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eleanore-delphinium · 4 years

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DamiRae Week 2020: Marriage

JLDAW AU

NOTE: This is PART 3. (kinda stand-alone)

@damirae-week my entry

Part 1: DamiRae Week: BOUND TOGETHER

Part 2: DamiRae Week: SOULMATES

Part 3: (YOU ARE HERE)

Part 4: I Remember You

DamiRae Week 2020: MARRIAGE

Damian led me to where Dick was confined in and when I saw the state that Dick was in, it felt as though someone had clutched my heart from within my chest. It felt awful seeing him like that, and the emotion I was feeling off of him was intense and then hollow, and the cycle would continue. He did not understand what he was feeling when there were emotions to feel and did not know what to do with it when it’s there, and when it’s gone, he is left confused but sometimes empty. And I felt that confusion he was going through in its fast pace.

This might make me an awful person but I wanted to end his suffering through death. The thought made me forget what he was emitting and it felt like it was the right thing to do. But, how could I?

Damian had used the Lazarus pit because Dick was his brother. He longed for family in the state that we were in. And I had told him that I would have done the same if I were in his place and had his resources. So how could I find the heart to kill Dick?

“I can help…” Hearing my father say that made me think that I could heal him.

I approach Dick slowly. My perception of time and space altered. It seemed that my footsteps were too loud. My breathing uneven and my vision blurry. When I dropped to my knees beside him, the thump felt a little too loud. He looked like he was about to scream but he had a gag on his mouth, so he couldn’t. I was informed, as we were making our way here, that it was to prevent him from hurting himself or anyone else.

“Hey…”I say as gentle as I could as not to freak him out but it sounded too loud to me. I wrap my arms around Dick. His eyes were reflecting his insanity, I propped a leg up and leaned his back against it. He squirms in my arms but I try to hold him down as much as I could, as I start healing him to at least ease his mind.

And Azar, did it feel so awful.

It feels like I couldn’t breathe. I was starting to lose myself with Dick. I wrap my arms tighter around him and bury my face on his shoulder as I began to rock our bodies.

“Shh…Shh…” I kept repeating. I wonder who was I comforting, him or me? And the shushing suddenly stopped as I started seeing flashes of Dick’s life and his emotions tangling up with him. I gasp and I sobbed and was on the verge of screaming-- but maybe I already was.

“Raven!” I hear Damian call out; his voice filled with worry and urgency. I could feel someone embrace me, and I assume it’s Damian. I held Dick closer to me maintaining focus as I fight with the surging emotions I was feeling and the visions I was seeing. I wanted to puke and yell and destroy.

And oh-- how I wanted to destroy.

Dick had become quiet—no everything around me had become awfully quiet. I could smell Damian’s scent, and was aware of his firm hold on me and his hard chest. My eyes closed and I felt water on my cheeks--tears were streaming down my face, I had realized. I must be weeping so loudly, but I couldn’t hear myself. And everything just stopped-- everything went black. I felt oddly relieved.

At first, I did not understand where I was, but it slowly sunk in that I was looking at my bedroom ceiling. The bedroom that I was assigned in when I arrived at the compound. It was rather dark and I was confused—wasn’t I with Dick? I heard shuffling against the wood and I try to get up as I turn my head to the direction of the noise. Damian is by my window which is covered by thick curtains, I notice that it was day because of the small cracks from the curtains that allowed sunlight in.

He notices me, my head is aching badly, I took notice of the disheveled state that he was in. He looked as though he has not slept well for a while.

I attempted to ask him what was wrong and how I got here, but I found that my throat was dry which adds to my confusion. I had closed my eyes and looked down, the throbbing in my head worsening in my confused state.

“God. Raven!” Damian was suddenly beside me, his arms wrapped around me. And I felt every ounce of worry and relief he felt and it felt like a slap on my cheeks. I was already confused and being suddenly overwhelmed with his emotions was a little too much. But he was shaking against me and I found that I could not afford to be overwhelmed right now. So, I lift my arms weakly to hug and comfort him. However, I found that my body felt rather weak too.

“You’ve been asleep for three days!” Damian’s face is buried against my shoulder. The way he was acting made me recognize the fear he felt. I felt something wet on the shoulder that Damian was leaning on. I realized that he was crying and the despair in his voice solidified his emotions into me.

Hearing him sound so broken made me decide to heal myself, I had to be strong for Damian. But something had changed. I felt it. Something was different.

“I’m alright, Damian.” I comforted him, but his hold does not weaken nor his emotions. My voice sounded weird to me.

“You were asleep for three days—you weren’t healing yourself.” He sobbed, and I felt it, the full extent of his fear. He had thought that I was going to die, the only semblance of love he had. The person he adored so much. The only one he can walk this path with him and yet still care for another individual in this way.

“Healing…” I mumbled breathlessly. I was overwhelmed already with the situation and I realized—healing. My eye twitched and a tear falls and somehow, I found the strength to hug Damian tighter. That was what has changed.

“Your healing has changed.” My father confirms what I already know. “If you let me—” No.

I started wearing a full body suit that is purple close to black with purple accents. I couldn’t heal the same anymore and healing Dick became a long and tedious process.

Damian insisted that I did not have to treat Dick, not at the expense of my health., not after what happened the first time, I attempted to heal Dick. But I love Damian and I want to give him this. I want to give him more.

Love from me was different from love from a family member, and maybe that was why I wanted Dick to be healed for Damian. The family love I could never experience now, cannot be changed. But to Damian who had a taste of it before this shit-show-- can still have a portion of it. And I want to safeguard and give that to him.

I am now part of the league of assassins. I am now Damian’s partner. And despite my father becoming significantly nosier, I am happy with Damian and the league. This happiness is what I am willing to protect. That very moment my father had threatened Damian, I had long decided—I will protect this. Him.

I have been with Damian for almost over a year now. The world is left in rubbles after the parademons attacked. Thankfully, nowadays the parademons don’t come in big hordes as they did the first time of the attack. But I suppose it makes sense, there isn’t much to destroy or kill now. Damian has been training me to fit the league’s standards, and he is a rather strict instructor. Sometimes I wonder if he got it from Batman or his grandfather.

Whenever we were training, he would not hold back because of his relationship with me. Something I appreciate because I won’t learn anything if he holds back. But I also feel his conflict when we train and even more so when he lands a hit on me.

And because he was the leader of the League of Assassins, he felt that he couldn’t even show favoritism towards me. Despite that, he obviously had a soft spot for me. I just can’t help but be charmed by it. His duality was adorable, and yet I knew it was a burden to him, and I try my best to ease him.

Damian could get a little uptight and protective but it stemmed from the fear of losing the only person he had left-- me. And in all honesty, I felt the same exact way. It just so happens that I am willing to do what is necessary to ensure his safety from the one who possesses the most danger—my father, Trigon.

But Damian wasn’t alone, he had Dick. I had reminded Damian that once, and the feelings he felt at that moment made me never mention Dick again in correlation to Damian’s fear of losing me. This past year, I had felt so many awful emotions and situations, but that moment, when I told him he still has Dick and if he lost me--Dick would still be there. That moment—that moment had a nuance that cannot be compared to other awful feelings. Recalling it made me feel like I was falling for a moment. It made me feel guilty.

I look at Damian, whose head was on my lap. We were under the shade of a tree. You could say we were on a date; but these moments were frequent. And as Damian have confided in me, not as special as being able to bring me to dinner to meet his entire family. Or being able to flaunt me to the world, or simply book an entire five-star restaurant just for us two. And I see his point—but I also see that he just missed his family and friends. And that small guilt that he wouldn’t be with me had the situation not turn sour for the entire world. I felt the anger he had for himself for not understanding his feelings sooner and not having the courage to say them.

I stroke his hair; his eyes were closed because this was the few moments he could truly relax. And I understood clearly his desire to show the entire world of the amazing girl he—Damian Wayne—fell hopelessly in-love with. And I froze from stroking his head and I close my eyes.

“You see me too highly, my love.” I couldn’t help but whisper as a gust of wind muffle my words and as I put him on a slightly deeper sleep.

A few days later, Damian and I were alone together doing some reconnaissance. I was ahead of him but we were still at the forest outside the league’s outpost. We have kept parademons at bay with a relatively big radius away from the outpost and right now we were in the safe zone. We also had to distract the parademons from coming closer to the outpost every now and then.

“Raven.” He had called out to me. I turn to look at Damian he was about five meters away from me. I look at him confused.

“I have something to tell you.” He approached me cautiously. I couldn’t help but furrow my brows. A moment ago, I was focus on the recon task and had reinforced my empathetic shield heavily because of it. Despite it almost being two years since the attack, the animosity, grief and hopelessness that plague the world remained, and it can become rather overwhelming for me. The change of tone from Damian baffles me.

“Okay. What is it?” I ask him as I walk towards him. He was making me worried. My father snickers.

“I love you.” He says as he stopped a meter away from me, I took one last step in front of him. I was so confused and worried that I decided I have to put down my empathetic shield. It was the only thing that would bring me peace of mind because his putting me on edge.

“Will you marry me?” He says at the exact time my shield went down. I gasped overwhelmed. I felt his love for me as he said those four words, and I was blind sided by it. It wasn’t what I expected to feel-- or hear. But I felt his overflowing love for me.

“Don’t you dare say yes!” It sounded like a screech and I closed my eyes and tilt my head a bit because of my father.

“I know we are still just teens. I’m still eighteen and your nineteen, but I don’t want anymore regrets.” The love he had for me had turned into fear. And I knew why he was afraid; he had told me about them before.

“I know I said we would keep it slow, and go through us step-by-step to be able to appreciate each other’s company. But we also both feel like were always standing on an edge of a cliff, just waiting to be pushed by strong winds. And I—” His rumbling is stopped as he took in a sharp breath, I could tell he was struggling but I couldn’t help by smile at him with love in my heart that felt like it would burst. “I don’t want to regret not being able to call you my wife.” Hearing those words made me gasp.

Those words, I exhale softly, changed the fear to that same overwhelming intensity of the love he had for me. And I bit my lips trying to contain the tears wanting to fall.

“Don’t you dare!” A scream from my father as I nodded repeatedly, tears streaming down my face. I couldn’t even seem to form the words. Yes. I couldn’t help but put my face into my palms, wanting to hide my pathetic self from Damian.

Overwhelmed. I have used that word so many times and it meant so many different things. But this time, this overwhelming moment—this was more than all the other overwhelming moments I have ever had. This moment—is what I never ever want to forget. The love I feel for this man—I never ever want to forget.

“Raven?” Damian said his breath just above my head, his hands gently pulling my hands away from my face. I look at him and looking into his eyes made me hold my breath. His emotions dancing around me like fireworks. He wipes away my tears and I decided to stop crying.

“Yes.” I whisper and he smiles. I could tell he knew from my reaction that it was a yes as our eyes continue to be locked with one another, more so I could feel he knew my answer. I give him a sudden hug. “Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes!” I repeat, finding that I need to say those words. Yes.

“Yes.” He whispers into my ear as he embraces me back and does a little spin. I felt his joy and his love—and somehow it became ours. I pulled away from him and collected myself, I wiped away my tears and cleared my throat.

“The-the ring!” He rumbles around his body and I felt his nervousness. “This-this wasn’t how I wanted to propose.” He admits and I can’t help but giggle at his current dorkiness. My heart felt so full.

“But-but as I was looking at your back—I knew I had to ask now. I had everything planned and all.” That was why I could not seem to find him often these last few days. I wondered when he decided that he had to propose marriage to me.

He pulls out a blue velvet box from his pocket and he opens it and there laid a ring. The metal was mostly gold but in the center of the band, there was a thinner line of silver. And there laid an emerald the exact shade as his eyes in seemed to be embedded in the relatively thick band. I glance at him—specifically his eyes to confirm. Yes, exactly his eyes, I look back down at the ring as he pulled it out of the box with his right hand.

The emerald was maybe just less than three centimeters in all sides of its square-like shape, the edges of the square rounded. And I had lifted my left hand as I take the box from him with my right hand. He uses his freed left hand to hold my right hand.

“I was going to kneel down and all.” He says as he slips the ring into my finger. And I chuckled, envisioning Damian pacing as he recites his every move for his proposal. “But I knew that I need to ask now.” And I felt his serenity at the decision, and it took my breath away.

“So, I suppose the recon mission is a ruse?” I look at him and he places a hand behind his neck as he looks away.

“Well, actually we still have to do that.” And I couldn’t help but laugh, it sounded so melodious. I was rather embarrassed by it and so I turned around from Damian and took a few steps and stopped. I was so happy that my laughter could not hide it.

“I suppose you have thought about this right?” I turn around to face Damian and he looks at me questioningly and I pointed to the gem on my forehead. His face twisted and crunched up and I laughed whole-heartedly. He had completely forgotten.

“We-well. I—” He looks away. “I did not get to think of that part yet.” He blushes and I smiled, and I raised my hand still holding the box.

“We can totally make use of this.” I grin as my father yells.

“Well, let’s go, my love.” I turn again. I realized that my father must have been yelling as Damian proposed but I could not recall if he was. I must have been too happy with the turn of events that his voice was completely blocked out.

“I will kill him. Raven.”

“No, Father. I won’t allow it.” I say under my breath.

Damian and I were at the underground caves facing each other. On my left was an altar with a huge old book that was opened and facing us. There were two equally old looking candles on either side of the book providing light aside from the candles, there were torches around the cavern.

A silver chalice with some liquid I could not identify in front of the book. And in front of that is the ring Damian used to propose to me on top of a small green cushion. Beside my ring is another ring with a similar style as mine, but bigger and catered for a man with an amethyst instead of an emerald on it. The exact same color as my eyes, I couldn’t help but marvel at the shade.

He wore his league of assassin’s uniform but with a red cape. I was told a little after I arrived, that normally the cape should be green. But Damian opted for the red to pay homage to his robin identity. And I wore the same armor but with a purple cape to pay homage to my hero identity. Starting today this is my new uniform, we were a couple in matching clothes.

Damian sighs and looks at his surroundings. I could feel his disappointment, he glance at Lady Shiva and I could feel the knot on his chest. He continues to gaze at his guests, Titus and Dick being one of them as I observe him. The select were here as witnesses. He looks at me with remorse.

“I know this isn’t much, and not what you deserve but--” I look at him and gave him an encouraging smile. “Writing our names on this book is just as binding as having a marriage certificate. Which in the state of the world we cannot have. Well, I mean we can-- we just can’t have the necessary signatures for legalization, not that there is anyone to process the papers.” He sighs ending his rambling. Probably thinking how foolish he sounded.

“I get to marry you, that is what matters to me.” I say as I reach out for his left hand with my right, fighting the laughter bubbling in me because of how adorable he was and because this was a serious moment. He smiles at me and he leans his forehead on mine, he closes his eyes and I close mine.

“If there is another life, I will get married to you in the grandest way to compensate for this.” I really wanted to laugh at how adorable he is.

“Yes, if there is.” I whispered back and he probably did not think much about it and I place a peck on his lips. He opens his eyes, startled as I pulled my head away from his.

“Damian Al-Ghul,” I say firmly “Wayne.” I whispered so softly. “Marry me.” And his eyes sparkle and he chuckles. He places his name on the book and signs it, and I do the same.

“Our names have been written in the sacred book. This marriage is binding and our witnesses can testify to this union. Our names have been placed with our ancestors and will be seen by our descendants. They will remember our names for they are written within this book. You and I will be remembered for all generations to come. You are an Al-Ghul and you are part of thy legacy.” He recites.

This was one of those moments I get to glimpse the Damian who follows the leagues tradition strictly.

“I have shed my former name and have forgotten who I was. All I am and all I know is—when I had awoken, I am part of thy legacy. I am an Al-Ghul. My ancestors are written within this book and my descendants will know who I am. I have always been and always will be an Al-Ghul.” My father must be screaming but I could not hear him because I warded the gem on my forehead. He was not going to ruin this moment for me.

He takes my ring and places it on my finger and I put his ring on his finger.

“And now, the chalice.” He says as we both reach for the chalice, his hand overlapping mine.

“As you give me blood,” He continues as we brought the chalice to my lips and I took two gulps of the liquid. Azar, I hope this isn’t actually blood. Damian had reassured me this is all formalities, but this does not exactly taste like juice.

“And as I give you blood.” I say as we guide the chalice to his lips and he takes two gulps too, and we both place it down on the altar.

He had said that it was laced with a special aphrodisiac and explained to me the details. It did not have an automatic effect though. The giving of blood was to represent a child born from both parties—but Azar the liquid really did not taste like wine or juice.

“We are now officially married.” He announces to the handful of witnesses. “Now the witnesses will sign on the book.”

After they finished signing the witnesses left to wait with the other members of the league. Damian and I stayed a little bit longer by the altar.

“That was not how I wanted to say my vows.” He sighs and leans his forehead against mine.

“Hmm… I think it was interesting.” I reply. “Slightly cult-ish” He chuckles.

“Raven.” He looks at me intently and pulls his head away by a few inches. He puts his callused hands on either side of my face.

“I love you, and I trust you. I am honored to be called your husband. I am honored to be able to walk this path with you. Words can never express how much I love you.” And I felt his love, I take his hands off of my face and brought them to my chest.

“Damian Wayne.” Silence and I can feel his expectancy. “I can tell you for a fact: that exact feeling you are feeling-- is what I feel for you.” I hear him gasp his lower lip twitching. “I love and trust you as you do—exactly as you do.”

And I could feel that he believes me. Maybe it was because I am an empath and he knew that well. He will always be assured that I feel the same way he does for me—because I actually feel his love for me.

I put my right hand on his cheek and bring him close for a kiss. He kisses be back as he put his right hand on my left cheek. Our left hands still holding one another, the back of his left hand against my beating heart. And I’m sure he can tell how much it was racing. I wonder if he can feel how full it is too.

Two years after the attack, Superman with Constantine and Etrigan comes looking for Damian. And I had allowed them to be here, just to tell us that Damian might be the key to turning the tides against Darkseid.

Shit. What am I going to do!

I had said we will think about it instantly after their revelation of their intentions. But—I have to tell him. I arrived at our bedroom and closed the door. My eyes adjusting to the darkness but I walk to the chair I know was facing the door. I have been sleeping in this room long enough to know where everything was with my eyes closed.

In the dark I allow my thoughts to run wild. I was nervous, yes.

“I have something to tell you.” I whisper as I put my forehead against Damian’s.

This was the second time I had repeated the same line, he must be confused.

“Whenever I disappeared whenever we do missions, or when I do solo missions. It’s because I was looking for spells.” And Damian stays quiet allowing me to give my explanation.

“These spells Damain…” I look at him wanting to just cry and scream. “The first ones I learned are ones to block my father, to make sure he does not know what I am doing. And it works, but the main spells I was really looking for, they are for you.” I gaze at him to observe his reaction but he doesn’t look and feel upset. “I had slowly used them on you, when we got married that gave me an opportunity to lay everything down. I could do longer spells. But this spell…” I look away feeling so guilty of what I have done. I feel his callused hands touch mine, and I look at him, and he gave me a smile—he was still not upset. He was just patient.

“The spell.” I continue our eyes locked with one another “It is a very convoluted spell. It covers and overlaps so many factors. It is a spell made of other spells. It is risky and dangerous—” The word made me gasp knowing very well what I had done, but Damian just hugs me. His love for me was still the same despite what I have already said.

“I risked our lives to bind ourselves to each other. I did it to protect you from my father.” He pulls away, and for a moment I was afraid that he was finally upset. I look up at him with wide eyes. But he just looks down on me with a soft smile.

“If I could, beloved. I would lock you up if that will ensure your safety.” He confesses as he leans his forehead against mine again, his eyes closed. “I told you long ago and repeated it when we got married and after—and despite this revelation—still remains true. I trust you. And will always love you. No matter what.”

