#ripple in a legacy au

[queen-ofsunflowers]

Barbara Anaïs-Kujo

Nicknames: Barbs (primarily by Jotaro), Mrs. Kujo, Dr. Kujo, Mom (by Jolyne) Age: 29 Date of Birth: October 31st, 1969 Height: 5'6" (167cm) Stand: Pentacle Queen

Following the events of Stardust Crusaders, Barbara continued to study Hamon, enhancing her healing ability and eventually choosing to go into the medical field to use it to better help civilians, as well as her companions that were left with injuries that would impact them the rest of their lives. By the time Diamond is Unbreakable begins, Barbara has finished up her residency and is seeking to start her own private practice in conjunction with the Speedwagon Foundation.

Barbara becoming a doctor isn't the only thing that happened to her. During the eleven-year time span, she also became a mother. During their college years, Barbara had entered into a relationship with childhood friend and fellow Crusader, Jotaro Kujo. Approximately two years later, the two were graced with their surprise daughter, Jolyne. Though balancing motherhood, classes and being a Hamon/Stand User was difficult, she managed fine with her new husband's help and the help of friends and family. A few years later in 1998, that family grew to include to son, Mickey.

And it's because of the very same family that she would make her way to Morioh in 1999 along with Joseph Joestar and Noriaki Kakyoin. Upon hearing what happened to her cousin Ringo and Jolyne, it was nigh impossible to get her to stay home. Her Stand's ability to sense life energy and her healing ability with Hamon would come into use cleaning up Otoshi's mess, as well as when dealing with the investigation into Yoshikage Kira and dealing with Highway Star.

Overall, Barbara's main goal while in Morioh is to keep an eye on the new generation of Stand Users and keep her family safe from any further harm. She wishes to do her best to keep them from facing the same dangers and experiencing similar trauma that she once did at their age. And if it means that she has to pull out her mom voice against her own cousin and in-law, then so be it.

#jojo's bizarre adventure #jojo's bizarre adventure au #jojo no kimyou na bouken #jjba #jjba oc #jojo oc #diamond is unbreakable #jjba part 4 #ripple in a legacy au #queen's art #queen's oc #oc: barbara anaïs #jotaro kujo #noriaki kakyoin #oc: mickey kujo #jolyne cujoh #josuke higashikata #oc: ringo akiyama #i regret nothing

[ellsbclls]

imagine a modern!au where abby is a principal dancer in a thriving ballet company, and it’s groundbreaking, seeing that dichotomy —someone so gentle and sinewy, rippling muscle and soft, soft hand — even to you.

you see her stretching in the corner, taut muscles splayed to the highest of heavens, fingers kneading into the flesh that doesn’t quite warm up with the rest, and oh to be the fucking hand that leaves fingerprints along her biceps.

even as you see yourself in the shape of her routine, you can’t bring yourself to say a simple “hey! nice form!” because you know you’ll stumble and fall over all the drool that’s pooled in your fucking mouth. and plus, that would mean speaking to her! let alone acknowledging that she exists, which, as far as she’s concerned, you don’t care to admit! and it rarely bothers her because you’re not the first, nor the last, legacy ballerina to shoot her a wayward glance every time she gets cast as a danseur, but sometimes there’s something in your eyes that she can’t quite pick out. something hot and fast like a flash in a pan, and it makes her wonder.

and then you’re cast alongside each other in a production of romeo and juliet :)

#abby anderson x reader #abby anderson #abby anderson blurb #abby anderson hcs #abby anderson x female reader #tldr; idiots in love / haters to lovers ballerina arc #reader’s knees buckling out from under her the first time they do a solo rehearsal #and abby’s first instinct is to tuck and roll and she ends up pulling her to her chest in the process #abby thots

[respectthepetty]

Hey petty so recently I told you that you’d single-handedly convinced me to watch the HIStory and I have been having a great goddamn time Taiwan my absolute my beloved my belle of the ball you give me everything I want baby, but…I’ve come to Make Our Days Count and I need some encouragement to start it. Because I KNOW how it ends I KNOW it’s gonna hurt me so I need someone to hype me up and talk me into it

Anon, I told you not to follow me down my trashy path!

I'm not trying to convince y'all to watch anything. Never. Not ever. I loved Hit Bit Love, but I will never recommend that to anyone because I know what it was.

So now you're asking me, the person who consistently tells you not to watch anything unless you want to and not based on my unabashed love for it, to convince you to watch the HIStory-that-shall-not-be-named?

Well, I can't because, as you very well know, it's gonna fucking hurt! That series was, on average, ranked around an 8.8 each episode by 20 faithful watchers on My Drama List until the final episode which is a 4.8 with double the raters (40). Not only did it bury the gay at the last possible second after jailing the gay mafia lead in the previous installment right when Taiwan legalized marriage equality, but half of the world was going into lockdown, and the other half was burying its head in the sand about it. Basically, the morale was so low in BL Land, hell had to make new layers because HIStory decided to be high art and kill someone.

And it would be another two years before we got the next installment, my beloved HIStory 4: Close to You.

Knowing what I know, I wouldn't even tell myself to watch the HIStory-that-shall-not-be-named? I don't want to remember watching it, so I definitely don't want to talk about it.

Instead I'm going to convince you of why it's important that I did watch it four years ago in retrospect:

The Apology Tour

Taiwan knows it fucked up.

Every year since that ill-fated series, we get Wayne and Huang playing in the final episode of other BLs which greatly relies on us knowing who they are and their HIStory because without it, the emotional impact is wasted.

2020 - Life: Love on the Line (Japan) - They played tourists seeing the Northern Lights which is something they mentioned in HIStory.

2021 - Be Loved in House: I Do - Wayne played a random guy the lead runs into and tells him to never let anyone take his love away, but the two actually played in HIStory together, so Wayne's character realizes this as the lead runs away.

2022 - Plus & Minus - They are guests at the leads' wedding who run into each other and feel an instant connection as if they have met in a previous life.

2023 - Kiseki: Dear to Me - They play gangstas from a rival squad, but some of y'all have not watched episode 8, so I'll shut up.

Oh, and the side pair also pop up places like HIStory 4: Close to You.

Basically, each time these guys show up somewhere, it's a spectacle. It's basically AU fanfic every year for us. If they couldn't be together in HIStory, they can be together in other ways, in other shows, and in other universes, so I'm excited to see where they will pop up in 2024, but the commoner who hasn't watched the HIStory-that-shall-not-be-named will not care as much.

Anon, do you want to feel those feelings?

Do you want Taiwan to continue apologizing for its grave misdeed? Do you want to be "in the know" each time you see these two appear on your screen? Do you want to believe that they are together in another universe? Do you want all of this?

Because if you do, you can't have it if you don't watch the series that caused this ripple effect. You are missing a foundational competent of their legacy if you skip out on the HIStory-that-shall-not-be-named.

However, I can't encourage you to watch this.

I watched nine glorious episodes, then got beat down in the finale, only to spend the last four years gleefully sitting front row to the apology tour, so ask yourself if you are comfortable making that deal as well?

You decide.

