all-the-muses-archive

[all-the-muses-archive]

Rescue Mission

Starter for @withinkandquill

Pain. Shouting. Cold. Darkness.

“Shit.” Sanji coughed violently as he forced his eyes to open, quickly closing them again with a groan at the sharp pain the light assaulted him with. He brought his arm up to cover his eyes as the pain continued even behind his eyelids. “Damn it, what the hell?” After his head stopped stabbing him, he attempted to open his eyes again, this time with significantly more success. His confusion only grew as he took in the seemingly vacant beach around him.

Everything suddenly came back to him in an instant. They were on their way to the next island, when another pirate crew attacked them out of the blue. This one had multiple devil fruit users and while they were able to hold their own at first, they all quickly became overwhelmed. It would have been a piece of cake for them had they not spent the past few days fighting off constant attacks both day and night. Their luck hadn’t been great recently and it seemed to only be getting worse. If Sanji didn’t know better, he would think one of the others stole one of those cursed objects from the ruins of the last island Robin kept mentioning, though that was probably just to tease Ussop, Chopper, and Nami and didn’t actually have that much truth to it. Sanji smiled a little remembering Robin’s small smile at the reactions of their more sensitive members.

Sanji had used skywalk to get above the fighting and focus on one of the stronger devil fruit users; an ice user who was able to create footholds to stay above their ship and send spiked icicles down toward his crewmates below. With his own ability to summon fire and stay in the air, he was managing to at least keep the man occupied for the time being while the others fought off the ones below. As the battle continued, however, even his stamina was starting to run short, and the man didn’t seem like he was even breaking a sweat yet, though that could be a side effect of the ice powers.

His concentration was cut off when he heard a pained cry from their resident doctor and youngest. Sanji made the mistake of whipping his head away from the ice user down to the ship below, eyes widening as he took in the disaster that was the fight. Already, Nami, Ussop, and now Chopper were downed with Robin, Brook, and Franky not too far behind, swaying and panting with exertion. Zoro and Luffy weren’t doing much better than Sanji himself, they were keeping the stronger guys busy but were also visibly becoming exhausted.

He quickly focused back on his enemy, but his momentary distraction was all that the ice user needed to land a proper hit, even with observation Haki. He gasped as a rather large icicle impaled him straight through the side. He tried to regain his focus and get the fire around his leg to spread upwards, but his exhaustion mixed with the new injury made it impossible. As he tumbled into the ocean, the cries of his nakama were the last thing he registered before he hit the freezing water and blacked out.

[all-the-muses-archive]

Solan winced a little at the mention of his fake death. Back then, he felt nothing but relief knowing it meant he was finally free. Now though, he felt a little guilty at the reminder that he also hurt his siblings while trying to escape. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but that was kinda the goal.” He replied, looking off to the side.

“I had to get out of there. What he made us do, it was horrific. Every mission I went on, I thought it was going to be the death of me, whether by another’s hand or my own. I’m not strong like you Enya, I couldn’t just turn off my emotions and get the job done like you could. Seeing all of that pain and death every day, not being able to escape it even when I went to sleep, it was eating me alive. So, when Lucem found me and offered to take me under her wing, I’m sorry but I didn’t even think twice. I had to leave, I don’t regret it for even a moment, I’m just sorry I couldn’t take you all with me.”

OPEN TO: Everyone.

"What did they do to you?"

[all-the-muses-archive]

Solan crossed his arms, letting out a soft huff that held no true animosity. “Me? What about you?” His gaze softened into a smile as he took a step forward. “I see you left too. You seem… different. Almost happy, if that’s even possible for you.” He teased, albeit a little awkwardly.

It had been years since he had laid eyes on any of his former family members. After Lucem found him and took him in, returning had never even once entered his mind. He was done with fighting and being treated like some tool rather than a person. Unlike Aris, Lucem treated him like an equal, and as the years went by, like a family.  

OPEN TO: Everyone.

