#NO idea which circlet will be better for him but I think it's gonna be that hp% one with 25% crit dmg tbh | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

kirchefuchs · 1 year ago

Note

so @an-t-hiho (previously known as @/ann-aha) and I have been screaming at each other in our dms discussing a few things abt lmk

and we have both agreed that there should be an AU where Wukong doesn't completely Screw Things Up between he and Macaque and they both end up tormenting being mentors to MK

(forgive me for not knowing/maybe not remembering a ton of things abt Wukong's past bUT I heard from somewhere that in JTTW the Tang guy from the past completely tortures him with that crown thing?? hoping to use that as some sort of motivation but uhhhh hEY I do not know a lot abt JTTW so um. ahem. unless if you have some spare knowledge to give us, we're just gonna make stuff up as Ant and I hyperfixate about this soon-to-be AU we're planning on making)

bUT. but. but. we have plans™. and it's not just me this time who's thinking of these ideas (but it'll definitely just be me raising your inbox cuz Ant's still too nervous to do that) cuz now he and I are in the same fandoms for once in. like. uh. (checks calendar) ...a few months–

SO. I might send an ask again regarding our ACTUAL ideas (aaaand maybe Ant will reblog and/or add smthn a few hours after?? not too sure but knowing him he just might) AND you're gonna deal with it again /lh /silly

(I also might post about it. maybe. probably won't but just. mmmmmmaybe I dunno actually shdhdh OKAY BYEE)

(this also may or may not have been inspired by that one piece of fanart with P!Wukong saying smthn along the lines of "Do you really think you mean so little to me that I'd just kill you just like that?" and P!Macaque saying smthn in return like "You didn't exactly make it difficult for me to think that way," but, yk, I'll probably find it again–)

— 🅰️non CH🅰️Y || Oct. 20 2023

This ended up so much longer than I anticipated ( ﾟAﾟ )

Okay okay okay I need to explain a lil thing real quick. Tang Sanzang (Tripitaka) did not torture Wukong, at least not intentionally. There was a really good post about it somewhere on here, but I cant seem to find it so I'll explain what I can.

First off, Tripitaka was the main character of the story, and while he had some flaws (ex: listening to Bajie too much), he was a good man, and would never want to torture any of his deciples, no matter how annoying they'd get. He's a Buddhist monk afterall, there's a whole no violence thing.

The golden circlet/crown was given to Tripitaka by Guanyin to act as a way to punish Wukong for things he does wrong. Think about it for a moment. Remember, Wukong was just released from under a mountain after terrorizing the entire celestial realm, becoming 7 times immortal (I think it was that many), fighting all the celestial armies, peeing on Buddah's hand. After being released, Wukong promptly killed a tiger and skinned it so he could use the skin as clothes.

SO YEAH, obviously Tripitaka would take her up on a crown that would give the monkey really bad headaches!!! (Reciting a specific scripture I forgot makes the crown shrink, but it doesn't kill Wukong because he's very super immortal).

Now the thing is, yes, he did use the spell on Wukong multiple times when Wukong had done nothing wrong, but a lot of those were because Bajie told him Wukong did something wrong, or he just didn't have all the facts. Now, I haven't read the Journey to the West either, and most of my knowledge comes from the Overly Sarcastic Productions videos summarizing the story (which you should watch, btw), so I dont have all the facts, nor do I have a perfect knowledge of the parts of the story I do know, however I am confident that Tripitaka did not intentionally tourture or abuse Wukong. I mean, Wukong cut off his own head once for fun, so idk what else to say, my guy.

Do I think that using the migrane spell is the most moral thing to do? No. Was the spell the only way to get Wukong to cooperate? At the very start, very possibly yes. Later? I'mnot sure. Is Tripitaka a bad guy for using it as much as he does? No, he didn't know better. Are the Wukong girlies wayyy to obsessed with angst? Yes, so very much. I fear for them.

It was not the point of the story for Tripitaka to be abusive. The story was meant to be symbolic. Each of the pilgrims symbolized a part of a person. Tripitaka was the heart, Wukong the mind, Zhu Bajie the body, Bai Longma the will, and Sha Wujing the emotions. (There are some lovely people on this hellsite who can explain the symbolism better than me, so you can go look into that if it interests you.)

All in all, every one of the pilgrims were pretty stupid (affectionate) in their own ways, and I hate seeing people hate on Tripitaka soecifically when the story is so ridiculous a lot of the time. I just love these silly little guys, and I think we need to remember that they are very silly. Tripitaka never meant to be cruel to Wukong just as in lmk Wukong and Macaque never meant to be cruel to each other in their past. All these idiots are pretty bad at communicating, and Tripitaka is incredibly socially awkward. Man doesn't know how friends work.

I just think we should cut him some slack for the mistakes he made. Yall forgave Wukong for all his chaos and bloodshed, so I think it'd just be fair to forgive Tripitaka for not really comprehending having hurt Wukong.

Anyways, I'll shut up now. I'm excited to hear the ramblings of you two nerds ♡♡♡♡

#jttw #lmk #lego monkie kid #journey to the west #tang sanzang #tripitaka #lmk tripitaka #monkey king #sun wukong #kirche rambles #ask #🅰️non

11 notes · View notes

lunar-wandering · 3 years ago

Text

okay, alright, Shadow Mountain AU, where Macaque joins Wukong on the journey, im stealing this from @winterpower98 because she has more AU’s than hands so-

yeah. im pulling most of this just randomly out of a hat as i go so we’ll see what happens

Macaque literally crashes into Wukong like, mere minutes after Wukong has broken free from the mountain.

y’see. while Wukong was trapped under the mountain, Macaque had also been caught, and was given the punishment of being permanently trapped in the shadows

he could hear the mountain crumbling though, and then he was being literally thrown out of the shadows and into Wukong’s arms

Tripitaka reasonably panics because he doesn’t know if this is an attack or not, and the monkeys have started yelling at each other-

but he calms down once he realizes that this is a verbal fight more than a physical one

“why did you leave me?!” “why did you never come to the mountain if you knew where it was?!” “i literally couldn’t!”

Tripitaka manages to calm them both down and “speak about their problems reasonably” which is a concept they both hate but they do manage to hold a reasonably civil conversation as they follow behind Tripitaka

then the whole “Wukong gets mad and leaves” thing happens. and Macaque is just kinda. stuck there. with Tripitaka. who is panicking, worrying about what’s gonna happen now, and Macaque just. sits off to the side, silent.

Macaque: he will come back you know. he’s just impulsive like this. Tripitaka: but how can you be sure?

and thats the thing. Macaque can’t be sure.

then the whole circlet thing happens-

Macaque does nothing other than scowl at the situation. he himself is given a necklace-esque thing, which he can’t take off, and glows, removing his ability to use his shadows and glamours. he knows he got the better end of the stick in comparison to Wukong’s pain, but that doesn’t mean he likes it.

Macaque basically becomes the silent-trickster of the group. he and Bai Longma typically just stand off to the side, silently watching. sometimes Wujing joins them.

the amount of times Macaque uses his abilities to make Bajie trip is exactly as many as you think it is.

most of the time when Macaque speaks, it’s to either argue with Wukong, or to argue with Tripitaka

still though, Macaque does end up growing just as fond of the others as Wukong does. he can’t help it, monkeys form groups, he’d end up feeling close to them even if he really didn’t want to.

going to be honest. i did not actually plan much for the actual journey.

because the idea of skipping ahead to when MK shows up is so much fun.

MK doesn’t actually know about Macaque, because due to Macaque’s whole “silence and shadows” thing, he was noticed even less than Bai Longma. there’s occaisonally brief mentions of him,but none of them ever give him a name

so...imagine MK’s confusion when he arrives at Flower Fruit Mountain, fresh out of getting the staff stolen from him by PIF, looking for help, and instead of the Monkey King, he finds someone who claims to be “an old friend of the Great Sage”, who takes one look at him, tells him he can handle it on his own, gives him the barest bit of advice when MK nearly breaks down crying, and then vanishes.

MK goes back to the mountain the next day, and this time actually does find the Monkey King sitting there waiting for him.

MK: where were you yesterday???? Wukong, who was asleep: i was uh....busy with some thing a few of my friends needed help with!

here’s the funniest part of this AU to me: MK doesn’t know Macaque’s name. he sees him multiple more times (yknow that part of Bad Weather where a lamp post falls down in the background while MK stares at Wukong in disbelief?? yeah i need u to imagine that Macaque was just there, dangling from it before it collapsed) but nobody ever actually bothers to introduce Macaque to him (Wukong just assumed MK already knew)

MK scours his books and everything he can find about the myths but not a SINGLE one of them mention Macaque’s name and he is SO frustrated by it but he’s been kinda-hanging around Macaque for so long that he can’t just ASK.

yes i did decide this was a plot point because it makes episode 9 being just called “Macaque” ten times funnier.

...no i did not actually plan any AU plot points beyond this point have fun with what little ive given you *(drops microphone)*

#Monkie Kid #Shadow Mountain AU

177 notes · View notes

storytellerofuntoldlegends · 3 years ago

Text

tangle up the true and the fable

A/N: empires!scott and empires!jimmy have hella enemies to lovers vibes. so take enemies to hey-wait-were-we-lovers-in-a-past-life to friends. also joel and lizzie make a cameo appearance. title is from Rose by The Oh Hellos! (also reblogs > likes)

Warnings: arguing, death mention, flirting, cave-ins, cave spiders, injury, vague description of cave spider venom effects, nonchalant talk of the minecraft respawn mechanic, near death experiences, explosions, talk of past/alternate lives, angst with a happy ending, hopeful ending

Summary: Jimmy doesn't understand why the ruler of Rivendell doesn't seem to like him. He supposes that going on a mining trip in Scott's mountains without asking permission doesn't exactly help matters much though. But when the two of them end up trapped in the caves, will they be able to set aside their differences to survive?

Jimmy should really start thinking before he did things. Like stealing- ahem. Borrowing some cake ingredients from Sausage, which in turn caused him to steal Jimmy's prized music disc. Or whatever was the deal with the Rivendell ruler, Scott. Jimmy wasn't sure what exactly he did to get on the elf's bad side, but Scott didn't seem to like him very much. Well... at least sometimes he seemed to hate Jimmy. Sometimes it seemed like... something else. Jimmy couldn't quite place it- maybe he did want to be best friends after all? But whatever the case, things were always a little tense between the rulers of the Cod Empire and Rivendell. And it seemed today was no exception.

He was in dire need of more materials, and the swamp wasn't very rich in caves. And Jimmy had already explored most of the caves in his empire. So while he couldn't entirely rationalize why, he decided to go on a trip to the mountains to gather materials. It was a stupid idea, going near the empire of someone who possibly hated him, but part of him hoped that he would see Scott. Maybe he could work out some sort of alliance instead of their squabbling and occasional attempts to kill each other. Besides, he wasn't going to the actual mountain Scott lived on, just the ones near his mountain. Surely that’d be far enough to not anger him, but close enough to suggest an amicable atmosphere? Right?

Wrong. Very, very wrong. Jimmy had barely gotten deep in a cave in the mountains when Scott appeared, like he had some sort of “Jimmy-being-an-idiot” sixth sense. The elf admittedly was an imposing sight- enchanted diamond armor, an enchanted diamond axe strapped to his back, arms crossed over his chest, a golden circlet with antlers branching up from it, and blue eyes glinting with irritation. Those eyes seemed to see right through Jimmy, scrutinizing and seeing him for who he truly was. Not the Codfather, a strong leader- but a swamp boy whose sweet intentions got him into trouble more often than not.

“What are you doing here?” Scott asked, voice cold and unimpressed. Jimmy frowned at the elf’s tone.

“Mining,” Jimmy said simply, crossing his arms right back at Scott. He rolled his eyes in response.

“Obviously, but why are you doing so in my empire?” Scott asked pointedly.

“I’m not mining in your mountain though!” Jimmy protested, a little confused at Scott’s irritation. Scott let out a sound that was halfway between a sigh and a groan, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose as if he had a headache coming on.

“Jimmy. All the mountains around here are mine,” Scott said bluntly, dropping his hand to glare at Jimmy. Well now he felt a little sheepish. But still, he didn’t understand why Scott had to get all irritated about it, maybe they could work something out. Jimmy took on an easygoing smile, causing Scott to knit his brows in confusion.

“I know I shouldn’t have been here, and I didn’t realize this mountain was part of your empire. If you want the materials I gathered, I’m more than willing to-”

“Oh, sorry about that, buddy! Tell you what, I’ll give you-”

“I’m not your buddy,” Scott said, cutting Jimmy off and causing his easy smile to melt away near instantly. Jimmy sighed.

“I don’t want anything from you, I just want you to leave,” Scott said, interrupting Jimmy again, and honestly it was getting pretty hard for Jimmy to continue being amicable if Scott was going to be like this for the whole conversation.

“Fine! I was only trying to come to a peaceful resolution here, no need to be a jerk like always,” Jimmy huffed, slinging his pickaxe over his shoulder and starting to head out of the cave. Scott made an irritated sound, quickly following after him.

“Oh, I’m sorry for being mean when you’re the one who showed up in my empire unannounced and unwanted!” Scott fumed, hands gesturing wildly as he kept up with Jimmy’s brisk pace.

“Like I said, didn’t realize this was part of your empire. And I’m leaving now, so you can stop following me,” Jimmy huffed. Scott stopped to stare at him incredulously, and Jimmy paused as well to raise an eyebrow at him.

“This cave only has one exit, you idiot. We both have to go this way,” Scott pointed out with a scoff. Jimmy made a frustrated sound, and was about to make a retort- but heard a hiss and saw a green shape ambling towards them from an unlit portion of the cave. Jimmy didn’t have time to draw his sword, and Scott was too busy glaring at Jimmy to notice the creeper heading towards them. So in a split-second decision, Jimmy tackled Scott to the ground right before the creeper exploded and caused a chunk of the cave to crumble down right where the two of them had been standing. Debris showered over the two of them, and Jimmy instinctively shielded Scott from it, even though he had been shouting at the elf mere moments prior. The dust settled, and it was then he realized how close he and Scott were, their noses practically touching.

“You alright?” Jimmy asked, surprising himself with how soft and concerned his voice came out. Scott looked at him with wide eyes and an almost flustered expression, until he schooled it down into smooth indifference.

“You’re supposed to take me to dinner before you pin me like that,” Scott teased with a smirk. Jimmy rolled his eyes, getting up off of Scott before offering a hand to help him up.

“I think you’re supposed to thank me for saving your life,” Jimmy shot back. Scott scowled at him, ignoring the offered hand and getting to his feet on his own, brushing the dirt off of his clothes.

“Thank you for what? Tackling me and giving me a near concussion? Or the fact that we’re now both stuck here?” Scott asked, gesturing at the cave-in. Following the direction of Scott’s hand, Jimmy looked to the cave opening. Or rather, the lack of a cave opening. The creeper explosion must have hit some loose gravel in the ceiling, because the weak rock had given way to a whole mess of stone to fall and block off their only exit.

“Maybe we could dig through it?” Jimmy wondered. Scott rolled his eyes.

“With your luck, that would only make it worse. Besides I didn’t bring a pickaxe, and I don’t think you could dig that out by yourself. We’re just gonna have to turn around and hope there’s another way out,” Scott said, turning and heading deeper in the cave. Jimmy scrambled after him in protest.

“Or we could stay here and call for help! I’m sure one of my allies would be willing to help me, or maybe you’ve got a closer ally who’d be willing to dig us out-”

“No. We’re better off trying to find our own way out. Besides, I don’t have allies- having alliances means having enemies too, and I’d much rather stay above the conflict if you don’t mind,” Scott said, stubbornly continuing forward. Jimmy groaned, reluctantly following after Scott.

“Fine, have it your way. But you let me know when you change your mind,” Jimmy said, not having the energy to argue with Scott’s weird animosity towards alliances. So instead, he followed his not-really-enemy but not-really-friend either deeper into the darkness, torchlight their only savior.

Going deeper into the cave was not providing them with a way out. They did, however, come across a mineshaft- which was a small but still not great shimmering light of hope. It was possible the mineshaft could be connected to another cave that could lead them out, so braving the mineshaft it was. Besides, there could be good loot to be had- even if Scott claimed most of it since it was, technically, part of his empire. And that was fine with Jimmy, he was trying to offer what he had found to Scott earlier anway. However, there was one problem with mineshafts, and that was the tendency of cave spiders making their nests in them. And it figures with Jimmy’s rotten luck that they would come across one of those nests. And even worse, Jimmy managed to get a hand caught in one of the webs at the edge of it.

“Stop struggling, you’re just gonna alert them that we’re here!” Scott hissed, trying to cut away at the cobwebs ensnaring Jimmy’s hand.

