#🏹 – duhlainn & alice

[thedipshits]

@ask-alicelockwood cont from x

🏹   ———  they're hurt. not in any physical way, but the link between the rig and themselves, he feels the hydraulic fluid leaving the rig like he would blood from his own wrist. his heart — their hearts, because he can feel hers, too. like a shadow or an echo — thumps hard and fast against his ribs, face set in a grimace as they wrench the broken machinery through kaiju flesh, bone and viscera.

weird that he once thought they were kind of pretty, underneath the brick-shitting ferocity.

"you know," he says as they glance at each other, mirror smiles on their faces because she knows what he's going to say, but still he has to say it, "if you weren't in my head, i'd wonder if you say those things just to get me hard."

he knows that not everyone within loccent can hear them, not if their controller doesn't link them into the speakers, so he's not too worried about getting another reprimand for his in-pod and on-mission communications. still, it thrills something inside him to hear their controller give a huff of a laugh over comms.

"c'mon alice, let's get home to wonderland, huh?"

[thedipshits]

@ask-alicelockwood sent in: “If you’re good maybe I’ll show you my other tattoo.” (Alice for Lainn, AU of your choosing)

                                   [ ASK MEME // ACCEPTING ]

🏹   ——— he flinches as she stands over him, dripping cold water while backlit by the street lights past the privacy wall. a car hasn't driven by in well over half an hour. it's one of those magical times of night that make lainn feel like he's separated from time and space — like he's found a liminal space within the world.

too late for night owls, too early for morning robins. just him and alice awake, taking part in a world that feels both extraordinarily mundane and strikingly magical.

they've been traveling, staying there for a few extra days due to the good weather and the fact that she talked him into a hotel with a pool. it's a little pricier than the themed motels they've been staying at, but well, what can he say? he's developed a soft spot for her pleading eyes. and that fat lip that rounds out the pout. and the smile she gives him when he lets her have her way.

yeah, he has a soft spot for her, but... he's keeping that card close to the chest.

she sits next to him and he's so aware of everywhere they touch, it nearly burns. instead, he focuses on the soft way the water curls and crashes around his feet as he kicks them lazily. he's enjoying the heat of the late summer air mixed with the chill of the pool on his legs when he finally says back, "cute that you think i already don't know." his eyes slide to the corner to look at her and raise up an eyebrow in another smirk aimed her way before his focus slides down to her chest, where he'd peeked what looked like the bottom of some script when she was stretching to take her shirt off, earlier.

"how about you be good and i may show you mine?" it's meant as a gentle tease until he sees her eyes, wide in the dark of the place around them, dart down to his collarbone where his snake sits, designed to look as if it's curled around the bone itself.

and then her eyes flick to his mouth, and fuck, he wishes he really had another one to show.

[thedipshits]

@ask-alicelockwood sent in: 💋 (For Lainn, AU is dealer’s choice)

                                   [ ASK MEME // ACCEPTING ]

🏹   ——— he holds the grin back as best he can, watching her glazed eyes and ruddy cheeks smile as she finds him reading on the loveseat. it's one of carol's books she lent him while they're there for the holidays, a thriller of a bored housewife who frames her husband for her supposed murder. he likes it. (he imagines carol likes to fantasize about being the titular character, too.)

"well, hello, sweetheart." he greets alice as she settles next to him before she throws both her legs over his lap and rests her head on his shoulder. book hand's already around her back, welcoming her close since that's the name of the game for their time in mystic falls: be a convincing couple so that alice doesn't have to go through christmas with her family, alone. it's only fair, after all, since she went as his adoring 'girlfriend' to titus' wedding.

"hi." she greets him back with a smile that causes a funny swooping feeling in his stomach. she makes him feel like he's riding a roller coaster: exhilarated and intimidated and like the ground's been reassembled under him and he doesn't quite know how to walk. yeah, she makes his knees weak. especially when she smiles at him all adoring-like.

just like she is now.

setting the book down without being bothered to mark his page, he gathers her close, his other arm going around her knees. all of his attention on her, like a doting boyfriend should — something he hasn't had to try hard at.

