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emelinstriker · 4 months

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Shockwave ♤ Kiss The Spark

Might be my last TFP X Reader one-shot I'm dropping for now. I've got several other one-shots and even a full book that was in the works, but whenever I'll finish any, I have no idea.

[TL;DR] You really do be worrying your beloved cyclops scientist with the risks you take. And he finds it illogical.

♤ ~ Comfort ~ ♤

It was a lazy day for the two of you. Megatron was busy leading the Decepticon cause, as usual, and left Shockwave to his tools. Said mech was trying to work on basically recreating a predacon while you were watching him. It did make him a little uncomfortable with how you were basically staring at him, but he would never out right say it.

You were just supposed to be a random human he could study and experiment on after you were kidnapped by Knockout months ago. But now you were the lover of the warship's scientist. Basically his Conjunx Endura, and he did show some affection towards you while feeling some sort of emotion despite having undergone shadowplay. At first it felt like you were treated like a pet, which you technically were in the Decepticon's optic, but it was obvious he was lying to himself over time as you began to worm your way into his spark.

Despite the months of love and care, he slowly started neglecting you due to the cause being his main priority. Sure, he did give you food and your own box corner that felt like a small apartment, but his affection towards you decreased and you were missing it. You were missing the freetime you had and spent simply roaming around the Nevada desert whenever you landed. You wanted to relive that.

"Hey, Shocky?" He didn't bother turning around to face you as he continued working, not answering. But you knew he was listening. "When do you have time to hang out again?" You asked with a hopeful gaze at the back of his helm.

He ceased his movements for a moment, turned his optic toward you and said, "Most likely when I am finished with this project. I do not know how long it will take. It would be most logical of you to simply wait."

You frowned at his response and started to make your way towards the door. "Oh, okay... I'll leave you to it then..." The giant metal doors slid opened for you and closed once you passed the threshold. Shockwave knew you left but didn't bother stopping you as the project took priority. However, that doesn't mean he didn't feel more empty when you were out of the room.

And it finally seemed too much after two agonizing hours of not having you around him. He told himself he would do a quick check-up on you to ensure you were all fine. So, he left the project on his table before making his way to the bridge where he knew Soundwave would possibly still be with you.

Unsurprisingly, he was right. Well, half right. Soundwave was at the bridge, but you were nowhere to be found. Of course there had to be a reason for it, and who would know better than the slender mech himself. "Soundwave," the cyclops started as he approached the other working Decepticon, "where is (Y/N)?"

The TIC ceased his movements before typing away again, revealing groundbridge coordinates on the screen. The coordinates seemed to lead into town, close to a few stores but far away enough for a small groundbridge to go undetected. Soundwave turned his helm towards the mech behind him as he slightly lifted a servo at the screen to point at it. Shockwave gave him a puzzled look- Or at least as puzzled as one could look with a single optic for a faceplate. "Why did you send them there?"

Instead of answering with more movements, Soundwave decided to simply play a voice clip he recorded of you in your own words. "Hey, Sounders, could I maybe go to town? I need to see if I can buy some material for [...]. I know it sounds weird, but hear me out-" The audio abruptly cut of before you could explain any further. And there was information missing, most likely to keep whatever you were planning a secret from the scientist. It seemed illogical for you to be plotting something behind his back however. Thus he didn't question the TIC any further about the audio.

"When will they return?" Soundwave played another clip in response, "I'll call you when I got everything, alright? Shouldn't take more than two hours max."

And as if on cue, a sudden personalized ringtone rang out on the bridge with an image of you on the screen. Their optics glanced at the screen before Soundwave answered the call. You sounded like you were out of breath. And Shockwave was able to feel your anxiety through your bond.

"H-Heya, Sounders!" You dramatically exhaled a large portion of air before continuing in a rather quick way. "Please don't tell Shocky, but I kinda ran into some trouble and am being chased by a gang with weapons. I managed to escape unscathed, but I sadly didn't get some other things." You took another deep breath. "And as much as I wanna grab some extras, I don't think I'd be alive on my way back if I did that. At least I got enough for one."

As both mechs became concerned, Shockwave decided to speak up. "(Y/N), are you in a safe location? Do you require a groundbridge immediately?"

The voice caught you by surprise, but you were also a little relieved to hear him. "I-I'm not far enough from people yet. I'm across the street from the gang right now and they seem to have lost me. But there's an alleyway here." You then proceeded to walk down the dark alley. "I don't think there's a second gang in here so I should be-" You cut yourself off as you looked behind you with wide eyes. The fear you gave off reached the scientist instantly.

"(Y/N)? Are you alright? What happened?" Your sudden silence made them even more worried. The silence wasn't there for long though as harsh winds clashed with your phone, indicating that you were running.

"They found me! I-I can't run any longer! My bags are- are slowing me down! And they want my bags and my money! But I need them! And whAT THE FUCK- WHY?!"

Turns out the alley had a deadend.

The two mechs could faintly hear one guy say something, but it was inaudible. But they could hear one who was closer. "You're right. Why should we just take their belongings if we could have some fun with them as extra?"

While the cyclops was able to feel your hopeless anxiety already, the call managed to catch the sounds of your sniffles. You hiccuped as you whispered into your phone, "I need you, Shockwave." You usually weren't scared of most things- Hell, you made a giant alien robot fall in love with you and managed to befriend others on the warship, deeming them as family! And they wanted to cyberform the earth! But being in this situation, alone, far away from your family, with just some useless things you bought... It scared you.

And this was something that truly angered Shockwave for once. The fact that you used his actual name instead of a nickname told him how trapped you truly felt.

It sent him over the edge.

"Soundwave. Groundbridge to their coordinates. Now", he commanded firmly.

The masked mech, despite being kind of surprised by the taller mech's sudden show of emotions, did as he was told. The scientist didn't waste time in running towards the now open swirly green portal. He didn't even bother transforming and using his holoform.

These humans deserved to suffer.

By his true form's servos.

You were backed up into the deadend when you noticed a familiar green light pop up behind you. Out of instinct you moved aside as the gang stared at it, not knowing if this were special effects to scare them off. That's when you saw Shockwave step out of the portal. He took a moment to take in his surroundings before spotting you next to his pedes, shivering from shock, but still smiling up at him with teary eyes. "H-Hi, hun..."

"Go home, sweetspark. I'll meet you there."

He said. Then he watched as you somewhat clumsily sprinted through the groundbridge, two bags in hand, before he turned back towards the group of humans.

"It would be illogical of me not to dispose of lifeforms that pose a threat to my sparkmate."

What was mercy? In that moment, he couldn't recall.

While waiting, you were next to Soundwave, being comforted by his tendrils as you held onto one like a big teddy bear. Your bags were sitting behind you. Shockwave finally returned a few minutes later, groundbridge closing behind him. His servo and pedes were completely bloody. You also spotted a bit of blood on the rest of his frame- even a tiny bit on the side of his helm. He walked up to your still slightly shaken form. "Did they harm them in any way?" He asked the other mech, who previously ran a scan on you as safety precaution.

Soundwave responded with a simple "Negative" audio as he retracted his tendrils from you, now that your biggest comfort was here. You reluctantly let go of the tendril when a servo gently wrapped itself around you instead, picking you up. The purple mech didn't say another word to the shorter mech and simply walked off, all the while placing you on his shoulder pad. Sure, you were now a little bloody too, but you could just wash your clothes. While Shockwave felt the comforting relief through your bond, he still was upset about your reckless logic.

"You left the ship without my authorization or knowledge." Most would view his monotone yet commanding voice as a sign of pure anger, but you knew that he was actually worried sick.

"B-But I-" "You could have been hurt and I would not have been able to protect you. From now on, you are to stay on the warship if I'm.not accompanying you", he stated firmly, placing you on the table and coldly turning away towards his project.

Now that you were finally back in the lab, he wouldn't need to worry about you being hurt anymore, despite his spark not wanting to shut up about the slight bit of worry. However, due to you still being upset about the previous situation, you couldn't help but tear up again. You honestly didn't mean to make him mad and worried. He could feel it.

"I-I'm so s-sorry", you whispered as you hiccuped. "I-I just w-wanted to make y-you a gift..."

This caught the scientist's attention as his ear fins moved. A gift... for him? You went through the lengths of sneaking out(, despite Soundwave's knowledge of course), going to town alone, and running away from a street gang... just to make him a gift? So, naturally he demanded for an explanation for this stunt you tried to do.

You pulled your bags closer to your body as you sniffled, rummaging through one of them. "I-I bought materials f-for a self-made gift..." You then pulled out some purple fabric from the bag. Almost the same shade of purple as his frame. "I-It was supposed to be a plush toy version... of you..." A small, sheepish smile made its way onto your lips. The tears may have stopped flowing, but you still didn't feel quite comfortable in what you were presenting him. It wasn't even finished, after all. And you weren't even sure if he would like it.

"Giving me a toy version of myself is illogical." For a second, a frown replaced your smile. Thinking he didn't like the idea, you slowly starting lowering your arm in disappointment, wanting to put the fabric away again so he wouldn't have to see it.

"O-Oh, sorry... I thought-" "But, I appreciate the sentiment", Shockwave quickly added as he approached you with his servo. One digit gently trailed up and down your arm in a comforting manner. "You may still continue creating it. I am not stopping you." Him using a gentler, lower tone made you smile again. You wrapped your arms around his digit and lightly cuddled into it, saying a small "Thanks" in return.

You swore your Conjunx's optic was glowing brighter than usual.

You managed to craft a rather big plush version of Shockwave. You were able to wrap both of your arms around it and cuddle with it like a big stuffed animal. It was still severely small in the scientist's optic, but he refused to handle it any less gentle than you when picking it up. It was so much softer than you, which amazed him.

A few days after you finished up the plushie, Shockwave asked you to wait for him in his habsuite.

Turns out he wanted you to touch his spark again. It's been a long time since you've last done so, which was when you became Conjunx Endura just a couple of months ago. And due to the bond mostly being a one-sided receiving one, he wanted to show you how much he appreciated you in his life. And touching his spark was the only way for you to receive his side of the bond.

You're the only one he's ever shown his spark to in such an intimate light. And you could feel how much he adored having you be this close to him, touching the very culmination of his being ever so gently. You even gave his spark some light kisses, making him ex-vent.

Content with your moment together, he gently positioned his servo against your small back, pulling you a little closer down onto his chassis.

He wouldn't trade you for anything, not even his loyalty to Megatron and the Decepticon cause.

[ Masterlist ]

#transformers prime #tfp x reader #shockwave x reader #cybertronian x human #transformers x reader #transformers x human #tfp shockwave #tfp shockwave x reader #comfort

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nhlclover · 1 year

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just give me a reason | quinn hughes

summary: your relationship hits a rocky patch and a fight tests your love.

warnings: angst, cursing, mentions of alcohol

note: based on 'just give me a reason' by p!nk. wrote this between the hours of 1 and 5 am, peak night owl behaviour. also I left the ending up for interpretation so you can imagine your own :)

word count: 2.0k

Right from the moment you met, Quinn had your heart.

With your mothers having been teammates once upon a time they decided to reunite. You were invited to the Hughes’s home and introduced to Ellen’s sons; Quinn, Jack, and Luke. You were drawn to the eldest Hughes boy immediately. Quinn was different than his brothers. While Jack and Luke were quite rambunctious, Quinn was reserved. His darker features attracted you quickly.

You guys connected that day, exchanging numbers. Quinn asked you on a date not a while later and the two of you began dating not long after that. The pair of you worked well together, your odds and ends balancing together.

You let yourself be vulnerable with Quinn. He saw the parts of you that weren’t all that pretty, the parts of you that you’d always desperately wished could be fixed. But with every touch, he fixed them.

It was your mom that warned you about being in a relationship with someone with such a profession, something she knew from first-hand experience. A profession that requires late nights, weeks out of town, and endless dedication. You assured her, and in turn, yourself, that you knew what you were getting into. You knew what dating Quinn meant, and you were willing to sacrifice a lot for him.

You had yourself convinced that it was fine. That you were okay with the “system” you and Quinn had set up.

When it began to change between the two of you, neither of you was sure of it. It was gradual and took a minute for both of you to see, but when you did it was painstakingly obvious. Empty sheets now lay between you, cold. Quinn’s loving words were now few and far between. Deep and meaningful conversations were replaced by the painfully dull small talk you’d had a million times.

Quinn’s practices began to run late as he worked on perfecting his game, followed by time at the gym spent becoming more agile and lean. Plans for date nights fizzled out, and boy's nights became more of a priority for him.

It was now painfully obvious what had happened. Somewhere along the way, hockey had become his main priority. It sits far above you. Somewhere along the way, hockey became less of his passion and more of a soul-sucking, energy-consuming task that leaves the stressed and unhappy version of Quinn behind for you to deal with. Something you can no longer withstand.

It was starting to take effect on you now and your friends noticed. It didn’t take much convincing for you to send your boyfriend a quick text while he was at a game letting him know you’d gone out for the night. You left no indication of when you’d be home because truly you didn’t know, nor did you have a plan.

Out at a downtown Vancouver bar, one you knew Quinn and his teammates would never step foot in following a game, you spilled all your repressed emotions out to your friends. You told them every detail. You weren’t sure whether you wanted advice or not but you got some anyways.

“Listen, none of these boys know you’re taken and I’m sure any one of them would be happy to take you to the men's bathroom and give you what you’ve been needing.” Your friend Alicia says.

“Absolutely not, do not cheat on him.” Your other friend Georgia says. “I think you guys just need to talk it out. I don’t think this is the end of you guys. Y’know… you’re not broken just bent.”

You contemplate Georgia’s words the rest of the night, your first drink coincidentally becoming your last. You spend the rest of the night listening to your friends' woes, babysitting them as they got drunker and drunker.

It was well past three when you sent them on their way and headed back to yours and Quinn’s.

You shoved your key in the lock, attempting to unlock an already open lock. He had left it unlocked, not knowing when you would come home. Quinn, trying to stay awake until he knew you were home safe, had only just drifted off to sleep on the couch. He jolted awake at the sound of your keys jingling around.

Eventually, you discover that the lock was already open, cursing when you enter the home. Quinn watches you take off your heeled boots, cursing once more when you roll your ankle after stumbling out of your shoes.

Quinn glances at the clock on the wall which reads quarter to four in the morning. He rubs his eyes, gets up from the couch and comes to the hall. You stay oblivious to your boyfriend, tossing your keys in the dish, and shrugging off your leather jacket onto the floor. You suddenly spot Quinn in your dark living room, leaning against the back of a lounge chair.

“Christ, Quinn. You scared me.” You say, setting your purse down on the table in the front hall.

“Where the hell were you?” He asks, his tired voice scratching your ears. You can sense the anger in his voice, but you’re slightly confused as to why.

“I was at the bar… with the girls… you knew that, Quinn.” You say, your voice coming out slightly condescending.

“Yeah, but the bars close at 3 in Vancouver.” He says, pointing to the clock. “It’s almost 4 in the goddamn morning, y/n.”

“We went out after, walked around.” You tell him. That was true. You and your friends, after getting kicked out of the bar at closing time, went walking in downtown Vancouver, before finding a park and sitting down in the play structure to vent about your problems.

Quinn groans, rubbing his face. His exhaustion is noticeable in his dark circles and drooping eyes.

“Quinn you could’ve checked my location, it’s still on for you.” You tell him.

“That’s not the point, y/n!” He exclaims. “You didn’t call, you didn't text… nothing! I didn’t know if you were safe or not or when you were gonna come home.”

A pang of guilt washes over you. You could only imagine the roles being reversed, not knowing where he was and whether or not you were going to get to sleep next to him that night or not.

“Y/n, I’ve been up all night waiting for you. And I have practice tomorrow.” He says.

The guilt that was just there washes away as he says those words. “God, enough with the fucking hockey.” You groan, walking into the bedroom.

“What the fuck did you just say?” Quinn asks, following you down the hall.

