#I did cut a few ones that I'm not sure I seriously ship like for example fig cookie and knight cookie

[libraryofgage]

Pirate/Mermaid Steddie One

There is way more mermaid culture world-building than I intended, but that's the fun part lmao

This part discusses injuries, has a mention of mutilation in passing, and involves stitching up a large wound. Nothing is graphic, but there are some descriptions of pain

Let me know if you'd like to be tagged in future parts!

As always, if you see any typos no you didn't

----

There were a few things Eddie expected from this raid. Gold, of course. Supplies like food, obviously. Some new weapons, surely.

A fucking mermaid? Nowhere near that list of expected things.

And yet, here he stands in the doorway of the raided ship captain's cabin, caught in a staring contest with a merman that's definitely seen better days.

He's stuck in a tiny wooden tub, his tail forced against his chest as the rest of it flops over the edge and trails the floor. His blue-and-green with inexplicable hints of orange scales are dull, too dull, and Eddie is trying really hard to control the sheer rage he feels at the jagged cut that drags down the middle of the tail and through the fin at the bottom. The edges of the wound have crusted over, but it still looks painful, and Eddie knows it was meant to keep the merman from using his tail to escape.

Eddie takes a step into the cabin, ready to just scoop the merman up and take him back to his ship. But he stops when the merman tenses, his entire body somehow becoming more rigid. His hands on the edge of the tub tighten, his sharp nails digging into the slowly rotting wood. He's staring at Eddie like he's some new threat, which seriously is not gonna help with the whole "take the gorgeous merman with incredible hair and alluring brown eyes back to his ship and nurse him back to health" thing.

Eddie freezes and holds his hands up. "Sorry," he says, keeping his voice low and soothing. The merman doesn't relax much, but his nails are no longer digging into the wood. Eddie figures that's a tiny win.

"I'm Captain Eddie of the Corroded Coffin. We didn't expect to find you here, sweetheart."

The nickname just slips out, an unthinking attempt to butter the merman up and an admission of his own thoughts. The merman's eyes narrow, slowly looking Eddie over as though sizing him up.

Eddie lets him, perfectly content with standing still if it means the merman will give him even one iota more of his trust. "That doesn't look very comfortable," he says, nodding to the tub. "Would you like some help?"

The merman relaxes a little more, and Eddie has no clue what he did to cause that. Before he can think too much about it, the merman points to a dresser on the other side of the room, looking at Eddie expectantly.

"You want something from there?"

The merman nods, which tells Eddie he at least understands human language. That doesn't give him any idea if the merman can speak it, though.

He walks over to the dresser and looks at the merman, pointing to each drawer in turn until the merman nods. The fourth drawer is, apparently, the correct one. When Eddie opens it, he finds a small treasure trove. It must be a collection of trophies from the ship captain's previous raids.

A quick glance reveals a gold crown with rubies, several diamond rings, a few silver bracelets with various gemstones along the bands, and a pearl and seashell necklace thrown on top. Eddie knows the merman probably wants that necklace most, but he can't help thinking of a rumor that mermaids like shiny things.

The drawer is full of shiny things.

He hesitates for less than a second before pulling out the entire drawer itself and turning around. "I'm not sure what you want from here," he lies, smiling apologetically at the merman. "Can I come close enough to show you?"

The merman stares at him before slowly nodding once, suspicion practically radiating off of him. Eddie flashes a more genuine smile and slowly approaches, giving the merman enough time to reject his presence. When he's a few steps away, Eddie crouches and tilts the drawer so the merman can see what's inside.

Immediately, the merman reaches out and snatches the pearl and seashell necklace. The gills on the side of his neck flutter slightly as he puts it on, and Eddie wonders if that's a sign of relief. "Was that everything you wanted?" he asks.

The merman glances at him, one hand still lingering on the necklace. He glances down at the drawer again, seeming to argue with himself before reaching out and removing the crown and every bracelet. He carefully slips the bracelets on and clutches the crown in his hands.

"Anything else?" Eddie asks, his tone indulgent. It must be reassuring, though, because the merman looks at him with curiosity more than anything else. It's like he's trying to figure out what he can get away with.

A few seconds pass before the merman glances down at the drawer. His gaze lingers at the edges, and Eddie starts to wonder what could possibly be there when the merman points at one of his rings.

Eddie blinks, following the merman's finger to a chunky ring. It's shaped like a bat with emeralds for eyes and diamonds for teeth. It's one of Eddie's favorites; he found it on his first raid, took it right off the captain's hand himself. Nobody has ever dared ask to touch it, let alone have it.

Without a second thought, Eddie puts the drawer down, slips the ring off his finger, and offers it to the merman. It sits in the palm of his hand, meaning they'd have to touch if the merman really wants it that badly.

Slowly, the merman reaches for the ring, his nails tickling against Eddie's palm as he takes it. From the light brush against Eddie's fingers, the merman's skin is cool, exactly like jumping into the ocean on a hot day.

----

Steve is a firm believer in the power of small comforts, especially as it relates to the growth of his guppies. Dustin has long outgrown his baby tail belt, but he still wraps it around his wrist every morning. El and Will no longer need the seaweed and coral dolls Steve made for them when they were barely able to swim a straight line, but they still tuck them in every night.

So, when the human (Eddie, Steve reminds himself) offers up a drawer filled with shiny jewelry, Steve doesn't hold himself back. The bracelets make him feel grounded, the crown gives him something to clutch without the risk of breaking it, and the ring...

Well, the ring was more to see if Eddie's actions would match his tone. And because Steve thought it was fascinatingly grotesque. What kind of creature would have wings without feathers? Sure, the gulls he sometimes sees near the surface are confusing, but the ring depicts something even further beyond his imagination. What's up with the sharp teeth? Why must the eyes be green? Does it know it's a freak of nature?

Anyway, the jewelry helps. Steve uses it to distract himself from the sheer agony screaming from his tail when Eddie lifts him out of the cramped tub. He thinks about which bracelet he'll give to which guppy (Robin will get the crown) when the edges of his tailfin graze against Eddie's legs as he confidently walks across a plank connecting the two ships. He closely studies the featherless wings on the ring to avoid thinking about what's to come when Eddie sets him down on a large, surprisingly comfortable bed in another private cabin and starts gathering a needle and thread.

There's not much left to distract him when Eddie kneels next to the bed and looks up at him, his eyes reminding Steve of his guppies when they've done something bad and need him to clean up the mess.

"This is gonna hurt," Eddie tells him, his voice soft and gentle and full of regret as he grabs a bottle from the table next to the bed.

The liquid inside is clear, and Steve would think it was water if his nose hadn't been hit with such an astringent scent when Eddie opened it. Before he can fully process the smell, Eddie tips the bottle and pours the liquid onto Steve's tail.

An involuntary screech rips out of his throat, a burning sensation clawing along the cut and making his scales buzz. Without thinking, Steve grabs Eddie's wrist and yanks it away, his lips pulled back in a snarl that reveals sharp teeth. Despite the physical pain, Steve thinks the worst part is that he let himself get distracted by small comforts and warm brown eyes and Eddie's soft voice.

He should know better.

"Shit," Eddie mutters, quickly dropping the now-empty bottle to the floor. It cracks but doesn't break, and he looks up at Steve. "I should've explained that better. Holy fuck, I'm sorry, sweetheart, but I had to clean it. If I sewed it up without doing so, it might get infected."

Steve narrows his eyes, his grip tightening briefly as he studies Eddie's face. He seems genuinely apologetic, and Steve understands his intentions once he's processed Eddie's words. Steve had to do something similar when Mike and Lucas bothered a shark too much. Their wounds weren't nearly as bad as Steve's, but they'd still cried and shouted when Steve and Robin had to pull teeth and bits of coral out of their wounds before wrapping them in seaweed.

"I'm done with that part, though," Eddie says, his voice practically desperate for Steve to understand. "You can squeeze my shoulder or something while I sew it up."

A few seconds pass before Steve nods once, slowly letting go of Eddie's wrist. As Eddie starts threading the needle, Steve places his hand on his shoulder, bracing himself for the upcoming pain by squeezing the crown in his other hand.

Eddie takes a deep breath as he glances up at Steve. He licks his lips, looking back at the top of the cut. "Okay, I'm starting now," he says, waiting long enough to see Steve nod before starting the first stitch.

The alcohol hurt. The stitching is a fucking bitch. But, honestly, none of it is as bad as when that first disgusting human dragged a dagger through Steve's tail. He still hisses, gripping Eddie's shoulder tighter and unable to stop his nails from digging into his skin. Despite how it must hurt, Eddie doesn't flinch, and Steve feels a little better.

"You know," Eddie says, mostly focused on keeping his hand steady and his stitches even, "I wish I knew your name. I can't keep calling you sweetheart."

He could. Steve wouldn't mind it. But he also knows it isn't entirely fair that Eddie doesn't know he can speak. They'll need to be able to talk, Steve thinks, if they're going to be around each other for a while longer.

And Eddie has been kind enough that Steve wouldn't mind being around him for however long it takes his tail to heal.

"Steve," he says.

To his credit, Eddie doesn't drop the needle. He does tense for a moment, his hand pausing as he looks up. "What?" he asks.

"My name. It's Steve."

"You can talk."

"Why wouldn't I?"

Eddie hums, looking back at the cut as he starts stitching again. "You didn't say anything before," Eddie says.

"The last human who saw me mutilated my tail," Steve replies.

"Fair. Is, uh, is your name really Steve?"

"That's the closest translation to your language."

"What's your name in your language?"

Steve hesitates for a moment before clearing his throat. He feels his gills flutter, trying to create the bubble pattern that accompanies his name as he lets out a rhythmic series of squeaks and clicks with a short hiss at the end.

A few seconds pass after he's done. And then Eddie nods once and says, "Steve it is. How'd you get caught, Stevie?"

Ignoring the slight urge to point out that Eddie said his name wrong, Steve frowns slightly. "One of my guppies got caught in that ship's net. I got them out but was caught myself."

"One of your...guppies?"

"Yes. You would call them...children, I think?"

Eddie has nearly reached the middle of Steve's tail by now, and his hand falters once more. "Children? Aren't you...a little young?"

Steve bristles, glaring at Eddie. He's heard that same question plenty of times from members of other pods before, and he's tired of it. "What does it matter if they are happy and healthy?" he asks.

"Sorry," Eddie whispers, glancing up at Steve. There's something he can't quite read in Eddie's eyes. "Do you raise them alone?"

"What? No, of course not. My partner, Robin, raises them with me. We have seven guppies, with an eighth on the way."

"An eighth?!" Eddie asks, sounding strained as he pauses his stitching once more to look up at Steve. "Shit, man, shouldn't you give Robin a break?"

Steve blinks, tilting his head slightly. "Why would she need a break?" he asks.

"She's already popped out seven!"

Suddenly, Steve realizes what the disconnect is. He blinks once more and dissolves into laughter. "Oh!" he says, the exclamation broken by a giggle as he tries to calm himself down. "No, no, she is my partner, not my mate. Besides, she doesn't even like mermen."

Eddie seems to relax at Steve's explanation, his shoulders dropping and his voice significantly lighter as he starts stitching again and says, "Oh, I see. Then whose kids are they?"

"Technically, they belong to the pod," Steve explains, gritting his teeth as Eddie reaches the tailfin. He feels warm all over, his nerves jumping and his scales feeling half-ready to just fall off. "Each pod has at least two caretakers. Mates have a guppy and let caretakers raise them while they focus on their own roles within the pod."

"Do you like being a caretaker?"

"Yeah," Steve says, managing a shaky smile despite the tugging on his tailfin and Eddie's fingers pressing against his scales. "They're my guppies. I'd drain the oceans for them."

"And, uh, what about your mate? Do they mind you being so...devoted to the guppies?"

It's not at all subtle, but Steve finds it oddly endearing nonetheless. He slowly exhales, forcing himself to loosen his grip on Eddie's shoulder. "I don't have one."

Just like before, Eddie seems to relax some at the answer. He also finishes stitching, tying off the thread with a secure knot before carefully cutting away the excess. "Well, uh, we'll get you healed up and back to your guppies as soon as possible," he says, looking up at Steve.

"It needs to be wrapped in kelp. And, uh, I'll need a tub. You know, with seawater."

Eddie nods along, flashing a reassuring grin. "Don't worry, Stevie, I'll get you anything you want," he promises.

"Anything?" Steve asks, leaning forward some as he tilts his head.

"I already gave you my favorite ring, sweetheart."

Steve glances down at said ring, wondering what about it could possibly make it Eddie's favorite. He can't immediately figure it out, but that doesn't change the sweet warmth and anticipation for the time he'll spend with Eddie that he suddenly feels.

[slamsuckingslut]

willne and y/n being good friends, where shes been in his videos a couple times before and people always do edits of them and lowkey ship them⭐️

and everybody thinks theyre dating but theyre all like "no guys😣!!" but they actually are down bad for eachother

PLEASE MAKE THEM END UP TOGETHERRR😭

thanks bestie!☺️

Omg this is a cute idea. i fw cutesy shit like this heavy anon. I'm gonna assume fem reader cause u said she, so she it will be.

WillNE x fem!reader

No details abt y/n, just that she is girl and has been on Wills channel and has one of her own.

Potential title;

what the fans want, the fans get.(its me, im fans.)

NO NSFW, JUST CUTESY !!

Anytime Will posted a video and y/n was in it, it would get more views than the ones with James, or if y/n posted featuring Will. And mainly because the comments.

lord the comments.

"omg they'd literally be the best power couple on youtube"

"THE TENSION, JUST KISS ALREADY"

"PLSSS I NEED YOU TWO TO GET TOGETHER ALREADYY"

"bro fr rizzed her up"

Will and y/n never directly responded to comments, unless one made a joke to the other about them, making the other blush slightly. Or if James decided to make a joke, which would make both of them incredibly flustered as they immediately deflected it.

"what? Me and her/him would never work, dating her/him would be a bloody nightmare."

"Will(or)Y/n? Seriously? Nah, I don't think that'd work.."

Are just a few of the usual responses to either of them would give if asked about the comments, or if a joke happened to be made.

But privately, it wasn't so much of a joke. Will would make it seem like he couldn't stand dating her, but really that's all he wanted. And y/n seemed to think Will genuinely didn't want her, but she most definitely wanted him.

The way she'd stare at him when he spoke, or did anything really, would make Will's heart skip a beat.

The way Will would offer to help her with things or get things higher up for her gave her butterflies, especially if he reached around her.

Basically the tension was thick enough to cut with a knife, and the fans definitely noticed more and more in the videos of the two together.

And like the fans they are, would comment on every single little interaction and blow up the videos by just shipping them.

Today was no different, y/n being at Will's as they talk over ideas for videos and hang out, and boy are the comments from the fans relentless.

"Y'know, Will, I think the fans want us to get together. Wouldn't it be funny if we did a joke video of us going on a date or something? Just to mess with them?"

Will immediately blushed but hid by turning away slightly and letting out a laugh as he nodded, he managed to get himself under control and not blush.. but his cheeks were still definitely pink at the idea of taking her on a date, even as a joke.

"Ah yeah, that'd be well fun, eh? Get to take a pretty girl like you out and mess with those morons."

Now it's y/ns turn to blush as she stares at him and smiles a bit, letting out a little laugh. She nods a bit and stares at him, crossing her arms over her chest.

"But just as a joke.. right? Wouldn't want to over indulge them, right?"

Will seemed to think for a second at that as he stared at her, not really knowing what to say. He could either reject the girl he's been wanting for ages or make a fool of himself if she didn't want him.

She stared at him as she waited for a response, hoping he'd say for real, but also hoping that'd he'd play it off as a joke just so it doesn't get awkward.. but it's already awkward as they silently stare at eachother.

"I uhm-.. I mean if you want it to be a real date, I'd take you on one.. but surely you wouldn't, don't wanna over indulge the fans, eh?"

Will managed to say, feeling like his heart had broken his ribcage then dropped into his stomach as he stared at her. He managed a smile and a small chuckle as he ignored how sweaty his palms felt.

Y/n on the other hand, was freaking out. Her stomach twisting and doing flips as she tried to fight the growing warmth on her cheeks as she stared at him.

"I wouldn't mind a real date.. If you were serious."

She said as she stared at him, ignoring the lump in her throat as she bites the inside of her cheek, staring at him hopefully as she hopes he was serious, and not just messing with her.

He nearly died. He was absolutely giddy with excitement as she confirmed she'd go on a real date with him. Shit. She wants to go on a date with him. His stomach does flips as he stares at her and smiles widely.

"Obviously I'd take you on a real date, y/n. But we definitely shouldn't over indulge the fans, they might all explode, the morons.."

He said as he got closer to her, seeming like he wanted to touch her somehow, but didn't want to overstep.

She stared at him as she smiled, her cheeks flushing a light red as she looked at him and stood right in front of him and glanced at his lips.

"I'll go on the date if I get a kiss. Gotta know that you're serious, y'know?"

She said as she shrugged and stared up at him expectantly, grinning slightly.

He smiled but froze, staring at her for a second. He sneakily wiped his hands on his pants, de-sweaty-ing his hands before he gently cupped her cheeks.

He hesitantly leaned in, pressing a soft and gentle kiss to her lips she could pull away from anytime. But he hoped she wouldn't and that she was serious.

And boy was she serious. She gently put her hands on his jaw, kissing him back as she smiled.

Eventually they both pulled away, staring at eachother and smiling like idiots, which they were idiots for not getting together sooner.

"So, where we goin for that date Lovely?"

"Hm, I dunno.. Surprise me, but not somewhere super fancy, somewhere simple."

He smiled, nodding as he heard her request for a simple date. He stared at her for a moment before kissing her again, to which she happily kissed him back, hugging him tightly.

BONUS!!!!

It has been months since they'd been dating, and finally decided to tell the fans. Using y/ns original idea of a fake date, but it just being a real date that will could write off as a business expense. Which got millions of views, and loads of comments.

"OMFG ARE THEY ACTUALLY OFFICIAL??"

"HOLY SHIT HE BAGGED HER FINALLY"

"Omg they're so cute together I can't-"

"lil bro actually rizzed her up"

Despite it being an even split between doubtful comments and comments being overly excited they got together, they eventually decided to confirm it to the fans a few weeks later..

To which so many of them freaked out, in a happy way. Tweets, posts, comments, and all of the above from fans freaking out over their favorite ship finally being confirmed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bro this was so silly goofy to write, i love it smsm.

BUT PEOPLE FROM OTHER FANDOMS PLSPLS GIVE ME REQUESTS, I LOVE DOING WILLNE BUT I NEED MORE IDEAS FOR THE OTHER THINGS I LIKE PLSPLSPLS

also to the anon or multiple that keep requesting willne, i will continue to feed u trust 🙏 love u

[sebastianswallows]

Feyd-Rautha — sad headcanons

— WARNINGS: angst, mentions of kidnapping, child molestation, mentions of Feyd's child by Margot (Marie Fenring), it's just dark and depressing I'm sorry

— A/N: @localravenclaw asked for headcanons yesterday, here you go girly, no returns. This is a hybrid of book and movie Feyd.

His first memories are of ice floes on the black waters of Lankiveil, fitting together like the blocks inside his puzzle box. The wailing of sea creatures underneath the waves. Enormous weapons mounted on ships leaving harbour. The deep bell chimes that floated on the air, colouring it golden, splitting time in measured pieces like a great grandfather clock, from the temple of Ohashi.

He remembers playing in the sea foam. Duelling his playmates with driftwood they picked up in abandoned ships. Filling the nests of rock turtles with the pearls that rolled up on the shore. There were so many that they spilt between his fingers.

He remembers gathering stiff crystalline flowers which grew on the rock their castle sat on, but not what they were called...

And he remembers making his mother a necklace of blue spiral shells, with the help of her handmaids. He wonders now and then what became of it, and then he stops himself.

Childhood memories are too tainted with what came afterwards. With what cut it in two halves.

With the grim understanding, in hindsight, of what his uncle’s touches meant during his first days on Giedi Prime. Skinny little Feyd. Did your father never feed you? How pretty you are, just as he was as a boy. Did you fall and hurt yourself here? No? Are you sure? I can feel a little dent where one shouldn’t be, yes, yes, right between your bones.

They seemed like comforting caresses at the time.

It was always surface touches on the thin and tender canvas of his skin, dry kisses, fondlings with an almost anatomical curiosity to them, and always with rough laughter resounding in the halls.

Many years passed before he realised, through hints gathered here and there, that his uncle was diseased. Longer still to find out that it was a Bene Gesserit who did it. Sexually transmitted, requiring constant treatment, and the cause of his enormous bloat.