"What did they do to you?"

[all-the-muses-archive]

Well so much for his disguise.

Everyone is definitely going to know that Venti, the friendly neighborhood bard, is actually Barbatos the God of Freedom after this. There is no mistaking an archon when they show their true power, and there was no mistaking Venti for an average bard as he stormed up to the Sanctuary of Surasthana, murder in his eyes and wind blowing so strongly around him with each step that the citizens immediately took shelter in their homes. Any guards that tried to block his path were quickly flung into the highest branches of the large tree that made up Sumeru city, they would be fine of course, Venti wouldn’t hurt Nahida’s people, at least, not the ignorant ones. The Akademiya sages however, they better hope he doesn’t see them before he finds the Dendro Archon.

 He had been busy since he had awoken from his 500-year nap and hadn’t gotten around to reaching out to the other archons except through the traveler, who would visit for festivals and fill him in on their recent travels for his new songs, at his insistence of course, and that one festival in Inazuma, but that was strictly business. He greatly regrets not reaching out now since he had to find out about Nahida’s imprisonment through an overheard conversation by the two loose lipped Fatui that take up residence in Mondstadt.

Not only had the Akademiya turned her own people against her, they locked her up in a place not even his wind could reach, a place so entirely the opposite of what he stands for. The Akademiya turned all of Sumeru, once beautiful and full of wisdom and hope into a place where not even dreams can come and go freely. While he knew that Sumeru wasn’t his land and thus it wasn’t his place to spread his ideology, he couldn’t just stand by and watch as the Akademiya took advantage and hurt the one of the very few people in all of Teyvat he dared to become close enough to call family.

No. He simply won’t stand for this. He would get Nahida out of that retched place even if it meant another archon war.

@withinkandquill​

[all-the-muses-archive]

I stg I feel so bad for Dana and them all, like it's the last season premiere they're going to get for The Owl House and it's only 3 episodes altogether. Now one of them is already out there, without their permission, ahead of schedule.

Please don't watch the leaked episode, it'll be officially airing on October 15th.

[all-the-muses-archive]

Bradley cheers along with her before trying it himself. His eyebrows rose for a moment, realizing he underestimated the power of the pepper. He adjusted his grip and tried again with a little more force, this time the pepper split easily. He raised his in the air as well letting out a victorious. “Down with the pepper empire!”

"You ever just wanna like...rip open a bell pepper with your bare hands," Lizzie says while also having nothing at all to do with bell peppers.

[all-the-muses-archive]

Bradley uncrossed his arms, glancing at the candy once more before looking up to her, hope in his eyes. “I will buy you a party pack of M&M’s and Twizzlers for your efforts?”

@all-the-muses gets a stupid little surprise starter.

----

"Okay, okay," Lizzie says, flopping back so she was lying across the foot of the hospital bed Bradley is, for all intents and purposes, stuck in. A wide grin lights up her expression as she looks at him as if just hours ago she hadn't truly believed he was dead. "Kiss, marry, kill this time. Your options are...Hangman...Pheonix...and Bob."

[all-the-muses-archive]

Rooster raised an eyebrow at the small squeak that came from the bag when she shoved it into his hands. He began to pull the paper out hesitantly, shooting her a suspicious glance. He couldn’t help but let out a laugh as he pulled out the gift, a mug with a picture of a rooster on the front and a phrase in swirly font. “Rise and shine, mother cluckers?” He read with a smile, then moved to pull out the wrapped tube sitting in the mug. It was much softer than he was expecting, when he grabbed it, the thing squished in and when he lightened his grip so as to not squish the gift, it let out another high-pitched squeak. “What on earth?” He asked with a confused chuckle, as he began to unwrap it. 

“Oh my god.” He gasped out another laugh. “Emotional Support Chicken. Liz?!” He broke out between laughter. “This is by far the funniest gift I have ever received. Thank you.”

Have a small open because I am out of drafts; @all-the-muses, @words-of-honor.