“You’ve always been so patient with me.” I tell him as he pulls away again.

“Nonsense, it is you, who have been patient with me.” Again, his adoration for me radiated from him, it was still the same. But the moment Superman told us his plan, I knew that everything has changed. The happy life we have been living has finally come to an end.

“I can never be upset or hate you for what you did. You made a good choice, beloved.” And that was that, on the revelation, Damian had already put his foot down on the matter. He could never be upset over what I had done. I was worried for nothing. I couldn’t help but smile.

“We have to go.” I say.

“Yes.” He replies instantly and a moment of silence is shared between us. We both know what we have to do the moment Superman asked. It was just I had not been completely honest with my precious husband.

“I am glad I proposed to you when I did. I have no regrets, Raven. These past two years felt like we were already married. And being able to make it official, in the only way we could—that makes me the luckiest man in this apocalyptic world.” His gaze on me was gentle.

“I am glad that we got married, my love.” I stroke his jawline with my right thumb. “I was wrong, I thought I could never feel family love after I lost my mother. And I sought out love from my demon of a father as replacement. I had the team-- but it was just ever so slightly different. But now—” I return his gentle gaze.

“Now, I can say: that this was the family love I have been yearning for.” I bring his head closer to mine, and he brings our lips closer. And we shared a passionate kiss.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Raven, hurry up we have a new member coming!” I heard Garfield yell from outside my door. I give him a hurried reply and I prepared myself to meet the new member.

“Meet at the yard!” Garfield yells outside my room.

When I got to the yard the Batmobile was coming to view from a far. I felt a tug on my heart, I couldn’t help but frown.

“Is Dick the surprise, Kori?” I couldn’t help but ask. And she looks at me with a smile.

“Of course, not silly! Don’t you remember? Today we are going to take in a new member—I told you all about this a few days ago.” The car had stopped in front of us and the doors opened. I saw black hair and my heart skipped a beat. “The new Robin, Damian.”

A boy with black hair stood before us in his Robin uniform. And my heart couldn’t help but skip a beat. And my eyes couldn’t help but follow a certain person’s black hair.

Part 4: Teaser

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imagine-the-energon · 4 years

Text

We Were Wrong Chapter 4

Annabelle makes a few decisions

As soon as we landed, the storm cut almost all electronics with the exception of the Cybertronian ones, which was a godsend and a half as I don’t think I’d be able to lead the mission with only one working arm and leg. “Meerkat, Llama, see if you can get the extensions for the shuttle to work. Bunny, try to keep an eye on the radar to see if the scanners can cut past the interference for Spark Signatures. Jag,” the woman in question looked up, eyes shining. “Suit up; you’re with me on perimeter.”

“Roger that, Commander Draco.”

——————————————————————————————————-

I squinted at the makeshift scanner as I ran it up and down the rock where the signal was supposed to be coming, confusion building as it said that there was something Cybertronian in it. “Bunny, you got anything?”

“Commander, I’m getting a signal twenty miles south that match a spark signature! It appears to be fading in and out.” she replied quickly. “I recommend moving the shuttle closer and calling Stormreign and Steelbane in so that they can carry the Autobot back to the ship for repairs.”

“Understood Bunny. The rest of you, return to the shuttle. We have an Autobot to rescue.” At their confirmations, I spared another glance towards the rock, a heavy feeling coming over me. What if this was a trap? Sparing a glance around, I took the end of her gun and slammed it against the stone, grinning as a crack big enough to slip my hand through formed. Reaching in, I felt the piece of tech and used my cybernetic arm to pull it out, frowning at what I saw.

“Commander, everyone is accounted for except you.” Jag’s voice cut through my thoughts and made me jolt.

“Apologies. I got sidetracked for a second. ETA five minutes.”

——————————————————————————————————-

Putting on the Eco-Mask was the last thing I wanted to do, but the distressed spark signal was coming from the middle of the storm, so while Meerkat and Bunny stayed in the shuttle to contact the Knights, Llama and Jaguar followed me as we waded through all types of dead foilage, finally coming to a clearing. In the middle were two mechs, a cherry red one and a sunshine gold one. Baffled, my gun lowered for half a second as I searched for facial recognition. The red one came up as Sideswipe, who was last seen with silver armoring. Would that make the gold one his twin, Sunstreaker?

“You… you’re humans?” Sideswipe’s voice had me gripping the gun a bit more tightly, but I nodded. “Why are you here? Haven’t you done enough?” The pure desperation, sorrow and hate in his tone had my heart clenching and I took a deep breath before holstering my weapon, reaching up to unlatch the helm.

“Commander, we have no idea what the storm will do if you do that!” Llama hissed, having holstered his weapon as well. His voice was distorted, and it sounded… wrong. I didn’t want the mechs to think I was more of a threat than I really was.

Taking a deep breath, I undid the helm and took it off, feeling my hair fall from it’s bun. “Sideswipe, yes?” I asked, feeling my throat tingle as I had to raise it in order to cut through the storm. “I am the Dragon Commander. Earth is dead, killed by the Decepticons. We found a spark in distress, and with allies aboard our ship, we thought you might like it if we were able to stabilize your brother.”

“These allies, who are they?” He demanded, though there was a spark of hope in his optics. In reply, I heard Dragonstorm let out a roar, flying towards us with only one head. “Knights of Iacon? They’re real?”

“Real, and willing to aide you two. Their base is on our ship, as well as fresh energon and medical supplies.”

——————————————————————————————————-

“You’re an idiot, I hope you know that,”

I let out a little laugh at Scorpion’s words from the other side of Quarantine, well aware that while he meant it, he meant it lovingly. “Yeah, but I’m your idiot. I got Sideswipe and Sunstreaker safe and away from that Ion storm, so maybe they’ll help take us to Optimus.”

“Maybe,” he murmured, resting his head on the glass, and a half second later, I did the same thing. “I love you Annabelle.”

I felt a small smile show on my face as I stared at him intensely, trying to memorize the soft look on his face. “And I you, Robert.”

——————————————————————————————————-

By the time I was cleared to leave Quarantine, Sunstreaker had been treated and both were online and completely replenished with Energon. And yet… and yet…

It felt like a hallow victory as I stared at the report in front of me.

Estimated Earth Date August 23rd, 2010, 1239: Optimus Prime has been offlined. The Autobots are no more.

“Damnit…” I whispered, reading the report over and over again.

Optimus Prime has been offlined…

“Damnit…”

The Autobots are no more…

“DAMNIT ALL!”

——————————————————————————————————-

Robbie came back just in time for me to fall to my knees, our room thoroughly trashed. “Annabelle?” he gasped out, rushing forward. “What’s wrong?” I didn’t trust myself to say anything, so instead, I shakily held out the report, watching as his features grew grimmer and grimmer. “So what now? We go to Rhaki?”

“No,” I instantly shot down, grief and self-disappointment swimming in my head. “We go in search of the others. Ironhide, Ratchet, Jazz, they were part of the top command for the Autobots. We have to find them.”

“Annie,” he whispered. “Our mission failed. Rhaki is the only way.”

I stared at the report, hand going to the dogtags around my neck. “There’s always another choice,” I found myself saying quietly. “Have you ever wondered how Megatron was able to be revived? How Blackout and Barricade came back after we saw them offline with our own eyes?”

“I’d assume the Allspark,” he said quietly. “But as far as I know, there were only two shards left, and the Autobots left with one.”

“I think… I think it has something to do with The Fallen. A-according to the… the report, he came to Earth the same day that…” I trailed off, eyes shutting and fists clenching. “There’s something else going on, Robert. Something bigger that we’re not paying attention to.”

——————————————————————————————————-

Annabelle Lennox…

There was something in the air, something that made me walk closer towards the ever bright light.

Annabelle Lennox…

“I’m here,” I whispered, reaching forward. A warm sensation crawled up my arm, and I watched in fascination as white Cybertronian runes tattooed themselves onto my skin before fading away. In a brilliant flash, the light disappeared, showing a teenager I just barely remembered. “S-Sam? Sam Witwicky?”

“Annabelle Lennox, you have been chosen.” He offered his hand, with a sad sort of smile. “While I am not the Sam you know, I am a part of him, and before that, I was once a part of Optimus Prime.”

I furrowed my brows, mouthing the words back before I felt something… click almost. “You’re Primus. You’re what it means to be a Prime.”

“Yes, but no. I am only a part, a fraction of a whole. Fate changed her mind at the last second, when she should have kept steady, and because of this, I am no longer as I should be.”

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this,” I mumbled, feeling something churning my gut. “Why are you contacting me, a human, instead of one of your own?”

“You are the last hope of many, including me, Dear Child. You are right to believe that there is another way, but the path before you is dangerous, and lonely, as such is being the price of Prime.”

“So there’s a way to revive Optimus? Is there a way to bring back Earth and Cybertron?” I demanded, a small hope starting to bloom.

“No. Earth, even with a God’s blessing, would not survive for long, and to bring back my former body would begin a collapse in the core. I am sorry, truly, but those worlds must stay dead.”

I stared at his still outstretched hand, debating. “What does it mean, to be a Prime?” I finally asked, quietly.

“That, I’m afraid, is only something you can answer.” His response left me burning with more questions, but I took a deep breath.

“Will becoming the next Prime make it easier to find the rest of the Autobots?”

“Should you wish it, yes.”

With a tense nod, I put my hand with his and almost collapsed from the burning pain that coursed through me. Unable to stop my scream, I could faintly hear Robbie yelling for medics in the background. Finally, the pain stopped and I found myself on a stretcher, gazing at the ceiling.

It is done. Thank you, my child.

——————————————————————————————————-

If anyone said anything about me having to be wheeled out of my quarters, no one said it to my face, especially as I was able to direct the next jump towards another series of planets in this system, aiming towards one of the larger moons.

“Are you certain they’ll be here?” Robert asked during our lunch hour as I poked at the food, not very hungry. I closed my eyes and tugged on the golden thread that had appeared the night before, grinning slightly as I felt shock and amazement flow back.

“Yes, I’m certain.” I answered before forcing myself to take a bite. He got up from the table and I felt a sharp stabbing pain of doubt. “I love you, you know that, right?”

“Always. I love you too,” he replied with a blinding grin and kissing my nose. I could hear a few privates coo, and when I glanced over my shoulder, they quickly turned back to their meals, making me smile myself.

——————————————————————————————————-

The Autobots – Jazz, Ratchet, Ironhide, Bumblebee and a black and white mech I couldn’t identify – were waiting for us as we landed the ship itself, and I could feel their confusion and slight horror from the state of it. Ensuring that all Commanders and their XOs had our best Formal wear on, we were the first ones to march, ensuring that our hands were above our heads at all time. I was the last out alongside Scorpion, and as we came into view, I saw their panic turn into anger.

“You have younglings in command?” Ratchet sounded aghast and I forced myself not to give myself away then and there, though it probably didn’t help that my command circlet was bigger, brighter than the others.

“Going by their helm adornments, the last two are in charge of the ship as a whole, while the others are subsystems.” I saw the others tense up, most likely wanting to look back at me for a reaction. Instead, I forced myself to stay calm as those not in Cryo slowly started to step back onto land for the first time in years, eyes wide with wonder and a hint of fear as they milled around the ship. Deciding it best to keep space between them, the ‘Bots led us away and allowed us to lower our arms, where I had to listen to Grizzly and Ironhide bicker about what to do with the other.

Jesus fucking Christ what the hell is wrong with him?

I glanced around at the adults desperately trying to keep the children away from the conversation that was happening in front of them. “For God’s sake, this isn’t getting us anywhere,” I snapped, pushing passed the others to stand in front of the Autobots.

“Draco!” Grizzly snapped, but I ignored him.

“Either you agree to help us or not. We were wrong to do everything we did against you, and now we’re suffering for it. Earth is dead and the Decepticons are on their way here. Either you help us, or you watch the last of our species die in front of you.”

“Bold words for a human,” the black mech snorted. “What’s your name?”

“My mama raised me to take no shit, and I’m Annabelle.” I saw something flash in their optics as a toothy grin began to show on my face. “Annabelle Lennox.”

#The Oracle Prime Legacy #We Were Wrong #Transformers #Bayverse #Transformers Bayverse #Annabelle Lennox #Annabelle #Annabelle (Bayverse)#Original Characters #Ratchet #Ironhide #Prowl #Sideswipe #Sunstreaker #Jazz #Bumblebee #Primus as Sam Witwicky #maccadam

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badlydrawndrawnings · 4 years

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ATWQ Book Three Thoughts

I finally got time this week to finished reading the third ATWQ book, and I got to say, I am honestly very, very scared how this series is going to end. I am feeling a sense of dread I don’t think I got when reading ASOUE as a child. Something about this series is making me go (O.O) with a dash of 8U I had no expectations on what the hell would this third book even hold. This is honestly all over the place like seriously...

This book just got me shook.

Okay, so first all...BERTRAND WAS THEODORA’S LAST APPRENTICE? Holy **** this was one of the many things that shook me to the core. “He’d end up married to a wonderful woman and have very charming children, while I languished alone and lonely.” Lemony Snicket you have no idea what you just foretold for your future.

Prosper Lost really decided to tell Lemony about his family (daughter Ornette + brothers in law?) and shows he isn’t just a nosy, sneaky and lurking in the background type of guy. He has great concerns that aren’t related to his business it goes to the whole freaking town! I get the feeling something bad happened in his past and with a fire like shoot why else is he working the Official Fire Department. I guess it has something to do with his wife (I assume since he has a daughter).

In regards to Ornette, I don’t have a true clear thought or opinion of her yet. Cleo while showing up late got talked a lot for about 2/3 of the books and an illustration that gives me some idea of her character. Ornette got mention a few times, and then shows up at Wade Academy and she’s very gung-ho; willing to work with the others and Lemony who she just met. I like she’s open minded working with a stranger like Ornette is gonna fit in well. However, I guess I have to say her first impression was weaker than Cleo’s build up so I’m just *thinking* over her still. I hope we get to see more of her in the last book though.

Theodora really just hit me with a tone of bricks. I admit this book really made me like her more because damn it, I think I did what Theodora did once or twice in my life and it sucks. So first off: Theodora all this time knew she was rank last? God, that must mean in the previous books those fancy talks of her reputation partly must have been done to make herself feel better and have confidence and skills that isn’t really there. Since she’s rank last it means there’s a chance she’s not well respected -and maybe not well like (I assume rank is a combinations of reviews from past apprentices and peer reviews). That means Theodora puts on an act for Lemony (and Bertrand who was a lot easier for Theodora to chaperone; Bertrand what review did you gave Theodora?) and everyone else to make herself seem better and more competent. Because if others of different standings take her serious, then VFD will start taking her more serious, and ergo, others (work) associates will be all ‘yeah we can be friends 8D!’. Clearly it’s not working as plan.

Theodora latching on to Sharon and their short lived friendship (the nail polish...Theodora may not have gotten friendship bracelets but she went all out anyway, this just sad to think about). Here we have Theodora thinking she not only has a friend in who know how long -and a friend from she thought was part of VFD- but has a chance to prove herself for once from all her past mistakes and screw up. And Sharon reveal herself as a fraud and Theodora is all like ‘well ****’ and despite not liking Lemony, she still made sure Lemony sure as hell wasn’t going to be taken by Hangfire and the Inhumane Society (such is a duty of a chaperone).

But despite her low rank, Theodora just more than that. She not just a wild hair driver, and yeah, this was clearly shown since the first book if she saved Lemony from getting kidnapped. Theodora knew the whole time Lemony was going to plan something with Kit (IDK if she knew of the coup, but she knew something big was going to happen. Did she took him to SBTS so their plan would fail?). She also knows enough the plan got so off the rails Kit is in jail and Theodora was willing to help Lemony break her out. I’m not saying she’s a favorite character, but she’s in a general tier of ‘I like very much!’

The Haines family (two out three at least): I feel for Sharon, wanting her daughter Lizzie back at any cost. I can understand why she felt like she had no choice to work with Hangfire. If Hangfire got Sally Murphy to work for him (she was trying to help save Lizzie this whole time oh my god), then it’s not much of a stretch Hangfire could get the Haines as well if they’re desperate. But she dragged Kellar into it and was considering striking Kellar across the face. She was willing to go that far to get her son to continue working with Hangfire to get Lizzie back. I hope with Lizzie getting found, the family can be together again and work their issues out.

Won’t say too much on Kellar himself, in part because apparently, ‘dynamite hair’ translated into the famous Tintin quiff. Don’t get me wrong, I like Kellar. His situation sucks to the tenth level and he stood up for what he know is right, even if it means he and his mom have to temporary part ways (again, I hope the Haines family can be together again and work their issues out). I totally think he and Moxie will become very good friends (he needs friends in general). Typist buddies are a go-go! But whenever I think of him and his illustration I can’t get Tintin out of my head. Thanks, Seth.

I got a better feel of Cleo from this book, and yeah, she is totally Team Chemistry Dad, and Jake is totally Team Food Mom. They’re the team parents for all these kids and they’re doing a very good job. Cleo honestly rocks the mask with her color scheme. As to the rest of Lemony’s SBTS associates + Qwerty, nothing much change on thoughts and opinions (Lemony is still upset over Moxie’s arm 8U). I hope Qwerty in the last book gets free. I thought something bad was gonna happen to him like Dewey. I feel a bit happy Qwerty is just arrested and not dead from a harpoon gun.

Ellington, meanwhile, is getting more desperate to find her father (she has a picture of him in her music box my goodness that hurts! However, thanks to a re-watch of Netflix ASOUE, and thinking about [RETRACTED] and looking at something I wrote in a different ATWQ post, I have a very bad feeling, and I hope I’m wrong about it.) if she was more or less ‘working’ with Hangfire. Those film noir vibes are getting to real warning levels that are in the red zone and close to 100% Got to admit thought, her and Lemony’s ‘first and last date’ really ended on a damp note 8U.

I’m too scared on guessing WTF is the creature/noise Lemony and Ellington heard. And do I want to know about the honeydew melons (I like cantaloupe more TBH)?

My opinion of the Mitchum parents are the same but my goodness! Someone let them know how terrible their son is and let them know they’re failure as parents! Stew upgraded from bully to ‘part time villain’, knows it, and just got worse. I gotta bring up Carmelita again because Stew is making me think over Carmelita’s character more than I ever thought before.

I interpret Carmelita as a spoil rich brat and bully who got away with her rotten behavior due to her parents not being parents, just giving her too many gifts and not teaching her important manners. She a bit of an ill-fusion of Veruca Salt and Dudley Dursley in my opinion. Anyway, Carmelita has no idea what she got herself into in the TSS, but by TGG-TPP she is ‘okay! 8D’ because Esme while teaching her to be a ‘villain’ and other dangerous things, it’s mitigated by Esme still spoiling Carmelita rotten and keeping Carmelita’s old lifestyle she’s used too. It also help in the TAA and TSS she just used words as weapons, so this ‘jump’ was just a real shocker and showing how Carmelita while knowing of VFD, is still blind to their hidden nature if she didn’t dwell to much over it.

Stew on the other hand, is a bully who has been using force since the first book, but it’s on the low-down side. Now, Stew is willingly working with Hangfire, and he just decided to go all out and take it up a notch. And Stew unlike Carmelita, isn’t blind to what is going on. I think. It’s also possible Stew doesn’t know the major end goal of Hangfire and Stew is happy he gets to continue bullying people through any means, and his target just has to be Lemony. I honestly don’t know what’s up with him and his actions.

