#non canonical character deaths | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

Visit Blog

Explore Tumblr blogs with no restrictions, modern design and the best experience.

Fun Fact

Tumblr is available in 18 languages.

#non canonical character deaths

destroyerofnations92 · 3 months

Text

Chapter two of the girl in the green dress was posted on my Patreon. If you like Team Black and/or Daemyra stories, go take a look! There is a one-week free trial for all prospective patrons.

*****************

Why would Alicent do this? What did she have to gain by purposely arriving late to his daughter’s betrothal feast? Making matters even worse, she wore that blasted green gown despite the seamstresses having crafted her a nigh-invaluable dress in the colours of House Targaryen on Viserys’ command—to show the Kingdoms they stood united as a House and as a dynasty, as the king had informed his lady wife the supper after it was delivered to her.

By wearing her family’s colours, his consort had openly declared allegiance to her father’s house over her husband’s—a grave insult on its own. Making matters even worse was the colour. King Viserys prayed that none might take this as a declaration of war upon Rhaenyra—even if Alicent might have meant it as such. After all, green is what the beacon burned when the Hightower called its banners to war.

Viserys could not understand where Alicent got the audacity to do such a thing, nor why. Unlike her banished father, his lady wife had never felt the need to try and advance her son’s position. Where Otto had tried to convince him multiple times that for the good of the realm Aegon should be named heir, his queen consort had always kept quiet. While she did not oppose her father’s words, she did not openly support them either. This was an abrupt escalation and it baffled the king.

The king’s eyes flitted around the throne room as his consort painstakingly slowly made her way toward the high table, where the Targaryens and Velaryons sat. Many seemed displeased with her actions—giving Viserys a tentative measure of peace—though others seemed amused or downright pleased.

The Lannister blowhard was smirking widely, no doubt still insulted that he was not chosen as Rhaenyra’s consort and at the king’s harsh dressing down of him at Aegon’s second name day celebrations. The Hightower contingent was the most pleased with their scion’s loud and unsubtle signal. Alicent had allowed herself to be turned into a symbol of her father’s ambitions and her familial house’s greed. Viserys understood now why Lord Hobert and his kin wore green that eve, despite it not being their house colours—his queen had conspired with her Hightower kin behind his back.

Viserys was pleased to see that both the Vale and the North were properly annoyed at the display. As was his great-uncle, who was looking at his wife as if she was vermin. The king could not proclaim to have ever had a close relationship with Lord Boremund Baratheon, his father and then Viserys becoming heir had made that nigh impossible for Rhaenys was his niece—born of his beloved sister’s womb. Nonetheless, he had remained a loyal vassal, and as such it gladdened Viserys that House Baratheon would continue that tradition.

The high table was silent—none dared to speak. Rhaenyra seemed to be in shock at Alicent’s inexplicable actions, while the Velaryons were outright insulted. It was the sudden screeching of a chair and its harsh banging on the floor as it was thrown back that had many tear their gazes away from the queen consort, who had paused at the violent sound, and turned it to the high table.

Predictably it was Daemon who had decided to make a ruckus, though the rage upon his face was something Viserys had never witnessed before. The Rogue Prince swiftly marched toward the king, bypassing the Hand and the empty chair of the freshly arrived queen, and grabbed Viserys by the upper arm, jostling him around, “What are you going to do about this mockery aimed at your daughter?”

Though Daemon whispered, to Viserys it felt like a shout. The king was unable to answer, instead merely stuttering an insufficient reply, “I… I don’t,” Viserys furrowed his brows in confusion. No full sentence seemed willing to be spoken. It was almost as if all reason or thought had left him in the face of his brother’s fiery rage.

“Either you intervene or I shall. Your Andal whore has spat upon your heir, humiliating her for all to see! At her wedding no less!” Daemon whispered-hissed in his ear whilst still painfully gripping his arm, “You must ensure none see her little rebellion as viable.”

Viserys wished to protest but mayhaps for the first time in his life, he was frightened of his brother and loudly winced at the pain he was inflicting upon him—Daemon had never physically harmed him before.

When the king did nought, his brother let out the harshest and most guttural noise of disgust before harshly pushing him down in his chair, “You are so pathetically weak. Making you king was the gravest error I ever made, for the insult I levied onto the Gods that day by raising up a toothless dragon is unforgivable.”

Slouched in his chair, the fifth Lord of the Seven Kingdoms watched from his throne chair as his brother marched down the dais toward Queen Alicent. Though all stood, as etiquette and tradition dictated, none seemed willing to intervene and stop the enraged dragon from approaching their queen consort.

It did not take long before he arrived where Alicent stood frozen, staring at the feral dragon with wide eyes, and with an open-handed smack to her face, Daemon dropped her to the ground.

#patreon #fanfiction #a song of ice and fire #world of westeros #house of the dragon #game of thrones #fix it #team black #fuck the greens #anti team green #anti alicent hightower #anti hightowers #daemon defense squad #daemon is rhaenyra's biggest champion #fix it fanfiction #daemyra #daemon x rhaenyra #alternate universe #non canonical character deaths

12 notes · View notes

utilitycaster · 8 months

Text

This is coming up with Orym, and it came up with Yasha and to an extent Keyleth too (as well as many other characters; see tags). Anyway: there is never going to be a moment when those characters are not grieving. If you wait for them to stop grieving, you will wait until they themselves die - and to be clear I do not mean this in the sense of “the grieving spouse clearly seeks death so that they may be reunited”; I mean “that loss will always exist in their lives, and they will grow around it and find other joy and love, but there is no moment when the hole that person left closes and is gone.” You can interpret where those characters are in their grieving process, which is a complex and nonlinear one, and you may perhaps feel they’re not ready, but if you do, it’s worth asking yourself what “ready” would look like because it will not look like an absence of grief. More specifically to Orym, if you are rethinking this because there was a scene at Will’s grave, that’s a big part of the nonlinear aspect - how someone will speak about the death graveside, or how they may speak about it in specific places, or on anniversaries, is very different to their day-to-day experience with grief.

Which isn’t to say you can’t interpret Orym as still in, for lack of a better term, the full mourning period; I’m noting it both because it is a pattern in the fandom for characters who have lost spouses, and because within that pattern, the discussion seems to treat life after the death of a partner as a dichotomy of “grieving” and “not grieving”, in which romantic love is only possible when one is in the "not grieving" state, which is fundamentally untrue to life.

#orym #critical role #orym of the air ashari #other similar non-romantic instances include: a LOT of post-canon Vex fanon (especially pre-Search for Grog but still an issue)#to an extent some of the discussion surrounding Caleb especially the choices he made in his ending though that's complicated #and more generally the way the fandom handles main character deaths (notably Molly)

351 notes · View notes

ecoamerica · 25 days

Text

youtube

Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared

The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!

7K notes · View notes

lgbtlunaverse · 9 months

Text

I have been thinking on the nature of mdzs as a deliberately vague text that leaves many things up to interpretation, and how i've slowly come to understand "up for interpretation" less as "there is One True version of this story i must find" and not even as " Everyone has a different One True Version of this story inside their head be based on their interpretations and the differences don't make one wrong and the other right" but as "There is no One True Version. Even in my own subjective interpretation of the text multiple things can be true at once" specifically, in regard to Jin Guangyao and the many things which are left up in the air as to whether he did them or not, most notably killing his son.

There's evidence for this, but it's non conclusuve (jgy saying he killed him while also saying he killed Qin Su, who very much killed herself. The speculations on how he'd have killed him being sect leader yao just saying shit. ) it is, esentially, just up in the air enough that if you decisively fall on one side of the debate is probably says more about you and your general opinion of jgy than it does about the "true" events of canon.