----

"Alright, I've got beer and burritos! Let's do this thing!"

[all-the-muses-archive]

Bradley didn’t really want to leave the warmth Natasha’s hug brought, but Lizzie also needed him. So, after a few moments he slowly let go, bringing his arms back to his sides and taking a step back, looking down to check for any injuries. “I don’t think so. I’m a little cold. My head and arm feel a little sore but I’m fine. Are you guys-“ He stopped sharply as he looked up, taking in the state of the three in front of him.

“Oh my god.” He choked out, his voice thick with sorrow. His gaze snapped to Phoenix’s ribs which he just wrapped his arms around only moments ago. Staring in horror at the shrapnel embedded between them, blood oozing slowly out of the wound. “Oh my god! I’m sorry, are you- do you-“ He cut off abruptly once more, gathering his words with a small shake of his head that made him more dizzy than anything, before starting again. “I have supplies! I don’t have my parachute cause it got wet and it was too heavy to lug around so I had to ditch it, but uh- I have everything else. What do you need?” He rambled off as he clumsily started to open the clamshell. 

The Thick of It

Continued from x

[all-the-muses-archive]

Rooster’s face softened into a smile, glancing over to Bob or a moment before returning his attention to the road. “Of course. We’re a team. We should look out for each other; mainly by punching assholes in the face.” He finished with a laugh.

Drinks Gone Wrong

Starter for @all-the-muses

[all-the-muses-archive]

Bradley snorted, snatching a Twizzler out of the bag and biting into it. “Uh-huh, definitely important.” 

“The sun is yellow, and the sky is blue. Yet we never see green in the sky even if we look right next to the sun.” He repeated, voice completely serious as he squinted his eyes to look at the sky outside of the hanger. “Suspicious.”

Another crackhead open based on my i-need-to-sleep-but-i-can't-sleep thoughts last night; @all-the-muses @words-of-honor

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Lizzie groans through a mouthful of 8 am Twizzlers. She's seated in her usual seat in the classroom where most of the dagger team now waits for Mav to show up for their next lesson - probably more dogfight drills if the last few days had meant anything.

Elizabeth "Dropout" Aalders was one of the 1% of navy pilots chosen for Top Gun and she had graduated with flying colors. She's also thirty-five but none of that stops her from sitting sideways in her seat, one leg curled in front of her while she propped the other up on Bradley's lap, snacking on candy first thing in the morning and lamenting how boring the brief wait was. Luckily for her, and unfortunately for the rest, boring moments gave birth to some rather creative Lizzieisms.

"I just had a weird thought," Liz says, breaking the quiet of the room with a sudden change of pace. She doesn't wait for anyone to respond before she elaborates. "So, like, the earth is green for the most part, right? The grass is green, the trees are green, it even looks green from space, but the sky and the sun aren't green. We all know that. BUT. They are yellow and blue and do you know what those colors make??" Again, she doesn't wait for a response. "Green! I don't know what this means but it feels important."

[all-the-muses-archive]

Bradley bit his lip, hesitating in his reply. He wanted to say that he wouldn’t regret not inviting his godfather to his graduation, but a small part of his mind told him that he was wrong. 

One of the many things he had gotten from being raised by Maverick was his stubborn tendencies, and his crippling fear of abandonment, but Bradley doesn’t like to acknowledge that one. So, he shoved that moment of weakness out of his mind and replaced it with a more comfortable anger. Pouting childishly and crossing his arms.  “I won’t regret it. Maverick made his decision, and I made mine, now we have to live with them.”

Another random starter for @all-the-muses.

—-

“Graduation’s tomorrow,” Lizzie says cautiously from where she sits on the counter in Bradley’s apartment, watching him attempt to work his way around the stove. “You still have time to call him, you know?”