“If you cut at it any slower, they’re just gonna see us anyway!” Jimmy whisper-shouted back, but kept his hand still as Scott asked anyhow. But of course, as if things couldn’t get any worse, one of the cave spiders had noticed them. It jumped at Jimmy, but Scott moved in front of him just in time to intercept it instead, and struggled only for a moment before he managed to kill it. Scott was hunched over for a moment, trying to catch his breath- and despite his warnings not to, Jimmy yanked his hand free from the cobwebs to rush to his side, seeing the glittering red eyes in the distance. He opened his mouth to ask if Scott was alright, but he abruptly stood upright and pushed Jimmy towards a corridor of the mineshaft that was not infested with cave spiders.

“Go, we gotta get out of here!” he cried, running and pulling Jimmy along with him. Jimmy didn’t argue, keeping pace with Scott and cutting down a few cave spiders that got too close. They ran and turned down corridor after corridor, until they were sure that the spiders had lost interest. They stopped for a moment to catch their breath, and Jimmy eyed Scott with concern. He was holding his shoulder and looked rather pale- well, paler than usual.

“Scott?” Jimmy asked, voice gentle. Scott squeezed his eyes shut, like Jimmy had spoken too loudly, and took a beat longer to respond than Jimmy would have liked.

“I’m fine,” Scott said, not very convincingly at all. Jimmy frowned, stepping forward and reaching for the hand Scott had clasped tightly over his own shoulder. Jimmy instantly knew something was wrong when Scott didn’t push him away and let him remove his hand. Scott’s hand came away slick with blood, and Jimmy hissed in sympathy at the sickly green state of the wound. Cave spider bite, right in the gap of Scott’s armor. And it seemed the venom was working pretty fast through his system. Suddenly, as if taking his hand off of his shoulder had sapped all his energy, Scott’s knees gave out and he collapsed into Jimmy. With a startled gasp, Jimmy managed to catch Scott, wrapping his free arm around his waist and trying to keep him somewhat upright. His hand still clutched Scott’s, and his hand had shifted to clutch Jimmy’s back just as tightly. His head drooped down to rest on Jimmy’s shoulder, the antlers of his circlet poking him slightly, and a cold spike of fear shot through Jimmy at how feverish Scott’s forehead felt against his neck. Scott had only just been bitten. If he was in such bad shape already… Jimmy didn’t want to think about it.

“You’re hot,” Jimmy blurted, a little horrified. Scott let out a borderline delirious chuckle.

“Took you long enough to notice,” Scott teased, voice weak with pain. Jimmy let out a startled laugh.

“Scott, quit flirting for one minute, you’re dying,” Jimmy reprimanded, a little shocked at how wobbly his own voice sounded.

“I’ll just respawn, it’s not the end of the world. Nice to know you care though,” Scott said tiredly, although Jimmy could hear the slight smile in his voice. Jimmy froze a bit at his words. Yeah… that was right, Scott would just respawn. He’d lose his stuff and his enchantment levels, but he’d wake up in bed, right as rain. So why was Jimmy so worried for a moment? Why did Scott dying in his arms suddenly feel like the end of the world? And most baffling of all, why did the thought of losing someone who was at most an acquaintance rattle him so much? Yet here he was, clinging to Scott like he would disappear forever.

“I… of course I care! You’re the one who’s pushing me away, not the other way around,” Jimmy said, deciding not to address the fact that he had somehow forgotten about respawning being a thing. Scott laughed humorlessly, and him not having any sort of witty response was extremely telling of how worse off Scott was doing. He had been leaning into Jimmy more and more throughout the weak banter, and Jimmy finally knelt down and shifted Scott to be comfortably resting in his lap, his head still leaning on his shoulder, but turned so that Jimmy could see him.

“Your face makes for a pretty last thing to see before I die,” Scott said softly, and Jimmy blinked in surprise, unsure of how to take that.

“Didn’t realize a side effect of cave spider venom was delirium,” Jimmy settled on, causing Scott to let out a pained wheeze of a laugh.

“Think the side effect is actually brutal honesty,” Scott said, sounding a little wistful. Okay, well Jimmy really didn’t know how to respond to that. Scott, dying in his arms and looking at him all soft and adoring like Jimmy was a- a lover or something. So maybe it was that gentle look in Scott’s eyes even as he was dying, or Jimmy not wanting to deal with the blood of a fellow ruler on his hands, or just not wanting to watch someone die in general that caused him to shift and reach for something in his bag he had found in their journey through the mineshaft. He held out a golden apple to Scott, who looked at it with confusion.

“Nabbed it from a chest when you weren’t looking. I know you’ll just respawn, but cave spider venom is a pretty terrible way to go,” Jimmy said, smiling softly. Scott just blinked, not moving to take the apple.

“Jimmy-”

“Shut up and take the apple, Scott,” Jimmy insisted, for once cutting Scott off instead of the other way around. Scott sighed, and with a shaking hand, he grabbed the apple and took a bite. Almost immediately, color came back to Scott’s face and the green started to recede from the shoulder wound. A few more bites, and the bleeding stopped, the wound started closing up, and Scott was no longer leaning on Jimmy so heavily. He did, however, seem perfectly content to stay in Jimmy’s arms. Jimmy couldn’t really find it in himself to detach himself from Scott either.

“Thanks,” Scott said softly, like he was afraid to say it, after he had finished the apple. Jimmy chuckled.

“I should be thanking you, you’re the one who threw yourself between me and that cave spider,” Jimmy said, immensely glad that he remembered finding the golden apple before it was too late. Otherwise Scott, who usually didn’t seem to like him, would have died because of Jimmy.

“You saved me from the creeper earlier, I was just repaying the favor. Of course now I owe you again, because you healed me,” Scott said with a mock irritated tone, grinning all the while. Jimmy unceremoniously dumped him on the cave floor for that, ignoring his startled shout of protest to instead stand up.

“Well, maybe you could repay me by finally letting me contact one of my allies to help us,” Jimmy replied with a grin of his own. Scott pouted a little, still grumpy about being forcibly moved off of Jimmy’s lap.

“That was rude, I’m still recovering! Jerk,” Scott huffed, but there was no true anger in his tone. Jimmy shook his head fondly, offering a hand to Scott. He took it, and only stumbled a little bit as he got back to his feet. Fortunately Jimmy was there to steady him, ignoring the “I-told-you-so” look Scott gave him.

“You’ll live, thanks to me. Now can I message for help so that we can get out of here?” Jimmy asked. Scott let out a dramatic sigh.

“I guess so. Give them the coordinates for the cave entrance, we can head back in that direction and meet them halfway,” Scott said. Jimmy nodded, getting out his communicator to send a message to Joel.

“Yeah, I don’t wanna stay in this mineshaft any longer than we have to,” Jimmy said as he typed. Scott hovered over his shoulder, correcting Jimmy on the coordinate numbers before he sent the message off to Joel. Luckily, Joel wasn’t busy and responded fairly quickly, saying that he was on his way.

“Ready to get out of here?” Scott asked, once Jimmy had read Joel’s message to him.

“Absolutely,” Jimmy said, pocketing his communicator and walking side by side with Scott.

They reached the cave-in before Joel had arrived, but they didn’t have to wait too long before they heard Joel calling out for them. It seemed Lizzie had come along as well, as Jimmy could hear her voice along with Joel’s. He was a little surprised to hear her, as Jimmy wasn’t officially allied with Lizzie, but he supposed it made sense. Lizzie was married to Joel, and Lizzie’s empire was connected to Jimmy’s by water.

“We’re here!” Jimmy called back.

“Oh good, you didn’t kill each other,” Joel called back, a smile in his voice. Jimmy rolled his eyes, even if Joel couldn’t see him.

“I’ll have you know I saved Scott twice in these caves,” Jimmy shot back with a grin. Scott groaned in annoyance.

“You’re gonna hold this over my head, aren’t you,” Scott grumbled.

“Only a little bit,” Jimmy replied, relieved when Scott wasn’t actually all that annoyed, due to the chuckle he got in response.

“Stand back boys, I’ve got TNT!” Lizzie exclaimed, breaking the moment of banter. Scott and Jimmy exchanged wide-eyed glances, scrambling away from the rubble.

“Uh… you do know that explosions are what got us into this mess in the first place, right?” Scott asked nervously.

“It’ll be faster than trying to dig you out,” Joel replied, before the click of a flint and steel was heard.

“Does it alarm you at all that they have TNT already?” Scott whispered.

“They’re my allies. Or at least Joel is. Not sure why Lizzie came along, actually,” Jimmy replied with a shrug. Before Scott could reply, the TNT went off, destroying the rubble and revealing Joel and Lizzie on the other side.

“When I heard Joel was off to rescue the sweet swamp boy, I had to come along!” Lizzie said with a grin, poking her head through the hole in the rubble. Jimmy’s face flushed in embarrassment at the nickname, while Scott was poorly hiding his laugh behind a cough.

“She was with me when I got your message, I figured the extra help couldn’t hurt,” Joel explained.

“Well thank you, both of you. We really appreciate it,” Jimmy said, climbing out of the hole in the rubble with Lizzie’s help.

“You’re welcome! Although it sounds like you had the rescuing Scott part handled,” she teased with a wink.

“Hey! The only reason he saved me the second time was because I got bit by a cave spider that was coming for him. So I did some saving too,” Scott protested as he followed Jimmy out. Joel looked to Scott with concern.

“Do you need any health potions? I brought some just in case,” Joel offered, starting to dig through his pack.

“Nah, Jimmy gave me a golden apple that he stole from me,” Scott said, nudging Jimmy playfully. Jimmy laughed, pushing at him back.

“I didn’t steal it, I just took it from a minecart chest before you noticed it,” Jimmy retorted.

“A minecart chest that was in my empire,” Scott shot back with a grin. Jimmy was going to snap back, but Lizzie came to stand in between them.

“How about we leave before any more near death situations happen,” she suggested. Both Jimmy and Scott smiled sheepishly, before following Lizzie and Joel out of the cave.

The four of them had made it back to Scott’s home, with plenty of daylight to spare for the long journey Jimmy, Lizzie, and Joel had ahead of them to their own empires. Jimmy had told Joel and Lizzie to go on, saying that he would catch up with them in a bit. He wanted to talk to Scott first. About what, he wasn’t entirely certain, but he felt like he couldn’t just up and leave right away without saying something, not after everything that had happened. But for the moment, the two of them were stood in the entryway of Scott’s house a little awkwardly. Scott’s home was bigger than the last time Jimmy had seen it, but part of him was touched to see that he still had the pufferfish- rather the pufferish- mounted above his door. Jimmy wasn’t exactly sure why he had given Scott a misspelled token of peace, but it had just felt… right.

“So… have you changed your mind on alliances at all?” Jimmy asked, settling on teasing Scott a bit instead of tackling any sort of emotional conversation right away. Scott let out a mildly bitter laugh.

“I… will admit that there are advantages to having alliances. And you, Lizzie, and Joel seem alright. I just… well, if I’m being totally honest, I’m not really opposed to alliances… it’s just- it’s like there’s this part of me, maybe something from a past life, that knows that getting tangled up in alliances can lead to war and loss,” Scott said, heartbreak lacing his words. Jimmy frowned in sympathy. He didn’t know what Scott had been through before starting an empire, but it sounded like it was nothing fun. He put a comforting hand on Scott’s shoulder- and was instantly greeted with a flurry of images both familiar and unfamiliar. A flower forest. Homes carved into hills. Decaying skin and burnt banners. Flowers nestled in teal hair. Being helpless to watch as a loved one- a husband?- was shot down. Darkness, then light again. Then a feeling of home, and a joyful reunion.

Jimmy jerked back from Scott like had been burned. The real world filtered back into view with Scott wide-eyed and surprised as Jimmy was. What- what was that? They felt like memories, or maybe a dream. And the person with teal hair, the husband?! That was undeniably Scott, just far less regal and with rounded ears, not pointed ones. Jimmy wasn’t sure what that was, but suddenly the fear of losing Scott in the mineshaft made a startling amount of sense.

“Did you… see that?” Jimmy asked. Maybe he was hallucinating, did he get bit by a cave spider too? Maybe this was all some weird fever dream.

“I- yeah. I was kind of kidding about the past life thing… but was that even us? Or just… I dunno, a version of us from an alternate reality?” Scott pondered, looking like his brain was going a mile a minute. Jimmy found himself looking at the pufferish of peace. Was that something significant in that… other life? Or was that truly something of his own volition?

“Must be some sort of alternate reality, I think we were married,” Jimmy said with a laugh. Scott laughed as well, shaking his head.

“Yeah, can you imagine? Why would I marry some swamp boy?” Scott teased.

“And why would I marry a stuffy elf ruler?” Jimmy teased right back. The two of them laughed, but there was regret and maybe a smidge of longing tinged in both of their voices.

“I think I could at least stand being allied with some swamp boy,” Scott said softly, after a moment of silence. Jimmy smiled.

“Allies it is then,” Jimmy said, holding out his hand. Scott gingerly took it, and when there weren't any flashes of alternate or past lives, he shook it firmly.

“Allies,” Scott said, squeezing Jimmy’s hand before letting go. Jimmy bid him goodbye, exiting his home to meet up with Lizzie and Joel. And maybe, just maybe, Jimmy allowed himself to treasure the little flutter his heart made when Scott had squeezed his hand. He was sure his past- or alternate, who knows- self would appreciate it.

MCYT Tag List (ask to be added/removed!): @corazon10000 @damiensaidno @franticfandomfanatic @hetapeep41 @space-ace123

#empires smp #scott smajor #jimmy solidarity #smallishbeans #ldshadowlady #mcyt #angst #hurt/comfort #whump #fluff #sage writes

133 notes · View notes

dem-obscure-imagines · 4 years ago

Text

New Year’s Eve Drabbles 2020

Fandoms: Jumanji, Rise of the Guardians, Ben 10 Alien Force, Maleficent, the Hunger Games

Note: Happy New Year! Here’s to hoping 2021 is a little kinder. I did a set of New Year’s Eve drabbles a few years ago and it was a lot of fun, so here you go! I hope you like them!

Warnings: Hunger Games spoilers

Alex “Seapilot” Vreeke x Reader

Word Count: 0.4k

The idea of a new year, admittedly, made Alex a little nervous. It was only a few months before that you had found your way into Jumanji with your new friends, rescued Alex, and brought him with you to modern day. And the six of you had figured: What better way to celebrate the new year than to have a little party?

So, you’d helped Bethany and Martha get the living room of Bethany’s house ready while Spencer, Fridge, and Alex picked up pizza, snacks, and drinks. You set some party favors out on the table. There were cute glasses proclaiming the new year, noise makers, candy, streamers, balloons, and some confetti.

When the boys got back, you helped set up the kitchen and Alex walked over to you, helping you unload the pizza and breadsticks and garlic knots. You kept catching him glancing at you, but every time you looked at him, he glanced away nervously, chuckling to himself.

“What?” You asked.

He shook his head. “Nothing. It’s just…I have this irrational fear that when midnight hits, all of this will go away.” He exhaled a long breath. “And I’ll be there all over again.”

“Hey.” You grabbed his arm, grounding him in the moment. “That’s not gonna happen, alright? You’re not going anywhere, and neither are we.”

“You’re stuck with us, Vreeke.” Fridge said, giving Alex a pat on the shoulder. “Nothin’s gonna happen. It’s over. The game is gone.”

“I know, but…It’s just stuck in my head.”

“It’s gonna be okay, alright? I’ll…” you bit your lip, thinking. “I’ll take your mind off of it.”

“Okay,” He nodded. And he didn’t know exactly what you meant, but he trusted you.

So, when 11:59 rolled around, you walked right over to where Alex was standing, his hands shaking, his eyes fixated on the TV screen, and you cupped his cheeks in your hands, turning his face to yours.

“Stay with me. Stay right here with me.” You whispered to him, your eyes focused on his. “No numbers, no countdown, just us. Just you and me.”

“I like the sound of that.” He whispered back, his hands resting on top of yours for a second before sliding down to your waist and tugging you closer.

And so you stayed there, and when the clock struck midnight, your lips met his, soft and sweet and everything he ever dreamed they’d be. When you pulled away, he exhaled a long breath, his eyes sparkling.

“That’s the first time I’ve been kissed in twenty years.” He said softly.

“You want a second one?” You asked.

He didn’t even reply, just pulled you closer and aligned his lips with yours once more.

Jack Frost x Reader

Word Count: 0.3k

The relationship you had with Jack was, well, complicated. You were a college student. You’d been friends with Jack for a few years because you were, what he called, the oldest believer. Even long after Santa had stopped bringing you presents, you still believed, and therefore, when Jack had flown past your window one night and your jaw dropped, he decided to loop back around.

The rest was history.

You were at a college party to celebrate the new year, but honestly, you just weren’t feeling it. So, you wandered up the stairs, found an empty bedroom, and opened the window to get some air.

“Oh come on, party girl, tapping out already?” Jack said, floating just outside the window.

“What are you doing here?”

“I was in the neighborhood.” He shrugged. “What’s up?”

