#(oh it's a revelations route au specifically)

[princepsumbra]

brush .   work  a  brush  /  comb  through  my  muse’s  hair . >w<

Nonverbal Prompts

He hasn't been sleeping, again.

If he's not fighting a war on the battlefield, he's fighting one in the council room. Brynhildr is now exchanged for a quill pen he wields with equal ferocity. Battle maps turn into trade negotiations and policy declarations.

The people hate him no matter what war he's waging. It doesn't matter that in both cases, he pours his heart into helping Nohr, forgoing attending his own needs in favor of supporting his beloved country.

Sleepless nights are just another thing they'll look down on him for. Leo accepted the people's ire when he was just a child--it's nothing new. Some nights, though, when the candles burn low and his eyes sting from staring at cramped handwriting well past midnight, he wishes they knew how much he cared.

Now, he's supposed to give a speech praising the bravery of Nohr's soldiers in less than fifteen minutes, and he looks like someone who forgot how to use a bed. A frown stares back at him from his mirror. Maybe he can stop being so damned fastidious in his appearance for once and earn some sympathy.

"I know, my love," he murmurs, catching Sakura's eyes in the mirror. She assesses him, takes in the mussed hair and dark circles ringing his eyes. Light footsteps carry her closer until she's a breath of wind at his back.

Without a word, the brush is removed from his hands. "Sakura, you don't--" Leo catches the denial for help in time, opting to watch her methodical movements as she tames his unruly locks.

"Thank you."

[scaranation]

I saw that requests were still open and I crawled back from the firey pits of hell to offer you Scaramouche brain rott along with a personal AU that hit me like a foking brick like two days ago.

So first off. Imagine if you will. That Mr. McGrump wasn't actually just one entity but actually a trio of twin brothers that wandered around Teyvat known as the "the trio of eccentrics". They despise each other (cuz of course they do) but decide to travel together cuz no matter how hard they try to NOT bump into each other, the world is just so big for a trio of dumbasses that are chaotic on their own right.

They cannot get along to save their lives. The amount of times Scaramouche and Wanderer have gotten smacked on the face with Kabukimono's smithing hammer are just too many to count. Not to mention that as feeble as he appears to be he has a scarily good aim much to his brother's previous dismay as they have been greeted with a flying hammer to the back of the head multiple times when they have run into each other "by chance" before.

People tend just get confused when one of them randomly spawns on a town and seemingly sprout two other clones like some kind of mitosis type shit until they realize it's just a trio of siblings.

I also low-key feel y/n would accidentally bump and help all of them separatedly by chance only for them to all either think of them fondly or straight up have a little crush on them. I can just see Kabuki rambling to wanderer how some sweet person saved him from a hoard of electro slimes only for him to remember how someone offered to invite him to some food in one of his travels similar to the one his brother mentioned. Only for Scara to interrupt demanding if they were talking about this one very specific person that offered him shelter that one time he was injured after some misión or something. Cue y/n casually walking by and all of them losing their collective shit cuz HOLY SHIT THAT'S THEM- WAIT WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU KNOW THEM TOO????? And thus the quest of winning over the kind stranger begins.

Idk if this was even mildly entertaining but this idea has been eating my brain for days and needed to spew it somewhere. Love your work! ✨✨✨

OMLL HOWW YOUR BRAINROTS ARE SO GOOD I CANT 😭😭 this took me a while to write but i had to get everything out to even do this idea some justice it’s got me giggling fr

༊*·˚ 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐏𝐋𝐄 𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐁𝐋𝐄

ft. Scaramouche, Kabukimono, Wanderer

Content: fluff, crack (but treated seriously)

a/n - innocent Kabukimono just lives rent free in my heart omlll like just imagine a less traumatised Scara <33

The trio of short haired, violet-eyed wanderers (also known as “the trio of eccentrics” by the local children) were a common sight in Teyvat. Prior to the revelation that they were, in fact, siblings, people had believed that they were either a teleporting ghost or some human aphid with miraculous cloning abilities. That was until someone saw two of the them in the same room, and connected the dots.

Scaramouche, the Wanderer, and Kabukimono were inseparable - not of their own will, of course. On their erratic, impulsive routes across Sumeru, they’d somehow cross paths more often than they wanted. In fact, they’d made an effort to avoid each other. The Wanderer had retreated all the way to the Hypostyle Desert, cackling at his own genius. Unfortunately, he also found Scaramouche and Kabukimono at the desert too - both dumbfounded at the ridiculous situation. Somehow, all three of them had simultaneously decided that hiding in the desert to not see each other was a great idea.

“What are you doing here?” the Wanderer had blurted.

“No, what are you doing here? I had this idea yesterday!” Kabukimono cried.

“Both of you, get out of my sight. I hatched this plan two weeks ago.” Scaramouche grumbled.

“Oh, how diabolical and calculating you are,” the Wanderer rolled his eyes, as though he wasn’t just praising himself for what he thought was the most intelligent idea to ever exist.

“Fine, I’ll leave first.” Kabukimono sighed. Perhaps it was because he was the youngest, but he was always ended up giving in to his brothers.

“Pushover,” the Wanderer smirked.

“Says the unemployed one,” Scaramouche scoffed.

“At least I have a vision.”

“Shut up.”

The many other times the trio convened by accident, two of them weren’t even conscious to fully process their irritation. The moment Kabukimono spotted Scaramouche or the Wanderer at his favourite resting place, he’d let loose his hammer - striking them on the back of the head with scary aim. He’d congratulate himself if he managed to score a concussion, too. It wasn’t as though the others didn’t defend themselves equally vigorously. If they couldn’t settle things with words, the brothers would just break out into fighting.

Things were especially bad when the Wanderer got ahold of Kabukimono’s hammer. Upon wrestling it out of the blacksmith’s grip, the Wanderer would flit into the air, gleefully holding the hammer out of reach until Scaramouche had enough and struck him down with a bolt of lightning.

“You look like a fly when you do that, you know?”

“You’re just jealous.”

Somehow, you were always at the centre of the trio’s unpredictable paths of destruction across Teyvat. You never really guessed at the connection between them, only dismissing it as a mere coincidence that you’d developed a fondness for three purple haired, short-tempered travellers.

As an adventurer, you’d first met Kabukimono on one of your errands.

“Stay away!”

You heard the clanging of something heavy on your inspection in Guyun, turning around to locate the source of the voice.

You followed the commotion around past the domain you’d just exited from, finding a crevice tucked away into a small beach-like area. Clumps of electro crystals clung to the stone walls of the cove, the lapping of the waves only perpetuating the intense elemental reactions. At the centre of it all was a strangely dressed man, being attacked by a hoard of electro slimes. He flailed around with a blacksmith’s hammer, presumably caught in his own attempt to mine valuable ores for a project.

His clothes looked to be of Inazuman attire, too - what was an Inazuman doing, looking for electro crystals all the way out in Liyue?

“Do you need help?” You crouched down, a little hesitant over whether or not it was obligatory for you to jump into the electro-charged mess.

“It… certainly looks like it, doesn’t it?” The man flashed you a defeated smile. Luckily, as a pyro vision holder, it wasn’t too difficult for you to deal with the slimes. With a brief flash of your vision, you also mined the ores for the stranger as well.

“Ah! So they require elemental triggers to be mined. No wonder it was taking me so long. Thank you, by the way - I’m Kabukimono.” The stranger extended a hand. You took it, but he didn’t shake it. The two of you stood there awkwardly for a moment, before he released your hand.

“Ah, sorry… That’s what I see people at the workshop do when they meet someone new. Is it strange?”

“No, of course not! You usually shake the hand after holding it, though.” You quipped helpfully.

“Oh.” A flush spread across his cheeks. He thanked you vehemently once again, insisting on offering you some spare iron in exchange for your help.

“Travel safe!” You called after Kabukimono, as he hurried off. He was a little strange, but his awkwardness was rather endearing. You smiled and shook your head, before resuming work and thinking nothing more of the entire ordeal.

Unlike Kabukimono, the second of the trio you met was a lot more irritable. You met the Wanderer at some food stalls in Sumeru city, almost mistaking him for the acquaintance you’d met in Guyun - only to be quickly corrected by his vastly different attitude.

“Watch it.” The stranger that looked suspiciously like Kabukimono (but with a remarkably more hostile, pointed gaze) shoved past you.

“These lavender melons. How much do they cost?” Not-Kabukimono asked the vendor, tapping his foot impatiently.

“Uh, 200 mora-”

“What? Who sells trash like this so expensively? Forget it, I didn’t want them anyway.” The Wanderer scoffed, turning to leave before you quickly grabbed him.

“If you’re hungry, you can eat at my place. I have some leftovers,” you offered. He narrowed his eyes at you suspiciously.

“Why are you helping me? Is this a poisoning attempt?”

“No… You just remind me of an acquaintance of mine, so I thought I’d look out for you.”

“Pfft, I don’t need your baseless concern.”

At that moment, the man’s stomach grumbled. The two of you made eye contact, before reaching a silent agreement.

“My house is that way,” you pointed, as the stranger begrudgingly followed you.

Even if he didn’t say so, the stranger most definitely enjoyed your cooking. After introducing himself as the Wanderer, he was quick to open up - always stopping by to visit (claiming that you were a convenient dining place for his travels).

Whenever he stopped by, you’d laugh and cook him a warm meal - it almost felt like home to him, or at least what he thought a home was. He never really had one, nor did he care for the notion, but this arrangement was quite pleasant for him. If the Wanderer was in a good mood, he’d even share some of his travelling stories with you. He’d boast about the enemies he defeated in the wilderness, complain about the stupidity of mortals, before giving you the rare piece of acknowledgement (“you know, your cooking is edible,” or “it’s definitely not poisoned,” etc.).

You quickly grew to anticipate his sporadic visits, getting an understanding of what kind of food he preferred. You weren’t sad when he didn’t arrive, and the two of you thrived off a mutual relationship. The Wanderer was surely different from your other companion, but that didn’t make him any less welcome.

Lastly, you’d met Scaramouche on an ominous rainy day. Or, rather, he’d been deposited on your doorstep.

“I don’t remember ordering a parcel…” You peered out into your doorway, squinting through the lashing rain - before realising that this ‘parcel’ was very much human-shaped.

With a surprised gasp, you dragged the figure inside as carefully as you could, wincing at the blood mixed with rainwater that swirled across his smooth skin. Peeling back the heavy layers of his outer coat, you took off the man’s hat to gape again in shock.

“Kabukimono?” You spluttered.

“Who are you calling Kabukimono?” The stranger snapped, sitting up slowly.

“Wanderer?” You tried again, guessing based on the man’s furious expression.

“Hah, you dare to…”

Before the stranger (that was neither Kabukimono nor the Wanderer) could finish his sentence, he passed out again in a haze of dizzying unconsciousness.

The man’s deep indigo eyes fluttered open a while later to the sight of you tending his wounds. He immediately flinched away, looking at you incredulously.

“Who are you? Why am I here?”

“You quite literally passed out on my porch, then again in my house. Don’t you remember?” You quirked an eyebrow.

“You dare gaslight a Fatui Harbinger? Try as hard as you want, but I won’t be giving you financial compensation for this.”

“You’re… a Harbinger…?” You frowned. He sure acted and looked a lot like the Wanderer - perhaps he’d hit his head a little too hard.

“Yes, Scaramouche. I’m better known as the Balladeer, of course.”

“I’ve never heard of you.”

“Well, then that just means we’re doing a great job of maintaining confidentiality.” Scaramouche huffed, allowing you to continue wrapping bandages around the deep gashes on his body. You chuckled at his demeanour.

“I’m not expecting anything in return for this.” You offered, leaning back to scrutinise your medical work. Years of adventuring had given you experience in this sort of thing, but your expertise was still lacking.

“Then why? Don’t tell me, you believe in kindness?”

“Anyone would do this if they found a stranger half-dead at their door in the pouring rain.” You rolled your eyes.

“I was not half-dead, and I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.” Scaramouche huffed, and you almost gawked at how similar he was to the Wanderer.

“Um, do you happen to know anyone named… Uh…” You hesitated under your new acquaintance’s fierce gaze.

“Named what? Do I look like an Akasha terminal to you?”

“Never mind.” You quickly shut your mouth. Perhaps it was just a coincidence.

It took a few months before the trio finally figured out they had a mutual connection. They’d all visited you countless times, and yet were lucky enough not to encounter each other - that was, until they finally began talking about their latest travel experiences upon having a chance meeting in Sumeru.

“Hm, perhaps this is what mortals call… comradeship…” Kabukimono mused to his brothers one day.

“Feeling a little amicable, Kabukimono?” Scaramouche sneered. He eyed the glimmering purple blade Kabukimono flipped over in his hands.

“There was this adventurer who saved me from some electro slimes once. It was because of them that I could fashion this dagger… Humans really are compassionate.” Kabukimono mused. He happily smiled to himself at the reminder of you.

“You’re so naive, brother. After all, mortals are only driven by fair exchange. Nobody would help without expecting it return - ah, there is one exception. There was this person I met who offered me food. I’ve been having free meals with them for months, and they don’t even know how I’m taking advantage of them! How immature they are, selflessly acting like that. It almost makes me concerned for their well-being,” the Wanderer chuckled.

“I don’t think you’re taking advantage of them if you’re… just accepting the free meals they give you. It almost seems they have you wrapped around their finger.” Scaramouche snickered.

“You wouldn’t understand the idea of a mutually beneficial relationship. In fact, have you even talked to a living being other than your colleagues in the last week?”

“Yes, you, and a certain traveller who took me in after I was injured in a mission-”

“You got injured? How pathetic.”

“It was a calculated risk. Anyway, they gave me shelter and treated all my wounds without asking for mora once. And they even let me stay over long after I’d healed, too. Mortals are so foolish, to be blindly trusting. I could’ve snapped their throat in a second.”

The three brothers agreed on the extremely rare and (questionably naive) selflessness of humans.

Then, a beat of silence passed before a revelation dawned on them.

“Isn’t it weird that we’ve all met a strange, helpful adventurer?” Kabukimono murmured.

“Exactly what I was thinking. Surely not all humans are like this.” Scaramouche nodded.

“Maybe foolishness is more common than we thought…?” The Wanderer suggested, but an uneasy feeling was dawning on him as he began to connect the dots.

“Say, does the traveller you two met live near the Grand Bazaar?” Scaramouche prodded.

“Yes.” Kabukimono and the Wanderer responded simultaneously.

“And they have an adventurer’s bandana? With a Mondstadtian clock in the front room of their house?”

“Yes- YOU TWO KNOW THEM AS WELL?” Kabukimono spluttered.

The Wanderer only heaved a large sigh. He was so close to showing off that he had a new friend, only to realise that the new friend was also acquainted with both his brothers.

“How bothersome, it seems you’re already close with them.” Scaramouche raised an eyebrow.

“Of course I am! I met them first, after all.” Kabukimono insisted.

“Both of you, be quiet. I’m going to their place now.” The Wanderer pushed back his chair.

“Hey! I was planning to visit them too!”

The scraping of chairs resounded as the remaining two brothers hurriedly rushed to get to your house.

Any other person would probably pass out from fear at seeing all three of the notorious trio appear at their door. You, however, only shot them a bemused look and ushered them in.

Once the three realised they had competition, Scaramouche, the Wanderer, and Kabukimono would be unrelenting in competing for your attention.

It was quite comical at times - you’d barely have to say anything and one of them would appear, diligently doing tasks for you and looking back at you eagerly for praise. It seemed almost strange to consider that these three had been marvelling at your profound naiveness only a few days ago, and were now basically at your beck and call.

Scaramouche would definitely be the most demanding. Whether it was a hand on your elbow or a risky grip on your wrist, he made sure you were close to him and sought your undivided attention. He’d recklessly snap out searing insults at anyone else, before getting ahold of himself and stating that he was merely defending a poor, foolish soul from being taken advantage of by some calculating purple-haired villain. Not him though, he’d never do anything like that.

The Wanderer (like his name) was more relaxed - he could go without your eyes on him at all times, and he’d drift in and out as he pleased. However, he did see himself as being entitled to your energy whenever he did happen to stop by. Occasionally, he’d even offer to take you on a scenic flight across Teyvat. After you’d tried it once, you were quick to refuse his latter offers - zooming across rooftops at breakneck speed was not your forte. The Wanderer huffed at your reluctance and accused you of denying his altruistic favour, but made an effort to do things you liked regardless.

Kabukimono was fiercely shy. He’d always bring you trinkets - small mechanisms or self-defends tools he’d fashioned from spare parts during his work as a blacksmith. He’d press them into your hands self-consciously, unable to bite back a smile when you praised his handiwork. He wouldn’t hesitate to stand up against his much fiercer brothers if it was for you, holding you in a tight embrace whenever you’d let him.

And so, as it happened, it seemed as though “the eccentric trio” simply couldn’t escape each other. As if by some ill-humoured joke, they all ended up liking the same person. The only issue was, being that person, you now had to deal with all three of them at once.

As if one wasn’t enough, you now had triple the trouble.

༊*·˚

[curiosity-killed]

Would love to hear your thoughts on atfots… the plot really surprised me given how the last book ended but overall it felt like a mixed bag to me

*cradles ur face tenderly in my hands* babycakes u have opened a can of worms

I'm not even going to pretend that this will be short or coherent so tl;dr: if I'm looking for a fun AU, I turn to ATFOTS; if I'm looking for canon compliant, meaningful sequels to HOTE, I turn to fanfiction.

General disclaimer that here be spoilers for ATFOTS and that while I don't intend this to be lambasting ATFOTS by any means, it's not the most positive review. So like, don't read below if you a) want to avoid spoilers or b) enjoyed the book, probably?

I think there are roughly 2 main categories of critique I have for ATFOTS, with a third just being the catchall for anything I miss and/or me yelling about the things that matter most to me lol so:

I. Sequel Sins

I am generally not a fan of sequels primarily because I think they tend to fall into a lot of similar traps such as overexplaining, inconsistent characterization, and undermining their own themes. This may be a product of growing up in love with sprawling series that all wound up basically having the same formula. ANYWAY.

Overexplaining: ATFOTS starts off by reintroducing Cliopher Mdang. My good sir. The POV character for the other doorstopper novel that came before (& which I love). I get the desire to make a sequel accessible to people who haven't read the first book but ATFOTS feels consistently like it's holding your hand very gently and bending down to make sure you're getting its full sincere eye contact and talking very slowly. I don't have a copy of the book on me to pull quotes, but it's especially flagrant in the first couple chapters.

Inconsistent characterization: WHOO BOY. Cliopher is so old! No he's young again! Now he's middle-aged! I have mixed feelings on the characterization overall—Rodin, for instance, came a bit out of left field—and most of it comes down to the way I loved the characters in HOTE and then in ATFOTS they all felt...a bit flatter and a bit caricaturized and a bit less true.

Undermining themes: The character thing comes in hard here IMO. One of the major threads of HOTE is Kip shaping his own path of success and receiving acknowledgment from his loved ones for his unique, uncommon route. And then ATFOTS comes in and is like ACTUALLY we're going to overwrite that with this GRAND and MYTHOLOGICAL story that also conveniently follows closely the story that will be familiar to your family. This isn't to say there isn't value in that type of story, but it definitely cheapens (imo) the thematic value of HOTE. And this is true for...kind of a lot of the stories' themes. ATFOTS seems to want to be "HOTE themes but bigger and better" and in doing so, kind of falls flat in delivery imo.

II. ATFOTS-Specific Pro/Con

Alright now onto a little more specific issues. This will be brief bc I think they're pretty self-explanatory lol

Con: Overall, I think ATFOTS tries to do too many things. I love a good book with many plotlines (see: erha my beloved) but ATFOTS' structure felt borderline episodic rather than building together into a satisfying reveal/culmination.

Pro: I'll get into Kip's sexuality below but do love the concept of fanoa

Con: It felt like a lot of tidbits of "oh ACTUALLY this was happening all along in HOTE I just didn't mention it"—see the comment that started this all around humming Aurora—in a way that felt less like a delightful little revelation and more like VG retroactively trying to incorporate things she hadn't decided on till that moment. Also feel this way about Ludvic's fam reveal but I'll get into that below.

Pro/Con: While I think the writing structure was a little tighter than HOTE (I'm sorry, I love Kip and I love HOTE but there were like 200 pages of having the same conversation over again) (maybe not actually 200. possibly 20. still.), girlie REALLY needed a copy edit. Like. I will copy edit ur book Ms. Goddard for u (I am cheap) but please let me fix the errors.

III. Getting My Grubby Little Gay Hands All Over this Book

aka personal preference shit that is entirely my opinion without critique for the writing quality but nonetheless are part of my critique

I love HOTE and I love HOTE principally for three four main categories: The Household (and Them), civil service, being The One Who Left, and ASEXUALITY BABEY. There are other aspects I love, of course, but these are kind of the big non-negotiables for me and four that ATFOTS kinda...did dirty imo.

In terms of the Household, HOTE gave us these middle-aged dudes who are pretty much defined and fulfilled by their dedication to their job to the exclusion of most other things. Kip has family but it's not family that really understands him most of the time and it's family that is very far away (*this will come up again). The rest of them don't have family outside of the household. They are very sincerely found/forced thru work family in a way that feels both very natural and blessedly free of nuclearization. They love each other and understand each other** in a way that none of them really have access to outside of this group.

And then ATFOTS (and admittedly RPA) comes along and is like "Ludvic has a dad! Conju's sister and boytoy are alive! Rodin has a devoted penpal!" in a way that feels a BIT like pairing off everyone so that the main couple can be together. Which like. I love Kip/Fitzroy, don't get me wrong, but I love the household and their weirdly intimate and formal and seemingly smooth as clockwork but internally messy vibe. I was so looking forward to reading about the retirement house and how that unspools (or at least thinking a lot about it in the way of the blorbo in the microwave) before ATFOTS.

So much of the heart of HOTE is the idea of community and connection (or isolation) and ATFOTS mostly veers away from that both thru the pairing off and through the things like Kip's solo adventures. It also, in some ways, sort of undermines some of the characters' core traits, such as Ludvic's devotion. Ludvic being a stout, unflinching companion for HR because he believes in him and sees the true man behind the Serenity is imo very different from Ludvic being an unflagging companion because he views HR as his uncle. Idk about y'all but family duty and personal devotion from choice are two different things in my experience.

On their own, they aren't bad but they are disappointing when compared to the aspects of HOTE I loved and would have hoped to see expanded upon in the sequel.

