So, I've heard some voices here and there lamenting how little Gabe content - especially new Gabe content - there was and you know what? I completely agree, so I thought why not, I can try to add my little droplet into this tiny sea of Gabe appreciation we have here on tumblr.
Summary: Elena visits Gabe in his house for the first time and learns something new about his past.
Word count: 1937
AN: just some friendly fluff really, headcanon heavy, from Elena's POV but Gabe centric
"Oh, watch out, the first step is-" Gabe turned around just in time to catch Elena when she started to fall backwards. "-loose."
"Thanks for the warning." Elena shot him a glare when she regained her balance. In response Gabe only sent her an unapologetic grin and pulled her up on the next step.
"Everyone's so used to it by now that we keep forgetting to fix it with my dad," he explained as they finally reached the first floor.
The stairs led to a narrow corridor, with the same room placement as the bakery beneath it. Two doors on the right, one on the left and a wide opening to the living room at the end. In a few brisk steps Gabe opened the door on the left and invited Elena in with a courteous gesture.
"Welcome to my humble abode, your highness."
Her highness graced him with a nod and slipped by him, into the small room. Elena gave it a quick one over. It was indeed small - in fact, there probably wasn't much more space than what each guard got at the barracks - and the decor wasn't much fancier either. Cream colored walls, a thin bed by the window, a wardrobe opposite of it, one wall taken up by a bookshelf and a small cabinet by another made up basically all the furnishing of the room.
"Humble is a good word." She nodded solemnly, earning herself an eye roll from her friend. They both chuckled.
"Hey, it's your room that's out of the norm, you know?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Elena retorted, thinking about how three or even four such rooms would fit into hers. She walked over to the cabinet and picked up some trinket. "But it's nice to finally see where you grew up."
Gabe couldn't stop a fond smile sneaking onto his lips when he noticed the badge she was examining.
"Yeah and I didn't really get to change much here in the past five years. For example this thing I got back when-"
"Gabriel!" He was interrupted by his mother's voice from the bakery.
"I'll tell you in a moment," he sighed. "Make yourself at home!" He added from the doors and quickly ran downstairs to his parents.
Elena took another look around the room. It wasn't entirely empty, she had to admit that, and the poster of Antonio Agama on the inner side of the door confirmed that Gabe didn't change the decor much since he moved out.
She moved to the bookshelf and moved her hand across the titles - though there weren't that many of them to count. The lower shelves were taken up by some boxes and bags and what could've been a neatly packaged tent. Then finally a whole shelf dedicated to the whole collection of Antonio Agama's books. Elena chuckled to herself when she read some of the more dramatic titles and noticed even one that wasn't in Avaloran. On the next shelf, between other various travel books and biographies, was only one book by señor Agama, titled simply 'The Gecko's Tale'. Driven by a hunch she took it out and couldn't help but laugh when she read the blurb on the back. Although that explained how the whole kingdom found out that she's a bit adventurous too.
Finally her gaze got to the plant on top of the mantle. Hidden so deep in the room, it extended its ivy like stalks towards the sun, climbing a string helpfully hung between the bookshelf and the window.
Down on the windowsill two other plants looked out on the little cobbled square behind the house. Elena leaned in to smell the orchid and noticed something half hidden behind the pot. Slowly, so as not to accidentally damage the plant, she reached for trinket and retrieved it into the light. It turned out to be a wooden doll, painted to resemble a familiar navy and maroon uniform...
"Is this you?" She turned to Gabe as soon as he entered the room and showed him the figurine with a wide smile.
Gabe stopped for a moment. Furrowed his brows as he tried to see what Elena was even holding, and then furrowed his brows even more when he recognised it.
"Of course not," he grumbled, closing the small distance between them. "It's just an old thing anyway."
"It does look a bit like you though." She jumped away from him at the last moment.
Gabe gasped. Elen giggled and moved her hand away when he tried to reach her.
