#<- Lyra talking to Bill

[lyricalchrysanthemum]

Gamers I gotta make Kawamoto family Plum Conversation art if I don’t I think I’ll explode

[pyrondeeznutz]

Ticci Toby Headcanons

PT.01

Toby Rogers past, upbringing, pre-proxy headcanons. See proxy era headcanons here ⬇️

CW: Slight mentions of animal abuse, domestic violence, psychosis, bullying, car crash, gore

<NOTE> Im a psychology nerd so I tried to make it as realistic as possible. This is my first time doing anything like this but I have a lot of thoughts about Tobys character. Its not proofread so ignore any typos or grammatical errors. Also… its very long… I have… so many thoughts…

BIOGRAPHY .

PATIENT NAME: Tobias (Toby) Erin Rogers

BIRTHDATE: April 28th, 1994

AGE: Currently 19 years old

HC/EC: Brown hair, brown eyes

ETHNICITY: White American

BIRTHPLACE: Denver, Colorado

FAMILY: Connie Rogers (mother), Dan Rogers (Father), Lyra Rogers (sister)

DIAGNOSIS: Congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis (CIPA), Tourettes Syndrome, Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Bipolar Disorder (Type 1, psychotic)

THE GURNEY .

Toby was in and out of hospitals from a very young age due to his wide range of physical and mental health concerns

His earliest memory was when, at age 4, he hit his head after falling onto cement and didn’t cry, scream, or even really acknowledge that he was hurt

After seeing the bloody mess her young child was in, Connie ran Toby to the hospital where tests were ran to determine what caused his lack of pain response

Finally at age 8, Toby was diagnosed with CIPA. This condition not only prevented his brain from generating a pain response but also responses to extreme temperatures (frostbite, heat burn, etc)

Due to these dangerous health issues, and his neurotic mother, Toby was put in homeschooling from a very early age. Connie was too protective of her son to allow him to go out on his own at his age

His earliest memories revolved around roaming hospital halls, his parents fighting over medical bills, being talked to by social workers and doctors, having tests done, minor surgeries, etc.

DEAR OLD DAD .

Dan Rogers was a difficult man. He never admitted he was wrong, he spent his evenings drinking on the couch, and always had something to complain about. The best words to describe this man was angry, bitter, and reckless

He wasn’t a father by any means. To Toby, the man was more of a nuisance than anything. An alcoholic manchild who stood in his way

The boy never got along with Dan. His father would see him as a burden, bringer of unnecessary medical costs. He severely emotionally and physically neglected his children from their birth. Dan never wanted to be a father.

Due to the costs of Tobys medical problems, Dan would continuously attempt to “prove he was faking” his CIPA, and yell at the boy for his strange twitches due to Tourettes. On one occasion, Dan put his sons hand in a pot of boiling water to try and elicit a pain response that never came.

As Toby got older and more independent from his mother, he would often mouth off to his father, talk back, or straight up ignore him. There was never a moment of peace between those two

Being the money maker in the house, Dan was usually very overworked and stressed. He turned to alcohol to relieve this, and his bad temper got worse when he drank. Often to the point his outbursts would lead to physical violence against his family

It was like walking in a minefield for Toby and his family. And since the supposed “man of the house” was a drunken mean old man, Toby took it upon himself to protect his family from his fathers wrath.

He would purposely act up to direct Dans fist towards him. The boy couldn’t feel it anyways, and being hit, pushed, grabbed, was better than having his sister or mother be hit or yelled at.

The young boy spent his childhood in a rage, he was powerless against his father.

MOTHER DEAREST .

Unlike her husband, Connie was a quiet woman who cared deeply for her children

She was well-mannered, motherly, and kept to herself. And while she was a good woman, she had her fair share of flaws

You would catch her dead before you ever caught her losing control over her emotions. Connie grew up quick and that stuck with her. From a young age she took care of her manchild of a husband

She couldn’t afford to lose herself to silly things like emotions. She had a family to care for, a house to clean, meals to cook. Her priorities lied on appearance over her health

This was one of the many reasons she couldn’t leave her husband despite the years of abuse

Despite all the violence, berating, assault. This life was her own and it was just another thing she had to live with

Toby loved his mother, he really did. He knew she did the best given the circumstances. Connie kept her children fed, clothed and housed. Thats all he could really ask for

But he despised from the depths of his soul how she could just sit by and let the abuse happen. How she never left Dan. How she never cared enough to leave despite not knowing what lied in store for them beyond that house

To her, Dan was a safety net. He provided money, insurance, he paid the bills, put food on the table. Connie quit her job in order to homeschool her son. There was no choice

To Toby, his mother was a coward who never stuck up for herself. And god forbid he ever turn into that

So Toby fought the battles his mother couldn’t. He said the words his mother didn’t dare to speak. He took the beatings and his mother did nothing but ask her husband to stop

SOUL SISTER .

In the chaos of that household, Lyra was something of fresh air for Toby

While the two did fight as any siblings do, they had a mutual care and understanding for each other

Lyra would keep a makeshift first aid kit under her bed for whenever Toby got into minor accidents or if their father went too far some nights

Like her little brother, Lyra had a lot of anger in her. She would always try to stop Dan from going too far and she was good at talking Toby and their father down from ripping each others throats out

She would channel this anger and frustration into sports like boxing, soccer, rugby. It was easier to express her feelings through physical means than ever talking about it. The girl was a perfect mix of her parents

When he was younger, Toby had a very bad and hostile relationship with Lyra. He was young and didn’t have any clue how to handle his emotions and would often threaten or physically hurt his sister

But as he grew up, and they bonded over the related abuse, and they would be there for each other, Toby developed tender care for his older sister. If she got a boyfriend, he would be ready to attack at any sign of disrespect. If she brought over friends, he would stay in his room not to embarrass her.

Just as he was with his mother, he was very protective over Lyra. She did so much for him, and he wanted to keep her safe. It was a tangled, messy relationship but they made it work despite her attitude and his anger

CONDUCT .

Toby grew up completely isolated from other kids, families, etc. The most socialization he got was going to family events or being dragged to the grocery store with his mother.

All he knew growing up was violence. And so when he was around other people, he would project everything he learnt from his father onto other kids

From a very early age he was made to feel small and insignificant in his own home by the people that were supposed to take care of him. And so whenever something challenged him out of the house, he would do whatever he needed to do to put them below him

Sometimes Toby would project this violence onto small animals, occasionally moving onto bigger animals such as cats. The feeling of killing something smaller than himself with his own hands gave him a sense of power and control he never had

Due to his untreated ADHD, the boy would often be loud, hyperactive and intrusive. He would have temper tantrums and outbursts as well, and his mother never knew how to handle it

He was a problem child from birth. Not only causing problems for himself, but for everyone around him

Toby would talk back, curse, say strange and vulgar things, refuse to apologize or admit he was wrong, and would run away from home occasionally.

But despite these behavioural issues, Toby always refused to touch alcohol. Despite all the anger, dread and frustration he felt he swore he’d never become the kind of man his father was

BULLY .

Around 12 years old, Toby’s parents decided it would be best for him to get properly socialized and placed him in a public school

He was now old enough to recognize that bleeding is bad and how to check for injuries despite his CIPA, which allowed Connie to calm down tremendously when it came to her anxiety surrounding her boys health and safety

Despite his mothers insistence that he would love public school, he’d make so many friends there, and that everything would be fine, Toby knew damn well he wouldn’t do well there. He was already bullied by his own father, imagine how other kids would react. He’s seen the movies.

And of course Toby was right. Due to his Tourettes, his tics would often confuse, scare and gross other kids out. They would either straight up treat him like a diseases rat or ruthlessly bully him

The boy was called every name in the book, from “twitchy freak” to “ticci Toby”

Alongside the ostracism and harassment from his peers, his tics and behavioural issues would cause him issues with his teachers. They would often scold him for being a disturbance in class

Making and keeping friends was near impossible for the boy. Talking to a “creepy loser” like him was practically social suicide. He was weird, strange, and given his history of fighting the other kids he was probably dangerous too. No kid wanted to be around that.

On occasion, the other boys would get physical with him and he would always hit back, leading him to get in more trouble with the school staff

Toby would be beat down at school and go home to have it done to him all again by his father

Eventually the school year came to an end and Toby was put back in homeschooling

Even though the torment in middle school came to an end, that didn’t mean the bullying stopped. He was now a known freak and the perfect target for kids who were a bit too much like him. They would harass him online until they got bored, and god forbid he saw any of them in public

It made the angry, powerless boy feel even worse in his own world. There wasn’t a night that went by where he didn’t think of going off and getting his revenge. Make them pay for ever fucking with him.

THE CRASH .

When Toby turned 17, he had finally got himself medicated for his recently diagnosed Bipolar Disorder which caused manic / depressive episodes

He was put on antipsychotics and stimulant medication for his ADHD

While he was being treated, his sister got a job and so did his mother. Outside of all the familiar instability and violence his father caused, life was good

Toby was going to be 18 soon and his sister promised that when he became a legal adult, she would take him to move out with her

He didn’t have any friends, he didn’t really have any plans for his life, but he had a life ahead of him regardless and that was enough

The boy was working through pain too great to imagine, he was carrying 17 years of fear and dread, he was so young holding on to so much

But he had a way out. He was going to get a job and move out with his dear older sister and maybe even go to college. He was going to overcome this

That was his views at least up until the crash

Lyra was driving Toby back home from a doctors appointment when it happened

His tics were acting up, it was rather distracting

He was so caught up in his own little world and trying to get through the frustrating twitches that he didn’t even have a second to process what happened

The next thing Toby knew, the car was swerving right into a lamppost and the air bags were deployed

And the next thing Toby saw was his sisters mangled, bloody body. The force of the steering wheel crushing her bones and shards of glass piercing her skin. The physical trauma near shattered her ribs

And the next thing Toby heard was the pained groans and wheezing from his dying sister

Thats the last thing he remembered before he woke up in a hospital bed with his broken arm being patched up. The doctors wouldn’t even let him see his sister who was under surgery in the emergency room

He didn’t get to be there by her side when she died

He didn’t get a goodbye

And while he was surrounded by family, his aunt Lori was even there to support his mother, Tobys father was nowhere to be seen

Dan was too drunk to drive, and too lazy to call a cab. He didn’t care about Toby and he didn’t care that his daughter just died. One less burden.

In one afternoon Tobys entire life slipped through the cracks of his hands

HIM .

The grief was sickening. It was heavier than the weight of the world. The silence that flooded his once loud house from his sister blaring her Beatles albums was deafening

These were the kinds of things that only happened in movies. People didn’t really lose their family members, and these things didn’t happen to people like him

It wasn’t fair

The one good thing in his miserable life, the moment things were finally getting better. There was no hope anymore, Toby was hopeless

He thought of ending his life every night as he stared at the ceiling, not getting a wink of sleep. But he couldn’t do that to his mom. She never showed it, but it showed clearly from the weight in her steps, the tired look in her eyes. He knew she was carrying a burden too great to bear

He couldn’t take away both of her children

So he would lie there night after night hoping to wake up from the gutwrenching dream just to hear her laugh, sing, blast her shitty music. He never really liked The Beatles, but she did. But she did.

It was all too much for him. From the moment Toby stepped out of the hospital he hadn’t felt real. The boy was living two steps away from reality like there was a sheet of plastic in between him and the world

Days would go by where he would forget to take his medication, or where he would simply just sleep the entire day away

On the days he was awake, Toby would feel like he was going insane. He wouldn’t feel real, he would see things out of the corner of his eye

Sometimes he’d swear he saw something outside his window at night

A strange creature standing under the streetlights

And it only got worse from here. Toby would almost always refuse to leave the house, he stopped sleeping, he felt like something was watching him

The boy would spend hours staring outside his bedroom window. The forest in his backyard had eyes and they were watching him

A wave of sickness overtook Toby. He would wake up with bloody noses sometime and no medicine would get rid of his strange cough. Sometimes he would sleepwalk and end up waking up on the edge of the forest behind his house, cold and alone in the dark of the night

It all added up. It was too much. The anger, the fear, the paranoia. The little voice in the back of his head telling him to just do it. Get revenge. Make him pay.