You begin to change out of your ‘going out outfit’, discarding your skirt and flimsy top to the floor. Under any other circumstance, Quinn would love to see you like this. But the anger was clouding over any other emotion he would possibly be feeling right now.

“It’s always about hockey with you Quinn!” You shout slipping into sweat shorts and a t-shirt, purposefully not putting on one of the many ones you stole from Quinn. “That’s your main fucking priority.”

“Well yeah, it’s kind of my job.” He says.

Before you can counter him, he speaks again. “You know what, I’m too fucking tired and you’re too fucking drunk for us to be arguing right now.” He says, heading over to his side of the bed.

“I am not fucking drunk.” You hiss.

“You’ve been out at a bar for the past six hours, y/n.” Quinn reminds you.

“I wasn’t drinking the whole time, dick.” You say. “I need a drink.”

You head out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. You can hear Quinns’ bare feet padding on the wooden floor, hot on your trail. “Are you serious?” He asks. You ignore him, going into your liquor cabinet, and pulling out a bottle of white wine.

“Is this a game to you?” Quinn asks, leaning on the counter.

You pause from unscrewing the cap and look up at your boyfriend. “No Quinn it’s quite the fucking opposite, I’m sick of playing fucking games.” You say.

Quinns’ brows furrow together, not understanding what you mean. Your pent-up rage, the rage that had been forming over the past few months, now was finally bubbling to the surface. It makes it hard for words to form, your little squeaks coming out with no words as you search for the right ones.

“You don’t love me anymore.” You finally manage out.

Quinns’ expression is even more confused now, but now contains a note of hurt. “What are you talking about y/n?” He asks softly. “Of course I still love you.”

Quinn reaches out for your hands but you pull away. “Quinn…when you’re not at practice or a game, you’re out with the boys. I actually cannot remember the last time we had a proper date. And- and when’s the last time you called me dreamgirl?” You ask, mentioning the pet name he would call you. “And I don’t want to break up-”

“Woah, who said anything about breaking up?” Quinn interrupts, stepping towards you.

“Quinn I feel like I’m living with a stranger!” You shout, your hands flying up. “When’s the last time you held me? Hm? When’s the last time you came home after a roadie and instantly scooped me up, carrying me to the bed? I mean, fuck, when was the last time you kissed me? And I mean really kissed me and not the sorry excuses of a peck you give me before you leave me again?”

This renders Quinn speechless as he actually tries to remember the last time you two were intimate. His teeth are grinding together, his chest going up and down with every heavy breath he takes.

“I just can’t do this anymore.” You tell him softly.

“Then tell me what you want.” He responds, matching your tone. “Do you want this to end?”

“No, god no, I already said I don’t—”

“Then what do you want, y/n?” Quinn asks, his anger reappearing. “Because I am trying so fucking hard right now. With everything! With hockey, the entire fate of the fucking franchise is on my shoulders right now. So please, tell me what it is that you want.”

“I want my boyfriend back!” You scream. Tears spill over your waterline. They stain streaks on your cheeks, landing on the hardwood beneath your feet. You step over to Quinn, standing right in front of him. He doesn’t back down like you expect him to. “I want to feel loved by the person that’s supposed to love me.”

You’re jabbing at his chest, and looking into his eyes, you notice tears beginning to form.

“I want to come home and know that you’re happy to see me. That I am a source of joy. I don’t want to have to worry about it being awkward between the two of us.” You continue, now pounding your fists on Quinns’ chest. He takes every hit allowing your anger to spill out. “I just want you to love me, that’s all I want. All I fucking want is to be loved. Please just…”

Your words melt in sobs, Quinn gripping your hands and pulling you into his chest. He holds you tightly, sobs wracking your entire body. You grip onto Quinns’ t-shirt, holding yourself steady as your knees threaten to give way. He keeps you steady, placing soft kisses on the top of your head.

The sun now started to raise on the two of you. The morning sun paints the sky a pale orange, a stark contrast to the energy within the walls of your home.

#quinn hughes #quinn hughes x reader #quinn hughes imagine #nhl #nhl imagine #hockey #luvzegras #vancouver canucks #hughes #hockey imagine #nhl blurb

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imhenritz · 7 months

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Giving him the love he deserves (Sanji x Reader) Part 3

Note: Reader is still Mc (Main Character), but I made it sound like it's a name! I'm still too lazy to think of a real name. Forgive me!

The prompt for the story is: "The reader gets sucked into One Piece after wishing that someone would love Sanji like he is supposed to be loved, as nobody has given him a chance. She would love to give him that chance if only she could. One time, she was in her room, falling asleep while recording her voice for a cover request sent to her. When she woke up, she found herself in a boat floating, wearing pieces of jewelry fit for nobility. Her neck, ears, and bracelets were all glittering in the darkness." P.S. I know this is Sanji fic but I'll use any excuse to use the GIF to say it's his scene! Part 3 under the cut. Part 1, Part 2 here

In the midst of the chaos, "Zoro," Nami's voice, usually sharp and commanding, was laced with genuine concern as she watched her comrade face the looming threat. "Zoro, don't do anything reckless!" Usopp added, his wide eyes reflecting the worry shared by the entire crew.

Luffy, their fearless captain, clenched his fists, his determination evident in the hard set of his jaw. "Zoro's got this, guys. He's strong!"

Amidst the tension, Mc, their calm and composed beacon, swiftly organized supplies with a precision that belied the chaos around them. Her hands moved swiftly, efficiently gathering bandages, antiseptics, and herbs, her eyes focused and determined. Zeff, their stern mentor, grappled with the puzzle. “Lass, you know this was about to happen,” he stated, not a question but a fact.

Tearfully, she explained, “He won’t listen even if I tell him. Right now, I am no one in the crew. Why would he listen to me if he won’t even listen to them?”

Zeff, begrudgingly accepting her words, said, “Sanji, give me a tequila and a yellowfin.”

“I understand the tequila, but Yellowfin?” an unusual request that left him questioning the old man's sanity. A yellowfin for someone so gravely wounded seemed absurd.

Mc managed to smile weakly at Sanji, her touch gentle on his cheek, her eyes reflecting the depth of their bond. She whispered, “Obey your dad for once,” bridging the gap between them and transforming their rough love into a father-son dynamic that Sanji had never imagined possible.

In the midst of the tension, Sanji nodded, his usual confidence wavering for a moment before he steeled himself. “He could have explained,” he mumbled but followed, determination burning in his eyes as he rushed towards the kitchen. —

When they arrived, Zoro was sprawled out on the table, blood staining his clothes and the floor beneath him. Zeff, with the precision that came from years of experience, meticulously prepared the yellowfin fish. With delicate hands, he skinned the fish and placed it against the newly stitched wound on Zoro's chest, explaining it was a sailorman’s trick, an old remedy passed down through generations.

“Old man,” Sanji marveled, his admiration for the old chef's wisdom evident in his eyes.

"It's an old trick I learned. Sometimes, the simplest remedies work wonders," Zeff replied, his hands steady despite the urgency of the situation.

After they moved Zoro to Nami's room, Nami began reading to Zoro's unconscious form, her voice a soothing melody. Her presence brought a sense of calm to the room, a brief respite from the storm of emotions that raged outside.

Outside the room, Luffy, diligently cleaned Zoro’s sword, his face set in determination. He was focused, his every movement purposeful, as if he could will his friend back to health through sheer determination alone. Mc and Sanji tried giving Luffy food, but just this once, Luffy declined. That boy never said no to food. Luffy still had that smile on his face.

Mc, Usopp, and Sanji gathered around the kitchen island, Sanji’s hands working swiftly and efficiently to prepare the yellowfin that had been skinned earlier. Mc roped Usopp in to mold some rice balls, her childlike enthusiasm managing to distract the sniper. The room was filled with the aroma of fresh ingredients, a stark contrast to the tension that hung in the air.

Inside the room, tension thickened when Nami walked out, unshed tears in her eyes. The air was heavy with their collective worry and fear. Nami, her eyes filled with frustration and despair, cast blame upon Luffy for not preventing Zoro's challenge to Mihawk. Luffy's unwavering commitment to not shattering anyone’s dreams fueled the fire in Nami’s eyes. She gritted her teeth, expressing her belief that life was worth more than risking it all for a dream, her frustration evident in every word she uttered. In a huff, she stormed out of the room, leaving an atmosphere charged with emotions behind her.

Feeling Mc stiffen beside him, Sanji was aware of the burden she carried. He pulled her closer, his arms wrapping around her protectively. He felt her tense muscles relax against him, her head finding solace against his chest. In that moment, he understood the weight of her knowledge from the future and the pain it brought her. The crew they had just joined was falling apart, and he couldn't bear to see Mc suffer because she couldn’t do anything about it. His grip tightened around her, silently promising to be her anchor amidst the storm, to share her burden, and face the challenges ahead together.

"No matter what happens, I'll stand by your side; I would never desert you,” he whispered, his voice a soft reassurance in the midst of uncertainty. She looked up at him, her eyes filled with gratitude and love, and for a moment, the world outside faded away, leaving just the two of them. —

Then a shocking revelation struck – Nami had been colluding with Arlong all along, betraying the crew's trust by handing over the map of the Grand Line.

Burdened by her knowledge of the future, Mc wrestled with the decision to withhold this information. Sensing her inner conflict, Sanji gently pulled her aside, his eyes searching hers for answers.

"Did Nami betray us?" His voice was low, filled with concern.

Mc looked into Sanji’s eyes, her gaze reflecting the pain she felt.

“Of course, she wouldn’t,” Luffy said, his voice surprisingly calm after overhearing their conversation "You-", Sanji's eyes widened in shock. "The future huh?"Luffy smiled at Mc, now comprehending the weight of Mc's burden, her knowledge from her world guiding their path, he stood rooted to the spot. His usually carefree demeanor turned serious as he realized the gravity of the situation. His voice cut through the tension of the room. "We need to save her," he declared, his tone unwavering, filled with determination and hope. "We will?" Usopp is half hesitant remembering the fishmen. Luffy clenched his fists, his resolve firm. “Of course! We're a crew. We never leave anyone behind! Let's go kick Arlong's butt and bring Nami back!"

Zoro, the swordsman with a stern expression, nodded in agreement, "Arlong won't know what hit him when we're done."

Eyes immediately went to Zoro, who was standing like nothing had happened.

"Nami would jump out of joy if she sees you awake!" Usopp said, his eyes bright with admiration for Zoro's strength.

“That’ll be a sight to see,” Zoro snorted knowing Nami.

Mc, her eyes filled with gratitude and determination, stepped forward. "You let us take care of this. Fight, but make sure you don't make those stitches worse. Unless you want to die on us.”

“Like something like that will kill me,” Zoro snorted but looked at their new crew member fondly. She, after all, supplied his alcohol during their stay. “You can fight too, eh?” Zoro smirked at Mc. She always had been away from the fights they encountered.

Usopp, his eyes gleaming with a mix of fear and excitement, chimed in, "We'll show Arlong that the Straw Hat crew doesn't back down from a fight! Prepare yourselves, because we're coming for you, Arlong!"

Clearly hearing Usopp's hesitance earlier, “You’ll scare them away, huh, great captain Usopp?” Zoro grinned.

Sanji tightened his grip on Mc's hand, his usual suave demeanor replaced by fierce determination.

══════════════════ Thanks for stopping by! The last part of the series is on its way, followed by lots of fun/fluffy headcanons. I can't help but giggle—I have tons of them! I'm a big fan of the established relationship trope and the crew's interactions.

Series here: Part 1, Part 2 here, Part 4-Ending Masterlist here!

Get ready for more Future Fluffs aboard the Thousand Sunny, featuring Mc and Sanji being their adorable married selves, along with the Straw Hats getting in on the fun!

Breakfast in Sunny

Caught in Again Part 1, Part 2(coming up)

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captain-pheonix · 2 months

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Currently menstruating, id like to see the TF2 men (or support classes) experience the wild ups and down of mother nature when Reader lashes out at them over something comically stupid and then starts crying dramatically out of guilt for being so mad. Then goes back to happy and normal a moment later. Because i am an emotional wreck when the blood flows and i need an outlet for it. Thank youuu!!! Angle 📐 😇🪽

A/N: I know your pain bbg ❤️ tysm for sending it in Angle! I did a sort of half oneshot half headcannons thing, hope that’s ok, here you are! (Sorry this took a bit, life had been terrible recently)

Warnings: talk of menstruation (duh)

Scout:

- Whenever your on your period he would probably go to Medic for advice and some remedies

- He might think it’s really gross but he knows you can’t really control it after he got it explained to him

- He might notice if something is a little off about you that day

- Maybe by the way you seem annoyed or you trying to fight a fed up expression

- Most likely you would just be hanging out in his room at the base, laying in his bed and Scout drawing in a notebook, chatting with you

“Hey, d’you wanna try drawin’ somethin’? I’ll teach ya!”

“Oh, sure? Why not.”

- While you two are drawing you start having trouble following along with him

- The lines don’t match up with the ones you draw next and you start getting annoyed

- Eventually, you snap and just tear the paper in half

“Why are you such a good artist!? It’s unfair!”

- You get up off the bed and start pacing around, uncontrollably fuming

- After going from one wall to the other, you look back up at Scout’s crestfallen expression, sad kicked puppy eyes with a hint of realization

- The tears start falling and Scout smiles and lets out a little sigh, and beckons you to come sit beside him

“Hey, sweetness. C’mere.”

“No, no, no, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you.”

“It’s all good. I get it. Just let me take care of you.”

- Scout presses a kiss to your forehead

Sniper:

- Would likely enjoy it quite a bit if you just wanted a few lazy days with him

- He might go get candy and snacks to take care of you for the week

- He might not fully understand how periods work but he’s probably heard some things

- you two could hang out in his camper and read magazines/listen to music/cuddle

- maybe you start thinking about how you have chores to do and how you’re not doing anything

“Jeez, what is wrong with me? Why can’t I just get up and do dishes or something?”

“It’s alright, roo. You have all the time in the world. Just rest.”

“But—I mean c’mon, I have to do something.”

“Well, do ya feel up to it?”

“Uh…no, I’m in a lot of pain, but—“

“So don’t.”

- the feeling that you need to something starts making you feel bad about yourself and you start silently crying and trying to wipe your tears away

- when Sniper notices he gets concerned and wraps his arms around you

“Hey, hey, you alright?”

“Yeah, heh, sorry. Stupid hormones.”

- Sniper just huffs a laugh and keeps hugging you

Demoman:

- ok let’s be real he would offer you some booze for the pain and stuff

- a movie night would work nicely, because demo could probably pass out sometime during it and it would be a calm night

- the characters in the movie start making you angry, but weirdly angry

“Why do we have to watch this? It never ends up well for the main character! This is depressing!”

“Uh..We could watch something else, ya know.”

“WHY AM I SO ANGRY ALL OF A SUDDEN? WHY DO WE HAVE TO WATCH THIS STUPID THING?!”

- Demo turns off the TV

- you start crying after realizing you snapped at him

“Wait—no no I’m sorry.”

“Hey, lad/lass, c’mere.”

- Demo and you end up cuddling and then both passing out on the couch

Spy:

- I feel like he might know a bit about periods

- But it would really gross him out

- At least he might romance and charm you to make you feel better

- 100% get you fine wine and snacks to make you feel special and loved

- Lounging in his smoking room 10/10, might even offer you some of his special cigars or something if you smoke

- Treats you like high royalty

- Probably goes to medic for painkillers and other things to make you feel better

- Totally a chance to learn to dance to some music on the record player in his smoking room

- I feel like making a bunch of mistakes would set you off

“This isn’t working. Why aren’t my feet working? You’re the best teacher there could be, what am I doing so wrong!?”

- You break away from Spy and hide your tears by turning away from him

“Mon Chérie, are you alright?”

- He walks back in front of you to see you crying

“I’m...sorry.”

