#I’m trying not to just post this whole chapter but it’s really hard. I’m archiving these for myself mostly

[vampire-in-the-corner]

Armand & Daniel’s relationship, Queen of the Damned

[lyriquette]

Remnants of RWBY: Vytal Festival - Day 3: Alternate Universes

@remnants-of-rwby-events

The next offering is part of the Becoming AU, the Crack Taken Seriously fic where Ruby is mistakenly believed to be a Beacon professor by the rest of the school and Ozpin rolls with it. Antics ensue. But you don't need to read it to understand this chapter, which will probably be posted 2 weeks after to AO3.

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

Becoming AU / Perspective: Jaune

After Forever Fall, Cardin makes the mistake of disparaging Crocea Mors within Ruby's earshot.

------

It had been an...awkward couple of weeks after Forever Fall. 

He had expected Cardin to leave him alone after saving his life. He did not expect him to try and get all friendly instead. It was just extremely awkward, having Cardin try to include him in all of his team's activities and you know pretend like the whole blackmailing stuff never happened.

What's worse was that Cardin was genuinely sincere about these invitations too, which made it really hard to decline.

His team noticed too. And Nora was really getting hyped up on breaking Cardin's legs this time around, and no one believed him when he said that Cardin was trying to be nice instead of bullying him.

Which was why he was in this situation now. In the middle of the hallway, stuck making small talk with Cardin and the rest of his team, under the watchful eye of Ren and Nora a classroom away.

As for Pyrrha, well, she was suffering with him. Even her normally brilliant smile started to dim after fifteen minutes of this awkward situation - what could she do when Cardin was genuinely trying to be nice?

Well, at least his team won't think Cardin's trying to bully him anymore.

“I’m telling you that I’m perfectly fine with a sword and shield. It’s what I practice with, it’s what I know,” Jaune said wearily, mostly just wanting this conversation to end.

Unfortunately, Cardin didn’t want to comply with his silent wishes.  

“Look. You could definitely do better. Your sword and shield’s boring, outdated, and probably needs to retire in a museum somewhere. I know a couple shops where you can get a discou-” Any further words Cardin wanted to say seem to have gotten caught in his throat. Cardin's gaze was no longer on him but past his arm, where he caught a couple of red fading petals blowing in from behind.

That’s when Ruby just walked past him - from wherever she came from - and straight towards Cardin. He couldn't see her face, but from the way she was trembling, Ruby was not happy.

“Y-you’re kidding, right?” The normal bubbliness in Ruby’s voice was replaced with so much incredulity and anger that he believed Ruby had beef with Cardin over something unrelated entirely. Enough that Pyrrha and he immediately walked to their side, instinctively prepared to defuse the situation. 

At least until she dropped the bombshell.

“..Y-you’re seriously insulting Crocea Mors?” 

Seeing the intensity in Ruby’s steel eyes was scary - almost like watching a cat about to pounce a mouse. And Cardin clearly thought so too because he stumbled trying to step back and knocked into the wall behind him. 

It always confused him as to why Cardin would try his very best to avoid Ruby after his duel with her, despite Ruby losing that fight. Actually, it was a little funny that Mr. Tough Guy was so afraid of shy, cheerful Ruby.

...But looking at the slightly unhinged look in the younger girl's eyes, he’s starting to have an idea why. 

“I-I-I wasn’t…” Cardin stuttered to the amazement of the other members of his team. 

Ruby forwardly just stepped up and placed her hands on Cardin’s shoulders, which looked a little comical given that the guy had over a foot of height on her. 

“...Crocea Mors isn’t a weapon that you can ridicule,” Ruby whispered in dead seriousness, “It survived at least three generations in a Huntsman’s family. It survived the Great War. And it’ll probably survive you too.” 

He’s…pretty sure Ruby didn’t say ‘and that might be sooner rather than later' but oh boy did he feel it. And from the deer-in-headlights look Pyrrha’s giving him, she felt it too. 

“H-h-hey. Come on now. Let's not fight over that antique -” Russel remarked with a genial smile, sliding between Cardin and Ruby to try and make peace. And that smile wilted immediately after Ruby turned to him with a blank expression. Hell, even his mohawk looked like it wilted too. 

Gotta give him props though. 

What a true friend. 

“That antique was made with the best that Vacuoian steel-forging and Vale’s blacksmithing had to offer!” Ruby scathingly replied as she pushed Cardin away and stalked over to Russel, “Even today, blacksmiths and fabricator machines could only hope to match Crocea Mors’s durability and sharpness. 

“You wanna pit Shortwings against it for a couple hundred swings?” Ruby stomped a foot down and swung her arm to punctuate her point, “I will bet any amount of Lien that Shortwings shatters first!” 

Russell vigorously shook his head as quickly as he could - like a grade schooler knowing he did wrong. Unfortunately for him, it's clear Ruby was determined to hammer the lesson home.

“More importantly,” Ruby lowered her voice once more, “that antique had more thought put into it than most weapons today.”

“Crocea Mors was created specifically with the hope that its wielder would survive the Great War,” Ruby confidently declared, “And to do that, it was made to be both strong and reliable. Do you know what sand or water does to intricate mechanisms? It gums them up and then makes them useless.”

“Now of course, I built Crescent Rose here with a wicking system to deal with that,” Ruby affectionately added with a pat to the collapsed weapon hiding behind her cape, “but back then, who would know how to make that kind of mod?”

“Furthermore, whatever joints Crocea Mors had were made so well that the shield appears seamless when deployed,” Ruby lectured on, clearly calmer after her brief aside about her own weapon. It still didn’t stop her from prodding Russel’s chest every couple words though. “And as strong as every other part of the shield too.” 

So entranced he and Pyrrha were by this super assertive version of Ruby that they didn’t even realize Cardin and the rest of his team had already skedaddled. Only when Russel desperately gazed over at where Cardin was - and the indignant disbelief in the guy’s eyes - did they realize that the rest of team CRDL was just gone.

“Do you know which kingdoms preferred guerilla and ambush tactics the most? Mantle and Mistral!" Ruby continued on, gaining steam again, “Under those circumstances, a sheath that turns into a heater shield is a brilliant idea! Not to mention there’s a robust spring-loaded mechanism that can deliver a counter blow when the shield is deployed or even create a makeshift barricade to block a narrow passage.” 

"As for the sword, its excellence speaks for itself," Ruby then huffed as she closed in on a shrinking Russel, "but if you had any proper weapon knowledge, we wouldn’t be here right now."

“Keeping an edge that keen over three generations - an edge that can cleanly decapitate an Ursa Major in one swing - is a testament to both the blacksmith’s metalworking and Jaune’s family who maintained it well.”

…Well, now he was feeling guilty again about stealing Crocea Mors from the family.  

“Heck! Given how old this "antique" is, chances are it cut down someone who would’ve ended up killing your ancestors, giving you the opportunity to say such ignorant words today. ” Ruby continued on, “Really! You should be calling Crocea Mors your Granddadd- Wait Pyrrha, what are you-” 

Pyrrha had begun pulling the younger girl up and away from Russel, elbows latched underneath the other girl’s armpits.

Yeah, probably a good place to end things.

It still didn’t stop Pyrrha or himself from trying to stifle a laugh at the uncharacteristic Yang-like insult.

Definitely sisters, alright.

Still staring at Russel and being restrained by Pyrrha, Ruby frowned as she nudged her head towards him, “Come on, Jaune! He’s insulting your weapon! You should be defending Crocea Mors's honor!” 

“Errr…Ruby, I actually didn’t know all tha-”

Pyrrha shook her head violently, mouthing the word no. 

Russel, from the corner of his eyes, looked at him with an expression of gratefulness. 

Ruby slowly turned her head towards him. 

Oh. Crap.

[celestiarambles]

You'll be Safe Here

trigger warning: suicide, overdose, hospitalization, psychiatric hospitals, mental disorders

hi so i know y'all are tired of me trying to defend angela... but here's another fic defending her once again xD

this is kind of like a part 2 of you can't catch me now in lars' pov and this was kind of requested by @dinamo123xpq, i had planned to write this a long time ago but i got busy and now here it is!

also whenever i listen to the filipino song you'll be safe here (the lyrics are in english) it also kind of reminds me of lars and angela (i'll reblog it with the spotify link later haha)

so yeah i hope you'll endure my yapping about this for at least a little longer HAHA

Summary: Lars wasn’t supposed to care about Angela anymore. Once the Bureau was over, his plan was to settle their divorce papers and stay in Australia with his daughters for good…

Until he gets an important call.

Also cross-posted on Ao3: You'll be Safe Here - celestiamirasol - Criminal Case (Video Game) [Archive of Our Own]

It has been a week ever since the Bureau had officially dismantled SOMBRA for good. They only had to process paperworks and forensic evidence for every law enforcement agency in the world, and everything would be over. 

Their purpose would be over.

”What are you planning to do after this, bro?” Jack asked his best friend. “I honestly don’t know, the Bureau’s been my whole life…”

Lars knew exactly what he was going to do. Local forensic laboratories in Australia were offering positions to him after they had heard of his work in the Bureau, but he wasn’t interested. Once he settled his divorce papers, he was going to find a simpler job, start anew with his daughters.

His daughters deserved a peaceful life, one without chaos or violence. One without betrayal. He wanted to close this chapter of his life so bad.

”Daddy, you’re still not coming back to Australia with us?” April innocently asked as he brought the triplets to the airport. Their nanny followed suit.

”I’m really sorry girls, but I’ll just settle something in the Bureau, and then I’ll stay with you for good.”

“Can we see mommy?” June shyly asked.

”June, mommy had already left us!” May’s response had broken Lars’ heart. He didn’t want to hear his kids ever say that, but it was for the best. So that they could all move on.

”Girls, I know this is hard for all of us…” Lars knelt down to meet their gaze, trying to hold back tears. “…but you might never see your mom again. It’s for your own safety. I’m sorry.”

”But daddy, Elsa also hurt Anna and almost froze the entire kingdom, and yet they forgive each other because they love each other!” June pleaded, referencing Frozen. “Do you… do you not love mommy anymore?”

“Our flight number is being called, girls.” The nanny took them. “We should go.”

Lars stood up, processing June’s question. “Take care, girls.”

Did he not love Angela anymore? Maybe. He had already accepted that she would never be the woman she once was. Thinking about her hurt him too much. He almost committed suicide because of her betrayal one time. He didn’t want to even make their marriage work for the girls, for it’ll just hurt them in the long run.

Love wasn’t supposed to hurt, it was supposed to be steady. Safe.

However when he returned back to the Bureau’s New York headquarters, why did his heart beat fast when a random number called him?

”Hello, are you Lars Douglas?”

“Yes, who’s speaking?”

“Hi this is from the NYC Health and Hospitals, you are listed as the emergency contact of Angela Douglas. We are calling to inform you that she has suffered from an overdose on benzodiazepine…”

He wasn’t supposed to care about her anymore. They were over. SOMBRA was over.

But why did he immediately run to the hospital so fast once he got the call?

He wished that this was some kind of sick joke, that it was all some kind of nightmare, but it was not. The broken pieces that he had struggled to fix for the past few months had crumbled all over again once the doctors told him that Angela had fallen into a coma due to her attempt, and they didn’t know if she would ever wake up.

Oh god, the girls. How can he explain this to his daughters? He last told them that they might never see her again… 

A sob bubbled up his throat as he entered the hospital room and found Angela unconscious and hooked to various monitors. He hated how he still held her hand, crying, mourning for her and the woman she once was. He wanted to be mad, yell at her for trying to leave him, to leave them like this…

But he looked around the dreary place. He was all alone. He was the one listed as her emergency contact. Minutes turned into hours, hours turned into the morning… nobody else came for her. Her parents were dead. Her SOMBRA comrades either were in jail, in therapy, or dead. The Bureau hates her for trying to kill them and for denouncing Dupont. He was the only one that came for her, and even he had plans to leave her too.

She had no one left. 

Thinking about it, it would be a truly somber end to one’s existence. What she did was wrong and he hated her for it. But once upon a time, he believed that she had a good heart, and it was one of the reasons why he fell in love with her. However, fate had been cruel to her and took away her parents from her at such a young age, causing her to fall into SOMBRA’s clutches.

If Lars had to choose, he would rather have her live a life with her parents instead of her meeting him.  Maybe then the world wouldn’t have tainted her perspective so bitterly. 

Once he got back to the Bureau, he immediately threw away the divorce papers and canceled the meeting with his lawyer. The more he thought about it, the more that he felt his every step to Marina’s office become heavier.

He recalled the time she first got arrested and when he confronted her for answers. She told him her parents died when she was eight. Even if she had told him that she had chosen this, that she chose to be loyal to SOMBRA… He wanted to be naive. Deep inside, he felt that she secretly didn’t want this. She was a recruit, just like the other kids that suffered at the hands of SOMBRA. She was also a victim of the harsh cycle of violence they perpetuated.

He hated how this had to happen in order for him to realize all of this.

“You want me to petition the court to release all the SOMBRA recruits and instead subject them to a stay at a psychiatric hospital, including Angela?” Marina clarified to the scientist, baffled. “I can probably understand the others, but she almost killed Jonah, she almost killed us, Lars… do you really want that?”

“I don’t believe she wanted to do that either…” Lars sighed.

”Maybe you’re just feeling this way because she had attempted. It’s valid to feel this way, but it’s not your fault. That was her choice to make -“

“I know it’s not my fault! It’s SOMBRA’s fault!” He didn’t mean to snap at Marina. He didn’t know why he was still defending her, but she deserved to have someone in her corner for once. Like how she did for him all this time. “She told me SOMBRA took her in when she was eight… Did you know that?! We’ve seen how it affected children like Sanjay and Mei many times! Why would she be any different?!”

”But -“ Marina looked at Lars like he was crazy. “I-I’ll… think about it, okay?”

He left Marina’s office, dejected. He knew her betrayal was hard on everyone, but sometimes it felt like he was the only one that cared. It was like everyone accepted that Angela was a horrible person and they couldn’t change that. 

Soon, weeks turned into a month, and finally they had finished all of the documents and forensic evidence to take down SOMBRA. The Bureau was over. However the more that time passed by, the less likely was the chance for Angela to wake up again.

All of them were celebrating, but Lars wasn’t in the mood to. While a part of him held onto the hope that maybe she was still alive, he couldn’t stop thinking about their last exchange. The harsh words he had last imparted to her, how he had told her that he never wanted to see her ever again…

They had a vow. ‘Til death do us part. But why did their parting words to each other stung more than death itself?

”Hey.” Carmen approached him along with Marina, holding a champagne glass. “I heard about what happened to Angela… I’m sorry.”

“Carmen and I were just talking about it, and… you’re right.” Marina met his gaze. “All of the recruits deserve a second shot at life. Including Angela.”

That night, he and the two women visited her once again. Even if forgiveness was still hard, they all vowed to give her a second chance at life. She deserved to live again.

Maybe he was just holding on to the idea of her. But deep down, he wanted to try to make that idea possible, even for a little.

Even though he promised to the triplets that he was going to go back home, he had to stay in New York for a little while longer, helping Marina with the petition. He didn’t want to leave Angela alone. He stayed with Jack for a while, even though the latter was opposed to his decision, thinking that she got what she deserved. But to him, it was not what she deserved. 

He visited her everyday, constantly leaving white, yellow, and blue tulips in her hospital room. He knew how much she loved tulips. It represented hope, rebirth, and life. He wanted to give life to her dreary hospital room. He wanted to wish all the best for her.

Jack tried to get him to move on. He tried convincing Lars to try dating apps, that there was more to life outside Angela. There was a point where he almost gave in, that maybe after all this time there was a chance that she didn’t love him anymore. But Lars didn’t feel like falling in love again if it wasn’t with her. 

However, he couldn’t stay forever. He had a promise to the triplets. But before he went back to Australia, he had to do something. 

Ever since her attempt, Lars had hired a private investigator to investigate her life in SOMBRA. He wanted to do everything he could to make sure Angela could go back to her normal life eventually. But according to the investigator, nothing in her life was ever normal.

Being more used to hot climates, he wasn’t used to the chilly breeze that greeted him in South Korea. He held a piece of paper in his hand, traipsing along the steps of Busan Correctional Facility.’

After some time, he sat inside a booth. In front of him was a woman, who was supposedly his in-law. Angela’s ‘mother’ who was part of SOMBRA. He knew he had to confront them at some point in his life.

”Oh, so you’re that guy that Angela decided to marry…”. Her lips pursed into an annoyed frown. “See, I knew that she made the wrong choice. At least with us, her future was secure. She was supposed to join a multi-million pharmaceutical company under us once she graduated, but no, she chose you. Ever since you came into her life, she has become a failure.”

“But you’re also forgetting that while we were married, she had become a renowned scientist with a Nobel Prize. And she did it all with her own talent and effort. Without you.” He didn’t like how her own supposed ‘mother’ put her down like that.

”Oh, but she lost it anyway because she became sloppy with the Bureau, no? I’ve been telling her father that he should’ve just killed her the moment she said she was going to marry you. She was never going to survive.”

”No, fuck you!” Lars wasn’t one to curse, but he couldn’t take it anymore. “It was because of you she became like this! If you didn’t force her to do things she didn’t want to do, then maybe she wouldn’t be in a coma right now! You didn’t care about her, you just wanted her for your own selfish gain!”

He spat out a bunch of other expletives at the woman. The guards had to pull him out because of his outburst. He sat outside the steps and cried.

 She told him that she disobeyed SOMBRA one time, and that one time was to marry him.

She fought for him. She fought to keep their family safe, away from the clutches of SOMBRA. From getting him out of that chimney when they first met, to saving him from his near death experience by finding the cure to the plague… All this time, she was fighting for him.

This time, he wanted to be the one to fight for her. 

While he had to go back to Australia for the triplets, he was overcome with joy when Marina called to tell him that the petition had passed. Angela could finally heal.

Eventually, he told the triplets the whole story about their mother’s situation. He had only explained bits of it to them during video calls. Now that he was finally with them, he was able to sit them down and tell them everything. 

“Is mommy going to die?” April asked, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

”I don’t know, girls… it’s been a year, and I’ll be honest….”  He didn’t want to say it, but a part of him had to accept it so it won’t hurt much once it happened. “…her chances of waking up are slim.”