Kip's experience in civil service is also really important to me (literally made me more patient and cheerful at work when I was actively envisioning setting a plague of frogs loose upon my supervisor's house so like. Significant Importance to Me.)! This will not be articulate (I've legit been starting and deleting this sentence for like 5 min) bc it's very near and dear to my heart but the ideas of a) choosing to take a harder path, that is outside your community/family's conception of "normal" because you believe it is good and worthy, b) trying to improve a shitty system because you believe it can be made to better serve the people, and c) learning from both systems—are! just! very important to me okay. And not something I see a lot in fiction, but especially not in my most beloved of monstrously large fantasy novels.

And then ATFOTS is just JK time for an epic fantasy romp! and that's cool but that's not why I loved the first book! that's not the right tone at all!!! if i wanted an epic fantasy romp I would pick up Iron Widow but I wanted the bureaucracy D: (shoutout to ao3 user alfgifu for giving me the bureaucracy and also sorry for all the nonsense comments)

This is also super closely tied to Being the One Who Left tbh because well. Me. But one of the core elements of HOTE—the part that actually first snagged me and pulled my attention in—is that Kip is the one who left his community behind for no good reason to chase a weird dream instead of settling down and following the normal path to success.

*eyeing my high school classmates who are all settled down with 2.5 kids and starting photography businesses on the side while living within 20 minutes of where they grew up* Huh I Wonder Why This is Relatable

At the heart of being the one who left is this tug between guilt and desire/love/duty/curiosity/whatever pull factor. In HOTE, Kip is pushed to stay home by his duty to his community, his love of his family, and his family's own pressure. He's pulled to stay in the service by his duty to the world/government, his love of his found family, and by the urge to do more, to make things better as much as he can. In both places, he's not fully understood and when he's in either location, he misses the other. The importance is the tug, the dual identity, the sense of always being partially understood and partially misunderstood in different ways depending on the ground you're standing on. I could...very literally, write essays on each of these last items but I am trying to wrap it up bc I should actually be coding rn whoops

ATFOTS blots this out by transforming his Solaara experience into, basically, Just A Job. A job he cares about and can be proud of, sure, but just the job. It really...kind of aggressively, ignores the relationships and life Kip has made there in favor of focusing solely on this glorious return to home while conveniently giving everyone else people to be with instead of the household. which I'm sure my mom would like but ANYWAY

and now, last but decidedly not least OR clearest *drum roll pls* ASEXUALITY BABEY

okay so I will caveat this by saying different rep serves different people, there are infinitely many ways to be asexual, etc etc that all being said ATFOTS' handling of Kip's sexuality just left me a little...dissatisfied? And tbh I struggle to articulate it because I feel like it probably comes down to "this isn't the rep I would like but I can see where it's meaningful to others."

Like I can justify it—a lifelong commitment as fanoa is described is different than a romantic or sexual relationship, it's entirely fair to have a character want that commitment without risking it by mixing in romance/etc., it's good to have a devoted and platonic relationship at the core where normally a (straight) romantic/sexual relationship would be

and yet. I caught myself making faces at the book half the time when dealing with their relationship. Some of it feels a little like trying to Do All The Rep in one go—Kip's tingly fuzzy feelings and (mostly) lack of romantic attraction, neutrality around sex and aversion to sex in this relationship—in a way that almost definitely describes actual humans out in the world but feels a little...off in a fictional character? My general wish for asexual characters is getting to be in devoted relationships where the allosexual partner(s) is willing to not have sex and still be committed but I caught myself being like "y'all just fuck already" in ATFOTS which is uhhhh not the norm

tbf my ideal Kip/Fitzroy retirement relationship is basically just them (and the household) all living together and everyone on the outside kind of being ???? is it a sex thing???? while they contentedly carve out their own life yet again but this time with more touch and laughter and song.

Actually having gotten to this point, I feel like my main sticking point with ATFOTS sexuality is that Sex Is A Big Thing in the book while never being super effectively resolved imo and also not actually being a big thing to the characters in HOTE. Like one of these dudes has been celibate for 1000 years or so and another one has had like 3 brief lovers across the same amount of time. I think there are some other things we could focus on here

[tnc-n3cl]

For the ask game! 💖 Which of your fics is your pride and joy? and 🎥 Pick a fic and I'll tell you the song I imagine playing during its movie trailer.

Which fic is my pride and joy?

I love all my fics, but I think for now I'm going to have to go with "The Amnesiac Hero's Quest." When I first started "The Realm Walker", I hadn't planned on doing a full Link POV fic, but rather just do a few shorter stories covering key moments, like Link's first encounter with Kass, freeing each of the Divine Beasts, etc. But after finishing first one, "Link's Story: Finding Hateno Village", I had some issues to work out.

First off, I went into BotW and tried to do all the stuff in that fic and quickly realized that it was impossible to do in a single day. So I got it in my head to rework the story, and that's also when I started mapping out routes in game and seeing how long they'd take (which was important for timing out other meetings between Kass and Link for "The Ballad of Kass".)

Second, there's a little fourth wall breaking moment in LS: FHV, which I'll post here (bolded for emphasis)...

The woman, Kalia, again chirps something in what Link assumes is the Rito’s native language and Kass replies with a long chittering whistle followed by a clacking of his beak.  Her feathers puff out in response…  Wait!  The white on their legs… Those are feathers too…  They���re not wearing pants! Link’s face flushes and his eyes go wide as he gasps at the revelation.  This catches Kalia’s attention and not a split-second later she glares at Link.  In spite of her parrot-like face, he feels like a pink rabbit looking up just in time to see the hawk about to snatch him up in her talons.  Wait, why am I a PINK rabbit?  [You know why…] No, I don’t.  [Never mind…] 

This of course is a reference to A Link to the Past, where Link turns into a defenseless pink bunny man when entering the Dark World without the Moon Pearl. These four sentences became the inspiration to have Link hear voices throughout TAHQ and beyond, which became a major plot point and caused me to make some serious changes to things the further I got into the story.

So now I'm trying to write out the main quest of BotW instead of just key scenes. But I've greatly enjoyed the process of doing that. And TAHQ is finished! (Even though it's technically part one of my AU of the events of BotW...)

"The Ballad of Kass" would probably be a close second. (Which also started as a short story, which had two different versions before it got expanded into the current over 100k word story.)

Pic a fic and I'll tell you the song I imagine playing during the movie trailer.

Oh man this is hard! I imagine SO many (action) scenes while listening to music it's hard to pic a specific trailer one...

I think I'll go with Daylight by Shinedown for "The Realm Walker" cause the lyrics fit really well with the themes.

Thanks for the ask!

Here's the ask game.

[queen-scribbles]

The Long-Burning Torch

For the @shepherds-of-haven​ Shepherds Summer event, the Ryn/Red muses latched onto 20′s Detective AU and would not let go. I’ve gone so deep down this rabbit hole there’s gonna be chapters, but the first piece works as a standalone. (title might change along the way, again bc chapters)

----

There were, in Xaeryn’s experience, two types of people who made use of her services. Both were driven by desperation, both tended to hit her doorstep late in the day. There were the belligerent ones, incensed they had to stoop to hiring her, a Mage, to solve their problem. From them she had to pull the pertinent facts of their case one begrudging sentences at a time. And there were the frantic ones, who had exhausted every other route and she was their last chance. Details poured so freely from them she had to pick through it to find what was actually relevant to the case.

The young man standing before her now, at the start of her day, appeared to fit neither of those groups. He’d knocked and entered without awaiting an invitation, seeming unperturbed by the eyebrow she arched at his arrival.

“May I help you?” Xaeryn asked, leaning forward to rest folded hands on her desk.

He shifted to fold his own hands over the head of a walking stick she’d wager he didn’t actually need and smiled dryly. “If your reputation is anything to go by, Miss Shrike, I certainly expect so.”

She gestured to the chairs in front of the desk. “Let’s find out, Mr...?”

“Riel Syndran,” he said, passing her a business card as he took the offered seat.

The card was hardly necessary, and Xaeryn set it on the desk with only a passing glance. “You run Whitestone Couriers, don’t you?”

There was the faintest twitch on the left side of his jaw. “The company is a guild venture.”

“And I wouldn’t be much of a snooper if I couldn’t figure out who truly ran a company as vital to the city of Haven as Whitestone Couriers, Mr. Syndran.”

He gave her a sharp smile. “Very good. I knew coming to you first was the right call, Miss Shrike.”

“Flattered as I am by your confidence” --and she was; she was typically the last resort, being first was something of a novelty-- “why don’t you tell me what or who you need found, and we can discover if said confidence is warranted.”

“I’m certain it is,” Syndran said, his gaze briefly dropping to the Shrike Investigations placard on the edge of her desk. “But you are correct. To business.”

And business, as he explained it, ran thus: Whitestone Couriers had been contracted to transport a collection of artefacts, originally from all parts of Blest, from their previous temporary home at the Conte-by-the-Sea museum to Haven’s Hall of History and Culture.

”How well-known was your being contracted?” Xaeryn interjected.

“It was something of a secret,” Syndran replied, flicking invisible dust off his sleeve. “Some of the pieces are quite valuable, so it was largely in hopes of avoiding theft.”

Hopes that had proven vain. They’d had an uneventful journey--blessed with good weather, even--made it through city customs upon arriving at Haven (checked everything after making it through and found nothing amiss), and proceeded to the museum. Upon unpacking the artefacts, however, it was discovered one was missing.

(Of course.)

The missing piece--an obsidian and bronze pendent thought to belong to a ruler in the Jalis desert pre-Autarchy--had limited monetary value, especially compared to some of the other items in the collection. (Those, of course, had been more closely watched.) Its worth was largely historical and religious.

“Enchantments?”

“None so far as we know.”

“I’ll look into it for you,” Xaeryn said with a nod. She loved mind-twisters like this. “I’ll need to talk to your people, as well as the museum staff, so it would be helpful if you let them know I’m coming. Otherwise my kind” --a twitch of her fingers set energy dancing above them briefly-- “aren’t usually given the time of day.”

“Of course. I shall do so.” Syndran stood and bowed. “I thank you for taking my case, Miss Shrike, and look forward to your success.”

“Two things, Mr. Syndran,” she spoke up as he turned toward the door. She waited until he paused and looked back to continue. “I will, of course, endeavor to find this relic on my own, but should I require an expert’s... knowledge of its history, say, is outside help acceptable?”

His nose wrinkled briefly. “If you must. But as few others as possible, and only those you trust to keep it in strictest confidence.”

“Understood.”

“And the second thing, Miss Shrike?”

She smiled. “One third estimated payment is due upfront.”

“Oh, obviously.” He returned the smile and pulled out his checkbook.

----

She made some good progress between that afternoon and the next day. Interviews with the caravan guards and those responsible for the artefact collection gave insight to their procedures--which were indeed top-notch; it was impressive someone had managed to find a weakness--and how long the pieces were out of their sight coming through city customs.

“Don’t see why that matters,” the pink-haired courier who’d been in charge of the caravan commented. “We checked them all when we got through; made sure everything was still there. Standard procedure.”

“When you say you checked, is this a thorough examination or just a glance to make sure it’s still there?” Xaeryn asked, glancing at the notepad balanced on her knee.

“There’s no fine-tooth comb involved,” came the somewhat tart and harried reply, “but we do look to confirm it’s there and undamaged so nothing undeserved can later be blamed on us. The company has a sterling reputation for a reason, Miss Shrike, and the guild would very much like to keep it that way.”

“Hence your boss coming to me instead of the police.” Xaeryn tapped her pen against her chin and skimmed over her notes. “I think I have everything I need, Miss Aerin. Thank you for your time.”

Aerin gave a sharp nod. “Of course. Anything to get this cleared up and the artefact found as quickly as possible.” She flicked a worried glance toward the notebook as Xaeryn slipped it in her handbag. “How much did you write down? A lot of our procedures are trade secrets; if someone should see...”

Xaeryn laughed and withdrew the notepad again, flipping it open to show the other woman the symbols that filled the pages. “Never fear, your secrets are safe with me. An added bonus of my own shorthand; no one else can read my notes.”

“Smart.” A brief hesitation. “No one? You’re sure?”

“Well, perhaps the friend who helped develop it initially, but I’ve tweaked it since then.” She flipped the pad closed and stowed it in her bag. “I think it would take a little work even for him. We worked it out to take faster notes in class, but taking faster notes also come in handy in my line of work.”

Aerin relaxed and nodded again. “I’m sure it does. Thank you for the reassurance, Miss Shrike.”

“Of course. Have a good day.”

“You as well.”

With the last of the days’ intended interviews behind her, Xaeryn headed back to her office. Now to review what she’d learned from all the sources together. She was confident she had plenty to give herself at least a couple leads worth pursuing, even if there wasn’t enough for a scry.

---

It took a day and a half of running herself off her feet for Xaeryn to burn through the leads she’d found without much to show for it. She’d been unable to track down the specific guard who checked that portion of the shipment, but his supervisor assured her such an important collection would have been treated with utmost care, seeming miffed at the insinuation otherwise. None of the drivers or other courier employees had noticed anything unusual once they passed through customs, no interruptions or suspicious folks in the streets.

Even scrying had fizzled out without so much as a vague semblance of where it might be.

Nothing, nothing, nothing.

Xaeryn dug her fingers into her short hair and glowered at the photographs of the pendent Mr. Syndran had given her. It was so small. So easily concealed. And so simple it would hardly draw attention unless you knew what it was.

She’d been forced to grudgingly admit her minimal progress to Mr. Syndran when he called for an update and it had her in a foul mood. This sort of baloney was not how she kept the lights on. It was time for a new tack.

If she couldn’t (yet) trace where the pendent vanished from, perhaps it would work better to learn more about it; figure where it might be going and get a solid enough knowledge of it she could successfully scry its location. Who would want it badly enough for the hassle of stealing from Whitestone Couriers to be worth their while? Looking into the pendent’s history and provenance seemed the next logical course. Just because Mr. Syndran had told her it was on loan to the collection from the “proper” owners did not mean said owners had told him everything, or indeed, that they’d told the truth. She needed an expert and knew just where to find one.

It had been long enough since her time at Solhadur Academy Xaeryn actually had to look up the telephone number before calling. As she listened to the line ringing, she wondered absently how much of a gentle scolding Headmaster Tevanti would give her for her first contact in more than a decade being to ask for something rather than merely catching up. She’d always been the type not to bother people unless she had to. That was, after all, what she preferred. And her self-reliance had carried her through quite a bit. But she was aware most people would differ from her on that point; Tevanti especially was fond of jawing, so he would surely have words for her long silence.

She let it go to ten rings before giving up. Revelation came with a glance at the clock; it was late enough there was likely no one around to answer. No matter. She could drive out tomorrow. The Academy was in Capra, that wasn’t terribly far. (Not for business, anyway.) Headmaster Tevanti wouldn’t mind one of his favorite students dropping in for an hour or so to discuss a relic from one of his favorite historical periods. She’d even engage in small talk, if he wanted.

Xaeryn smiled to herself and locked both the photographs and her notepad in one of the desk drawers. If that was her plan for tomorrow, she should turn in early, make sure she was well-rested. Time for a trip down memory lane.

---

The morning was uneventful, aside from the troublesome discovery she’d left her office unlocked all night. She was normally more attentive than that, even being on a higher floor. But nothing was disturbed or missing, so Xaeryn shrugged it off and got on with her day.

If she selected her wardrobe with a more critical eye than usual, well, she wanted to look professional. Headmaster Tevanti had been a wonderful mentor, and she wanted to show how far his encouragements about using her bright mind and sharp eye had carried her.

(She wondered, briefly, as she pulled on the royal blue skirt and its matching blouse, accented in deep golden-yellow, if she would see any other familiar faces. But she shook off the warmth of the thought; they’d all scattered to the winds after graduation. Getting to see Tevanti would be enough.)

Satisfied with her ensemble, and needing to fill some time before she left, Xaeryn sat at her desk with her notepad and transcribed everything she knew about the missing pendent(not much), along with questions to ask. She picked out the best of the photographs from Mr. Syndran, just in case, and sighed as she looked at the clock. She’d still be a tad early for it to be polite, especially just dropping in out of the blue, if she left now.

So I’ll drive at a leisurely pace, she argued to herself. Take my time. Allowing a buffer in case there’s trouble along the way is only wise. God in heaven, she wished she could figure why she had worse jitters about this than some dates she’d gone on. “Oh, this is ridiculous,” she muttered to the empty office.

She locked the remaining photographs back in her desk, slipped the chosen one and her notepad in her handbag. After a moment’s internal debate, she slipped one of her stiletto knives down in her boot as well. Solhadur was far from dangerous, but it was prudent to have some measure of protection when traveling alone. She grabbed a hat on her way out the door--which she made certain to lock this time--and had it securely on her head by the time she reached the car.

----

Despite her efforts to make it a leisurely drive out to Capra, and weather that was perfect for that goal, Xaeryn still found herself standing in the entrance hall of Solhadur Academy at an earlier hour than would usually be considered polite for impromptu business meetings. She debated walking the grounds for a while, revisiting some memories from her time here, but decided simply apologizing for her early arrival was the better course of action.

With a final steadying breath and running one hand down her blouse and skirt to chase away wrinkles, Xaeryn headed for the reception desk. She smiled at the young woman behind it. “Good morning.”

The receptionist blinked, seeming mildly taken aback by how far up she had to look to meet her visitor’s eyes. “Morning, miss. Office hours don’t start until ten-”

“Oh, I’m not a student here,” Xaeryn said with a laugh. “At least, not anymore. And I do apologize for the early appearance, the drive out went much faster than anticipated.”

A brow twitched at that. “And what is it that brings you to Solhadur, miss...?”

“I’m doing research on a selection of artefacts and haven’t been able to turn up much on one.” It was barely a lie; she had read a bit on the other exhibition pieces, even if the pendent was the only one she needed to go deeper. “It’s from a period I know is of particular interest to the headmaster, so I was hoping to speak to him for a while, see if he could help.”

The receptionist pursed her lips. “Former student, you say?”

Xaeryn nodded. “If he’s busy first thing, I don’t mind waiting.”

““No, actually, being early is smart,” the receptionist said with a light laugh. “His hours are more full at the later end of things. This would be the best opportunity if you want some of his time.” She glanced over Xaeryn once more, then nodded. “You can go up. Third door--”

“On the left. I remember,” Xaeryn finished. “Thank you.”

“You might actually beat him there,” the receptionist laughed. “He isn’t always punctual.”

“I remember that, too,” Xaeryn returned with a grin. “Like I said, I don’t mind waiting. It’ll be good to see him again, few more minutes won’t hurt.” She toyed with one of her earrings as she headed up the stairs, steps lingering and heavy with nostalgia.

It was almost exactly as she remembered. A few portraits replaced or rearranged, new photographs from after she left. New name placards outside the doors she passed. The headmaster’s office door was closed, and a light inquiring rap of her knuckles brought no response.

Looks like she was right, Xaeryn thought with a smile, leaning against the chair outside the office to wait. Her gaze drifted to the high ceiling, following the details of familiar carvings to the scenes painted on the ceiling itself. Slightly faded from what she remembered, but that was to be expected after a decade--

“Xaeryn?!” The voice, still familiar even after years apart, sounded like he’d seen a ghost.

Her heart lurched in her chest and she’d spun around before the impulse to do so had even fully registered, his name tumbling from her lips unprompted in return. “Red?!”

He crossed the remaining distance between them in just a few strides(God, he’d gotten taller, how was that even possible?), barely remembered to set the books he carried on the chair before wrapping her in a hug.

Xaeryn didn’t even flinch, and only just managed to keep her grip on her handbag as she hugged him back. He still smelled of old books and ink and sunshine and she smiled at the memories it stirred.

Liefred Antiqua, her seatmate in any classes they shared and best friend regardless of how many they didn’t for the entirely of her time at Solhadur. Friendly, charming, and just as fond of books as he was people. (The nights they’d spent pressed shoulder to shoulder reading in the library were still among her favorite memories.) Between his warm nature and classic good looks, he’d had half the student body swooning  after him, and yet despite the sharp contrast to Xaeryn’s more reserved and self-reliant bent, they’d still spent most of their time together. Their friendship was the strongest of the few she’d formed at Solhadur, and Xaeryn valued it immensely.

(Too much to risk on anything like admitting when the sight of his smile sent something that was definitely not friendship fluttering in her chest. It was just a crush, it would go away.)

( And then it didn’t.)

They’d both had plans to travel after graduation, and she couldn’t count on all her fingers combined the number of times she’d almost suggested they do it together. But in this one thing, she never could quite summon the nerve. And before she knew it, her departure date had arrived and they were hugging farewell, and come with me wouldn’t unstick from her throat. After a few months’ silence stretched between them--both traveling and unsure where the other might be, obviously--she’d resigned herself to their paths never crossing again, much as the thought hurt.

And yet here he was.

All the memories flew through her mind in the few seconds their hug lasted, and had a lump starting in her throat by the time they parted.

“Wonderful as it is to see you,” Red began as he stepped back to reclaim his books and run a glance over her, “what are you doing here?”

Xaeryn cleared her throat as she returned the apprising glance with one of her own. He still looked practically the same. A few inches taller, shoulders a bit more broad, and an attempt had been made to tame his bright red hair. It had only achieved partial success, and combined with the warm glint in his green eyes, he still was the same Red she knew. (The same Red she’d been more than a little in love with, even if she’d never dared the risk of admitting it.)

“I’m doing research,” she said, reaching up to tug the back brim of her hat as she glanced at the office door. “Into some artefacts. I wanted to ask Headmaster Tevanti about one in particular that’s being difficult.”

Red grimaced and fumbled his books. “Did you not hear, Xaer?” His voice went soft on the nickname, despite them being alone. Voices did carry in these halls, as they very well knew. “Tevanti died.”

She blinked, shock and sorrow curling in her chest. “Wh- How? When?”

“Not long after you left, actually,” he said, raking his free hand through his hair and tousling it out of respectability. “You know he’d been having problems with his heart. It gave out a few months after you left.” His brow furrowed. “I’m surprised you weren’t told when you set an appointment.”

“I didn’t so much set an appointment as show up looking to talk,” Xaeryn admitted with a soft, wry snort. “And I did simply say the headmaster when speaking to the receptionist.” She cocked her head. “Who would that be, now?”