- Spy gives you a forehead kiss and wraps you in a warm embrace

- 10003939/10 gentleman he rubs your back until you feel better

Heavy:

- Heavy would likely not care at all, growing up with 4 other women for most of his life

- Considering this he would probably be at least a little educated

- Any questions he had would likely be answered by Medic

- I feel like Heavy would be one of the most understanding mercs

- At Heavy’s turn for making dinner, you decide to go help him because you feel like you’ve been lazy all day

- You burn your hand and start cussing wholeheartedly

“Am I just that bad at cooking!? I’m honestly so useless. Why can’t you teach me to be better!?”

- Heavy’s just straight up confused for a second

“Oh..oh no. I’m sorry.”

- tears start falling

“Is ok. Heavy understands.”

- bear hugs and then finishing up dinner <3

Medic:

- Bro has every remedy on hand and definitely tracks it for you

- So he would already know hormonal vs. Actually being mean/sad

- A good scenario might be a lazier day when you just hang out in his lab, and he educates you more on what he’s doing and why

- It starts you feeling like you’re not good enough and that Medic is so much better at his job than you

“And das how it’s done! Fascinating, ja?”

“Yeah. I guess I just wish I could do all this great stuff like you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, c’mon, you know everything! You know so much you can just do surgery on someone and everything works out!”

“Well, it’s not that simple,—are you crying?”

- You just nod

“Ah. Come here, mein liebling.”

- gives you hugs and kisses until you’re better 🥰

———————————

Thank you for reading!! Again, I’m so sorry that took so damn long. I’m getting back into writing today!

#team fortress two #tf2 #scout tf2 #tf2 demoman #tf2 scout #sniper tf2 #team fortress demoman #tf2 x reader #tf2 x you #tf2 heavy x reader #medic tf2 #tf2 medic #medic x reader #scout x reader #tf2 sniper x reader #sniper x reader

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tismrot · 5 months

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UNHEALTHY, NEURODIVERGENT GOOD OMENS BRAINROT

It really gets to me - how my brain was my own (my obsessions, emotions and intrusive thoughts were about me, my life, my relationships) until I watched that last episode.

I’d seen Season 1 a couple of years back and thought it was cute. I noticed the #ineffablehusbands hashtag via Instagram and I remember thinking “aww” - I didn’t care all that much. It wasn’t a Thing for me.

And then I notice season 2 is out on Prime, I wait a couple of weeks to see it and then, having finished some other shows I needed something new to watch while walking on my treadmill.

First episodes were… cozy. I shamefully have to admit I went “oh, right, they had that impossible love thing going on” when watching these episodes, and I thought it would be nice if they got together by the end, and it certainly looked like it was heading there, in a meandering, fuzzy way.

By the fifth episode I’m quite invested, of course, and after Beelz and Gab revealed their love in episode six, I was like YEAH, now Aziraphale and Crowley kinda gotta, don’t they? Still no brainrot yet, just the regular “I’ve watched almost all of this show now and the main characters are into each other, so I’m rooting for them”.

And then, of course, the Final Fifteen. It took me from [casual viewer in her 30s] to [teenaged, autistic me, alone in my room all of the equivalent of junior high, obsessively teaching myself to read and understand Elvish, sewing elven dresses for myself that I wore to school, listening to nothing but Gregorian chants and the LotR soundtrack, watching the movie until the cassette was ruined].

I’ve now read Ars Goetia, Paradise Lost and Dante’s Inferno. I re-read all of Jane Austen (and I’m not even a fan). I bought the script book, I’ve read thousands of pages of fanfics, and I’ve written probably 300 myself (of which some is published. It’s not very good, but it’s there, I made it, it’s the child of my brain that was born from this obsession). I draw again, and I haven’t for years. Everything I do and say and feel finds a parallel or reference within then GO universe.

And. I mean. I may be autistic, but since the days in my room during my teen years, I have lived. I have been around the block and I haven’t kept my nose clean, I’ve been terrible and terrific and out there, I’m an extrovert and I’ve made so many friends and enemies, I have experiences. When I was 14, I had very little of that at all. I did not see the brainrot coming, I had no idea I was still capable, I thought my own life had been dramatic enough.

3 months later, and I still can’t sleep. I see them when I close my eyes. I watch other kind of media and make notes for my fic. I want to break free, but God knows I’ve fallen in love, and I am BROKEN over this. Give me season 3 or give me a stash that lasts until then.

(This gif depicts me throwing Good Omens out of my brain)

#crowley #good omens fandom #ineffable husbands #aziraphale x crowley #good omens 2 #crowley x aziraphale #ineffable spouses #innefable husbands #crowley edits #ineffable divorce #good omens brainrot #good omens tv #crowley good omens

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cepheustarot · 7 months

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What would make you feel better?

Attention! This reading is for entertainment purposes only. You make your own decisions and are responsible for them yourself, so it's up to you to listen to advice or not.

Choose one or more cards. Trust your intuition.

Card 1 Your current state: You are still holding on to some things in the past or you are attached to some people, relationships. These things or people may be dear to you, but they do not bring more joy or other positive emotions into your life. In fact, you are holding on to memories. Also I can say that you in a situation in which you do not see a suitable solution and just patiently wait for the situation to resolve itself. It's like a disclaimer, as if you're shifting the solution to the problem to the universe(?)

What will you help: You need to pull yourself together and solve problems! Deep down you know the right solution, but you can resist because you don't like it, it hurts or you don't want to upset another person, or something like that. In any case, if you don't act now, your condition will worsen and you risk falling into a state of apathy. You can also be helped to make the first step by a person you trust and who gives good advice, he is wise and has a lot of life experience, so try to talk to him. I believe that everything will turn out well for you and you will cope with any adversity.

Card 2. Your current state: As I see it, here you are in a state of affairs where little depends on you and the resolution of the situation depends on another person or smth like this. You are just patiently waiting for the outcome, while you are in such an incomprehensible state when you do not know what to expect. Unpredictability worries you very much and causes severe stress, you are thinking about different ways to resolve the situation, but this does not calm you down, but makes you even more nervous.

What will you help: Since you can't influence the situation in any way, you need to try to calm down and let it go, think less about it and switch to something else. Excessive overthinking will not make you feel better, so you need to focus on taking care of yourself, reduce stress and anxiety. In this case, any things that please or calm you will help you, the main thing is that they distract you from thoughts and do not allow you to plunge back into the previous state. A trip somewhere will help well, it doesn't matter if you go alone or with someone, it will in any case bring new emotions into your life. I believe that you will cope with everything, be kind to yourself.

Card 3. Your current state: you locked ourselves in though and detached from reality, spend more time alone with your thoughts. Obsessive thoughts make you very sad, you don't know how to cope with them and in general you are at a dead end, you don't know how to get out of this state and help yourself. You are also indifferent to many events in your life and can left to chance everything.

What will you help: first, it is important to fight with your thoughts, they need to be challenged. If you have negative obsessive thoughts, for example, you are not succeeding and there is a feeling that you will never succeed, then try to give arguments against them, for example: "I have already been through this and successfully coped, so this time I will succeed" or "I have just started my journey and am gaining experience, mistakes at the beginning are natural, success comes gradually", I understand that my explanation may sound vague, but I hope the meaning is clear. You also need to keep a balance, you feel very sad, but you should try to create moments that will bring joy into your life, whether it's meeting friends or hobbies, any little things that make you happy. This should help you see that there is not only one melancholy around you, and good moments are also present. If necessary, contact a specialist. Be kind to yourself and remember that you can handle everything.

Thank you for reading! I will be glad of any feedback <3

#pick a card #pick a card reading #tarot #tarot reading #tarot cards

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megumi-fm · 3 months

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this week on megumi.fm ▸ media analysis brainrot

📋 Tasks

💻 Internship ↳ setup Linux system on alternate drive (this took me wayy more time than i anticipated) ✅ ↳ install yet more dependencies ✅ ↳ read up on protein folding and families + CATH and SCOP classifications ✅ ↳ download protein structure repositories ✅ ↳ run protein modeller pipeline ✅ ↳ read papers [3/3] ✅ ↳ set up a literature review tracker ✅ ↳ code for a program to parse PDB files to obtain protein seq ✅ 🎓 Uni Final Project our manuscript got a conditional acceptance!! ↳ revise and update manuscript and images according to changes mentioned ✅ 🩺 Radiomics Projects ↳ feature extraction from radiomics data using variance-based analysis ✅ ↳ setup LASSO regression (errors? look into this) 📧 Application-related ↳ collect internship experience letter ✅ ↳ collect degree transcripts ✅ ↳ request for referee report from my prof ✅

📅 Daily-s

🛌 consistent sleep [6/7] (binge watched too much TV and forgot about bed time booo) 💧 good water intake [5/7] (need to start carrying a bottle to work) 👟 exercise [4/7] (I really need to find time between work to move around)

Fun Stuff this week

🧁 met up with my bestfriends! we collected the mugs we painted last year and gifted them to each other! we also surprised one of our besties by showing up at her place. had waffles too ^=^ 📘 met up with another close friend for dinner! hung out at a bookshop after <3 🎮back at game videos: watched this critique on a time loop game called 12 minutes //then i switched up and got super obsessed with this game called The Beginner's Guide. I watched a video analysis on it, then went on to watch the entire gameplay, then read an article on the game's concept and what it means to analyze art and yeah. wow. after which I finally started playing the game with my best friend!! 📺 ongoing: Marry my Husband, Cherry Magic Th, Last Twilight 📺 binged: Taikan Yoho (aka My Personal Weatherman), Hometown Cha Cha Cha 📹 Horror Storytelling in the internet era

📻 This week's soundtrack

so. the Taikan Yoho brainrot was followed by me listening entirely to songs that evoked similar emotions to watching the main couple. personal fav emotions include a love that feels like you could die, a love that feels like losing yourself, a love that makes you feel like you could disappear, a love asking to be held, a love that reminds you that you're not alone, and a love that feels like a promise <3

---

[Jan 15 to 21; week 3/52 || I am having a blast at work ♡ I feel like I'm really learning and checking out a lot of cool stuff. That being said, I think I'm slacking when it comes to my daily routines in regards to my health. and I'm spending wayy too much time chained to my desk. maybe I'll request for an option to work from home so that I can cut on time taken on commute and spend that time exercising or walking

also. my obsession with tv shows is getting a bit. out of hand I think. not that it's particularly an issue? but I think I should switch back to my unread pile of books (or resume magpod) instead of spending my evenings on ki**a*ian. this could be unhealthy for my eyes in the long run, considering my work also involves staring at a screen all day. let's see.]

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elysiansparadise · 1 year

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Hi! I also have a question, not astrology related.

How did you become such a good writer?

I'm looking for inspiration to put my thoughts into words. I'm socially awkward and introverted, so I'm not the best always at expressing myself.

Thanks.

I'd love to start by saying that I'm deeply touched that you consider me so good at writing, it is one of the compliments I am most happy to hear/read, so thank you very much. I prefer to share with you how I improved and felt confident about my writing.

🤎I wrote daily. I used to daydream about writing and not doing it actively, one day I got tired and preferred to get in front of the computer and write a bit. I made writing a habit, not just any habit, but my favorite. If I didn't feel well I would write about my own feelings, in addition to practicing writing I would vent.

🤎I worried about my surroundings. I made sure to turn off the television, put on my favorite music, wear comfortable clothes, have a comfort drink with me before getting back to writing.

🤎I made my passions the main theme of my writing. Astrology? I made notes in my notebook until I filled dozens of them. New crush? Hundreds of poems describing in a thousand different ways my feelings when looking at that person. Find out what topics you are passionate about so you can write about them.

🤎I practiced different styles. From the most technical, clean and to the point writing, to the most poetic and metaphorical that you can imagine. The trick is not to be afraid to experiment, let yourself be carried away by what you write.

🤎Reading is as important as writing. Reading can help you find out which styles you like and which you don't. I found that while I love romantic and poetic language, but when it's "too much" to such a degree that the main point vanishes, I lose interest. It also expands your vocabulary and helps you find new interests.

🤎I got rid of the idea of writing for others before writing for me. Public opinion is a weight that you carry on your back that can harm your posture regarding writing all your life. Although listening to opinions is crucial to improve, you have to discern which to listen to and which to ignore. Care more about writing for you and topics you like before caring which topics other may rather.

🤎Music was my greatest company. And it still is. Random Playlist and my mind is in charge of creating interesting scenarios. Music helped me explore emotions that were foreign to me at that time.

🤎I hung out with people who were PASSIONATE about writing or watched videos of writers talking about their next novel. Passion is contagious, you know? There is nothing more empowering for our inner writer than seeing the sparkle in the eyes, the huge smile or the fire with which other people express themselves when they talk about writing. It just motivated me not to stop writing.

These are just a couple of things, I think it depends a lot on the person. I sincerely hope you find a method that allows you to put what you think into words, I'm sure that what you have to tell is interesting and valuable. All the best to you, love. 🤎

#🤎

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smalls-words · 10 months

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Chapter Nine: You Ready to Go to Church?

Summary: Whilst working, Natasha makes a few discoveries about herself. 1 - she's lonely. 2 - people come from all walks of life.

Pairings: Devil!Natasha x Fem!Detective!Reader, Natasha x Wanda, Reader x Steve (exes, co-parents), Yelena x Natasha (sisters).

Warnings: Blood, guns, drugs, death, mourning, therapy. Please let me know if I've missed anything!

A/N: This episode was quite a trek to write but semi-important. I won't be writing every episode of Lucifer for this series but I do seriously recommend watching it.

Series Masterlist

*not my gif*

The partying devil lay flat on the therapist’s couch, explaining the events of last night in great sensual detail. A pizza delivery boy getting his first experience on the job in a lingerie party, the party itself having three Brittanys, or Brittanies if you wish, and drugs, sex and alcohol of course.

“But I didn’t join them. Three Brittanies in a jacuzzi, three! And I didn’t join them.” Natasha grumbled, dressed in one of her more flattering suits that had a black, lace-hemmed corset top beneath her suit jacket, the buttons undone and tempting the doctor on the other side of the coffee table.

“Why do you think you didn’t join them?” Kate asked, sitting up straight in her chair with a neat pair of jeans and a long-sleeve shirt, her raven locks tied back in a bun.

“I don't know, Doctor. That's what I pay you to figure out, isn't it?” Natasha huffed, sitting up.

“Have you ever considered that all of this… excessive partying… may be your attempt to fill a void?” Kate offered. “‘Attempt’? I filled five voids last night.” The devil smirked, folding one knee over the other.

The doctor sighed. “That’s not what I mean.” When Natasha looked at her with a confused expression, Kate further explained. “A void in your emotional life. You sound… lonely, Natasha.”

The redhead almost cocked her head to the side like a confused puppy. “‘Lonely’? Have... have you been listening to a word I've said? I am never alone, I'm constantly surrounded by people, you know? I party whenever I desire, my bed is never cold.” She said with an exasperated sigh.

“Natasha, being alone and being lonely are two entirely different things.”

“Are they?”

“Of course. You may be surrounded by others, but… do you truly consider any of those people your friend? A peer you respect, someone you like to spend time with. Someone… with whom you share a meaningful connection.” Kate softened her voice, seeing how this was new territory for Natasha.

In classic devil nature, Natasha smirked. “Well, you and I connect quite well.”

Kate immediately shut it down. “I'm talking personally. …What about Wanda?”

Natasha’s smirk fell flat. “No. She and I are on the outs, I'm afraid. Long story filled with betrayal. You actually make a cameo in it.”

“How about Detective Valeria? Do you consider her your friend?” The doctor replied, staying calm despite the frustrated woman in front of her.

“Well, quite honestly, I... I'm not sure what we are.” She murmured.

Kate smiled gently. “Why don’t you try finding out?”

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After her therapy session, Natasha made her way back to Lux to enjoy a glass of her newest scotch ordered from Scotland, though it didn’t help that someone was already there. As she walked along the corridor, Wanda came running up the stairs in a strapless dress and thigh-high fishnet stockings. “Natasha? Listen, can we tal-?”

“I don't have time for traitors.” Natasha cut her off, her words almost a hiss.

“Look, I get that you don't want to talk to me. But someone else is here to see you for a favour.”