“I want to see her, daddy!” June cried. “I want to see mommy!”

“She already left us, June!” May was angry, but a part of her was hurt as well. “It’s… it’s been a long time…”

”Hey, girls, it’s alright to feel what you’re feeling right now. But no matter what happens to your mother, just know that she’s there, watching over all of us every step of the way, like a guardian angel.”

 He hugged his daughters as they all cried together. They had various shades of anger, hurt, and confusion written on their faces, but they still mourned.

Thankfully, things got better.

3 years later, Lars had gotten the news that Angela had finally woke up. He immediately requested for her transfer to a psychiatric hospital nearby in Australia so that he could visit her.

He also sought help, both for him and the triplets. The past few years had all taken a heavy toll on their mental health, and he wanted to make sure that they were all going to be okay. 

Once he had heard that Angela had finally been transferred, he wanted to see her, but the hospital didn’t allow him to. So as a coping mechanism, his therapist suggested for him to send letters for her to read. And so he did, even writing her various prose and random lyrics whenever he thought about her. He even put in random drawings and letters that the triplets made. Some were corny, some were profound, but he wanted to show her that she was loved.

A year later, he was finally allowed to visit her. Her therapist thought that this would be best for her healing. Their reunion was filled with a lot of tears, but deep in his heart he had forgiven her for everything. He accepted her for all that she was, the good and the bad.

“Hey.” He greeted her with a smile as she got discharged from the psychiatric hospital after 7 years, holding a bouquet of yellow tulips. “This is for you.”

“Y-you didn’t have to…” Angela blushed as she accepted the bouquet.

“No, I wanted to.” He pulled her closer as they walked over to their car. This time, he wasn’t going to let her go.

The first few minutes of the ride back home were silent, not until Angela spoke up. “Lars…”

”Hmm?”

”I truly am sorry for everything… and thank you for staying with me.” She looked away as she felt her eyes sting with tears.

Lars didn’t say anything until they had encountered a stoplight. His eyes may still be on the road, but his free hand crept to hers as he held it. “You don’t have to say sorry or thank you anymore. Just know that I’ll be here for you no matter what.”

Because as people change, love grows into a steady space, ready to withstand whatever the world throws at it. 

No matter what happens, love will always be steady. It will always be safe.

[mysteroads]

Summary: Delia's wedding is looming and she hasn't found the ~Perfect Dress~. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and it'd take a miracle to find the dress of her dreams. A miracle... or magic. Time to visit the Neitherworld to visit a shop that can make all your wedding dreams come true... for a price.

Excerpt:

“I don't really like the idea of stealing— or borrowing!— my dress,” she admitted. 

Lydia nodded so hard Delia worried she'd make herself dizzy. “Smart. Especially since he'd have to keep magicking it periodically so it'd keep the new look.” She wrinkled her nose at Beetlejuice. “And all that magic might do weird things after awhile. I don't think Winter Pines needs another cryptid, BJ.”

“You didn't mention that detail,” Delia said, eyeing Beetlejuice as she imagined a floating wedding dress caught on camera like Bigfoot.

Beetlejuice shrugged. “Not like it'd be hard to keep juicing it on the regular for ya, D. But if you'd rather go shopping in the Neitherworld, we can do that instead.”

Both Lydia and Delia gaped at him. Delia would've laughed at Lydia goggling like a fish out of water, but she was pretty sure she looked just as silly. 

Lydia found her voice first. “What?” she demanded, her voice nearly a hiss. 

Beetlejuice leaned away from her, hand raised placatingly. “Don’t give me that look, Lyds! It'd be fine! I got a few favors I can call in, and if nothin’ on earth appeals to D, then maybe earth-adjacent might! All sorts of kooky and whimsical shit over there, and D pulls off kooky and whimsical like a pro.” He winked at Delia, grinning.

“I think I'll take that as a compliment,” she said, smiling. “But are you serious, BJ? The Neitherworld?”

“Sure. You handled that unicorn thing pretty good, and you're short on time. Like, really fuckin’ short on time.” Delia looked away like a guilty dog confronted with a knocked over garbage can. “You can spend a whole day in the Neitherworld and only lose a few hours. That way, if we have to hit more than one spot, we can.” His yellow-gold eyes went distant, obviously thinking through his plan. “Hopefully, though, the place I’m thinking of will get it done.”

Lydia frowned at him, then crawled up to sit on his other side, eyes intent on his face. “What place, Beej?”

“Nowhere I’ve taken you, Scarecrow. Not really either of our cups of tea. But Ginger works there, and she can get us in.”

“Ginger?” Delia asked, trying desperately to throttle back her curiosity. The Neitherworld was a terrifying and intriguing concept. The adults in the house—Delia, Charles, Adam, and Barbara— had all fished for details, but Beetlejuice and Lydia stayed frustratingly vague. Except for one brief trip as a family (minus Charles) to a remote corner of the Neitherworld, Lydia’s sketchbook was their biggest glimpse into the other world, and what they saw there was fascinating and terrifying.

“Friend of ours. You’ll like her,” Beetlejuice said dismissively. “Anyway, we got a deal, Delia? I take you to the Neitherworld and let you look around for dresses, and if you find one you like, I get it for you. In return, you owe me a big favor.” Lydia nudged him hard in the ribs and he rolled his eyes. “The favor won’t involve hurting yourself or anyone you care about.” He held out his hand and Delia didn’t hesitate to take it.

Author's Note: I'll probably be posting the whole chapter here later. In the meantime, if you enjoyed the excerpt, go ahead and reblog this puppy!

[coleranchdorito]

The Death Of Peace Of Mind

I was asked to post my new fic on here so those that can't get on AO3 may enjoy, sooooo, here it is!!! Bare with me, I've never posted fic on here <3

Summary: Bakugou Katsuki has been told nearly his whole life that he's a talentless witch. Someone with no affinity for magic. Three years after the death of his mother, High Priestess Mitsuki, Katsuki decides to perform a familiar summoning ritual--against the better judgement of his friends. Inevitably, the summoning goes wrong and he ends up calling upon Tsukuyomi: The Crow Demon. In exchange for the demon's true name, Katsuki agrees to a warlock pact for actual power. Now, Katsuki has to figure out how to maneuver through his life with a demon essentially attached to his hip--a demon that very much doesn't care to keep himself a secret. But, what happens when he accidentally start falling in love with said demon? And said demon starts to feel emotions that he doesn't quite understand?

Word count: 3152

Content Warning: Minor gore later on, demon summoning, talks of child neglect and abuse (but it's never shown)

Ship: Bakugou Katsuki/Fumikage Tokoyami

Chapter 1: August 2nd

Katsuki keeps glancing over at the book laid open on the floor beside him–sucking his bottom lip between his teeth as he tries to copy the drawing on the page with a piece of white chalk. 

Deku had advised him against this. Having gone on an entire muttering rant about the dangers of summoning anything, especially a demon or familiar. Katuski still wanted to try, though. Wanted to prove that he has actual talent and he wasn’t accepted into the coven just because of his mother. 

Katsuki bites down a little too hard on his lip, wincing from the sting. “Shit.” He drops the chalk and presses a finger to his lip, sucking lightly and tasting the coppery tang of blood. Shifting his sitting position, Katsuki stretches his legs out and looks over the sigils on the floor with a sigh. 

“What are you doing?” 

Katsuki jolts and looks behind him, finding Todoroki standing in the doorway with his hands on his hips. “What does it look like, Candy Cane?” 

Todoroki rolls his eyes as he moves further into the room, pausing when he finally sees all of the sigils drawn on the hardwood floor of Katsuki’s bedroom. “You can’t be serious, Kat.” Todoroki grimaces and glances over at the book to Katsuki’s left. “Are you really trying to summon something?”

“Just a familiar!” Katsuki blurts out. Todoroki’s eyebrows shoot up and Katsuki curses under his breath, grabbing the book from the floor. 

“You know it’s dangerous to do this, right?” Todoroki sighs. “Not only that, but it’s incredibly stupid and you can get yourself killed.”

Katsuki rolls his eyes and focuses on the book resting on his lap.

Todoroki wasn’t a witch–he came from a long line of elementals–but he’d been friends with Katsuki and Midoriya long enough to know what they were doing. Most of the time, at least.

“You forget my mother had a familiar.” Katsuki moves his right hand towards his mouth–hopefully hiding the fact he’s biting his thumb nail. It’s a nervous habit he’s had since he was a kid. “If the old hag could do it, so can I.” 

Katsuki can see Todoroki move out of the corner of his eye. The elemental crouching next to him to better get on his level. “Why do you keep comparing yourself to your mom?” 

“Because,” Katsuki’s head snaps up and he holds Todoroki’s gaze. “I have to prove that I have talent. I was grandfathered into the coven she ran and now that she’s dead, I have to prove that I’m worthy.”

“That’s not true.” Todoroki replies and Katsuki huffs out an angry sigh, turning back to his book. 

Deku had also told him that he didn't need to prove himself worthy of the coven. All twenty members had respected High Priestess Mitsuki's decision when she welcomed her son without any test of talent. Mitsuki was gone now–had been for three years–and the new High Priestess, Nemuri, didn't even bother with testing members. But, his mother's cruel words would always linger in his mind: “No talent, but it would be an embarrassment if I don't allow your entry.”

No one but Midoriya knew Katsuki had a difficult time with performing magic–no affinity for it. But, he worked hard, learned everything he could and if he got this summoning to work, he’d prove to himself–and his dead mother–that he was a talented witch.

“You don’t know what the truth is, Sho.” Katsuki mutters. 

Todoroki sighs and places a too warm hand on Katsuki’s right shoulder, giving it a squeeze. “Do what you feel like you need to, but please be careful.” He looks at Todoroki over his shoulder and the elemental gives him a small smile. Todoroki gives his shoulder another squeeze and leaves the bedroom, closing the door behind him. 

Katsuki glances down at the book in his lap again, biting the inside of his bottom lip and tapping his finger on the page he’d been looking at for an hour and a half. Maybe Midoriya had been right about this being a mistake? 

“Even if the summoning works, you don’t know what you’re summoning!” Midoriya stands before him in the foyer, eyes wide as he pleads for Katsuki to stop. “You’re just opening a doorway and you can’t control what comes through!”

Katsuki sniffs and picks up the chalk, placing the book back on the floor and sitting on his knees. 

He doesn’t care if all he’s doing is opening a doorway. Katsuki needed to prove that he was a witch, even if it was just proving he could do this to himself.

An hour later, Katsuki wipes his forehead with the back of his arm and sets the piece of chalk next to him; it’s so worn down by now that it wasn’t even useful anymore. He pushes himself off the floor–shaking the pins and needles from his legs–and limps over to his alter. 

“Salt, ritual dagger,” Katuski murmurs to himself, picking them up as he goes. “What else?” He walks back to the circle and carefully places the items in his hands on the floor, turning to read over the passage in the book. 

Six black candles placed equal distance around the circle. 

With a nod to himself, Katsuki looks towards the trunk he keeps all of his spell components in at the end of his bed. He’s positive he has six black candles inside that would be perfect for this. Digging through the trunk, he finds them easily and quickly places the candles around the circle, lighting them as he goes. 

After that, Katsuki picks up the box of salt and pours it around the circle and candles, stepping inside before closing it. Placing the box at the edge of the salt circle, Katsuki kneels on the floor in front of the last sigil he’d drawn. 

He reaches over and picks up the ritual dagger and curses to himself when he notices his hands are shaking. 

You can do this. You HAVE to be able to do this.

Katsuki raises the ritual dagger to his hand and inhales deeply as he quickly slashes it across his palm. He exhales roughly with his teeth clenched and cups his hand to let the blood pool as he looks down at the final sigil for the summoning ritual. 

The only one that needed his blood to activate.

“Hope this fucking works.” Katsuki mutters as he holds his hand out over the chalk drawing. He slowly tilts his hand, the blood spilling from his palm and…

Nothing happens.

Katsuki furrows his brow in frustration, glancing at the book to his right on the floor.

Place hand directly on sigil.

He’d just done it wrong, like a novice. With an eye roll and an angry huff, Katuski opens his hand fully–hissing from the burn of the cut–and slaps his hand onto the sigil.

For a few moments, nothing happens. Katsuki moves to look at the book again, almost positive he’s done something else incorrectly when the temperature in the room drops to freezing. He can see his breath puff out in a cloud as the candles extinguish and the circle and sigils begin to glow with a faint blue light.

The floorboards creak as if someone is walking towards the circle and Katsuki’s eyes dart around in fear. A liquid gurgle fills the room and he glances back at the circle as black sludge bubbles from the center, filling the circumference of the chalk circle.

“Fuck.” Katsuki leans back and tries to pull his hand from the sigil, but he can’t. It’s like he’s glued to the floor as the black substance continues to bubble. 

A black, taloned hand breaks the surface in the middle–Katsuki bites his tongue to keep from screaming. A second hand follows behind the first and both make contact with the floor as something pulls itself out of the black pool. 

Katsuki notices the glowing red eyes before anything else. They almost burn into him as they lift higher and higher–the beings head almost scraping across the low ceiling as the rest of its body pulls free of the goo.

The second thing Katsuki notices, when he’s finally able to pull his eyes away from the monster’s, are the very bird-like features it has. From the talons that first appeared to the feathers and beak on its face. Its entire form is still black, almost like it’s coated in the black substance it crawled out of or it’s made from shadows.

The more Katsuki takes in the hulking form, the more his skin starts to tingle.

“Why did you summon me, witch?” The voice echoes everywhere in the room, including within Katsuki’s skull. 

He winces and shies away from the being, but he can’t move far with his hand still glued to the sigil on the floor.

The creature moves, placing both hands on the floor–still within the chalk circle–and leans forward as much as it can. “Answer me.”

“I need a familiar!” Katsuki chokes out and his face burns with embarrassment. He sounds pathetic. 

The creature tilts its head to the side, considering him. “You want a familiar?” Katsuki nods, trying to swallow around the lump in his throat. “So you summon the Crow Demon to provide one? Or to be one?” 

Katsuki’s eyes widen as more fear floods his body, the realization finally sinking in. 

Midoriya was right. Katsuki shouldn’t have attempted this, he couldn’t control what had come through. 

“I wasn’t trying to summon you,” He wheezes out, still trying to pry his hand from the floor. “I promise I wasn’t.” The creature only watches as Katsuki feels his panic trying to swallow him whole. 

His mother’s familiar had been a demon of some sort, but it had always been in the form of a cat. Katsuki had never feared it, had loved the creature the more he thought about it, but this wasn’t that. This demon before him had palpable power. It had status. 

The creature narrows its blazing red eyes as it considers him. 

“I can’t do this.” 

Katsuki blinks.

The creature leans away from him and, with a wave of one of its taloned hands, its form begins to shrink. The shadows that covered its form recede and within a span of minutes, an arguably handsome man with a slight frame, wearing what looks to be a simple black chiton stands before him. 

“What’s your name, kid?” The man puts his hands on his hips and tilts his head to the left, watching him. 

Katsuki blinks again. His brain is taking extremely too long to process that the man before him is the crow monster from not even five minutes ago. His skin is pale in color–his shoulder length, soot black hair and black chiton making it almost glow in the dark of Katsuki’s room–and his eyes are the same red from before, just in a more human form.

“Hello?” The man snaps his fingers and waves at Katsuki, pulling him from his thoughts.

“It’s Katsuki,” he’s finally able to say. “And I’m not a fucking kid. I’m twenty five.”

The man laughs, crossing his arms over his chest. “Considering how old I am, you’re still a child.” 

Katsuki furrows his brow. “Why were you the one summoned?” He couldn’t think of another question to ask as he tried to search his brain for why a crow demon sounded familiar.

The man steps forward, careful to not step too close to the chalk line and glances at the book on the floor. “Well, you summoned me directly.” He points to the book and Katsuki looks over at it. 

Sure enough, the page is on how to summon Tsukuyomi: the Crow Demon. 

“That can’t be right,” Katsuki mutters and grabs the book with his free hand, flipping the page and finding the original familiar summoning spell he’d intended to use. “Fuck. No, no no.” The book falls from his lap, crossing over the chalk line in the process.

Tsukuyomi bends down and picks it up, flipping through the pages with a laugh. “Oh, you human witches are an entertaining bunch.” He glances up and Katsuki meets his gaze with a frown. “You do know summoning familiars is a dead practice, right? No one has done one of these in decades.” 

“My mother did.” 

The demon raises an eyebrow. “Like I said,” he closes the book rather roughly. “Decades.” Tsukuyomi tosses the book towards Katsuki and he dodges it, but just barely–his hand still glued to the floor. “So, Katsuki,” he shoots the demon a glare. “You wanted a familiar. Do you want me to create you one or would you like me to be one?”

Katsuki freezes as confusion floods him. He could have a specialized demon as a familiar? 

“How could I have you as a familiar?” Tsukuyomi smiles at his question. 

“Simple, little witch,” He snaps his fingers and a scroll appears on the floor just inside the chalk line in front of Katsuki's hand. “We draw up a contract.”

A contract. 

Katsuki looks down at the scroll before him and narrows his eyes. He’d been told stories about encounters just like this his entire childhood and in every story the foolish mortal lost their life and their soul while the demon continued to wreak havoc. 

“What are your terms?” Katsuki asks, glancing up at Tsukuyomi.

The demon smiles and it feels like ice water in Katsuki’s veins. “Read it first,” Tsukuyomi glances down at the scroll. “And mind the fine print.” Something about the tone of the demon’s voice has him even more on edge. 

Katsuki grabs the scroll with his free hand and adjusts how he’s sitting, using his foot to unroll it. The writing isn’t the scrawling script that you usually see on television or in video games–which Katsuki is grateful for–but it is extremely lengthy. 

Most of it is odd, technical legal jargon, but he reaches a term that makes him pause. “Wait.” Katsuki furrows his brow as he continues to read over the rest of the contract. “This is a patron contract. I just wanted a familiar.” 

Tsukuyomi raises an eyebrow. “That’s what a familiar is.”

“No.” Katsuki snaps and looks up at the demon, anger seeping into his tone. “My mother had a familiar, I know what they do. They help you with spell work and ingredient gathering and protect you and–”

“Grant you added power,” Tsukuyomi crosses his arms and leans forward with a smirk. “Guess your mommy didn’t let you in on that juicy tidbit, did she?”

