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lilzebub · 4 years ago

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Through the Years (CH 1)

I have this posted on https://archiveofourown.org/works/23913232/chapters/57499045, but thought I’d share here too! Finally finished this work yesterday.

Five Hargreeves x F!reader

Summary: Number Five and the reader experience friendship and love that spans across the years and timelines. Word Count: 11k+ across three chapters.

Warnings: Violence in chapter 2, brief mention of smut in chapter 1, some angst, some language, canon divergent content

Setting her steaming mug gently on the table, she thumbed over a copy of her favorite book. “The Time Traveler’s Wife” emblazoned in large white letters across the front, the book was obviously well loved and well read. Her eyes flicked over to the calendar that hung on the wall: February 2nd 2019, circled in bright red marker. Today was one of the days, one of the final ones marked on her calendar. It was raining all day, but it would clear up by this afternoon, at least that’s what he had told her. She trusted this strange omniscience, the knowledge of things that would happen, the absolute certainty and resolve. She retrieved a second mug from the cabinet and poured a cup of rich, black coffee from the French press. He had told her she made the best coffee of anyone in any timeline, and she was inclined to believe that. Where he came from, coffee was a sparse and sought after resource. The ticking of the clock counted down the seconds, and she found herself syncing up her breathing. “Why am I so nervous?” she whispered out loud to no one in particular. A blue light flashed brightly on the opposite side of the room, and her breath hitched in her throat. The illuminated man composed himself, this time much older than she was used to. “Five?” She stepped forward, voice wavering. “February 2nd, 2019?” His face stern and weathered. Her head nodded in confirmation. Face softening, he strode towards her, wrapping her in a warm embrace. “Five, you’re filthy, is everything okay?” “Let me take a shower and I’ll fill you in.” He glided past her towards the bathroom, knowing precisely where he was going. She no longer felt hurt at the lack of affection when he first arrives, but had rather come to expect it. They had done this countless times in different locations: her parents’ home, her first apartment, once while she was on vacation. Five could seemingly always find his way to her, regardless of the time stamp. She sat quietly on the couch as the low hum of the shower started down the hall.

The first night he came in 2002 had been tumultuous. Her parents fought loudly in the living room, like they had done countless times since her sister had committed suicide. Those nights she found solace in lying on the roof of the house, staring at stars. The serenity was broken by a loud ‘pop’ from her bedroom. Wiping away her tears, she snuck back in through her window, to be greeted by the form of a boy around her age who appeared very shaken up. The girl began to scream, and the boy rushed over and placed a hand gently on her mouth. “Shhhhh. Please wait, listen. I need you to tell me the date.” He removed his hand, placing it on her shoulder. “It’s January 3rd 2002.” His mouth curved into a sly smile. “I’ll be damned, I DID IT.” Her eyes traced the emblem on the front of his neat sport jacket. “I came from two days in the past!” “You’re from the Umbrella Academy, aren’t you?” “Five Hargreeves, spatial jumper and now, officially, TIME TRAVELLER. Oh, father dearest is going to love this…”He paused, holding out his hand. “I’m sorry, I really don’t know why I showed up here of all places.” She reached out and shook his hand. “I’m (y/n),” she replied quietly, still attempting to mask the fact that she had been crying. Their friendship soon became a constant in her otherwise bleak life. He began visiting in the normal timeline, for the better part of a year. He would occasionally pop up in her room, asking what the date was: she could tell he was practicing for a bigger jump. One night, when they sat on the roof, she broke down. “I’m sorry I’m so boring. We sit up here nearly every night, I know this has to drive you crazy. You could be honing your time jumps, or literally doing anything else, than sitting up here with me. You’re extraordinary and I’m just…ordinary.” His hand brushed hers, so gently she thought she had imagined it. “Hey, you’re wrong. You’re definitely not ordinary. You’re like a beacon, or a lighthouse. If I ever get lost in the timeline, I think I’ll always be able to find you. That must be why I showed up here after the first jump!” He paused, staring at the sky. “You’re my best friend, (Y/n).” That night, he had left in another loud ‘pop’. At first light, she rolled over in her bed, noticing some items missing from her room. A picture frame that held a class photo, a necklace from her nightstand, small things that would seem mundane to an unknowing eye. Beside her head on the pillow, a letter was conspicuously placed. “(Y/n), Today I am going to attempt the furthest time jump that I’ve done yet. I know my father will protest, but I think I’m ready. If something happens, just know I’ll find you eventually. I promise. Yours, Five”

She was fourteen the first time he came back, popping up in the kitchen of her house. She marveled at how he was all at once the same, but was somehow different, perhaps a bit older. Once the shock subsided, she threw her silverware at him, unleashing her pent up anger. “You left me, Five. You left me,” she sobbed. He was unphased, standing with arms crossed. “Are you done?” he stared at her from the place she had collapsed in the floor. “You know the drill. Confirm date and time.” Five turned from her, rummaging around the cabinets. “August 15, 2004.” She hiccupped quietly, collecting herself off of the linoleum. “Do you know how to make coffee?” His facial expression didn’t change, but she could detect a hint of a smile in his eyes. Over a cup of French press coffee, he began telling her what he had been doing for the last two years. He had been recruited as a part of an organization that maintained appropriate timelines called the Commission. He dodged most of her questions, noting that his career was secretive. The question sat on the tip of her tongue, waiting for a lull in conversation. “In the future, do you see me?” He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, hands clasped around the mug. “I do.” He answered curtly. “I can’t speak to you though, it would alter the timeline. There are certain variables that have to be met…” he trailed off, a barely detectable sadness settled into his expression. “Otherwise, certain things won’t happen. The Commission says things have to happen exactly in the right order or it ruins the whole thing.” His jaw clenched. His mind goes to a particular fall day in 2014 that the Commission insisted on him traveling to, over and over again. A day in which he would love nothing more than to forsake the timeline and the Commission. “Like what?” cocking an eyebrow, her interest clearly piqued. “You’ll have to wait. Just give me a few years and I’ll have this all figured out. I’m not strong enough to jump too many times by myself. I’m only able to jump now because the Commission has given me the tools to do it with ease.” The coffee cup in front of his was empty. His arm outstretched across the kitchen table, and he grasped her hand. “Whenever I’m not on a job, I’ll come back as much as I can. I promise.”

She waited for four more unbearable years for her best friend to come back. She was on vacation in Mexico celebrating graduation, and a bright blue light illuminated her hotel room. As was the tradition, he requested the date first and foremost. She noted his height, he was several inches taller than her now, and he had the beginnings of unruly facial hair, and appeared to be in at least late 20s. His eyes remained the same. “Handsome” she thought outrageously to herself. He closed distance, placing his hands firmly on her shoulders. “(Y/n), the world ended. I have to fix this.” His eyes were blown out, panicked. “I came from year 2032.” “Well that explains the age gap. Five, you’ve got to slow down. Do you know where you are right now?” He looked around the room, then rushed to the open doors leading to a balcony, overlooking a calm, deserted beach. Whipping around rapidly, his eyes ran over her from the bottom up. His pupils dilated: she had grown into a beautiful young adult. He couldn’t have prepared himself for how she had gotten taller, her features slightly more pointed. “Oh my God, I missed your graduation, didn’t I?” He did his best to avert his gaze, she wore a baggy shirt and underwear, hair thrown in a messy bun. A flush crept over his cheeks. Nervously, she strode over to the balcony. “Five, you’ve been gone for a while…You missed everything.” There was no anger in her voice, just a hint of loneliness. She had rehearsed the moment he would return to her for years now, knowing exactly what she would say. “I can’t believe you’re here…”she paused, noting his somber expression. “It’s all going to be gone. The world ends and I have no idea how to stop it. Do you know how long I’ve been alone out there? There’s no one left…” he thought for a moment. “I didn’t think I would ever find you again after getting kicked out of the Commission. I practiced, and worked, and slaved just to be able to jump again, but I couldn’t. Then I thought of you. Just sat there, and thought about you, and I was here.” “Wait, you left the Commission? What are you talking about??” “Shit, I’m screwing up. I can’t talk about that anymore, otherwise I’m going to muck things up even worse.” Unexpectedly, he wrapped his arms around her, burying his scruff in her neck. Whispering, he murmured, “I don’t have much time. Any minute now I’m going to revert back to where I was. I just had to see. Just had to see….” He stopped himself, knowing if he poured his heart out, it would only make things harder. She didn’t know what he knew. In a quick sleight of hand, he slipped a piece of paper into her palm. He gently pushed back from her, the cool touch of metal brushing her chest. Around his neck, he wore the necklace that he had stolen off of her nightstand, accompanied by a thin gold band. Her eyes widened. “Five, is that my necklace? What’s that ring?” He placed his hands, clad in fingerless gloves, over her flushing cheeks. “I had to take it. I needed something to keep me grounded to guide me back. My lighthouse…” He began pulling her close once more, but just before the inevitable crashing of lips, a flash of blue light took him away from her again. It felt wrong. Five laid on a filthy mattress in the middle of a wasteland now circa 2032, knowing she was back in 2008, feeling miserable and devastated. He wanted to tell her what he did in 2014, just a few years before the apocalypse, but he knew it could alter everything.