"Why would I even have a figurine of myself?"
For a moment they circled each other, like two lions judging if it's worthy to fight the opponent for a steak, except the steak was now wooden and 15 centimetres high. They both hunched subconsciously and made their steps in the fencing manner.
"I don't know, why does Esteban have a whole wall of his own portraits?" A sly grin slid on her face. "But I see you've decided to match his collection."
"Oh now you've done it." Gabe shook his head to hide his smile and in the split of a second was right by her. Feigning to go right for the prize, he swiped her legs out from under her.
Elena waved her hands in the air giving Gabe just the opportunity he was waiting for. He swiftly yanked the figurine from her hands, giving her the last push to fall backwards completely. He turned his head with a victorious grin, just in time to see her legs rising at the height of his knees. And suddenly the ground was much closer than before.
He folded his arms to his chest, protecting the figurine with his body and rolled on the floor. Though he didn't have to roll far, of which he was promptly reminded by his head crushing into the cupboard.
He groaned loudly and let his body fall limply to the floor.
His pained complaint was answered by Elena's laughter from the bed.
"I'm getting too old for this," he mumbled and Elena's laughter only got louder.
Finally he sat up and lifted the figurine to his face. He carefully examined it for any cracks or splinters, checked if the joints in the limbs didn't fall out and most importantly if the head was still on firm. Finally when he made sure the trinket didn't get damaged, he let out a relieved sigh.
"You're lucky it's still whole," he grumbled, rising to his feet.
"Hey, I was being careful." Elena now sat up too and sent him a playful smirk. "All the way until you decided to trip me like that."
Gabe rolled his eyes again and huffed in pretended annoyance.
"So if it's not a limited edition General Nuñez action figure," Elena continued. "What is it?"
Gabe sat down next to her and thought of an answer for a moment. He changed the position of the little soldier's arms and reached for a pin to put into his hand as a sword.
"It's really just an old toy," he said finally. "But you know, it has sentimental value."
He finally passed Elena the figurine, so she could take a look at it herself. It wasn't as old as she thought at first. The paint was faded, but still held onto the uneven surface of the wood and as she moved her fingers across it, she realized that it must've been all whittled by hand, by someone who put great care in it, but wasn't a professional.
Still the amount of details was impressive, especially in the construction of the thing. She moved the tiny soldier into the proper fencing position and to her delight found out that it fits flawlessly, the wire on the joints creaked quietly, as if it had been waiting for an opportunity to shine for ages.
She glanced between the figurine and Gabe on her left for comparison. The uniform, despite the familiar colours, was a tad different, it resembles more what she remembered from her childhood, than the uniform Gabe was wearing at the moment.
"I got it from my first fencing teacher," he continued.
"The same one who threw coconuts at you driving training?" Elena raised a brow, earning herself a chuckle.
"Yeah, the same one." A sad smile reached the corners of his eyes as old memories resurfaced in his memory. "He was a tough man and always talked about how big an annoyance I am, but -" he gestured to the figurine and shrugged.
"Well, that explains why it looks like you," Elena bumped him with her shoulder. "I'm sure he could've already seen that you'll be a great guard."
"Oh, I don't think he even wanted me to be a guard," Gabe laughed again. "But you know, the situation was a bit different." He pondered something for a moment before continuing. "And to be fair, I didn't even realize that it was supposed to be a guard at the time, I was pretty sure he just came up with the design by himself. I only really connected the dots a few years ago, when I found this old thing again."
Elena nodded silently and put a comforting hand on his arm. She could see that this topic wasn't easy for him.
"Though maybe what you said was the point." He straightened suddenly and his gaze went back to the figurine. "Maybe he wasn't completely against me joining the guard, just... joining the right one."
His smile became wider and it was like his whole face lit up. Elena raised the little soldier's arms to make it cheer. They both laughed at how expressive this piece of wood was.
"So where is your coach now?" Elena asked, caressing the wooden toy one more time.