Katsuki’s mouth goes dry and he drops the contract. “So familiars are just…patrons?”

Tsukuyomi squats down, getting on Katsuki’s eye level and shrugs. “Not quite.” He grabs the contract from the floor and glances over it. “Familiars make contracts with mortals to boost their innate abilities, adds to them. They also do everything else you listed, but in return for their services, they feed on the mortal’s life force. Resulting in the mortal’s death.” He holds the contract out towards Katsuki again. “Tit for Tat, basically. Mortals get boosted powers and minor demons gain souls to elevate their status down below.” 

“But your contract is different?” Katsuki feels like he’s catching on. The contract he’d just read over sounded like a patron contract, something warlocks agreed to for a wellspring of power. Katsuki had only met one or two warlocks in his life and they’d been almost as terrifying as the dark entities he could sense following them. 

“Well, of course,” Tsukuyomi waves the contract in front of Katsuki. “I’ll grant power beyond your wildest imagination without that nasty stipulation of feeding off your life force.”

Katsuki glances at the contract again, knowing better than to reach over the chalk line. It’s the only thing keeping him safe. “But I’m a witch, I already have magic. What good will becoming a warlock do?” 

Tsukuyomi’s neck seems to go slack as his head falls to the right, an eyebrow raised as his eyes rove over Katsuki’s form. “You don’t have a lot of innate magical ability for someone claiming they’re a witch.”

“But I did this ritual! How could I do that without any magic?” Katsuki’s becoming agitated. All of this was pointless and he wished he’d read over how to send the abomination back to Hell. 

“Oh,” the demon laughs. It sounds like breaking glass. “You don’t need any magical ability for a summoning. The sigils do all the work to open the doorway.” Katsuki’s shoulders droop and Tsukuyomi grins. “What’s the matter, Katsuki? Did you think you were special?” 

No. Katsuki had never thought he was special, his mother had made sure of that. He’d just hoped that this summoning would prove something to himself, but all it did was show him that he’s just as useless as Mitsuki had always said. 

Deeply inhaling, Katsuki reaches out to take the contract from Tsukuyomi and nearly jumps out of his skin when a black taloned hand wraps around his wrist. 

“If you accept this, you’ll have power beyond anything you could ever imagine.” Katsuki nods and Tsukuyomi’s hand tightens slightly. “But, sacrifices will need to be made. Your life will change and not always in a positive way.” He nods towards the contract and Katsuki glances over at it, the words glowing a faint blue. “You read my conditions, you know what I might ask of you.” 

“I do,” Katsuki swallows. “But I have a condition I want met before I agree.” 

Tsukuyomi narrows his eyes and nods. “Go on, little witch. Name it.” 

Katsuki breathes in slowly. “Give me your real name.” The demon raises an eyebrow. “Names hold power. You know mine and I want to know yours.”

“How do you know that Tsukuyomi isn’t my name?” He smirks and Katsuki rolls his eyes.

“Demons aren’t stupid enough to put their real names out into the world like that.” He could pull back right now and figure out how to break the connection. Katsuki didn’t have to go through with this, but–

“Fine.” Katsuki blinks. “My name for your agreement to the pact. Deal?” 

Katsuki glances at the contract again. He swallows, looks back at the demon before him, closes his eyes and nods. “I agree to your deal, demon.”

When he opens his eyes, Tsukuyomi is grinning like a madman. “Oh, little witch,” The contract flairs bright blue for a moment and vanishes in a cloud of ash. “You won’t regret this.”

Katsuki’s skin starts to tingle and he’s finally able to pull his hand from the floor. His vision starts to dim as what feels like fire shoots up his spine and just before he feels his consciousness start to slip he blurts out, “Your name! Now!”

The demon stands, holding his head high as he looks down at Katsuki. “Fumikage.”

Katsuki relinquishes his grasp on the material plane. 

[iviarellereads]

System Collapse, Chapter 8

(Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Murderbot Diaries, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

In which it's time to fight back with better tools than fists or energy gun arms.(1)

Murderbot starts assembling its documentary, loosely basing its fictional story around what it expects happened to the indentured contract workers it met on the way to Milu. It's using 94% of its processing capacity to do it, so Art-drone has to explain to the humans. Tarik is skeptical, Iris is just stressed, and Ratthi looks vacant because he's already reviewing MB's first draft.

It's including material from all sorts of sources. It knows the story has to be personal, so the part it's making up is the most important. It tries to craft it so that it will make humans care about the people whose story it's telling, as much as it cares about the humans in its shows.(2)

It was hard. I never liked watching helpless humans because I knew what happened to them, now I was having to not just watch it but create a story out of it and explain why and how it was happening.

Soon, Ratthi says some of his research is relevant, and he offers his archive for use. MB knew it was likely, and gives him a quick guide to the tagging system to help organize in the project space.

Then he sent me a note back: So, you may not know this, but I read your letter to Dr. Mensah, the one you sent when you left Port FreeCommerce. I think you’re absolutely the right person to write this.(3) I can’t handle that right now so I’m just going to archive it for later.

MB and Art-drone keep assembling. Art-drone generates voiceover of dramatic readings of text-only descriptions of some events, and together they organize the potentially useful persuasive clips from media in their available archives, fictional and otherwise. This is where MB knows they really need the humans' help, but it's feeling encouraged at how its project is shaping up in comparison to others in that cloud.

Tarik argues with Art-drone asking how many voices it can really replicate. Art-drone mimics Seth's voice perfectly to tell him any voice, and Tarik gets a moment to cuss before Art-drone assigns him the musical scoring for the piece. Tarik protests, he played a couple of traditional instruments in school. Iris pauses her conversation with Trinh to say they should interview Tarik for this.

MB remembers Tarik was on a death squad, and would be valuable input. They can steal the score from some other piece for now, the colonists won't recognize it anyway. Ratthi offers to interview, but isn't sure what to ask. Tarik, however, is motivated to not be in charge of music, and thinks they can figure it out.

Iris gets angry and cuts off the conversation, stomps over, and drops on the bed next to Ratthi. She says the colonists have agreed to watch the presentation, but the team needs to leave in the morning, as soon as the weather lets up.

They have five hours. It takes four and a half. They do a few dubiously ethical things, like morphing Iris's voice into Bharadwaj's which is explicitly against Preservation law but Ratthi is sure she'd give permission for this if she could. By the time they finish, there's not time for the human-helpers to watch the whole thing, at 47.23 minutes. So, they split it into thirds and each human watch one piece. A few corrections, and Art-drone is ready to push the final version.

Only, Trinh isn't available, so Iris isn't allowed to talk to anyone else. MB starts sweating, trying to figure out what to do, when Iris says she won't give up. She asks Art-drone how they can make the humans watch it. Art-drone says force likely isn't necessary: it opens AC2's media directory and says they can make it available to all.

MB, who doesn't even kick itself for not thinking of that because all that processing has its performance down, queries AC2 for file upload permission. After AC2 establishes the why, it gives MB an address to send it to, and reviews it to be sure it's not dangerous.

Ratthi wonders if they'll be able to watch it in time. Tarik says it's been forty years since they had anything new, of course they'll be intrigued. And Iris adds that it's really good.

AC2 asks about the accuracy, and Art-drone provides the list of sources and annotations.(4) AC2 confirms file upload, and MB sees it appear in the directory, tagged as entertainment as well as educational, but most importantly, as new. AC2 even added a note that it was a gift from the visitors on Team Art. MB wishes it hadn't added that part, as it's sure they're not very popular right now.

MB tells the team it's uploaded, and the humans all stop to stare at it. It stares back through its drones until Art-drone reminds them it'll take forty-eight minutes for most humans to watch, even if they get it immediately. Iris says they should get some rest, but Ratthi suggests they watch the whole thing, together. Tarik asks if that will really be less stressful.

At least no one had said if they watch it. Except I thought it, so. Whatever, I need to watch Sanctuary Moon now.

Art-drone cuts their access to the directory, so MB can't watch the download counter and catastrophize. So, while the humans watch the whole documentary, MB watches Sanctuary Moon on another bunk. It's comforting, but MB realizes it's in the mood for something new, in a way it hasn't felt since the incident. When they get back to Art-prime, it thinks it'll have to let Art pick something from a list it's been keeping, to apologize for being so useless.

It's then that MB realizes the humans are being distracting by not being distracting.

It knows it's a good sign when humans don't talk over media and when they don't move "except to eat crunchy things out of bags". And, it's having a bit of an emotional crisis about it all, as it spirals out about how this might let down all the people who helped. Art-drone says it's gained good insights from watching the humans watch it, MB doesn't need to worry.

Yeah, I’ll just code a patch to stop feeling anxiety, wow, why didn’t I think of that earlier. (That was sarcasm, I have too much organic neural tissue for that to work.) (Of course I’ve already tried it.)(5)

Finally, the humans get to the end. They listed the sources, but instead of credits, just left a statement that it's a collab between the University and Preservation.

Iris sighed and said, “That was excellent, SecUnit.” Ratthi said, “If they don’t like it, fuck them.” Tarik snorted a crunchy thing and had to be pounded on the back by Iris. “I’m serious,” Ratthi said, doing an exasperated hand-wave thing. “If they can’t recognize the truth in an attempt to save their lives, I don’t know what else to do.”(6)

Tarik asks Art-drone how they're doing on views. Art says there have been 362 downloads, 75 views completed just about as fast as their own, 287 still in progress. It finally unlocks MB's access to double check. Tarik asks how many people are in this colony, and Ratthi says 421, so most of the adults have downloaded it, and some will be watching in groups.

A call comes in to Iris's comm. Art warns her it's from Leonide. She accepts, disgruntled, but after says B-E are leaving, and want to meet again. MB notes that the weather is starting to clear, later than expected, but that probably means B-E were given the same request to leave.

Iris decides she and MB will go meet with them, while the others go prep the shuttle. Art-drone tries to argue, but Iris says they've done all they can, and the colonists know how to contact them. And, she is curious what else Leonide might have to say.

It wasn’t a bad plan, as plans go. I could still object and say I’d go alone, like before. Iris had already said as security consultant that kind of thing was my decision. But considering how that had worked out, I didn’t want to get set up by Leonide to say something stupid again, not when we might be close to succeeding.(7)

=====

(1) My alternative line for this today is "In which I could leave y'all with a one-paragraph summary but I'm not quite that cruel, at least about this series." (2) Fortunately, having watched several thousand hours of media and done a lot of thinking about the human condition, Murderbot is in a good position to understand stories and how to tell them. Just watching media can give you a baseline instinct for storytelling and how to craft and analyze it. It takes practice to refine it, and active work, but I feel like it's believable MB has spent time doing that. (3) Bestie's got your back, babe. (4) In the wake of all the plagiarism revelations this month, a very important detail that I'm glad wasn't lost in the sauce. (Pun intended.) (5) Gods, if only. (6) It's true, there's only so much they can do, and this was probably the strongest plan they could've come up with. (7) See, it CAN learn to do better.

[explodedjunk]

I forgot to post the 3 other chapters 😭.

What has came? Chapter IV

Happy reading.

Story on Tumblr:

Summary:

Thor and the rest of his group goes to California but Loki causes mischief and once they go back to Asgard Loki was taken somewhere.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

They all met up in California, and Loki saw Sif.

“Þinn einn idiot/ You’re and idiot” Loki whispered.

“Vér allr óderstanð þú/ we all understand you.” Sif argued back.

*in asgardian* “Loki, you’re basically asgardian, we all know what happened for the past million years and we all have the all tongue. You’re not more or less special than any of us either if you’re odinschild or laufeysonschild.” She barked.

“My brother could do anything Sif. He’s better than all of us, just physical..” Thor laughed.

Loki was getting bored on Earth.

+Time Skip+

It’s the 5th day of being in California, Loki wants to cause mischief as always so he decides a plan. He robs a mall, but has shape-shifted into his brother.

As he is done robbing stores in the mall, he looks to the camera and pulls the hoodie over his head dropping every item on him as he says “Yes, it is I, Thor Odinson,”

He has a long pause as of how to get his brother into trouble “Arrest me” as he throws his hands down and runs off with everything he has stolen.

Loki comes back late at night, Thor waiting upon him. “Where’ve you been” Thor questioned Loki as he is eyeing Loki’s transformation as a version of himself.

Loki transform back to himself. “I have done nothing brother”

Loki then grabs some of the stuff he has taken.

“What’s with the stuff, where’d you get it” Thor confusingly asked.

It took Loki long to respond. “Jane gave it to me” as he hurried and grabbed his stuff to take it into his small room that him and Thor had to share.

They then went to sleep, but was awaken up by the pounding of a door.

Thor and Loki was woken up but Thor told Loki to just go back to sleep saying it was just neighbors maybe.

Thor opened the door. “Hello, we have a warrant arrest on Thor Odinson of Asgard, for his thievery at the mall.”

“What”

“Do you know where Tho-“ Thor cut him off.

“I’m Thor”

“Great, we’re going to need you to come with us.”

“LOKI” Thor called Loki down.

“What is it brother?” Loki questioned but then froze to see people at the door.

“What did you do at this mall”

Erik Selvik then fired a bullet that made Loki pass out. “What did you just do” Thor demanded an answer.

“Look, I know it wasn’t you. I called the cops off and told them you went back to Asgard. I know it was your brother and we need to take every Asgardian into questioning about your so called ‘Powers’”

“No” He then shut the door on Erik and called all his friends to show they had to leave. Loki had waken up but disappeared.

Loki went to an airport in California, but he was trying to steal hydra level type tech but then suddenly someone knocked him out and he was then placed in a hydra cell.

Although Loki didn’t wake up and it then was put into an emergency room as captain might’ve hit Loki way to hard then supposed.

Thor on the other hand, had gotten hold of heidmill to see where Loki is and once he found out. Thor flew there with his friends.

They then broke into the room shattering glass and grabbed Loki, but before they flew back. Natasha stopped him

“NO WAIT” Natasha yelled demandingly.

Thor waited “What is it you have to say”

“Your brother I assume, he’s passed out and will stay like that for maybe a few days, Hydra’s medical could help, just, let’s talk.” Natasha was calm although for the workers not really.

“Thor Odinson of Asgard or do you prefer God of Thunder?” Captain America asked.

“Just Thor, it doesn’t matter, now. What happened to Loki” Thor demanded.

“Loki was stealing high tech, is there any reason as to why he would need it” Nick Fury complained.

“He’s my brother”

“He robbed a whole mall and broke open a high tech room” Captain America mentioned.

“He’s adopted.” Thor said as he was covered in shame.

“My brother doesn’t need that tech as he is the God of Mischief and just decided to do his silly so called ‘pranks’ to keep his name as the God of Mischief, I assure you my brother doesn’t need your ‘tech savvy technology’”

“That’s good to hear but Lackey will have to stay with us until he awakes” Nick Fury reported.

“It’s Loki.” Thor hissed. “And no.” Thor added.

“You do not want to play this war with us and stark industries.”

“Then don’t play with actual Gods you foolish humans” As Thor approached Fury.

“Okay that’s enough” Captain America added as he pushed them away.

“I’m taking Loki back to Asgard” Thor argued.

“No, you’re not until we get our answers by him to know he’s not a threat”

“Loki better be safe here and done by the next 2-3 days but I will stay by his side without leaving him at all, or I will be your biggest threat to Earth you have ever seen.” Thor demanded

“Fine by me” Nick Fury rejoiced.

Thor then approached to Loki. “Brother I know your games wake up. No way you fell by a weaker species” Sif saw Thor as Thor held Loki in his hands. “Thor, we must go.”

“No, I can’t leave my little brother here” Thor said. “He’ll be alone, He will be scared” Thor then added, but Thor was enough with the crap either way so he then grabbed Loki and then lifted his head to tell Sif and his friends that its time to leave.

They then flew off breaking the window, Thor didn’t even know why he wasted time even talking or coming at all.

As they came back home Thor threw Loki on the ground.

“BROTHER, WAKE UP. YOU’RE NOT PASSED” Thor yelled as Loki opened his eyes laughing.

“I’m not trying to die this week brother, just Earth is so boring I had to make it better.” Loki scoffed.

Thor walked away, “Loki, I’m leaving you alone now.”

That cut off Loki as he then jumped immediately and started chasing after his brother.

“No, brother just wait a second.” Loki suggested. But Thor didn’t want to hear it and started running off.

“No Loki, go to Hela” he groaned.

But Loki followed him “I’m not going to listen you” he added as he smiled.

The whole time Loki chased him and Thor pushed him off. “No matter what you do I wont stop following you” Loki sang.

Thor then grabbed a gag and put it over his mouth.

“Loki stop, cut it out” Thor yelled.

Loki then pointed at the gag asking if he could speak, Thor then took it off.

“I’ll put it back on if you keep chattering” Thor suggested.

“I’ll stop just you stop” Loki said confused at his own words.

“Loki, you are basically spinning circles. You’re just so predictable.”

Thor laughed.

“Thanks Brother.” He said sarcastically.

Suddenly everything went quiet as the sky turned dark.

“Is this you” Loki asked being aware of his standing.

“No, it’s you. Loki stop that.” Thor demanded.

“I can assure you, its not me”

Then, BAM! All of Asgard went quiet. As everyone had passed out, and they were pushed by some sort of beam as it took Loki on a ship, while he smiled and waved bye to Thor jokingly as Thor tried to follow with his hammer but Loki and this group had disappeared in some sort of portal.

“LOKI” Thor yelled. As he sighed when had had disappeared.

Notes:

I know this chapter didn’t make much sense, but I can assure you i was just rushing this and being so lazy for this chapter, Thank you for reading <3.

I have plans for the next maybe 2 chapters will be about the chitari attack in New York in the Disney+ series ‘Avengers’

[4th-earths-echos]

1th - Echo Archive:

You are in a layer.

# Admin Log - 001

It’s finally done. I managed to make it work! Alright, first thing of all. If you’re reading this you should absolutely pretend it is fiction! As long as you “don’t believe” in any of this. They won’t interfere in your life.

I mean, warping reality with your mind, multidimensional shenanigans? That’s fantasy! And I mean, even if it were real (which isn’t) it would surely be super dangerous to talk about it to the public! So, spread this cool piece of fiction™ around. It’s just some silly little literary project.

Alright, let’s start this thing.