I have, as a proud apologist, always fallen on the "he didn't kill him but felt in some way responsible for his death." Side but recently have become more okay with the interpretation that maybe he DID kill him, and that at the very least, that when he tells Qin Su their son "needed to die" he is being genuine. Which, once you look at it beyond. "Is jgy a poor lil meow meow who it is Okay to Like or an irredeemable baby murderer" becomes both INCREDIBLY tragic and deeply interesting. Because here is a man condemned for who his parents were and who wants nothing more than to live, saying that it is possible to be so cursed by your heritage that you need to die. There is no existence for you. The exact same thing that has been said to him.

Of course being born out of wedlock to a sex worker and being a product of incest are different things, but that begs the question: where is the line? What crimes of the father can mean death for the son? How cursed can you be until your existence is so incompatible with society it is you who needs to give? And if there is... where is it? Qin su clearly thought she was past it. Was his son really past it? Is he?

#warning: canon typical incest and suicide #mdzs #mdzs meta #musings on the nature of unreliable narratives or whatever #meng yao #jin guangyao #jin rusong #i know this is a controversial take #i just think! that once you let go of the idea that killing rusong is some load-bearing sin where if jgy has done it you can't like him #that there is interesting stuff to look at here!#obviously. child murder bad. jiggy has done many had things but this one is. particularly bad.#so i get it if you feel uncomfortable with it being done character you view as symapthetic despite other bad things he's done #and again! multiple things are true at once! i STILL operate from 'he did not kill him it was a secret 3rd thing' modus 90% of the time #it's just that in this one instant i find the other option really interesting #i just. non-identity problem my beloved. if rusong's suffering cannot be erased without erasing his existence is he destined to do so?#if he'd been a teen when everything about jgy got uncovered and both his parents died is there... a place left for him to go?#i just. hhhhh this poor child. we know nothing about you beyond your shameful birth and your death. is that really all you were meant to be

168 notes · View notes

wangxianficrecs · 7 months

Text

watch your anger by loosingletters

watch your anger

by loosingletters (@loosingmoreletters)

T, 1k, Cangse Sanren

Summary: Watch your anger, her master used to say, never reprimanding Cangse Sanren for her temper tantrums, mainly reminding her of what she stood to lose if she gave in. Cangse Sanren survives. Wei Changze does not. Kay's comments: Knew this one was going to hurt before going in, but phew did it hurt! I really loved it though. A canon divergence story where Cangse-sanren survives the last night-hunt she went on with her husband, but Wei Changze still dies and we even get to witness how and it's not pretty. I really enjoyed Cangse-sanren't voice in this story and her anger especially. The story follows the time immediately after Wei Changze's death and I also really liked how it shows Cangse-sanren's struggles, e. g. the excerpt below. Excerpt: A-Ying clings to her, starts crying when Cangse Sanren leaves his sight. She can’t go on even a minor nighthunt with him, she cannot tell him to stay behind. Her wounds are far from healed and her hands won’t stop shaking and any craft Baoshan Sanren ever taught her cannot be applied. Cangse Sanren wanted children, a dozen little hands pulling at her skirts and begging for bedtime stories, but she never wanted to raise a child on her own. A-Ying is sweet, but he throws tantrums and she lacks Changze’s patience, his creativity for appropriate games, his steady hand preparing wonderful meals. She lacks all she needs to raise her son safely, far away from the sects.

pov cangse sanren, canon divergence, cangse sanren lives, angst and hurt/comfort, wei wuxian isn't adopted by the jiangs, non-yunmeng wei wuxian, yanling daoren, baoshan sanren, canonical character death

~*~

(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for this hard-working author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)

#Wangxian Fic Rec #The Untamed #Wangxian #MDZS #Kay's Rec #October 2023 #watch your anger #Teen #short fic <15k #loosingletters #pov cangse sanren #canon divergence #cangse sanren lives #angst and hurt/comfort #wei wuxian isn't adopted by the jiangs #non-yunmeng wei wuxian #yanling daoren #baoshan sanren #canonical character death

76 notes · View notes

sasukimimochi · 11 months

Text

🌕🪼💦- @yuzanrath (full moon, jellyfish, tears) angst

Travelerji/Merxian AU (The Night We Met) - See the first 9 prompts here.

YUZAN’S BIRTHDAY IS TODAY WISH EM HAPPY BIRTHDAY IN REPLIES ❤❤❤ This is the last mermay prompt officially but i'm going to do one more after this so we don't leave the mermay stuff on a sad note. please leave a suggestion on this post and i'll write something after i make a choice on which one i like the most! Make it sweet though so we all can have a nice soft note to finish these prompts on ❤✨😊

The Night We Met - Deadly Bloom

(Not Canon, don't panic)

Wei Wuxian was drifting happily through the ocean, occasionally slapping his tail to make sure he stayed upright while he bathed in the moonlight bouncing off the waves.

Lan Wangji was still in the shallow water on the beach, gathering little trinkets as always. He looked up and smiled subtly, always admiring him from afar. He however freezes when he sees many odd shapes in the water from afar, furrowing his bow with worry. “Wei Ying, Maybe you should come to shore! It’s dark anyway, who knows what’s out there right now.”

“Hm?” Wei Wuxian turned his body and got himself upright, only to feel a surge of pain scatter on the right side of his tail. “Ah!” He quickly swam away to shore, grimacing as he clumsily crawled over the sand. Oh, this pain was unreal. Pearls were spilling from his eyelids with little plinks and plops, and he suddenly felt like trembling.

Lan Wangji hesitated visibly, but quickly helped the other sit up properly so he could take a look once he was sure he hadn’t been bitten. He furrowed his brows upon seeing the erratic marks marring his companion’s tail, a dread already making a home in his chest. “W-what happened?”

“I got…I got stung.” Wei Wuxian waved a hand, swallowing with difficulty as he felt nausea already hitting him. “Shit.” His hand trembled as it covered his mouth, trying to keep a reign on the pain. “D-Don’t go back in the water.”

“What’s happening? Are you going to be okay?” Lan Wangji’s eyes flit over the other’s pale complexion, holding his other free hand that the merman tightened over his firmly from the intense pain radiating up his body.

“L-Lan Zhan…I…” Wei Wuxian shuddered and curled up slightly against his arms, desperate for the pain to stop to the point where he felt he couldn’t think straight anymore. He felt so dizzy, and his chest hurt. “S…Stay out of the water.” All he could think of to do was repeat his warning and cry, while Lan Wangji held onto the other with worry and wide eyes.

“Y-you only got a small wound…you’re okay, right? It…it’s just…” Lan Wangji’s breath picked up, watching as the other started to gasp and have trouble keeping his eyes open. “W-Wei Ying, tell me what to do…tell me what to do!”

But there was nothing he could do.

Wei Wuxian realized as he started to lose the ability to fight, that whatever had stung him was going to take his life.

He was going to die, and neither of them knew how to stop it.

“L-...Lan Zh-Zhan….” He attempted to hold the other’s face, and it was a bit difficult, but the traveler helped him get there by guiding his trembling hand.

And then he kissed him, clumsily, and briefly- all too quickly- and his breathing became all the more difficult as he let his head slump into the crook of the other’s neck.

“W…Wei Ying!” Lan Wangji gently shook the merman, panic overtaking him as Wei Wuxian seemed to lose all ability to respond.

Lan Wangji’s breath hitched and he held the other tight, shoulders trembling as the one he loved fell limp in his arms. How had everything gone wrong so fast?

“Wei Ying…”

The tears wouldn’t stop falling.