ABLAZE .

The years and years of abuse. Everything his father had done. He wasn’t there. He was never there.

Why should a man like that deserve to live? 17 fucking years of making Toby feel small and insignificant

Not today. And not anymore. The world was in the boys hands now, and so was a knife. And that night was the night Toby Rogers killed his own father.

No words could describe the feeling of adrenaline and rage that overtook the boy that night. There was no other option, this was the way it was always going to happen

Everything Toby has ever been through has led up to this. It was his own divine prophecy

And God showed no mercy that night

23 stab wounds drilled into his fathers chest, his face bloody, beaten and unrecognizable. Toby smashed his tiny bruised fists ruthlessly into his fathers now deceased body.

The only thing that stopped him was the scream of his mother. It was something primal, something deep from the pain in her gut.

Toby ran into the garage and grabbed two axes that belonged to his father, one old one new. Alongside that he grabbed gasoline and matches. He was going to do what he knew best. He was going to destroy everything.

And so the boy ran down the street of his neighborhood pouring the gasoline along his way and dousing the rest over the trees as he stood at the edge of the forest

Striking a match, the dry grass and trees caught on fire and immediately exploded into flames. The heat and blaze engulfed the boy and soon it began catching onto the rest of the forest

This was the end, he thought. Strangely enough, even though his heart was beating in his throat and his body was shaking, he felt calm. He had no regrets and he was fine with this being his ending.

His mind went blank, everything felt like a static screen, he could feel himself getting dizzy and there was a loud ringing in his ears

The last thing he saw was a tall, faceless creature in the midst of the smoke and fire as he collapsed to the ground.

And that was the death of Tobias Erin Rogers.

[gen4grl]

long post of headcanons!

- raihan lowkey is a professional instigator lol leon and sonia finally rekindling their very confusing life long relationship? he’s in sonias ears right after they talk “you know he ALWAYS tells me how impressed he is with your studies…”. him and piers after their first date? “i always knew you couldn’t resist my dragon charm”.

- leaf was born on five island in the sevii islands before moving to pallet around age 6. red, blue and herself started their journeys together at age 11-12. leaf’s starter was squirtle, red receiving bulbasaur and blue with charmander. red and leaf spent a majority of their journey on the road together while blue rushed ahead of them, leaving the two to develop an unbreakable bond that surprises most due to their strikingly opposite demeanours. leaf, much like blue, is extremely extroverted and stubborn. while their similar personalities initially caused a lot of arguing between the two, they found themselves becoming increasingly closer as teenagers when red would spend months travelling solo and at mount silver. as adults, the three own the battle tree in alola and enjoy spending summers there. out of season, red prefers a quiet life of gardening and reading, blue is still gym leader of viridian city and leaf, after growing up in a technology free lifestyle on the sevii islands, developed a love and fascination for computers, now working in the pc system with bill. while leaf believes red and blue to be the most important people in her life, what she misses about her old home the most is the single red headed boy that lived on the island that she frequently spent her days playing with.

- despite knowing ethan and lyra since they were kids, silver never opened up about his life prior to their first interactions until his 18th birthday. the one detail ethan and lyra knew for sure was that he was kantonian due to his very distinct accent that seemingly incorporates a mix of kanto and johto dialects. lyra always playfully teased him about this - saying he sounds similar to champion lance, who sports a extremely similar mixed region accent (a very interesting statement since everyone and their mothers knows about lyras long standing celebrity crush on the dragon champion)

[lostdrarryfics]

THE BIG FIND 2023: Day 9

The Big Find is a 10-day long Drarry fic-finding marathon to celebrate the blog’s anniversary. Below is the Day 9 compilation of lost fics, both old and new, that we’ve been unable to find. Our aim is to get as much attention to these lost fics as possible, to help people finally find their missing fics! Anyone can participate by reblogging, reading through each list, providing additional fic details, and informing us the title, author, or link of a fic, and their respective number in the comment section. Happy finding!

9.1 i’ve read this explicit fic once on ao3. honestly I barely remember anything except for draco saying “ah there’s my pretty cock” or something when he saw harry’s dick (im sorry for the words), they were about to have sex, and I think they’ve got an established relationship already.

9.2 Draco is sort of an assistant around Hogwarts, post-war, and Harry recently started teaching there. And Hagrid tells Harry about how Draco was really subdued because he was tortured and found in the forest or something, and Harry decides to try talk to him more. I think there’s a part where Harry goes to Draco’s class and he startles him and he dropped some potions, and panicked. It’s on ao3 I think, no more than 50k.

9.3 i was looking for a fic where they’re both Aurors and friends, working on a case. i read it 2-3 years ago and all i remember is one specific scene where they were at draco’s apartment on a couch and he was pining and thinks it would be easier to deal with his feelings if they were entirely physical, but they’re not because harry is in his pyjamas. harry also makes him tea in his house a lot. i think it was on the shorter side? probably not over 90k.

9.4 I’m looking for a fic where hp is finally gaining confidence in 4th yr and accidentally meets dm through the qddwrldcup as well as his younger sister he then meets him again in hogwarts as he is a very intelligent student who is recommended by the pres/headmistress. i dont recall anything else except Sirius and Remus were in hp’s life, hp and dm spent some time 2gther in the forest to heal his sis and himself. they liked eachother from that first meeting but more of a crush. I think dm’s younger sister was called Lyra, hp spoke to bill weasley and got a snake earring from him, I remember moonlight or something moon in the title. Fic is not double trouble by babythelady

9.5 im looking for a creature fic where draco is taken into a elf/veela village with severus as his mother and he has half-brother drake malfoy. harry is VERY interested in draco and he is a creature too but icr what. ik draco was very controlled of his emotions but harry always teased him to make him blush. there was also non-con with his step-bro drake and karkaroff i think and cissy was a bitch in this story.

9.6 Searching for a fic I read on ao3. I don’t recall if there was specific year they were in or if it was a multi year fic, but they were still in their Hogwarts years. Draco was fully helping them. I think Sirius and Remus were there and together, but I could be remembering wrong. A huge battle, I think the final one, went down on the ground of Malfoy Manor. Snape revealed himself as a spy to Voldemort in the battle, facing him himself.

9.7 So the fic I’m looking for is a multi chapter fic where Draco is pregnant and he stays with the golden trio and I think that they (H and D) redecorated the place. Harry and Draco have a fight Draco tries to put a newborn scorpius to bed but he keeps crying for harry so harry comforts Draco and Scorpius, and Draco says he’s a bad dad and harry reassures him. Harry wakes up to Scorpius calling him dada (I think) and finds out that Draco, Ron and Hermione have been teaching scorpius to say that.

9.8 pretty sure it was on fanfiction.net but it’s possible that it was transferred to wattpad. It is complete and I’m pretty sure it had chapters. It’s an au set at Hogwarts in fifth year (no umbridge) where Harry and Draco are mind linked because of a bad mix of spells on the train home at the end of fourth year. Draco’s been having dreams that he consistently dies in while Harry is there. They learn that they’re connected and start talking to each other in their dreams and in their minds during school. snape is his godfather and tries to find potions to help him but doesn’t not know that Harry is apart of it. I remember it being very specific about one potion tasting like raspberries. Draco gets into a few fights with an older bigoted Slytherin and it is a known fact in this fic that he does not respond well to magical healing. He also claims that Harry is stalking him and then is made fun of for being paranoid. It also gets found out that Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred and George cursed Draco and his friends on the train the pervious year and are brought to Dumbledores office with Snape and McGonagall. Draco’s parents are super protective and they as well as snape set up something called SASHA which is to help slytherins who don’t want to participate in the second wizard if war to safe harbors. They drug the food in the middle of the night and remove the students who signed up. Blaise stays behind to be with Draco but most other named Slytherins from the books leave. Draco and Harry have a falling out over this. Sirius and Remus are boyfriends in this but are very minor characters and I don’t think are listed as a pairing although it’s implied in the fic. Dumbledore is blatantly evil as is mad eye moody and is trying to find out where the missing kids are. Draco is kidnapped and is severely injured. Harry wants to help find him but is told that he’s done enough and is put back to sleep. Remus tries to advocate for dumbledore to help find him by saying that when Remus taught him he was a really bright kid and Dumbledore brushes him off and says something along the lines of ‘we can’t save every kid, if he comes back alive we welcome him with open arms, if not…’ and Remus and Sirius are dumbfounded. Remus and Sirius break in to the hospital wing after the malfoys show up and have Harry talk to Draco through their connection to find out where he is. Narcisa is wildly powerful and finds him somewhere out of the country (I think New York, it was something on a license plate). He gets brought back and everything’s alright. Then it’s revealed that Dumbledore planned the kidnapping.

9.9 Drarry adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” or “What You Will”. I’m not sure if the author actually mentions it but I remember thinking that when reading it. The Twins are Draco and Luna, but they aren’t actually twins in this fic, they are strangers that just met that looks alike. Even down to their butt because I remember a funny conversation about one being the model for a butt pad and the other wearing it. The plane or some kind of transportation they met on crashes. Harry is like Duke Orsini in which he is trying to woo someone (I can’t remember who) with the help of Draco who I think is amnesiac. It gets fuzzy from there, but cue lots of mistaken identity hijinks. I think Blaise is that old friend that keeps harassing Draco to get something back.

9.10 Harry is DADA Professor at Hogwarts. He goes by Evans instead of Potter. He also doesn’t look like Harry Potter. Most of the school doesn’t know he is really Harry Potter. McGonagall knows his true identity as well as Teddy. I don’t remember who else knows. Teddy is a first year and he becomes friends with Draco Malfoy’s son. I don’t remember if his name is Scorpius or if it was something else. I also don’t remember which house they were sorted into. I think it was Gryffindor. I do know they are in the same house. Harry is Scorpius father but he doesn’t know it at first. Scorpius doesn’t know who is other father is but he knows what he looks like because he has a picture of him that he got from Draco. I have been looking for this story for a couple of years. I worry it has been deleted. I read it on fanfiction.net or a03

9.11 Sirius rescues Harry from Dursleys as a toddler and raises him? Harry and Draco become best friends (so adorable) and James and Lily are ghosts in the fic (ig?) . Also there’s a scene where they play pretend house where Harry is dad Draco is mom and Ron their dog? I think Pansy is the daughter.

9.12 looking for a fic that had a young harry and a death draco. it had gentleman in the title (i think it was the death gentlemen something). gloves and hand holding play an important role in the story. i think death draco leaves harry for a bit and they meet up again later

9.13 just remembered this fic i read a long time ago. i can’t remember if it was in ao3 or wattpad. it was set post hogwarts. harry is at least partly raising teddy and is lonely. he ends up finding draco and draco runs a center for lgbtq+ witches and wizards. a few former teachers are in it. teddy is struggling and thinks he is trans but isn’t sure but one day at the park wants to wear i think a dress, if it wasn’t a dress it was feminine presenting and other parents and kids make fun of him so harry immediately brings him to the center and everybody makes him feel better. obviously drarry gets together. there is also a pride-esqe thing that happens.

9.14 It’s about after the war, Harry and Ginny split up so he lives in a house which is attached to one side of the forbidden forest. One day, he meets Draco in the forest, keeps going back to talk with him, and falls in love. Draco later takes Harry to a lake and reveals that he’s committed suicide and was not real (a ghost maybe). It then ended with Harry committing suicide to be with him by also drowning in the lake.