It took a lot of energy and CPUs to convert everything, and the upload speed to another layer is atrocious even for just text and images. So the database will occasionally show new documents, testimonies and images from time to time. But it might take a whiiiile.

Maybe I’ll post an image of my setup later. I’m still surprised it works, being able to cross all of this data to your side might take years! It’s madness! But no joke… maybe it actually is really madness. I did get the idea from this horrifying dream.

This is the first log of the 4th Earth’s Echos, it should be like a blog on this social media site on your side. Tumble right? What an ominous name.

This is a backup, for safety. Information is power and gods know that they made a great job on seizing most of our hidden caches.

The world is a weird, strange place, part of sea of worlds. When they say they want to keep you safe? Well, that’s like believing that you can be safe from a serial killer by covering your eyes and pretending it’s not there. You are still in danger, but now you’re also stumbling around like an idiot.

What is even the Occult? People think of, forbidden rituals and satanic crowds. Nah. The Occult is what the name implies. It is the Hidden things, mostly information but also, our neighbors, strange “inconvenient” chapters of our history. The fact that maybe there is something more to life than a 9 to 5 and paying taxes for our overlords. The idea that there might be actually a how and a why for everything.

Revolutionary! Dangerous ideas! Could you imagine what would happen if people though money wasn’t real?! They’ve been trying really hard to suppress it.

Not by forbidding people to talk about it. But by making it really hard to truly grasp and understand what certain ideas mean. And now the whole concept that what we call “civilization” is the greatest scam of all times is hidden knowledge. Part of the Occult.

It all started with the Library of Alexandria. That place was our mecca, and they burned it down. Even in Roman times, you just couldn’t have people being able to change their own reality with their minds right? Only the selected few should be able to do that #sarcasm.

We’ve done what we can to preserve, archive, collect and create knowledge over the generations. But yet, somehow they always find us.

So. I came up with a plan. I’ll backup my archive somewhere they can never reach.

You probably have heard or listened to the idea of different dimensions in fiction right? Well, it’s all bullshit. The concept you call parallel worlds, we call them “planes” and “layers”.

Planes are different places in the same Universe. So there’s Earth (that weird place where you need a meat shell to exist), the Umbra, isolated pockets of reality like the city of Zion. And even mythological places like Asgard, the Gray Horizon and the sort.

If you can imagine a world it exists. That’s how it works, if you imagine something. It’ll exist somewhere beyond the veil.

So if you’re traveling from Earth to Zion you’re just shifting between [planes] of existence. Now, if you want to reach another of the infinite versions of Earth.

That’s a lot more complicated, just very distant Neighbors and Mages whose knowledge WE LOST WHEN THEY STARTED BURNING OUR DAMN BOOKS know how to layer shift.

Layers are, well… As the name implies. Layers, of the same place. You know how fiction talks about how different versions of our world could exist? Maybe there could be an Earth where a meteor didn’t hit earth, and there are Dinosaurs there. Maybe some better place where humanity never though of using oil to generate energy, so technology developed a lot slower, but it’s a much greener and sustainable place to live.

Well, the nature of the universe is that the act of imagining something makes it real SOMEWHERE. But you can’t just have two places occupying the same space. Layers are how your don’t get whole worlds imploding every time a sentient being imagine a different version of it.

Plane shifting isn’t that complicated once you learn how to slip out of your meat suit. Rumors say that even the Orders are barely starting to be able to pierce the veil and verify that they are small fries in the great order of things. But now, Layer shifting? That was virtually impossible for people who didn’t live in the golden age, when we had actual colleges hidden all around.

Well, it kind of still is. I won’t get technical, but I managing to send bits to a modem on your side. Which, I’m sorry… I’m gonna say it. It’s AMAZING, I managed to do what whole governments spent YEARS trying! And all I had to do was to blend some living tissue to my rig! It still sucks! It smells and leaks this weird yellow liquid and it’s so damn loud that my ears bleed sometimes if I’m not careful! But I’ve done it! MYSELF! And I’m damn proud!!!

Point is. By uploading the archives to YOUR layer, they will never be able to torch it! I mean, I suppose they exist in some form on your side, but without much to work in they wouldn’t even know what they are looking at.

I mean who would actively try to delete this? I’m just a silly author writing fiction fiction right? Nobody would ever take any of this seriously. This is just a silly blog on tumble.org

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

#fiction #digitalart #writing #echoes4thearth #ocultum #occult #art #esoteric #story #narrative #short stories #fantasy fiction #witchcraft

[hepalien]

Ao3 Tips and Tricks

So I thought I would make a post about some cool stuff you can do with Ao3 and userscripts, and some tips I’ve learned from setting them up for myself! I promise it's not hard, though this is a lot of info. I'm happy to help if I can.

What You’ll Need:

First, you will need the Tampermonkey extension for your browser (depending on what browser you use, Greasemonkey is the equivalent). On Android, you can even run Chrome extensions on mobile with Kiwi Browser! It is easiest to configure the scripts on your desktop and then sync to mobile with Tampermonkey’s cloud sync feature or by exporting the configured scripts and importing in your mobile browser (I will explain how to do this later in the post). If you use any of the tweaks I outline below, be sure to backup your scripts in case your settings are lost.

Once you have Tampermonkey installed, you can get scripts from GreasyFork. The inimitable @flamebyrd also has some great scripts and bookmarklets and has been incredibly helpful while I figured all this out.

Find a script that looks interesting, click on it, and then click “install this script.” Pretty straightforward. Once you have it installed, you can go to Tampermonkey to configure it (only necessary for some scripts) by clicking on the Tampermonkey extension icon in your browser (under the three dot menu in Kiwi) and clicking “dashboard”, then clicking the edit icon next to the script you want to configure. When you’re done, click File->Save.

Scripts and instructions under the cut

Some of my favorites:

Flamebyrd’s Incomplete Works script - fades out WIPs on works listings, and displays the work stats (wordcount, chapters, etc) in red on single works to make it more obvious that they’re WIPs as you’re browsing:

Flamebyrd’s Ao3 to Pinboard bookmarklet/script - if you click the bookmarklet while on a work’s page, it opens the Pinboard save screen and prefills the title, tags, description, word count, etc, and adds ?view_full_work=true&view_adult=true to the URL so Pinboard’s archiver will archive the complete work and not the adult content warning screen (note that Pinboard still cannot correctly archive works locked to Ao3 users, so you may want to download them as a backup. I’ve asked him about fixing that.), based on your selections when configuring the bookmarklet on the linked page. If you use the userscript, it adds a button to the works listings page so you don’t even have to open the work to save it:

I tweaked this script so that it only grabs the first pairing tag, since I don’t typically care about secondary pairings and they were clogging up my Pinboard tags. It’s a simple fix (though I know nothing about coding so I had to do some googling and inspect-sourcing; kinda proud of myself tbh):

Just change this part of the script

if ( options.relationship_include ) {

- $(".relationships a.tag", $work).each(function () {

To this

if ( options.relationship_include ) {

- $(".relationships a.tag:first", $work).each(function () {

I also found this cool mobile-optimized Pinboard bookmarklet called Pincushion and combined it with Flamebyrd’s script. Everything works except the auto-tagging, but I’ve reached out on GitHub to see if he can help (according to Flamebyrd, there’s no tag field ID attribute to map to). However, this bookmarklet has tagging autocomplete features that make it easy to tag manually. For example, if you type “steve 21st” it will suggest “steverogersvsthe21stcentury” rather than having to type out “steverogersvs…” in order for it to autocomplete like it does on the regular Pinboard bookmarklet. I actually have two buttons set up (which you can see in the next screenshot) - Flamebyrd's to quickly grab the tags and close without me having to do anything, and then the Pincushion one to quickly edit the tags. If anyone's interested, I can explain how to do that.

To combine Pincushion with Flamebyrd’s script (so it works from the Ao3 works listings page as mentioned above), simply change this part of Flamebyrd’s script:

t = t.split(" ").join( options.space_replacement );

var pb_url = "https://pinboard.in/add?url=" + encodeURIComponent(q) + "&description=" + encodeURIComponent(d) + "&title=" + encodeURIComponent(p) + "&tags=" + encodeURIComponent(t);

void(open(pb_url, "Pinboard", "toolbar=no,width=700,height=350"));

To this

t = t.split(" ").join( options.space_replacement );

var pb_url = "https://rossshannon.github.io/pincushion/?user=YOURUSERNAME&token=YOURAPITOKEN&url=" + encodeURIComponent(q) + "&description=" + encodeURIComponent(d) + "&title=" + encodeURIComponent(p) + "&tags=" + encodeURIComponent(t);

void(open(pb_url, "Pinboard", "toolbar=yes,width=600,height=700,left=50,top=50"));

You’ll need to get your API Token from your Pinboard account and plug it in where it says YOURUSERNAME and YOURAPITOKEN (number part only) above.

FanFictionNavigator - mark fics as Like/Dislike/Mark/InLibrary, highlight with colors based on which option you select, hide/show based on category, like/dislike author and highlight with color. Only you will see how you've marked things.

You can tweak the colors for the highlighting by configuring the script (I find the default colors make the text hard to read because I use the Reversi skin on Ao3 for white-ish text on a gray background). I also changed it so that when I click “hide likes” it only hides liked fics and not liked authors (i.e. hides fics I’ve read, but not unread fics by authors I like), changed the color of the like/dislike/etc links to match the highlighting color and to show up better, and changed the way it highlights authors (I think the default is bold/strikethrough which doesn't really catch my eye. I changed it to highlight the author name in red/green):

Here are my configured scripts if you’d like to use them instead of tweaking yourself (you need to install both):

FanFictionNavigator

FanFictionNavigator - Colors

Note: Your settings for this script will sync via Tampermonkey but not your data (i.e. fics you’ve liked/marked/etc). If you ever switch between browsers, you’ll need to go to your Ao3 Dashboard and click FFNOptions, export your data, then go through the same process to import it into the new browser.

AO3: Kudosed and seen history - highlight or hide works you kudosed/bookmarked/marked as seen. If you want to use this with FanFictionNavigator, you’ll need to turn off “highlight bookmarks” from the settings under the “Seen Works” dropdown that gets added to your Ao3 navbar or FFN’s colors won’t show. Again, data doesn’t sync between browsers but you can copy it from the dropdown settings. However, it pulls your kudosed and bookmarked fics from Ao3 itself, so that will always show. It's just seen/skipped that doesn't sync:

Ao3 download buttons - adds a download button to the works listings page so you don’t have to open the fic to download it. However, it also doesn’t play nicely with FFN’s colors, so I’m using AO3 Review + Last Chapter Shortcut + Kudos-sortable Bookmarks script which also has a download button that works with FFN (a small down arrow next to the author name). The download button doesn’t work as-is from that link, so here’s my tweaked version based off of this comment. You can configure what format you want it to download by default in the script. There’s also a tweak in the comments to fix kudos-sorting, but it overloads Ao3 and you get a “retry later” error for a few minutes when you try to open Ao3, so I don’t recommend it. I don’t know if any of the other functionalities of the script work because I don’t use them, but it looks like there are tweak suggestions in other comments you can try:

I was using Ao3 Replace Words to replace words in fics that bug me but I realized it wasn’t working on mobile, so I’m using zensurf instead which is not Ao3-specific but works basically the same way. If you want to limit it to just Ao3 (so it doesn’t change words on non-fic sites), just add this

// @include http://archiveofourown.org/*

// @include https://archiveofourown.org/*

Above this line

// ==/UserScript==

(function() {

You can // @include other fic sites like ffnet that way too.

AO3: Links to Last Chapter and Entire Works does what it says on the tin, but the creator was kind enough to give me a code snippet to add that makes the “E” (for Entire Work) appear next to all works and add ?view_full_work=true&view_adult=true to the work URL so that I can easily right-click and share to Instapaper and have it be saved correctly (not just the first chapter but the whole work + not the content warning screen for NR/M/E works). Here is the script with this tweak applied:

I think those are the only ones that I’ve done special tweaks for. Here are some others that I find useful that either don’t require any configuration, or should be pretty straightforward to configure and are explained on the script page.

AO3 author+tags quick-search - doesn’t require configuration

Generates quick links from AO3 fics to more by the same author in the same fandom (or character/pairing/any other tag):

Remove leading spaces in AO3 - doesn’t require config

Removes the leading indents for paragraphs in AO3 works.

Ao3 Only Show Primary Pairing - you have to enter the pairings you want in the script, and you can change how early in the sequence they must appear before the work is hidden. Also works with character tags.

Hides works where specified pairing isn't the first listed. Hidden works show a placeholder that you can click to unhide:

AO3: highlight tags - have to enter the tags you want highlighted, as well as the color you want. It matches case so you may have to enter both “Dog” and “dog”, for example.

Configure tags to be highlighted with different colors. This makes a tag more obvious to your eye when browsing. I use it to highlight things I’m wary of in red so I don’t miss them and start reading a fic I might not want.

AO3: Tag Hider - configure how many tags you want to see before it hides them

Hide tags automatically when there are too many tags. Add hide/show tags button to browsing page and reading page.

AO3 Remove Double-Spacing - no config

Removes awkward double spaces between paragraphs on AO3. Doesn’t smush together paragraphs that have a single line break - it leaves those alone.

ao3 series collapser - no config

Collapse works that are later than part 1 of a series. Leaves a placeholder so you can uncollapse if you want to see it.

AO3 Blocker - no config, but you enter what you want to block from the added navbar dropdown in Ao3

Fork of ao3 savior; blocks works based on certain conditions. I find this simpler to use than Ao3 savior.

FYI there are also style scripts for Pinboard on greasyfork and userstyles.org (this site is slow af for some reason, so be patient while it loads). I use show unread bookmarks more clearly and Modern Pinboard Style (basically a dark mode). Neither require config unless you just want to tweak the settings to your liking. To install to Tampermonkey from userstyles, scroll down to “Install style as userscript”.

I also use these extensions in Kiwi:

Ao3rdr - Adds a star rating system (pictured in some of the screenshots above) to Ao3 works that only you can see. This one will sync your data between devices if you use the cloud sync option, which I recommend so you don’t lose your data if something happens to your device or browser.

Dark Reader - not really necessary for Ao3 if you use Reversi skin, but does make all browser pages dark mode if you want it on sites other than Ao3.

Speaking of Ao3 skins, I have another one set up in conjunction with Reversi that shows all the fandoms on a user’s profile, rather than having to click “expand”:

Unfortunately, I can’t remember where I found this. To set it up yourself, go to your Ao3 -> Dashboard -> Skins -> Create Site Skin, fill in the Title (has to be unique), and paste the code below in the CSS box:

#user-fandoms ol.index {

padding-bottom: 0;

text-align: center;

}

#user-fandoms ol.index li {

display: inline;

margin-right: .5em;

line-height: 2.15em;

}

#user-fandoms ol#fandom_full_list {

padding-top: 0;

padding-bottom: 1.5em;

display: block !important;

}

#user-fandoms p.actions {

display: none;

}

Then hit Submit -> Use. There are ways to hide or highlight various elements (ships, characters, blurbs, work stats, etc) on a works listing page using skins on Ao3. This is getting long so I’m not going to go into that, but I’m happy to help if you want to try it. It’s very easy.

Once you have everything configured on Tampermonkey on your desktop, you can migrate it to your mobile device in one of two ways:

Option 1: Go to Tampermonkey settings and change Config Mode to Advanced

Go down to Script Sync and select your preferred cloud service and save

It will ask you to log in to said cloud service

Install Tampermonkey in Kiwi and do the same thing

Wait for it to sync (this can be slow)

It should sync any changes you make moving forward, but again, it’s slow

Option 2: go to Utilities and check all 3 checkboxes under general (include script storage, include Tampermonkey settings, include external script resources)

Either export to your preferred cloud service or

Export as a zip file, move it to your mobile device, go to this same screen and import

I would recommend exporting as a zip for a backup even if you don’t use it to migrate your scripts

You can unzip and upload individual script files (.js) on this page if you ever need to reinstall a single script with your settings instead of all of them

Let me know if you run into any issues and I can try to help! The script writers are also super nice and helpful if you reach out to them. Yay fandom!

[lilacssouls]

I'll Love You For Infinity...

group: itzy

pairing: Ryujin x Yeji

genre: soulmate!au, fluff, angst.. a little bit of everything, but mostly angst. Get some tissue.

contents/warning: high school!au, ennemies to friends (kinda) to lovers and you'll see at the end how it will end, communication problem for both actually, traumas too.

warnings: none for now, I'll put some in the next chapters if needed.

synopsis: Soulmate universe where you can hear your soulmate's thoughts without knowing who they are. The closer you get to them, the clearer are the thoughts and the bigger are the chances for you to find who your soulmate is. But what happened when one is ready to give her all for love but the other isn't ?

a/n: Hello everyone. I wanted to post this on Archives Of Our Own first, but apparently I can't for now- So instead I'll just post my little fic here for you all to enjoy. Feel free to comment on it or not !!

════════════════════════════════════════

INTRODUCTION

╭ ──────╯

╰► ﹏ Yeji’s POV

She had to live with thoughts that weren’t hers for a month now.. she couldn’t clearly hear the voice of the person they belong to. But she knew who it was supposed to be for her, and she didn’t like it. That whole soulmate thing, she didn’t like it one bit. She didn’t believe in it at all in fact, yet she was the first one in her group of friends to have her soulmate already linked to her. All of them were the kind of hidden not so hidden big romantic person who just wanted to find the one that will love them for the rest of their lives. But not her. Because to her, it couldn’t exist.

“ Yeji…” whispered Lia, giving her a small slap on her arm to try to get her attention. “Yeji ! You’re doing it again !” She said a little louder between her clenched teeth to remain as discreet as possible.

Yeji finally came out of her trance, not realizing that she had just spent ten minutes staring into nothingness to finally notice the poor teacher who had been calling her all this time.

“I’m.. I’m sorry… Kind of were absorbed elsewhere.” She simply answered to him, who was visibly offended that she didn’t even paid attention to his question once again.

He had finally settled and decided to choose another student, giving the young woman a disdainful look as a silent promise that he would keep an eye on her from now on. It wasn’t the first time. She kept zoning out more and more each time. Because these thoughts began to take more and more space into her head, just like this mysterious person. She had to admit that really wanted to know their name. She knew it was a woman for sure, since she wasn’t interested in men at all. But it didn’t help at all. All she knew is that the thoughts would become clearer each time she seemed to get close to that girl, but there was too many in that school to be able to try to recognize her.

╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴

╭ ──────╯

╰► ﹏ Ryujin’s POV

Why so much hatred, oh my god.. She thought as she could “hear” her soulmate’s thought about her. Well… It was really about her, but about this whole soulmate thing.. And about the fact that apparently Ryujin’s thoughts were bothering her future lover. Calm down, I’m trying my best, get some vervain or something.

Class finally ended, she hated math and she couldn’t understand how her best friend Chaeryeong could love it so much. She spent so much time trying to help her understand, but nothing worked.. she just sucks at math.

“It’s not even that hard, you’re just not trying to understand !” She said, Ryeong sounded more offended that her friend couldn’t understand something that seemed so simple her than Ryujin was hearing her best friend implying that she was trying as hard as she could.

“ Why would I try to understand the need to put letters and numbers together ? How can you even calculate a fucking letter ?! ” Ryujin sounded more confused than anything else by her own words. She just couldn’t get it.

But then, she stopped talking and listening as her own name came into her head, but it wasn’t from herself.. She who couldn’t be named YET said her name… or thought about it, or her. She didn’t pay much attention to it so she couldn’t tell the context in which her name appeared. But she knew she wasn’t crazy. “Oh my fucking god Ryeong… Ryeong I heard my name in my head !!”

She didn’t realize yet that what she just said could sound stupid and weird since it made so much sense to her, until she saw the look on Chaeryeong’s face.

“No I mean… The voice, in my head.. it said my name !” Ah shit… it’s worse… “Soulmate ! Soulmate said me’s name !! My name soulmate said !”

There, weirdly she finally understood with that. “ Oh !!! And what did she say ?!” Asked her friend, just as excited as Ryujin was.

“How can you know it’s a she ? It could be a he !”

Chaeryeong then looked at her as if she just said the most unfunny joke ever. She knew that look very well actually; she saw it often. “Come on Jinie… You’re as gay as a penguin. Now answer !”

First, she was offended. But then, confused since she didn’t have any answers to give to her friend. Once again, she didn’t pay attention to the conversation happening in her head, as strange as it may sound. “I… I don’t know I wasn’t listening..”

[eddies-spaghetti]

oh goodness.. i am just now starting on this but i KNOW i’m probably posting this like a while after i got tagged in it.

any way @abstract-moth tagged me in the fanfic ask game (thank u for the tag btw 🥰) so here it goes!

How many works do you have on A03?

on AO3 I have 61 but have 100+ on my google drive that i haven’t posted.

What's your total A03 word count?

122468

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

The only ones that are still up are bnha, but back in the day i started on an IT one but never finished it and a Danganronpa/bnha crossover i also never finished.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1.

2.

3.

(this one is one of my favorites)

4.

5.

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

oh wow.. hmm.. i usually like to end it on a good note..

the first chapter of We Will Figure This Out is pretty angsty but i do fix it by the end.

ohh wait.. bracelets has a pretty angsty ending too.. i forgot about that one

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

most of them really.. Cold is pretty much fluff all the way throughout.. Gender is Weird has a v good ending too.

Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you've written?

tried and failed with the Danganronpa and bnha crossover

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

no..? not gonna lie i have thought about it.. but like it would have to be a very specific category where it’s mostly fluff and have a whole bunch of emotional depth behind it.. or will be important to the story i’m trying to tell.

I almost wrote some for the college au but chicken out.. but who knows i still might add some..

As an SA victim it’s something i’m definitely interested but also scared to write bc i have done so much of my healing through writing and projecting on to characters with similar truama so i think i could definitely see myself writing at least one smut fic just to try it but honestly it’s such a touchy and important subject to me personally and to others that i know i would have to be super careful when writing it.

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

yeah! most of the time at least. I actually met one of my best friends and a lot of my mutuals on here through my ao3 comments!

The only times i don’t respond is when it is hate or if i don’t have the spoons to do so.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

only a few times, mostly just people who are mad when i call enji out on his abuse. Or people who are mad that I give tenya the love and appreciation he deserves.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

i’m not sure but i don’t think so

Have you ever had a fic translated?

no but i think that would be cool

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

kinda? one of my best friends and i started on one but it was during a CHAOTIC time in my life so we never finished it. And idk if this counts as co-writing but i run pretty much all of my ideas off of @moonwack before they are ever written and they always have wonderful ideas for things i should write.

What's your all-time favorite ship?

i know this is unexpected and may surprise people.. but it’s todoiideku (/s on the first part)

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

oh gosh.. there are so many and i hate it.. probably my aroace soulmate au though..

What are your writing strengths?

tbh i don’t know if i have ANY besides my creativity. My dyslexia makes grammar and spelling so hard for me and i’m always scared it will turn people away from my fics.

but I am constantly writing stories in my head and there hasn’t been a single day that i haven’t thought about something i want to write in YEARS. so there is that.

What are your writing weaknesses?

can i just put dyslexia as an answer here and how much energy writing takes from me so i go months without posting sometimes.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

tbh i haven’t put much thought into it. It doesn’t really bother me if it’s done correctly. i’m p neutral on it.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

I think IT but i’m not sure.

What's your favorite fic you've written?

oo such a good question.

On ao3 probably bracelets, Fresh Start, or We Will Figure This Out.

I have one written in my docs called worst moments that i love and i should probably post too though..

thanks again for the tag @abstract-moth! this actually made me think a lot and i enjoyed doing it.

I tag @sunnyillyana and @quasiimodo

(don’t feel pressured to do it if you don’t want to though, i just know both of you write and thought you might have fun doing this 🥰)

[naktergalen]

Rivamika Fic Suggestions List 2

Hey there again! It’s been a while since my last rivamika post and I apologies for that. I caught the reading bug and have just been hitting book after book. I might be doing a book of the month suggestion starting in March. I’m still thinking about it but if that is something your interested in let me know. Or if you just want book suggestions just message or ask me. But for now, I’m back with my second Rivamika Fic Suggestions List.

First of all, I want to thank you for all the comments and messages I received from my first list! I think it has over 150 notes now which is crazy for me. I was going to be ecstatic if it got like 10 likes or something hahaha! I’ve enjoyed talking to some of you about fics and other snk stuff. Feel free to do the same after this post! I know I take awhile to respond but swear I get there eventually.

Same rules as last time. I’ve split this list up into four categories. I wanted to let people know the status of some of these fics in case they did not want to start an incomplete or in progress story. All of these fics can be found on AO3. I’m going to try to link them but we will see how tumblr acts today. If you have any fic suggestions for me, feel free to message me with them and I can add them on to the next list. If any author sees their story on here and wants me to take it off the list, please let me know I don’t wish to make anyone feel uncomfortable. Also, last thing, I highly recommend leaving comments and kudos to the authors. I know that they greatly appreciate it and it helps them with improving their writing through feedback. Okay shutting up now, ON WITH THE LIST!

DISCLAIMER: I know that not all of these stories are not for everyone, these are just my opinions and suggestions.

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Completed:

- Thunder Clouds

Author: K_Lionheart

Rating: Mature

Sometimes I like to go to the very back of the Rivamika archive on AO3 and look for fics that have gotten buried over time. Low and behold what I have found lol! I enjoyed the emotional roller coaster when I was reading this fic, though sometimes I wanted to pull my hair out. Set after the titans are gone, humanity has to repopulate so arranged couples by the monarch are made to be wed. While this new order is being enforced, Mikasa and Levi are trying to work out their strained relationship. A slow burn with angst that will have you staying up till 3am dying to know what happens next. I know that there is a sequel to this fic called Nimbus and I’m slowly working my way through that one. Honestly, it will probably go on my next list.

- Red is the Only Colour

Author: mongoose_bite

Rating: Mature

A cute fic that was a quick but wild ride. A Little Red Riding Hood type of AU where Mikasa is a hunter of some sorts traveling through a town. I don’t want to say how Levi plays into all of this since it gets border line spoilers but just know that he is there. It is an opening ending fic for the author to come back if they plan on doing so but it can be interpreted in different ways. All in all, a fic worth of the quick read.

- Sing Me a Song

Author: LazyTrash

Rating: Mature

First I have to get this off my chest, I love the author’s name hahaha! I freakin wished I would have thought of that for mine! Anyway, this fic is wonderful but I will warn you that its a gut punch. If you like hurt and angst put together, then this is the story for you. I love these types of fics because I adore them so much but they hurt me in my soul. I don’t know what that says about me but whatever. I don’t want to delve into the story too much for spoilers but I would suggest rivamika fans to check this one out.

- Midnight Musings

Author: Raewyll

Rating: Teen

I just started to read Raewyll’s fics so I’m slowly working my way through all her works. This one caught my eye and I had to read it. This is a cute take on a chance meeting through texting the wrong number. I love the way Levi and Mikasa’s relationship blossoms into something more serious after causally texting back and forth. It’s one of those stories that I can only describe as being cute as shit! I’m definitely going to be checking out more of Raewyll’s fic in the future.

Ongoing:

- Beyond the Walls

Author: helena3190

Rating: Matue

If you love RIvamika angst, then look no further than this baby right here. This is currently my favorite ongoing fic. It was supposed to be a shorter story, but the author keeps adding more chapters so I’m not complaining hahaha! This fic is pretty much how I would *personally* picture canon Mikasa on how she would deal with realizing that she’s falling in love with someone. Its mostly told in the perspective of Mikasa as she is dealing with the after effects of war and trying to figure out what should she do with her life now that she is no longer a solider. Her feeling for Levi come with a lot of confusion as she’s discovering emotions that she has never felt before. She has a hard time pinpointing on what exactly describes her relationship with him. I’m anxiously waiting for the final chapter for this fic and dying to see how it will end for Mikasa and Levi.

- After the War

Author: loneackerman

Rating: Mature

I am loving this rivamika slow burn fic right here. Its similar to Beyond the Walls but I think the author adds their own taste of the 1920s into it. Set after the war is over (obviously), Mikasa and Levi have to figure out what they are going to do the rest of their lives. It has great tension, a perfectly paced gradual romance and just the right amount of humor to combat the emotional turmoil it puts you through. Again in my opinion, this is close to how I would realistically perceive Levi and Mikasa’s relationship evolving. I’m really enjoying this story and I’m looking forward to more updates to come!

- The Sound of Lightning

Author: LycheeGreenTea

Rating: Mature

A new fic that is just getting started but I can tell that what the author has in store is going to be interesting. Set several years after the end of the war, Levi and Mikasa are loving parents to a single child. Their peaceful life comes to an end when the family has a threat against them. There are not many long fics about Mikasa and Levi being parent so I was very happy when this one popped up on the AO3 feed. An exciting adventure awaits the Ackerman family now and I can’t wait to see where this fic goes in the future. There are three chapters as of now so head over there and check it out.

Incomplete:

- Home

Author: MissErikaCourt

Rating: Mature

One of the gems I found when diving back into the Rivamika archive. Ugh I HATE that this fic is incomplete!!! Its a good long fic but I’m greedy and I need more! I will give a warning first that this fic does contain heavy themes. Mikasa and Levi are in the underground to fight against a criminal ring. This story is a slow burn with action and emotional trauma. There is a wonderfully written OC that you easily get attached to its not even funny. Even though its not completed, I would highly recommend checking it out. I still have three more chapters to finish but I had to put it on this list. I know that I’m going to be pissed once I reach the last chapter written. If someone know MissErikaCourt, let her know that she needs to comeback to finish this masterpiece!

- Shiver

Author: bornsinner

Rating: Mature

Another one that I DISPISE its incomplete!!! Ugh such a great Office AU. It’s everything that I would want in an Office AU setting. Mikasa struggles between her committed long term relationship and her growing attraction (which starts to develop into some feelings) to her boss, Levi. Its hot, sexy and intriguing and it pisses me off that its not finished! The author writes each chapter as a one-shot but collectively together they tell the whole story. Highly recommend even though its so short. BORNSINNER where ever you are in the universe I hope you come back to finish this!!!

- Two Lines

Author: Crejhov

Rating: Mature

When this was getting updated it was my favorite on-going Rivamika fic. I would find myself checking to see if the author updated with a new chapter every week! The unplanned pregnancy trope is a classic one, but Crejhov does a fantastic job on keeping readers enthralled with soo many anticipated character meet up that are bound to cause hurdles for our expecting parents. This story is told from the perspectives of Mikasa and Levi in order for us to understand where their mindsets are as they plan for their expecting child and deal with their relationship. AHHHHH I want more of this!!! I was soo excited to see where this awkward journey was going to take Mikasa and Levi. CREJHOV COME BACK PLEASE I KNOW YOU HAVE WORK BUT PLEAAASEEEE! I NEEEEEEDDDD!!!

- Cabin Fever

Author: AmayaOkami

Rating: Mature

All I should have to say about this is that its written by AmayaOkami and that should explain it. Amaya is the one that gave us the beautiful incomplete rivamika fic Romance and Rivalry. I just adore her writing. Levi and Mikasa relationship evolves as they are standing guard over the arrested Kenny Ackerman. Secrets are discover about the Ackermans and it gets pretty steamy between our two favs. Great fluff and great sexual tension that leaves you wanting more chapters! Again AmayaOkami where ever you went I hope for some miracle that you come back and complete this one too!

One-Shot:

- Jade

Author: shulkie

Rating: Mature

This one-shot feels like I read a novel, it has such a great storyline. An arranged marriage between Mikasa and Levi leaves the relationship strained in the beginning. Their relationship evolves over time as Levi patiently brings down Mikasa’s wall. With smut added for all of your one-shot needs. Definitely worth the read in my opinion.

- What Remains

Author: Mirime

Rating: Mature

This one-shot gives us a glimpse into the secret relationship that Levi and Mikasa have been having while there are still scouts. This fic is sad but I would say it has a bittersweet ending. I think this was supposed to be part of a collection but I can’t find the rest of them. Still a great read by itself.

- Agape

Author: alienheartattack (Sanneke)

Rating: Mature

This fic is cute as shit! A College AU where Mikasa and Levi are childhood friends. Levi has to deal with Mikasa being at the same college as him while he is struggling with his changing feelings towards a grown up Mikasa. Worth the read as I said cute as shit, leaves you all warm and fuzzy lol!

- As Seen in Shadows

Author: MoraLeeWright

Rating: Explicit

FUCKING MORA! LEE! WRIGHT! UFFFFGGHHH Fuck I’m in love with her writing style. I really have nothing to say more that just go read it! Its hot and sexy and the sexual tension is off the fucking charts in this one. Its just MoraLeeWright smut thats all I can say. It’s great! JUST READ IT LMAO!

- Remedy

Author: NSummer

Rating: Mature

Another hot smut one-shot coming your way! Levi and Mikasa have had an ongoing affair and this just recounts their first time together. Its just some good ol’ Rivamika smut that I think that everyone in this community would enjoy.

- Nutty: Drunk in Love

Author: Hallow17

Rating: Mature

A fun smut to read about Mikasa getting “revenge” on her asshole boss, Levi. Things don’t go the way she plans as things get a little heated in the sexy way. A quick smut that I think is perfect for a little Rivamika crave.

- Spicy: Jalapeno

Author: Hallow17

Rating: Explicit

Another fun smut to read by Hallow17. Levi has been stressed out at work and Mikasa finds a way to help him get his mind off it (if you know what i mean). Again perfect for a Rivamika quick fix.

[bring-the-storm]

Rated: T

Word Count: 1833

written for @mlcorefour appreciation week

After accidentally panicking and telling basically the whole world that she's dating a member of the hero team, Ladybug must someone to fake-date her, and fast. Of course Carapace suggests the obvious solution: she can just date his girlfriend for a few weeks. As the plan dissolves into chaos, the four learn what it means to be the heart of a team, while also getting into more shenanigans than humanly possible along the way.

---

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Those were the first words to tumble from Chat Noir’s lips, his smile too overeager, too happy to be genuine. 

“I didn't-”

“Girl, you have GOT to be kidding me,” Rena Rouge interrupted, whirling on her the second her feet touched the rooftop. “I thought we were friends!?! Who is it? Pegasus? Viperion?”

“I thought he was dating Ryuko,” Carapace jumped in.

“I’m not-” Ladybug opened her mouth to explain, only to be interrupted. She couldn’t really blame Alya (who only had fifteen Ladynoir pinterest boards and showed them off to anyone who so much as mentioned the superhero duo). 

“Oh, right,” Rena Rouge nodded. “Otherwise she totally would’ve been my next guess.” The fox heroine turned to her desperately. “Please don’t tell me it’s Tigresse. I’ve been working on my Tigerella fanfic for months.”

“Guys, can you calm down for-”

“King Monkey, maybe?” Carapace guessed as Chat plopped down on the edge of the building, failing at not looking miserable. “He doesn’t really seem like he’s her type, but you never know.”

Rena Rogue cut her off again. “I swear, if it’s Vesperia and I didn’t see it coming…” The heroine buried her face in her hands. “Ladybug you better explain. I don’t know what to do with my life anymore!”

Instantly, three sets of eyes locked on her, begging for clarification. Ladybug took a deep breath.

“Guys, I’m not dating anyone.”

“But you said-” Rena protested. 

“I know and I’m sorry!” she cried, trying not to look at Chat as her face heated. Not that it meant anything. Obviously.  “The reporters kept asking all these questions and I just wanted to get out of there and it slipped out.”

It was hard to miss the flash of relief in Chat’s eyes.

“So, let me get this straight,” Carapace said, staring at her incredulously. “Your grand plan to get out of a stressful press conference was to tell everyone in Paris on live television that you’re dating someone on our team?”

It sounded a lot worse when he said it out loud.

“I panicked,” Ladybug admitted with a wince.

Carapace breathed a sigh of relief. “Well, at least you can just admit that and everything will go back to normal.”

Rena Rouge and Chat Noir glanced at each other knowingly and almost simultaneously burst into giggles, as if he had said something hilarious.

“That doesn’t sound like a good sign,” Ladybug swung her yo-yo in an anxious circle.

“Trust me when I say it will not work out like that,” Chat Noir smirked somewhat bitterly in the light of the setting sun.

Rena waved her hand across the sky as if she could already read the headlines written on the clouds. “Shocking Reveal - Ladybug Tells All.”

