#I could pinpoint the moment this was referenced from INSTANTLY

[thatcrazycrowgirl]

@nemo-of-house-hamartia​

OH MY HEART <3<3<3

ONE OF MY FAVORITE MOMENTS OF HIS <3<3<3

NEMO, DEAR - SO LOVELY TO SEE THIS FROM YOU <3<3<3

Today is Jacob's day here, apparently.

But my Gods, I am so happy I haven't forgotten how to draw him.😭😭😭😭🥀

[dewitty1]

I’m gonna let it happen

tomoewantsdolls @tomoewantsdolls

Chapters: 2/2 Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley Characters: Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley Additional Tags: POV First Person, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Insecurity, Bathroom Sex, Bathing/Washing, Getting Together, Brief Sexual Content, Blink And You Miss It Slash, Intercrural Sex, Anal Sex, Draco Malfoy Has Long Hair, Harry Potter Has Long Hair, Beards (Facial Hair), Past Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Hangover, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Draco Malfoy in the Muggle World, POV Alternating, POV Harry Potter, POV Draco Malfoy, Awkward Conversations, Self Confidence Issues, Wandless Magic, there is a mirror

Summary:

And I’m damned if I do and I’m damned if I don’t So here’s to drinks in the dark at the end of my road And I’m ready to suffer and I’m ready to hope It’s a shot in the dark and right at my throat ‘Cause looking for heaven, found the devil in me Looking for heaven, for the devil in me Well what the hell I’m gonna let it happen to me

Excerpt:

I don’t notice Malfoy’s approach till he reaches over my shoulder to pick a phial from the highest shelf.

“Here.”

“Thanks,” I mutter, closing the cabinet and snatching the potion. I instantly down it in one swig. I rest my hands on the sink, weight thrown slightly forward. The nausea eases and the pain recedes slowly; I can’t help a sigh of relief.

“Better?” Malfoy asks, a hint of amusement in his voice.

“You have no idea.” I look at the mirror; Malfoy smiles at me through the reflection. It’s strange in many ways.

“You were pretty sloshed,” he chuckles. Then, when his eyes track down, I can pinpoint the moment he notices the scar the Horcrux left over my heart and frowns. He reaches around with his right hand, but before he can touch it I blurt: “Did… hmm, did we…?” I click my tongue, I can’t voice it.

Malfoy looks at me in the mirror again, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, his hand hovering. When his face clears the amusement is evident.

“Oh, ho-ho, no, no Potter, you can have a clear conscience, you were the perfect gentleman and your Gryffindor honour is intact. Or my honour. Whatever,” he dismisses it with a wave of his hand. “Besides, as I said, you were utterly hammered, there’s no chance that you’d be able to keep up with me.”

I feel the heat rise from my chest and burn my face at the images that my brain supplies at that. Mortified, I look elsewhere. I mean, I look down, and there it is, in the reflection: the proof of the effect Malfoy has on me, and the embarrassment rises to unbearable levels. I doubt I could hide my arousal if he were to look in the same direction.

Is he teasing me? Or… flirting with me? That… that would be…

“So you…” I surprise myself, not having intended to voice that thought, I would like to be certain beyond doubt that Malfoy fancies men, but that’s the farthest I can go apparently.

“Me?” Malfoy stands closer, his mouth on my ear, our eyes locked in the mirror. “What about me?”

I shudder, the feeling of warm air on my ear and my neck makes the hair on my arm stand on end. A considerable amount of (additional) blood rushes south, some refuses to leave my cheeks. I’m going to combust.

Malfoy looks at my face; I guess he is interested in figuring out my expression. I know the Slytherin isn’t blind, nor oblivious, so I gather my courage and stand straighter, daring him to mock me. I close the door with a wave of my fingers for an illusion of privacy as my heart picks up speed, but I refuse to cower. Gryffindor and proud.

Malfoy stares at the door confused, his jaw dropped, then turns to look once more at the mirror. He checks me out, twice; looks up into my eyes and then down again. I hold my breath, thinking about a retort if he dares to mock me. I got distracted, though, taking in the details, the changes… Some strands of white-blond hair are loose, he looks… disheveled, in a confident way. Like… someone at ease in his own skin.

It’s such a contrast with the boy in my memories… sharply dressed, haggard and thin after the trials. Haunted.

I notice the moment the blush blooms on his cheeks and he looks up again, the surprise on his face morphs into a mischievous grin. I swallow and watch as he unties the bathrobe and presses flush against my back. I can feel his warm skin, can feel him harden as he stays still, his eyes searching the face of my reflection.

That’s… not what I expected.

