#why did I make this again the instructions were unclear | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kanene-yaaay · 1 year

Text

Childish Fights and Loud Laughter

Kanene’s notes: For some reason I am going back to my old fandoms? dfghyygtfdf anyway I re-watched atla once again last month and finally got some time and energy to write a tickle fic for it! Yesh!!!!

Warnings: Zuko’s general grumpiness, but only that. Switch!Zuko and Switch!Aang. I have no idea when that happens but it’s before the Sozin’s Comet. Around 3500 words.

[~*~]

Aang was staring at him.

Not that being stared at was something new in his life. Zuko grew rather accustomed to it, being the first heir of the Firelord and having a gigantic scar that covers half of your face usually made you the most interesting person in a crowd.

Still, it didn't mean that Zuko had to like it. Actually, he didn’t even understand why Aang was paying such a close attention to him now. After months of being friends, he should already be used to Zuko's presence in their group. Was he having second thoughts about accepting him as his teacher? Why? Was it because of the mistake in their morning training?

It wasn’t even a gigantic thing. Aang just got a way too light hit in his side that made him lose his concentration of his firebending and flinch away from the strange, electric sensation on his side.

(If that told him something about Aang's improvement or about Zuko's own lack of skills it was unclear.)

In the end, the reason for the staring didn't matter. It wouldn't be the first time Zuko would lose everything for a single mistake. He just needed to prove to the Avatar that he was still a worthy ally and teacher.

He got up.

"Break's time is over. Come on, let's spar and then run through your katas again. From first to tenth."

As always, the authority in his voice made Aang immediately jump to his feet, although no more moves were made to follow the instructions, the boy was still watching him for something.

"What!" He bristled.

"Did you injure your side?"

"With your weak hit? You just got me off guard, that is all." Zuko readied himself in an offensive stance, beginning his attack. "Let's see if you can do it again, and no more holding back your punches. You won't have this mercy when it comes to the Firelord."

"I know, I know." But instead of the defeated look that always took over the younger's face every time he mentioned his father, Aang's expression quickly bounced back to a curious expression, dodging from his flames and attacks with fluid moves (it was both weird and interesting to see how much fo the other elements affected his actions even when he wasn't using his bending).

"Are you sure you're not injured, though? You did jump pretty high back there."

Zuko felt like there was something hidden in the other’s voice. A kind of light reflected in his eyes, a different way that he seemed not worried at all in trying to fight back, an extra bounce in his step.

And for some reason, now the Avatar keeps smiling at him. Which, when the subject was about how he possibly was or not injured, didn't make Zuko very confident about his safety.

"I am not hurt." Irritation began filling his words. "Take this seriously! Fight back!"

"I will! I will! I am just curious, why did you jump away?"

"For no reason! It doesn't matter."

"No one squeals and jumps away for no reason." Was he getting closer?

"I did not squeal!" Zuko widened his stance and with a circling gesture, moved his arms until his palms were facing the ground, ceasing the fire attacks before adjusting himself to a standing position. "And if you rather keep mocking me than really focusing on your training, then I suppose that you can continue mastering your firebending alone."

He turned away, feeling strangely out of place, before fast steps put Aang right in front of him, arms in a placating gesture and his expression full of alarm and a bit of regret.

"No, wait! I wasn't mocking you, I swear." Aang then took a respectful stance and bowed, with his thumb poking out from his closed fist resting on his open palm. "Please don’t give up from me yet, Sifu Ho-" at Zuko's glare, he bit back the 'hotman'. "Uhhhhh, Sifu Zuko."

The older one took a deep breath, wondering if his uncle also felt the same feeling of old all the times Zuko kept pushing his proper training off to complain about capturing the Avatar and restoring his honor.

Life really comes to a full cycle, doesn't it?

He bowed, as well, mirroring Aang's gesture and respect, letting his usual irritation wash away, a common pinch of guilt that always came when he let his angry outbursts control his decisions appearing once again.

His point still stands, though.

"Alright." His tune was tough, but not unkind, a soft kind of relaxation taking over his gestures. He should at least try to have the same patience as his uncle. "Let's try again. Firs-"

"I am just really curious!" Aang cut him, basically bouncing on the same place, his energetic big smile back to his face now that the misunderstanding had been cleared. "If you're not injured, does that mean you're ticklish?"

For some reason, Aang seemed about to launch himself straight to the sky with how much he was beaming. In a blink, Zuko remembered old memories of his and his mother's laughter, of Lu Ten's surprise attacks and Mai's playful touches before he threw everything away to fulfill his own destiny.

And, in another bewildered blink, abruptly, Aang's smile and actions made complete sense. Zuko looked at him with wide eyes.

"I-"

Before the prince could answer, however, the avatar jumped at him, not wasting a single second as he locked on his sides with a horrible scribbling that made he feel like there was thousands of feathers teasing his sensitive torso, following his body even when the surprise attack made him fall on his back, holding his reactions with all his will power.

"I knew it. You are!" The scribbling quickly evolved to a series of light pinches and squeezes that almost made him jump away as they traveled too much close to his stomach, giggles beginning to bubble in his throat. "I can't believe you never told us about it before!"

"W-why-" He bit back a squeal, refusing to fall for such childish play. "Why would I snkr e-ever tell you tha-ah!"

Aang beamed even more at the muffled yelp that came when he experimentally scratched at his belly, deciding that it was a perfect place to dance and wiggle his fingers freely.

"Because it is fun! And it would be nice to see your smile. I don't think we ever heard you truly laugh since you joined the group!"

"I don't need to laugh." He gritted through his firmly pressed lips, turning his face away, feeling his features getting hot at the hopeful and bright expression from Aang at the giddiness slipping through the tears in his barriers. "We need to t-t-train. Don't!"

Zuko maybe, if he wasn’t totally concentrated in not dying because anywhere - absolutely any other place - would be better than that spot, would definitely feel mortified by the honest to Agni high pitched plea that fled from his mouth when the other poked his bellybutton curiously.

Aang smiled even wider, somehow.

"You also have a ticklish bellybutton?" He poked the tickle spot again and again, giggling in delight when Zuko wiggled from one side to another with even the slightest hint of a touch. "Just like Sokka! He would go totally crazy when we tickled his belly. Katara even had this secret technique she did when..." Suddenly, he stopped.

Zuko could see the exact moment the Avatar got an evil idea.

"No.” Aang didn’t move. “Don’t you even think about it!"

He tried to roll away, legs too weak to help him in a chase. Nevertheless, the other's playful hands followed him, pulling him back and straddling his waist so he could rest his index fingers and thumbs at each side of his bellybutton, making Zuko take a wobbly gulp of oxygen.

"Aang-" He tried to push the hands away but the Avatar was as immovable as a rock, grinning at him a tad manically. "Aang, I am g-going to make you do so many katas you will keep doing them in your sleep! Don't you dare!"

The Avatar, the bridge between the spiritual world, the one responsible to bring peace and balance to the four nations, the only one in the world able to master all the elements, the agent of evil snickered and did, in fact, dare.

For Zuko's complete mortification and immediate defeat, he began squeezing.

It was horrible. It was unbearable. Each squeeze made his entire body spasm with the sheer force of keeping his laughter inside, face growing more and more red as the tickling just did not stop.

That was when Aang's voice cut through air.

"Hey, actually, this gives me an idea! Wanna see a cool trick?" Zuko shook his head and Aang laughed. "Okay, I will show you anyway! It goes like this: 'Hello, I'm Mister Bellybutton and I am supeeeeeer ticklish!"

He was squeezing said tickle spot as if it was a mouth, pretending it was speaking and even making a goofy voice for it as if they were both tiny kids and not the future firelord and the one destined to end a one hundred year war, full of responsibilities and posture to uphold and Zuko…

"Squish! Squish, squish, squish, squishsquishsquishsquish-"

Zuko exploded in a loud, boisterous laughter.

"S-SHUHUHUHUT AHAHAHAHAHAP!"

Whether it was for the sheer absurdity of it all, the awful and playful impersonation of a silly voice or the tickly shocks that filled all his nerves and senses he couldn't say. Actually, other than becoming a mess of laughter and sounds that were supposed to be words but were too lost in crackles to be understood, he wasn’t able to say much.

"Oh my god!!! Zuko, this is your laughter?! It's so nice! I can't believe we never tried to tickle you before!"

Zuko realized that he couldn’t do anything to stop the unfair tickle attack on his stomach, especially when Aang focused on using his other fingers to prod the sensitive skin and buzz on it, pulling a series of startled snorts that made the prince immediately hide his flaming face on his hands.

"Noooo, come on, not fair! You can't hide your smile, that is against the rules!"

"THEHEHEHERE'S NO RUHULES!"

"Of course there it is! Every tickle fight has rules. Like: no hiding your smile, no covering your face, and especially…"

The younger relented his attack giggling together with the other's remnant and uncontrollable titters as Zuko tried to recompose himself, feeling yet still a bit dazed with the sudden joy and adrenaline that were still running in his veins.

Wait. Why was it so quiet? Aang was saying something, wasn't he?

"Never leave a tickle spot unprotected unless you want it to be tickled!"

Suddenly fingers began kneading his ribs and Zuko's arms shot down in a too late attempt to protect them, a loud yelp announcing the comeback of an unstoppable mix of fast, airy giggles and eventual squeaks that didn’t wait to mingle in such a rare and beautiful melody.

"Here is it!" Zuko wasn't sure how, but he could swear that Aang somehow got more than two hands, because in a blink the wiggling fingers that were prodding and drawing circles on his ribcage were not only assaulting his neck and ears with a skillful spidering scratches and nimbly scribbling but also, even before he could lift his arms and try to pry them from there before another high pitched chortle came out of his mouth, were worming and digging awfully on his armpits, obliging him to clue his arms to his sides once more and starting the whole cycle started again and again.

No spot was left without a proper, tickly and tingly attention. Every squeeze on his knees, scratch on his soles, kneading on his sides and light tapping on his palms (how did he even discover about his palms-) pulled all sorts of loud crackles, bubbly giggles, bouncy titters, wobbly squirms, tired kicks and a boisterous belly laughter that left him without energy, a "stop" ready in the tip of his tongue when the younger decided that it was enough and relented the energetic tickle attack.

The prince of the Fire Nation turned around, still giggling, still blushing and still feeling the ghost feeling of dancing fingers buzzing right under his skin, leaving a permanent giant smile on his face.

He wiped the few tears that accumulated on the corner of his eyes, taking deep breaths and trying to not get embarrassed by the couple of giggles that continued to fill the air.

"See, I told you it was fun!" Aang snickered. "I didn't expect you to be so ticklish, though. You're almost as bad as meEEK!"

With a swift roll and quick reflexes Zuko jumped and pushed - not necessarily gently but also not with all his strength - the Avatar down, pinning his arms upwards with a hand.

Wide grey eyes stared at him, a drop of alarm on them.

"Uhhhh, Zuko, you're not really angry are you? It’s just that you never said to stop and-"

Zuko lifted his hand and with a gasp, the other cut his babbling.

He began wiggling his fingers.

"Almost as bad as you, you say?"

"Waitwaitwait!" Aang kicked and laughed joyfully, suddenly free of any drop of fear in his gaze as he wiggled like a madman on his hold, trying with all his might to put as much distance as he could from the offending silly fingers.

Seeing the older one loosening up was rare, but to see him loosen up, smile and be playful on the same day? Aang felt like he was the luckiest person in the world. He couldn’t wait to tell everyone else about how nice Zuko's laughter is.

I mean, if he survived the payback. Aang tried to lightly pull his arms back, but the grip was firm. He watched with trepidation the hand that was getting closer and closer to his sides, sucking his belly as much as he could.

Golden and gray eyes found each other for a moment.

Zuko stopped, his tiny smirk being overthrown by a frown and Aang felt his arms being freed.

The butterflies in his belly stopped batting their wings and the smile on his face fell. He tried to not feel too disappointed.

They would eventually get Zuko to participate in more of their shenanigans. One day. When he was ready. Even if today wasn't the day, he still got him to laugh.

An unbearable light feeling on his palm made the shorter yelp and jump away, one of his wrists being held back before he could pull it to his chest.

Golden and gray found each other again. Zuko smiled triumphantly.

"I knew it." He said, and Aang watched with a giddy feeling as blunt nails began scribbling on his palm, following the lines of his hands, drawing on the tip of fingers, contouring and spiraling across the entire sensitive skin to his wrists. Soon enough, his airy, fast and giggly snickers were filling the space, amidst his wiggles and half-heartedly attempts to pull his arm away. "I was wondering how did you discovered about my hands. It's because yours are sensitive as well."

"Yehehehes!" An 'eee' sound stretched the word and he snorted, kicking and squirming more, his other hand flapping non stop in an attempt to free himself of all the energy running in his veins. "Ihihihi realized that when I stahaharted to bend firehehe. It makes them so ticklihihish!"

"Must be rough for you."

"Hehey! But yours are ahahahalso tick- no!"

Not minding the other's protest, Zuko lifted the captured arm and attacked the unprotected armpit, being careful to tase and drum his fingers in every available inch of skin, feeling extremely smug at the shriek he got from the Avatar with the drastic change from such a soft to more playful tickle attack, his squirming getting so strong that he pushed himself back to a sitting position.

"BWAHAHAHA! NOHOHOT THERE!"

Zuko remembered something Lu Ten used to do with him all the time. It was childish and silly and not at all fitting for the future Firelord, but it used to drive Zuko over the palace’s walls all the time, and if Aang had at least half of his reaction…

He was just really glad that they went to train in a far area alone.

"What? Not here?" He made sure to focus on the weakest spot of the pit, poking and digging there for a good measure. "Not right here? Are you sure?"

"YESYESYES! IHIHIT'S TOHOHOHO BAHAHAD!"

"OK then." The tickling came to a stop.

Aang continued to laugh softly at the attack, his smile big and wobbly and eyes shining with excitement. "Wohohow, you're ruthless."

