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atopvisenyashill · 1 month

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Alysanne-Daughter-of-Maegor AU

Maegor Targaryen serves as his brother’s Hand for six months before eloping with Alys Harroway, a female line descendant of House Qoherys - and thus partially Valyrian, perfectly suitable as a bride for the increasingly desperate Maegor. Forced into exile by King Aenys, Alys births her first and only child in Pentos, who she names Alysanne.

After slaughtering every descendant of House Harroway - except his daughter - and naming Walton Towers as the new Lord of Harrenhal, a distraught Alysanne demands to know why her father has not chosen to bestow Harrenhal on her instead. In lieu of an apology, Maegor has her betrothed to Walton Towers’ grandson, Mathis Towers, who will one day inherit Harrenhal. Before the wedding feast ends, however, Maegor flies back to King's Landing, Alysanne in tow, and sends Mathis out to fight the Poor Fellows.

When Hand of the King Rogar and Queen Regent Alyssa decide it is time to send Alysanne to Harrenhal to take up her seat - and marry the last of Walton Towers' grandons, a sickly infant named for her father, 15 year old Jaehaerys absconds with Alysanne to Dragonstone where the two are married, though they do not consummate the marriage until nearly a year afterwards, when Jaehaerys reaches the age of majority in 52 AC.

Jaehaerys’ Seven Speakers work for him for far longer due to the delicate peace that could be upended by both the marriage to Alysanne and Jaehaerys’ conviction to marrying his children to each other. The Speakers travel for years, in between rests at Court, talking up the piety of sweet Alysanne as well as Doctrine of Exceptionalism that will one day apply to the King and Queen’s children at several points throughout their reign.

Alysanne convinces her husband to pass several laws throughout her lifetime and tenure as Queen Consort. Though called “Queen Alysanne’s Laws” in King’s Landing, there were many that referred to her influence as The Laws of Abomination, a way of undercutting the good Queen's judgement by invoking her father's madness and monstrosity. Regardless, these Laws of Abomination remain codified into Westerosi Law into the present day.

Though much of her reign as Queen was marked by the shadow of her father’s legacy, the realm began to soften towards Alysanne as she demonstrated a compassion, intelligence, and respect for propriety that far outmatched her father and even on occasion her husband. By the time her first grandchild is born, the smallfolk had started referring to her as Good Queen Aly for all the ways she had improved their lives.

some more explanations here for the nerds!

Talked before about my “lucas harroway was a female line descendant of the house qoherys” thing, but to go into more detail here: Quenton Qoherys was already an aged man when he was gifted Harrenhal by the Targaryens (this is canon), and was eager to move his large family into the seat. One of those that came with him from Dragonstone is his daughter Quannah (made her up) who had married and had children with Ser Lothston Harroway, a knight in service to the Targaryens at Dragonstone. The two had many children, including Lucas Harroway, who inherited Harrenhal through his mother when all of Quenton’s sons and grandsons had died. Yes I have essentially done a “Harry the Heir” in the Riverlands, thank YOU!

I messed with the timeline because otherwise Jaehaerys is just too much older than Alysanne for this to be a plausible “love” story - anything more than 4 years I think seems like Obvious Grooming whereas Jaehaerys and Alysanne have always been a more lowkey, "banality of evil" type relationship. So Jaehaerys is a lil younger and Maegor speed runs his meltdown lol.

If it’s unclear, Towers line goes Walton -> Jordan (Walton's son) -> Mathis (Jordan's first born son) -> A Bunch Of Other Sons -> Maegor Towers (Jordan's last son). But then Maegor is like “psyche my daughter is coming home with me” because now he’s obsessed with her and the fact that she is the Only child he managed to have.

I wanted to add more queens laws simply because I wanted to give her more proto social justicey causes that make sense for the time period. I tried to base it off legal rights women had not just in medieval Europe but, since we have the whole "Great Empire of the Dawn" background, Han China as well! I thought since Maegor jerks Aly around a lot, she’d codify laws regarding daughters the way she did widows. So Alysanne convinces Jaehaerys to codify-

A man cannot abandon his daughter. Daughter abandonment was a big historical issue and I think if brought to her attention, as a daughter with a deeply weird dad, she would pass something that says no, if you have a daughter with your wife, you have to care for her, you cannot just drop her off at some random person’s porch or leave her in the woods to die.

Matrilocal marriages have the same legal rights as patrilocal marriages. Basically, that if a husband moves in with his wife - whether it be because she married down & she’s living with her father or she inherited so her husband moved in with her - they should be treated equal under the law (I can really see like, Iron Islands especially being fucking deranged about matrilocal marriages, and since Jaehaerys is standardizing laws, this is a good one for her to champion).

If a woman is widowed, she must not be compelled to give up her husband’s business. She must be allowed to continue his business or, if SHE desires, sell it/rent the space/etc for a fair price to another tradesman. Merchant class women were usually allowed to take up their husband’s trade, but this is a series with prima noctus so I imagine this is not a standard thing across Westeros and once again something she would want enshrined into law.

If the only heir is a daughter, she must be treated as an heiress because a daughter comes before an uncle. This one I think would really gnaw at her - Maegor essentially takes what should be her seat (as the only Harroway left alive because he just slaughtered her family!) and divvies it up between some random ass knights, then in an attempt to curb her willfulness, Rogar lets those random knights keep her damn castle. It’s her last link to her mother! Too bad, it’s someone else’s now. She can’t take Harrenhal back without looking Maegor-esque but she can make damn sure that if all that’s left is a daughter, that girl has the legal protection to claim her seat! Essentially, Alysanne introduces the title “heir presumptive” into law and gives that title some rights and protections.

I also came up with backstories for her Ladies Court that tie into the Maegor change:

Barba Towers - as a way of trying to make some peace with Jordan Towers’ sons, she takes one of his daughters as a lady when she visits Harrenhal for the first time since her mother's murder during her and Jaehaerys' first progress. To fit with the Harrenhal curse, Barba dies of the same Shivering Sickness little Daenerys dies of.

Poppy Butterwell - If you look through the history of House Butterwell, they seem kind of, um, skeevy. So I decided that the concept of daughter abandonment comes up when Alysanne and Jaehaerys go on their first progress. Butterwell abandons one of his daughters after having several in a row and no sons, and she's taken in by some random innkeeper in town (which is also why she has a more peasant-esque name - her father doesn't bother naming her). When Alysanne holds her women's court in Harroway's Town and puts the pieces together, she takes Poppy in, arranges a match - marrying Poppy high above her station - and starts pushing to pass laws protecting girl children.

Donella Darry - Another lady she takes from Harrenhal, though not until after Barba Towers dies. House Darry is a prominent and consistent supporter of House Targaryen in the Riverlands, and Maegor gives the Harroway holdings (outside of Harrenhal and Harroway's Town) to House Darry. This is a relationship I imagine is a bit strained - Barba and Poppy are both young naive girls in need of guidance but Donella just kind of exists as this mirror version of Alysanne - an eldest daughter jerked around from holding to holding by her father. I like the idea of Donella being heir presumptive of the Darry lands after her brothers die during the Shivering Sickness, and this is how Alysanne gets involved in inheritance laws for girls.

Arwen Sunderland - I wanted to give the Arryns a reason for acting so deranged towards Daella later on (Rodrik’s daughters are so fucking WEIRD my god), so Alysanne asks Arwen Sunderland to be one of her ladies over Rodrik’s daughters. Aly means nothing by it, she’s merely trying to reach out to the Sunderlands, given how unruly they can be, but because it’s early in her reign, and everyone is reading Maegor-esque behavior into her actions, they assume she means it as an insult, and project that onto poor Daella, which makes the Arryn girls hostile to her, and assume a level of spoiled behavior from the very scared Daella.

Elyse Marbrand - I figured after being forced to watch all her aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, on and on be slaughtered by Maegor, Alysanne would be obsessive about finding distant relations. Since Rhaenys and Visenya were big on marrying houses and regions that had some beef, I thought an arrangement between the Riverlands and the Westerlands would work well, and since the Marbrand's are a pretty important house, I figured that was a good match. So to simplify Quenton Qoherys + Elinor Tully -> Alarra Qoherys + Andros Marbrand -> Elyse Marbrand, aka a distant relation of Alysanne’s (through Quenton). Elyse stays at Court even after she’s had children of her own, though, because her husband, Theon of White Barrow, is a beloved musician and patron of Alysanne’s at Court.

Patronages - Queens often acted as culture makers for the kingdoms and Alysanne already does this in canon so I wanted to add a little more with ✨Maegor flavoring✨for her to do and I thought Alysanne acting as a patroness would fit into this well. Again, a little breakdown on my decisions here-

Coryanne Wylde - Coryanne is already a writer in canon and I thought it would be so funny, given how scandalized everyone is over what she writes, if Alysanne is the one bankrolling her. I like to imagine Coryanne kept writing really weird and sexual stories and Alysanne loved it; like medieval romantasy writing haha. I think Alysanne kept this one a secret though because while she did find it amusing, she didn’t want people to think her lascivious like her parents, and in fact Coryanne takes great pains to always depict her Queen characters as sexually untouchable but not prudish either.

Septa Lyra - Lyra is again one of the women sent to be Alysanne’s ladies maid while she & Jaehaerys are in dragonstone. One thing about women writers in medieval times is they were often nuns and they often wrote non fiction about whatever it is they were studying. I thought given Alysanne’s disapproval of the Maesters not allowing women in their ranks, she’d want to undercut them a bit by bankrolling a few female scholars. But ALSO I was thinking given Maegor’s war against the Faith, Alysanne would go to great pains to make sure she’s seen as pious. So Lyra mostly writes about religions in Terros and midwifery.

Septa Violante - She is one of the Seven Speakers and I figured they’re not doing this shit for free! Alysanne rewards Violante by basically writing her a blank check. Violante writes all sorts of field guides, histories of the various castles throughout Westeros, and even several legal works explaining the historical precedent for Alysanne’s Laws of Abomination.

Arwen Sunderland (again) - Arwen writes prose and poetry and while she’s not as salacious as Coryanne, she does have a fondness for stories that take place in war torn kingdoms, going into detail about the fighting and injuries. Her prose and poetry is much more scandalous so Alysanne keeps the identity of the author a secret - BUT makes it clear she is the patroness for that author. The prevailing theory is in fact that Arwen Sunderland wrote the books, something Gyldayn summarily dismisses as nonsense of course.

Theon of White Barrow - One of the only men Alysanne was ever patroness for, Theon is a nephew of Theomore Manderly who lives in the barrowlands. Alysanne arranges a marriage for Theon with one of her own ladies, Elys Marbrand (Aly canonically arranged a match for one of Theonore’s nephews). Theon, who stands to inherit only a modest holding in the barrowlands, opts to stay at court when the Queen becomes fond of his singing, eventually writing many songs and mummer’s shows for the Queen. The reality, however, is that Theon was not the writer - Elys Marbrand wrote all of his music and stories. Theon, Elys, and Alysanne were so close that during the First Quarrel, when Alysanne opted to hide out in Harroways’s Town soon after her husband vacated the Riverlands, the pair came with her to play music for her there as well.

Septa Elinor Costayne - listen. Alysanne spends a tumultuous childhood being jerked around Pentos and Westeros by her parents, is hauled back to KL and given several new mommies to make up for murdering her first one, only for all her stepmothers to be tortured to death as well. I think Alysanne would develop extreme attachment anxiety to both Rhaena and Elinor in the hell that is the last few years of her father’s life. While Rhaena is a complicated matter - I love their relationship as sisters and I think a 'doesn't want to be the evil stepmother but can't help resenting aly' dynamic would be just as rich as their canon relationship, so they are still CLOSE while trapped in KL - I have never liked that Elinor disappears to become a Septa!!! So I made the executive decision to disregard canon in this instance and have Alysanne guilt Elinor into staying in the capital with her, under the guise of being a patroness for Elinor to follow her passions. Even as Alysanne ages and outgrows the need for a mother, and Elinor stays only because she feels indebted for her life and obligated to care for this strange, disturbed woman, Elinor is writing all sorts of essays and papers so she has something to do. Kind of the equal and opposite of Alysanne's relationship with Gael - putting another woman in arrested development because she doesn't know how to cope with her own traumas pressing down on her.

#i put too much effort into this #not my magnum opus but still a masterpiece #alysanne targaryen #maegor targaryen #canon divergent au #rani graphics #rani attempts to be creative #alys harroway #lucas harroway #house harroway #alysanne of harrenhal au #harrenhal #house qoherys

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idrellegames · 11 months

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'Tis I, the Tea anon! (the one who asked about Mel's favourite blend of tea!)

I have MORE questions- some are angst flavoured! ^^

(Also: I signed up to Patreon and AJKS IT'S SO GOOD- Veyer's Route had me cackling with glee at Aeran's reaction!)

1.If you buy Dreamweed, do you have the option to use it later on in the game? I want one of my MC's to be a (heavy) Dreamweed smoker since it seems in line with her character!

2.What are/will be Aeran's feelings about Mel when he meets him later on in the game? Will he dislike him? Be intrigued? AND- If the player (obviously) flirts with Mel in front of Aeran how will he react?

3.Can I HC how some of the characters sound? (eg: I imagine Varyn to have a crisp, flowing voice that can easily drip with honey as well as poison and Mel having a melodious voice that leaves you enthralled)

4.What are the Requirements for joining the Guild of Mages? Do you have to pass a test? Are some Mages treated better than others if they're Noble? Do they have a master- same as the Wayfarers? And if they do have a master then is it one who specialises in their type of magic, or do they have multiple masters?

5.If the MC chooses the Child of the Desert background, then why are they mad at their parents? That's stirred my curiosity I must admit!

6.Do you think Veyer is catching/will catch feelings for the MC? Same for Mel but....well, he's Mel.

7.If the character (both RO's and the friendship options) were in DND what would they be like personality wise? (I can imagine Mel being a Warlock and bantering with his Patron and Cenric being a-crush-someone's-head-in-talk-later- type of Fighter (I've played D&D for a long time so it's always fun to imagine characters being D&D Classes!) I definitely see Aeran being a Rogue/Ranger- having 5 levels in Ranger and 1 level in Rogue. AAAH I must now resist the urge to write fanfic about Mel bantering with his Patron in a D&D AU!! (I imagine Mel having an Archfey Patron!)

8.Can I create D&D character sheets for the characters in Wayfarer? (Just for fun!)

9.If the MC romanced Mel and then joined his acting Troupe would he break off their romance since he dosen't date Troupe members/would he not let them join?

10.If the MC was killed in combat what would Aeran do/how would he react? I’m slightly concerned about the answer due to Aeran’s…reaction after the MC nearly gets killed by the Count.

Apologies for the multitude of questions and I bid you a good day! (I finished writing an Old English poem a while ago so that's probably why I sound so...old.)

All good questions! Some of which are answered in game (the Guild of Mages' codex entry, for example, has details on how people join the guild). The dreamweed the MC can purchase is an infusion - it's not something they can smoke, it's strictly used for incapacitating others. And if you've gotten an ending in Episode 1 where your MC almost dies during the confrontation with the Count, it will give you an idea of how Aeran would react to the MC actually dying considering in that moment he thought they were dead.

The rest of your questions are things that fall into "wait and find out" or better left to headcanon and your own imaginings.

I'm going to take a moment to shout out the Wayfarer Discord server, where folks have plenty of opportunity to share their headcanons for their MCs! There is always tons of discussion around player characters and their backstories, as well as theories about canon characters and where the story may go.

#wayfarer #wayfarer if #answered

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daswarschonkaputt · 2 years

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I saw “lwj doesn’t like jyl” in your wip list and I’m so intrigued, would you tell us a bit about it?

ah this ask is so old now, idk if you're still interested, but sure, i can talk about it.

so, fandom seems fairly set on the fact that lan wangji hates jiang cheng. like, i feel like no-one's arguing that fact. but i see a lot of lan wangji getting along really well with jiang yanli, which i think is... yeah, fair enough, but my brain was like, okay, let's explore a universe where he hates her too. why does he hate her? what does he hold against her? how justified is that hate? is it pettiness? or does he have a genuine grievance? how does he moderate this, given that wei wuxian definitely still loves her?

content warning under the cut for discussion of child abuse, in line with what we see of yzy's treatment of wwx in canon, but applied to a modern setting.

around the time i was musing on this, i read a modern au of mdzs that had wwx as the victim of horrific child abuse in the jiang household, and the fic was sort of about him reconnecting with jiang cheng and jiang yanli years down the line. (don't ask me which it was, because i do not recommend it.) and i was looking at that premise, and i was like, hmm. i could do something with this.

the more i worked on it, the more it started to feel like a jiang yanli character study, almost. her strengths and flaws and regrets became a central part of the fic. i really wasn't interested in doing the slash fic demonising women thing. i wanted to write her with depth and sympathy, whilst also demonstrating her flaws (that wei wuxian would be blind to).

here's a few bits:

the opening scene of the fic:

JIANG CONGLOMERATE STOCK PRICE REACHES TEN YEAR LOW FOLLOWING CONCLUSION OF LIBEL CASE Read: After the Yunmeng People’s Court ruled today against Yu Ziyuan, wife to chairman Jiang Fengmian of the Jiang Conglomerate, stockholder confidence in the company dropped, leading to their lowest share price in nearly thirteen years.

TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY ISSUE APOLOGY TO WEI WUXIAN, SCHOLARSHIP AND ENROLMENT REINSTATED Read: Tsinghua University has issued a written apology for the “hasty” sanctions they issued against post-graduate student Wei Wuxian, who has been the subject of a month-long libel case from his former family.

“I LIVED EVERY DAY BELIEVING I WOULD WAKE UP TO DISCOVER HE WAS DEAD.” – TESTIMONY FROM JIANG DEFAMATION CASE REVEALS HORRIFYING REALITY OF CHILD ABUSE IN HOUSEHOLD Listen: Leaked audio from the Jiang Family’s defamation case details the horrific physical abuse inflicted upon the defendant, Wei Wuxian.

YU ZIYUAN ARRESTED FOR AGGRAVATED ASSAULT, ATTEMPTED MURDER; FACES UP TO TWENTY YEARS IN PRISON In Photos: As Wei Wuxian attempts to escape the crowd following his decisive victory against the Jiang Family, Yu Ziyuan’s exit from the court is interrupted by Yunmeng Police.

Staring at the sky When all of this started, I was so mad about what Wei Wuxian was doing. I was convinced he was a white-eyed wolf, and he was lying just to get back at a family he’d ended things badly with. I was right there with all my classmates, trending #expellweiwuxian all across weibo. Now that we know the truth, I’m so deeply ashamed. Wei-xiaozhang, I’m so sorry!!

Paralysed by the flow of time I don’t think I’ve ever listened to something that made me quite as upset as Dr Wen’s testimony in the #JiangDefamationCase. To think about her as a young med student, stranded across the country from him, trying her best to keep him alive, yet knowing it could all be for nothing if Yu Ziyuan had a bad day and killed him… And the fact that it was her that kept records of his injuries and abuse – evidence that Wei Wuxian had thrown away himself – just in case he ever needed it… It makes complete sense that when he finally ran from the Jiangs, he ran to her. Wei Wuxian, marry that girl before someone else does!

Three for free and two for too Fuck everyone in the Jiang Family who covered up the abuse that was happening. Fuck every single member of their staff who saw what was happening and stayed quiet to keep their job. And above all else, fuck Yu Ziyuan.

Three for free and two for too Prison’s too good for that bitch.

Jiang Yanli thinks of her life in moments, most often.

Part of it, she knows, is due to the tumultuous nature of the household she grew up in. There was a thick tension that sat heavily over their house, even when A-Xian wasn’t mouthing off in front of their mother. There were so few moments of unabashed joy that Yanli clung to them all the harder – and just let the other memories slip away.

There was one, when she was seven: the day she met Jiang Wuxian. He’d been tiny and bright-eyed – untrusting but eager for affection. She’d loved him the moment she saw him.

Then, another, at eighteen: a little tipsy, hiding from the crowds at her parents’ Lunar New Year party, when Jin Zixuan looked at her like he finally saw her, and the caught her mid-laugh with an impulsive kiss.

Twenty, legs weak as she walked to the altar. Twenty-two, with Jin Ling in her arms for the first time, tiny and precious and utterly untainted.

The most important moment, though, the one that turned her life on its head, happened three days after her marriage to Jin Zixuan.

They were on their honeymoon. He’d taken her to dinner at an exorbitantly expensive restaurant – even after a year of dating Zixuan still liked to posture. The evening is dimmed somewhat by alcohol; Yanli is a consummate lightweight, and she and Zixuan had already split a bottle of champagne in their hotel room before surfacing for food. She can’t remember exactly what she said, but it’d been something like—

“If my mother knew I was ordering steak, she’d slap me.”

It wasn’t intended to be anything more than a careless remark. She’d said things like that before, and her friends had never made it seem like something terrible. At most, she expected a little light teasing about watching her figure. Maybe a shallow smile.

Zixuan gave her neither. “Is that why you always order a salad when we go out?”

Jiang Yanli had blinked. “Ah,” she said without meaning to. The deviation from the expected script threw her. “That is…” She didn’t want to misrepresent anything to Zixuan, but she couldn’t think of a way to explain herself without making his misunderstanding worse. “You know me. Kind of a glutton. My mother just—well, someone has to watch what I eat, or else I’d never have fit into my wedding dress.”

“Kind of a—” Zixuan cut himself off. “Yanli,” he said, “you’re—you’re tiny. You eat like a bird. I always—you should eat more. I don’t care if I have to buy you an entire store’s worth of new dresses. I just want you well.”

Yanli looked down at the dinner settings in front of them and felt her mouth go dry. She shouldn’t—Zixuan was being—perfect, as always. It was nice. But for some reason, his words made her feel—agitated. Uncomfortable. Like there was something treacherous to be found in his kindness.

“I am well,” she said, at length. “Please,” she reached across the table to lay one of her hands over Zixuan’s. “A-Xuan. It was just a joke. Forget I said anything.”

Jin Zixuan turned over his hand and laced their fingers. “If your mother were here,” he said, very serious, “her hand would never even get close to your face. Even if I had to take the blow for you. So order whatever you want.”

In retrospect, it was such a small thing. It shouldn’t have mattered. But it—struck something, deep and fundamental to her very being. Her hand would never even get close to your face, echoing around her head for days, weeks, afterwards. It was the first time she had ever thought to consider her mother as anything other than an absolute authority. It was the first time anyone had ever suggested that they might protect her from her.

She thinks about it a lot.

She thinks about it when she holds Jin Ling, and wonders if there will ever come a time when A-Xuan will have to protect their son from her. She thinks about it when she visits Jiang Cheng each year, on the anniversary of Wuxian’s disappearance. She thinks about it in quiet moments, when her hands are occupied with laundry or housework, and her brain is able to spiral out and play with words like abuse and childhood trauma.

And she’s thinking about it now, stood on the steps of Yunmeng’s People Court, watching A-Xian try to fight his way through a crowd of reporters. Her hand would never even get close to your face. Yanli’s father is collapsed on the ground beside her. Jiang Cheng is arguing with the police officers leading their mother away. Zixuan is back home with their child – a courtroom is no place for a toddler.

Her hand would never even get close to your face.

It had been so easy for Zixuan to make her feel safe. She wasn’t living at home anymore. She was married. Her husband was wealthy enough to take care of them without any help from her family.

She can’t imagine—

Her hand would never even get close to your face.

—how much more difficult it must be, to make Jiang Wuxian feel safe.

There’s a clatter behind them and Jiang Yanli turns her head slightly, to catch sight of a young woman rushing down the steps after A-Xian. Yanli recognises her. This is Wen Qing. She testified for A-Xian.

Yanli watches her place her tiny body between A-Xian and the press. Wen Qing stretches her arms out, forcing her way back, giving A-Xian space. She says something sharp and short to A-Xian. When he nods, she grasps his hand, and she forces her way through the crowd, A-Xian following in her wake.

Yanli watches them both until they’re completely swallowed by the mass of cameras and microphones.

“Jiejie, say something.”

Yanli’s attention snaps back to A-Cheng. Both her brother and two police officers are looking at her expectantly. “Oh,” she says after a beat. “I’m sorry. Could you repeat that?”

Jiang Cheng growls. “They’re saying we can’t follow them to the police station to talk to Mom,” he says. “And I said they’d be hearing from our lawyers.”

Oh, A-Cheng, Yanli sighs internally. Always so convinced of his own righteousness. “We should take Dad home before dealing with any of that,” she says gently. “Gentlemen, am I to presume you are members of the Yunmeng Police Precinct?”

“Yes, ma’am,” one of the officers says.

Ma’am. How ridiculous. I’m not even 30. “Then we know where to send our legal team,” she says easily. “A-Cheng, we can get Mom out of jail later. For now, can you help me with Dad?”

“They had no right to—”

“A-Cheng,” Yanli says, stronger this time. “I can’t lift him on my own.”

Jiang Cheng cuts himself off. He looks between their father and the police officers, hesitating, before he sighs, and kneels down to hook his hands under their father’s arms. “It’s okay, Dad,” he says. “Come on. We’ll get it sorted out.”

Yanli looks around them – at the teeming mass of reporters, barely held back by their security team, at the place where just moments ago, A-Xian had staggered out of the courthouse, victorious but no less wrecked for it, at the police car pulling away with their mother in handcuffs—

Yanli looks at it all, and can’t help but feel that this is the kind of mess that can’t really be sorted out.

and the little snippet that inspired the entire fic:

(cw for discussion of injury, and fairly horrific child abuse)

(context for this scene: wei wuxian is sick, and as such has to cancel on lunch with jiang yanli. when she hears he's sick, she makes him soup, and brings it by his apartment.)

“Oh,” Jiang Yanli says, looking at the kitchen. “This is…”

Lan Wangji follows her gaze, not entirely certain what she’s noticing in particular. He has chopping boards out, piled with vegetables he was in the middle of preparing, when Yanli arrived. There’s a pot of stock simmering on the stovetop, and a steamer that’s half-filled with dumplings.

Jiang Yanli smiles helplessly. “I guess I never expected either of you to be able to cook. A-Cheng’s hopeless, and the less said about my husband in the kitchen the better. And A-Xian… I guess I don’t know anymore. Does he cook?”

Wei Ying doesn’t so much cook as he attempts to kill his tastebuds – and his husband – with spice.

Jiang Yanli hovers inside the kitchen door. Lan Wangji watches her, quietly.

“I understand,” she says at length, “why you don’t like A-Cheng. He is rude to you. I—he hasn’t figured out yet, which parts of our mother’s teachings he wishes to keep. Please be patient with him.”

Lan Wangji’s fingers pause on the knife. He does not say what he is thinking, that he has little sympathy for the plight of Jiang Wanyin. That it is simple to him: a woman who beats a child under her care is not one who he would listen or obey in any circumstance.

It isn’t his place to say such things.

“So, I understand, why you avoid us,” Jiang Yanli goes on. “But – I am not my brother. I have no quarrel with your relationship with A-Xian. You have been – good for him. So I hope – I hope we can be friends. For A-Xian’s sake,” she adds, “if nothing else.”

Lan Wangji looks down at the knife in his hands. It is sharp, and expensive, and he should not be holding it for this conversation. He places it down on the table.

“Thank you for your care,” Lan Wangji says. “Wei Ying will appreciate the soup. But we cannot be friends.”

She blinks at him. “Why not?”

“I dislike you.”

His blunt statement seems to have staggered her. She blinks, again. Tilts her head. “I—what?”

“We cannot be friends,” Lan Wangji repeats, “because I dislike you.”

“Oh,” Jiang Yanli says. “Mr Lan, I’ve never – if I’ve done something to offend you—”

Lan Wangji’s eyes fall to the Tupperware in her hands. “It is not what you have done,” he says, “but what you have not.”

Jiang Yanli follows his eyes to the empty soup containers she’s holding. “I—I don’t understand,” she says.

“When Wei Ying was thirteen,” Lan Wangji says, “Yu Ziyuan flayed the skin from his back. Doctor Wen still has photos saved from the incident. I have seen them. It is no understatement to say that Wei Ying is lucky to have survived – had the wounds become infected, he would have likely died. You brought him soup.”

Left unsaid are the events that prevented that: that Wen Qing had stolen prescription antibiotics from the pharmacy where she worked, risking her job; that Wen Ning had spent every penny of his savings on a plane ticket across China and taped the blister packs of pills inside a hollowed out workbook, that was slipped to Wei Ying under the premise of make-up work; that Wei Ying himself had applied ointment to his wounds with a cotton pad taped to the end of a ruler, unable to reach the network of lacerations stretching across his entire back.

“I – I always have,” Jiang Yanli says. “It makes him feel better, when he’s sick.”

She doesn’t get it.

“Yu Ziyuan left him lying in the dirt,” Lan Wangji says. “He had to crawl up the stairs to his room because he could not stand up without passing out from the pain. He vomited when he reached for his first aid kit, because it had been placed on the top shelf of his wardrobe by a maid. And you brought him soup.”

Wei Ying loves her for it, even now. Jiang Yanli, his jie-jie, who always brought him soup when he was sad. She is untouchable in Wei Ying’s eyes.

Lan Wangji will never forgive her for it.

“You were in a position to help him, long before I even knew what was wrong,” Lan Wangji says. “You moved out, went to university, met your husband – and for four years, you never said a word. How many times did you come back home and make soup? How many times did you see your mother’s cruelty written across Wei Ying’s body – and how many times did you choose to do nothing?

“I saw signs I didn’t have the knowledge to interpret, and I hate myself for never speaking up. It is my greatest regret, that I didn’t have the courage to end Wei Ying’s suffering even – one year, one month, one day earlier. But you knew all along. And you made him soup.”

#kaputt writes stuff #child abuse cw #injury cw #mdzs fic stuff #given the premise i think you guys'll agree that this one is fairly #not jc friendly #not jiang family friendly either #i'm actually fairly nervous abt posting this one bc i really don't want to get into a mess in a fandom i'm not part of #don't come at me if you dislike this #i'm well aware it's not to everyone's taste #i eventually put the project onto a backburner bc i didn't want to deal with the fandom and their reaction to it #i feel like jc in particular is kind of a hot button issue in the mdzs fandom #he's like marmite #people either love him or hate him #personally he's not my cup of tea #i was mostly apathetic towards him until i started to feel like i was getting forcefed jc content when i had no interest in it #but like #i'm not someone who feels the need to police what others fic abt #so you do you if that's what you like

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thegeekyartist · 9 months

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for the choose violence ask meme 😘: 9, 10, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22. if this is too many, feel free to pick and choose 💌

OOH okay!!!! I, of course, will answer every single one of these, I have Opinions and am always waiting for any opportunity to share lmao. (These are all for wwdits, and also I am on desktop so please imagine my usual unhealthy amounts of emojis for emphasis/joking cadence, thank u)

9.worst part of canon

The lack of consistency/follow through with pretty basic plot points. For example, Laszlo literally says "God" in the pilot, but then also flinches when Guillermo crosses his fingers in the same episode? Nandor can turn into vapor but can't escape the cage in Animal Control? (we can assume that one is because they're all Big Dumb). Colin Robinson has parents - that are still living??? And of course the glossing over of the year abroad. (but that's my television-wide gripe. I HATE time skips, no matter the show. They're lazy and tell me that you didn't actually know what to do with your plot). I could go on, there are lots.

I will accept the girl wives/guy wives change. That was pure Nandor and I loved it.

10. worst part of fanon

Listen. I love the drama. I LOVE the angst. This is a *comedy show*. We are never going to get the huge, dramatic, heart-wrenching love confession and hour-long sex scene that some fans are actually expecting. Like it can *absoluely* have serious moments, but please lower your expectations. This show averages like 4 shit jokes per episode.

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

Forgive me everyone, but Jackie Daytona. Hilarious episode, I love Laszlo so fucking much and Mark Hamill as a vampire is everything I didn't know I needed. But I really do. not. need. another. episode. It was perfect as is. Let it lie.

(also Laszlo has some WAY better lines/arcs outside of his one episode where he was essentially someone else)

17. there should be more of this type of fic/art

Ooh, for fic... I love when people play with the characters/situations from canon a bit. Not necessarily a full AU, but taking some element and asking "what if this happened instead"? I love that.

And there are absolutely no personal biases here, absolutely none, but I would love to see more traditional media fanart. Gimme some paintings, some linocut prints, watercolors, anything! I love to see it.

18. it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

I'm combining these two, since they're kind of similar. I feel like there's SO MUCH that everyone appreciates, it's hard to come up with something that people have fully ignored.

But I think one of my FAVORITE parts of the show is when they combine actual artwork with images of the characters. My whole life is art history, so I geek out a bit every. Single. Time. I LOVE the attention to detail, and every time I go to an art museum (which is fairly often) I can't help but wonder where the characters could fit in.

It ALSO makes me OBSESS over what contemporary artist would paint vampire Guillermo. I've definitely already made a post about this, but my current bid is for Alejandro Pasquale.

(EDIT: Another artist I think would be great is Ben Ashton. His visuals with the classical style would be so interesting to see hanging next to the actual old artwork in the mansion)

19. you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like...

I'm not ashamed about it, but since I somehow still see hate over a year later, I want to voice my support for s4. The lighting? GORGEOUS. The costumes/practical effects? STUNNING. College-me that thought I was going to be a theatre set designer could write BOOKS on the changes they made to the house, let alone the club and night market.

Yes, the time skip pissed me off. Yes, there's the entire Marwa/Freddie can of worms. But literally everything else was incredible and the characters had SO MUCH growth. They are so much closer to the family we've been desperate for them to be since s1 because of s4.