Many pieces fell into place in the puzzle box at the back of his mind then. Why his uncle never showed to him the same sort of close attention he showed to the slave boys. Why it was always those large fingers heavy with rings that traversed his body, and traitorously gentle kisses, and long lingering glances once he let Feyd go.

How strange he felt, after being brought up to hate the Bene Gesserits and fear them, when he became conscious of a sort of gratitude he owed the witch for protecting him, beyond the grave, from the worst of his uncle’s attentions.

He remembers the first time he fell sick on Giedi Prime. It was during his first month there, when his body couldn’t take the toxic fumes and the industrial meat. His body revolted, flushing with an allergic reaction.

And he remembers his uncle’s visits, a few of them. How he slipped his fat hand between his thighs to feel them shivering, sweaty with fever, and laughed. The doctors around his bed laughed too, not daring to do anything else. Even at the age of 11, Feyd thought there was something wrong about it, but he had nobody to turn to, nobody to ask. How stupid he feels now.

And then there was a time, a broad swath of his adolescence, when he was planning quite seriously to kill the Baron.

He had devised a naïve scheme involving one of those awful oil baths and a stone lid, and he allowed himself to fantasize that if some day, for some reason, a Bene Gesserit would come, she could help him gain control of all the slaves through mind tricks, like the witches were rumoured to do. And he could escape with her, hidden in the soft folds of her dress while, in his imagination, the palace was boiling with fear and revolution upon the Baron’s death.

He grew out of these childish fantasies at around age 15. Nobody was coming to help him.

It was then that he started taking the arena more seriously. Killing slaves felt good. Feeling warm blood on his hands felt good. And it felt good to be so close to a human body while someone else suffered. It filled something in him he never knew needed filling.

His first taste of spice was around this time too. His uncle deemed him ready. It tasted like cinnamon, but never the same after that. And the dreams…

The dreams that came true scared him. Fate predetermined, fate out of his reach. His hands around a dozen throats could not make him feel in control after that.

But the other dreams, the ones that never came to be, those took him beyond fear, beyond anger, to a pit inside his soul. Demons swirled around him, teasing, tormenting him with the way his life could never be.

Dreams of impossible futures are the ones he hates the most. Dreams where he is wed to an Atrides bride, where his son sits on the Imperial Throne, where their enemies are humbled, and absolute power brings peace.

Feyd wakes up still on Giedi Prime, still under his uncle’s fat thumb, still with his concubines to pacify him while his true destiny is nowhere in sight. And when he does dream of a Bene Gesserit, she is not there to kill his uncle or to help him escape. She’s there to use him.

And sometimes, Feyd dreams of a little girl with a sweet and simple name, with her hair in dark ringlets, and sullen eyes like his. She runs through blue and silver halls, she plays in a field of flowers, she breathes the salty sea air of a distant planet and meditates upon the cliffs. He dreams of never meeting her, and wakes up wondering why that troubles him so much.

[shankss-magnificent-ass]

Imagine the celestial dragons needing Shanks to stop you

Warning: slight spoilers? Use of a previously seen character's name that is release in more recent chapters (1050-1079?)

At Mary Geiose

Shanks: so....why am I here?

Jaygarica Saturn: We need to talk about that little fighter of yours. *Holds up your wanted poster*

Shanks: Oh yeah, they got separated from the crew a few weeks ago, and I haven't seen or heard from them since. *Voice dips to a threatening grumble, and he glares at the old man* Should I be worried?

Jaygarcia Saturn: well, not in the way I think you're implying, they're not in custody. The matter at hand is that a lone member of your crew is causing mass chaos.

Shanks: are you sure we're talking about the same person? I've never had them so much as step a toe out of line.

Jaygarcia Saturn: They've burned down three town halls, stolen six navy ships, injured hundreds of marines, stolen jewelry from wealthy ladies in six kingdoms, and that's not even the worst of it. They're sabotaging and systematically dismantling the animal fighting syndicates. Just yesterday they allied themself with a group of knife fighting monkeys that they freed, and together, they trashed an arena.

Shanks: And how is that a problem?

Jaygarcia Saturn: we're loosing money having to replace and repair the damage to the entertainment industry!

Shanks: and whose fault is it for investing in blood sports? Do you expect anyone to feel sad for you and your 'losses'?

Jaygarcia Saturn: Look... We'll pay you to go collect your fighter.

Shanks: *scoffs* Do you seriously expect me to hand a member of my crew over to you?

Jaygarcia Saturn: no, no, simply collect them, what you do with them after they are in your custody is up to you.

Shanks: I want their full bounty price, up front. And I mean the one you set it to this morning, not this outdated one.

Jaygarcia Saturn: *sweats* very well

A week later

You: *currently picking a lock some bird that are being trafficked*

Shanks: *snuck up on you and is now crouching behind you,* You're doing it wrong.

You: *shrieks and throws yourself against the cage door* Captain, what are you doing here?

Shanks: Shhh, keep your voice down, and giving you lock picking lessons, apparently. Even though you've always claimed to be a decent at it.

You: *hisses* I know how to pick a lock.

Shanks: evidently not, since you miscounted the pins.

You: you do it then, since you're so smart.

Shanks: *takes your tools and picks the lock in less than thirty seconds* see?

You: *sighs* Alright you're better at picking locks than me. By the way, how did you find me, boss?

Shanks: The celestial dickheads complained about you, and paid me your full bounty to come get you.

You: I'll come willingly if you put that money towards fixing my shower, I'm tired of sharing one with you filthy animals, and if I get first pick on the next treasure we find.

Shanks: *laughs and shakes his head* very well, that sounds like a deal.

You: *shakes his hand* deal, and the world nobles never specified for you to stop me?

Shanks: ... no?

You: then you you wanna help me free the rest of these animals?

Shanks: sure why not, sounds like an evening well spent.

The morning in Mary Geiose

Jaygarcia Saturn: *reading the newspaper and seeing that you and Shanks had destroyed several cargo ships for trafficking after letting the animals go* I guess we'll have to cut our losses, we might be able to even spin it in our favor. Germane, go get PR on the snail, we have some cleaning up to do, and actions to take credit for.... Oh! We can use *snaps his fingers* That flowery fanatic, what's his name... Oh well, it's not important.

Coming Soon

[noblesixjm04]

I can't get this out of my head. It's just something that ive had rattling around. If this doesn't make much sense I'm sorry lol but.

Do you ever think about if the Spartan ii's ever met one of those siblings without realizing it?

Like. John meeting a young female marine. She's quick witted and wicked smart. There is almost nothing she will back down from. At least not until she gets a "win." She will never leave one of her teammates behind. She's also known among her friends for her dry sense of humor.

One day she runs into John whiles he's out of armor. She never realizes that he's the Master Chief as they stare at one another. Blue eyes look into blue. The roots of her hair are blonde. Contrasted against a dark brown. They share the same smattering of freckles. Dusted along their face and down to their arms. Petering out along the backs of their hands.

And when she smiles there's a gap in her front teeth. (One tooth is chipped from a hard won game of King of the Hill.) She jokes that they match.

Apparently her brother had to. Her parents told her about him. How he had passed a few years before she was born. Her mother told her about her and her brothers shared a constellation of freckles.

Maybe Kelly runs into a pair of twin engineers. One is a girl. The other a boy. The girl has her hair cropped short. It's faded green. The boy has long hair. Held back in a tight braid. It's blue.

They strike up a conversation with Kelly one day. Mostly out of boredom. At one point talking about how they had been on their schools track team. Twin Terrors they had been called. They were the fastest in the entirety of their schools career.

They are the only two out of the group of engineers and scientists that could match her humor.

Kelly never sees them again after that. But she thinks about them often enough. About how they all shared the same accented voice.

About the day they all raced.

She won. Of course. But something about it made her feel like she was missing something. She matched it to the same feeling to her younger years with the rest of the ii's on Reach. On some of the few days they had true fun.

Linda was sent to therapy. Well. Not really sent. It was... Suggested. That she go.

Linda did. This time. For the first time. The last time.

She met an older man. Her elder by about three or four years. With the same red hair, that has streaks of white at the temples, and piercing green eyes.

Those eyes that looked at her like she does down the snipers scope. Those eyes that seemed to know her own.

She could see them widen. Hear the hitch on his breath as they flicker to a photograph and then back to her.

He...

Maybe she had seen him in passing once. Despite him never having been on this ship before.

He has been the one to pull the trigger.

"I don't think I'm the right match for you." His voice rumbled in a familiar way.

When she left. Linda tried to stop thinking about the worn, frames photo on his desk. The one with a boy. About eight or nine. With a shock of bright red hair. He held an archery trophy in one hand. In his other. The hand of a little girl. Close to five. With that same shock of red hair and green eyes that seemed to see you even through the cameras lense.

Fred meets a medic after a nasty injury. The Odst's and Marines in his company joke that he has as getting the best medic around.

He was a young man. Kind and deeply empathetic.

Those same Marines also joked about how the two of them could be siblings in a different life. With how they shared the same sloped nose and sharp jaw. The same, soft manner of speaking.

"Seriously Lieutenant. Just give the Doc the same hair cut. Could fool me that's for sure."

The medic said that he did have a brother. One that he has never met. That he had passed away a few months before he had been born .

But he and his parents visited his grave every year on his brother's birthday. And that this was the first year that he wouldn't be able to.

"He's be turning thirty three today." The medic had just finished Fred's stitches.

"Oh." Fred spoke it before it could be stopped.

"Oh what?" The medic had asked.

"I turned thirty three today." It was one of the few things he remembered. Something he rarely thought about. Because something around it had made his heart hurt.

"Here then. Happy birthday." The medic handed Fred a chocolate granola bar.

[genericpuff]

Can’t wait for someone to make a copy of RS’s coveted “signature” stamp and just buy a few dozen books, stamp them, and sell them as “autographed” at a huge markup, and goofballs will buy them all.

I mean seriously, that stamp will be incredibly easy to copy if it’s not already been copied, it’s the polar opposite of exclusive or personal. Why anyone would pay $20 for that is beyond me but it proves that RS is a shrewd business person by any means necessary and will be richer than I ever will be. No wonder Hades is her idol.

No joke, there are pictures of Rachel using the stamp at SDCC and-

That stamp is literally just a standard one that you could order through any custom manufacturer. It's not a roller in any way, there's no unique cut they're working off of, it's just a round press stamp.

And it shows because this is the quality of the actual ink when it's on the paper-

Basically low grade printer ink on glossy paper. It's not gonna last at all, and it turned out exactly how I was expecting - there's too much solid color with too thin empty areas so the ink is bleeding into what's supposed to be 'white' (we deal with the same concepts in tattooing so I knew this was gonna happen as soon as I saw the stamp design).

Anyways so that's my long-winded way of saying that I took the stamp that was on Rachel's IG from her promotional posts, desaturated it, added a tone curve layer to adjust the sharpness/clarity, and threw it into VistaPrint. Just for science, and because I'm an asshole trying to prove a point.

Would literally only cost me $20-$30 for the stamp after shipping.

Now for obvious reasons I'm not saying anyone SHOULD do this, like... I'm showing you this for science but really, don't go making counterfeits because of this LOL This is really just to demonstrate how easy it would be for anyone to make a convincing replica, which is the unfortunate drawback to using stamps as your "signature" - and with a very low quality printer shop stamp to boot - because it makes it pretty easy to copy. Not to mention showing off the stamp design beforehand through social media means that people (like me, oop-) can rip it out of your image posts and reverse engineer it into something that can be uploaded and purchased. I get she wanted to make sure that people knew what they were getting, it would have been a HUGE piss off to go see her for a signature just to find out she was doing a stamp, but like... these are the risks that come with stamps.

Don't get me wrong, you can just as easily forge a signature, but it's a little harder to nail someone's personal signature vs. a stamp and you can usually find ways to make it more unique (like what Junji Ito did by giving out little doodles on each signature). It also doesn't help that that stamp is made so cheaply that a poorly done replica would probably be on the same level of quality as the authentic one. And of course she added insult to injury by deciding to sell ACTUAL HAND-SIGNED BOOKS WITH ONLY ONE BOOK THAT HAS ONE CRAPPY DOODLE INSIDE AT ONLY ONE SPECIFIC BOOKSTORE A WEEK AFTER SDCC WAS OVER THAT YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR EVEN IF IT MEANS YOU'RE GONNA HAVE AN EXTRA COPY OF A BOOK YOU ALREADY OWN-

sigh This isn't an uncommon thing to do, it's not unique to Rachel, but it gives me grifting gacha vibes and it feels like such a fuck you to the people who travelled all the way out to SDCC and paid for the ticket prices just to get a shitty printer ink stamp and then find out a week later after they've undoubtedly gone home that one bookstore in San Diego actually has hand-signed copies. I've seen Youtubers pull this kind of shit with vinyl printings and Youtooz figures and it's equally tacky.

If she had done it either with handwritten signatures or at the VERY least a better quality stamp design and higher quality ink, then yeah, it would be harder to make it seem legit for anyone who's not privy to creating things like lino cuts or using roller ink and thus make it a much more valuable collector's item. But the books at SDCC were literally made with a stamp that anyone can replicate for $20 and then the hand-signed ones were offered at only one bookstore after Rachel had already flown home. It feels so impersonal and cold to the audience that has supported her through all the bullshit she's pulled in the last year.

[akalikai]

TMAGP EP 16 REACTION (SPOILERS)

CELIA HOLDING ALICE HOLY SHIT MAN THE SAMALICELIA POLYCULE IS GOING SOMEWHERE I also think this might be Celia's instinct to comfort from being a mother maybe??? BUT ALICELIA FEELS. My God their ship name could be a palindrome. Insane.

DEAR LORD DID ALICE SEE HER PARENTS DIE???? MY POOR GIRL.

Tape recorder is gone??? And yeah I suspected that the woman had been dead the whole time. Something was using her as a mouth piece, maybe something relates to ep 11 with the deep??

I think Celia and Sam saying they believe Alice is gonna bring them closer. I know people are sus of Celia so it could be a ploy to get closer to the OIAR employees, but I don't know, with her disliking Lady Mowbray, I'm more inclined to trust her.

The fact that Alice says "paid my horror dues" makes me think she knows more about said horrors and is working at the OIAR specifically to avoid it. Were her parents killed by The Horror?

"I think there's plenty of it go around at the moment" Yeah she's talking about Lady Mowbray. Seriously, I have respect for Celia, she really stood her ground last episode.

Man the fact that we were like "omg what if Alice's phone call ends up being a statement!!" In a serious way meanwhile Alice is like "yeah no Freddie will probably spit out in a few days so nothing to be concerned about". What if. Tho. Gwen ends up hearing the phone call. That would be interesting. Speaking of, where is our corporate girlfailure.

Sam you awkward little bean I love you. I'm sure Celia and Alice just gave him the fondest, "You're such a dumbass" look.

SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCER TIME????

OH NO. OH NO FUCK AM I GOING TO FALL IN LOVE WITH INK5OUL. THEIR VOICE.

I'm sorry I now understand what Alex meant when he said this episode was social-cringe-horror. The misuse of AAVE is actually so accurate please help my I'm on the floor screaming this should not be this funny-

Damn so does Ink5oul tattoo....pain or something? I don't have a tattoo myself (yet. I'm gonna get one. As soon as I stop being squeamish about needles. Oh. Needles.) But I don't think they're meant to hurt THAT much???

...I genuinely SHOULD NOT like Ink5oul this much. Please. You cannot do this to me I cannot have a Michael Part 2.

OH MY GOD ITS A YOUTUBER DRAMA VIDEO IM GOING TO FUCKING DIE I CANNOT BE LAUGHING THIS HARD.

I'm sorry THE SITUATIONSHIP FUCKING SENT ME YOU'RE TELLING ME INK5OUL IS IN A SITUATIONSHIP WITH A GOTH GIRL INFLUENCER PLEASE RUSTY QUILL I NEED TO BE SERIOUS I CANNOT DO THIS.

OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD I CANNOT DO THIS I HAVE PAUSED 7 TIMES NOW JUST BECAUSE I WAS LAUGHING TOO HARD TO KEEP HEARING. INK5OUL IS HOT AND A GOTH CONFIRMED.

Shut up. SHUT UP. NOT FUCKING DIG. ARE YOU SERIOUS. NO WAY.

Also let me add all the video sound effects are taking me out I LITERALLY cannot do this PLEASE-

OH MY GOD. WAIT. IS THIS WHEN INK5OUL WAS LOOKING FOR THE BODY WITH THE TATTOO FROM EP 11. HOLY SHIT.

"Hell no i ain't gonna call it in" girl by making the video you are basically calling it in what the fuck

THE YOUTUBER DRAMA IS TAKING ME OUT PLEASE THIS IS SOME NICOCADO AVODACO VS STEPHANIE SOO TYPE SHIT (Stephanie Soo all the way honeyyyy).

So...Does Ink5oul have the ability to make people feel pain through the tattoos they do? It's seeming like that's the case.

"The views are cutting me" HUH???? THATS. LIKE. THE EDGES ARE CUTTING ME??? WHAT IS HAPPENING??? HELLO?????

IS SHE DYING. THATS HORRIBLE RN WHAT THE FUCK ALICE LITERALLY JUST SAW SOMEONE DIE NOW SHE HAS TO HEAR SOMEONE ELSE DIE????

Okay wait now that Sam has let go of his "be professional" bullshit I'm back on his track SAMALICELIA LETS GOOO

THERE SHE IS THE CORPORATE GIRLFAILURE

Ohhhh Lena. Oh boy. I can understand her tbh, Gwen has no idea what's happening and she's just doing her own thing. Whether she's evil or not, Lena still knows better what's going on and can avoid unnecessary risks. Especially since Lena does seem to care if other employees get hurt.

I SEE HOW IT IS GWEN. SO YOU'LL BE HORRIFIED BY MR. BONZO BUT NOT OF THE CANNIBALISTIC HUNTING WOMAN BECAUSE SHES A LADY OF THE ARISTOCRACY. CLASSISM AT ITS FINEST. I HATE MR. BONZO BUT AT LEAST HES A WORKING CLASS...CLOWN MONSTER THING.

Okay so the Externals are like. A Thing here. Kind of like avatars? I'm not saying in the sense of fears, I mean they're beings that are not human anymore and possibly dangerous.

Wait but I understand Gwen though "You can't take this away just because I did something you never bothered to tell me not to do" this happens to me so much Gwen my babygirl you are So Autistic.

I saw someone say that Gwen needs to be dommed. I cannot say I disagree, especially when Lena tells her to sit down. Anyway we're gonna move away from that thought.

I am not joking. I paused a total of 17 times throughout this episode because I started laughing too hard. I think I have a new favorite episode.

[n0v4t33z]

The Piece of Eight - Chapter of Provia

Pairings: Capt. Hongjoong X Female Reader , Crewmate San x Female Reader (Overall not chapter specific)

Genre: Pirate AU, Romance, historical-ish (not really), Action, Angst, Non-Idol AU

Word Count: 15.2k

Tags/Warnings: For Mature Audiences, Violence, Language, mentions of blood and gore, Highly Suggestive at times (This is a warning for the whole story overall)

Chapter specific: Some suggestive conversations?, straight up violence for some of it (HERE'S YOUR WARNING IF YOU DON'T LIKE THAT KIND OF STUFF, SERIOUSLY), blood. Lots of it. ,cursing, war crimes , (let me know if there's anything else)

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT!!

Spotify Playlist ⚓ | Masterlist 🏴‍☠️

Author's Note💌: Again, this is a very dark and gory series so please keep that in mind. It had been a while since I last re read this chapter and tbh I did add alot of stuff but I also cut alot of stuff from it too mostly Hongjoong's background because I decided I'm going to use it in later chapters instead. So anyway this chapter is going to be the last one before I go back to The Syndicate. I'm hoping you enjoy this in the meanwhile. (there's a few minor mistakes but I'll fix them at a later time) - N🌙

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The cold crisp air gently blows making my hat almost fly off my head stepping out of the ship and onto the deck but just in time I’m able to hold it on my head. “God, why is it so cold?” Wooyoung laughs rubbing both my arms trying to warm me up his soft black hair tickling my cheek from him leaning in so close “I thought you said you liked cold climates?”

I turn my face back at him pushing his hands off of me “I do but this is too much” I point over at the railings of the ship “Look, it’s so cold there’s literal icicles here.” I glance over at the horizon and groan looking at the mountainous terrain.

Although beautiful, seeing the snowy tops of the mountains, makes for one very hard and treacherous trip which makes me all the more nervous.

San walks up behind me and pokes my sides causing me to jump “Stop! It’s cold! You’re making it worse, skirt chaser!” San chuckles and when I turn back to face him I see his now bright pink hair slightly blowing in the wind while giving me his signature dimpled smile. “How’d you know it was me?”