Red smiled sheepishly, half-bit his lower lip. “Me, actually.” He shifted the books to one arm and opened the office door. Slightly nonplussed by two such major revelations in a row, Xaeryn was silent as she followed him in.

“I thought you wanted to travel,” was the first thought to pop in her head and then out her mouth as she looked around the office. It was spacious, lined with jam-packed bookshelves(He must be in heaven), and in a state of... corralled disarray that was so very Red it made her smile despite the news about Tevanti.

“I did,” Red replied, setting the books on his desk. “And I got to, at least a bit.” He tucked a handful of papers inside an open tome occupying one of the chairs, flipped the book closed, and set it on a side table so he could offer her a seat.  “I’d already left when he passed, so Professor Rumi and some others kept things going until I got back.” Rather than sit in the chair behind the desk, he shuffled a small stack of books onto the floor and sat in the one next to Xaeryn’s as he continued. “He’d... wanted me as his successor, Xaeryn.”

“That makes sense.” The words were out  before she could weigh them, spurred by the disbelief in his hesitation. “You’re brilliant, charming, and have a history with the school.” Her face warmed in the wake of being so candid, and Xaeryn glanced over at the large painting of Tevanti that hung on the wall between two bookshelves. He knew what he was doing. “You’re a logical choice.”

Red laughed warmly. “High praise from the smartest student in our class.”

“But far from the most charming,” she countered with a wry smile.

The warmth of his gaze didn’t abate. “I’ve always appreciated your-”

“Bluntness?”

“Straight-forwardness,” Red substituted, and was smiling when she looked his way. “An ability to cut to the heart of the subject is an invaluable skill.”

Xaeryn gave a faint shake of her head. “As is your kindness. But speaking of the heart of the matter...”

“Ah, right. You came here for a reason.” He pushed his unbuttoned shirtsleeves up toward his elbows. “I can’t promise to know as much as Tevanti would have, but I’ll certainly do my best to help.”

“Actually...” She snapped open her handbag to pull out the photograph and her notepad. “You’ve done a lot of research on pre-Autarchy history, so you might be able to help more than you think.” She set the photograph on the desk and Red cocked his head to look at it.

“Solimer’s torch...” he murmured, turning the photograph for a better look as his gaze gained that focus of a niche interest being whetted. (Which, for Red, meant she was about to hear everything he knew about the pendent’s history in too much detail to called a summary, and Xaeryn found herself leaning forward slightly in anticipation.) He glanced up at her. “Isn’t this one of the pieces in that exhibit about to open in Haven?”

She nodded. “That’s why I’m researching it.” She bit her lip but barely hesitated on the gamble of her next words. ‘Those you trust’, Mr. Syndran had said, and there was no one she trusted more than Liefred Antiqua. “It was stolen, and I was hired to find.”

His head came up, derailed from the growing ramble on the pendent’s history.  “Oh?”

“I’m a detective,” Xaeryn said, playing with one of her earrings. She laughed softly. “Scrying does give a considerable leg up to finding things. Or people. But that only works when--”

“You know enough about them,” Red nodded. “So this visit is for business, rather than personal.”

“Mostly, yes,” she conceded, resting one hand on his knee. I didn’t know you’d be here.  “But I was more than willing to chat with Tevanti” --there was a pang in her chest--”which most definitely extends to you as well, Headmaster Antiqua.”

His neck and ears went faintly pink as he laughed. “Surely we don’t need to be quite so formal, Detective Shrike?”

“Just ‘Miss’,” she returned with a laugh of her own, withdrawing her hand to instead fiddle with her notepad. “I work for myself, not the cops.” There might’ve been a little pride in her voice at the words, but it was well-earned.

“I thought you wanted to travel,” Red said, turning her own remark back on her.

“And travel I did,” Xaeryn said lightly. “For quite a while, even. But a girl does need a job eventually, and I’ve always loved a good mystery.”

“Or even a bad one,” he teased. “All kidding aside, Miss Shrike, I’m sure you’re a brilliant investigator.”

She smiled, chuckling at the playful glint in his eye even as her ears warmed at the praise. “Thank you. And on that note, what can you tell me about the pendent?”

“Right, right. You’re here on business.” Amusement lingered in Red’s eyes even as he turned back to the photograph. His sleeves started to slide and he shoved them back up again. Xaeryn very deliberately kept her focus on the photograph, not his arms--or hands--as he tapped one finger at the center of the obsidian pendent. “This was a protection...  charm, I suppose you’d call it, worn by the head of the Solimer tribe ages ago. Literal ages. Without refreshing my memory, all I can tell you is they were one of the few tribes whose wanderings regularly took them through the heart of the Jalis desert, and yet they always fared better on those journeys than the other tribes, which was credited to this pendent.”

“So it is magical?” Xaeryn leaned closer to look over the piece again, not that a photograph could do it full justice. This was a familiar position; the two of them bent over a shared project, and she hadn’t realized how much she missed it until that moment.

“Possibly?” Red shifted and his shoulder bumped hers. “ The story goes that on their first attempt to journey through, they saw a light, like a torch, keeping pace with them. It only showed up at night, and seemed far enough away from their caravan the chief felt it was too dangerous to let anyone go after it to see what it was. Their wariness at its presence, however, kept them vigilant enough they were able to see and fend off any wild animals that came after them, and it did nothing except travel their same path, so they let it be. 

“A couple weeks into their journey, as their supplies were starting to run low, the chieftain’s wife was out hunting and strayed far enough in search of food that the sun started setting while she was out. As the skies grew dim she could see the Torch, much larger than they usually did from the caravan, though it was floating away. Seized by good old-fashioned curiosity” --he paused to wink at her and Xaeryn bit back a smile-- “she followed the light rather than work her way back to camp. She kept after it long enough night had nearly fallen when it crested a ridge and disappeared. She hastened after it, and when she made it over the ridge, found herself standing by a waterspring the likes of which they’d never seen. When she looked around for the light she’d followed, there was no sign of it, save a black rock that lay at her feet. There were no other rocks anywhere nearby, so she decided this must be what had caused the torch-like light her tribe had seen. 

“She carried it with her when she returned to the tribe with news of water, and the Solimer took it as a sign of the gods’ favor. The chieftain had it bound in bronze” --he traced a finger along the lines of the coiled setting-- “to be worn as a way to hold that favor. It was passed from leader to leader and from all accounts they had far better luck surviving the desert than the other tribes for a long time.”

“Was that not likely just them knowing better how to handle themselves? If they traveled those portions of the desert more frequently, of course they were better prepared.”

“Maybe.” Red shrugged. “We have no firsthand written records from any of these tribes, just legends and history relayed orally. And a lot of the second-hand ones were... lost when the Autarchy came to power. From the way the stories run, after generation of favor from the pendent, it was lost when the Solimer were defeated in a skirmish over resources with another tribe. Their next several trips went so poorly it cost over half their number, and they wound up assimilated into other tribes within the next couple decades just to survive.”

“Sad,” Xaeryn murmured, though she wondered if the pendent’s loss had become a self-fulfilling prophecy if they believed in it that strongly. “And what happened to the pendent after that?”

“That’s all I know off the top of my head,” Red said sheepishly as he sat back, running a hand through his hair. “Anything more I’d have to research. To refresh my memory.”

“Oh, that’s all? Tsk, tsk, Liefred, you’re slipping,” she teased, then snorted a wry chuckle. “Of course, it’s more than I had.” She showed him the scant lines on a single page of her small notepad.

Red smiled at the sight of the shorthand and let the playful ribbing slide as he ran a finger over the page. “You tweaked it.”

“A bit, to make it jive better with detective work.” Xaeryn tucked the pad back in her handbag. She’d been so caught up listening to him talk she’d not taken a single note. “I’m certain you could work it out with a little time.”

“Oh, time-” Red’s gaze flew to the clock at the same moment there was a knock and muffled “Headmaster?” at the door. “Damn. Forgot I have a meeting.” He smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. “Tribulations of being in charge. Just a minute!” he called toward the door, then, to Xaeryn, “I can look into this more in my free time, if you’d like.”

What free time? she almost asked, looking at the stacks of books and papers everywhere. But she swallowed that in favor of, “That would be lovely, thank you so much.”

“Any specific information you need?” Red asked as they stood.

“Anything you can find is welcome, but specifically.... What happened to the pendent after the Solimer lost it, who would have claim of ownership, if ownership is contested... anything like that. I want to find it, but part of that may very well lie in figuring out who would have most reason to steal it in the first place.” Xaeryn pulled out a business card and handed it to him. “So I don’t wind up nagging you,” she laughed. “You can call when you find something. The telephone’s in my office, but I live adjacent, so I’ll always hear it.”

Red nodded and slipped the card in his pocket. “I’ll try not to take too long.”

“Much appreciated. Also...” She grimaced slightly. “This is something of a secret; the Couriers don’t want it being common knowledge.”

“Understandable,” he said as they started toward the door. “Oh, don’t you need this?” He reached back for the photograph and held it out to her.

“Yes, thanks.” Xaeryn smiled and tried not to let the flutter in her chest when their fingers brushed as she took it gain purchase. She slipped the photograph back in her handbag as Red opened the door. Given the student waiting in the hall, she was the picture of professionalism--aside from the twinkle in her eye--as she nodded farewell. “Thank you for your time, Headmaster.”

Several things flashed through Red’s eyes, the brief desire to strangle her, a loud burst of laughter, an eyeroll, but he settled on a warm smile, wide enough his dimples just started to show. “Happy to help, Miss Shrike.”

She was still fighting a grin as she turned to descend the stairs, heart practically singing with warmth. Of all the lovely surprises... Regardless of whether she succeeded or failed, this case was already among the most worthwhile she’d ever taken, simply for bringing him back into her life.

[someobscurereference]

Reading your Fire Emblem Fics again (All of them but specifically Mafia AU at the moment) and getting feelings about FE: Fates again and going, "I'm gonna play Fates!" And then realizing: "Oh right, Fates wasn't... Great". Anyways I love your Fics thank you for the Good Food.

(Ayy, reading Kimium's and mine's Mafia AU! Glad you're enjoying it!)

Listen, Fates is not Objectively a Good Game. However!!! It is Fun! At least to speculate about. The Revelations route is the true route and the best (+ easiest) one to replay for funsies anyway. The harder routes (...Nohr...) can be left aside for let's plays and wiki refreshes. But it can still be fun if you're not thinking too hard about it!!

[secret-engima]

ARCHER. A WARPTASTIC LC ARCHER. WITH A TWIN SKILLED IN SHORT STABBY THINGS. THEY CAN BOTH USE THE ARROWS- ALL OF THEM- AS WARP POINTS. So you think they missed you? Think again! You've just got knifed in the ribs from behind. Pinned the archer? Syke! Now on the other end of the battlefield. Up a tree. Laughing at you. Who needs a gun? On unrelated note, are my last asks still there? Or did tumblr sneak back in and have a snack?

...

........!!!!

NEW AU NEW AU NEW AU NEW AU. RAMBLE FICLET INBOUND.

...

-It starts with reports of a very strange daemon in the area, one that kept attacking Hunters only to retreat the moment they started to retaliate, almost like it was trying to lure them in a specific direction, or to guard something. Some Hunters had attempted to give pursuit, only to pull back the longer the chase went on, wary of walking right into a daemon nest. The daemon would then double back and harass them all the way out of the area, as if trying to incite the chase again. While at first Hunters just avoided the area, as the need for supplies and fast travel routes increased, more and more had to deal with the strange daemon, some nearly dying when the thing’s harassment hit a vulnerable area or its screaming attracted other daemons down on the Hunter’s head.

-There is no time to dedicate an entire party of Hunters to deal with the daemon, but something has to be done.

-Gladiolus takes the Hunt. Eager for any excuse to get out of Lestallum and its grim atmosphere, the ever increasing depression that comes from not having seen the sun in three long years. That comes from their only hope, the Chosen King (Noctis, his brother, his king, the king he FAILED) being missing with no sign of return.

-He does not expect this to be anything other than a Hunt for a particularly wacky daemon. It’s a three day trek on foot from Lestallum, out near one of the old, now thoroughly abandoned tiny burgs that had dotted the landscape. They don’t have any gas to waste for his trip, so he hoofs it there, sleeping on Havens and fighting his way through the ever increasing number of daemons that have figured out the day-night cycle is well and truly busted. He finds the area marked on his map and starts stomping through, making no real effort to be stealthy, but not enough to be noisy either.

-Sure enough. The daemon finds him. It springs down from a cluster of rocks, screaming and striking with long legs and sticky webs and Astrals does Gladiolus hate Arachne. Even if this one doesn’t have an entire brood of tiny minions to help it, it’s fast and it definitely wants his attention. He lashes out and scores a minor hit, nothing nearly serious enough to bring it down, and it turns and flees, just like the reports said.

-Gladiolus gives chase, and the longer he chases, the more convinced he is that he’s being led somewhere. It stays just far enough ahead to make attacking pointless, but always close enough he has a chance of catching up. He can SEE IT looking over its shoulder, making sure he’s following, sometimes throwing webbing at him like he’s an aggressive beast to antagonize into maintaining the chase.

-If this turns out to be a giant daemon nest trap, some kind of new tactic from the monsters, and he dies from it, Ignis and Prompto are going to be SO ticked at him.

-Gladiolus starts to slow down as caution wins over the desire to just get the Hunt over with, and the Arachne starts harassing him with increased vigor until it.

-Stops.

-It twists around to look in the direction it’s been going this whole time as if listening for something-.

-It screams in a tone of fury and desperation Gladiolus has never heard from a daemon before, a note that is so shrill as to be almost human again, and then it’s gone, crashing through the undergrowth at easily three times the speed it had been using to lead him on.

-It’s curiosity, even more than his task, that makes Gladiolus break into a flat run in pursuit.

-He breaks through the snarled, browned undergrowth and is surprised to find himself on a demolished property. A farm by the looks of it, ruined fields and a half broken house that must have been one of the first things to fall when the Long Night fell. There’s an Iron Giant there, and from the damage to the house, it looked like the thing had been trying to crack open what remained of the building for some reason.

-Survivors? Refugees that had tried to take shelter in the house since the nearest Haven was still a decent hike away?

-Gladiolus steps into the cleared out area, ready to fight the Iron Giant and the Arachne both before they could get to the refugees (assuming there was anyone still alive in the house), only to falter and gape.

-Because he won’t have to fight the Iron Giant and the Arachne.

-The Arachne is fighting the Iron Giant for him.

-He can’t help but stare, because while he’s seen daemons squabble sometimes, especially over a meal, he’s never seen something like this. The Arachne is screaming, an endless, shrill, desperate note as it crawls all over the Iron Giant, stabbing and striking and sparking, heedless that one of its own legs has already been crushed in the grip of its opponent when the Iron Giant flung it off the first time.

-The Iron Giant grabs the Arachne again with a bellow, flinging it into the ground with a crunch that makes Gladiolus flinch on instinct. The screaming hitches, almost like a sob. It’s the kind of damage that daemons do to people, not to each other, and it’s definitely the kind to make even the most territorial daemon back off. The Arachne crawls upright again as best it can and starts fighting again.

-The Iron Giant picks up the sword the Arachne had managed to shock out of its hand, and that’s about the moment Gladiolus thinks “screw it” and jumps in. He can take an Iron Giant and a half-dead Arachne, and if there are refugees in that house that the daemons are fighting over, sitting around gawking won’t help them.

-He isn’t sure how long it takes him to realize that the Arachne is leaving him alone. It’s sole focus is on the Iron Giant, and even when Gladiolus dodges in a way that puts him right next to the smaller, limping daemon, it ignores him in favor of screaming and fighting the bigger daemon. He doesn’t get it.

-The Iron Giant goes down with a gurgling groan of abused metal and he turns to face the Arachne, blade raised and ready.

-The Arachne keeps ignoring him. It’s dying. He can see it in the dark smoke leaking out of its wounds like blood, too fast even for the daemonic healing factor. Two of its legs are crushed beyond use and a third is dangling by a proverbial thread, part of its abdomen is caved in from being flung around. It staggers and drags itself away from the area the Iron Giant had been destroying, claws it’s way around the side of the house as Gladiolus follows with an increasingly bad feeling.

-Half-buried under a piece of rubble, there’s a cellar door.

-The Arachne shoves at the rubble, struggling to haul it away, panting a low noise with each move. Gladiolus raises his blade again. If there are survivors trapped in the cellar, he can’t let … it …

-He isn’t sure what makes him focus on the noise the daemon is making as it shoves aside the rocks and paws uselessly at the door, too weak to lift it open. But he does.

-It’s not a noise.

-It’s a word. A word and a bit of a word, like its part of a greater thought that daemonic vocal cords cannot convey.

-“Babies. M’babies.”

-Gladiolus stares. And thinks of a naga looking for its baby. Of the revelation of what the Starscourge was. What daemons used to be.

-Oh no.

-Please no.

-He takes the flat of his blade and pushes the daemon aside, trying to move it as gently as he can as far as he can. It finally notices him again, hissing and swatting the flat of his blade until it … stops. Watches him grab one of the cellar handles with his free hand and crack open the door all while keeping a close eye on the daemon, ready to finish it off in an instant. It still doesn’t move, even as he forces open the door and risks a glance down-.

-Light. Flickering light and the rusty noise of an old generator. Enough light to keep daemons from spawning directly inside the cellar, if not enough to keep them from entering through the door if …

-If the rubble hadn’t been hiding the door. Holding it down.

-No-no-no-no-.

-There’s another rasp from the daemon, a coo of sound from a rattling throat and within the cellar, there is movement.

-“Mama?”

-Astrals.

-Gladiolus is going to be sick, he just knows it. He is going to be sick and its that feeling that keeps him from moving, from doing the smart thing, the safe thing, and stopping the two children (CHILDREN) from crawling out of the cellar and catching sight of the Arachne.

-He isn’t surprised when they start crying. Start screaming as they rush and tumble to the daemon’s side, chanting the word “Mama” over and over.

-He isn’t surprised somehow, when the daemon- the MOTHER, coos at them, cradling their faces in her hands, trying to offer comfort even as she bleeds and bleeds and bleeds.

-Gladiolus slowly sets down his sword, wary of any OTHER daemons coming to the sound of crying and the smell of human children, but right now he … he has to help. With gentle hands, he pulls them away from the Arachne, doesn’t flinch when they turn on him, biting and scratching and screaming. He is startled, somewhere beneath the ache in his heart that is numbing his emotions, when the Arachne does not lash out and try to get her children back. She just- watches him. Coos at her children as her hands quaver and go limp.

-He wonders how long she’s been daemonified. How long she’s clung to … not sanity. But love. The love of her children that kept her from turning on them, that made her try over and over to lead uninfected humans to her children to save them.

-At least three weeks. That’s about when the first report came in.

-He hugs the children, not trying to move them more than a few feet away from their mother (he wants to prevent infection, if that’s even possible at this stage, but … he can’t just leave with them. Not yet.) They cry and fight his hold, but they are tiny and he is a soldier.

-Astrals they’re only three years old at best. Their mother is their whole world. Their only anchor that stayed even after the infection turned her into a daemon.

-And now they’re losing her.

-“P-Pan…” Gladiolus looks up sharply and finds himself locking gazes with the mother, there is an eerie sort of clarity in her eyes, a human clarity in an inhuman face that chills him. “Pan … do … ra…” The gaze flicks to the child pinned by his right arm, “Pan … do … ra…” Her gaze slides to the left child, “O … or .. i…on.”

-Pandora. Orion.

-She’s telling him their names.

-Her gaze locks with his. Her legs are gone now, dissolved into daemon smoke that is slowly climbing toward her spider abdomen, “Ta-ke … care … o-of…”

-The light snuffs out. So fast he almost doesn’t process the loss before she goes entirely limp and the smoke consumes her form. Damage done by the Iron Giant too great even for daemon healing. He gets the message anyway.

-Take care of my babies.

-Gladiolus stands up slowly, tucking his sword into his armiger with a thought as he picks up the sobbing children and slowly tromps down the stairs of the cellar, checking for supplies, clues, anything useful on autopilot. He finds a few toys that he tucks into armiger as well as some food (not much, hardly any, they must have been running out right before he took the Hunt), and a set of blankets that he fashions into a front and back child sling to carry the inconsolable toddlers. He’s got a long way to walk and he’s going to need his hands free.

-They stop crying audibly once he steps off the farmland’s grounds. Silence already drilled into their small heads by danger and … their mother. He can feel them crying though, confused and angry and heartbroken, wanting the mother who disappeared before their eyes to come back, not understanding why he was leaving. Or even who he was really.

-It’s a long walk back to the nearest Haven and from there back to the nearest outpost that might have someone willing to give him a ride to Lestallum.

-The entire trip back he watches them for signs of infection, gives thanks when the Haven gives no reaction to their presence, which was a quick way to see if someone was infected. Havens would flare if the Scourge touched them and infected people tended to get sick immediately after stepping onto a Haven. With the two toddlers there is no such reaction, so the likelihood that they’re clean (somehow) is high.

-He skips customs and checkpoints by using his Shield title and books it straight to a doctor to get them checked out anyway. A preliminary blood test comes up clean, but the doctor does note an anomaly in their blood that he intends to look into when he has time (so approximately never, Gladiolus knows, the doctors in Lestallum are always swamped and lab materials for testing is at a premium). After that Gladiolus carries the very quiet toddlers to the crummy apartment he shares with Ignis and proceeds to finally freak out. Quietly. So as not to wake up the two kids that passed out in the bed the moment he put them on the pillows.

-He texts Prompto and Ignis and thanks whatever is good in the world when it turns out that both of them are in town and willing to drop everything to answer his panic text.

-One very quiet powwow, story, and a lot of agitation later, Prompto offers to fill out the papers to put them in the Lestallum orphanage and Gladiolus nearly strangles his friend on instinct. Even though he knows it’s the right choice, he’s busy, the world is ending, he has no TIME for kids…

-Take care of my babies.

-He couldn’t. He couldn’t pass them off to just anyone and everyone he knows is as busy as he is.

-Ignis translates his agitation without issue and sighs. “You’re going to have to stay in Lestallum more often. And fill out paperwork for a new ration card.”

-He knows.

-“We all will I guess,” Prompto says lightly and Gladiolus stares. Prompto grins, a shadow of the smile he used to have, but bright nonetheless, “well, we’re all in this together right? We can take turns keeping them, that way we can still get most of our work done. I’ll bet Iris and Cindy will help too. Maybe even Cid!”

