#against someone who isn't them :3c

[estarion]

astarion is left scratching his head over those very questions.  he’s feeling the repercussions now, because he squandered time when he should have been cultivating closer ties with other members of camp.  he’ll need their understanding.  their ... aid.  he’s going to have to speak with gale in the morning, pretend they’re best mates, look stupid as fuck after all the shit and side-eye he’s thrown with regards to gale’s own situation with a woman screwing him over.  not even a woman!  a goddess.  what is astarion’s excuse? getting all twisted up with a girl, a mortal, a human.  ultimately, he underestimated her. believed they were mutually using each other to kill time. but it extended beyond that for him when he noticed her giggling more than growling, when she sought him for tasks she could've easily accomplished alone or with someone more schooled, when mere thought of her seemed to ease his night terrors. after this, she’ll probably transform into one herself.

what’s truly astounding is how easily she could have had him.  she still can.  there’s the box.  duskwood is sturdy stuff and his skull would yield.  a few focused blows is all it’d take.  pretty little concussion, drag him through the woods to meet the wizard, finish her deal.  the others wouldn’t have to know.  he might yelp, but she’d silence him quickly.  akina’s been quietly doing exactly as she pleases all this time, hasn’t she.   poking around his sanctuary, leaving dainty prints on things, knowing he isn’t going to stop her.   “... why that one?”   he shakes his head, about to reject the item in her hands.  least he can do is prove he isn’t entirely wrapped around her little finger.  not the finger, though, it’s her smile that brings matters to a close.  astarion rolls his eyes and thrusts out an impatient palm, taking the coat.  he folds it over his shoulder.  begins unfastening the tearstained one.

a breathy chuckle kicks from his chest at something that sounds uncannily like future plans again.  sort of like pity, too, which he doesn’t need.   “don't you worry about me.  i'll find my way.  i always do.”   a smirk, a quick glimpse up at her, and then away.  he flings the first doublet where his gaze fell.  takes a moment to smooth out the sleeves of his white chemise before reassessing the thing akina wants to see him in, slanting his lips at it.  shoves an arm in.  then the other.   “are you going to keep searching for a way?  to get your man back.”   the word tastes like bile.  he shrugs the coat onto his shoulders, huff flying past pursed lips and fluttering the ever-wayward curl on his forehead.   “what’s it even like?  being in love.”   the look on his face as he’s doing up the coat and avoiding eye contact says that he imagines it’s like being ill and wanting to purge his guts.

 dried tears starting to feel irritating under her reddened eyes , the left one already starting to sting despite akina openly ignoring it . contrasted gaze fixed upon his movements — for a moment imagining all the things he'd do to her if he wasn't . . . astarion . if he wasn't astarion who somehow managed to build himself a little house of lofty dreams in his mind , called it akina , astarion who had somehow fallen into her web when she's been nothing but off-putting and aggressive with him . never thought that'd catch his attention , actually she had thought about ending her clever plan at some point because he was way too far away from her reach ; an elf , high elf , who twitched his nose in disgust when she and karlach shared glasses and spoons . that's what friends do but astarion didn't even have friends – akina wasn't expecting him to bend to her will so quickly because she's simply out of his league . there are the prettiest elf maidens out there writhing for his attention and here he is , awkwardly sitting her down in his fancy , secretive tent to hand her a music box .

 she can already feel the longing that'll squeeze her chest for this exact moment when it ends , knows how she'll miss it and astarion . the scent of something like freshly picked orange , the soft cushion under her and the tune that plays in the music box . akina holds it like it's her treasure , strokes the lid like it's astarion's flesh , & smiles like she's on the altar . house of lofty dreams , promises of impossibilities . her brows flick up slightly in a tender surprised with some beats of the gentle music , a few minutes ago she was actually thinking that he'll bash it against her head and go out and tell gale she did it herself . because she's angry and mad , not even sure how many people would refuse to believe him if he did . is this elven music ? the design seems like it , when it stops she wants to play it again . perhaps that wouldn't be the wisest thing to do when he sits there and looks at her like a kicked puppy – did she kick him ? heavens , she didn't . ❛ . . . i don't have anything valuable to loot or give to a wizard . ❜  she tries to joke her way out of this . this sadness suits astarion , his heart breaking in his chest and yet , he's as gentle as ever .

 ❛ i probably have twenty something years to live , then i’ll be gone . my soul is like a seed under soil , it's not going to grow much . ❜  she laughs a little . you shouldn't count on me that much . with a small smile , she closes the lid , and places it back on the pillow . akina mori , the kozakuran human with twenty something years left for her , shouldn't take this gift . perhaps let someone else have it , someone who will match his years and wisdom , someone who knows love is far more greater than all these mind games and even death itself . so she leaves the box on the pillow and gets on her feet to look around , hands behind herself , going about the things in his tent like she didn't reveal what she wanted to do to him . ❛ i guess that means we had change of plans . . . hah . no horses , no carriages , no coffins . maybe we can find something for your sunlight problem . there are hundreds of spells and runes out there – ❜  she stops to kneel down against his long coat and take it to her lap to examine . it's beautiful , vibrant . ❛ i’m sure i can find something . there are other ways of going around the nature than some parasite in your brain . . . hey . can you wear this for me ? ❜  the last part comes out so suddenly , she holds out the coat with both hands , toward him , with a big grin .

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

“Also because I want [Nino] to be more narratively important but that is a rant for another day.” And will that day be someday soon? Wink wink nudge nudge :3c

I am happy to give Nino some love, but before we do, we need to talk about how badly canon has failed him. The reason we need to have that talk is that the love I'm going to give is far more headcanon-y than I usually go in these analysis posts. For most characters, I can give a strong canon-based argument for a core characterization. For Nino? Well, I am pulling this stuff from canon, but I wouldn't exactly label it a "strong" argument. There are even elements of my take on Nino that you could label "grasping at straws".

And I'm happy to own that! I delight in giving Nino all the love he deserves even if it doesn't perfectly match canon, but that means that my Nino is less me leaning into the best parts of canon and more me shifting through canon, grabbing a few shinny bits, and weaving them into something that you may not agree with because my vision for Nino is to elevate him to match Alya in terms of narrative importance because I want the team show season two promised me even if I have to make it myself!

And if you don't want that? Then that's fine! I'm not arguing that everyone should adopt this take. My version of Nino is about as close to an OC as I get when writing fanfic. So let's get into it and talk about why I had to do that. (Also note that I have nothing against OCs. It's just that, when it comes to my own writing, I try to reserve them for original fiction or for very minor roles that no canon character could fill. Totally a matter of personal preference and not some sort of judgement.)

The Many Ways that Canon has Done Nino Dirty

If we look at what is arguably the main group of friends - Alya, Marinette, Adrien, and Nino - then we can see a clear base concept for the first three. Alya is the plucky reporter. Marinette is the headstrong leader. Adrien is the sweet goofball. Nino is... Alya's boyfriend? Adrien's best friend? Chris' older brother?

This is the problem that I was referring to above. Alya, Adrien, and Marinette have clear roles that you could pick out by just watching Origins. Nino doesn't. He doesn't even speak in part one and part two gives him all of six lines. These lines establish him as a nice guy since they're all about him being kind to Adrien, but that's about it. Here's one of them as an example:

Miss Bustier: Agreste, Adrien? Nino: (quietly to Adrien) You say "present". Adrien: (jumps up with his hand raised) Uh, present!

This is a cute moment for sure, but when I look at it, I can't tell you who Nino is supposed to be other than a nice guy, which isn't much to go on. Nice guys can fit a lot of roles.

This isn't necessarily a flaw. Some characters have roles that are immediately obvious and some characters don't. This second class of character usually just has a more complex role that will be discovered and defined based on their actions as the story goes on. However, because Miraculous' writing is all over the place, Nino gets screwed. Instead of his actions defining his nebulous role, his actions make his role impossible to pin down! Here are a few examples:

Nino the Protector:

Season two was big on the idea that miraculous had to be suited to their holders. That's why Chloe kept getting the bee as we saw in Malediktator:

Marinette: I must choose someone who's not impressed by people in power. Who can help me trap Malediktator. Huh?! Of course! That's it. (reaches for the Miraculous of the Bee)

And why did Nino get the turtle in Anansi?

Marinette: I need a protective Miraculous. (gasps, and points at the Turtle Miraculous Master Fu is wearing) That's the one I need, Master! (Master Fu gasps) Uh, if it's okay with you. Master Fu: (smiles at Wayzz, who nods to him) Do you have someone in mind, Marinette?  Marinette: Actually, I think I found just the right person.

Okay, cool, we finally have a strong defining trait for Nino! He's a protector! Or, at least, he was here. Other episodes go directly against this role such as this nonsense from Illusion:

Nino: What's up is Ladybug and Cat Noir don't have us to help them anymore. Alya: (nervously) Um, um— uh— what do you mean, "us"? Nino: Well, us, you Rena Rouge, me Carapace! (Alya kicks his leg underneath the table) Ouch! What's the big deal? We can tell Marinette and Adrien we used to be superheroes.

This first issue with this episode is that we see Nino out his and Alya's secret identities without her permission even though the resistance did NOT require an identity reveal to be a thing. In other words, our supposed protector is taking a big risk for no reason. Then he goes and does this:

Nino: Hence my plan. We're gonna film an akumatization. Alya: And how are you, Comrade Ketchup, gonna be in the know when and where this akumatization takes place? Nino: Easy, Comrade Beurre Maître d'Hôtel. I'm gonna make it happen.

Which leads to the four friends antagonizing Gabriel even though Nino knows how complex Adrien and Gabriel's relationship is. A move that makes no sense for a supposed protector because Gabriel was far from their only option. Nino could have picked anyone, but he went with the riskiest candidate possible, exposing his best friend to a potentially massive backlash.

Nino also doesn't even try to contact Ladybug and Chat Noir prior to this insane plan, thereby putting the whole city at unnecessary risk! What kind of protector purposely causes an akuma without also coming up with mitigation strategies to minimize the resulting damage?

Everything Nino does in this episode should disqualify him from ever holding the turtle again or, at the very least, he should have to redeem himself before holding the turtle again. This is especially true since he never apologizes for anything he did in Illusion and this is just one example of the issue. It's actually kind of hard to find moments where Nino acts as a protector even though he holds the miraculous of Protection. So is he supposed to be a protector? Who knows!

Nino, The Empath:

That first example was long, so we'll pick two quicker ones to flesh this out. The first one is how Nino and Adrien's relationship is defined. In Origins and the New York Special Nino is written as a kind and sensitive guy who is acting as Adrien's guide to dating and other elements of the real world:

Nino: Yup. I love Adrien, but he's like a baby chick that's just started cracking out of his egg. He has a hard time understanding the signals people send him. Alya: What signals? Marinette isn't exactly sending them clearly. I mean, look! What is she doing with her arms? Telling him what to do in case of an emergency landing or something? Nino:(sighs) If only this trip could help Adrien finally come out of his shell.

But then you have episodes like Animan where Adrien is Nino's guide to dating:

Nino: Shhh! You know I'm no good with the ladies, especially this one all of a sudden. I mean, dude, do I go up to her and crack her a joke? Shoot her a compliment? Invite her to the zoo? Play it serious? Adrien: Nino, you're way over-thinking this. "Invite her to the zoo", you serious? Nino: Well, they have this really cool new exhibit there. Adrien: Listen, just be yourself, man.

And episodes like Illusion (discussed above) and Psycomedian (see below) where Adrien is deeply uncomfortable and Nino doesn't notice:

Nino: See, dude? I told you! Hilarious, right? Adrien: Uh... (laughs nervously) Right! Really funny, Nino. Nino: I gotta show you his other sketches. It's insane that you don't know Harry Clown! (laughs)

Which might work if these episodes were about Nino learning a lesson, but they're not. Nino learns nothing, so is he generally in tune with others or is he kind of oblivious to other peoples' feelings? And why did Nino ever think that Adrien was a good source of romantic advice if he also thinks that Adrien is "a baby chick"? Pick a lane people!

Nino's Hobbies

Our final source of confusion is trying to define what Nino even enjoys doing. Horrificator and Queen Banana have him playing around as an amature film maker, but we also see him acting as an amature DJ with the wiki even claiming that he's the head of the school's radio station. So which of these things is his passion? Movies or music?

To be clear, I think it's fine to have multiple passions, but this is a story. You want to keep your characters' non-story-relevant hobbies kind of simple, especially when the character in question is a relatively minor side character who rarely gets much screen time. It's why Alix is only really into roller skating and why Nathaniel is only really into art. You don't want them to be more complex than that.

Even the main characters get this "keep it simple" treatment with Marinette only really being into fashion and Alya only really being into her blog. The girls don't need two demanding passions that would eat up all of their free time, but that's what Nino gets! Film and music are both incredibly demanding passions and it's hard to balance a character who is into both who is also an active superhero. That's a lot for one dude to do well!

I've actually seen fics that cast Nino as wanting to be a director and fics that make him want to be a professional DJ because canon really isn't clear about this pretty basic aspect of his character, but you do need to pick a lane when writing anything that gives Nino a career and so people seem to pick a passion at random.

My Version of Nino

By now, we're hopefully in agreement that canon has made a mess of Nino's character to the point where it's near impossible to say "this is who Nino is supposed to be." However, if you want to write Nino, then you do kind of have to pick a characterization to go with, so here's what I've come up with. Feel free to embrace it or reject it, but know that you will pry my version of Nino out of my cold dead hands because I utterly adore him.

Since Nino is Carapace, I base everything about him around the concept of "protect and defend" because he needs to feel like he deserves his heroic alter ego. I do not want to make canon's mistake of giving him a miraculous that massively contradicts his writing. Especially when that writing makes him feel interchangeable with other characters. At this point, no one from canon screams "turtle miraculous" unless you want to give it to Adrien since he's Ladybug's defender.

I also designed Nino around Alya and Adrien as those will arguably be his most important relationships. He should feel like a perfect fit for boyfriend and best friend respectively. I also took Marinette into consideration because he's going to be part of her team/friend group, so he should work with her, too.

What all that means is that I basically said "okay, this is where Nino is supposed to fit in the story and this is the dumpster fire that canon gave us, how do I pull pieces from the fire and paste them together to make a character that fits who Nino should have been?"

To really get into my version of Nino, I'd almost have to give you a fic to read, but that's way too much for a Tumblr post, so let's keep this high-level and just look at some of my notes on Nino from my lore Bible:

Nino is a major audiophile. He loves listening to music and watching movies/TV shows to study how they play with sound. He wants to be an audio engineer when he's older, but he also has a general passion for all things music and film. He’ll listen to any genre and watch almost any movie or show. He loves to take charge of the music at events so that the music really fits the crowd (and so it sounds good). It isn’t unheard of for him to go see an unknown band or an odd indie film on his own. This will become a major bonding point for Nino and Adrien because of the influence of Adrien's mother. Nino has seen all of Emilie's films and loves them. It will also bond him and Alya as his knowledge of film making will allow him to help her learn the art of filming now that she's doing complex things like actions shots and editing together multiple recordings.

Nino is generally pretty laid back and likes to hear people out. His reaction to confrontation is to try to calm everyone down so that they can get to the heart of the issue. He wants everyone to get along, but he's also not going to let someone take the blame when they shouldn't. Nino protects the innocent.

Nino is incredibly protective of the people he loves. If someone he cares about is in danger, his peaceful nature goes straight out the window. He’s the kind of person who would happily take a bullet for his friends and family. This will lead to him following Alya around once the hero stuff starts because he wants to keep her safe. Never let Alya go out alone if Nino is around or even just aware that a fight is happening. Alya thinks "scoop" and Nino thinks "my Alya sense is tingling." He's NOT there to stop her from doing what she loves, he's just there to be her spotter who lets her focus on filming while he watches for danger, though that will initially be a struggle for him. Treat this as his audition/training for Carapace where he learns to balance protective instincts with getting the job done so that he's ready to perfectly take on his miraculous.

When Nino’s folks split up, his mother insisted that the kids should go to therapy to help process things. They had individual and family counseling. Nino was actually pretty cool with the divorce as he’d seen it coming, but his brother was really affected by it, so Nino spent his time working on ways to help Chris (and being told that he was a brother, not a parent, but he still wanted to help). He learned a lot from going through it and it’s why he’s so good at dealing with emotional issues. He’s also good at not taking those burdens on himself. He wants to help, but knows that it's your battle. Marinette often looks to Nino for guidance on emotional issues because she knows that she's terrible at navigating them. She has given him full permission to stop her when she's too focused on solutions over support. All of the friends will help Adrien figure out social situations, but Nino will be the main guide as he's the one with the strongest skills in that area. Plus Adrien makes Nino's protective big brother instincts go crazy.

Nino’s a bit of a loner by choice. He has "weird" hobbies that easily lend themselves to being done alone and he doesn't have any interest in "forcing" his hobbies on someone who doesn't actually enjoy them, so he spends a lot of time by himself and rarely invites others to share in his interests. He only does that when he thinks that they'll actually enjoy what he's sharing. He doesn’t mind this, but he’s also a very welcoming individual who doesn’t like to see people left out, so he’ll come out of his shell when he sees someone who needs a friend. This usually leads to him making friends who soon become closer with others, but still view him as a casual friend. He’s cool with that. He's just happy that they found their people. Adrien will be the first friend who really stays Nino’s due to an understanding of Nino’s “weird” hobbies. After all, Adrien’s the son of an actress. He’s used to weird indie films and discussions of cinematography. I'd even say that he revels in it and realizes that he has missed it desperately since his mom got too sick to do that kind of thing. Basically, Nino will fill a spot in Adrien's heart that Adrien didn't even know was empty. Adrien can listen to Nino talk about cinematography for hours and never get bored. Before Adrien, no one knew that Nino was this talkative!

If anyone wants more insights into this topic, feel free to send an ask, but I think we'll call this post done now because it's SUPER long.

[twsted-kinks]

Mmmm I like to think all of them have a exhibition kink but that's just me projecting shsjjsjs. If I'm actually thinking about what the characters are actually into I can think of a lot of characters and examples. Also this got away from me... hope your enjoy still!

>minors and ageless dni<

Public Sex/Exhibition Scenarios

2nd person so "you" is used, gender neutral, each headcanon is seperate

Content Warning: public sex, dubcon, creampie, unwanted creampie, dirty talk, degradation/humiliation, getting caught, sharing partner after getting caught, no protection cause I'm a cum slut (tho y'all please have safe sex), stealthing, gangbang, some coercion, prostitution, erotic asphyxiation via cock, face fucking, recording sex (con and non), sex toys, bdsm stuff, lots of friends with benefits, lots of facials, Ace whining about wanting sex and being problematic about it, Leona being a brutal top with no care about your pleasure and becoming your problematic sugar daddy, Floyd and Jade being themselves and intimidating others to not get in trouble, Rook is Rook, heights with Lilia

Characters: Ace, Cater, Leona, Floyd & Jade, Epel, Rook, Lilia (With cameos from other characters too)

Ace

(With some first year cameos too)

Ace is a horny brat who wants to get his dick wet, and you happen to have a hole that wraps around his dick just right. How can you blame him for turning a study session in the library for something more steamy, hiding away in the hedge maze in Heartslabyul, or just finding an empty bathroom stall? (Especially the last one because Ace is far from quiet, so you often hear the sound of someone jerking off from the stall next door. You're also pretty sure some people have peaked over the wall of the stall too, maybe even holding their phone to record? ;3c) You could say no to Ace whenever he takes your hand and places it on his clothed bulge, but the tint in his cheeks and the cute whine he gives you always has you giving in. You always end up with your front pushed up against a wall or table with Ace rutting into you from behind.

You keep reminding him to keep condoms handy for your little encounters, but he always tells you he forgot. You'll still help him right? You won't leave him with blue balls right? Don't worry, he'll totally pull out. Yeah, he never pulls out. You can tell when he's about to cum and tell him to pull out, but he just grabs your hips and thrusts harder, saying shit like "but you're too tight I can't pull out!" and "you feel so good I can't stop!" There's even been a time you said "don't cum in me," but Ace pretended he didn't hear the first word. "Cum in you? Fuck yeah!" Whenever you provide condoms, somehow the condoms tear or break. One time Ace claimed the condom must have fallen off during sex when you know he took it off just to creampie you.