“New Year’s Eve party.” You told him. “It’s hot down there. And loud.”

Just as you said it, all the people in the lower level of the house started shouting numbers.

“Sounds like it’s almost over, though.” He floated closer and sat on the windowsill. “Hey, uh…” he reached up to scratch the back of his neck, his icy blue eyes landing on yours. “Do you mind if I do something I’ve been wanting to for a really, really long time?”

“What would that be?”

“Well, it’s a surprise.” He tilted his head. “Can you close your eyes?”

And while you knew Jack was a trickster in every meaning of the word, you closed your eyes, waiting in the window, the cold air refreshing on your face and in your lungs. And then, a few moments later, you felt something cold and soft against your lips. You couldn’t help but kiss him back.

Ben Tennyson x Reader

Word Count: 0.4k

It was Kevin’s idea to have a little New Year’s Eve party. Of course, it was just the four of you, the team, celebrating. You had been exiled to the back seat with Ben and because you were on patrol, there was no champagne to be had.

Gwen had, however, brought along some plastic wine glasses and a bottle of sparkling grape juice. It was better than nothing, and though you didn’t admit it, you were glad you were with the other three of them. It was better than spending the night alone.

Kevin drove the car out into the middle of the field and parked, tuning the radio to a New Year’s Eve broadcast. It was then that the four of you split into pairs. Kevin wrapped an arm around Gwen and they stepped off away from you and Ben, who stayed closer to the car.

“Want me to top you off?” He asked, holding up the bottle of sparkling juice.

“Sure, thanks.” You held up your glass and he poured more juice into it.

“A new year, huh?”

“Yeah…” You nodded an took a sip. “Weird.”

“Weird.” He agreed. “I have this weird, funny feeling that things are just gonna get weirder from here on out.”

“It always seems to where the four of us are involved.” You chuckled, sitting on the front of Kevin’s car.

Ben joined you.

You motioned to Kevin and Gwen, off in their own little world. “They’re good together, you know?”

“They are.” Ben chuckled, shaking his head. “That’s weird too, but…it’s getting less weird.”

“Mmhmm.” You nodded. You sighed and looked up at the stars. There were so many. So many planets and solar systems and galaxies in the vast, vast universe spread out before you. “It’s gorgeous.”

“It is.” He agreed, but he wasn’t looking at the sky. He was looking at you.

About twenty minutes later, the countdown started. You’d never had feelings for Ben. You didn’t know why. He was cute, he was confident, and yet, you’d never felt anything romantic for him. Well, until tonight. When the countdown got dangerously low, he looked at you and you looked at him and it just…clicked.

So, under the sparkling stars, side by side, you brought in the New Year with Ben Tennyson, his lips interlocked with yours.

Diaval x Reader

Word Count: 0.3k

You had to hand it to her, Maleficent threw quite the party. It was the eve of the new year, and to celebrate, Maleficent had called together all of the people of Aurora’s kingdom and all the fae of the Moors.

You were an enchantress from the kingdom, someone who was magical, but unaccustomed to the woods. You were wearing a fine silver gown made of silk and a moonstone circlet around your head. In your hand, you held a goblet of champagne, and as you walked through the forests, which were lit up with the gentle glowing magic of the creatures who inhabited it, you couldn’t help but be amazed by their beauty and grace.

You continued through the Moors and, inevitably, ran into a tall stranger. Quite literally. You found yourself standing right in front of a tall man with dark hair hanging in his face. It took you a moment to recognize him. This was Diaval, Maleficent’s companion and shapeshifter.

“Pardon me, didn’t see you there.” You apologized.

“I blend into the dark, I’m afraid.” He chuckled. It was true, with his dark hair, dressed in all black, he did indeed blend in with the shadows.

“No harm done.” You smiled. “I’m (Y/N).”

“Of the (L/N) house?” He asked, his eyes widening. “You’re the enchantress.”

“I am.” You nodded, smiling softly.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He said, taking your hand in his and raising it to his lips. “Maleficent has mentioned introducing the two of us, but she’s been…busy, it seems.”

“I can imagine taking care of two kingdoms would be quite the task,” you mused softly. “Well, the pleasure is mine, Diaval. I will admit, your abilities are intriguing to me.”

“Oh. They’re not mine. It’s Maleficent’s magic that granted me this form. Usually, I’m a raven.” He admitted, a sheepish smile finding his face.

“Fascinating.” You said, your eyes alight with awe. “Well, Diaval, what do you say to accompanying me for the evening?”

He slipped his arm through yours, his dark eyes sparkling and a promise written in his smile. “I’d be honored.”

Peeta Mellark x Reader

Word Count: 0.7k

Another New Year’s Eve alone with your books. You couldn’t complain, though. It was quiet. It was nice. It was you, the TV, your cat, and the Hunger Games books. Specifically, you were reading the first book, starting the series over again for what felt like the thirtieth time. Your books were very worn, the spines cracked beyond repair. You loved them and everything they stood for.

So, you opened the cover and pulled the bookmark out. You were nearing the end of the games. Peeta was hiding from the careers somewhere while Katniss took care of Rue. And when she died, as she always did, you cried. A few of your tears landed on the page of the book, and when the third tear landed on the paper, you heard a thud in your kitchen.

Looking up, you searched the room for your cat, but you spotted him on the chair across from you, notably, not making a mess in the kitchen. So, slowly, you walked through your apartment until you reached the doorway of the kitchen. You thought maybe one of your barstools had fallen over or something. But no, sitting in the middle of your kitchen, a shocked look on his face and a large gash on his leg, was none other than Peeta Mellark, right down to the District 12 jacket and the Josh Hutcherson face.

“What the fuck.”

“Is this…Where…where am I?”

“In my kitchen. In my apartment. Are you…You’re Peeta Mellark.”

“How did I get here?”

“I don’t know.” You shook your head. You looked at his leg, the shock of a fictional character sitting in your kitchen wearing off when you realized he was injured and bleeding pretty badly. “Shit, you’re bleeding! Um, I’ll get a first aid kit. Stay right here.”

You ran to your bathroom and back, carrying your first aid kit. He was lucky you knew your shit. He was also lucky he’d landed there before it got too badly infected.

“What district is this?” He asked, looking around your apartment, still sitting on your tile floor. “Where am I?”

“Peeta, I don’t know how to tell you this.” You sat down and opened your first aid kit, pulling out some ointment and bandages. “This isn’t one of the districts. This is another…world? Reality? I don’t know the terminology, but…”

“What do you mean?”

“Once I patch you up I will try to explain everything, okay?” You applied some hydrogen peroxide to his cut and then put ointment on it, wrapping it up in bandages. “Is that too tight?”

“No, it’s fine. Thank you.” His eyes were grateful, but you could tell he was still shaken up.

You helped him to his feet and he limped to the living room with his arm over your shoulder for support. Once you got him settled in a chair, you walked back out to the kitchen and got him a glass of water and the leftover half of a Subway sandwich that was in your fridge. You were planning on eating it for lunch the next day, but he needed it more than you did.

“You must be starving. Here.”

“Thank you so much.” He said, taking an eager few gups of water. You knew he was definitely dehydrated. “I’m pretty sure this is just some amazing dream.”

“It might be.” You shook your head, chuckling to yourself. “I don’t know how to explain this to you, but, here…” You handed him all three of the Hunger Games books and watched his face as he looked them over, curious but sullen.

“This…this is a joke, right? I’m not…this is…how…?”

“I don’t know either. But, um, you’re welcome to stay here as long as you need to. Or as long as you want to. I can’t imagine going back to a place like that. To the games…”

“You’ve read these a lot, huh?” He noticed how beat-up they were and looked up at you. “Why?”

“They give me hope. Things are pretty bad in my country right now, and it gives me hope that even though things are bleak, they can get better.”

“So they do get better?”

“They will, Peeta. It’ll get worse first, but they will get better.”

He smiled a soft but painfilled smile.

Your TV announced that the new year had arrived, and when you looked, it was indeed midnight.

“Happy New Year,” you said quietly.

He nodded and let out a long sigh before repeating, “Happy New Year.”

#alex vreeke #alex vreeke x reader #seapilot x reader #jumanji #jack frost #jack frost x reader #rise of the guardians #ben tennyson #ben tennyson x reader #ben ten #ben 10 #diaval #diaval x reader #maleficent #peeta mellark #peeta mellark x reader #hunger games #imagines #fandom imagines

574 notes · View notes

koukouture · 4 years ago

Text

I impulsively decided to make a f2p/low budget Kaeya guide so here

So, Kaeya. My first love in Genshin, sexy ice pirate man, ice dildo man, whatever. He’s hot, but get’s dropped once you get a better character. Well, I did that too, but now he’s level 80 and my main DPS. So, this is a f2p guide for the one, the only, Kaeya Alberich.

Some things to consider

- Kaeya is much better at physical damage, I don’t really recommend cryo Kaeya because his basic ATK scaling is really high. I also think that Physical Kaeya is more f2p friendly so yeah

- Kaeya is much better as a dps at c1 (which I have and that’s why I decided to build him) though he can be good at c0 as his c1 is just extra crit rate

Weapons

- Prototype Rancour is your best bet for the physical damage bonus

- I’ve heard that Aquilla Favonious is also good for him so if you luck out and pull that use it

- For early game/three star weapons I don’t really remember what I used, but harbinger of dawn is pretty good, my brother said Fillet Blade too if you can get that refined

- The Black Sword from the battle pass works on him too, but Prototype Rancour’s physical damage bonus is better over all

- I think maybe The Flute could work too since you’re gonna be using charged attacks a lot

Talents

- His basic ATK should be your main priority for this build

- His E sill and ultimate are your second priorities, I’ll tell you why later when we discuss team comps

Build

Now, in a perfect world, I’d show you my build. But, this is not a perfect world. Nor do i have a perfect build. So I’ll just tell you what stats and substats to use for him

- For set bonuses, I recommend either 4 piece gladiator or 2 gladiator and 2 bloodstained chivalry which is what I use

- As for stats I’d say that you need a physical damage bonus for your goblet, CRIT rate on your circlet, and ATK% on your timepiece (CRIT DMG tends to appear more in the substats for me, idk why but if you want you can get a timepiece with CRIT DMG)

- With substats I’d recommend ATK%, CRIT DMG and CRIT RATE

- Elemental mastery is also handy since you are going to use his burst and E skill pretty often, though it isn’t going to be your main source of damage, it’s nice to have

- For early game artifacts, berserker and the martial arts sets are pretty good, as previously mentioned you can also use four piece gladiator

- Basically for early game literally any set that gives you physical damage bonus/more attack is good

Team Comps

I’m going to be completely honest I don’t really care about team comps but for the sake of this guide, I will give you some pointers

- Kaeya doesn’t really need it, but an electro support will come in handy since superconduct lowers an enemy’s physical resistance (I used Beidou for a while for her ult)

- A pyro support is also a good idea for melt since his E skill is on a short cool down + his burst is fairly easy to get

- Another cyro character will do a lot for him, Diona or Qiqi for example for healers + for the double cryo resonance bonus which is extra CRIT rate. This is super good for Kaeya since if you have him at c1 + plus you have good artifacts you’ll be hitting crits left and right

- I think an anemo character can work for swirl since having a further reach with his cryo DMG is pretty sick. I use Jean and her ult makes an AOE field, so take that + his cryo and you have Walmart Rosaria

More Pointers for Kaeya

- If you do decide on electro support I really recommend Beidou with a lot of energy recharge since if you pop their ults together that’s constant superconduct and more damage

- He works surprisingly well with Diluc if you decide to run a team with these two, though he works more a support for Diluc. Personally they’re both my damage dealers (yeah I have two damage dealers, Diluc is relatively easy to build and doesn’t require a whole lot to jack out big numbers)

- Having said you upgrade his basic attack a lot, that also means you get a lot more damage for your falling attacks, so a character like Albedo, Venti, or Geo Traveler can come in clutch

- His charged attacks will give you most of your damage so be sure to use that

- I do recommend cancelling his second to last and last attack where he teleports, it’s a really slow animation and his charged attacks to more damage anyways

To be completely honest with ya’ll, I only built this fucker because he was hot plus I wanted to spite the toxic side of the fandom that says Kaeya is trash

Also despite Kaeya being my main DPS, Jean really carries my team because without her I’d be fucking dead I really suck at avoiding attacks lol

#I'll do Jean next #Kouryuu's shit #genshin impact #kaeya #kaeya genshin impact #kaeya alberich #genshin impact guides #kaeya guide #if you guys have any more characters you want me to do go ahead and tell me and I'll see if I can do it

63 notes · View notes

lunariasilver · 4 years ago

Text

The Virtuoso / 3. Meteor City Part III

Masterlist

Previous / Next

I couldn't seem to distance myself from the Phantom Troupe. Every time I considered it I found myself somehow spending time with one of the members. It was strange. I had never wanted to spend so much time with somebody before, except maybe Killua; but even that was different.

At the time I was just concerned with showing him and everyone else that I was his superior in every way.

It wasn't long before they gathered new members. Only a few, and they helped lay the groundwork for the Troupe.

Shalnark and Phinks.

Phinks was ok. Pretty fun to mess with, actually. As far as Phantom Troupe members went, I'd say he was the most excitable. I mean, aside from Uvo. But he was a different kind of excitable. I spent a truly unnecessary amount of time bullying the man. Something about the way he reacted was hysterical to me.

He had tried to fight me, however. Luckily I was really good at evading. Plus Chrollo always had my back....even though he told me to stop harassing the man. I didn't though. What was he gonna do? Stop me? Please.

I hated Shalnark. I had no idea why. I just did. He was the worst. He was entirely too cheerful. He, however, was determined to be my best friend. Whenever I was doing anything he just turned up and started pestering me.

"Ivela!"

And there he was now.

I elected to ignore him, instead continuing to play my violin in a secluded alley.

"Look, I brought you a crown!" He exclaimed, carrying with him a ridiculous silver circlet with a red gemstone centered in the front.

My violin screeched. "What?"

"Look how pretty it is!"

"I hate you."

"Aww, but you're my best friend!"

Naturally, I took the crown. I had hopes that he would give me a different gift sometime in the future, but I always need more gifts. Gives me more things to summon.

Chrollo and I had already talked about every book he had, and now we had started sharing our own stories with each other. Only told orally, because there was no way we were wasting paper on that. Plus I blatantly refused to write on the dirty paper that could be found here. It was gross.

It was kind of fun to bounce ideas off of each other. These sessions usually ended in the two of us chuckling at the absurdity of what we had just come up with.

"Did you make yourself into a character?" Chrollo asked me one time.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "No, she's-"

"She's an assassin born girl banished from the family trying to prove herself worthy so she can go home." He deadpanned.

I paused. "Alright so I might have made myself."

He laughed at me, the bastard. I joined him a few seconds later. It was, admittedly, kind of funny.

My time spent alone was filled with, surprisingly, composing. It was something I had never really had much time for after Killua was born, but I had enjoyed the hobby tremendously when I was still the heir. I wasn't sure why I had started writing music again. It felt kind of nice. They were all little songs, though. I didn't think I had it in me to write a full length one. Or, rather I didn't really have the inspiration.

I tended to meditate a lot while I was alone too. Basic nen training, I guess. It was incredibly important that I get stronger. I wouldn't let myself fall behind the others- the members of the troupe. My nen prowess grew by the day.

I was worried I was becoming an alcoholic with the amount of time I spent drinking with Uvo and Nobu. It was a good thing they never had enough alcohol to keep me buzzed for more than an hour. I didn't think Uvo ever had enough, either. He was always talking about how much he wanted to get me to an actual bar so he could "drink me under the table."

Personally I thought that I would beat him in a drinking contest.

I had started sparring with all the members of the troupe when they were up to it. There was no better training than actual combat. Well, not really actual combat. None of them wanted to kill me. I hoped.

"Ivela!" Machi called to me as I was walking. Her tone seemed...clipped. I didn't like that.

I paused my gait and half turned to see her approaching me.

"Machi." I stated.

"Did you take my dagger?"

I paused, furrowing my eyebrows. "Why would I do that?"

"You said you liked it." She replied, her eyebrows twitching.

I nodded. "It is a nice dagger."

"So you admit it?"

"No. I have a dagger."

The conversation continued in this fashion for a few moments before Machi stormed off, still convinced I had taken the dagger. I had no idea why she assumed that I would steal from her, but I had been unable to convince her otherwise. I spent the next week on my guard, fully expecting some kind of violent retaliation. It's what Illumi would have done, and they were about the same age. It was strange, despite Meteor City being a place in which I should've always been on my guard in, I realized that I had been oddly relaxed here. It was jarring to go back to a state of hypervigilance.

The next time that Machi approached me, it was again outright. I was honestly expecting some kind of ambush, but couldn't find any signs of one.

"Do you need something." I asked her after a moment of examination. She seemed to be struggling with something.

Honestly her demeanor was terrible. It was obvious she was about to do something she didn't nessecarily want to do, like stab me.

