#▲ lonely hero of time [ moira ]

[pink-valkyrie-writes]

Mercy, Moira, Kiriko, Junker Queen and Sombra relationship hc’s

- reader is kept gender neutral

-warnings: fluff, some angst, nsfw

-I am very gay for these women so why not write about them:) This post is also gonna be a long one so hop in fellas

-Sombra’s is a little longer due for backstory reasons

-part 2!

Mercy

- ah yes, the earth angel herself who has had my heart since 2016 <3

-Angela is very loyal and loving to you but her role as a medic gets in the way most of the time. She feels bad every time she has to leave during the night (especially after making love to you, she doesn’t see it as just sex), during date nights, or even on her days off that you planned for her to de-stress

-but even with all that, you stay by her side and help get rid of that fear. You love how she is dedicated to her job and how amazing she is at it

- I could imagine from the crazy hours she works, she is sleep deprived. She gets maybe 3 hours of sleep at most. When she comes home to see you on the couch, she slips off her shoes and coat to come lay on top of you and sleep.

-She loves when you come and visit her at work!!! Whether you work for overwatch or not, spending her lunch break with you, with food that you bring for her, always puts a smile on her face

-Though you love her, you do find yourself sad or disappointed a lot because of her work. You know this isn’t her fault and she always makes it up to you, but you do get lonely. You would find yourself crying to sleep at night. Yes, you’re not hero, but a regular person who was lucky enough to get with this angel of a woman, but at what price?

-Every relationship has their arguments, yours doesn’t get too heated cause you both are rational, but you two do find yourself arguing in the beginning of her always work and how you feel lonely in a place you both share and call home. When she first saw you cry during an argument due to this problem, Angela felt her stomach sink. She never intended to make you cry or be upset. She’s able to calm you down, also expressing her fear of you leaving her

- You both come to an agreement to always let the other know how you feel and try to understand where they are coming from. Angela actually starts looking for assistants to train! She would like to have help around the office to get work done faster but also means she can spend time you with.

-She also wants you to become well acquainted with them as well in case you ever needed help from them and vice versa. A huge strain was lifted off of your relationship and she found herself more at home with you <3

-Pulling away from the topic of work, Angela loves to cook meals with you! Specially if they meals are from her home country.

-Whenever you made a traditional swiss dishes for your anniversary, she teared up and thanked you over and over again. It’s hard to get a meal from home whenever your work is crazy, she’s thankful you thought of her love for her country

-Spa day!!! She loves when you run her a warm bath with her favorite scented candles of pomegranate, red berries, and patchouli (totally not the candle I have in my room)

-Angela loves doing face masks with you to detox <3

-Idk why I see her as a handy person??? Oh you got a new desk?? Oh s/o let her build it for you. Got a new shelf? Don’t worry, Angela can do it

-Angela loves to show you off to her coworkers. You’re the light of her life, her loving s/o. She would go to the ends of the earth for you

nsfw

-Doesn’t matter what you identify as, she tops. End of story. There are a few occasions she bottoms. 

-She always has to take care of people but whenever she takes care of you sexually, she feels the same fulfillment after a days of work

-Doesn’t mean she sees sex as a chore or job!!! she just loves being able to take care of her baby <3

- Event though she wears a strap, she loves to watch you suck the dildo that’s in the harness. She can’t feel anything but just seeing you looking up at her with your sweet eyes her mind goes blank and can only think of how beautiful you are. Loves to receive and give oral <3

-Will absolutely play doctor with you but she slips in medical terms you don’t understand lol

-Her breast is definitely sensitive- so when you are relaxing on the couch and you slip your hands up her shirt to massage her chest, she’s putty in your hands. Holding onto your wrists and she leans her head back and moans for you

-Loves when you ride her- when she looks up at you, you look absolutely ethereal riding her strap

-When the few times she does bottom, she finds herself slipping into her native language, switching from english to german, especially when she’s getting close. Even if you don’t understand german, you picked up on a few phrases yourself

-Like I said, my gal is sensitive, so vibrators are a good friend to have! She loves when you look her in her eyes when you control the vibrator, making her look into your eyes when she cums <3

Moira

-my favorite “un-ethical” genetic engineer (aka my lesbian lover)

-Moira is definitely hard person to come around due to her intimidating presence. But that didn’t stop you from pinning for her

-When she notices people, she takes subtle mental notes. When she first met you, she isn’t thought how cute you are, adorable even

-The first few times she interacted with you it was strictly about work, But over time you noticed how she would make little jokes to you like:

“did you also notice how that guy is wearing his tie wrong?’

“Hello y/n, did sombra contact you today about lunch plans? Are you going to her little...festivity?” (she prayed you would say yes)

“Y/n, would you like to come get coffee with me?”

-That was her first time asking you out and you loved it! She took you to her favorite cafe that happened to be anime themed and slowly she would tell you how her drink inspired from Naruto was the best and the plot line of the show

-When your relationship starts, Moira will put her work above you. Sorry not sorry, it’s the truth. Science is her entire life, she cares and adores you, but her first love is science

-It does pain you she chooses science over you. Date night? Oops sorry, I forgot, I was caught up with work. You cooked dinner? Sorry my love, I’m caught up at work right now so don’t stay up for me. Sometimes you find yourself crying to sleep and when you wake up with puffy eyes, Moira points them out but you brush it off.

-One night it came to a halt. You were getting ready to leave for the day and went to go grab your lover for home time. When you called her name she didn’t answer, You repeated yourself and she snapped for you to leave her alone and that she’s busy. You tell Moira that you’ll be cooking dinner tonight and she went on with her favorite sentence, “Sorry my love, I’m staying late tonight, you don’t have to wait up for me okay?”

-Something snapped, you started to yell how she gives all her attention to her work and never you. How at this point you were just someone she could have company with. Moira scoffed, “Why do you have to act so childish? I already told you from the beginning what your place is,”

-Childish? Your place...? Without saying another word, you slammed her door, storming to the car to get home. As soon as you arrive you burst into tears crying while getting undressed to go to bed. The sheets and blanket smelled like her, which made you cry harder. You decided to take an old shirt of hers and put it on a pillow, grab a round throw pillow, and made a makeshift model of Moira. You kissed the pillows cheek and whispered a goodnight.

-She come home that night upset, mad at you and herself, why couldn’t you understand her work? Why couldn’t she be a better girlfriend? She quietly reheated leftovers you made and eat in silence. God she hates this silence.

-When she came into your shared room her heart ached. Were you so deprived of her you had to make a makeshift version of her? Now she understands how lonely you truly feel. She changed and climbed into bed, removing the pillows from your grasp. You woke up a bit and she shush you to go back to sleep. She held you to her chest as she confessed how bad she felt from earlier, how she was wrong for underestimating your feelings and how she was in the wrong, not you. You began to cry softly at her words, and she shushed you, kissing your forehead and reassuring she loved you.

-That morning you woke up in her arms, but she was already awake watching you sleep. She kissed you good morning and told you she called the next few days off to be with you and make up for lost time. She apologized once again but this time you kissed her to let her know you forgive her.

-all right let’s move onto happy stuff!!

-When she is at her apartment with you, she loves to watch anime with you. If you’re an anime fan, good, she loves that! You two can talk about your favorite shows, compare theories, and even show each other new animes to talk about

-At times, she catches herself feeling embarrassed since anime is typically “for kids and young adults”, she’s an older woman and feels a bit insecure about it. Please comfort her!! Tell her it’s okay to have interests

-She has little figures of her favorite characters on a shelf in her room idc- definitely cosplayed once or twice and will cosplay with you!

-Since Moira is busy, take-out and delivery services are your best friends!

-Moira has never felt this much of a connection with someone before and she doesn’t want to lose it. She loves when you kiss the knuckles of her corrupted arm, showing love to the science she has done. That arms also tends to hurt from time to time so heat packs!! Loves the lay in bed with you with you hold the heat pad to her arm to help her relax

-Moira is a sucker for being a little spoon but won’t admit it, please hold her too!!

nsfw

-Another top! Moira needs to dominant everything she does, including you <3 but she does bottom is you beg nicely

-another proud strap user, isn’t one for receiving oral but loves to use her mouth on you. She also loves to look at you while doing so to make you shy

-loves missionary! she loves to see all your facial reaction whenever she goes fast, rough, slow, or soft

-a secret of hers is she wants you to dress up as her favorite character for her <3 and if you do she is caught off guard but enjoys herself either way and will thank you after (maybe ask you to do it again some time)

-Moira isn’t above of dragging you into her empty lab and fingering you (don’t worry her middle and index fingernails are press on and can be removed) The risk of getting caught excites her, but she always keeps a hand over your mouth just incase

-I see her as the type to have a flogger or whip, she loves to see how your body reacts to the slight pain and how you vocal you are when you have your ass and thighs slapped by her

-latex lady. I won’t elaborate 

-I am part of the “calling hot woman ‘daddy’ committee. She feels powerful when that word slips out of your mouth. She does lean to the androgynous side, she does expect to hear ‘mommy’ at most, which you have called her, but she actually prefers daddy

-play with her breast and suck her nipples. Small boobs are the best and always melts when you play with her. She gets sensitive and lets out breathy moans which makes you go wild <3

-When she bottoms, praise her! She isn’t well liked among her colleuges or really anyone at Talon, so when you tell her she’s amazing and doing a great job, she will cover her face (uncover her beautiful face )

-totally down for you to finger her while she reads her books <3

Kiriko

- my little fox hehe <3

-Kiriko is definitely an outgoing person! She’s involved with her community, and you admired her for that!

-She met you at a festival and couldn’t help but stop and stare when she saw you. How beautiful and cheerful you were made her turn her head

-Though she is outgoing, doesn’t mean she’s confident when it comes to asking people out. She feels super shy and she definitely doesn’t want to mess up at all

-When you two are on a date and you see how almost everyone knows who she is and is all smiles when Kiriko passes by, you knew she was a good person to be around

-Kiriko knows sign language and will teach you if you ask! If you are deaf, it wouldn’t faze her. She just sees you as another person, not your disability. 

-You love to see how she interacts with kids. If you ever want kids in the future of your relationship, she would be all for it. Kiriko also loves to see you interact with the little girl in her cinematic! Seeing you interact with the child makes her heartbeat faster (in a good way)

-Since you’re with Kiriko, be prepared for her mother and the Shimada brothers. Her mother wants nothing but the best for her, you need to prove that you are strong enough physically and mentally. You never know what can happen.

-Hanzo and Genji are the other ones you have to look at out. Genji is more laid back, a “cool older brother” figure who only wants you to prove you are always going to be there for Kiriko. Hanzo on the other hand is the protective older brother figure who agrees with her mother. He silently judges you with her mother, like he does most people, but with you it feels more frequent, and you can’t help but snap after built up tension

-This pressure from people outside of your relationship builds on you. You admitted to Kiriko about this, and she felt conflicted. Yes, she trusts you and knows you care about her, but she will always listen and respect her elders and defend them at first

-You felt bad for being upset, knowing this is her family worrying about her but there is only so much criticism you can handle, specially from people you want to make a good impression on. You tell this to her and she understands completely where you’re coming from. She doesn’t want to upset you more, but this is her mother we are talking about. You cry to her how you don’t feel good enough for her and constantly worried of doing the wrong thing, knowing her mother or brothers are waiting till you slip up to point it out.

-The two of you go back and forth on this multiple times till you come to an agreement. You train with her mother and Hanzo but they have to take it easy on you and let you prove that you are just right for her. Though she is an adult, she’ll always be her mother’s baby and Hanzo’s little sister

-Kiriko loves going on rides on her bike (as a voice line indicates) and will take you on a ride! Either if you have your own or if you hop on hers. She loves taking you to different places on her bike hehe <3

-It’s definitely your job to help her eat REAL meals, not just donuts and junk food. (which her mother praises you for)

-Will tell you all the stories of the fox spirit and her personally experiences <3 specially likes it when she can lay her head in your lap and go on and on about her stories

-she will be more than happy to teach any martial art moves to help you in combat! She is your number one supporter and will always be there to cheer you on

-she can’t wait for the night where her mother invites you over for dinner and talks to you, not giving you glancing or make subtle comments on your lack of fighting skills

nsfw

-A switch but I can def see her leaning towards being a bottom, but more of a bossy bottom

-She loves to receive oral but she always returns the favor, she always whines whenever you when use your tongue

-Definitely a hair pulling. Either it be when you give her head or if she if pulling your hair back when she is fucking you

-Since she is blessed by the fox spirit, I know she has sharp canines and I know she loves to bite and mark you for others to see. After your session, she always treats your bites and make sure you’re okay

-will be down to fuck after training, especially if the two of you were sparring and being physical with each other. She will be on top for these sessions, her adrenaline is already running and wants to be rough with you

-will keep going till she out of energy, she’s an all nighter while the others on this list can go for 2-3 rounds

-She loves to play soft music in the background while you two fuck, it enhances the atmosphere, and she loves to be fucked by you to her favorite songs

-favorite position would be cuddle fucking, she can’t place her finger on it but having you close to her while you slowly grind into her, filling her up, she feels so hot and bothered.

- She loves the way you whisper into her ear as you lift her leg up to fuck her deeper, you always manage to take her breath away. Kiriko really love this position for morning sex as well

Junker Queen

-waaaa my muscular wife

-Odessa loved being the queen of Junker Town-she’s a strong ruler, knows what’s best, and can handle her own...but it does get lonely at the top

-Doesn’t matter if you’re a junker or an outsider that happened to stumble across to Junker Town, you catch her eye immediately. You stand out to her, even if she is fighting again in the reckoning to keep her title as queen

-She would come stop you were ever you were and talk to you. Of course, you were intimidated by the 7-foot-tall woman in front of you, but you were able to keep your composure for the conversation

-Odessa was blunt with you and told you that you caught her attention, in a good way of course, and how she wanted to get to know you better. Though she is tough as steel, she still gets a bit nervous of fear of being rejected

-Once she has made things official with you, she introduces you to her people as the other queen of Junker Town. Of course people were surprised she dated but they show you the same amount of respect. 

-They know if they were to ever hurt, disobey, or disrespect you in any, not Odessa, but Junker Queen will personally beat the shit out of them and toss them to the wastelands 

-Though you appreciate her standing up for you, the violence to you is too much after some time. when you try to talk to her about this she yells how she does it for you, it’s all for you. She makes into a one-man screaming battle, but she’s a lover by heart and will come to you after a few hours and apologize. She gets on her knees and hugs you by your waist, head resting on your chest

-At this point she opens up to you about her time in the Wastelands and how they have forever changed her. She cares for you like she cared for family, fighting every day to live in the harsh outside world of Junker Town. She admits she is scared to death to lose you and fights for you like how she fought for her loved ones. Odessa also admits to having nightmares in your shared bed but never wakes you up because she needs to have strong image and doesn’t want to be seen as weak

-By the end of this confession she is crying into your chest. You rub the top of her back and you comfort her. You remind her that you may be with the Junker Queen, you’re also with Odessa Stone

-She now is rational with her decision making and you tell her to ask for your help when need be, you told her it’s okay to ask for help. Hell, everyone her people noticed an attitude change when you came around, you’re great for her!

-Odessa loves sharing everything she has with you, especially music! She loves to blast her rock music in her chambers with you, jumping on the bed you two share and going into laughing fits together

-Your girlfriend is a very handy and resourceful person, you have to be to live in Junker Town. She will make you special weaponry and armor <3 always craving her and your initials into the metal

-I feel Odessa can do your hair! From cutting it to dying it, your girlfriend will do anything to help you feel beautiful with your appearance, even though you’re already so beautiful to her <3

-You are also in LOVE with her accent, she already a pretty rough girl and her voice is *chef’s kiss*. Sometimes when she’s mad and goes full aussie you can’t really understand her unless you yourself are aussie

nsfw

-She’s a total dom, no bottoming for her. She loves when “you please your queen”

-the only thing she’ll really “bottom” for is receiving oral. She loves how tiny you look compared to her and think you look sweet when you eat her out. She loves to eat you out but LOVES when you sit on her face. None of that hovering shit, she wants the full thing. She’s a big girl and can handle it!

-Odessa loves when you sit in her lap and bounce on her strap, she has a size kink and plans to utilize it. Not even just sexually, she loves how small you are and because of your size, she will fuck you standing up. She loves the amount of power she holds outside and in the bedroom.

-She also plays music during sex! But she plays music from time to time when you guys have sex unlike Kiriko who plays music during sex pretty often. there’s something about fucking you hard to the beat of her favorite songs, since her favs are metal, be prepared to be banged to the drum rhythm 

-she will bring in Gracie from time to time. She mostly uses her to cut your clothes off your body but if you are comfortable with it, she will carve in her name into your thigh. She always makes sure to clean up and clean your cuts effectively, so they don’t get infected 

-Throne sex! Throne sex! Throne sex! She doesn’t even care if people see or not, she finds it so hot that you are so willing to please her in a chair that represents her power and dominance over you and her people

-Her favorite position is doggy style. The way you look back at Odessa and moan her name like a prayer always does it for her. Slapping your ass to watch it jiggle, making you look back at her, pulling you by your hair...all of the things she loves other than you as a person <3

Sombra

- my silly hacker who also has had my heart since 2016<3

-Oliva kept herself in the shadows, she needed to so she can protect her identity as Sombra. She always needed to know everything about everyone, no matter what.