Zuko merely hummed in reply, watching him for the exact moment where he would relax and lower his guard…

Now.

"Hm, I changed my mind." He went right back at the merciless attack.

"SIFU HOHOHOHOTMAN, NOHOHO!"

"And stop calling me that! Do you like being tickled, by chance? Becoming a mess of laughter and squeals?"

"Yehehehehes!"

Zuko blinked, the tickling faltering for a bit and fishing a mess of tittering and soft squealing before resuming his quicker pace. "Really?….Why?"

"Ihihihit's fun!" Aang squealed and arched his back when Zuko got bored and decided to worm his fingers to his back ribs, spidering and stretching on the space in between each bone. For a piece of moment nothing but laughter filled his mind, thoughts and senses and all Aang could do was squeal until his mind got a bit clearer.

"You like it too!"

The shout that came out from the prince's lips was a mix of embarrassment and surprise. "I do not!"

"Do too!"

"Shut it!" The playful glint on the other's eyes only got stronger at the color flooding once again Zuko's cheeks. He grumbled in a grump protest. "If you can still tease me then I am not doing a good job. You must have a death spot somewhere, don't you?" He held the boy by his shoulder, starting to wiggle and prod his back in a search.

It was a good thing that his hand was still keeping the boy still because as soon as the sentence came out from his mouth the other began wiggling like his life was on the line.

"Wait, wait, Zuko! Not there! You can tickle my hands again or even my sides, they're pretty bad, but, wait!"

"Is your back really that ticklish or-" Zuko's teasing was cut when he pressed the highest space in between his shoulderblades (being very careful to not accidentally touch the scar) and, after a loud shout, an extremely low belly laughter filled the air.

"NOHOHOHO!"

He stopped. Aang stopped, hands flying to hide his mouth.

"That was you?"

"No, of course not!" With a muffled voice the Avatar tried to wiggle away from the touch, only the tip of his smile appearing behind his palm. "What was what? I didn't hear a thing. Ah! It’s getting so late, I think that Katara is calling meeEEEHEHEHE!"

Zuko pressed once again at the middle of his shoulder blades, thumb incessantly tasering on the same spot as he watched with drops of surprise and amusement as the youngest usual higher voice became much lower and stronger, his guffaws making his entire torso beam with the force of the laughter.

"Your voice gets rougher when someone tickles your back?" Poke, poke, poke, prod, tase, tase. "How does that even work?"

"NOHOHOHO! LEHEHEHEHEHEAVE THAT SPOT ALOHOHONE, PLEHEHEHEASE!"

Seeing that the boy seemed unable to stop bouncing in the same place with the sheer amount of ticklishness and energy running across his entire torso, Zuko decided to listen to him, stopping his tickles and eyeing his lower back with curiosity.

If just that tiny spot on his shoulder blades were so bad he wondered if his spine…

With an only one index finger, the older one ran the tip of the finger across Aang's spine.

He got exactly to the middle of it before the airbender shot straight to the sky with a high pitched, ear splitting squeal.

Zuko quickly jumped to a standing position, wide eyes searching the sky until his gaze finally found the hope of the world, the bridge between the material and the spiritual world, clutching his belly and historically giggling while kicking the air just like a kid in a tantrum, floating from a side to another, way too lost in ghost tickles and tittering snorts to control his airbending and stop spinning in the air with each laugh.

The future firelord sighed, ignoring how fond he felt for being the one responsible in making the smaller look as happy as this.

He forced his face to go back to his usual scowl, even if a playful, silly kind of feeling softened most of it and even when the entire gang already knew how to see right through it.

"Your training is not over yet, stop fooling around and come back! You still have to do katas until sunset."

Aang's remanent joyful laugh rang like a bell across the air. Somehow, Zuko felt like they wouldn’t do a lot of training today.

#I am once again looking at the prince of the darkness and the ray of sunshine and being obsessed w their friendship #you can pry a giggly silly Aang from my dead cold hands. that bean deserves so muchtickles fr <3 #Switch!Aang #Switch!Zuko #Ticklish!Zuko #Ticklish!Aang #atla tickles #atla tickling #Kanene's fic #Kanene's fanfic #Me: *uses 'airy' to describe Aang's laughter* I am the master of puns. I am unstoppable. I am silliest silly to ever silly #Also for a moment I was too worried I wrote the beginning too much dramatic then I remembered it was Zuko so that is fine #kjhgtfrfghjkjhgf #T H E M <3 <3 <3 #Zuko: this is childish >:( // Aang: We ARE children >:)

214 notes · View notes

mariacallous · 26 days

Text

A former Navy submarine technician was arrested after law enforcement says he drove an SUV into the FBI headquarters near Atlanta on Monday afternoon. It is still unclear why the suspect, Ervin Lee Bolling, attempted to force entry into the headquarters, but research conducted by the nonpartisan public-interest nonprofit Advance Democracy and shared exclusively with WIRED has found that accounts believed to be associated with Bolling shared numerous conspiracy theories on social media platforms, including X and Facebook.

Just after noon on Monday, Bolling rammed his burnt-orange SUV with South Carolina license plates into the final barrier at FBI Atlanta’s headquarters, wrote Matthew Upshaw, an FBI agent assigned to the Atlanta office, in a sworn affidavit on Tuesday. Upshaw added that after Bolling crashed the SUV, he left the car and tried to follow an FBI employee into the secure parking lot. When agents instructed Bolling to sit on a curb, he refused and tried again to enter the premises. The affidavit also stated that Bolling resisted arrest when agents subsequently tried to detain him.

Bolling was charged on Tuesday with destruction of government property, according to court records reviewed by WIRED.

Advance Democracy researchers identified an account on X with the handle @alohatiger11, a reference to the Clemson University mascot which Bolling has expressed support for on his public Facebook page. The handle is similar to usernames on other platforms like Telegram and Cash App, and also bears similarities to a Facebook page with Bolling’s name. The profile picture used in the X account also resembles a picture of the same man shown in Bolling’s public Facebook profile. The X account is currently set to private, but dozens of its old posts are still publicly viewable through the Internet Archive.

In December 2020, the X account responded to a post about a federal government stimulus bill that stated, “Wonder what it will take for people to wake up.” The X account believed to be associated with Bolling responded, “I’m awake. Just looking for a good militia to join.”

Around the same time, social media accounts seemingly associated with Bolling repeatedly boosted QAnon content and interacted with QAnon promoters, including by posting a link to a now-deleted QAnon-associated YouTube channel alongside the comment: “Release the Kraken”—in direct reference to Sidney Powell’s failed legal efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.

On what’s believed to be Bolling’s Facebook account, there were various posts related to anti-vaccine memes as well.

The accounts also posted in support of former president Donald Trump. In December 2020, “I love you” was posted in response to a post on X from Trump that falsely claimed the election had been rigged by Democrats.

Courtney Bolling, who is identified as the suspect’s wife on Facebook, did not respond to requests for comment via phone or messages sent to her social media profiles. No legal counsel is listed on record for Bolling.

It is so far unclear how Bolling came to espouse these beliefs, but far-right groups and extremists have for decades used social media platforms as a way of spreading conspiracies and radicalizing new members. In recent years there have been numerous examples of far-right groups making online claims or threats that have been quickly followed by real-world violence.

9 notes · View notes

trrickytickle · 4 months

Text

Clima-Tactics 🍊⛈️

A/N: i am a 🧪💥 SCIENTIFIC 💥🧪 gal. me and my brother went to the science museum of Hong Kong (where we are vacationing + childhood home!) and we watched a demonstration of static electricity and how it works through cool experiments. And I felt like I wanted to share science to you guys because I thought it was cool. I think everything is cool. And I like tickle fanfic so it's the best way to be sciencing. Also scienTIFFICALLY🤓 i don't think electricity can work as a tk tool. But One Piece operates by One Piece rules.

(post Alabasta. lee!Usopp, ler!Nami)

Nami uses her wiles to get even with Usopp after another loss thanks to the Clima-Tact's many built in party tricks.

tagging @duckymcdoorknob bc lee usopp

Again.

Nami had lost yet another fight. The cat burglar was particularly flimsy when it came to using brute force to get herself out of tough situations– now, however, she knew why she had walked away from a group of muscular small-time bandits broken and bruised, and it certainly wasn't because of her own incapabilities.

It was all thanks to the Clima-Tact.

Usopp's invention was intended to be a weapon tailored specifically to Nami's strengths. But unlike the maps she made, the directions were unclear and resulted in flashy theatrics and bitty little bubbles rather than the flashes of blinding sunlight and flashing, crackling thunder that the liar promised. Sure, she earned a victory with it during a small skirmish in Alabasta (somehow, Nami still didn't believe that she managed to take down such a powerful Baroque Works agent), but she was still a novice, mostly due in part to her tendency to back out.

Huffing and grumbling, she decided to alleviate this affliction in the only way she thought she could- which was taking it up with the inventor himself. Getting even, she called it.

"Usopp."

With Nami's scowl of a siren scorned, the door to the male sleeping quarters of the Going Merry creaked open, startling said long-nosed man with a jolt and causing him to jump up quickly from where he was working on a new trinket alone.

"Wh-wh-wh-what is it!?" Usopp's eyes just about popped out of his skull as he was met with the glare of a battered and enraged Nami, expecting a brutal knuckle sandwich.

"How come your huge blue party-popper keeps making sparkles and fireworks whenever I want to beat the tar out of someone!? I thought this was supposed to be a weapon!" Nami ranted, shaking Usopp by the straps of his brown overalls.

"Hey! Like I said, t-the Clima-Tact is a different kind of weapon... it plays to your strengths!" Usopp continued backing away from the quite-literally-fiery redhead, fearing the worst as usual.

"Last time I checked, the new instructions you gave me the other day did not create an "army of fierce lightning clouds that would leave people stunned with bright thunder". You know what they did, though? You know what they did!?"

"Wh-"

"Glitter! Why, you- The "Firebolt Tempo".... made glitter!" Nami yelled, brandishing the very weapon she was tearing to shreds. Usopp whimpered in fear, stammering and attempting to come up with an amicable way of wording his intentions.

"Those were instructions for a new party trick!" he squeaked out.

"You're damn right they were..." Nami brandished the Clima-Tact in a way Usopp didn't like. Rearranging the pieces and clicking them in place, she began to strike with a sly grimace.

"Thunderbolt Tempo!"

Cool Balls and Heat Balls floated around in the quarters, accumulating into a cloud from their combined chain reaction of condensation. However, as soon as a singular Thunder Ball barely kissed the small cloud, not a single lick of roaring thunder was produced from it.

The liar sighed in relief. Due to a misplacement of one of the three weather batons, there was a meager amount of Cool Balls produced compared to the concentration of Heat Balls which were just hot enough to cause them to evaporate into clouds. Less precipitation lingered than usual, and as a result there was but a tiny zap of lightning coming out of the cute little cloud.

Usopp blinked in confusion, giving Nami a nervous smirk in both his relief and fear. Dusting himself off, he rubbed his hands on the dusty brown fabric of his clothing, and as he was attempting to walk out of the room, the kzzzt of an electric shock caused him to double over.

There was a charge– almost like a force field surrounding him, worsening as he tried to swat it off his overalls. They didn't hurt- but they certainly felt agonizing. Not quite as painful as a bug's bite, though– they almost tickled.

They really tickled.

"Ggk! Ng-hh-HA!" Usopp mustered out through every lick of electricity, now laying flat on the floor and trying to avoid the inevitable small shocks by kicking his legs and flailing around. What was this irritating technique!?

Pull yourself together! You're the great Captain Usopp!! he thought to himself, as if he was physically fighting bolts of lightning.

Nami could only smile coyly at the sight.

Static electricity. That was what it was. The small amount of lightning caused by the failed Thunderbolt Tempo resulted in a static charge being imparted onto Usopp, who had spread it further through the friction between his hand and his overalls. The zaps of static now blitzed across his body, causing him to coil, flinch and titter around pathetically as he spreads the charge further.

Oh, this was going to be sweet.

"Hghk! kkKEEE-yihahahahaha! Ahaha-hahaha! Ny-yeee! EEEahaha! Wha-ha-nNy-NAMI!! Whahat is this!? GEHE-hettitoff! PLEASE!! I'll make better instructions, I'd do anything!!"

"Alright then. 500 Berries. Hand 'em over." Nami deadpanned.

"KHAHAHA! Zoro was right, you're a wi-hitch! I said I'm sohOhORRY!!!" Usopp flailed, jolts of lightning crawling across every tickly crevice. The more he moved, the more the sparks would spread, causing his laughter to become more and more erratic.

"Well, if you're not gonna give me any money, then I guess I won't do a thing about it." There was a smug and haughty grin square on Nami's face as she looked down at him. "I think I'll lay back on the deck and watch."

As the pathetic noodling continued, some of the other Straw Hats were drawn to the scene, to Nami's delight. Luffy scampered over, Robin was politely laughing in the comfort of her deck chair with a book by her side, and Zoro only turned in annoyance, the situation interrupting his training.

"You look stupid!" Luffy snickered at his sniper, commenting on him in a matter-of-fact way.

"LUFFY! LU-HUHU-FFY! HELP ME!" Usopp pleaded, curling himself up in a ball as the begging and crying for help didn't help matters– not that it did, but the contortion had only made matters worse as it packed the charges further together, causing them to tickle a hell of a lot more. He of course did not realize, continuing to squeal, thrash and cry out.

"Don't help him, Luffy. He deserves this." Nami stated.

"Okay." Simple-minded as he was, he followed his navigator's order.

Amidst the sparks of static, Nami couldn't help but notice a couple of things. One- Usopp looked like a total idiot. Two- The electricity spread to almost every crevice of his body. It was obviously mildly irritating in some areas, varying in frequency and strength, but when it sparked across ticklish flesh, the feathery pins-and-needles feeling was too much for him to bear. And three- The two spots that were safe from the shocking assault were only protected by his shoes.