"I..." She paused again. I sighed. I wished she would just get this over with.

"I found my dagger." She finally said. What? "It turns out I just misplaced it."

I narrowed my eyes at her. She was absolutely planning something.

"I uh, came to apologize."

My eyebrows raised practically to my hairline. "Apologize?"

"Yeah, I'm uh. I'm sorry I accused you."

I continued to stare at her for a minute. "Are you not going to stab me? Or....I don't know...try to set me on fire?"

"Not unless you stab me first!" Machi quipped before laughing.

.....Why.....was she laughing I was being completely serious.

"My hair has gotten longer." I noted. Chrollo and I had just finished discussing another ridiculous story when I brought up my hair in a lull in the conversation.

"That tends to happen." He replied.

I stared at him, eyes narrowed.

"Hair grows, Ivela."

"I hate you."

"Be that as it may," Chrollo said, smiling subtly. I hated it when he teased me. "Is there something wrong with that?" I assumed he was referring to my hair's length.

"Yes." I grumbled, crossing my arms.

"Do you want me to cut it?" He offered.

I stared at him blankly. "Have you ever cut hair before?"

"How hard could it be?"

He found that it was harder than he anticipated, as evidenced by the reflection staring at me from the water. The haircut was kind of choppy. It was actually a bit of a mess. It stopped at my shoulder, just as my hair had when I had first come here, but it wasn't perfectly sculpted.

"I'm sorry." Chrollo said from behind me.

"I love it..." I whispered, staring wide eyed at myself. It was so different than the ridiculously perfect bob I had been forced to have all my life. Mother was...insistent that I dress however she wanted me to.

"What?"

"This is the best haircut I've ever gotten. You have to cut my hair from now on!" I stood up from where I had been crouched by the waterside and rounded on him.

"H-hold on-"

"Too late, you're my hairdresser now." I was pretty good at reading him. He was secretly pleased that I liked what he had done.

"I-" He started, before sighing. I grinned for a split second, knowing I had won. "Okay." He relented.

It wasn't long before a year had passed since my arrival. It was honestly the best year of my life so far. But all good things must come to an end.

"We've done all we can here." Chrollo explained. "We have to branch out more."

"You'll come with us." Feitan said.

Paku shook her head. "Obviously he means we want you to come with us."

I glared at the ground while clutching the ends of my shirt. "I...can't."

"Why not?!" Uvo exclaimed, leaning forward. I could tell all of them were shocked by my admission.

"You know better than us that it's better out there!" Phinks yelled. It was nice to know that even he wanted me to come along.

"You can't really like it here." Machi stated.

I did kind of like it here, actually. But... "You don't understand. I can't leave." I reiterated. I still couldn't bring myself to look at them.

"Ivela, you're being stubborn." Chrollo sighed. It was as if he couldn't fathom the concept of me not wanting to go with them. He was right to be confused. I did want to go with them.

"I am not!" I shouted, looking up. "I....if I leave they'll..." I stopped, sighing heavily. I really didn't want to tell them.

"My family...they're...I'm..."

"They're assassins. You told me already. But what does that have to do with-" Nobu started.

I cut him off. "They're the Zoldycks." My admission was met with stunned silence. Even in Meteor City the Zoldycks were well known. We got all of our butlers from Meteor City. I looked anywhere but at their faces.

"The day before I came here, I tried to do something...unforgiveable." I didn't want to elaborate on what I had done. Especially not to people who were leaving. People I would never see again.

"They left me here, and told me if I ever left that they would kill me. I know they weren't just saying that. If I leave, I'll die."

The air was heavy. A pin dropping could break the silence.

Paku was the first to recover. "We'll just have to visit you then."

The rest of them were quick to agree.

I smiled humorlessly at them. "Then, I'll see you when you do." I didn't believe them.

I would never see them again. Of that I was certain.

A/N

Either one or two more Meteor City chapters before we get into the real story.

#Chrollo x reader #Chrollo x OC #Chrollo Lucilfer #Chrollo Lucilfer x reader #Chrollo Lucilfer x OC #Hunter x Hunter #Ivela Zoldyck #The Virtuoso

17 notes · View notes

steve0discusses · 4 years ago

Text

Yugioh Ep 34 S4: The Boys (and Mai) are Back in Town

OK, back to the writing table! It’s been a while! So I made the mistake of like...scrolling down on the playlist when I realized...

This duel is like 6 episodes long (7 even? It’s a lot) and like...yo I have no idea if we’ll finish this season in 2020! Damn you 2020. Damn you.

But wtv, what I like about this side project of mine is that I don’t have to rush things, and I can really spend the time with each episode and just...enjoy the moment. So often I watch a whole series in like half a week and then it’s like...I don’t get to enjoy it. This series I’ve enjoyed for years now. That’s kinda neat. So...we’re gonna be slow...but lets just enjoy this weird ass anime moment together. 2020 deadlines are all fake anyway. I’m not even sure if 2020 was a real thing that happened or like...an alternate universe opening a door and letting through just so many terrible ghosts. We might never know.

Last we left off, everyone has decided to hallucinate Dartz’ terrible backstory.

Unfortunately we have NO darts in the past. Was really hoping to see at least one darts reference in this entire season, just one darts board on his wall. But alas, we will not have a Season Zero death darts match with Dartz. (Man I need to get back to Season Zero. And FMA. And a lot of things)

I feel like if I watched the original version there would have been some things different. First off...what ocean? Second off...well, we’ll get to that. There’s some things I think were changed for English TV.

Including censoring the nude people like it’s James Cameron’s Avatar.

Fun fact did you know that James Cameron’s Avatar was supposed to be ass naked and that they were supposed to have like 8 cat nipples? Yeah.

Man, that movie was a mistake. I’m so glad we all decided to collectively forget James Cameron’s Avatar.

(read more under the cut)

The actual locations of anything in Atlantis does not match up with it when it’s zoomed out. We have giant cities, we have sprawling wheat fields, and we have...THIS situation. This active volcano next to...pine trees?

I feel like they wanted it to feel vaguely Pompeii, since I know people like to put Atlantis in the Mediterranean. Maybe? Maybe that’s what they were going for here?

One of my top ten favorite Yugioh plot twists ever was finding out this episode that this snake who has no limbs somehow created these...rocks...that all of our main characters have been wearing and obsessing over this entire time.

And so this is my theory, this is the thesis of my Yugioh college paper. These rocks are turds. There’s no way these rocks aren’t turds. There’s no way this snake didn’t poop out a bunch of glowy magic stones and then stuff them into a volcano.

THE ROCKS WERE TURDS THE WHOLE TIME.

God bless, Yugioh.

Seto spends this entire episode groveling that he isn’t playing cards that will absolutely kill him. Like Mokuba, Seto isn’t happy until he’s cheating death.

(I really wish we got more super past future tech. I love that type of concept art. Instead, we just got a lot of flying boats--the same boat that I think the team flew on in S1 when they went to Seto’s video game universe.

So those boats are 10,000 years old? They existed in the 10,000 year old Pangea, huh?

Neat.)

Anyway, lets take a gander at Princess Zelda circa Ocarina of Time.

SUPER princess Zelda, and I know it’s not 1:1 but damn it feels so much like a late 90′s Princess Zelda outfit to me. Check out that PURPLE. That low poly circlet. The random ass sword. The thick ass belt.

Also check out this super dead family.

Yo so this is a 00′s thing, a period of time where we liked to tell stories like LOST, with just a bunch of random ass plot twists in flashbacks instead of just...telling a story from start to finish. And can be a great and fun way to do it--but at the sacrifice of actually making me care about these characters while they were still alive.

Like I would have maybe cared about Chris and Ironheart dying if I had known that Dartz was killing his whole family? With...lightning strikes? But alas, these dumbasses decided NOT to tell us they were royal. It’s so strange both from a logical perspective and a storytelling perspective.

Man...missed opportunity, IMO, but I can see why they did it. The wanted the ‘Gotcha!’ I feel ambivalent about it, honestly.

And who am I kidding, people are still doing unpredictable plot twists this. It’s a way to tell a story. Is it the most impactful way? No. It’s...it’s a gotcha!

It’s at this point in the story that things start ramping up, but it’s not clear if it takes place over years or just a couple hours. People just start going a little cray and turning into Monsters.

Straight up, though--did they turn into monsters that already existed and are modern Duel Monster cards, or are the monsters from modern Duel Monsters cards actually descendants of Atlantis who were once human?

They don’t say, actually. Maybe...maybe every card was a human once. That would be a freakin weird Yugioh twist if Kuriboh was like a 45 year old dude.

PS Dartz was married...soak that in.

ROMANCE ON YUGIOH ALERT.

Love it every time. She was there for like...half a second, and Dartz was like throwing so much shade about how “only the people with evil in their hearts were turned” and it’s like...

...dude that’s your wife? OK then. I can see you guys got along real well.

Anyway, so long to the ship of IonaxDartz, you were here for even less than the amount of time that Seto dated Blue Eyes White Dragon in a hallucination, which kind of sets a new record for us.

This might be the shortest-lived ship in all of Yugioh and they have a 12 year old daughter and what I assume was a 12 year marriage for that entire time.

that is if they...HAD the concept of marriage 10,000 years ago on Atlantis Pangea island. Maybe?

I mean they might have not had the concept of dating and marriage yet because he gets over this like immediately. The show will never hover back to that time Dartz watched his own wife turn into a creature. We have no idea if he was like “OK honey lets uh...let just get you a haircut and maybe no one will notice?” We have no idea how long he was desperately trying to remain married to the beast that was no longer human and was also trying to eat everyone else in his court. We just don’t know.

Dartz just had a lot of other things to think about. He’s been King for like...a year...he’s only 21...he’s just doing a bad job at everything.

(Biden opens Pres Trumps bedroom in the White House come January and it’s juts full of glowing green evil golf balls) (OK that was my last 2020 joke I swear to you)

Anyway, Dad is here, but it’s a little too late to really do anything with the situation. Everyone is worshiping little snake turds. What can you really do about that?

One eye golden, the other eye, the color of a glistening Leviathan turd.

After the rest of the surviving royal family was chased out of the castle, Dartz decides to just wave his hands around a lot.

I’m not entirely sure what Kings do...never really had one...but I think they’re supposed to do more than wave their hands at a crowd like the Pope. Like...everyone’s dead right? Like everyone?

Who’s he talking to?

Meanwhile, Chris and Ironheart decide to revive some monster tablets to get some real actual duel monsters to do their bidding.

So apparently some monsters are in the tablets, and other’s have just always been here...and...

They didn’t know violence but they did have the cards?

There’s a lot of vague stuff they didn’t feel like ever writing, because it would have probably been boring to write about. I guess we’ll just let our imagination fill in the rest and ignore all the inconsistencies. It’s a kid’s anime. well........kind of a kid’s anime. A lot of people have died this episode and I don’t even know how to add it to the death count.

How many people live in Atlantis? I dunno.

Are the inhabitants of Atlantis even dead, or are they just turned into Monster cards? I dunno. Clearly the Great Leviathan wasn’t awoken this first battle so...did all those souls get returned? I dunno.

Either way I’m not gonna bother the death count about it because I just do not know if they died, and since it was neither an implied death or an on screen death...I dunno.

Just feels like a bit of a translation snafu--where maybe they couldn’t kill that many people on English TV, so they were like “AND IT’S A DRAW!” but also...it could be canon to both versions. The leviathan didn’t work the first time, maybe no one died? I dunno.

In this shot, PS, Raphael just gently backs up out of this flying plane, and it looked really funny to me. I probs won’t cap it because it’s split between two other cuts, but just...they just kind of moved that sprite to the right really slowly, no animation, it was great.

Dartz decides to end the backstory hallucination, and we get introduced to a new twist--a better twist than that last one, that’s right, all our boys are cards!

Including this asshole!

Been a while since our boys have been cards! Man, I miss Bakura!

Yes, I looked back to earlier episodes this season to see what was going on with Pegasus’ new look. I think what happened is that it’s always been this shade of gray purple--but when you put purple next to it’s opposing color (which is yellow colors) it looks even MORE purple. It’s just how color works. Love color theory. mm. Good stuff. Good purple hair.

I can’t wait until Yami kills Yugi for the 3rd time in one season.

Anyway, that’s all for now, and like always, here’s a link to read these in chrono order.

#ygo #yugioh #yu-gi-oh #recap #photo recap #episode recap #yami yugi #seto kaiba #Dartz #I don't know if he has a last name or if they were invented yet #Dartz' hot wife #Yugi muto #Joey Wheeler #Mai Valentine #maxamillion pegasus #Raphael #s4 #ep 34

27 notes · View notes

if-the-crown-fits-translate-it · 4 years ago

Text

Discord pt 43

[Date: 23/02, 04.05 PM - 05.01 PM GMT]

fetch: “oh hey guys I’m not dead or brainwashed from last night lol”

fetch: “yeah like??? I read back on the muted chat and I legit don’t remember that happening

all I did yesterday was nap and play bugsnax”

jaynoblade: “fetch... you made a tumblr post about it

give me a second, i’ll show you”

fetch: “no CROWN made a post from my account. I was it already”

jaynoblade: “oh... that explains the red”

boo: “pardon, crown has access to your account?”

fetch: “I saw that I also sent baron an ask but I don’t remember that either

look I don’t know if he does or not

I mean he obviously did for I thin a little bit? maybe I should change my password”

jaynoblade: “that might be a good idea”

fetch: “if it makes yall feel any better mona is off work today and last night she said she'd be keeping an eye on me

I get yall were worried about me but take it easy on her she literally could not leave her job lmao

I dont think Walmart is gonna take "my friend is about to get brainwashed by an enderman thing" as an emergency leave excyse”

fetch: “And yeah just. be careful calling her king, that sounds way too close to a court member. if you're gonna refer to her like that, spell it like k1ng”

fetch: “so like! i'm not dead that's good! :]

i don't know what weird game crown was playing with me last night”

jaynoblade: “crown's always playing games with all of us, so an extra one comes at no surprise”

fetch: “man I was having such a good time jamming to tunes too

server admins work hard but groovy bot works even harder/j”

fetch: “anyway sorry if yall saw my half-asleep ramblings in the doc, I'm trying to form some sort of chronological order of events”

jaynoblade: “that's valid! sometimes it's hard to remember things”

fetch: “anyway i. i had a little bit of a thought yesterday. yknow before the whole delerious screaming because of a music box song thing. but its a pretty far stretch so I don't know if it'll help if I toss this into the ring”

jaynoblade: “oh?”

fetch: “i was thinking. the dreamsmp loves their greek myths right? the whole theseus thing, pandoras vault, etc etc right. i think crown and this court is sort of like the hydra”

fetch: “i fell out of control (a head gets cut off) and chat and page are still up there (two grow back in its place)"

fetch: “ what if we try to release someone else from control, but that just gets more people hurt"

[boo: “we gotta burn the cut head yeah?" ]

boo: “ that's how the hydra was defeated"

fetch: “i always thought he pierced the heart? killed the whole beast rather than just one head

thats where I was going with this metaphor anyway

that crown is the heart of the hydra”

boo: “ huh you're right, i just thought that lessening the heads would help w getting to the heart"

jaynoblade: “he burned each of the heads until it was reduced to one, and then either stabbed it in the heart or cut off the final head (which was immortal, and which killed the body) and buried it under a rock. myths don't agree"

boo: “yeah"

jaynoblade: “but yeah, lessening the heads would definitely help with getting to the heart”

fetch: “oh ok"

jaynoblade: “ or the final head, whichever version"

boo: “i don't know how we'd burn it though”

fetch: “maybe something to do with the crowns?"

jaynoblade: “ i don't know either

hmmm maybe”

fetch: “crown is very insistent that they keep their circlets on

odd that I didn't have mine- er, knight's when I woke up in the woods”

jaynoblade: “ ....so do you think that you took it off, and that's why you woke up?"