There’s only the thin layer of my boxers between us. I can’t help but press back, almost on instinct. It’s really been a while since I’ve let myself go, usually I feel the need to control my response, otherwise I’m certain I would make a fool of myself, but does it matter now? What can I lose? Haven’t we seen each other at our worst? Haven’t I… haven’t I wanted this like… forever?

My heart stutters when Malfoy nuzzles my ear and moans. Jesus.

I feel my hair stand on end again; my eyes close as I let my head fall back, losing myself in the sensations. I can feel his bony hands roaming my chest, caressing my ribs, my stomach… his breath in my neck, his teeth grazing my earlobe. Meanwhile, our hips keep moving slowly and I’m dying bit by bit.

When his thumbs pause at the waistband of my boxers, I look up. There’s a clear question in those big grey eyes of his, and I feel I should tell him that “I… I don’t…” I put a hand on Malfoy’s to stop its sudden retreat at my clumsy attempt at communication. “I don’t do one night stands.”

Slowly, a lopsided smile blooms on his pale face. “Does that mean that I could have you more than once?”

I blush a deep shade of red, but my protest dies on my lips when his thumbs pull down the elastic of my boxers, slightly, and I can’t help but nod. I’m not sure if I am agreeing to keep going, to a future encore or both. Both is good, though.

My boxers fall to my knees; now I can sense warm skin from shoulder to thigh and I shiver. I hadn’t discovered that I’m so sensitive to touch until nearly nineteen. In retrospect, it had been time wasted. I push my hips back, testing the feeling without barriers now, and am rewarded with a moan. My smile falters though when I feel pressure between my buttocks. I swallow, maybe I’m not as ready as I thought. Malfoy, maybe having sensed my tension, kisses my neck softly. It gives me goosebumps in a really good way, and he takes advantage of my distraction to ease himself between my thighs, the pressure on my perineum a novelty. I smile, unabashed. Bloody Slytherin.

(◍•ڡ•◍)❤♡ ✧*。

[trndsttr0961]

Rogue - Chapter Three

“Where did Captain America learn how to steal a car?” I asked Cap, finally breaking the silence.

“Nazi Germany.” Cap answered. “And we��re borrowing, take your feet off the dash.”

A smug look on my face, I took my feet off, reveling in getting under Cap’s skin.

There was yet again an awkward silence between the three of us as we continued driving.

“Alright I have a question for you Steve,” Natasha asked leaning forward. “Have you kissed anyone since 1945? I mean, you looked pretty uncomfortable when O’ and I kissed.” She smirked.

“Yeah, you should’ve seen his face, he looked like a fuckin’ tomato.” I said, a laugh in my voice.

“Shut it Romanov. I’ll have you know that it’s a little difficult to find someone with shared life experience when you’re 95 years old. Also watch your damn mouth, St- I mean Rogue.” He scolded.

“Well that’s alright. Just make something up.” I shrugged, glancing towards Cap.

“What, like you?” Cap looked pointedly at me, as if he’d won our battle of wits.

“I don’t know,” I shrugged once again. “The truth is a matter of circumstance. It’s not all things to all people, all the time.” I tell him. Getting a wistful look in my eyes, I stare out of the window and mutter under my breath.

“And neither am I.”

“That’s a tough way to live.” Cap says, feeling sympathetic for someone so young to live such a way.

“It’s a good way not to die though.” I fire directly back at him.

It’s silent for a moment, and the only noise is the steady hum of the engine and the cars passing by.

“You know it’s kind of hard to trust someone, when you don’t know who that someone is.” He tells me softly.

Looking straight into his eyes, I can’t help but agree with him.

“Yeah,” I breathe. “Who do you want me to be?” I ask him.

He pauses for a moment, thinking. “How about a friend.”

I laugh and look away. “Well there’s a chance you might be in the wrong business, Rogers.” I say, not looking at him.

He just gives me a knowing look, and continues driving. But now I have a strange feeling in my heart. For the first time in years, I have a friend. For as long as I can remember, I never had any trustworthy friends besides Nat, all of them were friendly to me because of my name. Because of who my father was.

It’s silent for a few minutes and nobody utters a word. Not even Nat whose been silent for a while now.

“Well look at that, we’re there.” Nat states pointing straight ahead at a wire fence surrounded by a field of tall grass. I spoke thought too soon, I guess.

Steve stops the car and we all climb out. I pull out the flash drive and take a look at the tracing program I was running.

“Nat’s right. The file came from these coordinates.” I state, walking towards the fence.

“So did I.” a soft voice comes from behind me. I whip around and see Steve staring at the building behind the fence with a nostalgic look on his face.

We walked for a bit before Nat broke the silence.

“Steve, is this where you were trained?” She asked him, tentatively. Which was rare for the spy.

He gave a stiff nod as we continued on our trek through the base.