(Y/n) moved into her first apartment while attending college in 2009. She had not seen him since he came to her on the balmy night in Mexico. Unfolding a small piece of paper he had slipped in her palm that night, she noted that one of the days, scrawled in what appeared to be blue crayon, was today. Attending her classes like normal, she had a creeping sense of anxiety at the unknown nature of the significance of the date. (Y/n) chose to skip her afternoon classes, and made her way back to her apartment. Immediately upon opening the door, the scent of black coffee hit her. A sense of panic washed over her: she definitely had not brewed any coffee that day. She felt for the light switch on the wall beside her, to be greeted to the sight of Five sitting comfortably on her couch, a briefcase positioned on the floor near his feet. “Christ, Five, what the hell? You couldn’t turn a light on? Why are you just sitting in the dark?” He stood from his seated position: clean cut, with a button up shirt rolled above his elbows and dark dress pants, easily younger than he had been in Mexico. “Sorry,” he smoothed his hair back with his hands. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” She stared at him quizzically, noting the dark circles under his eyes. There were unmistakable indicators that he had been crying. “Hey, are you alright?” Her feet were frozen just inside the threshold of the door. Seeing him in this state was completely new. Five had always been fairly level headed and logical: emotions weren’t necessarily his strong suit, nor were words. His eyes darted around the room, unable to meet her gaze. “What’s wrong?” He shook his head and rushed towards her, wrapping his arms firmly around her. His chin rested atop her head, and his breathing steadied. “I just….need you.” He pushed back slightly to look her in the eyes, his own wild with a flurry of emotions. Her mouth slightly ajar, he reached up and ran his thumb across her bottom lip, an inquiry. There were no words he could use to describe what was happening, he needed to show her. Tentatively, she leaned into him, placing a slow kiss onto his lips, the answer he had been searching for. As if the flood gates had opened, he swept her up against the wall, a flurry of hands and unsure lips. It was nearing midnight, and the two laid tangled together on the couch. No words had been spoken in hours, only the praises of two human beings occupying a rare moment in time. Her fingers pressed idly on his chest, she felt his heart rate increase. She knew that time was up, and instinctively pushed herself away from him, granting him access to leave. “I don’t want to go.” He whispered as he sat up, placing his head in his hands. “But if I don’t make it back before midnight the Commission…” “Will turn you into a pumpkin? Or worse?” He peered up at her and cringed. “They’ll send someone after me. Then it will probably be worse.” He dragged himself from the couch, collecting his clothes from the floor. “Sorry I didn’t have a whole lot to say tonight.” He looked at (Y/n) sympathetically, as she wrapped herself in a blanket. “Well, I think you said plenty,” she blushed as she marveled at him, noting that he was a bit leaner and built, apparent in the ease with which he lifted her from the floor just hours before. He leaned down and kissed her, fighting back tears, and began unlatching the case beside the couch. “You’re not angry that I have to leave?” she looked down at him, his somber expression breaking her heart. She knew that somehow this was hurting him more than it hurt her. “Of course not. You have a job to do. I know you’ll always come back to me” “Okay….I’ll see you soon, check the dates.” In a flash he was back at the Commission, back pressed to the wall. He wished he could have told her that his devastation was from watching her wedding, again, and how he wished that it was him instead: it would be selfish to ruin this for her. The knowledge that she could never be his made it even more painful. He wiped the tears from his eyes, and peeled himself from the floor.

The shower had stopped running, bringing a thick silence to their sometimes shared home. Five walked out of her bathroom wrapped in a towel, and found his way to the couch, collapsing in an exhausted heap. (Y/n) brought him his coffee and sat down beside him. “So….” She started, unsure of what to say. There usually wasn’t a lull in conversation, but things had been mostly quiet for her, and she surmised, for him as well. “I’ve pinpointed the day when the world ends. All of my calculations appear to point at the same date. I just don’t know the why or the what.” He frowned, rubbing his freshly shaved cheek. “What year did you come from?” She stared down at the vortex she had created in her coffee. “Still 2032. I think I’ve managed to sync everything back up. We’re in the same timeline now, I’m just coming from…a little further ahead.” He frowned. Her hand reached out to clasp his slightly weathered hand, touch starved after months of waiting. “You changed your hair?” Taken aback by his change of subject, she recoiled, running her fingers through her hair. “Oh, yeah. I dyed it a couple of weeks ago.” “Fascinating…it suits you. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it like this before.” He replaced her fingers with his own and she exhaled, reveling in his touch. “All these numbers and figures, and I never even think about how you might be different when I see you.” Eyes pressed firmly shut, “It’s all I ever think about. How someday, you’ll come back, and decide I’m not beautiful anymore. Or you think I’ve gained weight, or my hair isn’t quite right or…” Five cut her off, placing his finger over her lips. “You have nothing to worry about. I feel sorry for YOU,” he emphasized. “I’m getting old and haggard, and you’re even more beautiful than the day I married you.” His strong hand guided her towards him, placing a firm but loving kiss on her lips.