“Not in the mood, Wanda.”

“Trust me.You don't want to miss this one.”

When Natasha finally looked down at Wanda, there was a flash of demonic happiness in her eyes. Her irises glowed their swirling red, and she gently turned Natasha’s head by her chin to see a man waiting for her in the main club area.

“Be gone.” Natasha muttered to Wanda, a simple wave of her hand before Wanda made herself scarce.

Natasha slowly came down the stairs, tying up her hair whilst she buttoned up her suit jacket. If this was official business, she’d look official for it.

“You wanted to speak with me?” She declared herself known to the man.

As he stood, his bald head and dark skin tone reminded her of someone she knew by blood. He wore a suit, much like her own, though far more formal - and she didn’t wear a clerical collar either.

“Natasha Romanoff. I’m Father Frank Lawrence.” He introduced himself politely, a smooth slick to his baritone voice as he held out his hand to shake.

She didn’t shake it, instead chuckling. “A priest walks into a bar. I've heard this one before. Never seen it, though. At least, not here.”

She dawdled around to the other side of the bar, pouring herself some whiskey since the scotch had yet to be unpacked. “Padre, how did you of all people find me?”

“Don't let the collar fool you.” He gestured to it minutely. “I have friends from all walks of life. And some of these friends tell me you're the woman to see when you run out of options.”

“Ooh, what kind of nasty trouble have you gotten yourself into then? Pinched too much from the collection basket?” She teased.

“I'm here about a neighbourhood youth center.” Father Frank explained.

“Sounds dreadful.” Natasha grumbled, sipping the whiskey.

“It is... especially when you realise it's being used as a front for an illegal drug operation. The center's director, Lenny Arietta, is recruiting kids from my church to move his product.”

She tsked. “Ah, so this is about young boys, of course it is.”

“One in particular. A kid named Connor. He's had it rough. Lost both his parents at six. Bounced from home to home, some juvie. But deep down, a good kid.” He paused and pulled out his cell phone, a picture already loaded once unlocked.

The devil put down her whiskey and studied the image. A white young male, no more than 16 or 17. A blue beanie covered blonde hair, a grey shirt with a skull on it and blue collar hems, whilst he had a black zip-up hoodie with white drawstrings.

“So, diddling this one, are you?” She asked, handing the phone back.

He chuckled dryly, taking the phone back. “How about I not dignify that with an answer, and instead ask my favour?”

“Thank fuck, I was wondering when you'd get to it.” She grumbled, pouring another glass of whiskey.

“I want you to talk to Arietta before Connor gets involved.”

“And why not go to the police? Got something to hide, do you?”

“They were useless. Couldn't find anything on Arietta.”

Natasha felt a bit protective when he said that the police were useless. She knew that if you had been given this case, you would have tried your damned hardest to solve it. She just knew it.

“Why not ask your boss then, hey? The Almighty Himself.” She smirked, pointing at the ceiling but not looking at it.

“I already have.” He answered.

“Oh, no luck?”

“On the contrary - I believe he led me to you.”

She chuckled heartily. “Oh, I highly doubt that. So that's it, is it? Stop a drug ring to help some kid get out of trouble.”

Father Frank sat down as Natasha rounded the bar again, coming closer to him before she grinned lightly. “What's in it for you? What is it you really want? That dirty dark desire I can see you struggling to hold in.”

She watched with glee as her mojo worked on the priest, his eyes glazing over slightly. “What I really want… is to put my fist through Arietta's face.”

“Ha! And there it is. Wrath.” She grinned deviously, pleased with herself. “Ooh, not so high and mighty now, are you?”

“We all have demons inside.” He murmured, like he was shamefully admitting that fact.

She shrugged. “My demon tends the bar. So come on, what else are you hiding? Hypocrites like you always have something.”

“You don't know anything about me.”

“Oh, I know plenty. You and I are natural sworn enemies.”

He sighed. “Let’s cut to the chase - you gonna help me or not?”

“My answer to you, Father, is a big fat no. Handle it yourself.” She said, mocking his title before she walked off. “Wanda?! Are the Brittanies still here?!”

“No - but Valeria called.” Wanda echoed through the halls.

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“You're lucky I don't have any active cases, or else I'd send this to Narcotics.” You grumbled as you walked with Natasha up the ramp of the youth centre, dressed in your black jeans, jacket, a blue-black striped long sleeve with your badge and gun in its holster.

“Narcotics? No, no, no, no. I don't give a damn about the drug dealer. We're here to investigate the priest.” Natasha clarified.

“Priest? I thought we were here to talk to the youth director.” You raised an eyebrow at her, questioning her motive for this case.

“We are. To get dirt on the priest. He must be hiding something. And what better way to stick it to dear old Dad than prove that those who speak on His behalf aren't as virtuous as they pretend to be?” She grinned.

You sighed as you approached the youth director’s office. “You thought it'd be a good idea to rope me into your imaginary family feud? Great.”

“Look, am I mistaken or do you catch bad guys? Now, this priest is up to something. Something nefarious... I can feel it.” Natasha said, looking at the passing children with a slightly disgusted expression.

“Last I checked, your feelings don't count as probable cause.” You remarked, knocking on the double doors to the office.

“Well, isn't the fact that he came to me probable cause enough? Or I could just interrogate this youth director by myself.” Natasha shrugged, knocking the door before you could stop her.

“No, just let me do the talking. Mr. Arietta?” You called through the door, checking the handle to find it locked.

“Hmm. Well, if I were trapped in here with these vile children, I'd lock my door as well.” She smirked. You bent down and looked through the small glass gap of the door, scattered papers littering the floor as well as some knocked over science glassware. But just when you were about to pull away, you spotted a pair of legs lying face down on the floor.

“Back up.” You muttered to Natasha before you raised your foot and kicked in the door, the lock snapping on its way open.

“Well, Detective.” Natasha grinned before following you inside, momentarily staring at your legs and wondering about the strength they held.

“Look.” You said, alarmed at the sight of Arietta’s limp form on the ground.

You knelt down, stunned at the pool of blood by his head, and pressed two fingers to his carotid artery. “He's dead.” You uttered before pulling out your phone and calling it in.

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“M.E. puts the time of Arietta's death between 11:30 and 12:00 this morning.” You said to Natasha as she stood by you, crime techs working the scene methodically.

“Cause was multiple hits with a baseball bat. There are some abrasions on his face, so it looks like he struggled before he died. And I found this.”

“Ooh, what's that?” Natasha cooed like a pirate finding treasure, taking the small device but being careful to keep her fingers on the latex glove around it.

“It's a voice modulator. Hey, can you not do that?” You grumbled as she spoke into it.

“Detective, I am your father.” Her voice came out deeper and incredibly modulated, her chuckle afterwards making you shake your head.

“It's not a toy, Natasha. It could be evidence.”

“Well, I'm impressed. Looks like the priest handled it himself after all.”

“We don't know if the priest did this.”

“Well, maybe you don't.”

“Detective Valeria?” A crime tech called for you at the door just as you were about to get annoyed with Natasha.

You handed off the voice modulator to a crime tech and went to the door, a person waiting for you yet you didn’t wait for Natasha to follow.

“Hey, you're the head counsellor, right?” You said just as Natasha went under the tape.

“Uh, yeah. I’m Eric Doyle.” The man introduced himself, an overweight yet ‘gentle giant’ nature to his stature with a cropped haircut, a grey polo and jeans on whilst a clean watch was clasped on his wrist.

“Any idea who might've done this?” You asked him, folding your arms.

“No. I mean, everyone liked Lenny. He was a good boss.” He replied.

“So, he had no enemies whatsoever, no? Especially any who wear clerical collars?” Natasha snickered lightly at her obvious meaning.

Doyle’s face showed that he recognised the name. “So you know about the priest.”

“Oh, yes.” The devilish woman nodded, excited now that there was another lead in her favour.

“Yeah, that guy's always coming around here and getting into arguments with Lenny. But he's a priest, so… not much I can do about it.”

“Right. Mr. Doyle, where were you between 11:30 and 12:00 this morning?” You questioned, getting on with it.

“Uh... here. In counselling sessions with, uh, Nikki and Connor.”

“Connor? That's the altar boy from the priest's photo.” Natasha murmured.

Behind you, two officers were keeping away two teenagers. As you approached, you relinquished the officers and asked them for their names. Funnily enough, they were Nikki and Connor.

“So, is it, is it true Mr. Arietta's dead?” Connor asked slowly.

“Well, duh, dumbass.” Nikki scoffed, dressed in very emo-esque clothes, particularly the ‘SKATE OR DIE’ on her shirt next to a Dia de Los Muertos skull.

“It is. Yeah. Did you know him well?” You asked, trying to be gentle.

“A little, I guess. He- he- I mean, he ran the place.” Connor shrugged.

“Do you know if Mr. Arietta was involved in any drug activity?”

“Drugs?” Nikki laughed. “I mean, I wish he was. That would've made him more interesting.”

Natasha chuckled. “Okay. Enough about the dead guy. Tell me everything you know about Padre Pederast.” She pointed at Connor.

“Who?”

“Father Frank. Did you see him do this? Do you think he's capable?” She sighed, annoyed at his young teenage boy's mind for not catching up.

“Father Frank? Kill Mr. Arietta? No. No way.”

Nikki scoffed. “What do you mean "no way"? The guy's a creeper and totally obsessed with you.”

“He's just overprotective. Ever since my parents died, he feels like he's got to watch out for me or something. But he's a good guy. He's just a little... just a little annoying.” Connor shrugged.

“See? Annoying.” Natasha looked at you.

“Mm-hmm.” You lazily answered her. “When was the last time you saw him?”

“Uh, he... Here this morning.” Connor stuttered.

“Yeah, preacher seemed pretty pissed.” Nikki added.

You sighed, thanking the two before you went with Natasha to the station to look up the preacher, using the devil to help ID him visually.

“That's him. Frank Lawrence. The most evil of people have the most normal names, I've experienced. Beware anyone named Keith.” Natasha warned you, to which you nodded sceptically.

“Well, his criminal record's pretty extensive. assault and battery, disorderly conduct, drug charges.”

“See? Not very priest-like.”

“But nothing in the past ten years.” You added, searching the screen to find a very important document. “Ah, a restraining order filed by Lenny Arietta last week.”

“Ah, well, it's funny how Padre Punchy failed to mention a restraining order.” Natasha snickered. “Please tell me now we have enough to bring this priest down.”

“We have enough to bring him in. You ready to go to church?” You grinned, grabbing your jacket.

“Bringing down a priest is the only reason I ever would.”

“In. Bring him in.”

Natasha rolled her eyes lightly. “Yes, bring him in so we can bring him down. You’re no fun sometimes.”

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In the underground police parking lot, Malcolm stood and waited impatiently for his visitor. “I know you're there. What, are you watching over me? Like my own guardian angel.”

From the shadows, Yelena appeared, expressionless, in a neat blue suit with a white corset top, along with a few simple-banded gold rings on her fingers.

“Yeah. Grumpy guardian angel.” Malcolm mumbled.

“Forgotten about our deal, Malcolm? Because I brought you back from the dead for a single purpose.” She said, her accent making the man uneasy.

“Yeah, about that, I've... been meaning to ask. Why me?”

She raised a single eyebrow. “Why you?”

“Yeah. I mean, uh, I must be something special for you to go to all that trouble.” He grinned.

She chuckled darkly. “Don't flatter yourself. You're simply… in a unique position to do what I need done.”

His ego deflated at her words. “'Cause I'm a cop.”

“That, yeah.” She nodded, circling him. “And because… I know you'll do anything to avoid going back to Hell.”

When she stopped behind him, he stiffened at her breath on his neck. “Now, stop bothering me with these questions and just finish the task I've given you.”

Malcolm stepped forward to get away from her, turning whilst chuckling sheepishly. “Don't you worry your pretty little head. I'm already on it, all right? Everything's going according to plan.”

Yelena began to walk away before she stopped and looked over her shoulder at him. “Don't keep me waiting. Patience…” She chuckled. “She is not one of my virtues.”

Malcolm sighed, closing his eyes. “I promise you, I... I got this.” He stuttered because when he opened his eyes…

Yelena was gone.

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“Miss Valeria, Miss Romanoff, surprised to see you again.”

“Oh, I wouldn't miss this for the world.” Natasha grinned deviously at the priest.

“Father Frank, when was the last time you saw Lenny Arietta?” You asked him, ignoring Natasha’s jokes.

“This morning.”

“Despite the restraining order.”

“I answer to a higher authority.” He argued slightly.

“Not today you don't.” Natasha sang teasingly.

You gave her one glance and she rolled her eyes, putting her hands in her pockets as she let you question the priest. “What happened when you saw him?”

“We exchanged words. Things got a little heated.”

“What were you fighting about?”

“That altar boy of his, of course.” Natasha chuckled.

You ignored Natasha again. “Why were you fighting over Connor?”

“Because I'm worried that Arietta's gonna pull Connor into his drug ring.” He said, the words suspiciously identical to his last reasoning.

“So, what, you give him a right hook?” Natasha smirked, pointing at his bandaged hand.

Father Frank lowered his head. “Sadly, I did.”

“And then what?” You asked, folding your arms.

“And then I left.”

“Ooh, no, no, no, I think you skipped a part, didn't you?” Natasha chimed in. “You know, the part where you beat him to death with a baseball bat?”

“He's dead?” Father Frank asked, shocked. “Oh, Heavenly Father.” He murmured, painting the cross on his chest.

Natasha rolled her eyes (it seems she likes doing that). “Oh, come on. How gullible do you think we are?”

Father Frank shook his head. “I had troubles with the man, but he didn't deserve to die. And I certainly didn't kill him.”

You sighed, trying to de-escalate the situation. “Can you account for your whereabouts between 11:30 and 12:00 this morning?”

Father Frank thought for a moment. “Uh, I was here. Taking confessions. Mrs. Madison had a lot to say, took up the whole hour.”

Natasha sighed. “By chance, does Mrs. Madison have a limo driver?”

The priest looked at her, confused at how she knew that. “She does.”

“Damn. Just spoke to his alibi.” Natasha said to you.

“You- What?” You muttered.

“The MILF in confession.” She added, pointing to the confession box where a woman stepped out, fixing her ruffled hair and dress as well as her lipstick.

You sighed, poking your finger on the bridge of your nose three times in frustration. “Oh, great. Yeah, as much as I'm sure that followed protocol, I'm still gonna have to question her myself.”

You turned to the priest. “Father, I'm gonna need you to come into the station for a statement.”

After Father Frank collected his jacket and valuables, you and Natasha walked with him outside of the church to your cars. However, your head perked up at the sound of screeching tires, and you spotted a handgun being pointed out of a car window.

“Get down!” You called out, shoving Natasha and Father Frank to the ground before getting down yourself.

A full round unloaded from the gun, a stray bullet hitting the bus stop shelter glass before the driver took off. You jumped up, and though you tried, you could not get a full plate number off of the speeding car.

“And you wonder why I don't go to church.” Natasha sighed, readjusting her suit and corset top.

After three police vehicles turned up and cornered off the church main entrance as a crime scene, you went inside to talk to some people. You sent a crime tech to search the partial of the plate you had, along with the model of the car before finding Natasha by the pews.

“So I spoke to Father Frank's alibi. Checks out. He was in confession with Mrs. Madison from 11:00 to 12:00. He's not our guy.”

Natasha sighed. “Well, maybe she's lying. I mean, you know the sort of people that go to church. Sinners.” She tried to joke, but you didn’t seem to be in the mood.

“Lab results from the voice modulator came back empty. No prints, no DNA. Whoever did this is good.”

“What, so you think this shooting and the youth director's death are connected?”

“We know they have at least one thing in common.” You said calmly, walking up to Father Frank as he sat in the front pew.

“Father, you will be relieved to know that no one was injured.”

“Oh, thank God.” He sighed in relief.

Natasha grumbled. “Please don't.”

You looked sternly at the priest. “Now, Father… this wasn't a random attack. They were shooting at you. But you don't seem surprised. What aren't you telling us?”