-As another night passes, another person’s skeletons in their closet are found by Sombra. She looks through the picture of the businessman she planned on exploiting next, but something caught her eye. In the picture of what it seems to be a faculty group photo, she spotted you in the back row. She zoomed in and couldn’t help but admire how pretty you are, now her focus was on you. For the next few days she tries her best to find everything about you. Where you live, your childhood, the college you went to, hell even your internet browsing history. And she wasn’t doing this for her own benefit to expose you, she was obsessed with you

-For the next Talon mission, they were able to break into the companies building and she was able to have a chat about ‘business matters’ with your boss. As a deal, he transferred some employees, including you, for ‘business opportunities’ to work for Talon in fear of his dirty deeds going public

-You were comforted to know that you fellow employees were there with you to comfort you in with this change. You’ve heard of Talon and what they stand for and feel like you have to walk on eggshells there. Though you didn’t interact too much with the head council, Sombra seem to have an eye on you

-Yes, she would mess with your co workers but never seem to do that with you. With them there was some malicious factor behind it but when Sombra teased it you it was like you two have been friends for years. After a while, Sombra was finally close enough to you to ask you out, which you accepted. She was super happy to know that the efforts worked out in her favor, they always did

-She would come visit you when you would work and keep you entertained while you slaved away to the paperwork in front of you. Massaging your shoulders, whispering compliments into your ear, and kissing your cheeks were her favorite thing to distract you with while you worked.

-You were close with your old boss and kept in contact with him. After a long phone call, he had admitted that Sombra threated him to give him employees or else he would be exposed to the public. He mentioned how Sombra was very adamite about you coming with her more than the others, saying it was like she knew you, wanted you, and had done this to get you.

-You felt frozen, was this true? Was this whole shift in not just your career life but your social life due to the fact your girlfriend just wanted you this whole time? This whole thing was planned out? 

-On a war path, you stormed to her room and started to yell at her of how she could be so selfish and how you were just like a pretty china doll she could keep for fun. Sombra was so use on never being called out on her manipulative behavior. She couldn’t really defend herself know that you knew the truth. it was worse when you began to cry, sobbing into your hands.

-”What was this for huh?! You just wanted a “pretty girl” to call yours because you thought I was good looking?! YOU have changed and put my life in danger for YOUR benefit!”

-Not Sombra, but Olivia sat you down and confessed. For the first time she admitted her wrongs and she didn’t know how to do it. She tried her hardest, but you kept crying harder and left. After a few days, Olivia came to your room and wanted to talk, you agreed. She confessed you she was wrong for only seeing you as a pretty girl, not thinking about what being apart of Talon means for your life. By the end, she was crying though tried not to. You sighed and gave her a hug where she cried harder. When her crying stopped, you pulled back and gave her a kiss on the lips, which she happily accepted. 

-You made Olivia promise to only stay by her side if she could protect from anything that came your way. You really did like her and honestly didn’t want to leave her. Olivia accepted and from that day on she has been 1000% honest with everything with you

-Now with the sadness out of the way, let’s focus on happy stuff!

-Sombra loves to cook with you! As Mercy, she loves when you cook meals that are home to her country. You always apologize in advance if it doesn’t taste like the “real thing” but she doesn’t care, she loves your cooking and your meals bring back memories of Dorado

-In a voice line interaction with Moira, she talks about the carpel tunnel in her wrists. When you two are laying down together, you always rub her wrists and fingers to drain the fluid build-up in her hands. She loves these soft, caring moments with you

-I bet her posture is really bad (just like mine) so whenever she is sitting in a chair, you always put a pillow between her back and the chair. She already had messed up hands, you can’t let your girlfriend have a messed up back too!

-Olivia loves to play with your hair, you let her try different style but do you trust her giving you a haircut?...not so much. Sorry Olivia, but Amélie has told your s/o of the time she cut her hair as a “prank”...which didn’t end well

-speaking of Amélie- her, Gaberial, and Moira asks you constantly how you can put up with her shenanigans. You shrug, they wouldn’t understand how you understand Olivia’s charm

-Dating Olivia you also become good friends with Siebren! Olivia makes it her job to watch out for him so he isn’t tested on, so if she isn’t around, you can watch over him! To some it seems like babysitting, but you end up really close to him! Olivia is happy to know that <3

nsfw

-my girl is a switch, 50/50

-Olivia loves watching you give her head, she thinks you look perfect between her legs. She also loves to eat you out, maybe one of her favorite things about sex with you tbh, she just loves watching you enjoy yourself and feel good

-With your permission, she has recorded some sessions with you. Whenever she goes away for missions and you aren’t around, she fingers herself to videos of her fucking you. she has also gave you videos to keep for yourself whenever you feel lonely with he gone.

-Olivia loves risky sex. Unlike Moira, she doesn’t cover your mouth and does it in a spot anyone can walk in. If someone happens to walk in and try to tell other people? Their social security and credit card numbers are already leaked for other hackers in the world to use

-Like Angela, if she is bottoming, she will start speaking to you in spanish but with her she will continue to speak in spanish until she is finished <3

-Olivia works with her fingers all day, you know her fingering game is good

-She is a hair puller when she’s on top, not so much for her when she is on bottom cause of the wires in her hair, have to be careful. So instead, she prefers it when you put her face into the mattress 

-Favorite position is lotus. It’s a very intimate position and she loves to hold you in her arms as you ride her strap or vice versa. She loves to take her time and show you how much you mean to her. Her life is filled with craziness, but this sharing a moment like this with you will always be her favorite.

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Thank you so much for reading!! I had a lot of fun writing this :00

likes and reblogs are always appreciated ! <3

part 2 coming!

[brialavellan]

Moira Delryn

Half Elf🔹Noble🔹 Baldurian🔹Bard (College of the Herald)🔹Former Court Herald to Grand Duke Midhana Delryn🔹Current age: 104🔹Current location: Bloomridge Unknown

Background:

She was born in 1388 in Athkatla but moved to Baldur's Gate when she was very young. She had a happy - if somewhat lonely - childhood. Mostly, she was enthralled by stories of her parents' adventures during the Time of Troubles, since her mother, Midhana, was the famed Hero of Baldur's Gate and Slayer of Sarevok and her father, Anomen, was a retired knight of the Order of the Most Radiant Heart. She would beg her parents to tell stories of their adventures and it was her love of their stories that inspired her to pursue bardic arts. Though she craved an adventurer's life, her mother treaded a fine line to keep her safe - encouraging her skills but tethering her close to home.

She became a court herald in Baldur's Gate, specializing in history and politics - to the point where she was the primary local herald that the office of Black Vizor relied on for information on politics in Baldur's Gate and the surrounding regions. It wasn't hard for her to keep a pulse on the political scene, as her mother had finally acquiesced to the wishes of the patriars and accepted a position on the Council of Four as a Grand Duke and would employ her daughter in her new role. She dutifully served, believing herself content at this point with a quiet life.

As her mother wished, she enrolled at Herald's Holdfast near Silverymoon. Away from her vigilant parents, she got a taste of the adventure she craved - at a high cost. She fell in love with a young tiefling arcane trickster and Harper, Aisha, who inducted her into the Harpers and taught her her more rogue-like skills. This love affair was relatively short lived. On the day she chose to propose, Aisha was killed while confronted by members of the Cult of the Dragon. She had taken a blow meant for her battling a Thayan wizard associated with the Cult. Moira blamed herself for her death and her longing for adventure died with Aisha. She returned to Baldur's Gate forever changed. Gone was her childish infatuation with tales of grand adventures, replaced with deep bitterness. Her grand fantasies had failed to take into account the terrible cost of lives lost.

Her quiet life was later upended in the most brutal way - by witnessing the murder of her mother in Baldur's Gate - and the slaughter unleashed in the aftermath. She was very close to her mother, and she took the death of her mother incredibly hard. With no one left around to tether her to Baldur's Gate, and growing increasingly disillusioned with the politics, she took a demotion to travel the Sword Coast, keeping a small residence in Bloomridge that she rarely returned to. She was in route to Berdusk when captured. No small loss, she figures, as there is no one left to mourn or miss her.

[enchantedfms]

welcome to ethereal hollow, wendy darling gwendolyln dare ! enjoy your stay and remember, those dreams are just that ; dreams !

OUT OF CHARACTER

Celeste, she/her, 26, EST

INTRODUCE YOUR CHARACTER

[ Gwendolyn “Wendy” Dare (Wendy Darling, Peter Pan), she/her, CIS female, 24, demisexual Face claim: Ellie Bamber ] Dreams of exploring dark caverns by fairy light and nightmares of being captured and threatened by pirates are becoming more and more vivid for Gwendolyn Dare. Still just quick flashes, they should be nothing more than dreams, but they feel so real. The elementary school teacher has always been known to be kind and creative, however at times can be distracted and doubt herself. She can often be spotted in the local tea shop, usually reading or writing in her favorite notebook. Her friendly smile, calming presence, and feminine style with hints of whimsy like hair bows (they seem to remind her of something) always has her standing out.

FAIRYTALE LIFE

Wendy Moira Angela Darling had always been an imaginative child. Though her world was decidedly not, from the time she could think she was dreaming up wonderful possibilities. Her mother encouraged her charming stories, and she shared them with her two younger brothers, John and Michael. A trip to the market was a quest for the lost grail, and it was important that they not stray from Nana, the family’s faithful Saint Bernard, on walks through Kensington park because there was a warrant out for their arrest and she was their faithful werewolf guard. But her favorite topics were pirates and treasure hunts. Though Wendy’s world was not so imaginative, there were worlds that were, just past the thin membrane of her reality. Beings from such worlds often broke through, which was how she’d met her childhood best friend, Peter.

Peter Pan lived in the Never Land, and said he’d used to live in London like her, but had run away to have adventures. She thought it sounded terribly lonely- she couldn’t imagine losing her brothers and parents. Peter and Wendy got on like a house on fire, playing at imagination with and without John and Michael. When Peter returned from the Never Land, he brought with him stories of his escapades against the blood thirsty Captain Hook and his men, and while he was away, Wendy, John, and Michael made him the hero of their own games. Everything was perfect. But, as Wendy grew, her father began to grow concerned about what he called her “fanciful nature.” Most concerning, perhaps, was her tendency to speak of her imaginary friend Peter Pan (for George had certainly never met such a person, even if Mary said their daughter was merely making up stories about a friend their children played with. Women and their silliness) as though he were real. No daughter of George Darling would be addled in the head, unable to perceive reality. His sister Moira had had to be institutionalized back before he’d married, and it had been a huge embarrassment for his family. So, George decided to send Wendy off to finishing school, before it was too late. His own father had always said that if he had done so, things would have ended differently with Moira. His daughter needed to understand reality and her limitations within it. Then she would be happy.

Wendy was mortified. Nothing had ever threatened the perfect life she had with her brothers, and she didn’t know how to cope with the change. Peter found her crying when he next came, and was outraged that her father was sending her away “to grow up.” He insisted she come with him to the Never Land. Now, Wendy was destined to grow up of her own accord, and that two days earlier than other girls. But, she was afraid to leave everything she knew. And she had never wanted anything more than to go on a real adventure. And she’d grown up with the Never Land. It felt like home. The only thing that had kept her home before was her family, and now she stood to be separated from that as well. So it was that Wendy, John, and Michael first went with Peter to the Never Land. Wendy fell in love with all of it: the island, the people, the adventures, the sword play. Not conforming to the factions of pirate-native-mermaid-lost boy, she set up her own home - with the lost boys’ help - in the midst of it all. She befriended Tiger Lily, next in line to lead her people, something she could never have imagined in King Edward VII’s England. She went on adventures with the boys. She watched the mermaids from afar, quickly learning that to do anymore was to wish for death. And she befriended a dear wolf who had been separated from her pack, whom she named Luna, to accompany her on her adventures. Most of all, she relished her time with her brothers and with Peter. Though she adored this new sense of independence and adventure that the Never Land brought her, she soon found that John and Michael were forgetting their lives at home. She didn’t know why they were and she wasn’t, but they’d started to believe that she was their mother - what had started as a game with the lost boys. Perhaps it was their age. And then there had been the falling out with Peter. She was afraid for everything to change, for her to lose the life she’d built for herself in the Never Land, but she couldn’t keep her brothers here and have them forget their parents.

She’d shared her concerns with her best friend, and he told her of when he had attempted to return home only to find his parents had shut him out. Perhaps he had done so to convince her that her parents had already forgotten them and that they should stay, but it only struck fear into her. It had been one thing to run away, but it was quite another to never be able to return. She said they had to leave immediately, sparking the only fight she and Peter had ever had. But of course, Peter would not keep them there. Afterwards, he sulkily informed her that a fairy would take her and her brothers home and, enchanted by the novelty, the lost boys chose to go with them. However, they were kidnapped by Hook and his men, intent on revenge and finally having found Peter’s home, before they left. The hours that followed were the most terrifying of Wendy’s life. Though they’d had a few run-ins with pirates previously, none had seemed as dire as this. And then Hook had claimed to have killed her best friend. And the last thing they had done was fight. In the end, it turned out alright. Peter arrived miraculously and freed them, and they arrived in England no worse for wear. The lost boys still wanted to remain with her, but try as she might, Wendy could not convince Peter to undertake this new adventure with her. The worst thing was that he seemed to genuinely want to come with her, but his fear of growing up was holding him back from life. From her. She’d thought their friendship had meant more to him. So, Peter returned to the Never Land, and Wendy embarked on the adventure of Finishing School. She made fast friends and excelled in her lessons. Her school was one of some that included such subjects as English, history, and fine arts in an effort to make their girls more “interesting,” to their future husbands (in addition to typical subjects such as embroidery, social graces, and horseback riding), and she relished the learning. It was difficult to not be allowed popular novels, but she always had her imagination. Still, she learned quickly to catalog her personal stories in her head, rather to write them where anyone should find them. One of her fairy friends from the Never Land even came to visit her from time to time, and she would carry Wendy’s letters to Tiger Lily. Though, she still had the occasional nightmare about that day she and her brothers had been captive aboard the Jolly Roger.

But, as Wendy grew into a young woman, she missed the agency that she’d had in the Never Land. She missed the magic. She began to ponder what she wanted in life, and though she greatly enjoyed the thought of balls and meeting a nice young man who valued her thoughts and opinions, starting a family with him, she quickly came to the realization that she would not be happy forsaking adventure in order to have that. She would have both, or she would waste away. So, she planned, and with Tiger Lily’s and her fairy friend’s help, she journeyed back to the Never Land, and from there to the enchanted forest with Luna. Her old Never Land skills served her well as she began to set out on her new life as an adventurer. She wanted to see what the magical world had to offer her, and if she had a place in it. She spent time traveling between cities, meeting people and seeing the sites. And so, it came to be that she was in the enchanted forest when the curse washed through the land, and she awoke someone new.

Cursed Life

Gwendolyn “Wendy” Dare grew up an imaginative child, safe and secure with her brothers and parents. A modern man, her father did not find his daughter to be a threat to traditional values or to be in need of an institution. Ever a social conformist, he was well aware that a woman could do anything she set her mind to. And if that were true, that went double for any daughter of his. But, in this world, Wendy was diagnosed with Juvenile Arthritis. Sometimes, her joints would swell and stiffen, making it difficult to get around. More often, she would get the pain without the swelling. Sometimes no more than a twinge, sometimes causing her to limp, and on rare occasions making her incapable of moving without pain. Her condition did not affect her plans for the future. She still wanted to travel the world on adventures, to have excitement, to help people. But her father had even higher hopes. Didn’t she want to get a doctorate? Become a lawyer? Go into politics? Frankly, no. Wendy works at the local elementary school as a second grade teacher. Some days it’s hard to get around… and there are those nightmares about being captive aboard a pirate ship that occasionally keep her up at night. But she loves her kids and how she’s able to encourage, support, and teach them. And she indulges the storyteller in her by writing whenever she can. Yet, she grew up with big dreams of adventure. What happened to the girl who wanted to travel the world? Shouldn’t she want to achieve for all the women in years past who couldn’t make their mark on the world? While she is happy making her little impacts on her class (even if she is a disappointment to her family), she can’t help but wonder… is that a lie she tells herself because she can’t handle anything more? Sometimes she thinks it is. Maybe she’s weak. But, she’s so, so tired… whether that’s due to her father’s expectations, her condition, her nightmares, or her mother getting sick (which made Wendy up any hope of traveling the world indefinitely). Maybe she’s cursed. She’d never thought being an adult would be this hard.

HEADCANONS:

• Lives in a little apartment to give herself some sense of privacy, but it’s relatively close to her parents so she can see her mother and brothers. (Once we have more characters, a roommate would be a nice connection) • Her brothers joke that, given her penchant for pirate stories, they ought to get a walking cane made for her with a sword concealed inside. • Single. Romantically minded but cautious • Favorite books are The Magician’s Nephew and Pride and Prejudice • Wendy loves overcast skies, she calls it “adventure weather.” It feels like something is about to happen, and it’s also the best backdrop to sitting in the window with tea or hot chocolate and reading. -One summer, drafted her brothers into preforming a play with her because they complained they were bored • Has a little fairy garden by her front door.