(Y/n) sat in front of a mirror as her best friend adjusted her veil. A frown plastered her face. “I don’t think I should do this, I mean, we’ve only been together for six months. It’s kind of a whirlwind, don’t you think?” Fingers busied themselves nervously with the delicate beading of her dress, arguably one that wasn’t even remotely her style. (Y/f/n) swiveled her chair to meet her eyes. “This is supposed to be the happiest day of your life, you have to stop trying to talk yourself out of it. You finally have a man that won’t go disappearing on you, it’s literally the best thing that’s ever happened to you.” (Y/n)’s eyes welled up with tears. “But what if he comes back? What if he comes back and I’m married to someone else? I don’t know if I could live with myself.” “Five isn’t coming back. The Umbrella Academy assholes are all maladjusted, miserable people. You know this just as well as I do.” She shot back bitterly. “Just because you and Diego didn’t get a happy ending, that doesn’t mean I can’t.” Her friend passed her a tissue, expression softening. “I’m sorry, (Y/n). I’m not trying to be hard on you, I know this is a stressful day. But this is what it is. This is your happily ever after! Let’s celebrate!” She handed her a champagne flute, and toasted the bride and her bridesmaids. As she sipped her champagne, she began to wonder if Five had ever loved her at all, considering he had never said those words in any exact capacity. Maybe he simply felt comfort in her presence. Her fiancé never missed an opportunity for those words to pour from his lips, like a slow, miserable drip from a leaky pipe. He was even accepting of the fact that she did not want to sleep with him before the wedding, completely oblivious that the only reason was that the thought of another man touching her made her feel sick. Pachelbel’s Cannon in D began playing throughout the garden, and she felt her chest tighten. This wasn’t the song she wanted, but her fiancé was incredibly traditional. She chose to have no one give her away, so she would take this long walk to the altar completely alone and exposed. Her fiancé wasn’t particularly pleased with that either. Plastering on some semblance of a smile, she strode slowly, taking in all of the faces in the crowd, doing her best to not look up at the groom. She knew it wouldn’t be the absentee man of her dreams, the one she had loved since she was 12. No, that man was lost in the aether of time, with an important job of maintaining order in a world made of entirely chaos. This would be as good as it could possibly get. There was nothing wrong with her fiancé per say: he was handsome, had an excellent job and most importantly, was there all the time. Unlike Five, who could only offer middle of the night trysts where fevered hands did the talking, those fleeting moments he could break away from the Commission without being caught. Nights where he couldn’t utter a single word to her, since any moment speaking would be a moment his lips weren’t on hers. The moments that she knew he was a ship without an anchor, the only thing holding him to those hours in time were his desperate hands clinging to her. None of those stolen moments mattered anymore. Her feet planted firmly in front of the man with whom she had every intention of spending her life, she took a deep breath. The string quartet stopped. Cicadas began singing as the sun set. “Does anyone with us today have a reason why these two should not be joined in marriage? Speak now or forever hold your peace.” A bright blue light illuminated the middle of the aisle. “I do.” Five stood there in a slick black suit, looking as though he had just come from a day of work at the Commission. His jaw tense, he stood for a moment as the realization dawned on everyone in the audience. “Oh hell no,” her maid of honor stepped in front of her, “who the FUCK do you think you are? Showing up today of all days, after MONTHS of radio silence. You have DESTROYED her, give her this chance to make it right.” He closed distance, and couldn’t help but laugh to himself at the dumbfounded look on the groom’s face. He probably didn’t even know about them. “Don’t speak for her. (Y/n), please hear me out…I love you. I’ve loved you since we were kids. I should have said it sooner. I couldn’t stand by and watch the love of my life marry someone else, not without telling you my piece first.” Her expression was blank underneath her veil: there was no reading the myriad of emotions she was feeling. She stepped in front of (Y/f/n), placing her hand gently on her shoulder, giving her a knowing nod. Gently, she swept the veil away from her face, and crossed her arms, as if wordlessly telling him to continue. Five swallowed hard. “The Commission was testing me…They’ve sent me to this moment in time over and over again. I’ve watched you be with someone else no less than a dozen times now, and I can’t do this anymore. The first night we-“ he paused, deciding better than to bring up the events of that particular evening”…this is where I came from. I had just watched you marry him, and it broke me.” “But the timeline….the variables, the rules?” She gestured vaguely. “Fuck the timeline, and fuck the Commission. I quit. Nothing in this world is worth it to watch you end up with someone else. Maybe that’s selfish, maybe I’m an ass.” He shrugged, and she did not respond. Peering around the room at the attendants, they all seemed to be weighing what was going to happen next. Five stood in front of her, placing his hands on the sides of her face. “I’m a terrible romantic, always have been, but here it goes. I can’t promise you that things will be stable. Hell, I can’t promise that they’ll even be good. But I promise you, there is no one in any timeline, in any reality, anywhere, that will love you more than I do.” In a swift motion, he dropped to his knee. “Let’s get married instead, (Y/n). You and I.” Gasps and murmurs erupted from the crowd, as she turned her back on him and walked up to her groom, still dumbfounded at the altar. “Sorry…” she said in almost a whisper, removing the ring that she never particularly liked from her finger and placing it gently in his palm. From this vantage point, Five could not make out what was happening, but watched the groom’s expression change from shock to defeat. He found that he couldn’t move, frozen in time, with baited breath. (Y/n) turned on her heels, looking at the man kneeling on the floor. “Five…stand up.” She put her hands out, helping him up. “Are you ready?” His confusion was apparent. “Ready for what?” “To marry me, dumbass. This is all already paid for, if we’re going to do it, let’s do it right now.” She threw her arms around his neck. “This is all I’ve ever wanted. Marry me, Five?” Nodding, he nervously fumbled around in the pocket of his dress pants. “You’re going to think I’m crazy, but I bought this ring in 1921 in Paris on one of my first jobs with the Commission…I’ve had this for years…”He placed in on her finger, their hands steadying one another. “I’ve always known that it had to be you.” The ceremony was filled with laughter and tears, despite the grand exit of nearly half the attendants when the bride dumped the groom at the altar. The event was postponed for an hour, so Five could contact his family to attend. The reception roared into early evening marked by jovial alcohol consumption. “I know I’ve been asking a lot of big questions today, but I have one more thing I need of you, Mrs. Hargreeves.” Five murmured in her ear, surrounded by people on the dance floor. “Anything, for you. What do you need?” She replied back as seductive as she could. “I need you…” he nipped at her neck …”to….” He peppered kisses along her jaw. “cut the Commission tracking device out of my arm.” “The ACTUAL fuck, Five???” She screeched, slightly tipsy. “Yep, then we throw it in the river. After that I’m completely yours. I’ll finally be able to wake up next to you.” Weighing her options, she nodded. “Let’s do it.” The pair snuck into the bathroom of the reception hall, stumbling and giggling. He removed his dress shirt and flung it over the top of the bathroom stall door, removing a small thin blade from a holster around his ankle. Kneeling near the sink, he draped his arm over the drain, placing the blade in her hand. “You know how much I love you, right, Five?” She eyed him nervously. “I’ve always known. I love you, too. Now let’s get on with this, I’m going to need another drink after this.” He pointed at the spot on his arm, indicating the location of the tracking device. (Y/n) gently pressed the tip of the blade into his arm, creating a small incision. A sudden, sharp breath escaped his lips as he took the blade from her, digging out a small pill shaped device from his forearm. He applied a butterfly bandage, and pulled his button up back on. “Let’s start our happily ever after.”

“So I’ve been making all of these calculations, right?” (Y/n) pulled his clothing out of the dryer and tossed it on the couch. He began getting dressed, since he knew he reasonably only had a few more minutes until he had to go back. “And since I know the exact date, my plan is to travel to just a week before, and see if I can nail down the cataclysm that causes the apocalypse. I’ll have to connect with my brothers and sisters…” She stared at him with exhausted eyes. “So if you can prevent it, maybe we can actually go back to having a normal life?” “I think so. We can finally settle down, I can assemble the bookshelves for all the books I’ve been stealing from the Academy and stashing over here, breakfast, lunch, and dinner together every night…and maybe…” “Maybe what, Five?” He turned towards her, smirking. “We can finally start a family?” a guffaw escaped her mouth, as her hands flew up to cover it. “Five Hargreeves, wanting to be a family man? I thought you ‘never wanted to bring kids into this world’ and ‘didn’t want to risk them having powers and ruin their lives’.” He shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess living through the apocalypse has given me some perspective.” His hands rubbed together rapidly, as he prepared to travel back, knowing this version of himself couldn’t remain here permanently. “I’ll see you the week before the Apocalypse, okay?” He disappeared in a haze of blue once again, and (Y/n) collapsed on the couch.

Just a few blissful years: that was all they were able to squeeze out of their marriage, before the Commission inevitably caught wind of their location. The tall blonde woman, the Handler, had appeared in their front yard, ready to strike up a deal with Five. He had two options: stay in the present, and himself and (Y/n) would be killed at a date of the Commission’s choosing. Be sent to the future and continue work for the Commission, and they would allow them both to live. Little did he know that his punishment would be far worse: they provided him a faulty briefcase, their particular method for time travel, which led to him being stuck in time. The years he spent in the Apocalyptic wasteland allowed him to regain some of his strength, and he began the time leaps that brought him back to (Y/n) in various parts of the timeline.