WWX dies in a jellyfish bloom/swarm (unofficially).

I'm sorry for my transgressions （；´д｀）ゞ

Check out the art/extras for this and more MDZS Projects on my masterpost! ❤

20 notes · View notes

noodyl-blasstal · 1 year

Text

Detective Delivery

Joyus Candlenights @v-for-venusaur I hope you have a wonderful Candlenights and enjoy!

And also thank you very much to @thecandlenightszone for organising the exchange!

Read Detective Delivery on A03 or below (but fair warning, it's over 7,000 words)

________

There isn’t much time. Angus knows he has to be quick, they always notice when he’s not where he’s supposed to be. He’d think it was because they were onto him, but they’re always so concerned - as if he’s lost, or hurt, or upset and not rifling through their stuff. He didn’t imagine that smugglers would worry so much about his welfare, or play chess with him, or teach him how to bake cookies, but that was probably all part of their thing. One of the hardest lessons he had learned was that bad people didn’t always seem like bad people. The Starblaster crew were bad, they were smugglers, they were stealing. They were bad people doing a good job of hiding it.

Angus finds the crates easily. The illusion cube isn’t subtle - the dimensions of the room are all wrong. He disables the alarm quickly, it’s barely disguised in the loose panel on the wall, finger marks showing exactly where to push. There aren't any other security measures as far as he can see, so Angus walks confidently through the wall and immediately sees the crates he has been looking for. Now he just needs to confirm the cargo is what he thinks it is. The door to the hold hasn’t opened yet, he should have time.

The crates are squat and rectangular, heavily riveted with clawed clamps holding them closed along the edges. Circling the central one, the glow of a keypad catches his eye. Angus examines it briefly, it’s too obvious. There’s no way they would illuminate this, everything about this box is designed to stop it being opened. He works it out just as the door to the hold slides open.

“Angles?” It’s Mr Taako’s voice. Oh no. He doesn’t want to be in trouble.

“Ango?” And Dr Lup too. Probably the worst people to find him here, they sometimes looked at him sideways if he said something which might contradict his story. Not that he did that often. Not that they noticed enough to make him try to jump ship, but they weren’t easy like Ms Lucretia, or Dr Barry.

Angus ducks down behind the crate, they have no reason to think he’s in here. How would he have even made it into the hold? There was a code! How would he have the code? He’s just a little boy.

“He’s not here, Ko. Maybe he’s in the kitchen? You have cooking lessons today, right?” Lup says. Angus cringes, investigating first was a mistake. Maybe he could still make it in time to learn how to make ‘the most baller pancakes you’ll ever eat’ once he cracks the case? Just because they were criminals doesn’t mean he can’t learn some valuable skills. No one has ever had time to teach him to cook before; he has to get the most out of it before Taako goes to jail.

Angus breathes a sigh of relief as he hears the door slide open again and the twins’ footsteps retreat. Time to get his evidence. He peers at the glowing pad again, and, careful to avoid pressing it, twists the entire thing to the left - a small groove in the metal allows the shape to turn slightly. As he does it, he hears movement from the other side of the crate.

“Lost again, Agnes?” Taako’s lilting voice is casual as ever, but Angus hears his hip holster release. It’s probably time to run, but this is the best lead Angus has. It took nearly a year to find the ship, he isn’t going to give up now. He has a blaster for emergencies, and this definitely counts as one. Angus grabs it and reaches for the pad to spin it further, the box opening will tell Taako exactly where he is, but also hopefully surprise him enough to allow Angus to take the upper hand.

The alarm was a surprise. The crate definitely opens, Angus was correct, but he should have considered that there might be other safety features. Something to add to the post-investigation review. His gasp of surprise gives Taako his exact location, and Angus finds himself hoisted into the air by the front of his shirt. He hopes Taako hasn’t creased it too badly, Angus doesn’t have many clothes and it’s important to look presentable when he’s working.

“What did you do, and how do I make it not be doing that any more?” Shouts Taako over the screeching of the alarm.

Angus stays silent. He’s read books about resistance to interrogation, he’s even practiced with his blanket over his head and staying up for an extra day here and there (sure, when he was caught up in investigations, but it still counts).

“Angus? What are you doing in here?” Lup skids through the illusory wall.

“He’s stealing from us, Goofus. What does it look like?” Taako rolls his eyes at Lup, then turns back to Angus.

“How do we make it stop, Angles?”

Agnus thinks about the case very hard. If you have something to focus on it’s harder for someone to manipulate your thinking and convince you to share information with them.

“He really is your protégé.” Lup laughs.

“Good work on getting past the wall, Ango.”

“Don’t praise him!” Taako hisses.

“He’s only a baby and he figured it out, it’s important to acknowledge good work.” Lup replies, side eyeing Taako and making a face at Angus.

“I’m not a baby!” Angus protests. They kept saying it, but he was 10, nearly 11. He ran his own business! He wasn’t a baby, he was practically an adult. Wait… was this psychological torture? He wasn’t supposed to let it get under his skin… aw beans!

“Oh look, he found his voice! It was lost, but magically recovered to refuse to acknowledge the fact he’s a tiny baby who has no business being here.” Taako sets him down on top of the crate.

“Make it stop, Ango.” He snaps.

“You know, we were stealing stuff when we were his age, well, 70, but if you do the conversion to human years, it shakes out about the same.” Lup leans her elbow on Taako’s shoulder and looks to Angus.

“What’s in it anyway Ango? Contract says we can’t look and Dav makes us promise not to, but if you’ve already cracked it then it’s nothing to do with me. Be a shame to waste it.” She peers towards the crate. Angus almost believes her, almost, but of course they know what’s in the crates. They know exactly what they’re doing, who they’re stealing from, and who they’re stealing for. He jams his mouth shut again and tries to make it as obvious as possible that he won’t be helping them, without actually saying anything. He’s not going to make the same mistake twice.

“Stop encouraging him, Lup!” Taako says, nudging her with his elbow.

“It’s good to have an inquiring mind.” Lup says, and elbows him back. Angus debates whether this will devolve into another fight. He kind of hopes so, it’ll give him enough time to crack the lid, record the evidence, and run. He scoped out the small research ship on his first day aboard, and then Dr Barry gave him an extensive tour because he was always excited to show off his lab and the equipment they had. It was almost enough to convince Angus he wasn’t a hardened criminal, but he wasn’t going to be fooled again. It had taken him a long time to rebuild his stock of credits, even longer to find another hat he liked as much as the one they took.

The alarm is still blaring, Angus wants to try and stop it. The noise is overwhelming, but he doesn’t want to take his eyes off the twins. Taako is apparently stronger than he looks and Angus doesn’t want to get grabbed again. The decision is taken from him when a second alarm joins the crate’s wailing, followed by a jarring scraping noise.

“What the…” Is all Lup manages, before the hull doors buckle.

“Angus?” Taako asks.

Angus isn’t sure why Taako thinks this is anything to do with him. As if he has the ability to summon another ship. If he could do that he wouldn’t need transport, would he? As far as they know, that’s why he’s here. He’s obviously going to contact the militia, absolutely and definitely, but not yet. He still has to finish his science lessons with Barry, and Lucretia has really helped him with his drawing but he can still improve. Anyway, he can’t go until Merle shows him the hydroponic tanks properly - Angus still doesn’t know the names of all the fish.

“Attention Starblaster. Prepare to be boarded. A security alarm has notified us of a contractual breech. An investigation will begin immediately.” The tinny announcement pipes from the ship’s speaker system, barely audible over the various alarms.

“Angus, fix it!” Lup hisses. She’s serious for the first time, face paling visibly.