I scoff and roll my eyes at how obviously dumb his question was “What kind of dumb question is that? It’s obviously because you’re the only one who does that..” San stuffs his hands in his pockets stifling a laugh and gently nudges my arm with his elbow “I know, I just wanted to annoy you one last time before you go.” I give him a small smile and roll my eyes. He’s so annoying.

“Geez it’s so cold, I always forget how cold Provia is until I actually come back.” Yeosang steps out rubbing his hands together and shoving them in the pockets of his blazer, his now black hair peeking out from under the wide brim hat he happens to be wearing.

“You’ve been here before?” He nods “Yeah, once years ago before I joined Hongjoong and another not too long ago with Hongjoong.” I slightly raise my eyebrow “Wow, that’s nice. It’s my first time here and so far it’s beautiful but the climate is a bit questionable seeing how ruthless it looks”

I reach for my gun to make sure it was loaded and I have enough ammo then let out a long sigh “It’s time for me to go..” 

“Well in that case, I’ll see you later yeah? Take care." Yeosang gently pats my back while I put my gun back into my holster “Sure thing. I’ll see you in a few days.”

Wooyoung walks over to me and puts me in a playful headlock knocking my hat off my head “Wow you’re leaving already? So early?” I pick up my hat and poke his side. He lets out a loud yelp and he lets go of me gently patting my shoulder.

 “Yeah, Captain wanted to go early so we reach Provia before sunset.” Wooyoung hugs himself trying to keep warm putting is hands under his arms “I wouldn’t be surprised it’s because he wants you to kill someone.” I shrug “I don’t know he didn’t tell me but I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the case, he just told me to get ready and be well stocked with ammo. I honestly don’t have a very good feeling about this since it’s just me and the Captain.” 

San furrows his eyebrows resting his elbow against the railing of the ship “Just you and Hongjoong? Seonghwa isn’t going? Are you worried?” I let out a small laugh “Uh yeah, I’m worried about the Captain since it’s my first time out with him and Seonghwa won’t be coming along to guide me.”

San gives me a small smile “You’ve got this.” Wooyoung smirks and reaches over to squeeze my cheeks together with one hand “ See ya in a few days.” I grab his wrist and pull it away from my face “That hurts, you weasel!” Wooyoung turns away laughing holding on to the railing from laughing so hard.

I nudge Yeosang "So where's everyone else?" He looks over at the icy landscape and says "Ah they're asleep. Seonghwa fell asleep in Hongjoong's room, I know this because he told me he wasn't going to sleep in the crew chambers last night."

Yeosang leans in and lowers his voice to a mere whisper "Hongjoong couldn't sleep last night and so he stayed up with him." I nod with a slight frown on my face. Is Hongjoong okay? Is he scared? Nervous?

“Ready?” I jump seeing Hongjoong standing there his notable all black trench coat ensemble complete with leather gloves and his wide brim hat. He stands there waiting for me at the ramp lightly tapping his boot on the deck floor.

I wonder how long he’s been standing there, how odd he didn’t even say anything.

“Ah, yes Captain.” I turn back to Yeosang, Wooyoung and San waving goodbye “I’m going, see you guys! Tell the others I said goodbye!” I speed walk over to Hongjoong and we both walk down the ramp “Our horses should be over by the city, I'm not risking any of mine.” Hongjoong muttered.

I nod and stay quiet for a few moments until I decide to blurt out “So what exactly are we doing here?”  Hongjoong walks in silence resting his hand on the holster of his gun while he walks .

“I need to know what I’m getting myself into. I need to know how to protect you Captain. My apologies for not dropping it but I can't be left in the dark.” He chews on his bottom lip then he slowly exhales resulting in his frosty breath making an appearance “I’ll tell you when we get our horses.”

“Why?” I ask slightly confused as to why he's become so secretive all of a sudden. Honjoong turns in my direction and sternly utters “Don’t question me, just listen. and be quiet.”

I look ahead and roll my eyes. Why is he being like this? I’m literally stuck by his side what’s his deal? I need to know what’s coming to prepare for my surroundings. I can't go in blind.

After walking for a little bit we arrive at the small city by the shore and we pick up our horses. Once we get on them we ride in complete silence through the frosty forest until I break the silence once again “Okay tell me what we’re doing now and why we’re keeping it a secret.”

He looks over at me for a few seconds then looks forward again hiding his eyes with his hat “It’s not a secret I just need you to help me get rid of someone for me. I couldn’t tell you because I wasn’t sure if you’d back out on me considering it’s your first time and I didn’t tell anyone on the ship simply because I didn’t think it was necessary.. ”

“Okay, so who is it?” He looks ahead onto the terrain ahead of us and without hesitation he says “Jaques Norwood, He’s an executive officer of the Provian military. A very problematic one at that.”

Intrigued, I raise my eyebrow “How come?” He stays quiet for a few seconds staring off into the icy trees ahead of us then answers flatly “I'm not going into detail but he’s one of the reasons I lost everything I had at one point in my life. ”

Hm, not going into detail? I wonder if it's because it's painful for him to remember or maybe he just doesn't want to come off as vulnerable to someone he doesn't know very well. Which I understand.

Unable to form any words I hum softly and Hongjoong continues “So I need you to assist me. Seonghwa being a male unfortunately I won’t be able to get as close as I want to, but you being a fresh faced woman and all I’m almost positive he’ll give in pretty easily.”

Ew, he’s going to have me flirt with a possible disgusting old psycho? “As much as flirting with an old guy sounds funny, is the point of this to distract him?”

He briefly glances over at me “Correct.” I nod then I suggest “How about I do the job for you and you can just go back to the ship? Sounds easier. Safer.”  Hongjoong stays quiet almost like he was thinking whether to stay or leave “Don’t worry, I will not disclose to anyone who I’m working with.” I give him a reassuring smile and he lets out a sigh.

“I’m not letting you go alone.” I furrow my brows and slightly tilt my head “Why is that?” He shrugs “Because I said so.” I roll my eyes. Isn't he stubborn. “Captain you’re making this more complicated than it has to be. Go back. I promise you I’ll get rid of this person. I just need to know you’ll be safe.”

He abruptly stops his horse. Did I finally get through him? It’s like he only listens when I make it obvious I care for him. How funny. He turns to me and softly chuckles “You’re very kind y/n, but I think it’s best this remains a team effort.”

Definitely not looking forward to hanging out with that old fart, but what Hongjoong says goes. I nod in silence gently biting the inside of my lip, unfortunately worry must have been written all over my face because then Hongjoong follows up with “Don’t worry about that man, I know what you’re thinking and he won’t get the chance. I promise you nothing is going to happen, I just need you as a distraction.”

I glance over at him reassuringly “I trust you then..” He curves his lips into a smile and continues “Good, that means you and I will part ways here and we will see eachother again in the city. Meet me at the Twelve Rabbit tavern.”

My eyes slightly widen “Wait, why?” He checks behind us as if making sure that it was just us “They’ve got eyes everywhere, and if they see you arriving with me they’ll know we’re up to something and it will be nearly impossible to get close to Norwood. ”

“Okay, but how else are you going to get to the main city?” He points east “I’ll have to take the long route since I need to pick up a few things on one of the outer skirts of the main city but I promise I’ll be there. In the meanwhile try to blend in as much as possible.”

I look over at Hongjoong and Salute “Aye Captain!” He chuckles and begins to steer his horse east and I yell out “Take care!” From a distance I see him nodding in acknowledgement with a smile. I sit there for a few minutes watching him until I decide to begin heading towards the main city to make it in time.   

After a few hours of a quiet ride to Provia I eventually arrive to the gates. There is some sort of ceremony or a public event coming up judging from the amount of people coming in and out of the gates. Which is quite alot, unfortunately I have another problem which is that I don’t know what this Jaques Norwood looks like.

I tie my horse onto a tree close by the main gate, now the problem is sneaking in. Ironically I happen to see a merchant wheeling in hay and I pretend to walk behind the huge cart full. I turn around to look behind me and notice there were two merchants behind this one. Dammit.

“Hello gentlemen, can I get a quick favor?” I give them a curt smile and pull out a bag of golden coins slightly dangling it in front of me. Both men stare at me then the younger one with the fur hat speaks “Depends, how much is that?” I look down at the bag then shrug “About 600 crescents..Probably more though.” The man on the left with the hat looks at the older man to his right with the long beard and both nod in agreement. The man with the long beard then speaks “What do you need child?”

I look at the line very slowly moving ahead of us and put my hands together “Can you please let the guards know I’m guarding your cargo?” The man with the fur hat furrows his brows then I continue “I just need to sneak in and see my mother is all, please..”

The bearded man sympathetically looks at me and nods “Alright, go ahead as long as you fulfill your part of the deal.” 

I quickly retrieve my horse from the tree near the entrance and ride my horse to position it behind the two men’s cargo. Just as we get closer I happen to look down and notice my hourglass pin on full display. Shit.

I awkwardly pull my hair forward and I let out a sigh of relief. I almost fucked that up big time, I really am very nervous and it shows. God, I wish Seonghwa joined us. Maybe then I wouldn’t be so damn clueless.

By the time I snap out of my thoughts it’s our turn and the two guards up by the gate sported the same uniform which was a dark blue thick jacket lined with black fur and a black fur hat with flaps covering their ears. The crest of Provia being on the front part of the hat.

On one of their hips they had a long needle thin sword and one of them also carried some sort of big gun, not one that I recognized though, must be new. The one with the sword holds a notepad and the other one with he gun walks up to the men’s cargo and begins to carefully inspect “What is this?”

The older bearded man then responds “It’s fish sir, we’re fishermen.” The soldier hums and begins to walk towards the back in my direction. He looks at me and narrows his eyes suspiciously then says “Are you with the fishermen?” I nod “I am, I’m guarding their cargo.”

The soldier looks under the tarp of the wagon then looks back at me while the soldier behind him writes stuff down. “What’s with the clothes?” I shrug “It’s all I could find in Shiva that was warm.”

He looks over at the soldier behind him and both exchange odd looks then stares back at me for a good while until he harshly taps the wagon and yells “Clear!” The soldiers keeps their eyes on me until we finally move past them and into the city. I then ride ahead and thank the fishermen for their help and toss the coins over to them.

While I ride around I see all the different shops from butcher shops to weapon shops. Hm, maybe I’ll go in there later. My eye is immediately caught by a beautiful blood red dress.

So pretty, unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be able to wear that for my meeting with Jaques. Or can I? An evil smirk appears onto my features then I shake my head.

No, I can’t because I don’t know if I’ll be able to pull it off considering it’s my first time doing this I shouldn't get cocky. I glance over at the window again and look at the beautiful red dress. I feel like if I appeal to this man I can bring Hongjoong a memento I just have to be close enough to be able to do that. Fuck it, I’ll do it. Maybe it'll work.

I enter the store and the store owner greets me “Hi, what can I help you with today Miss?” I make sure my pin is hidden and smile “I’m looking for a nice dress and a hood. I heard this place makes really good ones.”

The store owner nods and walks out from behind the counter “I see, is it for the pinning ceremony of Jaques Norwood?” I brightly smile “Yes, that one...”

She leads me over to where alot of dresses were and none of them seemed to catch my eye because I kept thinking about the one on the window. “How much is the one on the window? The red one, it’s gorgeous.” She smiles “Oh, that’s a new one! That’s 2,800 Crescents, a cape is included with it which is why the price is a little steep ”

Oof she’s right a little steep but I have enough money on me so I’ll be fine. Got to look my best so I'm sure Hongjoong won't mind me spending it. “I’ll take it!” She clasps her hands together excitedly “I’ll package it for you right away Miss.” before I head over to the counter another red satin dress with puff sleeves catches my eye.

This will be my going out dress. After paying for both dresses and a beautiful black fur jacket I manage to get a room in the nearby tavern Hongjoong talked about. I drop off my new dresses and my other stuff off and head over to the bar area of the tavern.

Hmm I’ve never been to a tavern but I’ve heard about them from what my grandfather has told me I think I once heard him talk about him and his comrades getting a drink called the “corpse reviver” which sounded kind of scary now that I think about it.

As soon as I sit down a well dressed older man says  “Hello welcome to The Twelve Rabbit Tavern, is there anything that interests you?” I adjust myself in my seat “A corpse reviver please.”

His eyebrows slightly rise then gives me a soft smile “A hard day huh?” I shrug “Just exhausted.” He nods then hands me my drink, it looked a bit like lemonade. Maybe that’s why grandpa likes it so much “Please enjoy. Say, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you around here.”

I take a sip of my drink which surprised me how strong it was. I try my absolute hardest to keep a straight face “I’m just traveling.” The old man notices the awkward facial expression I make and says “Too strong?” I nod while my body shakes a bit involuntarily from how strong the drink was and the old man laughs “Don’t worry, I’ll get you something a little easier to drink.”

I don’t understand why my grandpa would drink something so disgusting it doesn’t even taste edible, then again I’ve never had alcohol in my entire life. Just never really interested me in all honesty why spend money on a disgusting drink when I can drink a delicious cup of coffee or juice.

The old man turns back to me and gives me a drink that was a beautiful orange gradient, it looked almost like a sunset which was almost too pretty to drink. “Here you go, this one should be much more palatable. I went easy on the liquor.” I take a drink then I nod and give him a smile “Thank you, it's perfect.”

The man begins to clean his work space with a rag “So, are you here for the pinning ceremony? It seems these days alot of people are arriving here for that. Including the Piece of Eight.” My heart stops and I look down and notice the hourglass pin on my chest was showing then I cover it with my hair.

“They’re looking for Kim Hongjoong as we speak. They know he’s here and they’re onto him.” My stomach drops and my hands get a bit clammy while the man continues “The thing is, that man is a man of the people. So if you need help with anything just let me know and I’ll be of assistance.”

This is still dangerous, what if he sells me out or something. What if he's lying? I’ll make sure to keep tabs on him. I take another sip of my drink “Did you meet with my Captain? Is this why you know we’re even here?” He shakes his head “No, but you’re proof they’re here. I can tell you’re very new to this so I’ll tell you now that the military will be very strict at the pinning ceremony. Which is why I suggest you fake being a socialite from a far away country to lift suspicion if you’re going to go. The more obscure the better.”

Ah, now I see why Hongjoong loves to be in good graces with the people. It makes things a hundred times easier, he’s smart. I look over at the other people in the tavern then look back at the old man “Why are you helping me?”

He dries a glass with another smaller rag and he smiles “Because thanks to your dear Captain my wife was able to get treatment and recover from a bad illness. So the least I should do is help you.” My eyebrows raise “Oh wow.”

I notice the old man looks behind me then says in an even lower voice than before “By the way, Jaques frequently visits the Ivory Bell tavern in the military district of Provia. You’ll know who he is when you see him, he sticks out like a sore thumb from the rest.”

He points at the pin on my chest and i turn around to see it was a Provian policeman then I carefully remove the pin and put it in my pocket and get up extending my hand “I’ll get going now, your name is?”

He smiles and shakes my hand “Theo.” I nod and hand him my money “I’ll see you later Theo.” I casually walk past the Provian Policeman and walk outside.

After a little while I find the Ivory Bell Tavern and of course it looks like something owned by the government, pretty pristine and expensive looking. As soon as I enter I notice a lot of military men, a few with some female companions.

By the bar chairs near the bartender I notice a man wearing a high ranking military uniform which was dark blue with his decorated medals and pins. His dirty blonde hair neatly put into a combover and icy blue eyes. He was wearing glasses that were silver rimmed and complimented his features very well which made him look very important and intimidating.

So, I’m guessing this is the guy I’m looking for. I sit down next to him and tell the bartender behind the counter “Hello, can I get a corpse reviver?” I need to look cool, luckily now I know what to expect. The blond man turns to me and smirks “You must have had a tough day.” I nod “Yeah, work has me like that unfortunately ”

  His eyebrow rises “Really? What’s your occupation?”  I turn to him and smile “I run my father’s tavern in Sheba. I’m here on a business trip.” He takes a drink from his amber colored drink “Maybe If I ever stop by Sheba I’ll stop by at your father’s hotel. What’s the name?”

The bartender brings me the dreaded lemonade colored drink “The Devil’s Cradle” I smirk and take a small sip only this time I manage to mask my disgust and manage to keep a straight face “Sounds very nice, I like the name. “ I trace my finger around the rim of the glass and smile “Yeah, it’s so nice you’ll sleep like a corpse or so that’s what our patrons have told us.”

He chuckles and extends his hand reaching for mine and gently kisses the back of my hand “How rude of me. I’m Jaques Norwood, what’s your name?” Got him. I push a strand of hair behind my ear and smile “Ah, so you’re the star of the pinning ceremony in a few days? I’m Scarlet Frost by the way, nice to meet you.”

He smirks, his blue eyes piercing into my soul. “You have such a beautiful name, something that’s very hard to forget.” I take a sip of my drink “Hard to forget indeed.” He pushes his glasses up “So are you being accompanied by anyone?”

I take another sip of my drink trying to concentrate on not spitting my drink out. I just hope I don't get drunk then I'll be fucked. “Nope, I’m here alone unfortunately. The attendant that usually accompanies me couldn’t make it this time due to his wife being in labor so I just told him I wouldn’t mind making the trip by myself.”

His cold blue eyes attentively look at me while holding onto his drink slightly making my hands a bit clammy. He was attentive to what I was saying but is he examining what I'm saying to see if it's credible?

“Father was hesitant about it at first but he eventually agreed since we kind of had no choice because he's sick.” He gives me a concerned look and says “Wow, you’re one brave woman to be traveling alone. Your father must be proud to have such a thoughtful daughter. Are you not afraid? Especially nowadays when the scum of the sea are constantly terrorizing and killing people”

I sigh and look down at my drink “I am a little bit but I’ve honestly have had my fair share of horrible people, so as scary as those seamen are it’s going to take alot more than sea bandits trying to rob me in order for me to stop helping my father.”

He chuckles “What a woman, you know. Not many are as hardworking and strong like you. Even so, part of me wants to protect you because you must have been through alot considering being a woman who travels alone isn’t usually very easy..”

I let my eyes lose focus and the man’s face turns into nothing but a blurred mess for a few seconds until I re focus my eyesight. God I feel weird, I think I'm getting drunk.. or tipsy?

"Oh Mr. Norwood you’re very kind-" he gives me a soft smile and says "I know, I'm coming off too strong. I'm very sorry about that Miss Frost, beautiful women are indeed one of my weaknesses."

“Alright, you win.” I giggle and gently pat his arm. He notices this and his ears slowly turn into a soft shade of pink. I think I've got him. That's good right?

After about an excruciating two hours pass by of sitting there and chatting with this man like my life depended on it I finish my drink and get up “I’m getting a little tired I think I should go, I’ll see you around Mr. Norwood.” He grabs my hand and gently pulls me back towards him “We should see each other again sometime? I really do enjoy your presence.” He gently strokes the back of my hand with his thumb. I smile, my ears turning red from the attention “Of course, I would love to meet you again.”

He brings my hand up to his lips and gently kisses the back of my hand and pulls out an invitation from his breast pocket and hands me the dark blue invitation with a silver wax seal on it the crest engraved in the seal being the Provian crest.

“Tomorrow at 2pm?” I nod pressing my lips into a slightly nervous smile and take the invitation. The man looks into my eyes with his icy blue eyes, the feeling being almost overwhelming knowing Hongjoong is not going to take this man lightly. “You need me to walk you back to your tavern? A pretty girl like you shouldn’t walk alone so late.”

I shake my head shyly covering my face with the invitation “Oh no, sir it’s okay I really don’t want to be a bother.” He gently rubs circles on the back of my hand ”Nonsense, a beautiful woman like you is no bother. The streets of Provia can be a bit frightening at night and it’s no place for a lady like you to be out.”

I smile and gently rest my free hand on his knee “I promise you no one will mess with me, I’ll head home quickly..” He nods understandingly without breaking eye contact “I understand but it still doesn’t take away that I’m a bit uncertain letting you go alone can I at least walk you halfway?”

Fuck.. Maybe I should agree just in case. I nod while I give him the sweetest smile that’s humanly possible. How was it this easy?  What the heck?! Maybe he knows!? “Of course Mr. Norwood.” He gives me a small and knowing smile almost like he was proud of himself. “Alright Miss Frost, let’s get you home so you can rest.” Jaques and I pay the bartender for my drink and step out.

Outside I look around to make sure no one weird was around since it was quite dark now. Jaques turns to me and reassuringly pats my shoulder “Don’t worry, I’m here. I’ll protect you.” He takes my hand and laces his fingers in between mine. It’s been a while since someone’s been interested in me , let alone held my hand so it felt almost foreign to me seeing a man be so gentle.