The final date marked on her calendar in bright red marker had arrived. “This is the last one,” she murmured to herself. “Now if the world could just not end in a week, that would be great…” Nervously, she adjusted the delicate ring that Five had gotten from Paris technically nearly a century ago. A tingling in her scalp alerted her to an intense feeling of dread that had suddenly taken root: something bad was about to happen. Maybe just the impending doom of the apocalypse, maybe something else. She was started by a knock at the door. “Well at least I know it’s not Five, since he’d just poof into the room.” She swung the door open, “Can I help….you….?” “This is bad, (Y/n). This is really bad.” Five stood before her in his school uniform: the very same he had worn when they had first met. She peered down at the young teenager before her. By all appearances, it was just some gangly fifteen year old kid, certainly not her husband; unfortunately, she knew better. Some things about him stayed exactly the same: his eyes, the timbre of his voice, the way he stared at her when he was panicking. “Something was wrong in my calculations…I’m stuck like this and I can’t jump.” “Oh…..Oh, God….”

#fivehargreevesxreader #fivehargreeves #the umbrella academy #tua #romance #angst

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firstofficers-log · 7 years ago

Text

burnin’ up

Pairing: Joseph Christiansen/Reader

Words: 1676

Summary: Joseph keeps inviting you over to help with baking for events. You're not one to turn down cookies, and you're definitely not one to turn down the company of a very attractive blond dad.

Author’s note: we need more Soft Joseph in this world. if you have requests for that good good soft Joseph content lmk

Every time you finished helping Joseph bake for some kind of event, you told yourself it would be the last time. There were far too many variables for you to take into account; children around you, your mediocre baking skills, Joseph's stupidly clear blue eyes --

The same eyes that had convinced you to go against your promise to yourself for what seems like the millionth time. Curse those eyes. Those beautiful, beautiful eyes.

It was so much easier talking to Joseph over DadBook in situations like these. While he could be awfully persuasive, he couldn't very well use his (dumb, ridiculous, stunning) puppy-dog eyes on you over a text chat. Though, you reason, you wouldn't put it past him to send a video of him asking you to help out.

Either way, you now stand in Joseph's kitchen, cursing yourself and cursing him for convincing you to bake with him again. Today, you were making various types of cookies -- something about some kind of party that's going on, you think you remember. Joseph had so many things going on recently that you were ashamed to say you hadn't really been keeping up.

"Could you pass me the flour, please?" Joseph asks, saying a quick thank you once you complied. He measures and levels it before dumping it into a sieve and shaking it into an empty bowl. Baking is wild.

After almost adding salt instead of sugar, you were put on cookie-scooping duty. Joseph had shown you how to take an ice-cream scoop to make perfectly portioned cookies. You're not sure why he had to show you how to use an ice cream scoop, but words wouldn't leave your mouth when his hand enveloped yours.

Without prompting, you handed Joseph a clean whisk after he'd added all of the dry ingredients to one bowl. He beamed at you and you swear you were almost blinded at the whiteness of his teeth.

"See?" Joseph said, chuckling wryly. "You are learning!"

"Sure," you say, rolling your eyes at him. "I mean, watching you bake twice a week has to have at least some effect, right?"

You expect Joseph to laugh, but instead, his smile turns nervous as he mutters a reply and turns back to his bowls. Is he… blushing?

You don't have time to assess the situation further because the timer on the microwave goes off and begins assaulting your ears.

"All right, all right," you say to the appliance, trying several times to find the 'off' switch. Once you succeed, you nod and turn to take the cookies out of the oven.

You arm yourself with Joseph's Darth Vader oven mitts (which you strongly suspect had something to do with Chris) and move to pull out the tray.

However, you make a wrong move and manage to bump the tray against the inside of your forearm, instantly leaving a nasty red mark.

"OH SHHHHH……Sugar cookies!" You shout, remembering just in time that there were, in fact, children in your vicinity. Joseph looks shocked and quickly stops mixing ingredients to see what's wrong.

"Hold on, it'll be okay," Joseph says in his Dad Voice™. He helps you place the tray out of harm's way and closes the oven door before leading you to the sink. You're grateful for his initiative because the only thing going on in your brain at the moment is something along the lines of fuckfuckfUCKFUCKFUCK OW OW OW OW

While you run your arm under the coldest water available, Joseph swiftly walks to another part of the kitchen. You hear him cut something, and before you can ask what he's doing, he's back by your side with a large Aloe leaf.

"Come on, sit down," he tells you calmly. As soon as you remove your arm from the stream of water, it burns again, but you try to suck it up until Joseph can help. You sit on one of the stools next to the island in the kitchen and offer your arm.

Joseph cuts the leaf open lengthwise and immediately presses it against your skin, making sure the entire burn is covered. You sigh audibly, grateful for the cooling gel. Joseph seems more upset than you are. He runs his free hand through his hair.

"Goodness, I didn't mean for you to get hurt! I wouldn't have made up--" Joseph actually slaps a hand over his mouth at his own words, but the damage had been done. His eyes were wide, his free hand still pressing the cool aloe into your arm.

Your eyebrows shot up. "Made up?" You pondered this for a few moments, realizing that it hadn't just been your poor memory that had made you forget Joseph's reasoning. He'd almost seemed... vague in his invitation. In fact, you’re now noticing that it’s actually rather strange that there seemed to be an event every two weeks that necessitated some form of baked good. You wonder why you didn’t notice it before.

"Joseph, did you make up a party to get me to bake with you?" This comes out as more of a statement than a question, but Joseph still nods hesitantly. His face is red now, and he’s not able to look at you directly.

Huh. You're more surprised than anything. And also trying to stop your heart from beating so quickly, because from where his hand is placed, Joseph can probably feel your pulse. Which is more than a little embarrassing.

"I want to be angry," you admit after a few moments of silence. "But honestly, I'm… sort of flattered? I mean, what happened to lying being a sin?" You grin at him and you can see the tension drain from Joseph's shoulders.

He looks at you sheepishly, his hair mussed, and you’re trying so hard to think of anything besides smoothing it down for him. “I wish I could say I had good intentions,” Joseph murmurs, not quite meeting your eyes. “I have to admit that I was being… selfish.”

Any and all traces of anger are gone, now. You feel bad that Joseph looks so… guilty. It wasn’t as though you didn’t have selfish reasons for helping out, too.

“Aw, Joseph,” you say, and he actually looks at you now, the full force of his sad eyes actually hitting you. “I was just kidding. I wouldn’t have helped if I didn’t want to.” This isn’t entirely true, but you have to admit that you’ve had fun every time you’d come to Joseph’s home.

You ponder a moment before continuing. “But if you wanted to hang out, you really didn’t have to keep making stuff up. I love spending time with you.” Whoops. So maybe that had come out a bit more sappy than you’d intended. It seemed to do the trick, though, because Joseph’s blinding smile returned and he gave you a hug. An awkward hug, because of the burn-and-aloe situation between the two of you, but still a hug. You could smell his stupidly wonderful smelling hair and tried not to linger.

“I’m so glad to hear you say that,” Joseph says, pulling away. He seems embarrassed again. “I wasn’t sure how I was going to keep this up much longer.”

You laugh, and Joseph’s smile grows wider. “I’m not sure how I didn’t notice,” you admit, looking to the not-quite-finished cookies now sitting on the stove-top. “I guess… I guess I wanted an excuse to hang out with you, too.”

You expect for Joseph to laugh, or even for him to hug you again, but instead, he blushes and smiles shyly before looking down. You sit in companionable silence for a few more moments before Joseph pulls the aloe away from your burn.

“Does it feel any better?” He asks you, discarding the used plant in a compost bin. To your surprise, it does. You nod and Joseph smiles before turning to one of his cabinets.

“That’s good. I’m going to put some of this on it,” he holds out a tube to you, “and then bandage it up and you should be right as rain in no time!”