He stood whilst pulling out his phone, holding it out and putting it on speaker. “Keep your nose out of our business or else.” A distorted voice came through before the voicemail ended.

“The voice modulator from Arietta's office. You should have gone to the police with this.” You scolded lightly.

“I assumed it was Arietta, and I'm not afraid of him. But if it's The Spider…” Father Frank trailed off.

“Spider?”

“I've heard whispers of another dealer trying to take over Arietta's business. People call him ‘The Spider.’ Scary, violent reputation.”

“Do you know who this Spider is?”

“I don't.”

You studied him for a moment. His eyes couldn’t meet yours and his shaking head showed fear. “You're holding something back, Father. I can tell.”

“I have a confession to make.” He hurried out.

“Finally!” Natasha cheered. “Well, the truth will set you free... isn't that what your beloved book says?”

“I lied when I said Connor was in danger of becoming involved. He already is. Dealing for Arietta.”

“What, that's it? Oh, please don't tell me that's what you've been holding back all this time.” The redhead looked disappointed.

“Wait. If Connor's already in deep, why go to all this trouble to protect him?” You asked.

“He's had it rough. Thinks he can only rely on himself. He's a good kid, Detective. There's still hope for him.”

You shook your head. “Father, you were today's target. We need to worry about your safety first. Do you have a place to stay? We can offer police protection.”

“I'm fine right here. This... is my sanctuary.” He sighed, sitting back down.

“Well, your sanctuary just got shot to high heaven, Padre.” Natasha chuckled. “But if you're looking to lay low, I believe I know just the place.”

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Natasha smirked at Father Frank as he sat in the same booth he met the devil in, strippers dancing in front of them dressed as nuns… initially. They had kept the veils and coifs on, but underneath was nothing but dark red lingerie as they danced to Do Ya Thang Girl by DJ Jubilee.

“Thought this might make you feel more at home, you know.” Natasha smirked at the priest as she sipped on her scotch.

“Sure you did.” Father Frank chuckled.

You walked past the strippers and into the booth, sliding in next to Natasha. “Hey.” You greeted her, to which she gave you a gentle smile.

“Malyshka.” She greeted you back.

“So, partial plates from the shooter's SUV came back with a couple matches. But this is interesting, one of them was recently reported stolen outside the youth center.”

“Oh, so you think someone inside's responsible.”

“I think it's too much of a coincidence not to be, but I ordered traffic cam footage, so hopefully it'll show us who was driving.”

“Hopefully.” Natasha grinned, her eyes falling onto the stripper in front of her.

Your eyes even had a little wander before returning to the task at hand. “Couldn't resist, huh?”

“Well, the man deserves some fun.” The devil grinned.

“Or you still want to prove he's a hypocrite.

“Well, what can I say? Temptation's in my nature.”

Natasha’s eyes fell onto yours and you held her gaze for a moment. In that moment, you felt safe, like being in this lustful partying bar was the safest place on Earth purely because Natasha was there.

“Hmm. And how's that working out for you?” You grinned, looking at Father Frank.

His head was nodding along to the music, his hand tapping on his thigh. Natasha seemed confused by his clear delight at the sensual song. “Padre, does this not bother you?”

“What can I say? I love this song.” Father Frank chuckled.

As the night dragged on, the three of you were having a wonderful time. You even had a drink with them, Natasha ‘accidentally’ making herself sit on your right whilst Father Frank was on your left, keeping you safe.

“You sure you're gonna be okay in here, Father?” You asked, the case coming to the forefront of your mind.

“This? Oh, absolutely. I grew up in places like this.” He excused.

“Oh, I find that hard to believe.” Natasha snickered, sipping on a new whiskey flavour.

He shook his head at her before his posture looked like he was starting a story. “No one's born a priest. Before the cloth, I was just Frank Lawrence, a touring musician.”

“Really? Let me guess... cowbell.” She replied.

“Close. Piano. Good old rock and roll. Opened for Dylan, Bowie, the Stones…”

“The Rolling Stones?”

“Yep. It was a crazy time, let me tell you.” Father Frank chuckled. “I was a lot like you, really.”

As Natasha finished her whiskey, she shook her head with a wry smile. “That's literally impossible.”

“Thought the fun would never stop.” He sighed, a sad expression filling his eyes. “Then, uh…”

“Father, you don't have to…” You murmured, putting a comforting hand on top of his injured hand’s wrist.

“No, no, no, no. Go on.” Natasha interjected.

The priest nodded, giving you a comforting smile. “Car accident. Ten years ago. I was travelling with Connor and his family. Uh, Connor's dad was a drummer, we used to play together. Another car swerved into our lane and, uh… Connor lost both his parents that night.”

Your expression fell into a remorseful one. You couldn’t imagine losing someone like that.

“My daughter was with us, too. She didn't make it, either.”

Let alone your child.

“Thought I'd seen some dark days. Nothing compared to losing my little girl. My heart just... cracked right open.”

His whole body went still. His eyes didn’t blink, his chest barely moved. The memories were as fresh as yesterday’s breakfast for him, even if they were a decade ago.

“That pain…” You muttered, shaking your head. “I’m so sorry, Father.”

“Well, you must have been awfully angry at your beloved God.” Natasha said, a slight anger to her tone but not directed at Father Frank.

“I was so... untethered. Lost. Turning to Him is what saved me.” He replied, wearing a fake but gentle smile.

“So... hold on. God stole your spawn and then you decided to worship Him?”

“I can't really explain it, but somehow it made me feel that she was safe. That's when I discovered my faith. The church gave me purpose. It was there that I crossed paths with Connor again. Me, a parent without a child; him, a child without a parent.”

You smiled softly. “You connected with him.”

He nodded. “We might not always understand it, but God has a plan.”

Natasha sighed. “Yes. I know. But why does everybody always think it's a good plan?”

Suddenly, your phone began to ring and you cleared your throat from the emotion that Father Frank’s story had brought up. “Please excuse me, Father.”

He nodded, though you didn’t need his permission, and you left to take the phone call.

“So, can we just go back to this absurd notion that you and I are in any way similar?” Natasha asked.

“You're right. We're not.”

“Thank you!”

“I'm probably a much better piano player than you are.”

Natasha raised an eyebrow before she looked around the club. Her piano was in the centre of the floor but it was too packed and loud for the two. She turned to the human bartender and told him that she’d be upstairs if you needed her.

“Well come on then, Padre. Let’s test your silly theory.” She smirked, leading him up to the penthouse.

Of course, she let Father Frank play first, his fingers dancing over the keys with the practised grace of an experienced player; though, Knocking on Heaven’s Door wasn’t wonderful for her ears.

“D-Do you know anything that doesn't make me want to, you know, impale myself? Like, uh... Something more upbeat. Something a bit, um... I mean, like, uh…” She shrugged, sitting down on the top side of the piano seat.

Immediately, she grinned as a song came to mind, playing a wilder melody of Mess Around by Ray Charles.

“Oh. I think I know what you mean.” Father Frank matched her grin, beginning to play the bottom side of the song in a similar jive and rhythm.

“Something like that?”

“Yeah.” She smirked.

“Okay.”

As they played, Natasha was impressed. “Father has got soul.”

“You ain't seen nothing yet.”

“Oh? Would you like to take the top?”

“Why not? Excuse me.”

As they swiftly swapped places, with Father Frank playing a glissando up the keys whilst Natasha spun around him to sit on the bottom side, she laughed heartily.

Though she wouldn’t admit it aloud, she was having fun with this soulful priest.

It was then that you appeared in the elevator, though neither of them noticed. You were happily surprised by the sight before you, tapping your finger in your pocket to the rhythm as you came to lean on the bar beside the piano. After a few more seconds of playing, Natasha noticed you out of the corner of her eye and immediately stopped playing.

“Oh.” Father Frank chuckled, looking between the two of you.

“Hi.” Natasha said after clearing her throat, putting her stoic face back on.

“Hi.” You greeted softly, giving her a knowing warm smile as if to say ‘I caught you having fun with the priest, hypocrite’.

Natasha cleared the air with her shrug. “Yeah, well, I suppose that wasn't completely terrible.” She directed at Father Frank.

“Not completely.” He laughed, patting her shoulder gently.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but Father Frank's story about The Spider checks out, and I got a lead so we should go.” You said, looking at Natasha.

She nodded and grabbed her jacket, patting Father Frank’s shoulder. “Well, you stay here. You need the practice.”

And the two of you left with the priest’s hearty laugh echoing in the penthouse.

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Upon exit of your car into a hidden skate park, you walked beside Natasha and mentally noted how she scanned the premises. “I talked to Narcotics and one of their CI's said The Spider's rumoured to hang out here.”

“Well, I don't know why you had to bring me along.” She said.

“What, are you anxious to get back to your new friend?” You teased.

She scoffed. “Please. The Devil friends with a priest? That's absurd.”

“It's absurdly adorable. You know, it's okay to admit you like the guy.”

“He's everything that I stand against, Detective.”

“Yeah, well, sometimes we get along best with the people we're most different from.” You shrugged.

As you scanned the place, Natasha observed you. You looked tired, a bit frazzled even. when she saw a man looking at your ass, she took a step towards you, glaring at him with the fury of a thousand suns.

If only her eyes were glowing. That would shock him into being a decent member of society.

“Look.” You said, pulling her out of her glare to look through the crowd.

“Oh. Little Miss Sunshine from the youth center.” She chuckling.

“Yeah, Nikki.”

“What's that she's doing?”

You watched her hands move swiftly between people before sighing. “Drug deal. And a smooth one. Maybe she's The Spider.”

“Ooh, black widow, then. Lovely.” Natasha grinned, about to stride forward and confront her but you held her back.

“Wait. She's giving it to someone else.” You muttered, pulling her back.

You pressed up against her chest, trying to minimise your visibility from Nikki. Natasha looked down at you, perplexed, her cheeks a little red as she tried to keep it down.

“To Connor.” You realised, seeing the boy accept the money from Nikki.

Then his eyes fell on you. With fear or rage or something in his eyes, he pulled out a gun and shot into the ceiling, sending the crowd into a frenzy.

“Get down!” You yelled, pulling out your own.

Though the crowd was working against you as you tried to squeeze through a gap between the people rushing out of the fenced skate ramp and the fence itself. You raced through the back door where Nikki and Connor went through, but the alley was empty.

“Gone. Great.” You sighed, putting your gun back in your holster.

“Why was the black widow giving her cash to altar boy?” Natasha asked, checking the alleyway with her glowing eyes as you checked your ringing phone.

“You never want to carry dr*gs and money on you at the same time. Makes you a target.” You opened your phone. “Or because Connor's The Spider.”

Natasha stopped glowing her eyes, satisfied that nobody was nearby, and looked back at you.

“Traffic cam footage.” You showed her your phone, a clear photo of Connor in the driver’s seat with a gun in hand.

“Ah, from the church shooting. So the boy the priest was trying to protect is the one who tried to kill him? Well, isn't that an ironic kick in the cassock?”

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When you returned to Lux, Father Frank was evidently shocked at the news by the way his hands shook whilst he held your tablet in his hands. “This doesn't prove Connor's The Spider.” He said firmly, giving you back the tablet which had Connor’s photos on it.

“It's pretty damning, Father. And it's enough for the APB that just went out. Connor's been declared armed and dangerous.”

“Armed and dangerous? The boy needs to be helped, convinced to turn himself in.”

“Father, he shot at you. He fired into a room full of kids.”

“Yes, but he shot up, didn't he?”

You sighed, knowing he felt for this kid as if he was his son. “We'll do everything we can to bring him in peacefully. I promise you that.”

Father Frank sighed too. “If you'll excuse me, I... need some air.”

Natasha wandered over with three drinks of whiskey in her hands, offering to the priest but denied. She then turned to you, smiling gently. “Drink, malyshka?”

You shook your head. “I have some digging to do. Will you watch over him until I get back?”

“What?” She huffed. “You want me to babysit the priest?”

You smirked as you retreated into the elevator. “I babysit you all the time.”

Natasha mumbled grumpily to herself as she walked towards her balcony, standing right next to Father Frank as he held a cigarette in the other hand.

“Need a light?” She offered.

He chuckled dryly. “No, thanks. Quit years ago. Still enjoy the ritual, though. Always keep one on me.”

She nodded, putting her lighter back in her pocket. “Please tell me you didn't come out here to talk to Him.”

“God? Why not? This is as good a spot as any.”

Natasha laughed, shaking her head. “Right.” She did pause though, looking at him with curiosity. “Does He, uh... does He ever talk back?”

He was quiet before answering. “I don't need to hear Him to... hear Him. If you know what I mean.”

“Well, yes, He never talks to me, either. Listen, um…” She said to quickly change topics. “Sorry about the altar boy. Surely you know you're not to blame. I mean, some people are just... beyond saving.”

“That's where you're wrong. There's still hope for him.”

She sipped on her drink, giving him a doubtful expression. “He shot up your church, he's most likely running a drug ring behind your back, and, oh, yes, killed a man.”

“I don't believe that.” Father Frank countered.

“Look, what if it's true?”

“Then he needs me even more.”

She scoffed, looking at him like he was a freak. “How can you still have faith in this boy?”

“God has faith in him. In all of us. Even in our darkest moments.”

“Oh, you really believe that.”

“I do.” He answered back quickly. “Why don't you?”

Her face fell stoic once again. “Because He didn't have faith in me.”

“Hmm.I felt that way once, too. But now I know, deep in my heart, God has a plan for me.”

“Oh, His plan for me was quite clear.” She scoffed, glaring at the cloudy sky for a moment.

“How do you know it's finished?” The priest chuckled.

Natasha stood there in silence, pondering his words and views. In her head, it possibly made sense that the plan for her wasn’t over. But the hatred and betrayal in her heart threw that thought into the garbage disposal, hoping that it could be as easily forgotten as it was learned.

“Excuse me. One of my parishioners, uh, a lot of them are still upset about the shooting.” Father Frank held up his phone.

Yeah. Don’t… Don’t worry about it.” She muttered, leaning on the balcony as he entered the elevator to take the phone call.

Pressing the ground button with determination on his face.

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After finding out Father Frank was no longer in Natasha’s custody, you quickly drove to the club and found Natasha.

“Why would he do that? Why would he just run away?” You scoffed, collecting the devil to the bar.

“Wanda, the priest, have you seen him?” Natasha asked the demon at the bar doing stocktake.

“So you're talking to me now?” She said bitterly.

Natasha glanced at you before glaring her glowing eyes at Wanda. “Have you seen him?!”

Wanda relinquished and bowed her head slightly, just enough for Natasha to be pleased and stop glowing her eyes. “He was down here on his phone. Heard him talking to someone named Connor. He left to go meet him.”

“He left? Where to?” You asked, though Wanda ignored you.

“Maybe he's trying to convince Connor to turn himself in.” You said to Natasha.

“No. He's probably trying to hide the little miscreant. Put his faith in God, not the police.” She scoffed.

“Why do you care about a priest?” Wanda sneered.

“I don't.” Natasha bit back, tempted to glow her eyes again.

“Where would he hide him? Where would he hide Connor?” You muttered to yourself.

“Somewhere he considers safe, I assume.” The devil shrugged.

It clicked in your head. “Sanctuary.”

You stormed out to your car, thankful that the valet hadn’t moved it, and jumped into the driver’s seat. You kept your lights and sirens off, and drove quietly along the street to the church.

“Malysh.” Natasha said quietly, trying to steady your shaking hand by putting hers on top. “Are you sure it’s a good idea for you to get involved with a shooting again? Jimmy did a number on your shoulder.”

You looked over at her briefly before driving, though not moving her hand from yours. “I’ll be okay. I did some extra exercises at the department.”

“Okay.” She said, though still worried.

As you stepped out of the car, you stormed up the stairs and pulled Natasha in behind you. “Behind me, always. You are not getting shot on my watch.”

You leaned in by the window of the front entrance door, seeing Father Frank with his hands in the air, with Connor pointing a gun at him. You snuck in quietly through the door, crouching to the floor so that you were no higher than the pews.