SPOTIFY PLAYLIST:

• “Five Foot Three” by Flannel Graph • “World’s Smallest Violin” by AJR • “Fire and Flood” by Dawson Hollow • “EP 1: Adult” by Ian McConnell • “Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land” by MARINA • “Dreamers” by Oh Gravity

[kurt-wagner-official]

Post #30: UXM issues 165-167

Now we're back to Uncanny X-Men for the second half of the Brood Saga and the first Paul Smith issue. We pick up from the last cliffhanger as the X-Men are being pulled into space. Scott and Logan rip off a piece of floor to patch the hole, and the heroes are left alive and wondering what their lives are worth now that they know they're doomed. We then cut back to Earth for a scene that actually takes place before the New Mutants' first appearance. Moira gets a letter from Reed Richards about the existence of Xi'an, asking Xavier to take her in. He at first refuses, but when Moira tells him that the alternative is she takes the girl to Magneto or Emma Frost, who would at least give her training in her powers, he decides not to let his dream die just yet. In space, Ororo drifts alone in her small craft. She's torn between her will to live and her oath never to kill, even an evil being like the Brood within her. In the end, she gives up both, summoning the power of a star nebula to destroy both herself and the embryo. Back on their yacht, the X-Men come to terms with their death sentence. Lilandra wants to go down fighting, and agrees with Logan that they should make their last stand on Sleazeworld trying to kill the queen. Scott agrees, which Logan thinks means he's finally broken from the pacifist ideals he's held all his life. Logan wanders off and finds Kurt praying. This is my favorite moment of their friendship, and a perfect showcase of their characters. Kurt says he finds connection and comfort in his belief, even though he can't go into churches often. Logan is an atheist, which Kurt says sounds very lonely. Logan replies that he can't be alone, because he has Kurt and the X-Men. Meanwhile, Kitty has a nightmare about attending her own funeral, and wakes up to find Peter there to comfort her. She's more terrified than any of them of the horrible fate that awaits them all, but Peter is at peace. He's lived a life he loves and knew it had to end sometime. Kitty says that if they're going to die, she wants to sleep with Peter before they do, but he refuses, saying she's too young. This doesn't really make their relationship any less creepy, but for what it is it's a good moment. It's interrupted by visions of Ororo, who has merged with an Acanti and returned to her team.

Issue 166 opens with Carol on the warpath. The Brood are hunting a young Acanti, and infect it with a slave virus that destroys it's consciousness to make it a vessel for them. Carol obliterates the Brood and mercy kills the Acanti before being confronted by Ororo. She guided Carol back to the Acanti she has merged with, and offers her and the X-Men and alternative to their murder-suicide mission- a chance to save the Acanti race. The reason the Brood have been able to enslave them is because their collective species soul is entrusted to their leader, the Prophetsinger. He was the first one the Brood enslaved, and when he eventually died, they kept the soul hostage, forcing the Acanti to stay and be enslaved. But the next Prophetsinger was recently born- the Acanti Ororo is merged with. If the X-Men can liberate the soul, Ororo's Acanti can use it to free the rest of them. The X-Men quickly agree- they know they'll die, but now they have a chance to fight for something instead of against something. Logan fears they could turn at any moment, and is prepared to kill his friends to save them from that fate, but Kitty convinces him to believe in their family and give them a chance to fight to the end. They beam down to the surface while Carol and Ororo distract the fleet. As powerful as they are, the two women are overwhelmed, and the baby Prophetsinger is almost killed when the Starjammers arrive just in time. On the surface, we learn the reason for Scott's weird recent behavior- he's already turned, and has been leading the team into a trap. Only Kitty escapes, saved by a little purple alien dragon. The X-Men manage to escape, and take the queen and Scott hostage as they make their way to the soul. The evil of the embryos threatens to corrupt it and merge the souls with the Brood queen, but Carol arrives just in time to energize it with the power of a star. The soul purges the embryos from the X-Men and turns the queen into a crystal statue before flying up into the Prophetsinger. The X-Men beam up to the Starjammer, where Ororo greets them, having had her body restored by the soul. The celebration is short lived when Logan points out that the queen said there was one more royal egg on Earth, which they all realize must be in Xavier.

Issue 167 starts where New Mutants 3 left off, with the young team watching TV in the living room. They're interrupted by the X-Men, who crash through the walls to get to Xavier, not expecting company. The team start fighting while Kitty sneaks upstairs. She's too late to stop Xavier's transformation into a Brood queen though, and he attempts to flee before the combined efforts of the two teams bring him down. Logan plans to kill him, but Scott says that as the first X-Man it's his responsibility. But when Xavier begs him to end it, Scott is reminded of Jean making the same request, and he decides to try to save Xavier. They take him aboard the Starjammer, where Sikorsky says he can try to clone Xavier's body and transfer his mind. As the procedure begins, Scott turns to his other father for comfort. Christopher says he can't stay on Earth, and plans to head back out. Scott asks if he can join him, a huge step forward from years ago when he was the only X-Man who didn't leave the nest. Christopher says he can, but offers to first introduce him to his grandparents, which shocks Scott and leaves him overjoyed. Meanwhile, Ororo is feeling alone once again when Kitty spends time with Illyana and Peter rather than her. She finds Kurt also feeling alone; the new young students are as wary of him as Kitty once was, and though he knows they'll get used to him, going through this sequence every time he meets someone is taking its toll on him. Gladiator arrives on the ship and tells Lilandra that Deathbird has taken the throne with the help of the Brood. He also tells her that Reed Richards saved the life of Galactus recently, which she responds to by holographically beaming into the Baxter Building to tell Reed he'll be held accountable for Galactus's future meals. I think that thread will get picked up in the FF book, but I haven't read it. It's a little weird that they put it in this issue, but maybe it's a sign that Byrne and Claremont are now friendly enough to set up plots for each other. Finally, Xavier emerges from the medical chamber, now I'm a fresh body with functional legs. He has one final bombshell to drop- he's demoting Kitty to the New Mutants.

I don't even know where to start. This is one of my favorite stories of all time, and it's only gotten better on reread. Watching the X-Men accept their imminent death and choose to spend their final breaths fighting to free the Acanti is one of the most powerful and heartbreaking things I've read in the franchise. As I said, my favorite part was the Kurt and Logan moment. Even faced with certain death, Kurt doesn't waver in his faith, and more importantly, he still feels empathy for his friends above any concern for himself. And Claremont has written a lot of internal Logan monologues about the journey he's gone through to accept and reciprocate the love and support of his family, but none of those will ever be as powerful as "I ain't alone, bub- I got you." I still hate Peter and Kitty's relationship, but since I can't just wish it out of existence, their moment was definitely the best written part of it. I also just loved Peter's whole reaction in this story. Everyone else freaked out, even Kurt a little, but Peter was more calm than ever. He faced everything with quiet dignity and humor. Peter has a tendency to sabotage his own life and then hate himself for it, but when he knows it's going to end, he sees the beauty of it, and rather than wallow in mourning, he just feels grateful for the time he had. Kitty is almost the opposite, panicking and breaking down at the thought. She's been influenced a lot by Ororo and increasingly Logan as well, so she wasn't really scared of death so much as the loss of agency that comes with death by Brood. I would have liked to see how Scott dealt with the situation, but I understand why they made him the mole, since we've seen him accept death more than any of the others. The resolution of their situation with the soul power saving the X-Men is technically a Deus ex machina, but honestly i think it's earned. The X-Men accept their deaths and still choose selflessness, and they're rewarded by a being of pure good. When the entire world hates them, it's cathartic to see an act of god in their favor every once in a while. Plus, they'll all be dealing with the trauma from this incident for a while, especially Ororo. She broke her no killing rule, and while it's clearly affecting her, it's not until upcoming issues that we see how much. That being said, I'm not a huge fan of how they saved Xavier at the end, because I felt like it kinda cheapened the danger that the rest of the team was in. It does open up some new doors for Xavier's development, which he definitely needed, namely his physical therapy to regain the ability to walk. In addition to the amazing character study, this story is proof that even without the mutant metaphor, X-Men stories can still be political and societal allegories. The Brood are every colonizer in human history. They strip away racial and individual identities, and either kill, enslave, or convert anyone other than them. Because these are still corporate owned books, they can't outright condemn imperial governments, so evil humans are always part of some shadow faction of the more benign main American government. But here, with aliens, we can see colonizers for the monsters they are. They also work on the literal level as the most terrifying villains the X-Men have faced yet. While I don't think they should be retired as villains, because just on principle I'm against the idea of locking away characters and concepts in a shared universe, I do think the Brood are more impactful when they're used sparingly, and they've been overused in recent years (except for Broo, who I wish was used much more). They'll probably never be as scary as they are in this story, which I still see as the gold standard for X-Men space stories.

[heartpieced]

▲ @glowdarks​ || SKULL KID

Link often likes to return to the Lost Woods from time to time. They know their way around, never the type to get lost, having the path memorized like the back of their hand. Saria’s usually still there, and it’s always nice giving her updates on what life is like in the castle gardens.

But today, Link's in a more playful mood- and by playing, they mean music. Darunia asked Link for help writing a song for his son’s birthday, and Link wants to run it by a certain connoisseur, a longtime friend. First, of course, they have to play the one song they know their friend will answer to, every time. Sitting on a familiar stump that’s a little too small for them now, they lift the ocarina carefully and begin to play.

▼►◄  ▼►◄

The tones echo across the forest as Link waits patiently for the sound of laughter.

[ow-anteater]

Overwatch heroes as WTNV cold openings

Ana: Kill it with kindness. And if that fails, kill it with sharp sticks or knives.

Ashe: The future is what you make of it. Just know that your supplies are limited.

Baptiste: If it looks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck…you should not be so quick to jump to conclusions. 

Bastion: Leave no stone unturned. Leave no rock unpivoted. Leave no pebble untwirled.

Brigitte: It's turtles all the way down, but man, it's kittens all the way up.

D.va: We all lie dreamily upon damp earth, spotting clouds shaped like animals we have yet to invent.

Doomfist: Those who remember history are also doomed to repeat it.

Echo: To err is human, but to err is also computer. We'll have to find another test to reveal which of us are secretly bots.

Hanzo: Regret nothing. Until it is too late. Then, regret everything.

Genji: I once was lost. But now I’m fine with that.

Junkrat: At least their heart’s in the right place, I say, softly running my hand across a plastic takeout container.

Lúcio: Fake it 'til you make it, mic it 'til you like it, book it 'til you look it.

McCree: A lonely heart, a wandering eye, an empty stomach, a shoulder to cry on - this is what makes us, us.

Mercy: Spring reveals nature's secret that death is reversible.

Mei: Snow is falling somewhere. Many things are falling, or will fall, or have fallen, but temporary triumph is still triumph.

Moira: Your existence is not impossible. But it's also not very likely.

Orisa: Remember that you are a beautiful person. You’re a weird-looking tree, but you’re a beautiful person.

Pharah: The future wants you. The future needs you. The future will have you whether you like it or not.

Reaper: Absence makes the heart grow fonder, fear makes the heart grow louder, and death makes the heart grow flowers.

Reinhardt: Everything old will be new again, except for when it's so old it disintegrates at your touch and scatters into oblivion.

Roadhog: It takes heart. It takes guts. It also takes cash. It just needs your payment immediately.

Sigma: Do you hear that sweet melody? That sweet melody on the breeze? No one else hears that sweet melody, That sweet melody on the breeze. 

Soldier: 76: It's not the destination, it's the endless exhausting journey.

Symmetra: The sun has risen. You are awake. This symmetry is not without meaning.

Sombra: It’s not darkest before the dawn. It’s actually darkest after all the stars have gone out. It’s very dark then.

Torbjörn: No man is an island. Some men are fjords. Most men are oxbows. All men are ravines.

Tracer: Time is irrelevant and imaginary. And yet, somehow it seems we are out of it.

Widowmaker: Our moral compass has been demagnetized.

Winston: There is a thin semantic line separating weird and beautiful. And that line is covered in jellyfish. 

Wrecking Ball: There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are written about on Wikipedia.

Zarya: Who's a good boy? Who's the good boy? Who is it? Who is it?

Zenyatta: Close your eyes. Let my words wash over you. You are safe now.

[adarlingwrites]

Absolution

Summary:

noun: formal release from guilt, obligation, or punishment

The Capital Wasteland lauded the Lone Wanderer as a hero, a Messiah, a savior who’s willing to give her life for the Good Fight. Beyond the legends, the propaganda, and the mythification that surrounded her legacy, there is only one person who knew her bare soul. She gave him his absolution, and now he will fight for hers.

XXVIII

January 14, 2278.

I woke up feeling confused.

Percy?

My wife?

Impossible. A ghoul marrying a smoothskin? Fucking insane.

I don’t think I’m even made for something as… normal as marriage. All my skills are geared towards killing and destroying. How can I even build a life with her?

Some people marry out of love, don’t they? My parents did, and they were happy together. When I was little, during their wedding anniversary, they’d leave me with someone else to look after me. Before she went away to study, Aunt Katya would do that for them. After she’s gone, it was whoever babysitter they can find.

They would always come home the next day with smiles on their faces.

When we started to become poorer, they’d spend the evening in the house, a lone candle illuminating the kitchen, and they’d dance to the radio in silence. My mother would look at my father with uncertain eyes, and he'd kiss the worries away.

“Annika, moya solnyshko, we’re going to be fine.”

Solnyshko. If I recall correctly, it’s a term of endearment in my parents’ language. I think it meant ‘little sun’.

I sighed and turned to Percy, still asleep, resting peacefully as the sunlight streamed from the windows and illuminated her face.

Is that something I want to do with Percy?

Hold her in my arms through thick and thin? Call her silly little things out of affection?

Is it love that drives me to dream of being her husband? Or is she just too involved in my life now for me to think of someone else?

Some people married out of convenience, after all. Like Aunt Katya.

I remember bringing the rings on her wedding day. She was already heavy with child, dressed in white. I couldn’t remember if it was in the year 2069 or 2070, but obviously, it was before I was taken away for indoctrination.

“Tetushka,” I remember addressing her during the reception. “Who is he?”

“Artyom, this is Nathaniel. He’s the man I married, and he’s going to be your uncle. Don’t be shy, say hi.”

The man steps closer, and kneels. He had some stubble on his jaw, square and shapely, and his hair is cut neatly, like the soldiers I see on posters.

“So this is the nephew you were talking about, Kitty. Hey there sport,” he greets extending his hand. I remember reluctantly giving him a handshake.

“I know this is all so sudden, but he’s part of the family now,” Aunt Katya explains, smiling, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes.

“I think it’s time for the toast, dear. We wouldn’t want to miss it.” Nathan interrupts, whisking my aunt away and giving me a nod and a wink.

That night, as my father drove us home, he spoke to me.

“Artyom, could you make me a promise?”

“What kind of promise papa?”

“Promise me, when you grow up and if you decide to marry someone, make sure that you marry out of love, like I did with your mother. Don’t be like your aunt Katya.”

“I promise,” I tell him. “But what’s wrong with aunt Katya?”

“Ilya, I think we should save this conversation for another day. Our Artyom might be too young,” my mother tells father.

“Nonsense. It’s never too early to let him know. Artyom, your tetushka married that man because she thought she couldn’t take care of a baby on her own. I’m not sure if she loves Nathan, and that’s what scares me. Your auntie is strong. But I’m not sure how she will handle a marriage with uncertain feelings. It could destroy her.”

I blinked a few times. It was too heavy for me to understand back then.

“I think what your father is trying to say, Artyom,” my mother adds, “Is when people marry and start a family, they usually live together under one roof, like your papa and I. When you marry someone and live under one roof with someone you do not love, life can become difficult.”

“I think I understand, mama.”

I do understand now.

My reminiscing got interrupted when Percy cracked one eye open, and reached for me.

“Hey. Good morning, big guy. You slept well?”

I nodded.

“Let’s get some breakfast.”

After waking Butch up, the three of us packed our sleeping bags and went outside to start a fire. The dawn is just breaking, the horizon hazy. I can’t remember being this up early. Our sleep schedule was borderline nocturnal.

As the Cram sizzled on the clean sheet of metal we used to cook on while travelling, Percy was heating some clean water over the fire as well. She used it to rehydrate the Instamash, and the rest went into a cup. My partner then takes out a small sachet, the label washed out, but I can still see what it was.

“Found this in a coat pocket from Moira’s gifts the other day,” she giggles. “Hot chocolate!”

My eyes widened. Damn, I haven’t seen one of those after the war. Is it even safe to consume?

“Man, I miss the food in the vault. Lemme have some,” DeLoria exclaims, excited.

Percy pours it in the cup and stirs it with a spoon. She takes a sip, passes it to Butch, who wrinkles his nose, then to me. Well, if we can still eat Cram after 200 years of it sitting on some shelf, I think I’ll be fine with this ancient hot chocolate.

It’s hot. Comforting. The flavor is a little rancid, but what else is new with these preserved Pre-War foods? It’s still somewhat sweet. The nostalgia I felt for the life I left behind grew. I look into the cup, the dark liquid swirling, reminding me of Percy’s eyes. Then, I pass it back to her.