You give Joseph two thumbs up. “Thanks for taking care of me. I guess I’m not getting any better at baking, huh?”

Joseph laughs and sits back down next to you after gathering his supplies. Unsurprisingly, he had a kitchen with a well-stocked emergency kit. You’d expect nothing less from a man with four kids.

“Not with that attitude, you’re not.” He winks at you. “Maybe we should have more baking lessons. Once a week.”

You groan dramatically. “I never want to see another cookie sheet for as long as I live.”

Joseph chuckles and wipes down your arm with a cold cloth. He hesitates before putting the burn cream stuff on it, though. You’re about to ask what he’s doing when he lowers his lips to your arm and delicately kisses the pink mark. You can hardly feel it, but it’s definitely enough to make your breath hitch in your throat. You’re absolutely certain that you’re blushing like a teenager right now.

Joseph lifts his head, his own cheeks pink. “There,” he says after clearing his throat. “Now it’ll heal even faster.” He smiles and reaches for the tube, continuing his work as though nothing had happened and that this was a totally normal occurrence.

Your heart was still hammering in your chest, and you felt like a kid, but holy shit he kissed my boo-boo what a nerd.

“You’re a dork,” you tell him despite your nerves. At this, Joseph laughs heartily, somehow managing to keep his hands steady.

“I’m not the one who burned myself on a cookie sheet,” he counters, finally finishing with your bandage. It has Hello Kitty on it.

“Touché,” you say, finally getting up from your spot. “I should probably actually help you finish baking now, huh?” The two of you spend the rest of the day actually baking, and trying to figure out what the hell you’re going to do with all of these Goddamn cookies.

#text #dream daddy #dream daddy: a dad dating simulator #ddadds #joseph christiansen #joseph christiansen x reader #joseph christiansen x dadsona #reader insert #my writing #baking........ and not the devils lettuce

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wearethegladiators · 6 years ago

Text

hey

so i could keep on ranting about aron for years because drAMA but i’m just gonna tell you this: aaron paul as his new fc is canon and so is the evans siblings being the evans twins. i’M NOT SORRY

lily still saying aron is his little brother because she was born like 2 minutes ahead of him :) but aron being taller and looking older than his age while lily will forever look like she’s 12 hihi

also the first 30 seconds of this video is the absolutely perfect depiction of aron’s mindset for that time period: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHpeFfBRF8U like being a kid. a sad, fucked-up, cutie-pie, damaged kid.

one comment reads “the most accurate portrayal of personal hell i have ever seen” and that hurts

also pretty much canon that aron will be alive for at least some time after the virus

i’m digging into the evans family backstory and it’s clear that they always had a connection to magic. like i don’t know exactly how the irish folklore relates to magic (i’m especially thinking druids here), is it like an entre-deux between the magic and the muggle world ?? i read once on a hp forum that irish muggles were pretty much aware of the magic world around them and that it didn’t come as a big surprise because you know, bah they have farfadets quoi. so there were “mixed” villages and magic wasn’t much of a secret. i actually kinda like that?

lily’s parents are more rational (or modern if you will), maybe they live in a mostly muggle city or something. but her grandparents? they live in the highlands, are breeding horses and only communicating in gaelic.

also, the evans have always been fighters. they definitely participated in ww2, maybe even took part in the débarquement (there’s also a french side to the evans family hihi). also they were probably very involved in the civil religious wars, as mediators - or as IRA members ?? because they’re nice, but they’re about ice. and ice does not forgive. a smile made for war is one of the most evans things i have ever read, along with demons run when a good man goes to war.

so anyway maybe her grandparents were even in contact/working with the order of the phoenix during the first wizarding war?? it would also explain the disconnection between lily’s parents and the magic environment. the grandparents tried to protect them by pushing them away from the magical world??

and then boum, liliana. and potentially also aron showing some skills?? (WHY am i thinking of aron as a banshee????)

lily definitely has a banshee vibe. ever since les âmes mortes she always had accurate feeling/foreboding whenever something bad was about to happen. also i can see her scream?? and that sort of mind control through occlumency. like she has some aspects that she may have inherited, but she’s not a full-range banshee. aron??? what if his capacities are more developed than lily on that? also what if he is an occlumens? can muggles be occlumens too???

there’s so much going on in my mind i swear to god

lily rather as morrigan. if the rebellion still uses aliases that’s definitely going to be hers. that fits so well. the queen of phantoms? i mean?

lily/aron’s relationship as echoing so much that of the blake siblings. the unbreakable love but the unbearable resentment. both being convinced that lily brought the plague to the farm where all evans were gathered, and thus killed them all. aron rejecting lily, referring to other members of the rebellion as “his family” and mocking her as “the goddess of the dead”. the morrigan nickname could actually come from him?? also lily having moments of doubt regarding her recent actions/harshness, and someone telling her “you always did what you had to do to protect your brother, that’s who you are”. my heart ???

lily becoming much more ruthless ever since aron joined the rebellion, and her family died, and her people started to go extinct. like really we can tell that there’s been a true escalation of violence for her from that moment on - she will do whatever it takes to save them all, and especially her brothers

lily doing a bunch of stupid things for them

like she’d be ready to endanger the entire rebellion movement to save their asses

and the muggle(born) race, but to a lesser extent (still clarke-and-lever-vibes tho)

lily really going on a personal crusade for months trying to save and gather the remaining muggles all over the country, building up a team to find the survivors and protect them, but also to burn the deceased and give them decent burials (the last point would also be a matter of tension with aron: “burning the bodies really? it’s no fucking zombie virus! you’re the one destroying our people and our culture, not them!”)

aron as part of the “preservation of the muggle world” team ?? i mean this sounds like a very lame name put like that but he’d quite obviously be useful in that mission. what if they even go islands where there are survivors and they just contaminate them and kill them?? the guilt!!

is he living at the rebellion headquarters or in a muggleborn camp? how much does being non-magic impede his daily life, like how many places is he unable to access because of anti-muggle spells??

aron and red???? i just had this thought because krysten ritter would be a great red? like maybe not as a couple, but as a thing at least. he’d care a hell lot about her, and if she dies?? hm hm.

i think i just like picturing aron with terribly strong/extremist women because it is so radically different from who he is? he’s been raised as an extremely kind, respectful, and tolerant child (maybe even too much) who likes flowers and smoking pot while looking at the stars (headcanon in which aron does all of lily’s homeworks for botanique).

THIS. RIGHT. HERE.

mdr remember when i said this thread wouldn’t be about aron

so yeah, even with wynona. he couldn’t stand her being so ostracized by the others, and it’s no secret that aron likes kids so damn much, so he’d be terribly disgusted by her actions but would still take care of her brothers and sisters - and would eventually understand ?

also, if he also adopts a kid at some point, well he’s definitely going to bring him to the blackbird ranch

the blackbird ranch as une garderie

mdr that would also mean that aron and nathan could be found chilling out around the blackbird ranch -- my heart

wynona lifting magical anti-muggle barriers surrounding the ranch especially for aron!!