“I could just tell them the truth,” she tried to protest.

“Heroes Attempt to Cover up the Truth,” Alya finished, stopping the yo-yo’s frantic circle with her flute.

Ladybug groaned, wanting to kick something, preferably Hawkmoth’s stupid face.

“And of course it's right around the anniversary,” Chat Noir reminded her.

“Uh, no it’s not,” Carapace glanced at her partner like he was crazy. 

And he kinda was. She distinctly remembered a picnic with a certain kitty on the rooftops near where she ‘fell from heaven’ as they watched a parade of small children stream by, wearing Stoneheart cosplay only a few months ago.

“Not that anniversary,” Chat Noir deflated a little. “I was talking about Oblivio.”

Her brain screeched to a halt. 

“This just keeps getting better and better,” she groaned. 

Carapace and Rena exchanged a glance. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“After a certain Ladyblogger posted a photo of me and Chat,” she locked her gaze on Rena, relishing the moment a little too much. “Some of the fans seem to have gotten it into their heads that Kitty and I are destined to get together on that day.

“Generally involving a week full of frustrated Ladynoir-shipping akumas,” Chat jumped in. “And one exhausted and pointedly not together bug and cat.”

Ladybug giggled. “Okay, you have to admit, some of them are kinda funny.”

The cat hero snorted. “I wouldn’t call Aphrodite funny.”

“What about the fanfic style one?” she nudged his knee playfully, trying to see if banter would help cheer him up. “You have to admit, throwing mugs at the akuma during the coffee shop AU was the best.”

A hint of a real smirk flickered across her partner’s lips. 

“You called me sweet when you dumped all that sugar in my hair,” she reminded him.

“It was an accident!” he protested with a grin.

“Yeah, right,” Ladybug crossed her arms. “You were supposed to throw it at him. You totally did it on purpose!”

Chat clutched his chest, pretending to wipe tears from his eyes. “I can’t believe you would have such little faith in me, m’lady!!”

Both of them somehow missed the knowing glance their best friends shot each other.

All their weapons buzzed simultaneously, doubtlessly with an update from the news. Chat Noir flicked open his baton and sighed, showing the headline to the rest of them.

“Which of Our Heroes is Ladybug’s Boyfriend?”

Her partner scrolled through the article, grumbling under his breath.

Carapace raised his eyebrows under his hood. “Bold of them to assume you don't have a girlfriend.”

“I wish I could say that it’s bold of them to assume I’m dating anyone at all,” she sighed. “But I kinda started this so I guess I can’t blame them.”

“THAT’S IT!” Rena Rouge leapt to her feet, nearly knocking her boyfriend’s shell over the edge of the roof.

“What?” Ladybug glanced at her comrades to check if they had the slightest idea of what was going on. 

“You told the press that you’re dating one of us on the hero team, right?” the fox heroine asked excitedly.

“Yes?” Ladybug answered hesitantly. “You were there too.”

“Not the point,” her friend waved the comment off. “The only solution that doesn’t end in even more akuma attacks is fairly obvious.”

The other three glanced at each other to see if they had gotten it.

“COME ON GUYS,” Alya sighed. “Ladybug just has to pretend to be dating one of us for a few weeks. Think about it. They go out on a few dates, cue general excitement from Paris about the first official hero couple, tragically break up after a few weeks and everything goes back to normal.”

Ladybug shrugged. “I guess it could work.”

“Why does this sound way too similar to the basic plot for any fake dating fanfic?” Chat Noir hissed in the nearby turtle hero’s ear. 

Or hood by where his ear should be. 

“Probably because that's exactly what it is,” Carapace whispered back. 

Rena smirked.

“And I happy to know of an available cat who would be happy to take-”

Her triumphant Ladynoir wingwoman grin fell from her face as the duo shook their heads in unison.

“Bad idea,” Chat Noir admitted. “I don’t want to think about the worldwide catastrophe that could occur after out ‘breakup.’”

“It would be like last Valentine’s day, but infinitely worse,” Ladybug jumped in, wincing at the memory of yet another love akuma that nearly burned Paris to the ground in its mission to make its OTP kiss.

Not that kissing Chat was such a bad thing. He was kinda good-

She cut off that mental track before it could get anywhere.

“Well, who else are you going to fake-date?” Alya asked. “I mean, I would totally be up for the job, but…”

She gestured at her boyfriend.

Carapace’s silence spoke for itself.

“Uh, babe?” Rena nudged him with her boot.

“Yeah?” he said with a grin.

“You can’t actually be considering this.”

“Why not?” he shrugged. “It’s not like anyone in Paris will know any better.”

“Hawkmoth could target me!” Alya pointed out. “He knows where I live!”

Carapace shrugged. “I mean, he could do that anyway.”

“Still, this could…” her voice trailed off. “Uh- why you aren’t fighting me on this.”

The turtle hero shrugged. “I guess I don’t see a problem with it, dudette. As long as both you and Ladybug are cool with it, then I’m not going to stop you.”

“You’re supposed to be my voice of reason!” Rena Rouge stared at him like he had just admitted to secretly being Chloé’s BFF. “Are you secretly a sentimonster or something?”

Nino raised his hands innocently. “I’m just trying to be a supportive boyfriend and help you reach your dreams.”

“By handing me off to the first bug who wants to date me?”

Carapace fell back dramatically. “Babe, did you see Ladybug today,” he cried in an impression of his girlfriend's voice. “The way she stuck that landing and then she winked at me and I swear I died. No offense babe, but if Ladybug ever asked me out, I would break up with you in an instant.”

Rena turned bright red.

Ladybug giggled. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“You’re cool with this?” Rena spun on her.

“I mean, if Carapace is,” she smirked. “Sounds like it's the closest to a realistic relationship I’m going to get.”

Rena Rouge buried her head in her hands. “Hold on. I need to go scream on a rooftop.”

“Take all the time you need, babe,” Carapace called after her.

Ladybug smirked, grabbing her hand and kissing it like Chat would sometimes do for her (which totally didn’t leave her in a stuttering mess afterwards. Obviously.). “Yeah, babe. Take all the time you need.”

Rena Rouge turned red and fled.

“Whoops,” Ladybug turned back to Carapace with a sheepish grin on her face. “Too much?”

“Just because you’re fake dating my girlfriend doesn’t mean you can steal her,” Carapace nodded. “Don’t worry. She’ll be back in a few minutes and fully on board with this.”

“I should go and talk to her,” Ladybug said as she bit her lip nervously. She waved to Chat in a TOTALLY NORMAL WAY as she leapt over the rooftops.

***

The ribbons on her pigtails fluttered in the evening wind as Chat Noir watched her vault over the rooftop after her possible future fake-girlfriend.

Carapace whistled. “Dude, you’ve got it bad.”

Adrien’s face heated as he punched the turtle hero's arm. “Shut up.”

“Have you considered telling her that, you know, you still love her?”

Chat Noir laughed bitterly. “And watch her heart rip in half as she tells me yet again that we could never be more than friends? No thanks.” He glanced away. “I’d rather give up my miraculous.”

The sounds of the city that echoed off the rooftops awkwardly filled the void between them.

Finally, Chat Noir asked. “So, wait, are we actually doing this?”

Carapace nodded. “We’re superheroes. It’s our duty to protect Paris. If the only way for us to do that is for my girlfriend to pretend-date yours, then it’s a sacrifice we have to make.”

[ressyfaerie]

Dark Tyson fic; during G-Rev, Tyson snaps from stress and feelings of abandonment and joins Team BEGA. (Bonus points for Brooklyn getting close to Tyson to make Kai jealous. Black Dragoon optional, or maybe Boris gives him Black Dranzer...?!)

I saved the best for last. 

I am a big fan of dark Tyson- love it. I’ve been thinking of this prompt for DAYS. I’m very excited to write this- as you know I am the angst queen. For the sake of this fic, g-rev timelines are going to be confusingly switched around, just because it makes more sense for the fic, and also- I’ve forgotten some important plot points and dont have the time to rewatch g-rev LMAO. Anything in * can be Tyson’s or Kai’s private thoughts! 

So I finished writing this, and it's LONG. so I’ve actually uploaded it to archive first, because reading it on tumblr seems like a chore and a half, so here’s the archive link: 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/30739397/chapters/75866906

It came out to 50 pages, and it’s 5 chapters on archive. 

And here’s the first ‘chapter’ of the fic: 

So here we go:

It was odd to see Kenny angry. 

He tossed his laptop to the side, picking up spare bey parts in his hand. 

“Kenny! I’m just saying- What are our chances? Without everyone else, we’re useless as a team-”

“I’ve been working so hard Tyson…” Kenny shook in anger, beside him. Hilary tried to place her hand on his shoulder to comfort him, but he shook her off. 

“How could you say we’re useless?! When we’ve been trying so hard!?” 

“It’s not enough! You know me and Diachi can’t work together-” 

From the corner of the room, Diachi screeched, “Hey loser! I’m right here!” 

“I know, you shitty little cherry tomato!” 

Hilary tried to be the mediator, “Tyson, are you sure that’s how you really feel?” 

Tyson nodded, “Our team has no hope. Now with BEGA taking over everything we can’t even get any parts, it’s useless-” 

“How could you say that Tyson!” Kenny yelled louder than he ever had in his life, “You’re the one who’s supposed to be uplifting us! You’re the leader-” 

“I don’t want to be a leader! We had a leader remember? And a coach?” 

“You can’t give up!” Kenny begged and shook with anger, Tyson felt horrible, he knew Kenny had been working so hard, but they had lost too much, he felt there was no hope of recovery. 

“Throw out your research Kenny, we’re done.” Tyson stared at the wooden floorboards of the dojo, completely defeated. 

“AaaaH!” Kenny had launched himself forward- landing a strong right hook on Tyson’s cheek. 

Tyson fell backwards, landing on his side and quickly sitting up to rub his cheek, “What the hell Kenny!?” 

Kenny was furious, “you can throw away everything we’ve worked for if you want! Telling me to throw away *my* research?! You need to get yourself together Tyson!” 

Tyson was left speechless, Hilary nodded, agreeing with Kenny, “if we’re going to defeat BEGA we need a Tyson who can hold himself together.” 

“You’re heads messed up dude,” Diachi remarked, “We can’t work with you until you fix yourself.” 

Tyson could feel the anger radiate through his body, “if you guys think I’m so messed up then maybe I should just leave!?” 

“Then go.” Kenny hissed through clenched teeth. 

“Fine! Good luck with hopper-” Tyson slammed his hands on the floor throwing himself to his feet, “Your beyblade that fucking hops- Beyblades aren’t supposed to hop Kenny!” 

He slid open the shoji doors fast, and threw them closed, rattling the old dojo like an earthquake. Outside in the gardens, he cursed. 

“Tyson?” 

Hearing his grandpa’s voice behind him, he aggressively swung his body in his direction, “What is it Gramps? I’m not in the mood-” 

“What’s going on with you and your friends?” 

“Friends!?” Tyson spat. 

“Oh no... Tyson-” Ryu shook his head. 

“What? What is it? Is it something wrong with me?” Tyson’s whole body was stationary, emanating white anger.

“Your friends didn’t leave you to hurt you.” 

“Not my friends- Friends don’t betray each other to go to different teams.” 

“You *know* they didn’t betray you.” 

“Then tell me why Kai went to BEGA.” 

Grandpa stayed silent, he didn’t have a good reason why Kai went to BEGA, and no one knew why. 

“I’m sure like Max and Ray, he just wanted to fight you again.” 

“And Hiro?” 

“He wanted to train stronger opponents for you-” 

Tyson suddenly laughed, “he could have trained *me*.” 

Ryu placed his hands in front of him, trying to calm his grandson down from a distance. 

His Grandpa was more serious than he had been in years. 

“He could have- I know it wasn’t the best thing for Hiro to do, but- he did it because he loves you.” 

“Okay Grandpa, you have an answer for everything huh? Then answer me this- where’s my dad?” 

The garden turned ice cold. 

“I’m sure he’s around Tyson-”

“Does he not have a TV? Or a post office? How can he sit in some country, and not see what is happening to his own son!?” Tyson’s voice bellowed through the courtyard. 

“I don’t know Tyson- he loves you.” 

“No he doesn’t- It seems no one does-” Tyson was holding back angry sobs. 

Ryu took a step forward, “Tyson I-” 

“No!” Tyson screamed and threw his hand in front of him to keep him back, “stay away from me!” 

The doors to the dojo opened, no doubt his make-shift team coming to see the commotion. 

“You guys stay away from me too!” Tyson grasped his head and scratched his nails into his scalp, “Everyone just- stay away from me.” 

No one could say anything, Tyson glanced around at the quiet group, “what? Are you guys afraid of me now or something?” 

“Tyson, you need to calm down-” Ryu tried. 

“No? Don’t tell me to calm down!-” Tyson took a step backwards, trying desperately to flee the situation, then it occurred to him- he could. 

Tyson stared down the gravel beneath his feet, the world felt blurry, and in that moment his vision flashed red, he turned away running at full pace through the yard, and out the gates, flying down the street as he heard his only paternal figure and teammates calling for him. 

Down the road, over a bridge, along the ocean, towards the river. 

The sun was setting now, twilight was blanketing the world. 

At the top of the riverbank he began to head towards the river, not knowing why. He slipped on the smooth grass landing on his back and groaning in pain. 

He placed his hands over his face and cried. 

He sobbed for everything- everything he lost, his friend’s, his reputation, his spirit. 

He pulled himself off the grass and shoved his head in between his knees, still crying. Anger, sadness, regret, he felt it all at once. It was eating him from the inside out.

He let out a frustrated scream while jabbing his fingertips into his biceps, trying desperately to turn to dust, to become one with the earth. 

He didn’t hear the footsteps approach him. 

“I would ask if you’re okay- but I know the answer.” 

“Whoever you are- Just leave me alone- please.” Tyson buried his head further into his knees. 

He felt someone sit beside him, the grass crunched under their weight.

“Everyone’s left you.” 

“I know that-” Tyson could barely make out the words. 

“They left you for better teams, brighter pastures… You must think you’re not good enough for them.”

Tyson shook his head. 

“You are. You’re better than all of them, probably better than all of them combined.” 

 Those words made Tyson perk his head up, wondering who his savior tonight could possibly be. 

The purple hair stood out first, he wore a compassionate smile. 

Tyson locked eyes with his arch-enemy but made no effort to change his expression.

 “You’re allowed to be sad- and angry.” 

Tyson became more frustrated, *why is it out of everyone I know, the evilest person tells me what I need to hear?*

Boris had an interesting voice. Tyson tried to dissect the tone, but he could only detect… Affection. 

“What are you going to do now… World champion?”

Tyson felt his body go numb at the comment, so much was expected of him, but he had no way of accomplishing any of it. 

Tyson tried to inhale before answering, a cough got stuck in his throat, and he answered in a hoarse voice, “I’m not sure.” 

Boris continued smiling, he stared at the orange sun, just about to disappear under the horizon, “Do you want to show your friends how capable you are?” 

Tyon managed to hold his head up for a moment, he slowly nodded. 

“Good for you.” 

His words seemed to calm him down against his will. 

Tyson mumbled, “I won’t join BEGA.”  

“I’m not asking you to. But I do have everything you need to arm yourself. Parts, training rooms, places to sleep, all the food you could ask for” 

Tyson shook his head. 

“No strings attached. Come see my training facilities tonight, if you don’t want to be there, you can leave.”  

Tyson felt cold, the shadow of the setting sun crept over them, an ominous darkness crawled over his face, then Boris’. 

“Or would you rather go back to your home tonight?” 

Boris made a point. Tyson had no intention of going home tonight, but he had nowhere to stay. 

His eyes darted back and forth, deep in thought. 

Boris pushed himself off the ground and stepped to the top of the hill. 

On the road next to them, a fancy car.  

The purple-haired man opened the passenger door and gestured with his hand. Tyson gave him a blank stare. 

“Come on, world champ.” He emphasized the last words just right- reminding Tyson how much was on his back, “what’ll it be?” 

Tyson’s brain wasn’t working, logical thought was too much to process. What he did know was- he didn’t want to sit on this riverbank crying the rest of the night. 

Boris waited, for minutes, holding the door open. 

Tyson sniffed, he rubbed his nose with his forearm, crawled to his knees, and pushed himself off the ground. 

“Good job, champion.” Boris grinned, giving him the unnecessary compliment. 

Tyon was beside him now, he rested his fingertips on the top of the car door, feeling the cold black metal under his nails. 

“It’ll be warmer inside when I turn on the heat,” Boris reassured Tyson, inspecting his skin, covered in goosebumps from the cold.

“O...kay…” 

Tyson crawled into the passenger seat weakly.

He did turn on the heat. The heated seats warmed Tyson’s whole body. He watched the street lamps roll past as he hunched into the leather. 

Boris drove like an old man- but also a maniac. Driving the speed limit, but taking turns at the same speed. 

The BEGA building towered over the whole city. They pulled into a parking garage, the gates rose with Boris’ presence. 

After parking in a special stall, Boris turned off the car and climbed out, he walked to Tyson’s side opening the door for him. Tyson didn’t have the energy to complain that he could have done it himself, and instead, followed the older man to a specific elevator. 

They rode the elevator in silence.

When the door opened, Boris walked ahead, Tyson followed cautiously. 

Inside another heavy metal door was darkness, Boris flicked a switch and the lights invaded the room. 

The room was filled with dirt and boulders, in the center, a beydish carved into the earth. 

 “This room was made to be destroyed,” Boris explained. 

Tyson pushed his hands into his pocket, caressing Dragoon with his hand. 

“You’re welcome to destroy it- if you’d like.” 

Tyson still felt emotion linger in his chest, the frustration was killing him, it was a tempting offer, but he knew if he wrecked his blade in the process, he had no way of fixing it. 

“I’m not recording, I’m not analyzing you, I’ll just step back. You do what you need to do.” 

Tyson pulled out his launcher and loaded Dragoon, he directed his launch to a rock.

“AAAUUGH!” Tyson roared as he put all his anger into letting go. 

Dragoon split the rock clean through with ease, the two halves crashing to the ground. 

Tyson continued to scream and throw his hands giving Dragoons orders at a lighting pace. The room was soon covered in dust from the obliterated rocks, while sand rolled over the floor. 