“You were smiling in your sleep,” Percy quips, looking at me with eyes still heavy with sleep. “Dreamed of something nice?”

Despite the cold, I feel the warmth spreading through me. Of fucking course I just can’t tell her that I dreamed that I wasn’t a monster, and she is my wife, and we had a son who looked like her while we’re frolicking at a beach in California. I have to think of something else.

“I dreamed DeLoria fell down the stairs.”

Percy almost spat out her drink laughing. Butch gives me a dirty look. “Yeah, real funny, you bastard,” he groans.

I couldn’t help but laugh at my own lie, too.

Butch put the fire out with snow, and we’re off again, heading west. The sun’s rising in the east, warming our backs as we pressed on. By the time we got to Lamplight, the sun’s risen, but was blocked out by clouds.

We approached the cavern entrance, and followed the trail inside. There, MacCready is still keeping watch.

“Hey, we got your friends back. Can we come in now?” Percy shouts, keeping a safe distance.

“I guess you’re okay after all, for a mungo. But you better not piss me off!”

As the three of us approached the gate, the kid pointed his rifle at DeLoria.

“Hey wait a second, you weren’t with them when they first came here,” he barks, suspicious.

“Don’t worry about him, he’s harmless. He’s gonna watch out stuff for us while we go in Vault 87,” Percy explains, pulling Butch’s arm hurriedly.

“Who the fuck are you?” the mayor asks Butch, and of course the moron puffed his chest out.

“I’m Butch! I lead a gang called the Tunnel Snakes and I helped them get your friends outta Paradise Falls too!”

“What kind of dumbshit name is Tunnel Snakes?”

Okay, I can’t fucking help it. I am laughing. This kid is just fine.

As DeLoria squabbles with MacCready, Percy sits down in a corner to catch her breath and rest, and I join her. Soon, some of the kids started gathering around us, and among them were the children we rescued from Paradise.

“It’s the ghost and the zombie that saved us!” one of them exclaimed, running towards us.

“Zombie isn’t a nice word to call him, kid. He’s called a ghoul,” Percy tells her, voice a little softer than her usual speaking tone.

“A pretty ghost and a scary ghoul saved you? Wow!”

Soon, the voices of the children grew louder as they chattered about us, the odd group of mungos allowed in the cave.

I felt uncomfortable as the children poked around and asked us so many questions. Some of them are too afraid to come closer to me, while some openly try to climb on my back and gingerly touch some of my scars. I guess the dream I had about having one will remain a dream. These children are exhausting to be around.

Yet Percy takes it all in stride, answering every question they ask her, showing off her stuff, and regaling them with tales from our travels. She’d gently pet the hair of one of the little girls who huddled next to her, and her patience didn’t waver as one of the boys accidentally spilled their Nuka Cola on her jacket.

She reminds me of my own mother. I’m sure she’d be a great mother if she ever decides to be one.

And when that happens, I’m not going to be the one by her side.

“Percy! Tell us another story,” one of the children, who was called Knock Knock, asks my partner, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“I think I’ve already told you all of my stories.”

“Well, you can always make one up,” another little girl, the one called Bumble, suggests.

“Hmm…”

Eyes flicking towards me, Percy offers the children a soft smile.

“Long ago, there was a young maiden, living in a fortress with steel walls. The most important rule was one was allowed to go in and out of the fortress.” Percy starts, leaning her head towards me.

“A maiden? Why not a princess? Princesses lived in fortresses, right? Or was it a castle?”

“Shut up, Zip! Don’t interrupt her.”

Chuckling, Percy clears her throat and continues. “She kept to herself, and kept herself busy with plants and books. The maiden was content with living in the fortress, but she always wondered what the world beyond them looked like. One night, while the maiden was exploring the lower levels of the fortress, a horrible beast took her away, and captured her. He put her in an invisible cage, which keeps her under his control.”

I think I know who this maiden is.

“Oh no, is she okay? Who saved her?”

“We’ll get to that soon. The maiden was kept in a cage for so long, that she thought that she'd never get out. Then, one night, word got around that someone left the fortress. In her desire to see the world, she grips the bars of the invisible cage, and bends it, finally escaping.”

The children were listening in awe. “What happens to the girl? Does she escape the fortress?”

“Yes, and she had to face the monster that captured her in doing so. In a show of courage, she wields a sword, and takes his head off in one slice.”

“Coooool,” one of the kids exclaimed.

“Then, she starts looking for her father. But she couldn’t do it alone. There were many dangers in the world outside the fortress. So, she looks for someone who can watch her back.”

“Is it a knight? Or a prince?”

“Hmm. No, her companion is neither of those. He’s something else.”

“What is he?”

“A ferryman.”

“What’s a ferryman, Percy?”

“Have you kids ever heard of a boat? A ferryman is in charge of running that boat.”

“Oh, so they rode through a boat?”

“Yeah. They did. This ferryman, all he knew before he met the maiden was to take the souls of people and deliver them to Death. Kind of like the Grim Reaper. Everyone’s gotta die some time, and it was his job to ensure that they make it to the other side.”

“Yikes! Why would she ask someone like that to watch her back?”

Percy pauses, unsure what to answer. Her eyes flick to her lap, then, she smiles at one of the kids.

“Because, the maiden knows better than to judge a book by its cover. Turns out, the ferryman was one of the most reliable, bravest, and kindest people outside the fortress, but he’s stuck to his job. So, they burn the boat, and the maiden, instead of facing Death, runs away with the ferryman. The end.”

“Wow, that was boring,” one of the boys quipped, which earned him an elbow from one of the girls.

“Are you kidding? That was amazing!”

“Aw, that can’t be the end! What happens to them after?”

“Do they fall in love?”

A short chortle escaped Percy. “That’s a story for another day. My friend and I need to get going.”

Bumble looks up to Percy with big, begging eyes. “Promise us you’ll tell the rest when you come back, please?”

A chorus of “Please, Percy” fills the cave. I couldn’t help but snort at the overwhelmed look on Percy’s face. Then, she gave them a quick nod, to which they responded with cheers.

“Alright big guy, time for us to go into the Vault. Wait, where’s Butch?”

On the opposite side of the cave, surrounded by mostly boys, including MacCready himself, Butch was shouting and cheering.

“Tunnel Snakes rule!”

“Tunnel Snakes rule!” the boys echoed.

We laughed at the scene. “Hey, looks like Butch have new gang members in no time.”

Striding towards DeLoria, Percy dumps the gear we didn’t need to bring near his feet. She takes off her leather jacket and scarf, and her sneaking suit’s helmet protracted over her face. It was a curious sight for the children, looking at her with bewildered eyes.

“Look after the stuff, Butch. If we don’t come back in eight hours, get help from the Brotherhood.”

“Got it. What but what if something else comes through the door?”

“If it’s not with us, shoot it. Help the kids defend this place.”

Butch gulps. “I… uh…”

“There are spare guns and grenades in one of the packs. You helped us with Paradise, Butch. You can handle this,” Percy encourages him, rubbing the back of his palm gently.

I look away.

“You’re right. See you in a few hours.”

Following a teenage boy who introduced himself as Joseph, who turned out to be the brother of one of the children we got out of the slave pen, we were led to a terminal which accesses a door to the vault. No one bothered to write down the password, so Percy cracked her knuckles and started typing away eagerly.

Eyes still fixated on the glowing green monitor, she had that determined look on her face again.

The door hisses open, and we step in. It was unnaturally cold and silent.

“This is it, Charon. We’re so close.”

[kwanisms]

Collision Course 11a: a friendly game of 4v4

previous || next

summary: Y/N is a twitch streamer by day, camgirl by night. Having just moved from Busan to Seoul, Y/N soon learns that leading a double life can have serious consequences if she doesn’t trust the right people. What will happen when her two worlds start to collide?

pairing: soonyoung x y/n x wonwoo

warning: strong language, provocative images, sexual content, see each piece for warnings

updates every monday, wednesday, and friday @ 7PM CST

a/n: times and dates don’t matter!

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─────────────────

You tapped on your mic, speaking into it to test the audio. "Can everyone hear me okay?" you asked. A chorus of cheers and affirmative answered you and you couldn't help but smile. "Alright guys, let's do this," you said as you selected your hero and joined the game.

The teams had been chosen before you started up the game. You, Wonwoo, Jihoon, and Seungkwan against Seungcheol, Soonyoung, Mingyu, and Vernon with Chan spectating. "Let's kick some ass," you heard Seungkwan say into his headset. "In your dreams, Kwan," you heard Vernon reply.

The screen switched from loading to the map and you started moving around, immediately finding Wonwoo and sticking close by him. Wonwoo always played tank when you were on the same team and you always played support. Jihoon and Seungkwan both chose damage dealing heroes.

"Don't let them make it to the other side of the map guys!" you heard Cheol say into his mic. "There's a really good holdout spot over there." You giggled as Wonwoo snuck you around the map and whispered for you to follow him. Mingyu noticed and asked "what are you doing Wonwoo?"

You ran for cover, hiding behind Wonwoo's shield as he held off Mingyu's attacks. Seungkwan came from behind and charged Mingyu, firing at him. "Seungkwan, what are you doing?" you said bursting into laughter as he killed Mingyu's character, earning a slew of curses from the older man. "Damnit, Seungkwan!"

Wonwoo ran off to the side, you trailing behind. "I'm hit! I'm hit!" you heard Soonyoung yell. A few seconds later, his hero ran past you, Vernon's character chasing after him. "Come back here and let me heal you, damnit," Vernon hissed. Chan laughed, watching Soonyoung jump around, avoiding Vernon.

You laughed before Jihoon called for your aide. Wonwoo turned to engage Cheol while you ran off to find Jihoon and heal him. After bringing his health bar back up, he thanked you and took off leaving you to head off in the opposite direction. You rounded a corner and found yourself facing Soonyoung's character.

"Well, well, well," he said into his headset, blocking your path. "A lonely little Mercy," he added teasingly. You tried to appeal to his better side. "Come on Soonyoung," you pleaded. "Just this once, let me go?" you asked. Soonyoung laughed and advanced on your hero. "Sorry, Bunny. Not this time," he said.

Before he could attack, Wonwoo appeared behind him and took him out with his character's ability, Fire Strike. You cheered and thanked Wonwoo for saving you. You rejoined the fight taking down Vernon and Cheol, leaving Mingyu last. He went down but he went fighting, taking out Seungkwan with him.

You called good game to everyone as your computer took you back to the main screen. "Another round?" Seungcheol asked over his headset. Everyone agreed, this time switching up the teams. You were now on a team with Soonyoung, Seungcheol, and Seungkwan. You chose Mercy again, not straying far from your favorite support hero. Soonyoung chose Orisa while Seungcheol and Seungkwan chose Genji and Sombra respectively.

On the enemy team, Wonwoo chose Reinhardt again while Mingyu chose Reaper, Jihoon picked Symmetra, and Vernon chose Moira. The round started and you stuck to Soonyoung. The round was much more intense with Jihoon and Mingyu attacking relentlessly while Wonwoo was in rare form. You were all over the place healing your teammates to the best of your ability.

You were in the middle of healing Cheol when you were hit by Mingyu who yelled in triumph only to be taken out by Soonyoung who put himself behind you, shields up as you healed your team. Wonwoo charged, Jihoon right behind him. You let out a squeak, running away as Soonyoung engaged Wonwoo. Cheol countered Jihoon and you kept your eye out for Vernon.

You spotted him and directed Seungkwan who came out from behind and took Moira out. Vernon cursed loudly while Seungkwan laughed maniacally and joined the fight, three to two. You rejoined your team to heal. Jihoon took out Cheol, turning his attention to Seungkwan. You healed both Soonyoung and Seungkwan before turning to resurrect Cheol. Wonwoo cursed.

"Fuck, I forgot you can do that," he chuckled, attacking Seungkwan, leaving his back exposed. Soonyoung took advantage of that and took him out with a triumph yell. Cheol and Seungkwan took out Jihoon who whined loudly. You laughed, congratulating your team.

"Why is it Bunny is always on the winning team?" Chan asked. "Cause I'm a winner," you said as the main screen loaded on your computer. "You're a pain in my ass," Wonwoo joked. Everyone chuckled. Everyone except Soonyoung.

"Apologize," he demanded. Everyone stopped laughing immediately. "What?" Wonwoo asked. "I said apologize," Soonyoung said, his tone dead serious. "Deadass?" Wonwoo asked. "Does it sound like I'm fucking joking?" Soonyoung asked, his voice raising in volume. You decided to de-escalate the situation. You had a feeling this was about to get ugly.

"Hey, come on guys," you said in a lighthearted tone. "Let's just calm down." Neither one seemed to be listening to you. "Are you kidding me?" Wonwoo asked. "It was a fucking joke, man." You winced, knowing that would set Soonyoung off. "It wasn't funny. It was rude. So apologize to Bunny. Now."

Cheol stepped in. "Hey, you two. Knock it off," he said angrily. "Tell him to back off," Wonwoo retorted. "Just fucking apologize!" Soonyoung snapped. "Fuck off man," Wonwoo scoffed. "Guys!" you shouted, trying to get their attention. "Stop it! It was a joke. I'm not upset, okay?" you said once the chat had fallen silent.

"See?" Wonwoo said pointedly. "Fuck off," Soonyoung snapped and before you could say anything he disconnected from the game and turned off his mic. You sat back in your chair and sighed. "Okay," Seungkwan said softly. "What the fuck was that?"

[thiswasinevitableid]

A New Era of Gods and Monsters (Indruck)

Prompt for the 21st was: Monster Movie. Behold my old hollywood AU, featuring a title from the Bride of Frankenstein and a universe in which Transphobia doesn’t exist by the Hayes Code does. It is NSFW

February 20th, 1935.

Tinsel Town is abuzz with news that promising young director Joseph Stern is starting work on a new horror picture. The latest announcements from Kepler Studios state that it will rival the director's previous smash monster chiller “Nightmare Woods.” No news as of yet as to who will star, and who may be donning greasepaint and false fangs to play the creature. Only time will tell, but we look forward to whatever terrifying delights he has in store. Assuming, of course, that he does not run afoul of the censors. 

“Homoeroticism!” Stern tosses the warning from the Hayes office onto his desk, “that's what they sent me a warning about Ned! There wasn't even any in the picture.” 

“You know how these modesty police are, dear boy; they see depravity where there is none yet are so out of touch they do not recognize the very things they're afraid of when they are present. Now that you’ve been scolded, how do you wish to proceed?”

“In whatever way won’t get me fired. There's a fine line between the kind of censor uproar that drives publicity and the kind that the studio heads think is too risky.”

“As your producer, I support you entirely in whatever you choose. And I'm happy to apply my considerable eloquence to soothing the concerns of those who sign our paychecks.”

Stern flops down in his desk chair, staring at the almost complete script in a tidy stack. 

“If we’re going to gamble, the more big names I can get the better. I think it’s time to call in my favor from Amnesty Pictures. After that, well; if they’re going to complain about homoeroticism, we may as well give them something to really complain about.” 

----------------------------

A month later, Stern sits at a large table in the studio meeting room, the bulk of his cast already thumbing through their scripts and chatting quietly to one another. Some of them, such as Aubrey Little and Moira Redfeld, are contract players to Kepler, ones he snatched up for this picture before anyone could interfere. There are also two on loan from Amnesty,  a trade off for the time he and Ned worked their Hollywood contacts to help Mama, the studio head, raise money to fund the film that put the studio on the map. 

His own relationship with Mama’s right hand man, Barclay, who acted as their go-between in those early days, may have helped his case. 

The first player on loan is Dani Coulice, who’ll play Aubrey's dear friend and confidant who accompanies her to the house of her mysterious uncle. Dani has an understated charm on screen and, judging by the eyes she’s making at Aubrey, the two women will be able to pull off the romantic subtext he needs them to with ease.

And then there’s Indrid Cold. His first appearance in The Smiling Man drew quick comparisons to Claude Raines, Bella Lugosi and, more importantly, to the great Lon Chaney. Not only does the actor design and apply his own character make-up, he embodies his monsters and murderers in a way that leaves the audience hiding beneath their covers for days.

Stern knew the moment he and Kirby began working on the script that no one but Indrid Cold could play the titular Dr. Nacht. Now all that's missing from the table is…

“Sorry I’m late Joe. We ran long shootin the sword fight.” A southern drawl and apologetic smile announce the entrance of his other leading man. A man who's trained for years under two mentors to follow in their footsteps as swashbucklers, knights, soldiers. The man who is often described as destined to save the day, regardless of the picture. 

When you wanted a monster, you got Indrid Cold. When you wanted a hero, you hired Duck Newton. 

Which is why Stern remains surprised that Duck took this role so readily. He wants him for it, thinks he’s just the man to balance Indrid's aloof, otherworldly demeanor. But this time, his character won’t emerge triumphant. 

---------------------------------------

Duck cannot fuck this up. It’s a goddamn miracle Joe offered it to him at all, given that he’s never done horror before, the studio not wanting to waste him on something so strange. There was a time when Duck would have steered clear of it too, but he trusts Joe, and the rest of the cast is strong. And the leading men in these pictures are never the heroes Duck is used to; they’re scientists, good men in over their heads, soldiers carrying the mental wounds of the war. They’re something new. 