Suddenly I get this strong feeling that I’m being watched, how odd. I didn’t see anyone following me this whole time so why do I feel like I’m being followed? Is it perhaps Hongjoong?

As soon as I hit the halfway mark to our destination I gently tug on the tall blue eyed man’s jacket and come to a halt “Well, it’s time for me to go Mr. Norwood.” He pushes a few strands of hair and gives me a worried look “Are you positive you don’t want me to walk you back pretty girl?” I nod “I’m positive, you should really get going anyways because you’ll need that rest for tomorrow.”

He silently nods for a few seconds “I’m looking forward to seeing you again Miss Frost. Goodnight.” I smirk “Yes, I as well Mr. Norwood have a good night.” He gently kisses the back of my hand again and watches me walk away. I could feel his eyes piercing into my back giving me slight goosebumps, once I turn around again to wave goodbye I force a smile.

In return a small smile paints the blonde man’s face and for some strange reason I get slightly nauseous so I turn away terrified I might make a weird facial expression that gives me away luckily I'm almost positive he didn't notice.

When I arrive back to the tavern and head up to my room I sit on the bed and think about what exactly this Jaques dude had to do with the Captain. What is his connection and why does he want him dead?

I know he told me he was a reason why he lost everything but what I want to know is what that reason is but I guess it’s all in due time since Jaques never mentioned anything regarding his work in the military no matter how many times I pressed on the matter. 

On the day of the ceremony I get ready for it by putting on the beautiful red puff sleeve red dress with a sweetheart neckline and some drop ruby earrings and necklace. For my hair I settle for a pretty updo with red crystal flowers all over my hair. When I look in the mirror I smile “I’ll get you that pretty little medal Captain, after all it's you who deserves it the most.”

The pinning ceremony is in the main city square theater and there was a lot of people there, most of them looked important which makes me even more uncomfortable because I think it’s best I steer clear of them. So I sit at the perfect distance to where I could still see but not be too close.

Unfortunately for me this is when I realize how boring these things are and how lucky I am to at least be sitting in here and not outside in the cold. After about an hour of them blabbing on and on about Mr. Norwood’s accomplishments I hear one thing that sticks out to me and it was “Social Cleansing of inmoral people in possession of an illegal artifact” How are they glorifying that?! This is a crime, why is this being celebrated? This has to be related to Hongjoong.

Now I know why he wants him dead, it’s because instead of him getting punished by the government he’s getting praised for what he’s done. I stare at Jaques and the General up on stage I look around notice how happy everyone is, this has to be a sick joke.

No way in hell are people actually encouraging “social cleansing” regardless of what they're in possession of, unless they’re just blindly following their beloved military “heroes” thinking evreything they do is a good thing or they just straight up have no clue what it means. 

Throughout the ceremony I stand there contemplating if I should end them right at this moment, regardless of the amount of military personnel in the area. My mind is stuck in an endless loop of contemplation and anger where I completely ignore what is being said on stage.

After the ceremony I notice Jaques taking pictures with his new medal with the general of the Provian military. This time I reach inside my purse and clutch onto the gun tightly. What’s really stopping me from killing both of them right now?

It would be so much easier but not satisfying enough, besides this is Hongjoong’s kill and he instructed me to be a distraction not kill. “Scarlet! Over here!”  I see Jaques walking towards me so I let go of the gun and leave it in my purse.

He grabs my hand and kisses my knuckles “Wow, you look beautiful. Red really suits you very well.” I force a smile and smooth out my dress with my other free hand “Thank you Mr. Norwood.” He begins to pull me in the direction towards other military officers “Come meet my superiors.” I stop and shake my head “I want to be with you though not them, besides they kind of make me uncomfortable because of how i'mport they are. I don't want to accidentally say anything weird..”

He smiles and and gently caresses my cheek “You’re so cute, they can be intimidating at times but I understand. They make me quite uncomfortable too. We can be together for a little but then I have to go just for a bit because I have a meeting with the lieutenant colonel and the brigadier general about the Piece of Eight being here in Provia. Please do me a favor and hide if you see any of those nefarious pirates.”

I almost let out an audible gasp but manage to suppress it by covering my mouth. Hongjoong is here in Provia already? Is that why I felt like someone was watching me? Could it have been him? I slightly stutter “Pirates? Here in Provia?”

His face goes serious “Yeah, one of the Provian policemen saw Kim Hongjoong last night.” My heart stops and almost jumps out of my throat.  “What’s wrong Scarlet? You look pale?” I shake my head silently then he gently lifts my chin and looks into my eyes with those soulless blue eyes. I really hope Hongjoong is okay “I promise you’ll be okay. He won’t hurt you.” 

Of course not, but he'll hurt you. “Of course, I trust you. I’m just a bit spooked. I’ve heard many stories about him.” He presses his lips onto my forehead "You don't have to worry about him Scarlet dear, the military is looking for him as we speak. Not to mention you're with one of the best here in Provia so you're safe with me."

He pats my head and gently rubs his thumb on my cheeks “I’ve got to get going, I’ll see you at 8pm for the masquerade ball tonight okay?” I force a smile and nod “Of course, I’ll be there. Take care Mr. Norwood.” He gently kisses my forehead and makes his way in the direction of his superiors. I wait until I see Jaques completely out of sight and begin to walk back to the Twelve Rabbit.

When I arrive I look around for Theo and sit at the empty side of the bar where he walks over to me and just like every other time I meet him he politely greets me “Miss, hello. What would you like?” I sit there and think for a few seconds “Coffee?” He chuckles and turns towards the back “Right away.”

While he’s gone I make sure no one else sits near the bar area so when he comes back he gently sets the warm cup of coffee in front of me with a few cookies next to it. Immediately I lean in a little close to Theo “I need your help Theo.” He looks at me waiting for my request and I continue but this time in a lower voice than before “I found him, please cover for me once I leave tonight.”

He gives me a worried look and before he can say anything I shake my head “Don’t worry you won’t be in trouble. Just change the name of the log on my room, and if they ask you for a description throw them off by giving them one that looks nothing like me. That’s all, I’m sure the Captain will pay you for your help.”

The old man gives me a warm smile “There’s no need, don’t worry. I’ve already changed the name on your room’s log.” I smile and mouth the words “Thank you” I slide my payment onto the table and take a sip of my coffee and taking the cookies with me.

I need to see where this will all take place unfortunately I have to walk all the way back to the military district. It’s weird, that feeling of being watched comes back making me look around but to no avail I didn’t see anyone suspicious. Just Provian people minding their business.

This is honestly getting on my nerves now, this feeling is just unsettling because I don’t know if it’s an enemy or not. So when I walk past a sketchy alleyway someone pulls me by the wrist and covers my mouth pulling me towards them. I knew someone was following me.

My back rests against their chest so when my instant reflexes kick in I elbow and punch said person whom lets out a yelp and falls to the ground. I glance at the person and I realize it was Hongjoong. Oh shit. I gasp and help him up.

He was coughing quite hard and I felt bad so I kneel over and pat his back my hand gently resting on his chest “What the fuck are you doing here?! You told me to meet you at the Twelve Rabbit..”

He leans over and puts his hand over my mouth “Why were you at the ceremony?!” I give Hongjoong a surprised look then remove his hand from my face “So it was you following me?!” He shushes me and covers my mouth again “Just announce I’m here why don’t you, you never answered my question. Why were you at the ceremony? Did any of the military people see you?”

I stare at the ground for a bit then raise my gaze “Mr. Norwood invited me, and no, at least I don’t think so.. He tried to get me to meet them but I declined.” He looks at me shaking his head “If that’s the case why didn’t you kill him and the General? They were so close.” Did he-

“I’m sorry captain but there was too many people. Besides you said I was only the distraction, this is your kill and I respect it.” He sighs and rubs the side of his temples “Nobody was going to know where that bullet came from with that amount of people there but I understand you were obeying what I ordered you to do”

The surprise, I can’t ruin it. I bite the inside of my cheek and look down while he continues “I knew I should have come with you-” I put my hand over his lips and quiet him down “Look, go to the tavern and get everything ready for when we come back because after we do we’ll have to haul ass back to the ship. And I mean fast.”

 He furrows his eyebrows and slowly removes my hand from his face  “Wait you met Theo? He’s still there?” I nod and continue “Please Captain, help me in that sense I’ve already told Theo what to do I’m sure in the meanwhile it’ll give you time to catch up with him.” I give him a faint smile then I pull the invitation out of my purse and show it to Hongjoong.

“Look, I also have something I know will make you happy..” Hongjoong smirks and takes the invitation from my hands “How in the world did you get that?..” I smile and push a lock of my hair behind my ear “Mr. Norwood has a crush on yours truly.”

 Hongjoong lets out a quiet laugh gently patting my head “Thank you.” I nod and give him a two finger salute “No problem.” I start walking back to the main street out of the alleyway then glance back at Hongjoong “I’ll see you later Captain, please make it to the Twelve Rabbit safely. The military is looking for you as we speak.” 

Hongjoong’s response is simply a small smile which made me happy. Seeing him happy made me happy for some reason, I’m guessing this is how I know we’re close now. You’re happy when your friend is also happy and If I'm being honest I've always strived for my grandfather and father’s approval for as long as I can remember but I'm not going to lie when I admit that I really want Hongjoong’s approval too. I will go above and beyond so as not to disappoint him even if he has his questionable moments.

After inspecting the building where the masquerade will be held and looking at all the exits and hiding spots I head back to the Twelve Rabbit and head over to my room when I open the door I notice Hongjoong is laying on my bed his blazer was on the chair next to the desk in my room and his white dress shirt unbuttoned exposing his chest.

A glass of amber colored liquid on the nightstand next to my bed. Why is he half naked on my bed? Is he drunk? I check the time and it was 4:39 pm I don't want to wake him. He seemed to be enjoying his nap from the looks of it, I’m sure he’s exhausted. 

I'll just sit here and nap on the desk until it's time for me to get ready, besides I have plenty of time to spare. I take off my black fur jacket and sit on the chair where Hongjoong's blazer was hanging and lay my head down on my arms on the desk. Surprisingly it wasn't that uncomfortable so falling asleep was a piece of cake. 

I sleep for a while until I feel a gentle nudge followed by a whisper "y/n. Wake up, you should be getting ready for tonight." My eyes groggily flutter open and when I turn I notice Hongjoong leaning over with his hand on my shoulder and his shirt still undone giving me a full shot of his toned chest and abs looking at me with a small smile.

 I quietly hum and sit there waking myself up while he walks over to the bed and sits "Why didn't you sleep on the bed? You're going to mess your back up if you keep sleeping like that." I squint my eyes in slight annoyance. What kind of question is that? "Maybe because you were sleeping on my bed? That's weird if I sleep on it while you're sleeping on it too." 

His eyebrow rises "There's nothing wrong with it, you're just sleeping next to me." I roll my eyes and cross my arms in front of me "Yeah no, that makes me uncomfortable." Hongjoong chuckles "Fair enough, I respect that. Even then you should have woken me up and let me know you were going to rest a little bit." 

"I'm sorry Captain but I couldn't do that you looked exhausted, besides I think that’s going to be a regular occurrence of me sleeping on a chair while you sleep.. " He slightly tilts his head “How come?” I dryly laugh “What do you mean why? Because I’ll probably fall asleep while keeping watch sometimes.”

 He nods giving me a sullen smile and reaches over for his blazer and puts it on “Well, I’ll let you get ready. I’ll do that as well, I’ll meet you downstairs.” He walks over to the door and closes it behind him leaving me alone in the candle lit room.

I glance over at the pastel pink box with a white ribbon and pick it up gently setting it on the bed. After opening the box I gently pick up the dress and take in the beauty of the dress, this is probably going to be the first and last time I wear this gorgeous dress I'm afraid.

 After putting the dress on I stare at myself in the mirror and look at the beautiful dark red lace bodice beautifully accentuating the right places with the lace jeweled off the shoulder sleeves softly glistening in the soft candle light.

 I smile to myself and I let my hair down from my previous style and put my hair in a half up half down style with a hair stick in the shape of a dragon with red jewels as eyes. For shoes I settle with some black heeled ankle boots then I put on a black lace mask with red jewels and accents. Lastly I put on the beautiful red cape over my dress, the inside being lined with black fur making it very warm.

 After I head downstairs to the bar area to bid goodbye to Theo. I walk towards the bar area and see Hongjoong and Theo were talking, it wasn’t until Theo stays silent that Hongjoong turns and his lips slightly part. His expression is that of being in complete shock for a few seconds then he composes himself and clears his throat and stares at me waiting for me to say something.

 I look at both Theo and Hongjoong “I’ll be going now.. “ Theo smiles and says “Good luck Miss y/n. There’s a carriage outside waiting, Sir Hongjoong paid for it.” I slightly raise my eyebrows then Hongjoong says “I’ll catch up to you, arriving with you might be dangerous..” I nod and walk outside realizing there was indeed a black carriage with a beautiful black and white spotted horse.

 Once I’m helped into the carriage and I arrive at the location of the ball it was a complete 180 from earlier in the day and it looked gorgeous. Beautiful lights and decorations adorning the place making it look unreal.

 Straight out of a fairytale that mom and grandma used to tell me. When I step out of the carriage I show the guards my invitation, Immediately after entering I’m greeted with Jaques pulling me into his arms into a tight hug “Miss Frost, you’re looking gorgeous tonight. Aren’t you cold? You poor thing..”

I pull back and notice he was wearing an all black ensemble with a white half mask covering the right side of his face, despite the smile on his face his eyes still as soulless as before. It was honestly kind of scary in a way. “I am a little bit but Thank you Mr. Norwood you’re looking very handsome yourself.” 

He takes my hand and gently plants a kiss on my knuckles, and leads me inside the ball. At the entrance a military employee takes my cape and puts it in the back. I quickly glance over at Jaques and say worriedly “He took my cape..” Jaques chuckles and removes his coat handing it over to the military employee “No worries, they’re going to keep it safe for you they’re not keeping it.”

 I slowly nod feeling slightly embarrassed “Ah, I’m sorry I wasn’t aware.” Jaques gently kisses my temple and smiles “You’re so precious..” Way to make it known you’re that poor you don’t even know customs of the nobles and higher ups. 

I glance inside the huge ballroom and If I thought the outside looked gorgeous then the inside was immaculate because everything was perfect from the way the chandeliers glimmered in the light to the beautiful reflective marble floor. Never in my life did I think I’d ever experience something like this, a poor nobody from Eledonia feeling like a princess seems unreal but alas it wasn’t. 

Unfortunately it was something that’s brief and probably a once in a lifetime opportunity. The guests seemed to be either nobles or high ranking military officers which made things much scarier considering I’m not used to being in such formal situations. We walk past a few women who were whispering amongst themselves while staring directly at me almost like they were wondering who on earth I was. Unmoved by this action Jaques leads me into the dancefloor and smiles “Would you be so kind as to take this dance Miss Frost?”

 I curve my lips into a timid smile “I’d Love to” He slithers his hand behind my back and pulls me close and we dance a few songs together, the whole time I take small glances behind him to see if Hongjoong would show up. “You seem to be looking around quite a bit, are you looking for someone in particular?”

 Oh shit. He’s getting suspicious. “Oh no, I’m just still in shock from how beautiful this place is.” He looks around himself and nods “Ah, I figure you’ve never been to parties of this caliber?” I nod “Yes, this is my first time. I wish my father was here so he’d be able to enjoy a party like this too.”

 Suddenly from behind Jaques I see a man dressed in a white ensemble with beautiful golden embroidery, his hair that familiar shade of unnatural blonde pushed back. The mask he wears covers his eyes but very delicately accentuates his eye shape with the delicate placement and bordering of pearls along the mask, while a white fluffy feather adorns the top corner of the mask.

 With him he carries a white cane, the handle being some kind of sharp beaked bird. Suddenly it dawns on me, this is Hongjoong. His hair, the clothes, the confidence he carries himself with, he’s here. Hongjoong looks around for a little until he spots me, his gaze locks onto mine and smirks. 

By now Mr. Norwood notices my silence and leans in and whispers “Do you know him?” those words make my stomach drop but I try to play it off “What do you mean?” He chuckles while we dance “You seem to be looking at him almost like you know him,“ 

I nervously laugh and shake my head “Oh no such thing Mr. Norwood. I’m just admiring his ensemble, it’s very peculiar.” He smirks and gently kisses my forehead “I’m sorry I get a bit jealous, you’re just so gorgeous I don’t want you looking at anyone else but me...” My eyes look around for Hongjoong once again but to no avail he was gone. Where is he? This man touching me is really freaking me out now. Jaques looks deep into my eyes with his icy blue eyes “How about we go somewhere more private?” A knot grows in my throat and I nod pressing my lips into a forced smile. 

He gently pulls me away from the dancefloor and down a hallway leading to a beautiful courtyard in the back. We walk down a stone path to a soft ivory colored gazebo with beautiful thorned red flowers blooming alongside the entrance. It’s cold, how are those flowers blooming? I’ve never seen something like this before. We both look out from the gazebo and into the beautiful garden of similar red flowers being illuminated by the moon.

 The sight was to die for unfortunately Jaques had other things in mind. “Let me see those beautiful eyes of yours.” I turn to meet his empty blue ones and a small smirk grows onto his features then he leans in and pulls me into a kiss, only it felt like it was eternity before he pulled away. Gross, I feel sick..

“You know a Provian officer saw you talking to Kim Hongjoong by an alleyway earlier today. He said you looked very well acquainted.” Oh no. He knows, he knows! What do I say? Do I feign innocent? Is this why he lured me outside? He’s going to kill me isn’t he? “Kim Hongjoong was recently seen with unnatural blonde hair...”

 He gently puts his hand to cup my cheek and continues “Just like that man in the white ensemble you were looking at. It’s him isn’t it? Your Captain?” I thickly swallow and shake my head “Mr. Norwood what-” The man interjects while holding my face in his hand “It is isn’t it? Tell me.” I shake my head, trying to swallow the knot in my throat. 

He stands there staring at me waiting for me to say something until I muster up the courage to finally speak “Fine, you’ve caught me.” I gently run my hands up his chest, this causes his hand to slowly tighten “That doesn’t mean that I can’t like you though right? Or is that forbidden too?”

 His eyebrow rises in amusement “You’re telling me you actually like me or is this bluff so that you get away with it.” I try to shake my head feigning innocence “No, I mean it I do like you.” he loosens his grip again and gently strokes my cheek with his thumb “Such a beautiful thing…”

  He tilts my head back slightly and leans in only mere centimeters in front of my face and continues “What a shame you have friends who are not so nice.” Okay, why is he looking at me like that? I bite the inside of my lip and close my eyes until a familiar voice echoes in our direction, Hongjoong. 

 “Who says we’re not nice? Last time I checked all the money we robbed from Chesan was returned to their rightful owners, the people.” I hear the cocking of a pistol and turn to see Hongjoong pointing it at Jaques. Immediately without a second thought Jaques puts his arm around my throat pulling my back onto his chest.

 I remove my hair pin and aim to stab him in the neck only for him to tightly grab my hand re directing the pin into my shoulder causing me to let out a pained gasp knocking me to the ground in the process immediately afterwards Hongjoong shoots him in the stomach twice knocking him on his back. “y/n, are you okay?!” I nod reassuring him and he walks over to Jaques and stands above him pointing his gun directly over his face. 

In the distance we hear the guards making their way to the courtyard causing Hongjoong to grumble under his breath “You’re under my mercy now, unfortunately I don’t have as much time as I would like because of your big mouth.” I glance over at the guards. Oh no, this is definitely not how I envisioned any of this going. 

I get up and pull the pin out from my shoulder and grunt in pain “Captain, I’ll take care of this.” He nods and I run towards a hallway leading to a courtyard. One of the higher ranking guards spots me and I hide behind a bush in the courtyard while says through his teeth “Find her! She went into the bushes” 

LIttle does he know he fucked up asking his men to look for me. I see him walk around the courtyard and says “Here kitty, kitty” He makes mocking cat noises then I grab a pebble and throw it at the bush opposite of me. He hears this and walks back with his back facing directly towards me getting on his knee to check if I’m behind the bush. I smirk and take out a small blade from the leg holster next to my gun. 

I walk behind him and cover his mouth putting my blade on his neck then I whisper “You make a noise, I’ll turn you into my personal meat shield” I know he’s going to try something funny so with ease I slit his throat and let him fall back against the soft grass. He clutches his neck and chokes on his own blood.

From a distance I hear noises of struggle in the distance and realize it was Jaques and Hongjoong possibly getting into a brawl. I whistle causing the other guards to run in my direction, in the meanwhile I load my gun. 