Denora: “Hmmmm, maybe it got snagged on a branch? It might've been unintentional...”

fetch: “if it's really that simple, I think prince would have done it already. you remember that whole "doesn't want to be in the family" thing at the start of all this?"

disks and the color red |Stars: “maybe someone took it off for you"

fetch: “I dont know. on one hand, crown seems very confused that i got free. on the other, I don't think he'd be so careless with something so important.

i dont think they just "come off"

regardless, im also worried for maxwell. he's still just as under crowns control as is was. only difference is he hasn't come around

and the fact that he did it because i got taken.”

jaynoblade: “he did, once. it was only for a few minutes, but we had him back

and then he was gone again"

fetch: “...so he's still in there

its not too late

that. makes me feel a little better.

look maxwell may have been a bit of a prick who kept antagonizing crown even after we asked him to stop but he was still one of us and he shouldn't be working with crown. the last thing maxwell would want is to give the "pissbaby" (his words not mine) more power"

jaynoblade: “not sure about the other court members, but.... they've been there for much longer, and we haven't had as long with them”

fetch: “there might be time to save the other court members too. even prince. baron seems the least of concern for now since he's went to crown and actually confronted him multiple times now with seemingly no consequence.

and when I say confront I really mean its like 2 or 3 times not he's said that he was gonna ask crown something”

jaynoblade: “yeah definitely

but then again.... crown’s had him even longer than prince”

fetch: “despite that he seems pretty low on the food chain...”

jaynoblade: “he really does, and there’s probably a reason for that

maybe he’s overall harder to control or something like that”

fetch: “probably

maybe he's the "you're not my real dad you can't tell me what to do" type”

fetch: “or maybe. hm.

maybe he's leaving baron alone to make prince happy

they are best friends after all”

jaynoblade: “....that could be completely possible”

fetch: “if prince sees crown hurting baron that would be a mega fuck up on crowns part”

fetch: because they're loyal to crown but childhood friendships run deep

boo: or maybe baron's just not that big of a risk

fetch: yeah maybe that too

also during my reading back I saw what jayyy and a couple others were planning. not a fuckin fan at all if you ask me”

fetch: “trying to "summon" crown or sacrifice yourself for him is in no way shape or form a good idea

just because I broke control doesn't mean everybody can”

fetch: “and if you just flat out say "if I get yoinked feel free to use me for information" then thats just? not going to make crown take you if he knows you're gonna do that?

or at the very least he's gonna keep you in the dark

he isn't stupid. he knows where information is supposed to be.”

fetch: “and- let me reiterate- getting taken is NOT FUN. it isn't something you can just make weekend plans for and act like you or anyone else won't be affected once you're done with your little "experiments"”

[People continue to discuss how fetch might have gotten free and to k1ng’s house for a few minutes more.]

#on:discord #by:fetch #if the crown fits

9 notes · View notes

loveafterthefact · 4 years ago

Text

Love After the Fact Chapter 76: Going Home? Question Mark?

Lance, Keith, and their ‘associates’ give their farewells and prepare to leave.

Sorry for my perpetual lateness :’(

First Previous Next

Keith sits across from his mother, sipping some tea. Krolia watches him. He’s very still, waiting patiently for her to speak. He's put his circlet back on, though not his Altean clothes, as they no longer fit. A part of her wonders if he has what it takes to be a leader. He always seems so gentle outside of combat.

Perhaps a little too gentle.

“Are you going to tell me, or are you two keeping it to yourselves for now?”

“Putting it like that sort of backs me into a corner,” Keith observes. He worries his lip. “We’re very excited, but I don’t feel ready to celebrate yet.”

“Because you don’t want to feel sad if you miscarry,” Krolia concludes.

Keith nods. Guilt stings at his hearts. “Lance is so happy. I don’t know what I’ll do if-”

“You’re allowed to be happy, kitten.” Krolia pushes some hair out of her son’s face. “Thace’s equipment only goes so far. A few movements ago, we weren’t certain you could get pregnant. Now, you know you can, and you will have every possible chance of bringing this kit into the world.”

"Right..." Gazing around his freshly cleaned den, Keith’s visibly saddened. The windchimes are gone from outside; BleepBloop’s climbing towers missing; the fireplace has been cleaned and scrubbed of soot. The den is empty, like it’s never been lived in. It feels wrong.

“Keith? What-”

“I don’t want to go,” he whispers, throat tight and ready to choke him. “I want to stay here with all of you. I want to see Lance be happy and feel like himself.” “Feel like himself?” Krolai’s ear cocks, trying to understand.

“When we return, Lance will become busy again, with no more excuses to delegate so much of his work. He’ll sort through it, and give me the easy tasks so that he finds time to eat and sleep, and we’ll be together, but apart all over again. He’ll be distant, and coy, and never touch me unless we’re alone and I’ll hate it!” The young man sighs, tugs on a lock of his hair. "I know he's trying, but I don't know how to help him break out of these habits. I don't think he can do it alone, either. I don't want him to."

Krolia fixates on her son, watching his frustration over the rim of her cup. “This is my fault. No one ever told you what being a bearer means on Altea, did they.”

“Obviously I know what it means-”

“No, you don’t.” Krolia’s stare is searing. “Pregnancy is power, Keith. A good man or not, the crown prince is no different than any other Altean sire. You carry his progeny, and he will worship at your feet. He will give you anything you ask for. If you want to be his fawned-over, spoiled pet, tell him. If you want power, tell him. If you want luxury, tell him. If you want to share in his duties, tell him. If you want him to hold you, keep you close all the days of his life, tell him. Whatever you want, he will give it to you.”

“Momma. That’s…”

“That’s survival, kitten. You have power over him. He’s desperate for heirs. After your first kit, hold out on him. You’ll have whatever you want.”

“Momma, what I want is my mate. By my side. Sharing my life.” Keith sips his tea. “I understand what you’re saying. And I understand that you still have concerns about me mated to an Altean, and living on Altea. But I promise, Momma. I promise I don’t have to manipulate Lance into giving me things that I need. I can just ask.”

He waits until his mother meets his gaze. When she does, her eyes are so very sad. Sad for everything they’re still struggling to build between them. He taps his fingers against the clay of his cup, tries to find a way to explain why he’s not worried about having to ask for things.

“You know, when I first arrived, I spent the first movement avoiding everyone, including Lance. I didn’t realize it at the time, but he was watching me. Asking the guards about me. He must have asked the gardeners, or was approached, because it’s the only way he found out about this flower I stole from a greenhouse.” Keith laughs. “The next thing I know this garden he built for me is full of orchids. I kept finding new blankets and pillows, uh. Puzzles. Random trinkets. Raw crystals. Snacks.

“We’re addressing his control issues, obviously, but… He was so desperate to make me comfortable, to make it easier. He cared about me even then. I don’t need to manipulate or use him to get what I need or want. Chances are he’ll give it to me before I even ask.”

“I hope you’re right. I do think better of him. But he wears the face of the species that slaughtered your father. My mate.”

“Are you sure we shouldn’t be blaming my uncle for that?” Keith asks, steady, completely serious.

“An excellent question, kitten. One I ask more every quintant.” The soldier woman gets to her feet. “We should go and meet your mate and your friends. It’s about time for you to leave and we need to stop by my den on our way to the Compound.”

Keith nods, reluctantly following his mother to her own den. BleepBloop is already on their ship, ready for Altea. It’s on the edge of the community. No one owns dens, or even has an ancestral den anymore. Too many people have left, or died. A den becomes empty, and whoever’s lived on the fringes the longest gets to move inward if they like.

“I have something for you,” Krolia tells him. “I suppose, in a way, you have your mate to thank for this. Perhaps you can educate him about it.”

“Okay?”

“Wait here.” Krolia ducks inside her den, coming back out seconds later with a very small wolf cub. “So your mate decided to save an orphaned wolf cub, which was incredibly honorable and respectful of him, but his mother’s companion could not find a surrogate for him, and now he needs a home. The hunter decided that since your mate saved him, you two might like to have him.”

“I-” Keith gulps. Being offered a cub is an extreme honor, especially as an outsider. And the cub is cute. He takes the animal from his mother, rubbing his ears, looking him over. “I love him already. So much.”

Not that he could turn down a wolf cub even if he wanted to. Especially not this one, the one that carries not only a piece of his mother's life force, but Lance's as well. He strokes the wolf’s midnight fur, working a tangle out of the pale blue ruff circling around the animal’s neck and down his back. The cub stares up at him with brilliant, golden eyes.

“I knew you two didn’t have the time for him, so I told Lance I’d keep him here. It was his idea to give him to you today. I guess he thought it might make going home easier.”

“It doesn’t,” Keith whispers. “But it’s still something. Stupid idiot, he’s really toeing that line between secret and surprise.” He holds the cub up to his face, smiling. “You had a rough start, huh?” The cub licks his nose. “Me too. Don’t worry. It gets so much better.” Keith smirks. “Finally someone to take BleepBloop down a peg. He’s gonna be so jealous-”

Keith’s comms unit buzzes in his pocket, a message from Adam: It’s time to go. He takes a deep breath. “Well, little one. Wanna come with me to Altea?”

The animal licks at his face again, tail wagging. Keith grins, cuddles the cub close. Yeah, he’s keeping this little guy.

Keith stalls on his way to the compound, stopping to talk to people, ask a few carefully worded questions about the political climate and what the villagers think of Lance, ask if those thoughts have spread. It’s good news. It means their kit will be a little safer.

“So… Lunch last quintant was a thing, huh?” Lance nibbles at his breakfast. He’s in Allura’s sitting room, one of the few rooms she and Lotor have deemed safe from prying eyes and ears. Meaning Lotor and Pidge searched the room from top to bottom.

Allura nods, eating as quickly and as much as her manners will allow. “It really was quite something.”

“What do you think?”

“I think…” Allura wipes her mouth with her napkin. “I think I should stay closer to Lotor and keep a closer eye on Romelle. I think you should keep an eye on yourself and keep closer to Keith.” She gives her brother a meaningful look.

“Was it that obvious?”

“No. The others wouldn’t have caught it. But I know you, and I know Keith. I could tell… Are you trying to keep it quiet?”

“For now. Keith may very well miscarry and feels too uncertain to make an announcement.” Lance sips his tea.

“And?” Allura gives her brother a pointed look. Lance sighs.

“And the longer we can hide this, the longer our child will be safe. The moment Alfor and Zarkon know, our baby’s future will be dictated to us.” Lance leans forward in his seat, expression tense. “Remember our cousin, Griffin? His son is four years old and rumor is Alfor’s already made an arrangement. Keeping it quiet means I have time to come up with something myself, or pass some legislation under the table to protect the rights of our children. We only have a few movements until the thaw, and I’ve just got ideas, nothing written.”

“Do you plan on including Nibling in that?” Allura asks, gesturing to her belly with her spoon. “Because frankly I don’t like the way Honerva’s been looking at me lately. Lotor doesn’t like it either.”

“Of course. Anyone possessing Altean blood, or under Altean rule.” Lance frowns. “How long do you have?”

It’s a more difficult question than it seems. Galra gestation is only five phoebs, their children born small-bodied, vulnerable and useless with eyes and ears still shut. Altean infants gestate for a decaphoeb and a half- three times as long. They’re born hearing and seeing, ready to learn how to walk and talk.

“Well, I’m about six phoebs along… We’re guessing six more, judging by their development.”

Lance nods. “I don’t know how long we have. I just- I want us to be safe and happy.”

“Lance…” Allura taps her finger on the table. “You don’t remember what Mother was like. She wasn’t at all how she’s described. I mean, she was kind and all that, but she was also wild and very strong. A powerful leader and presence. She didn’t die by accident, Lance. Her death was on purpose. When she was assassinated, they chose her for a reason.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Safe and happy are not available to us. Be respected instead. Be the type of leader that people will kill on purpose, because of who you are, not what you are. That’s how you can best protect our children. Be feared and respected.”

Lance nods, licks his lips. “I should visit Romelle before I go.”

Allura sighs. “I’d appreciate it if you would… I know father was lying about looking for more possible solutions. It was unusually kind of him.”

“I… had a screaming fit with him before we left Altea. I think I got through to him. Somewhat. He’s still Alfor, but he’s a slightly less frustrating Alfor.”

Allura laughs through her nose. “We must take what we can get.” She meets her brother’s gaze. “I am going to miss you, brother.”

“I’ll miss you, too.” Lance rises to his feet, giving his sister a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll come visit again when I can.”

“So… When I make you an uncle?”

Lance grimaces. “Or when Keith makes you an aunt.”

The princess nods, tucking a loose curl behind her ear. They stay like that for a long moment, Lance standing, Allura sitting, missing each other, still in the same room. This woman, his sister, raised him, loved him, supported every one of his choices, even if she disagreed.

Sometimes, he still feels lost without her.

“I love you, Lance.”

“Love you too, ‘Lura.” Lance kisses her cheek again, slips his hand from hers as he heads for the door. “I’ll see you again soon.”

Across the hall, in another room, Lance finds an even sadder affair. Romelle is sitting by a sunny window in yet another red stone room, eyes staring into some unfathomable distance. Despite her vacant expression, she’s visibly well cared for. Her hair is groomed and braided how she always wore it before and she’s clean. Her clothes are fresh, fingernails files short and round so she can’t hurt herself.

He wonders if she still knows how loved she is.

“Hey, Romelle. I just thought I’d come say goodbye. We’re leaving today, so…”

Lance sits in the chair opposite the frail woman, disrupting his sister’s imprinted shadow. Before he knows it, Lance’s eyes are stinging, welling with tears. He grew up playing with this woman, watching her and Allura fall in love. She was so, so young when she went on that final voyage with Alfor, and she won’t ever get better. Not hoping for conversation, Lance elects to sit quietly and keep his friend company for a while-

“Are you afraid of the water?”

“I-” Lance blinks, unsure of the proper response. He takes a chance on the truth. “No, I’m not afraid of the water. I love the water.”

Romelle hums, skeptical, quizzical. “No, I suppose you wouldn’t be. You would not even be aware.”

“Beg pardon?”

“What has come to pass will pass again... the love story theirs and yours are so very fond of. Only neither of you knows it.”

“Romelle-”

“Generations of flesh give way to the rebirth of souls… The guardian waits for the descendants.”

“...I understand,” Lance lies. It’s easy, like lying to a small child, promising that there are no monsters outside their door. He stands, having had as much as he can bear. He gently squeezes the woman’s hand.

“Do not fear the water,” Romelle whispers. “Even submerged, you will still burn.”

“Good, uh.” Lance clears his throat. “Good to know.”

As Lance leaves to gather Pidge and Adam and say goodbye to Lotor, Shiro, Thace, Ulaz, and a few other Blades, he can’t quite shake the anxiety. He struggles to convince himself that Romelle is unwell, just spouting random nonsense from her collapsing mind.

He doesn’t quite succeed.

Sooner or later, Keith finds himself in the courtyard where they arrived, the ship open, revealing a number of packages- gifts and other items they’ve accumulated since their arrival. Lance is talking with Thace and Kolivan, hands animated, eyes shining. Whatever they’re discussing, Lance is excited for it.

“Keith.” Krolia turns him to face her, grips his shoulder tight. “Listen to me carefully. Are you listening?”

Keith turns to his mother, nods, holds the wolf cub closer between them, petting his head.

“You train this animal well. You keep him close. Do not trust anyone except the crown prince… There is something in the stars. I have seen it. All we can do is brace ourselves and wait.”

“What do you mean?” Keith whispers, fear trickling like ice down his spine.

“I mean that the sociopolitical strain on Daibazaal is reaching a breaking point, and none of us are prepared. There are enemies in every corner, and fools behind and beside them. You are carrying the hopes and dreams of an entire civilization in your womb. Know your place, even if it is to run.”

“I-” Keith gulps, nods. “I will… I love you, Mom.”

“I love you too, kitten.” Krolia embraces her son, kisses his temple. “You tell that Altean of yours I’m allowed to visit, because I can and will.”

“Okay. Just let us know you’re coming. There’s an entry medical procedure.”

“Noted. I see your mate-”

“Ready to go, beloved?” Lance slips an arm around his waist.

“Not really,” Keith whispers.

The Altean’s smile is so, so sad and so very gentle. “Me neither. But we’ll come back soon; I promise.”

“I know.” Keith doesn’t want to ask for one more trip before their kit is born, but he imagines Lance is already trying to set up the same thing. Lifting his gaze, he spies Adam, holding both of Shiro’s hands. They’re talking quietly.

He’s not the only one breaking his heart today. As he watches, Pidge trots up to the Altean, tugs on his vest, gently whispers that it’s time to go. The look on Adam’s face is inscrutable as he nods, leans up, whispers something in Shiro’s ear before he slips away and onto the ship. The conflicted expression on Shiro's face tells Keith it was a tender confession. His heart breaks for his littermate and for Adam, who finally found each other only for them to be kept apart by duty and honor.

As the ship lifts off the ground, Lance catches Keith sniffling into his new pet’s fur, trying to hide it. The crown prince doesn’t question the cub’s presence, having known about it the whole time. Instead he just holds his husband close, lets him cry.

There’s not a whole lot else he can do. Pidge’s feelers creep over his hands, investigating them both. They hum, soft enough to barely register, sitting quiet for a moment before going to watch Altea loom larger and larger before them. They whisper quietly to Adam, who only shakes his head.

Leaving here is far harder than leaving Altea.

#LoveAftertheFact #LAtF #klance #galtean au #altean lance #galra keith #adashi #altean adam #galra shiro #voltron legendary defender #vld

10 notes · View notes

floweringpanakes · 5 years ago

Text

Listen

Amy doesn’t get to see her sister a lot. Sophie only gets so many chances to visit her, and it’s never for very long. She also didn’t get to spend a ton of time with Sophie and her friends when she was in the Lost Cities. So, when she sees Sophie again, she gives her a camera and asks her to video a day in her life. She just wants to feel more connected with her sister, and make sure she’s being safe. Sophie is hesitant at first (she’s not exactly sure how legal it is to vlog in the lost cities) but she can’t say no. She brings this project to her friends and... well...