Taako looks scared too. Maybe Angus went too far? He didn’t mean to call the militia down on them… yet. He was going to do that, in the future, probably, not right now.

“I don’t know how.” He breaks his silence. It seems worth it for this. Angus feels like crying. He doesn’t want to cause problems, he wants to solve them, and he’s so close, so so close. Why didn’t he consider internal security? It was a careless error. This might be just as bad for him as it was for them. If the militia ask who he is… if the crew tell them what Angus said… Oh no. He turns the pad back to the starting position.

“Maybe this will do it.” He says as nothing happens.

“Angus. Fix it.” Taako looks furious.

Angus wants to. He wants to so hard, and maybe if he just closes his eyes, summons up all of his resolve and hopes really hard he can do it. He wishes and wishes and the alarm screams and screams and he has to admit it was a bit of a long shot.

“I can’t. I’m sorry, Sir. I want to, I do.”

Taako’s face softens slightly.

“We’ll figure it out, Pumpkin.” He says, moving to crouch next to Angus as the hull screams more and the doors shudder.

Angus felt better momentarily, then realises what Taako is doing, he won’t be lulled into a false sense of security again.

“We wouldn’t need to figure it out if you weren’t all criminals!” Angus doesn’t mean it to sound so aggressive, it’s a statement of fact after all, but his voice is full of the acid he feels when he thinks about how many children the money would help. There are alarms and noise and everything is horrible and it’s all because of their choices.

“Criminals? Oh, so that’s what you think of ol’ Taako and Lup? We’re good enough to teach you how to cook and make fires and do handstands, but you’re just judging us? If it weren’t for us being ‘criminals’ you wouldn’t be getting home to your Grandfather for Candlenights, would you? Why exactly would the Ambassador to the Astral Empire be using the Starblaster to take his precious Grandson home if we were criminals?” Taako asks, looking offended. Angus almost feels bad… almost. He had to lie to them, otherwise they wouldn’t have taken him. It was their own fault that they didn’t look into the letter any further. How often did someone show up with a letter and a stick of credits to ask them to do a job anyway? Surely it should have rang some kind of alarm bell. And the stuff they taught him to do? They chose that. It wasn’t Angus’ fault that they wanted to show him, he was always happy to learn. Plus, it isn’t fair to judge people either. Sometimes people do crimes and that doesn’t mean they aren’t people, they’re just people who also probably have to go to prison, so they may as well teach him some cool stuff first.

“Sir, I… He… that’s not important right now.” Angus can’t think of what to say. It’s probably time for him to explain that he knows their game, that he understands what they’ve been doing.

“I know what you’ve been doing.” Angus tries to glare, he’s not sure how convincing it is.

“Are you okay, little man?” Lup asks, concern in her voice.

“You’re squinting. Is there something in your eye?”

“Stop looking after me, you don’t care about orphans do you? You’re the ones taking the funds from us!” Angus says. He has to push back, he can’t get used to this; can’t adjust to having someone to watch his back and think about his feelings and wash out his eye if he gets something in it. He’s going to be alone again soon.

“We’re doing fucking what now, sorry?” Says Taako, outrage clear in his voice.

“Stealing from who?” Lup says at the same time.

Angus opens his mouth to answer, to tell them he doesn’t believe their surprise, how could they not know what they were doing? He’s interrupted by the hull doors buckling one last time and screeching open. Four heavily armoured militia stride into the ship, seemingly unaffected by the illusory wall, they level their blasters at Angus and the twins. The alarm from the box finally stops blaring.

“Drop your weapons and stand down.” The voice filters through the heavy black helmet, all traces of accent or personality lost. Angus peers curiously at the red tinted visor, but nothing is visible through it. He usually deals with the more palatably humanoid side of the militia.

“This is all a misunderstanding, the kid opened it by accident.” Lup says casually, jabbing a thumb at Angus.

“No nefarious intent. We’ll just seal it back up and be on our way.”

“The child opened the crate?” The same tinny voice comes from a different helmet.

“Yeah, just kids being kids, you know how it is.” Lup smiles. Angus feels something tighten in his stomach, he can’t read the emotions in their voices, but their body language isn’t indicating that they plan to stand down. If anything, they’re more focused on him.

“No.” They reply in sync.

“Hand over the criminal you have apprehended and we will reseal the crate so you may continue the delivery.” Says one stepping forwards, holstering their blaster and reaching for Angus.

“Absolutely not!” Says Lup at the same time Taako shrugs and grabs Angus again. Surely they weren’t actually going to hand him over? They’d been so kind to him, and Lup said no. If Lup said no then it definitely wouldn’t be happening.

“Okay, here you go.” Taako says evenly.

“Taako!” Lup kicks him.

“We’re not handing over the kid.”

“He was my apprentice Lup. I, Taako, the best chef this side of the Astral Empire was sharing my skills. I let him into my kitchen! He was my apprentice and he tried to steal from us. I was going to give him the good recipes.” Taako says.

“I can’t believe I fell for this again.” Taako sounds hurt. Angus didn’t mean for Taako to be hurt.

“Ko, it’s not the same.” Lup says gently and pulls him back.

“Now get down.” With that, she’s launching a ball of what Angus could swear is fire from her blaster. It slams into the foremost of the militia, shoves them backward, leaves a large hole punched in the front of their armour. Angus tries not to stare too long at the mix of blistered wires and charred flesh he sees there.

“Lulu, what the fuck?” Taako screeches as he dives behind the crate, pulling Angus with him and covering him. Angus isn’t thinking too hard about the fact Taako’s protecting him with his literal body right now despite apparently being willing to hand him over a few seconds ago.

“Are you trying to die? Taako did not sign up for a space rebellion today. Did you look at my calendar? Is “fight space police and die about it” in there for today? No. No it fucking isn’t.”

The ship alarm stops. The others must be doing something… or the militia ship has overtaken the systems, but Angus hopes that’s not the case. As much as he trusts the legal process, he technically did open the crate… and lie about his identity… Which is attempted theft, fraud, and transport under false pretences. He’s technically still registered to the orphanage. This could be bad. He starts trying to worm his way out, maybe he can make a break for it while they’re distracted? Although, now Lup’s going to be in trouble for trying to protect him… but she’s a criminal, he shouldn’t care! But, Angus is a criminal… no, he was doing what he did for good reasons, he had to do it to solve the real crime, her crime.

“Right Angus…” Lup fires twice and ducks behind the crate too.

“What’s this about orphans?”

“Lup, is this really the time?” Taako presses himself around Angus more firmly as the wall above them sparks and shudders from the militia returning fire.

“We’ll be done with this soon.” Lup replies, confidently.

“Backup will be here any second.” She winks at Angus whose head is barely visible under Taako’s armpit.

“Now Ango, you need to tell us what’s going on.”

“You know what’s going on, Dr Lup.” He says resolutely. He refuses to get caught up in mind games, in Lup pretending she doesn’t know.

“Angus, we’re specialist freight delivery. We don’t ask too many questions, yeah, but it’s to help people like you and your Grandfather. Why the fuck would we want to hurt kids?” Lup looks so earnest, so confused, but Angus knows the answer.

“Money.” He says, and tries not to feel guilty as hurt flashes across Lup’s face.

The militia are nearly on them now. Lup fires a few more shots, Taako springs up to cover her, then straight back over Angus as fire is returned.

“Agatha, apologise right now. We raised you better than this. She’s out here fighting space police for you and you’re going to thank her by accusing her of murdering orphans and eating their skin? She just shot a dude to save your accusation wielding butt.” Taako huffs.

Angus debates refusing, but he can’t really argue with the logic… well, some of it. The important bits.