Right when I see a few of them are in one spot I pop up from behind the bush and shoot a few of the guards dead. I look around for a small ledge to climb on to try and do an aerial attack. Once I climb the side ledge of the building via a small ladder on the side I start reloading my gun whilst avoiding the ricocheting bullets headed my way.

 When I walk to the very edge I take a deep breath and throw myself off the ledge while the guards shoot at me luckily only managing to graze my right arm and part of my thigh. I shoot 2 dead while up on the ledge and 2 more of the guards while jumping off the ledge knocking them down while I simultaneously shoot them dead.

 I hear commotion in the distance, I see a few guards are now cornering Hongjoong. “Are you serious?” I hiss in anger while I run I reload my gun again, only this time I drop two bullets leaving me with three. “Fuck..” 

I manage to shoot two of the guards except one. Hongjoong’s attention turns to that guard and shoots him in the face. That's when Jaques takes the opportunity to knock Hongjoong to the floor by kicking the back of his right leg. Jaques grabs onto the gun in Hongjoong’s hand and tries to turn the gun onto him. I try running as fast as my legs could take me then I hear the ricocheting of bullets behind me.

 I turn to see it’s the Provian General and more guards, fuck. Jaques being too busy struggling to get a hold of the gun I sneak behind him so that I get Hongjoong out of here. I stab him right in the neck then he lets go of the gun and falls back clutching onto his neck. 

I shift my gaze over to Hongjoong and I grab his shoulders “Leave! I’ll handle this! We can’t afford for you to get arrested Captain.” He looks down at Jaques choking on his own blood then back at me. He definitely got roughed up by Jaques, a busted lip, and his right eye was swollen from a presumed blow to the eye. 

His once pristine ensemble now covered in dirt and blood, his hair now ruined with a few strands of hair fallen to the front of his face. He sits there thinking for a few seconds and lets out a frustrated sigh and nods in acknowledgement. 

He reaches over and pats the back of my head pressing his forehead against mine, his lips being mere centimeters from mine. “You’ve got this, I’ll get everything ready at the twelve rabbit. Be careful.” Hongjoong runs behind the gazebo and climbs a concrete fence bordering the courtyard near the street. 

I kneel down and notice Jaques still wasn’t dead, yet his soulless blue eyes finally have an emotion to them, fear. I climb on top of him and smile “You were dumb calling your men and making such a big spectacle.” He chokes on his own blood struggling to speak “Look, I’ll cut to the chase. You took everything from my Captain and now you’re going to pay for it with your life. I hope your repent for all the hurt you’ve caused people.” 

While choking on his blood he smirks, painting a scary expression almost like saying he wasn’t remorseful. He was trying to taunt me. He then makes some terrifying gurgling noises with a full smile showing me his blood stained teeth, a sight that will forever be ingrained in my brain. 

That’s when a mixture of fear and anger washes over me, anger for Hongjoong knowing that this man feels no remorse for what he did and fear for myself because I didn't know people could be so unremorseful even knocking on death's door. Seeing that ugly smirk on the man's face causes me to snap and I begin to angrily stab into the man's face and neck, blood spattering and landing on my face and it completely soaking my dress.

Once Jaques’ gurgling noises eventually stop. I look around and see the general looking around for me. I let out a slight sigh and look down at Jaques’ decorated chest avoiding even looking at the aftermath and stripping him from his wrongfully acquired medals leaving his chest empty. He deserves the worst, he deserves the disrespect. Just the way he probably disrespected the many people he's hurt, including Hongjoong.

Before I get up and run away I cut off his right index finger with his military ring still on it and wrap them with the bloody handkerchief on his chest pocket and stuff it in an inner pocket in my dress the two other rings I put in my other dress pocket. From a distance I hear “We’ve found her General! Mr. Norwood!” 

I turn and look in the direction the yelling came from and notice the guards running towards me like their life depended on it. The Provian General staring straight at me not moving a muscle, seething anger painting his gaze. 

 Before I run to the door leading to the street in the courtyard I pick up the gun off a deceased soldier and shoot the General in the chest not knowing if it killed or injured the man just knowing that it definitely hit him. 

When I run up to the gate the door was locked. As expected, I shoot the lock and swing the door open running into the street. While running down the street i take a detour into an alleyway and take an opposite route to the Twelve Rabbit.

In this moment the harsh cold should be bothering me but the adrenaline pumping through my veins the cold ends up being nothing but an afterthought. Slightly slipping on the ice on the cobblestone roads I raise the front of my dress so that I can run as fast as my legs carry me trying not to fall.

When I enter the Twelve Rabbit completely winded from the running Theo signals me to the back and with the last strength that I have I walk to the back of the bar leading to the back alleyway of the bar that’s when I see Hongjoong waiting outside with 2 loaded horses Theo instructing “Make sure to head the alternate route I told you about.”

 Hongjoong nods then he grabs my cape from the horse saddle and drapes it over me. How did he get a hold of this? “Flip the hood on, you’ve got blood everywhere.” I nod and put my hood on then Hongjoong helps me onto my horse “Thank you for everything Theo, I’ll be sure to repay you.”

 Theo shakes his head “You have already, no need. Now, go on.” He waves at us goodbye then I manage to say “Thank you Theo.” He smiles and says “Goodbye you two.” Hongjoong clicks his tongue in order for the horse to go triggering my horse to automatically begin moving right behind his and we ride at full speed up until we reach the gate. 

 Hongjoong slows down his horse and points his gun at the guards, the same ones that I saw yesterday “let us pass or you die.” both guards stare at me for a moment then the one who questioned me last time spoke “It was you…the fishermen’s guard..” Hongjoong cocks his gun and impatiently hisses “I won’t ask you again!”

 Startled, they nod in obedience and open the huge wooden door leading us to the poorer parts of Provia. Without a second thought he shoots both of them dead and we ride at full speed back to the port. The whole ride back to the ship was silent mostly because it was me trying not to pass out from the pain in my shoulder and Hongjoong concentrating making sure we arrived as fast as we could with no further distractions safely. 

I could feel the blood running down my arm the whole ride back to the ship but it was during the last half when the adrenaline started wearing off and pain was beginning to get unbearable. I've never been stabbed before but holy shit I took it well for this being my first time and not freaking out as much. Maybe it was because In the moment my only mission was to kill Mr. Norwood and save Hongjoong that I threw every bit of reasoning out the window. 

When we arrive at the ship I hop off the horse and I wince in pain from my injury trying my hardest to walk it off. Hongjoong hurriedly gets off his horse and walks towards me and helps me walk up the ramp then he yells “Yunho! Get over here!” 

 Right as I make it to the deck I fall to the floor losing my balance while I clutch onto my shoulder. "Fuck.." Hongjoong tries to help me up but I’m in so much pain right now I can’t even walk right. “Look at me. Yunho’s coming, you’ll be okay.”

I look over at Hongjoong and smile whilst he wipes the side of my face from Jaques’ dried blood “I made sure he was dead Captain, I also shot the General but I don’t know if he’s dead for sure..” I pull out the bloodied handkerchief containing the medals and severed finger with the ring and put it on Hongjoong’s hand. 

Hongjoong looks at the small bundle in shock and before he could say anything Yunho runs up onto the deck and sees me on the floor with blood dripping on the ground and picks me up in his arms. His dark tresses being slightly messy over having just been woken up.

Everyone on the ship was now startled awake wondering what happened. Who knew a hair ornament would do such damage, at least I didn’t dip it in poison that would have been dumb. Then again I got desperate and me trying to stab Jaques was just dumb in general. Panic makes you do dumb things.

 Hongjoong turns to Yunho and says “take her to my quarters” He nods and begins to walk towards the captain’s quarters. I peek over Yunho’s shoulder and notice the last thing I see being Seonghwa’s worried expression trying to be disguised as serious in order not to startle the rest, I lower my gaze and let out a sigh resting my head against Yunho's shoulder.

 The next morning I wake up and see Hongjoong at his desk working on something. As I lay here watching him work I notice how much more comfortable the Captain's bed is, it’s so soft and spacious. The covers are a dark maroon silk embroidered in gold accents. Not to be weird or anything but it also smelled like him, like one of the many expensive oils he owns. He smelled so good, expensive.

 The whole room also seemed to have a very calm feel to it but of course it’s the Captain’s room so there were a lot of luxurious items in here as well like a few small golden sculptures, some expensive looking furniture, and from what I can see in his haphazardly opened dresser very expensive looking clothes. 

My thoughts are interrupted by my stomach growling so then I try to sit up and slightly wince causing Hongjoong to look up from what he was working on and walks towards me “Just lay back, Yunho says to take it easy.” He grabs a chair and sits next to the his bed. “How are you feeling?” I adjust myself a little bit “I’m in slight pain but I’m fine” He nods giving me a small reassuring smile “I’m glad you’re okay, Yunho said if you would have been struck deeper it would have been bad luckily the stab wound wasn’t deep. so it won't affect any movement so long you stretch.”

I could tell he wanted to address what I gave him but he was having trouble bringing it up until he finally musters up the courage “So, about what you gave me last night.” Completely intrigued in the conversation I sit up carefully and smile “You liked it?” He nods “I did, I appreciated the gesture. That finger with the ring was a very nice touch.”

 I did it, I made him happy. “But please don’t do something like that ever again. He could have seriously killed you.” I look down at my hands drawing shapes on the covers “I knew you’d say that, but for the time being don’t worry. I won’t get so hands on anymore not until I kill Miyagawa Masaki. For him- For him I need to feel his heartbeat stop.”

 He lets out a sigh “Fair enough but don’t let it end in you dying in the end.” My eyebrow rises with a silly smirk “Why? You don’t want to lose me?” He scoffs and leans back on his chair "I guess you can say that, but it's more of a you can't die yet because I'm not the Pirate King." I giggle "Ah right, and you think with me around it'll help?" 

He rests his head on his hand with his elbow resting on the arm of the chair "Correct." He gives me a reassuring smile then as quick as I see the smile it disappears “That reminds me, none of us wanted to change you out of your dress because you know, we’re all men here. So I’ve picked out and left your clothes right here so that you could change into them once you woke up.”

 He points at the edge of the bed where my clothes are neatly folded. I look down at my bloodied and dirty clothes "Oh, right." I glance over at them then I look back at Hongjoong slightly scrunching my nose. 

“Why are you always picking out my clothes? Why can’t I do that myself?” He raises his eyebrow “What? You don’t like my choices in clothes?” I shake my head “No, I mean I do but I’m just wondering why you do that. You don’t pick out anyone else’s clothes, so why me?” 

He lets out a soft sigh and sits down at the edge of his bed resting his foot on the varnished wood’s bed frame whilst the other rests on the floor.. Oh God did I just say something I shouldn’t have? Is he going to get onto me over asking something dumb?

“What do you think my reason is?” Embarrassed, I mumble “I don’t know I guess maybe you want us to match somehow? To make a statement of some sort?” For a few moments he looks at me with a smile threatening to show itself onto his features.

 “Well, you’re partially right. The reason is I wanted you to be one of the faces of our crew in a way. Something to capture the strength of our crew, like its respective Captain. I want everyone to know that fear doesn’t always come looking like a big, ugly man and that it can also come looking as a gorgeous and beautiful young woman. A strong femme fatale from a far away land who’s partnered up with one of the most feared men among the seas.”

I absentmindedly stare at him for a bit. Me? A femme fatale? I'm more of a shy, angry short woman who happens to know how to fight. "Wow, the way you put it makes it sound nice." He tilts his head “Is it not?” 

I slightly raise my eyebrow my face beginning to burn “So is that how you feel about me? You think I’m beautiful?” Hongjoong smirks “What woman isn’t?” I stare at the clothes and back at him stifling a laugh. I guess he didn't mean it like that. “You’re funny Captain. Now, if you’ll excuse me..” 

I try to get up from his bed and wince in pain and fall back to my original sitting position then scoots closer to my side “Hey, I told you to be careful. Do you want to change clothes?” I nod and he puts my arm around his neck and carefully helps me off his bed.

 Just as he helps me up Seonghwa comes into the quarters and rushes over to me “y/n, you’re awake!” Hongjoong steps away from me letting Seonghwa help me instead “I’ll be going back to my desk. Seonghwa, help her please.” He nods and grabs my forearm for support “Let’s take you to the bathroom so you can change into your clothes.”

He grabs my clothes and walks me over to the captain’s bathroom, it was small but it was nice none the less. After changing out of my bloodied dress and into the clothes Hongjoong picked out. When I step out with my bloodied dress still in hand Seonghwa smiles and says “Better?”

 I nod and he guides me over to the mess hall “Let’s get you something to eat now you must be hungry. I’ll take this and put it somewhere safe if you still want it.” I hold onto his sleeve while going down the stairs “Please, for memories sake.” That face, those souless blue eyes. Why do they keep replaying in my head? I thought these things would stop the more I do it but I guess not. 

“y/n! You’re up already?!” Wooyoung shouts causing me to get slightly startled then Seonghwa hisses “Wooyoung please, not so loud she just woke up.” He covers his mouth “Sorry, but you’re okay right?” I chuckle “Uh, yeah I mean I’m standing here aren’t I?” Mingi fixes his hair and walks over to me and gives me a dorky smile “Wah, the Captain did a very nice job picking our your clothes today. You’re so cute-” 

San walks up to me and pushes Mingi aside and leads me to the chair next to him “Shouldn’t you be in bed y/n?” Seonghwa smiles looking in my direction goes back up to the deck leaving me with the rest of the crew “Yeah, but I hate just sitting there taking up space.” He furrows his eyebrows “But you’re not, you literally got stabbed last night. You need your rest” 

I smile and put my hand on San’s shoulder slowly moving it to the back of his neck and gently squeezing “Look, it’s going to take a lot more to kill me so don’t worry I’m fine, besides the stab wasn’t even that deep.” He blinks then a soft flush creeps onto his cheeks and ears then turns his attention to the other guys to cover it up “I’m glad you’re doing okay, you scared us for a second there” Jongho passes me the bread basket. 

“Well, unfortunately my life wasn’t guaranteed the moment I joined this crew.” Wooyoung sets my food in front of me while Yunho says “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you put yourself in danger like that.” I roll my eyes “I still killed the man didn’t I? Besides, Hongjoong did most of the work I just finished him. I don’t understand why you’re so mad, besides you’re the doctor so that’s your job and mine is protecting the Captain.” 

Almost like a switch was flipped Yunho looks at me with a very unamused look “Just because I’m a doctor doesn’t mean I enjoy having to see my crewmates in pain. As our captain’s assassin and protector you need to stop being so reckless and think about your actions more thoroughly.” 

I giggle covering up my smile “You’re funny, seriously stop telling me what to do. I already got an earful from the Captain, I don’t need to hear it again.” Yeosang looks over at Yunho then back at me and says “Don’t listen to him, I know you did it to the Captain’s best interest.” 

I look over at Yeosang and smile “Thank you, at least someone understands.” Wooyoung sits in his chair “So anyways before Yunho decided to get upset over you doing your job, who was the person you had to off?” 

Yunho looks over at Wooyoung giving him an annoyed look then San smacks Wooyoung “Hey, maybe you shouldn’t be asking that.” I shrug “ Well, I don’t think It’d be a problem if I said anything considering I've already finished the job but it was Jaques Norwood, some military officer. I also shot the Provian General in the chest but I genuinely don’t know if I killed him or if I’ve injured him. ” A few guys choke on their drinks while the others give me a shocked expression. Jongho leans over the table towards me “There’s no way you killed that man and shot the Provian general..” 

I take a bite of my food nonchalantly and nod “I did, I saw it myself but like I said Hongjoong did most of the work. I just finished him off and made sure I saw the light go out of his eyes. What a shame such a handsome man could be so ugly on the inside. He introduced himself to me as well so I knew who exactly to get rid of from the source themselves. As for the General, that was just kind of something last minute before I ran off.” 

They all look at each other very confused then Yeosang says “How exactly though? That man is near impossible to get to not to mention extremely dangerous.” I take a small sip of my drink and smirk “I got to him through his heart. It seemed like he was pretty desperate too because I didn’t have to try very hard to catch his attention. Also oddly enough the only time he wasn’t surrounded by military men and soldiers was when he was at the military tavern which was where I met him. He seemed to have his guard down with me alot.”

 Mingi chuckles and says “That’s because you’re so tiny, I’m sure he never expected you to be able to take him.” I slightly frown looking down at the table. Problem is he did probably suspect it but he probably just liked me enough that he was willing to give me the benefit of a doubt. I meet Mingi’s eyes and force a smile “Yeah, he was completely blindsided. I mean the man literally stabbed my shoulder thinking he'd be able to get away with it.”

 Both Hongjoong and Seonghwa enter the mess hall and Hongjoong says “Alright guys enough with the questions let her eat.” everyone’s attention turns to Hongjoong immediately Wooyoung says “Oh, I didn’t know you’d be joining us today Captain.” He sits down at the head of the table “Yeah, I felt like it was necessary”

 Wooyoung gets up to get Hongjoong his food leaving everyone slightly confused. From what I heard Hongjoong didn’t really come down to eat with everyone very often. He usually eats alone in his quarters sometimes with Seonghwa but even then Seonghwa joins us most of the time. Mingi turns to look at Yunho slightly worried while San, Yeosang, and Jongho stay dead silent looking down at their food. This is weird, does this mean something bad is going to happen? Why is everyone so scared? 

Wooyoung comes back into the room and sets down Hongjoong’s plate in front of him along with an empty glass. Hongjoong serves himself some sort of booze then looks up at everyone silently eating and dryly laughs “Why is everyone so quiet? A minute ago it sounded so busy.”

 Everyone sits there in silence until Jongho says “Well Captain, evreytime you sit down and eat with us it’s always bad news. Like last time it was the execution of the Raisan people who helped us in the Raisan Kingdom, another-” Hongjoong sticks his hand out in front of him and signals Jongho to be quiet “Okay, that’s enough. I see where you’re coming from. I apologize for turning my presence into a bad omen.”

 I give him reassuring smile “How about you try to join us for more meals Captain, so that it doesn’t feel strange when you actually decide to step out of your quarters.” He nods and raises his glass “I’ll do that.” 

I look over at everyone else “Don’t worry, I’ll drag him here if I have to.” Wooyoung giggles “I’m glad the Captain has someone on board who’s got balls as much as he does.” everyone including myself burst out into laughter while Hongjoong sits there forcing a smile and scoffs irritatedly looking at Wooyoung.

After lunch I go to the crew’s quarters and sit on my bed and notice my blood stained dress was neatly folded at the foot of my bed. I grab the dress and check the pocket only to hear the small clinking of the rings in the pockets. 

I examine the two rings, one of them was a thick silver band ring with a cushion cut dark green jewel. The second was another silver ring but this one’s had an emblem carved on it, presumably the emblem of the Provian military I’m not sure but it looked cool. I reach for my backpack on the side of my bed  and put them in the front pocket where I kept my grandma’s ring.

 When I put my backpack back where it belongs I hear something fall over. When I check what it was I realize it was Hongjoong and Seonghwa’s weapons. I completely forgot to give it to them my first night with them. Maybe I should return it to them now, better late then never. I grab the bag and sling it over my uninjured shoulder. 

On my way to look for both Hongjoong and Seonghwa I run into Mingi “Hey, where’s Seonghwa?” He looks up from the map he was looking at and gives me a bright smile “y/n, hey. Seonghwa is with the captain in his work room in his quarters” I nod and continue walking then Mingi continues “Wait. What’s in that bag?” 

I blink “Oh, this is just the Captain and Seonghwa’s weapons. My grandpa refurbished them and I forgot to give it back to them.” He walks over to me and extends his hand “here, I’ll give you a hand. You shouldn’t carry anything right now" I step back out of his reach "oh no, don't worry I'm fine I can do it myself." Mingi chuckles and takes the bag from me “Too late, let’s go.”

 I frown glaring up at him “You’re lucky I can’t raise my arm right now.” Mingi walks ahead of me and pats my head causing me to roll my eyes and walk behind him. He sure is taking advantage of the fact that I can’t kick his ass. When we arrive at Hongjoong’s quarters I take the bag from him and knock on the door “Ok go now.” He pats my head “Not a thank you but it’ll do.” 

A few moments later Seonghwa opens the door and smiles “y/n, come in.” I walk in and look around immediately spotting Hongjoong already looking at me then I say “So, I have something for you both.” I put the bag on Hongjoong’s desk, he blinks and looks over Seonghwa not understanding the situation. 