#history 3: make our days count #you gotta make a decision #do you want pain with four years of happiness #or to never understand what is happening? #that's on you dawg #because I'll ruin your entire life with my trashy love

[starry-blue-echoes]

I've seen a lot of different AUs on here, especially with vampires. I went back a bit. But then the app closed out. 😔

Anyway, (and maybe this was already done further back) but I was thinking of an AU where Joseph teaches Holly how to use Ripple/Hamon. She teaches Jotaro who then teaches Josuke. Meanwhile, Giorno either learns on his own or meets a Zeppeli descendant who teaches him. 🙃

OOOOOOO

If I may raise a possibility: this happens in the Hamon Healer AU

Holly really wants to be like her awesome Great Granny Erina and Grandma Lisa and gets her dad to start teaching her when she’s still really young. Lisa Lisa and Caesar end up teaching her a bunch of other little tricks and eventually once she’s getting older and more capable start giving her formal training

And from there it really begins to be a family legacy type thing, with every new member being taught at least the basics so they can defend themself and treat injuries. Holly eventually teaches Jotaro, who then teaches Josuke with the help of Joseph, and around then he even starts teaching Jolyne and maybe does some joint lessons

As for Giorno...... what if to differ this from the Night Learns the Sun AU and draw from your Zeppeli idea, it was Caesar who found Giorno. It was clear the kid had a home, but Caesar couldn’t shake the feeling that something was.... off.

So he did what Lisa Lisa did for him and started teaching him Hamon, starting with the basics and slowly working up to more advanced stuff. He was never able to convince the kid to come back to Air Supplena with him (despite the years they’d spent together Giorno was still too wary and paranoid to do that, plus it was a long ways away) but he made due with the terrain around Naples. Eventually he even started renting a small apartment in Naples in order to save travel time and money....... plus leaving the kid alone for days on end made him anxious

But let’s fast forward a couple years. Caesar ends up being called back to Air Supplena since apparently the mafia are causing problems and getting a bit too close again, so he heads back to Venice to help deal with it, but not without tell Giorno where he’s going and that he’ll be back in a few weeks

Imagine his surprise when not even two weeks later when he’s taking a break at a nearby restaurant he sees his kid student in Venice where he’s definitely not supposed to be what the fuck how did he get here-

Imagine Giorno’s surprise when his Very Unhappy Teacher marches over to him and suddenly remembers “oh fuck he did say he was going to Venice for business didn’t he” and starts scrambling for an explanation

#hamon healer #jjba #jojo's bizarre adventure #battle tendency #jjba part 2 #golden wind #vento aureo #jjba part 5 #jjba holly #holly kujo #jjba caesar #caesar zeppeli #jjba giorno #giorno giovanna #jjba lisa lisa #lisa lisa #jjba erina #erina pendleton #jjba jotaro #jotaro kujo #jjba joseph #joseph joestar #jjba josuke #josuke higashikata #jjba jolyne #jolyne kujo #sb answers #persephonedasilva

[barid-bel-medar]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you've previously alluded to the Star Heart Incident occurring in other continuities/stories of yours as well? And 'Failure to Launch' is just the 'verse where Star Heart came to Japan instead of choosing a different country? Care to elaborate on that any further?

Failure to Explode being so...extreme, is because while versions of the event happen in other AUs, they're generally not as bad as it went in FtE. Where it happened, Rishi City, over half was destroyed. Scale wise none of the other versions in the other realities were quite as bad. It only really even took place in Japan here since I needed a good justification and I felt the HPSC would be more inclined to do something like the start of the ripple if it had happened in Japan and involved Japanese heroes.

Failure to Explode is the only version to happen in Japan. In BYU it happened in Paris (though I am planning on editing the reference in BYU so that Star Heart's not dead), and in the Sticks and Stone's verse it happened in Edinburgh [He couldn’t exactly figure out why; all it would lead to is a repeat of the Star Heart incident in Edinburgh two years ago. Now there was a shit show caused by PR-obsessed heroes…But if you made everything, or too much of it about PR and popularity, it can cause fuck ups like that.--A Flicker of Flame]; Legacy survives there as well.

#failure to explode #the star heart incident

[abarbaricyalp]

Absence of Faith

Rated: E // 5.1k words // werewolf au and all that entails // AO3

Written for the @sambuckylibrary TFATWS Anniversary Event

“Good evening, Angel,” the werewolf greeted, voice slurred by the effects of having been recently unconscious and now bound upright to a chair. It was all a little showy. The hunter had no need of information from the werewolf and the werewolf knew that. But the Wilsons had a code and all monsters were to be apprehended and dealt with.

The Wilsons were an old family in the fight against the supernatural. No one knew for sure which preacher first lifted a blade against a monster, but the legacy had been born. Seminary lessons butted up against physical training butted up against history and medical lessons. By the time he was a teenager, Sam had killed more monsters than he had fingers. And when he was just beginning to think he didn’t want to follow in the footsteps of all the Wilsons before him, his daddy was killed and the choice was taken from him.

Sam Wasn’t like most other Wilsons though. Thank God for Sarah to carry on the family name unsullied. Sam wasn’t just a hunter of the supernatural, some of that supernatural had found its way into him. His only saving grace–other than parents who loved him unconditionally, which was far more invaluable–was that he appeared to be Heavensent, rather than dragged up from Hell, like most monsters.

Sam had been born with wings.

Well, that wasn’t exactly true. Sam had been born with bony nubs that had eventually grown into wings, molting and refeathering as he got older and older. They were beautiful white monstrosities that he had difficulty controlling most days, even with a harness and coat that would pin them down.

“Angel,” the werewolf taunted again. “Can we hurry this along? Your cuffs are going to burn my wrist away.”

Sam glanced over to assess the amount of blood pooling under the werewolf’s wrist. His skin was scalded and blistered, each shift of his arm bringing the silver cuffs back into contact with skin, but he wasn’t in danger of losing any more limbs.

“You’ll be fine. Stop squirming.”

“You know damn well I’m not squirming,” the werewolf growled, but his voice was lighter than any real threat. It was true. The werewolf wasn’t squirming. His body was rippling with a withheld shift, brought on by the pain of the silver. The more his bones and muscles broke and changed shape, the more often his skin touched the cuffs.

This was a werewolf that Sam knew well. Too well probably. His daddy would be so damn mad about how well Sam knew this werewolf. And, shit, God help him if Sarah ever found out. But this werewolf had managed to snarl his way into Sam’s life. It may have been the Wilsons’ job to hunt down monsters, but they didn’t leave them to die and this werewolf had been on his last wheezing breaths when Sam found him the first time. Every decision since that first one to stitch his wounds shut were just bad judgment and selfish desire. 

No matter how much Sam tried to put distance between them, he was just as weak for the monster as that first day. There was something about his bright, animal eyes and the charming curl of his hair and fur and the sharp, dangerous glint to every smile. Man or beast, Sam gave himself up to the thrill of the monster’s company.

Werewolves were always some of the most dangerous creatures. There were creatures that were more monster than human and always would be–demons and chupacabras and the sasquatches of the world. There were creatures that were more human than monster–mermaids, witches, vampires even. But werewolves were always an in-between, on a knife’s edge between both worlds, the perfect predator and trickster. Vampires had control, at least. Most werewolves did not.

And, still, Sam always brought this one into his home or followed after him to some undisclosed hovel. (Okay, home may have been pushing it for what this safehouse was. Definitely more of a place to hold monsters until someone cooled off or help arrived.) One of these days it was really going to bite him in the ass.

“Are you mad at me?” Bucky asked.

“What makes you think that?” Sam asked boredly.

The werewolf lolled his tongue out of his mouth, curling the tip of it into a point. His tongue was longer than it should be, a sign that the shift was winning out over his control.