He only sighed at first and for a moment his gaze became clouded again, before he shook his head to cast the memories away.
"I wish I knew," he sent her a sad smile. "One day he just... disappeared. A few trinkets and one letter is all the proof I have that he wasn't just my hallucination."
Elena's lips twitched in a matching sad smile, but before she could say anything, they both heard a voice from downstairs, calling the unmistakable word 'dinner!'
Gabe clapped his hands on his knees and sprung up to his feet.
"Ah, just in time", he extended his hand to Elena. "I think eating is a much more fun topic than discussing the weird things I did in my childhood."
Elena examined his face for a moment more, but gave up on asking all the questions that pushed to the tip of her tongue. She sent him a smile instead and accepted his hand.
"Oh, you mean you did more weird things?" She made the little figurine gasp.
"I feel like I shouldn't have started this topic," Gabe laughed.
"Oh no, you won't escape now." She poked him in the chest and put the little soldier in his hand. "I gotta know all the crazy stories."
"Okay, okay, I'll tell you something," Gabe raised his hands in defeat. "But you can't mention it to my parents, please, they'll never stop until they tell you my whole life story."
Elena made a theatrical gesture of tapping her lips in thought as she backed out of the room.
"I'll consider it," she sent him a wide grin and in a second turned and ran towards the stairs.
"Hey- wait!" Gabe called out, running right after her to save what was left of his reputation.
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I'm sorry I really really don't want to harsh your writing groove, and your little snowstorm fic had some neat ideas. But it wasn't tagged game of thrones, and Jon Snow with curly black hair, pouty lips, and being called as pretty as a girl is only in the show. Book!Jon has straight brown hair and a long thin face and is never called pretty. It was a good GOT fic though!
Why hello, "anon"!
You know, I haven't given it too much thought which canon this ficlet is supposed to be, and actually forgot the GoT tag. It's added now, I hope this makes you happy.
But there are a few things I'm curious about.
- Can you tell me where in ASoIaF Jon's hair texture is described? Does it anywhere say explicitly that he has straight hair? I searched, but couldn't find a line on that.
- Please also tell me where in the books Jon's mouth is described in such detail that you, the all-knowing "anon", can deduce that he isn't able to pout.
- Your lack of reading comprehension is a tad concerning, considering you're all on your own in the big interweb - where in my little ficlet did I describe Jon as pretty as a girl? Or pretty, period? The word doesn't show up at all.
- Also, where did I say Jon has other than brown hair? I said dark, can't brown hair be described as dark? Are we gatekeeping dark hair now? Or is it just that you again present your headcanons as canon and everyone needs to adher to your version of it?
All of that I would love an explanation for, but since you are too cowardly to tell your name, I guess that's a futile wish.
But, I want to thank you for reminding me why I didn't write for months in the first place - because of toxic, mean-spirited, gate-keeping people like you. Because of the likes of you this fandom is in its death throes. Dunno what you get out of it, honestly.
Lastly, I know you're not supposed to show when some nasty little anon has hurt your feelings, but seeing as this whole thing is going nowhere anymore, I don't see why not. So, congratulations, "anon", you managed to deeply hurt me, and kill in its bud the first blossoming of creativity I've felt in a long time. I hope it gives you satisfaction, since you must be a deeply unhappy individual.
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Lifestealers reactions to communism / how they would act in a communist meeting:
Mapicc: Heard that capitalism was theft and got really excited. Bless my boy, but he's never once had a morally correct thought in his life. Doesn’t understand that industrial action and industrial sabotage aren’t always the same thing.
Ashswag: Is it rude to call him a tankie? Anyways, tankie. (CC Ash was going to go to a Young Communists meeting but when he looked at the facebook page and saw who was going, he dipped)
Reddoons: Calls himself socially liberal but fiscally conservative. Said that once and got audibly boo’d. Gets interviewed a lot for local political news and is anonymised as 'local businessman' but everyone knows it's him.