Seonghwa then says “A gift?” I shake my head and gesture Hongjoong to open it “You could say that, it’s more like I’m returning these to you.” Hongjoong opens the bag and pulls out a shotgun causing Seonghwa to audibly gasp. Hongjoong pulls out a sword, the same one I wielded to protect them from Acatl only this time it was cleaned and sharpened. Lastly he pulls out his gun, the shot gun's wooden details was newly varnished and polished to give the guns a new feel.

 The metal parts of the guns were also cleaned to look pristine again. Hongjoong stares at the weapons on the desk in silence while Seonghwa looks over at me and says “y/n, you didn’t have to.” I shake my head and smile “It wasn’t me, it was my grandpa. He felt bad for the way you guys were treated when you guys first arrived at our village so it was his way of repaying your kindness towards us. Again, sorry I forgot to give these to you. I kind of forgot. There was too much going on.”

 Seonghwa pats my back “It’s okay, it’s better than never. Thank you.” I glance over at Hongjoong who had his gun in his hand and was still staring at the weapons “Captain, I’m sorry if you didn’t want your gun fixed. I honestly didn’t know my grandpa did this until the day I left.”

 Hongjoong raises his gaze from the weapons and looks at me with fondness in his eyes “No. Thank you.” I give him a small smile “I really do hope you both like them.” Seonghwa picks up his shot gun and twirls it aiming it out the window then rests it on his shoulder. 

I smile at Seonghwa looking so happy holding his gun “Wow, it looks and feels better than when I first bought it actually. It’s beautiful.” Hongjoong clears his throat “So, you’re going to stay here while Seonghwa helps Mingi.” Seonghwa and I turn to look at Hongjoong in confusion then he gives Seonghwa a look. 

“I’ll get going, thanks again for this y/n. I really do appreciate you returning these to us, it was very sweet of you and your grandfather.” I shake my head and pat Seonghwa’s arm “No problem, I’ll see you later.” He nods and exits Hongjoong’s quarters leaving me and him alone. 

I stand there awkwardly and look around the room “So, why did you want me to stay here?” Hongjoong shrugs “I don’t know, your job is to follow me around like my protective puppy.” I furrow my eyebrow taking that to slight offence “Excuse me? My job is to protect you from getting a bullet in your head not to be your caretaker.” 

He smirks to himself and absentmindedly nods “You’re right you’re not, but I’d appreciate if you helped me once in a while” What in the sea god is this man talking about? Help him? Help him with what?. I dryly laugh “Gosh Captain, I never realized how much of a child you are.” 

He scrunches his nose and gives me an annoyed look “What? I get tired sometimes..” I scoff and sit on his desk “Tired of what? Sitting here locked in your quarters for days at a time?” I see the leather journal in front of him and I pick it up “Oh, what’s this?” Hongjoong snatches the journal from my grasp before I’m able to even open it “Don’t touch that! Has no one told you not to go looking through anyone’s belongings?” I stifle a laugh “Geez, sorry I didn’t think it was that personal.” 

He rolls his eyes and puts the journal in a drawer in his desk “Well it is, next time ask before you look through something.” I nod biting my lip, stifling a laugh. I don’t know what it is about Hongjoong but seeing him get annoyed is so funny, oddly enough this is the first time I have the urge to tease someone. Wait. Oh no, I think I’ve just been hanging out around Wooyoung, San and Mingi too much. Their annoying antics are rubbing off on me. 

“Go get a chair, my desk is not a chair.” I hop off his desk “Excuse me? I should be able to sit anywhere I want? I’m injured, or did you forget that?” He points at the chair he used this morning near his bed “You know what? My shoulder is hurting really bad I’m going to sleep. Wake me up if you need something.”I roll my eyes and walk towards his bed.

“No, you said you wanted to be of use so you’ll sit right here and help me.” I stare at him “Oh yeah? And do what? Stare at you write for the next 6 hours?” Keeping a straight face he gets up “Yep.” He walks over and grabs the chair and sets it in front of his desk and gestures for me to sit down “Now, get to work.”

 I don’t know how exactly Seonghwa sits here all day with him. Hongjoong is cool but when he gets into his Captain mindset he’s a bit of a pain. I sit on the chair and look around the room eventually staring out the window. What happened to the friendly Hongjoong? I get he’s my boss now but come on, I thought we were friends.

 I started noticing this change about him about a few weeks after I got here, I wonder what his problem is. Maybe he’s just stressed? I don’t know, maybe. Why on Earth does he want me to be here? I get it if I was watching him if we were on land but we’re out at sea with no enemy ships nearby. So what’s the deal? 

After a few hours of me just sitting here in silence wandering in my own thoughts and being in pain Hongjoong finally decides to get up and stretch “You should stretch or you’ll cramp up.” I glance at him for a few seconds and go back to staring out the window “I’m fine.” He chuckles “Alright. Come. I need to go make sure everything is going well on the ship, it’s been too quiet and I need fresh air.” 

I get up and follow behind him to the deck “Remind me why I need to follow you around again?” he gives me a soft smile “It’s your job.” I’m starting to think he’s doing this as punishment for deciding not to rest. After spending all day by his side like his shadow, not speaking unless spoken to. Hongjoong little by little began to ask me more often to be by his side.

 It was kind of annoying because I wasn’t protecting him, it was basically me being his caretaker but unable to talk like friends just like in the beginning. Which wasn’t in the job description but then again I owe alot to that man so I just let it slide. Hongjoong has a habit of not taking care of himself and wholeheartedly lets his work consume him, Seonghwa told me that if someone doesn’t intervene he could go days at a time without eating or sleeping which is worrying.

 There were a few times when Seonghwa would bring his food and he paid no attention to it, even if he came by to remind Hongjoong to eat he’d brush him off and tell him “I’ll do it later” which happened quite frequently. Ever since I caught wind of that when I’m forced to be by his side I force him to at least eat once a day. I swear, this man will get sick and die before he’s the Pirate King if he keeps it up. I still think he’s brilliant though, even if he’s a stubborn hardass sometimes.

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Previous Chapter

[greenerteacups]

I should probably catch up with Lionheart before running to your inbox with questions but god did not give me patience, so if you already answered this elsewhere or its a future plotpoint feel free to ignore me. So.

I just read the scene where Ron and the rest make up after the second task and Hermione says this: "it’s beautiful, and it’s my favorite place on earth, after Hogwarts. I was happier [at the Burrow] than — than I even am at home. It’s wonderful.”

What do you think of Hermione's parents? We don't see much of them in canon, so I'm curious to know how much you draw from the minor glimpses of them in the books and how much you made up and if you have a backstory for them that didn't make the cut for whatever reason

It's been a theme so far how Hermione feels stranged from her parents, mostly because they're not entirely confortable with magical ways of communicating and Hogwarts and vicinity does not have either the means or interest to make communication more accessible to muggleborns.

Do you think the secrecy and distance hurts family relations between muggleborns and their families orando you think its more like a Hermione thing, the way she is and/or her family works?

I admit I never even thought about this before reading fanfic but it has to suck, right? The only other example I remember of this being talked about in canon is with Lily and petunia

Sorry for the rant

"God did not give me patience" is a really good line, and I'm going to be stealing it.

Hermione's parents are nonexistent in canon, which is what's so interesting about them to me. We never meet them. We meet Ted Tonks, and we don't meet the Grangers. Granted, integrating them into the plot would have been difficult, especially since they're muggles, but it seemed to me that Hermione would have increasing difficulty connecting with them as she got older. Like, is she telling them about everything she gets up to at Hogwarts? Surely not, right? Because no loving/attentive parents would let her come back to a school that let a giant monster paralyze her for two months. So from like, age 13 or so, we have this image of a Hermione who's becoming very good at lying often and confidently to her parents about what's happening at school, and not surprisingly mentions them less and less as the books go on. The epitome of that trend — of Hermione's increasing comfort in manipulating and lying to her parents — is the beginning of Book 7, where she wipes their memories (basically kills them, if "temporarily," I think memory charms are seriously understated as a form of violence) and sends them off to Australia without her. Hermione decides at a very young age that she knows what's best for her better than they do, and as always, once she's decided that, no one can convince her she's wrong.

Not that anybody tries! In the books, Ron and Harry don't ever ask about her parents — not surprising, considering Hermione's usual appetite for emotional intimacy, i.e. "not on your fucking life." And we don't see the Grangers showing up to any of the other events where the parents attend. They're not at Bill and Fleur's wedding, they're not there at the end of GOF, they're never even shown picking her up on the train. The only time they're mentioned is at King's Cross and when they're getting written out of the story so that Hermione can spend the holidays with Harry and Ron. (Which: what! Your daughter is at a boarding school 9 months of the year, and you give up the precious few weeks you have with her so you can go skiing? Alone?)

You could make two inferences from this: first, that her parents have been a little distant/un-involved in their daughter's life before Hogwarts, which would make them more inclined to ship her off to a magic boarding school in the first place; or, alternatively, that Hermione is deliberately pushing them away as a form of protection/subconscious drive for agency as she deals more and more with things of which they would not approve. Hermione is ruthlessly utilitarian: she knows that her parents can't help in the war effort and would make themselves a danger if they tried, so she cuts them out of her life.

It's no accident, either, that we see similar trends in the way Lily and Petunia's relationship follows. We know that Lily's friendship with Petunia breaks down severely after she goes to Hogwarts, because we see Petunia picking on Lily out of jealousy. But also: aside from Petunia, Harry has zero involvement with any family from his mother's side. Lily's parents DNE. Cousins? DNE. None of them seem to visit him or Petunia throughout his childhood. (Doylist argument here is that's because Lily's parents could have told Harry his mother was a witch, and spoiled everything before Hagrid showed up, hence ruining the surprise of the first book. Nonetheless.) And you could chalk that up to Lily's family being small or you could chalk it up to Vernon and Petunia being spectacularly unpleasant and hence estranged, but isn't it weird that no one from Lily's side of the family, if living, seems to even know she had a son? Did Petunia know about it, before Harry showed up on her doorstep? Was Lily putting any effort into maintaining these connections with the muggle world, or was it easier to embrace the new world that was waiting for her?

Anyway, I don't know how much of this shows up or will show up in Lionheart, but it's what's under the surface for me when I'm writing Hermione — muggle-borns are placed in a difficult situation that's not helped by the fact that the wizarding world isn't altogether friendly to them, and there's at least some evidence that they tend to leave the muggle world behind once they get their letter.

[bragganhyl]

Can you do kana for the character thing please? And Eder if you want 😘

I sure could, thank you :D

How I feel about this character: Sweet angel boy, too good for the world, I learned so much about different chanter builds just so I can keep him around along with my chanter Watcher lmao but also his arc hits harder with every replay

All the people I ship romantically with this character: As I recall, he only ever shows interest in Maneha and well she's obviously not interested. So... idk at most the Watcher, I bet a romance would have been very cute and very - for the lack of better word - romantic with him.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: Hiravias, I'm probably repeating myself but I do very much like how Kana brings out his more scholarly side. Hell, I'm pretty sure Kana is one of the very few people if not the only one (aside from the Watcher potentially I mean) who sees and treats him as an intellectual. So yeah I like their nerd dynamic a lot.

But also Maia, ofc, just... give me all the Rua family interactions, it's fun, it's tense but the love between them is undeniable still.

My unpopular opinion about this character: I feel very ambivalent about his post-Crookspur cameo in Deafire, because on the one hand I'm always very happy about more Kana but why did he have to join the navy 😭😭😭 That's not what I meant when I told him that Rauatai should seek common cultural links with other nations, babyboy nooo 😭😭😭

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: This might be obvious but he should've been in Deadfire more. Tbh I think the faction companions could've worked better if we had 2/faction and we could see their different attitudes and maybe see them play off one another but that may be just me I definitely would have liked if I had both the Rua siblings on board and see their friction more. And ofc see how the last 5 years changed Kana - aside from him joining the navy I mean

I'm putting Edér under the cut bc it's getting long

How I feel about this character: Do you need to ask, Anon? I love himst, I love him so much it's not even funny at this point 😭

All the people I ship romantically with this character: The Watcher, like... a lot. His devotion for them is through the roof, the Watcher is in some ways the light of his life who pulls him out of the dark and apathetic mental space where the Saint's War and its aftermath placed him. Like how am I supposed to be normal about them? Especially if you throw in lines like "I wish [the gods] knew you like I did" or the personal +5 to deflection line seriously who's idea was that and why does it sound like that

also if you've been around this household then you might know that I also like the Team Gilded Vale throuple but like a) i'm not ready to submit that 5 page long essay rn and b) I kinda can't separate the dynamic from my Watcher in specific rn so yeah ask me about that some other time I'm very sorry my brain is a mush

My non-romantic OTP for this character: Tbh he's got good chemistry with like most of the companions in either games, but ngl I do like the idea of him befriending Grieving Mother a lot. They only interact once but even then Edér calls her a "nice, stranger lady" - despite GM's aura of unpleasantness - and GM seems really heartbroken over being unable to help him during his personal quest. And they both end up in Dyrford potentially, I'd like to think they end up bonding between games.

My unpopular opinion about this character: He's not a himbo, he's not dumb enough for that tho deadfire does dumb him down ngl and he can be very mean at times too so... yeah.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: Elafa should not have died. It does her dirty because obviously. It does Edér dirty because he ends his story still holding onto a version of Elafa that hasn't existed since the Saint's War. In some ways it even does Bearn dirty because the only way to establish a substantial link between him and Edér is to navigate the boat scenario in a very specific way that most players won't even think to aim for (you need to run out of convo options with Bearn while he's still undecided to push Edér to talk him down himself)

[kachikirby]

GranEssex Chronicles: Chapter 1 - Unmasked Origins

It was supposed to be another standard-issued mission: Head to a planet known for its high crime rate and eliminate a notable criminal group. What Kurabe wasn't expecting to find was that her target was already eliminated, by, of all things, a child. The child was clearly a Star Warrior just from appearances alone. He was dark blue in color, had piercing white eyes and was wielding a stick with a stone tied to it.

"This gang was a class-A planetary-level threat. Did he seriously defeat all of them by himself?" Kurabe thought to herself as she approached this unknown person.

"My name is Kurabe. I'm with The Organization. I was sent here to deal with this group, but I see you already dealt with them." She said diplomatically.

The child just stared at her.

"I'll need to take you in for questioning. Come along peacefully and-"

Kurabe was cut off as the child dashed at her, swinging his makeshift club. She quickly blocked it with her left sword, Rubis, but was surprised by how powerful the attack was, even being pushed back a bit by the force. Though she noticed one thing: he had very little skill in combat and most of his attacks were slow and sloppy. Still, he had incredible potential. Potential that excited her. Just as she had that thought, her other sword, Grenat, was knocked out of her hand by another blow. Thinking fast, Kurabe quickly traced a rune and teleported behind the child, knocking him out with one quick karate chop to the head.

"I'm sorry, but this was the only way." She whispered as she wrapped the child in her cape and began to carry him back to her battleship.

As she stopped to pick up the sword Grenat, Kurabe noticed he was covered in cuts and bruises. Most likely from the fight with the gang. None of the injuries seemed fatal but they would need to be treated quickly to prevent a potential infection.

"Should I have Bukiset...? No, it would probably be better if I treated him myself..." She thought.

There's no doubt that the child would be intimidated if too many people crowded around him at once, making him much more difficult to deal with.

---------

Soon they reached the ship and was greeted by the GranEssex's vice captain, Mercury.

"Welcome back, captain. How did the mission...go? What's with the kid? Are they alright?" The woman uttered in surprise upon seeing the bundle.

"Outside of a few cuts and bruises, he's fine. Actually, he's the one who eliminated the mission targets, so you can submit it as completed."

Mercury just looked at her in shock, but quickly regained her normal expression. "I'll get the med kit."

"Yes, please do. And take it to my room."

As her subordinate began to leave, Kurabe began to think back on the emotions she felt from the child while fighting and carrying him back. At first glance, it was a mismatch of unsure feelings, but she could now pick out a single one: fear.

"Who would leave a child on a planet like this?" She wondered. She could always ask him when he awoke, but she doubted that would be much help.

Kurabe walked to her room and set the child down in one of her chairs. Mercury quickly arrived with the med kit in hand.

"Do you want me to handle it, Captain?"

"No, I can handle it. Besides, I think having too many people around him will make it more difficult to talk to him."

"Understood, I'll leave you to it then." The woman said and left, leaving Kurabe alone with her thoughts and the child. Quickly she walked over to the sink and filled a bowl with water.

"...alright, first is to clean the area with mild soap and water to prevent infection..." She thought, attempting to recall what she remembered about first aid.

---------

While cleaning him up, Kurabe felt... off for lack of a better term. Why was she so concerned for this child? Sure, she didn't like seeing children hurt, but this was different. Could it be because they were the same species? Her mentor had once told her about how Star Warriors tend to feel a certain closeness to each other. Before she could question that feeling more, the child began to wake up.

"Good morning." Kurabe said as kindly as she could.

The child's eyes widened in fear, likely due to not knowing where he was. Then his eyes focused on Kurabe, and they became sharp again.

"Calm down, there's no need for any of that." She said with a glare, causing the child to loosen up, but still on guard.

"Where am I?" He asked.

Kurabe was caught off guard by his jaded tone.

"A child shouldn't sound like that..." She thought and then cleared her throat.

"You are on my battleship, the GranEssex. I brought you back here to treat your wounds and ask you a few questions."

There was a brief moment of silence.

"And you are?"

"Kurabe. I doubt you've heard me. And what's your name?"

He was hesitant to reply to her for a moment, but then decided to give in.

"...Meta." The child quietly replied.

"Meta..." Kurabe repeated with a slight hum.

"The name suits him..." She thought to herself as she began to put away the med kit.

"What were you doing on this planet, Meta? I sincerely doubt it was by choice." She then asked in a soothing voice.

He gave a questioning gaze towards her. "I live here."

"What about family?" She asked, dreading the obvious answer.

"...what's that?"

"You mean you don't have any parents? Not even a guardian of some kind?"

The child shook his head after thinking for a moment. "...I don't know. I live on my own."

"Then he's an orphan..." She thought with a slight sigh.

"Let's change topics then. Meta, why were you fighting those men and why did you attack me?"

"...they attacked me first and I didn't want to die. And you looked like you would hurt me, too..."

"Well, I wasn't going to."

The child slightly gritted his teeth before speaking. "I've heard that before. My entire life I've struggled to stay alive. Many people have pretended to be kind just to hurt me."

Hearing that broke the warrior's heart. Gently, she took one of his stubs in her hand, as if to comfort him. Then, she removed the visor that covered her eyes, showing a gentle, sympathetic expression.

"I'm sorry to hear that. What about now? Do you feel like I'm threatening now?"

She began to feel a warm, trusting feeling in her hand as he looked at her silently.

"No, but why? I attacked you. Why are you being kind to me? Do you just pity me?"

Admittedly, even Kurabe didn't have an exact answer for that.

"It's because I saw potential in you as a warrior."

"What does that mean?" He asked, all of his previously shown hostility replaced with confusion.

"I am one of the greatest warriors in the galaxy. The fact that you impressed me with your strength says enough."

Despite those words coming out of her mouth, Kurabe knew there was more to it than that. There was this other, alien feeling she was starting to develop, and she didn't know why.

"...I could tell you were powerful when we clashed." Meta admitted. "Stronger than me."

The warrior gave a nod in understanding. "Meta, do you wish to become stronger?"

"I need to become stronger. Living on this planet taught me one thing: only the strongest thrive. That's why I named myself Meta. To be strong and durable like metal."

"But even metal can break and bend without reinforcement, no?" Kurabe responded quickly.

The child became silent upon hearing this, as if acknowledging that she was right.

"And my training would be the reinforcement to your metal."

There was a moment of silence.

"Can... I have time to think, please?" Meta asked, quietly.

Kurabe was pleasantly surprised by the sudden politeness.

"Take as much time as you need to think." She replied with a smile.

Then she heard a slight growl coming from the blue puff, whose cheeks seemed to redden in embarrassment.

"You must be starving. Wait right here." Kurabe said, leaving to grab something for the child to eat.

Meta looked around at the room he was in. It alone was nicer than anything else on this planet. Could he obtain something like this if he stayed with Kurabe?

"Do you like sweets?" The warrior suddenly asked.

Meta looked at her curiously. "Sweets? Is that like jerky?"

"No, it's quite the opposite of jerky, actually. It's... well... try it for yourself." She placed a plate in front of him at the table.

While Kurabe knew it was chocolate fondant, the child clearly had no idea what it was. Meta took a hesitant bite and his eyes widened. It was without a doubt the best thing he'd ever eaten. Almost immediately, he began to scarf down the rest of it quickly... by inhaling it. Kurabe chuckled at this.

"So, I take it you enjoyed it?"