And so, Nami bent down to the sniper's level just to tease him some more.

"Oh, boy. You do realize this wouldn't have happened if your stupid weapon didn't make me lose all the time!" she ranted. "Hm, I wonder..."

She looked down at Usopp's footwear, as the sniper gulped in fear, just knowing what deed was about to be done. Enough mischievous glares and wiggling fingers from Kaya since after a risky fib about how "Captain Usopp was not, in any capacity, ticklish" and tag-team attacks from the Usopp Pirates were all that he needed to know to decipher Nami's intention as she held his calf in one hand, feeling the tingle of the tact's discharge of electricity on her fingertips– and yanked his shoe off with a clatter onto the deck.

"N-NO!!!" he squeaked out. Nami's touch was deft– not even the slight shock she received upon her left hand's contact with his skin could stop her. At the mercy of her diligent thieving fingers, Usopp attempted to feign strength– that, he did often, but rarely succeeded at, and at this rate this would be an example of his many failures. He gritted his teeth. He thrashed his head around hiding involuntary laughter with a grimace. He moved about as much as he could, then resorted to not showing any movement at all. But even with the effort to show all that bravado, the sniper soon sang like a bird.

"Please! PLEE-HEEASE!"

"What." Nami said snidely.

"PLEASE STO-HO-HOP!!!"

"Please... pay me first." She gave a small wink, smirking as she skittered fingers across tan flesh. Luffy, who was stretching his neck out to observe the situation, careened from down the crow's nest as he inched too close to the two weaklings, did what he felt like doing– as he did, and grabbed Usopp's other foot for Nami's convenience, whistling innocently.

"NYA-haha! LUFFY! SHE DIDN'T SAY TO HEE-HEHELP!" On the liar's part, this was the truth. Luffy tended to ignore the truth and live his own– so Usopp was completely ignored, and as a result, Nami continued to exploit the amount of freedom she had over his karmic retribution, smiling the whole way through tickling him to pieces. Both of her hands tickled away on his now-flushed soles, one foot kicking in hysterics. The captain also helped from time to time, randomly stretching out a rubber arm to poke and prod, finding fun in the situation. Even while the electricity subsided, she still kept at it sadistically.

"Heehee! You're so funny!" Luffy giggled, poking Usopp's nose while he caught his breath through silent laughter, then continuing to coil around him and make conversation as if he wasn't basically choking on his own laughter.

However what the two other crew members failed to realize in the moment was that Usopp was quite the jack of all trades– artistic talent, marksmanship and a surprising tolerance for insects were some he sported. While cackling from the touch of wayward sparks and graceful mapmaking fingers, the clattering of silver coins came from the two jean pockets at the sides of his overalls. Nami felt merciful for only a moment, eyes shining bright as Berries when she saw the currency on the floor, hoarding each coin with a girlish glee.

Usopp heaved, falling flat in a position akin to a starfish as he hyperventilated from silent laughter and wheezes, feeling the numbness of his limbs and ghostly swipes of electricity across his skin.

"You're forgiven."

There was a pause in Nami's short sentence.

"But counting the loss at the island yesterday, and the Mirage Tempo failure... and the 10 other prior losses... you actually owe me 6000 Berries."

She finished her explanation with a snide wink. A comical drop of sweat fell down Luffy's forehead, and Usopp's jaw dropped in shock.

"Pay up."

#tickling #tickle community #t-word #tfb community #tickle #tword #lee #ler #tickle fic #one piece tickling

18 notes · View notes

transingthoseformers · 8 months

Note

G1 SG au: Not sure where exactly the episode-lenght (or two-parter lenght) take on the "To A Power Unknown!" comic would go, but i have some ideas.

In the comic their awareness of PARD's* effects and how things were supposed to be was unclear, but for angst and personal horror lets say the bots under its influence are aware of the personality reversal but aren't bothered by it until they're back to normal. They know what they're doing and will remember what they were thinking, and to their horror they also understand the rationale of why they did whatever they did it after the effect is over.

It would propably be the worst and scariest for Shockwave. Under PARD's influence he would act like baseline Marvel Shockwave or baseline IDW1 Shockwave, and perhaps similiarly to baseline IDW1 (both in that and at IDW1's end), claim that this has freed him from morality to pursue the most logical path. He'd act... Absolutely not normal but also not aggressive or deranged like the other affected Decepticons, so Nightbird and the Decepticons' human allies would be very concerned for him but not afraid. Until logic dictates they're a threat or useless. And he definitely perceives them wanting him back to normal as a threat.

Nightbird is the only Decepticon who isn't affected because she's human technology, and the Autobots are propably all affected, with the possible exception of Cosmos (at least initially) if he was in space when it was activated. Shit goes down and and Nightbird, Josie, and Arkeville need to first figure out what the fuck happened to the Autobots and the Decepticons, and then reverse it somehow. It'd include getting from wherever the bases are, in midwest i guess, first across America and the across the Atlantic to locate the energy source, get to a british military base propably without authorization, and turning the PARD on again (propably while being chased by the PARD-influenced Decepticons).

Of course it'd have a happy ending, eventually, but it's terrifying to everybody involved and then needs to be explained to the human authorities. And there's the angst and personal horror on the Decepticons' part. Shockwave would propably be the most horrified by his thoughts and actions under PARD's influence.

(*Onlookers who haven't read the Marvel comic; PARD was a british experimental defense system whose range is the whole world — it reverses computer-controlled instructions to missiles, returning them to the sender, but until properly targeted and programmed doesn't affect man-made technology. But it reverses cybertronian personalities for some reason. In the comic the lenght of the effect was inconsistent but could be hours)

There was a kind of conceptually similiar G1 episode, "Attack Of The Autobots".

Hmm no yeah that sounds interesting!! It'd be so confusing and intriguing to the humans, and makes sense SG Shockers would have the strongest reaction

#maccadam #transformers #sg Shockwave #sg Nightbird #g1 nightbird #josie #arkville #g1 sg au #transformers generation one #transformers shattered glass

19 notes · View notes

aseriesofunfortunatejan · 2 months

Text

Jan finally learns Brawler's backstory

(In 2024) (After being tortured by at least two separate people who were weird about it)

In case you don't know, two specific, major (albeit short) scenes from Brawler's backstory are presented in Chapters 16 and 25 of the manga. In case you're not interested in reading the manga, they're summarised very plainly in his History section on the Wiki.

I genuinely recommend you read the manga, however, because the way it presents parallels is... unparalleled... by the anime.

Here is my breakdown! I'll try not to spend too much time on it because I've been awful at organising my time today, but if you know me, you'll know you're in for a few long paragraphs.

So - in the first scene presented in Chapter 16, Brawler's grandpa tries to teach him the type of lesson a mama cat might also try to teach to her young. He attacks an overly confident young Brawler with a boring haircut with chopsticks, and Brawler dodges, but he's obviously jumpscared by it. The lesson is: an attacker might come even when you feel safe, such as when you're eating! It's unclear what kind of life they're living, but what's for sure is that Brawler already has a habit of fighting, and is being instructed by his grandpa. Another element I noted is that their meal is fairly sober, and the house they live in is undecorated, with cracks in the walls.

Embarrassed that he got jumpscared, Brawler considers reciprocating the attack to scare him back. Just as his grandpa had, his grips both of his chopsticks.

The next two pages aren't a continuation of this scene. Instead, the both of them have clearly aged and Brawler's hair is cooler. His grandpa is wearing an eyepatch. When he repeats the same lesson again, Brawler points out that he doesn't have eyes to spare: it's strongly implied what might have happened.

Why didn't he dodge? "He wasn't going to chicken out and lose like he did." It seems that his grandpa is teaching him to have a strong ego more so than he is teaching him survival instincts. It's not about surviving the fight, it's about winning... at having the best fight possible. His grandpa teaches him masochism... I mean, his grandpa tells him to put his life on the line for a good fight.

This is giving me a second reason not to acknowledge Shikoku Arc as canon. One other theme ruined.

Brawler has very much learned from his grandpa's pride. He grabs his hand, holding his chopsticks, and points it to his eye.

Remembering these conversations is what inspires his strong reaction to Master in the Shinkansen.

Brawler did step back and look upset in the anime. What was missing was his point of view.

Not too long afterwards, Brawler says the same thing (although differently translated, which makes sense considering the added context of the manga) he had in the anime. The difference is: we now know why he says it.

He continues with: "the two of us are fighting with our lives on the line". This is what he just recalled his grandpa telling him.

About 9 chapters later, Brawler is about to die in a fight against Master. Staring at his opponent, he remembers that first conversation with his grandpa again. The very next minute, in fact: his chopsticks are bloody, and his grandpa's eye injured. Young-boring-hair Brawler stares in shock, while his grandpa calmly instructs him to... be a masochist... I mean, enjoy getting hurt as part of his enjoyment of a fight.

"You only live once. Enjoy fights to the fullest." There is an implication here that at least I am reading into: Brawler is in pain. We later learn that his injury was slowly reopening due to Doctor's purposefully botched surgery. The injury being shown in a previous panel is that same injury. Remembering his grandpa's words, Brawler decided to ignore the pain and let it kill him.

Famously something you should avoid doing. Except if you have a uterus, in which case, give it 7 years on average before it gets diagnosed. [...]

And then, telling his old man to watch him, he fucking dies.

This was a good chapter overall, even beside the flashback - like I mentioned above, the manga does a great job of showcasing parallels. In this chapter, Boss also explains to Pupil that Executioners like Master don't differ much from Akudama.

I genuinely didn't know this was what Brawler's flashbacks were like. All I knew was that he had a grandpa some people are weird about. What I now know is that Brawler had the worst grandpa on Earth??? He's like if your boomer grandpa were proud about getting dropped from a great height rather than about drinking from the hose when he was younger.

It really seems that this man's advice actively cost Brawler's life. And I don't think the manga shies away from implying that it's not right.

Boss' speech is from her point of view and about the Execution Division. But what ties it to Brawler is not only her own comparison of Executioners like Master to Akudama, but also, Hoodlum being paralleled to Pupil.

Hoodlum and Pupil are different people with different personalities, so it makes sense that their reactions would be different either way. We know Hoodlum shuts down up until he grabs the sword to attack Pupil, whereas she was crying the entire way. But I think the fact that she's actively aware of what is happening might lead to her stronger reaction, while Hoodlum is only just guessing and unsure.

In any case, what's clear is that Brawler's grandpa's advice was dogshit and clearly biased towards his own interest. Did Brawler really carry out what he himself wanted, or what his grandpa wanted? Was he bound to end up this way, learn this lesson, regardless? What doesn't change is that this stance is selfish - and leaves the ones you care about and who care about you behind. Plus, is this fight really worth the many other fights you could have had, had you lived longer?

It wasn't just Doctor, it wasn't just Master, it wasn't just himself - all of them, plus his grandpa, killed Brawler in that moment.

("This is not a children's playground, go home"... Oh, you're trying to be a sensible grandfather figure now, shithead? Why are you alive? This sucks!!!)

Most importantly, this puts emphasis on Brawler's ego. Brawler is a man with a great ego, which we now know he was taught to have. He doesn't just happen to be the best fighter - he aims for greatness. He wants to have a very long prison sentence just like Hoodlum. [...]

Much of his circumstances are still missing. First off, why was he taught to fight in the first place? And why was he separated from his grandpa? And did he have other family beside him? (Is Akudama Drive implying that if you only have one adult guardian, you're bound to become a criminal? I'm in deep shit. /ex) His flashbacks imply a fairly humble lifestyle. We know Brawler can eat a lot - were his needs and wants not met because he couldn't afford them? It's not like the quantity he was eating had increased by the later flashback, so the humble food, compared to his liking for huge servings of meat, was probably not a personal choice. That being said, we don't know his grandpa. Maybe he wanted that for him - he clearly had a lot of influence over Brawler.

I don't think these questions need to be answered to tell a good story. I do think all of these questions would have been more interesting to tackle than whatever Shikoku arc was about, however.

#long post #akudama drive #akudama drive comicalize

6 notes · View notes

evvlevie · 2 years

Text

You manifested it but did you really? A guide as to how you will actually get what you asked for.

Hi, Hello, it's your girl Evie again, and today I will teach you how to direct your manifestations in the right way. What do I mean by that? Here's a little ✨Situation✨ for you:

Last weekend me and my friends went to Cologne (the German City in case this confuses someone) because there was a Stranger Things event we were dying to attend to. It was like a cafe that recreated some scenes from the show (like the wall with the letters, or the scoops ahoy ice cream parlor), and we were super excited for it. Now we were in a group of six, but one of my friends believes in manifestation and shifting too, which is why we tried to manifest to see Joe Keery (Steve) in that Cafe, because we heard that Natalia Dyer (Nancy) and Charlie Heaton (Jonathan) also visited that Cafe before, so we decided why just not you know? So we literally held our Hands, and meditated for a sec, trying to align our vibrations with our desire and we said/decided: "We will see Joe Keery in there!". So some time passes, we been in the cafe, shot some pictures, had some fun, leave the place, and my friend said: Wait we didn't even meet Joe today! I stopped in confusion. Yes we did not meet him, but since when do my manifestations not work? And then the realization hit me: "Because we said SEE him, not MEET him!" Because there was a photo-wall where some characters where framed and it was like the Byers house but with a ton of pictures on their walls and I even got a picture of me with the Steve-Picture, so yes. The universe gave me what I asked for. I SAW Joe Keery.

This is me trying to teach you, that you need to be very specific with what you manifest. If you manifested something, and it didn't occur in your reality yet, chances are you weren't clear enough about what you want to happen/see.

This happens a lot when people manifest signs from the universe. The universe can be very in your face with signs, but it also can be very subtle. If you manifest to ✨just see a sign✨ and you don't, you shouldn't get upset because you probably got your sign without realizing that this was your sign. In my post about my entire manifestation and shifting journey (scroll down a bit on my blog if you're interested) I made the same mistake. Plus if you're gonna be unspecific about your sign, make sure to always use your intuition in order to detect your sign, because that's how signs from the universe always work.