“Sorry Dr Lup.” He mutters.

She winks and pops up to shoot again just as the opening bars of Thunderstruck blare out of the ship’s speakers at full volume.

“Cavalry’s here.” She says as she ducks back down, barely avoids the blast which grazes the top of the crate.

“Taako, your side.”

Angus feels himself shoved to Lup as Taako rolls sideways, fires, and rolls back, grabbing him again.

“Magnus!” Comes a yell from the doorway. Cavalry’s here indeed, Angus can’t help but smile. Statistically it’s highly unlikely that the crew will lose, the militia clearly weren’t expecting this level of resistance. Angus tries not to think about whether everyone on the crew is actually registered as being on board; that information isn’t relevant to his case. There’s a volley of shots, and several loud thuds. Angus tries to wriggle free and look, he wants to make sure it’s the militia falling, not his friends… wait, the suspects. Taako holds him firm.

“Taako’s not gonna let you get hurt, Pumpkin. They’ll be okay. We’ve had worse.” Taako’s voice is calm, well, as calm as it ever gets. Angus wants to ask about the ‘worse’, but it probably isn’t the time.

“I can’t believe he chose fucking AC/DC. He always forgets that it’s not as cool after the intro.”

“Maybe he thought it’d be done by the time it got past that bit?” Angus suggests, muffled against Taako’s arm.

“He doesn’t plan, doesn’t think about the what ifs and the maybes and how long it might take to murder four highly trained space operatives. It’s all “Magnus!” and “Thunder!”” Taako shakes his head.

Another thud and the fire stops. Taako springs to his feet, still holding Angus.

“It’s okay, Ko. We’re good, you can put him down.” Lup nudges his shoulder and nods at the corpses.

“Although, maybe we should cover his eyes?” She adds, a frown crossing her face.

Angus rolls his eyes and wriggles free.

“Dr Lup, I’m a professional.” He pretends not to hear Taako’s loud snort as he strides over to the bodies, he should probably listen to what the crew are talking about, they could be getting their alibi straight, but honestly, Angus has bigger questions. As much as he’d boarded the ship convinced that the Starblaster was behind the thefts, it seemed less and less likely. Why would the militia come because of a crate alarm? Was the Starblaster being tracked?

The armour doesn’t appear to have pockets, Angus isn’t surprised, but was hoping for something. There had to be a clue. Any evidence was probably on their ship.... Their ship which was right there.

“Captain Davenport, was anyone left on their ship?” Angus shouts up, tearing himself away from the corpse.

The crew stops whispering and they turn to look at him. Merle gives an over exaggerated wave, but Lucretia pushes his hand down.

“Angus…” Begins the captain, gently.

“...do you think we’re stealing from the orphanage?”

“Yes.” Says Angus quickly. Then hesitates.

“Well, I did… because you are. Open the box, you’ll see it’s full of the latest donation to the fund. They never make it to the orphanage, because you take them somewhere else instead.”

Mr Magnus looks like he might cry.

It’s Dr Barry who strides over to the crate. The alarm is still wailing, but barely. He pulls the lid away, and stamps the siren until it falls silent, and then a few more times for good measure.

“He’s right.” Barry says.

The argument that breaks out is impossible to follow, and Angus doesn’t see the point in trying. They clearly don’t know what’s going on. Instead, he goes to investigate the hull doors where the militia boarded. He listens hard, no immediate sign of reinforcements. It would be pointless to get arrested now after everything, but he isn’t going to solve this without taking risks.

_________________________________

Taako is going to kill the kid, but he has to keep him alive long enough to do it, so when Angus slips away Taako has to follow. Not because he cares, obviously, just for practicality’s sake. They should be making pancakes right now, now starting Space War VI. They’d all promised to never be involved in another inciting incident after last time but apparently Lup just couldn’t help herself. It isn’t like he was actually going to hand the kid over, it just seemed like a good way to kill time until the others got there, but apparently Lup’s twin telepathy only applied to bullying him and not realising that he wasn’t about to indirectly throw a kid in prison.

It isn’t difficult to keep up but Taako hangs back, Angus is self sufficient most of the time. Anyway, he doesn’t really want to talk to the tiny backstabber right now. Taako showed him how to make the good cookies, and this was how he repaid him? Trying to get him thrown in jail? It’s the circle of life, the apprentice rises up to try and kill the master, but Taako isn’t so easy to usurp, Angus won’t take him out so easily. He’s been preparing for years baby, fool him once, shame on Taako, fool him twice? It simply isn’t going to happen. False accusations are nothing new, that’s why they definitely don’t hurt any more. Taako doesn’t care what anyone thinks.

Angus is thorough, stopping into each room he comes across. Taako tries not to feel too smug about how badly the kid would have struggled with his room - keeping things messy is a security measure. No one can tell him different. It’s definitely nothing to do with how hard it is to put things away. Nope nope nope.

Lup and Magnus appear either side of him without warning. Taako tries very hard not to shriek as loudly as he would like to when Magnus whispers “Magnus!” in his ear.

“Sssh.” Taako hisses, as quietly as possible.

“Are you having a feeling again, Koko? Compelled to look after your baby boy?” Lup whispers and wiggles her eyebrows. Taako debates whether Angus will notice if he shoots her with his blaster, just on the zappy setting, he isn’t feeling that murdery. Honest.

“Shhh.” He repeats.

“In fact,” she continues, “this is the opposite of “out here” which I believe I may have heard you mention is the place you prefer to be.” She gives a shit eating grin.

Taako’s hand drifts to his blaster, just a small zap, a teeny tiny one.

As Lup opens her mouth to continue making ridiculous accusations Taako shoves her and Magnus back round the corner. Angus is on the move again.

They track him quietly down the corridor, engaging in the second quietest slappy fight of their career. Magnus occasionally intercedes to avoid alerting Angus.

“Taako.” Magnus hisses.

“Sssh,” says Taako, poking Lup in the ribs.

“Taako!” Magnus whispers again, sounding more urgent.

“Lup.” He adds, tugging her back as she steps on Taako’s boot.

“Sssh!” Taako repeats.

“Agnes will…”

“Hear you, Sir?” Says Angus.

Taako tenses and barely muffles a cry of surprise.

“Jeezy creezy Agnes! You try to get me arrested and now you just straight up try to kill me?” Taako shouldn’t have come. He should have left the baby to go do his big brain bullshit with the militia ship alone and unguarded because apparently he hates Taako and wants to make sure he’s dead - be it from prison food, getting fucking shot, or shock.

“I knew you were following me the whole time, Sir.” The kid has the audacity to roll his eyes. Taako wonders how difficult it would be to uncouple the ship with Lup and Agnes on it. They’d be fine, probably.

“But I thought you should all know at least two more of the militia are still on board.” Angus smiles at them as if he expects a pat on the head. As if anyone’s gonna congratulate him for…

“Well done, Ango!” Says Magnus enthusiastically.

“How did you work that out?”

“It was simple, Sir!” Angus glows with pride and Taako glares at Magnus, then takes a quick mental holiday during the explanation. Wah wah wah, amount of rooms, mih mih mih, clock in sheet.

“So we have to kill two more super soldiers who are probably on high alert and ready to murder us super hard?” Taako asks, interrupting the end of Angus’ unreasonably detailed explanation.

“Bet I can kill mine faster than you.” Says Lup to Magnus.

“Nuh uh!” He protests, about to take off running. Taako grabs him.