Sam clicked the silver piercing in his own tongue against the back of his teeth and then against the rings in his lips–two on his lower lip, one on his top. “Why would body piercings mean I was mad at you?” he asked.

The werewolf’s eyes narrowed and he sat back in the chair. Sam could see the sprawl of his body, large and bare since Sam had found him in wolf form and hadn’t exactly stuck around to see if he’d left a tidy stack of clothes somewhere. The shift was rippling of his skin, his fur. With one shuddering grimace, the cuffs fell away from his wrist. Sam had barely even noticed the full shift. When the fur was gone from his arm again, Sam could see a ring of blood, a deep cut, beginning to close. He’d figured the cuffs wouldn’t hold for long. The werewolf’s healing factor would take care of whatever damage he sustained freeing himself.

“Because,” Bucky said, voice low and rough. “I can smell the others.”

Continue on AO3

#sambucky #sam wilson #bucky barnes #captain america #sambucky fanfic #the falcon and the winter soldier #writing #tfatwsanniversaryevent2023 #tfatws

[thychesters]

Hi! I just wanted to say I read your whole Dickbabs baby au in one sitting and really enjoyed it! Do you have any dickbabs fic recs so I can get my fix until you update it again 👀

in one sitting?? oh my gosh anon i am beyond flattered, that is so nice of you. and i do have some dickbabs baby fic recs! these ones primarily focus on dickbabs and a baby and are pretty self-contained stories.

a little bias because technically this is related to my dickbabs baby au but i adore it

for life goes not backwards by HuiLian

Babs looks at her, and sighs. “You’re right. It’s just that…”

“I know, I know,” Steph smiles. “But I’ve got Alfred on speed-dial for any baby John related emergencies, remember? And for any non-baby John related emergencies,” Steph feels her smile turn into a grin, “I’ve got the rest of the family.”

Babs sighs again. “That’s what I’m worried about.”

or, Auntie Steph babysits!

Not Anymore by orphan_account

Dick and Barbara are expecting a baby. Damian reacts just like any child who's about to get a younger sibling does.

you’re my future by ZinniaRae

Barbara Gordon liked to think she was the type of woman who could handle anything. Throw something at her, no matter what, and she had it handled. Except for this. Five minutes ago, Dick Grayson had brought up something that she didn’t know how to handle.

Home, Love, Family by Pichitinha

People are always asking Dick and Barbara when they plan on expanding the family. Maybe they're finally ready for that.

Birth of a Legacy by chronicAngel (unfinished)

She doesn't suspect anything at first.

Cheat Day by chronicAngel

"I love you," she says.

"I should hope so," he jokes. "After all the flour I swept up this morning? I earned that lifetime you promised me."

Kids by frankie_bell

She’s not a big believer in fate or karma or even religion. Bad things don’t happen for a reason. Bad things happen because people make choices, and those choices have ripples. Her infertility has nothing to do with some vengeful god punishing her for denying a baby when she still felt like one herself.

Barbara Gordon grapples with the aftereffects of a decision she made during her Batgirl days and what it means for her new life as Oracle.

A story about denying, accepting, and embracing motherhood.

#anonymous #asks #dickbabs #enjoy some baby fics anon! #i'm sure i have more but i dug through history some and these were some of the first up #thank you for checking out the dickbabs baby au!!

[forthedancingandthethriving]

You know, the Act of Lies Au would likely have a lot of differences, not just from the main AU but from canon as well.

Fred and his SMGs, Spudnick, their worlds, 1 & 2's Admins, and Axol are still alive because no Genesis and Revelation Arcs (though there's a good chance that threats of similar power levels showed up Because Content, and those threats still resulted in the reveal of 3 and 4's origins and meeting Fred, Spudnick and their SMGs and friends since otherwise we'd basically have to speedrun those reveals when the Reset Arc happens and that arc already has a crapton of crazy reveals).

The God Box probably wasn't destroyed so Duck never returned, The Haltmann Arc either didn't happen or involved TV Adware giving Susie God Box Material right from the source (wouldn't put it past them).

Either 3 and 4 have completely different Admins or (for simplicity's sake) Domain and Forum in this universe are separate characters from -1 and -2. Whoever they are, they still replaced Singularity with Lil Coding because WE NEED THE BOI!!!!

While Byte is still...well, Byte, his plan in his debut arc relied on Domain and Forum being his creations, so there's a good chance it just didn't happen and he's quietly waiting for an opportunity to further his true goals.

This would mean that the IRL arc either didn't happen (unlikely given everything was driven specifically by Welony's ambitions) or just took longer to happen since she didn't have a former Admin feeding her info. Granted, that could be circumvented by Cluster (that asshole from the Override Incident) getting NPC'd as a harsher punishment than canon if we want things to stay mostly in order.

Considering Nimbus and Tulip's new situation I'd assume that Watered Down Dreams and the Best Worst Party Ever either don't happen or add to their internal conflicts.

Duck not coming back...doesn't actually change Worm's return in the slightest, since he's after any notably Powerful and Unique Program or Virus for his power boost plan. Also I'd assume that the climactic event of this AU would be a heavily modified Legacy Arc considering the Union's involved.

Also not timeline-related, but I'd imagine that while he's willing to work with them since they clearly have the same goals as him, Barry would probably not like -1 and -2 at all since they're SMGs and his hatred of the Meme Cycle is absolutely directed at those meant to uphold it, and those biases don't go away just because they happen to agree with him.

Yeah, that's what I was going for in the AU! A huge ripple affect, where one small decision instead leads to bigger changes all throughout the AU and canon. Because we need at least one AU where things are majorly different from the get-to.

Cluster becoming a part of Welony's plans would fit SO well with what it wanted, so yeah, it would definitely become her new little pawn being. Domain and Forum also being separate entities in this AU is what I'm going with too. (And yeah, we need LC!! The BOOOI!!!!)

And yeah, the hugely climatic event is in a modified Legacy Arc, specifically that scene where it was Frenzy who got the Source Code during the chaos. Instead, it's Tulip, and lemme tell you.. this was the first scene I thought of in the AU, and so it's the most fleshed out.

#act of lies au #au lore #!asks! #fren! #duckapus #Not tagging anyone since it's just a general post but #God do I have things planned!!!

[valiant-portabella-pirkko]

Timey’s Great Big Pinned Post of Everything

[   she/her | writer/artist | 28 | IGN (NA) Timey.6853  ]

just another friendly local aro-ace salad enthusiast

Hi yes hello, welcome to Timey’s Guild Wars 2 blog where I post about Guild Wars 2 and basically nothing else. Expect a lot of salads, a lot of Living World 1, and especially a lot of Scarlet Briar. Sometimes I draw or write things, too. Mostly I just yell my meta commentary of questionable sanity into the void, though. Y’know how it is. Scarlet stole my last remaining brain cell and adamantly refuses to give it back.

I’m always happy to chatter with folks! Feel free to drop by anytime; I can be a little slow to respond at times, but I really love exchanging theories and ideas and hearing about obscure or interesting details people have found! Give me ALL of the lore. Tell me about your favorite characters. Ramble about OCs. For real, I love to hear all the things okay; don’t worry about being mutuals, either!

DISCLAIMER: This isn’t a place for bigotry, drama, or rudeness though; nobody’s got time for that. Play nice and be respectful, that’s all I ask.

With that out of the way, I’ll include some helpful navigation links and summaries of my various AU projects below the cut! Feel free to take a peek if you want. I’ll gradually add more stuff over time, too.