She received an enthusiastic nod in response. Kurabe smiled. Underneath the initial antagonism was a sweet kid, though it pained her to know that such a kid was abandoned in the first place. Maybe... even if he didn't want her to train him, he could still stay here. At least he would be safe on the GranEssex. Then her thoughts turned back to what she was thinking about earlier. Why exactly was she acting like this? While yes, she was interested in Meta's potential as a warrior, but that doesn't explain all of her actions. Usually, she would just drop them into training instead of doing everything she just did.

"Miss Kurabe..." Meta said snapping her out of her thoughts.

"I think I would like to stay here. If that's fine with you..." He uttered, averting his gaze shyly after asking that.

"Of course." She simply replied.

It was then that a thought crossed her mind: did she want to be his mother? No, that can't be it. That's when she noticed something: Meta was crying. However, it wasn't out of sadness, rather it was tears of joy. Acting completely on instinct, Kurabe wrapped him up in a hug.

"...Miss... Kurabe...?" The child uttered in confusion.

"Not "Miss". It's "sensei" … and think of this as me welcoming you into my family."

The blue puff managed to wipe away a few of his tears while in her grip.

"Sensei, is this... what family is?"

"That's something you'll need to decide for yourself, Meta. But, I'd like to try being your family."

The child became silent for a few minutes.

"I don't know what family is but... ok..."

The warrior gave a slight sigh. "To put it simply, a family is a group of people that trusts, supports, and loves each other."

"But what is love?"

Admittedly, Kurabe didn't really know how to answer that at first. How would you explain something as complex as that to a child? That was when she thought of it.

"Love is... something that's different for everyone, Meta. It's not something that can be taught. Only learned in time."

The child only pouted.

"For someone who's really powerful, you're awfully clueless about a lot of things..."

Meta then felt Kurabe tighten her grip and quickly looked at her eyes in response. She was still smiling but her eyes were promising something else. Something very painful.

"What was that, Meta?" She asked in a sweet but deadly tone.

The child shrank back with fear. "N-nothing..."

"That's what I thought." She said, loosening up her grip.

"She's really nice, but she's also really scary when she's angry..." He thought to himself.

---------

For the next few hours, Kurabe showed Meta around her room. While she didn't have many things for the child to play with, there were a lot of things he seemed to be interested in looking at. Her desk. The various photos on the walls. Even the soft, cushiony sofa. But the thing that seemed to interest him the most was the large bookcase.

"It's probably because he never saw anything here on that planet..." She thought as Meta admired the wall of books before immediately pulling him away when he attempted to climb it.

"It's dangerous to climb that, Meta. If you're interested in reading something, I'd be happy to grab it for you."

It hadn't crossed her mind until now. Was he even able to read?

"Meta, not to be rude, but can you read?"

The child shook his head in response. "No. Never learned how, never saw a need for it."

She should've known.

"Would you like to learn how?"

Admittedly, there was probably no real choice in the matter if he wanted to become her student. The Organization wouldn't want an illiterate warrior on the battlefield.

"I'd rather not bother you, sensei."

"You say that, but you want me to teach you, don't you?"

Hearing that made the child avert his eyes as a slight blush appeared on his face.

"Y... yes..." He squeaked.

The warrior gave him a pat on the head.

"We'll start after dinner then."

The child gave a nod in understanding.

As Kurabe began to make dinner, she felt Meta silently watching her from the table. It appeared that he had mellowed out quite a bit since they first arrived on the ship, but his guard still seemed very much up.

"What's wrong?" She asked, getting a slight jump from the child in response. He then said... something. It was more of a mumble than anything.

"Please don't mumble. I can't understand you otherwise." The warrior gave a sigh.

A moment of silence.

"Sensei... what is family to you?" The puff asked.

"This crew for starters. Especially my second in command, Mercury. We've had each other's backs for a long time. Then there's my mentor, who is like a father to me. Even if he's a stubborn old fool. I guess in simple terms, family is the people I refuse to let go of. People I wish to protect."

Meta nodded in understanding. "Then what is love to you?"

"Love is when you'll do anything for the person you love. Regardless of if it's romantic or platonic. You'll understand more when you're older."

Her student then pouted at that. "But how do I know if I feel love? This is really hard..."

"Love is a complicated feeling, Meta, and it's something that just doesn't happen overnight. Trust me, when you feel love you'll know what it is."

After hearing that, the child seemed to understand. Then there was a knock at the door.

"I'll be right back." She said while opening the door. "What is it, Mercury?"

"I just came to check in on you. How's the kid?" The woman asked, looking into the room.

"He's doing fine. In fact, he's my new student." She said with a strange sense of pride.

"What? He agreed to becoming your student already?" She then gave a slight whistle. "That was quick. So, anyway, what's for dinner?"

"Actually, if you don't mind, Mercury, could you-"

"Give you some space? Yeah, I figured. I'll just eat with the Bukisets." The woman gave an understanding nod.

"Thank you." Kurabe replied with a smile.

"No problem. I'll check up on you two later. You two have fun then!"

With that, Mercury walked away.

"Was that the Mercury person you mentioned?" Meta asked.

"Yes, that was her."

"I see." He said, clearly curious about the silver woman.

Kurabe gave a smile. "I'll introduce her to you another time. For now, I should finish making dinner."

The child nodded, excited to see what food she was making. Hopefully, it was as good as what she made for him before.

---------

A half hour later, Kurabe placed a plate in front of Meta.

"Sensei, what is this?" He questioned after sniffing it.

"It's called chicken parmesan."

He then picked up the long noodles on the side and stared at them in curiosity.

"And that's spaghetti. I hope you enjoy it."

She then sat down at the table and began to eat her own plate of food, noting that the child was now staring at her. He then took two of the utensils and began to copy her movements with them to eat. As Kurabe watched Meta eat, she noticed he was on edge, like he was used to being on high alert. While it would be useful for the missions he'll no doubt take, it didn't make it any less sad.

"Meta, you can relax. This ship is incredibly safe, so please relax just a little."

Upon hearing that, the child seemed to understand, as he began to loosen up a bit. Then, to her own surprise, he inhaled the rest of the food on his plate.

"...Meta, I'm glad that you seem to enjoy my cooking, but please use utensils and take your time when you're eating." She said with a sigh.

"...can't you inhale, too, sensei?"

"I can, but I prefer not to. I'll have to teach you about table manners it seems." She said in amusement.

The child nodded and continued to do his best to copy her movements while eating.

Then, he seemed to speak up again. "That red sword you have..."

"Interested in swordplay, are you? Don't you worry, Meta, I'll be teaching you in the art of swordplay."

His eyes instantly lit up upon hearing that. "Really!?"

"Of course. You are my student now. It's my duty to make you as strong as I can. Both in body and mind."

"Thank you so-" The puff cut himself off, as if realizing something.

"Wait, I didn't I say I would think about becoming your student?"

"You agreed to it already, haven't you?" She replied with a slight smirk.

There was silence, as if Meta was thinking about everything that had been said and retracing every conversation. Suddenly, his cheeks began to turn red again in embarrassment.

"Can... can you really teach me about swords, sensei...?" He uttered shyly.

"I won't just teach you about swords. I'll teach you everything."

The child tilted his head in curiosity. "Everything?"

"Everything."

Before he could make a response, she spoke up again. "Well, we should probably make this a formal decision. However, I'll warn you about this now, Meta. My training can get pretty intense. Some of my previous students quit because of it. A few have even died. Are you sure you would like to become my student?"

The child seemed to hesitate.

"Don't worry. You can still live on this ship if you have second thoughts."

After hearing Kurabe say that, he then became quiet once again.

"You said that I'll become even stronger after your training, right?" He asked. "I've lived on this horrible planet long enough. I'm sure that nothing you throw at me can make me quit."

The warrior replied with a chuckle. "Brave words. But something tells me you'll be able to back them up. Well then, Meta, allow me to formally make you a member of my crew. Welcome to your new home."

The child gave a smile, the biggest that Kurabe had ever seen up to this point. "Thank you so much, sensei!"

"You're welcome, Meta." She replied warmly, noticing that Meta was now struggling to stay awake.

"Perhaps we should start our lessons tomorrow. Let me go set up a bed for you."

Seeing a nod, she hopped down from her chair and began to clear off the table.

"I believe we have an open room next to mine. I'll let him stay there..." She mused as she headed towards the room. "It's usually reserved for guests, but I think he can keep it..."

---------

When Kurabe returned, she saw that Meta was already asleep. Not having the heart to wake him, she picked him up and carried him to the bed she set up in the room next to her personal cabin. Though when she tried to walk away after placing him down and pulling a blanket over him, he unconsciously grabbed her.

"Don't want me to leave, do you?" She uttered with a slight chuckle. "Alright then, I guess I'll stay here with you for a bit."

Kurabe removed her eye visor and laid down in bed with Meta, making sure not to disturb him.

"Good night, little knight."

There was no verbal response, but the quiet, satisfied sigh was all she needed to hear as the child leaned closer to her.

---------

A short time later, Mercury was looking for her superior. She was slightly worried due to not finding her in her personal cabin like she said she would be. Then, she noted the extra room positioned close to said cabin. It looked like the door was unlocked.

"Hey, captain, are you in here?" She asked quietly while opening the door.

The only thing Mercury could hear was the soft breathing of the sleeping Kurabe and Meta. Opening the door a bit more, she noticed that the child was curled up close to her superior, who had laid an arm over him as if to reassure and protect him. At first, Mercury was surprised at this scene. But then, she gave a slight smile.

"Never in a million years would I think that she of all people would have something like a motherly instinct..."

Quickly, she grabbed an extra blanket from the closet and laid it over them with a slightly excited humming.

"Things are definitely going to get more interesting around here..."

---------

Extra: Character Toyhouse Pages

Kurabe

Mercury

[roomwithanopenfire]

random ask where you get to rant or ramble about anything you really want to talk about

Okay I'm ready to talk!!

Ramble will be under the cut it is long. It's about my writing process for my Ronance Fic No Sweeter Drug (than just giving you my love) if you're at all interested in reading, spoilers beware.

So, before i started writing my first ronance fanfic I had not read any ronance fics at all, or at least not any where Ronance was the only ship (I had read a few where they were pretty prominent tho). This was interesting because this is the only time a ship has overtaking me that didn't start with me consuming an ungodly amount of fanfiction, instead it started with me listening to Midnights by Taylor Swift and thinking that Maroon really reminded me of them. And I'm not even a big Taylor Swift fan!! (which is probably hard to believe when I have an entire fanfic based on an album of hers).

But anyways, I started writing it, first with an outline (and because I love talking about writing processes that's what this ramble is going to be about, idc if no one wants to know, i want to share, so listen to me (or don't, idk)).

This is how it started, the first words I ever wrote of this idea.

and it keeps going, with a little blurb for each song. Rereading this, I can see that things have changed, my chapter for Vigilante Shit was originally "fun and light hearted" and ended up with Robin and Nancy seriously considering murder for about 500 words. The ending changed a bit, as I was originally trying to fit each song in there, before deciding that Mastermind really didn't make sense for this fic, and Sweet Nothings was a much better ending. (And let's be honest, Nancy Wheeler did not do any masterminding in NSD). Also Nancy was originally bisexual until I started writing the first chapter and realized my girl was so comphet.

After I do a brief roadmap/outline, i then take each chapter one by one, first writing a more detailed bullet point outline, and then writing the whole chapter. Here's my some of my bulletpoints for chapter 2 (the Maroon Chapter) for your perusal

As I kept going, I eventually stopped doing bullet points and started just writing out the scene blocks more like this (this is chapter 6, the Midnight Rain one)

And then I just write the chapter. Fun fact, while writing the end of Chapter Four (the Snow on the Beach one), I did almost make them kiss too early. In the actual fic we have this:

but when I first wrote it, she did say that out loud. This is what happened:

"I shouldn't have left you on that roof," Nancy says. And Robin is surprised because they've never talked about this before, not outside of that week. "I was scared."

"I know." Robin says. "I'm not really mad at you... not anymore. More sad about it."

"You still...like girls then?"

Robin nods. "Do you?"

"I'm not sure if I'm allowed to." Nancy says quietly.

"It's not about being allowed to or not. It just is. You can like whoever you want to like."

Nancy is quiet and think back to before. When she was in New York, she was still Nancy Wheeler, resident goody-two-shoes. So much of her life had changed after that day. So much had gone wrong. Her whole life was different. And maybe, maybe no one would really care, if Nancy dated a girl. Maybe it wouldn't be such a big deal. Maybe one day her and Robin could be far far away from here. Maybe Nancy could be happy... just maybe.

"I don't know how," Nancy says, instead of any of that. And she's talking about a lot of things here. Maybe she doesn't know how to do date a girl, maybe she doesn't know how to move on, maybe she just doesn't know how to be happy.

"That's okay," Robin says. "I don't know how to either. We could figure it out together."

Nancy doesn't say anything, just grabs Robin's hand. 

They both slink down to the floor, leaning against the house.

Robin asks if she can kiss Nancy and Nancy says yes and it's soft and sweet, not the same hurried red passion of New York, but something slower. 

"God this is weird, isn't it?" Nancy says.

"Yeah, but it's nice."

"So nice"

You can tell towards the end of me writing it, I realized that this was way to soon and I wasn't even trying with dialogue. I pretty much deleted that right after I wrote it (had to hunt through my track changes to find it). I got swept in the moment writing and the realized I had an outline to stick to! They couldn't kiss in chapter four!!!

Also ew such a shock reading my raw unedited writing. In an ideal world, my writing will go through two editing passes before posting. It all honestly, only the first five chapters got the privilege of two editing passes, the rest got one pass and a run through a spell checker. (Although one pass can be multiple, i just prefer two passes of editing with some time passing in between them)

I'm doing much better about editing the fic I'm working on right now, and I feel so much better about the quality of the chapters when I do that.

The title of No Sweeter Drug (than just giving you my love) was one of the last things I came up with. I didn't settle on it until after I'd compeltly finished the first draft. I was debating between two of them, NSD and (I love you so much) It Scares Me Half to Death and the only reason I didn't pick the latter was because a) I love Tessa Violet and b) I couldn't figure out which part to put in parentheses.

Anyways, I really enjoyed writing this fic and this fic was a different tone then anything else I've tried. The other fandom I write for has a standard for first person writing and I used present tense for my fics there, so this was the first fic I wrote in third person past tense, and I could feel myself growing as a writer while I wrote it.

The only thing is I wish it had more comments 😭😭😭 feels like such a selfish thing to wish for, especially when so many of the comments I've gotten have been so lovely and i've made a couple of wonderful friendships from this fic. But I started writing this fic back in Oct 2022 and didn't post it until Dec 2023, so that's over a year of writing for an average of four comments per chapters.

In reality, I was just spoiled by the first fandom I wrote for—they're literally the best at giving comments and I was tricked into thinking that was the norm. It's just a tad disappointing to be pouring all this time and effort into something and not getting out what you pour in, we all have to be leaders of change in the Ronance fandom and start leaving long and detailed comments on every chapter of each fic we read.

But overall, I really grateful for this fic even if no one had read it, it was fun to write and I'm really really proud of it.

And anon, I hope this was what you were looking for in a ramble and you're required to at least pretend you enjoyed it /j

[green-socks]

I Want Your Daddy Too

Pairing: Jake 'Hangman' Seresin x Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell (hangmav) / Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw x Javy 'Coyote' Machado (brachado)

Summary: Jake's best friend and rival get together, and Jake is upset about it. He speaks into existence a threat that he ends up fulfilling, though unknowingly.

Words: 2.1k

Warnings: everyone Jake is being dramatic. Mav is Bradley's dad and I will die on that hill. Also obvs age gap with hangmav.

Notes: I thought of this scenario and got excited. Also I just wanted more Rooster/Coyote content and thought "sure I'll make it myself", but then Jake stole this show and I just always let him do anything he wants. This was meant to be very silly and quick, please don't take me seriously. I'm running with brachado for the ship name for now cause that's in line with floychado and that makes me happy.

Jake was appalled. His best friend in the entire world had betrayed him by getting together with Jake's rival. His mortal enemy. And the bastard was even serious about it.

They had both been deployed, Jake and Javy, on practically opposite sides of the world, so contact had been a little difficult. But they texted each other and ten hours later the other replied, and so on and so forth. Didn't offer the opportunity for many long conversations, but Javy still managed to tell him about a guy he had started getting real close with on the carrier. What Coyote had failed to mention, however, was who that guy was. And that Jake already knew him.

He and Javy had been inseparable ever since they met at the academy. Well, almost. It had taken Jake a while to let Javy fully in, but once he did, he knew Javy would always have his back.

Except with this one thing, apparently.

And to think, Jake had ranted about the idiot all through flight school, and Javy had listened, had agreed with him! Hadn't he?

Well, Jake would probably find out more once he calmed down some. Which might take a while. There were surely worse ways to find out your best friend was sleeping with your rival than walking in on them having sex and seeing way too much bare ass this early in the morning, but Jake couldn't come up with any at the moment.

"Javy, what the fuck! Bradshaw?! Are you fucking kidding me?" Jake yelled, not caring he sounded perhaps a little hysterical.

This was not what he'd had in mind for today. Not even in the ballpark. He had just wanted to spend the day with his bro now that they were both back in the same country. But nooo, fucking Bradshaw somehow had to ruin that too.

"How is this even happening? I thought you hated him too," Jake continued.

"Hey!"

"Shut up, Rooster."

"One, I never hated him. I just kind of let you rant, you know. I actually thought the mustache was hot this whole time–"

Jake made a noise, but Javy silenced him with a sharp look. Rooster looked smug.

"Two, I'm sorry you had to find out this way. I mean it. I wanted to wait until we were face to face to tell you." Javy really did look sorry about that.

"But three, you know how happy I've been these past few months, so please get it out of your system so you can be civil. That goes for both of you," Javy turned to Rooster. "I'm not gonna listen to you two complain about each other anymore."

Sigh. Jake can't very well refuse his best friend like that (though he's sure he'll have a hard time trying to keep his thoughts to himself), and based on the expression on his face, Rooster reluctantly agrees. Huh. Guess they can agree on something.

Jake sucks his lips to his teeth. "Fine, I guess. But Bradshaw, if you steal my best friend away from me, I swear to god I will fuck your dad." By the way both Javy and Rooster flinch, it seems his threat sounded appropriately serious. Good.

"Jake–" Javy starts, but Jake cuts him off.

"Nope, I'm outta here. Javy, call me when you're done and can hang out. Bradshaw… nice ass." And with that Jake takes his leave, giving himself a proper shake as soon as the door closes.

Why is life like this?

-

Thankfully all three of them did not even need to be in the same place together again until they all got called back to TOPGUN for a special detachment. So everything had been surprisingly calm and easy. Jake tolerated Javy talking about Rooster in a positive way these days. Because if he was honest, he really couldn't hate anyone making his best friend that happy. And Javy was so happy it was kind of disgusting.

But at least he got to antagonize Bradshaw in the flesh again. In a friendly-ish manner, of course. He didn't want to make Coyote suffer after all.

And at least there was a goddamn handsome man buying him beers. Well, technically he was buying them for the whole bar per Penny's rules, but Jake liked to think the man's eyes lingered on him more than any others.

If he wasn't on a self-imposed "no dickstractions" policy while training for a special detachment, and if he hadn't had to throw the older man out of the bar, he definitely would have made a move. Might have anyway, his own rules be damned. But there was no damning Penny's rules, so that was that.

Except that it wasn't, because the next day that same man walked in front of the class and smirked at Jake like he was enjoying the fact that Jake was blushing a little in embarrassment. Now he was really really glad he hadn't made a move on the guy. He wasn't looking to get court martialed or anything, and propositioning a CO definitely wasn't the best way to promote career longevity in the Navy.

But damn, Captain Mitchell was hot. The adrenaline of flying always got Jake's engine going, but never before had he been so turned on just from seeing someone else fly.

He'd always been a bit of a teacher's pet, he could admit that, but he also thought he'd gotten past the age of getting crushes on his teachers a long time ago. And yet, here he was. Jake didn't make any moves – he wasn't digging for blood out of his nose like that – but despite all that, in the privacy of his own head, he thought about the Captain a whole hell of a lot. Maybe in the shower. Or in the evening when he was trying to fall asleep. Or on his morning runs. Maybe he made an effort to talk to the man any chance he got. And, alright, maybe he flirted just a tiny bit. It was in his nature! So sue him.