First of all, they’re excited as hell. They love Amy and they’re so ready to show her what a day in their life looks like.

It starts off normal. Sophie shows her what it’s like to take care of the animals at the sanctuary, what she wears to school, what they have for breakfast

Grady and Edaline definitely try to put on a fun show for Amy. Dancing in the kitchen, super big breakfast, feeding the dinosaurs

But when she brings it to school is when it gets really interesting

Keefe is the first to officially declare Sophie’s portrayal of her life BORING AS HELL. “I mean you fight bad guys for Pete’s sake, and all you’re gonna show her is Verdi refusing to eat her food???”

He does everything he can to make the video as fun as possible. Which for keefe can mean a lot of things

He makes so many gross faces at the camera. so. many.

Fitz and Dex DEFINITELY joined him too. Especially impressive is how Fitz can give himself three extra chins, and Dex can pick his nose with his tongue

When Leto comes on the screen for morning announcements Keefe pretends he’s picking Leto’s nose and putting it in Fitzs hair

He bribes Linh to throw water at Tam every opportunity she has

By the end of the day Tam is carrying a towel around to dry himself off

He also made Biana sneak up on people to scare them. Among their victims were Fitz, Sophie, Sandor, and Ro

Ro was SOOO close to throttling him, but settled for smashing some not so good smelling ogre snack in his hair

He also 1000% tried to start a food fight at their lunch table, except it was just him flicking carrots at everyone’s faces until they got angry enough and they all threw their desserts in his face

“Worth it” he said as he licked frosting from his nose

They also bring the camera to training. Sophie wants to ease Amy’s worries about her safety by showing her how seriously they’re taking their work in the Black Swan

Okay but like who is she kidding??? they’re NEVER serious

Every time one of them walks by the camera they dance in front of it. Every. Single. Time.

(Fitz got super good at throwing it back somehow, but nobody really wants to know how)

Tam just stood in front of the camera like the “you know I had to do it to em” guy for a solid two minutes

At one point Sophie and Keefe have a body-guard-off

They both run at Sandor and Ro screaming “INCOMING” and then jump into their arms (think that scene from b99)

Sandor drops everything and catches Sophie

Ro sees keefe dive for her, takes one step out of the way, and watches him face plant on the ground

Sophie CANNOT stop laughing she’s starting to cry

Sophie tries SO HARD to get a shot of them sparring or something even remotely serious to show her sister

But the sparring very quickly devolves into a wrestling match between the boys, and then with the girls when they try to break it up, and then there’s just an insane tickle fight that takes wayyy to much effort on the bodyguards’ behalf to break up

Then they bring the camera to their Team Valiant meeting with the council. Now this one took some SERIOUS convincing, but Dex was the one who got her to bring it

“You did say you’d show her the WHOLE day didn’t you? And you can’t break a promise to your SISTER Sophie!”

Before they went, Biana and Sophie (mostly Biana) essentially did a whole beauty video, and she even got Dex and Sophie to let her do their hair

She also tried to do their makeup but Sophie couldn’t keep her eyes open for the mascara, and Dex kept sneezing when she was applying the powder

Wylie thinks bringing the camera in with the council is risky, and Stina just rolls her eyes at them

They set up the camera on this table that sits between them and the council, with the camera well hidden in a floral centerpiece and facing them

The camera catches them doing the following things

All of them playing Rock Paper Scissors during a lecture from Bronte (Sophie won)

Making gross faces at the camera when nobody was looking

Trading circlets when nobody was looking

Sophie teaching team valiant how to hit the woah

Hitting the woah every time Emery yelled at them to pay better attention

When the meeting is FINALLY over, they all (Sophie, Dex, Biana, Fitz, Keefe, Linh, Tam) meet at Havenfield for dinner, bc Friday night picnics with the gang are a thing and you can’t tell me otherwise

Linh has the idea to take a group photo to give to Amy with the video

They all get together under the Panakes tree, and Sophie sets the camera on a rock

Right after they’ve taken the picture, and Sophie’s walking back to grab the camera, they hear Grady and Edaline yelling “WATCH OUT!”

They all look and see the escaped verminion running towards them

It goes right past them, grabs the camera and just takes off in the other direction

Sheer, unadulterated chaos overtakes the next fifteen minutes

Sandor and Grizel try to tackle it, but end up face planting in the mud

Keefe almost laughs himself to death but shuts up when they ask him if he’d like a mud bath of his own

Sophie, meanwhile, is trying to calm the verminion down telepathically but it’s so excited to be free that it won’t listen

Fitz and Keefe help Dex set up this new laser cage he invented to trap it, and Tam and Linh try to herd it in by directing it with water and shadows

Linh gets some water on the cage and it short circuits before they can get the verminion inside

It shocks Fitz, Dex and Keefe (they were holding the cage up) pretty good. They’re all laying on the ground groaning and twitching

Ro is PISSING HERSELF laughing she cannot stand up

What eventually works is when Biana sneaks up on it with a tranquilizer and they finally get Amy’s camera back

Watching the footage back is like watching looney toons it’s so cartoonishly stupid

Sophie gives it to Dex to edit down for her, and sends the whole (thirty minute) vlog to Amy from her iPod

It’s not at all what she was expecting, but she loves it, and watches it every time she finds herself missing Sophie and the Lost Cities

#kotlc #keeper of the lost cities #mine #im sorry #i know its long #i just had to get this idea out of my head

99 notes · View notes

kumeko · 4 years ago

Photo

Title: wreathe me in flowers

A/N: Written for the @adorabowlzine ! I got assigned Bow/Adora/Glimmer. They’re so fluffy and soft together.

…

“Bow…?” Adora asked slowly, squinting at the flower stems in her hand. Clumsily, she tried to weave one through the others—despite her combat skills, this wasn’t as easy as shooting a blaster or flipping over a rampaging robot. “What did you call this again?”

Bow beamed brightly, his own fingers nimbly threading stems together. Sitting cross-legged in the meadow, he had half a wreath in his hands with bright pink and purple flowers arranged in a pretty manner. “Flower crowns. Aren’t they great?”

“Yeah. About that.” Frustrated, Adora dropped her failed attempt on her lap. They’d been in this field for an hour now, collecting flowers and weaving circlets. She picked up one of Bow’s many successes of the day; in the time it took her to make half a crown, he’d made at least three. Spinning the wreath around her finger, she raised a brow. “I don’t think this has anything to do with combat practice.”

“Combat practice?” Glimmer snorted inelegantly, halting work on her own crown. While she’d done more than Adora, it looked worse…way worse. Adora felt a tiny bit of pride in that. “Are we fighting Perfuma next?”

“I hope not.” Adora glanced around the wide, open field they were in. A forest hemmed it on one side, a dirt path on the other. “We’re sitting ducks out here.” She picked up another crown, spinning it on her other hand. “And I think she could choke us with these.”

“We’re not fighting Perfuma.” Bow reached out, snatching back his crowns. Shooting her a frown, he carefully fixed them, shifting back any misplaced flowers. “And I might have lied about the combat practice.”

“Duh!” Glimmer laughed. With a teasing smile, she teleported behind Adora and patted her on the back. “I can’t believe you fell for that. And we’ve been here for so long! Did you just realize it now?”

“Maybe we were learning one of Perfuma’s skills,” Adora grumbled, picking at the petals around her. Gathering a bunch, she tossed them at Glimmer’s face.

Glimmer frowned, spitting a petal out of her mouth. Brushing stray stems out of her hair and face, she glowered at Adora. “It’s a flower crown. I don’t think even Perfuma could make a weapon out of these.”

“You’d be surprised!” Bow grinned, holding up a crown. “Like we could put a metal ring in one or a spy bot or—!”

“Or nothing and let a flower crown be a flower crown.” Rolling her eyes, Glimmer cut him off. She teleported next to him and examined one of his, then hers. “And why are yours so much better than mine? I was the one who taught you how to make these!”

“I practiced a bit?” Bow suggested. When Glimmer didn’t buy it, he bashfully admitted. “A lot. I practiced a lot.”

“Then when Mom complained about her garden…?” Glimmer trailed off, realization dawning on her face.

Bow nodded. “Yeah…don’t tell her about that.” A shudder ran up his spine at the very thought. “At all.”

Resting her chin on her hands, Adora hunched over as she examined the flower crowns, the very ordinary flowers weaved together to make a crown. Since coming to Bright Moon, she had found out many unusual things such as horses, dances, and love. That all her old friends and acquaintances were evil. What a boyfriend is. What a girlfriend is. The strangeness of having both. The joy of having both.

Flower crowns were something entirely new. Picking up the one in her lap again, she looked at Glimmer, then Bow. “Seriously, though. What is the point of this?”

For a moment, they both stared at her, their mouths opening and closing like fish out of water. They always did that when she asked about something that seemed obvious to them. And in five, four, three, two, one—

“Is that your first crown, Adora?” Bow asked, covering his mouth.

—the drama would start.

“A flower crown is…well, a crown,” Glimmer explained unhelpfully, “made of flowers.”

Crawling over to Adora, Bow sat behind her. His legs spread out around hers, and he leaned over to pick up her failed creation. “This isn’t too bad! We just need to bend the stem here, and maybe that one over there, and it’ll be fine.”

“That simple, huh?” Adora bit her cheek, watching as Bow’s nimble fingers carefully corrected her crown. He made it look so easy. “And what do we do with these after?”

Picking up a finished one, Glimmer teleported behind Adora and dropped it on her head. “You put it on like this.”

“Yeah, Sherlock, I kinda knew that part.” Adora looked up dryly at her girlfriend. She tapped the crown on her head with a finger. “It’s a crown. Duh. I mean, do they have any other uses? We’re making a lot of them.”

“We’re just making them cause we can. There are flowers, what else are we gonna do with them?” Glimmer shrugged before teleporting in front of Adora. She stroked her chin. “That looks good on you.”

“Really cute.” Bow nodded enthusiastically, getting up and dashing to Glimmer’s side. He made two “L’s” with his fingers, holding them out as though to frame her between his fingers. “We should take a photo. We’re never going to see this again.”

“Not if you act like this, you won’t.” Adora rolled her eyes. Cute, huh? She considered correcting them—she was more cool than cute—but let it slide. Taking off the crown, she rolled it between her hands and repeated her question. “So, what’s it for?”

“Well, nothing really.” Bow shrugged, holding up her unfinished crown as he sat back down. No, wait, it was finished now. He’d actually fixed it during the entire conversation. The boy was a genius, though Adora wasn’t sure if this was a useful skill. “It’s just something to do for fun.”

“Fun,” Adora repeated, staring at her boyfriend with a mixture of incredulity and disbelief. To be perfectly honest, she should have expected this. Bow never skipped over excitedly for training. She should have realized immediately that something was up. “So this has absolutely no combat purpose.”

“Not at all.” Bow paused, rubbing his chin. “Well, unless we’re trying to out-fab them. In which case, it’s lethal damage.”

“Come on, Adora.” Glimmer teleported back to Adora’s side. Sitting next to her, she rested her head on Adora’s shoulder. Or at least, she tried to. As short as she was, the best she could do was halfway up Adora’s arm. “We’ve been really busy with the war and it’s just been fight after fight after fight.”

“Yep.” Quickly, Bow crawled over to Adora’s free side. For a moment, Adora wondered if Glimmer’s teleportation had somehow rubbed off onto him; he’d moved so fast she was sure she still saw his after image in front of her, still making a flower crown. “We need to rest too! It’s been a while since we’d been on a date.”

“This is a date?” Adora asked, confused. They’d taken her out on dates before, things that usually ended up very touchy-feely with lots of hand holding and sometimes kisses. Which was sometimes a little more attention than Adora was entirely comfortable with, but it was actually pretty nice to have after another failed fight with Catra. “I thought dates were…you know. Kissing. And stuff.”

“A date can be anything!” Bow grinned. He started listing on his fingers excitedly. “Shooting arrows, doing each other’s hair, eating—”

“And this was close to our next mission,” Glimmer added in cheerfully, a small smirk on her face.

Ah, that made more sense. As driven as Adora was, Glimmer was even more so. Bow’s jaw dropped, his mouth opening and closing a few times before finally he took a deep breath. After a few seconds, he slowly released. “Nope, going to ignore that. Either way, this is a break. And a date.” He roughly ran his hands through his hair, pouting. “Why are you both such workaholics?”

“Aww, come on, Bow.” Glimmer tackled him and Adora into a tight hug. They all landed on the ground with a soft oof, Adora and Bow on their backs, Glimmer on top. Lying flat on them, she wrapped an arm around each. “We’re taking a break, aren’t we?”

Adora chuckled, turning her head to look at Bow. “Even though it wasn’t what you promised, it was a fun date. Especially the part where you were chased by that bee.”

“Please forget that part,” Bow moaned, staring at her balefully. With a sigh, he nodded. “Fine, fine. But next time, we’re going on a real date.”

“I promise!” Glimmer confirmed.

At the same time, Adora chimed in, “I swear it.”

A date without thinking of battle…or going to a battle…or preparing for a battle. Adora had no idea what that’d be like, but that was just another new thing she could learn in Bright Moon.

#spop #shera #adora #glimmer #bow #glimadora #glimbow #adora/glimmer/bow #glimadorabow #adorabow #fanfic #what is the ship n ame

35 notes · View notes

shield-sheafson · 4 years ago

Link

Chapters: 3/? Fandom: Teen Titans (Comics), Teen Titans - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Raven/Tara Markov, past Tara Markov/Slade Wilson, Background Dick Grayson/Koriand'r Characters: Tara Markov, Raven (DCU), Donna Troy, Koriand'r (DCU), Slade Wilson Additional Tags: Fluff and Angst, Romance, Past Underage, Past Abuse, Flirting, Weddings, sexually charged lipstick application, Slade doesn’t show up in the present timeline he’s just in the flashbacks, Flashbacks Summary:

Even normal things feel like they’ve been ruined: it’s been years, but sometimes Tara feels like she’s still with Slade. As everybody prepares for Dick and Kory’s wedding, all kinds of miserable feelings begin bubbling up inside of her even as she tries to have fun. To add to the stress, Raven has been acting awfully cute lately…

—

“So what’s the dress situation here?” Tara asks casually. “Donna had bridesmaid dresses picked out by this time. Are you slacking?” To be perfectly fair, Tara had never worn the ruffly monstrosity Donna had given her. She’d been too busy wandering the streets as an amnesiac.

“Tamaranians usually do not have bridesmaids,” Kory says. She’s carefully weaving together circlets of dried flowers. She has a pile of completed ones in the middle of the dining room table. “Everybody participates, not just a few people. I can not pick out matching dresses for the entire Justice League.”

“Just let Gar take care of it.”

“Do you want Gar dressing you?” Kory asks, quirking an eyebrow.

“…Good call. You seem pretty calm about all this. Donna is going crazy.”

“Donna will relax in time. She seems to think I want an Earth wedding. With the DJ.”

“What do you want?”

“On Tamaran, we sing, we dance, and we burn things. That is all I want; it would be nice to have G'larbac feathers and a torba bowl, but I do not need them to be happy. Oh, and Dick is not allowed to speak.”

“…Nice.”

Kory puts down her flowers. “It is not as if I am not participating in the human traditions myself! He is not allowed to look at me and everybody will throw grain. We will do the bouquet and the garter. I respect humans!”

“It’s– I wasn’t saying you didn’t!” Tara isn’t ready to fight. “…Wait, who said you didn’t?”

“I know that it is selfish to want to bring Tamaran to Earth,” Kory says, looking down at the table. “I try to be respectful of human behavior, even when it makes me a little uncomfortable. I do not kiss on the lips to do greeting and I laugh at the sarcasm. But my wedding is special. Earth is my home now, but Tamaran is where I was born. I went to weddings when I was a little girl, and I played at them with my friends. I want to at least have a little of that here.” She keeps her chin high and proud, but there’s a hurt look in her eyes.

Tara isn’t sure what to say. She’s never been any good at comforting people; if anything, she usually makes things worse. Does Kory even need comfort right now? She just nods her head awkwardly.

“That’s fair,” she says. “I don’t think it’s selfish to miss where you grew up. I mean, it’s not like this is someone else’s wedding, so it’s nobody’s business how you do it, right?”

“But the guests will all be human. Dick’s father will be there.”

“He’s rich, he doesn’t care.”

“What does that have to do with…?”

“Shh. He’s rich.”

“I met him, he seemed to think…”

Tara leans forward and puts a finger on Kory’s lips. “Shh. Wealthy.”

Kory seems to accept.

—

“Fast or slow?” Gar asks, resting his chin on his hands and leaning over the table.

“Both,” Donna says.

“Song decade?”

“Well, Kory wants Tamaranian folk music, and Dick wants pop from the ‘70s, so multiple.”