“Change much?” I asked him, holding up the flash drive and trying to pinpoint the exact origin point of the file.

“A little.” He says, staring into space, seeming to get lost in his memories.

I hand the flash drive to Natasha and walk back over to him, looking at the field of grass he’s staring at.

“Hello? Earth to Captain Rogers? You there?” I ask him, waving my hand in front of his face.

He blinks a few times before responding. “Just taking a little trip down memory lane.”

“This is a dead end.” Natasha’s voice echoes between the walls of the buildings. “Zero heat signatures, zero waves, not even radio.” She says, a hint of dejection in her voice.

“Whoever wrote the file must’ve used a router to throw people off.” I conclude, taking the flash drive from Nat. I look up at Steve, about to tell him we should get back in the car and continue trying to hack the file, when I notice a look of realization spread across his face. “What is it?” I ask him, confused for a moment.

He starts walking towards a dark metal building surrounded by green grass. Nat and I just look at each other before shrugging and jogging to catch up to the super soldier. I just walked.

“Army regulations forbid storing munitions within 500 yards of the barracks.” He states, quickly walking towards the metal door of the building. I quickly catch on to what he is saying and look up at him.

“This building is in the wrong place.” I realize.

When we get to the door, Cap slams the lock with his shield, effectively breaking it. And with that, we all step inside.

As we walked down the creaking stairs, I can barely make out anything in front of me. I brush a couple of stray cobwebs off of my shoulders and only hope that there aren’t any spiders in them. I shudder at the thought. Finally, Nat finds a light switch and one by one, the lights in the storage bunker flicker on.

“This is S.H.I.E.L.D.” Natasha notes, seeing the agency’s logo on the far wall.

“Maybe where it started.” Cap tells her.

It’s silent as we walk down the dusty hallways, filled with ghosts of the past. Steve carefully opens a creaky door we see, leading to a dusty office.

We looked around the room for any source of where the file came from, when a painting caught my eye. I felt my breath catch and for a moment, I couldn’t breathe. For I was staring straight at a man who resembled my father so closely, I could’ve mistaken him for, well, him.

I was frozen at the spot, and I could practically feel Natasha’s concern as she followed my gaze and came to the conclusion of why I was dumbstruck. I saw Cap turn his gaze to the painting of Howard Stark and his brow furrow.

“There’s Stark’s father.” Steve observes, not thinking about the person standing right next to him.

Natasha’s head whipped towards him and she gave him a taste of her emerald glare. If looks could kill, he’d be dead many times over. She looked as if she was about to give Steve a piece of her mind, but thought better of it, seeing as it might make things worse since I was still there.

Steve at least had the nerve to look apologetic for upsetting his newfound friend and was about to stammer out an apology when I cut him off.

“Howard.” I say stiffly.

“Who’s the girl?” Nat asked Steve, changing the subject.

Steve stares at the framed photo of the young brunette for a moment, before walking away with a dejected look on his face. I guess we both had ghosts haunting our pasts.

The golden trio The three of us continue walking around, not seeing anything except empty shelves, filled with cobwebs and dust. Something about this doesn’t seem quite right. I held up the flash drive, and the tracing program showed that we were getting close. I moved forward even more, and I could see that we were very hot figuratively and literally.

“This can’t be right.” Natasha mutters under her breath, scanning her surroundings.

But it seemed like the infamous Black Widow had lost her touch.

“If you’re already working in a secret office,” I vaguely say, unaware of Steve and Natasha’s curious glance to each other. “Why do you need to hide the elevator?” I finish with dramatic effect as I push the old shelf aside to reveal a hidden elevator behind.

I take out my password scanner, and type in the password it reveals. When I finish typing in the code, the elevator bell dings and the doors slowly open. The ride down is quiet, none of us daring to speak a word or make a noise. When the doors open, we’re met with, yet another, dark and dusty room.

As the three of us walk in, it’s dead silent. All of the sudden, the doors slam shut behind us, like something out of a horror movie. Instinctively, I grab Nat’s hand, and it seems like she had the same idea in mind. She gives me a knowing look, as if she can read my mind and gives my hand a reassuring squeeze.

As we walk further into the room, we can make out the glowing buttons and switches of computers and machines all around us in the dark. As we continue walking towards the end of the large room, the overhead lights flicker on with a loud clanking sound. The three of us spot what seems to be the files origin point.

There are multiple computers, all from the mid 1900s, covered in dust and god knows what along with a desk and a chair. I can feel Nat and Steve’s confusion as well as mine while we examine the file’s origin point.

“This can’t be the data point,” Nat says, confusion laced in her voice. “This technology is ancient.” She scoffs.