-

In an unexpected turn of events, when Javy went into g-LOC, Jake found himself comforting Rooster and being comforted by him in return. Javy was the most important person in both of their lives, not to mention the added scare of Phoenix and Bob ejecting. Jake still wouldn't call Bradshaw a friend, but maybe they could be. They had to have more in common than either of them would have liked to believe if they were both so close with the same person. Jake would take it to his grave, but he knew that behind the mustache was a pretty solid guy and a surprisingly comforting presence, when he wanted to be.

Maverick also checked in on all three aviators in the hospital, and the Captain's presence calmed Jake down like nothing else could, even though he could see the older man was shaken by everything too.

-

After The Mission, after Jake had flown like hell to get Maverick and Rooster back home, he was buzzing with excess adrenaline and nowhere to put it. He visited the duo in sick bay, celebrated with the others, took a shower, tried some yoga, but nothing could make the pins prickling under his skin stop.

Even after they got back to shore, a weird, uncomfortable feeling persisted, though not as strongly as before. But eventually he ended up seeking out Maverick. Something inside him just yearned for any contact with the man. Maverick had said his door was always open for any of the Daggers, so Jake (not entirely) shamelessly took him up on that offer.

The mission was over, Maverick was no longer their instructor and direct CO. He was still a superior officer, sure, but Jake figured the Captain at least wouldn't punch him now that Jake had saved his life. So Jake decided to shoot his shot.

And Maverick didn't punch him. Instead, after some talking, when Jake kissed him, he kissed back.

-

They had all been given a month of leave after the mission, and three weeks of it had already passed. Jake had spent nearly all of it with Maverick at his hangar, and he couldn't have been happier. The only thing he was missing was his best friend who had taken Rooster with him back home to New Orleans.

Mav had been working on his P-51 all morning while Jake went to do a grocery run and made lunch. After eating they settled down on the couch for a little afternoon nap. The older pilot was still a little sweaty from working, his shirt a little damp, but Jake didn't mind it. He just pressed his face further into Mav's chest and let himself doze off, safe in the strong, warm embrace of his lover. He didn't think he'd ever experienced bliss like this while not in the air.

Until that bliss was most rudely interrupted by none other than Rooster Bradshaw loudly announcing his presence at the hangar.

"What the hell is happening here?" the mustached naptime-hater yelled.

Maverick shot up to a sitting position, making Jake's still sleepy self let out an undignified yelp.

"Seresin, you better not be fucking my dad or I–"

"Your dad?" two voices interrupted the angry growl. One of them was Jake, but who–?

Jake whipped his head to see his very own best friend walking to join them.

"Jake, man, what are you doing here?" Javy asked.

"I was having a lovely nap." He glared at Rooster. "But hold on, back up, what do you mean dad? I thought your dad was…"

Jake and Javy had both seen the picture of LTJG Bradshaw. What he did with that information was not something Jake was proud of, but rest assured he would always remember. 

Rooster sighed deeply. "My father, Nick Bradshaw, is dead, yes. My adoptive dad, the man who raised me and who became my legal guardian after my mom died, is sitting on that couch."

They all turned to look at Maverick, who in turn was looking at Rooster with unshed tears in his eyes.

"You– You still want to– Oh, Baby Goose," Maverick whispered, seemingly overcome by emotion.

"Shit," Rooster muttered. "I mean, I– We hadn't talked about it yet but I do–"

Jake wanted to comfort his lover, but Javy pulled him outside to give the other two some "family time".

"Did you know about all that?" Jake asked once they were out of earshot.

"Not exactly, no. Bradley's always been very tight-lipped about his family matters, and now I know why. He didn't really have anyone for a while. I knew he and Maverick knew each other but I didn't know the depth of it. I guess he brought me here today with the purpose of meeting Maverick as his family and not as our teacher."

"Yeah, same. Mav has some pictures of Rooster as a kid in there but I never realized it went that deep. It's not like we're focusing on Bradshaw when there's a P-51 and a bunch of bikes to fix."

".....Yeah, what are you doing here?" Javy narrowed his eyes.

"Learning about planes?" Jake tried. 

Javy didn't dignify that with a response.

"We're sort of dating? Less going on actual dates, though, and more like spending every minute together for the past two weeks."

"Oh so you in deep," Javy chuckled.

It was true. Jake didn't give up his privacy like that for anyone. Usually the only person he could stand for that long was his best friend and even that was stretching it.

Javy blew out a breath. "Well, better that you're serious about it and not just fulfilling your threat of fucking Brad's dad."

"I told you, I didn't even know!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let's go check how they're doing and hope my boyfriend doesn't want to kill you."

Jake squawked, but followed Javy back inside the hangar. If he hid a bit behind his friend's back then that was his business.

Inside they found the father-son duo (the thought still gave Jake whiplash) on the couch, hugging tightly and both looking like they'd been crying. Maverick noticed them approaching, and pulling away from Rooster, he asked Jake, "Sweetheart, did you get enough dinner supplies so they could stay over?"

Jake blushed at the nickname, and he secretly thought hearing it would never get old despite Javy smirking at him knowingly.

"Yeah, sure. I'll go get us some beers and we can talk," he said, eyeing Rooster's direction warily. 

This was going to be the weirdest fucking family dinner in history. Beer was needed.

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

tagsies (idk who in the hell is the target audience for this but I'll tag usual top gun list): @wildbornsiren @writeforfandoms @marvelousmermaid @lorecraft @a-reader-and-a-writer @callsign-phoenix @blue-aconite @mayhem24-7forever @lt-natrace @luckyladycreator2 @alexxavicry @footprintsinthesxnd @writercole @blowmymbackout

[ruhiri-times]

Vulpin X Heta Synopsis

Vulpin and Heta have recently met(according to the stuff I've posted on Tumblr, but I created them both a while ago, and put them in this ship a while back. In my head, they've gotten married)

Vulpin:

• 6'6

• Musclular build

• Masochist

• You should not let her speak freely unless you want to be cursed at

• Seriously, she should cut back on the cursing

• Past substance abuse issues, but mostly sober now(does have a couple drinks every now and then, but it was WAY worse a few years back)

• EXTENSIVE criminal record

• Used to have a smoking problem, now vapes

• Lots of PTSD

• Did I mention she was raised on and by the the streets? No? Well, there's that

• Had zilch in self preservation, and used to not eat properly at all

• Owns an antique store, which is a cover for several illegitimate businesses

• Would like to start a non-profit

• Has two kids, who Heta knows about, however has not met yet(as of where the Tumblr excerpts take place)

Heta:

• 5'6

• Small

• Adorable

• Quiet

• Cuddly

• Also curses a lot, but it's more under her breath, as where Vul is very loud about it

• Can dance

• Emotional numbness issues

• Anxiety disorder

• ADHD

• Often sleepy

• One of the few people Vul will listen to

I would love you guys to comment with Qs, as I'm not the best at summarizing my OCs

I'm also not sure what I want to reveal about Heta yet, but please don't hesitate to ask questions, though know that you may not get a complete answer on everything yet

These two have both been around for a while(Vul was made in 2022, and Heta in 2023), but Vul is much more fleshed out, so questions about her will be easier to answer, but Heta is def one of my favorites, so I will also be grateful for Qs about her

Thanks for reading!

@wyked-ao3 I remembered for once lol

[jpitha]

Hidden Depths 5

Awakenings 1 and 2, and 3 Hidden Depths, 1 and 2.and 3 and 4

Almost as suddenly as everyone became disoriented, it was over. Everyone started to stand up and look around, take stock of what was going on and help those who were injured. The Fire Brigade appeared and helped with the few small kitchen fires that started when everything started to slide, but all in all, it was frightening, but not too damaging.

Ta'reni helped her girlfriend Nilan up from where she had fallen. They were at a cafe eating lunch when it happened. Ta'reni was able to stay seated, just incredibly disoriented, but Nilan had just returned from getting another drink for them both and had just collapsed. "Are you all right Nilan?"

"Yes, I think so. What was that? I was so dizzy I couldn't even stand."

"Me neither. I have no idea. We can ask Starbase, though I think everyone is going to be asking them all at once. Maybe they'll have an announcement about it."

Just then, a single tone sounded.

Over everyone's headsets, Starbse spoke. "This is Starbase. I apologize. There was a...anomaly with the gravity generators, but it has been resolved. Please assist those around you and make sure that they can make it to the infirmary if needed. Steps have been taken so that it doesn't repeat. Once again, I apologize."

Ta'reni flicked an ear. "That was oddly generic."

Nilan nodded "Did you hear that pause too? I don't think it was something as simple as a gravity generator breaking."

After looking at the mess in the cafe, and helping everyone up, they decided to cut their lunch short and head to the Commons. The wide open spaces made them both feel a little more relaxed. They found a place under a large shady tree and sat for a few minutes. Ta'reni leaned on Nilan.

"Well that was a wild lunch, but I'm glad we're here. I always feel calmer when you're around."

"Aww, Ta'reni that's so sweet. I feel calm around you too!"

Nilan reached down, and stroked Ta'reni's fur between her ears. Ta'reni shivered slightly and leaned in closer. As they sat contentedly watching everyone dust themselves off and get back to the business of life, there was a shrieking alarm. Being of K'laxi made, it was harsh and noisy and got your attention. An automated voice began. "Missiles incoming. Seek Shelter. Point defense batteries authorized. Repeat. Missiles incoming. Seek Shelter. All ships are requested to assist in the defense of Starbase."

Instantly, it was pandemonium again. Everyone got up and started to run towards the shelter locations deep inside Starbase. Ta'reni and Nilan got up themselves, but they both received a tone in their headset. "Nilan! Ta'reni! You are to report to point defense battery coordinator Nil'ex for assignment. It's your rotation in Civil Defense."

Everyone aboard Starbse was part of Civil defense. Everyone took one week every K'kaxi year (every two human years) and trained how to run the point defense batteries, how to safely shuttle arms and equipment and how to fire weapons. Since the Xenni war was long over most people didn't treat it too seriously, but everyone went to training. It was more like an opportunity to take a break from their regular duties.

Ta'reni and Nilan ran at right angles to everyone flooding towards the Shelters and went to the sunward battery. When they got there, as trained, they went to a locker, got out a pressure suit, checked its seals, batteries and supplied, and put it on. Ta'reni double checked Nilan's suit and Nilan checked Ta'reni's. Only after they were suited up did they report to Coordinator Nil'ex.

Nil'ex was an old K'laxi who has spent his whole life on Starbase and almost his entire career in Civil Defense. It was small when the humans first came, and the station grew with him. He was well respected and everyone had to report to him sooner or later.

"Nilan! Ta'reni! You're here." He glanced at his pad. "30 seconds sooner than anticipated too. Good work getting suited up. He was also wearing his suit with his helmet visor up and a K'laxi sized rifle of human make on his back. "You're on battery B. Remember your training, keep it operating and stay safe. We don't know what the threat is yet, so don't go assuming." He saluted, K'laxi style, "Defense and Safety!" he shouted.

"Defense and Safety" they repeated and saluted back to him.

They got to the point defense battery and took stations. The point defense system was meant as a last-ditch attempt to hold off missiles. Ideally it would never be used. Starships and Starjumpers and K'laxi craft all were in the area and at the first missile firing, were pressed into service defending Starbase. It was a holdover from the Xenni war.

From their panels, Ta'reni and Nilan could watch what was going on. It seemed like a whole fleet had linked in from somewhere, but Starbase couldn't recognize the ships.

"What are they?" Ta'reni asked.

"I don't know" Nilan replied. "They used wormhole generators, so maybe they're human. They're not Xenni or K'laxi."

As they watched, the missiles streaked towards Starbase. a Starjumper was closest to them and immediately returned fire, blue white light lancing from their batteries towards the attackers. A Destroyer further back attempted to intercept the missiles, firing their own and the streaky orange dots of their slug thrower showed up in the black of space.

Nilan watched their radar. "We've got one missile that looks like it's broken through. Get ready Ta'reni"

Ta'reni checked again "We're locked, loaded and armed. Ready to return fire."

Nilan checked her station "Weapons free and tracking."

Suddenly, they heard the whine of the servos as the slug thrower swung over and down and the deafening thumps of it firing. Shells were falling into the collection bucket and their suits vibrated with the pressure wave of the blasts. Ta'reni grabbed the bucket of shells as it filled and ran it over to a disposal chute while Nilan placed a fresh bucket. Then, they both ran to the armory chute and took a double armful of shells and refilled the gun.

The single volley was all it fired however. The missile was destroyed, and the ships in system were engaging the unknown fleet. After a few hours, Nil'ex came by "Okay girls, you're relieved. The next team is here and suited up." He looked down at his pad and looked back at them. "Ah yes, here." He handed them each a pin and clipped it to their suits. "You successfully intercepted a missile; your actions have helped to protect everyone on Starbase. Well done." He stood back and saluted. "Defense and Safety!" He called out.

"Defense and Safety!" They replied. and left the gunnery room.

Back in the locker room, everyone was congratulating them. "I can't believe you got a hit! Meaghan says. "I'm jealous!"

"Nice work Ta'reni." another chimes in.

Still beaming, Ta'reni and Nilan left Civil Defense. Since they were still technically under attack, they had to go back to their quarters. They quickly walked back to the flat they shared and went in.

Nilan flopped onto the couch. "What a day! First the gravity goes haywire, and now an unknown fleet comes in! It's wild."

Ta'reni sets out a tea set and starts boiling water. "Yes, I wish I knew what was going on, though I guess we're safe for now."

"I'm sure it's fine. There's like a dozen starships out there, coming to our defense. Whoever it is, they probably were not expecting that."

"I hope you're right. Do you want tea?"

"Yes please! Let's see if the entertainment network is still up." and Nilan got out her pad and started finding something to watch.

Part 6

[roo-bastmoon]

Let's talk about Yoongi and Taeyang

My thoughts and impressions of this episode are below the cut to avoid spoilers for folks.

Okay so first of all, let's all agree that our Lil Meow Meow was going THROUGH IT. He started fanboying before he could even get to the introduction and he was consistently twitterpated throughout the entire show. Adorbs.

I won't recap everything, but a few things stood out to me as significant insights into character.

Taeyang mentioned he used to eat only one meal a day. (As someone recovering from disordered eating, I have VIEWS about this but let me hush up and stay on topic.) Then he said when he served in the military, he had to eat three meals a day and do physical labor, so he gained 10kgs (22lbs). Which by the way is still a healthy weight. And he said he had to "work hard" to lose it again. I hate this. I hope all our boys come back from their time in the military used to regular meals, regular sleeping hours, a regular BMI and stick to it. They will have the power to reshape the standards of the industry if they refuse to make themselves fit into a smaller space. Just my opinion and I doubt I'll be changing it any time ever.

Taeyang said Jimin re-recorded their song 15 times. As far as I know based on the documentaries and Masterclasses I've watched from other famous musicians, singers, and songwriters, studio time is precious, even if you own the studio. Recording is expensive. A great deal of time is spent after recording on mixing the best takes to get to one master track. But our Jimin seems to have wanted to get it perfect all in one. He really does hold himself to a standard higher than most Grammy winners; I'm not kidding.

Yoongi then of course praises Jimin for his work ethic. The praise, THE PRAISE, Y'ALL. I LIVE. Jimin keeps working even when he cramps up in pain, our dear artist... Remember when he couldn't go to Jin's birthday party because he was recovering from muscle cramps? We called it; it was because of choreo.

Interesting how in the same breath, Yoongi compared Jungkook's organic genius to Jimin's effortful genius. I'm a huge Jikook fan but I don't want to make this out to be a shipping moment, because honestly it's just about styles of approach to work. And this isn't the first time we've heard this about Jikook as a unit. We hear it from members, producers, friends, choreographers, collaborators...

Yoongi also is sure to rat Jimin out about how much he mimicked and idolized Taeyang as a teen and it's like... you're saying this while admitting to doing the exact same thing and knowing all his songs, but still, it's super sweet. It reminds me of when Yoongi admitted to writing fanfic, lol. Even better is how Taeyang mentions several times he knows all of BTS' work. That's a discography of 200+, my friends.

But seeing Yoongi praise both Jimin and Taeyang so highly makes me wish that this episode came out before VIBE released. Maybe his trusted perspective would have softened the resistance many people felt toward supporting the project.

Especially because Taeyang really comes across as a good guy. He seems humble, considerate, grounded, a team-player, sensible, deep-thinking, and kind. He also seems to be focused on being a family man, making good music, and becoming a role model for the next generation. Now yes, both times I've seen him this way, he's appearing on TV to promote his single. But as far as we can know a celebrity while they are in front of a hot camera, I feel like his character is genuine enough, and I trust the tannies when they say they ALL admire and respect him deeply.

BTS has been around in the industry long enough to know when people are full of shit. And yeah, there are some seriously problematic assholes in Big Bang. There were legit scandals involving drugs and sex trafficking. I won't be rushing out to consume their products. But they did play a part in shaping BTS and Taeyang shouldn't be painted with the same brush just because he landed in the same group. He seems like someone who might have matured out of a lot of mistakes, like appropriating hairstyles or speaking on subjects outside his lived experience. I'm willing to give him a chance, here, in 2023, to get it right.

I also appreciate how honest and vulnerable Yoongi was and continues to be the moment he gets a few drinks in him. Talking about being so nervous without his members for That, That that he wanted to throw up. Mentioning the fear and disappointment when news of their hiatus caused all hell to break loose. Stating openly and without any qualifiers that he loves his members. To me, this is healing.

Yoongi was also adorable as fuck, let's face it. Giggly, blushing, toe-tapping, squirming, gushing, flirting Min Yoongi managed to ask Taeyang if he could produce a song for him (as if anyone in the world would say no thanks). And Taeyang is like "come over to my house and eat dinner with Jimin, I'll cook kimchi jiggae for you guys."

Oh and by the way, Taeyang and Joon apparently go to dinner and hang out and go to museums? AND WE WOULD NEVER KNOW. Do you know why? Because unless they choose to share aspects of their personal lives with us, WE DON'T ACTUALLY SEE THE MAJORITY OF THEIR PERSONAL LIVES. So just because you don't see evidence of members hanging out doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Everyone needs to chill about this with regards to Jikook. They went to ground around the same time that bullshit insurance premiums "scandal" broke and they've been to ground since. That's all.

Side note: Considering the shitstorm online earlier this week because Taehyung followed T-Top for a few hours on Instagram, I'm wondering if 2023 is the year most of the tannies stick to work-only promotions for their social media. You get burned enough, there's no payoff in sharing your vulnerable sides with strangers. It's such a shame, because we had a window to their inner landscapes, a glimpse at their real personalities and their real lives, but ruiners ruin everything. So a special Fuck You to people sending them hate for following or working with people you don't like. Know your place as a fan. Feel free to protest with your pocketbook but don't you dare talk shit and spread hate.

I digress. Back to Suchwita.

Taeyang advised Yoongi to surround himself with good people (members, staff, friends)... people who can tell him no. They had a great talk about staying realistic and humble, reminding themselves all things come to an end, being normal and grounded.

THIS is what makes BTS so easy to champion. They are uniquely talented, clearly the most hardworking, and even have streaks of artistic genius. But they forever remain set in a beginner's mind. They are the top dogs in their industry with an underdog mindset. I love this about them enough to set alarms to vote for awards and buy multiple copies of their work so they chart. I, Roo, who has never been to a popular music concert in all her 43 years; never been a groupie of anyone; never owned a piece of merch--I want them to succeed because I know they will never take it for granted.

And they keep it simple, even when it comes to how they work. Now, as someone who writes for a living and does bullet journaling every day as part of my therapy, I cannot tell you how delighted I was to learn that Yoongi writes with a pen and Taeyang with a typewriter. I am exactly the same. There's something intimate about it. I type more than 95 words a minute for work but it's not the same when crafting something personal. I also write original works better away from a designated work space--it's too much pressure to sit in a sterile environment and try to create. Real, meaningful words come from real, messy, organic moments in life. I just loved this level of detail in their conversation.

All in all, this was just such a great episode. I feel like I got to know both men better, was shown real insight into their mindsets, learned about their lives and work, and so I felt excited about VIBE.

Speaking of VIBE, we still need lots more sales to help Jimin get to Hot 100. Please contact accounts on twitter to get a gift card, make another itunes or amazon account, and buy it again, if you cannot persuade others to buy-in. Jimin worked so hard and wanted this so badly. I'm deeply troubled that ARMY couldn't cough up a buck-twenty-nine for him. It's like With You all over again. Unacceptable.

We are up against Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, and Sam Smith. We need the sales to get the points. We have a day and a half to get it right. PLEASE buy it.

We also only need 1.2 million more views on YouTube to get it to 50 million in its first week, so please stream today and tomorrow!

Consider it practice for next month, when PJM1 drops. Because by all accounts--from everyone who has ever worked with Jimin--he deserves it.

If you got this far, thanks for reading. Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!

Yours,

Roo