-Gladiolus could cry. Even though the hole Noctis had left was deep and weeping, a wound that had tried to pull them apart despite their best efforts, they’re still here. Still ready to stand with him in this … utter insanity.

-Ignis reaches out with gentle fingers and traces the dirty hair of Orion, the boy of the pair, “At least tell us their names before we collectively adopt them.”

-“Pandora and Orion,” Gladiolus murmurs, “no last name.”

-“We’ll sort that out tomorrow,” Ignis hums, free hand adjusting the glasses he no longer needs but wears anyway.

-And just like that, Gladiolus, Prompto, and Ignis are back together. A group again. A bumbling trio of brothers, united in their goal to care for another. But instead of the king-brother they still ache and search for, it is the two three year old twins the Arachne Mother gave Gladiolus. The grieving stage is painful to get through with them, but after it fades and they acclimate to their new guardians … the twins are sweet. Orion is the quiet one. Not very social to outsiders, someone who appreciated his distance (“Quite in character for an archer”, Ignis jokes and they all laugh, but somehow Orion gets a little toy bow for his next birthday and an obsession is born in the four year old). Pandora is … well.

-Aptly named.

-Trouble seems magnetically attracted to her. Thankfully harmless trouble, but even so. If it’s something that can be climbed, she will climb it, if its something that can be snatched, she will snatch it, if it’s a question her little 3 to 4 year old vocabulary can say she will speak it all while Orion trundles behind his sister, looking at everyone with big, thoughtful blue eyes that sometimes make Gladiolus’s heart stop and his brain think of another little boy (little prince, little brother) he once knew. But that is just coincidence and he pushes it away.

-Until it isn’t coincidence anymore.

-Until Orion and Pandora are five years old, bright lights and anchors in Gladiolus’s, Prompto’s, and Ignis’s ever darkening lives, and they get into a fight over who owns what toy.

-Gladiolus is not there for the fight, it was Ignis’s turn to raise them (with some additional help from Iris and Cid that he needed less and less as his blindness became less and less of a handicap) while Gladiolus helped with Hunts and with training the Kingsglaive alongside Cor, always pushing forward into the dark to find more supplies and more light and more room for refugees if they could.

-He gets back and isn’t even allowed to fall into his bed before Ignis is cornering him with shaking hands, “We should have kept a much closer eye on Noctis.”

-One, what. And two, ouch. Gladiolus growls, exhausted and testy and NOT in the mood for some kind of unexpected guilt trip only for Ignis to hiss, “I am not talking about That Day. I am talking about the road trip. We messed up somewhere, took our eyes off him for too long and now-.” Ignis stops and gives a watery laugh that alarms Gladiolus, “Now, impossibly, we have been blessed for it.”

-“Iggy, you aren’t making any sense.”

-“The twins have magic, Gladio.”

-Gladiolus freezes.

-He must have heard that wrong.

-Ignis senses his disbelief, his confusion, and repeats with a faint hysterical edge to his voice, “The twins. Pandora and Orion. They have magic, Gladio. They got into a fight over one of their toys and Orion set the curtains on fire. I tried to run over and nearly broke my glasses because Pandora had panicked and thrown up a shield around herself and her brother.”

-“That’s impossible,” he whispers back hoarsely even as his sleep-deprived brain flings up picture after picture of Noctis as a child, blue eyed and black, flyaway hair and sweet smile, bright giggle that filled the room with an oddly musical tone-.

-The twin’s eyes. Orion’s sweet little smile as he looks up from beneath his flyaway coppery brown hair. Pandora’s laugh that lights up a room as she scampers away from her latest mischief, a musical quality that comes out ever more strongly as she learns to sing along to the battered audio tracks Prompto keeps finding for her.

-Gladiolus is on the floor suddenly. He isn’t sure how. A blink and Ignis is crouched next to him and the twins are peering in the doorway, looking scared and concerned.

-The twins.

-His twins. The twins he loves with all his heart and soul, the twins who’s mother clung to humanity through sheer force of will long enough to save them.

-The twins with magic. Ignis wouldn’t lie. Not about something like this. And for all he was blind, Ignis had known Noctis the longest, known Noctis from the youngest age. He would know what magic felt like, what it sounded like, how little royals just coming into their power would use it-.

-The twins had magic.

-Noctis’s magic.

-Noctis’s kids.

-He blacked out to the distressed sounds of the children that were both his and now apparently his missing king-brother’s and Ignis’s exasperated calls for Iris to come help him.

(NEW AU. Calling it Last Stardust because I’m addicted to the song and it fits the space theme of Noctis’s and Orion’s name. Also Orion is going to become the archer LC and his sister is gonna wow the glaive and get her very own set of stabby kukri so there. Also also the last ask I have from you is the Obi-Wan Ulric one from the SW/FFXC crossover I played in forever ago.)

[luanna801]

Crazy Idea: Death Note AU with Babs as Light and Jim as Soichiro?

My first impression of Soichiro back when I first read Death Note was literally “Oh, he’s Anime Jim Gordon”, so I am way ahead of you, anon! ;-)

And on that note (heh) I have actually been kicking around a Batfam!DN AU in my head for a while, but with two Kira figures, neither of whom is Babs: Jason Todd, and James Gordon, Jr. 

(Both of whom, I think, are more likely to go the serial killer route than Babs would, though for very different reasons.)

Jason, in my mind, would be the one who reflects Light’s Well-Intentioned Extremist mentality (possibly more genuinely so than Light, depending on your interpretation of both characters). He’d basically target the same sorts of people he canonically does in the comics - crime lords, supervillains, rapists, and generally anyone he designates an “animal” who doesn’t deserve to live:

Just, you know, on a much wider scale than comic!Jason, since your abilities are rather more limited when you don’t have an all-powerful murder notebook at your disposal. And also like comic!Jason, I think he’d generally just quietly and pointedly take out whoever he felt deserved it, but he definitely wouldn’t be above making a dramatic example out of some people - this is the guy who once tossed a duffel bag of decapitated heads on the table to prove his point, after all.

(I think Jason would try harder than Light does to avoid killing actual innocents, and I think he’d probably focus more on corrupt power structures than we mostly see Light do. But otherwise, at the risk of ticking off some Jason stans their MOs wouldn’t really be all that different.)

So Jason would probably keep things largely in the morally grey, or at least morally understandable, as he does in the comics. Then on the other hand you’d have James Jr. as the copycat who loosely follows Jason’s MO in the hopes that people will assume it’s the same killer, but is actually far more interested in using the Note to experiment with different (increasingly sadistic) ways of killing people. He wouldn’t have any of Jason’s genuine sense of altruism, however (arguably) twisted or misguided that may be. He’d just be in it because he enjoys hurting people:

So, again, pretty close to his comic canon self. (I like to keep close to canon characterization, even in AUs.) And that difference between him and Jason would of course be what leads Bruce to the realization that they’re dealing with not one but two killers, similar to L’s deduction about Light and Misa in Death Note.

Because really, why settle for one “It was secretly my son doing this all along” revelation when you can have two? ;-)

I’m not sure exactly how the plot would go, but I feel like this is probably heading towards James Jr. trying to pin his Big Evil Plan TM on Jason, putting Jason in the classic awkward position of “Listen, I did indeed murder a bunch of people, but I didn’t murder these specific people”, which naturally the police would 100% not be buying. (Initially including Gordon, especially if he’s starting to realize the alternative is his son being the guilty one, though he’d come to his senses before the end.) And then you have Bruce being like “I am so incredibly angry and betrayed right now, but I also know what my son is and isn’t capable of, and I will fight to prove his sort-of innocence with all my power even though I really want to smack him upside his mass-murdering undead head right now”, and all that good familial drama.

As for Babs: I personally wouldn’t go with her as the killer in an AU like this, for the simple reason that I think we have decades of canon going against the idea that Babs is a killer. But I think even if she did give in to temptation and use the Note, she’d very quietly kill one or two very carefully selected people, and she’d never use it again. I can’t see her going the mass murder route, which is kind of necessary for an AU like this, so I prefer to use characters who have canonically shown themselves more capable of that kind of thing.

[my-creative-hell]

Strange children (inverted cryptid child au)

The winter air nips at Grave’s skin as she walks back home from her shop, through the woods she knew to be a shortcut. She had walked this trail many times, so the presence of thick snow that covered all the markings of the pathway didn’t bother her, the route clearly mapped inside her mind, well enough she could walk blind if need be. Therefore, her pace is leisurely as she walks, the cold not bothering her as it crunches below her feet, leaving behind pristine footprints. As she walks, a very small noise catches her attention, as it breaks through the almost silent air of the woods. It sounded slightly away from the trail, and seemed to be the faint sound of a snapping twig.

Grave pauses, looking under her own feet to see if she had somehow crushed a twig under them without seeing or noticing until just now. But upon inspection, she saw nothing, a small pit forming in her stomach as a wave of panic comes rushing in, a very normal reaction for Grave. Shortly following the snapping noise, another small noise rings out in the silent air, but it is not a twig. Most who heard it would say it sounded like a young animal, more specifically a form of baby bear.

Grave feels slightly happier at this revelation, having a love for baby bears in particular, finding them very cute and small creatures. But the sound comes again, this time sounding more like a baby bear in distress, the sound quiet and strangled sounding.

A sense of sadness washes over Grave, panic soon following as she wanders quickly towards the noise, going off of her mapped trail in search of the bear she assumed it was. It doesn’t take her long to find the source of the noise, though it definitely wasn’t a bear. As she gets closer, she can see two very small creatures, not much larger than cats, though one seemed to be larger than the other. They both had horns, though they seemed to be very small and rounded, almost covered by their brown speckled fur, which runs over their almost human anatomy, similar but not quite human enough, their feet, blackened eyes and animalistic ears making them look more animalistic, as well as their seeming lack of noses. Both of these creatures seem to be trapped in bear traps, the slightly larger one caught by one of its arms, while the smaller one seemed to have been caught on one of their legs, the spikes of the bear traps digging deep into the flesh, blood staining their slightly matted fur.

A massive wave of worry and panic over floods Grave as the creatures seem to notice her, both of them stiffening within their traps, where they had been previously moving to try and pull away from them, baring their teeth in a sort of attempt to be threatening, despite their small stature and desperate situation, their deer like ears laying flat against their skulls as they shake, the snow seeping into their fur and skin the longer they are forced to stay sitting on the frozen ground.

Grave pulls out a med kit she keeps stored in her bag, approaching the small creatures, who growl as she gets closer, trying to be threatening to deter this unknown creature. They yelp as she kneels down in front of them, teeth bared and ready to bite, if the creatures had the energy to sink their teeth into her, they surely would.

“Its okay, I’m only trying to help.” Grave speaks in a soft voice, though she was unsure of whether these creatures would understand her. They continue to growl as she grabs hold of the traps attached to them, quickly locating the release latches built into them, pulling the traps free from the creatures they had embedded themselves into. The creatures both let out a yelp that was almost a sort of scream, the smaller of the two unable to handle the pain, collapsing immediately as the larger one managed to let out a growl before its body seemingly gives in, falling limp to the ground.

A fresh, strong wave of worry flows over Grave as she gently picks up the small creatures to walk home. They whine as they are picked up, clearly in a lot of pain from the wounds, which had gouged out sections of their flesh. But in their current state, they had no chance of stopping Grave, even if they had been conscious enough to try.

Grave gently carries the creatures to her home, neither of them moving, the mixture of pain and blood loss keeping them unconscious as Grave brings them inside her house.

Once inside, after shutting the door behind them, Grave brings the two creatures into her unfurnished guest room, one of the only things inside it being the bed. She gently sets the creatures down, fetching her med kit, proceeding to carefully clean and wrap the wounds that had been sustained from the bear traps, making sure to be careful to make it as pain free as possible, being kind to these new creatures. They never stir as she takes care of their wounds, only starting to wake a good hour later, their eyes flickering open as they both sit up very quickly on the bed they had been laid down on, the sheets tucked in, panic instantly flooding through the small creatures.

Grave sits in the room as well; though she doesn’t notice the small creatures wake up, too busy drawing something for a science project she was working on, not looking in the direction of the creatures. Their ears flatten against their heads as they see her, their natural instincts telling them they were prey in this situation, making them stay silent as they look around the unknown space they were in, which only spikes their fear and panic. By consequence, the creatures don’t pay much attention to it, finding it too much as they observe. This leads to the smaller of the two slipping off of the edge of the bed, unaware of where it had ended, yelping as it hits the floor with a solid thud, Grave flinching at the sound, turning around.

“Oh cool, you’re awake.” Grave speaks in a soft voice to try and keep tensions low. But nevertheless, the smaller creature growls in a low tone, backing away slightly as the slightly larger one jumps off of the bed, baring its teeth at Grave in a snarl, standing in front of the other in a protective stance.

“Ow!” Grave exclaims, covering her ears in slight pain at the noise, the larger of the two creature noticing this shift in behaviour, deciding to take advantage of it to escape, both of them operating on basic instincts due to panic. Both creatures go down on all fours, the smaller limiting the use of their injured leg as they speed out of the room Grave was in, locating a loose window, using it to squeeze out of the house, jumping into the thick snow outside, running through it as fast as they currently could.

Graves immediate worry and panic only grows by the second as she hears the creatures leaving, in no condition to be in the harsh weather outside. Her brain hurts, she is so worried as she listens to the retreating footsteps, growing fainter as she runs to grab her bike and coat, immediately following after the faint footprints left by the running creatures.

She cant have cycled more than a couple of minutes before she is able to notice a very small dirt mound the footsteps lead to, able to see a very small cave dug out underneath it, only accessible to the human if she gets on her knees.

Grave carries the coat she had grabbed but not put on, intending it for the small creatures as she gets on her knees to see inside the cave, the worry she feels making her heart beat loudly in her chest. She could see the small creatures, which were huddled at the back of the cave, shivering as they pull at the bandages wrapped around their wound with their teeth, not understanding the necessity behind them.

Graves worry increases as she tries to get to the small creatures, attempting to be gentle and show them kindness. The larger of the two notices her, baring its teeth as it tries to back away, the smaller one following, letting out a defensive hiss in Grave’s direction.

“Its okay, I’m not gonna hurt you. I promise.” Grave speaks in a soft voice, trying to comfort them. But the larger one growls quietly, both creatures pushing themselves into against the wall, their ears laying flat as the smaller one continues to rip at the bandages around its leg.

Grave slowly reaches one of her hands out, the creatures flinching at first, the larger one getting in front of the smaller defensively, waiting to be struck. After what feels like an eternity, the larger turns to watch Grave suspiciously, sniffing the air around her hand, not wanting to get too close, despite her not striking them yet, not entirely trusting anything that was happening.

Grave smiles gently, not moving so she doesn’t scare the creature as it continues to sniff at her hand, moving forward after a minute in order to get a better scent. When it seems to have finished sniffing Grave, it shuffles back slowly, moving back to the smaller one, who was still biting at its bandages.

“Heck.” Grave slowly puts her hand back down, huffing. She knew the smaller creature needed to stop biting its bandages, but she didn’t know how she could possibly even get close enough to stop it without scaring or hurting them. The larger one watches Grave, growling a little as it sniffs at the air, trying to work out what Grave wanted as she thinks for a moment on what to say.

“I don’t wanna hurt you. I wanna… keep you safe.” Grave explains in a gentle voice, keeping the sentence simple in case they couldn’t understand. The larger creature looks at her, ears raising as it stares, flicking its eyes down to its smaller counterpart, who looks tired as it shakes, much worse for wear than the larger one. It approaches the smaller one, a harsh growl coming out of its mouth, shocking the smaller one, making it leave its bandages alone.

“Thank you. Can you um… can you come here please?” Grave smiles, speaking in a gentle manner to try and calm the small creatures further. The larger one grabs the smaller, pulling them both forward towards Grave, though the smaller one whimpers slightly as its injured leg keeps hitting the ground as it moves.

“Its okay, I promise. I’ll take you home and help you the best I can.” Grave reassures them in her soft voice, feeling concerned for them, but happy they were starting to approach her. The larger of the two creatures approaches with the smaller wearily, still hiding the smaller behind it ever so slightly, who is trying to stay off of its bad leg.

Grave backs up out of the cave, uncovering the exit as she continues to worry about the small creatures, which follow her out. The larger one takes the lead, the smaller following it out in a slower manner as they both keep their eyes on Grave, not fully trusting her or her intentions.

“I can put you in the basket so you don’t have to walk. Its big so… yeah!” Grave offers, trying to comfort the things in front of her, watching as the small one flattens its ears, though the larger one growls at it, making the smaller flinch. The larger one approaches Grave more, getting closer as it looks apprehensive about the situation.

Grave wanders over to her bike as the creatures follow her, the larger right behind her, though it’s moving slower than her as the smaller drags themselves along behind them both. The larger tilts its head in confusion as it sees the bike, unsure of what it was.

“It’s a bike. I can um… go faster on a bike than I would just walking.” Grave explains, smiling gently as the creature’s ears flick, the smaller one getting closer, being grabbed by the larger as it senses the low body temperature. It pulls the smaller closer to it, both of them moving towards Grave and the bike, watching her.

“I um… I have to pick you up to put you in.” Grave explains carefully, bending down to the creatures level. “I-Is that okay?” She asks in a gentle voice, the smaller of the two cowering slightly as the other holds onto them, a softer, bark like noise coming from its mouth in response to Grave.

“Thank you.” Grave smiles gently as she wraps both creatures up in her coat, carefully lifting them up and setting them in the basket of her bike. The smaller one stays quiet, unsure of what to do as the larger one curls around them to try and keep them warm.

Grave gets on her bike, riding it as carefully as she could home, the creatures staying silent as they struggle to work out what was happening to them, all of this unfamiliar and new and frightening to them. Grave gives them a gentle bike ride for the few minutes it takes to get to her house, neither creature moving when they stop, feeling unsure.

Grave picks up the creatures once again, being gentle with them as she carefully brings them inside the warm house. The smaller one whimpers quietly, being shushed with a grumble form the larger as its ears lay a little flatter once they enter the house.

“I um… oh yeah!” Grave gently puts the two creatures onto her couch. “Stay here please.” She says as she goes to get the med kit, being quick about it as the creatures sit silently on the couch, confused by the new texture, and the softness of it. The smaller looks at its leg, noticing the blood seeping through the bandages as the larger one sniffs at it, concerned. Grave grabs the med kit, practically running back to the couch.

“No ouchies time.” She says, as she gets closer, the smaller creature flinching, causing the larger to look uncomfortable, eyeing Grave up, trying to figure out what she wanted to do.

“I’m gonna… fix your wounds. So you wont be in pain anymore!” Grave explains, the larger creature observing her face for a moment before quietly huffing, allowing her to get closer to them.

“Thank you!” Grave smiles, gently cleaning and rewrapping the leg wound of the smaller creature, the larger keeping an eyes on her as it moves on the couch, exploring the area slightly. The smaller one looks nervous as she helps it, avoiding eye contact with Grave in favour of looking down. Grave finishes as quick as she can, closing the med kit.

“I’m done! So um…” Grave trails off, thinking as the smaller creature moves its leg slightly, observing the bandages wrapped around it as the larger one comes back over to them, looking to make sure they were okay.

“Are you hungry? I have like… stuff here.” Grave questions in a soft voice, the larger of the two tilting its head at the questions, frowning slightly in confusion as the smaller bites its fingers gently, seemingly unsure of what to do and nervous.

“There is s o u p.” Grave says as she raises her hands, rolling herself into the kitchen in an absurd manner, standing up to make the soup. The larger creature jumps off of the sofa, landing flawlessly and dragging the other down, though they are slower to prevent hurting its leg. Both creatures sit on the floor, watching Grave in confusion.

Grave makes some simple soup for the two creatures, heating it up for them as they watch her from the floor, confused as to what she was doing, or why.

“Soup time, babey!” Grave exclaims happily as the soup starts heating, soon to be ready for the creatures to eat safely. They watch her from the floor; the smaller looking nervy while the larger looks apprehensive about the situation.

Grave taps her feet on the floor, impatiently waiting for the soup to heat, feeling as if it was taking forever as the smaller creature watches her, looking at her feet as they tap. It tilts its head slightly as it listens to and watches Grave’s feet.

“Soup!! Time!!!” Grave exclaims as the soup finishes, pouring it swiftly into bowls for the creatures. The smaller one backs up as Grave moves around, unsure, the larger following them to keep the smaller calm.

“Be careful please, it’s hot.” Grave warns as she puts the soup down on the table, the creatures coming forward slightly. The larger tilts its head, able to feel the heat coming off of the soup, confusing it as it sniffs the soups scent, curious about what it was and why it was hot.

“It tastes nice. Well, I think so.” Grave shrugs, smiling as the creatures continue to get closer, the small one being the first to dip its head, dunking its tongue into the soup, ears flicking as it swallows. The taste was nothing like what it had ever consumed before, but the smaller found itself not disliking it, which only served to further intrigue them.

Grave sits down next to them happily as the larger begins to eat the soup too, using its tongue to lap it up. As both creatures keep going, they gain speed, realising the soup was safe to eat, and that it even tasted good too. The deep hunger in their stomachs from lack of food was slowly beginning to be satiated as they lap up the soup.

Grave puts her head down on the table as the creatures eat their food quickly, dipping their entire heads into the bowls to get at the soup. Grave feels tired as the smaller one lifts its head after finishing its food, looking at Grave curiously, becoming less afraid of her, and more intrigued by what she was doing.

“I’m guessing you were pretty hungry. Two hungy bois.” Grave giggles slightly as the larger creature gives her a very small nod as both creatures start to feel more comfortable. The larger moves to the smaller, licking the fur on its face to clean off some of the residual soup they had both gotten in their fur, the smaller squirming slightly as it is cleaned.

“You probably need a bath.” Grave mutters, lifting her head off of the table as the smaller looks at her, eyes questioning her. But it stops, growling when the larger grabs its head, pulling it down to get at the sticky fur easier with its textured tongue.

“Lil fighty bois.” Grave chuckles as the larger creature grumbles to the smaller, licking its head in an attempt to clean it, the smaller looking irritated by the action. The larger pauses as Grave speaks, letting out a soft bark as the smaller shakes its still sticky head, trying to get the feeling off of its head. Grave gasps gently at the bark, feeling happy.