Ace isn't the most selfless lover and mostly just slams his hips into yours until he cums, but he's always willing to finger you or give you head if you don't cum which also just gets him hard again and begging to use your hole just one more time. He also loves fucking your thighs, drenching your underwear in his cum and having you go on with the rest of your day.

Eventually you find out Ace has been recording a lot of your encounters without telling you. He swears he's doesn't show them to anyone but then admits he has to show them to his upperclassmen for them to believe he actually gets laid. He begs you to keep letting he record because he's been doing it anyway and nothing's gone wrong. You give in and let him record. What you don't know is that one of the upper classmen he sends the videos too is Cater who uploads them to a porn site online.

Deuce had no idea his two best friends were fucking like rabbits for months until Ace got horny at an impromptu sleepover. All three of you were in the Ramshackle Dorm's main room. Deuce was passed out right next to you, his sleeping face less than a foot away from yours while Ace in on top of you, balls slapping your chin as he fucks your face fast and hard. Of course Deuce wakes up because Ace can't keep quiet, and the poor man freaks out. With a little convincing from Ace, Deuce woke up the next morning no longer a virgin.

These... encounters didn't exactly remain secret from the rest of your friend group. One day you were sucking the cocks of your two lovable idiots when some of your first year friends decided to visit. Jack, Epel, and Sebek open the door to see you on your knees with Ace's and Deuce's cocks in your hands. That night was spent with each one of your friends taking turns using your holes. Jack did his best to avoid knotting you, but your asshole felt so good. He couldn't stop himself from forcing his knot into your while he came. Epel definitely had the lewdest mouth, calling you a "dirty whore," "pathetic slut," and "walking fleshlight." Sebek took a liking to your mouth, gripping your hair tightly as he slammed his hips into your face again and again, but he still had enough brain power to pull out to make sure he painted your face with his cum.

Cater

(With some Heartslabyul thrown in... yes the entire dorm cause I want to be a slut)

Everytime you and Cater fuck in public, his phone is out and recording, and, yes, he has a... let's call it TwistedFans account that he updates regularly. He does put black bars over both of yalls eyes for some form of anonymity.

It started out simple. Just fucking in his room and uploading the videos, but then requests started coming in. Fuck in a public bathroom. Fuck in an empty lecture hall. Fuck in a locker room, library, hallway, etc. It was easy enough to sneak out at night at meet with you, and Cater couldn't say no to his fans, especially with how tight you become when he fucks you in places like this. You look so cute with your lips around his cock, touching yourself as eagerly deep throat his cock.

But, eventuality that got boring. What about you two walking around NRC's campus completely nude? Maybe with you walking around with his cum painting your body and dripping out of your hole(s). Cater even started using his unique magic, so you're fans can see a group of 'strangers' run a train on you all around the campus. Though, one night, the Heartslabyul's kitchen, your usual train gets interrupted by Trey's midnight urge to bake. Of course he was offered a turn to use you.

So, Trey became a regular guest and would fill/paint you with his cum. Trey isn't the only guest though. Cater may have let slip about your nightly escapades and were invited if they kept quiet. It worked at first, but Ace and Deuce are not known for keeping secrets. More and more members of Heartslabyul were invited to use you, and you basically become a communal cumdump for a portion of the dorm.

It finally comes to a climax when almost half the dorm sneaks out into the hedge maze to have a round with you. There's no way to keep all these hornt men quiet, and Riddle stumbles into the scene red faced and unable to form a single coherent word. He knew something was up with his dorm, and he would get to the bottom of it. But this? He never expected to see the Ramshackle Prefect being surrounded by half-naked men, them dripping with cum as cocks continue to fuck them, and them reaching out to Riddle, asking him to join. Riddle's too shocked to respond. Before his brain starts functioning again, your mouth is wrapped around his cock, and Riddle melts.

But they can't be doing this!! There are rules about being out of your rooms after dark!! But, none of the rules say anything about orgies, do they? Well, what if those Unbirthday Parties included another sweet for the men in Heartslabyul to enjoy? Of course, Riddle has to establish rules and protocol for your use: regular breaks, certain people being given the duty of clean up, etc, etc.

Still, even with all of this, you and Cater sneak out with your little entourage at night. Filming you getting fucked all around campus. But now, everyone's a lot more careful about keeping Riddle out of the loop, and that's much easier now that your pretty lips know just how to make Riddle melt.

Leona

(With some Ruggie and the rest of Savanaclaw again cause slut)

It all started as a simple transaction. You had no place to stay with Azul kicking you out of the Ramshackle Dorm, but Leona was willing to let you stay with him. All you had to do was wrap your lips around his cock and drain his balls. You didn't really have much of a choice and Leona was attractive, so why not?

This would be easy. You've sucked enough cock to know you'd be done with this quickly and then could sleep. Leona's cock is long, but you've trained yourself well. You deepthroat his cock easily, licking along the bottom of his shaft, as one of your hands plays with his balls.

"Fuck, you're a real whore, aren't you? Sucked so much cock you aren't even breaking a sweat." Leona comments as he lays back in bed. You bob your head, lick his tip, stroke his shaft, using everything you know to make him cum. But then, Ruggie enters the room, giving his signature chuckle when he sees you sucking Leona's cock. You try to pull away but Leona forces you back down and warns, "Keep sucking or I'm throwing you out."

Yoy give in and go back to boring your head while Ruggie starts to clean Leona's room incredibly slowly. It takes some time, but eventually Leona grabs the back of your head and forces you to take his cock all the way to the base. Leona grunts as he cums down your throat. You pull away, coughing, when Leona finally lets you go. You wipe your face and start to go over to your makeshift bed when a growl stops you.

"Hey Herbivore, I'm not soft yet." Leona strokes his cock. "Your mouth still has work to do." This was supposed to be simple. What you didn't know is that a beastman's stamina is much greater than a human's. Leona must have had you sucking his cock for over an hour before you became tired and your jaw started to hurt, and then Leona ordered Ruggie to pull your head up and down his cock. Eventually, Ruggie suggested for Leona to flip you onto your back, dangling your head off the side of his bed, and just fuck your face. Leona took the suggestion.

He was fast and hard, fucking your face with no caring for your comfort. All he wanted was to reach his own climax. Your only relief was the hyena beastman who eagerly took the opportunity lick and your sex. Whenever you started to get light headed and felt like you might pass out Leona's pounding, the lion beastman pulled his cock out and rubbed his cock and balls across your face to give you a chance to breathe. When ever he came, he did so deep in your throat with his balls pulsing against your nose. He'd make you thank him every time he bred your throat.

You don't know when you pass out, but when you wake up the next morning, your throat is sore and you're being dragged away by Leona to go eat breakfast with the rest if the Savanaclaw dorm. The rest of the dorm seems surprised to see Leona join them. Instead of sitting at the table, Leona sits at one of the plush chairs to the side. You stand awkwardly by him, but then he growls, "What are you waiting for, whore? My cock's not going to suck itself."

You get on your knees, pull his cock out, and begin to lick it. The rest of the dorm is frozen, watching as you take Leona's shaft in your mouth. Ruggie breaks the tension by handing Leona his breakfast. The dorm's morning continues on like normal except for the amount of hard cocks straining against pants.

That same night is much the same. Leona is sitting in the common area with you on his lap. Your legs are spread wide open as you finger your hole to prep for Leona's cock. Then you ride the beastman's cock. You knew about the raised bumps on his cock, you felt it the first time you sucked his dick, but feeling it in your hole is something else completely. It doesn't take long for you to cum on Leona's cock, earning jeers from the Savanaclaw dorm members. You don't know how many times you cum, but you're stuffed full of Leona's and Ruggie is tasked to bring you to the lion beastman's room while said beastman takes a shower. Ruggie takes the opportunity to bend you over and take a turn stuffing you with his cock.

When your ordeal of staying with Leona finally comes to an end, he makes you an offer. He gives you a shit ton of money, and you become his personal fleshlight. He can use you whenever and wherever he wants. Your holes belong to him. He gets to decide what goes in them, and only he can use you. Only he can make you cum. You're not allowed to touch yourself unless he orders you too. With that amount of money and with a dick that good, you say yes in a heartbeat.

Floyd & Jade

You're not really sure how it happened. One minute you're having a normal shift at the Monstro Lounge closing up alongside the tweels, the next minute your uniform is ripped off and the two mers are spitroasting you in the middle of the lounge. Floyd was eagerly fucking your asshole while slapping your ass with every other thrust. Jade forced his cock to stay deep within your throat just so he could make you choke. You knew you were easy, but damn.

So, sex after closing up Monstro Lounge became a common occurrence. Some nights the tweels would take turns stuffing you with their cocks, making sure you're leaving a trail of cum all the way back to the Ramshackle Dorm. Other nights they simply fucked you at the same time, using you and overstimulating you until you passed out. Of course they'd keep using you until they had their fill then cuddle with your unconscious body because they're gentlemen.

This all quickly changed into sexual activities happening during the day as well. It started somewhat small with simple flirting and dirty talk. Then it became more physical with hugging being a cover for groping. Then just straight up groping, not really trying to hide it. Then making out, then dry humping, then fingering, until finally they both fucked you in the hallway when all of you should have been in lectures. Then things got even wilder.

Jade was at least somewhat discreet, well as discreet as one can be with a tall ass sadist fucking you in broad daylight. In the library with other people close by? Jade has you pulled behind a bookshelf with his tongue exploring your hole while he holds a vibrator to your sex. Even after you cum with your thighs shaking on either side of his head,, he does not stop. Eating lunch in the cafeteria? He won't stop feeling you up and undoing your clothes. He unbuttons your shirt, gropes your chest and clips clamps on your nipples. He slides his fingers beneath your underwear and fingers you until you're cumming around his digits. All of this while he has his mischievous smile plastered on his face. Sitting next to Jade in a lecture? Jade got there ahead of time and placed a dildo in your spot for you to sit on. You're able to keep somewhat if a calm demeanor until you discover it's a remote controlled dildo when it starts to thrust into you. You do your best to not your orgasm, but multiple people can sense something is off. Jade just gives a smile and explains how you aren't feeling well. It's not like you never get caught, it's just no one has the guts to report Jade. A single smile in the person's direction has them fleeing.

Floyd is the opposite of discreet. If he is in the mood to fuck, everyone knows it. In the library full of study groups for a big exam? Floyd strips you naked, steals things like pens and other objects from other students, and fucks you with them until you cum, all while everyone around you tries to ignore the scene and avoid Floyd's attention. If Floyd is feeling generous, he takes the hand of someone nearby and uses their hand like a toy to fuck you.

Sitting in the cafeteria eating lunch? Floyd has his cock out for everyone to see, hard and dripping pre cum, as he slaps your cheek with it and whines about how he's in a bad mood and needs you to suck him off. If you open your mouth, he fucks your face in front of everyone. If you don't, he whines even louder and rubs his cock across your face, eventually just humping you until he cums all over your face and hair. Sitting next to Floyd in a lecture? He bends you over the desk and just starts fucking you, not caring about how the sound and sight of his balls hitting your thighs is a distraction for everyone. One glare from anyone who tries to speak up silences any comment, even the professor is too scared to stop him.

When the two eels are together though, that's when it gets even wilder. They like to push your limits, almost making like a game. Taking turns to see how long you would last with their cock down your throat before you pass out. Stealing the pens from others in whatever room they're in to see how many you can fit in your hole. Seeing how long you can go with their cum painting your face before a professor notices. Stripping you and fucking you in front of different crowds and finding out how you get tighter and cum faster with the biggest crowds, especially if they're recording you.

Epel

(Other characters guest star in catching y'all fucking. Also I like to think Epel has one of the biggest dicks out of the twst cast fight me)

The wilderness is the closest you can get to privacy where Epel's from and it's much the same at NRC. you and Epel would sneak off into the woods just so you two could fuck like rabbits. Epel did try to be responsible when it came to protection. He's had sed plenty of times and always used a condoms, but the few types of condoms he could get his hands on at NRC are just too small to be comfortable for him.

During the first time you two snuck out too the woods, you could see his discomfort and just took off his condom. He was about to say protest, but you wrapped your legs around his waist and pulled him closer, telling him to just fuck you. Once he felt your walls raw, he knew he could never go back to using those condoms. He also found out just how much of an absolute slut you are.

"You shouldn't've done that." Epel grunts above you. "Now nothin' can stop me from breedin' you." Epel fucked you hard, but he was also attentive, making sure to make you cum before he did. Multiple times a week the two of you would sneak away to different parts of the woods. At first you two would barely strip anything off, but, with never having been caught so far, you two grew bolder until both of you were completely naked sans your shoes. This went well until one day it wasn't just the two of you.

The snapping of a twig has Epel stopping mid thrust as the two of you look up to see Jade staring down at you two. You're absolutely petrified and go to grab your clothes, but Epel pulls your hips back and pounds into you harder.

"Dontcha try to run, slut. I felt you get tighter when this fucker showed up." Epel grabs a fistful of your hair and makes you arch your back, showing off the noticeable bulge of the smaller man's cock in your stomach. You can't help but moan as Epel hits the spot he knows drives you insane. Jade takes out his cock and begins to jerk off to the scene. It doesn't take long for you to cum on Epel's cock and for Epel to cum with you, filling you with his cum. A few seconds later, Jade steps in front of you. Instinctively, you open your mouth and stick out your tongue. Jade shoots his cum into your mouth and across your face.

Jade isn't there every time you and Epel fuck in the woods, but it's often enough it isn't a surprise. Every time Jade watches and finds a place to cum on you, one time standing behind you, your hole gaping after Epel pulled out, and shoots his cum into you.

What you don't know is, that from day one, Rook has been following the two of you each time you sneak off into the woods. Cock in one hand, camera in the other, Rook makes binders upon binders with dtaed photos of you and Epel fucking with an entirely seperate binder where Jade has joined you. He hasn't showed Vil yet, but really he should. Maybe he should confront the two of you first though? Maybe you can make him an offer that convinces him not to ;3.

Rook

Rook is the master of stealth sex. He's somehow able to keep completely calm with only a pink tint in his cheeks being the only tell you're under the table deepthroating his cock. This all started pretty casually. One day, you're talking with Rook in the library. A few minutes later, your back is against a bookshelf, arms over his shoulders and legs wrapped around his waist, with his tongue down your throat and cock pounding your hole. It doesn't take long for you to cum on his cock and for him to fill your hole with his cum. You're ready to be let down, but he eagerly starts fucking you again.

Rook is an absolute master and finding just the right spot to fuck you. From the library, to empty lecture halls, the hallway between classes, under a table during lunch, you've ended up with his cock inside of youn and he's ended up with a camera in his hands to snap photos each time. He never asked, but he's never tried to hide it. Rook especially loves taking photos of your dripping hole, every time making sure your face is in frame. But, his favorite photos are the ones where your face is covered in his cum.

Rook is also very handsy, groping different parts of you body in broad daylight while surrounded by people. He keeps such a straight face while his fingers are knuckle deep inside you, and you just have to pretend you're okay. He'll casually pinch your ass as he walks by or take a nice feel of your chest while no one is looking. While he adores having you between his legs, he also adores being between yours. Good luck trying to study at the library with Rook under the table giving you head.

Rook is very good about not getting caught, but only when he wants to. There are times he does want to get caught, and you have been caught by quiet a few people. Rook purposefully started fucking you behind a bush in the botanical garden just so Leona could confront the two of you. Of course, Rook never stopped rutting into you when Leona showed up. In fact, Rook spread your legs wider for Leona to get a better look. Rook fucked you in the science lab just before the science club started just so Trey could walk in on your head bobbing on Rook's cock.

You didn't get in trouble until one night where Rook of fucking you against a table in the Pomefiore common room. You hear the sound of heels clicking before you hear a throat clearing. You try to cover yourself when you see Vil glaring at you, but Rook pulls your hands away. Rook gives Vil a whole show, going over each aspect of your body and how you react to different touches. Rook shows off your hole, how well you take him, while Vil's fingers run across your sex. Before Rook fills you, he pulls out and offers Vil to use you. In the morning, you wake up sore between the two men.

Lilia

Lilia is an absolute exhibitionist tease. Your encounters started all because you accidentally walked in on him. You just wanted to sneak into an empty lecture hall, a quiet place to study, but instead come across Lilia floating with his cock in his hand. You and Lilia stare at each other for a moment before Lilia just starts stroking his cock again. Lilia spreads his legs, giving you a better view, as he invites you over to touch him. Within the minute, your floating midair with Lilia's mouth on your sex and you lips around his cock.

Now, when you see each other in passing, it's common for Lilia to flash his cock at you, and you've started flashing him back in return. It's also quite easy for you two to find a place to fuck. Lilia just has you pick you up and float up. He's fucked you against many ceilings, floating in the night sky, and even high above the crowd in the cafeteria. He loves filling up your hole with his cum and watching it drip down to the ground far below you.

Lilia also likes teasing you whenever you're going about your day. You have just enough privacy that no one is looking directly at you? Suddenly the fae's cock is mere inches from your face. Sometimes he just pops in to cum on your face. Other times he hovers in front of you and fucks your face, cumming deep down your throat. There are times he simply humps your clothed ass and cums all over the back of your bottoms. He just likes leaving you with something a bit bothersome for the rest of the day.

It stayed just the two of you for a while until he invited you to come hang out with him in the light music club. Cater and Kalim are happy to have you hang out with them. What they weren't expecting was seeing you end up between Lilia's legs, eagerly licking his cock, while the fae sits there talking like all of this is normal. Kalim seems happy to watch, complimenting you when you deepthroat Lilia's cock. Cater is hesitant at first but then takes his own cock out as he watches your head bob. When Lilia pulls your mouth off of his cock, you whine, but Lilia just coos in response and offers your mouth for the other two to try.

All three of them take turns using your mouth, passing you around as they continue their conversation. You gladly lick their shaft, play with their balls, and deepthroat each of their cocks. Eventually, you end up in the middle of all three of them, mouth open and tongue out as the three men stroke their cocks above you. Cater has his phone out recording the whole seen. Each one of them cums, painting your face and tongue. You happily swallow what's in your mouth and lick your lips, savoring the taste. Now you're a regular member of the club, sucking off each one of them daily.

[pareidolla]

hi!! holds up hand. in a more ideal situation (interpret that how you wish, maybe liike in the leaving together ending?) who do you think would broken have the healthiest relationsip with? both other voices and vessels.

oh, what a fun little question! upon reread i realize you might've meant a romantic relationship but i wrote this with mostly friendships in mind. however, i literally adore every broken pairing so i suppose this could still be read either way ♡

might be a little unexpected, but i imagine for 1-on-1 settings that broken would be hanging out with cheated most of time. ironically, where broken's bitterness tends to be ignored, cheated is way more friendly than people give him credit for.

broken frequently laments he's never been listened to, but cheated actually does listen to him! when you choose to surrender in the arms race, the other voices are against it, but cheated says it's worth a shot, and he's never harsh when speaking to him like the others. out of everyone he'd probably understand why broken has completely given up, and that he has good intentions despite. i can only think he'd be upset if forced into the apotheosis route (blacktabbygames on my hands and knees, please please please-), but most of his rage would be directed at the princess for rigging the game than anything the voices did.

i imagine cheated probably gently urges them to hang out together if broken's up for it. they'd do little activites like cleaning the church together, board games, sitting quietly as the rain falls, going out on a little rowboat on the lake to do some fishing and accepting their bad luck when it inevitably capsizes. divorced dad energy as i've seen someone say.

oh! as a bonus, for my own voices, chichi always huddles broken into his coat or offers it whenever it gets crowded since he knows broken doesn't do well with being looked at + broken reminds him of his family (flinching) :3c

hmm, as for the other voices, i think broken would have a nicest friendship with smitten and paranoid but they'd tend to clash more. which isn't a bad thing! smitten would definitely go overboard trying to cheer broken up and make him feel a little uneasy, while broken would undoubtedly assert that they are not destined lovers on equal footing with the princess, but i think they would still enjoy each other's company despite their differences. guys hated for their swag (unapologetically killing tlq).

paranoid meanwhile i think of as an exasperated mother hen. he wouldn't be overtly friendly like smitten or cheated but the first to check him over for any harm. have you eaten today? did you shower? you're making gloomy expression again, what are you thinking about? we need to go shopping later, your clothes are all ragged- and other clucking. the two are always pushing and pulling against eachother but i think of para as his closest friend because of it. tough love, baby!

as for the vessels⸻

WOUNDED WILD. ITS WOUNDED WILD AND IT'S NOT EVEN CLOSE.