I’m about to agree with her, when I notice a USB port, glowing a dim blue. Curious, I walk closer towards it and notice several places to insert the flash drive. From the corner of my eye, I see Steve and Natasha following my gaze and examining the USB port.

“Is that- ” Steve starts.

“Here goes nothing.” I cut him off, not wanting to delay our findings anymore.

I carefully insert the flash drive into the USB port, and instantly, a whole bunch of switches, buttons, and circuits light up and turn on. The discs that were previously still, now spun around in certain patterns. We all looked up to see a security camera lift its camera up, almost as if scanning us. We could still hear the whir and buzz of the newfound machines, but our attention was primarily focused on the camera.

All of the sudden, a strange electronic voice spoke, coming from one of the computers. “Initiate system?” It asked in its really fucking sketchy voice.

Coming to my senses, I tentatively walked forward towards the computer that was just sketchily talking.

“Y-E-S spells yes.” I say, typing in my simple command that would ultimately change our lives.

I could hear the machines powering up even more, and making that soft electronic hum that I’d learned to love, growing up.

“Shall we play a game?” I say, referencing one of my dad’s favorite movies. I glanced over at Nat, smirking.

“I’d love to.” She smirks back (understanding my reference;)

The computer beeps, and a strange, electronic face appears. We instantly fall silent, all trace of humor gone from our faces. To our astonishment, the sketchy green man in the computer starts to speak.

“Rogers, Steven,” It states, scanning Steve. “Born 1918.” It finishes.

“Romanov, Natalia Alianovna,” It states once again, this time scanning Nat. Her head whips around to stare at the camera in shock. “Born 1987.” Natasha’s eyes narrowed at the camera. Her D.O.B. was classified information, and only a handful of people knew her full name.

In shock of how the voice in the computer knew Nat’s full name and D.O.B, I didn’t notice the camera turn towards me until it was too late.

“Stark, Octavia.” It said in its creepy robotic voice. I groaned, I hated my last name and my father. “Born 1989.” It finished scanning me.

“It’s some kind of recording.” Natasha stated, trying to find an explanation for how it knew such classified information about her.

“I am not a recording fräulein!” It angrily said, if computers could be angry?? nothing made sense anymore.

Confusion etched all over Nat’s face, and I reached over to give her hand a comforting squeeze. She gave me a fleeting look of appreciation before turning her attention back to the computer.

“I may not be the man I was when the captain took me prisoner in 1945,” It continued. “But I am.” It vaguely finished, earning a spooked look from Cap.

“You know this thing?” Natasha stiffly asked Steve, not making eye contact with him.

He looks around for a moment, thinking to himself. Then he remembers.

“Arnim Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull.” He said, anxiously pacing the floor. Steve looked up at Natasha. “He’s been dead for years.” He finishes.

“First correction,” Zola interupts, causing us all to look at him, startled. “I am Swiss. Second, look around you. I have never been more alive.” He mysteriously finishes.

“In 1972, I received a terminal diagnosis. Science could not save my body. My mind, however was worth saving. On 200,000 feet of databanks. You are standing in my brain.” Zola informed us. Just lovely.

“How did you get here?” The Captain demanded.

“Invited.” Zola mysteriously answers.

I looked over at Nat to see what she thought, but I noticed that she had a look of realization etched in her features. I was about to ask her what she was thinking about, when she answered my unasked question.

“It was Operation Paperclip after World War II,” she informed us. Steve and I looked at each other, confused. “S.H.I.E.L.D. recruited German scientists with strategic value.” She told us, sensing our confusion.

“They thought I could help their cause,” Zola tells us. “I also helped my own.” He sketchily finishes.

“HYDRA died with the Red Skull.” Steve stubbornly says, refusing to believe the German, excuse me, Swiss scientist.

I scoff, I mean just how naive was the golden boy of America?

“Cut off one head, two more shall take its place.” Zola scolds us, as the HYDRA symbol appears on the screen.

“Prove it.” Cap challenges him.

“Accessing archive,” Zola starts. “HYDRA was founded on the belief that humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom. What we did not realize, was that if you try to take that freedom, they resist. The war taught us much. Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly. After the war, S.H.I.E.L.D. was founded and I was recruited. The new HYDRA grew. A beautiful parasite inside S.H.I.E.L.D. For seventy years HYDRA has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping war. And when history did not cooperate, history was changed.

“That’s impossible, S.H.I.E.L.D. would’ve stopped you.” Natasha states, refusing to believe that she was living inside of a lie.

“Accidents will happen.” Zola tells her, as old news clippings and photos of my grandfather, Howard Stark dying appear. Fury’s death certificate also is shown on the screen, mocking us.