“Cool, it bath time babey.” Grave says, standing off of the floor and walking to go and run the bath for the small creatures, who follow her in curiosity, though they stop at the stairs, unsure of what they are. They look at them, confused, sniffing at them to try and figure out what they were and how they would move on them.

Grave runs the creatures a bubble bath, making sure to use soap for sensitive skin, making the water warm to further warm up the small creatures downstairs. It doesn’t take long for the warm water to fill the tub, Grave shutting off the water, going downstairs to the creatures by the stairs.

“Come on, its bath time.” She explains carefully, the larger tilting its head as it gets down on all fours. Tentatively, it places its hand on the stairs, jumping up one stair carefully. The smaller does the same, being more careful as they move up one step, not wanting to use its injured leg as it figures out the stairs.

“…Would you like me to pick you up?” Grave asks the smaller, noticing the slowness of its movements as it tries to scale the stairs. The smaller looks up at Grave, ears flicking back as it thinks, instinctively feeling a little more nervous. But it moves closer to Grave, one of its hands reaching out to gently grab onto Grave as a sign that it was allowing her to do this.

“Thank you.” Grave smiles as she gently picks up the smaller, carrying them safely in her arms up to the bathroom. The smaller creature clings slightly to Grave, unsure as they enter the bathroom, the larger following behind closely. As they enter the bathroom, the larger looks at the bath curiously.

“You can take your time. Its warm and… there’s toys too!” Grave smiles at the creatures as the larger carefully dips a hand in, ears flicking up at the warmth, leading it to climb into the bath, splashing slightly. The splashing intrigues the smaller, who now watches the water more intently.

“Want me to put you in?” Grave questions, looking at the smaller with a smile. The smaller makes a soft snorting sound in response; sounding like a pig as it squirms in Grave’s arms slightly, giving Grave conformation that it indeed wanted to go in the water.

“Guess I’ll take that as a yes!” Grave exclaims as she gently lifts the small creature to be near the water so it could touch and make sure it wanted to go in. the creature snorts again as it taps its feet into the water, creating small splashes, sniffing at the bubbles in interest.

Grave feels very happy as she giggles, gently placing the smaller creature into the bath, earning a squeal of joy from the small creature as it enters the water, the larger splashing it gently, both of them chattering their teeth like a dog might. The smaller ducks its head quickly underwater, staying underneath the surface for a while.

“You okay?” Grave questions, small amounts of worry creeping into her happiness. No sooner than she speaks, the small creature emerges from the water, spitting some out as it shakes the fur on its head, ears flapping around as it does. It makes another snorting sounds, looking up at Grave.

“Good!” Grave smiles, her worry dissipated as her feet tap on the floor, the larger snorting as well, its hands rising to rub at the fur on its face, attempting to clean the dirt ridden fur.

“Would you like help?” Grave asks as she sits down on the floor, looking at the creatures as the larger pauses, thinking for a moment as it looks to the smaller, letting out another snort in a form of acceptance.

“Good!” Grave says happily, scooting forward to reach the small creatures, gently scrubbing at their fur with her hands and fingers, watching the dirt come out into the bath water. She gently massages their fur to get them clean, spreading soap carefully over them to further draw out all the gunk they had gotten stuck in their fur after who knows how long outside. She watches as the creatures allow her to clean them gently, though the looks on their faces told Grave they weren’t used to this feeling. But as she keeps going, they start to relax, their eyes closing as their heads lean back slightly.

Grave giggles a little as she cleans them, happy that the creatures were starting to feel happy and safe in her presence, slowly but surely. The smaller sounds out a small chirp like noise, leaning into Grave’s hand as the larger does the same, nudging into Grave gently.

Grave’s feet tap on the floor with happiness as the smaller creature rubs its face against Grave’s hand, cooing gently as it does so. The larger shakes, flicking water off of it like a dog would.

“Really?” Grave flinches at the water, some splashing on her unexpectedly, making her smile as she speaks, the larger creature snorting in response as it scratches at its ears. The smaller simultaneously wipes at its face, the bubbles in the bath making it sneeze.

Grave bites down on her tongue, trying not to laugh as she looks at the ground, feeling way too happy as the smaller creature makes an annoyed sounding whine. Both of them move, leaning on the edge of the bath, trying to get out.

“Oof, okay, hold on.” Grave turns to grab the heated towels in the bathroom, the creatures climbing higher onto the side of the bath, looking like curious and excited children as they watch her.

“Here you go, wet bois.” Grave wraps the creatures in the warmed towels, the warmth and scent surrounding them, making them both freeze for a second as they process what is happening. The smaller burrows further in to the towel for more warmth while the larger happily flicks it ears around, chirping at Grave.

Grave’s feet tap more as she rubs the towels over the creatures to dry them off. The smaller one squeaks as it comes forward in the towel again, its ears flicking up, as it looks at Grave’s feet, beginning to mimic the tapping out of confusion and curiosity, Grave gasping quietly in response.

“I love you so much, oh my-” Grave’s mind screams pleasantly as the smaller creature stops tapping, tilting its head, its ears standing straight up as the larger stops as well, both of them watching Grave. Without warning, the smaller one coos softly, reaching for Grave from the bath, doing a form of grabby hands.

Grave gently picks up the two creatures, holding them carefully as the smaller one lets out a happy sounding noise, resting its head gently on Grave as the larger watches them, ears sticking straight up in a happy and open gesture.

Grave tries not to cry as she stands up with the creatures in her arms, walking to get a brush to untangle their fur with. The smaller one sees the brush, but it starts to look a bit more nervous at the sight of the prickly object, the larger one making a very small growling noise in response.

“Don’t worry, its fine.” Grave rubs the brush on her skin to show that it didn’t hurt. “See?” She questions gently, the larger creature snorting as it leans forward, sniffing the brush. It sneezes lightly as it moves back, allowing the brush to come closer to them.

Grave gently starts to run the brush through the creatures fur, wanting to be as kind to them as possible. Both creatures very quickly realise this kind of contact feels nice, both of them starting to lean into both the brush and Grave, a small purring noise coming from them both.

Grave keeps herself from crying out of joy as she gently runs the brush over them, the creatures allowing her calmly in their realisation that it felt nice. A few minutes of brushing and the fur is smoother and easier to run the brush through, the tangles and mattes gone as the creatures shake themselves to make the fur lie more comfortably, a funny noise escaping them as they do.

“Lil noise bois.” Grave comments sweetly as she puts the brush away, moving from the bathroom to the warm bedroom, sitting down on the bed as she holds the two creatures. As she sits down, the smaller of the two makes a noise a human baby might make, clinging gently onto Grave, finding her a warm and comfortable presence.

Grave squeaks quietly as she holds them, feeling too happy as the smaller responds with a squeak of their own, the larger one flicking its ears, sticking out a finger to poke the smaller one, Grave looking down at them.

“How old are you guys? Like, I know you’re probably really young or something…” She questions, the larger one seemingly thinking over the answer, counting on its fingers before holding up three fingers to show Grave the age of the creatures she was holding close to her.

“Oh, oh you’re so small!” Grave exclaims, a slight wave of worry passing over her, though it vanishes as fast as it came on. “I’m glad I found you.” She says sweetly as the creatures both look at her, their heads tilted as their ears stick up. The smaller one makes a quiet noise, gently pawing at Grave’s face.

“Aw, yes paws. I love those on my face.” Grave giggles as the creature makes another small noise, continuing to pat Grave’s face with its hands gently, being careful not to hurt her.

Grave softly pets both of the creatures, her hands gentle and warm, making the smaller one purr softly. But Grave can hear something else besides the purring, too faint and small to make out at first.

“Hmm?” Grave questions, confused as the smaller creature drops its head slightly, ears shaking.

“g – g l a d   y – y – y o u   f o u n d .” It says in a soft and sweet sounding voice, quiet and hushed as it comes out of its mouth. Grave smiles the biggest smile she was capable off, her joy overflowing as the creatures look at her for a moment before mimicking the smile, revealing their teeth to Grave, some of them missing.

Grave gives out a small squeak, tears welling up in her eyes, which the creature notices, the larger one patting her face now as they tilt their heads.

“w – w r o n g ?” The larger one questions in an equally small and sweet voice, seeing the tears welling in Grave’s eyes as a bad sign for what they had done.

“Happy!!!” Grave explains as her feet tap on the floor, the larger creature smiling again as they both cuddle up to Grave for her warmth, both of them starting to see her as a safe place for them to be.

Grave gently squishes the creatures as happy tears roll down her face, her brain screaming out of happiness. As she squishes the creatures, she can feel them relaxing instantly, leaning into Grave gently as everything that happened to them over the day sets in, making them sleepy and tired.

“I love you.” Grave says in a soft voice as she closes her eyes, the creatures relaxing more at the words, gently clinging onto Grave as they softly whine.

“So somft.” Grave comments quietly as she herself starts to feel sleepy. The smaller creature seems to pick up on this, soft noises coming from it as the creatures warm up more on Grave as they get sleepier.

Graves heart feels happy as her sleepiness grows, her mind full of happy thoughts as the smaller stirs slightly, shifting to push Grave gently down on the bed, curling up on her when its done, breathing evenly as it lies on Grave.

Grave lays down on the bed happily, feeling like she would soon fall asleep as she looks at the creatures who were laying on her, both of them breathing deeply, their ears flapping around as they are on the edge of sleep.

“Night, sleeby bois.” Grave smiles as she falls asleep, the creatures following suit, letting out soft chirps as they too slip into sleep, feeling safe and warm and protected on top of Grave, a deep bond beginning to form between the human and the creatures.

[sanjuno]

Ummmm howabout a one piece time travel fic of your choice?

(1/32 SI Promptfest)

The sea is a treacherous bitch, and I have never hated being proved right more than the moment I realized that the undertow that drowned mereally did come out of nowhere just to drag my ass away from shore. How, you ask me at this point, did I know my bitter sarcasm was more than simple railing against my unfortunate circumstances?

The giant glowing sea goddess clad in sea foam and coral tipped me off. A smidge. Just a wee little bit of a hint there.

Terrible and majestic, the Ocean spoke in a voice like the waves crashing against stone. ‘My son will appreciate the help you canprovide, Occhio D Vittoria.’

“… eh?” I was understandably suffering a bit of a BSOD inthe brain, between the worldview shift required when a technical atheist meets withthe divine face to face and the oxygen deprivation. The Ocean then proceeded to slam me head-first down a whirlpool before I could even get a complete word out, and then pain from the bends set my blood on fire.

Needless to say, I was not in the best frame of mind when Iwoke up still under the water. “That’s not my fucking name, you salt-soaked whore!”

A rather scandalized clownfish burbled at me in shock, retreating into its anemone. It took me longer than I care to admit to realizethat I was actually breathing water rather than using a self-taught diving trick to recycle old air. Hard on the heels of that revelation was the notice that my legs had been replaced with a fishtail. Specifically, I was sporting the iconic ray-finned crimson-and-neon barbsof a clearfin lionfish.

“…” I stared for a good long while, trying to make sense of what the hell was going on. This was a situation that called for a witty one-liner. “… Well if I have to be a male-gaze fantasy trope at least I get to be a venomous one.”

… Eh, good enough. I always did have a habit of identifying the benefits of any given situation, and being neurotoxic was a fairly decent defense mechanism when all is said and done. Next step was movement, fairly easy to adapt to given that despite the surface characteristics my tail was still jointed like an aquatic mammalian.This meant I propelled myself with the vertical kick I was familiar with from when I still had legs rather than having to learn how to steer using the lateral movements of an actual fish.

Bonk!

“Mother of fuck!” One hand pressed to my brand new brain injury, I slapped the other one forward to press against the glass wall. Now that I was paying attention to something other than my new meatsuit, I recognized the not-quite-mirror quality of aquarium glass. “Oh, you’ve got to be fucking with me.”

I was in a honest-to-goodness fishbowl. What in the name of all that was held sacred did the Ocean think she was doing sticking me in a fucking aquarium? Was this vengeance for the time I let my mother help me clean my fish tank and she accidentally boiled my placo?

Holy shit I hopenot.

Pressing my face up against the glass I could see… wanted posters. In a… more-than-slightly-familiar printing style. Hm.

My fins flared out in shock as I stared at a wanted poster for Portgas D Rouge. There were other posters, all of them bounties for female pirates. Those, combined with the questionable taste of the statuary bolted to the floor, told me exactly what kind of situation I had ended up in.

I was in One Piece, I was a captive mermaid, and my ‘owner’had a fetish typical of the series’ stock of minor villains. A perversion that was played up for comedy during the build-up and action events while actually being beyond horrifying when realistically considered. I was trapped inside the glass, and swallowing back the surge of fear made me acutely aware of the pressure of what I presumed was a bomb collar around my neck. I had no resources, no allies, no clue what I was even doing in this world, and no realistic hope of rescue.

I was, in short, completely doomed unless the Ocean decided to take pity and toss a miracle or two my way.

BOOM!

Well, ask and ye shall receive… at least so long as the Ocean Goddess still has a use for me, I suppose. The water in my tank vibrated, the walls of the room outside of it shaking madly as what I assumed was a Grand Line style brawl grew closer. An ugly man, made recognizable to me by his inbred ugliness as a World Noble, flew through the far wall to crash into the memorabilia shrine. The posters and broken pieces of plaster flew up into the air.

I am Canadian to my core, and also a mouthy shit with no shame, so I threw my arms in the air and made like a bullhorn. “GOOOOAAAAALLLL!”

The man dramatically emerging from the smoke in a predatory stalk promptly stumbled as he sputtered. Two smaller bodies shoved around his knees to stare at me curiously. The view was a bit distorted, but it was hard to mistake those two particular children for anyone else.

Blinking, I took in the sight of Portgas D Ace and Monkey D Luffy in all their tiny, childhood glory. For some reason they were dressed in the tattered remains of tropical print sundresses. Which really did not make me feel any better about how they had managed to end up in the same room as my cage. Then I lifted my gaze to the adult accompanying them and felt my eye twitch.

It was an adult version of Ace, tattooed front and back with an elaborate phoenix-and-wave design that I had never managed to draw out quite to my satisfaction. Well, at least if I had to be a victimized minority in One Piece I was in a fix-it AU and now I knew how to create a situation where I could make the most of it.

“Hi, Riot!” I waved cheerfully, hoping against hope that anime physics would come into play and let my voice carry through the glass. “Could you be a dear and get the key to this bomb collar before you completely destroy that asshole’s everything?”

“Hi, Pretty Fish Lady!” Luffy waved back, and oh, look at that. There were den-den mushi installed on either side of the glass for easy communication. That made better sense. “Do you know my big brother?”

“I saw him be born! A real firecracker, your big brother.” Technically I am actually telling thetruth, which is great because Luffy is oddly perceptive about things like that. Riot gave me a sharp look, and I winked at him trying to mime holding a crystal ball, hoping he would pick up on the wording and… yeah, there it was. Thank you for your reputation, Madame Sharkey, and let us all hope I never get called out on borrowing it.

“Stop right there, pirate scum!” The man who rushed at Riot was dressed in white, and… yep. There was that sand-blasted awful coat with the hideous epaulettes.

Carnage ensued. The glass of my tank got broken as Riot’s fight with the Noble’s Marine bodyguard ramped up, and I had a terrifying flashback to the time my five gallon tank got shoved off the table and broken glass sliced my betta in half. Luck and possible divine intervention allowed everyone involved in the confusion to avoid gaining a serious injury from the glass shards. Ace proved that his pick pocketing skills were still sharp when he rushed over to me with a stupidly elaborate key ring in hand.

Key in lock and turn and yes! Free!

I ripped the collar away from my neck as soon as the clasp popped loose, glaring at the Noble only just managing to pull himself free of the pile of debris Riot had buried him in. He needed to be buried deeper and I needed my fucking legs back!

A lurch, like when your gut drops out from under you on a roller coaster.

“HA! Feet! Score one for maturity!” I am a very mature and poised individual indeed. Ask anyone. I am also really glad for the worldbuilding that means despite being a mermaid, as an adult I can have feet whenever I need them. Certain people just really need a good curb-stomping, and it is hard to deliver such without heels to slam down into tender places.

I might also have fed the Noble the bomb collar. After arming it. In retrospect, I have no idea how I managed to avoid making a horrid mess of myself.

… Honestly I think I just got caught up in the moment. Also I have a very low empathy score and a duty to future generations to remove certain bad influences from the gene pool. Especially when said bad influences make creepy comments about small children and their ‘uses’.

Noting that Riot seemed to be finishing up his fight, I grabbed one of the wrap dresses from the wreckage of the armoire and cinched it tight, vowing to change into something with a less tainted providence at the first available opportunity. Then I slung the children over my shoulders like particularly vocal grain sacks and headed for the stairs. Predictably, things started to explode as Riot put the Marine down for good. I was already up on the deck with my wiggling burdens by the time a massive fireball chewed through most of the Noble’s ostentatiously gaudy ship.

Riot emerged from the flames, predictably unscathed, and the Marine was nowhere to be seen. He stared at me, I stared back at him, and Luffy whined into my shoulder-blade about me not letting him watch the end of the fight. “You’re a mean Fish Lady.”

“Little fry should not be fighting sharks.” I told the youngest boy even as I tossed Ace at his older counterpart and re-secured Luffy before he could slip free. “Salut, cousin. I appreciate the assist and the chance to get my own back. Although I do hope you have an escape route in mind.”

“My ship is right there.” Riot caught Ace without pausing stride and motioned to where a galleon flying a jolly roger was pulling up broadside to the rapidly burning vessel. The light from the flames made it easy to see Riot frown, his entirely understandable distrust of strangers warring with the reality of the situation I was in when he found me. “… Are you comingalong?”

“If you don’t mind the company.” I smiled at him as we began to move towards the pirate ship and pulled the one bounty poster I had made a point of picking up out of my pocket. “It’d be nice to get to know Miss Rouge’s sons.”

Riot flicked another searching look at me while Ace gaped at the picture of his mother. It was probably the first time the kid had seen her face. Hells bells, they were young. I still had a decade on Riot at this point in his life, more than twice that on Ace and Luffy. Still, time to make the most of being the eldest.

“The name’s Occhio D Vittoria, pleasure to make your acquaintance.” … Aw fuck no. That was not my name. The Ocean was still playing silly buggers and I did not appreciate the sudden re-branding at all.

… Oh shit, maybe the D stood for Drowned.

[tyrannysaurusfloof]

Pistrix (Human Sides AU) - 4

Summary: A lone mansion sat on the cliff overlooking the sea. Locals told stories of the sea monster that called the mansion it’s home, and affected all around it, including the abandoned beach. It could be summoned, they said, by a single person sitting on the beach at night, as someone said a prayer to the cracked mirror in the hallway of the mansion. When Roman hears of these rumours, he wants to explore the house, and summon the monster from the depths. Unluckily for Virgil, he’s the one chosen to sit on the beach and wait for the monster to appear. And when it seems to take a liking to him, Virgil learns that the sea is a treacherous place. Chapter Summary: Roman and Logan know something is wrong with Virgil, and through clever means, Logan deciphers a hidden message from their friend, despite his strange personality change. However, there are forces neither of them understand working against them, and Virgil once again finds himself facing a choice. Pairing: Platonic LAMP/Polyampsanders, Dark/Virgil Characters: Virgil, Dark, Roman, Logan, Patton, Deceit. Words: 4154 Warnings: Manipulation, slight non-con, thralling, weird eating habits, swearing. A/N: Sitting down and writing the full chapter in one day was an incredible experience xD considering that motivation was fleeting at first! For anyone intrigued by the story of Deceit, don’t worry, it will all be revealed in the later coming chapters! Part One Part Two Part Three

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Patton watched nervously as Logan and Roman discussed between them what could have caused Virgil to change so drastically.

“Logically, something could have happened that is making it difficult for Virgil to open up.” Logan murmured as Roman ran a hand through his hair, frustrated that they didn’t seem to be getting anywhere. “We all know he can have difficulty expressing himself if something happens.”

“Even when something has happened he’s never been like this before!” Roman exclaimed, “He doesn’t avoid us all the time, spend all his time at the beach and offer the silent treatment not only to us but everyone else as well. It’s just…logically speaking, it doesn’t make sense.”

“I agree with you Roman.” Logan sighed, “But I’m just trying to make sense of it all.”

Biting his lip, Patton forced himself to stay silent. He had made a promise to Virgil and he couldn’t just break it now, even if it was the most difficult thing he had ever done. And yet, he really needed to speak to Virgil, but he didn’t think he’d be able to excuse himself without it looking odd.

“Do you have any thoughts on Virgil?” Roman asked, banging his hand on the table to get Patton’s attention since his friend was so lost in his own world, and Patton jumped.

“Oh I…I feel we should talk to him?” Patton suggested, “I mean…if we can find out what is happening we might be able to help him?”

“A sound idea Patton.” Logan nodded in agreement as Roman breathed a heavy sigh. He had tried talking to Virgil and the boy had simply ignored him. Maybe he had been too forward? Patton was always good at talking to Virgil, and making him open up, but there was something odd about how Patton was acting as well and Roman was suspicious, so he turned to Logan.

“Will you talk to him, Lo?” He asked.

Blinking in surprise, Logan nodded, “Yes I can talk to him. Virgil has already responded favourably to me during times of excessive stress in the past.”

“Well, he listens to me as well.” Patton put in, “Maybe I should take to him first kiddos.”

“I don’t think a soft touch will help right now.” Roman disagreed, “But if Logan fails, you can have your go Patton.”

Swallowing his argument, Patton simply nodded once to give his agreement. If he pushed any further, than Roman would know that there was something between him and Virgil, and that Patton knew more than he was letting on. Would Logan be able to get the information from Virgil? Until Logan had spoken to their friend, Patton would have to hold off, but when Logan and Roman began to talk again about all the odd things they wanted to talk to Virgil about, Patton texted him quickly.

Heads up kiddo, Logan is going to come and question you about your odd behaviour. I hope you’re okay!

No reply came through before Logan excused himself to go to Virgil’s home and speak to their friend.

–

Virgil was dripping wet when he opened the door to Logan, and he had a rather blank stare as he stepped aside and let his friend in. There was an odd smell in the house, and as Logan followed Virgil through the house and into the kitchen, he found out exactly why. Sitting on the kitchen table was a plate of raw fish. Frowning and wrinkling his nose, Logan tilted his head to the side as he examined the plate. It wasn’t just the flesh of the fish on the plate, but a full fish from the monger, with the scales picked away and bite marks taken out of it. With Virgil being the only one in the house, it was easy to tell who had been eating the fish and it made Logan feel a little bit sick.