Tyson was holding his chest, trying to get air into his lungs with fast painful breaths, he realized the amount of air he needed wasn’t arriving, so he continued to destroy the room. 

After all the rocks were annihilated, he fell to his knees. He was out of tears, his eyes were wide open. As he witnessed the destroyed room under his body, Boris began to clap. 

“Bravo! Amazing, spectacular! A performance only one person in the whole world could accomplish!” 

Dragoon obediently arrived at Tyson’s knees, he picked him up and inspected him. 

*Trashed. I’m sorry Dragoon.*

He shoved him safely back into his pocket. 

“Fantastic job, Tyson.” Boris was in front of him now, holding out his hand to help him up. 

Tyson wanted to refuse, but his legs were like jelly, he grasped his hand using it as his crutch. 

“You must be thirsty after a performance like that! Come- I have a room prepared.” 

Tyson found himself in an extremely fancy penthouse. Extravagant food was laid out on a table with every kind of drink next to it. 

Boris had gestured to a couch telling him to sit down, when he did, the soft plush absorbed him. The comfort felt amazing on his aching muscles. 

“What do you want to drink, champion?” Boris popped open a wine bottle and poured himself a glass. 

Tyson watched him cautiously, he had never seen an adult drink alcohol so casually in front of him- he was underage after all. 

“Do you want some of this?” Boris gestured to his crystal glass and grinned. 

“No- Just water, thanks.” 

“Any food?” Boris asked as he handed him a glass of cold water from the table. 

Tyson accepted it and began to drink, he stopped for a moment, “not hungry.” 

“You’ve been through a lot tonight, that’s understandable.”

Tyson took another worried sip, “Yeah.” Tyson’s eyes darted side to side.

“You must be wondering about the room?” 

“Is this your place?” Tyson took a good look at the penthouse this time. 

“Actually, it was supposed to be yours, when I finally convinced you to join BEGA, but-” Boris took a sip of his wine, “it seems like that just isn’t going to happen.” 

Tyson felt a wave of exhaustion fall over him. He felt like he had been hit by a truck. 

“Let me show you around,” Boris suggested. 

Tyson decided to follow, he needed to get off the couch before he fell asleep. 

He showed him the kitchen, balcony, hot tub, fireplace, and finally the bedroom. 

“King Size bed, very comfortable, you can lay down if you want.” 

Tyson could sense his eyes closing, it had been a long day, he had never felt this tired, even after training all night. 

Boris sat on the edge of the bed, patting the spot beside him. Without questioning, Tyson was sitting beside him too. 

“It’s okay to rest sometimes. Have you ever seen a champion win on fumes?” 

“I have.” Tyson tried to grin, but failed. 

“Go to sleep Tyson.” 

“No- not here.” 

Boris took his empty water glass out of his hand- he gently pushed his shoulder, Tyson collapsed backwards into the bed. 

“Sleep.”

[skampi835]

Peevish Herbs and Sassy Medicine (Ieyasu x OC)

This is a chapter from one of my bigger fanfictions, I’m writing. But I’m too shy to post the whole thing anywhere... (because I’m doubting myself and my english too much)

But I’m quite pleased with this oneshot (so I corrected and re-readed it multible times)! Have fun while reading! I hope you’ll enjoy.

The scene takes place one day after arriving in Azuchi so it’s not the first encounter with Ieyasu, but their first... well... kind of conversation?

Fandom: Ikemen Sengoku

Language: english

Starring: Ieyasu x OC

Genre: Comedy

Warning: none

Word Count: 2.900

“Hey there, Ina! Masamune invited me to a stroll into town. I’m sure you’re not in the mood since your face is still puffy and all. So I understand when you don’t want to. I just leave you a note, so you know he’s looking out for me. cya!”

  Oh well... it’s all right... I guess. Have a nice time, Rei -- WithOUT me!

Exasperated Ina’s sitting by the table in their room. Narrowing her grey blue eyes, she’s analyzing over the letter again, and yes, she's actually analyzing every single word. The female also would have loved to go strolling into town. Because she felt asleep during the ride back to the castle, she hasn't yet seen anything from it. Adventuring with her dear friend - and crony from the future - Rei, would have been so much fun, besides the puffy face Ina had because of mister spooky guy!

Stealing my friend on the first day, huh? Sneaky Masamune...

Absently Ina’s reaching for the sweets Masamune had brought over before he'd so casually took up her friend. Munching over them the sweet taste of the incrediences spreads over her tounge and she couldn’t help but feel a little bit guilty for her thoughts, while she's dreamily enjoying the treats. They are sooo delicious! Ina has never expected that! Didn't Masamune mentioned, he has made them himself? How amazing!

“I’m not in the mood anyway.” Ina says somewhat confident to herself, while eating the sweets happily. But what is she supposed to do after? Hideyoshi had sent her away before, to handle Ranmaru and like he said she wasn’t given free access to the castle or it’s staff. Heavily Ina sighs after finishing the last mochi.

Her vision’s crossing Rei’s letter again.

You know what? What Hideyoshi doesn’t know won’t hurt him!

  _____

Armed with a wipe and a bucket filled with water, Ina’s entering the archives. Her eyes are scanning her surroundings in which the massive shelves flank the room. Particles of dust are lightly dancing in the rays of shining sunlight from the small window above her, like illuminating sparks. Lanterns are shimmering luminously the walls, uncovering heavy, valuable looking tapestries. Great shelves are arching under the sheer weight of the books, scrolls and other stuff that they store. The smell of parchment and ink fills the the dusty air.

Ina’s truly impressed about the enourmus mass the archive is holding. She hasn’t expected seeing something like this in this time, when books and great knowledge should be merely rare.

“Hello?” Ina waits and listens after raising her voice. She wants to be sure, that there’s nobody else here, particulaly Hideyoshi, who would’ve bickered with her, why she’s even in there. The perfect silence remains at first, when she catches on a brief clink and a brushing tone.

Looking around, Ina quickly finds the source of the sound, when she’s seeing a little bird over the window. It disappears under the ceiling, before returning and it finally flies away.

Phew, just a birdnest in the ceiling, I guess.

Closing the door behind, Ina’s passing the shelves. Her eyes are flying over the spines of the books and scroll, astonished and visibly impressed. Originally planned she would have use the wipe to dust the inside, but Ina is way too stunned about the fullness of the archives. Though she has trouble in reading them, the female is concentrating on the written characters.

Honestly Ina curses herself, for not being more intent, when she learned kanji for her trip to Japan. And now she can’t barely read anything at all, because the letters are looking not just foreign, but alien.

The bookshelves are rowing the walls and even outlining in the middle, separating the room into three small sections. It’s not nearly enough to call it a library, like Ina’s uses to know from her own time, but it definitely amazes her.

She’s stopping at a table, which she brushes the dust off with the wipe. Placing the bucket at the corner, Ina turns to dust the nearest shelf as well, though the oddly sensation of the knowledge the archives are holding, is attracting her like magic and get the better of her.

Abandoning her good intentions of cleaning, Ina’s facing the nearest shelf. Some of the scrolls look pretty old, though most of the books don’t. Curiously Ina leans nearer so she could read the headlines on the spines, though she has huge problems deciphering them.

... You know what? When I’m about to spent my upcoming three months here, I could at least do something useful and learn something new. Didn’t Nobunaga say I could just spend my time in Azuchi, doing girly stuff??

Not sure if reading is that kind of girly stuff, Nobunaga was talking about, Ina's concentrating on reading the characters. She truly holds a big interest in the use of medicine in these time period. Even in her present day, the european medicine often implies alternative Chinese medicine as a support. What’s the difference between Japanese and Chinese medicine and their herbs, she wonders?

She just has to find the right section where she can find those books and then... well, maybe Rei will help her read them! So Ina hopes... Nonetheless Ina's determining sure in becoming better with reading, when she’ll try.

Looking over her shoulder to make sure she’s still alone, Ina’s taking a deep breath. With narrow eyes Ina reads slowly and aloud: “’Mental Honor’... ‘Fall of Hogan-Ji’,... ‘The Art of War’... - oh wait, I think I actually know this book!”

“Would you mind, being quiet?”

The sullen hiss that suddenly sounds from not that afar startles Ina nearly to death. An anxious meep slips through her lips while giving a jerk. Rapidly blinking Ina’s listening to the remaining silence bewildered. “Eh... Hello?” Unsure she asks. Ina was certain, that she had been alone! Yet someone noticed her poor reading!

Silence...

And a quiet grunt.

Slowly Ina reaches about two books before her and shoves them gently to the side. A peevish Ieyasu’s frowning annoyingly at her from the other side of the bookshelf.

Embarrassed, Ina is sheepishly gazing back at him. “What are you doing here?”

“What does it look like? Reading in silence.” was his curt answer.

“And why didn’t you just answer when I've entered? You have really startled me.” Shame’s  uncomfortably heating her head and Ina truly feels like an idiot. Though Ieyasu doesn’t seem to notice, while he's gazing tiredly back at her through the hole in the shelf. “I didn’t thought you’re actually going to stay.”

What kind of reason is that?

When Ina met Ieyasu the first time, she felt more like encountering a spikey raid boss with venom abilities:

Yesterday

Curiously Ina’s watching the other man, with bright, tousled hair. He’s smaller than Mitsunari and Mitsuhide. Though to be honest, being taller than Mitsuhide would be quite the challenge! Yet Ieyasu nearly seem to be petite, just looking at her with sharp green eyes.

Since Ina's the foreign here, she’s feeling the urge in doing the first step. It couldn’t hurt to be on good terms with the guys here, even if at least one of them is a shady tease. “Hello, my Name’s Ina. Nice to meet you.”

Ieyasu's inclining his head, slightly narrowing his eyes skeptically. “You don’t look as I imagined.” He says and leaves Ina quite puzzled. “Pardon, but what do you mean?”

“You look terribly pitiful.” Ieyasu bluntly retorts. Wow... that one quickly turns out to be a salty one... They've hardly talked, yet Ina got the feeling he doesn’t like her.

“How intent of you, Lord Ieyasu.” Mitsunari beams with a stunningly gentle smile and nods towards Ieyasu. “Lady Ina sure needs some rest after that long horse ride and the harsh night she’d just had. I guess a bath will also help her to ease.”

Ina always felt at calm, when she looks at Mitsunari’s calm and angelic smile since arriving in this era. Mitsunari’s by far the nicest person she’s ever met, even in her own time! But in this moment Mitsunari’s tender words and soft smile doesn’t seem to convince Ina. Glancing haltingly back at Ieyasu, as he grumpily rolls his eyes with a snort, confirms Ina in her assumption. Ieyasu wasn’t intent at all... He just was rude!

“Whatever.” Ieyasu says with an annoyingly heavy sigh and is glancing back at Ina. “You don’t need medical treatment, do you?” he asks.

After blinking confused about his sudden offer, Ina shakes her head. “No, thank you. I’m fine, just a little bit tired.”

“Good.” Ieyasu nods and is walking away without another word. Ina carefully follows his steps with her grey blue eyes.

“Lord Ieyasu is also a vessal of Lord Nobunaga. And I can quite tell that he likes you.” Mitsunari’s smiling warmly at Ina, while she peers at him doubtfully. “Uhm sure... If you say so.” Ina surely wasn’t sure though.

Still looking at Ieyasu, Ina’s wondering if he has another of his bad moods. By the looks of him, he’s not in a good mood by any means. “Will you stop staring at me?” Ieyasu brusque retorts and pulls Ina out of her thoughts. “It’s hard to concentrate.”

“Ahm I-... Sorry Ieyasu.” Ina quickly says and is bashfully tousling her hair. “I... was looking for a book earlier to read.”

“That stammering didn’t sound like you could read at all.”

Ina’s opening her mouth in attempt to defend herself. But she couldn't tell him, that she’s used to read in another language with different alphabetic characters! Nonetheless she is able to read at all!

Okay Ina, be nice to him. Maybe he’ll understand.

“I-- err... am not used to it. Reading I mean. But I like to study.”

“Are you an idiot?” Ieyasu scoffs monotonously. “How can you study if you’re not able to read?”

Ina’s face darkens a tiny bit, gritting her teeth. Because of Sasuke she can’t tell him the truth and it might be better that way. So she’s avoiding strange questions or worse the dungeons, because when she's not declaired crazy she might would be claimed a spy. With a silent sigh Ina’s rounding the shelf to face Ieyasu. He’s sitting by an table with a pile of books. Next to him a brush, ink stone and blank papers. “Even if I’m not a good reader, I’m willing to lean it. I just like to learn.”

Not having the barrier of a shelf between them any longer, Ieyasu’s dropping his gaze to his books. “Then do it muted and elsewhere. You’re interrupting my studies.”

Puzzled Ina’s blinking a few times, while Ieyasu does his best to intent she’s not even here anymore. “Excuse me. I guess I’m confused. I thought you warlords don’t study anything else then strategy or warfare.”

Ieyasu’s peering coldly at her. The unspoken question ‘Are you an idiot?’ clear written in his annoyed face. A sudden rush of embarrassment is rushing Ina's face again, because of her own flawing logic. The sudden time travel thing might was really too much for her. Apologetically Ina raises her hands. “I am sorry. I spoke out of mind.”

“Stop chitchatting. It’s one-sided.” Ieyasu snarls, still piercing Ina with his sharp green eyes, and is sending an enormous wave of aversion towards her, before continuing writing with a brush.

... be nice to him, Ina. He doesn’t understand. But how could he possibly understand?

Ina can’t blame him. Her attitude must be awkward for him. She should be a normal girl from a village that’s not pointed on any map. Without Rei she feels so lonely and lost in this role though. For Rei it's easier pretending to be someone else. She's fitting for acting. Meanwhile Ina’s feeling like stumbling from one puddle to another.

With the attempt of apologizing, Ina’s bowing her head, when she caught sight of an open book on the table. She knows the drawing from her earlier times, when she was in nursing school. It was short theme back then. It shows with dots the spots of particular nerves which could be stimulate to relieve pain. “Oh, is this... about medical practices?”

Ieyasu almost leans back overly hurried, when Ina’s leaning eagerly forth to get a closer look of the page. Knitting his brows, he snorts “And if it is?”

“I--...” Ina’s quick thinking of a way to explain it to him that wouldn’t sound too awkward. For she can’t tell him, that she’s a nurse either. Propably he wouldn’t even know what a nurse is. Sheepishly she smiles: “Sometimes I helped the medics in my hometown.”

Pointing on the drawing with the nerve between thumb and index finger, Ina continues: “When you stimulate this nerve with pressure or a needle, you effectuate some linking to heal headache. But mostly headache comes off when you drink too less. Also you might try to bind fresh peppermint in a wet towel and place it your nape, because of the--”

Before Ina finishes her word, she’s stopping, facing the blankly looking Ieyasu. He even looks a little surprised in the flicker of the lanterns. “You know... western techniques?” He’s asking perplexing sincere.

Ina knows, that she’d spoken too much, that is why, she’s awkwardly tousling her hair again: “Ah I- no. Not really I just know a little about bit. You know my village lays really behind of the mountains.”

Ieyasu’s staring at Ina with puckered brows. Though after a while, he scoffs and draws his book from her. “I thought so.”

Slightly frustrated Ina’s clenching her hands under the table. Ieyasu had called her pitiful before. And a waif at the council. But it would be way too suspicious, if she would offer him to explain some medicine practices she knows from her time. Medicine no one in this time would ever believe will exist someday! For a short moment Ina has thought, that might be a thing they could share. That Ieyasu might be a little nicer to her, if she’ll show her interest. Still Ina’s determined to learn something about the traditional eastern medicine. “Hey? Maybe you could teach me a little, Ieyasu?” Ina’s asking with a consolidative smile.

Raising his head, Ieyasu’s staring at Ina intensly: “No.” and declines quickly.

Shot down in an instand. Encounter Boss is reaching the enrage timer!

“I understand.” Ina slowly nods. “You have important things to do and I’m robbing your spare time you have, huh?”

Ieyasu doesn’t answer, but he doesn’t even have to. According to Rei, he’s the one who will unify Japan. Technically speaking he’ll finish, where Nobunaga and Hideyoshi failed. But in this time as well? Even when Nobunaga's still alive? Again Ina fears for the trouble she and Rei have already caused in messing with the time. “I’m sorry for disturbing you. I’ll leave you to your studies then. Though do you mind helping me to find a book about local herbs? I guess that’ll be a good start for me.”

Ieyasu, understandable deeply annoyed in the meantime, is frowning at Ina. “No. Go find it on your own.”

Knitting her brows Ina’s looking questioning at Ieyasu. Peevishly he's mirroring her.

... You are just rude again! You know what? I don’t need to play nice, when you’re not even trying!

“Fine.” Ina’s saying provocatively loud, while standing up. “I shall go and find my them on my own then.” Sassily she’s emphasising every syllable and faces the books in the shelf next to her. With ostentation she’s pointing a finger on the spines of the books and reads loudly with her utterly bad reading skills: “‘Forged in Iron’..., ‘Forming Armor’,... ‘Art of Forging’... Huh, I might be in the wrong section here.”

“... Stop.”

Ieyasu jumps onto his heels, grumpily snorting as he passes Ina. He walkes determined right to a shelf on the wall and is directly dragging three books out of it. He spins around and is pressing them into Ina’s arms. Dumbfounded she’s catching them. “Thank-...”

“Sod off!”

With his hand on her back Ieyasu’s pushing Ina through the archives and shoves her out. Ina nearly stumbles over her feet into the hallways, the books bedded against her chest. She turns to face Ieyasu, but he has already closed the doors.

I got kicked out...! Well... I guess I deserve this. At least now Ieyasu has a reason for hating me.

Ina sighs in frustration, glancing down to the books she’s still holding in her arms.

‘Plants and Herbs’, ‘Medical Plants’, ‘Poisons and Antidotes’.

Ina’s nibbling her lip, when she silently reads the headlines of the books Ieyasu has shoved towards her. Well at least he did help her. After she has practically annoyed him into exhaustion, that is.

I’ve never felt so guilty in my life before...

A part of Ina thinks that it was okay, because Ieyasu owes her one for his utterly grumpy attitude towards her. An eye for an eye. But another part of her hopes that she could make it up to him soon. She doesn’t want to be on bad terms with anyone here.