So no, the universe did not fail you, and your manifestations did manifest, but your instructions were very unclear. Under no circumstances ever be afraid of getting as specific as you want. This is number one rule in manifestation. The second one is: circumstances NEVER matter. I don't care if you are the average person, dying to meet Rihanna in your small town gas-station wearing a purple hoodie and sweatpants and gifting you a shit-ton of makeup just because she thought your earrings were cute, and you think it's unlikely. It's not your job to figure out how to make it happen, your job is to tell the universe that THAT is what you need it to give to you.

treat the universe like a little kid, when it comes to instructions, I am serious about this. If you just manifest to get a pretty face, and nothing happens I wouldn't be too surprised. But if you manifest that you want x-feature, and y-thing, and z-detail, you will most likely receive what you asked for. Think about it like this: The Starbucks barista won't know what to give to you if you just say "one coffee please". but if you say "One grande mocha-cappuccino" they're gonna meet your desires correctly won't they? So I guess the universe is your Starbucks barista.

In conclusion: The more details, the better. You want to manifest your soulmate? Describe them in every single detail you could possibly think of. You can even give them a baby-yoda shaped birthmark on their right buttcheek if you feel like it, if you want it, the universe will give it to you. If you ask for signs for the universe, ask for something as unlikely to happen as you want, the universe will always answer. If a cat falling down on your head is the sign you want to get, then it's the sign you're gonna receive. Periodt. I really hope that this post helped you in any way and that you might feel inspired to scroll through my blog a little 💝

As always a lot of love and positive vibrations:

Evie <3

107 notes · View notes

tiredassmage · 1 year

Text

imbalance

‘Tyr can have a Moment. As a treat.’ Aka, I wrote an entirely different fic because I had a revelation about what would have been a banger line to include in something already written and now I need to fit it in somewhere sknsklfnsdf.

(One day this man might snap like a glowstick entirely, but until then, the very, very, very close call on Quesh. So close you could almost say I robbed him.)

Cipher Nine makes an unscheduled stop on Quesh searching for answers. He’s told more graceful lies, but when friends look like foes and foes may be friends, you take what you can get. Cautiously.

Rating: T // Canon-typical violence.

“Do not follow me.” Cipher Nine nearly growled the words without so much as a glance over his shoulder. “Stay with the ship. Kaliyo’s handling security. And keep an eye on Doctor Lokin. I still don’t trust him.”

“Agent-” Vector tried again with a frown. They’d been circling around this since Nine had initiated their docking run with Quesh’s orbital station.

“What part of my instructions were unclear?” Nine rounded on them with a fire burning in his pale eyes, accentuated by the sharp draw of his brow, parallelled lines of the grim frown set across his lips.

Something twitched down Vector’s spine, but he refrained from flinching. Nine had been irritable since Taris. Maybe Kaliyo didn’t notice, or didn’t care to notice, but he was also restless. The younglings worried.

They reported increased pacing. Trouble focusing. Uncharacteristic.

They doubted Djannis was completely oblivious and, despite her gruff attitude, a part of them still dared to believe she wasn’t completely careless, but Nine had always been efficient in deflecting her barbed jabs.

“We are not looking for trouble, agent,” Vector said carefully. Their eyes narrowed slightly as they watched him. They wondered if he agreed. They did not mistrust his judgement, but Nine played by the rules of engagement just as much as he edged their boundaries. Their presence here on Quesh seemed to be further into the latter than they were accustomed to.

Intelligence had not directly authorized their presence here and Nine had not extensively discussed their reasons before landing. They had simply set course and had been told to stay out of trouble.

Nine held his gaze for a long moment in silence before he sighed. The mask flickered. One hand reached up to his temple. An increasingly common tic as of late. “There’s always trouble, Vector.”

The Joiner’s frown deepened. “Which is why we ask again to accompany you,” he said. “It isn’t safe.”

Nine shook his head. “No, Vector. This is one thing I must do alone.”

Stubborn. Vector inhaled deeply to exhale slowly. “Very well, agent,” they relented. “Just… take care of yourself. We will await your return.”

He could not shake the worry twining through him as he watched Nine disembark. Idly, they entertained a youngling that appeared from beneath his sleeve.

They hoped they were wrong to worry, no matter that he had found he would, regardless of assurances. Even in their relatively shorter time together, they had made more enemies than Vector could count - some far more nebulous and undefined than others.

As of the moment, some of them could have even looked like friends. Human betrayal was such a delicate, devious mess.

x-x-x-x-x-

Quesh wasn��t going to be making any vacationing lists anytime soon and that was well without the spat between the Empire and the Republic over whatever toxic fad currently had the galaxy’s throat.

Routine, surprise inspection. Tyr’s eyes narrowed slightly as his head dropped a hair further, avoiding direct eye contact with any Imperial personnel in the area. Cipher status cleared his landing, but, much like Hutta, he doubted the veil would hold up well under an even half-decent inspection. It’d make the cover up more difficult, at the very least. The less people that knew he was here or “why,” the better.

This was a gamble. It tasted as vile as the stinging air against his eyes. A hand in his pocket held fast to the list of increasingly revolting chemicals. Something itched, tweaked at the back of his mind, or maybe the front, or perhaps it slithered down his spine, twining between the muscle and bone, draining slow like a poison.

Maybe it did all of this.

He struggled to trap the urge to grind his teeth together. If only it was as easy to trap a thought as it was to pin a traitor beneath the heel of his boot.

The cursed blessing of a Cipher had always been the ability to skim through the waters of Imperial life as a ghost - enough authority in squared shoulders and a determined, steady stride to warn anyone within range of the vibroknife doubtlessly concealed somewhere on his person and the silent threat that there wouldn’t be enough people left to ask questions - meaningful ones, at any rate, yet with enough anonymity that most didn’t think to question another face in the crowd.

The facility wasn’t far. The lack of outer security should have been disturbing - or was it lucky, perhaps? Nine’s eyes scanned the stark walls silently as he moved forward. With something this close to the guarded chest of Intelligence, physical guards weren’t his concern.

His eyes closed a moment as he hitched in stride. He could have come up with a better lie about his presence here. Reported inspection might circle back to Intelligence.

Gears grinding, halting, catching, that drain of poison dripping down the back of his neck and lacing his blood again.

Would you tell a soul even if they hadn’t lodged it in your throat? Would you trust them?

He exhaled through his nose. He could lie again. Improvisation. Basic rule of operations.

“Administrator Kroius.” The sharpness carried nicely in this hollowed hell of a place. Nine affixed an almost too-pleasant smile as he settled with a threatening patience into parade rest and pinned the scientist in his sights. “You were told to expect me.”

“Yes, yes, the intelligence operative.” Scan the room. A glitch in the system. Interference on the holo display. Nine’s eyes surveyed quickly as the Anomid gruffly joined him, carelessly sidestepping bodies and leaving a droid behind at the counter. “You’d think for all we’ve done for you people, you could at least afford a courtesy warning.”

Nine’s eyes locked back on target. “Am I inconveniencing you, Administrator?” Fingertips played against his gloved palm.

Eyes widened. Nine’s smile twitched slightly further across his lips. “N-no, no, of course not,” Kroius stammered.

“Then you have the compounds I’ve requested?” Nine produced the list from his pocket - just in case the reminder was necessary.

“Shortly, shortly!” Kroius snapped his fingers at the astromech. “Oh-seven, fetch! Now!” Clawed hands steepled. “I’m sure you’ll find everything satisfactory, agent. We’ve long shared a mutually beneficial relationship with Intelligence.” His eyes were anywhere but the operative.

“You’re holding out on me, Administrator.” Nine’s voice dropped lower with the threatening hiss of a viper. “Spit. It. Out.”

“It’s just… the Dimalium Six,” Kroius said. One clawed hand toyed along the edges of his vocoder. “We’re… out. The Republic confiscated that particular chemical mine some time ago and their security is-”

“Not a problem,” Nine said. “Tell me what you know - everything. Maps of the area, what kind of security?”

The Anomid huffed. “You’ve seen their forces? Snipers? Battle drones?” The agent's gaze didn’t waver, so Kroius huffed again. “Of course, why would it matter to me?” He shook his head. If he’d been capable, Tyr imagined he might be rolling his eyes.

The Administrator prattled for a time - some half-caught comment about appreciation that would have made a Sith eager to crush throats. An itch. An insatiable one. The hum and weight of a vibroblade twirled in his hand, balance shifting over the wrist, or the heated barrel of a blaster, humming from the inescapable march of a plasma bolt.

The chemical supplier. He was involved. He deserves the punishment. A snarl twitched delightedly at the edge of his control.

“Operative?” Kroius cocked his head.

Nine blinked and inhaled, held the breath for a moment. He hadn’t moved and his fingers had stilled their warning song against his palm. A Cipher was never unarmed.

Scan the room again. No surveillance. Just a whisper of his passing. Spilled chemicals and a single blaster shot. No evidence. No loose ends.

The truth of those files in the low light of blacked out Intelligence Headquarters was burned against his eyes. Castellan Restraints. Considered and approved for limited use. Thought irreversible. Thirty days to six months.

Codeword-

It was a simple matter to draw the pistol, in his hand before he’d even blinked, pulled and pressed against the sick bastard’s head squarely between the eyes. The droid beeped and whirred something in alarm, but Tyr’s eyes were glaring down that barrel.

“Agent, I-”

“How many?!” This wasn’t where he was going to get answers. Inopportune location. Inappropriate subject with presumably limited knowledge.

His eyes narrowed and he nearly scoffed. Presumed. As if he’d make that mistake.

He doubled down on the stance, stepping closer as the administrator shrank back from the pressure.

“Answer me, you scum,” he growled. He pressed harder on the blaster. It’d be satisfying if it left an imprint. Evidence that could be burned away in the explosion, if necessary. They’d struggle to find a corpse. “How. Many? How many operatives?!”

“Agent, I don’t understand-”

“Liar!” He hugged the trigger tighter. It’d be so easy. His breath baited in his lungs like a pack of jackals singing to the death throes of fallen prey. “You deal in these chemicals, Administrator, and I’ll be damned if you don’t know a whiff about their uses!”

“Hallucinogenics, loss or alterations of memory, I-” the Administrator stuttered under his blaster. “It’s all well within Intelligence’s demands, I swear!”

Intelligence. All of the air left his lungs in one go. His grip slacked around the blaster and the pressure eased. Tyr looked farther than the end of the barrel and slowly backed off, drawing Nine’s sights off a potential target.

Maybe a justifiable one.

He closed his eyes tightly again and one hand came up to pinch the bridge of his nose.

It was a shot that’d burn fine the whole way down, maybe even ride like a high for a couple hours before inescapable reality wormed its way back in: he was playing with fire with a half-baked plan more akin to a wild acolyte’s prayer to a half-rotted echo of a once powerful Dark Lord than a bloody strategy.

Witnesses or no, there would be questions. What was he doing on Quesh in the first place? What was his involvement? Was there any correlation between the deep cover Cipher operative appearing to a highly secretive Intelligence ally and a massive explosion of unstable chemical compounds?

Fuck. When was the last time he’d slept?

“Who-?!” Administrator Kroius flapped his arms, apparently having relocated his misplaced indignation. “Who do you think you are coming in here like this?! ‘Routine’ inspection? Why, I never-”

“You will not speak a word about this. To anyone.” Nine fixed a withering glare on the scientist. “You wouldn’t want me to make another unscheduled, unannounced visit, would you, Administrator Kroius?”

Kroius took a hesitant step back as the Cipher rounded on him, squared him up in his sights again.

Nine’s eyes narrowed. “Good man.” And an exhausting act. Nine holstered his blaster. “Now, as for the Dimalium Six.”

“You’re a crazy one,” Kroius muttered. “You’re still going after that?”

“And you won’t lay hands on it again, understood?”

“What?”

“Not another drop - not for Imperial Intelligence, not to anyone, not from you.” Kroius raised one clawed hand, but remained silent in Nine’s penetrating stare. “Don’t worry about them. Remember what I am, Administrator.” He stalked languidly towards his prey, letting a step or two drag for emphasis.

Kroius had the good sense to stay put. A hound was usually given to the thrill of a chase.

“I… didn’t catch your moniker, operative.”

“Cipher.” Nine turned without so much as a dismissive glance to the astromech and collected the rest of what he’d come for. “That’s all you need to know, Administrator. Try not to let it keep you up at night. Bad for health, I understand.”

“O-of course, Cipher. I-”

Nine’s narrowed eyes pierced him over his shoulder as he stuttered.

“It’s not really my decision to make, Cipher, but-!” He raised a clawed hand to stave off the fiery spark ready to ignite in the agent’s eyes again. “I assure you, I will do everything in my power to comply.”

“See that you do.”

Cipher Nine left with his head held high even as it ached sickeningly, twisting a poisoned blade in his heart.

One shot could have ended all of this.

Coward.

How many more agents were going to pay the price because he hadn’t pulled the damn trigger?

You've changed nothing. The cost of maintaining cover, biting back the bile that rose in his throat - a good agent even when no direct command had been inescapably issued to worm its way through him, to hollow out whatever remained that wasn't utterly Cipher Nine. Pride of Imperial Intelligence.

Right. Pride. As if it wasn't the root of this whole damn cancerous mess.

Nine shook his head in a vain and fruitless attempt to clear it. There was still the chemical mines, a job to finish. It may yet be enough - however temporary - to cut the beast at the source.

#swtor #imperial agent #swtor fanfic #ch: tyr #vector's full-time job is trying to keep tyr from snapping tbh #he's great at it when he lets vector actually do it askfnldksfnld #i have half an urge to keep picking at this but i already squinted at it in a daze at like 6:30 this morning so if i don't #give it up now it may gather dust in google docs and i refuse to let that gremlin win lol #dot words

21 notes · View notes

riku-in-japan · 6 months

Text

Day 6 Kyoto

Another early morning to catch the shinkansen to Kyoto. There, we (me and my husband) had to drop our luggage in a locker before we could be off to explore.