And why was Virgil soaking wet and fully clothed? It wasn’t raining…so he must have either been sat in the shower or in the bath itself, which was odd.

They really should have done this intervention earlier.

“How are you feeling Virgil?” Logan asked, taking a seat at the table and trying to swallow his disgust, “Patton and Roman are worried about you.”

Silently, Virgil stared at Logan, sitting opposite his friend and beginning to pick at the fish again with his hands, ripping pieces of flesh off and chewing them slowly, keeping his eyes on his friend and Logan shuddered. This was not something he had wanted to see, but he didn’t allow it to put him off.

Virgil didn’t like fish.

“We’re supposed to be picking partners for the final chemistry project soon.” He said, deciding to take a different route and Virgil blinked and paused eating. “It’s a shame we’re not in the same class this year.”

“I…yes.” Virgil nodded, “It is.”

Good, he’s speaking. So, don’t ask him if he’s okay and he’ll respond as normal. And if I try hard enough, I can find out some information, Logan thought, already beginning to form a full hypothesis on what was wrong with Virgil.

“Have you got any idea what you’re going to do?” Logan inquired, “You’re normally well prepared.”

Virgil shrugged, and the movement seemed stiff and painful, which Logan noted as well. “Does it matter?”

“Of course.” Logan frowned, “The mark in this chemistry exam is half the final grade. I feel you should be a little more concerned.”

“I don’t know Logan, I’m just not feeling it right now.” Virgil murmured, “Can you help me?”

Logan didn’t miss how Virgil’s eyes seemed to glow red and blue before settling back to their normal, deep brown and his concern only grew. It didn’t sound as if Virgil was actually asking for help, and yet there was a significant plea for help hidden in Virgil’s calm words. He was panicking, freaked out by his own actions, and yet there was something stopping him from being able to sink into an actual panic attack and Logan didn’t like it.

“I can help you find a good project to work on.” Logan agreed, “How about we go up to find your chemistry text books?”

Nodding, Virgil stood silently and walked upstairs, leading Logan into his room and rummaging around a bookshelf until he withdrew a simple textbook and handed it to Logan with the Periodic Table open on it. Without a word, Logan took the book and waited for Virgil to settle himself.

“We can do some basic revision first if you want?” He suggested, guessing that was why Virgil had handed him this book specifically, and Virgil nodded. Thinking quickly, Logan devised a method within seconds of how he could potentially get a message from Virgil through their revision. Taking out a book and pen, he gave a small smile, and nodded at the Periodic Table. “Name me as many elements as you can remember to start.”

“Helium, Sulfur, Indium, Silicon, Dysprosium, Einsteinium,” Virgil began, and Logan scribbled them down quickly, highlighting certain parts of the words as a message began to slowly spell themselves out.

He’s Inside.

“Hydrogen, Europium, Strontium, Cobalt, Nitrogen, Thallium, Radon, Oxygen, Lutetium, Lithium, Nitrogen, Gold, Mercury.”

He’s controlling me.

“Holmium, Erbium, Lanthanum, Phosphorus, Meitnerium.”

Help Me.

“You’re jumping all over the place.” Logan murmured, his heart hammering as he read over the words again and again. So many more questions were brought up by this revelation. Who was he? And how was he both inside Virgil, and controlling him? Glancing up at his friend, Logan found Virgil staring at him intently, and as he made to write something else down, to see if he could ask certain questions through writing, Virgil’s hand shot out and grabbed his wrist.

“No one can list the periodic table in order.” He stated firmly, “Thank you for coming over Logan, but I think I can choose a project myself.”

Logan found himself unable to speak, only stand when Virgil pulled him to his feet. As he went for his notebook, Virgil snatched it before he could, and Logan couldn’t argue. He had a lot of notes written in there that he needed, but as Virgil began to direct him down the stairs and out of the house, he couldn’t reiterate that.

“I’ll see you in school.” Virgil murmured, and the door shut in Logan’s face. As soon as Virgil was out of his view, Logan blinked in confusion. Why was he here? Why was he talking to Virgil again? And why did his bag feel a little lighter than before. Shrugging and deciding to head home, Logan didn’t look bad.

Had he, he would have seen Virgil standing at the window watching his progress, the page containing his plea for help held in his hands. In one single move, he ripped the page in half, pulled his jacket on, and left the house himself, heading for the beach.

–

“Did you speak to him?” Roman demanded as he slid into a seat beside Logan in the library the following morning.

“Who?”

“Virgil!” Roman hissed, ducking his head when the librarian shot an angered look at him, “You went to speak to him yesterday and we just didn’t hear anything else from you! What happened?”

“He wouldn’t talk.” Logan replied calmly, “I think we should just give him some space, something may have happened that he doesn’t want to talk about. Space might help him.”

Groaning, Roman let his head drop down onto the desk, and he was still there when Patton arrived.

“What’s wrong kiddo?” He asked softly, taking a seat himself even as he bounced one leg trying to keep himself from chasing down Virgil, who had entered the school building just before him and ignored any attempts Patton had made to talk to him.

“Logan’s attempts to talk to Virgil failed.” Roman muttered into his arms.

Rolling his eyes, Logan adjusted his tie and shook his head, “If Virgil does not want to talk, then we cannot make him talk. Do not be dramatic Roman.”

“There’s something terribly wrong with our friend and you’re telling me not to be dramatic?!” Roman exclaimed, and the librarian shot them a dirty look again. Patton returned with an apologetic look, and dragged Roman and Logan to a more secluded corner of the library by their arms. “We have to do something.”

“There isn’t much we can while we’re stuck in school.” Logan muttered, “Just leave him be.” Pulling his arm out of Patton’s grasp, he slung his bag over his shoulder and stalked from the library, leaving an extremely frustrated Roman and worried Patton alone.

“Now there’s something wrong with him.” Roman snapped, “Patton what is happening?!”

I should tell him, Patton thought softly, he might be able to help. And yet he still couldn’t bring himself to form the words and tell Roman what was going on. Was this to do with the sea monster? He really wanted to figure it out himself before he broke his promise to Virgil.

“Just…keep your eye on him today Roman.” He whispered instead, “It’s Friday, and you’ve got your art trip today to the beach. When we’re out of school this weekend, we can work on a plan.”

Roman did not look happy, but he nodded and grabbed his own bag. Patton watched him go, his stomach twisting painfully.

–

Virgil seemed happy for Roman to sit next to him during their journey to the beach, but he still remained silent, staring musingly out of the window and tapping his fingers against the glass. It was extremely hard for Roman to bite his tongue, but he did, drumming his own fingers against his legs and humming to himself. Music always helped keep him calm. As the class filed off the bus and towards the entrance to the beach, shivering at the rather chill wind blowing at the top of the cliffs, Virgil approached the teacher, with Roman quick behind him.

“I want to sketch from the cliff’s first, miss.” Virgil stated. “Please.”

“I don’t see a problem with that.” Their teacher agreed and Roman swallowed nervously, “As long as you come down onto the beach soon Virgil. Roman, please stay with him, as long as you’re together, I’m happy.”

“Sure thing.” Roman agreed.

Why did this feel like a bad idea?

When they were alone, Virgil walked towards the edge of the cliff overlooking the sea, dropping his bag onto the ground and looking over the choppy waters. It was a violent sea, and Roman was extremely cautious about getting close to the edge, but Virgil didn’t seem to have the same apprehension. As his toes went over the edge of the cliff, and he raised his arms as if to dive, Roman’s stomach dropped and he rushed forward to grab his friend and pull him away from the edge. This was insane! How could Logan say it was okay for them to leave Virgil alone?!

“Stop!” Roman screamed, “Virgil please!”

His hands wrapped around the edge of Virgil’s arms, and he yanked him away from the edge, but as soon as he did, Virgil’s calm demeanour dropped and he began to struggle.

“Let me go!” He cried, “Let me go!”

The two wrestled on the edge of the cliff for only a moment before Roman’s foot slipped and he went flying over the edge. As he went careening towards the sea, his eyes met Virgil’s, and he saw for an instant that his friend looked extremely panicked. It was an expression that he had seen a lot of times before, and despite the situation, it was comforting to see Virgil really coming back into his own. Closing his eyes, Roman accepted this was probably it.

As Virgil watched Roman plummet of the edge of the cliff, something inside him snapped, and the control placed on him from Dark disappeared.

“Roman!” He screamed.

He didn’t think twice, didn’t allow the panic to set in, before he ran towards the cliff himself and launched himself off. Roman was free-falling quickly, having manoeuvred himself into a position where he would hit the water without it feeling like concrete, and now falling with his eyes closed. Virgil stretched for him, trying to grab his friend, bring them together, anything to mean he wouldn’t fall alone. As the waves rushed up to meet them, Virgil felt tentacles wrap around his entire body and snatch him into the water gently. Roman disappeared from view with a loud smash.

“You’re getting bolder.” Dark’s voice reached his ears as Virgil wrenched himself free of Dark’s hold and tried to swim in the direction of Roman’s fall.

“Fucking let me go you ass!” Virgil snapped, “I need to…Roman has…my friend!”

Here came the panic.

Huh. After a week of not feeling anything while Dark took residence inside him, panic was an odd thing to feel, but it was comforting as well. The sea monster did not seem impressed that Virgil had somehow come free of his control, but he merely watched the human struggle against the current to try and find Roman. He had to. His friend needed him. The entire week, Roman, Logan and Patton had been worried about him, and he had allowed Dark to just have complete control.

He could still taste the fish.

Disgusted, Virgil yanked himself away when Dark tried to wrap his tentacles around him again. Roman was his priority. And Dark, Dark was impressed the thrall was gone.

How nice.

He would have to turn up the control when this entire ridiculous scenario was over.

“Where is he?!” Virgil cried, casting his gaze around the darkened sea and not finding Roman around at all, “This is all my fault…I should never…w-why did I let you…fuck! Dark can you sense him? My friend!”

Shaking the confusion at the failing of his thrall out of his head, Dark hummed, “You called him Roman? He’s here, but he’s been taken, in a similar way to you.”

“What?!” Virgil demanded, “NO! By who?”

Cracking his neck, Dark drew Virgil against him and Virgil didn’t fight this time, too thrown by the fact that someone had decided to take Roman. Who else was in the ocean? Another monster like Dark? Would Roman be okay? Dark used his tentacles to tilt Virgil’s head up and he placed a gentle kiss to his temples.

“Did I not tell you once?” He murmured, “If you dive here during the day, you’re destined to meet someone else other than me. No one would dare touch you, not after you gave yourself to me, but any other humans are fair game.”

“Do you know where he is?” Virgil asked, “Please!”

“I know where he is.” Dark nodded, “But if I take you there, you’re going to meet some nasty people. Prepare yourself.”

“I don’t care!” Virgil snapped, “Just take me to him.”

With a snap of his fingers, Dark transported them from the choppy seas near the cliff to an underground cave. Ahead of them was another monster, and his body was curled around Roman. Virgil took a sharp breath. His friend was unconscious, head lolling backwards onto the monster’s shoulder but he didn’t seem to be injured, except for the snake body wrapped around him. The monster itself was somewhat disturbing as well. A sea snake tail, yellow in colour, and human above the waist the same way Dark was, with slightly yellowed skin. The scales of his tail spread to the left side of his face, and while on the right side his eye was normal, the left side was yellow with a slit pupil. Dark brown hair and a sneer on his face, this monster was something else and Virgil disliked him immediately.

“Deceit.” Dark purred, “Why am I not surprised that it’s you?”

“Oh you always say that.” Deceit smirked, “You brought your human with you? How sweet.”

“Yes, he wanted to come and find his friend.” Dark shrugged, “That one.” He gestured to Roman, held in Deceit’s grip tightly, and Virgil sucked in another breath. He was going to drop into a panic attack soon, if he didn’t get Roman free. He couldn’t allow his friend to get into this mess as well. Roman had a future, he had so much waiting for him, and being tied to a monster…no. This wasn’t going to do.

“Let him go!” He ordered, “Now.”

Deceit’s eyes flicked to him and Virgil shuddered, but tried to keep his cool. “Who are you to order me around?”

“He’s got me on his side.” Dark murmured, “And you know listening to me is good for you.”

“Sometimes.” Deceit said, “But not all the time. You’re not one to do things without a little bargain, and I’m feeling ready for a fight today. Besides, why should you be the only one with a human. I want one too.”

“We’re not pets!” Virgil protested, “You can’t have him.”

“Does he belong to you?” Deceit asked, tilting his head to the side and Virgil blushed.

“Virgil belongs to me, and no one belongs to him.” Dark supplied instead, “But if he doesn’t want you to own his friend, I will stop you.”

Turning to Dark, Virgil offered a tentative smile, “You will?”

Nodding, Dark pressed another kiss to Virgil’s temple, “Of course. But on one condition.”

Trepidation began to grow in Virgil’s stomach, but he swallowed it and nodded himself. Dark gave a sinister smile and wrapped himself entirely around Virgil, pinning him directly against his chest, lips hovering just over Virgil’s own.

“You let me in, but living on land as you are, I cannot have you as I want you.” He whispered, “If you give yourself to me fully, agree to come to me in the sea, and live there forever with me, then I will save your friend.”

“W-what?”

That was…how could he even agree to that? Leaving his world, friend and family behind and move to the sea permanently? Dark was already turning him into a monster now that Virgil had let him in, and it was only a matter of time before he couldn’t bare to be on land himself anymore. And yet…Virgil didn’t want to give up his life. Living under the sea was beautiful, and Dark’s words inviting, but he was scared. How could he go along with this, even with Roman’s life at stake. If he didn’t agree to this, Roman would die. And Virgil would be claimed by Dark eventually anyway. Why prolong the inevitable, and live with the guilt of killing his friend too?

Dark’s lips brushed his own and Virgil started violently, shoving the sea monster back.

“I want to set some terms of my own!” He stated, voice low.

Raising an eyebrow, Dark nodded for him to continue.

“You give me time on the surface, with my friends and family. Free of your control.” Virgil said, his heart hammering against his chest as Dark watched him with an unreadable expression, “I’m allowed to spend my last days on land doing as I please, with my friends, and then when that time is up, I will come to you. You will not interfere.”

“I can agree to that I suppose.” Dark confirmed, “Those are rather weak terms-.”

“I’m not finished.” Virgil interupted. “You have to make sure that he never goes after Roman, or any of my friends again, when I join you. That they will be safe.”

“I can do that too.”

“Good. Then I…I will accept.” Virgil had barely breathed out the words before Dark yanked him back in and crushed their lips together. It was always an odd sensation, kissing the monster like this, but somewhere in the back of his mind, Virgil enjoyed it.

Or rather, Dark made him enjoy it.

Pulling back, Dark tenderly wiped the tears forming at the sides of Virgil’s eyes with his thumbs and cradled his face. “Two weeks. I will give you two weeks. Now, be a good boy and wait for me.”

With that said, Dark clicked his fingers again. Before Virgil could even take another breath, he slammed hard into the grass of the cliffside, soaking wet and shivering and tasting Dark on his lips. Roman fell next to him almost immediately, shaking and still unconscious but alive and breathing. Creeping to the edge of the cliff, Virgil tried to see below the waves, to the fight going on between the two sea monsters, but all he was greeted with was the unforgiving surf that was soon to be his home.

Dark could see him, through the waves, and he ran a hand through his dark hair as Deceit slithered around him, looking disappointed, but impressed.

“That worked easier than you thought it would.” The snake said, “Impressive how foolish humans can be.”

“And funny for you to say that, Deceit.” Dark huffed, “Your assistance in taking the friend is appreciated.”

“Must you call me that name?” Deceit asked, “I much prefer-.”

“You gave up the rights to your human name when you agreed to come below the surf with me, Thomas.” Dark growled, grabbing Deceit as he tried to swim away and pinning him in place, “Don’t forget who gave you these powers, this form, and the freedom you wanted, and who could take it away just as easily.”

The look Deceit gave Dark as the monster released him was scathing, and with a flick of his tail he was gone, swallowed up by the darkening waters. Dark stayed for a moment longer until Virgil was no longer looking down over the cliff. He would have his human soon, and when Virgil had changed in a few decades to become like him, the hunt would begin again.

–

Roman woke to a very disorientating world and rolled over onto his back with a weak groan. The last thing he remembered was Virgil about to dive off the edge of the cliff, and Roman going over the edge trying to stop him. After that, it was black. Gentle hands gripped his shoulders as he tried to sit up and Roman hissed in pain, but cracked his eyes open and found Virgil’s face swimming above him.

“You’re awake!” Virgil exclaimed, and it was the most he had sounded like himself for a week.

“Yes. And you seem to be as well.” Roman pointed out, pushing Virgil’s hands off him and struggling into a sitting position. “How are we back up here? What the fuck is going on Virgil?!”

His friend looked sheepish, but determined, and it was with steely eyes that he stared at Roman. “I owe you an explanation. You, Logan and Patton. And after school, I’ll give it, I promise. It’s a tall tale.”

“What about?” Roman pressed.

With a weak laugh, Virgil rubbed at his eyes as he began to cry. “Sea monsters.”

[wily-one24]

I hope there's not a question limit per ask lol... Paint it Black: 3, 4, 5, 11, 12, 14 and 15 (or as many of those as you feel like answering lol)

Okay, two things.

A. Of *course* there’s no ask limit. I am an attention whore and will talk all day if you encourage me. Ask away!!

B. WTF tumblr? When I reposted that, it was a paragraph basically saying “ask about my fic!”, but now there are NUMBERED QUESTIONS? What? Where was the second half of that post when I came across it in my dash? 

ANSWERS

3. What’s your favourite line of narration?

Oh geez. How the hell am I going to answer that? I have favourite lines per chapter, I have favourite lines per scene! Each part I’m reading at any given moment happens to be my favourite. Every time I reread it, I find something new... and... maybe I suck for saying this... but I think “you’re a fucking genius”, then I get all sad, because I think that was probably one of the last great things I’ll write. I’ve been going downhill ever since... but anyways, to seriously answer your question, I’ll give a few examples... 

 - That face off scene between Regina and Snow, where Snow claims her father was a good man and Regina answers “To you!”, the entire scene is charged and emotional and brings up so much shit between them that was never explored in canon. 

- The flashback of Emma’s tenth birthday (technically collectively, all of the flashbacks, really. They’re angsty as fuck, but so formative in their characterisation that sometimes I forget they’re not actually canon). I have this habit of tearing Emma down to her bare bones and then trying to build her up again. I actually do this with most of my main female characters, and I do apologise for that Buffy, Kaylee, Veronica, Emma, and Alex. You all deserve so much better than me. 

- The scene where Regina is alone in the castle and revisits the old chamber of Leopold’s. It’s hard to read but that is some weird little cathartic release right there. There is some great imagery that I don’t think many people allow Regina when it comes to her healing. Everybody tends to go the “being married to Leopold was a BAD THING” route, without ever really exploring the day to day soul destroying aspect of it. The reality of being the King’s prisoner wife. But giving her the ability and strength to revisit it, so she can finally acknowledge to herself how damaging it was, to close herself off from it both literally and figuratively, and then to be self aware enough to compare that situation to the one she has Emma in. That is empowerment. 

- The parallel scenes of Emma and Henry at the start and the end of the fic. The first being when Henry is so adamant to rescue Emma and curse everyone again just to take them back... and the last where you can see how much indoctrinated he is into the fairy tale land, how much he is drifting from “our world” being the real one, to the fairy tale land being his reality, and how his morality has shifted... but then... he also brings it back by getting vulnerable and shows his concern not just for Emma but for Regina... which also shows great advancement from the child like black/white morality of good vs evil he begins with to an acceptance of a more adult grey-area morality, his willingness to examine the facts and the truth to make up his mind. 

All the minor characters... Nancy (sweet, voiced Nancy), and Miss Edith (poor Miss Edith), Rachel, all the little characters that had such minor parts, but had such great effects in the lives of our main characters. 

Oooh, writing Rumple was fun. I got to write him as nobody really does. As that creepy reptilian imp from the first few flashbacks in S1. Before they really woobified him. The hysteric giggling, maniacal creature who smelled the air and exuded pure malice. It was really enjoyable writing him like that. 

Well, this went terribly off topic... anyway, yes, flashback scenes and confrontation scenes, be they between Snow and Regina, Emma and Regina, Regina and Maleficent, Emma and Snow, Emma and Henry... it’s in emotion that the true power of the fic lives. 

4. What’s your favourite line of dialogue?

oh, this is harder than the first. It would take me ages to reread this fic (and now I most likely am, thanks) to really go through it and cherry pick my favourites. But, if a line has happened to truly hit home and resonate with you as a reader, it most likely did the same for me. I remember quite a few times writing this fic, thinking “holy fuck!” and knowing, just knowing, that it was definitely the line to write. 

5. What part was the hardest to write?

The first two chapters. Up until the pivotal moment where Regina heals Emma, those were difficult to write and definitely difficult to read. I’ve had many readers tell me they were about to give up, bc it was too much torture porn to enjoy, but that moment specifically was a turning point for them because it built up the trust that I could and would reign Regina in beyond the point of no forgiveness or return. 

11. What do you like best about this fic?

I liked writing it. 

It took me to some pretty intense places. Fic writing, for me, has always been a form of therapy. I work through to some pretty intense fucking emotions through the angst of it all. Like, no, I have never been magically transported to a fairy tale land, collared, enslaved, and held against my will for the sake of my family and community’s lives... but if you look deeper in my life at the time, I had just been through a pretty horrific pregnancy that nearly killed me, my spouse and I separated, and I was left ill, recovering, and a single mother of a toddler and infant. I felt like I was being ripped apart from all angles, forced into a live of servitude for the betterment of everyone around me at the cost of myself. Even, though, like Emma, I didn’t blame them, it was still a period of mourning and loss.

I didn’t realise it at the time. This revelation happened years later when rereading the fic and trying to see where all the emotions had been coming from. It happens a lot with some of my more intense, dramatic, and (strangely enough) most popular fics. I don’t always see the correlation to my life at the time, but if I look back I can generally trace the rationality behind what my muse was trying to work through. 

12. What do you like least about this fic?

The polarisation. The controversy. That fucking chapter fucking four. I still cannot reread that chapter without having to take a step back and breathe. That scene has some good imagery, but even now sometimes I just skip it. It’s not worth the shakes or unease or... ugh, just thinking about it upsets me. 