“Woah woah woah. Chaboy has a notion, just a little idea, something off the wall, but how about we come up with some kind of plan? I know. I know. Ridiculous. But what if, and hear me out, what if we knew which direction we were going and whether we knew about any specific weaknesses, or… or… we regrouped and got the others to help us too? Barold has that gnarly death ray.” Taako watches Magnus’ face fall as he speaks. Oh, the crushing weight of not rushing in, poor Magnus, how he suffers.

“That’s a really great idea Sir. There’s two of them, and you’re going that way.” Angus points towards the corridor ahead from which clanking steps echo.

“I’m afraid it might be a bit late for the other bits, but I think their weakness was being shot a lot with your blasters. Anyway, I’m going to hide in here, good luck!” Angus ducks into the room nearby. Well shit.

Magnus glances into the room and dives in too, Taako knows he's not running away and abandoning them to the fight, but he can't help the brief flicker of panic. But even if Magnus did run, he and Lup would be fine, they've got this.

The twins level their weapons at the corner as the approaching steps speed up. Maybe mildly hysterical yelling wasn't the best stealth decision. Taako ignores the impulse to grab Lup and run, he knows she'll fight him every step of the way and never forgive him even if he could win that strength contest. Anyway, the nerd needs to stay alive long enough to get taught Taako’s second best pancake recipe (two can play at betrayal, Angus!)

Taako fires too soon, he knows it the second before the shot hits empty air and the footsteps stop. Fuck. Taako shoves Lup through the open doorway as the Militia return fire. He feels the tell-tale sting on his thigh, not quite fast enough; but Lup’s okay, Angus is safe, Magnus is here. It’s not worth mentioning, probably cauterised itself anyway, he can still walk… kind of, if he just shuffles his jacket they won’t know.

“So what’s the plan?” Magnus asks, keeping his voice low, and shooting blind down the corridor.

“Not getting fucking shot.” Taako replies, grabbing the back of his shirt and pulling him back. His leg twinges, but holds.

“We lost the element of surprise, but there’s still three of us.” Lup says. Taako isn’t sure whether to admire her, or try to tackle her. If she gets herself shot over this kid he’s going to do something about it, definitely something, yelling probably. Fuck his thigh hurts.

“Four of us, Dr Lup.” Says Angus, peering out from below the bunk in the corner.

“I brought my blaster.”

Magnus shakes free of Taako’s grasp and offers Angus a hand to help him slide out.

“Ready?”

“Absolutely not.” Says Taako, firing his own blaster down the corridor, careful to angle his leg away from the others, retreating before the answering fire can catch him again.

“The baby isn’t allowed a gun.”

“I’m not a baby!” Says Angus.

“We need everyone we can get right now.” Magnus adds.

“You can stay at the back.” Says Lup. Only Taako picks up on the slight wobble in her voice.

“Lup?” He asks quietly, he’s not sure why she’s letting this happen.

“We’ll keep him safe, he won’t have to shoot, but if we leave him out he’ll make his own plans.” She mutters to Taako, and yeah. Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. Angles won’t be told no, that’s for fucking sure.

“Fine, baby in the back.” Taako says loudly.

“I’m not a b…” Begins Angus, a shot glances off the side of the door. Those bastards, are they trying to do trick shots? It’s not a game of fucking pool.

This time, Taako doesn’t grab Magnus as he runs to the door.

“Still just the two, one’s hanging back as cover, the other’s advancing.” A shot hits the side of the door where Magnus had peered out.

“Looks like they’ve figured out the angles.”

“How about heights? Can we do anything with that?” Lup asks.

“I’m tall.” Magnus says, helpfully. Taako glares up at him.

“Mr Magnus, Sir. Why don’t we use the desk as a shield, it’s extremely sturdy. It’s bolted to the floor, but I think you should be able to…” Angus stops talking as Magnus rips the desk out of the floor.

“...loosen the bolts.” Angus finishes.

“Everyone behind me?” Magnus asks. Taako hopes the desk will actually fit through the door. At least Magnus is holding it upright and not sideways. Taako sweeps Angus behind him and gets into position behind Lup.

“You’re sure the desk is gonna be sturdy enoug…” Lup starts to ask as Magnus advances.

“I certainly hope so.” Mutters Angus behind him.

The desk takes the first volley easily, after the third it begins buckling. Well fuck.

“Go time.” Yells Magnus over the fire and starts fucking sprinting. Taako hopes that no one hears his pained whimpers over the protesting metal and sparking explosions. He can’t do too much of this.

The first impact is satisfying. Taako isn’t sure how you miss a fucking table barrelling towards you at speed, but maybe they didn’t anticipate that it was just gonna keep rolling straight for them? Did they think the Starblaster crew were just going to stop and duel? They deserved it. Magnus lifts the table slightly.

“One down, watch out underfoot and keep him down, Lup.”

Magnus kicks out as the armoured figure tries to right themselves, fells them again, and Lup drops back briefly. Two short blasts denote that it’s done. Taako glances at Angus, he didn’t see phased by the bodies in the hull, but it was different seeing the aftermath.

“They were trying to kill us, Sir.” Angus says without looking up. Rude. Taako didn’t give him permission to read his mind.

“Table isn’t gonna hold, I have another plan.” Says Magnus as Lup slots back into formation.

“What are you…” Lup doesn’t finish her sentence before Magnus launches the table down the corridor. A second thunk implying it found its mark.

“...thinking.” Lup finishes.

The table falls short, trapping only their legs. Taako and Lup pull up their blasters to fire, but Angus is quicker than both of them, firing a stun into the gap between the helmet and neck armour.

“I thought you might want to ask one of them what is going on, but feel free to finish the job if you don’t need to. The stun isn’t very effective on cyborgs, so you’ll need to grab them quickly.”

“On it.” Magnus lunges forward.

“They won’t need these.” He says, and grabs an arm. Taako feels sick, there’s definitely a robot/people line for these things and Magnus has apparently smashed right through it. Lup looks back at him with wide eyes and side eyes Angus a few times.

“Right Pumpkin, let's go find the rest of the super secret documents.” Taako shoves Angus forwards, past the horror show Magnus is creating.

“It’s okay, Sir, I’ve seen worse you know.” Angus shouldn’t sound so calm right now.

“Oh so you’ve got time to spend watching Mangus rip someone’s arms off, but you didn’t have a few moments to get back up before you came onto an enemy ship?” Taako keeps walking, hopefully Angus will follow, he isn’t in the mood to watch what Magnus is doing right now… Maybe Lup can talk him down.

“Yes Sir, you’re right Mr Taako. We should go and find evidence. I think we might be able to clear your names.” Angus skips forwards as a horrifying ripping sound comes from behind them, followed by a firm “Magnus no! That’s people!” from Lup. Taako focuses really hard on singing the jingle for HoloPans! in his head, just in case.

In the cockpit he leaves Angus to his own devices. It’s like releasing a bucket of spiders into a room but the kid’s every spider and he’s in one place and is also all of the spiders at the same time, just without the extra legs, probably, or does he have more than two? Taako is fine, is the thing. He’s fine and he doesn’t need to look at his leg, but he is going to have a little sit down because it has been a big day and he deserves it.

“You didn’t do it, Sir.” Angus is tugging Taako’s jacket. Taako doesn’t know why, he isn’t asleep.

“I know I didn’t do it, Agnes. Which is what I’ve been telling you since you accused me. If I recall correctly, Lup told you too, and Magnus, and Barry, and everyone fucking else. Mostly, because we didn’t do it.” Taako isn’t defensive about this. Definitely not. He just likes to be thorough when explaining things.

“Suspects don’t usually confess immediately, Sir. I had to check. But now I know, and I can show the militia that too.” Angus says brightly.

“Uh huh.” Says Taako, giving Angus a moment to catch up.