Speaking of Lemony...someone help this poor child mentally and physically. This is all too much for a thirteen year old (or anyone). He has to worry about Kit and save a dying town, and IDK if Theodora is even going to help in the final book if she wanted to high tail it out of there. He’s feeling more lonely than ever and Imaginary!Kit shows up again. Lemony Snicket you just jinx yourself about being lonely shouldn’t stop at age thirteen ;_; you have no idea what is in store, especially when it comes to your siblings. Lemony is closer to Kit than to Jacques, but the ‘flashback’ to playing Beethoven was sweet because the two were able to spend time together and this was like, the first time Lemony actually thought of Jacques in who know how long. Now I’m thinking about Netflix!Lemony wishing he spend more time with Jacques.

So uh...Olaf got a name drop (is guess who referring to the game? band? IDK who Q is but, this is gonna be weird with my headcanon of Mr. Quagmire), I covered Bertrand’s name drop...and Josephine cameos.

If I have to put her on a tier list, Josephine would be the middle between ‘like’ and ‘neutral’. She isn’t my favorite character and guardian, but I like her enough to not put her in neutral (and I have thoughts on her that I won’t 100% share here). With many fears (rational, irrational, surprisingly rational but on first glance irrational), due to VFD messing with her to where she has no choice to become a hermit and hide away from the danger of the world and become very safety conscious. Her years of being frighten grew to where she is cowardly and cares for herself more at times (she does ‘scream’ coward near the end of the TWW, especially in the books and Movie).

Once Quite Adventurous (Movie Only), and Fierce and Formidable (Netflix Only), if it’s not a headcanon, it’s almost canon Ike’s death was the turning point for Josephine deciding to hide away from the world. With Ike’s death, Josephine must have thought she has no choice to retreat to her hazard of a home and live alone for who know how long to keep herself safe. In both adaptations, they show hints (and Netflix only; also shown it via flashback) of Josephine’s old life through photographs. Also in both adaptations, it seems Josephine really went from ‘dangerous lifestyle’ to ‘gonna hide in my room please go away’ very fast after Ike’s demise.

So, I’m happy and a bit upset Josephine cameos in this ATWQ book. Josephine is not 100% Quite Adventurous, or 100% Fierce and Formidable. I mean, she is those thing, but Josephine is also rather...Cautious. The fact Lemony even calls her ‘careful girl’ and Josephine is taking a risk to visit SBTS seems both adaptations was exaggerating her personality before Ike’s death/possible retirement from VFD. While certainly less afraid of the world, and much braver than TWW, there’s a implication Josephine is on her tip-toes, as well as making sure where she steps (or flies to in her helicopter). I have to say showing a teen Josephine being cautious is a good way to show how her extremism phobias and hermit habits have their roots since her younger years.

And that’s why I’m happy and a bit upset. I’m happy Josephine’s character is explore and it’s fueling to my pile of headcanons that are half bake for her. But I’m upset because...the adaptations. I’ll give Movie!Josephine a minor break though. Since it came out before ATWQ, I doubt Daniel Handler had even thought of this series and character cameos planned out. Movie!Josephine was a shot in the dark and one of the few things that somehow came out unscratched. I think the film played up her fears and cowardliness, but her photo album doesn’t mess up anything regarding ATWQ’s cameo.

Netflix however, has ATWQ. And from my past re-watch, I can now see there’s some references to ATWQ that went over my head (I am seriously hopping I didn’t got accidentally spoilers *stares at [RETRACTED]*). Anyway, Netflix!Josephine’s portrayed and the changes are fitting to her character. Her last act of courage after realizing Olaf killed Ike is rather nice. Yeah, I know it seems Josephine snapped due to his grammar mistake, but on the re-watch Josephine was all \OMO/ when Olaf slips up on the tamales, so I think Josephine confront Olaf for Ike’s murder and his bad grammar. I don’t want to say they ignore Josephine being described as a careful girl in her youth to making her freaking Sporty(TM), but if I do think of rewatching the show again sometime soon after finishing ATWQ (I started reading the first chapter before lunch and I think I’ll have more time the rest of the week to read), ATWQ’s cameo will be haunting the back of my mind.

Josephine totally needed to called out Lemony for ditching Kit, just like Hector. Though I guess Josephine has more reason to since Kit is really close to getting lock up, all because of two ‘new’ characters: Gifford and Ghede, who also tried to kidnapped Lemony back in the first book. Damn, for ‘noble’ VFD members, they sure suck at their job if Kit is still arrested and they tried to kidnapped Lemony...for some reason.

Are they are on the fire starting side?

#atwq #all the wrong questions #shouldn't you be in school #s theodora markson #asoue #a series of unfortunate events #lemony snicket #josephine anwhistle #yeah i talk about her #spoilers #I guess #this is a text post

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sanderssidesfanfiction · 5 years

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We’ll Carry On - Chapter Sixty One

We’ll Carry On Tag

General Content Warnings: Sympathetic Deceit Sanders, Substance Abuse, Abandonment, Minor Character Death, Transphobia, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Dissociation, Bullying, Homophobia

December 14th, 2020

Roman turned his head to look at the guy behind him in his math class. It looked like Ryan was wearing nail polish, but he couldn’t be...could he? Was wearing nail polish something Ryan liked to do? Was Ryan secretly in the closet and he hadn’t told anyone he was actually a woman, or nonbinary? Was this his way of coming out?

After class that day, Roman quietly asked Ryan about the nail polish. “Oh, yeah!” Ryan said, glancing at his nails. “I almost forgot I had it on. I went to a punk rock concert last night, and to get into it I painted my nails black. I think it’s pretty cool!”

“Aren’t you worried people will think you’re, you know, a girl?” Roman asked.

“Nah,” Ryan shrugged off. “Guys can wear nail polish too. It’s just a little less common. See you later!”

And as Ryan walked off to his next class, Roman was left stunned and scratching his head.

March 27th, 2021

Roman was mentally and physically exhausted as Dee wrapped up his game that he had been playing, with Roman acting out the part of the evil Dragon Witch. Honestly, Roman loved Dee, but he could be exhausting if Roman wasn’t careful and didn’t watch what he was doing. And he certainly didn’t watch what he was doing today.

Dee thanked Roman for playing, before running off to do whatever he wanted to do next, and Roman flopped face-first into the couch in the basement. He groaned when he heard slightly hesitant footsteps approach not thirty seconds later. That meant it was either Virgil, or... “Roman?” Patton asked.

Roman just groaned in response. He really was not up for this today, not that he had much of a choice. Patton would probably want to play something equally as draining, and Roman had difficulties ever saying no to Patton. He turned his head to look at them. “You good, Pat?” Roman asked.

“I should be asking you that,” Patton retorted. “You’re the one who played with Dee for forty five minutes straight.”

“Yeah,” Roman sighed, sitting up and running a hand through his hair. “That was probably a mistake, but seeing him happy was worth it.”

Patton smiled at him. “You’re a good older brother. A great older brother,” they corrected themselves.

“Do you want something? Or are you just trying to genuinely compliment me instead of buttering me up?” Roman asked with a sigh. “I’m just...really tired right now, Pat. I’m not up for much.”

“Oh,” Patton said. “I was wondering if you’d want to help me with makeup at all. You know that Dad and Ami got me a little makeup bag with some stuff inside it for my birthday, and I was wondering if you’d be willing to help me try some of it. I know how to use lipstick, but I have no idea what the other stuff should do.”

Roman sighed. That sounded like fun, and he didn’t want to say no to Patton, but he was genuinely exhausted. “I don’t know if I’m up for that right now, Pat. Though, if you want, maybe we could do each others’ nails?”

Patton’s whole face lit up. “Do you mean that?” they asked.

“Yeah,” Roman said. “So long as you use the bright red nail polish, I’m great with it.”

“Cool!” Patton exclaimed. That was another gift they got on their birthday—a few small bottles of nail polish. “Can we do it now, or do you want to nap for a little bit?”

“Eh, naps are kinda unhealthy after a certain time, and I’d be waking up at three in the afternoon if I fell asleep now. But I’d be so groggy I’d probably go right back to sleep,” Roman said, standing up and stretching.

Patton cocked their head to the side. “Isn’t it one in the afternoon?”

“Yup,” Roman agreed.

They went upstairs together, and nearly got run over by Vanellope and Dee rushing down the hall. “Dee, slow down!” Roman called.

“Never!” Dee called back. He had been talking bit by bit at home, claiming that so long as no one took any accidental tone as what he meant to say, that he’d feel comfortable using his voice. And he had used it more often when someone asked him for something but they couldn’t see him signing.

Roman shook his head and walked with Patton up another flight of stairs to their room, and Patton immediately went to their dresser, grabbing the red and the yellow bottles of nail polish. “Ooh, feeling cheery, are we?” Roman asked.

“I want to try the yellow out,” Patton said with a shrug. “Besides, it’s nice and bright and Dee might like it.”

Roman shook his head playfully. “One day, Patton, you’re going to paint your nails full rainbow, aren’t you?”

“Probably,” Patton agreed, getting on their bed. “Do you want me to do your hands or your toes?”

“Hands, please,” Roman requested, also sitting on the bed.

They sat in silence for a minute, not really needing to say anything, or having anything they wanted to say. Then, Patton idly said, “I’m not sure if I’ve ever had a crush.”

“Never?” Roman asked. “Not once?”

Patton shook their head. “Nope. I’m not really sure I want one, either. Romance is weird, and like, it’s okay if other people want to do it, but I’ve never found someone who I really want to do romantic stuff with. Is there a word for that?”

“Aromantic,” Roman said, letting Patton wave their hand a little bit over Roman’s fingers. “You could always be aromantic.”

“Huh,” Patton said. “What if I thought that I could maybe date someone, but like, only if I knew them really well? Like, I wouldn’t wanna date anyone I just saw on the street, that seems kinda weird. But I could see myself dating a friend, if they were okay with it.”

“That would be demiromantic, then,” Roman informed Patton.

“Oh!” Patton looked briefly surprised. “Okay. I didn’t know there was a word for that.”

Roman waited for Patton to say something else, but he didn’t. “That’s it?” Roman asked.

“That’s it,” Patton said, glancing up at Roman in their nail painting. “I’m demiromantic, until proven otherwise, I guess. Not a big deal, is it?”

“I mean, no, not if you don’t want to make it one,” Roman said. “I just thought you might...want to make it one.”

“Nah,” Patton said. “I don’t care too much about my gender, why should I care about who I love when I don’t have someone to love at the moment?”

“Fair enough, I guess,” Roman said, frowning. “I’m just...surprised.”

Patton grinned. “What, that the metaphorical heart of the family can’t be the heart when it comes to love?”

“Not what I meant!” Roman exclaimed. “I don’t want to push you into that specific category if you don’t want to be there. And there’s more to love than romance, you of all people should know that.”

“Yeah, I do,” they said with a cheeky grin. “I was just trying to tease.”

Roman narrowed his eyes and said, “As soon as my nails are dry, I will tickle you relentlessly.”

Patton laughed. “Good luck with that!”

“You know I can outrun you,” Roman warned.

“Yeah, but if I tickle you back, you stop your tickling and collapse into a useless heap,” Patton pointed out. “And I know all your weak spots.”

Roman’s jaw dropped. “Is that a challenge, my dear sibling?”

Patton’s grin grew mischievous. “And if it is?” they asked.

“Well, I would say that you’re in for a rude awakening!” Roman laughed.

Patton giggled and shook their head, continuing to paint Roman’s nails. When they had finished the last pinkie, they put the bottle of red nail polish on their nightstand, and offered the yellow one to Roman. “Can you do mine now?” they asked. “While your nails dry?”

“Sure,” Roman agreed, twisting the cap off and beginning to paint Patton’s nails. He was wracking his brain for something to say. “So, what’s it like being nonbinary?”

Patton shrugged. “Why do you ask?” they replied.

“I’m just curious,” Roman said. “Because there’s rejecting societal norms and gender conformity, and then there’s actually living outside the binary. Logan has told me a little about what it’s like swapping places on the binary, but I was wondering what it’s like outside it.”

“It’s...definitely interesting,” Patton said. “There’s not really one way to show that you’re nonbinary, you know? There’s no one size, or no one presentation, that will make people look at you and go, ‘Oh, they’re clearly nonbinary.’ A lot of people haven’t even heard of the term before. And you can dress vaguely masculine but have androgynous features and people may wonder, ‘Are they a boy or a girl?’ but they never ask if the person is nonbinary. Besides, not all nonbinary people want to present as vaguely masculine.”

“And if you dress at all feminine people assume you’re a trans girl or in drag, is that true?” Roman asked.

“I dunno about drag, because I’m only ten. There aren’t really drag queens my age, you know?” Patton laughed. “But yeah, people have asked me if I’m a boy or a girl, and the mean ones have asked it with a sneer or used the word ‘transgender’ like it’s a slur. It’s...it’s frustrating sometimes, but more often than not it’s just tiring. Why can’t I be allowed to just be myself, and not put a label on it? Sure, nonbinary is a good label, but if there could be no labels at all, it would be nice. I know some people feel better with labels, but I...don’t, usually. It’s nice when there’s a word for something like demiromantic, so I know I’m not alone, but if I have to use the label to explain why I’m not interested in someone, it’s just...yucky, you know?”

“Yeah, you don’t want to be forced into a box, you want to be in that box because you choose to be,” Roman agreed, finishing one of Patton’s hands. “I completely understand that.”

Patton hummed their agreement. “I’m super glad you understand,” they said softly. “Because sometimes it feels like others don’t. They don’t like being pushed into boxes because they’re the wrong boxes. Ami’s genderfluid. Logan’s a guy. I just...don’t like being put in any boxes. All the boxes are wrong.”

Roman nodded. That sounded really difficult, and he wished that Patton didn’t have to deal with that. His little sibling deserved better than those who insisted everyone be placed in a box. “Anything in particular you want to do after our nails have dried?” he asked.

“Nah,” Patton said. “Maybe we could just relax on your bed for a bit, or read downstairs, but I don’t want to do anything super high-energy today.”

“Oh, good, because I don’t want to either,” Roman sighed. “I’m exhausted.”

“I could tell,” Patton said, their grin just a little too big for Roman’s liking. “You never pace yourself when it comes to doing stuff with me, Virgil, or Dee. You’re a big softie when it comes to us.”

“Am not!” Roman protested. “I treat all of the family equally!”

“Then why don’t you do the same to Logan?” Patton challenged.

“Because he can be a jerk and we argue more than we get along,” Roman said.

“When anyone else is around,” Patton said. “Logan has told me that the two of you get along better without supervision. You act like mature adults who can handle problems on their own. But not if anyone else is around. You like putting up a front, but the two of you love each other.”

“Don’t tell anyone!” Roman hissed. “I have a reputation to protect, come on, Pat!”

Patton giggled and shook their head. “Come on, everyone knows that you two love each other, it’s not some government secret or anything.”

“Well, yeah, but it doesn’t need to be pulled into the open for inspection either!” Roman protested. “Seriously, Pat. It’s something that Logan and I share when we have time alone. If everyone knows that we’re civil alone, then someone will say they expect us to be civil all the time, and that will lead to actual arguments, not just arguing over who used the last of the eggs to make breakfast, or who stole who’s sweatshirt.”

“Okay, okay, okay, I won’t tell,” Patton promised. “I don’t see the big deal about having to be civil, though. Virgil and I get along almost all the time, whether other people are around or not.”

“Well, that’s different,” Roman said. “Because you don’t have the reputation of being a ‘Type A’ personality. People expect us to clash. If we don’t, they’ll get suspicious, and if people are scared of us getting along, they might spread rumors that would make us fight for real, and not want to talk anymore.”

“People would do that?” Patton asked, wrinkling their nose.

“Yup,” Roman said, finishing Patton’s second hand of nail polish. He put the bottle on the nightstand and sighed. “People are dumb sometimes.”

“Yeah,” Patton agreed. “Good thing we’re not just ‘people’ to each other, then, right?”

“I guess so,” Roman said with a smile.

#we'll carry on #sanders sides fanfiction #roman sanders #patton sanders #our creations #danger gays

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simone-garnett · 6 years

Text

title: it's gonna be forever (or it's gonna go down in flames) word count: 3.2k pairing: sweet pea x josie fandom: riverdale information: based on this post by @josiemccoyprotectionsquad. it’s all i could think about for the past 2 days and im weak.

ao3

When her phone buzzes late one night Josie assumes it is Val or Melody texting her, one of the pair too lazy to take the ten steps out of their hotel room to ask her a question personally. She rolls her eyes at their antics, outstretching her arm to the beside table on her left and blindly reaching for the device, smiling in victory as she gets it and pulls it to her, swiping the screen absentmindedly to read whatever was sent.

She doesn’t expect it to be anyone else but them; she had talked to her mother and step-brother earlier that night and none of them indicated that there would be anything wrong. It could be Toni, the Serpents playing at a nearby arena, but they still had a packed week and she didn’t think Toni would be willing to give up her sleep for a girl’s night, not until Monday.

And, considering the few people who had her number, it could only be Valerie or Melody.

She doesn’t expect it to be Sweet Pea.

But it is.

Josie had known Sweet Pea only tangentially; he was the bassist in Toni’s band and they had come across each other several times. The Serpents were much more hard rock than the Pussycats, though Josie had heard Toni cover some of their songs on her personal Youtube channel and had fallen in love with her immediately, enjoyed the mellowed down versions of the songs, enjoyed the hard-rock edge she had given others. And once she had heard one, it wasn’t difficult to fall down the rabbit-hole of the channel, Josie introducing herself to the band’s songs and then the band itself.

They had opened for the Pussycats while they toured and Josie joked constantly about stealing Toni to join her own band. Sorta. The offer still stands.

But Sweet Pea didn’t interact with them, not if he could help it. She had seen him with the rest of the Serpents, the man unaware she was watching as he laughed freely, smiling and teasing his friends. It was like night and day, the difference between the man that was backstage and the one depicted in magazines. Because to the world he closed himself off. Melody had managed to scratch at the walls around him and, for the most part she seemed to succeed. But she was Melody and there wasn’t a person on Earth who could reject her sweetness.

There was only one other person she had seen him like that around... but she was also a witness to a screaming match and storm-off. He had been unaware she was in the vicinity when he had fought with Ethel, and she never mentioned it to either of them.

But Josie hadn’t talked to Sweet Pea in over a year. Their bands had gone in different routes, the Serpents establishing themselves as a rock band that could headline their own concerts and Josie supported them from afar, buying their albums and tweeting about their music constantly. But she had her own band, her own albums to focus on and, with Grammy nominations coming up, she tried to not focus on anything else.

Not anything or anyone.

(She only partially succeeds, but thinking of Reggie helps her write some of her most gripping songs.

After all, heartache is a powerful thing, its intensity only increasing when it is Josie putting those feelings into words, painting a picture with music, the lyrics and melodies able to cut through the toughest of hearts and bring them to tears with the emotion she was able to elicit, heartstrings something she could play with proficiency. It was supposed to be cathartic for her, but it wasn’t.

It just,

it hurts.)

Josie still keeps tabs on them. She calls Toni regularly, reads up on the others. Of Fangs’ nomination for sexiest man alive. Of the break-up between Sweet Pea and Ethel. Their music styles clashed and apparently, they did too, far too much to maintain a relationship.

She doesn’t give it another a thought.

So receiving a text from him to meet her at Pop’s Diner at 10 that night was a surprise. She considers calling, considers demanding audio confirmation that it is him asking that not a stranger who had stumbled across or hacked his phone. She considers demanding more than just the sentence he had sent her with no explanation attached to it.

She doesn’t however, demand any of it.

Josie walks in 15 minutes late, intentionally. She was curious as to how serious he was about the clandestine meeting, too far away from their hotels for it to be coincidental. They don’t have much time off between concerts and the fact they were both in the same city was miraculous, so if he is wasting her time... she doesn’t want to think about that.