I made a mistake in the tagging and I learned from it, but holy fuck was I attacked at the time and used as a sacrifical cow to the radfems. It was, honestly, surprising to me. Not only the reaction, but the harshness of it, all the accusation and personal attacks aimed at me.  

I mean, I knew the fic was always going to be confronting to some. It dealt with some pretty hard issues and subject matter. I had warned for all the violence and non/dub con. But... I didn’t expect or prepare for the backlash in including a male, even if the male used was... just used... and never actually amounted to anything more than a tool for Regina to control/bind/further entrench Emma to her own will in one scene. 

I, very naively, went into it thinking “surprise!”, and that an almost canon past pairing that was heavily explored in the actual show would not be controversial in the least. More fool me, I suppose. I definitely went back to re-tag it, I apologised. I am not sure what else I could have done, but to this day this fic is held up as an example of queer baiting and everything wrong with false lesbianism. And it is definitely used as an example by biphobic people as to why bisexual women cannot be trusted as we’re all “really straight women at heart”.

To be fair, I never explicitly labelled the fic as “lesbian”. I begin all my fics (no matter how AU or ‘out there’) from a canon stand point. Meaning, everything that happened in the show up to that point counts. Which includes every prior relationship both Emma and Regina had been in up to the Season One finale. Which, surprise, were with men!! 

14. Is there anything you wanted readers to learn from reading this fic?

I don’t know if there’s anything they should ‘learn’, but I definitely hope readers realise that this is in NO WAY AN EXAMPLE OF A HEALTHY BDSM RELATIONSHIP. It is not meant to be a guide, a ‘how to’, or a ‘goal’. This is an incredibly fucked up way for two already fucked up characters, to find some kind of semblance of existence in a world/s stacked up against them from the very start. I didn’t think I needed to state that out loud, but apparently I had to. Many times.  

If not that... then definitely I hope perhaps some of the writing made people think about the characters more in depth, or differently, that it gave the reader a new way of thinking about the show and the storylines/characters in it.  

15. What did you learn from writing this fic?

Tagging. Tagging fucking matters. Tag properly. Like, just do it. 

In all seriousness, though... I think I learned a lot about my own trauma. 

I also think my writing developed throughout the fic. There is a definite shift from the first two chapters... you can definitely see where it became less of a short one off smutty fic set up and more of an in depth angsty character exploration of the soul kinda thing. 

I learned about set up and development and bringing in stray bits of plot development later in the story to tie up loose ends.  

[goddamnitdazai]

Hi. Can you write some headcanon with chuuya and his teenage daughter? And Dazai and his teenage son? (I’m really sorry for my english.)

your english is fine! ahh i haven’t written them in their dad aus for awhile. this may have gotten away from me oops

[ Chuuya ] {In my Dad AU for Chuuya his daughter is named Airi and what??  I have never thought about her entire personality or created a whole relationship??} • The first words out of his mouth when she comes flouncing out of her room in a skirt way too short are “Hell-fucking-no”. Chuuya has a very hard time letting his daughter grow into a woman even though he’s groomed her to be perfectly capable and independent, the thought of her having sex makes his skin crawl. Rather than argue with his daughter he offers to take her shopping for clothes that they both agree on; and he’s not stupid enough to fall for the change-of-clothes-underneath trick either. • Even if his daughter isn’t exactly the most athletic girl out there Chuuya makes martial arts or some kind of self-defense knowledge a rigid part of her life. He doesn’t expect perfection or for her to even enjoy it, but he’ll be damned if he lets his daughter go into the world without knowing how to defend herself or kick some poor sucker’s ass if they deserve it. • Having a close relationship with his daughter is extremely important to Chuuya. While he understands certain topics are left for you two only, he has always kept his mind open (even if he’s boiling on the inside) if Airi wanted to discuss something--specifically mistakes or things she feels she’s fucked up in her personal life. Chuuya has become a beacon of understanding and advice for her as she grows older and he’s never sugar coated anything with her--and he expects honesty from her as well. • Chuuya has never been completely transparent about his work. As she got older he was more comfortable telling her his big executive job was actually with the Port Mafia, but because they’ve treated his little family as an extended version of their own Airi wasn’t too affected by it. He does, however, insist she go to school and find a career she’s passionate about it. As hypocritical as it is seem he doesn’t want Airi to become a member of the Port Mafia. • Letting his daughter go on dates is hard enough but he tries to let her make her own decisions. He will let her know what she thinks of the person the moment she comes home, and if he gets bad vibes off the bat he cuts it off before they even leave for their date. Unfortunately for Chuuya Airi inherited his temper and they both end up blowing up on each other and slam the doors simultaneously (Chuuya tends to break doors where as Airi screams into her pillow). • Lord help the poor soul who ever sends a nude to Airi’s phone. If he catches it on accident while her phone is lying face up on the counter during breakfast Chuuya takes a picture of his gun as a response signed ‘Daddy’. No other context. • No matter how old she gets Chuuya always insists on going to dinner at a nice restaurant once a week just the two of them. He expects Airi to dress formally (which she does and loves) and he dresses in one of his best suits with a tie she picked out for him when she was ten. Splurging on his daughter is one of Chuuya’s weaknesses especially if he’s been working longer hours or she’s been out of the house doing her own thing for the majority of the week. He lets her have a single glass of wine (the most expensive kind) during dinner, but usually ends up getting a bit tipsy and has Airi drive home. She doesn’t mind though, she loves his expensive car and uses any excuse to drive it around the city. [ Dazai ] {Misaki is his only son in his Dad au}• On his 17th birthday Dazai gave him a box of condoms and proclaimed he doesn’t want to become a grandfather for a very very long time. He did this in front of all of Misaki’s friends--but they’ve been used to Dazai’s embarrassing antics. Nobody was surprised. He did buy them a keg for the party and hid all their keys away so they were forced to stay the night instead of trying to drive home drunk. The next morning Dazai instructed Misaki to clean up the mess because until he got married he would probably be cleaning up beer cans in his own apartment for awhile. • Dazai had never taken true mentoring seriously until he had a son of his own. Raising daughters was one type of bond, but having a son was a completely separate entity on its own. Rather than let Misaki make his own mistakes Dazai ended up flinging the opposite direction and for awhile was a bit too over-protective. He had to teach himself to ease back and let Misaki learn through his own experiences which led to their relationship changing when he was hitting his teenage years. Dazai stopped snooping through his things, but he still never let him get away with a lie--Misaki was always confronted when he broke house rules; and still is.• School wasn’t exactly something Dazai forced into Misaki’s head. Education yes; but traditional schooling was a hit or miss. When Misaki was losing interest Dazai would attack the situation from a different perspective. Unlike Mori who forced Dazai to study intensely as a child, Dazai found other routes to teach Misaki to use his intelligence rather than be bored by it. His older sister was gifted with Dazai’s intelligence and when Misaki started showing signs early on Dazai kept his plan in the back of his mind if, as he predicted, Misaki would grow bored in school like his sister. • Dazai fell into the habit of challenging his son, a bit in the way he did with Akutagawa just in the correct way. Misaki was not the type to challenge himself (much like Dazai never did, what was the point?) and so Dazai began doing it himself. From mild conversation to Misaki trying to give up on soccer because he was not the best player from the start, Dazai and Misaki developed a repertoire of a “watch me kick your ass” dynamic when Misaki hit fifteen. It may not be the most traditional way of pushing children to strive to be better, but sharing a similar mindset helped Dazai do it correctly without creating a need for praise and acknowledgement in Misaki’s psyche. • Even though Misaki is nearly an adult Dazai still revels in the act of embarrassing the ever living shit out of him. Dropping him off on the first day of school in a cat costume, screaming from the car that he forgot his lunch (Dazai drew hearts all over it), and coming to school functions like a soccer game wearing knee high socks and sandals. Has dad jokes for days and tells them at the parties Misaki throws when he thinks you’re both going to be gone for the night. Dazai will show up in a big stained t-shirt, jean shorts and a green golf visor and ask where the keg is. • Misaki has brought home a few girls who were getting a bit too friendly with Dazai--and he did not let it go quietly. Not only was he annoyed that they would even attempt to get in his pants, but the fact they used his son to get there was a big ‘oh fuck no’ moment. He loudly rattled off all their insecurities one by one until they ran out of the door crying. He did this while his son was in the bathroom and then told Misaki he asked them to leave because they weren’t good enough for him. To Dazai the week of a cold shoulder is worth it over letting his son be hurt by someone else’s dishonesty.• Dazai reminds Misaki almost daily to routinely check his balls and chest. He’s like a walking PSA for testicular and breast cancer. “You don’t have to be a lady to get breast cancer, rub your boobs in the shower~” he sings while Misaki is trying to wash his damn hair.

[songof-hope]

The Exuberance of Youth (1/4)

Young Philinda au. Melinda decided to give dating other agents a try, taking Phil up on his offer to get a drink. It goes better than either could have imagined. A fluff fic going through the stages of their relationship when they were young. I hope you all like it!

Prequel to Here’s Hoping but can be read as a stand alone.

(Can be read on AO3)

Some Time Ago.

“So about that drink you mentioned.” Melinda broached the subject while she and Phil were alone.

It had been a some time since Phil had originally brought it up. Since then she and Andrew decided to not take things any further. They liked each other but decided friendship was the only relationship they wanted from each other. She waited a little longer before telling Phil, she knew he would remember his offer and her agreement, and she didn’t want him to be a rebound if they were going to do this. Sure enough, when she did get around to mentioning it, he knew exactly what she was talking about.

“I take it things didn’t work out?”

“Andrew was great but we wanted different things. We decided we were better off as friends.”

“Oh I see.” He replied a little awkwardly. He didn’t want to be presumptuous.

“So I’m going out on a mission, it’s supposed to be a little over a month. Maybe when I get back we could talk about it.”

“We should.” He agreed, smiling at her forwardness.

                                                        -----

“You know, it’s cute when you’re nervous,” she teased, smiling brightly as she eyed the way he was picking at the label on his bottle.

“I’m not nervous.” He tried, hoping he sounded more confident than he felt about his lie. He knew he wasn’t fooling anyone by the pointed look she gave him.

“I know all your tells Phil, I can tell when you’re lying,” she countered, her tone continuing to carry a light-hearted quality to it. “Come on, it’s just me. I already know you don’t have game and I still decided to get a drink with you. So quit worrying.”

He laughed at that, looking mock-offended. Her good natured jabs served to comfort him. He felt better knowing she wasn’t patronizing him but instead chose to poke fun at him just as she always did. It was her way of telling him they were doing well so far.

Their date seemed to have gone pretty well. Her jokingly dismissive nature put him at ease. They were already friends, he knew he was allowed to be himself around her. She knew him already. There was no urgent need to impress her by pretending to be someone he wasn’t.

So, deciding to push his luck further, he reached for her, drawing her closer with a hand at her hip. The other hand moved to tangle in her hair, giving her time to reject his intentions, before he brought his mouth to hers. He felt her smile against his lips before she returned the kiss, deepening it further. When he finally pulled back, breathing heavily, he opened his eyes to find her smiling back at him.

“I see you’ve been practicing,” she quipped. He knew in the back of his mind she would never let him forget that undercover op. He was nervous then, still a bit nervous now but significantly more confident and comfortable with the woman standing in front of him.

“See I told you I had game.”

She snorted at that. “That’s debatable.”

“But you’re willing to accept that it’s a possibility.”

“We’ll see,” she conceded for the moment, although not quite giving in, as she rolled her eyes.

“So I’ll see you at tomorrow morning's meeting.” He added and she laughed at his awkward transition.

“You will.”

She couldn’t resist pulling him to her by his jacket lapels for one more kiss before pulling back.

“We should do this again sometime,” she winked and turned to leave, effectively leaving him standing there awestruck for a moment before he recovered.

So maybe dating another agent wasn’t so bad, as long as that agent was Phil.

                                                       -----

Both Melinda and Phil sighed in relief as they sunk back into the cushions of Melinda’s couch. It was almost eleven and they had just finished their last portion of paperwork. It was finally done after much prompting from Phil and frowning from Melinda.

“See that wasn’t too bad.” Phil said brightly, as if he didn’t notice the way Melinda sunk into the couch with her eyes closed, also choosing to ignore the way she opened one eye to look at him like he was crazy for making that comment.

“You guys in communications academy must have been wild,” she commented, her words dripping with sarcasm.

“We just like to get it all done so we can take our time doing other things,” he said in a low tone, taking her hand to bring in up to his lips and press a kiss to it.

“Is that so? Taking your time doing what? Profiling, budget planning?” she joked, unable to keep the smirk off her face as she leaned in close to him.

“Well you know us communications agents, we’re nothing if not thorough,” he quipped back to her, his face inches from hers as he ran his hand up her thigh, revelling in the low giggle that left her before their lips met.

She had him pushed back against the couch in no time, feeling her heart warm at his excited smile as she hovered her lips over his.

“Stay,” she whispered, once again pressing a soft kiss to his lips.

“You sure?”

“Everyone knows you pick me up for work anyway, it’s not like you’d be taking a different route, and you just picked up your dry cleaning so you have clean clothes.”

He couldn’t help but laugh that she was considering their tactical plan at a time like this, as if he needed convincing to stay with her, as if his hands weren’t already wandering.

“Okay,” he smiled before pulling her fully against him, laughing with her until they became too wrapped up in each other to focus on anything else.

                                                       -----

Months later, it was about seven in the morning on a Saturday and Phil and Melinda were already awake, their internal alarm clocks waking them earlier. The dim light of the morning was just starting to filter into Melinda’s window but they were too distracted to notice. Melinda was focusing on the way Phil’s hand traced down her side and over her hip and Phil was busy paying attention to the way her lips and solid weight felt against him.

They were interrupted by a knock coming from her front door.

“Are you expecting someone?” He asked, raising his eyebrow, his hands still traveling idly.

“Maria. She said she’d bring some files by for me.” She sighed against him, giving him one last peck before she got up.

“Does she know about us?”

“She probably does now, she knows what your car looks like” she shrugged, pulling on some clothes, “you’re welcome to hide in here if you want,” she winked at him before slipping out of her room and closing the door behind her.

When she opened the door she could tell Maria knew something by the smirk she had on her face.

“Hey Maria, come in.”

“Okay but only for a minute, I wouldn’t want to interrupt anything,” she grinned as she handed Melinda the files, “I saw Lola outside, is Phil here?”

“Yeah, he’s hiding,” she replied with an amused grin, it felt good to tell someone and she knew it was safe with Maria.

“Oh Phil! Come out and say hi,” Maria shouted with unnecessary gusto. “How long has this been going on?” She addressed Melinda who shrugged, unphased by Maria’s antics.

“A while.”

Maria smiled even wider as Phil stepped into the kitchen to join them a minute later with a sheepish expression.

“Good morning,” he said as he made his way to the kitchen, giving Melinda’s hip a squeeze on the way by. He began making coffee that Melinda kept specifically for him, using it as a way to avoid eye contact.

“I can’t believe she lets you have coffee here. Whenever I come over I have to drink tea.” Maria complained good-naturedly. Phil only grinned knowingly at her before focusing on his task again.

“You want anything?” Melinda asked, leaning against the counter.

“Nah, I gotta go actually. I just wanted to embarrass Phil first.”

“It’s fun right?” She shot back, running the backs of her fingers over his arm lovingly as he half smiled, the one he used when he felt awkward, and finished putting sugar in his coffee. “But in all seriousness we would appreciate it if you kept this to yourself.”

“Where would the fun be in telling people? I want to see how long you guys can keep it a secret.” They shared a conspiratorial smile, “well anyways, I gotta go, some of us don’t have the day off, let me know if you need anything else, I’ll let myself out. Bye Phil.” She couldn’t help herself to one last tease.

She heard him sigh before letting out a tired, “Bye Maria,” on her way out.

Phil turned to Melinda with a tired expression. “You did that on purpose.”

“No,” she didn’t bother to hide the smirk forcing its way onto her face, “but I did take advantage of it.”

“Well I’m glad my discomfort amuses you,” he commented in mock irritation.

“At least I didn’t tell Barton.”

“You did that for your own sanity, as well as my own, we’ll never hear the end of it when he eventually finds out.”

“Okay, let’s have a wager then,” she began and Phil rolled his eyes, she was queen of silent wagers, but let her continue, “first one to let it slip, does paperwork for a month.”

“Deal.” He knew full well that even if he won that bet, he would still end up helping her finish their paperwork, she could sweet talk him into almost anything, but the idea of purposefully keeping them a secret from Barton amused him.

With that, they shook hands, holding their grip as they leaned in to seal it with a kiss. It had become their unspoken handshake when it came to deals, one that both amused and excited them, trying to secretly execute it in public, smiling at each other when they succeeded, explaining it away as a weird partner quirk whenever they got caught, which was very rare.

                                                      -----

It had been nearly a month since Melinda was sent out on her mission and Phil had really begun to realize how much he loved her presence in his life. No one made fun of him with quite as much skill as she did and he didn’t want anyone else to make him feel the way she did when it was late and they were alone. He missed her. They had been dating a few months shy of a year and he missed the familiar rhythm they had when they weren’t interrupted with separate missions.

So when she finally called him to tell him she was back, he invited her over without hesitation. It didn’t matter how late it was, he just wanted her physically close, even if it was just to sleep. She must have felt the same way because she quickly agreed before hanging up. Not long after, because Melinda had a habit of driving much faster than necessary, he heard his lock turn and the door open before closing quietly. She didn’t leave audible footsteps but he kept his eyes on the doorframe, feeling his body relax when she appeared. She looked exhausted but still managed to give him a sleepy smile and “hey” in return to his as she made her way into his room.

She didn’t bother to go through with her night time routine. Instead she stripped down to her underwear and threw on one of his t-shirts, not caring that she could feel his eyes on her the whole time. When she turned around, he was already holding the blankets open for her and she easily slid into bed, curling into his chest.

“Do you want to talk about how your mission went?”

She hummed a negative response. “Too tired. Tell me about yours.” She responded, sleep heavily clouding her voice. She burrowed further into him, tucking her legs into his as she exhaled, allowing her muscles to relax.

His mission had been much shorter. Just a local retrieval that only lasted a few days. Most of his time was spent dealing with paperwork and smoothing over legalities. Still, he began recounting the story of how it went as he soothingly traced his fingers over her spine, making sure to emphasize the funnier moments.

She hummed amiably throughout his recount, too tired to let out a full laugh. She missed him while she was away too. She missed his jokes and the comments he had when they worked together. He was just getting to the climax of his story, telling the tale of how he saved Barton from an old lady threatening to beat him with her purse, when she suddenly felt an overwhelming feeling of love for him.

She knew it was on its way to her, that feeling. She could feel tiny hints of affection any time he would speak excitedly about something or grace her with that tiny bashful smile he saved just for her or when he had tea waiting for her when she got to his apartment. But the feeling she felt as she snuggled in closer to him was one that needed to be voiced and she was never one to deny her instincts.

“I love you.” She sighed, amused at the way he stopped mid story to determine if he heard her right, subconsciously tilting closer to her.

“What?” Was his great response.

“You heard me.” She confirmed, smiling into his chest.

“Yeah?” His voice had gone soft, layered with something that sounded close to wonder. “I love you too.” He smiled into her hair, placing a kiss there.

“Good, now finish telling me about Barton getting beat with a purse.”

He chuckled and continued telling his story, running his hand over her back once again. It wasn’t long before her breathing evened out and sleep finally claimed her.

[wnnbdarklord]

Chocolate Box 2018 letter

Dear Chocolatier, I'm glad we matched! This is my first Chocolate Box exchange, but I'm sure it'll be a great one :D For ease of access, I've provided a table of contents. Don't stress about it and feel free to pick and choose or combine bits of my prompts. Happy writing/arting!

AO3 username: wnnbdarklord

edit: I totally forgot to put Hela & Loki in the table of contents, but the prompt itself is there, not to worry!

General Likes

Art Likes

Smut Likes

Do Not Wants

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Bruce Banner & Loki || Bruce/Loki

En Dwi Gast | Grandmaster/Loki & Thor

Fenrir/Loki

Frigga & Loki

Gamora & Nebula & Loki & Thor

Heimdall & Loki || Heimdall/Loki

Hulk/Loki || Hulk & Loki

Korg of Krona/Loki

Loki/Pepper Potts/Tony Stark

Nick Fury/Loki

Loki/Bruce Banner/Brunnhilde | Valkyie

Loki & Yondu Udonta

Crossover Fandom

Dirk Gently (Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency) & Tenth Doctor (Doctor Who)

Dirk Gently (Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency) & Loki (MCU)

Farah Black (Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency) & Samuel Vimes (Discworld novels)

Granny Weatherwax (Discworld novels) & Loki (MCU)

Groot (MCU) & Treebeard (LOTR)

Loki (MCU) & Donna Noble (Doctor Who)

Loki (MCU) & Ned Stark (ASoIaF)

Loki (MCU)/Theon Stark (ASoIaF)

Loki (MCU) & Franklin "Foggy" Nelson (Daredevil (TV))

Loki (MCU) & Q (Star Trek)

Phryne Fisher (Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries (TV))/Jack Harkness (Doctor Who)

Phryne Fisher (Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries)/Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek: TNG)

Samuel Vimes (Discworld novels) & the One Ring (LOTR)

Tauriel (Hobbit movies) & Boromir (LOTR)

Tony Stark (MCU) & Ned Stark (Game of Thrones)

Wonder Woman (DCU) & Loki (MCU)

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Farah Black/Todd Brotzman/Dirk Gently || Farah Black & Todd Brotzman & Dirk Gently

General Likes:

Polyamory, gen, het, slash, femslash, families of choice, competence, BAMF female characters, angst, hurt/comfort, teamfic, pretty much all the tropes especially if there is a twist, worldbuilding, humor, redemption, for want of a nail AUs, time travel, werewolves, dragons, crossovers, non fantasy/SF canons encountering the supernatural/aliens, fix it fics

Also, I'm fine with mpreg as long as there's some worldbuilding involved beyond 'assbabies are totally normal and unquestioned'. Is it magic? Science? Shapeshifting? Whatever? As long as it's not just a thing that happens normally on Earth (reactions of humans to someplace it's common is a+). Even a/b/o mpreg is iffy for me because it's usually a feature of the world.