The only thing that worries him is Indrid Cold. Amnesty Pictures is known for darker, more daring fare than most studios, and Indrid always seems to be in the mix. His reputation is one of eccentric artistry, something Duck has little patience for. 

It’s been alright so far, the first weeks mainly getting costume tests and memorizing lines, and Indrid is polite but aloof. When Duck mentions this to Dani, she takes her eyes of Aubrey long enough to shrug, “He’s up in his own head a lot, he doesn’t mean anything by it.”

Today they’re shooting the arrival of his character, Henry Harper, at the lonely country estate of Dr. Edward Nacht. The doctor is Eliza’s (played by Aubrey) uncle, and she’s traveling to stay with him along with her dearest friend, Lucy (played by Dani). Henry and Eliza are ostensibly betrothed, but the script makes only the barest mention of it, putting Duck opposite Indrid and Aubrey opposite Dani in most scenes. 

Joe’s instructions are to play Harper as a classic, bland, heroic lead for the first third of the film, and he gets himself into that headspace as they take their positions.

“Now remember, Aubrey, you’re the only one who’s even little used to your uncle's mannerisms, so you should be genuinely happy to see him. Right, here we go, action!”

The trio pretends to startle at the massive mansion door shutting on its own, turning in sync to look behind themselves. 

“That’s the trouble with these old houses; they have a mind of their own.”

Indrid stands at the top of the staircase, eyes uncovered for the first time since they met. Head held high, dark suit contrasting with his pale hair and sharp features, he grins at them as he descends the steps. It’s commanding and unnerving, the actor managing to convey something odd lurking beneath his veneer of gentility.

Aubrey runs to greet him, saying her lines as Dani and Duck trail behind her. He only ends up at the right mark thanks to watching Dani  from the corner of his eye; the rest of his attention is locked on Indrid. 

“This is my dear friend, Lucy Price.”

“Wonderful to meet you, any friend of my niece is welcome in these halls.�� Indrid takes Dani’s and, kissing it with a friendly smile. 

“And this is Mr. Harper, my finance.” 

The smile widens as Indrid offers his hand, Duck taking it as the blocking dictates. There’s a beat where Indrid guides it upwards, as if intending to kiss it. Then he stops, shaking it instead. 

“A pleasure to have you here, Mr. Harper. It seems my niece shares her mother's fine taste in men.”

It takes him a moment to remember he’s not supposed to stand transfixed.

“I look forward to gettin to know you, doctor.”

Indrid steps back, still grinning, “if you three will follow me, I will show you to your rooms.”

“Cut!”

Christ, that was awful, he should have played that more confident, more in control-

“That was perfect Duck, just the right approach.”

“Oh, uh, thanks Joe.”

“I must admit I am pleasantly surprised.” Indrid adds. 

“How so?” Duck looks up at him.

“Simply that quipping whilst swinging a sword about does not always result in someone who can convey complex emotions on screen.”

“Now wait just a fuckin second-”

“I, ah, I was trying to be complimentary.” Indrid almost sounds like he means it. 

Duck crosses his arms, “Oh yeah? Then I guess I oughta say I’m impressed a fella who runs around covered in monster make-up most of the time can actually emote.”

“That was uncalled for.”

“You started it.”

“I did not mean to start anything!”

“Gentlemen, if we could continue with our shooting” Ned’s voice cuts in and Duck turns to see half the soundstage string to them. 

“Uh, right, sorry. Always get  little, uh, tense on the first day. Right, Indrid?”

Indrid rises n unimpressed eyebrow, “Where shall we take it from?”

----------------------------------------------

It doesn't get better after that first day. 

Duck tries, he really does, and he can tell Indrid is doing the same. But the longer they work together, the more often they snap at one another in between scenes. 

“What were you two arguing bout now?” Aubrey says as they walk to the parking lot one evening. 

“We, uh, well he, uh, huh. I can't remember.”

She shakes her head, “Yep, that's what I thought.”

They’re  third of the way through the shoot, and it's going on ten at night, Joe trying to get as much done as he can before another picture borrows the set for two days.

Duck and Indrid are the only actors remaining, working on the scene where Henry, having agreed to help the doctor in his work, confronts him over the nature of the experiments. Once they finish this scene, they’re done, but Indrid keeps tripping over the word “indomitable.”  

When he fucks it up for the fourth time, Duck drops his head into his hands, “fuck’s sake, it ain’t that hard.”

“That’s rather rich coming from someone whose accent ought to have rendered him obsolete at the advent of talking pictures.” Indrid replies dryly. 

“Fuck you.” 

Indrid straightens up, ready with a retort, when Joe shouts for them to retake their places and try again. 

“You are meddlin with forces you don’t understand, doctor. Forces that are a mystery for a reason.”

“Do not underestimate me, Mr. Harper. Man is far more powerful, far more capable than scholars or priests would have you believe.” Indrid steps towards him, voice cool and smile detached, “we are no better than beasts if we cower in the shadows of ignorance, never daring to dream of what may be within our reach. Man was meant to question, Mr. Harper, meant to search and create. Man is indomitable.” His grin brightens not only from correctly pronouncing the word, but as part of the scene; because Duck is hesitating, won over for an instant by his speech. 

Duck shakes his head, “Dreams and questions are all well and good, but they all come to nothin if you barrel forward without a thought for the harm you might do. No, doctor, while we're here, I forbid you from such experiments. I won’t have Eliza in such danger, nor will I risk her losing her remaining family.”

Indrid cocks his head, amused, “You forbid it?” 

Duck tilts his head up to meet his eyes, “I do.”

His back slams into the laboratory counter, Indrids hands gripping it on either side of him.

“Perhaps I have been unclear, Henry. I am the master here, not you.” Slender fingers grip Duck’s lapels, tugging him nose to nose with Indrid, “you would do well to remember that.”

“Cut! Perfect, thank the lord, so we can finally get out of here.” Joe’s voice snaps Duck back into the soundstage, but Indrid hasn’t let go, is instead eyeing Duck’s face, tongue coming out to wet his lips. 

How long has Duck been breathing this hard? 

Indrid release his hold, smoothing down the front of Ducks jacket. He frowns, “You’re shaking. Are you ill?”

“N-nope.”

Unconvinced, Indrid touches his forehead, “You feel rather warm. Please tell me you are going home rather than out to paint the town?”

Duck wants to tell him to mind his own damn business. All that comes out is, “Yeah, might just straight sleep through til Sunday. You rest up too, y’hear?”

Indrid smiles, “I will do my best.”

---------------------------------------

“Catching up on some correspondence?”

Duck sets down his pen as Indrid sits at the lunch table across from him, “My sister moved back out to West Virginia not that long ago, and I promised I’d keep her up to date on everythin goin on out here.”

“Is she younger or older than you?”

“Younger by four years. You, uh, you got any siblin’s?”

“No. I was raised by my aunt and uncle, so I have a cousin instead. Here, I think I might have a picture.” The taller man pulls out a notebook, flipping through it, “ah, there he is.”

“Christ, if I couldn’t see the smudge up there, I’d think that was a fuckin photo.”

“Thank you.” Indrid dips his head, tucking the notebook back into his jacket pocket, “I mostly keep that on me in case I am struck by a new creature design, but it has other uses.”

“Where’s your family from?”

“Germany, originally, then the Salinas valley.”

“Told it’s real beautiful up there.”

“It has its moments, fewer now that they’ve found oil.”

“What’s your favorite?”

Indrid tells him, talks about the nearby mountains and traveling down to the coast, about hitchhiking his way to Los Angeles because he felt foolish asking for the money for a bus ticket when most of the family thought his journey was pointless.

“Sure proved them wrong.” Duck nudges his ankle playfully under the table. 

“I suppose.”

After that conversation, Duck likes his days on set even better. The chair reading “Indrid Cold'' is now next to his more often than not, the two of them running lines or talking about gardens and art between takes. They bring in a black cat--meant to be the doctor’s pet-- for several days of shooting, and Indrid laughs whenever Duck picks it up and coos over it, smile fading to a gentle, shy expression when he catches Duck looking. 

And when Joe instructs them to brush hands, or let their gaze linger too long on each other during scenes, Duck hopes they’ll have to do take after take. 

Today the set is full of excitement, as it’s the first time Indrid will appear in his full monster make-up; he’s shot two scenes in shadows, hinting at the horror of it as he takes innocent life on the moors. Now, Duck will enter the laboratory and see first hand the results of the doctor’s experiments. 

“Action!”

Duck steps into the darkened room, equipment flashing and test-tubes billowing smoke. 

“Doctor, there’s been another death in the village, and you’re the police are asking for your help. They say it’s like nothin they ever seen before.”

Heavy footfalls and the scrape of nails on metal signal Indrid’s approach, but he’s not to turn until the actor speaks. 

“Doctor, can you hear me?” He looks around, worried, then calls hesitantly, “Edward?”

“Hello, Henry.”

He turns and yells in fright, hand flying to cover his mouth. Where there once was an elegant, odd figure, now a massive nightmare looms out of the darkness. Indrid’s mouth stretches wide, curve fangs protruding from either corner, face coated in bloodied, feathered scales, and claws reaching for Duck. 

“Edward what” he staggers backward,s “what in god's name have you done?”

“What I set out to do, my dear Henry. Can you not see that?” Indrid giggles with the hysteria of a man consumed by bitter disappointment, “perhaps you should come closer.”

“Stay back, I’m warnin you-”

Indrid lunges, snarling, and Duck throws himself out of the way, hitting first the edge of something sharp and then the ground

“Fuck!” 

“Cut!”

“Oh dear, are you hurt? Here, let me help-”

Duck holds up a hand, gritting his teeth, “You stay right where you are. Fuck, christ,” the hand gripping his leg comes away spotted with blood, “what the fuck, that wasn’t in the blockin!”

“Joseph said he trusted me to improvise my movements, to maximize the tension.”

“You gotta fuckin warn me about shit like that, all my movement is backwards, meanin I can’t see where I’m goin.”

“I assumed a man who made his living fighting knew how to use his peripheral vision.”

“How bad is it?” Dewey, one of the camera men, helps Duck up as Stern approaches them. 

“Give there’s  a bloodstain on our set, enough to send him over to the medical office. I'm calling it for the night . I’ll see you both tomorrow.” Joe runs a hand through his hair, levels them both with a warning look before turning back to dismiss the crew. 

It’s not all that bad once he’s out of the torn pants and gets it cleaned off. When he gets back to the dressing room to retrieve his coat and hat, there’s a large black case, like  fisherman's tackle box. It’s what Indrid calls his toolkit, full of the tools and tricks he uses to turn himself into a monster. He once called it his most prized possession. 

Duck switches off the light, has the door halfway shut before he stops. Groaning in frustration at his own decency, he turns and grabs the box from the floor. 

-------------------------------

“This had better be important” Indrid calls through the apartment door, “I must go back out for something and do not have time to waste.”

“Wouldn’t happen to be goin out for your toolkit?” Duck says dryly. 

The door flies open, revealing Indrid in a black dressing gown, face a bit pink, no doubt from scrubbing off all his monster make-up. 

“Yes.” He snatches the box away by it’s handle, hurrying over to the table and leaving Duck in the doorway, “you didn’t touch anything did you? Or show it to anyone else?” His head whips over his shoulder, red glasses slipping down his nose to reveal a hard, suspicious glare. 

“No, I didn’t touch a damn thing.” Duck steps over the threshold, shutting the door and tossing his hat onto the couch, “and you're welcome.”

Indrid inhales deeply, “I, I apologize. The tricks I developed, my techniques, my materials, practically all of it is in this box. If someone else were to get  hold of it, replicate my effects, my career would be over.”

“What are you talkin about?”

The taller man sighs, turning his back and heading into his bedroom, “I do not expect you to understand.”

Duck is ready to tear his hair out, stalks into the bedroom after him, “Fuck’s sake Indrid, do you think you’re the only fella here with the brains to understand shit?”

“That is not what I meant and you know it.”

“No, I really don’t. What do you want from me, Indrid? Most days you’re palin’ round with me, then you act like you think I’m some sheltered idiot who’s had everything handed to him.”

“Because you have” Indrids hands could be conducting  symphony for how much they move s he continues, “you had mentors, people who told you from a young age that you had a place in this business, who carved out roles for you and handed down their skills, their legacies. I had nothing, I had to make my way based on skill and luck alone.”

“Were the fuck do you get off assumin that sort thing bout me? At lest you got some fuckin say in the way your career went. Minerva had it all planned out for me, hell, at the start I fought hard to do somethin other than those hero parts.”

The anger on Indrid’s face flickers, “Why did you stop?”

 “Because I didn’t wanna end up with nothin! As you keep pointin out” he steps towards Indrid, jabbing a finger into his chest, “my kind are a dime a dozen in this town.”

“Which means you can get any part you choose! You are the kind of man everyone loves. God help me if horror ever falls from favor, I will be back in dust of the farmland in an instant.” 

Duck growls at the sorry ploy for sympathy, “Bullshit, you’re better on camera than anyone in this town.”

“That doesn’t matter! For goodness sake, Duck look at me!” He gestures wildly at his face, “without my monsters, without horror, I'm nothing. Amnesty might try to help me, but they’d soon find that unless they can be terrified of me, audiences have no use for Indrid Cold.” Resignation tinges his voice, and it kicks Duck’s anger out from under him. 

“Indrid, that ain’t true-”

“-No, it is very true”

“-will you let me fuckin finish?” Duck reaches for him, not certain what he means to do.

“I have no desire to-” Indrid moves his arm to push Duck’s away, and puts too much force behind it, losing his footing on the hardwood floor and falling backwards onto the bed. In attempting to recover his balance, one leg kicks out, knocking Duck forward. He catches himself with one knee on the mattress and his hands on either side of Indrid, pulling abruptly down on the dressing gown. When it opens, they both go still. 

“You, uh, why ain't you wearin anythin under this?”

“I was not aware I need to follow a dress code in my own blasted house.” Indrid manages through grit teeth, face turned resolutely away from Duck. He follows the angle of his jaw down the line of his neck, the noticeable points of collarbone, ribs, and hips beneath tan, sun-hungry skin making him think of fine china or rare plants, the kind you cultivate for years in hopes of seeing something no one else could ever dream of. 

“Would you kindly stop staring?” Indrid murmurs.

“Why?” Duck drags his gaze away from his body just as Indrid levels him with an exhausted frown.

“Fine, go ahead and get your fill so you can--in excruciating detail--tell anyone who is interested that I look just as strange without clothes as I do in them.”

“Is that really what you think I’m doin?”

“I have a hard time believing there could be...another..” He trails off s Duck leans down, cupping his cheek and bringing his other leg up to straddle him. 

“You sure about that belief?” He bumps their noses together. 

“I'm starting to have my doubts.” 

Duck snickers, carefully bringing their lips together. Indrid hums, wrapping his arms round Duck and running his hands along his back up into his hair. He’s kissed plenty of times, on and off screen, but Indrid is earnest and hesitant all at once, as if Duck is giving him a gift he’s not sure he deserves. He’s also wonderfully responsive, twitching and arching whenever Duck touches him, licking and nipping at his lips, begging to be let inside. Duck opens them, sighs when Indrid teases their tongues together. 

When he sits up, Indrids hands draw across his bare chest, concerned. 

“Don’t worry, darlin , I ain’t goin far.” He slides off the bed, sinking to his knees between Indrid’s legs s he pulls off his jacket, “Just seems to me you need someone to show just how fuckin handsome you are.”

“Are you oh-so-graciously volunteering?” Indrid’s smile is plain in his voice. 

He pushes up his sleeves, “Yep.”

Indrid’s cock is soft when he wraps his fingers around it, stroking up gradually to rub the head with his thumb. Licking along the underside turns Indrid’s so “ohs” into a full-throated moan. 

“That’s more like it, darlin.” Duck kisses up and down the shaft , slipping a hand lower to gently toy with his balls, “get hard for me.”

“Wh-what” Indrid gulps down a breath, “what makes you think you are in charge here?”

In lieu of an answer, he takes the head of is cock into his mouth, sucking hard, not letting up until pre-cum seeps along his tongue. Indrid’s hands cling to the edge of the bed, the room filling with high gasps and the odd squeak when Duck zig-zags his nails along his inner thigh. 

He pulls off, wiping away the string of spit trailing from his lips. Laps intermittently at his slit as he speaks, hoping his voice is coming across husky rather than desperate, “Well, sugar, what do you say? Gonna let me call the shots?”

“I s-say” One hand wavers in the air, about to stroke his hair, and Duck dips to the side, bumping his head into his palm in tacit permission. 

“I say a man on his, his knees giving orders is presumptuous.”

“Ah!Fuck” Duck groans as Indrid tugs his hair, forcing him to sit up straight.

“And I’d say his mouth could be put to an even better use.”

Duck scrambles onto the bed, kissing Indrid furiously as soon as he reaches him, the pale-haired man rolling them over and tangling them both in the top blanket with their feet still hanging off the bed. 

“Did I say you could stop paying attention to my cock? OOhhnnnn, yes, yes” he hooks a leg over Ducks thigh, pumping into the shorter man’s fist, “perfect, god, everything about you is, is just right.”