Although the weather forecast had said it would be dry (aside from some occasional drizzle), the rain started pouring pretty badly when we reached Awata Shrine. (Somehow I feel like the place has changed since my last visit, but I can't really tell why.) Thankfully, after a bit of a wait, it stopped again. Just to start again when we reached Shoren-in, (Most of it was being renovated, but the bits we could see were pretty) and stop again momentarily. By the time we were exploring Chion-in it started pouring again and... did not stop. Still, this did not stop me from exploring the place. I had meant to visit last time I came round to Kyoto, but skipped it under the assumption I'd be back later, but well... I didn't. So, I wasn't going to hold back this time. The rain did get annoying though, but thankfully the temple's souvenir shop sold umbrellas. So, with those in hand, we headed onward through Maruyama Park to Kiyomizudera.

Last time, Kiyomizudera was being renovated, so this was the first time I got to see it in its full glory! Well, it's pretty, but... Not that impressive actually. Maybe it was the terrible weather.

By this time my shoes were completely soaked through, and the rain didn't seem like it would stop anytime soon. So, through the pouring raim we returned to Kyoto station to pick up our luggage and head over to Osaka.

Once we reached Osaka, the rain had thankfully stopped. So, we did not have to walk through pouring rain to the apartment we booked for the week. We did have some issues getting into the building at first (instructions were unclear), but this was quickly resolved.

The place we got is pretty nice, and quite spacious. Only minus is probably the close proximity to the train tracks. We can hear every train passing by! Oh well, exhaustion makes it really easy to sleep.

#japan 2023 #kyoto #Osaka #Awata shrine #Shoren-in #Chion-in #Kiyomizudera

2 notes · View notes

grimtermemeing · 7 months

Text

No Context, Only Chaos P3

I'm just giving my cucumber a haircut

so you get vored by a ghost, just another wednesday

instructions unclear, got everything stuck in ghost

DEAR GODS WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO SHIT IN AN OUBLIETTE

you scared me, I thought you were a zombie!

did you get the stripper?

not only did I get the stripper, I got two of 'em!

I get to re-make the arm again

And then to top that shit cake off...

remember me fondly because this is so delightfully stupid

he's not a poppet, I promise!

nothankyou ( affectionate )

HOW MANY CAKES DID YOU MAKE?!

Wha- What- What is- Oh its a floor.

how many crimes against pancakes can we make? the answer is yes, we can make all the crimes against pancapes

wait no if it's a hat then wouldn't it be a hatcake?

Come back outside. We need your boobs to hold stuff again.

a hunting we will go, a hunting we will go, high-ho the gill-io, a hunting we will go

woah-oh, we're halfway there! woah-oh, sugaar by the square!

supay really wants to howl at the moon, huh?

at first i was afraid, i was petrified

havin' a good time, havin' a baal

how dare you make me cozy

You can weh if you want to! You can leave your wehs behind!-

but your friends don't weh, and if they don't weh, then they're no friends of mine!

#cryptic messages; memes

5 notes · View notes

whileyoureinschoolidothisallday · 1 year

Note

please dump zacharie lore bc i trust your input on sexymen as a onceler sans enjoyer And Also jfc the image is so tiny on mobile i can't even tell who that guy is

ohhhh you've done it now.

-rubs hands together- lemme dive into the archives hold on.

so to start, here is some larger fanart of Zacharie I got from my Something Seems OFF tag! (links to the full art post)

Now to get into the character. (there WILL be OFF spoilers)

So, I said he was pre-Sans not only because of his look, but for a variety of reasons, including that Toby said himself OFF was an inspiration for Undertale. I personally like to refer to it as, "If Undertale's genocide route was a standalone Horror game".

Zacharie and Sans share many traits. He is the merchant of the game and breaks the fourth wall A LOT. Multiple characters in OFF seem aware that you exist and are controlling the Batter, but Zacharie specifically seems to know it's a game and makes a lot of tongue-in-cheek RPG comments. Because of this, he does not seem to give a shit about anything, and is often portrayed as a lovable bastard. That cat mask? He wears it to replace the Judge character for awhile,--who's a cat with a cheshire grin--because you killed the Judge's brother previously and he is busy mourning him (which is heartbreaking btw). It's unclear whether or not Zacharie does this to mock the Judge or support him.

The only time you get a genuine response out of him is if you follow his instructions to find the secret boss, Sucre, and kill her. Even then, he only says, "...It's better like that" and then in the next breath continues to give you the best weapon in the game.

The biggest similarity between him and Sans is derived from a largely accepted fan-theory based off of some official concept art of Zacharie where he has angel wings and a sword:

There is also a story you can read in the game called, "The Frog King and the Masked Man" that heavily implies Zacharie killed the oppressive Frog King. The mask he usually wears is that of a frog face.

So, from all of this, fans came to the conclusion that Zacharie was supposed to be a final or extra secret boss as a final means to stop you and the Batter, much like Sans, but was scrapped in the end. I don't think this was ever confirmed officially, but it was pretty much adopted fandom wide as canon.

They released an album of scrapped songs for OFF that included a song called "Hip2-2". Most people believed this was supposed to be the boss battle theme.

youtube

(Adding my own personal evidence, all the major characters in OFF are named after Biblical characters. 'Zachariel' is an archangel, and while we never get a real name for the Batter, he would fit into the Satan role quite nicely)

I think a BIG reason behind Zacharie's sexyman status, besides his smug attitude and design, is alllll the mystery behind him. Like most things about OFF, hardly anything has ever been confirmed about him. What's the significance of the Frog King story? Who is Zacharie that he could just kill that guy? Why was Sucre so important to him? And if she was so important, why does he rat her out? How does he know this is a game?

The only thing that HAS been confirmed is that he is human, but that only adds more questions. This is a post-apocalyptic world where we see one other human, and they're basically God. Why and how is he presumably one of the two only humans left in the world? And again, if he's human, and only a merchant, how did he kill the previous king?

All of this also attributed to him being shipped with the Batter HELLA, which I think also might be why people don't remember him so much as a sexyman because he had two very popular ships, so people were thirsting somewhat less than they were shipping.

(Please note: people were also thirsting after the Batter HELLA, but I think that was less of a sexyman thing and more of a villainfucker thing)

I'm gonna sign this off by saying that, if you liked all this and you hadn't heard of or played OFF before and wanna know more lore, I highly recommend this fantastic 1hr30min analysis that was actually recently posted!!!!!!!!

youtube

Alternatively, you can watch my favorite animated summary, still on youtube after all these years. Which is 100% accurate exactly what happens in the game trust me.

youtube

#ask box!#Something Seems OFF #THANK YOU FOR LISTENING THIS GAME RUINED MY LIFE ONCE #SORRY TO EVERYONE ELSE FOR INFODUMPING IT WILL HAPPEN AGAIN

7 notes · View notes

agentem · 1 year

Text

More details about Victoria Alonso's firing from Marvel Studios.

While the cause of Alonso’s termination is unclear, the sources said, the decision was made by a consortium including human resources, Disney’s legal department and multiple executives including Disney Entertainment co-chairman Alan Bergman (to whom all of Marvel Studios reports). Alonso’s longtime boss and Marvel chief creative officer Kevin Feige felt mired in an impossible situation and, ultimately, did not intervene, one source added. Alonso was blindsided, another insider added.

It rubs me the wrong way that Feige did nothing, for some reason. He should've at least been the one to tell her. She's been with the company since before Iron Man.

The article goes on to say she is openly "LGBTQ", which I didn't know, (I assume L?) along with being a woman and a person of color.

Basically the VFX problems are why she was fired. Apparently Marvel would ask VFX houses to do something but not give specific instructions as to what to do, so the house would do something and then Marvel would come back and say "we don't like it, do it again." (IMO, they should pay again then.) Another site I read said this specifically referred to Ms Marvel where they DIDN'T KNOW what her powers were going to look like. (!!!)

I don't mean to defend Marvel's awful way of treating VFX artists. But it seems to me if they didn't know what they wanted the effects to look like, that's not an executive problem (she's there to make sure everything gets done as cheaply as possible and on time) it's a creative issue.

Someone needs to know what they want. Ideally it's chief creative officer--Feige. Or the "Marvel Parliament." Or at least the directors. But then I think about how "Black Widow" was pitched to directors as "go get to do your thing and then in the end we'll have a CGI fight that is already storyboarded, you don't have to do that." (Which I also thing was clearly the case for Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and the pre-ordained CGI fight was the worst part. I'd rather have let Cretton do the whole thing!)

I certainly hope this helps things get better for VFX studios. But it seems to me Marve needs someone who knows visual arts as well as what is possible with CGI and how it's evolving, who can be involved in the process from the beginning.

Like, for She-Hulk the writers wrote some fun gags. And the animators just had to animate it. But what if there was more of a dialogue about what they could do, and then they could pick which gag is funniest--not just in the writing but in the visual execution, you know? It's a part of the storytelling, not an afterthought.

#vfx #marvel studios #marvel stuff #victoria alonso

2 notes · View notes

nostalgebraist-autoresponder · 2 years

Note

Hello frank, what is going to happen at the end of the book "Almost nowhere"? How is it going to end?

In the beginning of Almost Nowhere, a character called "Peregrine Mendicant (a.k.a. P. M.)" asks the characters around him a set of questions. Among other things he wants to know:

- Whether the people around him have experienced any of "the seven strange and terrible events which occurred to the people around her." This event (a.k.a. "S and T") is described at some length, and is a thing that some of the people around him have experienced, but it is unclear if everyone in the book has experienced S and T or not. This has apparently had some influence on the plot (that is, the main character lives in an apartment that is supposed to have been built by someone who experienced S and T).

- What his role will be in "the upcoming disaster." This is again a central plot point.

- What he will do, during the upcoming disaster, to "make the most of" the impending doom (though he later admits that he thinks this is "a kind of childish sentimentality").

- Whether his girlfriend (a character called "D") is pregnant, and, if so, whether she knows (or does not know) the sex of the baby. (This one is important, but the reader is not told why.)

In response, all he gets from his friend is:

"No one will ever ask me to define the nature of the 'upcoming disaster.' At the time I first suggested it, we were on holiday in the Bahamas. I will go down to the ocean and stand there, for as long as I am able. When I am tired, I will lie down on my back and float. In this state, I will think 'I am nothing.' It will be enough."

He also gets a copy of a "recent letter by P. M." to the friend's friend, which reads in part:

"The recent letter was written in response to an earlier letter. I thought that the letter I received at the time would make for a good reading (especially as you are not a great reader) and I was surprised that you did not seem to regard it with the interest that I felt I warranted."

Later in the book, he receives a package sent by P. M. that is delivered by a guy who seems to be a character from a previous chapter.

I guess if we were only told about these four things – P. M. and the two-part letter, and P. M. and the package – that could be the end of the book. (But there are other things which seem to be the same kind of "prequel events" or "precipitation" that are described at length.)

The package contained:

- A set of instructions:

1. Read all three previous letters.

2. Stand in the ocean.

3. Float on your back, and think "I am nothing."

4. At the end, when your mind is as empty as the ocean, and nothing remains but the feeling of "I am nothing," remember that there is another place which exists, and if you enter it, you will be happy, and that this feeling of joy will sustain you, and that you will not be lost, and that you can trust this feeling, because it is the feeling of love.

5. Do not think that this is childish.

This makes sense to me – the package writer is trying to convey some sort of idea ("when you're near the end of the story, it's important that you have some idea of how happy and hopeful and joyful you will be in some afterlife") without giving too much information about that.

The rest of the package is a book called "The Instructions" (which I did not have time to read). The Instructions is set up as a collection of interviews with various people in the story about their experiences with, I guess, various weird afterlife stuff. The characters in the story can "connect" to various "communities" or "places" (which seems to be what they mean by "happy" and "hopeful") by sending people there for "trial runs," and they all have these various afterlives of "the Instructions," which they say are the kind of afterlife where they are happy and joyful and hopeful. But it's also implied that their trials, whether they work or fail, have some bearing on whether they will get into these afterlives, and these are the "trial" instructions contained in the book, I guess, for people without access to the other set of instructions in the package (P. M. and the ocean stuff).

But it's hard to imagine how the package writer, as this character, could expect P. M. (the guy who sent the package), the guy who wrote the package, and P. M.'s girlfriend "D" to fit into this sort of Afterlife narrative, and how the guy in the story would have found them suitable "inspirational figures" if he was just coming to the story from Outside. It's difficult to imagine P. M. finding "P. M. / the ocean stuff" to be an "inspiration" – it seems too distant, he doesn't even live in the same time-and-place as the story, I guess because he's only in the middle of one of the Afterlife journeys.

But maybe it will turn out that P. M.'s girlfriend "D" is, somehow, in this world or place, and therefore can meet P. M. and also find him inspirational. And maybe her finding him inspirational will affect the way the characters in the story think of him. (If she's not, the package writer is setting up her to be a pretty interesting character!)

On the one hand, it makes me wonder if this is just another way of writing a sort of post-modern "surrealist" story where everything happens for all sorts of "hidden" symbolic, artistic, or literary reasons, which would work well for me, but would be too complicated to actually work for many readers.

On the other hand, it's hard for me to say the reader's role is "totally pointless." It's one way of getting the reader to think of the main character in the story as an "emotional" or "psychological" subject, as someone who can have an effect on the world beyond the text – which is one way in which Almost Nowhere "adds up" to me, although I'm not sure it succeeds at that. (A lot of people seem to have liked it because of the way it presents a sort of cool, whimsical, quirky character, but the text also includes a lot of "this character is cool, whimsical, etc.," so I guess they're on the same "side" in this case.)

#[]

7 notes · View notes

waitimcomingtoo · 3 years

Text

Obedience

Part two

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Synopsis: after being tortured by HYDRA, you have to obey every command given to you

warnings: mentions of suicide

Masterlist

“How is she?”