#thank you for enabling me and my Thoughts i love you #asks #wwdits #overnightmask

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catlunisciawrites · 9 months

Text

EARTHBOUND/MOTHER 2 AU IDEA

Oh brain came up with a interesting eartbound/mother 2 au situation, aka what would of happened 10 years later if Ness and the team didn't do the thing in year 19XX (if I remember the year right), like what if they went to take Gigas on when they are older 20 somethings not young teens. More under the cut because damn I had ideas

Giygas would take over the world and it would be post apocalypses most likely a weird tech heavy apocalypse if I think right but lets talk about the kids. They are the more main focus of this pile of blathering of a mad woman.

From what I have thought so far is Paula is well. So she was kidnaped by the Happy Happism cult during the events of the game to make into a priestess of said cult, Now, while there could be a dark turn for her, I disagree, there are lines in the game where she admits she will try to get the hell out...She has Psi powers, she is strong, a glass canon but thats still a canon so she could of taken them down, Now it wouldn't be instant but maybe a couple years of her secretly honing her powers to become stronger, maybe going with the bit till she takes them down from the inside all we know is she escaped and got out. She is very...angry, I think due to not only getting kidnapped by Happy Happism but also other times, She gets kidnapped at least twice in game so I would get very annoyed after a while so her on edge of getting taken would be there. I also like to think if someone does get kidnap she is the first to get up and go save them, not wanting another to deal with what she dealt with. Still with her trusty frying pan to take out those if her psi energy is depleted, her prayers never answered...till Giygas is being taken down similar to end of game.

Poo would be a Prince of a fallen Kingdom. His Kingdom Dalaam did fight against Giygas, fought his armies well but got overwhelmed and taken down, Poo being taken out of kingdom for safety he did fight, but he was then told to leave because someone has to lead Dalaam when Giygas is finally taken down, him knowing of this prophecy due to part of his training, he when better journeys off to not only train and gather the Kings items (which he does get the complete set due to training and battle) He is off to find the others not Ness, He knows this group needs to be made and formed to take Giygas down, its shown in game he was aware of it before Ness even met Buzz Buzz so he is now on this quest.

Jeff Andonuts is interesting my mind, So in this universe I like to think Giygas as a way to make sure he is not taken down has rounded up anyone who uses Psi Powers and has either had them join is side (aka the cowards, the pokeys etc of the world join him) or imprisoned in some horrible way maybe using them for some form of evil may it be a power source or something details not full on that. Which would explain why Dalaam was gone after first they have people who use Psi Powers via Muu Training they are powerful. But what does this have to do with little Jeff here? Well he is never detected, not seen as a threat, even though with his genius skill he defiantly is, heck his very distant father even decided to talk to him when shit went down because he knew both of them together could help others. His lab being used as a shelter almost in Winters. They have been working on weapontry to take down the monsters around them, and even possibly a item that can hide psi users let them use their powers with out being detected. Little finikey on that one right now but I do know he has made a lot of weapons, and really loves using those bottle rockets.

Now you maybe wondering, What about Ness? The main protag of the Earthbound story what did he do since he isn't the one traveling finding the others what will he do? Well when the attacks happened, He was at home with his mom and sister, he used his trusty baseball bat and well SMASH! he has a talent for it, he also has psi abilities and used them to heal his family when they got hurt, That is what he did a lot of when the world became what it is, when not in hiding he was healing, or protecting.

Now Other characters in the story in this au while details not fully fleshed out I have ideas.

Porky/Pokey is a high ranking member of the Giygas army. Shocking no one he bent over to him to keep himself safe and loved by his parents. So you know similar to game. Not much changed with his dysfunctional family. Picky is a good kid still though.

The Runaway 5 is interesting in this AU. So Attack happens building they were forced to work at gets majorly damage, contract more or less null and void now. So they are now free and they travel through out the land in their the van, Giygas doesn't deem them a threat they are a washed up band what will they do? But here is the thing, they are doing something. They do keep bumping into Poo and later on the others when they finally group up. They learn what they have been doing. Poo first talked about the Prophecy of the 3 boys and one girl meant to stop the great evil which is a great story lets be honest. The group use it as inspiration for new songs, using the stories these 4 young 20 somethings and their adventures to try and stop Giygas. The Runaway 5 are the ones bringing hope to the common people, they are the ones relaying what is happening. The families use their concerts as a covert way to learn what is happening to them. The underground resilience against Giygas sing these songs using them as inspiration and hope.

That one day, these 4 young 20 somethings, from different parts of the world, will collect what is needed, and take down Giyas

This is my idea of an au I wrote it down maybe I could possibly work on it some more later on, I have an idea for art of it at least which will take a bit to draw. If anyone is actually interested in this please tell me, I have ideas but I am not the best at like writing the ideas into actual scenes...hence why so much of my fanfic takes a long time to write. It takes me a bit. Would love an opinion.

#mother 2 #earthbound #au fic #alternate future #fan fic #ness #jeff andonutsfan #fanfic #concept fic #ideas #poo #paula jones

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itookyoudown · 7 months

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Are you still doing DVD commentary? Cause if so I would like to request the Entirety of blood work please? I tried to see if you'd done it or been asked about it but couldn't find....

“Where’d you serve?” Tim smiles, tight-lipped. “And where’d you die?”

Colt grins back. “A field in Helmand.”

Both the shady tree line and the pair of shades on his face protect him. Wards off the sun’s judgmental glare. And hides his eye color, red as the poppies where he fell.

“Who’s your maker?”

Colt chuckles and shows off his fangs. “You looking for one?”

“Not quite.”

The cowboy werewolf returns, interrupting their little chit-chat. Tim smiles at the alpha with dull teeth. Obeys the alpha’s call to leave with moon-struck eyes. They’re pack.

Raylan Givens’ sidekick? More like his bitch.

Of course! This ask game has been a lot of fun, I'll answer whatever anyone sends my way.

I'm so happy you brought this one up. I haven't gotten to really speak about this fic. March Madness drabble event my beloved! I'm still so thankful to @sublightsleeper to hosting it for us.

I love love LOVE paranormal/supernatural/urban (or rural) fantasy AUs and the setting/themes of Justified lend so well to the genre so I instantly knew I wanted to do something with vampires or werewolves.

I went with a Colt POV because I decided to experiment with a character I'd never written before and thought a drabble would be a great way to test out his headspace.

“Where’d you serve?” Tim smiles, tight-lipped. “And where’d you die?” Colt grins back. “A field in Helmand.” Both the shady tree line and the pair of shades on his face protect him. Wards off the sun’s judgmental glare. And hides his eye color, red as the poppies where he fell.

The opening of this was really tricky to write. I ended up re-writing the dialogue a few times because it was important to me that Colt and Tim actually have a conversation. I thought Tim's inquiry about where Colt served in canon would be a great way to jump into it without having to lay down any scene setting.

Every word counted for this challenge so I had to treat each one as a precious commodity lol.

Tim being tight-lipped and not showing his teeth was a leftover idea I had about Tim being a vampire too. I ended up discarding that idea, but I left this detail in as I enjoyed it as an early hint that Tim is hiding something AKA the implication that he and Raylan are sleeping together.

Helmand, of course, is the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. I debated between Colt dying in Helmand VS Korangal for quite a while. I went with Helmand in the end as I really liked the potential symbolism options better (red for poppies/opium/drugs/addiction, red for vampires, red for blood, red for war). Also yes, the implication here is supposed to be that Colt's military service is different from what we got in canon he probably wasn't a cage kicker.

And of course I just liked the idea that as a vampire in this verse, Colt's use of the sunglasses helps him hide from the sun.

“Who’s your maker?” Colt chuckles and shows off his fangs. “You looking for one?” “Not quite.” The cowboy werewolf returns, interrupting their little chit-chat. Tim smiles at the alpha with dull teeth. Obeys the alpha’s call to leave with moon-struck eyes. They’re pack. Raylan Givens’ sidekick? More like his bitch.

I don't really technically ship Colt/Tim because, well, I am a petty and Colt's hair is TOO LONG SORRY. I like the idea of them in theory, but in practice, I just can't go through with it myself. But I'm still fascinated by the dynamic he and Tim had in the show and love to see that explored further in fic.

They are the sidekick/henchman version of Raylan & Boyd! It kills me how alike they are, they're two side of the same coin. Colt could have been Tim and Tim could have been Colt! And I wanted to throw the rarepair of Colt/Tim a bone because it is rough out there I know how that is. Colt having an attraction/interest in Tim, even if it's one-sided, is why Colt turns from friendly/flirty to aggressive and disapproving on a dime. Also hinting at potential vampire clan VS werewolf pack drama.

The final line is just a perfect call back to Colt calling Tim Raylan's sidekick in canon so I had to bring it back around and tie it into the supernatural setting. And Colt's cut down of calling Tim a bitch is just meant to highlight his jealousy that Tim has potentially been mated by werewolf Raylan.

(author commentary ask game)

#tooks.txt #justie games #justie author commentary #colt rhodes #colton rhodes #colt/tim

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mokutone · 2 years

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Unpopular opinion :) about naruto in general or just yamato whatever you want

hmmm thank you for the question....i guess here's one: in "modern"/non ninja AUs, I think Yamato should still be a fairly odd guy who is not really fully socialized to the intricacies of daily life.

ough. edit update 2: tumblr deleted my first update acknowledging that it fucked up my post. dont know why this keeps happening. but it does. anyway

the thing is that around 2020 i started getting into naruto and while trying to avoid certain spoilers i decided to read some non ninja au fics, just because theyre fun and creative and i like seeing how people translate canon material into au material, and i was like. suuuuper blindsided by how often yamato was portrayed (even in some yamato centric fics) as like. the everyman.

and to be fair!! i can definitely understand how they came to this conclusion, because Yamato DOES have a little bit of a manzai routine with naruto, where naruto is the boke and yamato is the tsukkomi! yamato loves to play the straight man!

but the straight man isn't quite the everyman, there's some nuance in there. the "everyman" is somebody who is meant to be "relatable to anyone," typically their experiences in life have been """average""" in such a way that, when exposed to bizarre circumstances, they will react with an entertaining or empathy-drawing abundance of surprise and often distress.

i feel like a lot of yamato's backstory, specifically being a test tube baby created by konoha's favorite evil mad scientist and then raised and trained by a man known for having children fight to the death in an effort to remove them of their feelings, and then spending the next 10 years of his life exclusively working relatively anonymously in Konoha's black ops, however, kinda disqualifies Yamato from being an everyman? I feel like that's a pretty ah. unique. experience of life. even speaking simply in the terms of batshit ninja origin stories from naruto!

like sure! in an au, you could remove any trace of that from his character. but you could also, in an au, say that Kakashi just got that scar in a shaving accident when he was 22. i don't know why you'd say that, but like, you could if you thought that losing his eye and all that obito shit didn't matter to his character much. i mean...the world is an oyster.

the straight man in a comedic bit DOES often serve the purpose of the "voice of reason" but, unlike the everyman...there's no prescribed backstory! it's just a comedic role. The only expectation is that they generally maintain composure in the face of Antics, and that they try to correct or give deadpan commentary to the funnyman.

this is part of why i am constantly making jokes about Yamato Deliberately practicing being "normal," honestly. i think it would be a very funny and a really funny crossroads of some of his character traits if...instead of being the straight man by virtue of never having encountered any strangeness in his life, yamato (who we know to be somebody who values preparedness immensely) just...studied for it. is there anything more hilarious than the idea of somebody who studied being normal with the goal of being able to pass as Just Some Average Joe.

Imagine say, a Yamato who was brought up by danzō in some kind of homeschooler's hell blood sports situation, who is now an adult and finds doing his taxes and going grocery shopping and all sorts of very normal and unfun tasks genuinely kind of exciting because of how rewarding he finds it to practice these Normal Skills he has put an insane amount of effort into teaching himself. I find this idea to be just. utterly enrapturing. but that's a very extreme example of the dichotomy.

anyway. in fics which aren't about that kind of thing, it can be a narrow line to tread, and really all it comes down to is just. putting thought into giving yamato a backstory which draws at least somewhat on a few of his canon backstory details and characterizing his actions with his own logic (which one must then put effort into building), rather than a kind of default "common-sense" logic.

#yamswers #anon #really struggled not to say ''the worlds an oyster and we're all nonbinary'' because as funny as it is #im not sure how well that joke lands with everyone. idk how popular the oyster meme is #this is not my most unpopular opinion for yamato but my most unpopular opinion is also just #honestly a huge bummer to think and or talk about so i dont wanna #and this is something i think about a lot bc i usually loooove non source material aus #i think they can be so absolutely fun to see how authors translate the material from canon to au! theres room for lots of play #but back in 2020 when i first got into naruto + started poking around au fanfic (to avoid certain spoilers) i was soooo disappointed #it sucks when ur favorite character kinda gets reduced to a hollow springboard for other characters to bounce off of #and i wouldn't even think that yamato is particularly hard to apply a little bit of canon inspired characterization to...#even just implying that he's somewhat paranoid about security precautions #or suggesting there are periods of his life which point blank he will not talk about or will pass over with a very blank smile #or suggesting! that he has little experience or possibly not much trust engaging with most people #anything. anything. just let me know he didn't grow up raised in the suburbs by hashirama and hashirama's very not madara wife. please #im begging to be told thats not the case

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in-tua-deep · 3 years

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Ok I totally want to hear more about this survivors au/Delores is real! How do the siblings handle having this different version of Five? Five may be better adjusted but he still has to heard his family around like a bunch of stray cats. What happens when Hazel and Cha Cha show up? How do they find out that Vanya causes the apocalypse and how does Five handle that revelation?!

here is the thing, i think the survivors au has the potential to be HILARIOUS

no one knows how to handle a well-adjusted five, and this absolutely includes the commission

So you mentioned Hazel and Cha-Cha?? Five in this au was not nearly as absolutely feral as he is in the show bc he knows how to interact with people - he was raised by a competent adult and a weird best friend and they occasionally saw other survivors as well

please picture old Five hanging around the water cooler and chatting with Hazel

the other funny thing is that Five is competent passing - he is well adjusted emotionally but functionally?? Hazel is out there complaining about dental being cut and office parties and budgets and Five is there sipping his drink having never filed taxes in his life. Five doesn't know what the fuck a dental plan is, he was a child soldier and then lived in an apocalypse.

So please picture for me Hazel being like "okay I know corporate wants us to keep what we're being paid to ourselves but fuck that, workers unite, what do you get paid as a legend old timer?"

and five is like "you're getting paid? i get to not get tossed back into the apocalypse, I think"

"but what about expense forms? what about medical care?"

"I'm like 80% sure i'm being experimented on, actually." Five says nonchalantly, "Don't get me wrong, my idea of medical care is fucked by being a child soldier but I'm pretty sure regular people don't have electrodes attached to their heads every time they get a checkup. Could be wrong though! My ex-dad used to monitor my brainwaves while I slept so like, my idea of appropriate shit is fucked, you know?"

This is a Five who was raised by Rick, he is polite to his coworkers. If Dot asked him if he wanted to grab lunch, Five would have gone and grabbed lunch with her or politely said that he couldn't.

Cha Cha only ever talks to Five when she wants to talk shop, so they've had a couple of conversations about weapons but not much else tbh, Hazel just tends to be more personable

So when they're sent after Five, Hazel is much more hesitant to kill who he perceives as a "work friend" and also is definitely thinking about all the times Five casually revealed a way the commission was being highkey shady about him, such as the potential experimentation, no pay, working under duress etc. He's much more easily turned against the commission because he's even more primed to say "fuck the commission" than he is in canon

Hazel out here like "how did Five break his contract when Five wasn't even being paid? I kind of want to read it."

Hazel out here like "I would unionize if I didn't think the commission was anti-union enough to send literal assassins after me if I suggested it :/"

meanwhile with the siblings

Five just. talks over them a lot and makes so much sense that it's actually really hard to argue with him, and he's weirdly considerate of his family's obligations

Like Diego is like "i have to go see Patch" then Five is like "that's great I'm proud of you buddy, it would actually be really handy to have some law enforcement read into the situation if you think she's up to the task. that goes for everyone by the way! If y'all have people you trust, more bodies would be super helpful I think"

the entire family, collectively, who have like zero trusted social links: uhhhhhhhh

Diego, with this weird permission, probably?? Does? Awkwardly attempt to read Patch into the situation? Patch is, obviously, like "what the fuck, Diego" but probably goes with him to the mansion (????????) because she's concerned and then meets his fucking whacko family with their superpowers and suddenly everything is 100% more realistic

Five is just like "yes hello I'm aware I look like a child, i'm actually in my late 50s or early 60s (apocalypse time amiright) because of time travel stuff. Yes I am Five Hargreeves who went missing in like 2002 or whatever. anyway it's lovely to meet you, i'm so glad diego has someone he trusts, and considering my sibling's shifty looks when i told them to invite anyone they trusted this genuinely makes me concerned that Diego is the most socially well-adjusted of them."