“HYDRA created a world so chaotic that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice its freedom to gain its security. Once the purification process is complete, HYDRA's new world order will arise. We won, Captain. Your death amounts to the same as your Life; a zero sum.”

In blind fury, Steve punches the computer screen, cracking the glass beyond repair. “What’s on this drive?” He demands.

“Project Insight requires insight. So I wrote an algorithm.” He vaguely answers Steve.

“What kind of algorithm? What does it do?” I inquire, keeping my “mission face” on.

“The answer to your question is fascinating. Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it.” He tells me.

In shock I turn to Natasha and is about to tell her to run, but the metal doors bang shut, locking us in. Cap tries to throw his shield to prop it open, but he’s too late. My thoughts are interrupted by the phone I used to hack my way in here alerting me.

“Guys, we got a bogey,” I say, dread filling my voice. I can feel my heart rate rise slightly and my pulse quicken. I look up at them. “Short range ballistic. 30 seconds tops.” I finish, internally cringing at their facial expressions.

“Who fired it?” Steve once again demands.

“S.H.E.I.L.D.” I slowly say, scared of Natasha’s reaction. She’s quiet, but I can tell that underneath she’s having an internal crisis about her life being a lie.

“I am afraid I have been stalling, Captain.” Zola says once again in his annoying Swiss accent that really sounds german.

At this, I quickly yank the flash drive out of the USB port and put it in my pocket as Cap rips an air vent out of its hinges so we can hide inside of it.

“Out of time.” Zola finishes with dramatic effect.

The three of us jump inside the DIY military trench, with Cap’s shield above our heads, protecting us.

The building begins to cave in, and rubble starts to fall from the ceiling and into our trench thing. Quickly I realize that Cap’s shield can’t protect all three of us effectively, and I’d never live with myself if I let one of them get hurt because I was taking up too much space.

“NAT!” I scream, over the sound of rubble and debris falling. “Nat, no matter what happens, I love you, I will always love you.” I finish, tears welling up in my eyes.

Her eyes widen as she realizes what I’m about to do. “NO!” She screams at me, pulling me closer to her. She looks me in the eye, and I frantically scan her face, etching every single detail into my memory. “Please, O’! I love you too, you can’t- ” I cut her off by pushing myself away from them and into the falling debris.

I can hear Steve’s yells and Nat’s frantic screams as the rubble begins to pile up around me. Well, here goes nothing. I thought as I close my eyes and prepare myself for the worst. I can sense the huge piece of concrete ceiling falling towards me, fast. I close my eyes and concentrate on the thing that calms me the most. Natasha’s voice. I focus on her silky and smooth voice saying my name over and over again. I remember her piercing green eyes staring into my soul, and her fiery locks falling through my fingers as I kiss her. I think about all the times she healed my cuts and bruises after training, and all the times I stitched her back up. I take a deep breath as I feel time seemingly slow around me and brace myself for the impact that never came. 

I open my eyes, and I’m not in Arnim Zola’s hidden bunker anymore. I’m in an empty yet full void with nothing but white seeming to stretch miles and miles around me. The only way I could tell the difference between up and down was, well, because I was standing. 

I look down at my hands, and I can see my hands glowing a dim silvery white, which was slowly fading away. I looked around my Void, and a sense of familiarity washed around me. I hadn’t been here for years, ever since then. I shake my head, clearing all thoughts of the incident, and instead I focus on getting back to Natasha. 

The funny thing is that time passes by the same in the Void. It may not seem like it, but since everything is just white, it’s hard to tell how long it’s been. 

Seconds? Minutes? Days? Years? 

It really just depends. 

Clocks also don’t work in the Void, so there’s no way in telling what time it is besides counting.

1. 2. 3.

I count to myself in my head, but I soon lose track of that. How long until it’s safe to go back? If I go back to early, I could get crushed by a bigass piece of debris. If I wait too long, well I could end up in the hands of HYDRA. 

Taking a deep breath, I give in to the temptation to go back. I don’t even know how I’m going to begin to explain this to Nat. She’s probably gonna kick my ass

In the blink��of an eye, I appeared back where I was standing before the entire fucking ceiling collapsed. I looked around, trying to see if Nat or Steve was nearby. I slowly dug my way through the rubble to get to Natasha and Steve. 

“NAT! STEVE! I’m here!” I shouted, frantic to get to them. I grunted and groaned, trying to push rubble out of the way when I heard it. I turned and saw the headlights of a S.H.E.I.L.D, or should I say HYDRA plane with agents on it coming straight towards me. Instinctively, I ducked and ran, narrowly avoiding the bullets their snipers shot at me. 