[all-the-muses-archive]

Oh, right. He had to explain why he called his godfather and practically begged him to come over in a panic. He felt his face heat with shame, sniffed and angrily swiping the tears from his eyes. In that moment, he regretted calling his godfather rather than handling his own problems himself. If he had just waited a little longer, rather than jumping for the phone in his panic, he would still have his pride. Now he embarrassed himself, proving to Maverick that he still was nothing more than a child needing his godfather to come chase his nightmares away even after all these years of being alone. Maybe he still was cause look at him now, breath shaky and tears still streaming incessantly down his cheeks despite his best efforts to stop them. He was always on the more emotional side, usually experiencing said emotions in some kind of extreme. It was one of the many things that got him teased by the classmates as a child, and despite his best efforts, he could never truly grow out of it.

He glanced at the clock, grimacing at the bright red numbers. Shit, it was so fucking early too. Maverick was sleeping, and knowing him, he probably hadn’t been asleep for that long either, and Bradley woke him up for what? Some stupid nightmare? He was an adult, had gone over a decade without needing anyone, yet now he couldn’t bring himself to tell Maverick that he was fine. That he didn’t have to come over this late at night. That he could just ignore this whole phone call and go back to bed, cause Bradley really did need him right now. Needed to see him in person to really calm down and get that stupid dream out of his mind. It was the only thing that truly worked when he had similar nightmares as a kid, and he knew it would be no different years later.

Yet he couldn’t find the right words to explain what happened without sounding like a sniveling child to his own mind. His breath picked up again as trying to think of a way to respond to the question only brought the nightmare back much too vividly in his mind. “I- uh-I…” He stopped and cleared his throat to stop it from tightening. “I-don’t-can’t talk about it till you’re here.” He finally mumbled out, scared he might speak his nightmare into reality before his godfather could make it to him. 

Nightmares

Starter for @words-of-honor

[all-the-muses-archive]

He had been distracted; his adrenaline induced tunnel vision zeroing in on trying to absorb every word of Mavericks instructions. His gaze moved back and forth from Maverick to the F-14 to the generator, but he failed to pay attention to anything else going on around them. It didn’t even cross his mind to keep an eye on either entrance of the hanger. A mistake he was sure to kick himself over for the rest of his, probably very short, life.

Rooster tensed as a voice that wasn’t his own replied to Maverick’s question; his eyes widening as, with a simple click, his biggest nightmare started to come true before him. His godfather was being held at gun point by the enemy, he had just gotten the man back, and he might lose him again.

Rooster obediently reached for the handgun in his vest, his shaking hands making his movements clumsy. It took a moment, but he was finally able to pull out the firearm. He quickly dropped it so their enemy would think he was trying to pull something and shoot Maverick, putting his hands up in surrender. “Mav?” He practically whimpered, not even sure what he was asking.

Don't Think; Just Do

Continued from x

[all-the-muses-archive]

“You didn’t have to get me anything or do all of this; but thank you.” Bradley smiled as he looked at everything she brought. “You are a saint, Liz. Have I ever told you that? A real saint.”

Have a small open because I am out of drafts; @all-the-muses, @words-of-honor.

----

"Alright, I've got beer and burritos! Let's do this thing!"

[all-the-muses-archive]

“You can’t get your future fiancé involved without getting my future fiancé involved. It’s not fair. I refuse to third wheel my own breakout!” He crossed his arms with a childish pout.

@all-the-muses gets a stupid little surprise starter.

----

"Okay, okay," Lizzie says, flopping back so she was lying across the foot of the hospital bed Bradley is, for all intents and purposes, stuck in. A wide grin lights up her expression as she looks at him as if just hours ago she hadn't truly believed he was dead. "Kiss, marry, kill this time. Your options are...Hangman...Pheonix...and Bob."

[all-the-muses-archive]

Bradley snorted, raising his bell pepper as if to toast. “To our success against the shitty bell peppers that dared to challenge us!”

"You ever just wanna like...rip open a bell pepper with your bare hands," Lizzie says while also having nothing at all to do with bell peppers.