"you look toasty." his observation makes her smile even wider, fluttering her pretty eyes as him as she lifts her head to wind her arms around his neck instead. "did you steal my hot cocoa, by any chance?" he asks, knowing what the answer is even before they lean in, mouths drawn together like those kissing mistle-toads that caroline used to hang up the plant in the doorway of the kitchen.

she tastes exactly like hot cocoa spiked with peppermint schnapps.

her kisses are like a wildfire, setting his blood ablaze. she breathes life into him with every exhale, while he still feels like he's gasping for it, unable to get enough to satiate his lungs. her mouth says she wants to consume him by touch alone, and he can only give her his consent through a promise, still unspoken, in the way he presses his tongue to hers.

he asks the universe gently, a prayer in an internal voice that's this side of soft, because... well. he's afraid to ask for it. but he wants it all the same — let him live in this delusional fantasy that he could ever land a girl like alice, just a little bit longer.

[thedipshits]

5HCs Prompt: Kidnapping AU (Lainn)

🏹 — lainn hated ben. but the job itself was pretty cushy, and the rhings he was tasked with weren't usually terrible: deliver a new necklace to marie after she'd inevitably find him with one of his girlfriends. deliver less expensive jewelry to said girlfriend in apology to "breaking it off". talk bridgette out of quitting.

🏹 — he volunteered to bring alice home, after locating darby's location and projected route. ben asked him to prove himself past what talents he had already showcased. lainn impressed him so much with immediately showcasing his lifting talents via having ben's watch, ben gave him full range on bringing alice back.

🏹 — after they kiss pool-side in texas, lainn has a little freak-out about getting so close to alice, worried about getting attached to his boss' daughter. so he asks if she wants to winter in new england. and those worries evaporate the first morning he wakes with her in bed with him, huddling for warmth.

🏹 — lainn loves two things about travelling with alice: playing dumb games like license plate bingo, and the very anonymous instagram they've set up for themselves with pictures of them on the road, their motels, and random things they came across.

🏹 — he's nervous, returning back to work after their vegas elopement. while he believes she loves him and they have more than enough money to fuck off to wherever they want, a part of him still wants to gain the favor and be accepted. they tell marie first and it puts all of those fears to rest, enough for him to finally get the 'fuck off ben' mentality.

[thedipshits]

@ask-alicelockwood asked: AU: Pacific Rim (shocking, I know) for Lainn

send me an au and i’ll give you 5+ headcanons about it

🏹   — despite fighting in the ocean, lainn's biggest fear is drowning. this directly stems from The Incident, which he refuses to discuss with anyone outside of his therapy, and after bonding, alice.

🏹   — though he may have a very healthy rivalry with barnes, that does not mean that he won't come to his aid, if need be. their rivalry mostly stems from general competition, not from anything terrible that either have done to the other.

🏹   — lainn is genuinely surprised when, in one of the pr ops, they point out polling numbers that place him and alice as "most liked" copilots. after they're dubbed the premiere pr pilots and placed more on the civilian side of the rangers, they're finally privy to the information that they were nearly directly responsible for thousands of sign ups to the rangers alone.

🏹   — as pr pilots, they're no longer based out of the anchorage shatterdome, with archer luna also moving with them, to be based out of LA. under the prp program, they travel around, put on shows with other jaegers, do interviews, and occasionally be called in as back-up on other shatterdomes.

🏹   — him and alice are one of the first pair of pilots to "come out" as a couple, which leads to a whole shipping war on the 'net. he nearly laughs himself unconscious when he gets a text from barnes that's just a screenshot and an angry emoji. the screenshot is of a reddit thread on shipping unlikely pilots and him and lainn are at the top.

[thedipshits]

@ask-alicelockwood sent in: If you blow us off, you're banned from Thursday night drinks forever. (Dealer's choice)

--- [good place memes; accepting]

🏹   ——— he points to the knife wound, obvious by the bloom of his blood on his clothes and through the dressings, "wh-how am-" he stutters over several questions at once, staring at her incredulously until finally it dawns on him and his face falls into a glare. "oh, ha ha, lockwood."