Realizing that I wasn’t going to be able to get back to Steve and Nat, I wished them good luck and goodbye. I’d come to the conclusion that they’d upped and ran at the first sign of S.H.I.E.L.D. HYDRA so the car was gone. I sighed, this was going to be a very long day (it already was lol)

I decided I needed to surprise them and wait for them to come onto the ground, when they *cough* thought *cough* it was safe for them (it really wasn’t)

A few minutes later, I heard the sound of the plane’s back deck opening, and the sound of engines coming out. Great. Motorcycles. I thought. A Lambo or an Audi would’ve been much better for a getaway vehicle. I crouch behind a large piece of fallen rubble, waiting for my chance to strike. 

Bingo.

“Thermal vision and heat sensors are picking up a signature over here.” A voice calls out.

A S.H.I.E.L.D. HYDRA motorcycle speeds towards the piece of rubble that I’m hiding behind. As soon as he’s close enough, I leap out of my hiding place, whip out my gun, and shoot him point blank in the head, killing him instantly. 

I push his dead body off the motorcycle and swing my leg onto it. I can hear the steady hum of the engine and and softly stroke the shiny black metal. I rip the yank the license plate off the back so they can’t track me, and check for any other trackers.

“Adios.” I smirk, looking back at the approaching HYDRA agents.

And with that, I grip the throttle and speed away, leaving the HYDRA agents in my dust. 

Now I just gotta find the love of my life Natasha and Steve. Yay.

[reureuby]

// Role Reversal AU //

Dumbass idea where Raye is the bastard daughter to Uriel Septim VII, and Martin is the Hero of Kvatch! I’ll be tagging any and all things referencing this AU with #Reversal AU!!

Below the tab details:

> 4 points on the brief history on Raye Septim 

> 4 [oints on the brief history on Martin

> 11 points highlighting the important moments during the Oblivion Crisis

If you have any suggestions or questions feel free to shoot me an ask!! I love hearing what people think about this sorta bs I write :^)

Brief History on Raye Septim

> Raye, orphaned by Uriel, lived in Kvatch with one of the local guards. She was a sweet little child that always used to draw things for her dad and go with him everywhere

> She used to attend her adoptive fathers training sessions and was always so fascinated by the swords he used to wield. Her dad let her hold a dagger and she loved it so much

> As she grew up, she trained to become a swords-woman and part of the guards of Kvatch. Unfortunately, she was turned down because of her aggression

> The day the Oblivion gate opened in Kvatch, her adoptive father was brutally slain by a dremora. She ran in to fight, regardless of what the guards told her NOT to do. Now this connects with “The Highlights of the Oblivion Crisis”

Brief History on Martin 

> Martin lived with his wealthy family in Kvatch, where he read tons of books and taught himself about the history of Tamriel

> He turned to worshipping Sanguine and performed various pranks towards citizens of Kvatch and neighbouring cities. 

> 3E433, Martin had accidentally killed a few of his colleagues in a severe prank Sanguine tasked him with and was pinpointed as their murderer. He was sentenced to 30 years in the Imperial City prison

> Full of confusion, Martin followed Uriel out of the Imperial City prison and attempted to help protect him as best he could. Martin is then tasked with taking the amulet of kings to Jauffre in Weynon Priory which he agrees to. 

Highlights of the Oblivion Crisis

> When Martin reaches Kvatch, he’s informed that Raye has already gone through the gate of Oblivion in order to close it. He panics and runs in after her. She hadn’t gotten far through Oblivion when he finds her, she’s tending to the aid of an injured Kvatch guard. Martin attempts to tell her about her relation to Uriel Septim, but she shuts him up and tells him that she won’t listen to him until this gate is closed, and the remaining people of Kvatch are safe. They travel together through Oblivion, fight off the daedra and seal shut the gate to Oblivion. When they return to Kvatch, a panicked Martin now tells her about her heritage as the future Empress of Tamriel. She initially laughs it off, but her gut says to trust him.  (holy heck that was a long point)

> When Martin needed to go and fetch the Mysterium Xarxes, Raye begged to go alongside him. Jauffre, Martin, and the other Blades denied her as they couldn’t afford to lose her. As she waited for Martin to return, she would spend her time training with the other Blades so that she could keep her fitness going

> One time Martin comes back, Raye can see that he’s struggled physically against the daedra and other enemies. She takes the opportunity to force Martin to train with her so that he can defend himself better. She spends at least 2 hours a day training Martin, teaching him how to judge his attacks and how to swing his weapon without using up all his energy. The two begin to bond as they fight amongst each other :^))

> When Martin is tasked to find the people spying on Cloud Ruler, Raye manages to sneak out of Cloud Ruler and follows him on his job. Martin eventually notices her following him and calls her out on it. She laughs, claiming that she only wanted to make sure he was actually using the techniques she’d taught him. He brushes it off as a joke and offers to take her around Bruma as a chance to escape from her imprisonment in Cloud Ruler. She accepts and they end up drinking themselves silly before crashing at Martin’s house and sleeping together

> Martin comes back from retrieving a Great Welkynd stone to see Raye dressed in the Emperors Cuirass and Jauffre storming off. She notices Martins arrival and announces her grand plan to obtain a Sigil Stone. He’s very concerned by her choice, but he respects her decision and follows her

> She and Martin travel to Bruma first in order to gain permission from the Countess of Bruma. She reluctantly agrees to the deal and suggests gaining the help of the neighbouring cities. Raye and Martin travel around Cyrodiil together, gaining the respect of the other cities and gathering valiant fighters to help defend Bruma. 