so yeah anyway wynona and aron. in a paradoxical way he forgives way more things to wynona than he does to lily. and wyn would try to fix their relationship. also aron could (try to) provide muggle solutions to her “leg problem” ? (wynona is legit afraid of muggle technology and savoir-faire, but also very eager to learn about it, soooo)

also this definitely implies aron/sacha?? i mean. i think that would be a super interesting relationship, because they would definitely be best-friends in a “normal setting” ?? but this is war, aron manages to get close to wyn when she refuses to complain to sacha, sacha manages to get close to lily and?? i don’t know, i see a great friendship, but also with a weird, nostalgic avant l’heure vibe to it? two kids who grew up too fast and now struggle on behaving as such. genuinely enjoying and supporting each other, but also the presence of the other is a reminder of what they’re going through and who they could have been? am i even making sense oh god

btw i always thought that sacha must have been close friends with fenugreek, and so was aron? they could have been sort of a trio, and fenu’s violent death would add yet another variable to their relationship

do the magical creatures of wynona know aron is non-magic and if yes how do they react to him

mdr btw i also thought about the blood transfer thing, i appreciate how we are both trying to save him

anyway there’s definitely some type of old/irish magic protecting him to a certain extent, i guess

the power of LOOOOVE

100% agreed i like the trope of “love is greater” so much?? like that’s cheesy but i’ll never get over it. we do terrible things for the people we love. lily and wyn are such goods examples of that. (“i was a mother and now i’m a monster”)

speaking about love nathan and the evans ???? yeah, he’d definitely be introduced as a cousin to neighborhood/family dinners. he would be the miguel of the family hahaha

mama evans adopting nathan as her third kid and sending him packages of food, or scarves she has knitted!! making sure he’s okay even when he’s away and harrassing lily for some news. pretty sure she has already invited nathan to the kinsale house while lily was still in hogwarts? like now i’m picturing aron/mama evans/nathan dinners and???

nathan spending a few weeks at the evans home every summer, with the evans twin carrying him everywhere and being over excited to show him muggle things?? the awkwardness of nathan, and the evans twins running everywhere with excitement?? mdr they must have been so happy and having so much fun and now look at them

sorry

evans twins getting nathan to smoke pot

evans twins always getting into trouble and nathan having to always make up for that

nathan coming to the grandparents’ farm!! where they only speak gaelic and look weirdly at him and always seem grumpy, but eventually they adopt him and give him a horse and now grandma evans is also sending him packages ??? (grandpa evans is still speaking gaelic tho, but he’s trying to be a bit more understandable. just a bit)

nathan being overwhelmed with packages from the evans mdrrrr

that’s def my new favorite trope here. nathan in the middle of this happy bubbly blondy family. yES

(what do you mean all your evans are dead now, shhhhh)

sans transition MUDBLOOD CAMPS??? i saw this coming but i’m still shook mdr

so i’m 100% FOR SACHA AND LILY TO MEET THERE??? these camps are pretty damn good at dehumanizing people and making them lose all hope, but if lily comes across a baby-like-aron that would give her a reason to fight back, and yes start mobilizing people, starting to spread across words and songs of hope and??? yes. sacha and lily as badass community organizers??? yes² i lOVE THIS

also lily contacting the rebellion/nathan once they escaped and being like “yeah i’m with about a hundred escapees rn, is there anything you can do or? we keep on saving ourselves?”

“it’s my people BITCH”

that’s the moment when she started using a rhetoric of “my people”. that’s the moment when she embraced her muggleborness, completely changed her looks, and started to harden her stance. “someone has to save our skins/i bear it so they don’t have to”

mdr lily and sacha, those skinny kids, leading their people to the rebellion can you imagine the badass scene

“yes we did this ourselves”

most of the people that escaped that day now have important functions within the muggleborn rebellion and they have sort of an added “street-cred” because this shit was legen…wait for it...daryyyy

i don’t know why this makes me think of “acide sulfurique” by amélie nothomb. but this does

also adrian can 100% join the muggleborn resistance, lily would be so glad, i’m pretty sure she has a hell lot of respect for that man. oh what if she’s the one influencing him to join the movement??? i swear she has some slytherin vibes now

how “‘fun”’ is it that lily now has slytherin vibes and nathan has gryffindor vibes right

also so sad about alice!! she was the purest. and i’m pretty she already took care of lily before the war cause you know, the girl always has broken ribs, or arms, or legs, or whatever. she would have looked up to her a lot, that’s saaad. like this is must have been so traumatizing for the rebellion, losing her

“nathan is a wolf, a dragon, a wildfire, a liar, a survivor” damn i’m into it.

it’s so sad seeing this délitement of the leaders but i guess it also makes sense? it’s war, people change, people die. bouhouhou

also YES carmen/lily, i always thought this would be an interesting relationship to explore. like i have this scene in mind when lily just got rescued by the rebellion, she’s quietly sitting somewhere at the headquarters, carmen is suspicious of her and thus try to enter her mind, and lily feels it, stares at her and mentally kicks her out?? like the rivalry from that on. carmen going up to nathan and being like “wtf is your sister, what’s the deal with her occlumencia??” and nathan being like “tf” cause lily never told him hahahaha. so carmen staying superstitious, especially with lily being a little naive kid and yet having survived captivity and torture for months, until some event (yet to be determined) happens and a mutual respect is instaured between them. lily could even become sort of carmen’s second?? that would be a super weird association but i’m here for it? also they could have stayed in touch after carmen left the rebellion, but if carmen’s more “team nathan” i guess they see each other less now? or maybe like i said carmen would be sort of a mediator between nathan and lily? can you imagine??? the kamoulox???

also i need to think about the carmen/wynona relationship. i guess loads of fights but also potentially loads of laugh? they could along pretty well even though this would requires a mutual ass-beating every once in a while. are they drinking buddies now or what? has wynona contacted carmen only recently after silence radio for years to discuss whether or not she should go back to the rebellion? so many questions!!

what if she shows up at carmen’s place without telling her (bc she’s not into that crap) and nathan is already here mdr. the awkwardness. sorry bye

also ofc wynona has been great friends with red for years, probably ever since hogwarts. it may even be for her that she decided to engage in the rebellion. she was there when red got arrested right after her quidditch game and knew she would probably be executed/détraqueurisée asap so she did what wynona does: coerced kyran, found her way to the rebellion, helped them to invade the ministry and make it go boom.

mdr this girl arriving outta nowhere with a plan to get the mofo ministry of magic exploded is so wynona. also insisting on having “faucon” as her first and foremost interlocutor because she quietly stalks them and knows that he’s the most likely to be interested. always had this scene in mind in which the first meeting didn’t go so well because egos™ and they almost ended up fighting and she refused to give him the plans?? and then she’d have regrets, show up to a meeting through another intermediary (let’s be real she must have so much friends gravitating around the rebellion), just quietly put the plans on the table

also the plans include the lists of the prisoners and lily’s on it??? wyn didn’t know who lily was to nathan but can you imagine?? maybe he thinks she did that on purpose hehe (but she really didn’t have a clue) (she might be bluffing about it because wynona blackbird™ confidence, you know)

tbh wynona probably was friends with….. milo, too? can you imagine. ACTUALLY can you imagine her trashing milo one day like “that idiot got killed for shit” in front of lily cause she doesn’t know?????? btw she’s definitely the type to have hooked up with him at some point. mdr. can you imaGINE

wynona and sacha!! mdr i legit hadn’t thought of “how to train your dragon” but that would be so cute and such a good example actually

omg daenerys!wynona

into

the thing is i always thought of wyn as an incredibly Cartesian/utilitarian character so she would always take care of her dragons equally, professionally with just a bit of affection (cause she’s a breeder, she knows she’ll eventually have to let them go), and having no favorite dragon whatsoever

but now?? i legit want her to have a dragon just so that he/she can blow in nathan’s face when he’s being an ass??? :)))))

also is nathan gonna be like this with dragons

mdr sorry so i was saying that yeah, maybe she has a dragon. like an orphan that she found completely by chance while she was at her lowest/darkest, and he/she sort of helped her “bounce back”? she raised him/her secretly because even though i doubt she is still providing much dragons in these times, she’s still trying to be a professional? so maybe even sacha wouldn’t know about this, until he/she starts to become too big/show up at the blackbird ranch even though he/she isn’t supposed to and wyn is like “hmhm. yeah. so i do have sort of a dragon hihi”, and then he/she starts following her everywhereeee

can it be like the bébés oies who adopt a human and believe that human is their maman oie?? what if the dragon believes wynona is a dragon, just really bad at spitting fire