[thedipshits]

                      @ask-alicelockwood​ sent in: 💭 #1 Best Witcher

                      ://.. for a thought my muse has had about yours

         🏹   ———    ‘ does she know she hums a ballad after a bath if she’s sad? or that her shoulders do a little dance when she’s happy? what kind of weird creatures we witchers attract; not just monsters of men or beast, but... the company we keep. the strangers society turns its back on because we don’ fit into a neat box... suppose one day we’ll all fit in a neat box, though, should they deem us fit for burial. hmm, electricity on the wind. storm’s coming. s’pose we’ll need an inn tomorrow night. ’

[thedipshits]

@ask-alicelockwood​ sent in:  Nose wrinkling, she gives an unimpressed wave of her hand. "Don't be cross or I won't let you use my good soap." Her good, expensive soap, that Alice could only get when they ventured near to Cintra. "While you were off doing your job, I did mine," she adds, gesturing to a purse on the bed. "Insurance, in case Count Frippery tries to                                             claim he didn't agree to your price."                                   [ RANDOM THINGS // ALWAYS ACCEPTING ]

       🏹 ———   oh sure, suuuure. she gets to say that — “ don’t be cross. ” he mimics, not unmeanly as he begins to undress in order to get in said tub. it’s warmer in here, and he can see just how hot that water is by the steam. it makes him sticky under his armor, but it’ll feel like a blessing from melitele when he’s soaking in it. silver swords get unstrapped first, clanking down on the table she’s perched on, followed by the steel. “ y’just gonna watch the show ‘r you gonna help? ”

[thedipshits]

Alice gave the witcher a look and quirked a brow. "That is a lot of drowner guts," she remarked. "I'll have the innkeeper send up a bath."

AHHHHH RANDOM THINGS

       🏹 ———   “ imagine that, ” he quips, lip still curled at how his boots squick with every step. at least he’d gotten a fair amount of loot from them — even a few monster teeth that’ll sell for a fair amount of gold, if they can find an alchemist to trade with. “ the place nicknamed the fucking ‘drowner’s marsh’ was overrun with the things. never in a million years would i have seen that coming. ” it’s going to take so much scrubbing to get the stink out of his hair. 

[thedipshits]

@ask-alicelockwood​ sent in:  “Toss a coin to your Witcher!” She can’t sing, but the tune is catchy. “Oh valley of plenty, oh valley of plenty oh-oh oh!” | ft. duhlainn

     🏹   ——— lainn gently slowed his steps, turning to look at her in a measured fashion until finally — “ where’d y’hear that? ” he squints at her, suspicious. “ you’ve been hanging around dandelion again, haven’ ya? ”

[thedipshits]

🏹   ———  he sits throughout her breakdown of their fight, and even though he knows, from first hand accounts, that this is how her brain works, it's still a surprise how she works.

the outside view of their fight superimposes over his memories of it, combining the two into a complicated mesh of, 'this is what i was thinking' versus what he was experiencing through their handshake at the time. by the time she's done and he's snacked on most of his plate, he realizes that it was a really good bonding session for the two of them.

he can tell her head's still whirring. that brain barely ever shuts off, it seems like. but he can't be angry with the soft pressure of a headache making its way through the bond, or the way she leans to click on a different version — a different vantage point — on their fight.

feeling warm and smiling gently, he brings his hand up to cup her head as he presses a kiss to the side of it.

"you did good tonight. we beat it, made it home, 'cause of you, you know."

[ @thedipshits ]

She quirks a brow back at Lainn and gently bumps his shoulder with her own, because he knows what he looks like. He's seem himself from her point of view, after all, including the blistering flash forward through their night at the club. It's something she tries to think around, but doesn't always manage. That doesn't change the fact, though.