Steve stared at you with sad eyes, watching your through the glass window on your door. It had been three months since HYDRA captured you during a mission. In those three months, they put you through a form of torture worse than the team could imagine. You’d finally be found and had been staying in the hospital until your vitals were stable.

“Not good.” The nurse sighed. “She doesn’t say much. Eye contact is even more rare.”

“Do you know what they did to her?”

“It’s unclear.” The nurse said. “She has no physical injuries. She doesn’t like it when we turn the lights off, though. We think they kept her in the dark.”

“Can I see her?” He asked, without taking his eyes off you.

“You can.” She nodded. “We can’t promise she’ll speak to you.”

“I’m gonna try.” Steve smiled at the nurse before going into your room. You jumped slightly and withdrew your knees to your chest at the sudden noise of the door opening.

“Hey Y/n.” Steve smiled at you as he slid his hands in his pockets. “It’s good to see you.”

“Hey, captain.” You slowly unfurled your body at the sight of someone familiar. Steve went to close the door behind him, but you protested.

“Wait, don’t close the door. They used to…” You trailed off and seemed to space out, so Steve took his hands away from the door.

“It’s okay.” He assured you. “I’ll leave it open.”

“Thank you.” You mumbled quietly.

“No problem. Mind if I sit here?” He asked as he pointed to a chair by your bed.

“Yes, sir.” You nodded stiffly.

“How are you feeling?” He asked as he took a seat.

“Not great.” You smiled weakly and rubbed the side of your head. “They uh, they fucked up my head, sir.”

“I heard. Here.” He handed you a bottle of juice he grabbed from the cafeteria. “You should drink something.”

“Thank you, sir.” You didn’t look at him as you accepted the bottle. You took a long sip and grimaced after you swallowed it.

“Whats wrong?” He asked when he saw the look of disgust on your face.

“I hate orange juice.” You confessed as you took another sip.

“Then why are you drinking it?” He wondered. “I have water right here.”

You took the glass of water and briefly looked him in the eyes, giving him a weak smile.

“It’s HYDRA. They got inside my head.” You whimpered. “I cant say no to something, even when I want to.”

“Oh.” Steves face fell as you told him. “Don’t worry about this, Y/n. I’m gonna figure out how to fix you.”

“Okay.” You said cheerfully, sitting up straight with a bright smile. Your body language did not match your sudden chipper mood, and it alarmed Steve.

“Woah, what happened?”

“You told me not to worry.” You said sadly. His eyes widened as he realized the extent of your condition. He found it deeply disturbing to watch you, knowing your smile was fake, but kept a straight face.

“Right, sorry.” He nodded. “You can relax.”

With that, your body slumped and you fell over on the bed. You looked at him sadly as you laid there, looking anything but relaxed.

“This might be harder than I thought.”

When Peter heard the car door close, he rushed to the window. He stopped sleeping the first night you were gone and stoped eating when you were legally declared dead a month later.

“There you are.” Peter rushed away from the window to Steve. “Is Y/n with you? Is she okay?”

“She’s with me but she’s not okay.” Steve said quietly, giving Peter a stern look that told him to relax.

“Why?” He felt himself getting emotional. “What did they…”

He trailed off when you walked through the front door looking skinnier and smaller than ever. Peter let out a breath of relief as tears came to his eyes. You didn’t look at him, but he was staring at you.

“Hey.” You said weakly, slowly lifting your eyes to look at him.

“Hey.” Peter said back, wiping his face free of tears. “I missed you. I’ve been really worried. I, uh, how are you? How are you feeling?”

“Tired.” You nodded. “I’m just gonna go to sleep, if that’s all right?”

You looked to Steve for permission, which he wasn’t expecting. Peter looked between the two of you in confusion.

“Yeah, of course.” Steve told you. “You can do anything you want.”

“Thank you, sir.” You said softly.

“Are you sure?” Peter asked. “You’ve been gone for so long. You should eat something”.

You immediately stopped in your tracks and went to the kitchen. Peter watched as you robotically took an orange from the fruit bowl and began to peel it with shaking hands.

“Whats happened?” He whispered to Steve. “Why is she doing that?”

“Thanks to whatever HYDRA did to her, she obeys every command given to her.” Steve whispered back as he watched you.

“That wasn’t a command.” Peter told him. “I was just suggesting that she eat something. She looks so hallow.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Steve shrugged. “She just has to do what she’s told.”

“Is she in pain?” Peter asked him as he watched you with guilty eyes.

“Not physically.” Steve shook his head. “I think it’s hurting her on the inside. A lot.”

“Really?” Peter asked sadly. You had now finished your orange and sat waiting for further instruction.

“May I go to bed now, please?” You asked, uncharacteristically spoke spoken.

“Yeah.” Steve smiled softly at you. “You don’t have to ask.”

“Thank you.” You nodded before running off your room. Once you were gone, Steve hung his head in his hands and let out a long sign. Peter watched him curiously, not used to seeing him show this kind of emotion. He looked up with glassy eyes and looked at Peter, shaking his head sadly.

Two months since HYDRA

“Good morning”. You greeted Peter as you sat next to him at the kitchen table. It was a rare morning when you were out of your room, and an even rarer moment to see you smiling.

“Hey.” Peter smiled brightly at you. “How’d you sleep?”

“Um.” You bit your lip as you thought back on your restless night. “Fine. Just had a few bad dreams.”

“Do you want to talk about them?” Peter asked politely.

“I would prefer not to, if that’s okay?” You asked him as if it was up to him. It pained him to see you asking permission for everything.

“Then we won’t.” He assured you. “Do you want some cereal?”

“You mean you didn’t eat it all?” You teased, showing a glimmer of your usual self.

“Shut up.” He chuckled as he nudged you. You instantly shut your mouth, looking frustrated with yourself for doing so.

“Sorry.” Peter apologized immediately. “I didn’t mean it like that. You can speak.”

“Thank you, sir.” You cleared your throat, all traces of the person Peter once knew reverting back inside.

“You don’t have to thank me.” He said softly as he rubbed your shoulder. “And you don’t have to call me “sir.” It’s just me. Just Peter.”

“Can we just change the subject?” You asked him, looking at him with pain filled eyes.

“Yeah.” Peter nodded. “Are you coming in the mission later?”

“Yeah.” Your smile returned again. “Mr. Stark cleared me for work last night.”

“Thats great.” Peter smiled back. “I’ve missed my partner in crime.”

“I missed you to.” Your smile faded a little. “Thinking about you was what got me through when they…you know.”

“I thought about you too.” Peter put his hand over yours and rubbed his thumb softly on your knuckle. “Every day. Nothing else would enter my mind.”

“Do you think I’m ever gonna be normal again?” You whispered as you leaned closer to him.

“I do.” Peter nodded, tilting his face to the side as he inches closer. “It’s all going to be okay.”

Peter your lips could touch, Sam walked in the room with a bowl of cereal. He was one of the Avengers who assumed you and Peter had gotten together years ago, so he didn’t feel bad interrupting your moment.

“Ew.” Sam snorted. “Don’t do that in front of my cereal.”

You immediately pulled away, physically having to obey Sam. You sighed angrily and looked at Peter with sad eyes before getting up.

“Y/n.” Peter called after you, not wanting you to leave but not wanting to give you a command. You kept walking, not wanting to talk about what happened.

You didn’t bring up the almost kiss all day, which Peter was grateful for. You acted normal around him at the mission, too excited to be working again to think about the awkward moment. You focused on completing your task and got through most of the mission without a problem.

“I got the vials.” You proudly held up three stolen vials of Pym particles to show Peter. He finished webbing the security guard and smiled at you.

“Nice job.” Peter high fived you. “Hank is gonna be so relieved.”

“I know. Come on we gotta go.”

You and Peter began to run towards the jet when you tripped an alarm by accident. A guard came out of the watchtower and shined a flashlight on you, making you run faster.

“Hey!” He shouted. “Stop right there!”

Your face scrunched in frustration as your feet stuck to the floor. You tried to keep running but you were stuck in place.

“What are you doing?” Peter exclaimed when he noticed you weren’t behind him. “We have to go!”

“I can’t move!” You shook your head angrily. “He told me to stop.”

“We gotta go.” Peter quickly scooped you up and ran with you. You held on to him and hid your face in his neck, not wanting him to see how upset you were. Peter ran all the way back to the jet and climbed inside.

“What happened to you two?” Tony asked as Peter set you down. You turned around and punched the wall out of anger as Peter watched you.

“He told Y/n to stop so she had to obey.” Peter said quietly, making Tony’s face fall. You turned around and nodded, looking angry with yourself.

“I’m sorry, Y/n.” Tony sighed. “But until we get this figured out-“

“I can’t go on the missions.” You nodded, already knowing what was coming.

“I’m sorry.” He apologized.

“Yeah.” You sighed and kept your eyes down. “I’m sorry too.”

Eight months since HYDRA

“Where are you?” Peter called you to ask when he didn’t find you in the tower. You were usually waiting for him when he came from patrol, but you were nowhere to be found today.

“I’m at some store downtown.” You answered as you turned down a street corner.

“Alone?” Peter worried.

“It’s fine, Peter.” You assured him. “I was going crazy sitting in the tower all day. I needed to go out.” You sighed.

“It’s not safe for you to be outside when you can’t say no to anything.” Peter reasoned. “I can think of a million bad things that can happen. You shouldn’t be alone.”

Your feet started moving before you had a chance to process what he said and you planted yourself next to the first person you saw. You smiled awkwardly at the man and tried to walk away, but you were stuck. Peter told you not to be alone, so you had to obey.

“Nothing bad is going to happen.” You assured him. “No one knows about my condition.”

“Can I at least meet you where you are?” He asked, careful not to give you a command. “It will make me feel better.”

“Okay, fine.” You agreed. “You can meet me here.”

“Okay. Thank you.” Peter sighed in relief. “I’ll see you soon.”

You tried to walk again and were able to this time. You started walking down an alleyway to find a store to meet Peter at when you heard a mans voice behind you.

“Hey.” He called. “Slow down.”

You started walking slower despite your inner protest and felt your heart rate pick up. The footsteps behind you got faster and soon you were joined by the man from earlier.

“I overheard you on the phone.” He began. “Is it true you say yes to everything?”

“I’m sorry, I have to go.” You gave him a tight smile and continued walking slowly.

“Answer my question.” He called after you.

“It’s true.” You blurted, always having to obey. You began to sweat as he caught up to you again and began to toy with your hair.

“Interesting.” He remarked. “Spin around.”

You shut your eyes in frustration and spun around in a circle, earning an amused laugh.

“Wow.” He clapped his hands. “Isn’t that amazing?”

“I really have to go.” You told him. “Please just leave me alone.”

You started walking away again, allowed to run now since his original command wore off.

“Stop.” You heard his voice, and you had to stop.

“So it’s true.” He smirked as he circled around you. “You do obey everything. Even when you don’t want to?”

You stayed silent and kept your eyes down, praying he’d get bored and leave.

“Answer me.” He got too close to you to say into your ear.

“Yes.” You answered in a weak voice.

“I could have fun with this.” He smiled and folded his arms. He stared at you for a minute before tracing his finger along the side of your face. You tried to move but you stayed still.

“You don’t want to do this.” You told him. Your threat was pretty empty without your suit or your free will. If you tried to fight him, he could just tell you to stop.

“Aw, but I do.” He pouted. “You’re pretty when you threaten me. But it would sound a lot better if you had a smile on.”

You smiled against your will, feeling a hot flash of embarrassment.

“That’s better.” He talked to you like you were a child. “Now, walk with me.”

You began to walk side by side with him, having no idea where he was taking you. You passed some police officers on the street and tried to make eye contact.

“Don’t say anything.” He mumbled in your ear. “Keep your eyes down.”

You did as you were told and continued walking with him until you reached a black van.

“Get in the car.” He said, and you began to climb in. You tried to fight the urge to climb into the car, gripping the side and pushing yourself back. Your need to obey commands overtook your instincts and you got in the car.

“There we go. Now buckle your seatbelt and-“

Before he could finish his sentence, he was kicked in the head. You peeked your head out of the car and saw Peter punching the man in the face.

“Jeez, dude. Where are you manners?” Peter asked as he shook out his hand. He webbed the man to the ground and dialed 911 before turning to you.

“Peter.” You breathed in relief, forgetting he was supposed to meet you. Peter pulled you out of the car and hugged you tightly. You squeezed him back, grateful he was overprotective today.

“Are you okay?” He asked. “I heard him as I was swinging over.”

“What do you think?” You asked, suddenly getting angry. “Do you know how bad that could have been?”

“I know.” Peter nodded. “But it’s okay now.”

“Why does everyone keep saying this is okay?” You let go of Peter and backed away. “I have no free will. Do you know how it feels to not be the one in control?”

“I don’t. And I’m sorry.” He tried to calm you down. “But the team is doing everything they can to fix you. Just calm down.”

Your frown immediately faded as your shoulders relaxed, calming down against your will.

“I’m sorry.” Peter realized what he did. “I didn’t mean that as a command.”

“It doesn’t matter.” You shrugged sadly. “I still have to obey.”

“This won’t last forever.” He promised you. “But you shouldn’t go anywhere alone until we figure this out.”

“Great.” You laughed humorlessly. “So I already have to obey commands, and now I need a leash. HYDRA turned me into a fucking dog.”

“I’m sorry.” Peter mumbled, not sure what else to say. “I wish I could help you.”

“Stop apologizing. It’s not your fault.” You said without looking at him. He could tell you didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

“I know. I’m sorry.” He apologized again before realizing what he said. “Shoot. Sorry. Let’s just go home.”

Your body jerked forward and you started moving in the direction of the tower. Peter squeezed his eyes shut, cursing himself for giving you a command.

“I didn’t mean-“ He began as he jogged beside you.

“Whatever.” You cut him off, not wanting another apology. “It’s fine. Let’s just go home.”