> Raye valiantly leads the defense of Bruma and assists Martin in anyway she can. As Martin goes to obtain the Great Sigil stone, Raye stays back and fights off the incoming daedra. She watches as some of the fighters are slain during the attack, this causes her great concern and she silently prays that Martin will return safely

> Martin returns with the Great Sigil Stone! The fighters cheer and celebrate amongst themselves, but Raye? Raye drops her weapons straight away and instantly runs to hug Martin. She’s so grateful that he lived and came out perfectly unscathed. Raye and Martin return to Bruma to the celebrating the victory! They both stick super close to each other as they go around celebrating with the citizens!! By the time most of the citizens are gone, Martin and Raye are finally hitting an adrenaline crash and end up crashing overnight at Martin’s Bruma home

> It takes her a week, but Raye finally manages to figure out how to open the portal to Paradise. Martin launches himself in and disappears into the portal. Having thought it’d be a few hours wait, Raye becomes extremely worried about him as she impatiently waits days and days for him to reappear in the main hall.  Almost 2 weeks later, Martin returns to Cloud Ruler with the Amulet of Kings tightly in his grasp

> Martin gets Raye to Chancellor Ocato and the daedra invasion begins in the Imperial City. Panicked, Raye and Martin fight their way to the Temple of the One where they know she could light the dragonfires. However, as they make their way there through the daedra, she realises it’s too late to light the dragonfires now and must now destroy the amulet of kings. 

> When they reach the Temple of the One, Raye knows that she most likely won’t survive the battle against Mehrune Dagon and finally drops the news that she’s pregnant to Martin. Their final conversation goes something like this:

R : “I won’t be around much longer Martin, but I must assure you it’s all for the safety of you and Tamriel. Thank you, for being the closest friend I’ll have ever had... and the father of the child who will never be born”

M : “Wait, did you just say child? Raye... you’re not-”

R : “Yes, Martin... you heard right. However, we can not stay to see Tamriel be rebuilt, but I know I can trust you to see parts of it through in our honour. Unfortunately we must go before it’s too late, the dragon awaits us. Farewell my dearest Martin,”

[oumakokichi]

Could you elaborate a bit more on Ouma's feelings towards Saihara and his past? Lovely blog by the way!

Absolutely! I’m very invested in saiouma and I don’t minddiscussing it in more detail at all!

I’ll be referencing @kaibutsushidousha‘s translated FTEs forOuma again, so if any of you haven’t read those yet, I really recommend checkingthem out. I believe they’re also translating Korekiyo’s FTEs right now, andhave plans to translate some of Angie’s, too!

As usual, there will be some pretty heavy spoilers forChapter 5 through the end of the game when discussing Ouma, so anyone who doesn’twant to be spoiled that far ahead shouldn’t read past this!

I touched on it near the end of my first ask about saiouma,but I want to just say again that I think it’s pretty canon that Ouma does havefeelings for Saihara. Given the context of his actions in the main plot and theways in which he acts and speaks in his FTEs I would say that his feelings forSaihara are just as canon as Juzo’s feelings for Munakata were.

And I know some people are going to disagree, because there’s“always the possibility that Ouma was lying,” and it’s okay if they dodisagree. It’s just that I personally believe that there’s not much other wayto make sense of Ouma’s behaviors and thought processes unless Saihara wasabsolutely essential to his plans. And in order to be essential or necessary tohave around to a character like Ouma, who is extremely self-reliant, you haveto be…well, interesting to him at the very least.

The thing with Ouma is that he is enigmatic andunpredictable and essentially a complete mystery to most of the people aroundhim. And he could easily remain that way if he wanted to. He constantly pushesothers away for several reasons. The first is that by willingly playing therole of the villain, the others are more likely to trust one another and stayunified, and Monokuma is much less likely to consider him a potential threat tothe killing game if he believes that he’s actually enjoying the chaos. Thesecond is that he simply prefers working alone most of the time. The only onehe believes he can firmly say is not the mastermind is himself (poor Ouma didn’tlearn much from Hinata and Kamukura it seems), and therefore he’s trying toonly rely on himself as much as possible to find out the truth behind things.