The horniest part of the PPDC supporting public might have declared Rogers' ass as 'America's', but Lainn could beat him out for best any day of the week.

Shifting in place to make herself a little more comfortable, Alice sucks the last vestige of chocolate icing off her thumb and wipes her fingers on a paper napkin before she moves her hand anywhere near the screen.

The angle's kind of shit, but she's not going to get 360 footage from the news. Not like they get in K-Sci. She can work with it, though. "He's feeling us out," she says, outlining the distance Heartwrencher keeps at the start of the engagement. "Testing our range."

"They learn," she continues, jiggling her leg against Lainn's knees. After a forkful of the mac'n'cheese on her tray, she frowns at the footage. "They learn through the whole fight. See how it comes at us from just outside what he thinks is our reach?"

The echo of the first hit they landed rattles through her as she watches it on the footage. "He estimated wrong, but you can see him reassess right--there."

They'd reassessed too, landing a wailer of a right against the side of its head, but it's not until after a series of lefts, followed by another hard right before they cut a track down the side of its face with the blade hidden in Archer's right wrist that she can pinpoint the moment that Heartwrencher focus hones in.

""That's when he decided to go for our hand," she says, rewinding the footage so she can pause it. "See the way the eyes at the top of shifted and how he's starting to turn?"

They've got the canon mounted on the left, but maybe...

"We need to see if they can give us a second blade, balance us out a bit. Or get J-Tech to adjust to give us more power more power when we hit left."

[thedipshits]

🏹   ———  he welcomes her on his bed with him, his knees brushing against her thigh where they're both sitting with their legs curled. he finds himself leaning to brush their shoulders, too, watching as she goes straight for the dessert while he starts in on the meal. it's good, made even better with her next to him.

surprised, he turns to give her the full height of his eyebrows, "fantastic ass?" the grin isn't even dulled by the soft echo of annoyance from her. fantastic ass she said it like it wasn't really a compliment, more like it's a fact; sky's blue, water makes things wet and lainn has a fantastic ass.

"sure," he says, moving to grab his laptop off the nightstand and set it up on the other side of their trays from them. "will you pick it apart with me? i just wanna see how it works." he asks, clicking on the first video link that pops up and mutes the speakers before he comes back to his original position and picks his fork back up to start eating again.

[ @thedipshits ]

Alice ducks her chin, then flashes a smile as she glances back up and gives Lainn a nod. "Sure thing. We'll save the shots for another time."

Her legs feel like lead as she crosses her room to retrieve her tray. Each step drags and she reaches for the bed frame with her left hand, holding herself up for a moment while she scrapes up the last bits of her will to get her--and her food--back to Lainn's room.

She hefts the tray and, after a moment of thought, drags the ratty, old Timberwolves hoodie hanging off the bed post along with her.

"Seen? No," she replies in a soft huff. A flicker of annoyance follows, but she forces it away and sets her tray down in the space he's made for her to free her up to tug her hoodie on. "But I heard he was with Kristen in PR for a hot minute."

"And--one of the Jumphawk pilots?" she adds, shifting things around again to sit down with him. "Miranda, maybe? I'm not sure."

She goes for her own brownie first, flipping up the box top and breaking off a piece to pop into her mouth. Closing her eyes, she savours the bite with a blissed out sigh.

Bless Tendo Choi, even if it means listening Lainn semi-seriously swoon over him.

"If he did, you'd have a better chance than most," she remarks. “Being a big damn hero with a fantastic ass and all.”

Breaking off another piece of brownie, she hums a three-note tune. "Can we watch the rehash with the sound off? I--Picking apart that thing's moves'll be easier without the pundit commentary."

[thedipshits]

🏹   ———  she turns from him and glances away before back at him with the biggest pleading eyes he's ever seen. he feels a soft, tired smile lift the corners of his mouth until he's outright grinning at her. she's cute. really cute. a quick tilt of his head towards his room, he pushes himself up off the doorway. "c'mon, bring your tray. we can watch the news rehash our fight before we turn on a movie. uh," he pauses, squinting one eye closed before he opens it again. "leave the bottle, though. 'm okay without it."

he spots his own tray on his bed, food still hot and steaming, a little box off to the side with a brownie. leave it to tendo, he thinks, a soft laugh escaping him as he collapses next to it, releasing his breath in a long sigh. he takes a beat to lay there, letting his body fully come to rest as he concentrates on his breathing and finally allowing his thoughts settle.