"That cannot be possible." Patch says, like someone who has met Diego Hargreeves.

"You haven't met the rest." Five says sympathetically, "In our defense we were raised in isolation as child soldiers."

"That... explains so much." Is all Patch can say to that, "But you seem..."

"I'm adopted." Five waves away.

"We're ALL adopted." Diego grits out, very aggrieved by this and also not sure if he likes the fact that Patch seems friendly with Five, or at least is listening to him?

"I'm double adopted."

However! With the recruitment of Patch, herding Diego becomes like 90% easier.

Honestly the worst to herd are probably Luther and Allison? Luther because he's Number One and resents Five taking charge and also resents Five's casual dismissal of Reginald and also suspects that Five (or at least the commission) has something to do with Reginald's death?

Allison because she is torn between following Luther and helping him and helping Five but also calling Patrick and Claire at every possible moment while ALSO trying to repair her relationship with Vanya. She's flighty - she'd bail on a Five-apocalypse-assignment if Vanya mentioned being hungry or if Luther called or anything like that

Vanya likes to be included and, if asked, would probably drop as many current obligations as she can. Like she would probably cancel her teaching if Five genuinely and sincerely asked her for her help, which he does because he's 100% sure Dolores would manifest in front of him and smack him if he dared even imply someone without powers wouldn't be helpful

Vanya is like "I'm not sure if i'll be helpful - I don't have powers ):" and Patch is like "wtf are you talking about - my superpowers are Gun, Backup, and Reading Comprehension and i am like the most useful member of this team right now"

Vanya gets a confidence boost just from hanging out with Patch honestly, I think they should be friends

Klaus is thrilled to be included are you kidding?? He says he does it for money but he's just happy to be there and also as one of the most emotionally intelligent siblings he is mildly concerned about the fact that Five looks like he's about to cry and also emotes

Five also gives Klaus positive reinforcement, hugs, and Five absolutely weaponizes the I'm not mad, but I believe that you can do better and I'm going to give you more chances because I love you and fully believe that next time you'll be amazing way that Rick used on him.

I feel like Five ends up saying something along the lines of "I understand that x is really important, and we're definitely going to look into it. Is it something that needs to be addressed right now, or is it something that can wait until after April 1st? If it can wait, I can write it down here on this list so we don't forget. If it can't wait then we can figure out a time to address it and help you" a lot

Like Grace malfunctioning and potentially killing Reginald?

"We don't have to make this decision right now." Five says patiently, "Because Grace is a robot, we have some options. Living with a robot who is potentially malfunctioning and homicidal is dangerous, but Luther saying that means admitting that Reginald might have made a mistake or error with Grace's programming or upkeep. I haven't been here for a long time, but I remember Reginald being very precise. Regardless, this isn't a choice between permanently shutting her off or not. We can shut her down temporarily until we can fully address the issue. We can ask and see if there is a 'system reboot' option or some sort of system check that Grace can undergo. We can try find and hire an expert to take a look at her programming to find the issue."

Five gives this speech while like, organizing the weaponry in the house on a table very nonchalantly

Five out here making buzzer noises at his siblings arguments like "yeah no that's a false dichotomy and a strawman's argument, want to try again?"

(Look apocalypse nights were long and they had games that were literally about arguing pointless shit like ranking types of chairs or the best way to break out of a prison without powers and things could get heated)

"Who died and made you boss?" Luther demands.

"Uh, the world? Were you not listening?" Five asks, looking very purposefully confused.

It gets even MORE delightful when Five reads Rick into the situation because a) he promised and b) his siblings really have like, no connections jeeze

Rick fully believes that this is his son from the future, like Five introduced himself, but Five skipped out on a few key details. Such as being adopted.

So Rick spends a solid chunk of time just staring at Five, who looks basically nothing like him, trying to think like, who is his mother ???? if we save the world will Five stop existing? why would I name my child 'Five'? Does everyone have powers in the future? was there like... a radioactive apocalypse? would radiation give future humans superpowers? when did my life turn into a comic book? am i even allowed to ask these questions? will knowledge of the future fuck things up?

and then when Five comes back and is like "what is up everyone this is my dad Rick who will be joining us, he doesn't have any memories of me thanks to time travel but if anyone is mean to him i WILL kneecap them"

"Your DAD?"

Five does kidney punch Klaus for saying that Rick is a DILF but otherwise everyone just is like, warily looking at this Normal Dad Man in confusion because?? This is the dude who raised Five, who they watched take out like an entire commission team by himself yesterday? He looks so. Normal.

Rick is very confused and like, wonders if he's supposed to be the team mascot? But Five keeps involving him and asking his opinion and in return Rick enforces snack breaks and makes everyone sandwiches and has gentle talks with everyone

Every time Five notices someone about to blow he just lovingly makes sure that that person is alone in a room with Rick

Luther ends up crying on the sofa with Rick gently patting his back as Rick calmly states that Luther seems like he's put a lot of time and effort into his family and making his father proud and that since Reginald isn't here to say it, Rick will have to be the one to say that he's proud and that they've been dropped into a difficult and stressful situation - so soon after Reginald's death when they're still grieving! - and he's doing so well

Luther, experiencing unconditional positive paternal regard for the first time in his life: i don't know why i'm crying so much

honestly this is just a comedy of juggling the gang, having impromptu therapy sessions and discussions, investigating the apocalypse and the eye, leonard trying to meet vanya continuously and failing because she's constantly surrounding by family or rick/patch, the commission trying their best to bust up the dream team/isolate Vanya/kill or remove Five, while Hazel lives out his romcom dreams with Agnes and also says "fuck the commission"

#HUH?#survivors au #well adjusted five au #long post #far tua long #five recruits rick to be team dad #rick is DEEPLY confused #but he's the kind of person that rolls with it #dolores probably ends up tagging along as well on at least one occasion #dolores and patch bond #five pretends that dolores is a new sibling and not his dolores #five calls rick 'dad' and it messes with everyone else #patch is on team fuck-the-apocalypse(-and-reginald)#vanya is never alone so fuck leonard #five finds out that vanya causes the apocalypse and is like #vanya: HUH?#luther: maybe we should lock vanya up -#rick: are there are any other possible actions that might be more appropriate in this situation?#vanya: i could try get more meds to take and we could address the powers thing after april 1st #vanya immediately gets validated that reginald sucks #even luther who has had multiple conversations with rick is like 'dad... didn't always make the best choices...'#everyone: :0 #hazel doesn't kill patch so he probably joins team anti-apocalypse at some point #hazel: why are you a child #five: oh you know i'm young at heart and all that #OH forgot to mention one of the main differences in this au is that five like properly grew up this time #so while he is inconvenienced by his body he's not so deeply uncomfortable or angry about it #just resigned #'this might as well happen' - five #five probably makes jokes about it as well

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undertale-data · 3 years

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[Image Description: an Undertale chat box that has “MINOR CHARACTERS and NPCS” in its center. Next to it is a radar and a line chart from the Dating Hub. End I.D.]

The depth and variety of NPC characters in Undertale is an amazing quality of the game. Many Undertale fans have grown attached to minor characters that may not even have any speaking lines. The goal of this section of the survey was to showcase the love fans have for the broad cast of loveable background monsters, and see which of these monsters stand out the most.

If you participated in the survey, you may realize that the NPC and/or minor character question was the only question that was completely free-response. This allowed for a very wide range of answers—a total of 126 distinct NPCs were listed by responders. However, this freedom meant that some responders were unsure of which characters counted as minor characters. Often in their responses people would ask if their character counted as minor. This question was especially common among those who picked Burgerpants, Temmie, Muffet, Gaster, and Grillby. This seems to be a testament to these characters’ popularity in fandom. Though most of them only have a few lines at most, their fans consider them a major part of the game. More fans may enjoy these characters, but not have listed them because they did not consider them minor enough.

On the other hand, there were a few responses for characters such as Chara, Asriel, and Sans, who would not count as minor characters for the purposes of this survey. Though Chara and Asriel may not appear for long, their story is integral to the plot of the game.

This brings us to our methods for processing the responses given about NPCs and minor characters. Characters that were not minor (Chara, Asriel, etc.) were removed from the responses, as were characters that do not belong to Undertale canon (Deltarune-specific characters and Undertale AU characters). Each response was transcribed by Ficus Licker to create a standardized tally of votes. For example, responses that listed “the bunny who runs the shop in Snowdin,” “the shopkeeper bunny,” and “bunny shopkeeper” would all be listed in the graph and word cloud as “Snowdin Shopkeeper.” Some responses for specific NPCs were consolidated into their major grouping. For example, Gaster Follower #2 was lumped with “Gaster Followers” in the data; in contrast, “Bob” was listed separately from the other Temmies. If a responder described a character but did not know their name, the character’s name was counted, as far as we could understand who they were referring to. There were a few specific bunnies without names that were described and may have been listed simply as “bunny.” The names chosen for the survey were either the characters’ names as listed on the Undertale Wiki, or the most recognizable abbreviation (“small gap bird” being substituted for “bird that carries you over a disproportionately small gap.”

Without further ado: the top 25 Undertale NPCs (under the cut)

[Image Description: a horizontal side graph titled “TOP 25 FAVORITE UNDERTALE NPCS.” From top (least) to bottom (greatest): Scarf Mouse, with 25 votes; Mad Mew Mew, with 30 votes; everyone, with 32 votes; Onionsan, 33 votes; Naracat Jester, 37 votes; all dogs, 43 votes; Lesser Dog, 43 votes; Nice Cream Guy, 46 votes; Woshua, 46; Annoying Dog, 47; Froggit, 49; W.D. Gaster, 53; Fuku Fire, 54; Small Gap Bird, 58; Heats Flamesman, 61; Snowdin Shopkeeper, 62; Muffet, 63; Napstablook, 78; Gerson, 80; Riverperson, 81; Shyren, 93; Grillby, 110; Temmie, 143; Burgerpants, 148; and, finally, Monster Kid, with 169 votes. End I.D.]

After all the data was compiled, Monster Kid was by far the most popular NPC according to the responses. This may be because they fit in that “sweet spot” where they are not popular enough to have a large and vocal fan following, so fans consider them a minor character, while still being very memorable. Some fans still asked if they counted as a minor character. The prompt did not specifically ask for what fans like about the minor character(s) they picked, so there is less information on why Monster Kid is a fan favorite. Of those who did give a more detailed response, some of the highlights were mentions of them being baby, being a good friend, and being cool. Here is one fan’s response about them for reference:

“I like Monster Kid! they're such a fun character and I like how we journey with them in Waterfall for a while. their idolization of Undyne is adorable and pretty nice, i like how he was quick to defend us (the player) during the pacifist and neutral routes where in we help him up, meaning that even if faced against their idol, they will defend their friend rather than let her harm them, plus i find it pretty cool that they become a fan of Papyrus at the end of the Pacifist route, and it also makes sense knowing how nice and positive the guy is.”

It would be impossible to go into this much detail about the other popular NPCs, but the next top four favorite NPCs were Burgerpants, Temmie, Grillby, and Shyren. Shyren in particular was more popular than we had expected. Hum hum hum.

Another interesting sidenote is that Gaster only had 53 votes (2.0% of responders), despite appearing in 13.2% of Undertale fics on AO3 at the time this was written. From this contrast, we hypothesize that many people did not think to pick Gaster as a favorite NPC due to his status as a major character in fandom. A few responders who chose “I don’t care for any of the main Undertale characters” mentioned Gaster in their explanation, lending more weight to this theory.

It has been inspiring to see the amount of love that fans have for each minor monster in Undertale. I do not know if there was any NPC, named or unnamed, who did not have at least one vote.

(Even Jerry.)

[Image Description: a lumpy wordcloud with no definied shape. The text is all capitalized, and is colored blue and green. Some of the most visible words are: Monster Kid, Burgerpants, Temmie, Grillby, Shyren, and Gerson, which represent the most common NPCs that responders chose to list. End I.D.]

View the full NPC results in table format by clicking here.

#character analysis #undertale #results #undertale fandom census

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a-funny-little-sunflower · 3 years

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Yandere Elves stuck in Mandos Au Part 1

In this Au, our lovely Yandere Elves are now in Mandos domain, some are there for longer than others but the thing to remember is that they are currently unable to leave, but it is possible to break out, but keep in mind that this is an incredibly difficult feat. So, unless they manage to escape, they are unable to see their darling, and because these elves are Yandere’s, this face upsets them incredibly.

The elves that are currently being kept in Mandos is Feanor, Fingolfin, Celegorm, Fingon, Glorfindel, Finwe, Maedhros, Maglor and many more! Requests are open for more elves so don’t be afraid to ask! They don’t even have to be canonically in Mandos.

So, because of this, misbehaviour in Mandos began to run rampant and arguments, as well as physical fighting, broke out easily.

Now, Mandos decided that he needed to find a way to stop this, so he set up a reward system to keep the elves in check. One of the first few things put in place was the production of pictures in the likeness of the elves s/o. The reward system was simple, if you behave well, you get pictures of your s/o.

The pictures quickly became a hot commodity in Mandos. Can't see your darling? Pull out that photo and try not to get anything on it.

However, some of the elves decided that a simple picture of their s/o was much too common of a thing to have, and the more elite elvish residence of Mandos decided to commission portraits of their s/o. That way, they could have control over what position their s/o was in or what level of clothing they were in.

However, not everyone can afford such high price portraits and so Mandos decided that he would start offering a catalogue of care packages! These care packages can vary but the cheapest one usually consists of a small magazine similar to a playboy one, except, it’s all hand-painted pictures of the s/o.

As well as that they usually have a recording of the s/o’s voice, a fleshlight, a plant that allows the owner to have more realistic and lifelike dreams of their s/o and an article of clothing belonging to their s/o. The more expensive the care package is, the more things are included.

When it comes to the making of said portraits, no one wants to be the painter for Feanor's s/o. He's already got a critical eye before Yandereness. Can you imagine if you mess up her face or something like that? If you mess up a single feature of his beloved, he's gonna mess up your entire bodily anatomy.

However, Mandos sees the potential to expand the lines of communication once more. Mandos has recently installed a Palantir so that the Elves can communicate with their s/o’s. Some of the families even have Palantir in their quarters.

Palantir’s are used for facetime or sending messages to s/o. The Palantir glows in preparation for an incoming message, and it’s even possible to send ‘gifts’ or audios with the Palantir. However, there aren’t enough Palantir’s for everybody. They are normally used by the elite, like princes or elven lords. But Mandos has to decide who gets them since there's a limited quantity.

The problems about the Palantir’s starts when there isn't enough and Feanor keeps hogging all the airtime. This leads Fingolfin to confront Feanor by saying, “stop hogging the Palantir, I want to talk to my s/o too!”, which quickly develops into pushing and shoving.

Eventually, the solution they came to at council is that Feanor will be last in line to use it due to his offences of hogging airtime. If he tries to go before his turn, the Palantir will not respond to him and not send his messages, it acts as a phone without service.

(A more detailed post on the Palantir is coming soon!)

When you are unwilling to send gifts in the beginning, each of the elves reacts differently.

Some Yandere have no shame and will outright demand audios or pictures of you, but this rudeness causes Mandos to hover over them and threaten to take the Palantir away, causing the elf in question to get bitchy and glare at Mandos.

In retaliation, Mandos would snatch the Palantir, and nobody gets it. He puts it on a high shelf in his office...Which results in the elves getting on each other’s shoulders to get at it.

Eventually, Mandos decided that he will allow visitors in, which means that the elves finally get to see their s/o! In advance, Mandos set up a system that goes as follows. If you were on good behaviour, you get these rewards:

•You get to see your s/o.

•You get a calendar to mark down the days until the next visit.

•You get more time to rail the reader.

•The ability to send their s/o letters and being allowed to have pictures and painting of their s/o in their room.

Feanor’s s/o doesn’t want to visit him at first, but eventually, they are forced to go because Feanor isn't behaving and Mandos is tired of it. So, they sent Eonwe to retrieve them.

Feanor would be a combination of happy yet disappointed if s/o had to bring to Mandos by force to visit him. He would be happy that you're there but when finds out that you were forced on him, he would feel so hurt.

When visiting finally does begin, it's utter madness. Mandos would have chains over the door whenever the reader comes to visit, especially if they are visiting Feanor. Mandos is very happy about you being there because Feanor is always on good behaviour whenever you’re there. As well as that, Feanor would rail the reader for hours on end when they come to visit.

When it comes to Fingolfin, he would be tamer if his s/o were to visit him. He understands that he just died, and they've been separated, so he’s willing to wait a while, or at least, after the 2nd or 3rd visit...then he just wants to rail his s/o and be warned, Fingolfin will make it so you can’t walk for a while.

Some Yanderes like Celegorm would try to keep their s/o with them in Mandos for longer by wearing out their legs. Glorfindel will just tie you to the bed to keep you there. However, there would be some Yandere like Fingolfin and Fingon who might let you go but the thought of you all to themselves might be too tempting.