“I ain’t the only one.” Duck aims for his lips, ends up kissing his cheek, when he buries his face into his neck with a whine.

“It’s true. You think I go to my knees for any old fella?”

“Mphhm” Indrid’s glasses dig into his shoulder.

“You think I’d be doin this” he speeds up his hand, “if that face of yours didn’t make me wanna do things in front of those cameras that’d make the devil blush.”

“Mmhpmm”  Indrid clings to him like lichen yet refuses to look up. 

Duck stills his hand, “I ain’t startin up again unless you answer me, sugar.”

Indrid raises his head halfway, five o’clock shadow pricking Duck’s cheek.

“Duck Newton, I do believe you are telling the truth. You think I am handsome.” Shyness lurks just beneath the teasing, so Duck tenderly brushes his fingers along Indrid’s face.

“That I do.”

He raises up enough to bring them nose to nose, “And I think you put all other matinee idols to shame with only your smile.”

“Indrid.” It’s his turn to blush, and he only grows redder when Indrid guides his hand off his cock and to his lips to kiss it. 

“I have an idea. As much as these” he releases his hand to snap his suspenders, “flatter that broad chest of yours, they and your pants need to come off.”

As Duck exiles his clothes and shoes to the floor, Indrid lays with his head on a pillow, steadily stroking his cock. Staring at that sight adds a good minute to his undressing, but Duck doesn’t give a damn. 

When he goes to straddle Indrid’s hips, the other man shakes his head, “Nono, up here.” He pats the pillow on either side of his head. 

“Shit yeah, been wanting to fuck that stunnin face for weeks.”

Indrid’s face is beet-colored by the time Duck brackets it with his knees. 

“S-so have eye”

“Aw, sugar, you gettin tongue tiIIIIedfuck.” His palms thwack into the wall as Indrid circles it along his folds. 

“What was that about tongues?” His smirk is just visible between Duck’s thighs. 

“That if you don’t keep usin yours like that, you’re gonna see a grown man cry with need.”

“We cannot have that.’

“FUuuuuck, fuck.” He wiggles his hips to help Indrid get the right angle, unsure if he can ask for more pressure.

“You, you can put more weight down if you need.” 

He grinds down, moaning when Indrid’s lips part further to give his tongue more room to work. The moan is echoed below him, muffled though it may be, as one of Indrid’s hands disappears from view. A moment later, he bucks, gasping and laving his tongue along Duck’s dick. 

“Shit, right there, keep goin right there.”

Indrid curves and flicks his tongue along the sensitive skin, hums of pleasure mingling with the messy sound of his hand flying up and down his cock. When he closes his lips around his dick Duck yelps, hunches forward to rest his head on the wall as he sucks him off, pressure spiking deliciously whenever he moans or strokes himself harder. Indrid cums with a whimper, sticky hands landing on Duck’s ass to urge him on as he ruts into his mouth.

“That’s it sugar, fuck, you’re amazin, feels so fuckin good oh fuck, fuck, Indrid, fuckin christ.” He rolls his hips harder and faster until the friction makes the orgasm burst through him. He just manages to lift himself off and collapse on the bed rather than Indrid's neck. 

“Did, do you hear a, uh, a crack?”

Red glasses, a split across the right lens, appear in front of him. 

“Aw fuck” he giggles, “didn’t know I was goin that hard. Lemme buy you a new pair?”

“I have several spares, on account of my own occasionally absent mindedness” Indrid is up on his side, grinning down at him, face still shiny with slick, “and I am taking that as a testament to my skill. Perhaps I should wear them with pride to the set tomorrow.”

“Please don’t” Duck laughs harder, “fuck, can you imagine the look on Joe’s face”

Indrid is laughing too now, “They are not part of my costume, it would not affect the shoot. Save the part where the reminder of how you looked just now, flushed and ecstatic above me, would make it rather hard to focus.”

Duck shifts onto his side, nestling up against him, “you’re a real sweet talker, you know that?”

“You have that effect on me.” He feels him inhale more deeply, fingers toying with Duck’s hair, “would, ah, would you like to spend the night? I believe you are not needed tomorrow, and I am only needed in the evening.”

“I’d love to” Duck nudges him onto his back to better cuddle across his chest, “got no interest in sleepin alone any time soon.”

“Do, ah, do you mean you wish to, ah, to-”

“Yeah, I do. I wanna see what it’s like to have the finest man in the city on my arm. Assumin he wants the same thing.”

“You do not think I am snobbish and strange?”

“Not anymore than you think I’m spoiled and had it easy.”

Indrid kisses the top of his head, “Then I think this could be the start of something wonderful.”

--------------------------------------

Stern looks up from the script as his two leading men walk onto the set, arms linked and whispering to one another, each smiling wider than Laurel Canyon. He turns back to his notes. 

“About fucking time.”

[blog-sliverofjade]

Of Doms & Subs 9: Rock and a Hard Place

Pairing: Angus Hopper x OFC

Summary:  What’s a submissive female to do when she fights her nature and goes on the run as a Lone wolf to avoid being assimilated into a pack?

Word count: 1905

Of Doms & Subs Master List

Getting slammed by four hundred pounds, give or take, is painful no matter who you are.  Being caught between this freight train of flesh and a stone wall, such as the one surrounding the grill setup, is taking the term “between a rock and a hard place” to its most agonizing extremes.  Once the tweety birds spiraling my head dissipated, Alan and Mickayla filled my gradually returning vision.  Angus stalked off to go bash some heads together, judging by his face.

“Anybody get the number o’ that Mac truck?” I groaned, my accent thick from the pain that was already setting in.  Where’s shock when you could really use it?

“Can’t be too bad if she’s making bad jokes,” Mickayla said to Alan.  Then to distract me from his poking and prodding, she said with a roll of her eyes towards where I assumed Ian and Gordon were.  “They’re just like teenage boys when they’re trying to show off.”

“There’re easier ways o’ getting’ my attention.  ‘Hey, you’ works fine.”  I hissed through clenched teeth when Alan inspected my shoulder.  “Dislocated, probably torn rotator.”

“Amongst other things,” he agreed mildly as he did something that should have been a violation of the Geneva Convention.  “Couple of cracked ribs, mild concussion.  Ever dislocated anything before?”

“Nope, but’s gonna hurt like a mother.”

Alan nodded to Mickayla and before I could react, they set the joint back in place with a sickening crunch.  The world swam in a nauseous haze, but I didn’t pass out.  Woo!

“Lemme know when I can return the favour,” I groaned.  “In spades.”

“The rotator’ll heal on its own in about a week.  Compared to months for a human.”  Let’s hear it for regeneration.  “But your scapula’s split, and even if your joint’s set, your shoulder’s still messed up.”

“That the medical term, doc?”

“Recovery will still take weeks.  If you shift, you’ll heal faster.”

“No.”  I shook my head too fast and the world wobbled.

“Tell me, is this normal?”  Alan carefully lifted my right, injured arm.  Around the blinding agony I dimly hard disturbing sounds that should be coming from a cereal bowl instead of a person.

“Fuck all ya’ll,” I panted when I could breathe again.

“No thanks,” he said blandly.  “Cute as you are, I don’t want to fight the others over you.  The longer you take to shift, the more you’ll heal wrong.”  We both knew that improperly healed rotator cuffs are a bitch and can take a year or more of PT to correct.  That’s not even taking into account complications from broken bones knitting without being set right.  Logic and experience said that he was right.  The only problem was that the wolf wanted to come out and play too much.  And there were too many humans.  Pain and panic, exacerbated by the wolf coming to the fore, paralyzed me till I could only shake my head faintly.

“Don’t make me use the Dommy voice,” Mickayla said sternly.  I opened my eyes to let her see the fear that chilled me.  Or maybe that was finally shock.  Could werewolves go into shock?

A pair of familiar suede loafers stood at the edge of my vision.  A moment later Angus crouched to fill my field of vision, which was threatening to narrow again.  “Ellie, stop this nonsense and shift.”  There was no power other than the natural force of his personality, but the order allowed me to stop worrying.  His casual tone of authority reminded me that they would keep me from gorging on a human buffet instead of potato salad and burgers.

“Come on, you don’t need an audience for this.”  Mickayla moved to help me up.  Angus beat her to it, scooping me up in his arms so that my shattered shoulder wasn’t pressed against him.  This unnatural strength still took me by surprise.  Of all the places, he took me inside the house and downstairs where he set me on the edge of a bed.  There were shining metal bars over the narrow windows set high in the wall.  Pretty comfy digs for a cage.

“My safeword’s ‘apples’,” I panted as my body settled into its new position with no small amount of complaints.

“Good to know.”  The dry bit of humour coming from Angus was so unexpected that I giggled and immediately regretted it when the motion rippled through my battered body.  Alan and Mickayla helped me undress while Angus stood over us, a statue of controlled rage.  I tried to protest the men’s presence, but was immediately shot down by all three.  Resoundingly so.

“Please be gentle, it’s my first time,” I said tightly as they drew off my pants and underwear.  You never realize how much you move any part of your body until it’s injured and you try to move it.  Once I was naked, that was when I freaked out.  “I can’t.”

“Sshh,” Angus said soothingly as he carefully held me against his chest.  It was like a warm brick wall, but far more comfortable than the one I’d just been introduced to.  My mind and hormones swung back and forth between embarrassment and pleasure at being naked in his arms until I sensed Alan crouching on the bed behind me.  Damn, he still had to set the shoulder blade.  I didn’t even have time to tense before his deft, quick hands crunched the pieces back into place.

After awhile I realized that Angus was saying my name and stroking my hair.  “To shift you have to let the wolf take over.  You’ll not likely have control, nor will you be able to change back for several hours.  We’re going to have to lock you in so you don’t hurt anyone, or yourself.”

So many things had been spinning out of my control I wasn’t ready to relinquish any of it.  But the wolf didn’t care.  She wanted to come out and meet Angus and the pack.  The instant I seriously thought about passing off the reins she seized the chance.  I quickly closed my eyes not only because it hurt like a bitch, even worse than my short lived career as a wrecking ball, but because I couldn’t stand watching my own flesh ripple as muscle and bone crunched and reformed.  I almost wondered if letting everything heal relatively slowly wouldn’t have been preferable.

They were making soothing noises and urging me to be quiet at first, then they realized I was cursing under my breath in between soft whimpers and whines.  “Son of a mother biscuit eating cracker” made them laugh.  You can’t curse in front of patients, even if they’re coding.  Instead you get creative with alternatives to four letter words.  At some point the torture ended and everything went black.

“What were you thinking?”  To an outsider, my voice would be deceptively soft.  Ian and Gordon, as did the rest of the pack, knew better.  The two males knelt with heads bowed and necks bared.  My wolf wanted to rend that soft flesh.  They were dirty and still battered from when they were separated with more force than was strictly necessary, but was entirely appropriate.  “I’ve known newly Changed wolves with better self-control than what you displayed today.  If you had hit Moira instead, she could’ve lost full use of that arm.”  They winced as my voice sharpened and cracked across them like a whip.

“Because of your stupidity, Ellie is undergoing her first intentional shift locked in the safe room after everything I’ve done to disprove the half-truths that crazy Lone fed her.”  I leaned in close and whispered, “If she chooses to leave because of your idiocy, I’ll take it very personally.”  Their already white faces blanched even further before I straightened.

“You will beg Ellie for forgiveness.  You are her slaves for the next week.  You are not to look her in the eye.  I don’t want to see her lift anything heavier than a glass of water.  If she asks you to jump, one asks how high and the other holds the hoop.  You will wash, dry, iron, fold her laundry, and shine her shoes.  You have one week to arrange for repairs to the barbecue.  For the rest of the weekend, the two of you are on cooking and dish duties.  The pack cars, Ellie’s Jeep, and my car could all use detailing.  Oh, and I expect the house and grounds to be spotless by the end of the weekend.”  They’d be so busy they wouldn’t have the time nor the energy to lose their heads again.  And by working their tails off, everyone would be reminded that this was a warning for anyone else who might do the same.

“If the rest of you find yourselves at the mercy of your instincts, you will take it elsewhere and handle it in the usual fashion.  If not, then you are a liability and will be dealt with accordingly.”  I glared expectantly at the two boys, who were old enough to know better.  They quickly muttered, “Yes, Alpha” before scrambling to their feet and scattering for one of the many tasks given.  I desperately wanted to give chase and slaughter them for injuring what was mine.

I gave a brief nod to Tom, who acknowledged with a bow from the neck before herding everyone inside.  Once everyone was gone, I stared at the broken bricks and patio stained with Ellie’s blood until Ian and Gordon approached hesitantly with a hose, soap, and stiff bristled brushes.  I snarled at them as I strode back towards the house.

Alan was sitting in the armchair outside the safe room.  A man with an impossibly large sword faced a dragon on the corner of the paperback he was reading.  Only the delusional would fight something like that with a melee weapon.  The alleged “hero” would be barbecue before he got close enough to swing that tool of overcompensation.

“Hey.”  He set down the book and sat up from his slouch.  “Passed out still, but she’ll be fine as long as she doesn’t hurt it again any time soon.”

“Thanks.  Go on up.  I’ll sit with her.”  I scrubbed a hand through my hair and touched my pocket to ensure that my phone was there.  Nervous habits that I’d never quite managed to shed.

“Sure thing.”  Alan looked like he would offer to stay until he saw my expression.  “Too bad they couldn’t spare the brain cells if you knocked their heads together.”

I smiled despite my murderous mood.  That was the magic of a submissive, although I never felt calm around Ellie.  Frustrated, annoyed, fiercely protective, half-crazed, yes.  At peace, no.  Then again, she had yet to feel entirely safe or comfortable since the Change.

“Alan.”  He paused on the stairs.  “Have Ian and Gordon bring down meat and water.”

“Aye, aye.”  He’d been spending far too much time with Mickayla.

I settled into the chair and picked up the dog-eared novel he left behind.  The main character had barely finished his backstory when Tweedledee and Tweedledumb placed their offerings in the safe room before locking it back up.  Ian set a cup of coffee, two cream, on the small table beside me before slinking away.  They stank of fear.  Good.

The handsome, virile Chosen One had just met the feisty ingénue, who was of course a princess in hiding, when Ellie woke up.

[emeraldgreaves]

Character Playlist Meme

@queen-scribbles tagged me for the character playlist meme (thank you!)! Lately my character playlists and ship playlists tend to be the same (read: a big WIP mess), so this post will be equally messy.

------

Shepherds of Haven

Moira Linden's playlist is a long disaster that I need to curate. Here’s some random ones. A lot of indie folk/pop and alternative for a Healer with a heart of gold and the patience of a saint, who isn’t trying to be messiah but knows there’s work to be done.

Back In My Body - Maggie Rogers

Everything Is Gonna Be All Right - Infinity Song

Human - Daughter

seven - Taylor Swift

To Be Brave - Bryde

Mother - Florence + The Machine

Reflecting Light - Sam Phillips

A Love That Will Last - Renee Olstead

I Choose You - Sara Bareilles

Kiss Me - Sixpence None The Richer

The Moira/Trouble playlist is *tentatively* complete (Spotify link below!). Comfortable, upbeat, sun/moon relationship vibes for two people who take their sweet time admitting they’re in love. 

alder & linden

When the Day Met the Night - Panic! At The Disco

You’re My Best Friend - Queen

She’s so High - Tal Bachman

Happy Together (feat. Ray Toro) - Gerad Way

Accidentally In Love - Counting Crows

I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) - The Proclaimers

I’m A Believer - Smash Mouth

Count on Me - NEEDTOBREATHE

You Are In Love - Taylor Swift

Everywhere - Fleetwood Mac

You’ve Got The Love - Florence + The Machine

Love You For A Long Time - Maggie Rogers

Let’s Stay Home Tonight - NEEDTOBREATHE

1, 2, 3, 4 - Plain White T’s

Pancakes for Dinner - Lizzy McAlpine

Stand By Me - Music Travel Love

Moira / Red

Sometimes you read an author meta and find yourself thousands of words and 40+ songs deep in a friends to lovers to exes to unexpectedly reunited friends to lovers (and it sticks this time). The playlist is undergoing massive revisions (because 40 songs is far too many), but here’s some of the ones that I like in no particular order.

liefred & linden

the 1 - Taylor Swift

Alaska - Maggie Rogers

Amerika - Young the Giant

Human - dodie, Tom Walker

Talk To Me - Cavetown

Real Estate - Adam Melchior 

Bloom - The Paper Kites

XO - John Mayer

Bright - Echosmith

All I’ve Ever Known - Hadestown

Dreams - Fleetwood Mac

New Light - John Mayer

The Way I Am - Pomplamoose 

Talk Too Much - COIN

Harvest Moon (cover) - Foxes & Fossils

The Harvest Moon cover is gorgeous, not on Spotify, and deserves a listen anyway.