“I can’t tell the militia can I, Sir?” He says, quietly.

“Nope!” Taako pops the P.

“Probably not best to let them know that: Good news! The Starblaster crew didn’t do it, we just killed five…ish of your scary tech soldiers to prove it, also you did it so arrest yourselves!”

“How did you…?” Angus looks slightly offended.

“Work out it was them?” Taako asks. Angus nods.

“Who else was it gonna be? Big scary Astral Empire with its big scary space force. Never trust authority, kid.” Taako throws up a peace sign and definitely doesn’t list sideways, Taako’s good.

“They were switching out the donations before they even got to the orphanage. Then they put trackers in the boxes and tail you to make sure you don’t open them and don't ask any questions. They keep tabs on your trips, but don’t do the job themselves so they can pin it on you if they ever need to.” Angus pauses and focuses on Taako with a frown.

“Is the wound worse than you thought, Mr Taako?” Angus asks, looking directly into his fucking soul.

“What’re you talking about, Agnes?” Taako’s cool as a cucumber, a really cold one, straight from the freezer, terrible texture, great for black eyes.

“You got hit, Sir.” Says Angus softly.

“Nuh uh.” Replies Taako, got him. Can’t refute that. Now it’s time for a nap! Winners get to sleep.

____________________________________

Awareness comes back slowly, but he can see brown skin and a white topknot bobbing about beside him.

“Merle?” Taako croaks.

“Decided to re-join us have you?” Merle grouses.

“It’s Candlenights, and here I am, busting my ass, trying to make sure you don’t shuffle off the mortal coil.”

“Tell Lup to put more salt in the mashed potatoes, she never uses enough.” Taako says as his eyelids grow heavy again.

______________________________________

This time, the noise wakes him. He grumbles and tosses his head, but nothing’s blocking out what sounds like fucking Margharetiaville being stop-start jabbed out on the piano and then echoed on a violin. Are they seriously trying to figure this arrangement out right now? Why isn’t he in the med bay? Who the fuck is thumping on his brain? No wait, that’s Angus, Angus is thumping on his good Tupperware with his olive wood spoons.

“Those aren’t drums!” Taako tries to get up, realises it’s a losing battle and flops back onto the chair.

“Told you that’d do it.” Says Angus smugly and smiles up at Lup and Barry.

Barry pats him on the back and slips him some chocolate.

“Good one bud, you win.”

“Guh?” Says Taako, wisely.

“Thought we’d Weekend at Bernies you so you didn’t miss out on the entirety of Candlenights, brother mine. It wasn’t the same without you” Lup flops down on the sofa beside him.

“Wanna see the photos? We really thought you’d wake up during the doughnut sandwiches, but you can catch it next year. Lup grabs a stack of photos from the table and flicks through to one with Taako slumped in a chair wearing a pair of doughnut deely boppers while everyone else cheers together doughnut sandwiches dripping peanut butter.

“Glad you’re back with us.”

“I… you? Urgh.” Everything hurts and Taako’s brain feels like it’s brimming with soup, the kind that you could stand a spoon up in. Good for bread, terrible for thinking.

“I think you might need to explain what happened, Dr Lup.” Angus wriggles his way onto the sofa too, and Barry slides on beside Lup.

“Once upon a time…” Says Barry.

“There was a beautiful elf,” Adds Lup.

“And her brother Taako, who was just fine.”

Taako groans.

“I need you to know that I would be storming out right now if my leg worked.” He prods Lup in the ribs and is pleased to get a gigglesnort in reply.

“So I got shot.”

“You got shot, bud.” Says Barry.

“And then?”

“You went into shock, then you got an infection, because you can’t do anything and not be dramatic about it.” Lup says, grinning at him. Taako resists the impulse to huff and prove her right. It’s fine to be expressive.

“Then you decided to drag me to meals while I was passed out?” He asks.

“Not just meals, we also just used you to scare Magnus a lot.” Barry says.

Taako snorts, to be fair, Magnus had it coming after the last 3 years of trying to ‘prepare them for anything’.

“Ms Lucretia read to you.” Angus says soothingly.

“And Merle…”

“Please don’t finish that sentence if it involves plants.” Taako cuts him off, not wanting to hear about what level of flirting and or heavy petting may have gone on next to him while he couldn’t make it stop.

“Captain Davenport ordered you not to die!” Angus’ change of direction tells Taako everything he needs to know about Merle’s conduct.

“That’s good of him.” Taako says, trying very hard to pretend he’s not crying. He isn’t, obviously, his eyes are just watering because they’re not used to being open apparently.

“Magnus reworked some of his robot arm collection into a spare leg in case you needed it.” Lup grins at him.

“It’s as horrifying as you imagine.”

“Speaking of his collection…?” Taako doesn’t want to say more, he’s not sure if he actually wants to know the answer.

“I didn’t let him.” Lup says quickly.

“He understood… eventually.”

“And why are you still here, kid?” Taako asks.

“I thought we needed to get you home for Candlenights.”

“I still have a pancake recipe to learn, Sir.” Angus says, smiling brightly.

Taako stares very hard at the ceiling.

“Okay cool.” He flops back onto the chair and closes his eyes. If he passes out again no one can ask him any questions about how he may or may not feel.

New voices approach and Taako stays resolutely still.

“Oh no, you just missed Taako. He’s definitely absolutely passed out again. I suppose we can at least try and get the perspective picture that looks like he’s on top of the candlenights bush. Do you want to hold him up, Magnus? Unless of course, he is awake and wants to talk about his feelings?” Lup directs the last bit of the sentence into Taako’s ear. Taako plays dead. There’s no way he’s giving up that easily.

_____________________________________________

Taako frames the picture of the 8 of them gathered round the bush. Magnus stood to the side, dangling Taako by his collar in the general direction of the bush, nowhere near the top. Lup and Barry are throwing up peace signs, Dav salutes formally, Lucretia looks vaguely worried, and Merle is uncomfortably close to the greenery. Angus sits happily in the middle of the frame, his smile bright enough to distract from the chaos around him.

#Candlenights 2022 #TAZ Fic #TAZ Balance #Angus McDonald #Taako Tacco #Did this get slightly out of hand? Maybe #Taako would rather play dead while Magnus hoists him than admit to having affection for anyone or anything #Everyone may have gone mildly feral - as a treat #Noodyl Writes #TW for background non-canon character death #TW for Magnus getting overzealous with his robot arm proclivity #TW mild violence #Feel free to message and ask about the content if you're concerned

25 notes · View notes

divinemissem13 · 2 months

Text

In case anyone was wondering what goes through my head on a 5 hour solo road trip, apparently it's stuff like this. 🤷‍♀️

Fritz had always been the one who wanted kids, and that’s what made this an especially cruel twist of fate now. It was also why Brenda knew that if her suspicions were correct, she was going to keep it. She was never made to be a mother. Too selfish, too callous, too emotionally stunted. The last time she thought she might be pregnant it turned out to be the harbinger of some major health issues and a part of her almost wished for that to be the case again. But then there was that (tiny, miniscule) part of her that wished she actually were pregnant this time because then she’d have a little piece of Fritzi to keep with her for the rest of her life. Although how she’d ever do this without him, she had no idea.

#fanfic #i wrote this #ao3 link #brenda leigh johnson #sharon raydor #rusty beck #pregnancy scare #cw: bombs #bombs #grief/ mourning #non-canonical character death (don't worry its just Fritz)#the closer #major crimes

5 notes · View notes

wangxianficrecs · 1 year

Text

You in me, you are mine, my everything by BriaPia

You in me, you are mine, my everything

by BriaPia

M, 24k, wangxian

Summary: “Hanguang-Jun, oh thank the gods,” the disciple exhaled, she was one of the new recruits the sect had accepted, Lu Chen he remembered was her name, a little older than it would be considered appropriate for a new disciple but that had never stopped the sect leader before. “It’s sect leader Song, he’s requesting for your presence at the main hall.” One small switch in Wei Wuxian actions resulted on many changes in the life of several others. The smaller of them being Lan Wangji leaving Gusu Lan.