“How many dances are we going to have? Parents’ dances, bridal party dances, anniversary dances?”

“This is complicated enough without all that stuff,” Vic says.

“Aww, embarrassed?” Tara asks. “Scared of the boogie man?”

“That’s lame,” Gar says. “Even I think that’s lame.”

“Kory’s parents can’t make the voyage,” Donna says. “And Dick’s father is single, so the parents’ dance might be awkward. I’m thinking we can arrange it so that Dick and Kory dance first. I’ll hire a choreographer. Then the brides’ and grooms’ parties can go, and then maybe the couple that’s been together the longest, so I’ll check the guest list and–”

Tara coughs. “That’s stupid,” she says, thinking back to her earlier conversation. “Maybe everyone can just dance.”

“She’s one of my best friends, and I want it to be perfect,” Donna says. “She and Dick have helped me so much all these years, so I want to help them back.”

“Still sounds like too much,” Vic says.

“Come on, it sounds fun!” Gar says. He punches Vic in the shoulder with a clanging noise. “We can teach you if you don’t know how.”

“I know how to dance,” Vic says, but his expression says more. He presses his lips tightly together.

“Okay,” Gar says, standing up. “Prove yourself.”

Tara snorts.

“You too,” Donna says, joining Gar. “If we make Vic do it, we all have to.”

Suddenly, it doesn’t seem as funny. While the idea of Vic being a bad dancer is amazing and wonderful, Tara isn’t able to dance either. She’s been coasting. This is karma.

“I’ll pair off with Vic, so it’s you and Gar,” Donna says, switching on the radio on the counter. It’s Lionel Richie.

“Is this okay?” Gar asks quietly as he takes her hand. “I’m not being weird, right?”

Tara rolls her eyes. “We’re not sixteen anymore. I think you’ve got your teen horniness under control.”

“Right.”

Off to the side, Donna and Vic are swaying awkwardly. He looks terrified.

“Okay, do you remember how to do a box step?” Gar asks, nervously resting his hand on Tara’s back.

“Yeah,” she says, even though she’s not sure what a box step is. She carefully mirrors his feet.

“You don’t remember,” Gar says. “Okay, put your right foot back.”

Which foot is the right foot? Tara makes a wild guess. Gar shakes his head sadly.

“Hey, Raven!” Donna calls. Tara looks over Gar’s shoulder and sees Raven shuffling sleepily into the kitchenette with messy hair and her blanket dragging behind her.

Raven looks up groggily. “What are you doing?” she asks.

“Dancing,” Gar says. “Vic’s low self-esteem is getting in the way of his social skills. Tara, you aren’t supposed–”

“Hey!” Vic interjects. “My self-esteem is fine!”

“Join the party!” Donna says. “I think we need to switch up anyway.”

Raven squints at her, takes the kettle off the stove, and pours some hot water into a mug.

“I’m going with Gar next,” Vic says, letting go of Donna and stepping off to the side. “Tara’s gonna be unpartnered.”

“But I’m right–” Donna begins.

“Unpartnered,” Vic repeats, looking meaningfully at Raven. Raven presses her lips together and looks away.

“This is stupid,” she says. “I’m not playing.” Tara feels a twinge of sympathy. She’s not entirely sure what’s going on, but Raven is embarrassed and Vic’s making it worse.

“Donna knows how to lead, right?” Tara asks. “Because I only know how to… The thing that isn’t leading.”

“I’d better know,” Donna says. “If I don’t know how to lead, then Kory’s going to be in trouble, because we’ve been practicing for weeks.”

Weird. Kory always struck Tara as the type who would lead in a dance. Maybe it’s just because she’s tall.

“Wait,” Raven says. “I’ll try.”

“Man, talk about wishy-washy,” Tara says, but Raven, with unprecedented confidence, steps up to her and grabs her hand.

“You’re wishy-washy,” Raven mumbles, resting her hand on Tara’s back (electricity shoots up her spine).

The music changes– something poppy and banal. Raven swallows and moves carefully, and Tara, somehow impressed by her determination, follows as well as she can.

It feels very different from dancing with Gar– when she was younger, Gar excited a kind of nervousness in her that he doesn’t now (even though it wasn’t really a good feeling, it was a tangible one). Being close to Raven is a whole new experience. From the slender fingers that clutch Tara’s hand to the light sway of Raven’s dark hair to the smell of bitter black tea that lingers over her, Tara is oddly entranced.

Step in one direction, reverse, reverse again. It should be so boring. Tara can feel her heart pounding against the inside of her chest, either faster or slower than it should be. She’s sure her hand is sweating.

“We’re going to turn in a circle now,” Raven says stiffly.

“Taking charge, I see. Yay,” Tara says, bracing herself to either step on Raven’s foot or be stepped on.

“You’re doing a good job!” Donna says. Vic shoots her a look just as Tara loses focus and stomps Raven’s slipper, throwing her off balance. They let go of each other, falling backwards a little.

Raven takes a deep breath and turns around. “Sorry!” she says, scurrying away before anybody else can interrupt.

After a few seconds of silence, Gar offers his opinion. “That was kinda weird.”

“Freaky,” Tara says, still catching her breath.

—

“Fashion, fashion,” Gar chants. He has one arm around Raven’s shoulder and one arm around Tara’s.

“It looks like you have a broken leg and we’re carrying you off the battlefield,” Raven says.

“He will have a broken leg if he doesn’t let go,” Tara says.

Gar lets go. “Can I still dress you up?”

“I’m not sure I could forgive you for doing something like that,” Raven says. “You can dress Tara.”

“Hey!”

The consignment store is a small brick building in a strip mall alongside a drugstore and a Vietnamese restaurant. It’s got a worn exterior and a variety of outdated clothes displayed in its streaky front window.

“Chic!” Announces the light-up sign by the glass door. A bell rings as they open it and the sleepy clerk looks up from her counter.

“Welco– oh!” Her droopy eyes widen when she sees Gar. “You’re one of the Titans, right?”

“Guilty as charged,” Gar says. “Any heroes’ discounts available?”

“No,” Raven says before the clerk can answer. “Let’s look at the books.”

“But you don’t even–”

Raven gently steers him away. Tara follows. She gives the clerk a little wave.

Gar stands around inattentively while Raven looks at something thick with a dusty cover.

“Wanna play the romance novel game?” Tara asks. “You look at the ones on display and you count how many man-nipples you can spot.”

“Cowboy,” Gar says, pointing. “Upper-left corner. Two nipples.”

“Kilt guy, bottom middle. One nipple– maybe one and a half.”

“What are you doing?” Raven asks.

“Nothing wrong,” Tara says. “Let’s go to the hats.”

They’re probably going to get lice, honestly. If they just let anybody try on all these cloches, then chances are somebody covered in bugs has tried them on at some point.

“Hey, Gar,” she says.

“Mm?” He looks up from below the brim of a rhinestone-encrusted cowboy hat.

“Do you get lice, or do you get fleas?”

Just as Raven opens her mouth to deliver a scolding, Gar says, “Both.”

“Let’s go somewhere else,” Raven says, gingerly lifting the hat from Gar’s head.

Tara and Gar feel their way through the menswear section (they pet the faux-fur lining of a large and intimidating coat). Gar’s eyes widen in excitement and he pulls out a shabby pink jacket with patches on the elbows. He ducks down and begins covertly putting it on.

“There are dressing rooms,” Raven says.

“I look like a professor,” Gar says, standing. His wrists poke out for a few inches and its bottom is well above his hips.

“Professor of being a bastard,” Tara says.

“It doesn’t fit,” Raven says. “Also, Tara, stop being awful.” Tara shrugs.

“I think it fits.” Gar stretches his arms, pushing his wrists out further. “I’m gonna buy it.”

“I can’t control you,” Raven says.

“You know, that’s a really healthy way to approach your relationships with others,” Gar says thoughtfully as he takes the jacket off. “Time to dress up Tara!” He slaps a hand on her shoulder.

“I never agreed to this! Ask Kory, she knows!” Tara looks pleadingly at Raven, who just blinks at her like a cat.

They make their death march to the women’s section, Gar in high spirits, Tara in poor spirits, and Raven in some sort of spirits. Tara drags behind, carefully examining every pointless thing she spots.

“Let’s get the Teen Bible,” she says. “I really want that plush dragon. Hey, we should…”

A silly, stupid thing. There’s a pair of high-heeled slippers in the discount shoe bin. The puffy feathers on the upper are clumped and ragged, and the color on the insole is worn down.

Tara stops dragging and walks a little faster.

—

A pair of pink mules with puffy faux feathers on the upper. Tara bought them for ten bucks at the costume store (she’d also kind of wanted a Reagan mask, but she had no excuse). She had an awkward, mincing walk when she tried them on. There was no strap around the back, so they were always on the verge of falling off.

They were another part of her grown-up costume. She practiced walking in them in circles around her room for two hours, and hid them carefully when Gar knocked on her door looking for his rubber lizard. She was determined to come off as mature that night.

“What do you think?” she’d asked, pointing to them proudly.

“You look cheap,” Slade said bluntly.

Her stomach plummeted.

“It suits you,” he said.

She laughed.

—

Gar is in the dressing room. He found a blouse, immediately labeled it as “bisexual” and scampered off. Tara is staring at a pair of overalls, twisting the buttons of the left strap again and again. She wants it to come loose, even though Raven will probably make her take responsibility and buy the whole thing.

“What are you doing?” Raven asks from behind her. Tara jumps.

“I’m ruining these overalls,” Tara says, turning to face her. “I’ve almost got the thread worn down, see?”

“No,” Raven says, taking them from her. “You suddenly got quiet and you’re making that face.”

“What face?”

“I know you, Tara.”

—

“I know you better than anyone. Don’t lie to me.” He cradled her face gently as he said it, but all she could think of was how close his hands were to her neck.

—

“No, you don’t,” Tara says, reaching to take the overalls back. “Stop acting like you can read my mind.”

Raven steps back, clutching them to her chest. “You’re upset,” she says.

“I’m not.” Tara’s voice cracks a little. “And even if I am, aren’t I allowed to be?”

Raven opens her mouth as if to say something, but she closes it again. She looks down at the overalls. The button is hanging down awkwardly. “You’re allowed to be upset,” she says. “But I hate it.”

Tara stretches her face into a sarcastic grin. “All better!” she says.

Raven hands back the overalls without making eye contact.

“Come in and have a look!” Gar calls.

#dc #teen titans #raeterra #me writing #tara markov #raven dc

4 notes · View notes

wlwinry · 5 years ago

Text

that summer breeze (the way it’s calling me): ii

eyyyyyyyyy finally updated this

prologue

chapter one

summary:

The legendary thief known as Mech finds a tower. The boy in the tower finds a way out.

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

All things considered, Mech thought today had gone pretty well. She’d just committed the crime of the century by stealing the Crown of the Sun (hello, eternal infamy), successfully ditched and double-crossed two of the most dangerous criminals in the world (no brownie points earned with the criminal underground of Xerxes and Amestris there, she supposed, but it did mean the score was all hers), and escaped the Royal Guard despite a very harrowing chase. Sure, she’d pissed off the Captain of the Royal Guard and had to deal with him shapeshifting into a giant, angry wolf the size of a horse, but one short fall off a cliff and a quick duck into a mysterious cave covered in ivy, and that problem was thankfully solved.

Temporarily solved, at least. Mustang was still after her (since when could the asshole shapeshift, anyway? Especially into one of the best tracking animals in the world? She would be screwed if she stayed in one place too long), and if she got caught it was bye-bye pretty priceless artifact, hello gallows and a public square. Luckily, she’d found that the cave was more like a tunnel, a stretch of dirt and stone going only a few feet before springy grass started popping up and sunlight once again dappled the forest floor.

Prime real estate awaited her, really—a beautiful valley, a waterfall pouring down from high, shining cliffs as a brook wound through the clearing. In the middle of it all, strangely enough, there was a tower. Narrow and tall (at least seventy feet, if not over a hundred, like it had been separated from a palace and dropped down here), made of shimmering stones and covered in crawling moss and ivy. Pretty. Possibly full of treasures. And, most importantly, no stairs, ladders, or anything a giant wolf-slash-human-guard would be able to climb up.

It only took half an hour to climb, with a little boost from her magic and using the arrows of her quiver to nudge some stones out enough to use as footholds, grasping iron-infused arrow shafts and hauling herself up step by step. The one window she’d seen near the top was, thankfully, unlocked, and she’d slipped inside, pausing for a moment on the sill to check her satchel. The crown was still in there, thankfully, shining gold and jet-black stones and diamonds—a pretty, delicate circlet meant only for the Crown Prince of Xerxes. One the current heir would never have received, and never asked for, because it belonged to his brother.

The Lost Prince. Sometimes, she wondered what had happened to him, to that little baby with those bright golden eyes she saw in those tapestries, those mosaics. Dead, probably, said the most practical part of her, but sometimes—well, sometimes she hoped. Sometimes (right now, not that she’d admit it), she felt bad for stealing from his kingdom…and his crown.

Most times, she knew just how stupid hope was, and that sympathy was even worse. Especially for a wanted criminal.

Especially for the legendary Mechanic.

She swung her legs over the sill and closed the shutters behind her with a sigh, closing the satchel with a smirk. “Alone at last,” she crooned—

Then something slammed into the back of her head, and Mech’s world went dark.

***

Ed hadn’t been having the best birthday—or day-before-his-birthday. Sure, things started off well. He’d managed to hide his Cress from his father, the Barn Owl finally flying off before he hauled him back up into the tower, got all his chores done quickly and busied himself with whatever pastimes were approved. Painting, fortunately, was still top of the list, and though he was running out of space, he’d moved the mantle-piece over the fireplace enough that he could paint the empty wall.

Inky skies, shining, floating lights, and a boy watching them with glowing golden hair. His birthday present, one he’d been looking forward to since he was old enough to have memories, let alone dreams. Or—well, he’d hoped it’d be his birthday present. He was turning eighteen, which was the age of adulthood for almost every nation according to the stories he’d found in the books Father gave him. Surely he was mature enough for a short picnic in the forest, where he could see the floating lights better, right?

Not right. Father didn’t like that he’d asked at all, even though it was his birthday and Ed felt really small and cramped (weakstarvedscaredneedlightlightlight) within the walls of his tower. He’d humored it at first, after Ed used his hair to soothe him after the wilds of the outside (he’d messed up the song by going too fast, though, and maybe that was why Father got mad), but then—well, then he’d reminded Ed about his lost leg, about the raiders who’d loved nothing more than to chop off his hair and sell him.

Reminded him that he was young, and immature, and useless. That he had a history of rambling and getting overexcited and forgetting about his surroundings to the point that he got hurt, or that people around him got hurt protecting him. That he was safer in here, and too weak to handle himself out there.

And then he’d left to get ingredients for dinner—and Ed hadn’t been able to do anything but sit on the mantle and stare at the painting he’d hoped would come true. The reality that would be nothing but a dream.

Cress had flown back in from her little nest after Father left, crooning and comforting him with gentle, fluffy wings, preening gently at his scalp. He’d managed a smile as he lowered himself to the ground carefully, setting his foot down first before putting his crutch down—and freezing as the window shutters swung open again and someone walked in. Someone who wasn’t Father. Someone who was tall, with a lithe build and narrow shoulders and thick blonde hair in a high ponytail, with cutting blue eyes and full lips and who was a girl and who definitely wasn’t Father—

Before he could think twice, he cracked his crutch over her head and scooted away with a shriek as the—person. The real, live person—toppled over soundlessly. He leveled the crutch at her with trembling hands as Cress hooted in alarm, flapping her wings wildly. Oh god. Oh my god. It’s a person, it’s a human, it’s gonna cut off my hair it has razor sharp teeth and probably claws and—and it’s a girl, I’ve never seen a girl before but that’s what they look like in illustrations, right? “Oh, gods—oh gods oh gods oh gods, Father’s going to kill me, Cress!”

The owl landed on his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze with her talons, careful as always not to pierce the skin. He leaned against the wall and tried to breath, before hopping closer, unwilling to put down the crutch—and toppled over with a squeal as his hair snagged painfully on something. He sat up quickly, back stinging and eyes watering as he tugged it off of the whorl in the rafters it was knotted around—ow, ow, OW—and hauled himself upright, scooting over to the kitchen. He snatched the first heavy, vaguely weapon-ish item he could find as he wedged his crutch back under his arm, pointing the object (a frying pan) at the girl as he inched closer.

“What am I supposed to do?” he whispered, prodding at her. She didn’t move, evidently well and truly unconscious, and some of that terror faded. He glanced at Cress, who rotated her head and blinked big black eyes at him, before hooting again and opening her beak in a snarling face.

Right. Other people had razor-sharp teeth that they used to poison people and tear out their throats. He should probably figure out something to do with those, first.

Hesitantly, he reached out with the handle of the pan, pulling her lip up—and frowned. Her teeth were flat, normal. Like…mine?