He is there however, the giant crowded into one of the booths, head down and staring intently at the table. Josie slows as she approaches him, stops one booth away from him and truly takes him in. He seems to thrum with energy, his fingers tapping on the table in front of him, Josie almost certain beneath the table his foot is bouncing up and down. He seems so concentrated on nothing and everything, brows furrowed as he stared. She must be a little heavy footed because his head jerks up when she takes another step forward, his eyes finding hers instantly.

She slides in the other side opposite him, Josie signalling Pop to her. They both idly flick through the menus he provides, silence settling around them after they ordered and await their food, the only couple in the building. It is brought to them and they pick at the chips and milkshake, a look of disgust on Josie’s face as Sweet Pea dips his chips into the drink.

But eventually their plates are empty and taken away, the pair left to themselves. Sweet Pea just watches her, hesitation silencing him every time his mouth opens to speak. And she realises that he may not actually say what he wants without prompting. “Okay,” she starts. “You didn’t ask me to come just to not say anything. So, what’s up?”

He stiffens at her brash approach to the topic. His body is taut and his jaw is clenched. “I need you to be my girlfriend.”

“Are you drunk?”

“No,” he bites back. At her disbelieving look he clarifies, “I’ve had one drink tonight. Definitely needed.” He mutters it through gritted teeth, as though the mere idea of him coming to her sober to ask the question was repulsive. Which, rude.

She raises an eyebrow, casually flicking her gaze up and down his body before levelling him an unimpressed stare. “Oh, really? So, please, explain to me why I should say yes again.” Some of the fight leaves his shoulders, Sweet Pea slumping forward.

“Not an actual relationship. I mean - none of it is serious. It’s just -” he rests his elbows on the table, leaning forward, the top of his face buried in his hands, and she thinks that she had never seen him act so vulnerable, so open. “I need a fake girlfriend so the paps will get off my back.” She doesn’t say a word, doesn’t move a muscle, and Sweet Pea carries on. “The media can be brutal some times you know.” There is a self-deprecating smile curling his lips up. “After the break-up with Ethel... she was the angel in the mess and I was the big, bad man who could never deserve her. Who must have cheated or hurt her -”

He cuts himself off, and she can’t help the words tumbling out. “What happened between you guys?” Josie flinches; she was too abrupt, too fast. They weren’t even that close. His hands drop to the table. The bang of his rings reverberates in the diner, in her heart.

“Please don’t ask.” His voice is hoarse and his eyes, she couldn’t look away even if she wanted to. “I know it’s a lot to ask on top of everything else, but please don’t ask.” And it is there, the intensity she had only ever gotten glimpses of in the wings of the stage, when he was so lost in his music that he forgets to restrain himself, when he doesn’t simply play but lets it move him, lets himself be a canvass for the music to illustrate its emotion and power. He is beautiful in his vulnerability, and like a moth to a flame she finds herself drawn to him, seeking to understand.

Josie had held herself back before, and she’s sure she could do so now. “Okay fine, but what is dating me going to help?” She says it not unkindly, but even then she is sure it could have been more smooth.

“I need the media to back off; I tried hiding and lying low, but it only fuelled rumours. So I figured if they saw me dating someone in public they’d move on eventually. And then let me do the same.” She gets it, whether Josie thinks they’ll succeed is a different question entirely, but she gets what he means. It was difficult to be in relationships when the tabloids stalked for every detail, but it was more difficult to move on from them when they would keep on opening wounds you wanted to close and heal.

“Why me?” It’s an honest question. They weren’t close and she’s sure there would be a multitude of girls willing to be close to him, even in a situation like this.

“Honestly? I don’t know,” he sighs. “It was kinda a rushed decision. Melody would be best but Ethel was always suspicious of our friendship and I don’t think Val’s boyfriend would like it if I asked her.”

“So I was your third choice then?” She means it to be teasing, the despondence of Sweet Pea’s countenance getting to her, but she thinks that a little bit of bitterness slips in. “Well, what do I get out of this?”

“Publicity?” he shrugs. “I don’t know. I’m sure there’s a reason out there.”

There is. He doesn’t need to know of it.

Of him.

Sweet Pea sighs, and if he has the weight of the world on his shoulders and had borne it for centuries. He sounds tired and resigned and it’s the most emotion he had voluntarily shown her. It leaves her heart lurching for him. “If you don’t do it for me, do it for Toni. She won’t say it but this has all been driving her crazy. And you know what some of the tabloids have been saying about her and me...” She did. That Toni and Sweet Pea had been having an affair and that Ethel had discovered them in bed and left his cheating ass because, god forbid, a female and male be in a non-sexual relationship. She tried to be strong, but the strain of the gossip was starting to have an effect. And while Jughead didn’t believe the rumours Toni hated that the boy she loved was being dragged into messes he hadn’t wanted any part in.

Sweet Pea slips his head down and buries it in his hands. “I’m sorry,” he mumbles. “I should have never asked you to come here.”

Josie wants to laugh at the scenario. She hadn’t thought it would ever happen, that she would ever consider it.

“No sex.”

She never thought she’d agree to it.

Sweet Pea’s head jerks up from his hands and he looks at her with something akin to hope and awe shining in his eyes. “Of course not.” His voice is quiet, it is soft and quiet and it is a completely different version of him she had never seen before. “I’ll be the perfect boyfriend.”

She rolls her eyes. She almost bites back that if he were the perfect boyfriend she would definitely be having sex, but she doesn’t. They aren’t at that level of friendship yet. “You better be. Josie McCoy doesn’t date anything but the best.” It is the first time he cracks a grin at her the entire night and a thought flutters through her mind, a warning that his smile is beautiful, is lethal. She brushes it aside. “And don’t be clingy. My music career is my priority and I ain’t giving that up just because you aren’t happy with how this fake relationship is playing out.”

He nods eagerly, eyes alight now he had her agreement. “I’ll give you all the room you want. I’ll do anything.”

She smiles in agreement and nods. And with that the deal is struck.

They slip out of the booth, Sweet Pea brushing off her attempts to pay for the meal. “Think of it as a thank-you. Or a bribe to continue with the deal, whichever.” She huffs in annoyance, but she can’t cling to the emotion as much as she wants to, the feeling evaporating as she sees Sweet Pea grin at Pop, a decent tip left in the jar as he turns to where she stands, strolling over to her.

She sticks out her hand to him and he looks down confused at it and she rolls her eyes, pulling it back to herself. They walk out together, his hands shoved in his pockets, shoulders up high, and arms tucked into himself. No, she thinks, this won’t do at all. “You know we can’t be like this in public.”

He blinks repeatedly at her. “Like what?”

“Awkward! You’re keeping a metre between us. How do you expect anyone to believe we’re together if you can’t look at me for longer than a minute.”

He looks off to the side, and if she didn’t know any better, she’d think him embarrassed. “I can look you in the eyes.” She arches an eyebrow in challenge and he huffs, meeting her eyes. He wavers when she takes a step closer to him and then another, her hand resting on his torso but Josie tuts softly at him, her other hand holding his chin in place.

She gets a little distracted, eyes wandering around his face. They had never been that close before, never needed to, never for this long. She can see freckles she never noticed before, the upturn of his nose, the small scar across his cheek. And when she finds his eyes again it feels different, the moment no longer a challenge between them.

Josie tilts her head to the side. “How good are you with kissing?”

The words break whatever tension had arisen, Sweet Pea blinking the look away, a more easy-going one taking its place. “Oh that, that I can do.” He grins at her, hands lifting to cradle her face, his thumb brushing against her bottom lip. She doesn’t think it would affect her as much as it does. And then she doesn’t think at all, Sweet Pea ducking his head and catching her mouth against his. It... it’s a wonderful kiss, much better than she was expecting from him, Sweet Pea soft and probing, his arms wrapping themselves around her, pulling her flush against him.

His hair is soft between her fingers, soft and long and she fists it, pulling him closer to her. It is easy to lose herself in the moment, in his kiss and touch. She is keenly aware of the arm pressed against her back, keeping them close, as well as the other resting on her hip, sliding down her ass. She can feel his nose press against her cheek, can feel his fingers dig into her skin as she drags her nails across his scalp. She’s losing herself in the kiss and she hadn’t done that in a very, very long time.

They break apart, Sweet Pea resting his head on her’s as they both try to catch their breath. But eventually he straightens up, Josie tilting her head higher to meet his eyes. And there is something in his eyes, she thinks it’s lust, she knows that it has her temperature rising.

“Oh,” she breathes, pulse racing in its aftermath. She hadn’t been kissed like that since Reggie. Her heart pangs at the memory, the thought of her footballer, of how tough he was on the field and how soft he was when it was just them. She swallows down her saliva and the memories of a past she couldn’t live in. Not anymore. “Okay then. That - a lot of that.”

His smirk is irritating. “I think I can live with that.” And his thumb is doing a distracting thing on her hip bone, stroking it gently, the callouses sending tingles through her body.

It is enough to bring her back to reality, Josie crossing her arms over her chest. “Get over yourself Sweet Pea.” And she extracts herself from his embrace. This... this was safer. Distance was good. “I am not going to be accused by the media as some frigid witch. And I need some benefits in this.” There is a smugness to her own smirk, an arch to her brow challenging him to contradict her.

He doesn’t.

“So we’re really doing this?” He seems more amazed than anything, Sweet Pea not expecting the night to go as it did.

“For Toni,” she clarifies.

And he grins a disarming grin and oh no, she thinks. This is very risky. Especially when he wraps his around her shoulders, tugging her close to his side as they walk to their respective cars. He is still stiff, but he was trying and the moment he becomes more comfortable, she knows it would make everything that much more dangerous.

She wakes up to a plethora of texts and missed calls, from Melody and Val. From Toni and Fangs and her manager and her mother. She clicks Val’s text, mind still hazy from sleep. And so seeing an website link captioned with a ‘plz explain?!?!?!?!’, she automatically clicks it and waits to see what the big fuss was about.

Josie almost drops her phone at the images that load. Her and Sweet Pea, bathed in the purple and red glow of Pop’s neon lights, the stars twinkling above them, his hand resting low on her ass, her arms around his neck, hand buried in his hair. The first is of them kissing, her head tilted to the side, Sweet Pea bending down to meet her. She didn’t realise there was such a big height difference, not until she sees how he engulfs her in his embrace, crowding her. The next is right after. It’s as though she were seeing it for the first time, because she remembers the moment, remembers the surprise of his talent, remembers thinking of Reggie. But she doesn’t see that in the image, not when Sweet Pea is pressing his forehead on her own, their noses touching. She sees closed eyes and close bodies.

Her and Sweet Pea look cute and wrapped up in each other, close and comfortable and there is a small part of her which longs for when she had that, when she had a man who loves and adored her, not just her voice.

They look in love.

(She ignores the thought about the silence from one person. She is going to have to learn how to do that.)

#josiepea #josie mccoy #sweet pea #riverdale #riverdale fic #ruthie writes #will there be more? who knows #i mean the backstory between her and reggie and sweet pea and ethel is pretty much planned out #and thats not even including them being rivals

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flamingthespian · 6 years

Note

Kazuaki for the character thing!! Your choice...

Aaaaaa oh my gosh thank you for sending this! I’m going to do the “original” Kazuaki-kun ‘cause that’s who I assume you mean. Putting this under a readmore becuase it’s long and also I talk about quail boyfriends for a good long while.

1: sexuality headcanon

Tbh Kaz is so desperate for love and attention by the time we meet him that I could see him getting into a relationship with anyone who expressed interest in him, regardless of gender, but I don’t think that’s necessarily his sexuality, per se. With a bit of therapy and self-introspection this boy would discover he’s a big gay bird, imo.

2: otp

Q u a i l B o y f r i e n d s. It’s a problematic ship, it’s a terrible dynamic in main canon, but god is it interesting and they really do love each other!! There are varying opinions as to how much Hitori “really” loved Kazuaki and how much was an act, but I’m of the headcanon that it was a “falling in love with your target” type deal and by the time it all ended Hitori actually was in love with Kazuaki and that made what he did so much harder on him. I have such a deep love for this ship, it’s one of my OTPs forever. And in the Shrine AU, while not entirely perfectly “healthy” per se, the dynamic is a lot better and less…well…murdery. I definitely see them fitting the holes that the other sees in his life. Like, Kazuaki is a needy bitch yes but Hitori needs someone who needs him. I don’t know if he’d be able to handle a completely stable boyfriend, he’s too much of a caretaker type. Again, I’m aware that’s not the healthiest dynamic but it’s what fits them. And as much as Hitori needs to take care of someone, Kazuaki needs someone willing to take care of him. Especially given his self-esteem issues, he needs someone who won’t mind reminding him of how much he loves him. Plus, the idea of Kazuaki joining the Hatoful House family and kind of becoming a bit of a co-parent to Nageki with Hitori is really, really cute. I feel like Hitori can help Kazuaki with some of his self-esteem issues, too, and inspire Kazuaki to get up and face the day when he feels like staying in bed. And likewise Kazuaki can pull Hitori out of a funk. They’re sad boys but they’re sad together and by helping each other out, they both get better bit by bit. I feel like Nageki in the Shrine AU is supportive of the relationship, too, if not just because Hitori has someone else to fuss over and can leave Nageki alone more often, plus I feel like once their relationship develops deeper Kazuaki is more willing to take Nageki’s side on things (“Hitori he’s sixteen he can go to the movies with a group of friends…and we can have a date night :)”) ANYWAY. That was long but I love love love love quail boyfriends and always will.

3: brotp

This one’s hard because we don’t really see him interact much with anyone other than Hitori? Except as The King and then he’s more of a weepy vengeful spirit and less of someone who can form a bromance with anyone. I really, really like the idea of him getting over his jealousy of Nageki when he comes to realize that Hitori can love two or more people at once (wow!! Shocking!) and him loving Nageki doesn’t mean he loves his bf any less, and subsequently becoming like another brother or brother-in-law figure for Nageki, maybe a more chill one than Hitori. Also this is my personal AU headcanons but I hc that in the Shrine AU or at least some version of it Tohri works as a science teacher at St. Pigeonations and I could see him and Kazuaki getting along on some level (“What’s your high score on Birdbie Fashion School Dress Up Master?”)

4: notp

Idk anyone who’s not Hitori? Lol, also, it should go without saying that shipping him with any child character is a no-go. (ESP. Nageki) Also any female character. I also understand shipping him with Shuu is somewhat popular (ok but who HASN’t been shipped with shuu by this fandom at some point?) but I don’t really…like it…I feel like that feels way too, hm, “taking-advantage-of-y” if that makes sense?

5: first headcanon that pops into my head

FLUFFY HAIR. FLUFFY FEATHERS. FLUFFY QUAIL. FLUFFY MAN. Also he is absolutely COVERED in freckles from head to toe.

Also he consistently beats all iterations of Candy Crush (…like myself, I guess) and a bunch of other mobile games like that

Very little impulse control, sometimes his anxiety prevents him from doing things but if it doesn’t? It’s getting done. Again, like me, he’d probably be that guy that eats a rock off the floor for 5 cents.

6: favorite line from this character

“He was my opposite, in every way. He was earnest, and smart. He didn’t mumble when he talked. But despite all that… He understood me, more than anyone else in the world.”

And

“You lied to me.”

7: one way in which I relate to this character

hoo boy

I mean I’m a depressed piece of shit sometimes, that’s for sure. And jealousy is…personally, something I’m bad with. I used to be worse but playing HoliStar the first time, the way the king acted towards Nageki was sadly familiar to me. Oh also on a less sad note I’m really really good at those shitty mobile games he loves so much, and I like to think that my hair is fluffy like his.

8: thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character

Definitely how much of a crybaby he is in the preliminary inspection short. But that’s the point, isn’t it?

9: cinnamon roll or problematic fave?

Both?? Okay so Kazuaki-kun: cinnamon roll. Once he becomes Ousama: problematic fave

ANYWAY THAT’S MY ANALYSIS ON THE BOY. Thank you for sending this ask I love him so much!

#tal talks #hatoful boyfriend #kazuaki nanaki #ousama #quail boyfriends #thank you for the ask!!!!

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like-rain-or-confetti · 6 years

Text

Sleepless (Demetri Volturi x Reader)

Trigger Warning: Insomnia (?), medication, nightmares, night terrors, can’t sleep

Demetri wished you'd be returning to him in a better state. You were sent to America, specifically to Carlisle Cullen to help you sleep. However, after a few weeks, Carlisle contacted the Volturi sending you home by your request. Carlisle claimed you had gotten some sleep every few nights but would wake up from nightmares and the occasional night terror. This morning the Volturi received a call from Carlisle, you were landing soon but be prepared. You hadn't slept for four days and had been refusing sleep for twenty fours hours now. You would definitely be in a bad mood. You weren’t grumpy when you were tired, you were fragile and Demetri was emotionally exhausted.The same exhaustion that had eventually lifted after you left. Somehow within seconds it was all rushing back to him.

You cracked open the entrance door at first being welcomed by the familiar dimmed lighting of the entrance with its high ceilings and metal torches. Bianca smiled at you but you could see the glimpse of questioning in her eyes but you knew she wouldn't ask. She learned, like the others, not to ask questions. She raised her index finger at you gesturing for you to wait whilst she dialed a number and held the phone to her ear. She spoke in Italian but also in a hushed voice. She spoke softly to the Volturi since they had super-hearing. She then hung up the phone, lowering her finger and twisting to the computer and typing away once more. You simply stood and watched her awaiting some sort of indication from Bianca but she gave none.

"(Y/N)." A male voice said. Alec and Jane were a few feet away from you. "Welcome home." Jane said with an unreadable expression. Atleast the sentiment was there even if the sincerity wasn't. "Hello Jane, Alec." You offered a nervous smile. "It's good to be back. It wasn't the same without you." That wasn't a lie. It really wasn't the same without the Volturi. It was a whole new experience. When you were forced to sleep, it was nightmares of the Volturi who you knew. In America, it was nightmares of the Volturi and the Cullen's who you barely knew, in a place you barely knew. "We'll admit it was strange not having a human prodding around the halls." Jane retorted. They were trying to be nice and you knew but they weren't willing to make much of an effort. They never were. "Come with us. Aro will want to see you." Alec spoke up as the twins held hands, interlocking fingers. "Demetri is in the throne room with him. He is on duty at this moment."

Alec's cold hand lightly pushed you into the elevator infront of the twins who got in last and stood in front of you. "Did you get any rest on the plane?" Jane asked lightly, her voice held innocence but you knew her facial expression have the tone a hint of sinister. A shudder ran through you as Alec looked over his shoulder, twisting his torso slightly to look at you awaiting your answer. "No..." You said quietly. You were expecting a lecture, some kind of comment but they said nothing and Alec turned back around before continuing the conversation. "Did you sleep prior to the trip?" "No." "Demetri will be disappointed that you have not slept, (Y/N)." Jane said. "When was the last time you slept?" In all honesty, you didn't know. The days melded into one after a few of them. "A few days." Jane and Alec systematically turned to look at one another for a moment. The Volturi knew that line well. It is what you'd say when you didn't really know how long it had been and wanted to downplay the situation. You cracked under the silence you received in response. "I tried. I think it's been four days." You said weakly. "Calm yourself." Alec said. "You do not need to get into such a state." "I'm sorry." You rubbed your eyes. "Don't do that." Jane said. "Your eyes are red enough." "My eyes are red?" You frowned as the three of you exited the elevator and headed down the the corridor to the throne room. "Yes." Alec nodded. "You have red circles around your eyes. I assume you are not under any pain? Your eyes look very irritated." "I wouldn't say painful. They're itchy as well as having some aches. I'm used to it now though." The twins said nothing in response as you ended up a few feet from the double doors to the throne room.

