wasn't even sure if they were real or not...HE IS SIXTEEN. like yes he knows what tits are but she is an ADULT??? eugh.
ANYWAY, odo's quarters!!! i like that he finally has a real room and doesn't just live in a bucket at work like presumably the cardassians made him do. kira bringing him a housewarming gift and wanting a peek at what he had going on in there was genuinely so sweet i wanted to kerm. i'm glad we got that since they argued later BUT win for me bc we also ended the episode on them
rip odo's trauma :( lab specimen ptsd meets founders identity crisis for a total fucjing breakdown. he did pretty good considering
civil defense:
10/10 EPISODES THIS ONE WAS AMAZING
lots of really fun sisko moments in this. i love when he gets to save the day and i love when he hangs out with jake. jakes was extremely brave and helpful too he saved their asses a bunch of times. today he got to be one of the grown-ups
GARAK IS HERE! i love how he showed up to help and then everything became immediately worse. every time you'd think "it cannot possibly get worse than this" it does
odo and quark essentially being locked in an elevator together. odo calling him devious (honorific). quark calling odo a guy with integrity (derogatory). i still don't Love quark but he's extremely funny and his scenes with odo are always a riot
STAR OF THIS SHOW GUL DUKAT. he showed up to laugh at their predicament and generally be unhelpful which was pretty funny but also i was a little mad at him and then he threatened kira which made me REALLY mad at him (she was so solid though she didn't budge and inch hell yes girl) and then he. got trapped on the space station also which was FUCKING hilarious. like i had been just mad enough to enjoy seeing him suffer under the reverse uno and find it IMMENSELY satisfying. you thought GARAK was a cringefail loser at getting this space station to work? he has nothing on gul dukat, who managed to not only make it EVEN WORSE but lock himself out of every system on the station. incredible work
absolutely though the best part of this episode BY FAR was when gul dukat was flirting with kira and nobody realized it but garak and he called him out on it 1. humiliating him in front of his crush 2. roasting him (bc anyone could see kira would have better taste) 3. reminding him that he's married 4. propping up kira herself bc garak supports women's rights and bajorans rights and also their wrongs. garak diss track when.
anyway, this episode hit the perfect balance between tense and funny, every single character had something fun to do or say, fucking excellent television
TONIGHT: um. um the first tng movie. um. the one with. the one where. please don't make me say it
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