When it comes to making excuses for not visiting, there are many different ways to go about doing it.

Say you had an argument with your yandere, and you decide to punish them by not coming back for a visit, you could do that, but then the elf might act up and Mandos would bring you back by force.

If you make the excuse that you’ve been sick, you better get ready for puppy eyes, tears and begging you not to leave when you finally do come to visit.

If you use the “I’m pregnant” excuse with Celegorm to explain why you haven’t or won't visit, he will break out to come to see you. Also, if you are telling the truth about being pregnant when you finally give birth and come to visit again, Celegorm would put his dick inside you from behind while you breastfeed your child.

If you and Feanor or Celegorm have had a baby, they would be expecting to see their child on visits, and they will also want for you to stay for longer so they can have more family time.

Now when it comes to leaving, your yandere doesn’t want you to go so they may try to trap you there. Now you could try to plead with Mandos to help you leave but he might just keep her there to save himself the trouble of having to deal with a misbehaving yandere.

However, the s/o can leave if they're fast enough. By that I mean, if they can get to the gates before the hourglass runs out, they can go home but that includes running across the hall with fluids dripping out. As well as that, their legs would be aching because of how much their yandere had railed them.

But say you do manage to escape, the yandere’s only source of contact with you will be by using the Palantir, and as soon as they’ve realised that you’ve escaped, they will be demanding that you send them audios, pictures, the works.

However, you may be unwilling to send pictures of yourself, so you may decide to send fake pictures, and by that, I mean, sending a picture of someone else, for example, a picture of the famous porn actress Belle Delphine could be used.

If you sent a fake picture to Feanor, he would immediately be like “Who is this? This isn’t you; her chest is lopsided, and her body is unproportionate!” He would then proceed to demand Mandos return that picture, even though Feanor already used his weekly time at the Palantir.

With Fingolfin, the only time he gets pissed is when he doesn't get his visits from s/o or if he gets pictures of Belle Delphine. He doesn’t want those; he wants audios of his s/o in the millions. (I’m serious, he’s pulled a dagger on Mandos and demanded hours’ worth of audios of you touching yourself before.)

If you constantly make excuses to not see Fingolfin, he will break into Rivendell and bring a vibrator with him. You can try to run from him, but Fingolfin is already chasing you throughout Rivendell.

This man would be full feral at this point, he hasn't had you in God knows how long so the second he grabs you; he’ll take you to the floor to rail you. Doesn't matter if you're in public or not.

(After this incident, Elrond and Erestor make the place of limits. So, because of this, a black market of bribery emerges. Erestor takes bribes of books and silence in his library.)

When sending things to Finwe, his preference is breast pictures or pictures of your face on the brink of orgasm. If you think playing play dumb will work with him, and decide to say, “What's an orgasm?” jokes on you, he has a corruption kink, and it turns him on when you pretend not to know what he's talking about.

If you didn’t send Finrod any goods it would upset him because he thought that you loved him and would want him to be a part of everything, and he thought that you loved him enough to send such photos.

On the unlikely occasion that a Palantir ends up sending your nude picture to another elf on accident, if that elf teases the Yandere, or says that they enjoyed the picture, they're gonna wind up dead.

Now eventually, the elves are allowed to leave Mandos. After leaving Mandos, all this portrait and audio business would be something that the elves never discuss. Everyone knows that they did it, but no one talks about it, if it’s even hinted at in public every elf in the vicinity freezes.

At least until Mandos starts expanding his services….

You see, Mandos realised the potential of his reward system and the thought eventually hit him. Why not expand?

So, in short, Mandos has become the Hugh Hefner of middle earth. It all started as a reward system. Now they’re expanding their services to living people. Hey, you're on guard duty in Lothlorien or fighting orcs in Rivendell? Well go to your local Palantir and order a portrait of your s/o. They have a Maiar deliver it straight to you, and if you're royalty, one of Manwe's eagles will have it delivered to you.

He even has bargains, like you know those 75% per cent off Bath and Bodyworks sale? Mando’s would so do that. Like 75% discount on catalogues and portraits.

Every 100 years or so Mando’s would clear out all the portraits and put them in catalogues. He would sell them to humans since it would seem new to them. Therefore, Mando’s saves money on making new material.

A quote from Mandos:

A Maiar: Is this even allowed?

Mandos: Don't care. I got a business to run.

#Yandere Silmarillion #Yandere Silmarillion x reader #Yandere Silmarillion x reader headcanons #yandere celegorm x reader #yandere maedhros x reader #yandere glorfindel x reader #yandere fingolfin #yandere fingon x reader #yandere feanor x reader #yandere finwe x reader

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missmonsters2 · 4 years

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Between the Lines || XI

PAIRING: Steve Rogers & Fem!Reader (Platonic) / Natasha Romanoff x Fem!Reader / Wanda Maximoff x Fem!Reader / Natasha Romanoff x Fem!Reader x Wanda Maximoff

Summary: Vampire AU. Life has changed drastically since the 1600s. Things are always on the move, and you’ve been very careful to not get on SHIELDs radar. Living on the down-low owning a café, you’re content to live out a quiet existence. That is until the Avengers enter your life.

[Set after the New York Invasion, in CAWS, and goes up to AoU. Canon divergent after.]

Warnings: This series will contain smut(**), poly-relationship, and dark themes.

Note: Hiatus is over hopefully and we’re on the last arc! Shit is gon’ happen so strap yourselves in and enjoy the ride 👏🏻👏🏻

PART I || PART II || PART III || PART IV || PART V || PART VI || PART VII || PART VIII || PART IX || PART X

PART XI of XX

Count: 5,532

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

Hot.

Your body felt hot, and there was something deliciously thick going down your throat.

Blood.

You could taste it so very clearly.

You could feel your body healing, the bullet holes mending themselves until there was nothing left, and your body in pristine condition.

Thumping.

You could hear a pounding in your ears and then a soft, breathy moan.

You wanted to be closer.

Your hand presses against the wall as your other hand presses the warmth closer to you.

God, you could get lost in this forever as you swallow a mouthful of blood.

"Ah..."

The sound is both melodic and also a warning bell to you.

You need to stop.

You have to stop.

Your hand presses against the wall harshly as you feel it break as you curl your hand in an attempt to pull yourself away.

The tight grip of Wanda's legs around your waist starts to loosen as you pull your mouth away from her neck. She's still holding you close, and you don't move your head too far from her neck.

The thumping of her heart feels weaker, and you purse your lips, disappointed with yourself. You clean the drip of blood trailing down her throat, ignoring the way Wanda's breath still hitches before your lick at the bite wounds at her neck.

Soon enough, the bite marks begin to disappear, leaving Wanda's neck bare and unblemished, but a slight red overtone stain from her blood.

When you pull back enough to see her face, Wanda looks drowsy.

"I'm sorry," you swallow. "I went overboard."

Wanda shakes her head lightly, feeling dizzy from just the motion.

"It's fine," she says, "I didn't mind."

Wanda tries to stand up, but it's too much as her legs give way, and she falls. You catch her before her knees hit the ground.

You purse your lips before you hook your arm under the back of Wanda's legs, pulling her up to carry her.

Wanda rests her head against your shoulder as you carry her out. When the door opens, you're met with everyone waiting outside to see if you were okay.

You see Natasha standing there, looking at the two of you, and you feel like you've been punched in the stomach. But you don't get much time to dwell on it when Pietro comes up to you, worry all over his face when he looks at his sister.

He squints his eyes at you, and it doesn't faze you as you are to blame for her state.

"She's okay," you tell him quietly. "She just needs some rest and lots of fluids."

"I'll get her some juice. We should be landing soon, so I'll whip up something for her to help," David offers as he takes off.

Pietro looks like he wants to take Wanda from your arms, but you cock your brow at him.

"You'll drop her in your state if you try to carry her," you tell him, looking at his bullet wound specifically and how he was hunched over slightly.

Pietro scowls but relents as he follows you to the room next door as you set Wanda down gently. Your hand moves to gently get her to let go of your jacket, and you set the blanket over her.

As you get up to leave, Pietro stops you.

He presses his lips together, frowning initially before he lets out a sigh. "Thank you."

You merely nod, patting his shoulder gently before you leave him alone with his sister.

When you leave, you're on a one-track mission to talk to Natasha, but before you can even reach her, Maria intercepts. It seemed Fury was looking for you to get some details regarding the mission and had some questions.

You scrunch your nose as you look at Natasha.

"We can talk later," Natasha says quietly so only you can hear as she nods.

You sigh, looking at her forlornly before you follow Maria.

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There's a wave of peace when you arrive back in New York. You never thought you would feel this way about a place. A part of you thinks that maybe it's not the place, but the fact that you're here with all the people you care about.

Your family.

Talking with Fury had taken longer than you wanted, giving you no chance to speak with Natasha.

Everyone heads back to the Stark Tower. At first, you were going to follow along with them, but Natasha holds your hand, drawing you back while shaking her head.

"Let's head back to your place," Natasha says quietly.

You gulp.

"Okay."

You feel it must be a good sign still with Natasha holding your hand as she leads you away to her car, though she's quiet the entire ride, making no move to talk. So, you also sit quietly as you watch the scenery out the window.

Natasha walks herself straight to your bathroom when she enters your home. You feel grimy yourself and head to a different washroom yourself to clean up.

You finish before Natasha, and you head over to the kitchen to make her a drink. Unsure of what Natasha wanted to say or how she would react, you didn't think it would hurt to try to bribe her with a drink. It has turned quite late into the night, so you decide to make her a tea instead of coffee.

You go to sit on the sofa, quietly putting soft music in the background in an attempt to soothe yourself as you idly feel the soft fabric underneath your fingers.

Soon enough, you hear the water turn off in the washroom, and Natasha comes out, fresh and clean, with a towel around her neck as she dries her hair.

Warmth spreads over your chest as Natasha comes to sit on the sofa, right next to you. You hand her the drink, and she quirks her brow at you with a slight curve in her lip as she takes it.

Humming after she takes a sip, she sets the drink down, towel discarded to the side as she looks at you.

You purse your lips.

"I--"

You're cut off when Natasha launches herself at you, her lips hitting yours roughly as she slides her fingers across your jaws.

Surprise takes over you as you automatically reach over to wrap your arms around Natasha's waist. She bites your lower lip, rather hard, and you wonder if this is a punishment.

When she pulls back, the two of you are a little breathless.

"Are you...upset?" You ask slowly, scrunching your brow and licking your bottom lip to soothe the pain Natasha inflicted.

Natasha leans back, settling to rest her head between your shoulder and neck as she sighs deeply and heavily.

"Yes, and no," she answers after moments of silence. Your arms are still wrapped around her as your fingers slide down her arm. You place your hand gently atop of Natasha's.

You don't say anything because it seems like Natasha is still putting her thoughts together.

"I'm not mad," Natasha decides. "I know that what you did was out of necessity. You were severely injured, and the only person who could help you was Wanda."

You could sense the lingering at the end of her sentence.

"But...I don't know. Seeing you with her, so...lost within her...it was different. I understand it, I really do, and on top of that, Wanda is a beautiful girl," Natasha sighs.

You nod, knowing Natasha could feel it.

"I'm not mad," Natasha repeats.

"Then?" You lick your bottom lip.

Natasha turns her hand around to lace her fingers with yours, pursing her lips, annoyed by how she's unable to describe how she feels.

"I don't know."

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

You were miffed.

With David specifically.

The offender was aware since you've ignored him for a couple days now and haven't looked once in his direction.

You stood with everyone at the Stark Towers as they talked casually. The place is currently being repaired right now after all the damage done by Ultron, but it was still standing for the most part.

Tony talked about how he wanted to build a new compound for the Avengers and was considering either selling the Stark Tower or just taking it back for his company.

You were standing at the side, between Steve and Natasha, as you tap your foot idly.

David stood across from you, staring at you while you pointedly didn't look at him, mouth pressed in a firm line.

A part of you wanted to be rational.

It's not like you were unaware of the circumstances. Drink from Wanda or risk killing everyone on the helicarrier, and also killing yourself in the process.

And by God knows, no one would've been able to stop you.

But...you were still so angry.

David knew the consequences of this, and he took it, and you could not blame him for it.

"You can't ignore me forever," David says quietly, moving his mouth so quickly, no one can hear but you.

You don't say anything.

"Ignoring me isn't going to solve anything, and you know it," David continues on. "We need to talk now, and I'll make a scene if I have to."

You pause for a moment, eyes flittering over to Wanda, who is standing next to David along with Pietro. She's got her brow raised as if she could hear the conversation between the two of you. You don't doubt the possibility that she could.

You look at David, who is staring at you challengingly. Making a scene would be awkward, but you felt childish, wanting to ignore David a little more.

So, you called his bluff.

And he proved you wrong.

David barrels into you, tackling you into the empty space as everyone gasps, tensing as they want to break up the fight but knowing they physically would be unable to do so.

"Stop being so stubborn!" David yells at you, atop of you, and you bare your teeth at him.

Being older brings advantages; David knows that as you flip him over, toppling him underneath you.

"You know exactly why I'm pissed at you!" You snarl at him.

David goes limp in your hold, sighing as he does so.

"I know," he says quietly, "and I'm sorry, but there wasn't any other choice."

Hearing David apologize to you even though you knew it wasn't really his fault made you grimace.

God, you were such an ass sometimes.

You sigh, loosening your grip on David as you stand up, pulling him up with you.

"What...the hell was that?" Tony says, staring in disbelief at you two.

"Just a disagreement," you mutter as you rotate your shoulder to relocate it back into place.

Natasha purses her lip at you as you walk back up to her.

You shrug at her, not really wanting to get into it again.

"We've got some things we have to discuss first, we'll meet up with you guys later," David announces, pulling you with him as you frown.

Everyone just blinks at the two of you exist the room, and head to the rooftop. Once up there, you feel a slight breeze and can smell how fall is approaching.

"Are you done being pissed at me?" David asks as the two of you look over the railing at the city.

You exhale heavily through your nose.

"I know it's not your fault," you tell David, "but I would have preferred it more if you took me and jumped off the helicarrier and have our bodies be obliterated when we hit the ground."

"I'll keep that in mind the next time we encounter this problem," David smiles wryly.

"You put me in a horribly awkward situation, David, nevermind the consequences of it," you sighed, pressing your temples with your hand before rubbing your face.

"How did Natasha take it?" David asked.

You shrug. "She didn't really take it any way at all. She said she doesn't know how she felt about it. She's neither upset nor okay with it, but she understands."

"That must be better than her being pissed at you," David shrugs.

"I don't know," you say, "I know how to deal with pissed, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do when even she doesn't know how she feels."

"And Wanda?" David probes.

You tense up immediately at her name, David catching it immediately.

"That bad or that good?"

You turn to glare at him.

"Sorry."

You turn back to the city skyline.

"I don't know," you tell him honestly, blinking slowly. "She looks incredibly so much like Tatyana, and yet, I know distinctly it's not her. She's both familiar and new to me. A part of me understands I'm the only link to explaining her family's past, but I feel like I need to keep my distance as well, even though I can't now."

"Why? Did you feel something for her?" David asks.

"A little too much," you wryly admit. "It was terrifying, honestly."

"But?" David probes some more.

You look at him. "But I am in love with Natasha."

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

You and David stay on the rooftop for a while just to enjoy the quiet while you can before you head back to have the real serious talk.

When you come down, you see that everyone had still stayed in the room, loitering as if they weren't waiting for the two of you to go back.

Natasha looks at you, and you nod, telling her that you and David were okay. David looks at Natasha and gives her his dashing smile that she returns in small.

"We need to talk," you say in a sobering tone, looking at Wanda, while you make a move to grab Natasha's hand.

Wanda stares at you, not saying anything as she tilts her head.

"About what?" Pietro cuts in, looking at you with a frown.

"Пьетро," Wanda says, accent thick as she grabs his arm to calm him down. "About what?" Wanda asks as she turns her head back to you.

You look around the room as if to tell everyone else this is a private matter.

"Oh no," Tony says, leaning against a counter. "We're all in this together now. Share with the class."

Steve was the only other person in the room, and he nodded his head firmly at you in more of a supportive way than Tony.

You let out a long sigh as you turn back to Wanda.

"It's about...what happened when I fed on you," you say slowly and rather awkwardly, feeling Natasha's hand tighten around yours.

Wanda licks her lips.

"You've probably figured out by now that I know an ancestor of your guys'," you say.

"That woman I've seen in your head..." Wanda brings up, and you grimace.

"Yeah, her," you confirm.

"Wait, what?" Pietro says, swerving back to look at his sister. "She knows someone in our family tree, and you didn't say anything?"

"I didn't know for sure," Wanda shrugs.

"How did you know her? Was that why you were looking for us?" Pietro asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

"Her name was Tatyana. She was..." you clear your throat. "She was...my lover. But yes, she was partly why I was looking for the two of you. But the truth is, every time there is a new descendant, I always look for them. Although somewhere along the way, I lost track because your great-great-grandfather decided to have multiple children in secret."