Jane opened the doors as Alec once again pushed you inside gently. Demetri was stood at his regular post, arm tucked behind his back in his usual manner. He watched you enter. He didn't offer any kind of welcome or even a smile but you were used to this as he was more of a private person. "Ahhh! Young (Y/N) has returned!" Aro said in his usual cheerful manner as he rose from his throne. "You look terrible." Caius glowered at you and Aro was quick to jump to your defence. "Now, now, brother- manners. You know better, (Y/N) has been ill and has undergone quite a challenging time." You looked at Aro in sudden alarm. "Carlisle has been keeping us updated, rather explicitly." Aro stated in response to your alarm. "We will speak about that in more private settings at a later time but for now..." Aro held out his hand in waiting. "I'd like to see your progress my dear." "I wouldn't call it progress." You mumbled, holding back tears. Caius was about to snap at you for talking back but Aro caught him with a look. He had been through this with Caius before. You were likely delirious at this point, now was not the time to be lecturing about mannerisms. Aro carefully took your hand and held it securely within his own.

"I want to go home!" You sobbed. "Please let me go home!" "I understand this is bizarre for you..." Carlisle said soothingly. "but you do not need to worry. I'm here to help you." "I don't need help." You cried. "You and I both know that you know that isn't true. No one wants you suffering and you are, you are suffering. I only ask for a little trust." "You need to tell me, do you reject sleep or can you not sleep?" "I can't sleep!" You said exasperated, your eyes watering with tears. "My mind won't shut off." You rocked slightly on your chair, your knees pulled into your chest. "You do that a lot." Carlisle said, his gaze flickering to your rocking. "As well as excessive scratching and rubbing at your eyes, did you do this before coming here?" You shook your head slightly. "I didn't do the rocking or the scratching. I've always rubbed my eyes though. Demetri didn't like it." "I don't imagine he did, your eyes look very sensitive, they're starting to go a little red." You chewed your lip. "Have you ever spoke with him about your fear of vampires?" "Who told you that? I've never said I was afraid of vampires." "It's not an irrational fear, in fact it's rather clear and obvious but what isn't clear is why. You never showed disturbance to vampires. Infact, I was told you settled better than the average human. There was a little unease but you adapted well. That changed suddenly and I need to know why. Are you willing to tell me why?"

You were fast asleep, buried in the duvet, the moonlight illuminating the dark room. You shifted as a short gust of cold air hit your face. You shifted again when you felt it again. The third time woke you up. You stretched slightly before running your eyes with a little whine. You went to stretch before immediately halting. Inches from your face was a man you didn't know, his red eyes glistening. You knew immediately that he wasn't a part of the Volturi as his dated red and cream clothes were ripped in various areas. His teeth looked sharp and were barred at you. He was breathing through his mouth which was what had disturbed you from your sleep. You had seen his stance before, he was ready to lunge. You slowly sat up, shaking violently as your eyes were trained on the man. His gaze followed you. It was silent for a moment and panic was building up fast. Why hadn't anyone realised he was in here? Where was everyone? "W-why are you h-here?" You immediately screamed when the man lunged grabbing your face with his large hands, his nails digging into your neck and cheeks. You screamed and screamed even after a force you didn't see, hauled the man off of you. You rushed to the corner of the room covering your face, there were five stinging sensations on your face and neck. A streak of blonde hair could be identified as a fight ensued and Jane and Alec burst into the open door. Jane looked at the intruder who suddenly screamed in agony. You pressed yourself into the wall as you continued to scream in terror hearing the man's torture.

Someone called your name and you looked up sharply. You wished you didn't. There were more guards in your room and you had just looked up just in time to watch as the man's head and arms were ripped off. Felix cursed in Italian as he turned to see what had caught your attention. Demetri was immediately by your side hauling you off the wall and pressing you into his chest. Sobs racked your body as you continued to scream the commotion yet to die down. A couple of the guards were demanding to know how the man had got into the castle and how he had gotten to you without suspicion. "I'm here. I'm here." Demetri mumbled into the top of your head despite how likely it was you didn't hear him. You gradually went quiet but didn't respond to anyone. Demetri continued to hold you as Jane left the room. Santiago and Afton were disposing of the body piece by piece as Demetri made sure you didn't see it. He continued to stroke your hair, talking to you every now and then but would receive nothing in return. You looked like you were in a trance. "It's shock." Alec said as he sat on the floor beside you, crossing his legs. Felix passed Alec a blanket and Alec manoeuvred the blanket around you. Demetri shifted back a bit so Alec could wrap it around you. "They won't get cold now." Felix nodded kneeling down to your level a few feet away trying to catch your gaze but with failure. "It's been too long." Demetri said to the two guards as he rocked you slightly in attempt to pull you out of the daze. "I'm getting worried." "We can't do anything for them Demetri. Don't worry, they'll come out of it soon enough and we'll be here." Jane returned with a glass of water and the guard tried to coax you into taking a sip of it but to no avail. Demetri and Felix were surprised at the attentiveness if the twins as Jane stroked your hand lightly and Alec patted your back, both in the attempt to stir you. Kindness seemed to come much more fluently when you weren't aware of it. "Should I request Aro? Perhaps he'll know what to do with his gift."

You peeled yourself from Demetri's hold, rising to a stand and walking to the bathroom. Alec was the only one to follow you, looming in the bathroom doorway. You looked at yourself in the mirror. There were five half moon dents in your face from the man's nails that were bright red and dangerously close to breaking skin and spilling blood. You turned on the cold water in the sink running your hand under the falling water before pressing lightly on one of the dents and repeated this pattern a few times. The more you did, the more your face twisted to fight more tears. "You can cry." Alec said but you didn't respond, you just continued to dab at your wounds as you fought back tears.

You didn't sleep that night, or the night after that. By the third night you fell asleep, Demetri laying next to you and you awoke two hours later from a nightmare. Soon enough the nightmares were so bad that you refused to sleep which began a vicious cycle.

Aro's eyes flickered to you as a few more images passed through his head. "I understand that Carlisle has provided some medication..." You nodded. "A pill to help me sleep. He said that as soon as I get a regular sleep pattern, things will begin to clear up." Aro nodded. "Our dear friend was very pleased with your cooperation. We understood it's difficult. However, it saddens me greatly that you abrupted stopped your treatment with the demand to come back. Are you certain that is the best decision?" Your eyes watered again, dangerously close to tears escaping and Aro caught eyes with Demetri from behind you. There was a slight whooshing sound as Demetri was immediately beside you, his gaze on you. Demetri closed the door to his room after tugging you inside and sitting on a large lounge chair. You stood fidgeting for a moment. "Are you angry at me? Are you angry that I came back?" "A little, but I understand the decision. I hope you realize that this cannot continue, you need to sleep." You nodded fighting back tears again. "I want to sleep." Demetri's eyed bored into you for a moment. "Come here." You complied and when you were at as reach Demetri reached out and pulled you into his lap. "I don't care what it takes, we're going to get through this together." You nodded in response. "Now, I'm aware that you have medicine to take..." You nodded reluctantly before rolling off of him to dig through your bag pulling out a box as well as a bottle of water from your flight. You headed back to him looking at the box as he once again reached out and pulled you into his lap. Reluctance really began to set in. You weren't ready for the nightmares. You weren't ready for the battle of falling asleep. Demetri saw this and pulled you closer to him. "I'll be right here, cara mia. Just think of how much better you'll feel after some rest." "I see him when I close my eyes." You whispered. "He can't hurt you. You're here in my arms. No one can get you from here."

A quiet sob escaped you when you quickly popped the pill into your mouth and swallowed it with a chug of water. "That's it. There you go. Everything will be okay now. Do you think you need anything?" Usually it's be a pillow to act as a barrier between you and Demetri's cold body but his jacket as well as the fire place were doing the job instead. So you simply got a blanket and settled into Demetri's lap. Demetri tucked you in as tears fell from your closed eyes. He held you securely in his arms as you two remained in silence. You felt Demetri softly trace the bone structure of your face. After twenty minutes, you were completely limp and asleep. Demetri slowly lifted your legs over the arm of the chair as well putting the blanket over them. He smiled down at you and soaked in the moment. This was the first step for you.

#twilight #reader #volturi #one shot #demetri volturi #trigger warning

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cottonsecurityblanket · 7 years

Text

So I watched The Ancient Magus Bride ⚠Spoiler Warning⚠

When I saw the ad of this show on Instagram I said in the comments if that girl doesn’t fall in love with the skull man I’m going to be very disappointed. I WAS NOT IN THE SLIGHTEST! I’m gonna talk about this very differently and this might be really long so I’m sorry. So here’s my thoughts on the anime.

I FUCKING LOVE IT! THIS SHOW GIVES ME LIFE! CURSE YOU ANIME MAKING ME WANNA DATE AND/OR FUCK THINGS I SHOULDN’T! Weeaboo cringe aside hot damn this show is good. Now let’s chat.

Firstly the opening. I don’t really pay attention to openings because I’m on my phone but this one made me stop everything and shush my boyfriend. Talk about something that grabs you. The singer’s name is Junna and she’s only 16 years old. The guitar is amazing and the visuals during it are great and those opening lyrics. WOO! It’s something new and fresh. Get away from the rock style music in a anime about step sisters in love (Citrus) or some dude singing high pitched with a great guitar riff and that be the only part I enjoy (Tokyo Ghoul). I love this opening. I listen to it in my free time and it just fucks me up.

WATASHI WA KOKO. Fucks me all the way up.

So in the beginning we see a girl with red hair and green eyes from Japan whose name is Chise (like cheese and say) and she’s selling herself because she wants to feel wanted and almost jumped from a building because she hates how she’s treated like an outcast. The scene then goes to Chise in chains walking through this auditorium like place with other creatures and this is the first indication or how visually amazing this anime is. Behind Chise are like giant wolf creatures and the reflection of the light from aquariums just….this anime is stunning. The animation quality of this show is 16 outta 10. I usually dont like when a serious anime turns chibi for light banter but when this anime does it I have no issue. The design of Chise, the vibrant colors, the lighting, reflection is absolutely gorgeous.

People are bidding on Chise and a man with a red blanket over his face and antlers bids 6 million on her. In this scene she’s sold to people in a…illegal magic auction i assume and Chise is a Sleigh Beggy.

A Sleigh Beggy is a person who has overwhelming amount of magic flowing from them but the amount of magic is so much that their bodies can’t handle it and they die in a year or two which is weird by the way because if Chise has been a Sleigh Beggy all her life and has lived this long you’d think shed be okay to live a little longer but whatever. Plot holes are like pot holes you can ignore them when you know where they are.

Throughout the show it’s implied but never directly said that there have been other Sleigh Beggys but nobody has really seen them in person. This is mostly because of how every new person she meets is shocked and amazed at her.

Back to the auction after a man bids 6M he wins her and we see that hes maybe 6'11 or 7 ft tall and has a wolf skull as a head (yes I looked it up). His name is Elias and they call him the Mage of the Thorn. We see why later in the episode and in episode 7 when Chise gets stabbed by a giant mantis and he looses his shit. Turning into this creature that I wish I could explain.

Immediately after the auction Elias takes her to his house and removes her chains with a touch. The house is adorable and I love it. I couldn’t live in it by myself though. Elias has a maid named Silver but Chise calls her Silkie. She cooks, cleans, and tends to the garden. In episode 15 we learn that Silkie is a Banshee and she fell into a catatonic state after her first family died. This Faire spirit leads her to a new house and he asks why she was there and Silkie says “I want my family.” this is the first time we hear she has a voice. And that she can talk. Being a banshee though I doubt she really could without breaking stuff or warning of death.

Even in the short lived sentence Silkie is whispering. The Faire dresses her as a Victorian era style maid with a bonnet and wide dress and names her Silver. In the same episode we gets lots of quiet time with her as she sits around an empty house waiting for Elias and Chise to return. When Silkie was first introduced in the show I thought she would be the quiet character that doesn’t have emotions but everyone would love. In the first few episodes when she gives Chise her plate of breakfast she wraps her arms around her shoulders and rests her chin on her head. In the quiet segment with Silkie she shows that she is bored and misses Elias and Chise in the house. When they return Silkie is happy and hugs Chise. I love Silkie as a character. She takes care of both Chise and Elias which is adorable and she has a scene where she stands outside Elias’s bedroom door with a bat and that got a chuckle from me. Hell I rewinded that scene a few times.

After being taken home ,in the first episode, Chise, while in the bath internally monologues, reveals that her mother tried to kill her and her father and brother left her at a young age. She was bullied in school and pushed to the point of almost jumping off of a building then bringing us to the introduction of the anime.

While Chise is in the bath faire sprites come to greet her and call her Robin and say her red hair means she’s got great magic abilities. Later on in the night one of the faire sprites invites her for a walk in the forest to go outside. Turns out it’s a trap to lead Chise into what’s called “The Other Side” which is basically a relm where Faires live in meaning shed be a Faire. Chise choses not too because Elias is the only home and family she knows so she tells them no and then Elias comes to save her and we see his magic for the first time. Aftrr this scene we get to the meat and gravy of what this show is about. Elias says he will train Chise as his apprentice and he wants her to be his bride.

As Im sure you can tell this anime is about magic but unlike the successful Fairy Tail and the failure (in my opinion) that is Black Clover this is something very different and new. There are mages, sorcerers, witches, dragons, faires, centaurs, and demons in this world and we see so many variations and different kinds of each of these things. Even knew kinds of magical creatures that I’ve never seen before. You can truly see the time, effort, and dedication to this show and its absolutely amazing. I wish I could think of another word but this show is just amazing.

The first episode is very good about making you want to watch the next episode so find out more about the characters and story. It’s also very good at not revealing too much but just enough about Elias that not only makes Chise want to know more but also you.

Elias Ainsworth is a creature of some sort but nobody really knows what. He doesn’t know what but he is half fae. The first memories of his existence are of him walking. He can go into the shadows of people and hide in them (something he does with Chise a lot) and also has this weird ability to change his form from something wolf like with a fish tail, to something snake like, and in episode 18 he turns into this mass where he tries to eat Chise because he’s throwing a temper tantrum. Why? Cuz Chise had a friend over. No I’m not joking.

In episode 3 Chise meets Lindel who is the caretaker of the Land of Dragons and she goes back to him in episode 12 and this is when Lindel explains how he met Elias. Elias unsure of what he is, is very confused. He thinks he used to eat humans which seems like a stretch but sometime in an episode when Chise sleeps in Elias bed with him (the same scene with Chise and the bat) and he’s threatening to eat her. Not a personal kink of mine but I don’t kink shame. In the beginning it seems that Elias just wants to help her but then it turns into Elias learning emotions and more about humans. It’s adorable really but often problematic.

I say problematic because and @redslayvega talked about this in their post about how both Chise and Elias have mental issues. A summary of their post is that Chise is willing to do anything to make anyone happy besides her while Elias is very dependent on her and has separation anxiety. Anytime Chise leaves to do her own thing he pouts and that affects Chise however she does keep doing it. I forget which episode it is, but when Chise hangs out with Alice on Christmas Eve he says she should’ve done it and he doesn’t trust her to go out alone anymore. In episode 21 the dude takes one of Chise’s dear friends to trade places with her when she gets the dragon’s curse. I mean jesus Elias. Chise rocks his jaw and is pissed. I would be too. She gets angry saying that she wanted to think about it with him. He can’t stand the thought of her leaving him.

Besides that Chise and Elias’s relationship is very adorable and I absolutely love it. It changes from student and teacher to mother and son, to father and daughter, and in reality their just two kids who need to figure out what emotions really are. Chise doing more than Elias. The sound Elias’s skull makes when he rubs it on Chise’s face is a small but awesome detail. There’s a love between them and it’s not the main focus of the show however a very important aspect and also a good way to build character development and make good relationships between people. The two of them are just too cute. In Episode 6 Elias takes Chise to “The Other Side” to heal her and when they meet the Faire King and Queen the two talk about what kind of kids Elias and Chise should have. Then they bet on how many. Chise blushes at the possibility of having kids with Elias and Elias starts to feel things in his stomach. Butterflies. Elias protects Chise as much as he can and Chise helps Elias when he throws fits i.e. the temper tantrum we talked about earlier.

Chise gets a familiar and names him Ruth in episode 7. Ruth is a black dog who is tormented by the death of his master who was run over by a carrige. I think. He doesn’t remember what he is and it isn’t until episode 8 that he remembers and the two bond and he becomes her familiar. When she dies he dies and they are emotionally connected. I think Chise calls him her brother but I can’t remember. In the same episode of 7 and 8 we also meet the main antagonist of this series.

It threw me for a loop when they introduced an actual antagonist . Up until the point it seemed to be episodes of small missions and favors and days of shopping. If that’s all the show was going to be about I would’ve been okay but them throwing in this was amazing. It happens so suddenly too and there’s no preparation.

There’s a sorcerer named Renfred and he and Elias dont seem to be on good terms but have a good enough relationship to work together when needed. He has an apprentice named Alice who is hot in a suit and generally V attractive. In her backstory she was just a kid on the streets doing drugs until Renfred found her. We first meet the two in episode 4 and 5 when there’s a black mass in the land of cats and while Chise wants to destroy it without hurting the cats Alice and Renfred think to destroy everything. Then in episode 7 Alice is trying to kill Ruth (before he became Chise’s familiar) and Chise uses a potion on her that puts people to sleep. Alice wakes up and explains she’s looking for this kid who’s apparently evil and when she says this a giant mantis mean to stab Alice stabs her and then we’re introduced to the villain and main antagonist.

His name is Joseph (my boyfriend’s name) but it seems his...demonic name is Cartaphillius. He gets mad when you call him that. He is a sorcerer who wants to make a chimera for some reason. He doesn’t even remember why in this scene. I forget who explains this but Joseph is immortal cuz of someone who cursed him and can’t die. The bastard gets his arm ripped off and just says “Oh silly me.” Like dude. Joseph really does have a reason for what he does or a “goal” of his. He goes around doing fuck all just because he can. We see him mostly doing “experiments”. In episode 4 and 5 we found out he’s the reason for the black gelatinous mass in the land of cats and that was a failed experiment. In episode 19 some goons of his (or people he possessed not sure) take dragons and he kills one for some reason. I dont remember if he just wanted to or if he had a reason but he puts the other one on auction THE SAME AUCTION CHISE WAS AT BY THE WAY.

In that same episode Chise has a dream with Joseph in it and it seems like there’s another form like some sort of demon or monster inside of him. In the dream when they first start talkig he sounds like a sweet but confused kid then he starts to loose it and pins Chise to the ground and his eyes turn hollowed out. That leads me to think maybe he and Chise are connected somehow. It’ll be interesting to see how what his story it. Something tells me however that Joseph really just wants death. He’s been around so long that he just wants to die fucking around until he finally does. If that’s the case Chise will grant him that death because that’s just how her character is.

I absolutely love this anime. It’s visually amazing. The characters have so much depth and story that I just want to see more of. The plot is simple on the surface but it’s so much more. This is a very different and new anime that I’d recommend to anyone. This anime breaks the 13 episode rule so I’m hoping this show just does the entire manga in one go like Twin Star Exorcists did. I absolutely love it to the core. The animation quality is 10/10. The design is amazing. The colors. The textures and backgrounds give me a feeling. There’s a scene where Chise falls into a river and she sees this giant river dragon and it’s absolutely breath taking. The background music gives this ambiance. So much stuff in this anime is perfect and is done right. This is how you do a magic anime. Agree with me on some things or not. This is a good anime. This is a great anime and I love it with every fiber of my being.

16 outta 10. I’m ready to bleed for this bitch. I know this was sloppy and all over the place but understand one thing. I’m ready to bleed for this show.

Next review will be on Citrus (part 3) and the problem child that is Black fucking Clover and I have some choice words. My boyfriend says hi.