[dragonmarquise]

BRC MerMay Ideas

And now for my BRC MerMay headcanons!! Like I mentioned in the poll, every year I try to do a drawing for MerMay, which is usually just a mermaid version of a favorite character. I’m hoping to do something for BRC next year, so I’ve got a bunch of ideas for mermaid versions for almost every character!

Benni, the Oldheads, and Berlage are not here, but maybe they can stay as humans in this… I guess it’s basically a MerMay/mermaid AU by this point, lol

Starting with the main cast:

Tryce = red snapper

Bel = floating bell jellyfish (Get it, bell, Bel, lol)

Vinyl = sailfish, probably the Atlantic sailfish in particular

Felix = coelacanth (for headcanons-derived-from-implied-lore reasons, hee hee...)

DJ Cyber = manta ray, specifically the giant manta ray because they're cool as hell

Solace = garden eel! He pops in and out of the sand.

Solace: *popping out of the sand* Hello friends! How are y-- Tryce: You get back in that sand hole, or so help me-- Solace: *going back into the sand* Oh, okay, sorry!!

I’m sorry, I just find the idea funny, lol

Some bonus BRC members plus Escher:

Rave = wahoo

Mesh = threadfin butterflyfish

Shine = sunshinefish (was originally going to make her a sunfish, but I decided to be nice to her :P )

Rise = leopard seal

Coil = rainbow wrasse

Rietveld = orca

Escher = whale shark with prosthetic tail (I headcanon that the original Escher has non-cybernetic prosthetic legs, below the knees, so that’s getting carried over to his MerMay design)

Okay so also! With Rietveld and Escher in this weird AU, they used to be humans (Cops? Part of a navy who tried to hunt mermaids maybe?) who said “Screw this, we won’t be the bad guys anymore!!” and found a way to turn into mermaids. I guess. :P

So moving on, for the rival characters from here, besides DOT EXE, the seasons in parentheses indicate which in-game palette corresponds to that character. Just so you know!

The Franks = stitched together of different sharks and dolphins!

Bill (spring) = common dolphin + lemon shark

Charles (summer) = dusky dolphin + blue shark

Michael (autumn) = Commerson’s dolphin + thresher shark

Larry (winter) = bottlenose dolphin + leopard shark

Flesh Prince = Atlantic spotted dolphin (Spots and freckles!!)

Eclipse = all octopi

Vela (spring) = common octopus

Aquila (summer) = blue ringed octopus

Lyra (autumn) = mimic octopus

Cassiopeia (winter) = giant pacific octopus

DOT EXE = Robo fish mermaids!! So not specific fish species here, just general shapes/appearances basically.

Twoson (two ball) and Fourside (four ball) = robo guppies

Cinco (five ball) = robo sailfish

Neun (nine ball) = robo stingray

Eight Ball = robo shark

Jūrō (ten ball) = robo eel

Quatorze (fourteen ball) = robo octopus

Cueball = robo dolphin

Devil Theory = all sharks (more specifically picked species that have been most commonly reported in shark attacks)

Sai (spring) = great white shark (the guy with the anger problems of course gets the shark with the most reported bites :P )

Nunchaku (summer) = tiger shark

Daishō (autumn) = blacktip shark (Not blacktip reef shark! That is actually a separate species)

Bō (winter) = bull shark

Fun fact! Leopard seals are apex predators, and are even known to eat sharks on occasion. This is why Rise is allowed in Devil Theory’s turf (waters?) in this MerMay AU, lol

FUTURISM = stingrays, like with DJ Cyber

Nyx (spring) = eagle ray

Jazz (summer) = bat ray

Veronica (autumn) = whiptail stringray

Quantum (winter) = electric ray (maybe the marbled one in particular?)

Bonus round of “Red is somehow a separate person from Felix and Faux” stuff because I like the idea of that (but not as a replacement for Felix, the hate I have seen against Felix just to prop up Red that I have seen in this fandom is ridiculous...)

Red = A red guppy! So then Faux was this before being defeated too of course. Red in this AU is like… a talking hermit crab taking shelter in the old Red helmet. Felix was putting the helmet back together to use as his new mask, and found Red.

He decided to let the crab have the helmet (especially since it needed it more than him, having a hard time finding an actual shell after being bullied by other hermit crabs) plus Faux's old body. Using the helmet and some advanced set up inside of it (probably with further modifications by the Flesh Prince and DJ Cyber), Red can use it to control the body just like any other mermaid! Huzzah!

Faux's head is found at some point later, miraculously still alive and well! He gets attached to a non-mermaid sea dragon at some point. Not an actual sea dragon, but a leafy seadragon. Basically the Flesh Prince and DJ Cyber tricked him into agreeing to the new body, omitting the “leafy” part, lmao

They promise to get him a proper mermaid body if he behaves and properly repents for what he did (he still killed Felix here and tried to kill the others before being stopped), but uh, suffice to say at the moment he's got a long way to go.

It doesn’t help that he keeps trying to outright steal his old body from Red. “Dude, you literally threw it away to try and steal Solace’s body!!” “Don’t care, give it back!!” lol

So yeah! That's all of what I have for MerMay ideas! Feel free to let me know what you think of these :D

[justmeinabigolworld]

I had a weird dream about the Johto remakes. There was a special Team Rocket gym in Kanto, and it involved zap traps or whatever, and I couldn’t beat it for the life of me. There was also a way, if you had done enough stuff (beat the gym leaders, Red, etc), to talk to Bill and let him make it so that you could reprogram the game, as in see its code and alter it straight from your DS.

But the more interesting part I dreamed about was a sequel to HGSS. It took place several years after the events of the game, and Lyra was now a teenager. There was some sort of cherry blossom festival going on, and then Silver came to talk to Professor Elm, who gave him some disturbing news…

Lyra didn’t actually defeat Team Rocket. She had some kind of power that allowed her to unknowingly brainwash people into agreeing with her. Silver asked for proof, and so Elm asked Silver what Archer’s team was like. Silver said his ace was an Aegislash, and Elm told Silver that Archer had only used a few of his weaker Pokémon (his actual in-game team) against Lyra, losing on purpose. Then they went through the Radio Tower to find a bunch of experimented-on Pokémon.

Weirdly enough, Elm had something called a “Paldean Steelix” that was part fairy-type and looked partially made out of rock candy.

(That would be awesome actually)

[bleaksqueak]

What would Maia and the Thorncrofts be like in a no magic au? Would Elias still have a scar and his glasses?

Ohh, I pondered over this question a bit when I got it a few days ago... It got a little long, so I'll put it below this cut~

If treated like a true blue AU, so, say, the characters are all coincidentally in the same general area of the world, and simply exist in a parallel reality? I think Lyra would have continued on with the same general career that she ended up in. Being a ward in the first place, she wasn't born into the veil and did enter already with a rapt fascination in wildlife, biology, their habitats and tinkering with devices invented to aid her. She would have gone on to become an environmental researcher, and may or may not have accidentally diverged her career into a sort of Bill Nye/Beakman trajectory after the ratio of "Get the Kids Excited About SCIENCE!!" talks and TV guest spots overtook professional allotment. It could absolutely go either way. She'd make a name for herself again though, that much is solid.

Without there being any need for the duty reapers perform in the veil, Audun would have a much more quiet, simple life. Maybe he'd have some normal office job, signing papers and having An Office, or maybe he would get roped into being a part-time producer in the event Lyra Nyes herself.

Or maybe he'd just own a little ferry service completely opposite of all of that, blissfully unaware of the grueling job his Other Self maintains as some little ducks toot on by. The boys would probably live much different lives. Elias would probably still easily find himself in a myriad of situations to end up with a Scar or Two, but nothing would be like what marred him in the veil. Much less reserved, more open in general, with at the very least a close-knit group of friends that are left wondering Where the Hell He Is when he seems to vanish for hours (or days. or more) at a time without word, absorbed in his interests and goals. Following after his mother's footsteps.... more or less. He'd still have a pet stoat. Though she might just be a ferret in this Normal Slice of Life Au.

Audric maintains his position as The Most Normal One and strives to live that ideal to its fullest degree (Strives, tries. Same thing.) No need for reapers, after all! He'd actually have a quiet life here, if not for his gremlin brother. His renowned mother... and the family name attached to her. And one of his closest friends, who may or may not have used their One Phone call on him asking to bail them out after getting into yet another heated brawl at an anime convention. With the anime convention? The answer is "Goku Would Win", at any rate. Life remains ever vigilant for Audric. He can always go join his father and enjoy the ducks on the river. Just sitting. Looking. At the ducks. Bonding. As for Maia... Mm. She'd be unhappy. Desperately so. I have trouble shaking the feeling that in a no-magic AU, she wouldn't still be that tiny kid that had shoved everything they owned into a backpack and taken her chances in the downpour. I could go into what I think she'd be doing, job, her goals, but all I can really focus on is where things would have gone if nothing had taken her that night.

These are just my general sleepy thoughts for a Slice of Life AU where the veil doesn't exist. Wonder how they'll change over time or with a different genre? I think the lesson learned here is "So much of their story/lives depends entirely on the veil that I had to really think about that question."

[fanthatracks]

We already know that Vivien Lyra Blair is only just starting out on what's sure to be an amazing career, and along with being Princess Leia for a whole new generation of fans in Obi-Wan Kenobi, she's also about to star with Batman himself Michael Keaton in new comedy Goodrich, also starring Mila 'Shut up Meg' Kunis, directed by Hallie Meyers-Shyer. Vivien Lyra Blair (Obi-Wan Kenobi, Bird Box) has joined the upcoming comedy Goodrich, starring Mila Kunis and Michael Keaton. We understand Blair recently wrapped shooting on the project, where she stars as Billie, the “smart, observant, straightforward and funny” 9 years old daughter of art dealer Andy Goodrich (Keaton). Billie is Andy’s daughter with his second, much younger wife. The pic is currently shooting in Los Angeles, where the story is set. The plot, billed as “comedic and heart-warming,” follows Goodrich, a man whose life is upended when his younger second wife leaves him and enters a 90-day rehab program while also threatening divorce. Andy takes charge of their nine-year-old twins, thrusting him into the world of modern parenthood for which he is deeply unprepared. With his career falling by the wayside, Andy leans on his grown and pregnant daughter Grace (Kunis) for support and ultimately evolves into the father Grace never had. With all his relationships being put to the test, Andy learns the true meaning of having it all. Vivien joined the Marks on Making Tracks LIVE at Star Wars Celebration Europe last month, right after delighting the Celebration Stage with Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen. You can also hear Vivien on what was her very first podcast interview on Making Tracks Episode 154. Be sure to check out Fantha Tracks Radio on 2nd June as not only does Vivien's new film The Bogeyman arrive in cinemas but she also talks with Clair and Johanna on Planet Leia, part of our Friday Night Rotation. [amazon box="0593597915"]

[aercnaut-archived]

parent.

the word makes his heart nearly leap out of his chest.

" yeah, " he mumbles. parent. was he fit to have that title? did he deserve it? he'd never had to think about it: he'd always assumed he'd die alone with no spouse and no children. just him and hester, 'til the end of time, regardless of wanting a family with all they both had.

at her comment, he can't help a wry chuckle.

" clearly who or whatever sent me was runnin' short on heroes that day an' had to settle. " which is fine with him. he has his role to play, and he'll play it the best he can. even still, the anxiety is clear on his features.

" miss pekkala -- " he faces her in earnest, a vulnerablity he'd always hidden from the witch etched in his soft brown hues, " i can fight, an' i can do it well. i will fight for her, and i'd die for her, if it comes t' that. "

he folds his arms across his chest like a shield. this didn't feel right, being himself, but he needs someone to talk to. as the only other person around who cares for lyra like he does, serafina fits the bill.