Vitalasy: Went along to meetings because he thought he'd make more friends there!
Subz: Got dragged along by Vitalasy and keeps trying to convince him to leave but to no avail.
Planetlord: Anarcho-Communist <3 Kropotkin fan. Literally never got dragged into discourse because his default blank facial expression just makes people feel bad.
Bacon: Kinda sits and chills but whenever people start a fight he's in the corner with like an encyclopaedia of Marxism just fact checking. Has brought popcorn to meetings before.
Clown: Anarcho-Capitalist (booo)
YeahJaron: Wants to live on a commune and has already started rooftop and windowsill gardening in his flat to prepare. The only person thinking about the laundry in the commune.
Don Turnt: Pretty happy to go along with whatever but keeps trying to suggest that they do a coup as a solution to literally every problem.
Midmysticx: Likes the idea of communism but prefers the aesthetics of art deco movement. She wants the weird experimental design phase to continue forever and despises brutalism.
Cube: Doesn’t mind brutalism too much but is worried about being called out as petty-bourgeoisie just for messing around with circuit boards. Starts sweating profusely whenever technology gets mentioned in a meeting.
Spoke: Excited to start shit during the two minutes of criticism. Already has notes on who he thinks is ready to betray the house. Actively starts leftist-infighting over cartoons that he’s never watched.
Spepticle: Did actually watch the cartoons but is too afraid to enter into the discourse. Spends the meetings hyping himself up to speak but never does. Messages a separate group chat every morning before a meeting being like “Today’s the day! I’m going to speak up” but it’s not happened yet.
Rekrap: Genuinely really worried about what his personal responsibility as a communist should be. He googles the definitions of the words the others use before he says anything during the meetings .
Roshambo: Has been trying to figure out what Marxist historiography actually means and whether that means that they agree or disagree with it. Also is worried that someone will call him out for “enabling late-stage capitalism” by having a Twice photocard on the back of his phone.
Branzy: Had Rosa Luxembourg quotes on his instagram to be cool but got called out on twitter for being a fake-leftist so is now in an escalating series of lies in order to win a pointless online argument.
Pangi: Goes along to meetings to try and canvas for votes for the student union. Whenever anyone brings up his campaign promises and posters he goes “I dunno about that” and changes the subject.
Zam: Initially goes along with Pangi as back-up but now goes to meetings by himself now purely to wind the others up. Since the beginning he's worn a crown to annoy them and has ruined any chances of them voting for Pangi.
Poafa: Is actually pretty chill but as soon as someone minorly inconveniences him, he starts advocating for factionalism and goes for the jugular. Will oppose motions that he agrees with if someone he dislikes brought them up.
Vortex: Keeps meaning to go to meetings but always falls asleep, has other commitments, or the bus is late. Gets Parrot to live-text him the meetings but only reacts with a thumbs-up emoji.
Woogie: Was supposed to be going to a DND meet-up at the library but entered the wrong room and couldn’t leave. His DND character was based-off Wojtek the Soldier bear and they all thought that [Wojtek] was his name but since no-one spoke Polish they nicknamed him Woogie. Assigned Woogie at communism.
Parrot: Runs a local 'communist memes for socialist teens' facebook page. He blocks people whose “vibes are just not it”.
Terrain: Does the weird twitter user thing of adding disclaimers to every statement he makes and dances around the traps laid by Spoke (who’s trying to get Terrain called out)
McClutch: Came to the meeting to film a prank video of him disrupting the meeting but got distracted. Feels personally attacked that the only person who has actually got banned was Zam and started a one-sided war of who could be the worst to have in meetings.
Leowook: Makes soup and brings flasks of it to meetings so he can conveniently sip whenever anyone looks like they might ask him a question. Wore too-nice jeans once and has never heard the end of it.
Dorry for being crazy btw here's a relevant image from my mangoball times:
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