#anime review #chise hatori #elias ainsworth #elias x chise #the ancient magus bride #mage #my thoughts #anime #mahoutsukai no yome #honest anime review #the ancient magus bride anime review

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wackygoofball · 7 years

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Gifset: Jaime x Brienne - Horse Whisperer AU

Jaime Lannister always considered riding his horse Honor one of his greatest freedoms. What started out as a boy’s hobby grew to be his one anchor point in life, caught up between the family business and its practices which he would rather not take part in most of the time, family feuds, and the monotony this life comes with.

After a particularly stressful day at the office, Jaime decides to ride out into the night as the first snow starts to fall, something he loved doing ever since he was a child.

However, as he rides through the woods, Jaime has to realize that he is not the only one roaming around the groves. As it turns out, he is being followed. Jaime tries to shake the people off, but to no avail. The men reveal themselves to be former employees to Roose Bolton, one of his father’s former business partners Tywin cheated on, who lost their jobs after the Bolton-Lannister alliance broke to pieces.

The leader of the gang, a man by name Locke, want to get revenge on the Lannisters, and therefore want to go through “daddy’s favorite child” to pay Tywin back for getting them into the position they currently find themselves in, unemployed and without perspective. They try to get Jaime off the horse to beat him to pulp, but Honor starts to kick out, knocking out some of the aggressors, wanting to protect his owner. Jaime gives Honor the spurs to take off, but as they try to ride away, shots are fired. Honor rears up in shock and Jaime falls off the horse, into a ditch. The steed falls on top of him, greatly damaging particularly Jaime’s hand in the process. Frightened, the horse keeps running away, leaving Jaime in the ditch. Locke and his men take off when they hear a car in the distance, leaving Jaime to perish.

Jaime, unable to move, believes his time to be over as snow turns to rain, the ditch slowly filling and no one, about to suffocate him, absolutely no one seeing him or trying to find him.

He wakes up in hospital some time later, Tyrion sitting by his bedside, waiting for him to come around. His younger brother looks like hell warmed over, and hell indeed freezes over once Tyrion has to deliver the sickening news: They had to amputate Jaime’s hand after the accident.

Jaime emotionally detaches from everything and everyone around him. He was that hand. And now it’s all supposed to be over. Any attempt by his younger brother to consider physical therapy falls on deaf ears. Jaime talks little, is just a ghost walking, pushing anyone away, even his brother, who is apparently the only one who is not ready to give up on him.

However, their relationship has been under a strain over time, which does not at all help Tyrion’s cause. The brothers rarely saw one another for the last couple of years – because of their differences fostered by Tywin’s behavior and accusations on both sides regarding that matter. Jaime moved to the capitol while Tyrion found himself stuck at the Rock, which did not help maintain the brotherly love that once was one of the central points in both their lives when they were still younger, Jaime always protecting Tyrion while the younger brother would always have the older sibling’s back, too.

Tyrion wants to be there for his brother, knowing that, despite his insistence of the contrary, Jaime needs help. Because the man is toying with suicidal thoughts far more often than anyone would know.

One particular incident when Jaime saw Honor for the first time since the accident left the oldest son of Tywin Lannister mortified. Honor took considerable damage, is deeply traumatized, and won’t let anyone near him, not even Jaime. After he ran off, the horse ended up getting caught in barbwire, and very similar to his owner, found himself stuck for hours and hours, unable to move in the cold.

Tyrion does the one thing he is good at – he starts to research.

And at last, he finds something: a horse whisperer who lives on a secluded farm on the even more secluded Sapphire Isle, Tarth. In the articles it says that it is a family business, the daughter now running the farm after her father’s demise. Multiple reports attest her an almost magical ability to therapize even the “lost cases” and “broken things.” Though Tyrion notes that the reports all date back to a couple of years ago, and no updates can be found on the destiny of the woman. Nevertheless, Tyrion has decided that this is the only way he can help his brother, so he makes a proposal to Jaime.

“A road trip,” the older brother only ever tells in a flat voice, making his discontent no secret.

“Well, we would have to take the ferry eventually, but basically, yes.”

“You have a job.”

“You do, too.”

“No longer since I have just one hand to type with.”

“The point is that I am going to take some time off, and then we are going to go to Tarth.”

“And I don’t get a say in that?”

“No.”

“Great.”

Jaime is less than pleased. He has given up all hope anyway, so why bother to try?

However, Tyrion cannot be convinced otherwise, and so, the two Lannister brothers are in for a road trip, Honor in the trailer behind them, which takes a whole bunch of sedatives to even get the horse in there.

“You know, you will have to give him the next shot. That stuff will only last for a few hours, and I can’t do the job,” Jaime tells him one time once they stop and the trailer starts shaking from the horse kicking out.

“Because you have just one hand.”

“You seem to finally grasp the concept of why this is such a shitty idea.”

The road trip is anything but easy, the two estranged brothers having to come to terms with one another, at last talking about the things they have been eating up over the years.

Once arrived on the Sapphire Isle, the two drive to the farm lying right in a valley furthest away from any other civilization of the isle, close to the blue sea which gave the island its name.

Tyrion is overjoyed when he spots the welcome committee approaching from the farm, but the welcome is anything but warm as suddenly a tall, blonde woman aims a sawed-off rifle at them, yelling at them to get off her property.

A black-haired young man hurries after her breathlessly, trying to clarify the situation. Tyrion identifies the lad as the person he spoke to on the phone before preparing the road trip. However, Brienne of Tarth is rather stubborn in wanting them off her property, because she did not invite them.

Tyrion tries to reason with her, explaining to the woman with brilliant blue eyes that he read all about her and that they travelled all this way from King’s Landing only just to see her.

“Then you made the long way for nothing, I am sorry. I no longer take cases, Mr. Lannister.”

“I told you this was a bad idea,” Jaime comments, rather pleased that perhaps he can get around this after all. Because he does not want to deal with any of this.

“But I talked to your… assistant, I assume, and he said that we could come,” Tyrion argues, in a desperate attempt to somehow get them a ticket in.

Brienne turns around to the young boy with fire in her eyes. “POD!” Podrick holds his hands above his head, screwing his eyes shut, “But you haven’t heard the amount he’s willing to pay us yet!”

“I said no!” “You heard the lady,” Jaime chimes. “I am no lady,” Brienne retorts. “In any case, there are other therapists you can seek out who are still in the business. I no longer take cases. And that is final.”

“But you are the best, Ms. Tarth. It said so in the research. And you must know, I do my research thoroughly,” Tyrion argues. “And we need your help.” Things go back and forth for a long time, but Pod manages to convince Brienne to at least let them stay the night, because the poor horse surely needs the rest, and Brienne would not mean harm to the animal, for that, she cares about horses too much.

“The horse can’t help it that the owners seem to be a bunch of idiots,” Brienne reluctantly agrees.

They make towards the farm. Jaime explains that it’s best to leave Honor right where he is because he is calm right now, but since the sedatives wore down, the horse may wreak havoc. Brienne, to his surprise, is having none of it, but instead orders them to drive the trailer in front of a small paddock.

“He will jump over that fence,” Jaime warns her.

She shrugs. “Then so he does.”

“But… then he escapes.”

“Before he meets a person, he will have to run… far. And really, he can’t get lost. While horses can swim, I don’t think he is going to make it to the other end of the shore. You know, the small advantages of an island.”

Jaime finds himself amazed when Brienne manages to get Honor out of the trailer without the aid of sedatives, simply swatting on the ground with the lunge in hand until the horse is ready to come out on his own. That is the first time in a long time that Jaime gets to see his horse peacefully munching grass on a paddock.

“First thing you should learn is that your horse now has another pace. And you will have to adapt to that rhythm, or else… yes, he will keep wreaking havoc.”

Once inside the house, the two brothers are ever the more surprised that while it’s clear that Brienne doesn’t want them here, she acts around them as though they were not the sons of one of the most influential men in all of Westeros. What is particularly striking for the two is that she instantly involves both of them in the house chores, paying seemingly no attention to Jaime’s amputation at all.

“You still have one hand, no? So why not use it?” is the only thing he gets to hear. “I am not the charity. You want to eat? Then you have to help prepare it. You want something, you have to earn it. It’s just that easy.”

Once Tyrion and Jaime retire for the day, Brienne has some overdue conversation with her apprentice – because Podrick let them come despite the fact that he knows that Brienne no longer takes cases.

“What devil possessed you? You should know that I don’t care for the money.”

“Yeah, I know, though we could well use it,” he argues.

“I still have enough money to run my father’s farm, fret not.”

“It was not the only reason, though,” Pod admits.

“And what other reason would that be?” she huffs.

“You are the only one who can help that horse. If you don’t manage, no one will,” Pod says, pointing at the report that Tyrion sent to him via email. “Have a look yourself and tell me that you know someone who can fix that broken thing.”

Brienne reluctantly takes a look at the printouts, shocked at what she has to read. She goes outside to see Honor once she is done. As Brienne watches the horse walk around, a bit agitated upon her approach in the dark, she sees that the horse actually wants to trust but cannot, coming closer and closer to her, almost letting Brienne touch him, but pulling away at the last second.

And that is when she makes up her mind.

On the next morning Brienne announces, to the surprise of everyone, that she is going to give it a try, but warns them that she can’t guarantee for anything.

“Though don’t be mistaken. If you want that therapy, you all have to work for it, the both of you.”

Tyrion is surprised, not at all expecting to be dragged into this, but Brienne is absolutely sincere. “You will make yourself useful, or else, you might just as well leave.”

Brienne and Jaime are bound to clash nearly constantly once the training begins. Jaime doesn’t want to get too involved in the therapy because it just brings back up his trauma, something he doesn’t want to let on, however. Yet, the woman requires him to start interacting with Honor, forces him to help with the saddles, feed the horses, giving him no extra treatment, nothing.

Jaime is ever the more shocked when Brienne manages to make him sit on a horse again, and that despite the fact that he is missing a hand, after cleverly challenging him that she can do it with one hand just fine.

While the banter is constant, the two start to grow closer, connecting over their common interest in horses, and apparently, a spirit that they never thought they would share in, finding similarities where they only ever expected differences.

One night, over coffee and burned pancakes, Jaime starts to open up to Brienne about the night when his whole world shattered, admitting to himself and her at last that this left him traumatized, that he thought he was going to die alone, and that no one would bother whether he is dead or alive.

“And that tore me apart.”

“But were you alone when you woke up at the hospital?” she then asks, which takes Jaime by surprise. “No. Tyrion was there.”

“Well, then your worst fear did not become true. You are not alone.”

And that realization actually seems to help Jaime. He is not alone. Tyrion stayed no matter the shit he gave him, and he bothered coming all the way to here only just to help his big brother.

As Jaime starts to get better and care about what’s going on around him, he cannot help but want to know more about Brienne, and in particular why she left the business – because the tall woman won’t let on at all.

Eventually, Pod is the one to explain it to Jaime in a private moment.

“First, her father died. That left Brienne devastated, to say the least. She learned the horse whispering from him, and she loved him dearly… and then, some time later, another death occurred… and that… that just shattered her.”

“What happened?” Jaime wants to know.

“Renly died. Right here on the farm… in her arms.”

As he goes on, Renly stayed on the farm for a holiday, wrestling some personal demons and needing a time-out, and went to the barn which Brienne left unlocked that evening, to see about the horses. He was surprised by a criminal with a gun. One of the horses whinnied, the guy got upset, and he started shooting, hitting Renly square in the chest. Brienne came rushing in, took the guy out, but by the time she got to Renly, he was already too far gone. Since they live so far away ion the isle, it would have taken too long to get an ambulance. And so, Brienne had no other choice but hold him as he died.

“Since that day, she blames herself for his death. For not having locked the barn. For not living closer to the city… and that made her lose touch with the horses. Brienne says that her way of therapizing the horses relies on one thing - a truce. And you need trust to have a truce. But the thing is… Brienne no longer trusts herself, so the horses didn’t trust her in turn… It’s all very tragic, in the end… but actually, I see hope now.”

“How?” Jaime asks, still rather shocked at what he gets to hear.

“Brienne didn’t take any cases ever since that incident, but with Honor… it works again. She has a connection to your horse in a way that she didn’t in years. I hope that will boost Brienne’s confidence again. She needs the horses as much as they need her.”

As the therapy goes on, Jaime and Brienne keep growing closer, ending up helping themselves by helping each other deal with their demons from the past.

Just like Honor finally starts to have trust in Jaime as the two reconnect over their shared trauma, arriving at a truce, whereas Brienne seems to come closer and closer to achieving a truce with herself as she begins to have faith in her own abilities, no longer trying to run from her gift.

Brienne eventually admits to Jaime that she was in love with Renly despite the fact that she knew he was gay, and that she never forgot what it was like to hold the man she loved in her arms as life left him – which was what made her fall out of touch with herself and the horses in turn.

“I guess I am my own worst patient. I tell you all the while that you have to get back in the saddle, but… I don’t manage it myself… Sometimes I simply wished it was just some physical wound, because that night… it left a scar that doesn’t heal, that doesn’t show. And I don’t know how to treat it.” “Well, a wise cowgirl once told me that the only way to get back on the horse is to get back on the horse,” he jokes.

“But Renly won’t return even if I start treating horses again.”

“No, but you can try to love again. Maybe someone who loves you back this time around.”

“And who would that be?”

Jaime kisses her then, and the two find a bit of bliss and healing in each other’s arms.

However, said bliss is short-lived, when suddenly Tywin Lannister calls back and wants his sons to return to “real life,” take up on the duties they left neglected, and return to the mainland presently.

And so, Jaime finds himself confronted with having to leave the place that finally made him feel like himself again, the place that finally gave him freedom back after he thought he lost it in the ditch.

Thus, the question remains if Jaime and Brienne will manage to break free from their past, out of the shackles of the paddock around them, or if they will remain caught up behind the fence preventing them from the lives they would want to live…

#jaime x brienne #jaime lannister #brienne of tarth #wacky tries gifs #fanfic

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kpopxhoe · 7 years

Text

Run

iii

Jaebum.

“Boss, they’re here” Jinyoung said as he closed the door. I sighed putting my papers back on the desk and adjusted my suit. I walked out of the room towards my meeting room. As I walked in everyone stood up and bowed. I went to my seat at the end of the table and grabbed a cigarette. “So you’re interested in having a partnership with EXO” their leader, Suho spoke. “We have shipments coming in we’re unable to pick up due to it being on your territory” I inhaled the smoke and glanced at Suho. “Things do come with a price” he leaned back. “As expected”

BamBam walked in with a brief case and was about to place it in front of Suho before his member, Kai stopped him. “I’ll give it to him” he took the case out of BamBam hands before closely examining it then handing it to his leader. “In that brief case is 5 million dollars” Suho looked up to me. “You think I need your money? Are you not aware that EXO is the biggest mafia and may I say the richest. This little 5 million dollars is useless to me” he said while beginning to stand up. “I have another proposal that my intrigue you” he rolled eyes causing me to clench my jaw.

“You have some big competition. You forgot to add how Bangtan has gained international attention. That is something you do not have. They’re getting richer and slowly taking your business. My deal is to destroy them and everything they have becomes yours” Suho looked at me in disbelief. “You’re willing to risk everything just to be partners with us? You’re delusional” I looked at Jinyoung and he passed Suho papers showing out plans of taking Bangtan down. He had D.O look over it and he looked impressed. “Boss, this is amazing. Maybe you should consider”

D.O was Suho’s most trusted man. He takes his word always. Suho looked over the papers himself. “I’m impressed, consider GOT7 and EXO together. But fuck anything up and we will not hesitate to destroy you. You all have a nice day, goodbye” they one by one exited the building. “They’re fucking idiots” I muttered to Jinyoung. “Soon we’ll be the mafia making history” the door slammed opened and BamBam walked in. “Jaebum, y/n is missing. Her parents keep calling me. She’s been home for 2 days” I picked up my phone and started tracking hers. “It says it’s by the place she walks home. She’s obviously not there though”

“Youngjae, pull up the security footage” a few moments later it was pulled onto the screen. I leaned back into my chair as the video played. Well, well Bangtan, I guess our plan is going to start early. “We’re going to have some fun” I smirked.

Y/n

I leaned against the wall exhausted. Taehyung has been teaching me how to fight all day and I’m so sore. “Can we stop now?” I huffed out. “I guess we can for now. Jimin is a tough person. He’ll say and do things that can hurt you physically and mentally. I’m trying to save you some pain” I nodded and looked towards the ground. “I know this isn’t easy for you but it’s the way it’s going to be. This kinda life is shitty but you get through it” I looked up at him. “How did you get involved with this?” He sat down on a crate. “I was 7 when I watched my parents murdered in front of me. I was going to be killed too but the leader said I should pay for my parents debts”

“As a kid you should be going to school and playing at the park with your friends. Not going around robbing banks or killing people. Jimin’s father said I could be something special in the future for them. Me and Jimin have been best friends since then. He was always mean to me. He’d always beat me up and make fun of me. I guess now that I look at it I understand why he’s like that. He’s forced to be heartless. You can’t kill people and do the things we do and still care. That’s why I’m confused as to why you’re here. He never cared about any girls. The girls he’s with are prostitutes for a night” after listening to him I’m confused too. Why does he want me here?

“I won’t be ever be able to leave, will I?” Taehyung nodded his head no. “I don’t know why I am treating you the way I am. I’m as bad as Jimin although my role in the gang is quite different. I get information from people or I bring people here. But I have special tactics” he winked. I looked the other way catching on to what he meant. “He’s serious about you. If I were you I would play nice with everyone. They might not be as welcoming. Don’t talk to anyone either. Also, be obedient. I don’t want you knowing what happens to those who disobey. It’s not fun” footsteps were heard walking down the steps.

It was Jungkook. “Jimin needs you, leave the girl” taehyung nodded and left. I continued to stare at the ground. “You’re beautiful, have a nice body, innocent, I wonder how long you’ll last here. This is not the place for little girls like yourself” he circled around you. “Jimin better get his shit together because we don’t need another distraction” he growled. What’s his problem with me? It’s not like I came here willingly. “You know what, come here” he gripped your forearm and led you down another hallway. He unlocked a door and your mouth opened. You were outside.

So close to freedom. “Run little kitty” he pushed you and you didn’t hesitate to run. Tears freely ran down your face. You continued to run until you heard a loud ‘boom’ you looked back to see Suga on top of the building with a sniper. You froze in place. You looked towards where Jungkook was. He was laughing. Doors where pushed opened loudly and Jimin came out looking angry as ever. He stomped his way towards you and gripped your shoulders. “What the hell is wrong with you? I’ve been nothing but nice and this is the way you want to act? Fine, let’s play dirty” he tore a piece of your shirt and tied it around your head covering your eyes.

You assumed he walked back into the large house. You could only hear doors being opened. You were thrown to the ground and your arms were being pulled. As your body slammed against the wall you couldn’t help but cry in pain. You felt handcuffs being put tightly on your wrists. The shirt was ripped from your head. “You’re going to stay down here until I think you’ve became good. This isn’t your only punishment. I’ve looked at your records. What caught my eye was older brother, Bobby. You two seem very close. Maybe it’s time we pay him a visit. You have fun down here” you began to scream and pled for him not to touch your brother.

You couldn’t see anything. The room was pitch black. You couldn’t hold in the sobs any longer. Stupid Jungkook, stupid Jimin, stupid everything. Why can’t I just disappear? I hate this.

Jimin

I couldn’t control the anger raging through my body. I pushed the door opened to where Jungkook was. I pushed him off the chair he was sitting on and pulled my gun out. “Listen to me you brat. If you ever pull shit like that again I will kill you, got it? You got one last time, Jungkook. Don’t fuck it up” I slipped my gun back into my pants and walked into my office. I would never hurt Jungkook. He’s so young and has a lot to learn still. He just needs to learn his place and not keep causing trouble.