" i don't know what to do if or when the time comes t' live for her, " that didn't make sense. " i mean, when this is all done, an' i gotta build a life she can live with me. i've never had t' do that. not for a friend, not for a lover, an' definitely not for a child. i know she'll be better off with me, but we both know that means nothin' all things considered. "

the question he's dancing around seems to swim just below the surface of his gaze: what if he's no good at it? what if he screws that little girl up just the same or somehow worse than her real parents? he turns back away from her, fishing in his pocket for a cigarette and lighter. it should help clear his head and get his point across.

"I do," Serafina confirms with a small smile of her own. "Any parent worthy of being one wants to do the same."

She thinks about her own little boy, forty years dead now. All she had ever wanted was to keep him safe, but there had been no protecting him from death. That hadn't stopped her from wanting to wreak havoc on the world at the time, but now she is at peace with it. Or at least as in peace as she ever will be.

"I believe you were sent to me at Lake Enara that day in order to fulfill this role."

[lyricalchrysanthemum]

OOOOO YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT THE TRAGEDY OF KRIS OOOOOO

KRIS LORE LETS GOOOOOOOO

This is going to be a bit about Bill too because they are very connected but I promise the main point here is Kris’s tragedy.

OK so. I’ve mentioned before that there’s a timeline 0 and that consists of RGBY and GSC. And the world was so unstable and on the verge of collapsing in on itself by the end of that timeline that Arceus had to essentially reset the timeline and basically create patches so that it couldn’t happen again.

But the problem is that the work was very shoddy, and various fragments of the old world continue to haunt the new one, with only two people even remembering that there was an old timeline. One of these ghosts was Kris Kawamoto, and the only two people who remember the old timeline is her, and her uncle Bill Sonezaki, the man who destabilized an already unstable world.

But what HAPPENED? You may ask.

See, Kris was a regular bright eyed trainer who was exploring Johto, trying to complete her pokedex. She had her childhood friend Ethan and a strange boy named Silver traveling with her off and on. She was a little feisty and hot tempered but she still had a good heart, love of adventure, and reckless courage.

But that reckless courage ultimately would get her killed in a freak accident involving her trying to register Lugia on a stormy night.

And her uncle, who loved her like a daughter, was DEVASTATED. So much so to the point where he he took to using his box system to try and preserve her soul and have some way to keep her around. Again, he loved her like a daughter he never had, and she meant a lot to him.

It’s a bit difficult to explain how the box system works in the first place but essentially, pokemon can be compressed into data and stored in computers. Only certain Pokémon can go through this method and still roam not just an individual’s PC box, but the entire web, one of these being porygon. And with porygon as the base of his design, he went to work trying to save his niece’s life in any way possible.

But, even with Celebi giving him its blessings, because Bill was using science to play god with his already very iffy design, the existing cracks in the universe began to show themselves more, and it started to collapse. Arceus steps in. The world gets reset.

All’s good right? The world gets reset, meaning nothing happened, even if Bill gets punished with the memories of the existing timeline, and all’s good right?

Well.

A little anomaly, a bug if you will, slipped by Arceus’s notice. It was just one soul after all, even a god would miss that among a sea of god knows who many.

And that anomaly was the soul of Kris, who managed to attach itself to the PC box system after all.

And so when the world gets reset, the box system is created, Kris wakes up with every memory of the existing timeline, including her final moments where she was killed by Lugia. But she isn’t able to roam the world with her own two feet, in fact she’s stuck in a network, stuck behind computer screen after computer screen. Viewing the outside world from other people’s desks.

She doesn’t even realize the world’s restarted, until she comes across a comes across a PC under the name that’s just like her last name, with an IP address that looks awfully familiar, and a desk that looks just like hers. In fact it is her desk. She would recognize her childhood cyndaquil plush anywhere, that picture of her parents on her wall anywhere.

But that’s not her on the other side of the computer screen, it’s a different girl. A girl she doesn’t recognize, but wears pigtails just like she does, and has parents who look just like and have the same exact names off. A girl by the name of Lyra.

She’s been replaced with a girl who’s nothing like her, while Kris is stuck watching her live a world behind a window.

And eventually she would meet Lyra for real and they would talk, getting to the point where Kris starts going along with her in Lyra’s pokewalker. But whenever Kris calls for her parents while Lyra steps away, they can’t understand her. They just hear beeping. Lyra has no clue who she is, or what she even is in this world. (It’s only until later that Kris breaks the news about it to her.)

And then Lyra starts going on a journey like she does, she goes with Ethan Hidaka who’s supposed to be HER friend, she meets Silver Watanabe who’s supposed to be HER rival with Ethan, she goes on a journey with a Cyndaquil just like hers and gets to go and complete the pokedex like Kris could never finish.

A porygon for a friend isn’t a replacement for an entire team of six that the girl in front of her has taken from her.

Sure Lyra takes her along, and for some odd reason Silver and Ethan can understand her through the weird tamagotchi thing and the PC whenever they’re in a pokemon center. So she acts like she’s friends with the other three. But she’s boiling with hatred for both Lyra and her uncle.

She’s stuck in a little computer watching a world where she should have had a place in while she watches a completely different girl in every way but place in the world, have the adventure she wasn’t able to finish.

She was supposed to be dead.

Instead she’s living through something that feels worse.

But she’s not even sure if she could consider it living.

[topazshadowwolf]

GoopTales: Part 10

In which Nightmare knows he's in over his head and makes a call. As I think I warned before, there will be FuzzyNight, and it's now starting to pop up. Balance (Lyra) is a Toriel guardian.

Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10(you are here)

AO3: Ch 1 (1-4), Ch 2 (4-8)

---

He gave all the boys a snack of crackers (cheesy crackers and saltines mixed together) and cut-up pears. This they had in the entertainment room while watching one of the animated movies they had brought home at one point or another. He made sure to check the rating of the movie. 

Looking over the box, he remembered when the boys brought it home. At the time, they had laughed about it being for kids and expected to mock it the entire time. To them, it sounded cheesy.

It was about some giant metal creature from space that made friends with a tiny human boy. He remembered finding all four in tears by the time the movie finished. Nightmare should try watching movies more often. They were good stories; some were even adapted from books he read. But he’d just instead read.

Thankfully Dust was handling the snack well. The flavors were mellow, especially since he gave him more saltines than cheesy crackers. Nightmare offered them all small amounts at a time, preventing him from getting excited about the flavors and overwhelming his magic. Since they all got the same treat with needing to ask for more, Dust wasn’t singled out. Though Nightmare did need to ask him not to share so much with Ferrous. 

The dog was lying beside Dust, letting the child lean on him. It was nice to see the animals accept their smaller owners, like Bill, who was again lying like an oversized rag doll over Killer’s lap.

Once done with the snack, he stood and left the room with the excuse of needing to clean up. The truth was, he needed help, and he wasn’t above admitting it to himself, at least.

While they were watching the movie, Nightmare made a phone call.

“Hello, Nightmare! How are you?” Asked a kind and feminine voice.

“Hello, Lyra, I…,” He looked in at the boys who were fixated on their movie. Each in shirts that fit them more like nightgowns… Horror’s, in particular, was down to his ankles. “... I have a small problem. It is something I will try not to bother you with too often, but I could use some help for a moment. And yes, there was a pun intended before… you will understand once you see what I am talking about. That is, if you can come here?”

“I… can. Nightmare, is everything alright?” Lyra inquired. “You say it is a small problem, but your voice contradicts that.”

With a sigh, Nightmare closed his socket, and his tentacles drooped. “I trust you, so I will be honest… no… everything is not alright. But… I will make do.”

“I do not like the sound of that. I am finishing baking a treat for your boys,” She said. Before, he knew she would have been teasing him to say, ‘your boys.’ It has reached the point, now, that she calls them that without even meaning to.

Well, she will soon see. 

“I will be there soon,” She said, finishing her statement.

“Thank you, goodbye until then,” Nightmare said.

“You are welcome, and likewise,” with that said, she hung up.

Now, he should warn the boys. Lyra tended to look for them first when she visited. He wasn’t sure why, but he didn’t mind. She seemed to enjoy finding them and giving them a pie or something else that they happily came to share with him.

Walking into the room, he paused the movie, and all but Dust looked up at him. Dust looked confused and glanced around before looking up at Nightmare.

“I am sorry to pause your movie, boys, but a friend is coming over. She will be helping me out, and so I want you four to be nice to her. Alright?” Nightmare asked, and all four nodded. “Thank you.”

“what’s her name?” Horror asked.

“Her name is Lyra, or Balance, for she is the guardian of balance and order,” Nightmare explained.

“is she your wife?” Killer blurted out.

“My wi-” Nightmare felt his magic rush to his face, his tendrils lashing with a sudden burst of nervous energy. “No, no, she is not my wife.”

“Oh…, girlfriend!” Killer announced, pleased with himself.

“If by that you mean a friend who happens to be a female, then yes. But that is all we are, friends. Is that understood?” Nightmare clarified, and Killer nodded with a smile. 

What was he to do with that one?

He then resumed the movie and returned to the kitchen. By the time he finished cleaning up from the snack, he had heard the soft footsteps of Lyra walking into the kitchen. “I now see what you mean by ‘small’ problem.”

“You saw them then…,” Nightmare sighed without looking back at her. He pulled the plug in the sink to allow the water to drain. “Did they see you?”

“No, I had been considering surprising them. It is safe to say they surprised me, so I stepped away from the doorway to find you,” Lyra said as she moved closer. He glanced over as she set a tray of brownies down. Steam was rising off of them; they were fresh from the oven. She looked at him with a tilted head. “What happened?”

Nightmare waved a hand to the table before he remembered the tablecloth. She looked at it as well and giggled. “What is this construction?” She inquired.

“A cave… a small cave dragon hatchling lives there with his three guards. Here, let me fold the tablecloth, and you can take a seat…,” He said as he picked up the tablecloth and started folding it while walking over to the drawer it belonged in. 

Once she was sitting and the tablecloth was put away, he joined her and started telling the story of what had occurred. He didn’t hold back either, telling her everything he had learned about his henchmen. As he spoke of their Gasters, she covered her face when he got to Dust’s memories.

“Oh my… that…,” Her words failed her, and she shook her head. 

“Anyway, I need supplies for them… but I can not leave them alone in the castle when they do not even remember this is their home.”

“I can stay here for as long as you need me,” Lyra said.

“Actually… do you mind making the shopping trip? I will confess my knowledge of child care is limited,” Nightmare frowned. “They mainly need appropriately fitting clothing. Then anything you might feel they need.”

“And after the shopping trip?” Lyra pried

“You may go home,” Nightmare said with a tired smile.

“Nightmare… they are children.” Lyra pushed.

“I am aware of that,” he replied flatly.

“And with the same injuries and changes that occurred in adulthood. Nightmare… they will… be a challenge for just one person,” Lyra explained.

“They are my b-… my idiots,” he stated. “They are always a challenge, and I will make due as usual.”

She sighed and shook her head. “Alright, but know that I am just a phone call away. You need not do this on your own.”

She then stood and walked into the entertainment room. Just in time, too, the closing credits for the movie were starting. “Greetings, boys! Nightmare told me about you four and asked me to run an errand. Before I leave, I wanted to talk to the four of you.”

He stood there and watched as she knelt on the floor and spoke with them. Asking about favorite colors, animals, foods, and other things. Three of the four were excitedly answering. Dust, though, sat quietly and shrugged. The others would offer up answers for him. He then noticed Nightmare and walked over to him, Ferrous trailing behind.

“can i stay by you?” He looked about ready to cry, and Lyra offered an apologetic smile.

“You may,” Nightmare replied, and Dust moved beside his leg. He stood there quietly, watching the others. Nightmare glanced down again as he felt something touch his leg and saw Dust place a hand on his fibula. 

The others asked Lyra questions and pointed out how much she looked like Queen Toriel. Though, with some black fur, one gold horn, and one silver one. They were very curious, though Horror soon tired and made his way over to the other side of Nightmare.