"hey, you ever see tendo go on a date?" he asks, eyes still closed, when he hears her come back, finally pushing himself to sit up when he senses her coming closer, his eyes finally opening. "think he plays both sides?" he pulls his tray closer and making room for her to sit next to him when he curls his legs under him.

[ @thedipshits ]

It's disorienting when Lainn steps away from her. Her fingers linger against his back as she tries to steady herself on her feet without him to brace against. She sways in place, but only just the once after she bends her knees and draws her hand back to her side.

It's three steps, maybe, and Alice can do it, even though her energy started flagging to their quarters and there's a distracting ache that's settled into her right shoulder. She opens and closes her fingers at her side. "I--" she replies.

She can do it.

She knows that.

But the thing is, she doesn't want to.

She wants to--

Stay.

Biting her lip, she glances at him, then toward her own door. "Can I--"

"I have that bourbon," she reminds Lainn. "Can I grab the tray Tendo left and bring it over?"

Please?

[thedipshits]

🏹   ———  at the same time, they push up and together, relying on the other to stay up, even with his arm around alice's shoulders and hers around his waist.

“ remind me to french you tomorrow. ” he tells tendo with a soft slap of his hand to the man's shoulder as they shuffle by, a mantra echoing in his thoughts of the age old right, left, right. one foot in front of the other, just like coming back to the 'dome.

his hand feels a little disconnected, like it'd fallen asleep somehow, and now the blood flow is coming back, giving him that pins-n-needles feeling. he files away the thought of asking alice of what the jaeger things feel like for her. maybe it's a him thing, bonding with someone else, piloting another robot. he'll bring it up to someone at some point.

“ gonna be good to get across the hall? ” he asks when he leans on his own doorway after opening his door. she looks rough, he realizes. he wonders how rough he looks.

[ @thedipshits ]

Even though she knows what's coming--both from the phantom sensation of his moment through the ghost drift and how he gives it away--Alice lets it happen, laughing into Lainn's palm as she leans more into his side. It feels good. Fun. Happy.

She'd be content to stay like this, feeling the press of her own fingers against his hip and the vibration of her laughter into his hand, but Tendo's promising them food and a few more minutes to recoup. He knows what they need and he's basically giving them license to take it instead of heading straight to the celebration by arranging what he has. One of the many reasons he's considered one of the top three--if not the best--LOCCENT chiefs in the entire PPDC, she supposes.

It feels like Lainn's got a different reason in mind, something amusing enough to make Alice laugh against his hand again, even without the full extent of detail. She nips at the fleshiest part of his palm, feeling an echoing zing of sensation. She's half tempted to lick a stripe up his palm to encourage him to move his hand, but it's childish, so she just leans away from his hand just enough to flash Tendo a smile. "You're a fucking angel in bowtie," she tells him. "And we're so very grateful."

Since Tendo's got to want to return to the celebration, she lets him know it's okay by tossing her head toward the door. "Go have a good time," she replies, tightening her grip on Lainn just a little as she starts mentally preparing for the walk back to their quarters. "We'll be just fine."

[thedipshits]

🏹   ———  he ignores her soft jab, seeing it for the joke that it is, and letting it pass by them just like any other thought mid-handshake. but they've been out of the jaeger for close to twenty minutes now, and they're still ghosting.

he can feel the warmth of his own thigh on the back of her arm. the nice, heavy weight of his arm across her shoulders. the tingle of hunger in her belly — his? — and the tension between both of their shoulder blades.