“Jimin” I looked up and saw Suga. “Someone’s on the phone for you. You aren’t going to be happy” I sighed and picked up the phone. “What do you want” “is that anyway to speak to anyone? Didn’t your father teach you manners Jiminie?” I growled. “What the fuck do you want, Jaebum” “one of your guys has been lurking around out territory. Check that before I do. I’d hate to have to go to extreme measure with this one” “if you touch any of my men I will ruin you all. Don’t fuck with me” I slammed the phone down. Yet another headache I’m forced to deal with.

“Jimin we gotta talk” I rolled my head back. “What is it taehyung” he sat down on the chair in front of my desk. “What are you doing with that girl? What’s special about her? Does she have information we need or did she-” “I’m just interested in her” taehyung scoffed. “You’ve never been interested in any girl. This is ridiculous. When is Jungkook going to kill her. I know he’s been anxious to” I glared at him. “No one will be killing her unless it’s me. She’s staying alive for a long time” I growled. “You’re being fucking stupid. What do you need a girl around for?” “You worry about your business and I’ll worry about mine”

“What do you think is going to happen if she stays? What do you think you two will be in a happy relationship and going on dinner dates? Normal isn’t what we have Jimin. We aren’t capable of loving another person because of how fucked up we are. When things ends it doesn’t come with a happy ending. You’re not even treating her well. You kidnapped her, harassed her, you have her locked in a room right now” I broke my pen with my thumb. “She tried to run. She has to know her place” taehyung looked at me in disbelief. “You know what this is your business. I’ll stay out of it. I’m just trying to say you need to end this now because you know how it will end” with that he left my office.

I leaned back in my chair and sighed. What the hell does he know. I stood up to go talk to Suga until something crashed again my window and fell onto my floor. I walked to it and squat down. It was a rock. Oh how original of people to do. It had something written on it.

'Be prepared’

I shot up and walked to the window. A helicopter was flying away. “Boys!” I screamed out. They rushed into the room. “Someone picked the mafia to fuck with”

A/n and that’s chapter 3! I know it seems boring. Y'all drama will be going downnnnn in the next chapter. Be ready for that 😂 that you so much for the love and support you’re giving. Until next Monday! Remember you’re always free to message me for any kinda of reason. I’m here for you 😋❤️ I love youuuuuu

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falloutpnp · 7 years

Text

Session 14

Immediately curious of Charles’ mocking chortle, Pandora is about to make her way towards the HQ lobby before she is abruptly accosted by Sgt Reade. The sergeant begins to fervently dust off and pat down an increasingly confused Pandora. Before she is able to ask what is happening, Reade tells the private to march over to Major Maxwell. The two mercenaries march over to the Major, who is accompanied by Cpl Hobson. Maxwell congratulates both of the Misfits for their effort and gallantry during the last mission. He promotes Reade to Staff Sergeant and Pandora to Lance Corporal. They both receive new rank badges and pay rises. Maxwell informs Pandora that she will be considered as the 2IC (second in command) for The Misfit unit and that he expects many things from her. Pandora says she is happy to serve and will not let him down. The Major gives Pandora a plague with her new rank and orders her to put it on her locker in the sleeping barracks. The LCpl is hesitant at first as she wants to watch the drama unfold in the lobby. Maxwell firmly orders her to take care of it again. As she begrudgingly leaves, Maxwell congratulates her again. Pandora enters the HQ via the courtyard rear entrance and catches a glimpse of Molly Hull and Jack’s supposed child. She walks upstairs and eavesdrops the tail end of the conversation...

As Molly repeats her claim, Charles lets out another mocking snort of laughter. An enraged Jack loses his temper and takes a swing at Charles. The punch swings wide and its intended target lets out another snicker. Molly instinctively shields her child’s gaze away from the violence, appalled by Jack’s behaviour in front of their child. His ego bruised, Jack takes Molly and the child into the mess hall for a private conversation.

Aside from a rundown drinks and food vending machine humming loudly, the mess hall is deserted of any distractions. Molly explains that she and Jack had a wild swing back in New Vegas. She shares intimate details of an alcohol fueled night of passion and adventure, wherein Jack took her around the best casinos, restaurant and bars the strip had to offer. She learned about his music, tastes in culture and many other private details that, seemingly, only she and Jack are aware of. However, she fell pregnant with Rebecca just as Jack skipped town during the fall of Mr House. A doe eyed Molly asks Jack why did he leave New Vegas? Overwhelmed with this stunning revelation, Jack tries to explain that he was forced to leave due to the sudden changes in New Vegas. Molly dismisses his explanation and says that, whatever the reasons, Rebecca is their responsibility now. Jack is surprisingly sympathetic to her pleas and agrees to help take responsibility for their family. He then proposes that she and Rebecca move into Phoenix Corporation. Initially stunned, Molly laughs off what she assumes to be some sort of twisted joke and tells Jack that a mercenary head quarters is no place to raise a child. In the midst of their argument, Molly suddenly demands 1000 caps in alimony.

As if on cue, Mr Blythe suddenly walks into the mess hall. Armed with a metallic NCR canteen tray clutched in his hands, the civil servant is about to prepare a meal when is spots the ongoing argument. He is about to apologise for interrupting and leave when Jack immediately seizes Blythe and pulls him aside. Jack partially explains the situation and asks if Rebecca, at least, can move in. Blythe refuses, explaining that Phoenix HQ is not a kindergarten. In a stunning display paternal negligence, Jack argues that Rebecca’s small hands would be perfect for reaching into dangerous machinery to fix them. Blythe grabs Jack by the nape of the neck and asks if he is insane. Jack reluctantly concedes, somewhat, to Blythe’s objection to his idea. He then points out that Molly is demanding 1000 caps. Although Blythe is suspicious of Molly’s requisition, he does highlight that if Jack doesn’t pay up, it could cause trouble for him further down the line. Nevertheless, Blythe reassures Jack that he has a plan. In order to determine that Jack is indeed the father, Blythe asks if Molly and Rebecca are willing to take a blood test. Without hesitation, Molly says yes. Happy with her answer, the civil servant announces that they can do the test immediately. Jack catches a glimpse of Molly somewhat faltering for a moment. She regains her composure and says ‘okay, good.’

Moments earlier, Pandora reaches the tops of the stairs and catches a glimpse of Ruth McPherson tinkering with something as she passes by the doctor’s office. Pandora doesn’t stop to say hello, partially because of her orders but mainly because she wants to overhear the drama unfold downstairs. After placing the plague on her locker door in the sleeping barracks, Pandora realises that a cold draft is wafting through a wide openen window. She is caught by surprise when she notices a man precariously sitting in the window frame. The man, who shares a striking resemblance to Pandora herself, introduces himself as Hesiod - her brother. He removes the black glove to reveal a robotic like arm, telling her that she has no reason to be alarmed. In a further shocking twist, it is revealed that Pandora has been a synthetic all along. Hesiod then asks if she remembers anything about her past. She hesitates for a moment before saying that she remembers working on a farm.

Hesiod comments that this is interesting and that he believes the ‘Pithos’ program has not fully awakened her yet. Pandora begins to rattle of several demanding questions, prompting Hesiod to begin to cryptically unravel her past. He explains that, to date, there have been multiple Pandoras created; she is the 13th in the series and was the most gifted of them all. Hesiod was created to fulfill a purpose for their father, the one who created them. However, Pandora was intercepted by Coursers from the Institute in Boston. In their underground facility, Pandora underwent reprogramming and was due to be decommissioned before Hesiod was able to save her. In order to undo the reprogramming, Hesiod installed something called the Pithos program. It would be a slow process but it would eventually restore her back to normal. However, Pandora escaped during a heavy firefight between Hesiod and Institute Coursers, disappearing into the wastelands. After years of searching, Hesiod was able to find Pandora’s whereabouts after her blood test results were uploaded to the NCR network. Although the information was secure, he managed to discover a lead on it during his travels. In an effort to secure her extraction, Hesiod broke into Phoenix HQ and destroyed the blood testing equipment and samples before hiding in wait for Pandora’s arrival.

Just as he is about to go into more details, Pandora’s synthetic brother suddenly falls silent. He mutters ‘no witnesses’ under his breath, immediately draws a large calibre pistol and seemingly opens fire at a random door which is slightly ajar. There is a sharp groan that escapes the mouth of Ruth McPherson as she collapses through the doorway - a severe gunshot wound to the abdomen marking her body. Rocked with horror, Pandora instinctively draws her gun on Hesiod and tells him to stop. Hesiod says that nobody else has to die if she follows him.

The gunshot echoes throughout the building. With the exception of Molly and Rebecca, everyone immediately runs upstairs. Blythe tells Molly to wait in the Mess Hall before he too decides to check on the commotion. Maxwell is the first to arrive on the scene. He immediately spots Ruth’s motionless body on the floor and pulls his gun on Hesiod, demanding him to drop his weapon and step forward with his hands up. Lotta soon arrives and is shocked to spot Hesiod’s cybernetic arm. When the robot spots Ruth’s body, it shrugs it off as one of those things that happens from time-to-time. The others arrives on the scene, Hesiod begins to increasingly feel out numbered. With his gun still trained on Ruth, the synth looks at Pandora and declares that she does not belong with humans. He then suddenly jumps from the window perch and falls to the ground like a lead brick.

Landing on his feet and leaving a small creator in his descent, Hesiod immediately sprints through the streets, heading towards an alleyway. Charles immediately rushes to the window, takes aim and fires a shot. The rounds smashes into Hesiod’s side, causing him to stagger. He quickly regains his footing and continues to run into a nearby alleyway. Without asking for permission, Charles races through the building in pursuit of his target. At the same time, Balint immediately sedates Ruth and provides vital first aid. After stabilizing her, Maxwell orders Balint to take Ruth to surgery and assist Dr Sawbones with the procedure. Balint carries out his orders, however, just before Ruth passes out, she mutters ‘not human’ under her breath. Balint is surprised by her words and immediately becomes suspicious. The Major then orders everyone to search the building for any more intruders. When everyone leaves the room, Maxwell immediately approaches Pandora and tells her to start explaining herself. Fully aware that everyone saw Hesiod’s robotic arm, Maxwell grumbles “I thought you wouldn’t cause us any trouble?”. Pandora retorts that “I thought you would keep my secret.” Maxwell is taken aback “We did. We hid all foreign elements in your blood sample from the NCR with heavily encrypted files. We buried your paperwork under so much red tape that it would take years before anyone even got slightly suspicious.” Pandora laments that they did not encrypt it enough, apparently. She then goes on to explain who Hesiod is and the nature of their encounter. Maxwell is stunned into silence. With his temper quenched, Maxwell ponders aloud, saying that he fears that whoever managed to hack the NCR system would have to be more technologically advanced than the ACU or even the Enclave… The Major then promises that he will improve security around HQ before reassuring Pandora that the Phoenix Corporation cannot afford to lose her and that he considers her to be an invaluable asset. Pandora appreciates it. Shortly after, the rest of the team reports that their search of the building has turned up nothing else...

Charles follows the trail of blood leading towards a secluded and dark alleyway, flanked by tall building either side and lined with cluttered debris and garbage. Eventually, the trail leads to dead end, punctuated with a large pool of blood. The pool of blood is covered with a dense piece of garbage and dust surrounding the area seems to have lifted itself recently. Judging by the way the android was moving, Charles surmises that Hesiod must have leapt into the air and scaled the large concrete wall that seals the end of the alleyway. Realising there is no way to scale the wall himself, the sniper decides to investigate the large pool of blood in the hopes of taking some samples back to the lab. He lifts the garbage and is greeted with the sight of a small, blood stained block of metal. It suddenly lights up and begins to whir and beep into life. Sensing danger, Charles dives out of the way moments before the strange devices explodes. Hot shards of shrapnel pepper his body, but through sheer luck, the damage is minimized by his fast reactions and Charles is able to walk away with no life threatening injuries. Bitterly, the schizophrenic mutters threats of revenge against Hesiod as he exits the alleyway.

Charles’ thoughts of bloody vengeance are cut short when Pandora unexpectedly radios for a status update. He ignores the voice of concern several times and frustratedly pulls out the ear piece. In a petulant fit of rage, he decides to visit Sybil so that he can perhaps take his anger out on his newly assembled underlings. He quickly changes his mind mind when he spots a familiar face: the local weapons vendor is setting out his wares and, this time, is accompanied by an unfamiliar companion. Charles finally answers Pandora’s incessant pestering to simply inform her that the weapons trader has arrived and to get everyone outside. He brushes off Hesiod’s escape as a ‘thing that happened’.

Back at HQ, Dr Balint and Dr Sawbones has successfully completed Ruth’s operation. With the scientist now in a stable condition, Maxwell enters the recovery room to ask for a status report. After explaining that she’ll be okay, Balint slyly tells Maxwell Ruth’s last words in the hopes that he can prise some answers from the Major. Maxwell hesitates for a moment and lies, saying he speculates she was talking about Hesiod. Not buying his lie, Balint flat out tells him ‘Maxwell, I don’t trust you right now.’ The Major pauses for a moment before smirking. “You did well to save Ruth - someone who is a clone; someone who isn’t human.” Maxwell says, looking directly into Balint’s eyes. “It’s good that you have the capacity to be so caring to a non-human. I expect great things from you, Dr Balint.” Maxwell walks away, closing the doors behind him.

At the same time these events are unfolding, Jack and Molly attempt to talk things over again. Blythe reenters the Mess Hall to explain the blood testing equipment has been destroyed - they won’t be able to immediately determine the truth. A confident Molly steps forward and demands to invoke her ‘Chapter 7’ rights. Blythe mutters a distressing ‘oh dear’ from under his breath. He pulls Jack aside to have a serious conversation.

The civil servant explains to a puzzled Jack that the legislation Molly is throwing up in the air is something known as ‘Chapter 7 of the Peterson Reform’; The Peterson Reform is a set of civil rights former President Peterson created to help ensure the underprivileged were looked after. This includes rights of children abandoned by 1 or both parents. Jack must pay 1000 caps now or he may be challenged by court. If he’s found guilty, Jack could face stiff fines or even prison time. Jack immediately says he doesn’t have the money. Blythe informs him that his pay check just came through. After a period of huffing and puffing, Jack tries to bargain for his debt to be written off as a business expense. Blythe replied ‘Absolutely no.’ Jack them attempts to bribe the civil servant. Blythe loses it: ‘You absolutely did not just try to bribe an NCR official, did you?!’ Jack finally caves in and pays Molly 1000 caps. A pleased Molly reassures Jack that he is doing the right thing. She then asks him to meet her at the Stealer’s Wheel - a nearby bar just around the block - explaining that they should talk about their future. She then takes her leave with Rebecca, leaving behind a sad, confused and angry Jack.

A sullen silence befalls the lobby as the mother and daughter exit.

Oblivious to the events that have unfolded, a jaunty Cpl Hobson whistles cheerfully in blissful ignorance. He is cut short when he hears the crisp sound of a newspaper folding. Kassie (Luke) - a lone wanderer with a chip on her shoulder that only hunting slavers and raiders can fill - has silently bore witness the morning’s unusual events. Having embarrassingly forgotten the new recruit’s arrival, Hobson awkwardly tells her to patrol the area and… make herself at home. Kassie places the newspaper down on the coffee table and decides to occupy some other space. Charles soon radios through to everyone to meet outside near the weapons vendor, explaining that he has a good idea to make a good deal. A disheartened Jack decides to tag along in the hopes that he’ll be able to recoup his losses. As the majority of The Misfits begin to shuffle outside, Kassie decides to join them to gauge the team’s personality.

Having cleared the HQ as ordered with a large amount of disinterest, Lotta is about to join the others when it is confronted by an anxious looking Pandora. The LCpl decides to reveal her secret to the robot and asks the machine for help. Although Lotta is initially taken aback, the robot becomes sympathetic to Pandora’s plight and agrees to help. The synthetic requests Lotta to jack into her data port and try to investigate the mysterious Pithos program. Lotta makes a robo-sexual joke in a lighthearted attempt to lighten the mood, much to Pandora’s amusement. They soon find a quiet room and Lotta is able to connect through Pandora’s interface. The robot is greeted by a simple PithOS loading UI. Lotta attempts to override the system but ultimately fails and is rejected. Although her concerns have not been eased, Pandora thanks Lotta for trying anyway.

Meanwhile, Charles’ fantastic plan to get a good deal with the weapons trader involves using Jack’s silver tongue and Curt’s menacing presence to rob the men. Not wanting to feel left out, Sasha decides to pull his dick out. The trader and his friend - a meek looking man covered in bandages who is a master at weapon modifications - are absolutely shocked and appalled by their behaviour. A tense argument erupts between both parties and despite the fact that the traders are indeed frightened, they dig in their heels and tell all of the Misfits that they have killed monsters in the wastelands to sell these goods. They are prepared to die to protect their wares. The trader also reminds them that they’ve made excellent business with them before and their behaviour is completely abhorrent. Sasha contemplates pissing on his stand. He also adds that if they do decide to follow through on their threats and murder them - something Jack alludes to multiple times - the NCR will mark all of them for dead. Jack scoffs. Sasha arms his penis.

Having heard the commotion outside, Pandora and Lotta head towards the crowd and immediately cool down the heated arguments - much to the trader’s relief. Although she is no masterful talker, Pandora - through a sheer miracle - is able to negotiate a decent price on a ton of weapons, ammo and armour. Satisfied that they can make a good profit and walk away with their lives intact, the traders serve Pandora. Overcoming incredible odds, everyone walks away happy.

Happy with his purchase and his first pay package, Curt decides he’ll take a wander over to The Stealer’s Wheel for a stiff drink. As he enters the converted pre-war diner, he spots Molly talking to two gentlemen. Despite the intriguing situation, Curt shrugs his shoulders and heads towards the bar. The large, balding barman looks Curt over as he orders a whiskey. Unfamiliar with the man, the proprietor pours out a drink and asks for 50 caps. Curt takes a look at the small drink, then back at the barman and bluntly tells him to try again. The barman sternly tells Curt that the price has risen to 60 caps. Unimpressed, Curt places his newly purchased M60 onto the bar table and remains silent. 55 caps. Curt wracks a round, priming the gun for firing. 50 caps. The Misfit drops 50 caps on the table and enjoys his drink.

Unable to keep his idle hands to himself, Winston decides to have a go at repairing the complex looking blood testing machine. Despite its elaborate configuration, the mechanic proves his skills and repairs the machine flawlessly. Although a scientist would need to calibrate it, the machine is in working order. Pleased with his efforts, Winston decides to inform the Major. He confidently strides into Maxwell’s office - a fairly well kept room, perfect for discussing jobs with clients - and discovers he is surrounded by documents and complicated paperwork. An exasperated Maxwell lifts his head about the mountain of charters and legal papers to give the briefest of thank yous. Winston gets the message and takes his leave.