As the children stood beside him, he moved a tendril around Dust’s and Horror’s shoulders to offer comfort. Horror smiled up at him but then sighed and closed his sockets. His head must still be bothering him. Dust, Of course, flinched at first when the tentacle Nightmare used for him made contact. Much to the Guardian’s surprise, though, he looked up at Nightmare with a smile.

“Alright, I will be back,” Lyra said as she stood.

“Thank you,” Nightmare said.

“You are very welcome,” she replied with a smile.

---

next

[heytherejulietx]

lyra - stanley uris

↳ prompts - dancing under the stars, requested by anon

↳ a/n - i know nothing about mythology and i got what was written from a website so i’m sorry if it’s wrong

↳ content warnings - aged up losers, that’s about it this is really fluffy

↳ 1.3k word count

↳ masterlists

@bucky-j-barnes @whaddyameann @justanotherkpopstanlol @amberritonicole @deadyfreddy join my tag list

the fire crackled in front of them quietly, barely masking the noise of the crickets and the wind brushing past the leaves. the glow from the fire lit up stanley’s face in a gorgeous golden hue, and y/n couldn’t help but smile every time she looked at him. the light made his hazel eyes light up beautifully, the light freckles on his cheeks stuck out a little more, his jawline seemed sharper than usual. it accentuated his features and almost made him seem more beautiful than usual.

stan tucked the blanket tighter around the both of them and held y/n a little tighter to himself with his arm around her waist, allowing her to tuck into his side comfortably. her head tilted to lean against his shoulder and she smiled softly to herself as her eyes closed.

y/n couldn’t remember the last time that she’d felt so tranquil. when she’d first pictured going camping with the losers, she imagined it being fun and messing around and laughing. of course, they had done that. she couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed as hard as she did whilst attempting to help richie put up their tents, or walking through the shallow part of the river with eddie as he complained about the fish touching his legs. but she hadn’t imagined how romantic of a time she would have, too.

none of the losers knew that y/n and stanley were dating, and hadn’t known for the past few months. the lines between their friendship and dating were blurred before they put a label on it anyways, so it was pretty easy to hide it from the losers. as far as they knew, stan and y/n were still just crushing hard on each other. so to get some time to themselves, they had both stayed up whilst the other losers went to sleep in their own tents (y/n was supposed to be staying with bev, and stan with richie and eddie, whilst bill, mike, and ben shared a tent). richie and eddie had stopped waving around their torch bickering for almost twenty minutes, so y/n knew they were asleep. and her and stan had the rest of the night to themselves.

for the better half of an hour, stan had been pointing out the stars and different constellations that they could see. y/n could sit and listen to him talk for hours, especially about things that he enjoyed. she’d spend the rest of eternity there with stanley, underneath the stars.

“see that one?” stan raised his arm to point at the sky, and she looked up. “the four stars that form a kind of square, with the bright star to it’s tail? that one’s vega, one of the brightest stars in the sky,” stan spoke softly, and when she looked up at him he had a soft smile on his face. “the constellation is called lyra, which is connected to the myth of orpheus, the great musician,” he explained softly as his hand started gently rubbing her side. “orpheus was given a harp by apollo, and it’s said that his music was more beautiful than that of any mortal man. his music could bring joy to any weary hearts. after his wife had died, he was wandering the land in a great depression, and he was killed. his harp, lyre, was thrown into the river. zeus sent an eagle to retrieve it, and it was then placed into the night sky.”

y/n looked back up at stan with a fond smile on her face. she swore that she fell more and more in love with him every single day. her hand found his free one underneath the blanket, and with a gentle squeeze he turned his head down to face her.

“sorry,” he mumbled, his expression sheepish. “am i boring you, love?”

“what?” y/n immediately shook her head, and pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek. “of course not, i love listening to you,” she promised with another squeeze of his hand. “you’re just so pretty.” she mumbled teasingly, and giggled quietly when stan rolled his eyes fondly.

“thanks.” he shook his head, though she felt him smiling as she leaned up to kiss him. he started rubbing her side again, and she was smiling more as she pulled away to look at him again.

“we should do this more often.” she whispered, and stan hummed with a nod as he leaned down to kiss the top of her head.

“yeah, just not with the other losers next time. if i have to endure another car journey with richie singing spice girls songs over and over i think i’ll die.” stan pulled a face and she laughed softly as she nodded.

“me too.” she giggled, and smiled again as stan pressed yet another kiss to the crown of her head.

they stayed sat together for another long moment in comfortable silence. stan continued to rub her side gently as he pressed kisses to her hairline, and y/n leaned more into him as she relaxed. if she listened close enough, she could hear the rushing of the water from the river about five minutes from where they were.

“hey.” stan gently nudged her arm before he pulled away from her to stand up. y/n pouted at the loss of contact, and wrapped the blanket around her shoulders to keep herself warm without stan’s body heat to do the job. when she looked up at him stan was holding his hand out towards her, and y/n smiled softly as she reached out to take it, letting him pull her to her feet.

y/n was careful not to trip over the log they had been sat on as stanley pulled her up, and she gently gripped his hand as he pulled her over to himself. his hand rested on her waist and she didn’t have to ask what he was doing as she gently laced their fingers and moved her free hand to his back as they settled into a gentle sway underneath the stars.

y/n and stan danced a lot. at parties towards the end of the night, when slower songs started playing and most of the other losers were either too drunk to join them or passed out in a random bedroom. in the clubhouse alone to the shitty radio there. in her kitchen at two in the morning, only to the tune of stan’s gentle humming. almost as if he knew what she was thinking about stanley started humming quietly, the tune of ‘keep on loving you‘ filling the night air. y/n leaned her head against stanley’s chest as they box-stepped slowly to the tune, and she could feel his chest vibrating through his jumper with every hum.

stan pressed a kiss to her head as they danced slowly, and she smiled into his shoulder as she held onto him a little more. she fell more and more in love with stanley every day. being with him was so soft and sweet and romantic; he gave her butterflies with pretty much everything he did. she could never get enough of him.

“i love you, stannie.” she whispered, and tilted her head to look up at him. stanley stopped his humming as their eyes met, and let go of her hand to place his hand against her cheek instead.

“i love you too.” stan smiled, before he leaned down to kiss her as he pulled her closer with the hand on her waist. her free arm wrapped around his shoulders to get closer, and they kept a gentle sway going as they kissed, dancing to the crackling fire and the distant bubbling stream.

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

Was doing Staged a big decision, because it’s so personal and set in your homes? Georgia Tennant: We’d always been a very private couple. Staged was everything we’d never normally say yes to. Suddenly, our entire house is on TV and so is a version of the relationship we’d always kept private. But that’s the way to do it, I guess. Go to the other extreme. Just rip off the Band-Aid.

Anna Lundberg: Michael decided pretty quickly that we weren’t going to move around the house at all. All you see is the fireplace in our kitchen.

GT: We have five children, so it was just about which room was available.

AL: But it’s not the real us. It’s not a documentary.

GT: Although some people think it is.

Which fictional parts of the show do people mistake for reality? GT: People think I’m really a novelist because “Georgia” writes a novel in Staged. They’ve asked where they can buy my book. I should probably just write one now because I’ve done the marketing already.

AL: People worry about our elderly neighbour, who gets hospitalised in the show. She doesn’t actually exist in real life but people have approached Michael in Tesco’s, asking if she’s OK.

Michael and David squabble about who’s billed first in Staged. Does that reflect real life? AL: With Good Omens, Michael’s name was first for the US market and David’s was first for the British market. So those scenes riffed on that.

Should we call you Georgia and Anna, or Anna and Georgia? GT: Either. We’re super-laidback about these things.

AL: Unlike certain people.

How well did you know each other before Staged? GT: We barely knew each other. We’ve now forged a friendship by working on the show together.

AL: We’d met once, for about 20 minutes. We were both pregnant at the time – we had babies a month apart – so that was pretty much all we talked about.

Did you tidy up before filming? AL: We just had to keep one corner relatively tidy.

GT: I’m quite a tidy person, but I didn’t want to be one of those annoying Instagram people with perfect lives. So strangely, I had to add a bit of mess… dot a few toys around in the background. I didn’t want to be one of those insufferable people – even though, inherently, I am one of those people.

Was there much photobombing by children or pets? AL: In the first series, Lyra was still at an age where we could put her in a baby bouncer. Now that’s not working at all. She’s just everywhere. Me and Michael don’t have many scenes together in series two, because one of us is usually Lyra-wrangling.

GT: Our children aren’t remotely interested. They’re so unimpressed by us. There’s one scene where Doris, our five-year-old, comes in to fetch her iPad. She doesn’t even bother to glance at what we’re doing.

How was lockdown for you both? AL: I feel bad saying it, but it was actually good for us. We were lucky enough to be in a big house with a garden. For the first time since we met, we were in one place. We could just focus on Lyra . To see her grow over six months was incredible. She helped us keep a steady routine, too.

GT: Ours was similar. We never spend huge chunks of time together, so it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. At least until David’s career goes to shit and he’s just sat at home. The flipside was the bleakness. Being in London, there were harrowing days when everything was silent but you’d just hear sirens going past, as a reminder that something awful was going on. So I veered between “This is wonderful” and “This is the worst thing that ever happened.”

And then there was home schooling… GT: Which was genuinely the worst thing that ever happened.

You’ve spent a lot of time on video calls, clearly. What are your top Zooming tips? GT: Raise your camera to eye level by balancing your laptop on a stack of books. And invest in a ring light.

AL: That’s why you look so much better. We just have our sad kitchen light overhead, which makes us look like one massive shiny forehead.

GT: Also, always have a good mug on the go [raises her cuppa to the camera and it’s a Michael Sheen mug]. Someone pranked David on the job he’s shooting at the moment by putting a Michael Sheen mug in his trailer. He brought it home and now I use it every morning. I’m magically drawn to drinking out of Michael.

There’s a running gag in series one about the copious empties in Michael’s recycling. Did you lean into lockdown boozing in real life? AL: Not really. We eased off when I was pregnant and after Lyra was born. We’d just have a glass of wine with dinner.

GT: Yes, definitely. I often reach for a glass of red in the show, which was basically just an excuse to continue drinking while we were filming: “I think my character would have wine and cake in this scene.” The time we started drinking would creep slightly earlier. “We’ve finished home schooling, it’s only 4pm, but hey…” We’ve scaled it back to just weekends now.

How did you go about creating your characters with the writer Simon Evans? AL: He based the dynamic between David and Michael on a podcast they did together. Our characters evolved as we went along.

GT: I was really kind and understanding in the first draft. I was like “I don’t want to play this, it’s no fun.” From the first few tweaks I made, Simon caught onto the vibe, took that and ran with it.

Did you struggle to keep a straight face at times? AL: Yes, especially the scenes with all four of us, when David and Michael start improvising.

GT: I was just drunk, so I have no recollection.

AL: Scenes with all four of us were normally filmed in the evening, because that’s when we could be child-free. Usually there was alcohol involved, which is a lot more fun.

GT: There’s a long scene in series two where we’re having a drink. During each take, we had to finish the glass. By the end, we were all properly gone. I was rewatching it yesterday and I was so pissed.

What else can you tell us about series two? GT: Everyone’s in limbo. Just as we think things are getting back to normal, we have to take three steps back again. Everyone’s dealing with that differently, shall we say.

AL: In series one, we were all in the same situation. By series two, we’re at different stages and in different emotional places.

GT: Hollywood comes calling, but things are never as simple as they seem.

There were some surprise big-name cameos in series one, with Samuel L Jackson and Dame Judi Dench suddenly Zooming in. Who can we expect this time around? AL: We can’t name names, but they’re very exciting.