The Handy Dandy List of Links

My Posts

Reblogs

My Art

My Fics

Regrowth AU

Portabella Pirkko - Tag

Harbinger Saoirse - Tag

“Lost But Not Forgotten”

“A Garden of Memories”

Flourish AU

Ceara the Defiant - Tag

Tideturners AU

The Sidewinder - Page | Tag

Grand High Sovereign Ruju - Tag

Timey’s AU Collection, in Summary

Regrowth AU: What Would You Do For a Second Chance?

Even Elder Dragons have limits. And as it happens, a being whose power relies on life has no hold on the realm of the dead. In the Domain of the Lost, a spirit awakens for the first time in many years. For a time, she spends her penance leading those that her actions sent to their graves too early-- but that would never be enough to satisfy Scarlet Briar. It’s too slow. Too tedious... Too boring. And she isn’t prepared to spend all of eternity tending to spirits who hate her for choices she never would have made of her own volition.

So when a stranger reaches through the Mists seeking her guidance and her power in a new alliance, Scarlet accepts-- and finds her spirit anchored to a rather unconventional ex-mordrem revenant. But the world has changed a great deal in her absence, and thanks to their new goal... It’s about to change a whole lot more. They’re both going to make quite sure of that.

Tyria isn’t the only thing that’s going to change, though. Ceara hasn’t been herself in a long, long time... And now, without the dragon’s influence crushing her sense of self, she’s finally free to rediscover the person she should have been. Maybe there’s still time to reclaim her legacy after all.

If she can avoid almost destroying the world (again), that is...

Flourish AU: What If One Choice Could Change the World?

Sometimes all it takes is a few words in the right place at the right time... A moment of solidarity that by all rights, never should have happened. But the Dream works in mysterious ways, and as echoes rippled across the Mists from distant worlds, it learned of a different future and an unexpected outcome. All it took was a single, subtle nudge to set the ball rolling, and so it did.

On that fateful day in the Grove, Caithe never would have thought to ask the inquisitive sylvari what she was working on. But, just this once, the Dream did.

Curiosity was repaid in kind. A repaired healing device was left in the infirmary, its Secondborn donator unspoken but well-known. Beginning to recognize the value of Ceara’s peculiar research, others began to quietly peek at the budding scientist as she worked. And while she might never have been a social butterfly, the acceptance warmed her heart of ice into something far softer. She didn’t have to choose between her dream and the Dream. And even if she left the Grove far behind... Perhaps she didn’t have to cut it off entirely.

And that was all she’d ever truly needed; the opportunity of choice.

Ceara never left the Dream, not entirely. She listened to its advice, following when it suited her and forging a unique path all her own. She became not an engineer, but a thief, following in the footsteps of her new mentor. When Saoirse needed her advice, she was still in the Grove to provide it. The world changed, slowly but surely, one altered life at a time.

The Dream’s grand design came to pass. Three champions would rise like stars, facing the dragons together. Heart, Mind, and Soul... Pirkko, Ceara, and Saoirse, from the Priory, Whispers, and Vigil. A bold new future awaited-- a future where the horrors of Scarlet’s Alliance would never be known, for there had never even been a Scarlet Briar to lead it.

But the greater their success, the lusher their world...

And the higher the flames would burn when it all ignited.

Tideturners AU: What Happens When There is No Hero?

Mai Trin wasn’t born to be a hero. That was supposed to be Ruju’s job. He was the one who would become the Commander, leading unlikely alliances to victory time and time again to save his world from the draconic plight. He was strong, and relentless, and brave, and intelligent. He was always meant to be a leader.

But his heart was just as cold and dead as the biomechanical minions he commanded in battle, and the future he would create was not a kind one.

He was invited aboard Scarlet’s Alliance, but this would prove a deadly error; Commander Ruju made no differentiation between a willing dragon minion and a rebelling one. Scarlet Briar was claimed by his blade in the dead of night, and the rest were left with a brutal choice: fall in line, or share her fate. Mai, realizing this was no longer the alliance she had once believed in, took her Aetherblades and fled into the Mists.

But the Grand High Sovereign’s rampage did not end. He blazed a devastating trail of bloodshed across the Tyrian continent, wiping away all that dared stand in his path. With every fallen foe, his army only continued to grow. Dragons were crushed by brute force, and magic poured into the increasingly unstable fabric of reality. With every passing day there was less left to save.

Mai Trin wasn’t born to be a hero. She never would have chosen that role for herself-- and whether that was what she became would be debated by many. But she was meant to be a leader, and if Ruju would not be the one her Tyria needed, she was the only one left who could. Alliances were forged, civilians were evacuated, and a mask was donned; she was no longer Mai Trin. She was the Sidewinder, and their hidden Turnabout deep in the Mists would offer a second chance to those who had nowhere else left to go. As the years passed, it became the stuff of legend, a tale of hope and renewal even in the face of impossible odds.

Their world is long-gone now, nothing but haunted memories in the minds of those precious few who escaped alive. But the Tideturners remain, one last refuge against a Commander who decided the world wasn’t worth saving. He won’t save them, so they’ll save themselves instead.

“We're the Tideturners, and we won’t be washed away.”

#pinned post #my posts #hi. it took me like 2 years to finally make this. #i am definitely a fully functional tumblr blog.

[starrypeeps-headcanons]

Queen Ripple alternate endings

My personal ending for Queen Ripple post K64 is satisfactory but not fully sweet, as she suffers from a lot of sequels by being held hostage by Miracle Matter. Most notably, she HATES the dark, she cannot sleep with the lights off anymore and god forbid if there's a blackout... She will be sent to a full fledged panic attack and will not stop screaming. She also has a lot of physical scars and she can only float as she suffered from some nerve and spinal damage that is annoying for her to fully stand.

Still, she's growing and recovering with lots of love, attention and comprehension from her fairies (and Adeleine) and she has improved a lot.

With that being said:

I had an alternate ending, more canon to the bad ending in K64, in which she's shown to have been possessed by dark matter. Leading her to display a weirder, more aloof personality as a result of this possession. The dark matter could keep the queen somewhat composed and not showing evident signs. But the more Dark Matter was inside of her body, the more strange she behaved and the more you could tell that something was wrong, very, very wrong...

In one of her weirdest behavior episodes she said she was going to visit a friend from another planet for a while, but never came back, nobody knows her whereabouts. Ribbon doesn't want to believe she's dead (even though as I said in one post, prolongued dark matter possession could even end up in death of the victim), she wants to believe she's still alive, hell! Even if she joined the Dark Matter Community, Ribbon wants to believe she's out there, somehwere, ANYWHERE! But y'know... Its been years since the queen was seen last time...

So Ribbon eventually had to bite the bullet and assume the leadership of Ripple Star and promised to follow the legacy of Queen Ripple and accepting that she may never come back.

Then, I had an even sadder (as if the previous one wasn't sad enough...) alternate ending for Queen Ripple on post K64 events. Basically consisting on her going completely insane due to the trauma Miracle Matter inflicted on her during the event, until such insanity and pain consumes her and the fairies are left completely unprotected, which forces Ribbon to grow up faster.

Basically, proclaims herself queen, calls Adeleine (Kirby, Dee and DDD) as predilected protectors of the queen and forms a sort of fairy army, which is cool I guess, but she shouldn't think of that... Specially not at that age...

But idk if I would ever do that to her. I don't think much about QR tbh, as in the game she was just... There. Believe me or not, I don't have the heart to be cruel against many characters, even when my AU tends to be a huge edgefest, I simply don't have the guts to do it, certainly not her.