Tripping over his guilt, Jack finally summons the courage to visit Molly at The Stealer’s Wheel. He spots Curt exiting the building and gives him a sheepish hello before cautiously opening the heavy bar door. A bell tinkles overhead, signalling the beginning of something… special. Molly is sitting on her own in a booth, peacefully reading a book when she spots Jack making his way across the bar. She explains that Rebecca is up in her room, taking a nap. After making a passing comment that the bar is no place to raise a child, Molly signifies that she wants to talk about the future of their relationship. Although she is serious, she playfully flirts with Jack in the hopes of reigniting a spark between them. Jack agrees that they need to do what’s best of Rebecca. He is suddenly interrupted by the arrival of Mr Blythe, who marches towards their booth with driven purpose. He plonks his suitcase abruptly onto their table, raising the ire of Molly who is, needless to say, unimpressed. As she begins to protest, Blythe sits beside her, carefully unlocks the latches of his leather bound briefcase before opening it fully and exposing the contents to Molly. Her eyes widen with shock and she is stunned into silence. Blythe closes the case and begins to unravel the shocking truth: the woman sat opposite Jack is none other than Marion White - a professional con artist. Blythe was suspicious of Molly’s claim and did some research. He discovered that Molly Hull has been dead for 5 years. Furthermore, Marion White has been hired by Dosberg and Pat; two of Jack’s enemies who wish to settle a dispute over a matter of 1000 caps and a pre-war holotape. Dosberg and Pat are actually sat at the opposite end of the bar and promptly spit out their drinks. They take a glance over at Blythe and are about to make a move when two NCR MPs move into the doorway. The military police officers immediately escorte the two off the premises. Realising the jig is up, Marion pays the majority of the 1000 caps she took, saying that she spent some on lunch. Shocked - perhaps even a little impressed - Jack tells Marion that he can respect the con. Blythe, now standing in the doorway holding the door open, announces ‘Your chariot awaits, Ms White.’ Marion pauses and, looking mournfully over her shoulder, asks Jack if there is any chance he can get her off the hook.

Jack says ‘nah.’

As they watch Marion as she is carted off, Jack counts his money and comments that he is missing 30 caps. Blythe amusingly says that he thinks he can write it off as a business lunch, much to Jack’s mirth and appreciation. He then asks about Rebecca. Blythe explains that Rebecca was a street orphan who is now residing in an NCR orphanage. The civil servant apologises to Jack, commenting that he had to follow through on his responsibilities. He sincerely hopes that he has righted Jack’s situation. Jack forgives him and the pair make their way back to Phoenix HQ.

In the twilight hours of the day, as the darkness makes its encroachment, Charles and Winston take a drive to meet Sybil. They find her at the usual meeting point, alongside her entourage of Skitters, Oak and Ploom. She gives a status update on the raider front and draws Charles’ attention to The Wasps; the clan is quickly wasting the smaller clans, one by one. The situation is causing a real stink amongst the remaining clans. Charles says that it might be an opportunity to strengthen the Three Dragons. Sybil agrees and gives him several options:

Attack the smaller clans (costs ammo and lives but will gain more resources)

Attack the local tribes and force them to join (costs ammo, lives and karma but will gain more fighters)

Make offerings to tribes (costs resources - possibly lives - but will gain karma and more fighters)

Attempt to make peace with rival clans (will cost resources and potentially lives if deal goes sour. However, there is potential to gain massive resources and good karma)

Charles decides to press Sybil to push for peace. Although she is sure that it’ll cost lives and many resources, she doesn’t hesitate to say that she’ll try. Sybil does say, however, that there is one clan they won’t be able to make peace with: The Roaches. The Three Dragons and The Roaches have had a blood feud which has lasted years. Again, Charles pressures her to try anyway. Changing topic, Sybil anxiously asks why Charles did not take his personal team with him; she heard about his dangerous exploits in Wessex and was very concerned for him. A bemused Charles asks Sybil “How did you expect me to call them?” A jittery Skitters apologises for his clumsiness; in the haze of Charles’ last visit to The Three Dragons, he forgot to give him a specialised radio. Much to her annoyance, she snatches it from Skitters and hands it over to Charles. He nonchalantly pockets the bulky device and comments that he’ll use it when he feels like it. At this point, the towering hulk of muscle known as Oak steps forward and berates Charles bluntly. “I don’t think you understand. You are our leader. It is your responsibility to stay alive and lead us to glory. We are here to die for you.” He grunts. Despite being physically smaller than Oak, Charles steps forward and stabs a finger in his direction, telling him to stand down. In a display of concern, Sybil cuts Charles off and says that she agrees with Oak. This prompts the playful female raider, Ploom, to chime in. Charles finally throws his hands in the air and agrees to - what he sees as - their petulant whining.

Switching back to business, Charles inquires about the jet situation. Sybil is pretty hopeful, explaining that they’re doing okay; only two clan members committed suicide. Even she is finding it tough to kick the habit but she is coping okay. Satisfied, Charles reminds Sybil to reward the soldiers carefully.

Having concluded their discussions, Charles and Sybil part on a kiss. The Californian evening finally creeps over the land.

A couple days pass with little events. The Misfits are enjoying some well earned R&R; Hobson is busy going through a stock check; Schuster, Auden and Doctor McPherson are recuperating well; Blythe is preparing for future audits and the Major is chasing some potential clients. It isn’t long though before the PA systems blare into life, calling for The Misfits to attend theatre for a briefing.

The lights dim in small, smokey auditorium as everyone takes a seat. A projector shines a light on their next mission: Operation Special Delivery. The Misfits are tasked with assisting the NCR in the delivery of cargo in transit to a remote settlement towards the east of California. The convoy consists of several armoured NCR vehicles and a truck cab with trailer. The trailer contains the precious payload which they must protect at all costs. The NCR Major leading the mission - a barrel chested, no nonsense man by the name of Cromwell - warns the Misfits that the journey will be perilous as they will be taking a route known as The Murder Mile. The Murder Mile is a long stretch of post-war road loading out into the east of California. The NCR had once hoped it would allow for smoother trading routes throughout the state. Unfortunately, it quickly fell into raider hands and has become synonymous for its high mortality rate. Major Cromwell also stresses that the mission came directly from President Kimball himself and is, therefore, of the utmost importance.

Well aware of their constant lack of critical resources, Major Maxwell informs the Misfits that their personal vehicle has been retrofitted with additional armour, peepholes and a top turret. They are more than capable of riding alongside the NCR for this mission. He then opens the floor to questions.

Lotta immediately asks what the payload contains. Cromwell tells the robot that it’s classified top secret. Concerned, Lotta asks if the payload is explosive or dangerous in anyway. Again, the NCR Major tells the robot that it is classified. Winston charismatically announces that he will be driving the cab truck hauling the precious cargo. Cromwell bewilderedly looks at Winston, then back at Maxwell who shrugs and replies “He’s a good driver.” The NCR Major begrudgingly agrees on the condition that he sits shotgun next to Winston. Wanting a piece of the action, Curt volunteers to sit on the trailer’s machine gun turret. Soon after, Lotta and Kassie informs the team that they’ll be sitting in the rear passenger seats inside the cab. Wanting to help keep a good spread of team mates across the convoy, Sasha decides to ride with one of the supporting NCR humvees while the rest of The Misfits will travel in the van. Being the most experienced driver, Reade will take the wheel. With the minutiae taken care of and accounted for, Cromwell orders the team to meet the convoy at the edge of town in two hours time.

As the group gathers their equipment and essential belongings, Balint and Pandora check on Ruth separately. Both the doctor and the synthetic are unaware of each other’s suspicions when they meet Ruth. Though they are both relieved that Ruth is doing well, they are anxious to find out what the injured scientist knows about Hesiod’s and Pandora’s conversation. To the relieve of Pandora and the frustration of Balint, Ruth’s memory of the event is hazy and she is unable to remember exactly what happened moments before and after she was shot. The two Misfits say their farewells before heading off to their mission, unaware that they are chasing each other in search of the truth…

After assembling their gear, The Misfits travel to the edge of town and meet Cromwell. The NCR Major is busy issuing a brief to his subordinates. The men snap a crisp salute before heading to their designated vehicles; two armoured humvees, a two man scout buddy and a large 4-seater truck cab hooked upto a heavily armoured trailer. When Cromwell asks Winston if he is definitely up to the challenge, the driver cracks a crass joke about having taken some drugs to help calm his nerves. Winston then tries to reassure a horrified Cromwell that he was joking; he never takes drugs while driving. He only drinks and drives. SSgt Reade tells Winston to cut it out immediately. After a brief recap of the mission objective, including an overview of the route they’ll take, the unit set off on their fateful journey.

Twenty minutes into the drive, the unit eventually reaches the start of the Murder Mile without incident. In an attempt to ease some tension, Cromwell attempts to make some small chat with Winston - even going so far as to crack a lighthearted joke. Winston deadpans, saying that he doesn’t like to joke around while driving. The NCR Major mentions he’s disappointed and is about to go into rambling stories of days-gone-past when he is suddenly cut off mid-sentence. The scout vehicle - only a hundred meters ahead of the party - suddenly flips into the air. Cromwell immediately recognises that they’ve fallen into a raider trap: the enemy has created a heavy duty trip wire made from chains which has catapulted the speeding vehicle into the air. The dune buggy lands on a hidden bed of rusty, jagged metal, instantly killing the two passengers. Cromwell immediately shouts at Winston to pull hard right. Despite the sudden shock of the attack, Winston successfully navigates the heavy vehicle around trap. The driver checks his mirrors and recoils at the horror unfolding behind them. Coming from the right, a large convoy of enemy bikers launch themselves over a sand dune and races towards them at menacing speeds.

The Misfits take a deep breath before heading into the breach...

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mastcomm · 5 years

Text

Their Story Wrote Itself – The New York Times

Cynthia LaFave had a word of warning when she first met T Kira Madden in 2015.

“She said, ‘If you hurt my daughter, I’ll kill you,’” Ms. Madden recalled.

And that, by Ms. Madden’s reckoning, was a fair enough thing for her to say about her relationship with Hannah Beresford. Years earlier, Ms. Beresford had fought an episode of depression so crippling she required hospitalization.

Ms. Madden was no stranger to pain, either: Her 2019 memoir, “Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls,” outlines her trauma-filled coming-of-age as the queer, biracial daughter of a pair of well-to-do addicts in South Florida. That Ms. Madden’s pain may have affected Ms. Beresford was a reasonable concern for her mother.

It proved unwarranted. “Their relationship has brought so much peace to them both that, as it stands now, if anyone tries to hurt Kira, I’ll kill them, too,” Ms. LaFave said.

Ms. Madden and Ms. Beresford, both 31 and now living in Beacon, N.Y., first saw each other in 2012 at the Jamaica Bay Riding Academy in Brooklyn. Ms. Beresford, a former professional equestrian, worked there as a trainer and coach for the nonprofit Metropolitan Equestrian team. Ms. Madden was shepherding the half-dozen homeless veterans she drove there through therapeutic interaction with the horses. It was part of her job as a teacher and counselor at the Doe Fund shelter in Harlem, which also housed formerly incarcerated men, many of them addicts.

Ms. Madden had just received a master’s degree in fine arts from Sarah Lawrence College, where she is now a professor in the M.F.A. writing program. A career in social services wasn’t in her future, but the shelter job attracted her for its proximity to a population that felt familiar. “My parents were pretty severe addicts,” she said. By the time she moved to New York at 17 for college at Parsons School of Design, both were in recovery from drug and alcohol abuse. Then, “we had this second sort of beautiful life together,” she said. “They were sober and we had these happy adult relationships. My parents always loved me. They weren’t bad people.”

Just complicated ones. Ms. Madden’s Hawaiian-Chinese mother, Sherrie Lokelani Madden, lives in Atlantic Beach, a part of Hempstead, N.Y., and is the general manager of the Dop Dop Salon in SoHo. Her father, John Laurence Madden, was Jewish and, after a career as stockbroker, headed his brother Steve Madden’s international fashion accessories business; Mr. Madden died in 2015 of complications from lung disease. In addition to their addictions, they had secrets. Ms. Madden found out as a child she had two half brothers on her father’s side from a marriage that her parents’ affair broke up. As an adult, she learned about another half sister on her mother’s side and a brother, whom her parents had placed for adoption. Still, her childhood in Boca Raton, Fla., had a shiny exterior. She grew up winning equestrian ribbons and attended an exclusive high school, North Broward Preparatory School, in Coconut Creek, Fla.

Fridays at the stable with the Doe shelter residents were an opportunity for her to be around horses again and, on occasions when volunteers ushered her charges through their riding and grooming lessons, to read books.

“Hannah noticed me first,” Ms. Madden said. “She remembers me reading at the picnic table, a Joy Williams book called ‘Escapes’.” In 2013, before Ms. Beresford and Ms. Madden found a chance to be properly introduced, the shelter’s horse program ended. But Ms. Madden’s love of horses lingered. She returned to the stable to ask the barn manager if there was someone who could give her lessons.

She was reconnected with Ms. Beresford, whose job at the stable overlapped with her graduate studies in poetry at N.Y.U.

Ms. Beresford earned her master’s degree from N.Y.U. in 2014 and now teaches poetry at Drew University in Madison, N.J. She grew up in rural Voorheesville, N.Y. Her parents, Ms. LaFave, a trial lawyer from Albany, and Jon Beresford of Cañon City, Colo., the owner of Beresford Remodeling, divorced when she was 5.

At 4, she had started horseback riding. “It became pretty consuming,” she said. In 2007, Oklahoma State University recruited her for its N.C.A.A. Division 1 equestrian team. But by then, after years on the road touring, distractions from her athletic career were mounting.

“I had struggled most of my teen years with anxiety and depression, and it all piled up,” she said. In 2008, she hit what she called rock bottom. “I was hospitalized for a while, and in the hospital, I came out,” she said. She called friends and family to tell them she was gay. “As they say, it got better.”

Credit belonged partially to a college poetry class. “Though I’d hate to suggest that depression can be treated with anything less than intensive therapy by a medical professional, that became something I could look forward to, where I could see a future.”

At Ms. Madden’s first riding lesson in Brooklyn in 2013, Ms. Beresford set a professional tone. “We connected on a lot of different levels,” Ms. Beresford said, especially riding and writing. “But I didn’t know how Kira identified. It didn’t cross my mind that she might be gay. I think coming out in Oklahoma, spending my formative years there, made me assume no one else in the world was gay.”

Ms. Madden noted “that we both were in relationships at the time. But right after that lesson I texted my friend, ‘This lesbian in breeches is so hot!’ I felt very crushy toward Hannah.” Not so much, though, that she was willing to break up with her girlfriend and ask Ms. Beresford out.

Instead, life got in the way, she said, and after six months she stopped taking lessons. More than a year passed. “But I always thought of Hannah, how I wished I could be her friend.” In late 2014, she scoured Yelp for the names of Jamaica Bay Riding Academy instructors, hoping to find Ms. Beresford’s last name and contact info.

Eventually, she reached Ms. Beresford through Facebook. “I was like, ‘Hey, remember me?’” Ms. Madden said. Both were nearing the ends of their relationships; Ms. Beresford, who considers herself more a country than a city person, was about to move to Austin, Texas.

But after exchanging and reading some work each had written (Ms. Beresford a manuscript in progress and Ms. Madden short stories and part of a novel), they decided to meet for a first date in February 2015 at the Stonewall Inn.

“In the back of our heads we were thinking, this could be really painful, because I was moving in a matter of weeks,” Ms. Beresford said. But their book swap had already connected them. “When you’re reading something autobiographical, you not only learn the facts of the person’s life but the lens through which they see the world,” Ms. Madden said.

[Sign up for Love Letter and always get the latest in Modern Love, weddings, and relationships in the news by email.]

At the Stonewall Inn, they talked and kissed until closing time. “We got kicked out,” Ms. Madden said. “It felt like love.”

As the Chinese New Year began on Feb. 19, Ms. Madden, who embraces her Hawaiian-Chinese heritage, and Ms. Beresford celebrated together.

Weeks later, Ms. Beresford rented a U-Haul for her move to Texas. Ms. Madden told her, “You can’t move to Austin without me taking you.” They drove together. Ms. Madden returned to her Williamsburg, Brooklyn, apartment alone. Then, in the fall, her father fell into a coma.

“My father was my person — I was really close to him,” Ms. Madden said. Ms. Beresford booked a flight and planned to stay in New York until Mr. Madden recovered. When he died, she comforted Ms. Madden through her grief. They wouldn’t return to Texas to pack Ms. Beresford’s things for a full year.

By then, they had become experienced road trippers. “Hannah and I always joke that we spent most of our relationship in a car,” Ms. Madden said. In addition to the U-Haul trip, by the end of 2016 they had driven to Buffalo for a horse show and to Kansas to visit friends of Ms. Beresford’s; they also drove to upstate New York regularly to ride horses and spend time with Ms. LaFave.

Ms. Madden’s mother had also become a fixture in their lives, through regular visits to the home in SoHo she shared with Mr. Madden before he died, and later to Long Island. Ms. Lokelani Madden felt close to Ms. Beresford immediately. “Hannah really grounds Kira,” she said. “She has this soothing effect. I admire so much how they bring out the best in each other.”

In 2017, Ms. Madden and Ms. Beresford moved to Provincetown, Mass., where Ms. Beresford had accepted a yearlong residency at the Fine Arts Work Center. The next year they moved to Inwood in Manhattan, spending the bulk of their time teaching, writing and editing the literary journal Ms. Madden founded, “No Tokens.” They had already traveled to 30 states when, in July 2018, Ms. Beresford planned a surprise 30th birthday trip for Ms. Madden.

“We went up the California coast through the Pacific Northwest and stopped in Powell, Wyo., to ride horses at this campsite ranch near Heart Mountain,” Ms. Madden said. On the evening of July 12, they climbed back in their rented Toyota to watch a meteor shower.

“There were so many mosquitoes we turned the lights out in the car. Hannah started talking to me about how she wanted to spend the rest of her life with me. It was corny in a great way.”

She spoke Ms. Madden’s whole name — T Kira Mahealani Ching Madden — before saying, “Will you marry me?” After Ms. Madden said a tearful yes, Ms. Beresford opened her car door and found her way to Ms. Madden’s side in pitch blackness to present a ring. They counted down from three before turning on the car lights so Ms. Madden could see it: A teardrop-shaped opal surrounded watermelon tourmalines and gray diamonds, designed collaboratively by Ms. Beresford and Misa Jewelry, a Hawaiian designer.

“It was typical Hannah, being the most thoughtful person in the world,” Ms. Madden said. “Years ago, when I was feeling very lonely, I had bought a watermelon tourmaline engagement ring to remind myself to always commit to my well-being first.”

On Jan. 7 at Kualoa Nature Reserve in Kaneohe, Hawaii, Ms. Madden and Ms. Beresford committed to each other’s well-being for life. At a wedding attended by 72 guests, Ms. Madden, wearing a marigold dress designed by Zac Posen before he closed his business in November, walked with her mother down an outdoor aisle strewn with multicolor rose petals. Ms. Beresford wore an aubergine suit by Bindle & Keep, a Brooklyn company that specializes in suits for queer and gender nonconforming people.

N. Michelle AuBuchon, a friend and fellow writer who was ordained by the American Marriage Ministries, officiated during a 30-minute ceremony celebrating their devotion to each other.

“To know T Kira and Hannah is to know how fiercely they love, with no boundaries, barriers or divisions,” she said. A dozen attendants, including Justine Champine, who the couple called “dyke of honor,” stood by the couple as they exchanged handwritten vows. “You and I have dedicated our lives to words and the arrangements of those words, but it’s these moments, our moments of silence and understanding without explanation that matter most to me,” Ms. Madden said. Ms. Beresford was characteristically poetic: “The universe may be limitless, but I can count my life in moments of seeing you, of hearing your voice, of disbelieving in scale,” she said.

Yards away from the water’s edge, with coconut trees swaying and the majestic Ko’olau mountains in the background, Ms. AuBuchon pronounced them married.

On This Day

When Jan. 7, 2020

Where Kualoa Nature Reserve in Kaneohe, Hawaii

Tradition During the ceremony, Ms. AuBuchon led a traditional exchange of flower leis between the families.

Time for a Tour At a cocktail hour, guests were taken in two separate boats on a short tour of the Molii Fishpond. The 125-acre fishpond is a form of sustainable fishery management, which dates back 800 years.

Grass Skirts A band, accompanied by a trio of hula dancers, played traditional Hawaiian music during a dinner that featured short ribs and sea bass.

Kalani Takase contributed reporting from Kaneohe, Hawaii.

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