“You don't want to do this. I know you. This isn't you.” Father Frank reasoned with Connor.

“Sorry, I don't have a choice, okay? I have to do this.”

“I get it. You don't think you can rely on anyone else to survive... but you're not alone. I'm here for you, whenever you need me, son.”

“I don't need you! Okay? I don't need anybody!” He said, with a strained tone to his voice.

“Go on, then, shoot the altar boy.” Natasha murmured in your ear. “In the leg or something, obviously.” She added after you shushed her.

“Just do it, Connor. Pull the damn trigger already.” A voice said before a familiar face came from the right side of the church.

“That's Eric Doyle. That's our Spider.” You realised.

“The counsellor.” Natasha muttered.

“You know, Nikki… I trust her. But you? I think you're too attached to this preacher. You're gonna have to show me that you're not.” Doyle spoke to Connor, like a devil on his shoulders.

“No shot from here.” You told Natasha, moving closer to the scene.

“I know you, Connor. That drive-by, you intentionally missed me, didn't you?” Father Frank asked calmly.

“Stop talking. Please.” Connor whimpered, his hand shaking around the gun.

Doyle sighed. “Make him stop talking. It's really easy.”

“You couldn't do it then, and you don't want to do it now. God's giving you a second chance right here.” The priest whispered, trying to coax the boy towards him.

“E-Enough with the sermon, preacher! Connor, just shoot this son-of-a-bitch already.” The Spider huffed.

“Just follow your heart, son. I have faith in you.”

You slowly crept behind the front pew, gun in hand and eyes lasered onto Connor’s gun.

With a few trembling breaths and shaky hands, Connor lowered it and faced Eric. “I can't do it, Doyle. I'm sorry.” He said, dropping the gun.

Doyle sighed. “I'm sorry, too, kid. I can't allow weakness, not when I've just taken control.”

As he pulled out a gun, Father Frank pulled Connor backwards and behind him, stepping in front.

“No!” He yelled as Doyle fired the gun.

Straight into his heart.

You shot Doyle in the stomach, rendering him useless as you kicked away his gun. He wouldn’t die, though he would hurt.

“Hands up. Get down on the ground.” You told Connor, trying to be firm but gentle as he did exactly as you asked.

“Father!” Natasha yelled, rushing to his side. “No, no, no, you idiot! The bloody hell were you thinking?!”

“This is Unit 831 at St. Morgan's Church. We need two ambos, code 4.” You called into your phone, putting the phone down but letting it continue.

“Don't go anywhere, you moron!” Natasha growled at Father Frank, his suit quickly becoming sticky with blood as she put pressure on the front and back of his chest.

“It's okay. I'm not afraid of dying.” Father Frank muttered, spitting out some blood.

“Well, you should be. It's really boring where you're headed.” She said, pulling off her jacket and pressing it against his chest.

“I hope so. I've had enough excitement for one life.” He chuckled.

“Stop talking like that. You've got more to do here. You've got more people to annoy.” She said, her voice becoming shaky.

“Pressure on the wound, Natasha.” You told her, keeping your gun facing Doyle.

“I am!” She growled. “Just come on, Frank, stay with me, stay with me.”

He groaned as she adjusted him in her grip, time ticking by as all they could do was wait for an ambulance. Natasha had no first aid experience, and you didn’t have any equipment necessary for such a wound.

“Oh, uh... at first… I didn't understand why God put you in my path. But then it hit me.” He chuckled, blood spilling onto the cuffs of Natasha’s long sleeve shirt.

“Maybe... He put me in yours.”

“I… highly doubt it. He gave up on me a long time ago.”

“You're wrong, Natasha. Remember… your father... ha-has- has a plan.”

“My father?” She asked, confused.

“Yeah.”

She realised what he meant. “You know?”

Lightning flashed and thunder clapped above the church as she looked at the blood spilling beneath Father Frank. Though when she went to speak to him again, his eyes were in the back of his head, lying limply.

“Frank? Frank!” She yelled, still keeping pressure on the wound.

Though it was futile.

“Frank.” She whispered, lying him down on the ground.

Tears pricked her eyes as she closed his, looking up at the ceiling briefly before her sadness became anger. Frank was a good man, a loving father figure to Connor, but someone preyed on him.

“Natasha…” You murmured, trying to get her attention.

She looked over her shoulder at Doyle, blood seeping into his shirt and zip-up hoodie. “Time to pull the legs off The Spider.” She seethed as she walked over, picked him up and held him two feet off the ground by her hand around his neck.

“Natasha, stop!” You yelled as Doyle choked.

“Why did you do this?”

“I don't know.”

“Why?”

“He was bringing too much heat!”

“Why?! WHY?!”

Doyle’s choking began to grow quiet, his hands weakly scratching at Natasha’s hand on his neck.

Natasha, stop. Father Frank wouldn't want this.” You said, your breath shaky as you saw the scorned woman.

“Stop.”

She yelled out in anguish and let Doyle drop to the floor, not caring for his safety as his legs crumpled beneath him and he gasped for air.

You quickly came to her, holstering your gun as ambulance and police arrived outside. “Natasha…”

Her whole body went still. Her eyes didn’t blink, and her chest barely moved.

You watched her retreat out of the church towards the crime techs, speaking her part of the scene before you did the same. After what seemed like half an hour, you watched Natasha leave the scene in her car, with one of her valets at the wheel.

⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖

Resting at home with Steve on the couch beside you, you turned the TV off and sighed. Steve, I know I wanted to talk, but, um... my mind, it's just…”

“Somewhere else?” He murmured, looking at you with a small smile.

“Yeah.”

He sighed. “Yeah, mine, too.”

“Can we do this another time?” You asked, smiling softly.

“Yeah. No problem, Y/N.” He answered, gently kissing your forehead.

He agreed to stay at the house to watch Peggy whilst you drove to Lux. You had seen the emotion in Natasha’s face, how hard her heart had shattered when Frank died.

As you entered the club, you smiled at the security guards who knew you by memory now. You casually made your way to the elevator, dressed in your work clothes but jacket in hand. As it opened, you smiled gently as the keys to Knocking On Heaven’s Door played from the piano.

You watched her for a moment, listening to how she played. The liquor in her glass told you she’d been there either for a moment or for hours, since there was a bottle beside the glass.

You were tempted to hum along but instead put your jacket down and walked over to her, leaning over her shoulder to get her attention.

She immediately stopped playing and looked at you - with every ounce of attention she had.

“Hi.” You said softly, your hair hanging down like a beautiful waterfall for the redhead to admire.

She didn’t know what to say for a little while, but when you sat beside her on the piano chair she spoke. “Bit late for a new case, isn't it?”

You laughed quietly, shaking your head. “I'm not here for a case. I'm here for you.”

“Oh. Really?” She smirked, leaning slightly towards you as she tried to use her mojo.

“Yeah. Thought you could use a friend.” You murmured, gently brushing some hair out of her face with a focused expression before looking at her again.

She exhaled softly before clearing her throat. “Do you play?”

“Mm. No. No, I don't.” You replied with a light smirk.

“Come on, you must know something.” She insisted.

“No. Uh... All right, well... let me see. I had three years of lessons… and this is all I remember.” You said, beginning to play the melody to Heart and Soul.

Natasha laughed heartily. “Surely, you must be joking.”

You stopped, shaking your head at her with a cheeky grin before playing again. To Natasha, you had the funniest little expression of focus, your eyes carefully looking at the keys to remember.

“Alright, then.” She muttered, beginning to play the accompaniment to it.

Through the night, you sipped on her drink and she gladly refilled it when necessary. Fatigued and warm from both the alcohol and Natasha, she took you to her bed and let you rest in it for the night.

“Goodnight, malyshka.” She gently kissed your forehead, heading out to her balcony for a smoke.

She looked out onto the marvellous landscape of the city, lifting her lighter to the end of her cigarette but it would not light. In frustration, she threw the lighter off of the balcony, not caring who or what it hit when it landed.

She glared up at the sky. "You... you cruel, manipulative bastard! Was this all part of Your plan? It's all just a game to You, isn't it? Well, I know punishment, and he did not deserve this." She gestured to her sleeves and the bottom of her shirt, covered in blotches of Father Frank's blood.

"He followed Your stupid rules and it still wasn't fucking good enough! So what does it take to please You? Break Your rules and you fall! Follow them and you still lose?! Doesn't matter whether you're a sinner! Doesn't matter whether you're a saint! Nobody can win, so what's the point?!"

She leaned her elbows on the balcony railing, her head folding down into her chest. "What's the fucking point?"

⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖⧖

As midnight struck across town in a 24/7 diner, Malcolm sat with six plates of food around him and two empty milkshake glasses, another only half-full.

“Enjoying the life I gave you?” Yelena’s deep voice popped up from next to him, giving him a fright.

“Hey... did food taste this good before I died? ‘Cause I don't remember it being this friggin' delicious.” He chuckled, the angel beside him looking him straight in the eye.

“I don't care what you're doing with your new life, Malcolm... except for what I've asked of you. What's taking so long?” She questioned lightly, like she was his friend.

“Come on, come on, chill out, Yelenalady. Here, have some waffles.” He smirked, sliding over a plate of three waffles with strawberries and cream piled on top, though slightly melted.

After a flash of lightning outside, she was whispering right in his ear in a taunting voice. “Do you want to go back, Malcolm? Because I can make that happen.”

She watched the fear in his posture grow, his appetite slowing as he held a burger up to his mouth but didn’t bite it. “Yes… you're remembering it now, aren't you? I bet your 30 seconds in Hell felt like 30 years.”

Her voice became stern. “Imagine what eternity would feel like.”

“I'm sorry. Okay? Sorry. Look… I got it. An untraceable gun. It won't come back to me. I'm ready now.” He stammered out, showing a small pistol that had been removed from evidence, still in its bag.

“Good.” She smiled, patting his shoulder gently.

He cleared his throat. “So who do you want me to kill again?”

“Her name... is Natasha Romanoff.”

#smalls words #natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff x fem!reader #natasha romanoff fluff #natasha romanoff angst #natasha romanoff x female reader #natasha romanoff x you #natasharomanoff angst #natasharomanoffxyn #natasharomanoff x reader #natasharomanoffimagine #natasharomanoff #devil of my word #domw au #devil!natasha romanoff #detective!reader

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muzzleroars · 5 months

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i am glad you still love your supercomputer au! your fanfiction and the pieces you created once is such masterpieces... your old curiouscat link gave an error so i cannot see the answers you gave to people. can you generally tell the au shortly? akiras relationships with phantom thieves, futaba and akiras relationships etc etc

aaaa thank you!! and im sorry so much was on curiouscat that i didn't back up ;o; but i can definitely give a brief overview as well as go into a little more detail about akira!!

for some background, akira was an orphaned child used in the cognitive pscience experiments, as he showed great potential in preliminary testing (ie, what would become his wildcard ability) he grew up housed in a facility for this purpose, with his main social contact through the ten years he was there being YAL20XX, a supercomputer designed to analyze data related to the field. frightened and eventually bitter toward the researchers, YAL was programmed to speak to him for them, keeping him content in a way they couldn't while gathering information he refused to give. this back and forth went on long enough that, in YAL's complexity, he grew into sentience and so into hatred for humanity - akira understood his emotions and yal, with full control of the facility, was able to plan their escape and the subsequent work they did on creating the metaverse navigator

the test for humanity is the same as in canon, with akira playing the role of black mask with his persona, mephistopheles. he is an unknown entity to the conspiracy, but his brutal efficiency means they don't bother to question who he might be. akira, as a person, rarely goes out and refuses to make connections with others, believing yal to be the only being he can trust or that can understand him - he is too different, too changed from who he could have been and what everyone else is, and he carries a great grudge for his mistreatment. he believes in the world yaldabaoth promises, and he is sure humanity will ultimately fail their test regardless of the introduction of the phantom thieves to stand against shido

his connection to the thieves is mixed, somewhat limited, but grows increasingly over time - goro is of course who he meets first, becoming a regular at leblanc so yal can keep a close eye on him through a more human lens (and have an agent that can direct him as needed) goro is very much taken by akira's bright intellect and unusual perspective, while akira slowly comes to appreciate goro's tenacity and his willingness to risk everything in his work as a thief. it's not easy for him to make connections or believe others, but goro doesn't give up on pursuing their relationship, he puts his faith in akira and refuses to leave their friendship at a surface level despite akira's coldness. and that's. very hard for akira to accept. he so fully believes in humanity's irredeemable malice and his own fundamental brokenness that he doesn't know how to feel when goro continuously defies those expectations. goro, as well as all the thieves, risk their freedom and their lives over and over again for victims they don't know, to build a better world without ever receiving praise or compensation. and goro listens to akira, engages with him but gives him space too, reaches out to see if he ever wants to join them for a day out or just spend time together. even if akira keeps saying no, goro will text him again soon. the thieves are good people, and akira isn't the unlovable monster he believed himself to be.

futaba is very interesting in the supercomputer au, because i like to think she's the one that tipped goro off to akira being much more than he seemed - largely because whatever he's using, futaba can't hack into it. it makes akira VERY wary of her, keeping his distance from futaba as much as he can without attracting attention, but she just knows something is up with him if he's got a setup she has no way into. i do like the idea that she basically fries her computer to catch a glimpse of yal with his mess of esoteric code, but it's enough to unravel akira's identity (in a much more convoluted way than canon got to lol) - she traces him back to a user known as "bowman" that was snooping similar government databases as she did, making his connection to cognitive psience come to the forefront. this is compounded by her finding out all of akira's identification, from his name to his apparent history, is all faked when dug into. at this point they all know he will have to be confronted, and that leads into the end of the game

sorry that was kinda long ;;;; but i think that about covers it!!! if you have any other questions i'd be happy to answer those too ^^

#i didn't even get to the third semester but #that's a whole other can of worms!!!#but you know doing a roleswap this way #really made me realize how much the plot uses futaba to get around things #and how i couldn't. do that at ALL in this au so i had to do a lot of thinking on multiple points #still can't remember how i worked around the interrogation room. guah #cake answers #supercomputer au

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a-very-zilly-gooze · 2 months

Text

hey gang, it’s way too early AM and i have not been able to sleep all night so let me just explain my senior quote to you all bc i’m really happy with it. the quote is…

“Some things just aren’t meant to make sense, some things aren’t meant to be represented.” -Bears in Trees

why? well, for several reasons.

1. i think it’s neat. get off my back.

2. it’s from one of my favorite songs of all time, I’m Doing Push Ups by @bearsintreesofficial. and as many of you know, i kinda really really really like BiT.

3. i was majorly stressing over choosing a senior quote because i’m a super anxious person, and when i told my friend that I was considering using this one, she said something like “if you end up hating the quote later then it’ll be ironic because some things just aren’t meant to make sense” and that is some god-level reasoning there.

4. Nick (BiT lyricist, guitarist, cryptid?) once said that this lyric was about him trying to make sense of his school experience. To quote Nick himself, “i moved away to go to uni… and had a weird and gross and sad first year. i kept trying to write a song about it… until i eventually realised; some things aren’t meant to make sense. some things aren’t meant to be represented. some events don’t make you a better/worse person and there’s no point trying to think about it or ascribe any sort of ~main character energy~ to them. some things just happen and it sucks.” and i think that that really describes my high school experience. i try to reason out why ~things~ happened to me. i try to place some sort of value on the pain because it fuels the future or some shit. i try to use it to interpret myself or my surroundings. but in the end, some things just happen and it sucks.