Mojo's comments: I just love it when Lan Wangji takes a look around his sect -- after they've beaten him nearly to death and are disrespecting wwx's memory AND little a-yuan -- and decides, "I'm done with this shit." So off he wanders, with his new son, to hook up with song lan and xiao xingchen and found a new sect. So it is this new lwj, with no forehead ribbon, who clocks wwx at dafan mtn after he's called back as mxy. Lan xichen, having made a few egregiously poor choices 13 years prior, is lurking around, trying to make amends; jiang cheng is an angry grape; and young lan jingyi is just happy to get to see his old friend once more.

canon-divergence, temporary character death, somebody lives/not everybody dies, lan wangji leaves gusu lan, 33 lashes, 13 years, lan brothers enstrangement, brotherly feels, pov multiple, non-linear narrative, past and present, getting together, love confessions, light angst, single parent lan wangji, happy ending, @briapia95

~*~

(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for this hard-working author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)

74 notes · View notes

if-i-bothered-to-write-a-fanfic · 9 months

Text

Battered Steal

She knows the exact moment when everything changed.

She was young, a girl merely of four and ten. She remembers anxiously picking at the skin of her fingers, tentatively speaking with her father after the unseemly death of the late queen. She was saddened for her dearest friend, and yet-

“I thought you might go to him, offer him comfort.”

Her father all but ordered her to remain by the king's side.

She wasn’t naive, foolish as many would think, she was aware of what her father was demanding of her. Yet, she couldn’t bring herself to deny him. With her heart heavy, nausea threatening to send her to her feet, she dressed herself in the image of her late mother and made her way to the king's chambers.

Over time, she sensed the shift in the king’s attention. It went from pleasant, cordial company, to something more. At least, in the king’s eyes, it was more.

Alicent only ever felt constantly ill to her stomach.

As the days passed, her father would offer further suggestions on what she should do to garner more of the king’s favor. To dress a certain way, to bring the king gifts, to continue offering the king a shoulder to lean on.

It only made it easier that Rhaenyra was shunning him.

The king would often narrate his woes, about how he missed his dearest daughter, how lost he felt without his late wife and son. Only, for him then to state how beautiful she was, how kind, gentle, as radiant as the sun. A beauty liken to Aemma.

And then, he started to slowly touch her more.

It started off with a gentle brush of the fingers, leaning more into her personal space. It then grew into lingering caresses, and even the occasional gentle kiss to her head or neck. The king was becoming more bold, building up to something that only brought the greatest dread to Alicent.

Then, despite it all, even she too was blindsided by the announcement.

“I have decided to take a new wife.” The king paused, staring at those of his council. “I intend to marry the lady Alicent Hightower, before spring's end.”

What hurt worse than her inevitable fate, was the look of despair and betrayal on her dearest friend's face.

Things only spiraled for the worse from that moment on. Rhaenyra would not even look at her, immediately turning away whenever they would cross paths. Alicent tried to speak to her, apologize and explain to her the circumstances of her position. Yet, Rhaenyra wouldn’t hear a word of what she had to say, and Alicent, she couldn’t even fault her for the vitriol.

It hurt, she never felt more lost and alone without having anyone she could truly lean on.

Soon her wedding day came, the entire day Alicent never spoke a word besides pleasantries to honored guests. She was not happy, she never would be happy again. She was to wed a man more than twice her age, lay with him, and bear his children.

Alicents heart stuttered, tears unknowingly filled her eyes as the reality of her circumstances hit her. She didn’t want this, she never wanted any of this. She mourned for the days her and Rhaenyra would sit in the Royal gardens, and read fantastical stories that her dearest friend would bring. She mourned the days when she was free.

“By the light of the seven, I hereby seal these two souls, binding them as one for eternity.”

Her fate was sealed.

The king, her husband, bed her that same night. The first of many, all of which for her own sanity she forced herself to forget. She would let the man do as he wishes, and she would lose herself in her thoughts, memories, of times spent with Rhaenyra. Despite everything, Rhaenyra would always remain her greatest source of comfort as much as she was her greatest source of pain.

Years eventually bleed into each other, and Alicent grew more into herself as a woman. She birthed three beautiful Targaryen children, and yet, she seemed to have only learned to grow to be frigid and bitter. Instead of love, Alicent only ever seemed to feel a cloying mixture of apathy, rage, and despair.

She would never tell him, but as much as she loved her father, Otto, under the cover of night she wished him dead all the same.

The relationship she once cherished, treasured with Rhaenyra, had been burned in dragon fire. They had jumped at each other's throats on too many occasions, speaking venom-laced words aimed to hurt, and they did. They irrevocably damaged the once seemingly unbreakable bond. Now, they’re little more than acquaintances holding poisoned daggers at each other's backs.

Everyday they seemed to move themselves and those around them in a practiced dance, a strategic game of chess where the one who loses will fall to the hands of death. Alicent has learned this game with Otto, has played it with the king, she more than knew the consequences of failure. With Rhaenyra, she knew she could not allow any faults. Her life and the life of her children laid in precarious balance, and the venomous words of Otto breathing down her neck did not help.

Each day she seemed to spiral further into a blackened void she could not hope to escape from, both duty and faith at war with her mind and body as she fought for herself and the station of her children. Alicent, after all these years, still didn’t know how to interact with those she brought into the world. All she knew was fear and hatred. She despised her children because their conception was never consensual, but she couldn’t help but to love them because they were still of her. She did the only thing she could do, she kept her interactions with them to a minimum. She oversaw their studies, answered the questions they may have had, but she never truly tried to get to know them.

Well, that was until she came to understand Aemond.

She saw herself in her second-born son. He was a boy excluded from his siblings and Rhaenyra’s children, isolated in his own right. After the incident where he lost his eye, well, she couldn’t help but to compare when she lost something too. Aemond became her favorite of the three, the only one she truly bonded with as mother and son.

She knew it wasn’t right, that there was something undoubtedly broken in her, all Alicent could do was to survive the fight for a throne she was never born to, and fight to have her first-born son rightfully seated upon it so she too can be free.

When Viserys himself said unto his final breath that Aegon was the prince that was promised, she couldn’t help but to hear that as a confession to reinstate a male heir to the iron throne. It seemed perfect, everything that made her who she was, was finally coming to an end. She did her duty, Viserys was dead, no one but her son would be able to command her.

Except-

“Rhaenyra has declared herself the rightful heir to the iron throne, crowning herself queen of the seven kingdoms.”

Alicent wished she knew the price of her desired freedom, for if she knew the ferocity of a battle between dragons, she might’ve done things differently. Maybe she wouldn’t have been a coward? Maybe she would’ve found that she too was as strong willed as any dragon? That she could have fought for herself? Prevented needless bloodshed by denying a marriage to a man she never loved?

Watching as she lost every last one of her children, even her grandchildren-

She couldn’t help but to feel regret as she took her last breath, staring at the vacant walls that made up her tomb.

5 notes · View notes

Last Seen Blogs

incorrect-dnangel-quotes

Incorrect D.N. Angel Quotes/ D.N. Angel Fic ideas

kailaur

fuck emotion

simsofglass

🌹

bountyhunter1409

youthincare

ORGANIZE!