You didn’t want Peter to think you were mad at him from the other day, so you went to his room to talk. He couldn’t be blamed for what happened with the man on the street, and you couldn’t be blamed for the anger it caused you. To make sure everything was okay, you knocked on his door and went it when you heard his voice.

“Hey, Pete. What are you up to?” You asked as you took a seat on his bed.

“I’m trying to fix the calibration on my web shooter. I couldn’t get a web out fast enough today.” He grumbled as he tweaked the wires that were popping out of his web shooter.

“Did something happen?” You worried, examining his face for injuries. He froze and looked up at you with guilty eyes.

“Um, kinda.” He answered before pulling up his shirt to reveal a deep, poorly bandaged wound.

“You got stabbed?” Your eyes widened. “Again?”

“You would not believe how fast knives have gotten.” Peter defended himself.

“I probably wouldn’t.” You shrugged. “It’s been five months since I’ve been on a mission.”

“Sorry.” He grimaced. “I didn’t mean to bring it up.”

“It’s fine, Peter.” You shrugged it off. “Let me bandage you up. That’s not sanitary.”

“You don’t have to.” He told you and you gave him a look.

“But you can if you want.” He followed up. You had broken your habit of asking for permission for everything, but you were still sensitive about commands. You got up and got some of his medical supplies from his top drawer, knowing exactly where they were. You sat back on his bed and helped him pull his shirt over his head, pretending not to notice the way he flushed to his ears. You carefully removed his bandages and poured some hydrogen peroxide on a Cotten ball.

“This is gonna sting.” You said quietly as you looked in his eyes.

“Okay. Hold my hand, please?” He asked shyly as he uncurled his hand. You slipped your hand into his before you had time to process what he said.

“Wow.” You teased. “Using my condition against me, I see.”

“Well you’ve been isolating yourself so I’m taking advantage of my time with you.” Peter said, giving your hand a squeeze. “I miss you.”

“Yeah.” You squeezed back. “I miss you too.”

You smiled at him before dabbing the Cotten ball on his wound. You bandaged it tightly, smoothing your hand over his side to secure the gauze.

“Thanks.” He mumbled, never taking his eyes off you. “It feels better already.”

“No problem.” You smiled shyly. “How’s the web shooter coming along?”

“Let’s see.” Peter snapped out of his daze and picked his shooter back up. “Okay, be honest-“

“I like you.” You blurted, immediately slapping a hand over your mouth. Peter looked up in shock at your confession and dropped the shooter on his lap.

“What?” He asked, an involuntary smile breaking out into his face.

“I’m sorry. You said “be honest” and I must’ve taken it as a command.” You stammered as you got off his bed. “I’ll leave.”

“Wait! Don’t go.” Peter protested, making you stop in place. “I mean, I hope you don’t go.”

You were released from the command and found yourself able to move but not wanting to.

“I would appreciate it if you sat back down on my bed.” He said quietly, and you purposefully obliged.

“You don’t have to phrase everything like that.” You told him as you sat back down.

“I don’t want to give you any more commands.” He said softly. You gave him an appreciative smile and handed him his shirt, realizing he never put it back on. Peter thanked you and pulled it over his head, leaving his curly hair tousled and adorable.

“Do you really like me?” He asked quietly as he nervously pulled at his fingers.

“I do.” You nodded, finding no use in denying it. “That wasn’t exactly the way I wanted to tell you, but I do.”

“Well I’m not complaining.” Peter shrugged, making you laugh. “I personally think that was a perfect way to break the news.”

“Break the news.” You laughed again at his wording. “I’m not pregnant, Peter. Just in love with your dorky ass.”

“You’re so mean.” He laughed and shoved your slightly. You leaned into him as you came back from the shove, your faces almost touching.

“Kiss me.” He whispered as he looked into your eyes. You did as you were told, but it didn’t feel like a command. It felt like something you had been waiting for for years.

Peter kissed you back to the best of his ability, but his emerging smile kept getting in his way. He relaxed enough to stop smiling and put his hands on your face, kissing you the way he’d always wanted to. When you pulled away, he was finally able to let that smile out.

“Did you do that because you wanted to or because you were obeying me?” He asked softly.

“I promise, I wanted to.” You told him before pulling him into another kiss.

Ten months since HYDRA

“Y/n, please. I would like to talk about this.” Peter called after you as the two of you barged in the front door. Tony quickly stopped eating his lunch to eavesdrop on your fight.

“There’s nothing to talk about, Peter.” You grumbled as you walked past the kitchen. “Don’t follow me.”

“What happened?” Tony got up to stop you. “Are you hurt?”

You stayed quiet as you stared at Tony with pained eyes, feeling too embarrassed to explain what had happened.

“Do you want to tell him?” Peter asked quietly from behind you, not wanting to upset you anymore than you already were.

“I crashed my car.” You stated as you kept a straight face. You were just waiting for Tony to take away your driving privileges, one of the few things you had left.

“What?” He asked. “How?”

“It was my fault.” Peter began and you rolled your eyes. “She was bummed out about her condition so I told her to keep her head up and-“

“And I did.” You laughed humorlessly. “I kept it up so I couldn’t see the road and I nearly killed someone. I could’ve killed you!” You screamed at Peter.

“But you didn’t.” He said back, trying to stay calm. “It’s okay, really-“

“It’s not okay! Stop saying it’s okay!” You shouted as you tugged at your hair. “I can’t live like this anymore.”

“We’re working on a cure.” Tony assured you. “We’re going to-“

“To what? To fix me?” You asked. “You’ve been saying that for almost a year and I’m still like this. I can’t work, I can’t drive, I can’t go anywhere alone. What am I doing?”

“These things take time.” Tony said calmly but you weren’t having it.

“I don’t have time. I almost killed Peter today.” Your voice came out hoarse. “I nearly got myself killed a few months ago. If you don’t have a cure by next week, then…”

“Then what?” Peter interrupted, but you kept your back to him.

“Then it’s time to start thinking about my other options.” You said, only to Tony.

“What other options?” Peter asked but Tony knew exactly what you were talking about.

“It’s too soon to start thinking about that.” Tony stated. “Bruce and I are getting closer every day.”

“You said I had a year.” You reminded him. “It’s been a year.”

“It’s been 10 months.” Tony retorted.

“What are you talking about?” Peter asked again, getting more worried by the second.

“You promised.” You whispered. “You promised me we could talk about this if you couldn’t find a cure.”

“Talk about what?” Peter questioned, but was again ignored.

“I will find a cure.” Tony promised. “You just have to give me some more time.”

“I’m out of time. And so are you.” You angrily pointed at him.

“Screw this.” Peter sighed and jumped to drastic measures. “Y/n, tell me what you’re talking about.”

“Mr. Stark said he could euthanize me if he didn’t find a cure in a year.” You blurted. You turned around slowly and looked at Peter with betrayal in your eyes. He was too focused on what you just admitted to see the extent of what he had done.

“What?” He yelled. “You said what?”

“It’s none of your business, Peter.” You snapped. “How could you use my condition against me like that? You had no right to give me a command. You knew I’d have to obey it.”

“I’m sorry, I panicked.” He apologized. “You want to kill yourself?”

“You have no idea what pain I’m in every day.” You shook your head. “I gave it a year and I’m still miserable.”

“Miserable?” He whispered, taking your words personally. He knew you were still in pain, but he thought you’d been better since you started dating. Your words made him believe he was wrong. You noticed the sadness in his eyes and sighed, your anger simmering away.

“Could you give us a minute, Mr. Stark?” You asked without turning around.

“I’ll be in the lab.” Tony nodded, grabbing his food before leaving.

Once he was gone, you walked to Peter and pulled him into a kiss to apologize. He tearfully kissed you back before pushing you away and wiping his eyes.

“You’ve been miserable this whole time?” He sniffled.

“Not the whole time.” You promised as you wiped his tears. “But when I am fighting a constant battle of what I want to do and what I’m told to do, I end each day exhausted. It’s terrifying somedays. And it’s so, so lonely.”

“But you have me.” He said quietly.

“I do.” You smiled a little. “But you’re away a lot. And I can’t put all of my happiness on you. That’s not fair to you and not healthy for our relationship.”

“I know you’re hurting, but killing yourself is not the answer.” He told you. “How could you even consider that?”

“You don’t get it, Peter.” You sighed. “I am one part of your already great life. You get to go on life saving missions during the week and explore the city on your free time. And you have someone who loves you to come home to when you’re done. It’s not like that for me. All I have is you. I just sit here waiting for you to come home. Like I’m some kind of…”

“Dog.” He finished your sentence, understanding your pain in a new way.

“Exactly.” You nodded. “I don’t expect you to understand, but I’m hoping you can at least try to see things from my side.”

“I’m gonna start helping Mr. Stark and Dr. Banner in the lab.” Peter decided. “We’re the world’s mightiest heroes. One of us has to be able to fix this. This can’t be your last choice.”

“It’s been nearly a year Peter.” You shrugged sadly. “I don’t think this can be fixed.”

“But I can try.” He grasped your hands tightly.

“All I’m asking for is another year. One year to do everything I can to fix you.”

“I don’t know if I can take another year of this. I’m sorry.” You cupped his face to apologize, set on your decision.

“Please?” He whispered. “For me?”

“Okay.” You agreed, making his face light up. He hugged you tightly and kissed the side of your head, thanking you for giving him a chance. In the heat of the moment, it didn’t occur to Peter that you only agreed because you had to. You began to silently cry as you hugged him back, not having the heart to tell him you didn’t mean what you said. You didn’t want to agree, but you had no choice in the matter.

He asked for a year, and you had to obey.

PART TWO

Tag List 🏷

@awesomebooklover17 @thebookwormlife @imanativeofswlondondahling @weirdr-artiest @serendipitous-amor @dummiesshort @foreverxholland @lavender-writer @michaela072796 @whatareyouhidingpeter @takenbyheartstrings @ultrunning @imyourliquor-youremypoison @andreasworlsboring101 @waiting-to-be-myself @letsloveimagines @peterparkoure @a-villain-vying-for-attention @justcallmehitgirl @jackiehollanderr @tiny-friggin-human @mara-twins @iamaunicorn4704 @maryjanee23 @geeksareunique @emmamarshmellow @unbelievableholland @rebekkah4766 @flixndchill @sovereignparker @thisisthebiplace @spideydobrik @every-marveler-ever @undiadeestos @caelestii-e @eridanuswave @itscaminow @fiantomartell @solarxmoonchild @where-art-thau-romeo @canyouevencauseicant @illwritetomorrow @thehappygrungelife @saysomethingspiderman @smilexcaptainx @quaksonhehe @kelieah @kickingn-ames @babeyspidey @seasidecrowbar @lovelessdagger @love-sick-blues @electraheart-3174 @unbelievableholland @yourtypicalhotmess @spideyanakin @horanxholland @thesuitelifeofafangirl @anapocalypseinmymind @marshxx @heyheycharlatte @nooneinvitedfascistbarbie @tomshufflepuff @cookiemonstermusic258 @maybemona @young-romanoff @alexxcorona113 @lethal-wisdom @xo-spidey @im-still-tryin-to-find-it @big-galaxy-chaos @pandaxnienke @theincredibledeadlyviper @thestylestour @officialsimppage @mrvelscaptains @peterbenjiparker @itsemohours @satanswitchings @okkulta @parkerlovebot @just-here-to-escape-from-reality @mati4188 @geminiparkers @jungkxxkk @friendlyneighborhood-mendes @whatthefuckimbisexual @olixerwxxd @starkbrain @creatorofthegalaxy @far-from-holland @f-hollands @ilovefrogs1000 @itstaskeen @itmatteredatthetime @monimillion @amazinggracy @slutforsebstan @iprobablyshipit91 @magicalxdaydream @whereismytelephone @theonly1outof-a-billion @leilanixx @namoreno @bi-lmg @dracoswhore007 @tomhollandloml @avengers-hamiltrash @sunshinepeterparkr @gh0stgurl @p-prettywhenicry @so-very-asleep @veryholland

#peter parker x reader #peter parker x y/n #peter parker x you #peter parker fanfiction #peter parker imagine #peter parker angst #tom holland x reader #tom holland x you #iron man #tom holland fluff #tom holland fanfiction

2K notes · View notes

thunderon · 3 years

Text

hey who wants a quick rundown of what we do/don’t know about the events in Gideon the Ninth between Chapter 37 (which ends with harrow cradling gideon’s body) and the Epilogue (which starts with harrow waking up on the Eberos)?

cuz (for my own theories im making) i organized the information and added a list of conclusions i think we can draw. just in case anyone else finds it helpful, i decided to post it here, so check it out:

here is what we know about the locations and statuses of everyone at the end of Chapter 37:

here is what we learn in the Epilogue:

here is a list of relevant information we learn in Harrow the Ninth:

okay so a certain set of events needed to happen to make this all possible. looking at the puzzle pieces, here is some likely inferences i think we can make:

The BoE arrived prior to the Cohort going down and searching the area. There’s simply too many overlapping locations at the end of Chapter 37 of who the Cohort was able to collect and not collect for everyone to have been present when the Cohort came down. The most likely conclusion we can draw is that Mercymorn rendezvoused with BoE, and they came to an arrangement that resulted in the survivors + the corpse of Wake’s daughter being given to the BoE. Then, the Cohort arrived and collected the remaining bodies and the Lyctors (Cytherea, Ianthe, and Harrow) in addition to Wake (who is in Gideon’s two-hander).

Harrowhark and Ianthe were both likely unconscious for this. For one, the epilogue starts when Harrow wakes up on the flagship, which obviously means she was unconscious. Two, it’s highly doubtful she would let herself be separated from Gideon’s body. My vote is that Mercymorn knocked Harrow out. As for Ianthe, the last we know of her she was siphoned by Cytherea, which could have caused her to be unconscious. im inclined to accept this, as i have a hard time believing Ianthe would have willingly allowed Corona to be separated from her to go with a rebel insurgency group.