GT: Because series one did so well, and there’s such goodwill towards the show, we’ve managed to get some extraordinary people involved. This show came from playing around just to pass the time in lockdown. It felt like a GCSE end-of-term project. So suddenly, when someone says: “Samuel L Jackson’s in”, it’s like: “What the fuck’s just happened?”

AL: It took things to the next level, which was a bit scary.

GT: It suddenly felt like: “Some people might actually watch this.”

How are David and Michael’s hair and beard situations this time? AL: We were in a toyshop the other day and Lyra walked up to these Harry Potter figurines, pointed at Hagrid and said: “Daddy!” So that explains where we’re at. After eight months of lockdown, it was quite full-on.

GT: David had a bob at one point. Turns out he’s got annoyingly excellent hair. Quite jealous. He’s also grown a slightly unpleasant moustache.

Is David still wearing his stinky hoodie? GT: I bought him that as a gift. It’s actually Paul Smith loungewear. In lockdown, he was living in it. It’s pretty classy, but he does manage to make it look quite shit.

---

Omg the mug’s origins :D

‘GT: Also, always have a good mug on the go [raises her cuppa to the camera and it’s a Michael Sheen mug]. Someone pranked David on the job he’s shooting at the moment by putting a Michael Sheen mug in his trailer. He brought it home and now I use it every morning. I’m magically drawn to drinking out of Michael. ‘

[evadwrites]

on the last day of love

Catherine knew it smelled of new beginnings, heavy rain on an otherwise warm September morning, and slightly burned coffee beans when she met Lyra Martin for the first time.

She knew of Lyra from her best friend, who always enjoyed talking Catherine's ear off about anyone she saw as a worthy competition during seminars in her political ideologies class. Frankly, Lily’s assessment of Lyra outside of the classroom was limited to “She is the girl that wears a lot of flannel and drinks seven gallons of coffee a day”.

It felt ridiculously natural to encounter Lyra for the first time in a coffee shop, of all places. A combination of things – a broken alarm clock, a needy cat, a late bus – led Catherine to forget her wallet at home and become aware of the fact only as she was about to pay. There was an apology on the tip of her tongue as she looked up and met the eyes of a barista.

“Don’t worry, this one is on me,” came an unfamiliar voice.

Catherine watched as a brunette in flannel made her way to the counter and handed the barista a ten-pound bill. It wasn’t until they made their way to the waiting area that Catherine spoke up.

“Thank you, Ms…?” she paused, looking at the young woman expectantly.

“Oh, it’s just Lyra!” the brunette – Lyra – blurted out. “And you are Catherine, right? Lily Miller’s friend?”

Catherine nodded. “I have to admit I’m a little curious… do you make it a habit to buy coffee for strangers who were unfortunate enough to forget their wallet at home?” she asked, arching her eyebrows.

Lyra let out a little laugh, scratching at the back of her neck. “Well, only on Tuesdays, and only for blondes who get two large espressos while looking like their life depends on it. So I guess it’s your lucky day.”

It was one of the silliest things Catherine had ever heard, yet she couldn’t help but smile.

“If you follow your logic, every Tuesday is my lucky day.”

Both of them laughed.

When Catherine was little, her mother used to say that the most magical moment you could have with another person was to laugh with them. She would say that souls bonded when laughter flowed freely and carelessly, but Catherine had never actually believed it until she laughed with Lyra that day. Suddenly, it felt like spring: the snow melting, regularly meeting with friends after winter solitude, and eating ice cream for the first time in months. It also felt like autumn: train rides to a city two hours away, raindrops on glass, and leaves falling, beautiful and bright. Somehow, it was even more than that.

Maybe it was a stretch, but Catherine was sure laughing with Lyra felt like experiencing all four seasons simultaneously.

# # #

It became something they did from this day forward: getting coffee and then walking to the university together. They usually drifted apart as soon as they reached the building: Lyra’s classes, most of which belonged in the Humanities department, kept her away from the Social Sciences building that became Catherine’s home in the past year.

Although the walk to campus took less than twenty minutes, it might have been her favorite part of the day. While getting the teaching assistant job this semester was a dream come true that she looked forward to every morning, a part of her craved the simplicity of her encounters with Lyra.

They talked about nothing and everything at once. It was never just a matter of “I like this book” – it was a detailed explanation of everything right and everything wrong. They exchanged numbers and shared music – random songs Lyra would get in her weekly recommendations, then entire playlists of Lyra-approved songs that Catherine just “had to listen to”. They could talk about some songs having such distinct characters and plots that they could compete with novels and then suddenly jump the topic entirely, focusing on the latest art exhibition Catherine went to with one of her older sisters.

They talked about families and friends. Catherine didn’t have many, so she readily shared tales of her life-long friendship with Lily and her childhood adventures with both of her sisters. As soon as she started talking about Alex and Andy, something overcame her akin to a tsunami, and she felt like she couldn’t stop. She hadn’t experienced this in a while – meeting a new person and clicking with them almost instantaneously, wanting to share bits and pieces of her life with them, and craving to hear something in return.

Lyra talked about her parents, two of her closest guy friends, and her other friend – a smart but quirky girl with dyed platinum-blonde hair. “You might even see her during one of your classes,” she said. “Iris does that sometimes – she just hops from classroom to classroom and sits through lectures like it’s the best pastime in the universe. I tried to get the hang of it but accidentally ended up taking an exam in organic chemistry. Never again.”

Lyra was always smiling while she talked – this intoxicating kind of smile that crawled under Catherine’s skin and made her smile back. Her hazel eyes were warm and looked golden in the morning sunlight. Lyra’s hair was slightly curly yet perfectly tamed, and Lily was right about her – Lyra indeed wore a lot of flannel and went through an insane amount of coffee cups a day. 

She only wished Lily would have told her how kind Lyra was because Catherine would have liked to meet her sooner.

# # #

Crossing into the friendship territory was seamless and almost even unnoticeable if it wasn’t for Lily, who waited for Catherine by the Social Sciences building on a cloudy October morning when she and Lyra got there.

“And who is that, Cat?” Lily asked meaningfully, tilting her head slightly to the left.

Catherine barely held back the urge to roll her eyes at her best friend’s antics.

“Lily, this is my friend Lyra, whom, I believe, you know,” she paused, regarding the redhead with her best scolding gaze. She clearly needed to work on that one, if Lily’s response – quiet snickering – was anything to go by. “And Lyra, this is my infamous best friend, Lily.”

There was something considerably brighter about Lyra’s smile for the rest of the day whenever they saw each other on campus and then in the evening, walking together towards the bus stop. The setting sun was enveloping them in its rays while the sky burst with colors, and Catherine could swear Lyra’s smile was still brighter than all of the orange and red hues. It wasn’t until midnight that she received a ridiculous winky emoji and a link to a new Spotify playlist titled “friendship!!!” and understood the reason for a smile that bright.

# # #

Catherine always knew that friendship was akin to flowers. Both wouldn’t grow if left unattended, uncared for; both needed warmth and gentleness. She liked thinking of her friendship with Lyra as a field of wildflowers – calm and peaceful, yet still radiant and loud.

Their morning walks extended to evening walks, which then extended to stopping somewhere for dinner and talking for hours until it was time for the both of them to get home. Lyra started joining Catherine and Lily during breaks in-between classes, even though she had to jog to the Humanities building to make it back to her lectures in time. After a tentative message from Lyra on a gloomy Saturday evening inviting Catherine to a performance of a French jazz band, they started seeing each other on weekends for art exhibitions, museum trips, or, most frequently, study sessions in the university library.

Golden October and its bright red leaves scattered all around Manchester’s streets bled over into gloomy November and never-ending rainfall, and Lyra remained the constant in Catherine’s life as the autumn went on. Alex was still the person she talked to the most, but Lyra was growing to be a close second.

Somewhere in the middle of November, they got into a habit of coming over to each other’s place on some evenings. Like all things when it came to their relationship, this one was also spontaneous. It was a courtesy of a broken alarm clock, a needy cat, and a late bus that led Catherine to forget her umbrella at home on what seemed to be the rainiest Friday in November. That same evening, under the insistence from Lily that getting home without an umbrella in such weather was most definitely a health hazard, Catherine accepted her invitation to stay over.

They spent half of the night rewatching Harry Potter, eating takeout from Lyra’s favorite burger place down the street, and criticizing J.K. Rowling. Catherine borrowed Lyra’s flannel pyjamas and stole her large fuzzy blanket twenty minutes into the Philosopher’s Stone. They played board games at three in the morning and sometime closer to four-thirty swore they would never, under any circumstances, play Monopoly again (they broke the rule the next day).

The evening and the night that followed were too pleasant a memory not to make it a recurring one, so they did. Friday nights were for sleepovers, takeout, movies, and falling asleep on the couch after eating too much popcorn; Saturday mornings were for sleepily moving through Lyra’s apartment, making pancakes, drinking inhuman quantities of coffee, and catching up on schoolwork for the rest of the day.

It became a part of their little routine, and the next thing Catherine knew was that, somehow, every part of her was connected to Lyra one way or another.

# # #

It became apparent in early December – three months into their friendship and eight days into the snowy fairytale of Catherine’s annual dreams.  

In her usual fashion, Alex reappeared after being MIA for a few days with a FaceTime call on an early Saturday morning and lazily asked, “Guess who is going to be back on British Soil next week?”

This was so utterly and quintessentially Alex that Catherine was ready to cry, as well as tolerate being called ‘Kitty’ for seven days straight. Her older sister hadn’t been back to Manchester since she left in early July for her year abroad in Brussels. She was so happy she didn’t even notice the little squeak she made until Lyra’s head showed up in the doorway, her body still hidden behind the wall.

After her call with Alex was over, Catherine spent at least thirty full minutes recounting every detail of it to Lyra. Hours later, while she was looking through the condiments cupboard, she found herself saying, “I think she would like you, you know.”

Lyra stilled. “Oh?”

“My sister.”

“Which one?”

“Lexie, but she would kill you if you called her that,” Cat chuckled. “Alex. She is a very… no-nonsense person. Blunt, straight-forward, very sarcastic. But she is also very funny and can be sweet if she wants to.”

Lyra let out a little laugh. “Well, then you must introduce us.”

“Oh, darling, I wouldn’t want her to steal you away from me,” Catherine whispered as if it was their little secret; as if Lyra was only hers, and she was unwilling to share her with anybody, even her sister.

“I like you too much for this to happen.”

Lyra smiled. It was the same kind of smile – gentle and full of meaning – she gave her when Catherine wore a navy blue pantsuit and Lyra smiled and said, “You look– You should wear it more. It brings out your eyes.”

Lyra smiled, and suddenly, Catherine thought that she wouldn’t even mind sharing Lyra with somebody if it meant she could still have one of those smiles.

# # #

She received the same smile a week later.

Alex arrived at their parents’ house two days early, moving up the date of the scheduled family dinner, which caused it to overlap with Catherine’s dinner and movie Friday night plans with Lyra. They had been doing it every week for the past month, so there shouldn’t have been any harm in skipping one, but Catherine still felt like something was being taken away from her, however irrational that line of thinking was.

Maybe that was the reason for a spur-of-the-moment decision and a tentative “Would you like to go with me to the family dinner?” addressed to Lyra. Catherine didn’t even allow Lyra to answer at first as she kept on rambling about looking forward to Lyra meeting Alex, Lily most likely being invited too, and Andy bringing either her cat or her boyfriend.

It was at least three full minutes before Catherine breathed out and asked, “So, what do you say?”

OPTION A: Lyra accepts the dinner invitation and meets Catherine’s sisters. 

OPTION B: Lyra declines the dinner invitation.

NB! This choice determines whether the beginning, as well as the entire story, shall be intricate or simple. 