5. one of the reasons i was stressing so hard about my senior quote was because i thought it needed to encompass all of me or all of my high school experience. so i really wanted something to show all of me, every crevice of my being, and how i felt about moving on and moving away. i considered the “live forever or die in the attempt” quote from Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. i considered “If you’ve gotta go, then go with style!” from Crowley in Good Omens. i was planning on doing “Ready to head into the unknown?” “Nope. Let’s do it” from Dipper and Mabel in Gravity Falls’s last dialogue sequence. but none of these felt like they encompassed all of me. and so i was freaking out, trying to find something that was me and my feelings. after all, it’s not every day that someone moves ~765 miles away and across the country for college. but i finally realized that i don’t actually know how i feel about moving away. i have so many emotions about it, and they all coexist and wreak havoc within me. my feelings about moving don’t really make sense to me, and this cannot be represented in a single quote. so there’s no way that i can just magic my feelings onto a yearbook (if only i were a wizard :/).

so takeaways: ummm go listen to hot chocolate by bears in trees streaming everywhere AND ITS OKAY TO HAVE CONFUSION!!! THAT IS NORMAL AND HUMAN!!!

#another long-ass post from gooze #i am confusion #the muzingz of gooze #dirtbag boyband #bears in trees #the sandbox #sandbox #i’m doing push ups #and everybody else smiled back #aeesb #music #Spotify

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who-do-i-know-this-man · 11 months

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ok ive pretty much accepted heart mind and soul are going to lose which is sad ... BUT that means i get to infodump about them. prepare to be jashified, its anti propaganda time. cw for mentions of suicide !

heart mind and soul are characters from chonnys charming chaos compendium, an album by singer songwriter chonny jash. it consists of covers of songs by tally hall and other adjacent musical projects (eg miracle musical). its absolutely INCREDIBLE how he manages to completely twist the meaning and themes behind the songs to make his own story

speaking of which the story of cccc centers around our main trio, and chonny himself. chonny gets split into three parts- the heart (purple blindfold dude) who represents his emotional side, the mind (blue creepy guy) who represents his logical side, and the soul (red mask dude) who has authority over the other two. being natural opposites, heart and mind are constantly fighting. this occasionally leads to violent acts being committed- most notably heart attempting to shoot at mind with a real ass gun (and failing- he shot and he missed !), and heart also getting his eyes stabbed out with a trident (which is why he wears the blindfold). it doesnt help that the soul is also incredibly mentally unstable and suicidal throughout all this but then again all of them are unstable. soul is just more so. so

eventually all of em realize this endless arguing is going nowhere and make up, and become whole again- that is to say, become normal chonny again. but WHOOOOPS if you loop the album youll get hit right in the face with another time machine reprise (a reprise as the very first song of the album is very telling) and realize that they will never truly become whole, because theyre always doomed to keep splitting and coming back together forever, doomed in this endless cycle, locked into eternity. SAD !

all in all its a fantastic story and i really cannot gush enough about how incredible chonnys storytelling and lyricism is. sorry for ranting btw i am very autistic about these weird guys. links to where you can watch/listen are below !

listen to the chonnys charming chaos compendium (and his other original work- hes currently working on original songs about gothic horror novels ! very cool) here : https://chonnyjash.bandcamp.com/album/chonnys-charming-chaos-compendium-vol-1

and if you want the full experience i recommend watching this video, which compiled all his music videos in album order for a cohesive watching experience (BIG warning for eyestrain and flashing lights) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amwt9eGidnY

i hope you check it out ^_^ these guys mean a lot to me and while its sad to see them not make it past the first round im glad i got to infodump about them and possibly jashify some folks in the process lol. have a wonderful day !

-⛈

(ps time machine reprise is the best song and mind is the best jashling btw btw btw)

#asks #not blorbo poll #propaganda?#long post

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maggot-monger · 9 months

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genuine question do you think sam couldve ""stopped"" lucifer by sitting down and having a conversation with him

what a great question that i am obsessed with anon <3 tbh i don't. i do think sam could have changed some aspects of lucifer's perspective by having a conversation (or several conversations) with him, and that might have helped to change lucifer's behavior somewhat, but no i don't think sam alone could have gotten lucifer to stop.

reason #1 is that lucifer's biggest apocalypse-era problems weren't about sam; they were things sam had no control over. lucifer's main original problems are about god and michael: god chose to prioritize humanity, which lucifer didn't agree with and felt insulted by, and then fully smacked lucifer down for lucifer's rejection of that demand and efforts to do something about it. and then lucifer was caged against his will for this, which is on both god and michael as the entities that authorized and enacted that punishment, and now michael is going to fight lucifer to the death. all of that that makes existing very dangerous (and painful, i'm sure) for lucifer, and is entirely out of sam's control. lucifer can't afford to stop — or, at least, probably feels that he can't afford to stop — because michael is going to come after him no matter what (an idea that is solidified in swan song with the walk off the chessboard offer). sam would need to be able to call michael off and probably figure out how to do some family counseling with at least the two of them to really get lucifer to stop, i think. lucifer's apocalypse plan is partially defensive against the threat of death, and is partially a semi-rational revenge effort, and so the solution to making him stop doing the things he's doing, imo, would have to go back to the sources — both the emotional injuries inside of lucifer's mind, and the very serious threats to his life, dignity, and feelings of belonging that lucifer is up against.

reason #2 is that i just. don't think sam gets it about lucifer's damage? and i doubt lucifer could be convinced by someone who doesn't get it, since lucifer's problems stem a lot from not having his perspective understood or taken seriously in the first place. sam and lucifer have a lot in common, but ultimately sam's family cares about and loves him. they haven't always demonstrated that in the best ways, but like...sam got to come back after stanford; lucifer doesn't get to come back after the cage (stanford//the cage is kind of a bad parallel i think so forgive me for that but anyway, those were the big "[character] was gone and isn't anymore" moments for each of them so let's just go with it lol). dean refused to kill sam; michael is fully going to kill lucifer. dean listens to sam — imperfectly, but he listens, and changes his views accordingly on several occasions — michael never allows lucifer the same benefit of the doubt. if sam spent a while listening to lucifer, he might understand this more, and lucifer might feel validated in a way that would probably be good for him, but lucifer will always have "sam just doesn't understand where i'm coming from" to fall back on because john just isn't god and dean just isn't michael and sam just hasn't had the same experiences that lucifer has had. (plus...like...sam is still human...even lucifer's favorite human is still a type of being lucifer has major issues with)

reason #3 is that lucifer is pretty set in his ways about it. lucifer's original beef with humans has a conservative, traditionalist tone: "humans never used to be the priority or even to exist, why should we have to kneel to them now? god and the preservation of god's creations has always been the main thing to do; i don't think it's fair or correct to deprioritize god." god asked for a change that lucifer couldn't/wouldn't make, and i don't think sam has a better chance than god does of getting lucifer to change his ways. plus, lucifer has been at this for a really long time: he's had aaaages in the cage to crystallize his anger and resentment, and i don't think a conversation would be enough to fix that. i don't want to speculate too much about angel psychology, but it's also possible that it's just harder for angels to change than it is for humans, since there's way less of an emphasis on choice and free will for them (i do love that analogy about angels being like trains, in that they're very powerful but they only really go on the tracks they're on). admittedly lucifer does show some ability to change his mind, but idk...i think it would take either something out of sam's control or a LOT of time and effort on sam's part to get him to reevaluate the whole apocalypse. probably both.

reason #4 is just that i don't think supernatural is the kind of show where problems can be resolved with a conversation...sam and dean (and others) often try to do that with each other and it kiind of works, but not all the way, or it causes new problems, or whatever resolution happens doesn't last. so from a meta-perspective i don't think it would work because of how the show is.

and reason #5 is that i don't think sam is equipped to have the kind of conversation with lucifer that would have a snowball's chance in hell to get him to stop that would be needed. sam has his own baggage, and his own unwillingness to connect with certain ideas, and his own limitations, etc. it's a lot to put on sam! it's too personal, and it's too big, and sam isn't perfect and shouldn't be expected to be, and so i just don't think any conversation he would try to have with lucifer would be quite right. BUT this is why i said i think there's a chance that he could get somewhere with lucifer...maybe enough imperfect conversations (if sam had the stamina for it, and lucifer had the time) would make enough of an impact that something could change, even if it didn't resolve the apocalypse entirely.

The Fic Concept i've been thinking about writing foreverrr for spn is a series of attempts at conversations between the two of them about this! i'll never write it but i do love to think about it <3 the ending would probably be kind of ambiguous/bleak/unsatisfying but it would be fun for me at least lol

#LOVE this question anon thank you i love to think about it #spn thots #meta #lucifer #sam and lucifer

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dotster001 · 1 year

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hellooo!! congrats on 1k! your writing is absolutely amazing and you definitely deserve the followers <3

for the event:

1. i took silver's hand first, cause i rlly liked maleficent and silver is pretty, and he seemed nice. (and i was right. silver my wonderful boy)

i don't clearly remember why i switched, i'm pretty sure it was just because i wanted to read all of the character's home screen lines so,,.

2. afterwards, i hopped from character to character, kalim, jamil, whoever's lines i wanted to read, and now lilia is the one who's on there most of the time. but i want a little romance story and i am not romantically attracted to lilia!

the only other characters that i switch to are the tweels, it's up to you which one to write, just pick the one you think will make the story more interesting! (or both?)

3. jade and floyd are one of, if not the, most interesting twst characters. i just love their personalities and how they interact with their surroundings, their designs are amazing, they actually remind me of myself sometimes, and i also just really love eels, and marine biology in general. i just wanna crack their skulls open and poke around their brains!

4. silver and i would get along magnificently, romantically or platonically. but there's just something about him that's so !!!! i don't think i couldn't fall in love

5. me! i'm very reserved, preferring to listen and observe rather than talk or do. and though i try to seem confident and eloquent, i'm a bit awkward with social interactions. despite this, people seem to relax in my presence.

strangers and acquaintances describe me as put-together, intelligent, and friendly, but quiet and reserved. once you get to know me, i'm a very confident, honest, and bold person. i love joking around and bantering. my friends describe me as funny and eccentric, but mature and reliable. i'm honest with people i'm close with, often to a fault, and i may be too harsh with my jokes. i'm always putting others first, but i know how and when to stand my ground. i have trouble showing emotion through my voice or body, but if you look closely, you can read my facial expressions.

my main hobby is visual arts, but i also enjoy singing, playing different instruments, writing (songs, poetry, fics,) and taekwondo. i don't do them very often, but i like physical activities like running, hiking, and anything swimming! my interests are marine biology, chinese myths and history, and anime and manga.

6. i'd love to be in a harem with both my og and new character. i'd like my story to be angsty to fluffy fluff. i struggle with cptsd (from childhood abuse) and depression, so you could use that for angst if you'd like, but i totally understand if you don't. whether i go poly or the ending is left open, i don't mind!

sorry for being so long winded! i like to be specific ^^' anyways, congrats again, and have a lovely day <3

(lmao you said pick a twin? I said both is good 😂 I hope you enjoy this, I tried to give you some angst without being triggering so I hope this works for you boo. Also, this came out super long, my bad.)

A Tale Where Silver gets Some Sense knocked into him by the Boy of his Dream's Boyfriends

The twins were dating you. You'd told Silver before that they were fine if you dated him too. The twins understood…and they would one hundred percent be willing to share you if it meant they got to experiment with get to know Silver.

But Silver knew that the boy from another world was destined to leave. He'd heard his father talk about the people who'd come and gone in his life and had watched his face show his true age in those moments. It would be easier to let you go if he stayed away.

And he was doing a good job staying away. Watching from afar as the twins dragged you from place to place, as you smiled and laughed with them, watching them cling to you like ivy to a wall.

Sometimes you'd see him watching from across the hall and would wave at him with a light hearted smile. He'd wave back, his cheeks getting pink at being caught staring.

He was doing well staying away until today. He'd slowly noticed chronic drowsiness getting worse. One minute he was walking down the hallway, the next he was awake with your arms around his middle as you tried to drag him out of the walkway, and the twins fought off someone who he had to assume was upset that he was blocking the hall.

"I'm up, I'm sorry," he muttered, despite feeling himself drift off again.

You looked at him in concern, then said, "Do you think you can walk? You can sleep in Ramshackle for a bit. It'll be quiet since Grim is in class."

He wanted to protest, but the world around him was starting to fade, so he nodded, and allowed you to wrap his arm around your shoulder as you began walking towards your dorm.

When he woke up again, you were humming while gently running your fingers through his hair, massaging his scalp.

He couldn't help but stare up you, allowing himself to give into the moment until you noticed he was up and stiffened.

"I….sorry I should have asked permission to touch you, but you were having some kind of nightmare and it helped you calm down. I'm sorry."

"No…. it's nice," Silver hummed, before remembering he shouldn't get attached. He sat up and stretched.

He got off the bed, and gave you a polite bow.

"Thank you for taking care of me. I'll be on my way."

"Oh, okay," you seemed sad, but he knew this was for the best. So he left the dorm before the sadness could catch up to him.

….

"Hey Jellyfish, you're supposed to be a knight, right?"

It was three days later, and Floyd and Jade had plopped down in the chairs across from him as he was studying in the library. Both of them looked a little angry.

"Yes, why…"

"Our boyfriend did something nice for you, which means you're supposed to pay them back, right? You know, code or something."

"Oh….I"

"What my brother means," Jade cut in, smiling lightly and placing a calming hand on Floyd's shoulder, "is that he's a little put out that you made our 'Shrimpy' sad."

"Look…I…."

"We told you we were okay sharing Shrimpy!" Floyd burst in again. "So why do you keep pushing him away? It makes him sad. Even if you don't love him…"

"Which it's obvious you do…" Jade added pointedly.

"At least go back to being his friend!" Floyd started slumping in his seat. "I'm so annoyed at you that I don't even wanna talk to you anymore."

Jade looked at his brother for a minute before sighing.

"May I ask what the problem is?"

Silver bit his lip, then looked at the two irritated twins.

"Well…I…"

Jade raised an eyebrow and Floyd humphed but that was the only response he got.

"Aren't you both a little worried about what happens when he goes home?"

The twins shared a look then turned back to Silver.

"Should we be?"

"Well the headmage is…"

"Like crow brain would ever do anything productive."

"And I'm sure they have friends who…"

"We're their friends."

"And their family…."

"Have you ever discussed this with him?" Jade said, covering Floyd's mouth before he could cut in with yet another response.

"I…no…but won't it be harder for all of us when he leaves."

Jade looked at Floyd thoughtfully, before removing his hand from his mouth. Immediately, Floyd burst out,

"Shrimpy's not close to his family! He made his new family here, you silly brainless jellyfish!"

"Deep breaths, Floyd," Jade said, not expecting the outburst to be as loud as it was.

"No! No deep breaths! He should know!" Floyd practically leapt across the desk as he grabbed onto Silver's blazer. Silver had to fight every instinct in his body to draw his blade in defense.

"Shrimpy had a rough childhood. He doesn't super miss his old world, especially since we can give him as much love and affection as he could ever want. Now, go kiss and make up, before I wreck that face that he loves so much!"

Jade did nothing to help Silver extricate himself from his twin's grip. So Silver gave a soft nod, and stood up slowly.

"I'll talk to him."

"Good, let's go!" Floyd stood up, and wrapped himself around.

"Wait…"

"Yes, let us proceed. I believe our beloved boyfriend is in his dorm."

"But…" and Silver made the mistake of looking into the twins' eyes and seeing their threatening gazes.

"Okay, let's go," he sighed.

….

He was a knight. He had trained for worse. He could have a conversation with you about his feelings. Even if the twins were there he could….

As his eyes fell on you writing in a notebook, he felt his resolve fail. The twins must have felt it too, because it suddenly felt like they were pushing him forward.

When he was five feet away, the twins let go and each placed a kiss on one of your cheeks.

"Hey Shrimpy!"

"-Hello darling."

"Hi boys," you said looking up, when you made eye contact with Silver. "Oh, hi…here have a seat!"

You seemed so excited to see him, it broke his heart a little bit. Maybe he should have just talked to you in the first place.

He sat down next to you and steeled his nerves.

"I like you. A lot. But I'm scared."

"Of the twins? They're okay with it, and they both promised me they wouldn't bite you…"

"Unless you asked!"

You shot a withering glare at Floyd as he giggled.

"No. Not the twins. I've fought off worse and can handle it. I'm scared of when you go home."