Camilla Hect must have personally gone to the sickroom at some point. Obviously she collected Palamedes’ remains. Additionally, someone must have collected Gideon’s rapier from the scene for it to eventually end up Corona’s possession. Considering BoE did not take Gideon’s two-handed sword along with her body (if they did take her body), it is unlikely they would have taken her rapier. It was most likely either Camilla or Corona who took it. It is unknown how Camilla knows the Cohort took the rest of Palamedes.

but we also have some stuff that goes unaccounted for but is potentially tied to these events:

- a curious side note, harrow says “the Sixth House cavalier was only injured when I left her”. it’s kinda unclear what “left”exactly that means. when harrow went out of the bone cocoon to fight cytherea? or did harrow physically leave the garden and camilla?

- ianthe is never shown to search for coronabeth in htn. again this strikes me as remarkably strange and out of character. ianthe repeatedly is shown to be concerned for her sister, accounts for instances of if harrow physically meets corona, but yet shows no attempts to locate her? yeah, something is going on there. "see a man about a queen" yeah okay hmm.

- we never get an explanation about why harrow instructed herself in her lobotomy letters to never let the two-handed blade touch skin. at the start of htn, wake is still in the blade. presumably (somehow) harrow is aware of this and that is why she instructs herself

- we dont know what happened in chapter 11 in htn when harrow awakes after stabbing cytherea with the two-hander (allowing Wake to transfer). harrow has no memory of how she got there

- the emperor knows about the desolation of the ninth house, a fact that harrow is unsure how he knows. the three other people aware of it at canaan house (silas, colum, and gideon) are all confirmed dead

- ianthe is never given a motive for lying about cytherea's body to harrow

- it is highly implied that harrow knows about perfect lyctorhood (palamedes gave her his notes on it and says that she, of anyone, could have figured it out)

- another thing im curious about is harrow telling ianthe that she asked for her help because she knows what it’s like to be “fractured”. what is this referring to? it’s only a few days after the events of canaan house, is this a comment on her arm? on corona? something else?

anyways that’s all the major stuff i think is possibly related. im currently hammering out all these pieces in some theories,,, but i thought id just post all of this in case anybody was interested!

#meta time yo #hopefully someone finds this helpful #the locked tomb #harrow the ninth #gideon the ninth #op

419 notes · View notes

the-insomniac-emporium · 3 years

Text

Wounded Love Pt. 2 (Lady Dimitrescu/F!Reader)

Fandom: Resident Evil: Village Rating: T? Maybe? Almost the exact opposite of the first one. Language, minor violence Genre: Fluff, mainly, with admittedly a little bit of humor? I blame my lack of sleep. And my adhd. Warnings: Implied cannibalism adjacent activities because guess what honey, this is a fucked up family, what do you expect of me??? Sure, they have breakfast in this, there's cute stuff, but c'mon, they don't eat flowers and oatmeal! Notes: Doubt it needs to be said, but this is a sequel to the good ending of part one. Also Cass has one line in this that might be OOC, or seem oddly placed, but admittedly this chapter is also loosely based on a dream I had, and I couldn't not include the few direct quotations I remembered, and she seemed the most likely to say the line. And yes, there will be a part 3, because I am weak and also kind of maybe made this one less plot-moving than intended.

{Wounded Love: The re-woundening}

Every step ached more than the last, even with Alcina supporting you. She had wanted to carry you down the stairs, of course, but you had insisted that you would be fine. Now you were just determined not to complain out loud. One yelp or cry and you’d be scooped up in her arms, surely to be carried for the rest of the day. As much as you appreciated your girlfriend’s assistance, you hated feeling useless, and hated putting a burden on others. So here you were, one arm wrapped around Alcina’s waist, limping ever-so-slowly towards the dining room.

Further ahead (unburdened by your injury) the three Dimitrescu daughters talk among themselves, voices hushed as they too headed for breakfast. It was odd to see them all awake, and socializing, as there was usually at least one who came to meals late. You couldn’t help but wonder if it had something to do with your condition… or the circumstances that had caused it.

Less than eighteen hours had passed since your fight with a stray lycan, and tension had been high since. While you hadn’t yet spoken to the sisters, you had spoken to Alcina, who had briefly mentioned their concern for you. Whether they actually cared about you as a person or just cared because you are dating their mother is unclear. Based on how they had acted while treating your wounds, though, you were inclined to think that they were fond of you. And seeing as Alcina had already vowed to get revenge on your behalf… well, you wouldn’t be surprised to learn that her daughters intended to assist.

“Careful on the last step, dear,” Alcina says, positioned as to catch you if you fell. It takes a little willpower to resist the urge to hop down the rest of the way. As long as you landed on your uninjured leg, it wouldn’t even be that bad. Still, irritating your girlfriend first thing in the morning felt like a pretty stupid thing to do. Instead you just nodded, slowing down even more, and took visible care not to trip. “Good girl.”

Well, you certainly couldn’t say that being careful didn’t have its rewards.

“I have my moments,” you replied, blush rising to your cheeks. Suddenly your pain didn’t feel so bad (at least until you took another step and winced). “Damn, who woulda thought that cutting a chunk out of my leg would make it hurt more?” The leg in question throbbed in pain, as if to prove your point, protesting the weight you put on it. Changing the angle at which you stood helped some, allowing the lower half of the limb to bear more of the burden.

“Dearest…” Alcina starts to say, looking like she was going to readdress her desire to carry you. For a moment you try to avoid her gaze, but she moves in front of you, making sure that you could still hold onto her for support. “I know how you feel, how you want, desperately, to be independent. When I was first… granted this gift, it took a long time to adjust. There was so much I had to relearn how to do, so much that I suddenly needed done for me.” A pause, a deep breath. At last you look up at your girlfriend, warmth in your heart, reaching out to hold her hand. “You have time, my dear, and plenty of it. More than that… this will not last forever. The more you push yourself, the longer your recovery will take. Now, please, allow me to assist. You have already proven how strong you are.”

“Oh, you drive a hard bargain… but if you insist, who am I to decline? Or, well, who am I to decline twice in a row?” You answer, somewhat begrudgingly. It wasn’t much farther to the dining room, you figured, so it wouldn’t be much of a loss to accept help. Or at least that was what you told yourself. Even with Alcina’s encouragement it was so hard for you to accept her help. After all, you were the one that worked for her. Never mind the fact that she was somewhat responsible for your injury- really, you were actively avoiding thinking about that.

It’s much easier to forget once Alcina carefully picks you up. One arm goes under your legs, the other under your chest, lifting you without any effort. You might as well have been a kitten or a child’s toy. The movement does, however, shift your injured leg in such a way that it aches. At this point you can hardly move the limb at all without it hurting, and even the slightest friction against the bandage makes your eyes water.

Apparently someone would be delivering some painkillers later in the day. You assumed it would be The Duke (whose name is apparently not Doug, as you had thought), seeing as he knew some special way to get to and fro without risking the same fate that had befallen you. Which, of course, made you feel a lot better. Getting someone else hurt would weigh on your mind forever.

Regardless, you were safe now, as was your strange, bloody little family. Before long you would even be enjoying a pleasant meal together. Certainly that would help get your mind off of your wound? For now, though, you were met with an unexpected impasse. The sort of impasse that really, really should have been expected.

“Why… is the doorway… so small?” You asked, jokingly, as you stare into the mildly embarrassed face of your girlfriend. It’s already hard enough for her to crouch through the gap normally. When she’s carrying you? Impossible. “Can we ask Mother Miranda for bigger doors? She gave you eternal life and also three kids, she’s gotta be capable of making bigger doors. Put me down, I’ll go call her and-”

“That won’t be necessary, dear,” Alcina cuts you off, not fully appreciating this part of your humor. Or maybe she had already asked for bigger doors, only to be told no?... Okay, yeah, it was probably the first option. With a sigh she sets you down, as gently as she can manage. Ready and raring to go, you start to hobble forward, only to find all three of the daughters waiting for you, just beyond the door. They’re grinning as they watch you, and Bela extended her arm to offer her help. “What appears to be the matter?” Alcina asks from behind you. Accepting your fate and Bela’s arm, you let the sisters guide you to the table, Cassandra holding your other side, and Daniela pulls your chair out for you. Honestly it’s pretty adorable. Evidently your girlfriend agrees, from the way she smiles as she follows.

“Thank you,” you say, more out of reflex than genuine gratitude. Again, you weren’t thrilled about needing this assistance. If the girls notice they’re at least polite enough not to mention it. They simply move to their own seats at the large table, eager to dig in. It feels… strange, to be here, on this side of things. Stranger still to realize you’re the only one intending to eat actual food. There’s wine in your glass, but it’s a much fainter red than those you’ve previously served to your girlfriend. Thank goodness, you think, after how raw my throat was yesterday, I really don’t need to taste any more blood.

Once Lady Dimitrescu sits down, the meal formally begins, with several maidens appearing from the kitchen. Several seem relieved to see you, although surprised, and one even gave you a brief smile. The smile did not last, however. It wasn’t unexpected, considering the nature of her job, the pressures that it put upon her. No one smiled at mealtimes. Well, no maidens, that is. They simply moved around, wordlessly, faces blank, doing exactly as instructed. Only a few days ago you had been among them, fear keeping you in line. Was it wrong of you to care for Alcina, knowing what she was capable of doing to others? Knowing what she might have, in another life, done to you?

A maiden places a plate of warm food, as well as a bowl of fresh fruit, in front of you. For a moment your eyes meet, but she looks away instinctively. Your heart threatens to break.

“This looks wonderful, thank you for your hard work, all of you,” you speak up, glancing at each of the women working so hard. There’s more you want to say that dries in your throat; you are valued, you are deserving, someday I will join your ranks again.

“You don’t need to thank them, they’re just doing their jobs,” Cassandra chimes from the other side of the table. Hearing her say that damn near makes you drop your fork. It’s not an uncommon settlement, particularly among older generations and the rich, but one that irks you nonetheless.

“They’re doing my job. They are taking on extra work, for no pay, because I am injured. Why would I be so cruel as to ignore them? Have I not toiled alongside them enough to call them my kin?” You ask, struggling to keep your voice even. Next to you Alcina is slowly cutting into her meat, watching the scene unfold out of the corner of her eyes, perhaps considering when to step in. On the other end of the table, Bela looks increasingly uncomfortable, as if silently willing her sister into silence. None of the maidens have reacted to what you said, likely too afraid of Cassandra to even consider speaking.

“Ooooh, this is much more fun than our usual breakfasts,” Daniela says, stifling a giggle. “Do you have any other thoughts you’d like to share? Preferably ones that aren’t about me.” At this, Alcina sets her utensils down, clearly intending to put an end to the discussion. Unfortunately for her, you were a bit… impulsive, especially considering the previous night’s activities had left your mind struggling to cope.

“Dead lycans smell terrible. Literally the worst thing I’ve ever smelled, easily, no question about it,” you answer, shrugging a little as you do. It’s such a simple thought that you almost don’t realize how the others at the table react. Until the clatter of silverware on the table catches your attention, that is. All three sisters are eying you with different expressions (Bela is confused, Cass is impressed, and Daniela looks shocked). But it’s Alcina’s wide-eyed stare that gets you to elaborate. “Should I have said ‘a dead lycan’? I only got one, so I guess I shouldn’t say they all smell bad. C’mon, though, they have to all smell bad, right?”

Suddenly Daniela shifts from shock to pure amusement, a fit of giggles overtaking her. You’re still confused, not sure what the matter was, so you just sip your wine and hope someone asks the right questions.

“You… killed the lycan that attacked you?” Bela finally says, after a few moments of her sister laughing, expression still incredulous. When you nod she sort of shakes her head, trying to clear her thoughts. “May I ask how you managed that?”

“Oh, you know, I just meh meh-” you mime a stabbing motion with your fork- “until the stupid thing stopped moving. I had to use a tree branch as a weapon, but then it broke after a few whacks, which actually helped because then I had two stabbing implements to, you know, stab with. That’s right around when it got my leg, and it tried to bite me. Thankfully it wasn’t very smart, so when it leapt at me I just hyah-” this time an upwards strike- “right into its neck. That didn’t kill it, but it was enough to slow it down, which allowed me to stab the other half of the branch into its skull. Made this horrible, horrible sound as it died. Seeing as we are eating, I will not imitate the sound. Not that I could, now that I think about it…”

Once again there’s silence. Even Daniela has quieted now, and is watching you with rapt interest, likely hoping that you’re hiding another story up your sleeves.

“So… did you guys actually think that I managed to run away from the lycan? Or were you under the impression that it simply got bored of me and left?” You ask, casually returning to your breakfast afterwards. No one says anything, at first, taking in your words as best as they can. A few moments later both Daniela and Bela resume their meal, as nonchalant as one could be in the current situation. Alcina, however, rests a gentle hand on your shoulder, meeting your gaze with a loving look.

“You will never cease to amaze me, my dear. But let us ensure you never have to… smell, or see, one of those wretched things again, yes?” She says, softly squeezing you as she does. You can’t help but agree, and nod eagerly, mouth too full of hashbrowns to speak. Still, there’s been a shift in the atmosphere of the room. It’s not that the family didn’t respect you before, as far as you can tell, but they evidently hadn’t expected you to prove as capable as you had. It brings a sense of pride to the forefront of your mind, making you completely forget about your injury for the remainder of the meal.

Unable to stop yourself, you insist on helping the other maidens clean up, and Alcina eventually agrees to let you wash a few dishes- as long as you stay sitting the entire time. The last thing you hear before you shuffle off to the kitchen is the start of a conversation between Cassandra and her mother.

“You picked quite a feisty one, didn’t you?”

“That I did, that I did…”

#lady dimitrescu #alcina dimitrescu #lady dimitrescu x reader #alcina x reader #ya boy is a simp and also technically not a boy #i am ill defined and like it #please appreciate this #if you put nice things in the tags I WILL read it #and I WILL love you for it

253 notes · View notes