-------

Fallen Hero

Part femme fatale, part lost woman, part doomed relationship (sorry Ortega), as befits a reluctant anarchist who wears too many masks because she’s terrified of being truly seen (but craves it anyway). 

sidestep // alyssa lai

Curbstomp - Meg Myers

Seven Devils - Florence + The Machine

Human - Daughter

You, Sailor - Erin McKeown

Low Budget - The Kinks

Hurts Like Hell - Fleurie

All I Want - Dawn Golden

Sorry - Meg Myers

Everybody Wants To Rule The World - Lorde

I Found - Amber Run

Can’t Put You Down - Lonely Benson

9 Crimes - Damien Rice

Leave My Body - Florence + The Machine

It Will Come Back - Hozier

Haunt - Bastille

Love and War - Fleurie

Already Gone - Sleeping At Last

Do I Wanna Know? - The Arctic Monkeys

The Lion’s Roar - First Aid Kit

Please Don’t Say You Love Me - Gabrielle Alpin

Monster - Dodie

All I Want - Stonefox

Bridges (feat. Fjora) - Generdyn, FJORA

The Devil Within - Digital Daggers

--------

Honestly, the post is long enough as it is, so I’ll call it there. I’m tagging @rosykim and @brightningstar. If you’re reading this and want to fill out the meme, I’ve tagged you too. Go forth and do music things. 

[rosemaryfm]

『ANYA TAYLOR JOY ❙ CIS FEMALE』 ⟿ looks like LYDIA MONTGOMERY is here for HER JUNIOR year as a COMMUNICATIONS student. SHE is 21 years old & known to be HOPEFUL, IDEALISTIC, DEPENDENT & MALLEABLE. They’re living in PERKINS, so if you’re there, watch out for them. ⬳ JAMES. 21. EST. SHE/THEY.

hllo. .. sorry fr switching muses so suddenly .. bt lydia will stick. i swear. as always gib this a like if u’d like 2 plot <3

TW ABANDONMENT, DEATH MENTIONS, BORDERLINE IMPLIED

aesthetics.

knee highs and platform mary janes, tulle skirts and bubbles and beads and lace, and heart-shaped mirrors and heart-shaped bruises, gaudy mirrors and gaudy faucets and gaudy frames and chandeliers and gaudy gold, handwritten love letters and kiss-stained envelopes, flowers braided in hair and dying flowers in vases and flowers pressed in between pages, vintage perfume bottles and old ballet slippers and discarded head-shots, short skirts and satin slips and tiny cardigans, melted candles and burnt fingertips and dripping wax, floral baths and beach waves and seashells and summer breezes, renaissance paintings and statues and praying hands and rosaries and empty beds, masks and identities and sobbing and crying and yearning and wishing and learning and wanting and needing and the cycle repeating and repeating and repeating.

basic info.

full name: lydia rosemary montgomery

nickname(s): lydia delia, lyds

b.o.d. - june 22nd, cancer

label(s): the allegiant, the chameleon, the crestfallen, the facade, the gregarious, the grifter, the malleable, the marionette, the neophyte, the obsequious, the rose-colored glass, the sybarite, etc. ...

height: 5′7″

hometown: new york city, new york

sexuality: bisexual

pinterest

stats

inspired by: amy march (little women), lydia bennet (pride & prejudice), lucy pevensie (narnia), daisy buchanan (the great gatsby), moira rose (schitt’s creek), karen smith (mean girls)

biography.

the product of an affair between christian montgomery, an esteemed doctor at his hospital - and one of the nurses there, allison dermont. the half sister of caleb montgomery (shoutout 2 alli!)

named after her maternal grandmother (deceased before lydia even turned one) and rosemary because it reminded allison of her childhood (rosemary always in the air, growing from pots on their porch and baked into the bread they’d eat)

growing up, lydia never knew her father. but she knew of him - her mother told her stories often of him, and the work he did to save others. built him up as a hero, a role model, someone admirable and brave and just despite the fact he’d no longer look her in the eyes when crossing paths in the hospital’s hallways. lydia idolized him.

was a very lonely child - her mother worked long hours, and babysitters were often distant. tended to attach herself to them, anyways, clinging to legs and arms and having to be peeled off and scolded (which then resulted in tantrums, of thrown toys and stomping feet and red, tearful faces)

her schoolmates were cruel to her, an easy target as a child - she followed behind the girls who seemed the most well liked, trying to mimic how they were. it’d always been a little off, and a little off-putting, and she cried often.

abandonment issues led to an obsession with perfection - as if she accomplished the most, her father would be blown away with her talents when he finally reached out. it’d always been a hope for her - her father contacting her, bringing her into his life. being a full family, loved and attended to. 

strove for the highest marks in all her classes, though there’d been hiccups here and there. she’d done ballet for a number of years before her dance instructor had essentially told her she’d never make it to a company, which led to her abruptly quitting. even put out a portfolio and contacted modeling agencies - she’d done a few small photoshoots as a teenager, but she’d never made it to anything big.

tried her hardest to act and work the part of someone important, elegant and better than who she really was. it showed in the aesthetics she indulged in (thrifted nearly everything she owned, from trinkets to her clothing) and the way she acted. in high school, she trailed behind the popular girls. molded her personality to cater to them, to be more like them. a mean girl, in a way. 

did the same when it came to boyfriends and lovers - she’d mold herself into exactly what they wanted, tried to be the perfect girlfriend for them, or sexual partner, or anything. she just wanted the attention, the love. had a myriad of relationships in high school (and it bled into college, too) where she’d give her all, and ultimately end up used and disappointed.

never felt like the first choice, only the second. always the bridemaid, never the bride. never good enough, no matter how hard she tried. but always remained hopeful - idealistic, always thinking that she’d get her turn one day. optimistic, but with lowering self-esteem and a mountain of insecurities.

became something of a habitual liar, in the process - always wanting to seem better than she was, so she lied about where she lived (instead of a measly apartment, she lived in a penthouse) and her accomplishments and her experience, and her feelings and who her parents were.

found something she was genuinely good at during her senior year of high school, when she’d chosen a fashion elective for one of her class periods. the practical aspect, she was good at - creatively? she had nothing to offer.

because of her lack of ideas, she never pursued it further. in college she chose to go into communications, specializing in public relations, though she’d never thought of actually finishing college. it was just a way for her to find a beau, to marry - to leave new york and have children. has always wanted to be a housewife with a white picket fence and 2.5 kids. to be loved and held for the rest of her life.

without cliques in college, it was hard for her to find her footing among peers. joined a sorority, molded her personality once more into something they would desire, and was accepted. got a frat boyfriend until it burned out, and another, and another, until she had something of a reputation.

with all of these expenses adding up - lydia’d never wanted to work a retail job, or food service, or anything measly like that - she found use for her sewing skills in the back of npc shops. worked in a shady operation producing fake designer items. she’d been excellent at producing exact replicas.

it wasn’t a very safe job and it’d ended her up in danger on some occasions, but it paid, and she was desperate.

met caleb for the first time at his mother’s funeral and became obsessed with the idea of having a brother, of being closer to her father somehow. cyberstalked him as much as she could and found radcliffe, where she eventually transferred to when caleb had decided to go back. practically followed him like a lost dog.

got into perkins because she literally pre-wrote her essay to get in and basically sobbed her story in front of secretaries and deans and housing faculty until she’d been granted permission to move in.

currently interning at a company where she has control over their social media accounts, alongside a team of other interns. when she’s feeling particularly upset she’ll post passive aggressive or straight up distraught, distressing messages (tweets, captions, etc.) on their official accounts, sometimes featuring the mascot of the company/brand. they haven’t figured out its her, yet.

personality.

i won’t lie. she’s a bit of a mess. 

constantly changes her personality to fit whoever she’s talking to, desperate for their approval in even the most minimal ways. consistently lies about literally ... whatever, sometimes for no reason, if it’ll make her seem cooler or better in some way. type of person who wants to one-up others.

excessive, in that way. clingy and pushy, she tends to latch onto people and designate her ‘favorites’ - their opinion means the world to her, and when it falters she essentially crumbles as a person.

pretty fragile as a person - emotional, and unable to be yelled at because she’ll wind up crying. takes a lot of things very personally, and always accuses herself as being the problem, which leads to her changing aspects of herself.

loves often, and viciously, will fall for someone at the drop of a hat. yearns, often. sulks often, too.

still has a ballerina’s posture, model’s demeanor, very upright and it could be mistaken as intimidating, though the facade cracks immediately when she speaks. loves gossip and unintentionally - or, intentionally - spreads it at the drop of a hat.

can get very possessive, and jealous, and outright mean. very highly defensive at times, when pushed (it doesn’t take much to push her)

sentimental to a fault - she still has her last pair of ballet slippers despite the fact that she’d dropped that pursuit when she was fifteen.

her room is adorned with mirrors, handheld and mountable and tabletop - they’re all heart-shaped.

has an obsession with hearts, actually, and florals, and gold, when it comes to decor. has hanging plants and flowers falling from her ceiling. her sink is a gold swan (her favorite animals are swans) faucet that she paid to get installed without permission from perkins.

basically her decor is very gaudy. loves fur coats and silk slips and mini skirts, brandy melville, platforms and socks. very specific style that she doesn’t falter from, often.

takes baths often to distress but setting them up is an hour-long process in itself, flowers and herbs and candles surrounding her tub. she’ll stay in there until she’s pruny and the water’s gone cold.

likes to garner sympathy when she can - though she herself tends to be a very sympathetic, compassionate, person. cries for others even when they’re not crying themselves. it’s a lot. tends to make things about herself, in some way.

a smoker, and a bad one at that, does it whenever she feels the slightest amount of stress. she’s very stressed, very often.

likes the aesthetic of art, like renaissance paintings and roman statues, but isn’t deeply knowledgeable on them.

very impressionable, easy to impress, and is loyal to a definite fault. doesn’t tend to give up on people, and holds out for the best.

a dreamer, excessively hopeful and idealistic - is often let down. wears rose-colored glasses and doesn’t see it, anyways. can be vicious, but ultimately just wants to be loved. obsessed with the idea of it.

very finicky and picky, but is also? a hypocrite? says she’s a vegan but she isn’t - she has indulged in mcdonalds nuggets more than once.

very materialistic in that she loves high-end things that she ... can’t afford, but is also financially irresponsible and loves to spend her money on things she absolutely doesn’t need. selfish and immature, at times.

vastly insecure, likes reassurance. double texts. overthinks. romanticizes.

laughs when she’s nervous - laughs a lot.

patient until she’s impatient, the reason why she burns her tongue and the roof of her mouth so often on hot teas and coffee and treats.

is either over-prepared or under-prepared; over-prepared in academics, always doing the upmost she can do (still a perfectionist) and under-prepared when it comes to dressing out - never wears a jacket and is always cold (anemic, too) because she’s hoping that a handsome stranger will give her theirs’

wishes on dandelion puffs and shooting stars and each and every 11:11, wishes for a lot of things - they never come true, but she keeps wishing.

loves romance novels, and period / historical dramas/romances especially. like, frankly obsessed

has a collection of erotica novels, too.

sleeps around often but there’s no guarantee that she won’t get attached to who she’s sleeping with.

la croix fan :/

got onto the cheer team the same way she got into perkins. crying to the coach. but she does have immaculate form, so.

can’t say no to anybody, about anything and for anything its a genuine Problem she feels like she always Has to do what people ask because that’s how you get people to like you (no it isnt!)

tdlr; she listens to marina and the diamonds, lana del rey, and mitski far more than any normal fucking person would and that should be enough to describe her.

wanted connections.

okay so i kind of imagine her as being New to radcliffe so these may not be instantaneous but.

a ride or die... someone tht she wld probably die fr at the drop of a pin or w/e, they dn’t have to be Her ride or die though,, y’know what i mean

bad influences... she’s very impressionable and wants to fit in with people... they cld get her to do anything...

people she annoys... she does that a lot :/ she’s just intense. high care. needy.

friends! just friends... please ... give her friends ... she’ll lay down her life for them ...

a drug dealer... y’know ... just fr funsies.

party pals... needless 2 say ...

unrequited feelings... mostly if not entirely on her part, because she’ll ‘fall in love’ with just about anybody

attachments... that she has on other people. just won’t quit!

new yorkians... who might’ve known her in her youth! she went to a public school.

associated with caleb... people who only know her because she’s caleb’s bastard sister

bad time... something went wrong along the way of their friendship and now it’s ... super bad ... 

enemies... she’ll probably cry to your face or maybe even yell at u! who knows! u hate each other.

perkins roommate... i repeat, mayhaps a perkins roommate? who got thrust with her in the middle of the semester?

something soft... idk what ... cld be cute

the world is our oyster ... we can always brainstorm too... idk!! she’s new in town!! john mulaney vc !!

[monkytown]

The movie ‘Irresistible’

Hi’.

I have to rant a bit about the movie and I’ll use that little lone corner of the internet to do that. Hopefully disturbing noone in the process.

For those who didn’t get the movie’s point, the US electoral system is insane. It is in eternal campaign mode and spends ~$5-6 billions dollars every two years just to promote a brand. People like Greg, from Dawn Somewhere, conclude from there that politicians are corrupt and disconnected.

But.

Try and put yourself in that consultant’s feet, but you want to help that town. What do you do?

I’m not talking about thanking Evan or remembering is name if it is his name, as the filthy viewer I am I quickly wrote him off as background prop. I’m not talking about being a good tourist and asking if the kitchen is still open and stuff. I am talking about how you would be the hero, not the villain, in that story.

What would it take to help that town?

The movie’s answer is to spend the election money on the town itself. A point Billy Bob from Mudpot hammers to the donors at the EvilRich mansion. So, how much money do you have? Around $1 million dollars. Which the movie tells you is a bit above the town’s target. Just spend that on the town and you get the shiny and green happy ending, job done.

Well, no.

All you have done is put a bandaid on a town that will still die. It was on life support with that military base (if I paid enough attention) and the private market ain’t gonna miraculously replace it. As, again, Billy Bob said, it ain’t coming back. You effectively gave charity to maintain it in an eternal state of poverty, good job. Be proud. Also, you have ten thousands other Mudpot needing that charity and that’s already above the ~$6 billions spent at the federal level. And then! You still have a whole other bunch of issues to solve. Pricetag for fixing the infrastructure? Above $1 trillion. To everyone’s shock, charity falls short.

So why would you, as the glorious hero even bother to go to Mudpot convince Billy Bob to challenge the beloved mayor? ‘Cause a mayor is powerless, the budget remains the same and poor people are trapped in poverty. Even if your Billy Bob wins, it will only let the other party say “see? see? You elected that brand and you are not better off, but now gay frogs are in your kitchens!” You are effectively shooting yourself in the foot here.

The reason is the ‘50 States strategy’.

That is the current democratic strategy, to compete everywhere possible. And it is a game of attrition as both parties, no matter what people think, have limited amounts of money. It is about outspending the opposite side where it counts. So what you are actually trying to do in Mudpot with your Billy Bob, by getting him elected, is get those same people to also vote for your brand upwards and therefore win Wisconsin, and other States, and have your brand in power. Why? Because without that condition filled you won’t be able to enact the $1 trillion infrastructure plan desperately needed (and insufficient by itself) to save Mudpot and its ten thousands other peers. And you are seeking to achieve that either by having Billy Bob win or by having the other party waste money in this irrelevant race so that you can win elsewhere. It’s math.

Now why can’t you simply elect Billy Bob and then work with the other party to get that $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed?

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN THIS PAST DECADE?!

And we go back to hyperpartisanship and what I call the ‘rush to the extremes’. You have problems and the status quo can’t solve them (some would say the status quo is causing them). So people move to more radical options. And more radical. And more radical. And “suddenly” you have Trump.

Understand that this hyperpartisanship isn’t something top-bottom. It hasn’t been evil corporations and corrupt politicians conspiring to brainwash 40% of the population. No. It has been far more bottom-up. Democrats were winning elections until they defended civil rights and suddenly they couldn’t get votes in the south / countryside anymore. So they started representing those who would vote for them: cities and such. Meanwhile republicans were losing elections until they realized the countryside was up for grab. So they started representing those guys and the 538 has a lovely article on that. Sure, you have Fox News and MSNBC and whatnot, and think tanks making talking points for people to use and all that. But. The Tea Party came from the base. Trump certainly came from the base. And all the pushes towards progressivism among democrats definitely came from the base. Parties move according to who is willing to vote for them.

The hyperpartisanship that has been gridlocking Congress isn’t coming from representatives. Those representatives are perfectly representing the will of their voters. Voters are intently gridlocking everything by trying to brute-force it.

And why are they? Because the status quo resulted from compromises across parties. You can’t rant about the status quo and ask for compromise in the same breath, it is nonsensical.

So.

Back to Billy Bob from Mudpot and his need for $700k to fix whatever ruin is left in his pit of poverty. What do you do?

You, as the republican/democratic hero, need him to forget gay frogs and vote your brand so you can break the gridlock and unilaterally pass your agenda. It might require a Constitutional Assembly, you don’t know and you don’t care ‘cause you have no alternative. You need to save that town. You need several bills passed at the federal level to save ten thousands Mudpot.

You will tell ten thousands Billy Bob to run in the hope to get the majority needed, not just on paper but in practice, to save Mudpot. And if you fail, what can you, as the hero, do for the town? Nothing. You can come back, say you failed, and that you can only retry two years from now. Because gay frogs. There you go. You, as the hero, are the villain, and everyone hates you for being so corrupt and disconnected.

Why do I feel the need to rant about it?