(they make so violent. congratulations brokewild for inventing heterophobia 🎉)

i sometimes see posts where opportunist is jealous of witch/thorn and i think we should give tower the same treatment. her weird ass should stay grumbling by her temple's window as she watches broken and his friend clumsily dance in the garden. literally the virgin vs chad meme with these two.

i like to think in an au where they're seperate from shifting quiet that beast-wild would struggle with her personhood, and perhaps try seeking forgiveness from a deity since she can't forgive herself. she meets broken and they become sad little kindred spirits found whispering excitedly in the backpew.

and last but not least damsel! dambroken are quite similar characters in the sense they're both highly subservient to their lovers to the point of figuratively becoming nothing, so i always think of their interactions as the "and so, they were both bottoms" meme.

i actually think they'd actually clash a bit upon meeting. damsel's heart would break seeing her husband in such a sad state (in her mind everyone is just collectively married), and broken would probably be a little offput by how submissive she is despite being a princess. he'd get flustered if she tried to help him cook or clean and send her away, and outside the door you can see her mind kicking into overdrive trying to figure out how she's expected to make him happy if she can't do anything.

and maybe finally they'd have a quiet bonding moment where they sit and talk about their time in the construct. killing your lover and allowing your lover kill you seriously would have messed them up, and sharing pain with another lessens it. atleast a little.

tl;dr i love them your honor

[boldlyvoid]

I Know Places: Living Children

18+ Aaron Hotchner x Fem Reader | Masterlist | AO3 link

Summary: After coming home from Canada, they head to their separate apartments for a night of rest before their next case… only that case comes 4 hours later and Aaron isn't answering his phone.

Warnings: Canon Typical Violence (murder, stabbing, assault, mentions of death) Anxiety, panicking, blood tw, Haley and Reader interacting, Reid gets shot, the whole team is in a panic.

Word count: 10.8k

She dropped him off at his apartment late that night, he asked her to come up but she said no. For the first time in months, she said no. She wanted to actually get some sleep after everything they went through these last few weeks. She knew if she went to his house, or if he came to hers, they would end up talking or fucking all night and her body needed rest… real rest, even though she didn’t quite know what it was like to sleep without him anymore. 

She was asleep maybe 5 hours when JJ called and said they had an emergency case pop up. 

She gets to the scene first, JJ not far behind her being dropped off by Will. She watches as JJ kisses her boyfriend and looks back at their sleeping baby in the backseat before she joins her on the curb. They’re on the scene for almost 15 minutes before Morgan and Reid roll up, tired, a couple coffees in hand, begrudgingly starting what should’ve been their day off together.

“Where’s the big man?” Derek asks. 

Y/N shrugs, “he should be here soon.” 

“Have you not talked to him?” JJ asks. “I couldn’t get ahold of him at all?” 

“No? That’s weird,” she doesn’t like the anxiety that immediately pools in her stomach. “He tosses his phone and things onto the couch once he gets inside and leaves them there till the morning, he’ll get the massages and be here soon. I’m sure,” she says more for herself than the others. Knowing no one had heard from him yet made her a little anxious but what else could she do? 

“I’m surprised you didn’t go home with him,” Derek teases her, bumping his elbow off hers. 

“Unlike you and the good doctor, I actually wanted to sleep last night,” she teases him. 

“3 hours is still something,” Spencer teases, a rosy pink blush spreading across his cheeks. 

“Alright kids,” Rossi announces his presence behind them. “What’s going on here? Why were we called to a crime scene if we’re not working a case?” 

“I got a call from Detective Walker, you guys remember him?” JJ explains. “He’s inside, apartment 3C, he says it’s urgent.” 

“It better be,” Derek scoffs. 

The case is strange… Detective Walker, a DC cop they knew from a few other local cases called JJ when he received word of an interesting killer. Someone sent a doctor, Tom Barton, a letter saying he was planning to kill his son. Every day that his son stayed inside, out of harm's way or with protection, another person would be shot and killed in retaliation. 2 victims so far have died, and the letter is signed “L.C.” and even written in chalk beside victim number 2’s body. 

There isn’t much for them to look at while at the crime scene, the man simply opened his door and was shot in the chest, falling back into his apartment. The police were called when neighbours heard gunshots, no one saw the man leave and the apartment complex doesn’t have security footage. So, they all head over to the doctor's house to ask him questions, find out who has a grudge or vendetta against him, and go from there. 

JJ calls Hotch again on their drive over, Y/N’s driving her to the doctor's house, but Aaron doesn’t pick up. It’s weird, but, he also really just wanted to sleep last night. 

“Why didn’t you go home with him?” JJ asks, “The real answer this time.” 

She laughs, “I was being serious, I was tired. We both were. But when we’re together at night we don’t really sleep, no matter how tired we are.” 

“I want to say ew, but I’m glad you’re both happy,” she teases. 

“It’s not always sex, sometimes we just talk all night,” she assures her. “And when we go to his place we drink. You get a couple glasses of whisky in him and he doesn’t know how to shut up.” 

“Will’s like that too, he has such a high tolerance from growing up in New Orleans but he doesn’t drink that much anymore. Ever since we had Henry and I went back to work, he’s always scared that if he has even a few sips he’ll get a call that I was hurt or Henry will need to go to the hospital in the middle of the night and so he doesn’t risk it,” she explains. It sounds like she’s been dying to talk about this with someone. 

“You’ve found yourself one good man there, Jayj,” she gives her a quick smile. “We both have.” 

��

She doesn’t have her full attention on the case. She listens to the doctor explain what he received and why he doesn’t understand how he could be a target, but she doesn’t fully care. Yes, she wants people to stop dying and yes she wants to keep this man's family safe… but her own family is on her mind right now. 

No one has heard from Aaron, he’s not answering his phone, he’s not at work, Anderson hasn’t seen him at the office… it’s starting to really scare her. 

The team disburses after they realize that Dr. Barton's son has left the house, he’s gone to school in an attempt to save lives like his father does for a living. He’s a good kid. Derek, JJ and Dave head over to the school to make sure he’s okay and keep him safe until the final bell of the day. She and Reid stay with the doctor to look through his case files for Hispanic males or people with the initials L.C, seeing as Reid can read a million words a minute. More like 20,000 but, still, faster than anyone else. 

After about 30 files, she reaches her breaking point. So does Dr. Barton. “Jeffery is leaving school in 5 hours, there’s no way we can get through all these patients in this time.” 

“Well, we’ve narrowed it down already,” she tries to sympathize with him. It is a lot. 

“And we still have 100 left!” He shouts. “I’m sorry, I-I-I don't mean to be callous but when you work in the ER you don’t remember names. You operate and you move on.” 

“He’s right,” she gives in. “There are too many files here for us to profile in such a short period of time. Um,” she stands up, getting ready to leave. “I can get to Hotch’s apartment and get back here in half an hour?” 

“Who’s that?” He asks. 

“He's our supervisor,” Spencer explains. “We weren’t supposed to work today we’re having trouble getting ahold of him.” 

“But we need more eyes,” Y/N says, hoping it bribes Dr. Barton to let her go.

He nods, and so she leaves. 

Driving like a bat out of hell, she somehow manages to hit every red light on her way downtown and there’s construction 2 blocks before Aarons street. Her heart is in her stomach, she’s so sure she’s going to be met with something bad that she’s afraid to breathe. She arrives at 715 Langham in just 10 minutes and parks her SUV just in front of the building. Aaron's SUV is in the parking lot around the side, so she knows he’s here. That eases her anxiety just a bit. 

She hops out, locks the car and rushes inside. He lives on the first floor, at the back, apartment 121. She knocks as soon as she gets there. “Hotch? It’s me, Y/N… Aaron? Aaron, are you in there?” 

When she doesn’t get an answer she pulls out her cell phone and calls his number again.. it starts to ring and she can hear it going off inside his apartment. Probably on the couch like she assumed. But her heart still stops beating in her chest for a moment. She reaches for the doorknob next, going to jiggle it but it opens right up. He doesn’t lock it right away when he gets home, it’s often her who locks it when they get in at night… but still, he’d lock it before going to bed. That’s his routine. 

She unholsters her gun, holds it up and slams the door open. She looks both ways, clearing the room with her eyes, she notices his keys on the entryway table his phone and briefcase tossed on the couch. She slowly starts to enter, observing the room slowly… she notices there’s a bullet hole in the wall. No blood splatter or brain matter surrounding it. But that’s definitely a bullet hole. 

Aaron's gun is on the kitchen table and on the floor beside the table there is a human torso-sized puddle of blood on the white carpet. Under the wall with the bullet hole, opposite of the bloody carpet, there is linoleum leading into the kitchen, and it's covered in glass. She prepares herself to enter the kitchen, she turns into it with her gun ready to shoot anyone who’s there but the place is empty. Unlocked, bloody, and empty. 

Aarons gone. 

He was attacked. Someone was standing in his kitchen, unbeknownst to him, when he came in. He tossed his things on the couch, unclipped his gun placed it on the table and went to make a drink when the attacker made themself known. He dropped his glass when he was started, they went to shoot him and missed and then got him on the ground. She looks for the bullet casings, but there aren’t any to be found. Either they were both taken or he wasn’t shot on the ground. There’s too much blood for it to be a single bullet wound… too spread out. He was hit multiple times across his chest. But it doesn’t look like enough blood to kill someone. 

As soon as she’s able to breathe again, she gathers herself back together and calls Penelope. 

“Overtime shift-Penelope speaking,” she answers, breath heavy like she just ran into he room. 

“Garcia this is Y/N, I need you to listen carefully,” she leads. “Somethings happened to Hotch.” 

“What do you mean something happened?” She asks, immediately panicking. 

“I don’t know. I’m in his apartment, he’s not here but there’s blood.” 

“Oh my god.” 

“I need you to send police and FBI techs here right away, everyone available,” Y/N orders, she needs to start building a profile and she needs crime scene to be here in order to do that.

“Uh, d-do we need an APB?” She asks, already typing. 

“Only on hotch, I checked out front, his car’s still here,” she explains. 

“Someone took him?” 

“I don’t know,” she wants to scream but she can’t. “There’s blood but I can’t be sure who’s it is. Just get people here.”

“Okay I’m sending an army—

“Garcia, I’m gonna have to tell reid because he’s expecting me back but you can’t tell the others. They cannot be distracted,” she reminds her. 

“Okay,” Penny understands. “Okay.” 

And just like that, she hangs up. And now she’s all alone in Aaron’s apartment, the place he hated to be more than anywhere… she never went home with him. She never invited him up to her place. And now he’s hurt. He’s bleeding and somewhere without her and she’s so scared this is all her fault. 

But instead of freaking out, she calls Spencer. 

“Hey,” he answers. 

“Something happened to Aaron,” she says. 

“What?” 

“he’s not here but there’s about a pint of blood on his carpet. Something happened. I don’t know what happened or who did it or if he’s alive—” 

“What are you talking about, Y/N?” 

“Someone came into his apartment and hurt him and then took him. All his stuff is here.” 

She heats Dr. Barton asking if this is about Jeffery and Spencer saying it’s not, shushing him and then holding his hand over the phone. “I’m really sorry I have to take this call, okay?” 

“What could be more important than my son right now?!” The man screams. 

“I assure you this will take one second!” Spencer argues back. “Please, I promise.” 

“Spence?” 

“I’m here, what do you know?” 

“There’s a huge hole in the wall. Probably a .44? But there’s no blood or tissue spray around it.” 

“Any idea how he got out?” 

“If he was shot there are no drag marks, but a body could’ve been wrapped in something,” she explains, cringing at the words. She hates this so much. 

“And bureau techs are on the way?” 

“Any second now,” she assures him. Trying to keep herself calm and okay.

“Alright, um, write down everything you see and we’ll profile form your notes when you get back,” Spencer says, knowing she needs order to keep sane. “It’ll be okay. We’ll find him.” 

“Okay… thank you. How’s Dr. Barton?” 

“It’s a huge list of cases to go through,” Spencer reminds her, so clearly, the man is stressing. 

“Okay, don’t worry about here. I’ve got this. Stay focused, try and find a way to narrow them down further… I know you can do it.” 

“Thanks, call me if you need me?”

“I will.” 

—

The door is already open when the cops and crime scene techs start coming in. She’s pulled out of the room and told she can go back in once the techs have what they need. She can’t fuck with the crime scene and she knows that. So she stays back, she watches the men in white jump-suits and gloves start taking samples and pictures and a cop comes up to start asking her questions. 

“And who are you to the victim?” 

“Co-worker and girlfriend,” she admits, wanting to be as honest as possible. She shows him her badge and everything.

“Okay, and when did you last talk to him?” 

“Last night at 2:30ish, I drove home after our flight got in. I dropped him off at his apartment and then went home,” she explains. “We tried calling him all morning to tell him a new case has come in but he wasn’t answering the phone so I came here to get him myself. His door was unlocked and his phone was ringing in the living room.” 

“Does he have any enemies that would do this to him?” 

She laughs, “he’s the supervisory special agent in charge of the behavioural analysis unit and before that, he was an attorney on criminal cases. The list of people who want him dead is a long one.” 

“Okay,” the man's eyes widen and he breathes in deeply through his nose as he writes it all down in his little book. “So, your teams on this then too, I guess?” 

She shakes her head, “They’re busy, we can’t get them distracted. It’s just me and you guys right now… and our tech girl, she’s calling hospitals to see if Aaron or any John Doe’s were brought in. Have you seen his wallet in there at all?” 

“I’m not sure… hey, Gomez?” He calls into the apartment, “found a wallet?” 

“Not yet,” he calls back. 

“So that’s really all we know right now—

Her phone starts to ring and so she pulls away from the conversation. “Talk to me, Garcia?” 

“Okay I-I called hospitals to see if Hotch had gotten himself admitted into an emergency room—

“And?” She’s so impatient it comes off mean. 

“He’s not listed as a patient but someone dropped a John Doe off at St. Sebastian Hospital and that someones name was FBI Agent Derek Morgan,” she explains, confused and slightly pissed off. 

“That doesn’t make sense?” She says, shaking her head, racking her brain for a reason that could make sense… 

“I know, do you think they got their credentials mixed up?”

Just then it dawns on her and her stomach drops even further. Her eyes start to blur and the world stops as she figures it out. “The Reaper.” 

“What?” 

“Foyet stole Morgans Creds…” 

“Why would he drop him off at the ER?” Penelope asks. 

“What hospital did you say, again?” 

“St. Sebastian Hopsital—

“I’ll call you with an update when I get there,” she says, hanging up she starts to run out of the room but the detective stops her. 

“Hey!” 

“He’s alive, he’s at St. Sebastian Hospital the man who did this is George Foyet also known as the Boston Reaper. We arrested him a few months back but he escaped prison and we’ve been on the hunt for him ever since, he did this,” she explains in a hurry. 

“Okay, go, go see him! I've got this here,” he lets her go. 

She runs down the hallways, out the front doors and to her car. She flicks her lights on once she’s inside and she speeds to the hospital, bypassing every car, she gets there right away at every red light and stop sign, she’s doing almost 120 the whole way there. 

She throws the car into the first parking spot she can find and runs towards the ER doors, getting deja vu from the last time she rushed to his bedside at a hospital in New York, she loves him a million times more now. It’s the same yet so, so different. With her chest heaving, she feels like she might pass out as she grips onto the counter of the front desk. 

“Hi, hi, sorry,” she needs a second, so she pulls out her badge, “an agent… brought in a man— sorry,” she holds her free hand to her heart and stands up straighter as she breathes. “An agent brought in a man last night, said his name was Derek Morgan?”

“Yes, he did, the man he brought in is in the intensive care unit right now,” she explains. “Do you know who he is?” 

She nods, “His name is Aaron Hotchner, he’s also an FBI agent. The man who brought him in is not. Agent Morgan had his credentials stolen by a criminal, I have reason to believe the man who brought him in is said criminal.” 

“Oh, oh dear,” the woman can’t believe it. “We can take you up to him?” 

“Yes please, and can you have someone send the security footage of the man bringing him here to my analyst at Quantico?” She asks. 

“I certainly can,” the woman agrees. She stands from her seat and walks around the desk to her, she places her hand on Y/N’s back. “Come with me.” 

They follow the blue line on the floor towards the elevators and inside she presses floor 3. They get off at the intensive care unit and the nurse gets the attention of another doctor. “The John Doe, she knows him.” 

“Hi,” she reaches out to shake the doctor's hand. “How is he?” 

“Stable, follow me,” she takes over for the nurse. She leads Y/N over to one of the rooms, she slides open the glass doors and lets her inside. 

She rushes to his side and rests her hands on his bedrails. “Can I touch his hands?” 

“Sure,” the doctor doesn’t mind. 

She grabs hold of his hand and her heart starts to beat regularly again. She can see straight. Her legs aren’t numb anymore. She’s better now that she knows he’s alive. “What happened?” 

“He was stabbed 9 times in the chest but no major arteries were hit,” she explains. “It’s a miracle he’s alive.” 

“When will he wake up?” 

“The anesthesia should wear off within the hour but he’s bout to be out of it,” she says with a sigh. “Can we get you to fill out some paperwork for us?” 

She nods, “yeah… do you have his stuff?” 

“It’s right there,” she points at the bag with his bloody shirt sitting right at the top. It’s all cut up and gross but they kept it. 

“let me just grab his wallet and I can do everything for you.” She lets go of his hand, she places it back on the bed and taps it gently, giving him a small smile. 

She gets his wallet from the bag, she follows the doctor out of the room and she’s handed a clipboard with papers on it. She fills it out with everything she knows about him. His name, first middle and last. She always thought it was funny that he was born in the 60s, the same year that Star Trek was airing and his parents never watched it but still gave him the middle name Tiberius. All good captains have that middle name. 

She knows his birthday and his blood type and that he’d want to be an organ donor if the time came. She has his insurance information cause it’s in his wallet and lists that he has a 4 year old son as well as a brother named Sean. But his emergency contact is still Haley no matter how long they’ve been together. And she’s okay with that. She’s going to have to call her. After their chat in Oregon, she got Haley’s number and put it in her phone so as soon as she finished the paperwork, she stepped out to call her. 

“Hello?” 

“Hi, is this Haley Brooks?” 

“It is…” 

“hi this is Y/N I work with Aaron,” she leads and she can hear the way Haley’s breathing changes. 

“What happened.” 

“He’s in the hospital, he was stabbed a few times last night,” she explains, wanting to cry. “He wanted me to call you if anything ever happened to him.” 

She lets out a shaky breath, “Okay… but he’s okay?” 

“Yeah, he will be. He isn’t awake yet and I know Jack's at school so when he does wake up, maybe you guys can stop by?” 

“Yeah, we definitely can… he has a playdate tonight after school though so I’m not sure what time we can come?” 

“That’s okay, I’ll talk to him when he wakes up and see if he even wants Jack to see him in this condition, if not, he’ll probably still be here tomorrow.” 

“Okay… and thank you, Y/N, for letting me know.” 

“Of course,” she doesn’t mind. “I can text you with updates?”

“I’d like that, thank you.” 

“Anytime,” she says with a smile and then they both hang up. 

She heads back over to Aaron's room to see a nurse switching out his chart with his accurate information on it. She gets a peak over the woman’s shoulder and sees the L.C. written on it. 