"So, we actually have a big family we don't know about?" Pietro scrunches his eyebrows together.

You shake your head. "No, you two are the sole surviving people left in your family. Everyone else has rather lived short lives or died due to an accident or illness."

Pietro continues to stare at you suspiciously but moves on. "You say this Tatyana woman was our ancestor, but how did we come to be if she was your lover."

"Tatyana had a life before me," you shrug. "She never really talked about it, but she was in an arranged marriage when she was younger and had a child. Of course, her husband took on a second wife since it was common back in the day. It wasn't the life she wanted, and she had never been inclined to children. Leaving was easy for her."

"She was...a witch," Wanda says slowly as if to confirm with you.

"Yes," you nodded stiffly. "Her...powers is genetic."

"But I didn't have any powers when I was born. I was given it through the scepter," Wanda argued.

You lick your lips. "Over the years, your bloodline was diluted. The powers are genetic, but with Tatyana, but since no one in the family ever married another witch or warlock, the powers became weaker and weaker every time until there was basically nothing. In this day and age, you would be so lucky to even find a true witch or warlock by blood because they're all in hiding, though the stake burning has stopped."

"Then...the scepter..." Wanda pondered.

"You may not have had obvious powers, but you probably experienced smaller things as a child. A feeling you couldn't ignore, a dream that came true, something buzzing at your fingertips, but you just couldn't explain it. The scepter unlocked that gene within you. It jumpstarted the powers you had inside all along," you theorize.

Wanda looked at you in shock, confirming that she experienced those things in her youth.

"Why didn't I get the same gift as Wanda then if I have the gene too?" Pietro asked.

You shrug. "I'm only guessing. I've never actually seen any males in your family tree display any inkling of a gift. I'm assuming the scepter had more of play in powers for you."

Pietro hums, looking at his sister before shrugging and moving on.

"Well, a great history lesson. You slept with my ancestor, is that what you wanted to tell us?" Pietro cocked his brow with a smirk, and you roll your eyes.

"No, I wish it were just that," you sigh inaudibly, feeling your stomach drop as you looked back at Wanda.

"The day I fed from you...did you feel anything happen to your body after?"

Wanda cocked her brow at you, and you felt your cheeks warm and forced it down before it could physically show on your face.

"I mean, like, a burning...no, I mean...did you feel any pain afterward?" You stumbled over your words, not even daring to look at Natasha as you kept holding her hand. "Specifically, did any of your bones hurt?"

Wanda stares at you a moment longer before nodding slowly. "I did," she says. "I felt something here like it was on fire...I assumed it was because too much blood was taken." She points to her sternum.

You pursed your lips, feeling suspicion rise higher inside.

You turn to Tony. "Do you have an x-ray machine here?"

"I do," Tony raises one of his brows.

"Why do you need an x-ray?" Pietro asked, mildly alarmed.

You didn't answer as Tony led everyone out of the room into the medical bay area where there were multiple body x-ray scanning machines, though many of the devices but two were crushed when Ultron attacked the tower.

You had to let go of Natasha's hand as you walk up to Wanda, who is looking at your own sternum for a moment before looking back at you.

"I need to confirm if what I believe is true," you tell her softly, asking her to get onto the machine.

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours," Wanda says with a slight raise of her brow and a tiny quirk in her lips like she knows you're hiding something underneath.

You purse your lips, not really wanting everyone to see what is in your body, but you know it's only fair if you're asking Wanda.

"Alright," you agree with a nod.

"Are you serious?" David blinks in disbelief, and Natasha turns to him with curious eyes.

You shrug.

"It was bound to come out at some point...I wanted to show Nat sometime anyways," you look over at your girlfriend with a smile, feeling slightly guilty about hiding things still.

Both you and Wanda get onto the machine while Tony operates it to get a CT scan of the bones.

The scan is over relatively quickly, doing the front and back as you both make it out of the room to join the crowd around the monitor.

The images slowly load.

"Jesus Christ," Steve exclaims under his breath.

"What the fuck," Tony squints his eyes as if he doesn't believe what he's seeing.

Though both pictures showed up, yours drew all the attention.

Marks and drawings were engraved into your bones everywhere on the front and back of your ribs like they were tattoos.

"What are these?" Natasha asked as she leans in to take a closer look at the images.

"They're searings from a priest," you tell them, turning your attention to Natasha.

"Leo?" She asks quietly.

You nod your head, blinking languidly as you look at her face.

"What's it for?" Steve asked, squinting his eyes slightly.

You stand straighter as you readjust your jacket.

"They're markings that allow me to go into the sun without being burnt alive," you say, watching as everyone just blink at you. "David has the same ones, though not done by the same priest."

"So, something does happen if you go into the sun!" Tony exclaims as if he was right all along.

"...Yes, but I don't sparkle. It's quite the opposite. It burns and rips at the flesh and smells exactly like what you think it would smell like," you tell him. Tony made a gagging face at the thought.

"Wait, what is that?" Pietro says as he looked at Wanda's image, finding a scrawling in red burned into her sternum.

Everyone draws their attention over before looking back at yours.

You had an identical one in the same place.

The searings on your rib were in black, while the one on your sternum was red in color.

"Oh, shit," David says, breaking the silence. "We activated the second part of your curse."

"Curse? What curse? What did you do to my sister?" Pietro pushes past everyone until he's standing in front of you, gripping the lapels of your jacket.

"Пьетро!" Wanda calls after him, putting her hand on his arm to pull him back, but he doesn't budge.

You swallow.

"As I said," you put your hands around Pietro's, forcing him to let go. "I was involved with Tatyana, your ancestor, and it didn't end well."

"She cursed you because of a quarrel or a breakup?" Pietro snorted as if he didn't believe you.

You quirked your brow at him. "No, she cursed me because I killed her."

"You killed her?" Tony says in incredulity. "You killed your girlfriend."

"I had to," you shift uncomfortably, the guilt rising up as Natasha moves to hold your hand. "She turned. Upset with how villages were hunting witches along with other horrible things, she was trying to create vampires using her magic to destroy the villages. She was murdering innocent people, and nothing I said reached her anymore. When I begged her to stop, she didn't. I did what I had to."

"Jesus fucking Christ," Tony blinked. "You know, I'm surprised you didn't become a villain; your origin story would've been so good."

You roll your eyes.

"What was the curse, and what does that have to do with my sister?" Pietro demanded.

"The curse was that I could never feed from a human being other than her. But because you are descendants from her, you share the same blood, which creates somewhat of a loophole." You sigh, pressing your lips together as you look at Wanda. "The reason I was actually looking for the two of you is that I always keep track of the descendants of Tatyana's. I do that so I know who I cannot ever risk of drinking their blood, even if you donated blood by chance, I wouldn't take your blood bag."

You look at Natasha, "I'm sorry, but I didn't tell you everything that night," you say softly.

Natasha bit her tongue, "You said that you didn't want to find a cure to this curse...but you've actually had already tried to find one, haven't you?

You nodded, biting your bottom lip.

"Yes...Leo and I spent years trying to find the cure at first. At one point, I encountered one of Tatyana's grandchildren. I could smell the same blood of Tatyana's in her. At that time, I was living off of animal blood," you sighed. "I don't know, something came over me, and I jumped at her. I realized that I could drink from her...but that's when I realized the second part of this curse."

You looked at Wanda apologetically. "I inflict this curse back on them."

"What?" Pietro bellowed.

"What happened to Tatyana's granddaughter?" Steve asked with arms crossed as he processed the information.

"Another vampire tried to feed on her and she died instantly," you frowned. "When Leo and I realized the intricacies of this, I stopped looking for the cure because it was clear there wasn't one without Tatyana being the one to remove it. On top of that, it kept my bloodlust in check. I had to be more conscious about it unless I wanted to die."

"Why didn't you just tell me?" Natasha asked quietly.

"Because I'm not proud of it. Worse than killing Tatyana because I had to was awful. But then I went and tried to remove her curse," you frowned slightly. "I'm not like you, Nat. You deal with your ledger every day proudly and without hesitation."

You look away, ashamed of what you're admitting. "I couldn't. I wanted to get rid of the curse because even though it was what I deserved, it was just a daily reminder of Tatyana, and I didn't want to remember what I had done to her."

Fingers grip your chin, pulling you back, and you face Natasha.

"Hey, you are the bravest person I know," she says softly, and the words linger like she wants to say something else, but there's a crowd here. "We'll talk more later."

Natasha lifts your fingers to her lips and presses a soft kiss to them. The action brings a deep pit feeling in your stomach, and you feel something threatening to spill over, but you swallow it because now isn't the time.

"So, what do we do now?" Pietro asks, bringing everyone back to the matter at hand.

You look solemnly at Pietro. "There's nothing I can do. I have to keep feeding from her regularly. Otherwise, she'll die."

"Why?" Pietro demanded, stress clear on his face.

"This curse is a catch 22 situation. On the one hand, Wanda is the only person I can feed from. But on the other hand, now I'm the only vampire who can feed on her. If any other vampire tries to feed on her, it will react badly with my venom and kill her. If I don't regularly feed on her and inject new venom, her cells will slowly deteriorate and kill her. My venom is both a poison and a cure for her." Your expression was grim, and you looked over to Wanda, but the girl seemed to have no reaction at all to what you were saying, so you were unable to gauge how she was feeling.

"And what?" Pietro pressed. "You'll do this to her forever? Because there's no fucking cure?"

You didn't really have an answer to that because it's not like you've encountered this situation. The last descendant you drank from died due to another vampire getting to her. You were sure as hell not going to let that happen this time, but you had a feeling Wanda could handle her own if someone tried to attack her.

"No," you decided, exhaling softly. "I'm...going to try to find the cure again. If it was just me, that's one thing, but you're right; I can't let Wanda be affected forever too."

Natasha squeezed your hand, and you turned slightly to look at her, finding her giving you a small smile.

"How are you going to find a cure? I thought the only cure to this was if Tatyana reversed what she did, and she's no longer here," Steve asked.

You lick your lips as you lock eyes with David.

"It's been a while, but we're going to find Leo's descendent."

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

The day comes to a quiet end, and you find yourself looking out the window. The city is still bustling, and it's a reminder that New York is a city that never sleeps, and you kind of miss the atmosphere out in the countryside where Clint lived.

Natasha left with David to help him try to track down Leo's descendent. Though, you know it will be relatively easy.

Steve had pulled you aside after asking you seriously if you wanted him to stay to help you with this matter, but you shook your head.

"You need to find Bucky," you tell him. "He's out there, waiting for you unconsciously, I bet."

Steve seems like he wants to stay still, but you smile as you pat his broad shoulder.

"David found a tip on Bucky for you, so you need to go because it's not looking hot for him," you pass him a folded piece of paper.

"What if you need me?" Steve frowned.

"You'll be the first I'll call, solider," you wink.

"I better be," he smiles back, pulling you into a hug before he left.

A part of you wonders how things will play out like how you saw when you touched Tony's hand. Regardless, if you could get Tony to think the Accords was a horrible idea, then things would change.

But changing Tony's mind or trying to influence him was like trying to move a mountain.

"Hey."

You turn to see Wanda standing at the door, far from you. When you turn, she takes it as a sign to enter the room and approach you.

"Hey," you reply, feeling your body going stiff, the conversation with David fresh in your mind.

Wanda stands next to you before turning her head to look at the view outside.

"The view is very different than what I'm used to," she tells you quietly.

"Better or worse?" You ask in return.

"Both. On the one hand, this is not the view of my homeland, but I suppose this is better than watching my country collapse."

You purse your lips at that, feeling sympathy for the girl before you.

"They will rebuild," you tell her softly, "and when you return, it will be a beautiful view once more."

Wanda gives you a small smile as she turns to face you. No one says anything, and the quiet settles over the two of you as you stare at each other.

"I feel like you were meant to be in my life, and I'm meant to be in yours," Wanda tells you, blinking as if she's unsure if she should be saying so.

"You feel something for me," Wanda states, and you immediately rush to deny it.

"Don't," Wanda warns you, and you press your lips together to hold the words back. "You do, and you can't lie to me about it. I...I feel confused around you. You and Natasha. I don't know what to make of any of it."

"There's so much history tied between us...I worry that your feelings are because of my ancestor--because you mistake me for her."

"I don't," you tell her immediately, not wanting her to feel like she was some replacement. "I admit you two are similar...in more ways than you know...but I know that you're not her."

"How?" Wanda smiles sardonically.

"Easiest explanation? Scent. Vampires are extremely sensitive to scent, and you have your own distinct smell. Long explanation? There's no one that could ever replace Tatyana to me, and I don't want anyone to. You are your own person, just as Natasha is. In my heart, Natasha is something new and cannot also ever be replaced," you say, wanting Wanda to understand, but also to draw a line.

"And me?" Wanda pushes. "Where do you want me to stand in your heart?"

You clench your jaw, just about to answer when Natasha and David enter the room.

"We've found the descendent. He lives in Texas," David tells you.

You take a step back from Wanda, clearing your throat quietly as you nod.

Your girlfriend stares at you, her eyes shifting to Wanda for a microsecond before she looks back at you as if Natasha could tell she just walked into a tense moment.

"Good," you say. "We'll leave tomorrow morning. Everyone should get some rest."

You walk towards Natasha, grabbing her hand as you lead her out the room, only looking back once at Wanda, who stood there with her arms crossed over her chest as she looks at you with an expression you find yourself unable to decipher.

Nor forget.

PART XII

#natasha romanoff x reader #wanda maximoff x reader #natasha romanoff imagine #wanda maximoff imagine #wandanat x reader #scarlet witch x reader #black widow x reader #natasha x wanda x you #natasha romanoff x you #avengers reader insert #avengers x reader #marvel reader insert #avengers imagine #mm: my fics #series: Between the Lines

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pikablob · 2 years

Text

To celebrate the end of the year, here's one Behind The Scenes fact for each of my fics:

(barring a few that had nothing interesting about them - some of this I have said before but I'll try and keep this to new facts):

Swim Until You Can't See Land - this was originally going to be two fics, both based on @sarasplenda's really nice headcanons. Summoning Sickness would've been a Wildflowers fic set the morning after The Jorts Incident, where Hilda feels ill and tries to hide it from her mum, leading to everything coming out. Big Sister would've been about Alfur using his nickname for Hilda, and her asking Kaisa what it meant. But in the end I merged both ideas after hearing the song that inspired this fic.

Seventy Times Seven - this fic is actually fluff for a D&D campaign I ran, where the Lady of Pain was trying to rebuild Sigil and the players were trying to stop her because it would mess up the multiverse. I actually really hated the Lady before I wrote this (and in official D&D fluff I still do) but I'm really attached to this version of her,

The Aurora Static - "Makunya" isn't a real Russian name AFAIK; it's a nickname a character in that same D&D world had that I reused, and should mean "little poppy". Looking at it now, I'm 90% sure I botched the diminutive.

There Was A Kindness In Her - this fic breaks a longstanding rule of mine; it's the only Hilda AU I have where Stone Forest/Mountain King happens like it does in canon. All my other AUs either never have Johanna and Hilda's relationship change (Spare Room Safety is most blatant about it) or fix things before the end of Season 2 ("Wildflowers Fics") - the only exception is the Runaway Hilda AU, which diverges after the argument in Stone Forest.

They Wanted A Son - Johanna's parents' apperances are based on Postman Pat and his wife, purely because his wife sometimes looks exactly like Johanna (I actually had to reference her design from the Pat movie specifically to get around this):

Endings Come In Increments - there's a whole cut extra scene in this fic; the original plan was to have Luz get back to the isles and break down in Eda's arms. That's why Eda's in the opening and why it doesn't start with Luz already on Earth. Also this fic is responsible for my pinned post on my main blog; the bad comments were on a reddit post about this fic.

You're Home - it doesn't directly address it, but this fic is meant to be a direct sequel to Blue And Yellow; they can stand alone, so I didn't think it was worth marking them as in a series, but there is one line in this fic that hints at it: “And I meant what I said when I found you,” she continued softly, “when we stopped Andrias; I’m not mad at you. I understand why you wanted to run away.”

Blue And Yellow - this fic literally only exists because @nach0 sent me some of @goodartitude's phenomenal Amphibia art; I actually cried a little at the scene and because of that I had to write it. The detail about it being Marcy's hoodie was also Kamila's idea :))

The Bitter Sting - this is based on an actual bit from the tie-in books; it's just mentioned offhand at one point that Hilda cut herself while trying to get a woodworking badge, and I couldn't get the idea out of my head from there:

(image by @remked :))) - also the knife in that fic is a real one I own, but I just use it for cutting cucumbers.