“ oh fuck me, ” he groans as she starts going into her own kind of babble and he leans on her further until he can wrap that arm all the way around in order to reach her mouth to cover it with that hand. “ no starting on your math bullshit. math has no place in kissing, ali. ” his hand is still there over her mouth as they both turn to look at the door when it opens.

it's tendo. he sighs, but doesn't remark on their position. he briefly wonders what kinda shit tendo's seen — or heard — that he keeps to himself. just how many of the shatterdome's secrets does he keep? he thinks he feels an echoing laugh from alice on that, but he can't be sure without looking at her. and tendo's talking, anyway.

“ thought your drop might be bad after losing that arm. got both of you a couple of trays for your rooms. lights down low, just how you like. ” yeah, lainn could definitely kiss him. “ you two, uh, need help there? ”

[ @thedipshits ]

Alice settles into the touch, shifts her hand to rest the back of it against his leg instead of just the outside edge, grateful for the contact in a way that feels just shy of too much. She splays her fingers out where they rest and taps the back of her index finger against his thigh.

"You're consenting adults," she replies, a grin tugging at her lips. "If he got us that brownie and you wanted to shoot your shot... I'd support you."

She goes quiet for a moment, but shifts her arm out from between them to wrap around Lainn in return. Edging closer as an offer of physical support in the face of his oncoming crash, she makes no attempt to stop the question that tumbles out. "If you did while we're ghosting this hard... would it be like we both did?"

Distraction at its finest, even if the question skewed toward a serious inquiry.

"Because if transitive properties apply, I'm gonna have to politely ask that you use the exact right amount of tongue..."

Nice save, Lockwood.

[thedipshits]

    🏹   ———    there was an agreement with him returning as a jaeger pilot, post-incident. he'd need to see the shatterdome's therapist on a regular basis. and hell, what was he gonna say? no? yeah, he may be stupid, but he's not that stupid.

so he'd seen her. let her poke around, answered her questions. worked on himself. she'd been interested before alice, but he gets the feeling now that he has a copilot who is regularly in his head, she's working extra hard on making him... easier to meld with.

she had given him one advice, right after they'd learned they were drift compatible, that floats to the top of his thoughts anytime alice does something like this. comes close, but like she's scared to come any closer than toeing the line of too close. don't be afraid of letting her in. so he follows her advice, and closes that gap.

raising his arm, he wraps it around her shoulder, leaning to brace his chest against her arm, resting the sides of their heads together. a quick shut of his eyes with a sigh, he lets them have this little bubble for a minute, before they're expected to be in the mess hall with the rest of 'em in celebration.

"i'm gonna kiss tendo on the mouth if he got us that brownie. i could eat a whole pan of 'em," he says, acknowledging that he'd been right there with her. "with ice cream." he tacks on with a soft laugh, letting the adren crash wash over him.

[ @thedipshits ]

She follows his train of thought and laughs a little, but there's nothing to it that LOCCENT won't chalk up to being elated with their victory. What doesn't get piped through the speakers or back to Barnes himself can't bite them in the ass, right?

There's a bottle of bourbon in her locker, a gift from home that's still miraculously sealed. Alice thinks of it, then laments that there probably aren't any proper glasses on base. They deserve the nice kind of glasses--and doubles--for what they just pulled off in taking down a Cat II one handed, but she'll take what they can get.

As the coast comes into sight, there's a momentary thought of sitting in their quarters, drinking straight from the bottle with an entire pan of brownies between them. She lets it pass by like a fish in a stream as she mentally closes up the gap between them in their mind space.

Medical is always too bright and too loud after a drop. Alice tilts her head back and closes her eyes when it becomes too much, but cracks an eye open to look back. "If anyone could manage it, it's Tendo," she replies.

She waits a moment, then opens both and gives in to the need to be closer she always feels after a drift, pushing off her bench to take a seat next to Lainn on his. "Hope he did, 'cause I really want one."

Setting her hand down next to him, just close enough for the side of her hand to bump against the outside of his leg, Alice lifts a shoulder. "If not, I think I can score some Twinkies off Dylan from K-Sci. He's always good for it."