“Excuse me,” she says in her most polite voice. “What does that stand for?” 

“Living Children,” she explains. “It's so if a patient has to go on life support and they don’t have a DNR order, we know who to contact to make such a decision. Seeing as he doesn’t have a wife currently and you’re not his medical decision maker or power of attorney, that question goes to his next of kin.” 

“Thanks,” she nods, taking her phone back out she heads out to make yet another phone call.  

Once she relays the message to him, he goes quiet, “Reid?” 

“What if the unsub was trying to tell Dr. Barton that He is actually the target?” Spencer asks. “And that he’s going to leave his son without a father?” 

She goes to answer but then Spencer starts to panic, “Barton!” He calls out after him. 

“Reid?” She calls out, wondering what’s going on. There’s the sound of him running and then a gunshot. “Reid, Answer me! Spencer!!” 

There’s no response. So she hangs up and dials 911. “This is Special Agent Y/N Y/L/N from the FBI. I need police and an ambulance at 120 Kensington Road, McLean Virginia. Shots fired. Federal agent possibly down,” she calls down the line as soon as they pick up. 

“Yes ma’am, I have police and medical on their way now, do you have a description of the suspect?” 

“No, I was on the phone with my partner when I heard the shot and he wasn’t responding, he’s there with Doctor Thomas Barton working on a case, the man was being stalked and his life was being threatened, it seems the man found him.” 

“Okay, thank you, we’ve got it from here.” 

“Thanks,” she hangs up and finds the first seat she sees. 

She has to sit down. Today has been too much. Aaron was stabbed, Spencer possibly shot, they’re all working on 4 hours of sleep and it’s all catching up to her now. She starts to cry, her head in her hands, she lets herself have a couple minutes to panic before she goes back to being a professional. 

—

When the team arrives, it’s just JJ and Dave that come up to the ICU. Spencer and Derek are at another hospital, he was shot in the leg, the bullet went in and right back out, hitting bone and fracturing it. He’s going to need surgery and a cast as he’ll be on crutches for a few months. 

“How is he?” Dave asks. 

“He’s still not conscious.” 

“Are you sure it was Foyet?” He asks, still processing the news. 

She nods. “He had Morgans creds.” 

“Did they catch him on the security cameras?” JJ asks. 

“You could see him drop Aaron off but the cameras only on the entrance so I have no idea what direction he went once he left the hospital,” she explains. 

“It doesn’t make sense to have brought Hotch to the ER?” JJ can’t fathom it either. 

“We know Foyet gets off on power and control, maybe what he wants is for Hotch to know his life was in his hands?” Dave suggests. 

“He could do that without risking the hospital?” Y/N combats. 

“Agents,” the doctor calls them over, “he’s waking up.” They all rush to his side, “Now, remember, he’s weak. Don’t push him.” 

She gets the closest to him, holding his hand, she leans in and brushes his hair back, “Hey, there.” 

“Where am I?” He asks, voice weak and throat dry from having a tube down it earlier. 

“The hospital,” Dave answers, on the other side of the bed. 

“How’d I get here?” 

“Foyet drove you,” Y/N says, worried he doesn’t remember the attack. “Do you remember what happened?”

He doesn’t answer, his eyes stay closed and he swallows a few times, thinking back to last night. “What did he take?” 

“What?” 

“The reaper always takes one thing from his victims. Do we know what he took?” 

“Uh,” Y/N thinks back. “There was a page missing from your day planner, the techs said it had been ripped out. The B’s page.” 

“What did he leave?” He asks, trying to piece it all together on his own as if he didn’t just almost die. 

“I don’t know, honey,” she says, feeling bad she doesn’t have more answers for him. 

“He also leaves something with his victims,” Aaron rewords his request. He needs to know. 

“I looked over your whole apartment with the techs, we couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary,” she says. As if the blood stain and the shattered glass were ordinary. 

“Where are my clothes?” 

“over there, but I have your wallet?” She takes it out of her pocket. 

“my pants,” he tries to turn to look at the bag but he’s too weak. 

“I’ve got it,” JJ says, pulling the bag off the table she places it on the foot of his bed and takes his pants out. “What pocket?” 

“Any. Look for something,” he orders, trying to sit up. 

JJ pulls out a picture of Jack and Haley and hands it to him. He tosses his head back and huffs. “Haley’s maiden name is Brooks.” 

JJ and Dave look at each other knowingly. 

“I always listed her in the B’s in my personal information in case it fell into the wrong hands,” he explains. “He knows where they live.” 

“Jacks at a playdate,” Y/N explains. “I called her, I told her what was going on, and she was fine. That was an hour ago, maybe 90 minutes at most.” 

“Go,” Aaron waves them off. “Go make sure they’re okay.” 

“I’ll make the phone calls,” Y/N assures them, “go!” 

And so she’s back on the phone, she calls Garcia to get SWAT to Aaron's old address and then she calls Strauss. This is bigger than them now. They needed the Marshalls. Haley and Jack needed to stay safe until Foyet was either dead or behind bars. And she really wanted him dead for this. 

She hangs up just as Aaron's machines start to beep out of control and she’s told to leave as the doctors assess him. He almost passes out, they get him back on a steady rhythm and check his breathing and his brain activity. He’s okay, but she gets reprimanded for pushing him too hard. He’s been through too much today. He can’t take much more. 

He’s okay, they give him some pain meds and he asks to be able to sit up straight again. She gets a call from JJ, they have Haley and she’s okay. Daves going to pick up Jack from his friend's place and they’re packing their bags to go into witness protection as soon as possible. “I’m going to get a SWAT Team to come here too, there’s no telling what Foyet is capable of and if he’s still here, waiting for us to bring Haley to him, I want to be one step ahead of him.” 

“Okay,” JJ agrees. “You tell the hospital they should go on lockdown, I’ll call Garcia to get the team to head over there.” 

“Thanks,” she says taking a deep breath. “I don’t know how many more phone calls I can make today before I go insane.” 

“Just stay with Hotch, we’ll do the rest.” 

“Thanks again, Jayj,” she smiles to herself before hanging up. 

She pops back into Aaron's room and gives him a smile too, “they’re safe. They’re packing their bags.” 

“Okay,” he nods, relieved but too high on whatever they gave him to show emotion. 

She heads out again, pulls the head doctor over and tells her what’s happening. The hospital is put on a code green: emergency activation. They’re placed on bypass for the time being and if she remembers correctly from New York that means no one new can enter the hospital, and everyone who leaves from every exit is monitored by a police officer. Security roams the halls with 2 SWAT team members, they clear every single room from the basement to the roof, and Foyet is nowhere to be seen. 

Once she knows that she simply pulls the chair over to Aaron’s bedside and sits down beside him, she holds his hand and she doesn’t say anything else. 

“You were at my place?” He asks. 

She nods, “mhm. I went to get you. We had a case.” 

“Oh,” he didn’t even think to ask. “Could you tell how he got in?” 

She shakes her head, “No, sorry, we’re still not sure of that.” 

“Okay.” 

“Do you want to talk about what happened?” She asks, not wanting to push, but she wants him to remember she’s his sounding board, she’s there for whatever he needs.

Forever. 

He suddenly can’t meet her eye. He looks down and away, shaking his head lightly. She can tell by the look on his face that he’s lying but she’ll let him tell her the truth when he’s ready. 

“I don’t know.” 

She just nods. Supporting him even though she knows there’s more. 

Still avoiding her eye, he speaks again. “After he stabbed me the first time it all goes blank.” 

Just then, Haley walks up to his room and she looks upset. Rightfully so. Y/N lets them have the room, she pats Haley’s shoulder on the way out with a smile and she feels awkward for doing it but she did it. She watches them talk from the front desk, JJ brings over Jack and asks her to watch him for a moment. 

“Hey buddy,” she says, getting down on his level, he gives her a hug. She picks him up, setting him down on top of the counter, “You’re getting so big, are you sure you aren’t part Hulk?” 

That makes him laugh and starts talking about other superheroes while she glances back at Aaron. She knows by the look on his face that Haley’s not happy with him. Of course, she isn’t, but still… you’d think she’d be a little concerned for him after being stabbed that many times. 

She comes out a few moments later and helps Jack down from the counter and onto Aaron’s hospital bed before retreating back out of the room. She can just watch from afar, they deserved at least a minute to say goodbye to each other in peace. 

She looks at Y/N, looks her up and down and then cocks her head to the side. “You’re his girlfriend, aren’t you?” 

“Not here. Not now,” she puts her foot down. She’s not playing these little games. “You are the last person to have a say in what he does with his free time.” 

“Wow,” Haley scoffs. “I’m getting kicked out of my house and sent halfway across the country because some serial killer is after me and I’m still the bad guy?” 

She steps closer to Haley, just a little bit taller than her, she looks down at her. “If you died he would never be the same. I have spent the last year picking up his pieces over and over again and I don’t think he’ll be able to be put back together if you or Jack die. So yeah. Suck it up, hide for a bit, and let us catch him so you can go back to living in his house with half of his money and most of his heart.” 

“You love him?” Haley whispers. She stared back and forth between her lips and her eyes, reading everything in Y/N’s expression. “Like really, love him.” 

She nods, fighting the urge to cry. “And I’m going to have to live with the fact that he also loves you for the rest of my life. So please, do me a favour and live.” 

“I will,” Haley promises. “We both will.” 

“And I know you’re not supposed to call anyone or have contact with anyone because Foyet can track you down… but you need to know this guy is a master manipulator. He stole Derek's credentials back in Boston just so he could attack Aaron today and bring him here as a federal agent,” she explains. “He stabbed himself in the same places he stabbed Aaron and pretended to be the only living victim of The Reaper for like 10 years… knowing his previous behaviour, he’s going to try and draw you out by pretending someone in your family has died, even pretending to kill your appointed Marshall to get you to come to him. So if you get a call or someone shows up at your door and they say Aaron, or your sister or anyone has died, don’t go with them. Don’t go to where they want to meet up. Don’t believe anything unless it comes from the Marshall we assigned you today or someone from our team. If you second guess anything, you call me or Penelope, or hell, if you’re close enough, drive right to Quantico and come up to the 6th floor and you find one of us. Buy a gun. Buy a couple, even. Keep one in the kitchen, one in your room and one in your purse. Be prepared to fight. I need you to come home to him.” 

She nods along to everything Y/N says, following everything with a worried look on her face. “I can do that… Aaron taught me how to shoot. I can protect myself. I can protect us.” 

“Good,” Y/N gives her a little smile. “I hope that when this is all over... when you come home, we can talk? Like really talk. I hope that whatever me and Aaron have lasts and we can all get along… I want his family to stay together, I don’t want to have to pick up his pieces again. But I will. I need you to know that. If anything happens, I’ve got him. But I’d like to have him while he still has you, too.” 

“That would be nice,” Haley agrees. 

“Now, the hospital is on lockdown and we have agents scanning the building and parking lot for Foyet in case he stuck around to watch you leave here,” she keeps going with information. “I had JJ run to the store to pick up some hair dye so we’re going to turn you into a brunette to keep you hidden and I’ve asked for 5 identical cars with blacked-out windows to come into the ambulance bay to pick you guys up and all head in different directions so he can’t follow everyone. We’re getting you out of here without a single hitch. Even if I have to do it all myself.” 

“Thank you,” Haley whispers, trying not to cry now that it’s hitting her how real this is. 

“Don’t thank me until you’re home, safe, and all this is over,” she says, placing her hand on Haley's shoulder. “Come on, let’s go get Jack and I’ll take you to the room where we’re going to do your hair.” 

“What shade of brown?” She asks, not excited. 

“It’s more of a red-toned brown… Penelope actually went to hairdressing school for a couple months before she got recruited so she’s going to be doing it,” Y/N explains. 

They walk into the room together, smiling, and Aaron looks like he’s shocked to see them happy together. “You ready to go, Jack?” Haley asks. 

He nods, “can I have another hug?” He asks his dad.

“Of course, buddy,” Aaron takes him in as gently as he can. “I love you so much, you remember that while you’re on vacation with mommy, okay?” 

“Okay.” 

JJ shows up in the doorway behind them then, too. “Penelope’s all set up and ready.”

“You know,” Haley looks at Y/N. “Why don’t you guys keep Jack here while I get my hair done? He’s going to be bored in the room with us anyway… if Aaron needs some rest, I trust you with him. You can watch him?” 

“Yeah, okay,” Y/N doesn’t mind at all. “We’ll come and find you if Aaron needs to rest at all.” 

“Okay,” she gives them all one last smile and then heads out with JJ. 

“I think this TV gets some kid's channels,” Y/N says, pointing up at the old TV that’s screwed into the wall at the top right corner of the room. She takes the remote off the wall where it’s been velcroed to stay safe and turns it on. “What kind of shows do you like, Jackers?” 

“Teenage mutant ninja turtles,” he says with a smile. 

“Well then, let’s see if they’ve got it.” 

—

Derek shows up at St. Sebastian an hour later. Spencer has gone into surgery which should take 2 or more hours so Derek felt like he could leave his side for a while. Dave stays at Aaron’s bedside, keeping him company while Y/N, Derek and JJ bring Haley and Jack down to the ambulance bay. It’s underground, dark and completely empty. The security footage has been turned off down there, so if there is a hack Foyet won’t know what car they’re in. 

They get into the 4th of the 5 cars. Typically, someone important would take the 3rd, the one in the middle, in case of an ambush. Everyone knows this. The president does this. Michael Jackson does this, hell even the fucking pope stays in the middle. Foyet doesn’t have the manpower to orchestrate an ambush. Even so, they put them in the 4th one to be on the safer side. 

The plan is that they’ll all leave the same way and then break off in 5 directions. Again, Foyet doesn’t have the manpower behind him to track down each car. If he were to follow one, chances are it wouldn’t be Haleys and if he does somehow pick car number 4, they would clue into the fact someone is following them well before they make it to their destination. Where that is? They don’t know. That’s the whole point of witness protection. 

There will be unmarked police cars travelling along the same route that Haley and Jack are going, meaning the police are simply 1 call away if someone is following them. In that case, the police will intervene, either pulling him over or… causing an accident. Either way, they’ll get Foyet off their tail in time for them to get off the road and head to a new safe house. 

Her name has already changed, they don’t know what it is. She’ll find out once she’s in the car with her US Marshal. She’ll get new IDs and a backstory she has to learn. Jack will have to be called something else but it will be similar enough that it’s not weird for him to be called something new and it won’t stick if this goes on a while. The last thing they want to do is give this 4 year old an identity crisis. 

She explains most of it to Haley on the ride down to the ambulance bay where JJ and Derek are waiting with the other SWAT members. “You ready?” She asks one final time. 

Haley nods. “Keep him safe for us?” 

“Absolutely. And you remember what I said?”

“He’s a master manipulator, don’t listen to anything unless it comes from my Marshal or you guys, buy a couple guns and come back to Quantico if I don’t feel safe with the information given to me,” she recounts it all back to her. 

“You’re gonna do great,” she assures her, pulling Haley in for a hug, they embrace each other for a moment and then pull away with similar press-lipped smiles. It was awkward but they were going to get through it no matter what. 

“See ya, Jack,” she reaches out her hand to give him a high five. “Have fun on your vacation.” 

“Bye!” He waves, giddy and excited to leave. He has no idea what’s going on and she’s so glad. 

Once Jack is safely buckled into his booster seat and Haley sits down beside him, they close the door and each car starts to pull out of the ambulance bay. They wave, unable to see past the tinted windows but just in case Jack is waving to them… and then they’re gone. 

She lets out a shaky breath and her calm, cool and collected demeanour disappears. She turns to Derek and almost falls into his arms, crying. He rubs her back, “Hey, hey it’s okay. We’re going to get this guy. It’s all good.” 

“Today was so hard,” she cries. “I couldn’t find him and then we realized it was Foyet and then I heard Spencer get shot I had to call 911 and I-I-I... I didn’t know what to do.” 

“Shh, it’s okay,” he assures her. “Spencer is okay. Aaron is okay. Our team is strong. You’re so incredibly strong. You kept your cool through all of this, you could’ve gotten cold and mean and instead you made sure Haley and Jack were okay and you waited to do this. I wouldn’t have been able to do all this if some psycho was after my man.” 

She manages to laugh at that, it’s absurd. Fucking insane, actually. She pulls away and wipes her tears, “I’m also so fucking tired.” 

“I hear you!” Derek agrees, “I feel like I could sleep for 3 days straight if you let me.”

She wraps her arm around him and they all start to head over to the elevator, JJ being quiet the whole time because she doesn’t know what to really say. “we’ve had a hard week, I think we should all take a few vacation days… maybe I can talk to Strauss and agree we only come in if there’s a terrorist attack to amber alert?” 

“Yes please,” she would love that. “Although, I’m going to ask Strauss for more than just a few days off. I want to take all my vacation days either until I run out or until Aaron can come back.” 

“I still find it so weird that you can call him Aaron,” JJ teases. 

She shrugs, “rolls off the tongue pretty easy if you ask me.” 

“Ew,” she says it proudly this time. “Ew! You both are so gross. I’m so glad we don’t work with Will all the time.” 

“No but we still know you two are freaky,” Derek teases her. “I mean… you have a kid.”

“whats that supposed to mean?” She asks, slightly offended. 

“you let him hit it raw,” Derek teases. “Ya nasty.” 

JJ smacks him. “You’re a pain in my ass, you know that? You have a stupid response to literally everything!” 

Derek simply wraps her up in a hug, “what are brothers for?” 

“I wouldn’t know, I had a sister,” she says begrudgingly, but she hugs him back none the less. 

— 

She’s with Aaron all night. She sits beside him and holds his hand and she wipes his tears when things get too intense for him. It breaks her heart. She knows he’s going to be traumatized by this, he’s not going to want to talk about it and the trauma is going to fester and spread and it might affect his work. It’s going to be a long road, she’s prepared for it but she just doesn’t know how to broach these topics. 

She’s not going to ask now, right now is about his healing. The nurses have made it clear that any stress could cause him to tense up and move too fast and pull a stitch or start bleeding internally. He’s very delicate right now. She hasn’t seen what it looks like under his bandages, she won’t for a while, but before they leave the hospital she’s going to be shown how to help him clean and redress them so she can care for him at home. 

He gets more medicine, it helps him sleep and sleep helps him heal, so she just sits there beside him and the nurses say they can bring up a cot for her if she wants it, but she’s good just sitting beside him. She rests her head on his bed, still holding his hand, she’s so close to falling asleep when someone rubs her shoulder. She turns around, thinking it's a nurse and she looks up with blurry, tired vision to see Section Chief Strauss. 

“Oh, hi?” 

“Can you step away for a minute?” She asks. 

Y/N nods, rubs her eyes and stands up to follow her out of the room. They head a little down the hallway, away from the nurses but still in view of Aaron's ICU room. 

“How is he?” She asks. 

“He’s okay, he has 9 stab wounds around 2 inches deep, Foyet missed his major arteries and organs on purpose… he’s going to need a while to heal and I’d like you to request he has mandatory therapy for a few months to process what happened,” she asks, all but begging. “If you intervene he has to, if I ask then I’m just a worrier and he won’t do it.” 

“what are you?” 

“We haven’t filled the paperwork and we know that goes against the rules but we didn’t want to be separated during all this. We’ve been dating a little over 2 months now,” she reluctantly answers. 

“Okay,” Strauss nods, slightly upset but she gets it. “And I suppose you’ll want time off to care for him?” 

She nods, “Foyet knows we're together, he called our hotel room to try and make a deal with Aaron during the Reaper case in Boston, we weren’t dating back then but we were sharing a bed… I-I know that looks bad, but we weren’t doing anything inappropriate during cases I can assure you of that, we had both been through a tough few months with our injuries and me being held hostage and sleeping side by side was good for my anxiety after everything and—

“I understand,” Strauss reaches out and places her hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay. I know, I met my own husband at work, these things just happen.” 