He glanced around before frowning and grabbing the bag the girl had dropped when he hit her, Cress flapping up to the top of the mirror his father loved so much and perching on it. Ed perched on a stool, furrowing his brow before hopping awkwardly over to the mirror and withdrawing the contents. Something pretty, and metal, with what looked like diamonds and jewels and obsidian set in it. He ran a finger admiringly over the rose-gold, before slipping a hand through it and holding it out. It was too big, but, well, he had no idea what it was. “Like this, maybe?”

Cress flipped her head upside down, before squinting at him. He huffed (tough crowd, huh?), before holding it up to one eye and peering through one of the clear gemstones. If anything, it just made the world look weirder, and he sighed before holding it out again. Alright, well…maybe it’s a hat? Hesitantly, he lifted it up and set it on his head, and—

Oh. Oh. It was a hat, then. A very pretty, fancy hat. “Huh,” he said after a moment, tipping it into his hands before looking up at Cress and stuffing the satchel quickly into a pot by the staircase—and grinning. “See? Look at that!” He gestured at the slumped body of the girl, even as he eyed the blue-painted wardrobe carefully. “I can totally take care of myself! As soon as I show Father this, he’ll have to take me to see the floating lights, right?”

Cress made a worried, warbling sound, but Ed ignored it, hope bursting bright in his chest as he began the task of stuffing the first person who’d ever found his tower into the closet.

I’m going to see those lights after all.

#tangled au #edwin #fma #mads writes #ed is a disney princess #read and rb #ed is also a lil dumbass who is emotionally abused so yknow #winry is mech(anic) geddit haha

8 notes · View notes

anamelessdragon · 6 years ago

Note

“This is gonna hurt but you have to be quiet, okay?” Val and Loki? :D

The Edge of Memory, 3.1k - dabbling around in a Valkyrie-pov EMWT missing scene scenario, one of the many times they didn’t make it out of the Grandmaster’s time-loop spell - warnings for injury, implied dubcon, and time-loop temporary suicide

There was something off about the Grandmaster’s new friend.

He’d popped up one day out of nowhere, which wasn’t in itself very special; everyone on Sakaar came out of nowhere at some point in time. But somehow he’d avoided the scrappers and butchers of the trash heaps - and what was more, snuck all the way in through the palace right into an audience with the Grandmaster, seeking his companionship.

The stories all tended to branch out a bit at that point. Some said that no exchange of words had taken place, that the Grandmaster had just suddenly become magically enamored, like he’d found his soulmate. Others gleefully described the begging that took place on the part of the stranger, vulgar sex acts and all.

Whatever it had been, it had been enough. The Grandmaster had been pleased with the newcomer’s offering, and had taken him under his wing in a way he had not done anyone in decades.

Scrapper 142 had only seen the stranger once so far, after hearing the stories. He was tall, aristocratic, all sinewy limbs. Skin like porcelain, hair long enough that she’d be able to get a good handle on it. He resisted and melted in turns under the Grandmaster’s attentions.

Not bad; not amazing, but she certainly would consider him for a quick fuck or three. What the Grandmaster saw in him that was so appealing, though, she couldn’t quite guess.

But then he’d looked at her, and something had tingled in the back of her head - a pulse, a pull, drawing its way all the way down through her chest and between her legs with such startling intensity that she’d become furious enough that she’d instantly turned tail to go find some drinks and blot out her thoughts for the next few hours.

She saw him again not two days later. The smart thing to do would have been to just avoid the Grandmaster’s palace altogether, but Hulk was there, about the only friend she had on this sorry-ass planet, and she might have been trying to drink and forget herself until she died but she couldn’t quite bring herself to leave him. He wouldn’t have understood.

And besides, the strongest alcohol on all of Sakaar was sold there.

The Grandmaster was having a get-together in the establishment she usually frequented, speaking with a group of people who were laughing uproarously at something he’d just said. The bar was full of waiting customers, clustered together five patrons deep around the entirety of the counter. There was a break in the line, a bit off to the side, where someone could potentially squirm their way in without having to wait behind dozens of orders.

The only problem was, said gap was right around the Grandmaster’s new favored. He was sat at the bar, shoulders relaxed, head dipped downwards. He nursed a drink, but did not look or speak to anyone.

Scrapper 142 frowned. She observed the people standing closest to the man, the twitchiness to their postures as they attempted to keep their distance.

For a moment she considered just turning tail and finding a drink somewhere else, then grew angry enough at that thought that she rolled her eyes at herself and pushed forward to the counter.

She put the credits on the bar with a generous tip, and the bartender was quick to venture over and take her order before the dozens of other people clamoring for his attention. Then, without thinking, she asked, “And another of whatever he’s having.”

She felt a sudden rise in tension in the body beside her. She pretended not to notice, glancing sideways and letting her eyes skim cooly over the Grandmaster’s favored - the tight leather pants, and the low-cut and nearly sheer top that hugged close to every line of muscle. A golden circlet rested about the base of his throat, clamped snug against the flesh of his neck. He hadn’t been wearing it the last time she’d seen him.

When she met his eyes there was a wary tinge to them. Of course, being the Grandmaster’s favored, he would have had to watch his back in all manner of situations. She wondered if that had anything to do with the reason no one else was sitting close to him.

He was pretty enough, though, and he didn’t have the look of a wilting flower. Her interest was piqued, the itch inside her growing stronger.

She offered him a small flirt of a smile. “Have you got a name?”

For a moment he went absolutely still. Then his eyes slid shut and he shook his head, turning away from her. A muscle jumped in his cheek. “It does not matter, because I am not available.”

She felt a sting, and then grew annoyed with herself. Thankfully, their drinks arrived, and she downed the first in several deep swallows before slowing her pace for the second one. “Hate to break it to you,” she said, “but the Gandmaster isn’t particularly one for exclusivity. Has he told you about his orgies yet?”

The favored went pale, long fingers clenching against the glass in his hand. “I have attended three.”

She was surprised at his answer. He must have been a sturdy partner if he was able to put up with both the Grandmaster and his parties and still come out looking like he did. She’d seen some of the Grandmaster’s favorites get wrung dry over the years - not many could keep up with the Elder’s stamina.

“So? Much easier to deal with one person than twelve. And I promise I have at least double the skill and experience of most of those horny bastards.”

He smiled, but his eyes were full of bitterness. He downed the drink she’d given him before he turned to her, hissing through his teeth. “I’d rather get fucked by a Fire Giant.” He set the glass down hard and stood, somewhat unsteadily. She wondered how much he’d had before she’d shown up. “Thank you for the drink.”

She watched him wander back towards the Grandmaster, and thoughtlessly take another glass handed to him before easily sliding down beside the man so they were sitting hip to hip. He mouthed at the Grandmaster’s neck while the conversation continued around them, until he drew enough attention that he was pressed down onto his back on the couch and straddled.

She finished off her second drink and ordered the rest to go.

———-

Less than 48 hours later, she saved his life.

She was fairly certain that was what happened, anyway. She’d found the floor that he stayed on when he wasn’t in the Grandmaster’s company, and did walk throughs a few times a day on the off chance that she would see him.

She had no idea why. But his eyes were haunting her dreams, driving her to frustrating restlessness. The drink only kept her away for so long.

Don’t try to give yourself more reasons to like him, she told herself. You know what happens to the more popular of those that the Grandmaster fancies. They all wear out eventually.

She passed a room with guards stationed outside, and heard a commotion. Panicked and angry shouts echoed from behind the door.

“What’s going on in there?” she asked.

“The Grandmaster’s favored is being prepped for their next interaction.”

A muted howl reached her ears. She widened her stance, her heart suddenly ticking up a beat. “Really? Then why does he sound like he’s being attacked?”

They didn’t answer, descending into awkward silence. She rolled her eyes and punched out the both of them before entering the code to enter the door.

Topaz was inside, along with half a dozen of her best guards. One of them had a distinctly body-sized object slung over his shoulder, covered with a layer of smooth black material. It was writhing with frantic intensity.

Topaz immediately stared at Scrapper 142 in distaste, and several of the guards leveled their weapons a moment later.

She stayed where she was, confident she could avoid their shots if need be. “What’s happening here?”

Topaz’s expression spasmed. “The Grandmaster is in the mood for a session of roleplay.”

“Roleplay,” she repeated. “So you’re orchestrating a kidnapping scenario. Good to know.” She stepped forward, adopting a casual air. “If you want to make it even more realistic, a scrapper from the trash heaps would be a better villain than the Grandmaster’s own guards.”

“It’s none of your business,” Topaz sneered.

“You’re right,” Scrapper 142 answered. “Just as it’s none of my business that you’ve caught him using the material that some of the butcher scrappers use that completely suffocates most species within minutes.” She raised her eyebrows, trying to present a cool front even though she felt rocked by the urge for violence brimming inside of her. “Look, I’ll tell the Grandmaster that you did most of the work. And I’ll leave out any mention of you trying to spoil his fun.”

Topaz fumed, but she gestured to a guard who flung the wrapped body to the ground. The struggles were already beginning to weaken, the noises inside the sealed material growing faint. Scrapper 142 withdrew a knife and carefully slit it open at his chest, enough to peel off the bits pressing snug to his face. Topaz and her guards filtered out as the Grandmaster’s favored gasped as he was again exposed to air.

“Steady,” she said as he coughed.

He flinched at her voice and then blinked rapidly as he recovered. “Oh,” he panted, sounding bitterly resigned. “Of course it’s you.”

Had she been that obvious? “So you’ll thank me for a drink but not for rescuing you from being suffocated to death.”

He shrugged, looking bored. “It’s not the worst way people have tried to kill me.” He turned his gaze away from her. “Only…please do not tell the Grandmaster.”

She frowned. “She might try again.”

“Undoubtedly,” he said, still sounding completely unbothered. “I have not been exactly kind to her this…these last few days.”

She wondered at the slip in wording, and set her knife to more of the material binding him, cutting him the rest of the way loose. He rose to his feet with a grimace, rubbing at his throat where the circlet sat. She noted a shake to his hands, before he pulled them down and turned away.

He moved to a bar at the side of the room, and poured a generous drink. “I suspect you’ll be wanting a display of gratitude,” he said, bringing her the glass. “We’ll have to make it quick. The Grandmaster will expect me soon.”

She felt a thrill low in her belly at the same time she backed up a step. She clenched her fist. “What makes you think I have any interest now?”

He paused, his eyes narrowing as anger seeped into the line of his jaw. “Then leave,” he ordered, shoving the glass into her hand. “I do not have time to endure your meddling.”

Loud footsteps sounded and then the guards she’d knocked out minutes ago rushed in, their blasters raised and directed at her. “Prince Loki-”

There was a whipping noise, and suddenly both of the guards were making gurgling noises, their weapons dropped in favor of raising their hands to the knives stuck in their necks. Scrapper 142 watched them fall and go still. The Grandmaster’s favored was standing with his hand still outstretched, his gaze unblinkingly directed at the fallen guards and the blood pooling around them.

Then the violence filtered from his eyes, and he slumped his shoulders. “Damn.”

She kept watch, still not sure what to make of him. “So you’re a prince?”

He whirled on her, a new knife in his hand. “Get. Out!”

She grabbed his wrist and twisted, kicking his leg out and punching the side of his face. Instead of fighting back he let the blows bring him to the ground.

“Every time,” he growled, chest heaving as he hung from her grip. “You see me, and you won’t leave me alone. You ruin everything.”

“I’ve only met you twice,” she pointed out, but something was pushing at the back of her thoughts.

He began to laugh. She let him go.

“Fuck me or don’t,” he said, staring at the knife still clutched in his hand, eyes brimming with tears. “Just take what you want and go.”

She didn’t like the way he was staring at the blade, but she couldn’t come up with an excuse to stay with him.

She shouldn’t have cared. She couldn’t care.

“Lo-honey, are you in here? I…I thought we had an appointment?”

The Grandmaster.

The prince, Loki, went rigid. Where before he had interacted with the Grandmaster with seductive drunken ease, now he looked absolutely terrified.

The Grandmaster stepped into the room, frowning as he noticed the dead guards. “Hey, hey, who’s being wasteful of the resources?”

“It’s a gift,” Loki blurted, rising to his feet. “She was…assisting me with the arrangement of a surprise for you. I am sorry it took so long. We were trying to make it as authentic as possible.”

Scrapper 142 picked up on his meaning. “He asked me to present him to you as a war prize,” she said, still feeling a bit like she was on the wrong foot. But she knew better than to upset the Grandmaster.

The Grandmaster considered their words for a moment, before his face brightened. “That’s, hmmmm - you’re right, what a wonderful idea. Just yummy.” He approached Loki, drawing him in for a deep kiss. “My stardust, you know just how to treat me. I’m sorry I ruined all your hard work. Maybe - another day. Stretch that brain of yours, and I’m sure you can come up with something just as good for tonight.”

“Of course, Grandmaster.”

Scrapper 142 was the recipient of a cheery wave as the Grandmaster directed his favored out of the room. “I’ll send someone to clean this up.”

Prince Loki didn’t even give her a second glance. She didn’t know why it made her chest ache.

———-

She saw him a few times in the next week, but she didn’t interact. The first time he was surrounded by the Grandmaster and his friends, his smile large and easy as he conversed in the midst of a crowd. Then she found him drinking, though this time when he saw her watching him he made a quick retreat.

That was when the whispers started among the people in the palace. The tension around him began to rise. He’d been picking off some of the Grandmaster’s followers, growing more violent and impatient by the day.

Then one morning, Topaz was found dead.

The Grandmaster was livid, and beside himself. The melt stick was used in dozens of questionings, until entire floors of the palace were pervaded with the scents of burnt flesh and viscera. Scrapper 142 watched her back, but she was never given a summons, and never considered a suspect in the woman’s death.

She went to Prince Loki’s quarters, to see how he was doing in the midst of all this violence. She found him sitting next to a vanity and staring into the mirror above it, his expression dull. He twitched when she entered, but didn’t look her way.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he said, voice flat. “They’ll be coming for me soon.”

“You’re the one who killed the Grandmaster’s second,” she realized.

“She wanted revenge on you,” he said, voice now entirely too light. “She was getting closer to acting on it. So, I carved out her heart.”

“She’s wanted revenge on me for years,” Scrapper 142 said. “It was nothing new.”

He still wasn’t looking at her. “I couldn’t risk her success.”

“Why not?” She moved closer, trying to draw his gaze. “You’re not telling me something.”

He dipped his head, rubbing absently at the jewelry around his neck. “It doesn’t matter. Everything will start again soon.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Whatever he might have said in reply was lost as the walls around them blasted inward with an ear-shattering boom. She fell forward onto her chest. Rubble pounded at her back and she heard blaster fire, and then a body was crouched over her.

“Get up,” Loki hissed, tugging at her wrist. “The collar prevents me from accessing my magic. You need to run.”

She pulled free and slammed her fists together, activating her remote control for the Warsong. She shook him off and sent him behind to the ground behind her, raising her fists. “I don’t need to do anything.”

The fire from her ship ripped through the Grandmaster’s palace walls - and this was insane, reckless, what the hell was wrong with her? Their attackers fell one by one, and she was about to grab Loki and pull him towards the ship when the floor beneath them groaned and then fell away.

They collapsed into another room - empty, but she could hear the footsteps of gathering guards.

“No,” Loki gasped, and when she turned to him she felt a stab of blinding fear when she noticed the rebar spearing through his side, the blood soaking into his flimsy top. “Run. Leave. The ship-”

“We can get out of this,” she said.

He laughed and grimaced, eyes watery. “I told you. You always…ruin…”

“Shut up,” she hissed, then tried to school her voice into something gentler. “This is going to hurt. Try to keep quiet - we don’t want to draw attention.“

He seized and let out a strained noise as she lifted him and hefted an arm over her shoulder. She checked the hallway outside of the room before running with him to the elevator. She let him go as she requested the ground floor, and when she turned back to him he was yanking the bar violently from his side with a scream.

“What are you doing?!”

“I said it does not matter,” he said through his teeth. He leaned against the glass and slid to the floor, his pale hand fluttering over the wound. “Just finish it. They are only after me. If you kill me, you can collect the reward for my death. Enough credits…for months of supplies.”

“You’re completely mad,” she said, at a loss for other words.

He laughed again. “I am just…trying to keep things different. I’ll endeavor to not draw your attention next time.”

She was moments away from slapping him to see if that righted his thoughts. “Next time?”

The elevator abruptly jerked to a stop, the power cutting off completely. “Shit,” she said, rushing to the control panel to try to override it. She felt a tug at her side and reacted an instant too late.

Loki had grabbed one of her knives. His eyes had gone dull again, his expression weary. “I envy you, that you will not remember,” he breathed. “I always do.”

He plunged the blade into his own heart.

#until the last grave-verse #dubcon cw #death cw #blood cw #nameless fic #loki whump #loki fic #nameless tumblr only

81 notes · View notes