For any pairings, as long as they don't clash with my DNWs (first and foremost the incest DNW), I'm fine with either gen or romance no matter what the actual match is. Also, don't consider the length of a prompt as an indication of my enthusiasm for it. Some pairings I just have more ideas for, but others I have no idea what to prompt, but my brain just went !!! when I saw it.

I'm fairly certain it's obvious from my sign up that MCU Loki is a favorite character of mine. In general, I prefer Loki to be morally grey or conflicted or redeemable and not outright villainous. Think more pre-Thor or Ragnarok Loki rather than chaotic evil Loki. Anything with jotun!Loki, genderfluid Loki and bi/pan Loki would be amazing!

My previous letters for Trick or Treat (http://wnnbdarklord.tumblr.com/post/165264151230/dear-trick-or-treak-2017-creator) and Crossovering (http://wnnbdarklord.tumblr.com/post/163153222375/dear-crossovering-2017-creator) if you'd like to get more info!

Art Likes:

I’m pretty sure I’d love any art! I love sketchy styles with maybe just a splash of color to draw the eye. Black and white images with only one color to highlight Important Things is A+. That said, any art in any style would be amazing! As for subject matter, I’d love to see any scenes from the prompts or stuff from my likes. Characters being affectionate, gentle touches, characters as werewolves, characters in fancy dress/costumes, characters doing magic, characters getting it on are also all welcome.

Smut Likes:

Frottage, coming untouched, size kink, transformation kink, pregnancy kink, breeding kink, a/b/o, mild dom/sub stuff, sex pollen, tentacles, telepathy, first times, routine sex in the missionary position, weird biology, xeno kink, sounding, lactation kink, consensual body modification (bonus points if it's magical), public sex...I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting, but since this is the first time I'm even expounding on smut I'd like, let's leave it at this.

Do Not Wants:

permanent character death, rape, dubcon, torture porn, underage stuff, infidelity, humiliation, character bashing, ship bashing, no powers AUs, love triangles, fake married/dating, incest, power imbalances in relationships, hate sex, scat/watersports, necrophilia, abuse, fusions, zombies, 1st person POV, issue fic, themes of cynicism and futility, nihilism that isn't of the optimistic kind, animal abuse, unrequested ships, slavery, genderswap of the always an x kind, unrequested AUs, jealousy

Generally speaking, a specific prompt is going to come before any stated DNWs.

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Bruce Banner/Loki || Bruce Banner & Loki

One of my favorite pairings that there is a sad lack of fic for. I'd be happy with pretty much anything involving these two interacting, but I'd love something centered on their mutual realization of the similarity of their issues; their perceptions of themselves as monsters and realizing that 'hey, you understand!' and then being awkward friends (or more).

Maybe Loki's glamour fails at the end of Ragnarok, with Odin dead and Asgard gone. He might have put on plays revealing his origins, but that is way different than facing the reality. Bruce helps him cope.

Or maybe they talk about what's been going on on Earth. Does Bruce decide not to return there and goes off exploring the universe with Loki?

If you go the shippy route, I am a sucker for these two falling for each other very hard and very fast, like 'oh no, he's hot and kind and such an asshole?!' with a bit of pining and possessiveness.

En Dwi Gast | Grandmaster/Loki & Thor

Grandmaster/Loki is such a great ship that I somehow ended up shipping before I even saw the movie. This is one ship I am fine with a bit of dubcon and power imbalance. Loki's position on Sakaar canonically did not seem very stable and I can't imagine Loki would not be very aware of the power imbalance there and might end up doing things he normally wouldn't to keep being in the Grandmaster's favor. Especially considering the events prior to his arrival. That said, I would also not mind a fluffy and cracky version of them hooking up either, especially if Thor is watching the whole thing like ????

Actually, I would love something where Loki and the Grandmaster troll the everloving hell out of Thor. Maybe playing the strangest sounds coming from their bedroom when they know Thor can hear, but actually they're cuddling in bed and feeding each other grapes.

Or Thor's reaction if the Grandmaster comes find them on the ship looking for Loki. With Loki being oddly touched that someone went looking for him, even if he does still think the Grandmaster is insane.

Fenrir/Loki

Anything with this would have to involve a more intelligent Fenrir for my own sanity. Maybe even a shapeshifting Fenrir? That said, size kink ahoy. Also would not mind wolf babies.

Maybe Loki finds an...um interesting way to distract Fenrir during the battle? Would like Loki being utterly wrecked, but oddly satisfied by the end.

Frigga & Loki

A fascinating relationship that did not get explored nearly enough in the movies. I'd love a slightly darker take than fandom usually goes for. Frigga still stands by Odin, even after all the shit he's pulled and not once does she validate Loki's complicated feelings about him. Instead, it's all about trying to pull Loki back into the family fold without admitting Odin might have done anything wrong. And with Ragnarok's revelations, whole other facets can be explored. Is she Hela's mother? Does she know what happened and did that color her response to Loki? Was she part of the conquering? Was she the reason Odin changed?

I'd love an AU where she didn't die. How would have things turned out then?

Gamora & Nebula & Loki & Thor

Oh, all the parallels for the space siblings! Maybe Gamora and Nebula come across the Asgardian refugee ship? Maybe Thor and Loki go after Thanos and meet Gamora and Nebula who are doing the same and they decide to join forces?

As much as I would like to see Nebula & Loki and Gamora and Thor interacting, I would love to see Nebula & Thor and Gamora & Loki interacting instead (or as well). Maybe Thor gets along surprisingly (or not so surprisingly if we consider Loki) with Nebula and Loki is amazingly good at getting under Gamora's skin in a way she only thought Nebula could. Hell, maybe one set of siblings provides some therapy for the other. Seeing other people's problems is easier than reflecting on your own, after all.

Heimdall & Loki || Heimdall/Loki

These two have an interesting dynamic and I'd love to see it explored more! They go from kinda hating each other in the first movie to almost amused bantering in the third. How did that happen? Heimdall was obviously aware something was up with Odin, but he didn't really do anything about it beyond hide. And Loki didn't seem to keen on trying to catch him. Was he going to do something until he saw Loki was just taking a break from the shitshow his life had become? Or maybe Loki actually impressed him a little bit with how he ran Asgard and loosened the leash on the other realms?

Or, for an AU, Loki gets Heimdall on his side as he rules Asgard and feelings develop? And it's all very complicated due to the deception Loki pulls posing as Odin so they have to hide because imagine the scandal of the Allfather moving on from his beloved queen so quickly.

Maybe just something with the two of them interacting on the ship after everything. There's one theory that Heimdall is/has the Soul stone - does Heimdall know Loki has the Tesseract because of it?

Or maybe all that hate in the first movie was just UST that went unresolved because the Gatekeeper couldn't consort with a Prince and they finally let it all out after on the ship.

Hela & Loki

Far too little interaction between these two in the movie. I'd be happy with anything. Obviously, there are so many parallels between them. Do they commiserate? Does Hela view Loki with contempt?

Maybe Hela is the reason Odin reacted badly anytime Loki shapeshifted into a woman. How would the revelation about Hela play into Loki's perception of that?

I would also love an AU where Hela wasn't forgotten and trapped, but still a member of the family. What would their lives be like as siblings? Would she (still bitter about Odin's change of heart) reveal Loki's origins to him, trying to get him to hate her? I'd imagine that could backfire spectacularly, since she'd be the only one to tell him the truth. With Hela still there, would Odin even take Loki from Jotunheim? Maybe Hela is the one to pick him up, viewing him more like her beloved Fenrir than a son or brother.

Hulk/Loki || Hulk & Loki

All of the size kink, please. Also, I love stuff where Loki's jotun instincts kick him in the head and make him pay attention to the Hulk because yes, this one can beat the tar out of me without breaking a sweat. And the Hulk being a bit confused, but up for it. Loki is a puny god and puny giant, but it's not like he'll break. Green babies welcome (maybe Loki's instincts get kickstarted by the fact his world is gone now and well someone needs to repopulate the planet).

For stuff not quite so in the gutter, I'd love something that elaborated on their relationship (platonic or otherwise) on the ship. Maybe Loki is put in charge of making sure the Hulk doesn't tear the ship apart? It could go from Loki forcibly putting him to sleep or trying to bring Bruce back to telling him stories or maybe even the Hulk turns out to be great at flyting.

Maybe Loki finds out who the Grandmaster's champion is before Thor arrives and works on befriending him. Could start out as Loki wanting to use the Hulk for his own purposes, but growing to care for him on his own terms. Maybe the Hulk reminds him of Thor too much and heartsick at the thought that Thor is dead, Loki just clings a lot.

Korg of Krona/Loki

I literally have no idea how to make this pairing happen, but I'm totally open to it! Not sure what Korg would get out of it either, seeing how he's made of rock. But I believe in you, chocolatier! I know you can make this work :D

Maybe Loki ends up too electrocuted to be coherent enough to direct Korg and the other gladiators to go to Asgard and it ends up destroyed? Cue comforting.

Or maybe Loki just really likes debating with Korg about his revolutionary pamphlets and it goes from there.

Maybe Korg wins a particularly impressive fight and the Grandmaster lends him Loki for the day. Loki is game for it. I'd be deeply amused if this prompt just ended with them playing like chess or something because Korg misreads the situation.

Loki/Pepper Potts/Tony Stark

My OT3 for this fandom! I'd love anything! To see how it happens, to see a scene when they're already established, negotiating it, or defending it, anything! How does Loki deal with his longevity vs Pepper and Tony? Does he try to fix it? Does it happen without his intervention? Or does he decide to become mortal for them?

Perhaps an AU where a jotun Loki comes to Earth and gets involved with them (bonus for worldbuilding that jotnar relationships are polyamorous far more often than on Earth). Or maybe he has a fling with them (separately or together) when he was younger and then feelings when he meets them again?

Maybe after Civil War, Pepper manages to outmaneuver Loki into joining her and Tony, bagging them a powerful ally for Infinity War?

Nick Fury/Loki

Despite everyone teasing them about daddy issues, Loki and Fury were fucking long before Fury lost his eye.

Or maybe Loki approaches Fury after the Dark World with an offer of cooperation and things happen. Or Loki wrangles an offer of amnesty after the Avengers with the reveal that Hydra has infiltrated SHIELD after pulling the info from the mind of one of his minions (and things happen).

I'd love anything with the two power coupling all over the place. Or Loki baiting Fury into having his way with him everywhere.

Both of them pretended to be dead for a while, maybe they shared tips and commiserated?

Loki/Bruce Banner/Brunnhilde | Valkyie

I'd love something where, for all their individual dysfunctions, they all work together pretty well. Bruce doesn't have to worry about hurting them, even if he accidentally Hulks out, but also provides a stabilizing influence for them. Loki might be twisty and a drama queen, but he is fiercely loyal once he decides that he wants this. Brunnhilde gets a friend and sparring partner in Bruce and someone she can show her darker side to in Loki. Somehow, they make it all work.

Or for something more cracky, maybe they all just got together during one of the Grandmaster's orgies and never fell apart after.

Loki & Yondu Udonta

They're both blue aliens with issues! I can just see them being weird friends (that they would never ever admit to being) :D

Maybe after Loki falls off the Bifrost, he lands on Yondu's ship? He doesn't want to return to Asgard and can't think of anything better to do, so he sticks around. Yondu keeps him because a magic shapeshifting alien with Aesir strength is great to have around for ravaging.

Or maybe Loki uses Yondu to escape Thanos. Maybe he even drags Gamora and Nebula for the ride?

Or does Yondu visit Asgard, hoping to pull a con there and gets caught by Loki? Instead of handing him over to Odin, Loki takes him out for a drink and they swap ever more ridiculous stories.

Crossover Fandom

Dirk Gently (Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency) & Tenth Doctor (Doctor Who)

Dirk Gently gets people where they need to go, which makes him a perfect companion for the Doctor. It lets the TARDIS have a break from doing the same. Or they join forces and make the Doctor's life even more chaotic.

Or perhaps the TARDIS takes the Doctor to Blackwing and he takes Dirk away from there. Or does Dirk accidentally get on the TARDIS, perception filter or no? Does the Doctor try to get rid of him or is he delighted by such unexpected company?

Dirk Gently (Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency) & Loki (MCU)

Is Loki a Blackwing subject and that's how they meet? Does he break Dirk out, planning to use him for some purpose?

Or the man who gets people where they need to go meets the god who has no idea where he is supposed to be. How does Dirk help Loki in that case?

For a crack prompt, perhaps Loki mindcontrols Dirk and tries to use him for taking over, but the universe makes things go improbably wrong for Loki's plans, but pretty great for everything else for him.

Dirk ends up on Sakaar, the planet of the lost. Does the universe implode or is he just there to get a certain trickster god to where he needs to be?

Farah Black (Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency) & Samuel Vimes (Discworld novels)

Farah apprentices under Sam Vimes. He's impressed by her encyclopedic knowledge of criminal law (even Ankh Morpork's labyrinthine one), but less so with her attempts to blindly follow it. Especially considering some of them contradict each other twice.

Or maybe they team up to bring down a criminal. Maybe Vimes is the apprentice when he appears on Earth and wants to be a cop again.

Granny Weatherwax (Discworld novels) & Loki (MCU)

During my first Yuletide, I received a few amazing fics with this pairing and I'm hankering to see more of this scenario.

Loki falls to the Discworld in Lancre and Granny decides to knock some sense into him through hard work and headology.

Or maybe a young Loki gets sick of being called a witch all the time and decides to really learn how to be one. Granny has no idea what to do with an actual god trying to be her apprentice so of course she acts like she knows exactly what she's doing and takes him on. It ends up surprisingly well.

Groot (MCU) & Treebeard (LOTR)

Flora Colossi are either a subspecies or an offshoot of Ents. Does Groot come across Treebeard and Middle-earth in his travels? Did the Entwives disappear to Planet X?

Does Groot help the Fellowship out? Or does he invite Treebeard to go see the universe with him?

Loki (MCU) & Donna Noble (Doctor Who)

Loki falls from the bifrost and crashes into the TARDIS. Donna, experienced with dealing with skinny angsty godlike aliens, knows how to handle him.

Or maybe Loki and Donna keep meeting through the years as she travels with the Doctor and he is intrigued by this mortal that never seems to age. Maybe he helps her deal with the Doctor's memories - perhaps what science cannot fix, magic can.

Loki (MCU) & Ned Stark (ASoIaF)

Because reasons, Loki swears fealty to Stark and helps out with the politics part of the GOT causing Ned to survive.

Maybe he'd been shapeshifted into the direwolf they find at the beginning of the book? Maybe he comes to Westeros during Robert's Rebellion and helps out, even when injured or something?

Loki (MCU)/Theon Stark (ASoIaF)

Loki discovers Westeros during the time of Theon Stark the Hungry Wolf and is super into him. Together, they go into bloodsoaked wars and emerge victorious. Does Loki decide this is a place he wants to rule? Is he content with just Theon?

Loki (MCU) & Franklin "Foggy" Nelson (Daredevil (TV))

So Avengers Academy had a Defenders event where Loki and Foggy had a beautiful friendship. Which just made me want the same for the movie and tv versions of them. I just want them bro'ing around together.

For a more serious prompt: Loki is kept for trial on Earth. No one but Nelson & Murdock want to represent him. Or the Hoggarth firm kicks it down to Foggy once complications arise. Anyway, there's something off about this case (I'm not a lawyer, but international/interplanetary jurisdiction, extradition,human rights etc etc) and Foggy is going to get to the bottom of it. This would be a variation where there were extenuating circumstances for the Incident.

Loki (MCU) & Q (Star Trek)

Tricksters in spaaaaace. Anything with Loki and Q being BFFs across the universe.

Phryne Fisher (Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries (TV))/Jack Harkness (Doctor Who)

They met, they banged, she solved his murder.

Phryne Fisher (Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries)/Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek: TNG)

This strikes me as a fascinating dynamic. Phryne would draw out some of Picard's mischievousness while he'd be a stabilizing influence. Does Picard time travel to the twenties? Does Phryne end up in the future somehow? Imagine her on the Enterprise!

Samuel Vimes (Discworld novels) & the One Ring (LOTR)

Anything inspired by this post http://emoinspace.tumblr.com/post/168728003648 where Vimes arrests the One Ring for being an accessory to murder.

Either that, or Vimes is the only Man who can resist the Ring for a long time out of sheer bloody mindedness.

Tauriel (Hobbit movies) & Boromir (LOTR)

Do they meet before the events of LOTR? Does she come across him on the road and accompany him to Rivendell? Or does she come across him on Amon Hen in time to save him?

I'd just be fascinated by them meeting. Tauriel who wants to go out in the world and do more to fight back and Boromir who has been fighting his entire life. I expect Boromir would be a little more at ease meeting a Silvan elf than the Noldor he first encountered.

Or maybe after the Battle of the Five Armies, Tauriel makes her way to Ithilien and spends her years there fighting. The soldiers of Gondor think she's a myth until Boromir meets her.

Tony Stark (MCU) & Ned Stark (Game of Thrones)

Tony Stark as a Stark of Winterfell would be great! How is he related to them? Does he just want to stay in his holdfast building stuff? How do events go (for his family especially) with him in the picture?

Or maybe Tony just finds himself in Westeros and gets in with the Starks due to his name. Does he hang with Ned? Does he try to upgrade Winterfell?

Wonder Woman (DCU) & Loki (MCU)

I want one thing from this interaction and that's Lasso of Truth angst. Does she tie him with it while fighting him? What does he say? How panicked does he get? When Diana realizes, how does she react? No one's ever really truly panicked before when she used it, after all. Do they become friends after? Or at least not enemies?

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Farah Black/Todd Brotzman/Dirk Gently || Farah Black & Todd Brotzman & Dirk Gently

These three just make my heart happy, ok? They're such great friends, I love them. Farah and Todd spent months trying to look for Dirk! Dirk kept thinking they would come for him! I love it.

This can be either shippy or no, but I would love something that deals with Dirk's time in Blackwing. He was such a mess in season 2, I would love for something where Todd and Farah take care of Dirk and help him be less high strung.

Or maybe something with the three solving a case in their newly acquired offices? Dirk and Todd helping Farah train and study (not that she needs to) for a PI license?

[kuipernebula]

Where did the ideas for the different heroes in the Blackbird AU come from?

Oh boy. This is a bit of a long one, so I’m putting it under a read more.

Well it started with the revelation that Sabrina’s voice actress, Marieve Herington, is a jazz singer in addition to being a voice actress. Which lead to the discovery of her cover of “Blackbird”  by the Beatles. 

While the song has many potential meanings, I couldn’t help but think of Sabrina and her larger character arc of breaking out of her dependencies and emotional abuse and isolation. She’s been waiting for a moment like this, whether she knows it or not; a moment where she truly feels happy and free.

So I was mulling that around in my head for a while, comparing it to Sabinra’s character arc in @twinklecupcake​‘s Honeycomb AU (and the then-recently-conceived Sabrina The Cat Witch AU, a more joint creation of Kris and I), I realized Blackbird would make a really good Miraculous Hero Name.

Now this lead to a brainstorm about what miraculous Blackbird has, what powers it has and what it looks like, and how they relate to Sabrina. I was also relating back the ideas of the kwami Balance Theory, and figuring out the things that Sabrina needed and how they related to the symbolism of the blackbird - or, more accurately, the Raven.

The Raven has always been a symbol of death and the dead, and appropriately Sabrina’s biggest need in terms of growth was the symbolic death of her relationship with Chloe, her emotional abuser.

Now the Raven being death meant that right off the bat, the miraculouses in the AU had a much more direct road to their powers from their symbolism than in canon. Ladybug > Good Luck > Creation and Black Cat > Bad Luck > Destruction are much longer routes than Raven > Death. Which meant I had to find an animal that related to life, which was a bit hard. But turns out, Frogs have that symbolism.

Frogs are often used to symbolize growth and change when a butterfly isn’t used for that symbolism, and its connection to water and it’s ability to survive on water and land has made it a broader symbol for Life. Which made it perfect for Raven’s opposite as the Black Cat to Raven’s Ladybug. That is a sentence let me tell you

Which then gave me the question of: Who do I give the frog miraculous to? Who would be most balanced by the addition of growth and Life? And eventually I decided I’d give it to my son, my boy, Kim, who had previously been cast as Ladybug in the Cat Witch AU, and had such a good dynamic with Sabrina that it felt wrong to use anybody else. Plus, his whole character arc is about growth and self-reflection; that the only thing standing between him and really making a difference is stopping and thinking about how his actions affect other people and the world around him.

The name Anura just came from the scientific order under which all frogs are classified. Not sure why or how Kim came up with the name himself yet, but probably either Veerd gave it to him or it was based on something Max said earlier in the day.

Having Blackbird and Anura pinned down really helped with the decisions leading to the rest of the miraculouses, since it meant that the animals and their powers had to be more directly related than in canon.

Our villain is where things got more confusing. Originally it was just gonna be Hawk Moth with a different miraculous, which was switching between Scorpion and Spider. Scorpion would have been “passion” and possibly named Manticore or Stinger, with the akuma being a more literal poison rather than a single spirit. But Spider, symbolizing “Control,” made more sense from the standpoint of just how specific and powerful the Raven and Frog miraculous’ powers already were.

Eventually, we decided that, in keeping with the AU being full of little changes in miraculous users, that Hawk Moth should go from Gabriel to Mama Agreste. Her working names were Black Widow, Tarantula, and Arachnid. We settled on Arachnid because Black Widow is overdone, and Tarantula felt less impactful.

This brought about a theory I saw and liked that Master Fu’s Turtle and Hawk Moth’s Butterfly are intended as opposites, i.e. that the Turtle is longevity and stasis while the butterfly is emotion and change. So I played on that by giving him the Koi of Freedom to combat the Spider of Control.

Lion and Dove were a random fit of inspiration because I needed peacock/fox equivalents, and their obvious War/Peace combo made an interesting take on the Peacock/Fox Knowledge/Deception duality. For a while, I considered Lion to be with Arachnid and the one Lila would impersonate, but I more recently decided to keep it closer in-line with canon’s Miraculous locations, with Lila impersonating Pride/Lioness while [Dove] is in Arachnid’s possession until [La Paon’s equivalent] takes it in the next season.

Pride/Lioness is up-in-the-air as either Nathanael (Pride) or Rose (Lioness), as they both really fit the balance theory with the War miraculous. Peace will be interesting to work into a bad guy, but not impossible.

Bee’s equivalent is still. A thing I need to work on, so any ideas would be welcome!