She’s surprised that she’s being so nice… so she uses it to her advantage. “I have 5 weeks of vacation days banked from the last few years, and 3 weeks of sick days, can I have them all?” 

Strauss nods, “You, Aaron and Reid are all going to be off for a while, so I’m already interviewing someone to come in and fill your and Spencer’s shoes. Derek is stepping up to Unit Chief for the time being, Dave will stay second in command and when Spencer can come back to the office he will be working with Penelope in her room, on the phone with the team.” 

“Okay,” she likes this plan. “Do we know the people you’re interviewing?” 

“They’re the same people who were finalists when you were hired, so Aaron should know all of them,” she assures. “I’ll go off his notes and Derek will have an opinion on the final hire as well.” 

“Thank you for making this easy for us,” she gives her a small smile. 

“I just need you to do something for me.”

And there it is. Erin Strauss is a very transactional woman. She doesn’t do anything unless she gets something out of it. She did this before, when Aaron got suspended and she refused to give any dirt on the team. 

“What do you want?” she asks, giving in with a sigh. She leans against the wall and crosses her arms. 

“I need you to get him to agree to step down,” she explains. “While Derek will be the interim chief, I think that going forward... it would be best if when Aaron returns, he steps down for good. When this whole Foyet thing is done, we can asses his mental health and see if he would be able to take his role back, however, until then, I think he should step down. After Gideon's girlfriend was murdered he went a little crazy, we don’t need Aaron going through the same thing.” 

While she understands her reasoning, she doesn’t really want to agree. “Foyet wants to ruin his life, he wants him to be so depressed, so defeated, that he doesn’t have the energy to keep hunting him… stepping down would be smart.”

“Good, you agree. Well, that’s really all I wanted to talk to you about… is there anything else you need?” She asks. 

Y/N shakes her head. “No… um, I don’t know where we’re going to go yet but I know we can’t stay in DC while he’s healing. I just don’t feel safe with Foyet knowing where we live so when we do get settled somewhere can you maybe call us once a week or send emails with any updates about the case?” 

“I can definitely do that. You two take care, I’ll be in touch,” Strauss lightly touches her arm and smiles, and then she walks away. 

She just takes in a deep breath and lets it out with the slump of her shoulders. She hasn’t really slept since last week. Being in Canada, seeing what they saw, not being able to find Aaron, thinking he and Spencer were going to die… it’s all actually catching up to her now and she’s exhausted. She wanders back into his room, sits back down at her chair beside his bed and rests her head on his thigh. This is where she’ll be for the next few hours. 

Sleeping peacefully with the love of her life safely beside her. 

—

Aarons has been in the hospital for 3 days now, she hasn’t left his side more than a handful of times.

And she hasn’t gone home at all.

She convinces the nurses to let her use the residents' locker room showers to feel a little less gross and she changes into an outfit from her go bag that lives in her car. She’s scared to leave him, she’s scared to go back to her own apartment, she’s scared to walk the halls at night… she knows the reaper is like a ghost, he could pop up anywhere and so she’s terrified he’ll show up behind her and stab her to death. He knows about them. He knows Aaron was happy, even while divorced, and she’s sure that if he can’t get to Haley, he’s going to come after Her. 

She wants to get out of here, run as fast as she can as far as she can go and she wants to bring Aaron with her. He’s just not ready to be moved yet. She’s been thinking over the last 3 days, where could they go when he is ready? Her parents live down in Florida now at a retirement village so that’s not a place they can hide. His brother lives in New York in a small apartment and they’re not friendly and it could just put Sean in harm's way. And then it hits her. 

West Virginia. 

That’s where they’re going to go.

The team, well, Rossi, Morgan and JJ headed off on a case yesterday, something in Idaho regarding a missing child. She had planned on calling Derek if he wasn’t busy, she wanted to ask him to come to her apartment with her cause she was afraid to go alone and she needed to pack and change and shower with her own things. But he’s busy. And he’s only going to get busier. 

So she calls Anderson. He is the BAU’s equivalent of a head resident in a hospital. He makes schedules, he makes sure people are where they need to be, he makes calls and fills out paperwork and he ensures that Aaron's job—well, Morgans now, goes smoothly. He’s trained just like every other agent in the FBI, he just hasn’t been in the field in 5 years now. He likes his office job. This is where he shines the most. He could help her, too. 

He meets her outside her home with his gun on his hip and a sorrowful look on his face. He asked about Aaron, or Hotch as they all called him. No matter what happened, no one but she seemed to be able to call him Aaron. It felt too intimate. Nevertheless, he goes into her apartment with her, helps her clear it to ensure no one is hiding in wait, and stays in the living area while she packs. 

In her bedroom, in the box under her bed full of memories, she finds a brochure for the Bed ’n Breakfast they stayed in last year and she immediately calls the number on the back. 

“Evergreen Bed and Breakfast, Mary speaking,” the elderly British woman answers the phone. 

“Hi, I’m not sure if you remember me but my friend Aaron and I stayed with you last year we were in Room 6,” she explains, hoping that rings any bells. But if it didn’t, she adds: “We work for the FBI and we were just coworkers who wanted two queens but you didn’t have any left?” 

“Oh, yes! Hello, dear, how are you?” She asks, chipper as ever. 

“I’m good, um, I was wondering if you knew anyone in the area who has a cabin for rent? We’d like to have a little getaway, we’re thinking 6 to 8 weeks…” 

“We have one,” she offers right away. “We were going to head up to clean it out for the fall and winterize it, but we can put that off until you’re done with it?” 

“Are you sure? I’d never want to inconvenience you—

“Oh, hush, it’s no worry on our end,” she assures Y/N. “When were you thinking you’d be needing it?” 

“Early next week? Um, Aaron was in an accident and he’s coming out of the hospital soon and we’d like a place to hide away while he’s in recovery… and if we could book it under a fake name, that would be good. I can pay cash, I really don’t want us to be found at all.” 

“Oh, my,” Mary can’t believe it. “Can I ask what happened?” 

“The most I can say is that a criminal we were after attacked him in his home,” she explains. “He’s going to need a while to recover, and I don’t think he can do it in that environment and I feel too exposed having him at my home in case the man knows where I live too.” 

“Holy,” is all Mary can say. Flabbergasted, Y/N can hear her breathing through her mouth, like it’s still left open, shocked at that answer. “It’s all yours.” 

“Thank you, thank you so much,” she feels so relieved. “How much do I owe you?” 

“For 8 weeks… 2 grand?” 

“Are you sure?” She asks, that seems a little low. “Does it have electricity and running water?” 

“Oh yes, it’s been in our family a long time. There are 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom with a nice tub and a fireplace in the lounge. We normally close it down right before Halloween so it’s not of use to us and that money will cover the bills to keep it open longer, we won’t take anything more. Consider it a thank you for what you two do for a living,” she explains. “I’ll tell Eileen about this and she and her eldest son Marshall will go up there this weekend and make sure it’s up to standard, you can stop here and get the key and pay and no one will ever know you’re staying there.”

“I appreciate this endlessly, seriously, thank you. I have been so scared about what I’m going to do to keep him safe going forward, this is such a weight off my shoulders.” 

“You’re very welcome, dearie, we’ll see you next week,” Mary says, signing off. They say their goodbyes and then she’s alone in her room again. 

She has a moment to smile and take a deep breath. This will be okay. Haley is a strong woman, she’s going to fight for them. Aaron is a strong man but he’s also good at listening to her. She can get him to open up on their trip. She can use some of her psychology skills and help him if he is exhibiting any PTSD symptoms. She can clean his wounds and nurture his mind and love him and protect him and when he’s okay, they’ll go back to work and they’ll catch this fucker. 

She puts all her clothes in a suitcase, and she also packs everything of Aarons that she has at her apartment. Then, she grabs a laundry basket and fills it with other things they’ll need while in a cabin in the woods. All their shower things, towels and face cloths, laundry detergent and dryer sheets, a pair of scissors, nail clippers, tweezers, moisturizer, deodorants, toothpaste, toothbrushes, tissues, wet wipes, napkins, dish soap, a can opener… they’ll get anything else they need while they’re there, but she’s not sure how far a grocery store will be from this cabin. 

She throws in some cans of soup just to cover her bases. She cleans out her fridge of anything that will go bad while they’re gone. She plugs the sinks and the tub in the bathroom so bugs don’t get in with the pipes being dry for so long. She locks every window and Anderson helps her carry everything down to her car. She then calls her landlord and leaves a message about her going away for a while so he can turn off her water to prevent any flooding or pipe breaking in her absence and then she takes another deep breath. 

“anywhere else you need to go?” Anderson asks. 

“Aaron’s place,” she says reluctantly. “I need to pack his things… I don’t want to go there.” 

“It’s okay, I can help,” Anderson assures her. “I actually called a good crime scene clean-up crew right after the police were done with it and they tore up the carpet yesterday so you won’t have to see that again.”

“Thank you, Grant,” she reaches out and touches his arm and smiles. “I’ll see you over there.” 

They part ways to get in their own cars and drive to where Aaron lives on the other side of town. When they get there, the tape is still up on the outside of Aaron's door, the cleaning people must’ve just ducked under it… she takes it down and hesitates before going in.

“Now, I don’t know what Foyet did while he was here. We shouldn’t talk about anything confidential, or where we’re going just in case he has a listening device in there now,” she says, worried as ever. 

“Yeah, smart… but you were talking on the phone with someone making plans at your house, what if he—

“There’s no proof he was ever in my place but even still I never mentioned any names or locations on the phone,” she assures him. 

“Smart, okay, let’s go in,” Anderson says, handing her the keys to Aaron’s place. He got them surrendered to him from evidence after the police wrapped everything up. 

Inside, they clear the space quickly and then she does the same things she did at her own place. She packs Aaron's bag with all his comfy clothes, sweats and t-shirts and underwear and then a couple pairs of jeans and nice shirts— polos and button-ups, for when he’s feeling like he wants to go out and be a real person again. 

She knows what that’s like. In her senior year of high school, she had her appendix removed, she had 11 staples and she was out of school for a month. It was hard, she couldn’t shower often and laughing hurt, but the day she was able to get her staples out she got all dressed up for it. Simply because she could. 

And that was with just 1 wound. Aaron has 9. 

He’s going to hate feeling like he can’t do anything. He’s going to try and move and do things too soon because he’s impatient. She’s going to have to monitor his medicine intake and help him bathe and clean the wounds and redress for a few weeks… and she’s completely okay with that. She wants the rest of her life with him and if that means the "in sickness and in health" part starts now. She’s going to do it. 

Once she has everything he’d need clothing-wise, she throws out things in his refrigerator, plugs all the drains and talks to the super of his building to get everything turned off while they’re gone. 

While Anderson is bringing the suitcase out to her car, she has 2 more things she wants to bring. Aaron's gun safe sits on his night table, it’s fingerprint-activated and both his and her own thumbprint are in it. She opens it up to see that his spare gun is in there. The one day he didn’t wear it on his ankle was the one day he was attacked… his passport and some cash are in there too. She locks it up again and unplugs it from the wall and starts to carry it out into the main room. 

“Woah, let me get that,” Grant says as he walks back in. “You’re bringing this?” 

She nods, “Yeah. We’re bringing our guns with us, we need to keep them somewhere?” 

“Yeah, I mean, it’s not like you’re gonna be at a h—

“Grant,” she cuts him off. Knowing he was about to say a hotel with a safe. “No specifics while we’re in here.” 

“Right, sorry,” he apologizes. “I’ll go put this in your car.” 

“I’ll be right out.” 

He heads down the hallway and she has a moment to look around. She grabs another laundry basket and puts in some of Aaron's running shoes and slacks. A bottle of his favourite whisky from the bar cart and Aaron's laptop. His phone is still in evidence so she’ll have to go get that, and his gun is with the police too so she’ll have to sign it out… and last but not least she grabs his two photo albums. One is full of his childhood memories and the other is all of Jack's baby pictures. He’s going to need this. 

She takes the basket with her out into the hall and sets it down as she locks up and then heads back out to her car with it. It’s pretty packed now. All she needs is Aaron to be released from the hospital and they can run away together. 

She can’t wait to run away with him. 

IKP

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[stereax]

is it too soon to ask for some mock trades and analyses for Marner, Mo Rielly, and/or Tavares?

Not too soon, anon! Sorry I didn't get to you earlier, I've been working on this ask for about a week now, sorry it's taken so long! Let's take a look under the cut, shall we?

We're going to go backwards in this request - from Tavares to Rielly and last Marner. Bring up the drama and suspense, discuss what's easiest and move to harder topics later. Without further ado:

JOHN TAVARES: UNMOVABLE

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Tavares's contract is way too much money for his current production. He plays as a 2C and sometimes even 3C in Toronto's system. That's not a player you can pay 11 million dollars. Even if the "real price" is lower once his signing bonus is paid, it's still a terrible contract cap-wise. Additionally, Tavares's NMC makes moving him tough. It's been speculated that, even if him moving would benefit the team by allowing them to hold onto Marner, that he would not accept that proposition and would exercise his NMC to stay in Toronto with his family. It must also be considered that not many teams have room to add an $11m player who isn't playing to that potential.

This is probably one of the only trades I see making sense. Chicago is one of the only teams with the room to take on all $11m of that contract and not get an elite player out of it. We know they've been in the market for old men (see: the Foligno contract, the Hall contract, the Mrazek contract, the Perry contract...) and want players to play with Bedard in the short term. As such, you pay to dump Tavares's contract with Liljegren and a first. I don't think that's enough, but Toronto has no other good draft picks unless they add their 2026 1st. In both cases, you're hamstringing a potential retool at its knees.

Likelihood: 2/10. It makes sense but for Tavares's NMC. You'd have to strong-arm him to waive it. Additionally, the first(s) you give up are vital to a retool and could be used to trade for better players, not just the lack of players.

MORGAN RIELLY: UNFATHOMABLE

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Toronto needs good, puck-moving defensemen. Morgan Rielly is a good, puck-moving defenseman. Why are we trading him? What do I not see here? He has a full NMC for four more years, plus an M-NTC for the next two. Why?

Well. Um. Lemme think here.

Rielly is a left shot defenseman making $7.5m against the cap for the next six years. He's the only defenseman the Leafs currently have making more than $2m against the cap. That being said, there are questions about whether he's a true #1 defenseman or an above average #2.

To explain, let me pull up some JFresh cards of three #1 defensemen -

So we notice that Rielly is middling in EV offense WAR, bad at EV defense WAR, and very good at PP WAR. Karlsson is very good at EVO WAR, bad at EVD WAR, very good at PP WAR. Makar is middling in EVO WAR, good at EVD WAR, and good at PP WAR.

Past that, take a look at the microstats. Karlsson is only below average in entry denial rate, prevention of entry with possession, and hits; most of the rest of his stat sheet is bright blue, very good. Makar is only below average in d-zone retrievals (by one percentage point) and hits; past that, just about all of his stats are bright blue, very good. Rielly, however, is low on many microstat metrics, including primary shot assists, passes (yikes), and in-zone offense. This has led many to underline that he's not a "true" #1 defenseman in the way Karlsson and Makar are. Additionally, see the scouting report: he "plays too much" at 24:00 TOI, which is not #1 defenseman caliber.

All this being said, it still makes no sense to trade Rielly. He's your best defenseman by a country mile, you're in a contention window, and the rest of your defense isn't going to be able to replace that. The only way I see them moving off Rielly is if they pursue a top free agent #1 defenseman (Skjei, Montour) or someone who they believe can be a #1 defenseman (Ekman-Larsson comes to mind here). Unless they're going to try to trade for a top defenseman? No idea who would take that, though. Chychrun? But I doubt Ottawa would want to trade him to the Leafs.

Alright. Let's see a trade or three.

This is an idea where you're going Mittelstadt-for-Byram, Hall-for-Larsson, 1-for-1 trade. The difference between Rielly and Power is a little more significant, however; hence, I threw in some prospects on both sides to make it a little more palatable. Robertson is an NHL caliber player who's forced down the depth chart with the Leafs and could benefit from a team with fewer expectations and more chances for him to crack the top six; Kozak is a decent two-way player who could act as a third-line center; Hirvonen could probably will himself onto the Sabres' roster if his life so far has been any indication. Power gets a chance to be a true #1 without Dahlin in the way; Rielly acts as both a good "role model" and can play top-line minutes if needed.

Another 1-for-1, but one that's "easier", so to speak. Winnipeg has made it clear that Ehlers is on the trade block and that they're intending to contend for the near future. Rielly helps Winnipeg's defense, plus the term on his contract is enticing for a team that only has Morrissey signed past next season. Ehlers gives the core another top six winger to play with, one that's chronically underrated as well, and reduces the need to re-sign Bertuzzi and/or Domi. Here, however, you'd need to pursue a Montour or Skjei or other top defenseman in free agency.

This is a Gauthier-style trade that lets Toronto do what it really wants to - escape the cap hit of Rielly to be able to land a top defenseman in free agency. Attard is big, he's "offensive minded", and also he's very large. He seems to be a tweener at best from his career so far, but he may be able to thrive in the right system (and we know old-style hockey people like Treliving and Berube love their big defensemen). The picks get flipped later on for things like, you know, a goalie. Philly, for its part, picks up a player who is instantly their best defenseman.

Likelihood: 1/10. I don't think Treliving and company seriously want to move off Rielly. If the opportunity to upgrade presents itself, maybe, but I don't think Rielly is as "on the table" as they're saying.

MITCH MARNER: UNPALATABLE

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This is the big one. Marner's great. Nobody's doubting that. The problem is, Marner is expensive and projected to be expensive for the significant future. Additionally, Marner is, unlike Tavares, a player you can sell without having to pay for it. However, moving Marner means you either play Nylander with Matthews or play people like Bertuzzi and Knies with Matthews. Neither is optimal - Nylander has to drive his own line, especially without Marner, and Matthews needs a set-up man like Marner to unlock his full potential. Remember that one Quiz where they flat-out called Marner Matthews's superpower?

Let's take a look at trades before I go on too much about Marner's playstyle though. All of these will be assumed to happen after July 1, so that Marner's signing bonus can hit and the monetary payment for Marner drops significantly.

THE 1-for-1 trade. You thought the Rielly 1-for-1s were good, take a look at this. Nashville can afford the cap hit in full, would be able to give Marner top player time on a playoff team, and can move on from Saros by finally releasing Askarov from the Admirals. Toronto gets A Goaltender, specifically a top goaltender, which they are in desperate need of, with the possibility of extending him if they don't like what they're seeing from Woll or maybe Hildeby. It seems like Nashville is the foregone destination conclusion for Marner, but let's see some other ideas.

Toronto gets Binnington, who, despite being a... feisty player, is still a very good goalie, plus Faulk, who's a competent RHD to pair with Rielly, thus hitting their two biggest concerns. St Louis can clear a bit of cap here and picks up Marner, thus opening up Buchnevich even further for a trade to pick up assets. However, St Louis would have to grab a goalie as well if they intend on competing - Hofer is good, but not good enough to play 82 games a season. Maybe they can pick up Gibson at 50% retained, or maybe Martin Jones?

This is a fun one - Marner becoming the face of Utah Hockey. Toronto picks up a good offensive defenseman in Durzi and a solid, cost-controlled winger in Crouse, as well as what may be a near-first-round caliber 2nd and their own 2nd back. Utah is closer to contention - or at least wildcard playoff losses - than many of the non-playoff teams in the league. If not for that 14 loss streak (you know the one) they could have ended within striking distance of a wildcard. Marner might be what they need to get them there and is a clear upgrade on Crouse. Durzi's loss is compensated by the ability of Lamoureux to crack the lineup in a significant role.

Likelihood: 5/10. This seems to be what Treliving would want - to trade Marner off - but I'm not sure how feasible it really is. If I had to guess, I'm betting it's to Nashville, but the Utah idea is growing on me. It all depends if and how Marner waives his NMC.

Well! There ya have it, anon! Mock trades and ideas for all of Tavares, Rielly, and Marner. Sorry it took so long, again, and I really hope this answers your question!