[sparkiekong]

Sulani Sunsets 28/30

"I did this so I could protect you from that vampire you keep worrying about and any other monsters that are out there!” Kali held her hand up, realizing she'd made a mistake and tried to backpedal before Cat spoke, “Catherine, I can explain all of this if you just listen to me.”

Cat’s body language stiffened, “You fucking knew…” She grew ominously quiet. “All this time…and you knew….” She felt cold even in the warmth of Sulani; her mother’s spirit was right. Lyra was right… she wondered how she had not seen it sooner. Memories flooded her mind and made the past very clear.

She shook her head, “How many times did you send me to a doctor and tell me that I was crazy?! And you knew!” That was it, she’d had enough. She threw up her hands and turned away. She didn’t want to look at her anymore, “You are leaving. You and I are going to the docks and you’re getting on the next ship out. You will not step foot on this island again.”

“What?! You can’t make me leave. I am staying here until you come home and stop messing around.” Kali frowned.

Cat stood firm in her statements; she rubbed her head in annoyance. “Kali, if you ever… ever loved me. You will go home now. I must stay and settle things up and be home tomorrow at the earliest. It might take me a day though. I must pay my bill and get my things... We can talk more about all of this then. I can’t talk to you like this.” Cat held back tears.

Kali started to protest, “I did this for you. Dr. Eichler finally gave me the Isotope treatments that he promised me... that I NEEDED protect you. So, you can know that you are safe with me.” She tried to put her arms around Cat protectively.

Cat moved away quickly, “Don’t touch me. If you ever really loved me, you would get on the next boat. Let’s go. You won’t bother anyone else on this island.” Her face was emotionless.

Kali wavered in her resolve, “I do love you. You know that…”

“Then we’re going to the docks.” Cat said without tone or emotion.

[happy-beeeps]

Buzzcut Season 3/?: Starlight

Gif credit to maker!!

Pairing: heiress!reader x Rex

WC: 4.7k

Warnings: canon typical violence, sliiiiiiiight angst but it’s fine, me ignoring canon and also not knowing how to write action scenes, also, buckle up friends pacing issues galore.

A/N: I had to write half of this on my phone because my computer died so I’m formatting on mobile! Pray for me! Also, starting a tag list yay!!!

* * *

“You know if you keep flexing your brow like that we’re gonna have to import more of your facial oil.”

“Well then I can expense it to the Senate. Seriously, CeeDee, did you realize how few rights clones have?” you ask, dropping your stylus and placing your holo on the desk in front of you. You swear you hear your mechanical counterpart sigh, as if she’s holding in a breath, while she wheels in holding the wine and glass you asked for. “I’m sure it's right up there with droids,” she whirs, passing you the perfect pour before wheeling back next to you. You smile up at her in both thanks and regret, it’s a shame how few sentient beings have rights in the galaxy. But then again, your head spins as you look at CeeDees metallic body. Her unblinking lights where her eyes are, the baby blue plume where you imagine a skirt would be. You’ve always liked her model more than protocol droids, she reminded you more of the waitress at Dex’s, with her wheels and soft shapes. Thinking of Dex’s brings a smile to your lips, and you let your hand reach towards the dog tags on your chest and your eyes flicker to the holo of you and Rex on your desk. It’s funny, it's grabbed from a tabloid, but the way your fuzzy drunk eyes linger on him, and his arm wraps firmly around your waist, you’d think this was a candid moment between any old couple. A message from Padmé flashes on screen and snaps you out of your sadness for just a moment, and lights a spark beneath you again.

You’re so grateful for the friendship she’s shown you, taking you for walks through the senate halls and showing you her favorite cafes in Coruscant. You can count on her now for more than just advice on reading the old Senate legislature, she’s become almost the big sister you wish you had. “Just got done talking to some people from Thabeska. We can add them to the list of systems willing to take clone soldiers.-P”

You smiled as you typed back, “Amazing! Any mid rim systems yet? I know we’re waiting to push Naboo, have we heard back about Spira?”

“Oh, Spira is in, but they’ll be our last push. If the bill is looked at favorably, we may be able to get every tourist system on it.”

“Ha! Imagine the 501st living on Spira.”

“Somehow I feel Fives would be just fine on a system full of people in something small and liquor. Maybe he’ll run a juice bar!”

“Ha!,” and you nearly laughed out loud at her joke, “I’ll update soon on any findings, going through the GAR handbook now and I have my call with the 501st soon.”

“Send my regards, talk soon.”

You heard a clash come from the kitchen, and ran in to see CeeDee standing in front of a new security recruit from Lyra. A tall, skinny man, he had pale skin and striking blue eyes, and you were embarrassed you couldn’t remember his name. Now, you were sure he was more embarrassed, as he stood surrounded by a broken vase and a pile of dirt. You smiled understandingly at him, but we’re a little frustrated at the loss, as they were a gift from Senator Organa, pleased at your helping Senator Amidala. “I’m so sorry my lady, I was just checking for bugs, it is absolutely imperative that I’m as thorough as possible.”

“I promise it’s no issue, and you really should be fine with bugs. I’ve had the Republic Army here more times than I count, and I can assure you, the captain would not be pleased if any of his men missed something in a sweep.” The man looked away and scratched his neck, clearly embarrassed, “I apologize, your mother sent me and my men here with the strictest command.” You scrunched your nose at this, “my mom sent you?”

“Of course, she hand selected us yourself, we’re from a private security detail on Lyra.”

“Huh. I don’t know why the Lyran guards my father had sent weren’t enough, but nonetheless, I’m grateful for your help,” an insistent ringing at your waist caught your attention, and you noticed your personal comm lighting up with news of an incoming transmission. From Rex. “Well it was great to meet you again…”

“Captain Tars.”

“Right, Captain Tars.” You smiled, making a pointed gesture at him then up to your brain, and you ran back to your room while CeeDee complained to him as she fired up the vacuum.

* * *

“Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.” Rex breathed, running a hand through his ever growing hair. You beamed at the holo standing in front of you, pulling the shawl over your shoulders tighter. “Hey there starlight boy,” he breathed out a laugh at that and took a step forward as you leaned closer, sitting on your bed. His holo came near to you, if you reached your hand out you could practically feel the projection. “How much longer?”

“Actually, not much, it’s only been a few weeks since we left, and this wasn’t supposed to be a crazy long mission. ‘F all goes well, we might be passing off to Ahsoka and a smaller team.” Ahsoka. That girl was a blast, an absolute firecracker. You were sure the council had placed her with Anakin to teach him a lesson, and you had loved getting to know her. “Wherever Ahsoka goes, success tends to follow,” you grinned, and reached for your datapad, standing up and walking past Rex’s holo as you did. Rex eyed you up and down before rocking back on his heels. “Kriff, angel, I wish I was with you,” he murmured and you stood up near him, nearly chest to chest with his holo. “Soon.” You sat in the comfortable silence for a moment, the whirr of the hologram the only silence aside from the always ambient sounds of the city. “Now, Captain, as an assistant to the Senate, I have some questions for you.”

“Alright princess, shoot.”

* * *

“So Kix, your dream job would be to be a vet, Fox you want to be a baker, Tup would like to be a soldier, but paid, and Fives… you wanted what exactly?”

“To do nothing, lay on a beach, sell some things, and live in a shack.”

“Funny enough, Senator Amidala all but called the same thing,” you said, eliciting a shock from the crowd of men squeezing into the holo. Their antics, while entertaining, had also brought up some excellent points. Most men wanted to go somewhere warm and agricultural (not Hoth, as it was pointed out) and they wanted to do simple work, farming, helping, protecting (unless you were Fives, who had goals of being a vagabond.) Some troopers, like Appo, seemed interested in the idea of something in government, and some, like Vaughn, simply wanted a family. There was only one man who hadn’t shared his goals, and waited until he cleared out the room to ask.

“So, Captain, tell me. Where does your dream take you?”

“Lyra.” He said with a shrug, as if it was the plainest answer in the world.

“Lyra?” you scrunched your face in surprise, “Why? I didn’t think you liked the snow.”

“Well uh, I guess,” he looked over his shoulder, “won’t Lyra be where you are?”

You blushed a deep crimson and looked down at your hands, “Rex, I don’t know where I’ll be.”

“Well then, wherever you are. You asked where my dream takes me, and it’s simple. You’re my dream, so wherever you go.” You looked up at him with wide eyes, and into his smiling face. You beamed up at him, “Do you mean it? Because I’ll take you home any day, maybe we could even go to Alderann, or Naboo with Padme!”

“Wherever you want. That's what I want from your bill. I want to go places with you.”

“Rex, I,” a commotion behind him cuts you off. “Princess, I gotta go, ok, I’ll be home before you know it.”

“Ok, ok. Be safe.” You say, and he offers you a wink before switching the holo off. In one swift movement, you were alone in your apartment again. Neon lights lit the darkened walls of your room, and seemed to shine loudest in the quietest spots.

* * *

“Thanks for coming with me, Captain Panaka insisted we bring someone else, he doesn’t like that we’re going to Mandalore.” Padmé said as you boarded her starship. You were nervous of course, Mandalore was beautiful, and you had recently met Duchess Satine and found her wonderful. She was a pacifist, and her logic was refreshing to talk to as someone not in charge of their own system. “I’m excited to see Sundari! Have you been?” you asked Padmé, and she shook her head slightly, “no, but I’ve been on trips with Satine before. She’s lovely, she used to be great friends with Obi-Wan.”

“Mandalore has been going through tension recently. There are… people who haven’t agreed with her governing style.” Panaka piped up from the front of the ship, turning his direction to you two in the back. “You won’t have any weapons there, Sundari won’t allow it.” Padmé rolled her eyes as she unclipped the blaster from the belt around her boot, and you sheepishly laughed. “I’m not really good at using a blaster anyway,” and Padmé shook her head, “sounds like Captain Rex needs to give you a little lesson,” she said, raising her eyebrows just slightly. Padmé had been reading the signs between your attitude and lack of a certain trooper. She was more perceptive than you had thought, and after finally picking up the way you lit up when he had sent you a message on your comm, she cornered you.

“So how long have you two been doing this?” she whispered, setting down the datapad in front of her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

“You like him.”

“Like who?”

“Rex. Stop being coy. I don’t need to know more. But you like him.”

* * *

“Welcome to Sundari, I assume Captain Panaka has briefed you on our customs?”

“Of course, it’s so great to see you Satine.” She smiled at Padmé’s compliment, and as the three of you walked arm in arm down her hall, her smile became a bit brighter. “This meeting couldn’t have come at a better time. We’ve been getting more and more threats from the Death Watch. I fear this meeting may be less diplomatic than I’d hoped.” She led you farther towards the throne room, where two chairs were placed in front of her throne. “I understand that Mandalorians may feel uncomfortable with the idea of clones being here after the war, is there any way to gauge there respect of the troopers as ‘Mandalorians?’” you said, and she gestured for both of you to be served a cup of tea. Padmé waved hers away gently, but you accepted eagerly. It had been so long since you’d been in court, and even longer since you weren’t seated at the head. You were surprised to be so nervous. “The troopers would need to take a vow of peace. I suppose if some were interested they could join our peace-keeping force. They wouldn’t be treated like second class citizens, at least not by those with decency.”

“It’s my understanding you want to make this arrangement after the war ends?” Padmé said. “Of course, we are remaining neutral. Siding with the clones would effectively put us on the side of the Republic. We’ll discuss this in the senate then, but you have my support behind this idea.” she smiled, and rose with you and Padmé. “Let’s spend the rest of the day enjoying ourselves.”

You and Padmé enjoyed the day spent with Satine, even with the tension, Sundari was beautiful. She had been a gracious host, and arranged for the best meals, outings, and tours while you were here. By the dawn of your next day, you nearly forgot this was a diplomatic mission, and not just a vacation. You woke early, and met Satine and Padmé for breakfast. You loved the Mandalorian fashion Satine was sporting, the black gown matched her headpiece perfectly. It reminded you of some of the more formal outfits you had seen Padmé wear in the senate. You were gathered in the throne room, chatting about the war and some new bills a few other systems were trying to push, when a man you recognized as a member of Satiné’s security detail burst in. “Duchess! The shipping docks are under attack!” You three glanced at each other before Satine responded, “by whom? The Death Watch?”