#kirby and the crystal shards #queen ripple #tw: torture #tw: death #admin talks #headcanon

[queen-ofsunflowers]

Alright, chime off.

Please note that this list only contains the ones I've PUBLISHED so far, so AUs like Shujin Assassins and Literal Theatre Kid aren't applicable!

#my hero academia #rwby #rwby in bnha au #monsters and magic au #ripple in a legacy au #persona 3 #writing #queen's polls

[kellysbookblog]

RELEASE BLITZ

Title: My Fight

Series: Men of New York #3

Author: Samantha Skye

Genre: Contemporary Mafia Romance

Release Date: October 26, 2022

BLURB

I’m used to helping people fight for their lives. But I’ve never had anyone in my corner before…

The ER department is chaotic and intimidating to most. But for me, it’s one of the few places where I don’t feel like a disappointment. Heading up the team of a busy Philadelphia hospital isn’t exactly a picnic, but I’m confident here. Untouchable.

That is, until Carter Grange walks through the door.

He might be a little banged up, but that doesn’t stop his muscular frame rippling with power — or his deep blue eyes from piercing my soul. Carter is definitely not the sort of man I need right now, but when we find ourselves thrust together again by pure chance...well, the chemical pull is irresistible.

Problem is, I have a messy past snapping at my heels, and a young daughter to protect from its clutches. This tattooed mobster isn’t the kind of man I should be playing house with.

But when push comes to shove, will Carter step into the ring for us?

My Fight is book three of the Men of New York series by Samantha Skye. It is a suspenseful, single parent, opposites attract, reverse age-gap, dual POV mafia romance.

Contains explicit sex scenes and violence – 18+.

GOODREADS LINK: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62094472-my-fight

PURCHASE LINKS

US: https://amzn.to/3ohR5LV

UK: https://amzn.to/3OimvfO

CA: https://amzn.to/3aR8Fn6

AU: https://amzn.to/3Bc1oZP

B&N: https://bit.ly/3Ja4YFP

Kobo: https://bit.ly/3yQlWEU

Apple Books: https://apple.co/3yUhIM0

Universal: https://bit.ly/3Vj42Em

ALSO AVAILABLE

#1 My Legacy

US: https://amzn.to/3IAovOm

UK: https://amzn.to/3MgUOnR

CA: https://amzn.to/3IyZ5AJ

AU: https://amzn.to/3sCYF6X

B&N: https://bit.ly/35M4zJH

Kobo: https://bit.ly/3vC1Yxa

Apple Books: https://apple.co/3IDBAqf

Universal: https://bit.ly/37eCgVh

#2 My Destiny

US: https://amzn.to/3PE0HMw

UK: https://amzn.to/3aSvRkT

CA: https://amzn.to/3Pq9FNU

AU: https://amzn.to/3RP4VTy

B&N: https://bit.ly/3csScFV

Kobo: https://bit.ly/3RPXSKn

Apple Books: https://apple.co/3ckEsgk

Universal: https://bit.ly/3RO09pf

COMING SOON

#4 My Chance – Releasing February 2023

US: https://amzn.to/3T95uax

UK: https://amzn.to/3CqaQr9

CA: https://amzn.to/3SSE9cX

AU: https://amzn.to/3eoou6n

B&N: https://bit.ly/3fVBSPI

Apple Books: https://apple.co/3CJY2gU

Universal: https://bit.ly/3EvQ4ZW

AUTHOR BIO

Samantha Skye is a contemporary romance author from Melbourne, Australia. A country kid turned city slicker, Samantha writes characters that are as diverse as they are devilishly handsome. Her unique brand of suspenseful spice deftly combines the risky and the risqué, setting hearts pounding for more than one reason! When she’s not plotting her next novel, Samantha can be found chatting on podcasts, or anywhere there’s sunshine. An avid traveler, Samantha is just as comfortable in gumboots as she is in Christian Louboutins...but she’s usually having more fun in the latter.

AUTHOR LINKS

Website: https://samanthaskyeauthor.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/samanthaskyeauthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/samanthaskyeau1

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samantha.skye.author

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@samanthaskyeauthor

[brumies-haitian-lit-blog]

10 Interesting Haitian Novels

Dear Haiti, love Alaine by Maika and Maritza Moulite

"Alaine Beauparlant has heard about Haiti all her life…But the stories were always passed down from her dad—and her mom, when she wasn’t too busy with her high-profile newscaster gig. But when Alaine’s life goes a bit sideways, it’s time to finally visit Haiti herself. What she learns about Haiti’s proud history as the world’s first black republic (with its even prouder people) is one thing, but what she learns about her own family is another. Suddenly, the secrets Alaine’s mom has been keeping, including a family curse that has spanned generations, can no longer be avoided." (goodbook.com)

2. God Loves Haiti by Dimitry Elias Léger

"Haiti's first lady Natasha Robert, living in Port-au-Prince, adjusts to life after the earthquake of 2010 hits the city, and wonders if she will ever again see her true love, Alain Destinâe, who was injured during the disaster." (NYPL.org)

3. My Mother's House by Francesca Momplaisir

"Moving his family to an immigrant enclave in New York in the hopes of starting over, an emotionally damaged Haitian man succumbs to dark impulses that have dangerous ripple effects for the others living in his home. A literary thriller about the complex underbelly of the immigrant American dream—the triumphs and failure, mundane and aberrant—all told by an unexpected narrator: a house that has held unspeakable horrors." (NYPL.org)

4. American Street by Ibi Zoboi

"Separated from her detained mother after moving from Haiti to America, Fabiola struggles to navigate the home of her loud cousins and a new school on Detroit's gritty west side, where a surprising romance and a dangerous proposition challenge her ideas about freedom." (NYPL.org)

5. Hadriana In All My Dreams by Hadriana In All My Dreams

"Hadriana in All My Dreams takes place primarily during Carnival in 1938 in the Haitian village of Jacmel. A beautiful young French woman, Hadriana, is about to marry a Haitian boy from a prominent family. But on the morning of the wedding, Hadriana drinks a mysterious potion and collapses at the altar. Transformed into a zombie, her wedding becomes her funeral. She is buried by the town, revived by an evil sorcerer, and then disappears into popular legend. Set against a backdrop of magic and eroticism, and recounted with delirious humor, the novel raises universal questions about race and sexuality. The reader comes away enchanted by the marvelous reality of Haiti's Vodou culture and convinced of Depestre's lusty claim that all beings—even the undead ones—have a right to happiness and true love" (NYPL.org)

6. Love, Anger, Madness: A Haitian Triptych by Marie Vieux-Chauvet

"Love, Anger, Madness is a scathing response to the struggles of race, class, and sex that have ruled Haiti. Suppressed upon its initial publication in 1968, this major work became an underground classic and was finally released in an authorized edition in France in 2005. Here, Marie Vieux-Chauvet offers three slices of life under an oppressive regime. Gradually building in emotional intensity, the novellas paint a shocking portrait of families and artists struggling to survive under Haiti's terrifying government restrictions that have turned its society upside down, transforming neighbors into victims, spies, and enemies." (NYPL.org)

7. Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat

"At the age of twelve, Sophie Caco is sent from the impoverished village of Croix-des-Rosets to New York to be reunited with her mother, where she gains a legacy of shame that can only be healed when she returns to Haiti, to the woman who first reared her." (NYPL.org)