I’M DISGRESSING

i’m actually pretty sure that wyn has stopped her “commercial” activities, just closed and hid to the public her ranch and is now keeping all her dragons hihihi + the ones people are bringing her eventually

she may be educating them to fight/support the rebellion but at the same time she’d be afraid for her bbies?

like she always loved her dragons so much but she had to keep a certain distance from them in order not to be too sad when she has to let them go. but now?? since she’s keeping them?? mdr she’s legit going to raise them as her kids, with toys and decorated paddocks??? like she would be so gaga hahahaha

can you imagine a baby dragon being born at the ranch and wyn offering that baby dragon to sacha and sacha giving back the fully educated dragon to wyn so that she can fly with him/her???? bitch my hEART

also wyn going to see the dragon/taking care of him and loving him so much already because he’s sacha’s baby without knowing he’s going to be hers??

plus if sacha didn’t know about wyn’s personal dragon that means she has two dragons now, full daenerys!wynona bitch

mdr and then sacha giving his dragon to wyn would be so full of tears on both sides like? actually that may be the moment when she realizes how she pushed him away and is feeling so bad about it? and she’d be like “no bby keep your dragon come on--WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE’S VOICE-OPERATED???”

right in the feels, i don’t want sacha to be sad :(( she would push him away because she feels like she has a duty to protect him and can’t do it anymore and doesn’t want the roles to be reversed!! poor baby!! like she’d avoid him on the ranch and shit because she’d be “ashamed”? sâd!! (btw sacha potentially never seeing his parents again??? gosh wynona just needs to be there for him she’s gotta wake up!!)

but wynona would love this dragon so bad!!

what if both her dragons have a baby and she gives him to sacha?? or anyway she’d literally travel the world to find him a new baby lol

wyn disappearing for two weeks bc she just went to romania to get a new badass dragon for sacha, b y e

i don’t know which wynona is my favorite now between bigsis!wynona, daenerys!wynona and rebel!wynona?? rebel!wynona is terribly efficient but terribly scary tho mdr

she’d definitely earn the “most likely to slap you in the face” award of the rebellion hihi

we do terrible things for the people we love !!!!!! yes !!! and the angst when coming back to the rebellion ouloulou i’m so not ready. like the simple fact of showing up to a meeting, trying to be discrete when she used to be the annoying f*cker always interrupting the plans, and yet everyone watching. or like everyone going silent for a few seconds. woooo

or maybe she came back when they found edan, so she was kind of like a messiah to calm everyone down? or to take part in the rescue mission of edan??

mdr this thread is just me asking questions to myself i’m sorry

just let my girl be one of the good guys ok thanks

calling the auderic out on a Men are Men™ basis is a mood tbh

and i actually kind of stan ydria?? i mean. “she’s a witch and a bitch and a pirate”. i’ll take ten of them thanks

gosh this family is so aesthetically pleasing i swear to god

nathan has native american blood??? what the hell??? does wynona know that??? i’m not okay (btw i really need to dig into the native american magic and tradition blackbirds may still be using) (the blackbird ranch is quite obviously filled with native magic so yeah) (woo i’m excited!!)

i really want nathan to have a boat and lily being allowed to steal it. can you imagine them travelling to ireland by boat?? BADASSES. also lily can’t transplaner hein, so at least it would be practical

plus the evans also have a deep connection to the sea, at least originally? they always lived by the sea, loads of them still probably are fishermen or lighthouse keepers or something? and they probably used to fight on the sea, too. i actually imagine the evans as somehow descending from a vikings lineage?? is it because i love lagertha too much and she fits right into the evans family aesthetic?? yeah. pretty sure they have nordic origines too. so anyway BOATS ARE COOL ™, let nathan get one for 2k19 thanks.

magical tattoos!!! i think lily mostly have muggle tattoos, but wynona is definitely covered in magical tattoos. (i mean all blackbirds have at least a couple magical family tattoos, so that’s a thing) why they all so stylish tho, i like that. the line everytime someone gets killed is a real thing too tho. both wynona and lily may have one, i need to reflect on it (cause lily would be covered in it hahahahahah) (i’m not okay)

sacha and tattoos!! i had never thought of it but i’m here for it!! (i’m here for everyone having tattoos anyway. even aron probably has a couple of small tattoos)

i have never ever imagined nathan wearing white and i’m so here for it?? woaw. i’m shook. it was pretty logical for me that lily would go back to wearing white after the war but nathan?? po wer ful.

nathan having dogs!! yes!! i love dogs i’ll take A HUNDRED of them

does lily have any cool animals?? i don’t think so, why doesn’t she get to be a cool kid?? maybe an augurey cause hm, accurate, but i’m not even sure. she’d love a dog but actually i think she’d be too afraid to lose him/her at war, like no way

i mean, she used to have a horse. what happened to the horses when she burnt the evans farm??? did she let them go, sold them, killed them in case they were infected too (cause it was pretty early on and we probably didn’t know shit yet about the virus), brought them to the blackbird ranch??

oh maybe the evans had a dog!! aron sure has a dog anyway, a very good boy that’s pretty much the only that can still make him smile the way he used to. or maybe a cat, but i’m rather thinking dog here. is aron a cat or dog person??

the blackbird ranch is a true noah’s ark i swear!! they have thestrals and hippogriffs and dragons and niffleurs, maybe they have also wolves hanging around? i mean, they’re a native american family you know. i don’t know. if yes, nathan go and help yourself (have i already said that nathan x wolves is a freaking aesthetic)

willy!! i love her!!

gosh why am i seeing parallels between willy and aron. stop it

i forgot willy had killed herself btw, gosh seeing the evans twins having suicidal tendencies must be so traumatizing for nathan

100% here for him to have a baby girl tho, pls get a wife already

weirdly enough i really don’t want lily to be a mother anymore, when she wanted so much kids when she was younger? and also, she always said she was fighting for the greater good, for the future of her people, for her future kids. but now she’s just thinking about the others’ kids? she sort of gave up on that. also it’s terrible for her to see children in times of war, so as much as she’d try to protect them, she wouldn’t be a Mother of All™ like aron or wynona or even nathan would be. interesting much!!

i mean anyway she’s been through so much physically she may even be sterile at that point :))

angelica is such a cool name

that really wasn’t related at all to my previous point, i’m a free bird yo

sacha as an artist!!!!!! yes!!!! lily is a true artist too, and the other day i was thinking about how this relates to her clumsiness. because i can see her playing music (irish harp!!), dancing (danse de salon ofc that’s what she does and also classic irish dances), and painting (so much!!). also doing sports, but she’d be pretty bad at it. actually she’s hyperactive so most of the time (before becoming an occlumens) she just didn’t pay attention to things, and thus did break things or fell badly while running. but hyperactives are also a bit monomaniac and can get super involved/obsessed with a single task and that’s what art would do to lily!!

also of course lily singing all the time, not necessarily great but with great spirit!!

that would be sort of her singing voice btw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrPHeRvmjqM&index=23&list=RDQMJzRQHxdVDcA can you imagine her singing that at the headquarters of the rebellion though lmao i’m not okay

so sacha and lily producing art in the middle of the chaos???? count me the fuck in

some additional thoughts regarding secondary characters:

fury!! i had this character in mind for so long!! he’s based off that norman reedus pv i had created on silver and opals. a ruthless rebel, with the face of cillian murphy or tom hardy (or, as originally planned, rami malek or norman reedus). irish also!! or maybe welsh. speaking/understanding gaelic anyway. and he’s like… what gus was to lexa in the 100? to lily. he’s the one who found her at the ministry (and so the one who got his ass kicked by her hihi), and ever since that he saw something in her? like when she mercy-killed fenugreek when no one else wanted to do it because he was a kid, he went like “always knew the kid had more balls than the rest of you”. and so he gradually became her back-up, her trusted man following her everywhere. he saw her power in the rebellion back when everyone thought she was just a weak child that had survived because everyone had pity for her. and ever since that he follows her, including in the muggleborn resistance, trying to keep her alive even though she’s so good at getting into trouble hihi. sort of a good little knight by his queen side.