The Worm Ferned - this fic is named after a filk song about a were-worm called "The Worm Turned"; it has absolutely nothing to do with the fic's content. Worm Fern is a specific thing though; it's the leftmost frame over Hilda's sofa in the apartment (in some episodes it looks more curved & worm-like than others). The name is thanks to @randomwords247 who noticed it while drawing a really cute commission for me (the art at the end of You're Not My Mum).

Spare Room Safety - the ending of this fic, with Frida as the adopted kid asking to sleep with her mum to help her feel safe, was actually re-used from my planned ending to You're Not My Mum, which got changed thanks to the aforementioned adorable art.

You're Not My Mum (And That's Good) - I literally bought the original three Hilda tie-in novels just to write this thing. Thanks to the excerpts I had seen of the books, I was already very iffy about Novel Johanna, but after @trolbergoraclecolumnist described her to me as genuinely abusive I had to write something to fix that and that meant I needed reference. I still have those books; I chose not to donate them or anything partially because I just get super attached to inanimate objects and would feel bad giving them away, but partially so I have reference material if I ever want to write more in this AU. I have also debated getting book 4 (because Novel Bellkeeper and possibly even Novel Victoria could maybe work as alternative adoption routes in a future fic) or the Mountain King novelisation when that comes out just in case it has any details (ranks, weapon designations, protocol stuff) about the Safety Patrol that wasn't in the show.

12 Stands - this fic's concept is much older than the fic itself. It dates back to around the same time as The Cruel Wars (summer 2019) and it basically just sat on the backburner for two years.

Authorisation Void - there wasn't a place to fit it into the fic, so it's not strictly canon, but I do know why Simon came back in this AU; my thought process is that his number was high enough to cause an integer overflow and crash the train's delete process, leaving him orphaned in the train itself (for various reasons in my headcanon the train is basically an overgrown database running Transact-SQL; I have in fact written SQL commands for it for two scenes in my Oregon AU).

After The Fall - a few people have noticed the big change in tone between the chapters in this fic, and that's mainly because I changed the plot late into planning. The original idea was actually to have Gretchen have died in the collapse, and then Gina would meet Nikki while visiting her grave (Nikki would have been visiting Martian Man); I ended up changing it right as I started writing, but I really like it this way.

Rise Again - this fic also has a deleted scene; when I planned it, there was meant to be another train that would pass by after Kaisa left the tracks, which would have been implied to be the Infinity Train (further tying this fic to Trains In The Night), but I ended up feeling it ruined the tone a bit. This is also the most recent fic of mine to mention The Basics of Hyperspatial Spirit Dynamics, which I really need to get back on.

The Author, The Overseer, And The Offer - the theme song of this fic was changed when I posted it. It was actually written (and this whole AU concepted) to Nickelback's Sea Shanty version of Rockstar.

Take The Pain Away - this fic actually took a long time to get written; there's a reason this plotline is mentioned in Checkmate. It was originally supposed to be set after A Day At The Aquarium, until True Colours came along (and now that's changed again). I actually have an old WIP of the original version lying around, back when it was called Dear Sister.

For Lalage's Sake - I very nearly didn't buy the book that this is based on. It was in a nearly-empty WHSmiths, on a really desolate shelf right down in the corner. I ended up going back for the book and going through self-checkout to avoid being judged because it's even more kid-centric than my usual fare.

Checkmate - this was never meant to be posted. I wrote it just to get this scene from Titanomachy down, but a friend of mine said I should put it up to drum up hype for Take The Pain Away, so I did. It is currently considered broad-strokes canon, cause there's a major new moving part I need to work out in Andrias' fall.

The Ones Left Behind - I've talked about the inspiration for this fic before, and how the ending changed, but what I don't think I've mentioned is there's an Owl House reference hidden in it; Frida's chapter is specifically called The Witchling.

You Make Me Feel Safe - the story at the start of this is actually taken almost word-for-word from The Railway Series (Thomas The Tank Engine), just cause I needed a scary story for Hilda to tell and that fit the bill.

You Thought One Day You'd Be Happy, If You Held In All Your Screams - this fic got a lot longer as I wrote it compared to what I originally planned. I genuinely considered cutting this thing off at the end of Grace's first portion, as just an introspection on her after the events of Book 3, but in the end I had to include Hazel. The idea of her making her own way back was inspired pretty heavily by an idea @starlit-lion had, so I'm really thankful for her help on this one (and a lot of my fics tbh; she's one of my best friends and a really good advisor on plot).

Learned Behaviour - that's not the original title. I desperately wanted to call this one 'Problem Child', but I couldn't, because Problem Child is already a fic of mine (the Soul one). This fic also spawned my favourite Hilda fic of all time; @trolbergoraclecolumnist's In Your Arms, so it has that going for it too.

The Girl In The Snow - I've only talked about it with one or two people briefly, but this is actually the first part of an AU comparable in scope to Titanomachy or the Runaway Hilda AU, named Broken Crown. It has unique character designs and multiple arcs planned out, with the idea being a series of stories spanning the entire main continent of Runeterra; I actually have titles for several potential stories in this setting (Betrayal in Demacia, The Piltover Affair, Battle of the Bilgewater, and The Stars Made Manifest). But I'm not sure if I'll ever put the rest of it to paper.

Get Out - I actually think this fic has the weakest Wildflowers moment I've written; I think the reconciliation was handled a lot better in some of my other fics, even Cold Is The Night, but I'm still really happy people like this one.

No For An Answer - this fic was written at a train station in Brighton (incidentally the town where I bought my copy of Hilda and the Mountain King, although that was a different trip) while I was waiting for my train home after visiting the town and seeing my grandparents. I'd actually written off the fic's concept at first, because I didn't think I could pull off the subject matter, but @trolbergoraclecolumnist helped me change my mind (something similar happened with The Bitter Sting).

Hilda And The Secret Of Black Rock - for this one, you need to know a bit about how I write; whenever I need to get a character to sound right, I listen to their voice and try and get it in my head. When characters don't have a voice, I improvise; the result of this is Erin is Hilda pitch-shifted up slightly (I also characterised her with a shorter temper).

WW/blackrabbit_overR_21.02_113.exe - I don't think anyone's noticed this, but the version of Bonnie's app (21.02_113) contains the month it was written (February 2021 - it was posted later); this is cause it's actually taken from the version number of the software I test at work, and we release monthly (113 is completely made up). That being said the code in this is complete bunk; it's my attempt to expand the pseudocode seen in the game over screens in Popgoes and has bits taken from SQL, Windows Shell Language, and Java (specifically "bootstrap started", which is a reference to the old Minecraft Launcher that I use as an occasional running reference).

Two Girls In A Bus Stop Shelter - I actually like this version of Lucy's realisation more than her one in How Did You Know? Also, this fic's title is actually re-used from an old scrapped Oregon idea called Two Girls In A Gas Station Forecourt.

Someone Else - the bit at the end of this fic, where Johanna "hugs" Alfur using one hand because he's that small and knocks the hat off his head with her thumb, was actually inspired by a meme gif, specifically this one (I have no idea who created this sorry I just have it in my images folder):

Nothing's The Same - Tontu wasn't actually supposed to be in this fic; there's a reason he's mentioned as keeping to himself at first, because this was set out as a Gerdanna fic. But I couldn't get Gerda's arrival to work right, so I ended up using Tontu instead, and I think that made the fic a lot better.

Crossing The Divide - this was actually inspired by some fanart I saw which had Twig as a human. I can't find it again now (IIRC I unfollowed the creator because they were really into South Park and I just don't like that show), unfortunately, but it was really cute and it made me want to do an AU where that happened for real. I will say that as a human physically Twig is ~3 years younger than Hilda despite considering himself the older sibling.

Insubordination - this is a rewrite of one of my oldest fics, with the original (still available on fanfiction.net) dating back to 2016; it was supposed to kick off an entire Insubordination-verse that eventually got rolled into my Multiverse crossover before finally being cancelled.

Hearts And Minds - I actually pirated Raya specifically as reference for this fic; I still have it downloaded as a result, although I haven't watched it in a while.

Everything's Changed - this fic marks the first time anyone did art for my fics without already being a friend of mine (although I've had people offer to write for my AUs before), and I really really love what @airborneice drew for it. For a long time that was actually the Runaway AU's unofficial cover art in my notes, before the actual cover came along. Also because I got things slightly wrong and don't care enough to change it, this fic makes Runaway Hilda technically a year younger than her canon counterpart.

How Did You Know? - Trans Girl David was very nearly named Luna; the name just kinda got stuck in my head, but I ended up changing it to Lucy, something similar-sounding but different (taken from the Infinity Train character) because Luna didn't flow well with Hilda and Frida's names.

Trains In The Night - the general vibe of this fic, with the awful apartment and Johanna's struggles of trying to raise Hilda and Simon alone, draws a surprising amount from the Percy Jackson series. Most notably, Martha Laurent was directly based on Gabe Ugliano.

To The Hills - I actually can't reread this fic without crying now; every time I get to the end, and it sinks in that Hilda isn't coming back for a whole year, it gets to me.

Full Disclosure - I don't remember who it was, but someone on the Hilda subreddit discord server actually named the Mayor of Trolberg in this fic for me. Visually in my head I based her off Hester from Mortal Engines, although without the distinctive scarring that makes her who she is which the movie erased.

Cat Wolfslayer: The Axe-Lord's Daughter - I've considered writing a sequel to this fic several times, but I've gone off it every one, because I think there's one big problem; Cat wouldn't join Kipo's group. She has her own family and would go back with the Timbercats at the end of Episode 4, so I decided not to explore that AU.

The House On The Sand - this fic literally changed everything for me; it was the fic that made me realise that the Runaway AU could be an anthology, and it's the only reason the AU is so fleshed out as a result.

Hideaway - my favourite chapter title of any fic is in this; specifically Chapter 3: I Can't Tell You All My Secrets. Like all the chapter titles in that fic, it's a song lyric, but it's specifically the first from Strong, which is Sally's song in the Lightning Thief musical (she actually says it later on in the fic, too). And while this chapter is very much about Sally caring for June and reassuring her, the thing that really gets me is that in the narrative; it's June who can't tell her secrets at this point, not Sally. I just love how well that reversal works.

After Hours - what is there to say about the first and greatest Wildflowers Fic? I've explained the inspiration behind this fic and how much it changed already, but what I'll just add is that I had to rewrite it slightly because I got the layout of Hilda's apartment wrong at first. The original had the flat being across two floors, because I assumed it was, but upon rewatching it's very clearly all on one floor so a staircase became a corridor in the scene where Johanna catches Kaisa.

#ramble #fanfiction

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zerosocialskillz · 3 years

Text

I heard that in the Madness Combat universe, Nevada is the most normal place compared to other places.

Plus, the farther you get away from Nevada, the worse the place is.

I would propose a Friday Night Funkin’ AU where this is true and Boyfriend’s place (Philadelphia) is worse than Nevada yet he still fights for his girlfriend (in fact, this post was about that), but I decided to explain that one in my already existing AU that I actually created and developed:

The Standing on New Grounds AU, a mostly canon compliant AU where Madness Combat, Friday Night Funkin, the latter’s mods, and some other stuff take place in the same world.

In reality (in this AU), Nevada is the worst place to go to, and it’ll be a death wish if you even step foot in there. For some reason, Hank and his species—called crosslings in this AU—do not leave the place, and it’s all because of two simple things:

Propaganda and illusions.

There are lots of misinformation within Nevada about the state of the world beyond its borders. While it is true to some extent in Utah (where the Tankmen, uh, duke it out), it is... not actually true. As stated, Nevada is literally the worst place to go to, as the improbability drives makes this state the hellhole it is today.

Worse, the ones who spread these misinformation are the ones who made Nevada... the hellhole it is in the first place.

For whatever reason, the drives do not work outside of Nevada. As a result, they had to keep all of the inhabitants inside somehow so they don’t spread detailed information from their accounts.

How it works is that there is an imaginary wall that contains Nevada. If any other species goes through these borders (including the Tankmen), nothing will happen as the wall’s creators haven’t implemented that feature yet (they’re working on it but are thwarted by the government who doesn’t like that plan). However, if it comes to the crosslings... hoo boy.

They will see a different world from reality. A worse world than Nevada. At the beginning, it looks like Nevada but ever so slightly worse. But the farther they go from the walls, the worse the illusions get. The other side is uninhabitable, and yes, you can die in this fake world.

Thing is, the crossling who touches the wall disappears into nothingness, but for them, they didn’t get teleported into the simulation of—for example—a worse California. For them, they stepped into a California where it’s worse than it actually is.

The landscape is the same as the real world except post-apocalyptic. Dunno why they decided to keep the same landmarks and everything, but I guess it’s to sell the illusion if some madman decided to map out the fake world and see how accurate it is to the maps made before the hellhole incident.

Crosslings can see other real crosslings in the illusions, as all of them share one giant illusion. Of course, this is to sell it as reality the propaganda says. However, they cannot see the other species who touched the wall because, as I said earlier, this does not work with other species. They can’t even hear them.

Strangely enough, they still connect to the real world’s internet in this illusion.

So how does this tie to the Standing on New Grounds AU? That’s where Hank and Boyfriend step in.

After Tricky’s disappearance during the Tricky mod (or after Hank’s week), Hank, interested in Boyfriend’s world which is far away from the borders of Nevada, decided to ask the human about his experiences there. Boyfriend then explains stuff that definitely do not line up with what the AAHW said (which is something that Hank suspected). He also managed to convince Hank to go to the outside world with him, which Hank agrees.

The two of them, alongside Girlfriend, step out of the border only to learn that Hank is nowhere to be seen, Vice versa for Hank.

They then learn about the magical border that prevents crosslings from leaving Nevada, and it only fueled Hank’s determination to end the AAHW once and for all.

And so, Hank let the outsiders go home, while he stays to end this madness... and maybe kill more people along the way.

#madness combat #Friday night funkin #au #random idea #I still propose for Apocalypse Friday Night Funkin' AU btw

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fific7 · 4 years

Text

That Swept-Back Hair

Billy Russo x Reader

@omgrachwrites 500 Follower Celebration

AU Prompt: Friends with Benefits

Summary: How will Billy Russo react when his FWB finds another lover? Bearing in mind that he’s a complete hypocrite.

Warnings: Swearing, jealousy, fluff with mentions of sex.

A/N: Loosely based on S1 Billy, it’s non-canon & set in my imaginary Punisher universe.

(My GIF)

»»———————————————　⚜　———————-————————-««

Your phone was jumping like a jack-in-the-box on your bedside table, the blue light of the screen illuminating the wall behind it every few seconds.

You rolled over with a groan, taking a moment before picking it up and looking at it. Of course it was Billy Russo, who else would it be at 1 AM on a Saturday morning?

The guy next to you in the bed also rolled over, covering his mouth as he yawned, eyes half-open.

“Everything OK, Y/N?” he asked.

“Yeah, Raf, just a needy friend.... gonna call them back, so do you mind staying hush-hush for the next few minutes?”

He yawned massively again, speaking through it, “Ahhhhrrrrr...yeah... no problem...”

You hit the ‘Favourites’ star next to Billy’s name in your contacts, hearing it start ringing.

It went to voicemail so you hung up, slid the phone onto the table and threw your head back down onto your pillow. Fucking Russo. Blows up your phone with missed calls & “Pick up!!” texts then doesn’t answer when you call back.

It rang two seconds later, just as Raf had turned towards you, opening his mouth to no doubt ask you about your ‘needy friend’. You rolled your eyes and grabbed it, but the screen went dark just as you did so.

You hit redial, it rang out, went to voicemail. “Fuck!” you ground out between your teeth.

Your head had touched your pillow again for about 5 minutes, when there was a staccato series of knocks on your apartment door.

You shot up in bed, quivering - ah hell, it couldn’t be, could it? Really?

Raf had dozed back off in the meantime & didn’t even stir when the knocks rang out sharply in the quiet apartment. Not much of a guard dog, you thought, quickly throwing on your discarded PJs.

You padded barefoot over to the front door, confirming via the peephole that Billy Russo was indeed outside in the hallway, leaning on your doorframe so he could place one eye right to it. You spotted an eyebrow wiggle as you made eye contact. Oh holy hell!

You straightened your shoulders, took the chain off and unlocked the door, swinging it open.

“Billy!” you said quietly, with a small smile, “What brings you here?” You hadn’t seen hide nor hair of him for about three weeks. Not that that was anything new.

He moved gracefully past you like the panther he was, even though you’d been trying to subtly block him from coming in. He was dressed in one of his sharp suits, so you guessed he’d been at one of the never-ending stream of events he attended.

Your mouth drew into a line. Whoever he’d gone there with must have bucked the trend and bailed on him. Otherwise he wouldn’t have turned up at your place when, in his mind, the night was still young.

He turned towards you, placing both hands on your hips as he did so, pulling you up against his muscled chest.

“Now, Y/N, why do you think I’m here, holding my best girl in my arms?” the New York accented voice purred in your ear.

He leant in and kissed you hungrily, deepening the kiss immediately to a passionate one.