8. The Roving Tree by Elsie Augustave

"Set between the two worlds of contemporary suburban America and Haiti under Papa Doc's rule, Iris Odys, adopted by a white American couple at age five, struggles as an adult to recapture her Haitian heritage and personal history." (NYPL.org)

9. Mouths Don't Speak by Katia D. Ulysse

"No one was prepared for the massive earthquake that struck Haiti in 2010, taking over a quarter-million lives, and leaving millions of others homeless. Three thousand miles away, Jacqueline Florestant mourns the presumed death of her parents, while her husband, a former US Marine and combat veteran, cares for their three-year-old daughter as he fights his own battles with acute PTSD. Horrified and guilt-ridden, Jacqueline returns to Haiti in search of the proverbial "closure." Unfortunately, the Haiti she left as a child twenty-five years earlier has disappeared. Her quest turns into a tornado of deception, desperation, and more death. So Jacqueline holds tightly to her daughter—the only one who must not die." (NYPL.org)

10. Claire of the Sea Light by Edwidge Danticat

"Claire Limyè Lanmè - Claire of the Sea Light - is an enchanting child born into love and tragedy in Ville Rose, Haiti. Claire's mother died in childbirth, and on each of her birthdays Claire is taken by her father, Nozias, to visit her mother's grave. Nozias wonders if he should give away his young daughter to a local shopkeeper, who lost a child of her own, so that Claire can have a better life." (goodbooks.com)

[blzzrdstryr]

Fairytale AU. Introduction. Yandere harem genshin impact AU

Hello! It's a rewrite of this post, now containing more worldbuilding and characters. It's going to be yandere harem au with chapters detailing reader's (mis)adventures

About the world you’re in:

Visions don’t exist in this reality, there's magic instead. It brims in every corner of the world, blooming both in plants, animals and humans alike. All people are born with some magical capabilities, but not everyone can use them to the fullest extent, nor can they reach a level of proficiency high enough for it to be useful, so most of the time, magic just remains dormant in their bones and veins, never to be used in any way.

However, the rare ones who make their magic work for them soon discover that it’s a double edged blade, as the magic both great and small, manipulates its user to the same degree it bends to their will.

A lot of legendary witches and mages, cruel and benevolent, light and dark, young and old all found their end by and because of magic. It took a toll on their minds and bodies, sucked the life and joy, and left when they were barely human and alive, a bleak shell of their former selves.

It’s a cruel price for power and influence magical practices grant, it’s a grim warning and advice to inexperienced apprentices that their master told them, and it’s the main reason why most of the magical practices are outlawed and punishable. Magic doesn’t target a single person, it also seeps out into their environment, changing and poisoning all in its way. Anyone and anything that comes into contact with the magic bears the risk to experience it’s full terror. It isn’t rare for the villages that harbor a witch or a druid to go up in flames, it isn’t strange for a full family of nine to go crazy once their youngest shows a talent for magic, it isn’t unexpected for the nations which built their magnificence and glory upon the magical arts to crumble one day, cities ruined, people cursed and legacy forgotten.

Religions of all kinds warn their acolytes against the use of the magic, and the promise it holds. It’s a slow death of the soul, priests say, a sinful and foul path to the rot and depravity.

Nevertheless, magic is still practiced sought out - there’s a citadel of light, ruled by the High Priest or Priestess - an expert in the lighter arts, there are nobles who are ready to pay obscene amount of mora to curse their rivals and bless their lands, and then there are witches, masters of the darker fields.

“Why does all of this still exist, if the magic holds so much danger to everyone?”, one may ask, but what is the death and tragedy of the family, village, or whole empire against the sweet taste of power? What is sanity and health against forbidden knowledge? What is life against the Insight into the Unknown?

For some all of these reasons are enough to pursue the taboo path, and for some magic is the only path they can take.

About you:

You were born on the Misty Isles by some unknown woman. She was foreign to these lands and died shortly after giving birth, fever and postpartum complications cutting her life short, before she could tell locals anything about herself, her background or your father.

A kind woman took you in and raised as her own child, until a spark of magic ignited in you at the tender age of six. She didn't turn away from you, you were still her child, but it was enough for her neighbors and other villagers of Misty Isles to harass both of you in an attempt to rid the islands of you. You were a dark omen to them, a promise and a threat of future tragedy.

Be it by the ripple of your own magic, or the malice of others, one night the cottage you two lived in caught on fire, and she died before she could make an escape. Locals chased you out of the village with torches and pitchforks in their house, believing that you were the sole reason for the fire, and only by miracle you made your way to the forest, running away from an angry mob.

Too scared to return to the settlement, you remained in the forest, eating leafs, roots and berries. It seems that your days were numbered, as a small child had no chance against the predators lurking in the mists, or the impending hunger. You would die, from malnutrition or disease, or sharp jaws of some beast if it wasn’t for the chance encounter.

You met someone like you. You met a witch.

She was a tall and graceful woman, with the aura more commanding than any queen and king could ever hope to possess. A single glance at her would tell anyone that she was far from ordinary and glance you did.

She caught you staring in the middle of her own herb picking, and a recognition sparked in her hazel eyes. She saw the latent magical potential, a formless clay of raw talent and the mage yet to be sculpted out, and then she decided.

"Come with me", the witch told you, extending her hand. You had nowhere else to go, so you accepted this, earnestly clutching her finger as she led you out of the dark forest into the open world. She cared for you, not like a kind woman that took you in, because there were little similarities between the two. There weren't any pies and hugs and kind words like with your adoptive mother, but spell tomes and potions and rare approving looks instead.

“This world is cruel”, she would say: “best learn this, lest you want to fall victim”.

And so you learned, devouring the provided knowledge and skills like a starving man, all while travelling beside your teacher and serving her as some sort of assistant. You would be content to continue living like this, helping the witch, if it wasn’t for the flow of time. Summers slowly change into Winters and years have passed in the unstoppable blur, until you finally reach adulthood - the age at which apprentices leave their masters and roam into the world on their own.

It's time for you to finally part with your teacher and you have no idea what to do after that.

About your suitors:

1. Childe, Diluc, Jean, Lisa

2.Kaeya, Rosaria, Eula, Albedo

#yandere genshin impact #Yandere genshin impact x reader #Yandere #Yandere harem #Yandere x reader

[athingofvikings]

It occurred to me that while I did an introduction post for myself for new followers, I haven't done one for my writing.

So here's that.

First off, you can find me at AO3 here.

Of my personal works, I have the following:

Long-Fics

The Savage Seas Regular Version, Explicit Version

Both a Pirate AU and a Soulmate AU for HTTYD, with some elements from Frozen.

Astrid Hofferson is a pirate hunter in service to the colonial military, and has been tasked to hunt down the pirate Night Fury. And when she catches up with him and confronts him in a duel on the deck of his ship, she loses–because how else can you react except in surprise to the pirate saying the words that have been on your wrist since birth, words you expected to hear at a formal ball, and not punctuated by cannons?

“I suppose that this dance is ours, milady, but you may lead.”

Part 1, consisting of chapters 1-11, has been posted, with two different versions. The regular version has fade-to-black for the smutty stuff. The explicit version... doesn't. ;) Otherwise, they're identical, allowing the readers to pick for their comfort level.

How To Change A Destiny

Part 1: How To Become An Urban Legend, Part 2: How To Tempt A Change Of Fate

HTTYD Urban Fantasy AU, featuring Fae-Hiccup and Vampire-Astrid in modern day New York. Not abandoned, but currently on the back burner.