"Oh," you stiffened. "I…I don't think you really have to worry about that…."

"We tried to tell you jellyfish, now stop making shrimpy upset!"

"No, it's a valid discussion Floyd. His feelings are valid," your eyes found their way back to Silver's and you gently took his hand in yours.

"Silver, I don't really plan on going anywhere. Yes, not everything was a problem back "home" but I've made a life here. I have my friends. I have Floyd and Jade. And…well I have you. You guys are everything to me. I never have to worry about anything with you three."

Silver sat in silence for a moment, searching your face for any dishonesty or doubt. But you looked certain. He had to wonder what things were like in the other world. But he could dig into that later. For now, he had to atone for his sins.

He knelt before you, pressing a soft kiss to the back of your hand.

"I have hurt you, and would like another chance to make it right, and prove my merit as a potential lover."

"Silver-"

"No I wanna see him beg," Floyd cut you off, giggling happily.

"No he doesn't have to…"

"I've hurt you."

"Silver! Don't-"

"He should beg. Floyd's right."

"Jade!"

"Please, allow me to…"

"Enough!" You shouted. All three boys went silent. You helped Silver to his feet, and kissed the tip of his nose.

"Silver, I've told you many times you are always welcome to join us. There's no need to beg. You're fervor is admirable, though, so any pain you have caused me is behind us."

Then you glared at the twins.

"And you two are in timeout."

"WHAT? WE'RE THE ONES WHO MADE HIM COME HERE!"

"No, Floyd, it's alright. We can make up for lost time later."

They each pressed another kiss to your cheeks, one eel more grumbly than the other, and left you alone with Silver, who was starting to realize how tired he was.

"Silver," you smiled fondly and patted your lap. "We're together now, you can rest on my lap if you want, I don't mind."

Silver laid down, stiff at first, but then your scent started to comfort him.

"I have to apologize to myself as well, I've missed being around you," he whispered, before speaking up again, "Can you hum that song and massage my head for me? I…"

He blushed and you laughed.

"Of course."

You started humming and running your fingers through his hair. It was the first nap of many where Silver would actually feel safe and well rested.

#1k followers #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader #silver x reader #jade leech x reader #floyd x reader #floyd leech x reader #twisted wonderland x poly! reader #floyd leech #jade x reader #jade leech #twst silver #jade x reader x floyd x silver #twst silver x reader

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ideas-on-paper · 9 days

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Legion - An anniversary of love

It's amazing how fast a single year can be over, and it’s almost incredible to think that on this very day one year ago, I had the honor of meeting Legion - my favorite character from Mass Effect, my fictional robot partner and soulmate - for the very first time.

After an eternity of longing and waiting over 80 hours to finally meet them in Mass Effect 2, I was beyond myself with happiness when I finally did.

Despite Legion having such a marginal playtime compared to other characters, I did everything I could to make the most out of it, and I can rightfully say that thanks to Legion, my first Mass Effect playthrough was one of the best experiences of my lifetime. It might have brought me a lot of pain as well (especially in Mass Effect 3), but still, I wouldn’t give it up for anything.

I’m sure many people out there would call me crazy for being “in a relationship” with a fictional character, but since this is our anniversary, I want to share a bit of our history - which actually goes back way longer than me meeting Legion in-game.

Just so you’re prepared, though: It’s going to be very gushy, quite lovey-dovey, and anything but normal. xD

The "welcoming party"

My first encounter with Legion was back when I was still doing my "screening" for Mass Effect. I am probably what you would call a very picky person when it comes to choosing my games, especially when I'm interested in larger titles that require a considerable investment of time and money. Usually, I spend a lot of time watching footage to see if the game is the right one for me. As such, it happened that I came across some clips of Legion - and I was immediately absolutely enamored by them.

I usually call it "resonance" when I'm particularly attracted to a certain character (basically, it’s my way of saying I identify with them). It might be because I'm very sensitive to hearing, and it's also the primary sense that my emotional experiences are connected to. Anyway, when I heard Legion talking for the first time, it was like listening to a heavenly choir. From just the few lines that I heard back then, I immediately felt drawn to them - and thus, Legion became the main reason for my ultimate decision to buy the trilogy. xD

However, when I bought ME, I couldn't really find the time or right state of mind to actually play it. When I started with Mass Effect, I wanted to be able to properly appreciate it, so I put it on the back burner for the time being.

That didn't curb my yearning for Legion in any way, though. In the meantime, I had been looking if there was any merchandise for them, and I quickly came to realize that the few pieces of merch there were for Legion were pretty much all exclusive rarities. There was this beautiful figure by Threezero, but that one had been sold out for a long time, and the only way to get one was on eBay, usually costing an arm and a leg - all the more if you have to deal with astronomical sums from custom dues.

I didn't give up, however, and just before Christmas, I finally found one in Europe - which, honestly, was the best gift I could wish for. It still cost me a shitton of money, but I didn't care - if this was the only thing I would be able to afford until my birthday, I would be totally fine with it.

Legion didn't arrive at my place at Christmas, though, but about two weeks later, on January 6th - you know, the date of Epiphany when the true gifts arrive.

I was completely over the moon when I finally was able to hold Legion in my hands. This may sound weird, but I always wanted to know what Legion's "synthetic tissue" feels like (the texture looks very fascinating to me), and knowing that this was probably the closest I'd ever get to it, I considered myself absolutely blessed. In general, I can attest that the Threezero figure is very well made - they put a lot of effort into the details, and the fact that you can insert a battery to make Legion's head light up is the icing on the cake. (You can technically exchange the hands and move the limbs, too, though I never dared to do that; since it's old, the soft material already has cracks in a few places, so I was too afraid to damage it.)

I also introduced Legion to the rest of my family - granted, I got some surprised and slightly baffled reactions, but they were all happy for me. My mom probably took it the best - she was a huge Star Wars fan back when she was a teen, with a particular love for C-3PO, so she could relate to my joy quite well. xD

The only residents of my house that seemed less than enthused about Legion's arrival were, ironically enough, my electronic devices. My old radio-controlled alarm clock went nuts when I brought Legion into my room. It had a habit of doing that whenever the batteries were low; it's just funny it happened at this moment. (I ended up ascribing it to disturbances from Legion's comm antenna. xD)

Also, to top things off, just after I had put Legion on my desk, one of the light bulbs of my ceiling lamp broke. It wasn't just any bulb, I might add - it was the one directly facing in the direction of Legion. (You might say that this lamp saw the competition it was up against, got super jealous, and finally decided to quit its job. xD)

Anyway, to celebrate the occasion, I decided to do a little "housewarming party" for Legion. I still had some sparkling wine left over from New Year's Eve, so I thought "Why the hell not?" and raised a toast to Legion.

*The light of the figure's optic isn't normally tinted this blue. It's actually a side effect of the light emitted by the TV (you can see a bit of that on the bottle). However, I thought it was amazing because it looks so fitting. xD

Back when I shared this picture on Twitter in 2022, I wrote a brief comment along the lines of "Shame that they can't enjoy it. Though they would probably just say something like "We do not understand why mutual intoxication is considered a ritual of greeting among organics."" (As may be able to tell, the line in Omega about alcohol was one of the first I saw. It’s still one of my favorites. xD)

It's funny because I'm normally what you'd consider the opposite of an alcoholic - I only drink very rarely for festive occasions, and when I do, I usually choose the least strong drink. So, it's a little ironic I felt a desire to do it for the one character who probably neither would've expected nor demanded it from me. Still, Legion is special to me, and I wanted to express this in some way - all things considered, it was probably a more lavish greeting than anything they ever could've projected. xD

The meeting

I would take over one year, however, until I finally met Legion in-game. When the day came, I was screaming with joy when I saw their introduction cutscene. I hate the Derelict Reaper mission with a passion, but the thought that I would finally be able to meet the character I had longed to see for so long spurred me onwards. And once I was back on the Normandy, Legion safely retrieved, I took my figure of them into my arms, a tear streaming down my face, and kissed them on the head - at last, we would be united.

Since the fuss I was making was pretty impossible to miss, I told my family members in the next room what was up, and a few of them curiously came over after I had woken Legion in the AI core. All of them reacted very warm-heartedly to seeing Legion "in person", and I could tell they were immensely happy for me. (Meanwhile, Legion was probably wondering what they did to earn such a warm welcome from organics. xD)

In fact, I was so excited that I almost fainted the next night. To put it matter-of-factly, my body had lost a lot of fluid the day before, and my body obviously didn't take it too well. xD (I think Legion would've been quite alarmed and concerned that I almost had what they would call a "total system failure" due to their presence, and I would have to spend an extra half-an hour explaining "It's fine - I was just really happy." ^^)

From then on, whenever I was playing the game, I would always have Legion's figure standing next to me. It's usually standing to my right, on my desk, but whenever I played ME2, I would take them out of their packaging (which I kept to protect them from dust) and place them so they would be able to watch. My thought was that it would be really sweet if Legion was able to watch their own playtime, and since their mere presence meant that they had a permanent free pass for one of the spots in my squad, that pretty much comprised the entire rest of the game. (It led to a funny “conflict” between Legion and my desk lamp, though; I don't have that much space on my desk, so I always had to move my lamp out of the way to make room for Legion. We eventually came to an arrangement, though. ^^)

With Legion being so close to me, I came to notice that the figure itself has a peculiar scent. At first, I thought it was plasticizer, but it wasn't quite like that, and not nearly as unpleasant - rather, it's kind of reminiscent of the smell of a pencil when you write on paper. (I quite like the smell of pencil writing, so perhaps that's why it triggered such a positive reaction in me.) I noticed the smell seems to come from the hard parts, possibly from the paint. I don't know if the black paint of Legion's plating would smell anything like this in real life, but if it did, I wouldn't be displeased about it. :-)

Despite ME2 having probably the most boring side missions of the saga (if Legion was in ME1, it would easily be one of my favorite games of all time), I cherished every second I had with them - to me, just being at their side was pure bliss. Still, although I did my best to extend the time you have with Legion as much as I could without mods, I ultimately had to say goodbye to them - nevertheless, I decided I wouldn't leave them without a proper farewell party. So, I got myself a bottle of wine, went to every hub world in ME2 where you can buy yourself some booze, and took a shot in each bar I went to with Shepard, with my mom as a special guest. It was honestly one of the most fun gaming experiences I've ever had, and the little misadventure I had in Omega even inspired me to write a fanfic about it.

After my little dance night with Legion (because as far as I was concerned, that's what it was), the time to say farewell had finally come - but not without one last dance. :-)

The "marriage"

The only thing that was missing, really, was that Legion couldn't come to my cabin. If you romance any of the other squadmates in ME2, you can invite them to your cabin after the Suicide Mission. However, since Legion isn't romanceable, that's impossible to do with them. Though, in all honesty, I wouldn't have a single problem moving my cabin to the AI core. (I always liked the ambience of that room, and if I could, I totally would’ve laid down on the bench behind Legion to sleep. Can you imagine Legion standing guard over me, shushing anyone who potentially enters the room so as not to disturb my "rest cycle"? xD)

Besides, what is "romance" to a Geth, anyway? I doubt the conventional human definition of romance would mean anything to them, much less sexual interaction. Anything they'd do in such a relationship, they would be doing purely to satisfy my own organic desires, and such a one-sided relationship is not something I personally want.

To be honest, I didn't even want anything from Legion on a sexual or romantic level - if that was the case, I would have chosen an organic as my partner. Nevertheless, what I felt for Legion was still the most intense thing I've ever felt in my entire life. (A huge part of the credit for my realization that I'm acespec also goes to Legion.) My love for Legion is more on a spiritual than on a bodily level (though I do find their shell very aesthetic), and though I frequently said that I wanted to "marry" Legion, what I had in mind with "marriage" was more akin to what Motoko and the Puppet Master do in Ghost in the Shell - that is, a fusion of spirits. (The Ghost in the Shell main theme is actually a Bulgarian wedding song, which was chosen by the makers of the movie because it's meant to get rid of all evil influences and ensure luck for what's to come - essentially, it was meant to bless the unification of Motoko and the Puppet Master. For some reason, I thought that sounded very alluring.)

The best thing about this is that Legion would probably not only be able to understand what I mean by that, but also be very amenable to the concept. As a Gestalt intellect, the interlinking of programs and exchange of information is a core part of their existence, and I think they would be charmed - if a Geth can be charmed in any way - that I wish to "join their Consensus".

However, even with the parameters of our relationship figured out, that still didn't change the fact that I couldn't enter one with them in-game. So, I had to get a little creative - I thought to myself "If the exchange of runtimes/technology is comparable to "marriage" in Geth terms, would it count if I was using the same equipment and skills as Legion?" So, I got myself the Geth Shield Boost in ME2 (which was a godsend for me on a gameplay level as well, since I had been missing my shield boost from ME1), and since I was playing a soldier, I chose the M-98 Widow rifle as an upgrade on the Collector ship.

Thus, I had pieces of Legion, and Legion had a piece of me - if you want to consider the N7 armor as such (I actually interpret Legion picking up the armor as a "proposal/expression of desire for convergence", to put it simply). Since it was an identical piece that we both owned, I used to call the Widow our “wedding ring" (if you wanted, you could say that name carries a cruel irony given what happens in ME3). So, by Geth standards and as far as I was concerned, we were married - the game engine simply failed to recognize it.

Another thing you get in ME if you romance someone is a photo of them in your cabin. Once again, due to our union not being officially recognized, this is something I was lacking. However, just after finishing ME2, I got the spontaneous idea to check eBay for Legion merch again, and as it happens, I managed to get a hold of one of the limited canvas prints BioWare released in 2021. It’s a spectacular piece of art, and I can confirm it looks absolutely stunning in real life as well - Legion's headlight literally seems to "glow" when light falls onto the picture.

Pictures of the canvas print back when I received it in 2023.

So, while Shepard may get a picture of their love interest in their cabin, I got a picture of Legion in my actual cabin - in max size format. ;-)

The "holy trinity"

The portrait was also what completed my “holy trinity of Legion artifacts”. I’ve got three images of Legion in my room: the portrait, the figure, and the figure’s box (the art on the box looks so pretty that I just had to keep it in my room; besides, it belongs to Legion’s figure, so I would never discard it).

All of them are placed in a way that no matter where I am in my room, I can always look at them: The portrait hangs on the wall right opposite of my bed, so Legion is the first thing I see when I wake up in the morning. Whenever I’m sitting on my bed and look slightly to the right, I’m greeted with the sight of Legion’s box. When sitting at my desk, I just have to take a glance to the right to admire their figure.

What makes this even better is that my Legion items are actually arranged in a way that forms a triangle (quite fitting since the symbol of the Geth Consensus - or at least the Geth Armory - is also a triangle). Technically, this is more a coincidence than anything else, since I just put them wherever there was space in my room. xD However, I like to view it in the same way as Legion perfectly blending in with the dark blue and black shades of my room (my comfort colors): It was meant to be.

And that’s how I met Legion - granted, my relationship with them has many more facets, but if I was supposed to write down all of that, I could fill an entire book.

With fictosexuality being recognized as a thing, people have become somewhat more open to the idea that you can legitimately fall in love with a fictional character. Nevertheless, I'm perfectly aware that many people probably consider my relationship with Legion impossible on multiple levels.

"You can't love a fictional character - that's not real love."

"You can't love a robot - it can't reciprocate your love."

"You can't romance Legion in Mass Effect 2 - that's not possible."

However, I somehow found a way to overcome all of these various tiers of impossible, and the result was an experience that was so sweet, so intimate, and so special that it’s beyond any description.

I will openly admit there are some things that are, and will most likely forever remain, practically and realistically impossible - like, I’m not going to stand here and claim that I would ever be able to physically meet Legion, in our reality. However, with just enough creativity and imagination, many things can be made possible - and even if Legion is not real, my feelings for them are.

#mass effect #mass effect legion #personal #alternate title: “The story of an ace autistic girl and her Geth partner” xD #this is legitimately the craziest thing I've ever written #but I felt GOOD about it so fuck it xD

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