“No. It appears to be a crime syndicate. Our guards are helpless against their numbers, and the people are demanding we do something to stop them.” You had never seen the Duchess so upset, her eyes grew wide before washing over with a glaze of contemplation. She turned back to some of her guards and gestured to you and Padmé, “get them to their ship, and page Captain Panaka. Getting them off this system is of equal importance as keeping the citizens safe.” He nodded and began to usher you towards the door. “Satine, Satine wait!” Padmé began, but she left her throne and clasped both of your hands. “It’s been an honor to work on this bill with you. I’m sorry it’s been cut short, I’ll see you both soon. You’re both truly wonderful to be with. Be safe.” She patted you and Padmé’s hands once more before hurrying off in the other direction.

You weren’t sure what you were totally expecting, but a full blown fire fight was not it. When the guards had mentioned fire power, you didn’t think they meant fighters at every entrance. Padmé was desperately trying to make contact with Quarsh Panaka, and you were currently crouched behind a fallen piece of duracrete for safety. Padmé had grabbed a blaster from a fallen soldier on your run to the docks, and you could see one less than 10 feet in front of you. Your guard was doing his best to deflect the shots and draw an opening, but you still weren’t even close to the ship. “Captain, captain!” Padmé called, and you finally heard the crackle of his comm pull through. “Where are you!” He demanded, and you could hear through the comm the shots around him. “We’re by dock A, how far are you from us?”

“Near the ship,” another shot hit the rubble you hid behind, “dock G. Not far, if you can take out the forces in front of you, there don’t seem to be many, I’ll pull the ship as close to you as I can.” Padmé agreed and turned her focus back to the syndicate thugs quickly closing in on you. You looked at your rag tag team: a few of Satine’s guards, Padmé, and yourself, then back at the blaster. Cautiously, you began to crawl to it, cursing yourself for wearing such tight pants. I don’t know how she does it, you thought, looking over your shoulder at Padmé in one of her more plain senate dresses. She had discarded the outer jacket on your run, but you couldn’t imagine the tight bodice was comfortable to shoot in.

Dodging shots here and there, you managed to crawl your way towards the blaster, and return to your spot behind the rubble. You thought back to anytime you’d seen Rex shoot, and tried to find the same buttons as he did. Ok, this switch is safety, you thought, reaching for the small button on the smooth underside of the blaster, and this must be the trigger. Your finger rested on it slowly, and you peaked your head out from around the corner. You can do this. You can do this.

A shot hit something.

It may not have been the best target, but you could tell by the sound the fighter made that you had hit him. Padmé peaked over and tapped your arm, “nice shot! Right in the groin!” She said. Using this momentary distraction as a chance, the security troopers lept out and quickly made work of the few remaining syndicate members, before you and Padmé followed. You weren’t running long when you saw the silver streak of Padmé’s ship open the ramp, and you ran so hard your lungs practically screamed. Padmé was ahead of you, and turned around when she reached the ramp. You didn’t understand why her eyes grew wide until you heard her yell “WATCH OUT” and the rolling, ticking sound behind you. In an instant, you felt a hot pressure on your back, like you were being shoved forward. Then you felt nothing.

* * *

Everything was dark, there was a faint blue glow coming from somewhere, but your eyes couldn’t make out much aside from the darkness. If you strained, you could make out the semblance of shapes. A window, a desk, a monitor with dark blue writing. Peering just past the window, you could make out some kind of sign. How did I get back to Coruscant? You thought, before taking in your surroundings. You tried to sit up, but we’re caught off guard by a deep pain along your torso. “Kriff.” You mumbled, placing a hand onto the area and being surprised to find a thick bacta patch and gauze. At that moment, something in the other corner of the room began to move, and you strained your eyes to make out the shape. “Princess?” He whispered, voice soaked in desperation and grogginess. Rex was there, and as he walked closer you could see the stained plastoid armor come into view, his hair still growing out in brown tufts in some spots. His eyes seemed bloodshot, and he knelt beside the bed (you had logically assumed by this point you were in a hospital, though you haven’t ruled out a dream) and grabbed your arm. “I thought I’m the one who’s supposed to scare you?” He murmured, pressing little kisses into the inside of your arm. “Rex, where am I, what happened?”

“You don’t remember?”

You emphatically shook your head no, “the last I remember was running towards the ship on Sundari. Where’s Padmé, is she ok?”

“She’s fine. She saved your life, kriff, you could’ve been killed on Sundari cya’rika, what are you doing?”

“Being helpful.” You huffed, and Rex looked in your eyes. You had never seen him this upset. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days. “The Pykes threw a thermal detonator towards the ship. It was small, but you got thrown forward and had a bit of shrapnel lodged in your hip,” he pointed to the bandaged spot, “Senator Amidala got you stable and knew it was better to keep the piece in and get you to a hospital than remove it. You’ve been out for four days, they kept you medically under. I got back from my mission three days ago.” You sighed, and reached out to run your hand through his now-longer hair. “How did you know I was here?”

“Senator Amidala. She met me at the dock.”

“How did she know to come find you?”

“She had the foresight to take these before you went into surgery.” He reached into a pack on his belt and pulled out his tags, still perfectly intact. “She’s a smart one. I'll give her that.”

“Have you been to the barracks?”

“Not since I landed. Senator Amidala told the staff here she wanted me and a few of the men to guard your room, and figured you’d want a familiar face when you landed.” You smiled softly at him and dropped your hand from his hair to his cheek. He looked exhausted. His tanned skin looked rough and beaten, his hands worn from worrying. “Rex, I don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t say anything,” he looked over his shoulder as the sound of commotion from the hall grew louder, and a light outside your door flicked on, “but pretend you just woke up. Your father has been waiting for a comm, the moment you woke up it sent him a signal.”

Sure enough, moments later he burst through the door, looking barely in better shape than Rex. He gave the captain a quick nod and a thank you, before running to your bedside. “Sweetheart, your mother and I have been worried sick. I can’t believe this happened to you, do you want to go home?”

“No! I mean, no, Dad, I’m ok.”

“You were nearly blown up!” He responded, slouching back on his heels while he knelt by your side. His hair looked greyer than you remembered it, and his beard had definitely grown longer. “I’m ok, honest, but I’m learning here. From you and from all the senators, there’s work to be done!” He smiled at that before sighing and standing up. “That’s my girl. But I want you to have a caretaker that isn’t just CeeDee while you’re taking it easy.”

“What about the security team Mum hired?” He looked confused at that, and so did Rex from the other side of the room. “I’m not sure who your mother hired. She never told me.” As if sharing a thought, your father turned to look at Rex, “Captain, I know you just got back from a mission. If I wrote an appeal to the GAR to have you stay by her for a little, would that be alright? I know you and your men have been busy but I could really use someone inside I can trust to protect her.” Rex smiled and extended a hand to your father, “sir, it’s no trouble at all.”

* * *

“That’s a LOT of flowers.” You exclaimed as Rex helped you inside. You were pretty mobile at this point, but your side was still barely weight-bearing, and you knew there would be a nasty scar there soon. CeeDee wheeled out from your room, “tell me about it! Two from Senator Organa, three from that sweet girl from Spira, one from the 501st, two from Senator Amidala, one from your dad, I swear I’m sneezing and I don’t even have a nose!” She huffed as she rolled towards you. She clasped her metallic hands in front of her and dipped her head just slightly, “though I am glad you’re ok. Rex, always a pleasure.” She said, and began to work on some more straightening up while you got settled. “Could you help me to the bath?” You asked, sending doe eyes towards Rex. He turned a deep shade of red and nodded, picking you up in his arms once the door had been shut and you were safely in the confines of your apartment.

Rex, being the gentleman he was, helped you undress while looking away as much as he possibly could. “Rex, surely you’ve seen a naked woman before?”

“I mean, yeah, but like, kriff, you’re different.” He mumbled, easing you into the tub while holding eye contact. Once you were seated beneath the bubbles, he leaned forward and captured your lips in his, stubble irritating your cheeks as he hungrily breathed you in. You hadn’t seen him in nearly a month, and you were somewhat disappointed that you couldn’t welcome him home in the way you wanted to. Still, he tasted like your Rex, and as he pulled away he let his thumb drag on your lip just a moment more. After dimming the lights and passing you your data pad, he left you to bathe alone. “I wanna get some stuff together, I haven’t really gotten a chance to get myself fixed up since I’ve been back,” he laughed, and gestured out the door. “I’ll be back in less than an hour, I’ve called Kix over in case you need anything anyway.” He leaned forward once again and gave you another kiss, albeit sweeter and faster, “try not to miss me touch,” you whispered as he walked away, and he sent a wink before leaving the room.

* * *

You had let your wet hair dry in the towel for a moment, but now let it hang long down your back. You felt sick, how could you be comfortable in your bed, in your softest pajamas, when Satine was dead. You had just gotten close with her, and she was gone already. Padmé seemed very upset, and you couldn’t stop yourself from feeling terrible. Rex rapped on the door frame before coming in, and you saw CeeDee behind him. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to power down for the night.” She said, and you nodded. Rex shut the door behind you and looked your way, a touch concerned. You were happy to see him stubble-less with a new, fresh white buzzcut. “I love your hair,” you murmured as he crawled into bed. “Yeah? ‘Figured having me look like Jesse was frosted tips wasn’t going to lift your spirits.” He laughed, a genuine one that rang across the room and settled in your bones. The lights in your room were off, the city casting a warm glow around the walls. Rex pulled you into his chest and smoothed your hair down, not seeming to mind the trickles of water it left on his fingers. “Have you seen the news?”

“They killed her Rex, she could’ve left with us and they killed her.”

“I’ve met Satine, she never would’ve left her people like that.” You sniffed and nodded your head, not even sure when the tears started leaving your eyes. “Hey, hey look at me,” he said, pulling your chin up to meet his face. “She had to do what’s best for her people and stay. You have to do what’s best for yours and go.”

“I don’t even have people, Lyra is my parents,”

“I’m your people, dank farrick, angel I’ve never been more afraid than when I heard you were hurt, and I’m Skywalker’s right hand man, it takes a lot to rattle me.” You giggled at that, laying your head on his chest. This felt so right, you couldn’t believe it was still illegal. He smelled like home, felt like home, sounded like home. The way he felt right now, arms wrapping around you and whispering sweet nothings in your ear, wiping tears from the corners of your eyes as you listened to his heart, you realized there’s nothing you wouldn’t do for him, for his future. You laid like that for a while, letting his heart lull you to a comfortable rest. A thud, and his heart started pounding again. “Hey, are you awake?” He whispered, and you nodded your head before raising it off his chest to look at his eyes, “I still feel like, maybe this all a dream. Like I really don’t have another purpose except to fight for the Republic, but kriff, you’ve made me feel like I was made for a reason.” He said, reaching to kiss each of your cheeks. He paused over your lips for a moment, and before bringing them back down, you looked into his brown eyes, strained with worry, and something you couldn’t quite read. Anxiety?

“I’m in love with you.” He said, before bringing his lips to yours as if he couldn’t bear to hear your response. Your heart wanted to burst from your chest, and your grabbed his face to pull him in closer, bringing him deeper into you until you were on your back, him hovering over you and supporting his weight on his arms. Your dream man, your hero, your reason for coming home, your starlight boy, loved you. He really loved you. You surged forward to pull him closer, but the burning pain in your side snapped you out of it. He leaned himself back onto his side, tracing lazy patterns on your hip when you turned to him.

“I love you too.”

* * *

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