A Thing Of Vikings

The big boy of my works, currently weighing in at 119 chapters and nearly 1,300,000 words. Part IV is currently being drafted, and I hope to resume posting sometime in mid-2022.

My first HTTYD work, it came about when my spouse introduced me to How To Train Your Dragon back in 2016; my first response after finishing the movie was "Cute, but not historically accurate." Three weeks later, as I was gearing up for NaNoWriMo, the plot bunny bit down, "But what if it was?"

So I tossed the sci-fi novel I had originally planned to write and started working and researching on this instead. I put the first HTTYD movie as a real event in the Scottish Hebrides in 1040 AD, and let the effects ripple out from there... meaning that, in an era when the most advanced, most sophisticated military weapon on the planet is Greek Fire, a small Norse tribe suddenly has a fire-breathing air force.

Needless to say, this breaks things. Little things, like... kingdoms. And the ripple effects continue to grow and build.

One Shots

A Game Of Pretend

Whumpy, sad-fic one-shot collaboration between me and @astridthevalkyrie that grew out of a tumblr post bouncing back and forth between us.

I'm Not Saying Anything

Hiccup and Astrid aren't officially a couple... but Stoick has his suspicions. Under 1k words, silly and fluffy.

Chicken Soup

Fluffy domestic sick-fic/caretaker fic featuring Hiccup/Astrid/Eret/Heather in a polycule.

I'll Haunt That Ass

Hiccstrid, for a tumblr prompt "If I die, I'll haunt that ass". Pure fluff.

Snowed In

Hiccstrid, written for e_wills's birthday a few years back. Even more fluff as Hiccstrid are snowed in and the power goes out.

Sticky Situation

Into The Spider-verse, Gwen/Miles. Things are going great for Gwen. She has a steady boyfriend--in another dimension, sure, but she can commute. Of course, that doesn't help The Awkward when his dad catches the two of them making out... Whoops.

Reflections From The Top Of The World

The Dragon Prince, Callum/Rayla. The battle is over, the villains (seemingly) vanquished, and the day is won. It's time for Callum and Rayla to rest and ponder where their relationship is going, and their future together.

Reflections From The Study Of Darkness

The Dragon Prince, Soren POV. Life is a state of change, and change is never easy, especially when everything you know has changed around you. Soren has to struggle with dealing with his past, his future, and his father's legacy.

South Of Freezing To Death

HTTYD Modern AU, Antarctic Research Station AU, Hiccup/Astrid/Eret smut fic. A bit of spite-writing I did after someone bashed smutty shipping one-shots on Discord.

Winter is closing in for Antarctica, and the last cargo plane of the season arrives with supplies and a few new people to overwinter. One of them is really cute, and Astrid and Eret can't help but thirst over the new arrival.

[starrysamu]

dopamine. (3)

despite having been divorced for almost three years now, you and dr. kuroo tetsurou continue to orbit around each other.

kuroo tetsuro x f!reader

wc: 2.2k  

warnings: language, alcohol mention

contents. / past. / present. / future.

previously: 

“how long are you going to hide it from them, tetsu?”

he slams on the brakes, only a foot away from the car stopped in front of you. you’re not even sure why he’s shocked at this point - you always ask him after every visit. you’ve asked him on the third saturday every three months for the past three years now.

“they’re not ready to hear something like that,” he says stiffly.

you glance over at his knuckles tightening over the steering wheel. “you can’t hide it from them forever.”

“i’m not - ”

“they’re old enough,” you murmur softly. “they’re strong enough.”

if we were strong enough, so are they.

and because the longer this goes on, the weaker you feel. you’re not sure how much longer you can keep up with this charade.

“they’re not,” kuroo presses. “they like you too mu - ” he stops short. he draws in a deep breath as his eyebrows pinch together, eyes glued to the road. you eye the frown on his lips as he says, “i’ll tell them when they’re ready.”

chapter 3: buffers. 

kuroo wonders if he likes to experience things that remind him of … other things. past things. past events. sure, it seems like self inflicted pain in some convoluted way. does that make him a masochist? 

he sighs and the bells jingle with him when he reaches for the door handle. his headache is practically gone with just a whiff of cinnamon and coffee. ‘addict,’ you would grumble. 

there’s a split second in which he wonders if he’s imagining things just because he’s thought of you. when he sees you shift on the balls of your feet, he realizes it’s actually not some fever dream. 

he’s overwhelmed with initial irritation - wasn’t i the one who showed you this place? - until it washes over to nostalgia - maybe i should grab a bag to brew for the apartment - and finally, to reality - you don’t do that anymore. get a grip. 

you look to the door and he feels a shock ripple through him, like he’s stuck two wet fingers into a power outlet. he blinks for a moment and the grip on his bag tightens. he’s trying to shake the clouds out of his mind as he clears his throat, bracing himself for what feels like the aftermath of the battle of gettysburg. 

“why’d i get the feeling i’d find you here?” he says smoothly, smothering the nausea that rises with his bile. he stands next to you at the end of the line and the nostalgia washes over him once again. he can handle this, you, so what’s so different about running into you here? 

your lips draw a tight line. “you’re the one who brought me here,” you deadpan, “and i like their coffee.” 

right, he thinks. he almost feels foolish for asking, because why else would you be here? it’s a coffee shop, for god’s sake. 

“i’m glad to have left a legacy like this behind,” he says, tapping his chest proudly. he hopes knocking on his heart a bit would rattle it back into place - considering how erratic it’s acting - but it ends up having the complete opposite reaction. curse newton and his fuck ass laws. 

a puff of air leaves you and you take a step to the counter, laptop tucked delicately under your arm. he almost wants to take it and stick it in his own bag - you’re going to the same place after all. 

instead, he shoves his hands in his pockets as he steps up behind you to loudly proclaim, “a large cinnamon honey latte and a large … ” 

“cafe au lait,” you finish, fishing around for a credit card. 

he looks at you as he hands his card over to the barista. for an absolutely annoying, ugly second, he thinks of that scene from frozen where anna and hans poorly finish each other’s sentences.  

you made him watch that movie with him, after all. 

“wouldn’t have guessed that you remembered.” 

“wouldn’t have guessed that you remembered, tetsu.” 

he hums like it’s the first he’s ever heard of it when he knows very well that if you had only one chief complaint about him, it would be that he’s never made the time to know you and remember you, through and through and through. 

and when he hands you your cinnamon honey latte and takes a sip of his cafe au lait, he thinks that maybe he still swings by hoping to see you. 

“i just think you guys are way too close to each other.” 

you glance at akaashi as you shove your fork in your mouth. the greens are especially bitter today and you’ve already finished two coffees. there’s no way you can afford grabbing another, not even to wash this terrible salad down. 

“it’s not like i can avoid him, akaashi,” you mumble as you chew. you can’t count how many times you’ve gone over this in your own head, with akaashi, with bokuto, hell, even with oikawa and iwaizumi. they’ve all heard it straight from your own mouth one too many times. 

you’re not sure if it’s you who’s not explaining your thought process correctly or if it's them who’s not processing your explanation correctly.  

either way, there’s a large disconnect - both in your words and in your heart. 

akaashi looks up from the book on his lap. a flash of irritation vibrates through you and you’re almost tempted to call him pretentious while he’s sitting there reading plato’s ‘the republic’ in front of you, but you remember that he’s got no choice but to catch up on his work while you pester him. you’d rewrite his curriculum in 1) a heartbeat and 2) for free. 