You pulled away, escaping his grasp. His eyes widened in surprise, a small frown making its way onto his brow. A few locks of his dark hair had fallen forward onto his brow and he swept them back up with his fingers, a reflexive gesture for him.

“I tried to call you back,” you mumbled, “I’ve... uh... got a friend staying with me at the moment.”

He shot his trademark smirk at you. “Hey, that’s OK. We can be quiet for once, yeah?” Grinning now.

In true romcom fashion, Raf picked that moment to come wandering into the lounge, clad only in his boxers, both hands ruffling through his short hair.

Billy’s mouth dropped open. He made a quick recovery, though. Gestured with a thumb.

“So... this your ‘friend’?”

He looked Raf up and down. He was a 6 feet 3 firefighter with the FDNY, and to put it mildly, he was ripped.

He topped Billy by a couple of inches, and by a few pounds. Billy scowled at him.

Raf eyed up Billy too, turning to you and asking, “This your ‘needy friend’ you were talkin’ ‘bout, Y/N?”

Oh crap.

Billy’s scowl turned to a furious glare, aimed right at you. “Needy?!! Ah, fuck this, Y/N! I think we all know who’s needy around here.”

Your mouth rounded into an offended O, but before you could reply, Billy was out the door and it slammed loudly behind him.

Great - now all your neighbours were gonna be mad at you too.

»»———————————————-　⚜　-———-———————————-««

You had then spent an uncomfortable half hour over a coffee with Raf, explaining the dynamics of your non-relationship with Billy.

“Now,” he’d said, brow furrowed, “let me get this straight. He’s part of your friend group, you see him every so often at a bar or at one of their places - but never his. He sees tons of other women but turns up here for booty calls whenever his busy schedule allows?”

He shook his head. “He’s using you, Y/N. What a selfish prick.”

You bristled, “Look, we go back quite a ways. Since he was in the Marines. I knew Frank first as we were neighbours when we were kids, and I eventually met Billy through him. He’s Frankie’s best friend, they’re Marine brothers.”

“And how long have you been ‘friends with benefits’?”

You muttered your response. “Sorry, what was that you said?” he asked.

“Three years,” you repeated reluctantly.

“Damn.” he said. “And what am I, exactly? Filler for whenever fuckboy isn’t calling?”

“No! Raf, you’re a really nice guy, and I love spending time with you.”

He stood up, heading to the bedroom. “Look, I’m gonna go. I need a few days to try and get my head round your fucked-up relationship with the suit-wearing Marine.”

He’d left shortly afterwards, saying he’d call. You weren’t sure that he would.

You met up with Karen for lunch later that day. You’d been co-workers first off, then had become good friends. She was currently dating Frank, your childhood friend.

You were so glad that he was back out socialising, in a small way, after losing his wife and kids in a brutal gang clash just over a year before. They and several others had been what the papers described, rather callously, as “collateral damage” while minding their own business in the public park the gun fight took place in.

Frank had understandably closed himself off to a large extent as he grieved and after a decent interval, you’d tried your best to draw him back out in a gentle way. You’d decided to indulge in a bit of Matchmaking Lite, and had invited Karen along to a night out with the rest of your friends. You knew Frank would be there and as you’d hoped, they hit it off right away.

You spilled what had happened the night before to her, grateful for a shoulder to cry on. She looked and sounded sympathetic, but you knew she wasn’t a big fan of your arrangement with Billy. She again voiced her astonishment that you still had it going on with him.

“Karen, without making you vomit by sharing too many details, Billy is just the absolute best in bed. He’s got the stamina of an ox. Several oxes, in fact.” You just knew your eyes had a faraway look in them.

Her mouth pursed in a ‘moux’ of distaste. “But still, Y/N, he’s just so damn selfish about it! It’s all on his terms.”

“You know he’s got commitment issues.”

She choked on her espresso martini. “Ya don’t say!!”

“It’s complicated.”

“Look, honey, I’m gonna be straight with you. It is anything but complicated. He spends 90% of his time at Anvil, 9.9% with other gals, and guess who gets the remaining measly 0.1%, the crumbs from his table?” She pointed her finger straight at you. “Coconut for the lady over there!”

You sat in silence for several minutes, turning over in your mind what Raf, and now Karen, had said to you. Eventually you nodded slowly. “You know what, Kar, you’re totally right. I just let the great sex blind me to all the rest of his fucking bullshit.”

Time to cut Billy loose.

Not that you ever had him tied down in the first place. If you were being brutally honest.

And you weren’t sure whether he’d even bother showing up at your place ever again.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

The next day being Sunday meant that some serious ‘Me Time’ was in order.

Sitting on the sofa, you stared off into space, thinking about the two men in your life. You huffed to yourself; you hadn’t heard from either of them so far, and that was probably for the best. You could do without being stuck in the middle of some kind of testosterone-fuelled conflict between the two of them.

Then you laughed out loud at yourself. Who were you kidding? You’d probably never see either of them again! You stood up, stretching out your shoulder and neck muscles. Time for a bit of self-pampering.

You had a long relaxing bath, gave yourself a leisurely mani-pedi, ordered in some pizza, and began to go through some layouts for work the next day.

You were a digital content editor at the newspaper both you & Karen worked for. It was okay as jobs went, but it didn’t set your world on fire. However, what did excite you was that the newspaper’s parent publishing house was about to launch a travel magazine, and you’d applied for a transfer.

What really made butterflies pop up into your stomach, though, was the fact that the magazine’s content editors would also be contributing instead of just collating. You’d already had an interview with the Editor in Chief, and should be hearing back within the next few days.

If someone else got that position you’d applied for, you’d just have to shove them out of your third floor office window at the very first opportunity.

While you were thinking of potentially becoming a murderer, there was a familiar pattern of raps at your door. Your heart sank straight through your boots.

You knew it was Billy before you opened the door. It sounded ridiculous but he had a certain way of knocking. Peremptory, demanding, with military precision.

He stood outside your door, tensed up and rigid, with a carefully blank look on his face.

“You alone?” he barked, by way of greeting.

You crossed your arms over your chest, glaring at him. “Why, hello Billy. How are you? I’m fine, Y/N, how are you? Yeah, I’m great.”

He glared right back. “I asked if you were alone.”

“That’s highly unlikely, Billy, seeing as how I’m so needy!”

He huffed and marched inside straight to the sofa, sitting down and leaning his arms on his spread-apart thighs. He clasped his hands together, letting them dangle loosely between his knees.

“You said I was needy first.” Sulky face.

“Hey, are we back in school or something?”

He looked up at you, dark eyes staring into yours intensely. “Why d’you get with another guy, Y/N?”

Straight to the point, then. OK, you were going to return the favour.

“What, I’m not allowed to have a life? D’you think I’m going to just sit around, waiting to gratefully receive 5 minutes of your attention every few weeks? Like some kind of fucktoy, to be picked up and dropped at will? Seriously?”

He clenched his fingers until the joints went white. “I thought you were happy with the way things are between us!!?... our... our arrangement. You’re important to me. And you know I care about you!” Not meeting your eyes at this last comment.

“Huh!!!” You leant against your kitchen island, you weren’t going to get into Billy’s orbit. Too risky.

“So important that you spend all your time at work, while bedding half of Manhattan? Leaving me with the crumbs from your table, as someone put it recently.”

He shot up from the sofa, fury in his eyes. “Who fuckin’ said that?!”

You shrugged, “It’s not important. What is important is that our arrangement, as you call it, is over. Since you put it in such business-like terms, think of it as a contract which has been terminated.”

Billy stalked across the room until he was an inch away from you, eyes boring into yours. “No.”

You laughed in disbelief, eyebrows arching. “You think that just cos you say ‘No’ it’s not gonna happen? Because no-one ever says no to Billy Russo, is that it?”

He grabbed you, lips finding yours in a ferocious kiss. One hand crept up the nape of your neck, his fingers running through your hair, while the other hand pulled your hips to his. He had an impressive erection. You gasped as you felt the pressure of it against you, but pushed him away, escaping to the other side of the kitchen island.

“Just go, Billy. Please.”

He stared at you, wide-eyed, those dark pools of his looking suspiciously glossy. Was he...? No way.

Billy turned on his heel and slammed out of your apartment. Again.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Billy knocked his beer bottle off the table with his elbow, as he leant forward to drunkenly wave a finger in his friend’s face. Luckily, it fell onto the grassy verge below, rather than the decked patio they were sitting on in Frank’s back garden.

Frank grabbed his finger. “Russo!!! Chill out, man.”

“She tol’ me... t’go, Frankie, I was kissin’ her an’ she jus’ said Go!” slurred Billy. Frank squeezed his eyes shut at the whiny tone then looked back at him.

“Bill! We all warned you she wouldn’t put up with your bullshit forever. You should’ve known this was comin’ bud.”

“Bu’ I... I... love her,” he blurted, then stared at Frank, eyes wide, part horrified, part terrified.

“Got a strange way of showin’ it, Bill. Picking other women over her, until you decide it’s time to hook up. Surprised she’s stood for it so long!”

Billy swayed slightly in his garden chair, just staring back at him, nodding repetitively like a bobble head every so often.

“I gotta get her back, Frankie.”

“Whooo,” Frank huffed out a big breath, “well, ya always did like to choose the impossible missions, Russo.”

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

You were beginning to understand what having a stalker was like.

When you left work the following day, the first person you spotted on the sidewalk outside your office building was Billy Russo.

You hesitated, shocked, then nodded and said quietly, “Hi Billy,” before continuing your short walk to the subway.

He fell into step alongside you. “M’gonna show you just how much I care about you,” you heard, then he was gone. Just gone, into the crowd of commuters around you.

That was just the beginning. Every morning, one single rose of the palest pearly pink would be delivered to your office, laying in a swirl of black chiffon within a silver gift box.

Texts would drop into your phone at unexpected hours. “Please forgive me. Let me back into your life. I love you, Y/N.”

The first time you saw those words, you nearly dropped your phone. What the....?

Gourmet meals and bottles of rosé prosecco would be delivered to your door, precisely 30 minutes after you’d get home. Was he watching you or something? A little shiver ran up your spine. He was still a sniper, after all.

You would catch glimpses of Billy when you left the office, and outside your apartment. Without a shadow of a doubt, he meant you to see him, he would never be so visible on a real surveillance job. But he didn’t ever approach you.

Then you got your dream job. You, Karen and a bunch of your colleagues went to your regular bar after work for a quick celebration. There was a toast proposed to your new job at one point, and one of your male colleagues grabbed you in a friendly bear hug after they’d all shouted “Cheers!”

You were looking past his arm as he hugged you, and found yourself staring into Billy Russo’s dark eyes. Casually dressed, he was leaning on a high table near the door, a beer in front of him.

Billy lazily pushed back from his table, strode over to you, swiped you out of the guy’s arms, wrapped his own arms round you and planted a kiss on your temple, with a nonchalant, “Hi, sweetheart.”

Karen, who had heard all about your last encounter with Billy, looked thunderstruck. You’d be getting interrogated later, that was for sure.

He, meanwhile, landed another kiss right next to your lips and said, “See you later at home,” giving you a quick squeeze before walking off.

Your female colleagues meanwhile were swooning over Billy, one of them commenting that she wasn’t surprised you’d kept so damn quiet about your hot boyfriend. You gave Karen a meaningful look and just smiled back at them all, neither confirming nor denying anything.

However the feeling of Billy’s body against yours, the delicious smell of him, his lips on your skin, had set your heart racing at a dangerous speed. You really did try to push those thoughts aside.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Flopping down onto your sofa when you got home, you laid your head back on it and thought about that evening. As expected, Karen had questioned you ruthlessly as you left the bar together, like the perceptive investigative reporter she was.

Talking as you walked to the subway, you’d given her every detail of all the deliveries, glimpses of him and texts you’d received in the last few days. Karen had stopped walking, looking at you in surprise. “Y/N, why didn’t you tell me about all of this before now? Hell, Frank told me he had some crazy plan to win you back, but I never really thought...” her voice trailed off.

“Is it working?” she asked next. “Mmmm, yes and no, to be honest,” you said. “Don’t let it!” she said firmly, “This is what he should have been doing all along, instead of treating you like a total afterthought.”

You nodded, “Can’t argue with ya on that,” you agreed. “Is he going to turn up at your place, d’you think?” she asked. “Wouldn’t be surprised,” you laughed, “I think that was Billy giving me a heads-up.”

So as you’d been 90% expecting, the familiar knock at the door came about 15 minutes after you’d got back. You got up and after checking the peephole, sighed and opened it. “Hi, Billy.”

This was like déjà vu. Billy brushed past you and sat himself down on the sofa, in the same pose as the last time. Head down, hair falling forward and hiding his eyes from you. This time, you bit the bullet and sat at the opposite end, leaning against the armrest so you were facing him.

“Well, Billy.... leaving aside the stalkerish overtones, I guess I should thank you for the roses, gourmet meals and prosecco.”

He swung his head towards you, eyes wide. “They were just to get your attention. Frankie told me it’s what I shoulda been doin’ anyway, all along.”

You nodded, “Yeah, he’s not wrong.”

Billy heaved out a big sigh, head dropping. “I know I’ve been a complete shit to you, Y/N. Took you for granted.” He met your eyes again, “Truth is, I was fallin’ in love with you, and I really didn’t know how to handle it. I thought it was... just sex to you, so I... I was a coward and tried to ignore it, and acted like I didn’t give a shit about you. I just couldn’t have you kick me to the curb if I told you how I felt.”

You were genuinely shocked - Billy had never talked about his feelings before. You’d accepted this in the past, telling yourself it was due to his upbringing in the system.

“So you meant what you said in your daily texts, then?”

He nodded, still looking straight at you, “Yeah...I meant it, I do love you, Y/N.” Then he quickly looked down again.

Before you could stop yourself, you’d leant along the sofa and your fingers were pushing that silky hair off his forehead. He looked up at you, taking hold of your wrist and kissing your pulse point softly. You stood up, saying “C’mere, you,” and took hold of his hand, pulling him up along with you.

He put his arms round you, burying his face into your hair and just holding you. “I’ve missed you,” he mumbled. You laughed, “What?! Even though you hadn’t seen me for weeks before the night you landed on my doorstep?!”

“I know, I know, you don’t need to remind me I’ve been a complete prick. I’ll be honest, I think it took me seein’ you with that guy, and him actin’ like you were his, to give me that kick up the ass I needed.” The dark eyes looked down at you, and he sniffed, “He still around?” You shook your head.

“Nah. I think he thought I was completely insane for still being with you.”

Billy laughed, “Maybe he’s right....” he looked at you, serious again. “You willin’ to give me another chance, Y/N? I promise you I’ll do it right this time. The whole dating thing, asking you to be my girlfriend after three dates, all that stuff... everything.”

“Everything? Like, what if I say no sex to start with? And no running off to other women to scratch that itch? You’ll swear to all that? Really?!”

“I swear to you, on my Ka-Bar.”

“Wow,” you said, knowing that the knife was never out of Billy’s possession. It was an integral part of him. Maybe he was serious after all.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

A small kiss on your cheek woke you the next morning. Those eyes, those dark liquid pools, stared into yours, while a thumb ran over your cheek. “Mornin’, sweetheart,” smiling down at you. Reaching up, you ran your fingers into his hair, moving it off his forehead. “Morning, sweetheart,” you echoed, smiling back.

You and Billy had shared a bed but nothing else, except hugs and hand-holding. You were in your PJ’s - well, camisole top with matching shorts - and all Billy had on were his boxer briefs. You couldn’t deny you’d had thoughts of just leaping on him during the night... let’s face it, he was one hot dude. And he knew how to ‘look after’ a woman in bed, as he himself put it.

But no, you were determined he was gonna have to work for it, just like he promised he would. So you’d had to show some self-discipline, well, a lot of it, actually. He’d passed the first test - he’d actually stayed all night. Usually he was gone before the morning light stole through the curtains.

Now, he kissed your bare shoulder and leapt out of bed, like he was back in the Marines. He stood still for a moment, sideways next to the bed, having a leisurely full body stretch. Billy knew full well you’d be totally enjoying the view. A little tease from him to remind you what you were missing.

The sunlight, which stole through a small gap between your curtains in the otherwise dim room, picked out the sculpted muscles on his back & torso. Then he turned slightly more, ensuring you wouldn’t miss seeing the hard-on he was currently sporting. You shook your head, with a slight smile on your lips. The cocky big bastard.

“Where you off to, Billy?” you asked, thinking to yourself, if he’s headed to Anvil, he can fucking shove his second cha......

“I’m gonna make my beautiful almost-girlfriend a cup of good Italian coffee.”

You smiled at his departing back as he disappeared out of the bedroom. “Oh, Billy?”

His voice drifted back through from the kitchen, “Yeah, darlin’?”

“Can I please get some toast with that, too?”

“Sure, sweetheart.”

You stretched luxuriously, nestling your head into your pillows.

Looked like you were going to find out what having a panther on a leash was like.

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