If you enjoyed, drop a like, maybe reblog? It's up to you, though. Thanks for the ask, I really enjoyed working on it!

[eartheats]

//ooc post but god. for my own sake, i'm organizing and trying to set some hard dates for some events. i'm also looking for some volunteers, specifically BBA adjacent for one of them and just in general for the second! i need to stop keeping plots in my head.

no cws up until the third bullet point, where there is talk of kidnapping (successful attempts on adults, failed attempt on a teen), violence (to adults and to a teen), murder (of an adult and only an adult), mind control, and other evil team shit on the horizon. be forewarned! the final bullet point will be in very high stakes territory, given that noriko fully intends to try and end the world, but feel free to ignore if that isn't your jam. live your lives besties <3

(mid-may ETA): Bouton evolution arc. I need to find someone or multiple someones to bother with a very nosy Roselia who is trying to find a shiny stone, and may potentially steal something sparkly thinking that it's what it needs. If anyone wants to volunteer for this lmk, but I can just as easily borrow Carmine for this if nothing else! (CLAIMED)

(may!): Ren goes back to Zapapico! Temporarily. Jacques is going to get his grand festival trophy from Sinnoh and quietly retire. Ren's going to be in Zapapico and getting used to life back home for a lil while.

(early june through august): I wanna work in the Iron Crown sighting/healing arc I have in the works, because while Ren's not going to CATCH the paradox, it's going to be something that works alongside any volunteers for taking care of Noriko's evil team resurgence. Mostly as extra assurance for them to lose! Tatiana reconciliation Arc will probably take place around here too. basically, if anyone wants involvement with zapapico/ren just in a general context, feel free!

(start of september) Ren goes back to Blueberry! Madison and Jacques will be posting some of notes they find from Noriko, which will have some involvement IC if desired since I'll be using Caesar Ciphers to scramble shit up if anyone wants to play detective. :3c They'll also briefly be around to post on Ren's blog/answer questions!

(mid september) The final batch of notes is found and translated, and the opening to Noriko's secret base of operations is opened! But Madison/Jacques are going to end up kidnapped here by Iori, an admin in Noriko's Neo Flare stuff and actually a faller from Hisui! She'll be available to interact with for at least a day. <3 Design coming soon, I need to figure out her nonsense.

(also mid september) yeah so ren is. escaping the academy, even if it tries to keep them constrained. they are going to be meeting their mom on the remains of cinnabar island, where one confrontation may take place. please keep in mind if you try to do a ren rescue party, it is going to fail. (very specifically for ren) it has to fail for the next leg of the plot, but i AM potentially considering getting carmine in on this mess and getting her injured in the process, and while there, noriko is definitely going to think about taking her too so that her kid has a friend. which. yeahno. this one is influenceable, but is MUCH more likely to fail, so if anyone wants to big damn heroes carmine you have my full permission 👍👍👍 save that girl! (CARMINE SAVING IS HANDLED BY THE GIRLFRIEND BLESS)

as a small aside: would anyone like to get ren's very stressed out team to take care of for a bit? noriko's a lot of things but she's not a monster, if anyone wants to take care of the team for a bit/potentially use them against lotus :3c it may be. interesting! (CLAIMED for now)

(october-november? maybe) noriko's neo team flare shit (name pending) will emerge proper and try to be as evil teammy as possible! ren is going to be a mind controlled admin named lotus and have none of their actual pokemon! shit's going to be bad, but! while it might take a bit to organize some losses for them and i may mostly leave that to anyone who wants to fix this mess (we can either handwave or actually play them out, preference to whoever volunteers), but there's gonna be one event specific for camille, one for iori, one for lotus (which can influence how the big admin battle goes), and then what i'm hoping to be a siege on the base. this one i have ways to bullshit a win (for the good guys!!) for, but i wanna see what people come up with, too!

and by the new year, everyone should be recovering, and that'll be the end of team neo flare at least! the rest of the event will decide everyone else but ren's fate. they will end up coming back fine from this, but it's gonna be rough :')

so yeah. basic rubric and very changeable (i gotta ask some players some stuff and things), my only real rule is no instant wins/legendary spam/godmodding really? i want this to be fun but i want it to feel like an actual uphill battle a bit, and i'm still trying to build toward that. this could even be pushed out into 2025, depending, but! yeah!!!

idk if anyone has questions feel free to leave 'em on this post and i will try to get to them when my brain isn't a mess because of retail or other stuff 👍

volunteers (for my ref)

@/suddenlyauntiemaya (bouton evolution arc!!! pushing this one back for this :3b)

@/little-guys-pokemon-central

@/elite-amarys (CARMINE'S SAVIOR!!!)

@/goindownswingin

@/professor-amaryllis (ren rescue party!)

@/electricalflre

@/bee-bee-kyuu (ren rescue party!)

temporary team-ups/team holding:

lulu the orthworm: going to @/professor-amaryllis!

bouton the roserade: @/professor-amaryllis! teaming up to bring lotus back to their senses/back to being ren :3c

coriander the ferrothorn: available! she is not a battling pokemon and is. going to be about as stressed and anxious as lulu, as a warning.

soba the furret: @/bee-bee-kyuu! will be very determined and ready for a fight.

harusame the huntail: available! will also be very determined though a lot more emotional.

any pokemon who is not taken will likely be taken in by amy, and lulu is going to be going to amy instead by default for planning purposes~

[apatchworkstar]

Hi! >:- 3c surprised to see me here? Cause I'm a bit, to be making this. So! Context is I made a Muu playlist and I wanted to make a post about why I ordered it the way I did. Not to mention why I chose the songs I did.

So, as they say, from the top~

Selfish Princess - Fujiwo

I feel like anyone who knows of Muu and has listened to this song may be able to guess why it's here. But for anyone who hasn't...

I feel like this captures her dichotomy of how she wants to be catered to very well.

Wanna eat that sweet sweet chocolate, wanna drink that hot hot latte, wanna eat that soft soft bread. Wanna eat that sticky cheese, wanna sleep in that fluffy fluffy bed; dozy, dozy have a good night zzz / Wanna eat that bitter bitter liver, wanna drink that red red soup, wanna eat that soft soft flesh.

This song also showcases how lazy she can be when it comes to things she's asked to do. In conjunction with how she expects people to work around her, instead of the other way round.

One, two, three- start dancing to the beat with my mysterious steps / Murmuring, rolling, lazy lazy meow meow; don't wanna do anything! / Three, two, one- the fragrant that makes my heart beat wildly

It also highlights a aspect of hers that can get overlooked. That being that she tends to like people who aren't just seeming to suck up to her.

Guillotine, gunshot, burning or seppuku, any option you'd like. No one can beat me; oh how boring. / Sweet sweet is not enough, show me more of that twisted face. Lalala lalala lalala, see- it's not enough

You may ask "then why would she bully those who aren't giving into her whims?" and that's a fair question! Muu does like to be indulged, after all. She's just also someone who doesn't appreciate people feeding off her without any sort of recompense. This is shown in how she refers to Mikoto in the wireless headphones.

Mikoto-kun, he's a bit of a poser

Overall, it's a good starting song as it shows Muu at a baseline.

I'm waiting for someone to love this selfish me. My pillow is wet with tears at the lonely nights. I watch every second passing by-

but I'm... right?

Selfish, lalala~ Don't be afraid everyone. Please give, give me! Keep giving me everything. Everything can be forgiven because I'm the cutest.

Hello Dystopia - MafuMafu

Ah, Hello Dystopia, my beloved~ Also a very easy pick for Muu, given her role in her school's dynamic.

Now, exit, exit; disappear, if you'd please! / The influence of a desperate god, the screws in my head turn anti-clockwise. It's too late to let us down, isn't it? Don't you beg for your life- let's fall together to the depths of hell. / Here, there's only idiots crawling out of the woodwork who want to play. Let's go in order, starting with whose hands are free- raise them to the gallows

As we all know, Muu has a habit of acting against anyone who she thinks dislikes her/ has ulterior motives-

Rehabilitation, reincarnation, my specialty. A refuge for failures to gather in 140 characters / It's the cruel sin of tearing down a tower of building blocks. All right, we're saving the world; excellent, chanting in unison, almost logged out of life

-We also know that, in some sense, this is meant to be a kindness, as she refers to these actions as "gentle stings".

Let's chant babbled nonsense. Let's grant wishes, no matter what they may be. Good children surely get prizes for perfect attendance; a show made of the dismantlement of the slandered / This is fake news, see. Keep out; die a dog's death. Mostly sources from ambiguous tip offs

It also touches upon some implications about Muu. Namely, that she has a distorted sense of showing and receiving "love"

A utopia where love is uncertain; there's no way of knowing if any of it's true or not anyways. A utopia where love is uncertain. Hysteria where this is certain

And that she tends to view things like love and hate in a transactional nature.

Here's the question, question- what was brought into being after we hurt each other? Excellent answer; dystopia / A shooting gallery for shotguns; thank you, Merry Bad End / Ignorant irony, though there's no conflict. Like it's a piece of cake, throw an entire life into disorder

Furthermore, this song placed here means it can also be read as her initial relationship with Rei

Love me; for my ambiguous self, become mine. Give me validation, hereditary idiot. Have you written the fiction between you and me? The present state of wild delusions and exaggerations, a collar at hand

"hey"

Useless Angel - Nanawo Akari

Now we get to Useless Angel! Something that definitely highlights Muu's more lazy side

It's not that I won't do it, I just can't! / Aah, lately the word on the street is that there's a no-good angel who makes up for her uselessness with angelic power... Well, that's the plan! / I wanna get a good score on my upcoming test, but my brain can't keep up and my thoughts are clattering around. It's Saturday, and I wanna get up early but I can't stop playing online games in the middle of the night / Just lemme say there's nothing I can do about it! Even though I stuck my halo in my mouth / "But can you really fly if you work hard?" I'm making a face that looks like that

But it also shows more of her earnest desire for affection, and the lengths she's willing to go to receive it,

I want to convey to you more and more of my feeling being inadequate. But, when I'm noticed, I get nervous, a miscommunication. My blinking halo is cracking, but with this, I'll change your mind about my identity. I said it's a bluff, but the truth is that there's a foggy feeling of love. I want to search for it with you. / Hey, the no-good, no-good, no-good, no-good me- you'll love her! / I'll make your heart beat, beat, beat, beat just for you! If you'd just look at me seriously, I'd probably do it!

And her anxieties about not being deserving of said affection. Or receiving it for reasons that have nothing to do with her as a person.

But am I at least alright? / I hid my feeling of love in that kind of paper-mache shell, but I want to be laughing with you. Hey the no-good, no-good, no-good, no-good me... are you okay with her? To tell the truth, I don't have any self confidence. I'm an angel, you know. My head is spinning, spinning, spinning, spinning. It is filled with nothing but you- that's what I've been thinking about!

I think I'll be able to fly with this love I've received, since I'm an angel

It's not that I won't do it, I just can't!

Er, well, I'll put a lot of effort in anyway!

Chameleon - Surii

And Chameleon represents Muu in the midst of her efforts to earn love meaningfully. As I said before in this post, Muu doesn't want people to just fawn over her for no reason. And this time she's putting in her all to catch the attention she wants from Rei!

I get dizzy from falling in love burningly. I want to be loved, so I'm being an honour student. As I get irritated, my heart is scattered- but I'm a chameleon that can blend in this much / I want to resist to ask you for your affection. I want to show you the best attitude / A while crying and a while falling in love again. Today's makeup can't be messed with / A passionate chameleon becoming half dead again, but next time, for sure. A passionate chameleon. I'm a chameleon that just wants to be loved by you. Transform and diving into the average class. A complete change into the life of the lower class, piling up the dynamite on myself. Oh my, what a damp noise

But of course, Muu is someone who can't help but stay true to herself, even if it causes her trouble. As much as she tries to hide it, not everything can be covered up by hard work and determination.

The transformation is not perfect; my entire body is not something you desire. I take those dynamites little by little, apparently dangerous / Do you still wanna be loved? / A while buttering up and a while melting; I gotta check today's trend. Dazzling from singing flamingly, living a life with the passing grade. My resentful heart sways back and forth; I'm a chameleon that can be a part of it / My throat is parched, feeling the moment. But can't be forgiven because my outfit is way too flashy.

Even if it's painful, it's just something she ends up slipping back into. And so the loop of effort and pain continues.

Dunno... I cried so much that even my true original colour disappeared. When I tried to run away because it was too hard for me, you smiled at me.

Only want you to love me, is it not enough? Still not enough so try to blend in, chameleon

Ai Janai - DAZBEE

Yes, I know Gunsli has brought this specific song before. It's a great comparison and you should all give it a read when you have the chance! However, I do have my own reasoning. Especially it being placed where it is! Besides, I do do things a bit different from her, even if there are similarities.

But yes! We are slowly approaching the eye of the storm now. Everything is turning upside down and tensions are beginning to run high. Muu's starting to lose it, lost between her desire for love and her desire to earn it. And that's mixing with the burgeoning realization that maybe Rei wouldn't ever like her.

This isn't love, so depressed I feel sick. This isn't love; it isn't, right? Is that the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard? Denied, isn't it? / On an answer sheet with A, B, and Cs, I gladly marked each question wrong. Could we have a secret love? "let's solve the hard questions together", "I'll wait for you after school" ...as if you would say that. / Before I fall apart, I wanna confess about this love that won't go away / Something's wrong with me, I must be going crazy. I'm in a drunken stupor filled with regret /I'm half joking and about to cry / I won't get my hopes up

Further and further until we enter it and anything can be set off with something as simple as a push or shove.

My sixth sense is tingling, I realized I really need to see you / It's like I'm sucked into a vortex each time I remember, and I can't get away

I look up the psychology of your actions online for signs / "Let's share secret looks between us", "I'll be standing in the hallway" ...but you're not listening, are you?

You'd resent me for the deal I've made in my head

Is this respite before I'm faced with a dilemma?

(Bonus!) Notice - Moe Shop

It's the bonus round! Also known as the song I keep dithering about putting in the playlist or not. It just feels. Very fitting for this moment.

Signal broken, error, retry. No one told me how to do this. Faith, belief un-fucking-believable. Shaking, wavering proof of my love / Taking long to get a reply, regretting. Maybe I'm thinking about it too much. Shaking, wavering, vibrating

That sensitive age where you wanna start a coup, can't pick up anything dropped. Stand, bow, this is a warzone

Cut off 5cm of my school skirt, feeling a little blue and sentimental. Senpai please, notice me. I already know there's a sweetie, so bad that I seriously consider suicide. It really hurts. / Eyes glaring in the dark

A piano in the evening, Ivory skies above. I hear a voice calling someone to stop. Please almighty god, stop those footsteps before the magic of misunderstanding fades

"Please, senpai. Notice me"

Short lived rumours last 75 days. That couple who were dating, broken up already, love is a lie.

Messed Up! - Natsuyama Yotsugi

And now we arrive at the incident- including this, only five more songs to go...! Thankfully God's Parasol is very short. More like a preview than anything. But back on track! We finally reach a release and now Muu has to deal with the aftermath.

I messed up and I killed 'em!? I caused a big commotion in the early afternoon- a rouge coloured puddle. Ah, they went and died!! I've gone and done this and that, and now I'm getting worried. I wipe my sweat away as the cicadas cry. Crisis! Crisis! My thoughts go 'round and 'round. This story's taken a dark turn, oh... / There's nothing I can do. Escaping into a träumerei, please, close my eyelids already

"Co-ming. Who is it?" I open the door to a flood of justice "Could you tell us the truth about this incident" "Actually no, first, a word of apology please" Ah, I'm sorry, I'm s-s-sorry. I've been a bad girl, that's why please / I'm just getting my just desserts / My offenses are as stated. Oh judge, please send me to the gallows already / They messed up and killed 'em!? What a big fuss over nothing, a story turned märchen / and the whole crowd laughs like fools

Darling - Keina Suda

And now the aftermath starts to set in. After all, as we've seen in milgram (and Undercover) Muu is a girl filled with regret and wistfulness

Am I not good enough? I know I'm the only one / I can't win your heart. I know you better than anyone / Darling, I'll give you my everything- please, give me all your love

There is no point in being alone. Words couldn't be created. I know- I know, but I keep pretending. We can't be together; our hearts will stay apart / but my love for you is shameless / Panicked, you were having too much fun

Just forget it, I'll be waiting for all this to end / Darling, take me someday; I long for that day to come

God's Parasol - Shikiura

This is so short I feel like I could just put all the lyrics here lmao. So that's what I'm gonna do

With the parasol god gave me, I'll come to you, fluttering in the air. I don't need anything else, melting away with your sweet kisses. With the parasol god gave me, I'll come to you, fluttering in the air. Why won't you say anything other than goodbyes?

First Love Diary - Kashii Moimi

Now we're really getting into the conflicting feelings- the regret, the frustration and sorrow all melding into something manically tangled.

I could never come to hate you, and so this ingrained self-restraint has no function. I'm forever remembering the secrets shared just between us two. Do I have to keep my feelings under lock and key? Saying "I want to see you" is my signal that I've been hurt, but I'm reluctant to cry all by my lonesome after putting on a brave front. / It'll do me no good (Don't leave) to get this attached to you. (me alone...) / please don't abandon me / I want to stay gentle (I'm the best in the world)

Dizzily inhaling your gaze, I don't even know what I've been doing to survive until now (You're heartless, aren't you?) I hate it, darling. I beg you, grasp my hand and rebuild me as someone new. Just as you want me! (Aren't I remarkable?) Maybe everything about me is becoming immoral in an indifferent and imbecilic way. Yet your hands are forever lovely (this is our starting point) / Indeed your words are my drug. I'm falling upside down, so won't you catch me? (And take me away from these dark days?) / Even so, darling... (I want you)

I hate it darling, become my sustenance! You know, I can't feel a single thing. You're constantly not there (Is nothingness so awful?) I love you. Can you tell me there'll never be another?! / "My first love won't be fulfilled" Then what should be done about me, who was able to fulfill it?

Will it always be so painful? Yes, yes, I feel the same way. So let's hurry up and go together (to heaven)

Chronophobia - 2進P

And finally, the point Muu was at when she was whisked away to Milgram. This is the point where the mania has faded, only leaving hurtful memories that dig into her psyche.

Time is projected so clearly; it goes on everywhere. Beautiful lights deceive my eyes as usual. I sloppily tore the flickering image that's always next to me into pieces- you know, even if I close my eyes, it's still there. I dislike everything about time. I don't care at all for eternity. The bitter words and their meaning don't accomplish anything; they've left intense scars and won't stop.

Why exactly is that moon still waxing and waning? I can hear that deeply warped noise so close to me. I run a tightly gripped knife across my face, wanting that unpleasant sound to disappear. Don't touch me, don't come near me, sounds of time. Since I'm begging, just kill me already.

There's no smile in my eyes. There is only the unstopping memory someone has violated me with.

Why, why do I keep seeing it? Please, stop it. Shut my eyes. / Please, stop it. Let me sleep.

[jays-bookmarks]

Falling Leaves (Kazuha x gn!reader)

I woke up today and chose violence >:3c

This was inspired by some hcs I saw that said Kazuha would be too passive and conflict-averse to ever sit down and address the problems in your relationship so the tension would just build until it all falls apart and boy I was thinking about that all night,, so I had to write something about it lol

I might write a part 2 where you guys make up if people want to see it bc goodness knows I can't handle pure angst like this lmao

Summary: You love maple leaves, yet so many goodbyes seem to happen when they turn red. They say if you love someone, set them free... but why does it hurt so much? Words: 927 Warnings: angst w no comfort, Kazuha has attachment issues :(

Autumn was always your favorite season in Inazuma. With it came a break from summer's constant balmy air that always stuck your clothes to your skin, and the farmers' harvest that meant a huge variety of dishes for you to sample. Yet the most important change in autumn was the leaves of the maple trees that dotted the Inazuman landscape. There was something about this last burst of color before the trees shed their leaves for the winter that always left you in awe, and on more than one occasion you had to quickly apologize to someone you bumped into because you were too busy watching the trees.