Bedding the books against her chest again, Ina’s walking back the hallways to her room. From the open veranda she’s glancing over the gardens, whereas the sun sinks, immersing the sky brightly in orange and red colors.

[supersilversleuth]

I Know You Won’t Believe Me (But Sometimes I wish You Would) by SuperSilverSpy

Fandoms: DCU, DCU (Comics), Batman - All Media Types  

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Category: Gen

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Roman Sionis, Hurt Dick Grayson, Dick Grayson-centric, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, Dick Grayson Whump, Whump, Whumptober 2021, Angst, Dick Grayson DID NOT fake his Death, I know I’m not really touching on it in this fic, but it’s important I say that, Post-Spyral, Miscommunication, Betrayal, I mean, Perceived Betrayal, SuperSilverSpy, SilverGrayson, SilverWhump, Protective Dick Grayson, injuries

Summary:

“Wha—Where am I? What do you want?” He asked, pretending to be groggy from waking up.

“Well, Officer Grayson, you are the Red Hood’s dirty pig informant, so I’m betting there’s a lot I can get out of you.”

Dick resisted the urge to laugh, or explain himself. There wasn’t much to explain anyway, not without revealing secrets that he would rather die protecting. Instead, he forced his expression into something more like shock, and resignation, deciding to play this role to the end. He could feel the instincts of manipulation and deception settling back over him like a very familiar blanket. Playing spy for a while had given him the opportunity to hone those skills. If there was any beneficial thing that could be taken away from that whole experience, it was what good he could now do with the abilities he’d enhanced during that time.

OR Dick is forced to pretend to betray Jason in order to protect the Red Hood’s identity

No. 5 - I’VE GOT RED IN MY LEDGER betrayal | misunderstanding | broken nose

Part 5 of 2021 Most Whumperful Time of the Year - Dick Grayson-centric

Language: English Words: 3,462 Chapters: 1/1 

Dick was tracking down a lead in the northern part of Blüdhaven, snooping around in various warehouses. It was the part of Blüdhaven that was closest to Gotham, so really Dick should’ve known better than to think his day would be uneventful.

 As it was, he was surprised by the sight of the Red Hood tying up the exact criminals Dick was looking for.

 Jason had tensed, glancing up, hand going for his gun—when Dick pushed the creaky warehouse door open to take a peek inside—and then, when Jason realized who it was, the hand went away from the gun, and the eyes away from Dick, but the tension remained. Jason continued about, tying the criminals up, studiously ignoring Dick’s presence as he did so.

 “Hood—” Dick started.

 “I’m just finishing up, Officer ,” he said mockingly, “They’re all yours when I’m done.”

 “I—They’re Black Mask’s people, do you have any intel about what they’re doing in my city?” “Not much,” replied Jason, tone clipped. “You?” “I have a little, maybe we could arrange a time to go over it? This case is clearly turning out to be a problem for both of us—”

 “Nope, that’s not how it works,” Jason cut him off, “You haven’t been forgiven for your last f*** up yet. Maybe we can trade information later, if I ever decide to trust you again.” Dick winced, stepping back. “Well, I’ll be out of your hair then, Hood. I’ll have some people come this way to put these criminals back where they belong.” “Where they belong is a big, ugly a** community grave,” Dick heard Jason mutter behind him just as he walked out the door.

-- A few days after the Hood incident, Dick was heading home after a long day of writing reports and studying casefiles. Being a detective was certainly not all excitement 24/7. Most of the time he was sitting around, wishing for more time in the field.

That particular day, he was distracted, thinking about a very complicated case that had been stumping him for longer than he’d like. He should’ve known better than to take that route home, though it probably wouldn’t have mattered—whoever wanted him was professional enough to have all the streets around the precinct covered.

 Ah, chloroform, he didn’t miss it. It’d been a while since he’d last had it pressed against his face. He supposed he was due for a run in with the stuff. The chloroform appeared at the same time as the wrenching of his arms behind his back, and the restraining of his legs. Dick tried not to fight  too  hard, he was still Detective Grayson, a civilian by vigilante standards, afterall. He had to keep up appearances. For that reason, he also pretended to fall unconscious long before he actually did. He’d built up an immunity to the drug of course, but that could only work with him as Nightwing.

 When Dick woke up, he found himself face to face with Black Mask. The man sat behind a desk, with Dick, sitting, bound to a chair in front of him. With a start, Dick realized that Roman must’ve been watching him while he was unconscious. Dick suppressed a shudder. 

 “Wha—Where am I? What do you want?” He asked, pretending to be groggy from waking up.

 “Well, Officer Grayson, you are the Red Hood’s dirty pig informant, so I’m betting there’s a lot I can get out of you.”

Dick resisted the urge to laugh, or explain himself. There wasn’t much to explain anyway, not without revealing secrets that he would rather die protecting. Instead, he forced his expression into something more like shock, and resignation, deciding to play this role to the end. He could feel the instincts of manipulation and deception settling back over him like a very familiar blanket. Playing spy for a while had given him the opportunity to hone those skills. If there was any beneficial thing that could be taken away from that whole experience, it was what good he could now do with the abilities he’d enhanced during that time.

 “I don’t know who the f*** that is,” Dick said, thinking about the actions of several of his coworkers for reference on how to act like a dirty cop.

 “Don’t lie to me,” snarled Roman. “My people know you spoke with him at the last operation of mine that he busted.”

 Ah, so that’s how he knew. One of the thugs must not have been fully unconscious during Dick’s conversation with Jason the other day.

 “Look man, I’m just his source guy sometimes, and he doesn’t even like me very much lately. So I don’t know what to tell you. Just let me go, and we can call it a day.” Dick made himself fidget, as if he was nervous about the threatening crime boss sitting across from him.

 “So what? You don’t have anything for me? Maybe I should just torture you until you die, how about that?”

 “N—No,” Dick made himself stutter, “I—I can still help you...for a price.”

 “Even now, you argue for your checkbook,” Roman chuckled, “The world goes ‘round, and dirty cops never change.”

 “What can I say,” Dick smirked, “The Hood didn’t pay me enough. I’m sure  you’ll be different…”

 Roman smiled at him, a dangerous smile that said he couldn’t wait to use him up and leave his body in a ditch.

 Dick smiled back.

--

Jason got an alert that the alarms at one of his safehouses had been tripped. It wasn’t one of his favorite safehouses or anything—in fact, it was due for a restock, but he knew it would be better to check it out as soon as he could anyway.

 He swung through the air, making his way through Crime Alley to where he knew the safehouse to be. Any intruders in his territory would be dealt with, crappy safehouse or not. 

 He found that much of his security system had been quietly disabled…except for a single, simple sensor. Whoever did this wanted him to come here.

 The door to his safehouse was ajar, and Jason carefully pushed it open, peering through the crack.

 His lights were on, and there were the sounds of ransacking and breaking glass.

 Jason grabbed the guns from his hips, and slammed open the door.

 There stood Dick, out of uniform, surrounded by several of Black Mask‘s people. 

 Jason snarled at the sight, thoughts of the man’s betrayal swirling through his mind. 

 Dick’s eyes widened, shooting a pleading look at him as if trying to convey something. Jason ignored it in his anger.

 “Let’s go! He’s here!” yelled Dick.

 “Traitor.” He growled darkly.

 Something flickered in the traitor’s expression, before smoothing out as if it had never been there.

 Jason didn’t think. He just lifted his guns, and fired.

 Unfortunately, they were rubber bullets, and he’s pretty sure he only managed to clip the lying b****** in the leg.

 He did manage to take down at least three of the others before the rest escaped quickly through the window.

--

“So, I guess Hoodie really isn’t on your side after all,” said Roman, pacing.

“I—I don’t understand what happened,” Dick sputtered, feigning fear, “I disabled all of his security, he wasn’t supposed to show.”

 “That’s because I had one of my people purposely sabotage you. I needed to make sure you weren’t still on his side. This,” he said, putting his hand on Dick’s leg where the bullet hit him, “is the proof I was looking for.” He pressed down, Dick gasped as if in pain. It really didn’t feel nice.

 “W—What?” He said in indignation, “Of course I’m on your side, that guy hates me.”

 “So I’m told.” Roman said, uncaring. He dug his fingers in.

 “Stop!” Dick strained against the ropes binding his hands behind the chair.

 The man let up, briefly, “You got the package I sent you to get?” 

 He was referring to the fake intel Dick had promised was stashed in Hood’s safehouse, intel that he had planted while no one was looking. The moment Roman plugged that thing in, Oracle would have complete access to all of the crime boss’s servers. “Yes, of course! Don’t forget to plug it into a high powered computer, I’m sure it’ll require a lot of decryption…”

 Roman waved his hand, “Yeah, yeah, whatever, my people have it covered.”

 “I’d like my payment now,” Dick said, glaring at him.

 The man grinned malevolently, “You’ll get your payment, when I let you go and the Hood goes after you. The people he captured have  quite  the story to tell.” 

 Dick slid a look of fear onto his face.

--

Jason didn't even give him the chance to explain.

Not that Dick was surprised about this, of course, but that doesn't mean it didn't hurt.

Roman had released him onto Gotham's streets, and sent several of his people to tail him.  Dick of course, was not supposed to know about that particular detail, but it's not like the low-level thugs had any actual expertise when it came to anything, least of all properly tailing a person.

Ah, so this was one more test, to confirm that he was truly against the Hood, before Roman dared plug in the USB. So it was best that Jason's first reaction upon seeing him was to lash out anyway, and Dick didn't even get a moment to get a word in before Hood was slamming him into the ground.

Well, it seemed these days the only reliable fact was that his family no longer trusted him. It was a good thing he needed Jason to beat him up for the operation, then. Internally, Dick sighed, he wished it didn't have to be like this. He hated lying, detested spying, but he'd learned long ago that sometimes there's no time for debate, and often the situation called for the best solution, not necessarily a good one.

Jason always acted on his emotions, it was something about him that never changed. It was reliable qualities like that, that Dick had been trained to notice, to exploit when needed. Dick did what he had to do, Jason did what he wanted to do. Many times, Dick had had to shoulder the burden of doing what was needed, even if it hurt those around him. He would gladly carry these responsibilities for the rest of his life, if only his siblings didn't have to, if only his family  lived.

And so, Officer Grayson fought with the Red Hood in a back alleyway as the man spewed curses about him and how he couldn't trust someone who'd betray him just to meet their own ends and not even think to tell him about the undercover op—

Dick, of course, was still being watched. So he fought like a random inexperienced police officer, not like Nightwing, professional vigilante. 

Jason didn't seem to notice. 

"Is this the new you then? Huh? You stab us in the back at every chance you get, all for a supposed “mission”? Is this Dick the spy then? Is that who you are now?"

Dick dodged a fist, got kicked in the knee.  It’s probably just the pit rage,  he reminded himself,  another thing I can count on.

"You know, I didn't think you of all people would pull something like this the first time, I don't know why I didn't see it with this one, you'd think I'd have learned my lesson by now."

Jason punched him in the stomach, causing him to sink further to the ground.

"I don't even know if I'd grieve again, if I found out you were dead. How would I know it wasn't just another lie that you failed to mention to me?"

Dick was just glad his tails were too far away to hear what Jason was saying.

"Do you have any idea what Black Mask is capable of? Have you  forgotten  who the f*** he  is  ? You can't just go undercover to work with him against  me, without telling me!"

His little brother sounded so upset, Dick only wished he had time to explain.

"Whatever happened to communication? Is that a foreign concept to you  spies? And here I thought we were actually family."

Jason headbutted him right in the face, breaking what Dick was pretty sure was his nose. He could feel the sticky warmth of blood on his face, flowing over his lips, past his chin to drip to the ground. Dick's vision blurred, and he collapsed to the ground, curling in on himself, he had to play it up, afterall. Even though the wounds inflicted were mostly just surface ones. They had an audience, and Dick could not fail to perform.

Above him, Jason scoffed, as if he could see through Dick's pretending. Still though, DIck could see his hands shaking, could see as the pent up energy within his little brother's body drained, tension leaving his shoulders. In a moment, Jason was gone, and Dick closed his eyes, giving into the exhaustion of having had to pretend to be someone he wasn't under very stressful circumstances for the past few days. It was alright, nothing...Dick...couldn't handle...

--

Jason felt drained. He hadn't felt that angry since well...the last time Goldie had pulled something like this.

The feeling of Dick’s face against his fist was quite familiar by this point. Each time he’d done it blurred together, echoing in his mind as green tinted his vision.

Jason made it back to one of his safehouses, somehow. He wasn’t sure when he got there, or how, but when he finally came back to himself, it was to the sight of a familiar kitchenette.

He felt too restless to sleep, but too exhausted to do anything productive at the same time. He didn’t trust himself to go out as Red Hood. In this state, he was a danger to anyone around him.

Jason’s mind raced, even as his body collapsed on the couch. He turned the tv on, letting himself get lost in some random sitcom.

He needed to calm down, probably do something like think things through. Though Jason knew that he was most likely going to just go about his day tomorrow, as if today hadn’t happened.

Always running away, still that same self-preserving street kid who only knew how to survive. Well, it’d worked for him so far, minus the dying part of course.

Hours later, technically into the next morning, Jason’s comm beeped. What could Barbie possibly want at this time of morning? Not even villains were awake at 6:00am, usually this hour was sacred.

“Hood?”

Well, apparently not anymore.

Sighing, Jason brought his finger to his ear, “Yeah? How’d you know I was awake?”

“Unimportant,” she said, all business, “I need you to check on Nightwing for me.”

Jason’s mind blanked, and then he scoffed, “You kidding me?” His voice was shaky. “What the f*** did he do this time?”

Oracle had no time for overly dramatic interbat-relations.

“A few hours ago, Black Mask’s servers went online, Dick’s code caught my attention. I was able to get every little bit of data ever entered into one of Mask’s computers. It was more than we’ve been able to get from him in years. Dick’s work really was genius. I tried to get in contact with him, but his trackers aren’t working, his phone’s out of the picture, and I can’t find him on any camera. I’m worried he went undercover without a backup plan for when Mask figured it out.”

Jason attempted unsuccessfully to tamp down his feelings of guilt and concern.

“Alright O, I’m on it.” He croaked, already heading out the door.

Adrenaline flowed through his veins, spurring him on. 

His earlier hate had fled, leaving behind nothing but cold determination. He was angry at his brother, sure, but he didn’t want the guy to  die… right?

And if what Oracle said was true, then it just might have been worth it for Dick to do what he did, just maybe.

Jason headed to where he’d last seen Dick. 

He found him about a block away from where they’d fought, being tortured in a rundown warehouse.

If it weren’t for the screams, Jason probably would have passed it and not even known.

Black Mask stood over Dick, who was bound to a table. Goldie was missing his shirt, and his torso was littered with burns and bruises. His feet were bare too, Roman was in the process of whipping them.

For the second time in twenty four hours, Jason felt the anger rise and the pit take over. 

The emotion was stronger this time, more powerful, Jason thought distantly. 

There were about thirty thugs surrounding Roman, guarding the man’s sadistic torture session.

Jason drew his guns, and tried not to think about the last time he’d used them to pistol whip Dickie across the face.

The first five thugs went down quickly, the next ten following right behind them. Jason reloaded. Some part of his subconscious aimed for kneecaps and non-lethal areas. The pit aimed for whatever was convenient. Nevertheless, if Jason had been paying attention, he’d have noticed that not one of his bullets missed a target.

By the time he’d made his way through all thirty of them, he had two loaded guns left, though they weren’t the same ones he’d started out with.

Roman had fled sometime during the action, like the coward he was. Jason was halfway out the door to find him when he heard a sound from behind him.

It was Dick.

Jason startled, hurrying towards his brother's side. The anger once again drained from his body.

Dick’s eyes were hazy and unfocused, they looked at him without seeing. But as Jason neared, something foreign came into them: fear.

Jason dropped his guns on the floor, trying not to think about how he’d never seen Dick look at him like that.

He bent to untie his brother from the table, and Dick flinched away from him, unintelligible noises stumbling out of his throat.

“Shh, Dickie, it’s alright.” Jason said frantically, “I’m gonna get you out of here, okay?”

He finished removing the last of the restraints just as Dick passed out from what was likely incredible pain.

--

Jason efficiently cleaned and bandaged his brother’s wounds, feeling numb. Dick’s body was covered in scars, the recent--but not too recent ones were what caught his attention. Jason didn’t want to think about when Dick must��ve gotten them.

Instead, Jason thought about something that had been bothering him before, little details here and there that he had missed. Namely: Dick hadn't been wearing his Nightwing suit during all of their interactions in the past few days. In fact, he'd been dressed quite like a detective.

 It dawned on Jason in a moment, and he felt horrified. Dick had been a detective that day in the warehouse with Black Mask's people. Back when this all started. 

 Jason's mind was racing when Dick groaned, eyes cracking open, "Wha—Jay?"

 "Yeah, it's me Dickie. I'm here."

 "What—What happened?"

 Jason sighed, "What do you remember?"

 Dick's brows furrowed in thought, "I...I had to go undercover..."

 "Why didn't you tell me?" Jason asked.

 Recognition flashed in his brother's eyes, He seemed to be getting his energy back.

 "There was no time, Roman kidnapped me, I had to play along."

 "But—there had to have been some time you could have explained the situation to me…"

 "Would you believe me if I had?" Dick's gaze was piercing.

 “I—yeah, okay, that’s fair.” Jason paused, “Were you going to tell me that you went undercover to save my a**? Or were you just going to keep letting me hate you?”

 Dick was silent.

 Jason continued, “I mean, sure. Maybe I wouldn’t have believed you. But maybe I would have. You weren’t even going to give me the choice.” Something occurred to him then. “We didn’t give you the chance to explain about Spyral…was that situation similar to this?” 

 Dick sighed, “I’m not up for having this conversation right now. Maybe later, after I wake up.”

 He burrowed further into the couch, closing his eyes.

 “One more thing,” Jason said, unwilling to let it end just like that. “Those scars…”

 Dick’s smile was bitter and darkly amused, “You didn’t think playing spy was all fun and games, did you? Everyone was out to get me. See here?” Dick half-heartedly lifted up his arm, “A cannibal took a chunk out of it. Congratulations, you’re the first to notice.”

 “I’m sorry,” Jason murmured to him, long after he’d fallen asleep. 

 The two words were long overdue.