btw is the muggle-born resistance movement a non-mixed movement? like are non-muggle/muggleborns wizards allowed in it?

anyway, and so yeah lily sort of gave hope to the very very hopeless person that was fury. he saw the light in her and is holding on it. actually there is so much mystery and imaginaire surrounding lily and her past that some people like him could actually fetishize her? make her into a sort of a messianic figure, and she would freak out so much, like wth stop it i preferred when people thought i was a small weak child!! but at the same time it’s a good way to control people and make sure they do what she thinks is best for them?? i don’t know?? but that would make her leadership very different from that of the rebellion for instance

can we talk about how everyone used to genuinely love lily and now everyone either hates her/wants her dead OR is obsessed with her in an unhealthy, fetishizing way?? can she have normal, non-complicated relationships in which people just appreciate her for who she is and not who she appears to be??? this is legit saaaaad, even her relationship with her brothers is going through ups and downs now. maybe the previous leaders really did appreciate her, but they also probably pitied her, and they’re out of the radar anyway for now. i’m actually rooting for sacha i guess? pls be a normal cool soft friend

i guess the relationship between fury and nathan would be interesting as well? they have common points and they both care a lot about lily; also fury has sort of “taken” nathan’s role as lily’s protector. is there tension, is there cooperation? i dunno. but fury has an undying loyalty towards lily and god does my girl need that

also the blackbird family!! they have a secondary branch that’s more leaning towards the deatheaters, maybe even working actively with them by now. that’s pure pragmatism, they’re done being killed and they think it’s the best way. the branch is headed by one of wynona’s cousin (who i originally thought would have the face of bob morley hihi) since the parents are also dead during the blackbird massacre at the very beginning of the war. they hate each other. some secondary-branch members have left it to join the blackbird ranch. maybe some of wynona siblings have done the other way around?? i always thought one of her sisters (marie avgeropoulos!!) would go rogue and join the deatheaters, and that they would eventually have to fight to death bah because otherwise it’s not funny hein

what’s originally the place of the blackbird family within society?? they’ve always lived a marginal life by choice, because they just don’t like british people, but they’re also purebloods! is there a pureblood council now and should they get a seat at it? were they ever invited to pureblood events/parties? wynona could have been the legal representative of the family at such events for some time, can you imagine? i really really need to exploit that

what is the american branch up to? do they have contact? are they coming? they’re the really scary ones. wynona may have gone rogue but she sure kept (most of) her family in check.

and yes, them being friends/allies with the macfusty clan!!! yasss

ok how freaking long is this??? i really got zero self-control lmao. brace yourself anytime for a thread that could constitute an entire book. wth. my brain’s a total mess.

xoxo, gossip girl

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doxampage · 7 years ago

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3 Takeaways from HOW Design Live to Help You Connect with Print Customers

Last week I attended my first HOW Design Live thanks to the fine folks at The Association for Print Technologies (APTech) who helped me secure a press pass.

Attending a HOW event has been a dream of mine since my advertising days. HOW magazine was (and I assume still is) a must-read to stay current on the design trends, people, and executions worthy of inclusion, as well as a consistent source of inspiration. Needless to say, I have been ready for this, a long time.

From the outside, if you have been to print industry events the format and objectives were comparable: education, thought-leadership, networking, and solution sharing manifested by exhibitors.

From the inside, things were quite different… in fairness different than I expected… different than my assumptions of what I thought a design conference would be.

Here are 3 takeaways from HOW Design Live that will ultimately help you connect with Print Customers in a more meaningful way…

Shhhhh…. They Are Processing

In one of the more poignant keynotes to help us understand our creative partners, Susan Cain, author of Quiet Revolution proved by a show of hands that most of the attendees at HOW Design Live defined themselves as introverts. This won’t be a shock to anyone who spends time with creatives, but to NOT implement that understanding into every interaction you have with them is a big mistake.

That quiet space after your pitch, it’s not another opportunity for you to talk. It’s the time to wait, let them process the information you have shared, and ask questions. Don’t assume that quiet space is disinterest or lack of understanding and supplement with more words from your mouth. Just back away. Follow-up gently and create the relationship that they need from you… which also includes how, how often and when.

Once More, with Feeling. MORE Feeling.

Many of the sessions and keynotes at HOW Design Live had emotion in the subtext. Art, and the process of creation, is emotional.

If you are attempting to win work or present new print opportunities to creatives, keep it emotional. Look to your heart rather than your pocket when choosing your words, your samples and your reason for contacting them. All of that has to combine to feelings: about you, your capabilities, and executions you can provide. The rest follows.

They REALLY, Really, Really… Don’t Want To Talk To You.

Or anyone. Don’t take it personally. If you do not by now have a way for people to learn everything there is to know about you, what you do, how you do it and even how much it costs without speaking to you, last call.

The Millennials on the higher end of the 22-37 years old spectrum will pick up a phone if they have to, the younger end might, but the Gen-Zers right behind, hell no. They have lived their entire lives online, and that is how they will do business. Get on their page.

Once More, with Feeling. EVEN MORE Feeling!!!

Ok… If you have gotten here I am rewarding you with this final takeaway…. PRINT WAS ALMOST NON-EXISTENT at HOW Design Live. Discussions about data were relevant to design and stopped way short of using data in execution. I know, it was a design conference… but design doesn’t live in a vacuum void of print executions. Variable data matters and understanding how it can be used is a design topic.

A few clever Printers had booths and a few paper companies represented. NO press manufacturers had booths. NONE. The sessions were even more frightening in regard to the lack of topics and information the print industry would HOPE were being discussed at a design conference of this caliber. To my utter surprise, and dismay, not ONE printer was thanked by winners of The 2018 Dieline Awards for packaging. I’m sorry, but that is just crazy and wrong to me. Designs don’t manifest into physical reality without print partners, let alone packaging.

I don’t have an answer for why print as a topic was untopical at HOW Design Live, but I made sure to talk to as many attendees as I could and find out if PRINT was something they cared about. The honest answer was that most didn’t feel that the topic was missing from the agenda… UNTIL… they gave me the chance to explain how the manifestation of their designs into printed reality could be improved by understanding all of the output opportunities available to them today. Then their eyes widened, and their introvert brains began to process the value of receiving this type of information in conjunction with the design-centric educational program in place.

There are more than 350 days until the next HOW Design Live. I am going to spend many of them working with anyone/everyone from HOW to bring printspiration and resources to our design friends, and open up their print possibilities. Meanwhile, you do the same with your connections, and I’ll see you at HOW Design Live 2019.

BONUS CONTENT: HOW Design Live: The Intersection of Design and Marketing with Ilise Benun and Paul Foulkes-Arellano

16,000+ downloads in 87 countries… ALL the Podcasts from The Printerverse are here!! Listen Long and Prosper!

Deborah Corn is the Intergalactic Ambassador to The Printerverse at PrintMediaCentr, a Print Buyerologist

, industry speaker and author, host of Podcasts from The Printerverse, cultivator of Print Production Professionals the #1 print group on LinkedIn, host of #PrintChat every Wednesday at 4PM ET on Twitter, and the founder of International Print Day. She is the recipient of several industry honors including the 2016 Girls Who Print Girlie Award and sits on the boards of the Advertising Production Club of NYC and The Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi.

Deborah has 25+ years experience working in advertising as a Print Producer, and currently works behind the scenes with printers, suppliers and industry organizations helping them create meaningful relationships with customers and achieve success with their social media and content marketing endeavors.

Connect with Deborah: Twitter / Facebook / LinkedIn / Instagram / YouTube / Pinterest / Print Production Professionals Group / [email protected]

Please subscribe to PMC’s News from The Printerverse for PRINTSPIRATION delivered to your inbox 1x a month.

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