In recent times, though, the autumn leaves reminded you of something else. Someone else, to be specific.

That someone was sitting next to you, his back leaning against the trunk of the maple tree the two of you were relaxing under. Every once in a while, a breeze rustled through the branches, blowing a few crimson leaves to the ground.

The two of you had spent many afternoons like this, simply enjoying each other's presence. Yet today, as with many days previously, you felt something had changed.

You shot a glance at your beloved. He was silent, a contemplative frown on his face. You had caught him wearing a similar expression on many occasions when he thought you weren't looking, and, after weeks of gentle prodding that got you nowhere, you were determined to get an answer out of him today.

You sighed, prompting Kazuha to look at you with a questioning hum.

"Kazuha, are you… okay?" You asked.

Kazuha smiled, leaning over to press a kiss to your forehead. "Of course. I'm with you, aren't I?"

You bit your lip. This was the same evasive answer he'd been giving you every other time you brought this up to him.

"That's sweet, Kazuha, but…" you paused. "You've been sort of… distant… lately, even when we're together."

"…I'm sorry, my love. It seems I've neglected you yet again."

"No, this isn't about— this is about you. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, love."

You sighed as silence fell over you both. You knew he was avoiding the question, but you decided that the issue had gone on unresolved for long enough, so you kept pressing.

"Is it because I asked you to spend more time with me?"

You hated considering the possibility, but you had to be sure either way. Kazuha stiffened beside you. Though it was only a brief pause before he spoke, it told you everything. After all, he wasn't very good at lying, especially not to you.

"Of course not, love. The time I spend with you is the most precious of them all."

Your chest tightened as you took a shaky breath. It's not like this was unexpected. You had felt the distance between you two growing by the day, but you deluded yourself into thinking that you could still bridge the gap. Maybe if you had said something earlier… reached a little harder… but... no, he was too far gone. You should've known better than to cling so tightly to such a free spirit. You were someone who craved stability and reliability, and this was something Kazuha simply couldn't grant you.

With that realization, you asked your final question.

"Am I… tying you down?"

Another pause. Kazuha let out a long sigh. "In truth…"

You drew in a breath, your hands clenching at the fabric of your shirt as you prepared to receive the blow of his words.

"No."

You looked up in shock, the tension deflating from your body as you met Kazuha's gentle gaze. He smiled, but the twinkle in his eyes you had grown to love was nowhere to be found.

You shook your head, pinching your eyes shut so you didn't have to see the pity in his gaze.

"Don't lie to make me feel better, Kazuha," you said. "If I'm really holding you back from being happy, then—"

You cut yourself off, unable to voice the thought that had surfaced in your mind. Tears began to roll down your cheeks, but no hand came to wipe them away.

"Then… is this goodbye?" Kazuha said, his voice soft but steady, just like it always was, betraying no hint of emotion.

"…it doesn't have to be."

You wanted to grab him by the hand and beg him to stay; you wanted to pull him into an embrace and hold him until he promised to be by your side forever; but most of all, you wanted him to smile again, properly, without that distant look in his eyes. So you kept your arms wrapped tight around yourself. They say if you love someone, set them free… but why did it hurt so much?

Kazuha pushed himself from the ground, the soft swish of fabric the only other sound besides your trembling breaths. Even the breeze had died down, as if the world itself was holding its breath to see what would happen next. Kazuha stood before you for a moment. You wished you could see what expression he wore, but you couldn't bring yourself to look up at him.

"I'm sorry I couldn't make you happy," he said. "Goodbye."

He turned and started down the path back to Ritou, his footsteps fading with your final shred of hope. You buried your head in the cocoon of your body and sobbed. So this was it. All the time you spent together, over with a single word.

Goodbye, Kazuha. I'm sorry I couldn't make you happy.

[rachelsshowerthoughts]

Sent a response regarding the Aware AU stuff, I hope it was interesting, also had other Kwami thoughts.

Cos like, I love the substitute angle but I doubt that'd it sustainable long term once more Kwami start coming out.

Kagami is likely on lock for an early Kwami due to Marinette, meanwhile Chloe may need to get one by 'accident'.

I do love Queen Bee, though Benom is so low key over powered it can make fights vexing, but I also love Snake!Chloe & Tiger!Chloe.

The latter also fits given how similar but distinct one can make the Tiger Miraculous, especially if they get creative with it, or so I feel.

Roaar: Well now, you aren't who I was supposed to be with, & I'm not where I was supposed to be >:3c Chloe: I get the sense that isn't a problem for you. Roaar: No way, I'm Roaar, let's cause havoc!

Cue Chloe & Adrien showing up with supremely destructive Kwami and the tagline from that art piece, "Supreme Feline Violence!" as their new catchphrase.

so, first of all, I read that last line as "Sublime Feline Violence!" which . . . sounded odd until I reread it, but anyway!

So, one thing I meant before, about my problems with the Kwami, is I see a lot of problems with them as . . . well, kind of being the Order's fault? Like. The implication I keep getting, is that the Order BOUND the Kwami to their will, basically, which is why they have to do whatever their "owners" say. Like, just. I don’t know how to describe it properly, just.

Ok. Let's try this. The Kwami don’t read as "partners". They read closer to indentured servants. They aren’t allowed to do anything without asking their "owners" for permission. Gabriel can literally take Nooroo's speech capability away. Yes, maybe it’s convenient that the Kwami have NO IDEA about the power ups and stuff, as it means Gabe doesn’t know about it, but the implications . . . the Kwami aren’t allowed to know about magic that affects them, that CHANGES how they work (imagine this as a medical procedure you are REQUIRED TO HAVE, but aren’t allowed to know what someone will be doing to you). And the reason why is that they HAVE to answer their "masters". They CAN'T say no. Seriously, imagine the series with the only change being that the Kwami don't HAVE to answer questions. They can keep their own secrets and thoughts. How much shit gets solved if that happens?

Just . . . I don’t think I can explain properly how UNCOMFORTABLE the Kwami's situation makes me. Like, it feels like the only difference between Gabriel and the Order? Their goals. #FreeTheKwami

(Moving on, I'm not sure how coherent this is . . . )

I think the substitute angle would still be in play, but after the Big Conversation (not sure if you saw my take on that?), I feel like Marinette starts pushing a little more, and in my head, I see a compromise that looks odd from canon-view. Part of Fu's argument would, weirdly, be that the doubles are in danger, because the Miraculous are still primarily Adrien's and Marinette's. Like, Yes Chloé and Adrien spend maybe equal amount of time as Chat Noir, but the split is probably closer to 60-40 in Adrien's favour, with Chloé taking over the 40% he CAN'T get away without risking consequences with his dad. And Marinette, once she gets the go ahead, would split that even less, still primarily being Ladybug, with Kagami only taking over in the case of illness, or if Marinette REALLY can't leave without hurting someone (babysitting or similar comes to mind). So the rest of the time, Chloé and Kagami would be defenceless against Hawk Moth, should he figure them out or target them.

Marinette, of course, agrees. She does often have an easier time seeing things from Fu's point of view, especially because despite his hang ups, it isn’t like he's outright WRONG. The doubles ARE in danger without a way to protect themselves. Her solution? Hand the doubles a Miraculous of their own!

Yeah, this is where it gets loud.

Fu is STRIDENTLY against this. Oh no, no way, no how, absolutely NOT, Marinette, I expected better from you-! But Marinette stands her ground. She argues right back, and I think a combination of Fu seeing her more favourably, and Marinette making some very good points might sway him.

Having more Miraculous out is dangerous? Having the ones ALREADY out is dangerous, how much more danger are we talking here?

Fu doesn’t know who the doubles are? Well, Ladybug and Chat Noir don’t know who each other is, and that’s seen as a layer of security.

The doubles are defenceless? They don’t have to be!

Just this intense back and forth (Chloé and Adrien are watching this like a tennis match) before Marinette plays her trump card. Fu says he trusts her judgement. Well, Marinette trusts the Chats Noir, and her friend, Ladybird (Kagami's Ladybug handle? Not a major fan, i see it more as a combo name for Ladybug/Peacock, but I don’t currently have other ideas). More than that, the fights are clearly getting harder. They NEED back up. SHE needs back up. Back up she can TRUST.

eventually, Fu caves.

As to which Miraculous they get, I too love Queen Bee, but hear me out. Kagami gets the Bee (maybe can extend the trompo-top stinger into a fencing sabre?), and Chloé gets the Turtle. Yep, Fu gives up Wayzz. Why?

So Wayzz can SPY on this unknown Chat. Because while Fu trusts Ladybug, he still is wary of the second Chat Noir, this one he still doesn’t know. He knows who Adrien is, so he KNOWS he's an only child. The closest "sibling" he can see is Felix, who lives in London, no way he can get to Paris that fast. He also doesn’t suspect Chloé, because he's been taken in by her outward persona. But if Duchess Noire has Wayzz, then Fu can maybe figure her out. He knows the limitations of the Miraculous - if Duchess tells Wayzz "don’t tell anyone who I am", he won’t be able to tell Fu who she is. But he'll still have insight into how she works, what her morals are, if they can REALLY trust her. Plus, Fu knows Wayzz, they've been partners for CENTURIES. Fu knows not just how to fight with the Turtle, but how to fight against the Turtle. If this second Cat turns out to be bad news, the Turtle is the Miraculous Fu has the best chance against.

(Also, random sidenote: I discussed this with @princess-of-the-corner, cause she always makes the Tiger's thing Invisibility, and I was saying I'd sort of like it if the Tiger had both that AND Clout, so I think what we ended up with was the Tiger's thing is related to Confidence. High confidence, you get Clout, low confidence, you get Stealth. You CAN figure out how to access both, but it can take awhile. Cause, also, you know, a Tiger's whole THING is that it's camouflaged, invisible in its environment, until suddenly you get slammed with several pounds of muscle, teeth and claws.

Also, if you feel that Venom is too OP, I’d institute a time limit. Like, the five minutes you have until you detransform, that's how long Venom lasts? Something like that.

also-also, I see your Snake!Chloé, and raise you Snake!Nino. )

[hime-bee]

(since i know you also have a mega breeding kink, here's some arknights men who i think would have breeding kinks large enough to fucking repopulate the entirety of terra,,)

silverash (wow how original) has such a massive breeding kink that it's not even funny. and he's entirely unashamed about it, huskily cooing at how lovely and adorable you'd be with your tummy all swollen, even when he's balls deep in you and pushing you well into your nth orgasm. each drag of his cock along your walls serves a purpose, acting as a way to remind you that he's the only one who'll ever be able to see you come undone, as well as the only one who can possibly knock you up. and with each load he fucks into you, soothing away your broken sobs from the overstimulation, he's getting pretty successful.

it wasn't młynar's intention to get hooked on the very risky thrill of knocking someone up, much less a woman much younger than him. but the way your cunt hungrily swallows up his dick aaallll the way down to the base and the loud moans you make when the tip keeps bullying its way against your cervix leaves him little room to deny the fact that he gets off on the risk. and, well, the fact that you keep trapping him in leglocks and forcing him to spill everything inside is also a factor. (also did you know that horse pp actually flares during mating to ensure the semen stays inside and the chances of the mare popping out a baby are increased?? hope that fact stays with you the next time you think of the honse uncle >:3c)

despite his well-disciplined and down-to-earth personality, even chong yue isn't immune to the thought of encasing your much smaller body underneath his and filling your pussy with his seed until it takes. plus, given his draconic roots, being endowed with two wonderfully sized lengths gives him all sorts of advantages, especially when you're babbling nonsense as he stretches you wider than you ever thought possible. doesn't really help that ling and nian are eager to become aunties, pestering their dearest brother and you at every opportunity they can get.

lee was nowhere near lowkey when it came to his breeding kink, and he's made it nothing short of becoming your problem. gifted with a lung's hemipenes and kept tucked safely within a cozy little vent, he takes every opportunity to fill you to the brim with the promise of making you into a mother. and of course, he played the 'senior citizen' card the first few times he refused to pull out, claiming that he's getting too old to remember (lies) or asking you to "go easy on this old man~" (lies 2x) but can you really blame him? it's not every day he gets lucky with someone as cute and eye-catching as you. plus, those kiddos of his certainly wouldn't mind another addition to their little group.

that charming smile of his did absolutely nothing to prepare you for the depravity that tequila hid behind it. having practically sweet-talked his way into your bed, tequila made short work of ensuring that you'd never look at another man but him. his need to knock you up stemmed from his canine instincts and his need to monopolize you, because all those stewing emotions he's kept buried certainly aren't doing his mentality any good. not that he'd care, especially when he's sunken his teeth into your shoulder as he unceremoniously pushes his knot into you with a lewd pop! and starts filling your pussy to the brim with plenty of his release until it finally takes.

(hope you enjoyed some lil thirsts for these goobers, bc i want all of them to mating press the shit outta me mostly młynar. i would've have added more but its like 4 am as im writing and im very eepy. but hopefully this made ur brain go brrrrrr ♡(੭´͈ ᐜ `͈)੭)

Lati, you didn't have to call me out like that-- 😭😭 You're 100% right tho, I really do and I'm so predictable LMAO

Which is prolly why most of the guys you listed, I've either written, or have a draft planned for 😭 (RIP to my Lee and Tequila fics that haven't seen the light of day smdh). ANYWAY. Continue to cook, chef!! 😩💦💦💦 I wonder what kinda situation the Doctor would have on their hands if more than two Operators were trying to breed em 🤔 Personally, I think they should take turns trying-

(Also, God bless you for providing me and my followers with these scrumptious little meals, it's so nice reading these from you, Lati 😭💞 Especially when all I can really do is read rn-) AND I WILL BE SAVING THESE TOO LOL

[informaltorching]

for Vesper!!! 🐈, 🍎, ❤️, 💔, 🤓, 😥?? :3c

❤️& 💔 Answered. 🐈 CAT — does your oc prefer a wide circle of friends or a few close friends? Definitely more of a few close ones. He isn't against having a wide circle of friends, though. It just really isn't in the cards for the type of lifestyle he has sort of always lived. It would be nice to be someone who knows a lot of people, but he could not handle that at all. He doesn't like the amount of maintenance or attention. 🍎 RED APPLE — where was your oc born? do they still live in/around their place of birth or do they live somewhere else? how do they feel about their birthplace? Vesper was born in Portland, Maine. He currently resides in London, England. He definitely has been homesick for a long time (since before his embrace). There isn't any real reason for him to go back now, though. He is homesick for a life he doesn't have anymore, cannot have anymore. He has been trying really hard to just accept London as his home at this point. However, some kindred have brought up traveling to him before. Maybe, he'd be open to that in the future, though traveling as a kindred is extremely risky business. 🤓 SMILING FACE WITH GLASSES — is your oc chatty or quiet? are they at ease in social situations, or are they more shy? Vesper is very quiet. In most social situations he keeps to himself and fucks off to go brood in a corner. SOMETIMES, on rare occasions, if he is very comfortable with the situation...he'll be an asshole and drag Owen to dance or something, though... 😥 SAD BUT RELIEVED FACE — is your oc prone to getting stressed out, or is it easy for them to keep their cool? Vesper is great at keeping his cool in the moment. He has decent composure and tends to focus more on what needs to be done. That is, if it is a situation. He does not manage his anger extremely well, so he is prone to freaking out in arguments.

[fandomsnstuff]

I was thinking about my youtube au and blupjeans at work today so :3c @taznovembercelebration

Day 13: hide/tradition

"“The Birdhouse” is a colloquial name for a group of seven YouTube personalities who, after years of friendship, decided to move into a large house together. While all their channels are independent of each other, they often cameo or guest in videos and livestreams."

- via The Birdhouse wiki

Read it on AO3

“Every year we've had to add a new rule, so I'm going to go over them one more time,” Lucretia says to the six of them. They're standing in the kitchen of the house they rented for the weekend, and everybody has their own small cameras on hand. “The rules for The Birdhouse's fifth annual hide and seek game. One, no bodily harm to yourself by consequence of your hiding space.” She looks pointedly at Magnus, who somehow managed to squeeze himself into a cupboard year one and ended up needing to see a chiropractor for six months. “Two, no giving yourself away by jumping out of your hiding spot to startle the seeker,” she looks at Magnus again, who jumpscared Merle so bad in year two, he broke a lamp. “Three, during the hiding phase, the seeker must be blindfolded, wearing noise canceling headphones, and be sitting facing a corner of the group's choosing. No peeking.”

“It was a good strategy!” Taako defends.

“Four,” Lucretia continues, “you must hide on the property and stay on the property until you're found or the game ends.” She looks to Davenport this time, who just got in the van and drove away until they texted him telling him he won last year. “And, as always, the winner of this year's game will gain free food and drink for the rest of the weekend, bragging rights for one full year, and the obligation to be next year's seeker. Understood?” Everyone makes some sort of agreeing sound, so she snaps her notebook shut. “Great. Dav, you know where to go.”

He salutes, and takes his blindfold and headphones to a corner of the living room. Once he's situated, Lucretia says, “alright everyone, five minutes on the clock.” She starts a timer on someone's phone that'll go off in Davenport's headphones when it's up. “Go!”

Everyone scatters, heading for spots they scouted out in the two days since they've arrived. Barry beelines for Magnus's room. The shelving at the back of his walk-in closet isn't flush against the wall. For some god forsaken reason, there's at least three feet of space behind it. When he found it scoping out the rooms upon arrival, it was initially storing a spare mattress and some sheets. He pulled the mattress out and leaned it up against the back wall of the closet. It blocked the entrance to the hidey hole, and just standing in the door of the closet, nothing looks out of the ordinary, it's just as if a landlord needed to store a mattress.

And he knows Davenport didn't get up to the second floor until after Barry moved it.

He also fucked up the nicely folded sheets. That way, he can cover himself with them, and even if Davenport found the spot ahead of time, the lump of sheets was already there.

He's just maneuvering his way into the space when the closet door opens.

He freezes, but it's just Magnus, who whisper-shouts, “I was gonna hide there!”

“I got here first,” Barry whisper-shouts back.

“It's my room!”

“Exactly! I'm not going to hide in my own room, that's too obvious. I would've had too much time to plan a spot, since I sleep there.”

“Oh shit, that's smart.” He looks over his shoulder, then back at Barry. “See ya!”

He shakes his head and squeezes past the mattress. He goes straight to the back of the little space, in the corner of the closet. He picks up the pile of sheets, sits himself down with his knees drawn to his chest, and covers himself with the sheets, attempting to make himself look as pile-like as possible.

“Okay,” he whispers to the camera, “I think we're in a pretty good spot, and we've still got,” he checks his watch, “three minutes until Dav's on the move.” He shifts a little. “I might be a little stiff after, but I'm confident. This might be our year.”

“Barry?” Lup's voice comes from outside the sheets. He reveals his head, and she's standing at the open end of the space. She glances over her shoulder, then back. “You got room in there for one more? My top spots got fucking stolen, and time's ticking down.”

“Uh, maybe? You can absolutely try.” He could never say no to her. This was his only planned spot and he's fully ready to start from scratch for her if he has to, he'll just edit out the part about it being his year.

She comes in further and holds out her camera. “Hold this.” He takes it, and she starts pulling away the sheets until he's been excavated from the pile. “Extend your legs a bit.” He complies, and she sits down between them and covers the two of them with the sheets. She leans back against his chest and takes her camera, holding it out slightly to get both of them in the shot. “There, perfectly hidden.” She cranes her neck to look at him. “I'm proud of you, Bear. You actually found a good spot this year.”

His free arm wraps around her waist, the other still propped up with the camera. “My spots aren't that bad.”

“And yet you've never been seeker.”

“I was only found first in year one, and that's only because I didn't have any time to look around before the game started.”

“Still,” she taps his nose, “they haven't been winners.” He just laughs and shakes his head. “But hey, you found one of my top spots, so maybe we'll both win this year. There's no rule about two people in one spot yet. Maybe there'll be Blupjeans double seekers next year.”

He laughs softly. “Don't use the fucking ship name in the video, you'll just encourage them.”