Because everyone knows the problem but noone can come up with solutions (because gay frogs) and so it’s easier to just scapegoat the leaders, say they are corrupt and disconnected when, even if they were innocent and in-touch, they would be just as powerless, and forced to act exactly the same way because otherwise Mudpot dies.

And yes, politicians profit from it. What would you do in their place, when you’re powerless and about to lose your job, other than give up? And yes, corporations profit from it. What would you do in their place, when you are told to make money at all cost or die? And yes, no matter what Jon Stewart says, even the poor would want to profit from it, that’s your Moira from Radio Skyline.

What is most frustrating however is that I am Swiss. I experience direct democracy. And while you might not like the result, direct democracy avoids such gridlocks. Brexit? Initiative, bam, done, a decade of decay spared. A wall? Initiative, bam, turns out the majority of the US isn’t racist after all. Trade war? Initiative, bam, now Joe Biden is forced to suicide the country to get an elusive deal. M4A? Initiative, bam, still not happening because Switzerland tried four times and it’s the middle of Europe and we still said no.

Politicians and corporations didn’t create this insane US electoral / political system. They sure adapted to it, but they had to adapt, because eventually it is just a collective suicide over gay frogs.

And neither you nor Billy Bob from Mudpot, with his $4.5mn scam, ain’t gonna change that.

[thecomicsnexus]

UNCANNY X-MEN #148-150 AUGUST - OCTOBER 1981 BY CHRIS CLAREMONT, DAVE COCKRUM, JOE RUBINSTEIN, BOB WIACEK AND GLYNIS WEIN.

SYNOPSIS (FROM MARVEL DATABASE)

Scott Summers and Lee Forrester are investigating a city that recently arose from the Caribbean depths. Lee kisses Scott, but Scott isn't ready for intimacy, which leads to Lee running off. The sightless Scott, his eyes bound with cloth to prevent him from using his optic blasts, vents his frustration, but Lee eventually comes back and they make up.

At the X-Mansion, Wolverine and Nightcrawler are playing a game of hunter and hunted outside since the Danger Room is still out of commission. Inside, Storm, Angel, and Professor X are debating Wolverine's membership on the team -- Angel maintains that the "psychopath" doesn't belong with the X-Men. Storm and Professor X insist he stays, and so Angel leaves the team.

In the Hangar, Colossus and Banshee are repairing damage done during Kitty's battle with the N'Garai while Illyana looks on. Professor X asks Banshee to come up to the mansion. When he does, he's greeted not by the professor but by a bonny lass who turns out to be his daughter! All of the X-Men are happy for Sean except for Moira -- when Storm confronts her about it, Moira confesses that Theresa represents something she can't give Sean, a child, for fear of it being another monster.

Saturday night, a mysterious figure comes out of a NYC manhole cover. He refers to himself as Caliban and can sense the presence of others of his kind (mutants) in the high-rise nearby. In that high-rise, Ororo, Kitty, Stevie, and Jessica Drew are at a night club to see Dazzler in concert. Down below, Caliban fights his way past two security guards to enter the building. Above, Dazzler's show begins. During her performance, the X-Men notice a disturbance near the door -- Kitty tells them she's going to investigate and phases through the floor!

Dazzler notices Kitty's disappearance and Storm's annoyance, so she distracts the crowd enough for Ororo and Jessica to step out a door and change into costume. Back near the elevator, Kitty discovers the mysterious subterranean mutant. Caliban grabs Kitty, provoking Storm and Spider-Woman to attack him upon arriving, but he knocks them for a loop and retreats back down the elevator. Jessica and Ororo regain their wind and go after him. They catch up on the streets below, and finally defeat Caliban, only to learn that he was merely looking for company, for he is lonely as an outcast beneath the streets. Incoming police sirens distract our heroes, and Caliban slips away unnoticed, much to the X-Men's regret.

On the Caribbean island, Lee and Scott are hungry and hoping to be discovered. And discovered they are -- however, their "rescuer" fills Scott with more fear than pleasure, for he is none other than... Magneto!

Professor X is trying to figure out what Magneto is up to, sure that he will strike again, and soon. Suddenly, Kitty phases through the wall, putting the computer system on the fritz, all because she wanted to show off the new costume she designed. Professor X dresses her down and sends her away so he can get back to what he was doing.

Kitty phases down into the Danger Room, where the other X-Men are still working on repairs, looking morose. Storm decides to lighten her mood by getting the other X-Men to play catch with her, startling her out of phasing with a roll of thunder, and leading to a fast-paced game of toss Kitty that ends with her in Colossus's arms. Then Professor X summons them for a briefing.

The X-Men take the Blackbird south to Antarctica to explore the ruins of Magneto's base that was underneath a volcano there. Most of the way through the flight, Wolverine discovers Kitty stowed away on the plane. Storm is upset, but there's no going back now, for Professor X had some urgency behind this mission.

They re-enter the base through the hole Phoenix carved out, breaking through some hardened lava, only to find that the base has been partially excavated! Ororo splits the X-Men up to explore the base more quickly. Kitty and Colossus go one way, Kurt and Logan another, and Storm a third. Suddenly, Storm hears Garokk's voice in her head, and flashes back to when she failed to save Garokk. But the voice speaks no more, and she detects no one.

Colossus and Kitty come to the end of their tunnel, finding nothing, and are about to report back to Storm when Colossus is struck from behind and knocked unconscious! Kitty phases through him, and it hurts him, buying her time. Unfortunately, she's unable to wake Colossus, nor is she able to raise the other X-Men on the radio. Garokk punches a hole in the rock wall, opening a passage to the molten lava core of the volcano! Kitty screams, and Storm responds from far down the tunnel by summoning up a chill wind to harden the lava in its tracks. Garokk sends the unconscious Colossus sliding down the now icy corridor, and knocks Ororo for a loop.

It turns out Garokk was rescued by Magneto before he was fully destroyed by magma, and Magneto set him to guard this base.

Wolverine and Nightcrawler encounter Garokk next, but he easily gets the better of them, knocking them both out. Kitty, who survived the lava by phasing, rushes up to see Garokk forming a pit into which to hurl Storm, and the others unconscious. She quickly wakes Wolverine and Nightcrawler, and tells Logan to fastball special her at Garokk. Garokk is badly hurt by Kitty phasing through him, but he throws both himself and Storm into the pit. However, Logan hears Storm moan, and deduces she's landed on a ledge. Kitty goes down to investigate, and Garokk attacks her while she's bent over Storm. Fortunately for Kitty, she phases instinctively, and Garokk tumbles down into the blackness. They retrieve Storm and return to the mansion.

In the Caribbean, Scott and Lee get garments in better repair. And then Magneto reveals that he knows who Scott is, and he can take off the blindfold because his powers are neutralized!

Magneto gives the world an ultimatum - cede total political control to him and disarm all conventional and strategic weapons, or he will end life on earth as we know it! But rather than his previous maniacal plots, he now sees himself as mankind's future benevolent dictator! The Soviet Union does not take kindly to these threats, and the nuclear submarine Leningrad is ordered to launch nuclear missiles at Magneto's island. He disarms and disposes of these menaces, and then destroys the submarine in retaliation! Additionally, he uses a device to allow him to cause an eruption in Varykino which totally destroys the city, although no lives are lost (he allows it to proceed slowly enough for an evacuation to occur).

Shortly thereafter, the Blackbird is flying over Magneto's island when their controls are overloaded by a magnetic pulse. Wolverine goes flying forward into Storm, knocking her unconscious, as the Blackbird goes into a power dive. Storm finally wakes up moments before impact and manages to blunt said impact, but the Blackbird is still lost beneath the waves!

Professor X, Moira, Peter, and Carol are on a boat not too far away, and notice that the Blackbird was over Julienne's Cay when it went down. They hypothesize Scott and Lee may have also ended up in that vicinity. The X-Men are at that time disembarking the Blackbird in scuba gear, all except Colossus (because he doesn't breathe in armored form). This soon proves a mistake, as he suddenly reverts to his Peter Rasputin form and cannot change back!

Night time. Lee leaves Scott sleeping to go for a walk near the water. Wolverine grabs her ankle and pulls her in. She identifies herself as a friend, recognizing their codenames from Scott's descriptions. The X-Men haul Peter out of the water, and Logan and Kitty perform CPR, reviving him. Wolverine goes scouting, but his senses are dulled by the inhibitor, and he walks right past Scott! Reunited, Scott tells them what Magneto plans and comes up with a way to thwart them, even without their powers.

The men head for the machine which allows Magneto to create eruptions, intending to disable it. The women head for the computer room - hopefully to disable the power inhibitor. Ororo notices another door and discovers Magneto sleeping. She contemplates murdering him.

Back at the machine, Wolverine goes to work cutting support beams, with a deadly fall averted by Nightcrawler's acrobatics.

Ororo realizes she cannot kill him, and just then Magneto awakens, sees Storm with a knife, and thrusts her out the window! Realizing where Storm is the other X-Men cannot be far behind, he suits up. Just then Professor X confronts him on the astral plane - it is a fierce battle of wills, one Magneto wins by bringing Professor X's physical body into his inhibitor field with his magnetic powers!

Wolverine has just sliced through the last support, sending the machine down a deep pit, when Magneto walks in on them. He casually reassembles the device using his magnetokinesis, and makes the X-Men his prisoners.

Storm, her cape caught on a projection, comes back to consciousness far above the ground. She climbs back in through a window and smashes a computer, destroying the inhibitor. Scott, realizing his powers are coming back, he distracts Magneto so he get a full power blast against him, momentarily stunning him. He frees himself and the other X-Men, but Magneto is back on his feet. The X-Men hold their own for a little while, but Magneto is too powerful. Cyclops instructs Kitty to destroy the computers, and Kitty runs off while the X-Men continue the battle. Magneto has the X-Men on the ropes when suddenly the computers start exploding! Magneto, furious, rushes to confront whoever did this. Kitty, frightened, tries to phase through him, but Magneto ruthlessly responds with a jolt of electricity, almost killing her! Thinking he has in fact killed her, Magneto is snapped back to his senses, and starts talking to himself about his past.

Storm comes upon him then. Seeing Kitty apparently slain, she threatens to kill him. In resignation, he tells her to do it. He has seen the truth about himself, that he has become much like those he hates. Storm asks for Kitty, and Magneto departs. Kitty recovers, surviving because she had been phasing at the time.

The next day comes. The X-Men shall be staying until the following morning. Kitty tells the other she is going to lift the Blackbird out of the water using the "Force", and miraculously, the Blackbird starts to rise! Everyone is amazed, until Colossus also emerges, carrying it on his back. The X-Men repay her prank by dunking her.

REVIEW

What started as a generic story (with a forgettable middle chapter), ended with a very strong issue. Magneto becomes a bit more human, with the ability to feel guilt (not all villains do). At the same time, we see how Storm fights all her devils when she is presented the option to kill Magneto.

We also see Angel speaking to others, from the sky, this is probably Claremont adding extra dialogue where there was probably no intention to put some (Claremont would use the Marvel Way of “making” comics, art first, dialogues later).

We see Syrin meeting Banshee (Syrin debuted in the pages of Spider-woman), Caliban makes his first appearance, and finally, Cyclops’ Odyssey ends.

In the end, the best about this story are the moral dilemmas these characters face. Even the villain.

I give this story a score of 9

[imagine-this-overwatch-blog]

Adoptable requests

If any other writing blogs would like to fill some of these, I’m sure the requesters would appreciate it! Thank you!

You can probably write this later something but, I have acne scars and get zits on my butt, boobs and thighs, I’m thiccc fam, and I get so scared of someone seeing it and like ugh. This has came to my head before of like hanzo having the most flawless skin and then you have me with pimples and scars on my butt like I’d be so scared for him to see em

Hi! Could I have Jesse Mccree and a younger so (nothing crazy everyone’s legal) and they both have feelings for each other but both are too scared to act because the s/o feels like he would never be into her and Jesse feels like she would never be into him and feels like he would be taking advantage of him

Hi!!!! May I have okami!Hanzo (the werewolf not just the white haired old man lol) who’s in a rut, with a sweet thicc™️ s/o who’s more than willing to be bread by him?????? Thanks~

May I request a doe!reader w/ human!Hanzo? Possibly human!McCree if you do more than one character in a request! If not, thanks anyway!

For the skin thing, could you write something with Mystery Man McCree where him and his S/O are partners like Tonto and the Lone Ranger? Sorry I’m just a huge western show nerd 😂😂

My friend, may I request some sub!Reinhardt? Both nsfw and sfw. I feel we lack content with a submissive buff german boy <3

What headcanons do you have for oni genji :D one of my headcanons for him is that (after he's "killed") he wonders around the forest he lives in and searches for lost children (the forest often have many since theres a small village nearby) he guides them out of the forest so they don't get taken by the mean witch mercy who will turns them into frogs or ingredients for her spells (she doesn't but the villagers believe she does)

Headcannons for islander roadhog? Like, who is he? Where did he come f r o m

Young!Hanzo, Okami!Hanzo, and/or Scion!Hanzo! Pretty please!

Can I request some headcanons around getting Blackwatch!Moira's attention?

Camgirl (or boy) adopts hybrid of your choice, hybrid of your choice gets introduced on screen (after consenting of course), hybrid of your choice immediately becomes a fan favorite, hybrid of your choice has just stolen your show and donations.

Hey! Can I please request some shower sex with McCree and a fem!S/O? Gotta get dirty while getting clean, am I right?

All these hybrid AU makes me happy ❤❤ but what if we have kitty!Reader hybrid instead?? Which ow boys gonna love it? And which boys likes kitty!reader with brave and naughty, and which gonna likes it with timid and obidient??

Can you please do a nsfw scenario of junkrat sleeping with a virgin reader? Thank you!

Can I request Jesse or Hanzo with a hybrid panther s/o? Sfw or nsfw, it's up to you

Can I have an order of Genji with a fem!kitty!hybrid reader? I need some kitten play in my life honestly. Whatever you wanna do is fine (but bonus points for collaring and leashing)! NSFW is preferred! :')

Maybe some gentle fisting with McCree, with him being extremely vocal, dirty talking his small trans woman s/o

(NSFW) Poly McCree and Reinhardt with a shy and timid trans woman s/o who is nervous about telling them about her kinks (Mainly musk, feet/socks, size difference, daddy kink) as she's never had a loving partner before, let alone 2. The boys are happy to make her feel nice and loved, while also being naughty and kinky themselves

Hello!! I saw up top it said you were open, but I apologize if not just in case. How about some Hanzo with a housewife kink?? Maybe she can cook exceptional well too? Thank you so much for being so open! Have a great day!!

Can you please do a HC of Jesse, Jamie, and Mako getting jealous? Thanks!

Can I request platonic!Hammond and reader? Like she is a resident of Junkertown that lives near the outskirts of Junkertown and found out about Wrecking Ball’s identity? She’s practically giddy about him being a hamster and gives him a place to stay and work on his mech and Hammond is very grateful. I think it would be fun to be best friends with an adorable hamster!!

How would Genji, Hanzo, Mcree, Mercy, 76, and Reaper feel about an s/o that’s younger than them? Like someone in their twenties while they’re in their thirties or older?

JABDOCIDBWBDKDKS I'm a recent follower and I'm screaming some of your hcs are just so GOOD???? Pls hit me with all that Good Shit©. If it's by any chance okay, could I maybe request Hanzo with fem!s/o that is initially headstrong, but secretly has an omega/housewife kink?? (I'm not sure if I'm using the AU right so sorry in advance.) Thank you so much for always being so open and kind!!! ❤❤

Maybe some headcanons for Brigitte and a hybrid Lion!Hybrid S/O? Fem or gender neutral is okay! Idrc if they're sfw or nsfw I just enjoy your hybrid AU. Do as you please with request! 💕

How about McCree with a puppy hybrid fem!so whose going through a particularly rough heat. Perhaps she's getting false pregnancy vibes, collecting his things behind his back and making a nice nest of it to comfort herself during these trying times. :')

If it’s okay may I please have a scenario where Genji’s been gone for a couple days on a mission and when he gets home he walks in on his girlfriend masturbating and whimpering his name and he just watches for a few minutes before pinning her to the bed and eating her out? Thanks in advance and I hope you’re having a great day :)

Could a hybrid s / o rabbit with a kitty! Genji / kitty! Hanzo?

Could you do Brigette with a chubby fem! So? Like, her gf sees cute couples doing piggybacks all the time and is a little sad bc she thinks she’s way to heavy for Brigette to handle?

Junkrat with a hybrid tiger!reader who growls and hisses at people they dont like and are generally moody except with Junkrat? Like, they'll usually avoid most people but when they see Rat their ears perk up and they stick close to him and just enjoy his company.

Can you please do a HC of Jesse, Jamie, and Mako trying to flirt with a crush? Thanks!

reader is on the enemy team, but our heroes have taken a romantic liking to them (and vice versa). during the middle of their ultimate in-battle, reader pulls them in for a kiss ('stunning' them, thus cancelling their ult) in order to save their own team. by the time the kiss is over, the heroes' ultimate timed out, and reader scrambles back to their team for safety. how would Reaper, McCree and Genji react?

Some NSFW for a nice shiba!Genji? Perhaps he's hit a rut and his fem!so wants to be able to help him out a bit.

[heartpieced]

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