“are you saying that because you really have no choice or do you not want to come to terms with the fact that you do have the choice?” 

the greens lodge in your throat. you look at him through coughs and blurred vision, tears welling up at the corners of your eyes. “don’t do this right now, akaashi.” 

you suddenly wish you’d gotten the greens and grains bowl, not just pure grass. 

he shrugs like this is the most natural conversation two people can have over a shitty salad and a knockoff socratic seminar. “why don’t you try … going out or something?” 

“i have a social life, thank you.” 

“not like that. not with us. just by yourself, go meet some new people … whatever people do these days.” 

your brows arch and you’re not sure whether to laugh or cry. “i’m perfectly content with where i am now, keiji.” 

“i just think you could use a distraction. you’ve been around each other ever since the split.” 

he says it to deepen the cracks already in your heart, you know that, but it’s been three years and they’ve done their time repairing themselves. you’re almost certain you can finally remove the bandages holding your heart hostage because it’s practically, completely, absolutely healed already.

but despite it all - despite what a compelling, convincing argument you make for yourself every single time - there’s a sliver of you that thinks he’s right. it’s unfortunate really, considering bokuto was really rooting for you two. 

the wood is cold against your forehead. you’re sure it’s going to leave a fat red splotch on your forehead, but with your headache settling in, it’s all you can afford to do. 

you knew you should’ve grabbed the pills off the counter from this morning. 

you roll your forehead back and forth, eyes squeezed shut. who would have advil on campus? for all you knew, no one kept any handy because they ‘didn’t believe in painkillers’ or something ridiculously foolish like that. some hippie hooplah. 

your fingers roam your desk for your phone. “text kuroo,” you say into the microphone. “if you have advil, can you drop some off?” 

desperate times have always called for desperate measures. if you could manage to open your eyes, you would just walk to the campus pharmacy - but you can’t, and you’re not sure who else around you hasn’t condemned western medicine besides your ex-husband. 

you draw in a deep breath. it’s just easier asking him anyways, right? no questions asked, no questions answered. you know he has it, he knows you’ll need it - it’s an easy pattern to fall into, really. 

you swallow hard when you realize you’re rationalizing - and when you realize your rationalization makes no sense whatsoever. 

there’s three raps at your door and you jolt in your spot, hips pivoting to set you at a professional 90 degree angle. “come in,” you croak, like you’ve been smoking a pack a day since the day you were born. 

iwaizumi sticks his head in, holding a cup of coffee out. “done with class?” 

you reach your hands out and sigh in relief as he walks in, thankful it’s not someone you need to act professional in front of. “there’s a tiny chance i may have ended class early because i feel ridiculously unwell.” 

he grins and sits himself opposite to you. you watch expectantly as he crosses a leg over the other and leans back in his seat, lacing his fingers over his abdomen. 

“to what do i owe the pleasure of having your company today, mr. iwaizumi hajime?” your eyebrows arch as you grin against the lid of your cup. 

he hums, looking around your office. “just thought i’d swing by. i got done with my class early.” 

“guest lecture today?” 

he nods, eyes settling back to you. “talked about aerobic and anaerobic systems today in one of the nutrition classes.” 

“kita’s class?” you hum lightly, glancing down at your phone when it lights up. 

“yeah,” iwaizumi sighs. “his class is always fun to teach for, they’re always so excited about what they’re learning.” 

you hum absentmindedly, unlocking your phone. your other hand rubs at your temple, finding sweet relief for only a moment. 

‘sure.’ 

you stifle your sigh back down and look back to iwaizumi. “you should teach around here more often, we’d get to see you more often.” 

the tips of his ears brighten. “i do, just not on this side of the campus. all the classes i teach are at the stadium.” 

“that’s what i’m saying,” you lilt. “i’m sure kita would love to have you around to teach a few more classes.” 

you lean back in your seat and circle your finger around the indent of the lid, the corners of your lips curving up. 

“i’m sure he’d love it because it’s less work for him,” iwaizumi chuckles, rubbing a palm on the back of his neck. “if you wanna make the lesson plans, by all means, i'd be happy to consider it.” 

you pucker your lips into a pout. “maybe you should just walk on this side of campus then. i don’t even know how to make my own lesson plans.” 

when he laughs, you smile, warmth running from the coffee cup up from your fingertips all the way up your arms. goosebumps line your skin as you shiver. 

there’s a knock at the door and you look up, a smile still on your face. when your eyes land on kuroo, you feel painfully aware of your headache once again. relief washes over you when you see the tiny bag in his hands. he almost feels like a knight in shining armor. 

almost. 

kuroo looks at you before his eyes drift to iwaizumi. “i have your drugs.” 

“thank all the gods,” you whisper, reaching for the bag like a baby reaching for her mother. “my lifesaver.” 

kuroo lifts his chin slightly and you frown, silently watching him quickly size up iwaizumi. 

iwaizumi turns around. “hey man, what’s up?” 

“not much,” kuroo says quickly, sticking his hands in his pockets. “just came by to drop off some pills for her.” 

your stomach churns. you hate that he’s speaking like you’re not sitting right in front of him, which has never been an issue before. you clear your throat and pause, almost reluctant to say anything at all. “thanks, tetsu.” 

kuroo smiles, eyes flitting between you and iwaizumi. there’s an air of superiority that wafts around him, like he’s got the upper hand in this situation. to you, there is no upper hand to have, because it’s just you and iwaizumi sitting there. 

when kuroo continues to stand there, iwaizumi clears his throat and stands quickly. “i’ll leave you two to it.” he shuffles uncomfortably for a moment before smiling at you. “i’ll come by when i’m back on this side of campus.” 

“don’t hesitate to come by even when you’re not,” you laugh. “thanks for the coffee!”

he flashes you a quick thumbs up and tips his chin at kuroo. you’re left with kuroo looking after him in deep silence, like he’s carefully calculating the next words out of his mouth. 

when he casually says, “i didn’t know iwa was on campus today,” it doesn’t feel calculated at all. 

not at all. not one bit. definitely not. 

“i dunno, he just stopped by,” you mumble skeptically, downing the advil with your coffee. you eye him carefully, because this is something - a reaction, a pattern - you only remember witnessing a long, long, long time ago. 

and in parallel, it’s not something you’ve felt in a very, very, very long time either. 

part of what comes with knowing someone inside and out is knowing their quirks, their ticks, their behaviors. part of what comes with knowing someone more than you know yourself is knowing how they react, their likes, their dislikes. 

and part of what comes with knowing someone inside and out is being able to know when something’s changed - when the tides have shifted, when the sun switches places with the moon, when summer phases into winter. it’s when there’s a nagging deep in the crevices of your mind, tugging and tugging until it reaches all the way into your bones and your heart and consumes you whole. 

he hums. it’s a cadence that sits in the pits of your stomach, paired with a look that causes your chest to expand and tighten uncomfortably. 

and while you’ve continually found yourselves falling back into habits and patterns you can’t quite seem to shake, for the first time in three years, everything no longer feels the same.

contents. / past. / present. / future. 

#haikyuu x reader #haikyuu fluff #kuroo x reader #kuroo x yn #kuroo tetsuro x reader #kuroo x you #kuroo tetsuro x you #kuroo #kuroo tetsurō #kuroo fluff #kuroo angst #kuroo scenario #kuroo series #haikyuu scenario #haikyuu fic #kuroo fic #haikyuu imagine #kuroo imagine #i will update the links later i wanna see if i get into the tags grrr