But if you truly want to keep working alone and pusheveryone else away, you don’t constantlydrop hints. If you want to remain an enigmatic mystery and a source ofconfusion to literally everyone so that they can never understand you, you don’tconstantly try to give them theselittle clues so that they can actually get past that façade of yours if they try. And these things are exactly what Ouma does with Saihara throughout theentire game.

Ouma is a walking contradiction in so many ways. He utilizeslies and deception in order to uncover the truth. His in-game persona issupposed to be one where he’s a despair-filled leader of a secret, evilorganization from the shadows, but what we know of his pre-game personalitysuggests he was a fairly playful, mischievous kid who wanted to make otherslaugh. He was supposed to be Tsumugi’s pawn and her ace in the hole, but hewound up being her downfall instead. And I believe one of his biggest contradictionsis that while he lies and manipulates and plays the bad guy in order to keeppeople from getting close to him or understanding him, he also desperatelywants at least one person to be able to understand him despite all of that.

Saihara is a detective. He’s traumatized and scared andhesitant that anything he does to uncover the truth will actually result in ahuge tragedy and catastrophe, but he is constantly struggling to overcome thosefears due to the promise he made with Kaede. Momota supports him and helps himovercome those fears with the obvious, familiar sort of encouragement, but Ibelieve Ouma’s constant teasing and leaving a trail of breadcrumbs in the hopesthat Saihara will pick them up is his own way of trying to do the same.

And for all his uncertainty, Saihara honestly is a truedetective at heart. He has a natural curiosity about the things around him andwants to know exactly how things look and work under the surface when they seemto be hiding something. His discomfort around Ouma (I might actually call itsulking) during his FTEs is precisely because he feels like Ouma is justmessing with him, and that anything he says or does won’t give Saihara any ideaof his true intentions or feelings. But whenever Ouma appears to drop his acteven for the slightest moment, such as in his final FTE where he plays theknife game in front of Saihara with absolutely no fear or hesitation, Saiharaalways instantly perks up and becomes fascinated at the idea of seeing the “truth”behind Ouma.

While Ouma won’t allow himself to rely on or trust anybodyelse as long as he hasn’t pinpointed who the mastermind is or forced thekilling game to a stop, Saihara is undeniably the person he’s closest totrusting. In many ways, I think he trusts Saihara more than himself, becausewhile he can always tell when he’s lying or telling the truth to someone sotransparent like Saihara, it’s much harder for him to draw the line with thelies he tells himself.

I personally think that Ouma wants Saihara to surprise him.Nothing will stop him from putting his own plans into action or antagonizingthe others as long as it accomplishes his goals, but I think he wants to seeexactly how far Saihara’s “detective’s intuition” is going to take him, and ifit’s possible for anyone at all in the entire game to come even close tounderstanding him. If he didn’t think Saihara capable of it, there’s noexplanation for why he would constantly tease him and nudge him alongimpatiently towards the truth of each mystery, or why he would be so thrilledwhenever Saihara keeps showing up to spend time with him during the FTEsdespite his threat to “kill him” at the end.

And there’s no conceivable explanation for why he wouldwillingly lay down his life in Chapter 5, despite stating point-blank that hedidn’t want to die if he could help it, unless he trusted Saihara so implicitlythat he knew it was possible for him to find the truth of not only his ownmurder, but of the entire killing game as well.

If it’s true that Ouma realizes his in-game memories andbackstory are fake, and that he remembers bits and pieces of things about theoutside world (and all the evidence, from his FTEs to his actions during theclass trials, seems to suggest that he does), then I think Ouma was ultimatelyhoping against all odds that Saihara could perhaps, just maybe, solve theriddle that was “himself.”

As a detective and as someone capable of weighing themeaning of the truth and how perception changes it, Saihara’s potentialinterested Ouma, and I just can’t think of any other reason why he would spendtime with him if it weren’t because he genuinelyenjoyed it, despite all his plans and all his façade. Canonically, Ouma hatesboredom. He’s so perceptive and intelligent that he’s quick to grow bored ofanything at all that doesn’t surprise him or interest him. The fact thatSaihara was genuinely capable of surprising him when not much else could was, Ithink, honestly fascinating to him, and not a lie of any sort.

This got long again and I’ve already talked about Ouma’spast a little more in-depth here, so I won’t keep going too much longer. Butthank you again for asking me about these two! Their relationship is myfavorite in the whole game and I’m so sad that many people seem to haveperceived saiouma in a negative light because they think it’s “komahina 2.0,”when really it’s not the same at all. I’m glad if any of my meta could clearsome stuff up!