She lowers the camera and slides her free hand over his arm to link their fingers together. “But they're not wrong.”

“No,” she kisses his jaw softly, and he turns his head down, brushing their noses together as he leans in, “but they don't know that yet.”

His eyes have shut, but he feels her smile. “Yet,” she murmurs just before he kisses her.

They've only officially been an item for about six months, but they've come to find out what the internet's seemed to know for years: they've been in love and de facto dating more or less since they met.

He sets his camera on the floor and cups her jaw, tilting her head and deepening the kiss. She sighs, and he draws her closer with the arm around her waist. He could kiss her forever. He could get carried away and do things he really shouldn't do to her with two rolling cameras around, even if he's the one who edits the footage.

They're drawn from it when they hear Davenport's voice echoing faintly through the silent house, “ready or not, here I come!”

“Focus up, Bluejeans,” Lup whispers, “we've got a game to win.”

“You're right,” he says, picking up his camera, “I think it's too soon for a sex tape anyway.”

He has to clamp his hand over Lup's mouth so her laugh doesn't give them away.

[toastess-with-the-mostess]

Let's Rewind! Toast watches Voltron: Defender of The Universe (1984)

Season 1, Episode 47: Summit Meeting Season 1, Episode 48: Return of Coran's Son

Episode 47: Summit Meeting

Ew, why are we focusing on the galaxy garrison again, they don't do shit anyway oh lore, Zarkon (and planet doom) isn't even PART of the Drule empire, and he's considered a criminal so he's not getting any help from them

HELLO?? SOMEONE ACTUALLY WANTED TO HELP ARUS WITH GARRISON FLEETS, BUT WHOEVER THIS GUY IS FUCKING SAID NO BECAUSE HE WANTS TO SEE HOW ARUS AND THE REST OF THAT SIDE OF THE GALAXY CAN HOLD UP BY BEING A UNITED FRONT THAT IS THE WORLD'S STUPIDEST REASON FOR NOT OFFERING AID, ARE YOU KIDDING ME. I hate the galaxy garrison all my homies hate the galaxy garrison someone reform the entire fucking group

oh, look it's Bandor who's doing diplomatic things in Pollux's name, how cute. I like to think Romelle is now crown princess taking care of things home side while Bandor learns to be a better prince and goes off elsewhere to take on princely duties

The start said ALL planets on Arus's side of the universe were going to be present at the meeting, but there's like 5 planets total including Arus already It feels way too small for just that side of the galaxy, so I think I'm gonna say those are the diplomats whose planets were brave enough to send someone for an alliance

the clapping is so funny because it's so very obvious they did it in recording and nobody actually clapped that hard, so it's so half-hearted for a scene that's supposed to be moving 😭

I'm sorry, what the fuck is happening?? Is the team split? Coran doesn't want allura part of the force anymore (shocker) and he wants to take her place but Keith and Lance seem against it because of his skills at the castle but hunk and pidge just said that they can train a replacement for him and that allura has to prioritize being a princess?? There was no argument??

Oh, I lied there is a debate between coran and Keith, he keeps saying voltron could be destroyed and if Keith keeps insisting allura stays on the team her life could be horrible because of Lotor I know she was never gonna leave after so long but thank god Keith was able to get through to Coran even a little, amazing food for the KA shippers too lol Keith just confirmed he was more worried about allura than her father-figure

VEHICLE VOLTRON MENTION I LOVE THIS Thank you Hazar for being so smart and not giving Zarkon any back up, you guys are dealing with the environmental fallout on your own planet (that you created but shh) and he's not doing shit to help

LMAOO KILL HIS ASS ZARKON, not lotor thinking he could reason with allura to a surrender and zarkon knocking his ass down a peg because "[lotor's] biggest handicap is that the princess is bright"

Haggar is always devil's advocate for lotor man, maybe she helped raise him or something aside from her being devoted to planet doom / Zarkon Also, Zarkon agreeing to lotor's mission with "i was young once" only for Haggar to say she was never young in the first place is WILD, maybe she's a rebirth of another person and thus "was never young"

oh, I didn't realize the scene that happened before Zarkon roasted Lotor was actually real, he sent a robot double of another ambassador that was "supposed" to make it to the summit meeting during a celebration, but a tank stationed nearby was taken over, and it blew up the ship once everyone saw who it was not a bad way to get a warning across from doom, i'd be fucked up over that too if I were the princess

oh, thank god I was gonna start yelling if Keith was telling allura to stand down from blue, he was just asking about her resolve to be a pilot after that attack, and she's definitely strong enough to keep going PLUS BLACK LION ALLURA ONCE AGAIN AT LAST RAAAH

and very short live goddamn it, black lion was sabotaged, and now she's knocked out because of being unable to control black now I have new ideas for their future >:3c I wonder how susceptible each lion is, especially since black is supposed to be the center

premonition from dead dad time, now she's running off because he warned her that lotor was on his way, honestly I thought she'd stay but guess not not that she can get away from lotor though, because he finds her anyway

I love Keith so much he's so cool, he's doing his best to be gentle with allura even in hard situations, plus the "out of the way princess, now" definitely had the right feeling behind it to show how series the fight between him and lotor is gonna be

oh keith is ACTUALLY hurt this time, that's wild

EVERY TIME I AGREE WITH ZARKON IS A TIME WHERE LOTOR GETS HIS ASS BEAT "but i took down the leader of voltron" "and let him live dipshit!! now they're gonna prepare harder!!" honestly zarkon has the right idea with calling his ass out every damn time he makes a mistake which is like every fucking episode we see lotor

"the doctors are saying it's mainly lazer shock" "that's like saying its only an earthquake" clearly wherever lance is from he isn't from anywhere with regular quakes because it TRULY isn't that serious since those places are prepared, now if its somewhere where they DONT happen that's when its time to get worried

"it looks like lotor is back and he's brought something horrible to do the fighting this time" see i was gonna trash on coran because when does lotor ever do his own fighting but uh,, keith is comatose in the castle so he's spot on this time

"black lion can do it alone, i know black lion can do it" Allura are you going stupid because you feel like it's your fault keith is hospitalized because that's the dumbest train of thought when you KNOW the legends are about unity

goddamn keith is RIPPED, no wonder so many people took a shining to him (aside from the happy-go-lucky, must always be peppy attitude he has)

(lance staring at keith whos making his way to launch blue) Keith: snap out of it lance! Entirely out of context that's the gayest shit imaginable for a 80s cartoon, and I choose to believe the rest of it is him being worried about his best friend fighting so soon after waking up

AT LAST ALLURA FORMS THE HEAD this is so great for her, im gonna use this for so many ideas

and just as soon as it starts, the fight ends i like the idea that the fights are so short but i love drawn out mech fights so i wish there was more to it

was the new alliance only official if voltron won?? that's stupid as hell if the team lost everyone would be DEAD

/episode end

Episode 48: Return of Coran's Son

Episode opens with the team egging each other on for a race back home, you guys i love this losers to much

damn why is allura always in these situations, blue essentially broke down and she spiraled into a crash after we see this yet unnamed character sabotaged? magic? mayhaps

I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST ONE JOINT THAT BLEW UP NOT ALL FOUR WHAT

oh great nanny's back, for the love of god get RID OF HER ALREADY. she's right though because how the hell did the boys not notice allura was gone AFTER she sent out that distress message

mysterious new guy saves the princess, though she's smart and gets him to back off just in case also the team plus nanny and coran get there in another ship helicopter thing?? use the damn lions atp

Mystery man is named Garrett! And ofc lance doesn't trust him, which means you immediately listen to lance because he's ALWAYS RIGHT

lore time, Garrett apparently is the son of a castle worker and once zarkon attacked when he was a baby only he and his mother were able to escape, except eventually zarkon found them and everyone they were hiding with and he was the only one lucky enough to escape saying this because Coran thinks he seems familiar and has a son that would be his age. honestly i'm just glad we're getting him timeline for the start of the attacks on Arus, this dude isn't any younger than his early 20s at most

oh indirect confirmation that garret IS his son, also corans wife was named Leeda (Lita?)

YOUNG CORAN LOOKS LIKE HANDSOME SQUIDWARD WITHOUT THE CHIN also why are all the women love interests/wives in this show blonde

aw poor coran, i may not like him a whole lot, but in the end he's doing what he thinks is best. he really does miss his wife and kid, apparently hoping that they're still alive is too much for him

i know this episode so its no surprise that they're training him for blue lion but GUYS i thought we were over replacing allura she's literally the best you got, aside from Garrett's apparent natural skills at shooting down targets also pidge makes the comment "it's almost like you've done this before" which is wild because no way they're insinuating that infant garrett did target practice

please why did they give him svens uniform 😭 i know it was probably their only spare but GET HIS ASS OUT OF IT

and now actual confirmation that Garrett is his son, coran gave him a pendant heirloom he had before they evacuated and we're seeing it again now

oh boy i know they weren't trying to mention religion in voltron but AINT NO WAY THEY ESSENTIALLY MADE KING ALFOR A DIETY TO REPLACE ALL THE CHRISTIANITY REFERENCS IN THE ANIMATION LMAOO i think it was called the divine right of kings where royalty were essentially worshipped as gods or were placed as royalty by god themself?

"spoken like a true son!" "father!" im cackling why did they say that

Doom time, yeah Garrett is evil but also a clone! so i guess the real one is probably dead

ik there was probably a more specific reason why they zoomed in on the picture of corans wife and kid after he was knocked out by the poison ring garrett has in golion but right now it's more so odd?

"and we know we can trust you 'cause you're coran's son!" Keith you sweet summer child, did you not just hear Lance say something was off with how sudden Coran got sick

also fuck nanny for saying it's the emotional stress of meeting his son after so long, i truly do not think that's possible

even if i didnt know the guy was evil i wouldn't trust garrett sending the team directions into outer space, he's just fucking with them currently even though they DID find some enemy ships

"but we followed your directions!" "not fast enough" this fucking brat LMAO

Garrett is actually being super smart right now, he used his position at the castle to allow zarkons fleet to land where the garrison was hiding the pulsar canon under the guise of it being voltron, now if only the enemies were this smart all the time

damn no pre-fight with the lions once they spotted the robeast, just straight into voltron also the robeast look pretty cool but why is he mostly gold? isn't that too weak of a metal to be protective

oh shit one of the few times voltron struggles against a robeast, it managed to send them hurtling back into Arus also garrett with the new red scleras to show he's evil, not for one second am i believing the guards who came to warn him of the pulsar canon on arus are robots again i know it's censoring but shh

"okay Keith, i'll help you out. how about a little energy boost? Say about 12 thousand megatons from a pulsar canon! if you look below, you'll see it there on your right. It's aiming right for you" BRATTY AS HELL GODDAMN

MAN I FEEL SO BAD FOR CORAN, HE THOUGHT THAT WAS HIS SON AND HE REFUSES TO BELIEVE HE'S NOT EVEN AFTER GARRETT SAID HE WASN'T

damn he's straight up making a race war over here, saying they're gonna replace arusians with the "better" race which are apparently all clones

NO THE PULSAR CANON GOT PIDGE, GREEN LION BROKE OFF OF VOLTRON WHAT THE FUCK

it ends on a cliff hanger,,,

/episode end

[boldlyanxious]

Steph as ladybug :3c

This has been ages. So sorry

It isn't really what I think you were asking for but it was what happened.

I did try to get someone else to write something closer to what might be wanted so hopefully that will come too

It had been years but Steph had found the girl fairly easily.

Batman kept the records hidden but Jason has helped her find them. They had been untouched since they were sealed there. She probably never would have figured it out Marinette was a hero if she weren’t already watching her house.

She and Jason munched on a selection of treats from the patisserie. She hadn’t even been able to go in herself. She was too nervous at what she might find. But Jason understood. He was there for her every step of the way.

They watched as the red spotted hero landed on the roof and entered the room as a flash of light revealed Marinette. She couldn’t face her past but she couldn’t let it continue like this. They pored over the interviews for the past few years and realized that the heroes were not just children. They had the responsibility forced on them by another. They hadn't been given a choice but to fight or give in.

Steph knew that she had made the choice to fight when she was young because she wanted better for herself and her mom. She wanted to hurt her father because he had hurt them.

It was also her choice that put the girl here.

She was the one to sneak into the room. It wouldn’t be a good look for Jason to be caught in the room of a fourteen year old girl no matter what the reason. She paused when she got to the bed. She knew she needed to take the earrings but she hesitated before she looked.

The child was sleeping peacefully. Her face was soft and worry free. That is the life Steph had wanted for her. The life she hadn’t been able to provide at fifteen. She hadn’t looked then because she knew she wouldn’t be able to let her go but she deserved better. She still deserved better.

Steph moved quickly to get the earrings off. The child only stirred slightly. The only movement was the sudden appearance of a red sprite that followed after her when she went for the trapdoor. There would likely be a panic when she realized her earrings were missing but this was for the best.

—

It had taken three weeks to end it.

They also had to remove Chat Noir from play too. He would not or could not get over their forced removal of Ladybug.

If his reaction was over the top then the reaction of the villain Hawkmoth was explosive. He was furious about them swooping in and taking his prize. The city of Paris was in constant chaos from the moment they announced they had taken into as the Ladybug and the Chat. Many of the citizens had to shelter in place by the end. The emotional effect of the constant siege provided far too many unwilling participants for the emotional manipulation.

Steph probably shouldn’t be so happy that Marinette was never one of them.

It spoke to her fortitude which she had no place in shaping. She knew that, but it still made her feel proud that she had been robbed of her chance to fight and still didn’t turn.

She had gone to a small massage parlor and spoke with the healer inside for a while. Steph waited for her to leave before she dropped in on the man who had turned the children into heroes forced to fight against a villain without any training. His lies about the secret magical society were expected but when they took the jewels from him, she hadn’t expected him to run from the city that very night. He didn’t even try to fight back.

—

The battle was tough. She almost wished she had told more of the people she knew about what they were doing here. But the people of the city loved their heroes even if they weren’t the same ones they had always known. They rallied behind them and based on the comments online, a lot of them were happy to see older heroes and hoped that the children were doing well after their sudden disappearance.

But when the Ladybug fell during the fight with Hawkmoth and couldn’t immediately fight back and the Chat was too far away to help, the citizens turned to protect her. That was what they needed to turn the tide of the battle. The additional people fighting was just enough to catch Hawkmoth unprepared and it ended up being Marinette that ripped the broach off him. His cane whipped out and knocked her feet out from under her but she already had the jewelry in her hand. He was revealed as she hit the ground.

The Ladybug took the girl and swung away. Her Chat took care of the downed villain. The police were quick to show up and arrest him and the press was buzzing about the reveal.

None of this mattered to Steph.

She cast the cure as she had been taught by Tikki after capturing the miraculous and Marinette was no longer injured by her fall.

“What are you doing?” she asked. “You stole my miraculous.”

“You never should have been burdened with it.”

“I failed. I failed all of Paris and Tikki.”

Steph reached out for her hand.

“Marinette, you didn’t fail and you will have the earrings again. I promised Tikki I would return them once Hawkmoth was defeated.”

Marinette covered her mouth. Her tears were hovering on the edge of falling.

“I won’t be allowed to keep her. You said my name. Youknow who I am so I have to give her up.”

“I only found out you were Ladybug because I was following you, and there is no one to take it back now. Your mentor left when we took the rest of his jewels.”

She spit out the last part in disgust and didn’t realize that Marinette was stuck on the first part.

“You were following me?”

She jumped up, preparing to run away but Tikki’s voice stopped her.

“Wait, please hear her out,” Tikki said.

Steph held the earrings in her hand out towards the girl.

“I’m pregnant,” she said. “The only person who knows so far is the new Chat. We were both heroes as teens and we didn’t want our child to need to fight like we did. That is what made me decide to find out what happened to my first child.”

Marinette turned back towards her, no longer trying to run away. Tikki floated over to nuzzle up to her as she listened. Steph sat down before she continued and Marinette sat nearby but out of reach.

“I don’t even know if you know and if you don’t I’m so sorry for revealing the secret. I was just fifteen when I gave birth. I wanted better for my child. It nearly broke me when I told them to take you away without even looking at your face. I knew I would never have gone through with it if I had seen or held you. But someone I trust helped find a loving couple who wanted a baby more than anything.”

“I knew I was adopted,” Marinette said quietly. “I tried to not think of why I had no one when I was born because I knew my parents wanted me.”

“I'm happy about that. I never meant to spring this on you. I wanted to wait until you were older and decided you wanted to know more. I will stick to that until you and your parents try to find me.”

She held out the earrings and Marinette didn’t reach out for them but Tikki floated out and took them from her.

“I am not ready,” she said finally.

“You don’t have to be. I’m leaving. I have told Tikki what she needs to know to find me if you ever decide you are,” she turned away so her daughter couldn’t see her tears forming. “Be well until then.”

[professor-amaryllis]

:{ A Video file is embedded. [Location Redacted], Kanto. 12/18/23 3:37 pm. }:

This video opens mid argument. The afternoon sun shines glaringly off of the snow covered countryside of what can be assumed to be somewhere in Kanto, though without any true landmarks it is a little hard to tell exactly where. We find ourselves in an old, well worn vehicle of some sort, from the looks of it a station wagon, though its hard to make much more out from the inside.

In the back an interesting array of pokemon lounge around the luggage and supplies the professors have brought. A very large Salazzle and a Charmander compete to squish their faces against a single window- despite there being other windows that are completely free- while a Weavile glares up towards Amy in the passenger seat, seemingly unhappy with their existence. In the far back a large faintly spotted Alolan meowth sleeps on a blanket with a happily dozing hisuian sneasel.

Turning back towards the front Echo begins to pick up more of this argument between the two professors. Amy, who seems to be attempting to wrangle a large paper map while also working around a shiny hisuian sneasel on their lap, is insisting that they have things handled and they're sure that they're on the right track. Casi on the other hand seems to be much, much less sure about this and is insisting that they stop for directions.

Casi: I really don't know why we aren't just using Echo to navigate, or just the gps om my phone. This is way more complicated than it needs to be.

Amy: You and I both know why I turned our location off, and the GPS doesn't track us if it doesn't know where we are.

Casi: Yeah, because lost in the Kantonian countryside is much safer. You got me there.

Amy: Look. It's fine. See here we must be on- um. No wait here, it has to be. Hm. Well-

Casi: You have no idea where we are.

Amy: It's been thirteen years give me a break!

Casi: If you aren't going to ask them I am.

Amy: You don't speak Kantonian?-

Casi has already pulled the car over by the side of the road, however, and frustrated exits the vehicle and approaches the first person that he sees, an older man who seems to be simply enjoying the clear winters day sitting on a bench and scattering seed for the local Pidgey and Spearow. Her tone is friendly and cheerful, and she smiles at the man, but as she speaks in a slightly accented Kantonian the man seems to become immediately confused and concerned.

:{ Echo note: I have run the offending phrase through my poryphone translation technology!! Approximate translation follows!! ["What the fuck is your problem?"] :3c }:

Amy, who had been just sort of watching confused through the car window up and until that point, immediately opens the door and in their haste to intervene falls directly into the snow. They scramble back to their feet and over to the pair, and while their speech is muffled through the car door it's clear that they are profusely apologizing in a heavily accented Kantonian. Luckily the poor bystander seems more confused than angry, and after a few minutes of talking the two professors head back to the vehicle. They sit in silence for a moment, Amy trying to brush the snow off themselves, before Casi speaks up.

Casi: ...So I take it I misspoke?

Amy: Is that what you're calling it? Casi where did you learn that??

Casi: Don't worry about it. I was just saying hello!

Amy: That is not what you said at all! And what do you mean don't worry about it? Casi talking like that to people could get you killed-

Casi: Well it's a good thing I asked someone that I knew could speak the language to be here with me, isn't it?

Amy: I... Hm. Alright. Point taken. But don't ever do that again.

Casi: Yeah, ok I won't... So. Were we going the right way?

Amy: ...... We have to turn around...

Casi laughs just as the video ends.

:{ End Transcription }: