#also i need to spend way more time developing headcanons about the fallout from the rumor recordings because wow

[iffeelscouldkill]

Any day breathing

“Captain Tripathi. You’re alive!”

He presents it as a joke, to mask the very real fear that lies underneath those words. The fear that someday, she won’t come back to him safe and whole.

–

A/N: I wrote another thing :3

To the folks in the Starship Iris Discord: I finished it! This started out as a little ficlet idea that I had a while back: a Sana/Campbell concept based on Campbell’s stock greeting of “Captain Tripathi. You’re alive!” I wrote half of it down (I got sidetracked partway through) and then let it sit in my Starship Iris ideas notes file (god, you do not want to see the length of that thing) for ages.

Then, a conversation in the TSCOSI Discord about Campbell, pining, and Campbell’s probable reaction to the Rumor reports being uploaded to the public net (which I had totally forgotten about asfdfgsgsdgsg) inspired me to pick it back up.

It was meant to be a short, whimsical, feels-filled ficlet about Sana and Campbell’s conversations through the years. It turned into something… much longer than that.

Enjoyyyyy~

–

“Captain Tripathi. You’re alive.”

The first time he says it, the surprise is genuine. It’s hard not to be surprised to hear from this woman again – someone whose name had been only a rumour to him until very recently. He’d heard about her from contacts of contacts, mentioned here and there, always with a reverent tone. She had some kind of revolutionary past, he’d heard: was jailed as a dissenter, or had taken part in an uprising. One version of that story said that she’d led an entire planet in an uprising. He also heard that she’d hijacked a high-level Regime starship – possibly in mid-flight.

Whatever he was expecting when they finally met face-to-face, the slender, wiry woman in the brightly-coloured shalwar kameez with a streak of engine grease near her hairline and elaborate floral tattoos adorning muscular arms is not it. Sana Tripathi walks straight into his base of operations – a network of winding corridors and tucked-away cubbyholes in what’s meant to be a confidential location – flanked by a younger woman with a murderous expression and more visible weapons than he can take in with one glance, and demands two full sets of new identification, impeccable and untraceable, to get the IGR off their tail.

“I heard you were the best,” she tells him, a challenge.

Campbell holds out for a full fifteen minutes, but by the end of it he’s agreed to everything she asks for and feels distinctly like he’s gone ten rounds in the sparring ring they used to blow off steam back in the military, verbally speaking. She agrees to pay half up-front, with the promise of the rest once they safely reach their destination.

It’s an hour-long job, and he doesn’t know where the two of them go to lie low while he’s working, but exactly an hour later the glowering, heavily-armed woman is back to pick up their documentation. He’s a little disappointed that it’s not the Captain who came to collect.

The other woman – who tells him shortly that her name is Patel; the name on the papers he’s made for her is Kay Grisham – pays and leaves. He later hears that the IGR is conducting randomised searches at every checkpoint, detaining anyone whose background doesn’t quite check out neatly enough, or whose personal or ship ID papers look a little too new.

Campbell is completely confident in the quality of his work, but he’s not sure that Tripathi could pass a visual check, if she’s been on an IGR watchlist – and that friend of hers didn’t really seem like the subtle type. After thirty-six hours with no word, he figures the rest of the money is lost, but chalks it up as an interesting story to tell.

Two hours later, he gets a call from an unknown number. After running the standard traces on it (the IGR aren’t as good at disguising themselves as they like to think), he accepts the call.

“Is this Ignatius Campbell?” asks the voice on the other end – brisk, but with the hint of warmth and humour lurking underneath.

“Captain Tripathi,” he says in surprise. “You’re alive.”

“Of course,” the Captain replies blithely. “We delayed our departure slightly in order to catch the shift changeover for the randomised checks. The outgoing agents are always tired and less likely to bother with a full database check, and the incoming agents have never been briefed properly. Then we had to make sure that we weren’t being tailed.”

“Of course,” Campbell echoes. This woman is no amateur, and he realises that he’d managed to underestimate her even after everything that she’d managed by tracking him down, coming to him and persuading him to work with her. He makes a mental note not to do that again.

“So, I assume this call is about payment,” he adds, when Captain Tripathi doesn’t volunteer anything further.

“How very astute of you,” the Captain replies, too good-humoured to be mocking, and then proceeds to brazenly haggle him down a further twenty-five percent.

Campbell doesn’t believe in love at first sight, and he never will. But he does believe that there are people whom, when you meet them, the universe demands you sit up and pay attention to.

–

“Captain Tripathi – you’re alive.”

Even after resolving not to underestimate Sana Tripathi, Campbell is still surprised when he hears from her again. It’s been eight months, and during that time, his best-placed informants hadn’t picked up a single trace of Captain Tripathi or her companion. Not under the names he’d created for them, and not under the names they’d given him when they met.

It’s unheard of for him to be unable to track an alias he’s created (he wouldn’t be able to stay ahead of any potential threats unless he had that advantage), but he knows that the Regime has ways of making people vanish completely. It’s a cold, unpleasant realisation, and he experiences an unusually strong pang of regret considering that he barely knows this woman. But he’s sure that somehow, they must have slipped up and got caught.

So when Captain Tripathi contacts him again like nothing has happened, he realises he might just have to get used to unexpected developments.

He’s somehow not even surprised to hear that since they last spoke, she’s picked up a Dwarnian and some kind of renegade translator who has a history with the mafia. “He’s an academic, so he won’t be seeing any action, but he needs to have papers that will hold up if the ship is inspected while we’re docked,” the Captain explains casually.

“…Naturally,” says Campbell. “And speaking of your ship – I suppose you have a full work-up of papers for that, too? You know they’ve tightened the regs on those a lot recently.”

He tells himself he’s only saying it so that he can squeeze an extra job out of a contact he’s fairly confident will be good for the money. Not because he’s concerned.

“Are you suggesting that my ship’s paperwork is less than completely impeccable?” Captain Tripathi asks him with mock indignation.

Campbell suppresses a smile as he replies, “Given that it was made by someone other than myself, I’m surprised it’s held up this long.”

Their conversation concludes with him agreeing to redo the ship’s paperwork – somehow at a much lower price than he would usually charge for a second-time client.

–

“Captain Tripathi. You’re alive!”

It’s already become a joke between them by this point, the fact that Campbell answers Sana’s calls this way, and he waits in anticipation of the sarcastic response that he knows will follow. They’ve been in relatively regular contact since Campbell started playing middleman for some of their cargo, using his network of contacts to move it on and taking a cut. He’s stopped bothering to deny to himself how much he looks forward to their conversations.

But this time, the voice that comes down the line is not Sana Tripathi’s, but Arkady Patel’s. “It’s First Mate Patel, actually,” she says brusquely, and Campbell sits up slowly. “I know you guys traditionally open with like, twenty minutes of banter, but we don’t have time for that right now. We’re in a bind.”

Campbell has a cast-iron policy of not offering any favours, offering help to contacts, or otherwise sticking his neck out any further than he needs to. He keeps his relationships strictly about business and nothing more. Much like his ability to track an alias, it’s what’s kept him off the IGR’s radar for so long.

There are one or two folks whom he goes way back with – like Theodore “Red” Gregor, who was in his unit and a fellow dishonourable discharge. Campbell helped him set up his business on Elion. There aren’t many who could manage to stay in business while avoiding both the mob and the Regime, but if anyone could, it was Red.

But they’re rare exceptions to a very strict rule. Anyone else is on their own, or had better be prepared to owe him for a long, long time.

Campbell thinks about all this before he says, “What do you need?”

–

Campbell is ashamed of how long it takes him to realise that Sana is a fellow Telemachian. He’s usually good at identifying fellow homeworlders, even ones who have lived elsewhere. Telemachians have this spark, this spirit, a distinctive culture that even the Regime couldn’t stamp out of them.

They’re diverse, sure, and numerous, but you can always spot a fellow Telemachian if you know what to look for. They’re the unruly planet on the edge of a solar system, a little too far away from any established IGR base to monitor closely; a little too big to be brought to heel. There’s a reason that most protest songs originate from Telemachus – and that there’s been periodic unrest every few years since the coup.

They’re making small talk at the end of a call (something Campbell indulges in far more than he should), and Campbell is talking about evading the IGR’s latest clampdown and how hard it’s becoming to operate underground. “It’s enough to make me want to give it all up and become a vegetable farmer somewhere.”

“Wouldn’t you get bored?” Sana asks, playfully but with a hint of curiosity lurking underneath.

“Yeah. Probably.” Campbell’s not sure. Maybe if he had the company of the right person, it wouldn’t be so bad. “Just, all this running in place… it feels so futile.” It comes out sounding more tired than he means it to.

“Well, you know what they say,” says Sana, seriously. “When their foot is on your throat-”

“-any day breathing is a victory,” Campbell finishes. “I didn’t know you were a homeworlder.”

There’s a pause, and he thinks that Sana is weighing up what to say next. She hadn’t meant to give so much away, he realises ��� for all that he’s got to know a fair bit about the smuggling business that she runs, and the odd detail about life on board the Rumor, Sana is very cautious about revealing anything about her own past, or that of her crew, beyond what is strictly required to do business. Campbell has never minded that – he can respect a person’s boundaries. He doesn’t need to pry into Sana’s past to be sure that she won’t screw him over.

“I’ve moved around a bit,” she says, finally. “I spent a few years off-planet in the late 70s. Since then I’ve been… transient. Well, you knew that.”

Campbell inclines his head, though he knows that Sana can’t see it. He’s still considering what to say when she carries on,

“I don’t go back to the homeworld much these days. Actually, when we first approached you to work with us-” Campbell gives a wry smile at how much of an understatement that is, “-it was the first time that I’d been back to Telemachus in years.”

“It’s still home, though, isn’t it?” he says, thinking of the time that he’d spent in deployment; the years that he was on the run, unable to get word to his sister or his nephews. “After everything.”

“Yeah, it is.”

–

Campbell doesn’t really think twice the first time he invites the crew of the Rumor to have dinner with him.

It’s late in the evening, and the crew has just touched down on Telemachus a full twelve hours later than they’d originally planned. First there’d been some unprecedented solar flare activity en route, forcing them to take a detour, and then they’d been boarded by Regime agents in a “random” check on entry to Telemachus. Krejjh had been quickly hidden away in one of the ship’s many nooks and crannies, and the paperwork had all checked out (of course), but the agents had been both suspicious and thorough. All in all, the crew is obviously exhausted and a little fractious by the time Campbell meets them to pick up the cargo. Sana is doing her best to keep things businesslike, but she wilts visibly and rubs her hand over her eyes when she thinks he isn’t looking.

“Hey. Listen, we can go over all this tomorrow,” Campbell says, as gently as he can. “You guys’ve had a rough journey – what d’you say we grab a bite to eat instead?”

Arkady’s frown deepens, of course – it’s her job to be suspicious, and Campbell doesn’t take it personally. More to the point, he knows that it’s just her way of trying to look out for the crew. Arkady Patel is a lot more caring than she tries to let on. She might show it with jibes in the background of calls, or with threats and occasional bodily harm in the direction of anyone who threatens her friends’ safety, but she shows it.

For her part, Sana looks extremely relieved at the idea of being able to put business off until the morning.

“That’s really kind of you, Campbell,” she says. “It’d be great to take a bit of a breather, but we don’t want to impose…”

“It’s no imposition,” says Campbell, shrugging. “I was planning to go out to eat tonight anyway – I’ve been cooped up indoors too much lately. There’s a great hole-in-the-wall two blocks away from here – it doesn’t look like much, but the food is something else. Krejjh can come, too – they get all kinds in there.”

Sana tells him they’ll consult Brian and Krejjh before coming to a decision, but Campbell has a feeling that the answer will be yes, despite Arkady’s clear misgivings. Sure enough, Sana is back minutes later with a mild-mannered translator and an excitable Dwarnian (disguised with a large pair of novelty sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat) in tow.

Over the months – almost a year, now – that Campbell has been doing business with the Rumor crew, he has a sense of how they work together as a group: Krejjh piloting the ship and executing daring last-minute escapes; Brian joking and mediating and cooking slightly disastrous food; Arkady watching Sana’s back and intimidating obstacles into submission; and Sana alternately leading and mothering, driving ruthless bargains for the benefit of her crew.

But it doesn’t compare to the experience of eating at the same table, drinking the Rumor’s lethal home-brewed moonshine, listening to outrageous tales and laughing until his sides hurt.

The next day, Campbell is unsurprised when he doesn’t hear a word from the Rumor crew until nearly two o’clock in the afternoon. He himself only crawled out of bed at noon, and has since been avoiding light sources and slowly regaining his humanity over strong black coffee.

“Incoming call from Sana Tripathi.”

“Captain Tripathi,” Campbell says as he answers his comm. “You’re alive?”

“The jury’s definitely still out on that one,” Sana replies, her voice low and rough. Campbell chuckles, and then hopes the sound wasn’t too loud. “We’re at various stages of recuperation, but at a minimum, Arkady and I will be able to meet you with the cargo at our rendezvous point by three.”

“Make it four,” Campbell says, in deference to how utterly wrung-out she sounds. To cover this up, he adds, “I only joined the land of the living about half an hour ago myself. I’m going to need at least three more cups of coffee before I’m functional.”

“Four it is,” says Sana, businesslike, but with a clear undertone of relief. “We’ll see you there.”

“See you both soon. And, Sana –”

Campbell stops, wondering if he’s overstepping. Last night had been so easy, so fun – by the end of it, the Rumor crew felt like old friends. But it’s harder to recapture that feeling in the light of day, sober. What can he say – ‘Thanks for a great night’? ‘We should do this again sometime’?

(‘You have a beautiful laugh’?)

He clears his throat. “Don’t let Brian forget about that drink he owes me. And uh, you and the rest of the crew are always welcome to make a stop. To refuel, or…” He clears his throat again. “Or for whatever reason.”

“Thanks, Campbell,” says Sana, warm and genuine. “We’ll see you soon.”

–

Things start to get a lot tougher over the months that follow – on Telemachus and on every other planet that Campbell has contacts. Forgers and traders he’s worked with for years go silent, or are rarely heard from; he gets wind of abrupt crackdowns, the Regime imprisoning people who show the slightest bit of dissent, petty criminals being sent down with lengthy sentences.

Telemachus starts to stir. He hears murmurs on the streets. A leaflet is shoved into his hand by a hooded young person who is gone before he can blink. Campbell skims enough of it to know that he would probably be arrested if he were found with it on his person. He burns it, but he knows it’s only a matter of time before the protests start.

On his next call with the Captain to arrange a routine cargo drop-off, he can’t stop himself from urging her to be careful. Sounding amused, she promises him that she will.

“Are we still on for drinks at that bar you promised to take us to?”

“I don’t know what their house policy is on home-brewed moonshine,” Campbell warns her. “But of course we are.”

“Great. We’ll see you in a week, Campbell. Sana Tripathi out.”

He’s not expecting to get another call from her just three days later. Campbell is tense as he accepts the call, sure that something must be wrong.

“Captain Tripathi.” He hesitates over the second half of the greeting, and Sana speaks before he can say anything else.

“Campbell, hi.” She sounds well, but Campbell doesn’t relax, sensing bad news in her tone. “Listen, there’s no good way to say this, but… we’re going to have to miss our drop-off.”

“Oh.” Of all the things that Campbell might have thought were coming next, that wasn’t one of them. He knows he should be angry over being left in the lurch by a business partner, about how badly this will put him out, but instead he’s just… disappointed. And concerned. “What’s happening?”

“It’s – hard to go into too much detail right now, but… we’ve got to make an unexpected stop. Something’s come up, and… there’s no way we’re going to be in range of Telemachus for a while. I’m sorry.”

So, not just missing a drop-off, but possibly not making any stops for some time. Campbell is silent for a few moments, absorbing this.

“I know this will put you out in a major way, and I promise that we’ll make it up to you,” Sana says. “You’re our best customer, and we would never bail on you unless it was urgent.”

That’s what concerns me, Campbell thinks. “I… understand,” he says finally. “I’m not going to pretend I like it, but sometimes, that’s just how things are. I can find another supplier for the Scotch. They won’t be you, but…”

“Sorry, again, Campbell. We were… really looking forward to seeing you. Listen, we’ll give you half price on your next shipment. As an apology.”

Somehow, bartering isn’t as fun when Sana is just offering him a lower price – and when she’s doing it as an apology. “We’ll work something out,” he says. “I know you’ve got to keep Krejjh in hot sauce and Arkady in those elaborate hair products she denies using.”

Sana laughs. “Yeah, we might have to ration the hot sauce for a bit, but we’ll survive.” There’s a pause, and then she adds, “I’ll call as soon as I’m able. Let you know when we might be in the area again.”

“Do that. Good luck with… whatever it is that you have to do.”

“Thanks.” For a moment, Sana seems like she’s about to say something else, but then she closes with, “Speak to you soon. Sana Tripathi out.”

–

Campbell doesn’t hear from the Rumor crew for another three weeks after Sana’s call. All told, it’s been nearly four months since they last stopped by on Telemachus. Once upon a time, he would go much longer without seeing or hearing from the crew and not even think about it. But he’s got used to more regular contact – drop-offs every couple of months, and regular calls, sometimes not even about business. He enjoys finding out what the group has been up to, listening to the way that they joke together, the way Sana alternately cajoles and corrals them. How fond she sounds when talking to her crew, her found family.

He’s sure, sometimes, that he hears the same fondness in her voice directed at him. She’s never hesitated to match his banter, and he looks forward to the calls where they haggle over prices, exchanging insults that sound more affectionate than anything. Campbell would hate to cross a line too soon – he doesn’t want to ruin what is also a great business relationship and friendship. But on his calls with Sana, his catch-ups with the crew, their now-regular drinking escapades with ill-advised amounts of moonshine and ridiculous stories… he’s sure that there’s something more there.

He finds himself thinking about Sana at odd moments during the day: dwelling on her voice, her laugh; picturing her smile, her arms, her tattoos. He hopes that she’s safe, that whatever mystery errand took her away from Telemachus wasn’t dangerous. More than once, he’s tempted to put a call through and make sure she’s okay, but he stops himself. Sana said she would call as soon as she was able, and she’s always been a woman of her word.

He brightens when, in the middle of a slow evening, his terminal lights up and his computer intones, “Incoming call from… Sana Tripathi. Incoming call from…”

“Captain Tripathi,” he greets her cheerfully. “You’re alive!”

–

Then, Elion. A body turns up by the landfill. Sana’s accusation.

“In what universe would I turn on you for them?!”

Then they don’t speak for some time.

–

There’s a massive protest happening in the centre of Nestor, the district of Telemachus where Campbell is based. It’s loud enough and vehement enough that Campbell can hear it, just faintly, from where he sits in his cramped office, distractedly going through some accounts.

Normally, the Regime would have deployed riot police by now, violently suppressing the protest and arresting the instigators. But in contrast to how jumpy the IGR had been before, the machinery of the Regime has been oddly absent in recent weeks. As if all its resources are being focused elsewhere. This is the third protest in about ten days – and the largest. He also heard that there’s been some kind of major incident at a Regime lab in New Jupiter – a fire or an explosion or something. He’s willing to bet that it’s just the tip of the iceberg. Something big is going down.

Giving the accounts up as a bad job for now, Campbell dismisses the holographic screen with a wave of his hand and stands up. He needs some air.

Once he’s out of the house, it’s almost impossible to avoid the protest – it seems to be everywhere. Out of sheer morbid curiosity, Campbell walks towards the crowds, his coat collar turned up to obscure the bottom half of his face. Soon he’s close enough to hear some of what they’re shouting.

“THE RUMOR CREW DID NOTHING WRONG!” yells a man nearby, and Campbell’s heart almost stops. “JUSTICE FOR THASIA!” 

“JUSTICE FOR EMILY CRADDOCK!” another voice yells back.

Someone stuffs a leaflet into Campbell’s hand. He looks down at it. It’s a cheap, quickly-printed thing, just black text on off-white paper, and it reads:

WE THE PEOPLE DEMAND A FULL AND TRANSPARENT STATEMENT FROM THE INTERGALACTIC REPUBLIC ABOUT THE DISCLOSURES IN THE RUMOR RECORDINGS OF THE WIDESPREAD USE OF SPY TECHNOLOGY IN PEACETIME ASSASSINATION, ABDUCTION, AND THE INSTIGATION OF AN INTER-SPECIES WAR THE RUMOR CREW DID NOTHING WRONG!

Campbell roughly grabs the shoulder of the man who was shouting nearby. “What are these Rumor recordings?” he demands, brandishing the leaflet.

The man looks alarmed, and Campbell forces his posture to become a bit less “military”. “I’m not one of them,” he says, quickly. “I just want to know what’s happening.”

“They’re all over the public net, man,” says the protestor. The ‘where the hell have you been?’ is strongly implied.

“You should start by listening to Report 1: Violet Liu,” another protestor supplies helpfully.

“Thank you,” says Campbell, and lets go of the man’s shoulder. The man shrugs and rejoins the crowd, chanting,

“JUSTICE FOR ALVY CONNORS! JUSTICE FOR THE CREW OF THE STARSHIP IRIS! YOU CAN’T MAKE A PERSON DISAPPEAR!”

Back at home, Campbell discovers the man was right: the files are all over the net. The IGR is clearly penalising anyone who shares them, and trying to shut down the websites hosting them – his search turns up a lot of dead links and mysteriously deactivated accounts. But there are far too many sources to eradicate them all, short of completely shutting down the public net. Before too long, Campbell has a complete set of the recordings, Reports 1 to 9.

He starts to listen.

The report starts, after the introduction from someone who is clearly an IGR drone, with the panicked voice of a woman who sounds vaguely familiar. Campbell has a good memory for both faces and voices, and he’s sure this woman is the new recruit he’d heard briefly on the call with Sana before the Rumor landed on Elion. It might explain her link to the Rumor crew.

Sure enough, a few minutes later he hears Arkady, using the Kay Grisham alias that he’d made for her, years ago. He recognises the con she’s pulling, a trick that Brian Jeeter grandly refers to as “the Carmen Gambit”. He wonders what was so important about this woman that the Rumor crew went so far out of their way to rescue her. He looks for a timestamp on the recording, but it only shows when the file was uploaded to the public net, which was a few days ago. But Campbell has a feeling this was the reason that the Rumor crew skipped their drop-off in Telemachus.

He wishes that Sana had told him what they were doing. God knows he wouldn’t have been angry about them going to save a person’s life. He wasn’t really angry about it to begin with.

Campbell keeps listening, and learns the real reason for the Rumor crew’s detour: a cryptic message from a friend he thinks Brian might have mentioned once – Alvy Connors, a gifted coder moonlighting as a bartender. Campbell’s sorry to learn about his death. He realises that the protesters had been chanting Alvy’s name – but why would they care so much about this man’s death? Where did these recordings come from?

Two more reports in, and Campbell is starting to put the pieces together to form a horrible picture: how the Regime had known that the Rumor was headed towards Elion. How the crew’s IDs had become compromised. They were listening to every word, he realises. But how?

Sana and Arkady discuss trading with the Fowleys – a particularly low breed of scum that Campbell avoids dealing with if at all possible, but he knows the Rumor crew can’t afford to be that picky – on Elion, and Campbell realises that he must be about to make an appearance in the recordings.

Sure enough, as the group realises that they need new IDs, Sana makes the call. It’s surreal to hear his own voice coming from the computer, and Campbell realises he needs to be very careful from now on. Whatever event caused all these files to be leaked onto the public net, he’s now clearly implicated in it, too. At least the Regime don’t have a visual description, but they have his voice and his location, as well as some details about his contacts. He’ll need to warn Red Gregor.

The exchange between Arkady and Sana in the elevator on Elion makes him cringe. “Did it seem like he was hitting on you?” Ridiculously, he finds himself hoping that Sana will give some indication of how she might feel about that, but instead she expertly turns the conversation around on Arkady. “If we wanna open that door, can I just say that you and—”

“No, that door is shut and locked.”

Campbell thinks about how Arkady talks to Violet Liu, her upbeat mood in response to the other woman’s admiration, and smiles.

Things go downhill quickly after that. Campbell is tense as he listens to the exchange with the guard, the Carmen Gambit once again coming into play. It almost works – until the fatal announcement over the comms that blows the crew’s cover. Campbell reflects that the Regime’s ridiculous, stifling bureaucracy was probably the only thing that kept them from getting caught sooner.

He cringes again as he hears his own call come through, and Sana immediately decline it. He’d been a bit over-eager, calling as soon as he’d got Red Gregor’s message to say that the job had gone off without a hitch – he was really just looking for an excuse to talk to Sana. Clearly, Campbell needs to get a grip.

The recording ends, and Campbell looks at his holo-screen, thinking about what the next recording will surely contain.

“Computer, outside call. Ignatius Campbell to Sana Tripathi.”

“Attempting connection…” the computer intones. “Attempting connection… Attempting connection… Attempting connection… Connection not available.”

He guesses he can’t blame Sana for declining his calls, after everything that he’d said to her before.

Reluctantly, he plays the next recording.

He listens to Violet’s attempts to speak to Arkady, Brian’s theories about the robot nanoswarm, and then Violet and Arkady’s conversation in the kitchen and Arkady’s gift of her mint plant. Campbell feels slightly indignant about the fact that Arkady never let on she was a fellow gardener. They could have exchanged tips!

Finally, he hears Sana accept his call in her room, and the friendly conversation quickly devolve into a tense exchange. He’s replayed that conversation endless times in his head, but it somehow sounds even worse than he remembers. Campbell wasn’t angry at Sana – he wishes he could have explained that somehow. But with everything that had happened, she was in no position to give him the benefit of the doubt. He wishes he could go back in time and…

He doesn’t know.

Then, something unexpected. Another call comes through to Sana’s comm, and she accepts it without waiting to hear the name – but Campbell knows that wasn’t him.

“Campbell, I agree it’s a bad idea for us to talk right now, but I just wanna say that if it was only me, I would probably risk it. The thing is, I can’t, I have to think about my crew, and you—”

Campbell’s heart stutters in his chest. “Computer, outside call,” he says, not bothering to pause the recording. “Ignatius Campbell to Sana Tripathi.”

“Attempting connection… Attempting connection… Attempting connection… Attempting connection… Connection not available.”

Campbell sighs and runs a hand over his face. He’s finally starting to get the picture, and he’s desperate to talk to Sana, to tell her that he understands now. He thinks about the way she’d spoken to ‘him’, the vulnerability in her voice. Damn it, he needs to talk to her. He has to make this right.

A man is speaking on the recording now, and Sana responds to him with anger. Campbell realises that he still has three reports left to go. He’s still far from understanding what has happened and where these recordings came from. The least that he can do is take the time to listen to them and understand what Sana has been going through.

He’s afraid of what the other reports might contain. But he would have known if Sana was hurt or worse – wouldn’t he? Surely Sana would still have come to him for help if she really needed it?

Nothing could have prepared him for the contents of the last three reports: the stunning revelations about Thasia, about why the war began; about the Regime’s use of a sentient swarm of nanobots to spy on dozens of its own people, indiscriminately, in every waking moment. His fists clench, hard enough that his nails dig into the palms of his hands, as he listens to Major General Frederick’s cold declaration that future strains of the nanoswarm will include a ‘kill-switch’. He listens to the sad story of Thasia and their doomed childhood friend, Emily Craddock. He understands now why the crowd had been chanting their names.

The crew’s hours of drunken singalongs and fake ‘confessions’ make him smile, but the smile is quickly wiped from his face as he hears the passage of time at the end of the report. “Two weeks have passed since our last update. As Major General Frederick said, we expect diminishing returns via this swarm of strain H.”

Then, the last few seconds. “Agent McCabe, look out the window!”

“Holy shit—”

Campbell can’t believe the recordings end there. He goes back to the site where he’d downloaded the files, to make sure he hadn’t missed one – but the website has already been taken offline. He scours discussion boards for any scrap of information. All of the commentators agree that there are only nine reports, but they have theories about what might have happened next – linked to the explosion (it definitely was an explosion) on New Jupiter. Odds are, it was the Rumor’s destination. But what happened?

He thinks about the words of the other Violet Liu. “If Plan B fails, not all of you will live long enough for Plan C.” He thinks about Violet coughing, Krejjh coughing, an inexorably deadly swarm of nanobots in the air. The Rumor crew taking one last, defiant, heroic stand because none of them could stand the alternative: to save their own lives at the expense of so many others.

“We have a saying on Telemachus, that when their foot is on your throat, any day breathing is a victory. So, I vote we push our luck.”

Campbell’s breathing is unsteady, and his throat feels tight and painful. He tries to fight down the rising panic in his chest, the voice in his head that fears the worst. Sana is alive. She has to be. He rubs at one eye with the heel of his hand, and it comes away wet.

“Computer,” he chokes out. “Outside call. Ignatius Campbell – to – Sana Tripathi.”

“Attempting connection… Attempting connection… Attempting connection… Attempting connection…”

“Campbell?”

Campbell is so stunned that for several long moments he stares at his computer, at the holo-screen displaying a successful connection, counting up the seconds on their call. “Campbell?” Sana says again. “Is that you?”

“Captain Tripathi,” he manages finally. “You’re…”

“Alive,” finishes Sana, with a smile in her voice.

[olivinesea]

Oooh fun! Okay, do you have any headcannons or thoughts on a dyslexic Hotch? I feel like I never see dyslexia with any characters really, and I like the idea of him with it. And if you do and you want to write something about it, a dyslexic Hotch with the team (and them being the supportive and protective family they are?) Thank you! ❤️

I hope you have fun, wherever/whatever you’re doing!!

I love this so much!! Thank you :) okay I don’t have much personal experience with dyslexia so hopefully I get this decently accurate. The biggest thing that surprised me when I was doing a quick search is that it isn’t actually a matter of reading words or letters backwards? It’s more an inability to connect letters to the appropriate sounds or to break words up into component parts; a general phonological awareness struggle.

So, as with many things, it seems to me to be a matter of slowing down, learning at your own pace. This ties in nicely with so many of my other Hotch thoughts, I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of it before. Idk what this is, it’s neither headcanon nor proper story but hopefully it’s something like what you were looking for:

When he’s a kid he gets called a slow learner due to his undiagnosed dyslexia. It was much less common to get that kind of diagnosis back then in general and I am sure his dad would have hated the idea of his son needing any kind of extra help. So he’s slow to speak, slow to learn how to read, has difficulty with numbers, absolutely hates being called on to read out loud because it’s actual torture and the other kids have no hesitation about laughing at him. So he becomes withdrawn, labeled a “bad kid,” stops trying because, fuck it, he never gets any kind of support, who cares right? It’s always a fight at home, he starts hiding his work, lying about his grades. This works for awhile bc his parents are distracted by other things. His problems are much bigger than grades by the time they do notice.

However, while he hates school and the way people talk about him and his struggles, like he isn’t even there, he discovers that he doesn’t hate learning. There’s a small library in town where he found he could hide out, no one bothering him for hours if he just sat still for with a book open. He was good at sitting still, at being invisible. But eventually a librarian notices that he’s always got the same book open, some sort of technical manual, that he is rarely turning the pages. She asks him if he likes what he’s reading. He’s just alarmed to be spoken to, afraid that being noticed means he will soon no longer have this sanctuary. He nods and tries to bluff his way through but it’s obvious he hasn’t read it, despite having looked at it for weeks straight. The librarian doesn’t say anything outright, just lets him be for now.

Next time she sees him she brings him a different book, a collection of Grimms fairy tales. He wants to complain that it’s for little kids but is too nervous to refuse it. She asks if she can read him her favorite story from it. It’s dark and twisted and fantastical and he can’t help but be drawn in by it. He’s sad when she’s done reading, wants to hear it again, to capture all the details to replay to himself later. She shows him where it starts, encourages him to read it himself. He doesn’t look at her bc he doesn’t want her to see how upset he is by that, already frustrated by the anticipation that he won’t be able to get through it. But she stays with him, helping him where he gets stuck, asking him questions about the story, making sure it’s making sense to him.

They slowly work their way through the whole collection over the course of months. They spend days on each story, repeating it until he’s confident, she never makes him feel like he’s taking too long or wasting her time. Sometimes has to reread a section multiple times, gets hung up on the language rather than the story but it’s okay, she gives him a notebook to copy down parts that spin too loudly in his mind, saving them and also releasing him from their hold so he can move forward. She lets him keep the book, tells him it was too old to stay in circulation anyway, they had a new copy on order already. She’s the first person who was patient with him, that showed him he could do it, he just needed a little more time, a little more practice than other kids.

In college this is part of why he spends so much time at the library. Part of it is his natural inclination to overwork himself, push until he’s given more than he can in hopes that it might be almost enough. He knows he’s never been enough, why would that change just because he’s in a new place? But the other part is he simply needs more time to get through the coursework, to make it through the excessive amounts of reading he’s assigned. Some other students don’t even bother to read but he would never do that, he makes sure that he not only reads every chapter assigned but he reads it again, takes notes, highlights, annotates, does everything in his power to be prepared. Sure he might work himself to the point of exhaustion, to the point where he makes himself sick (though he’ll try to deny that too) but he’s never caught trying to read something while others wait for his answer, the letters and sounds meaningless, slipping away from him faster the more eyes he feels turn towards him, wondering what could be taking so long. No one ever gets the chance to laugh at him for being slow in college, he never allows them to see that side of him.

As an adult, the leader of the BAU, he’s too well respected for anyone to dare laugh at him but he still hates feeling unprepared. This ends up looking like long nights in the office, reviewing case files to the point of memorization, so that he won’t have to read any of it in front of his team. He can if he has to, he’s developed skills over the years, ways to calm the panic that only makes it harder, can fake it well enough that no one would really notice. Until one day, distracted by a migraine and the fallout of some fight with Haley, he gets stuck. He can’t remember something and he tries to read the sentence that has the information but the stupid word just won’t resolve into sounds that make sense and he just stops talking. He’s glaring at the form like it might catch fire. No one says anything for a moment while he tries to refocus, tries to work around echoes of laughter, decades long past but always ready to jump out at him if he lets his guard down, allows a mistake, a tired moment to derail the image of perfect competence that he’s built around himself. Penelope jumps in, finishing the thought, completing the list of traits shared by the victims. He forces himself to smile at her because he really is grateful, it wasn’t her fault. She scrunches her nose at him, dismissing his silent thanks with a toss of her head. It was nothing, everyone needs a little assist now and then.

No one brings it up and he doubles his efforts not to let anyone see. But he’s so tired on the plane coming back from a case, he’s been staring the same forms for an hour at least. He can feel his ears turning red with frustration. There’s really no reason he has to do this now but the fact that his mind is refusing, almost seems to be teasing him, makes him dig in harder. Emily sits down opposite him, pulling the folder away without asking. He’s about to say something sharp, something he’ll regret saying to her when he really means it for himself, but the expression on her face is so odd, smiling with a frown between her eyebrows. It isn’t pity, she respects him far too much, but there is curiosity and something else, something soft.

“Drink with me.” She slides him a glass and they don’t talk, just look out the window, look at the light playing off the ice in their glasses. He doesn’t see the file again until it appears on his desk, every form neatly filled out, the places needing his signature flagged. All but the last spot, where she’s signed his name eerily perfectly, difficult for even him to see that it’s not his own. Just so he knows she can if she wants to. Equal parts offer and threat.

Penelope and Reid start a book club. Derek joins right away. Emily rolls her eyes when she’s invited, muttering something about spending her free time on more work but they know she will join. Rossi flat out refuses to read the books but offers his house for meetings. Hotch hesitates, wanting to say yes but nervous to commit to an activity like that. He loves books, loves to talk about books. He doesn’t love a time limit on books.

The next time they have to drive to a case, Derek puts on a copy of the audiobook. It’s the first time they make it to a destination without any bickering from the backseat. They don’t get through the whole thing but later he finds a copy of the audiobook on his desk, complete with a disc player and headphones.

A different month, Reid tells him about how his mother always used to read him books and somehow finesses an offer to read to Hotch without him even realizing he’s accepted it. So Spencer comes in to Hotch’s office on lunch breaks occasionally and reads to him whatever the book of the month is. He loves it, remembering the first person who read to him, how shocked he’d been to be treated with patience, with understanding and wondering how he got so lucky to be surrounded by people like her, so ready to support him, wanting him there with them rather than off alone, uselessly fighting with himself to prove his self sufficiency over some uncooperative letters.

Okay, that was so much more than I was planning on but here we are. I hope you liked it and thank you SO much for the idea. If you ever have any others you want to share I am totally here for it. :)

Send me requests!

[magicofthepen]

Tell us about Making Out Is Not a Healthy Coping Mechanism and Aro Solidarity: That Platonic Fake Married Fic, please?

Send me a WIP doc title (list here) and I’ll talk about it!

I love that you asked about these two because they’re both Romana and Narvin fics, but quite different takes on their relationship!

The quick explanations (I’m gonna put the long ramble-y ones under a cut):

Making Out Is Not a Healthy Coping Mechanism: Narvin/Romana, post-Devil You Know. Stressed, grieving Time Lords are trying to run the CIA in the middle of a war, there are the added factors of Narvin’s exhausted anger and Romana’s exhausted guilt around Leela’s mission, everyone is very bad at talking about anything. They end up kissing rather by accident, and it’s very emotionally fraught and no one wants to think about or discuss the implications. 

Aro Solidarity: That Platonic Fake Married Fic: Narvin & Romana, set shortly after Enemy Lines, a combo of "accidentally getting stuck in a fake married situation apparently counts as workplace bonding?” “I don’t typically headcanon Romana as aro but I could totally see it and I really want to write about it!” and “I don’t typically headcanon Narvin as aro but I could totally see it and I really want to write about it!”

The (very) long ramble-y versions: 

Making Out Is Not a Healthy Coping Mechanism

I love exploring time gaps in Romana and Narvin’s relationship (that nine month gap between Forever and Emancipation where they’re on their own as President and Chancellor! that Enemy Lines to Time War gap where they clearly build a really great partnership in the CIA together!), but one of the gaps I haven’t written a fic about yet is the time between The Devil You Know and Desperate Measures (I’ve referenced that time frame in my Time War 3 fic, but I haven’t actually Gotten Into It).

Because the ending of The Devil You Know is extremely tense, and we never really see that immediate interpersonal fallout? So I want to write something set in this time frame, when they’re both stressed and terrified for Leela, but they can’t really lean on each other because Narvin’s angry at Romana for pushing for the mission and Romana’s blaming herself for pushing for the mission (“What have I done?”), but they’re both putting up a We Have a Job To Do front and pretending they’re okay at work and.....yeah.

There’s also been a certain degree of unspoken romantic attraction between them for a while (perhaps they haven’t even admitted it to themselves) because navigating their professional and personal relationship is complicated enough as it is without introducing another element. Also they’re both very good at “let’s shove feelings down and not talk about them.” (I have so many takes on Romana and Narvin’s relationship, but during Time War I get such simultaneous “old married couple” and “haven’t actually admitted to feelings” vibes from them, and I want to write about that.) 

So they’re both very isolated and hurting in their own ways and there’s this background unaddressed Thing between them, and eventually everything just comes to a head. And I haven’t actually written this fic yet, I just have notes and keep playing through this scene in my head in different ways, so I don’t know the details about what will happen? Not sure if there’s going to be a proper fight, if they’re actually going to get into the blame question around Leela’s disappearance, not sure how much of that grief they’re actually going to show? 

The bottom line is: they end up crossing paths in Leela’s rooms (where they both occasionally go to have an emotional breakdown), they’re exhausted and every emotional boundary they need to keep up because they work together is crumbling away, and they end up kissing. But it’s not exactly a positive development, more of a “this is easier than talking” sort of thing. Also I haven’t decided what their exact relationships with Leela were (in the context of this fic), but either they were each in a relationship with Leela or they each have feelings for Leela but never admitted it? But regardless, they both Know that the other has feelings for Leela, and so there’s an added dynamic of them both thinking “obviously this means nothing to you because it’s not me you’re interested in, and you’re only doing this because you’re missing her, and so obviously I’m going to pretend it means nothing to me, too.” So it’s just poor communication bad times all around!

I don’t actually know how/if this resolves? I don’t think they’d have a proper conversation at this point in the audios, but I’m not sure if I’m just going to end this fic on “welp that happened” or if there’s going to be some kind of emotional shift/release of tension somehow? (There will probably need to be because their relationship in Desperate Measures and TW2 is quite good overall, so I probably won’t leave things in this tense place?) But again, this fic isn’t written yet, so everything is pretty up in the air. 

Aro Solidarity: That Platonic Fake Married Fic

Arguably, this is more of a concept than an actual wip, but even though I may never actually write it, I do love it dearly? 

I’ve been wanting to write something with aromantic Romana for a while - and this might sound strange coming from me, aka someone who’s written a variety of shippy Romana fic and can very easily interpret her feelings and relationships with other characters as romantic, but I so often have multiple contradictory headcanons for characters that live in different pockets of my brainspace. 

My aro Romana thoughts are mainly fueled by series 4, because whenever marriage/romance comes up around alternate versions of herself, she’s always fairly surprised and baffled and gives the impression that it’s not something she’s ever considered? And in general, she’s kinda awkward and uncomfortable whenever there’s flirting happening (which could just be the circumstances or her personality, but could also be interpreted as her not clicking with romantic gestures). And of course while fandom ships her with many characters in the dw universe, she’s never stated to be romantically interested in anyone (well. I suppose that depends on your thoughts about how canon the Prime computer ads are, but putting that aside.......). Not that there has to be overt evidence for headcanons, but I do think there’s a solid canon-based argument for aro Romana, you know? 

And part of me really likes the interpreting Romana’s friendships as totally platonic because the intense Friendship-as-Love-Story journey is there already, that’s what the audios are giving us! And I don’t really see that kind of centering of deep, spend-the-rest-of-my-life-with-you friendship in media and it’s so good! (Related point (I know I say this a lot, but it bears repeating): I do very much ship the ot3, but am also very much into reading all of the main trio’s relationships as totally platonic – and I never actually want those relationships to be romantic in the audios themselves.) And I’ve had Thoughts for a while about how for Romana the big important line is between professional and personal relationships, and whether the personal relationship is romantic or platonic is probably less significant. So I could see her as someone who either doesn’t experience romantic attraction at all or just doesn’t distinguish between romantic and platonic attraction. What’s important is the distinction between professional relationships and intimate personal relationships – separating out the nature of that personal intimacy isn’t really something she does?

So anyways, I’ve been wanting to write something that explores Romana being aromantic, but for a while, I didn’t really have a vision for what kind of fic I wanted to write? 

Separately, I’ve had the “platonic fake married” idea kicking around in my head for a while. The “post-Enemy Lines” time period is so fascinating to me when it comes to Romana and Narvin’s relationship because somehow they go from “Romana’s just swooped in and taken Narvin’s job that he’s worked hard for his entire life” to the genuinely solid friendship and team dynamic we see in the Time War audios? So I’m fascinated by that journey from things probably being very emotionally fraught and a lot of tension and stepping on each others’ toes to working really well together. And somehow, at some point, my brain went: what if new CIA Coordinator Romana and Deputy Coordinator Narvin who aren’t getting along very well accidentally end up in an off-world situation where they have to pretend to be married? (My brain also went: I’m not sure I could handle writing the secondhand embarrassment of this situation, but also I’m very into the idea of a Narvin & Romana platonic fake married fic that ends up functioning as a “how do we save our friendship?” story.)

And then more recently, I realized I also really wanted to write something with aromantic Narvin. There aren’t necessarily specific moments fueling this headcanon (as much as with Romana), but it definitely comes from a similar “I really like interpreting Narvin’s friendships as totally platonic because the intense Friendship-as-Love-Story journey is there already!” place. 

You know that “I have feelings for you” / “The feeling was “friendship” but neither had ever experienced it” quote? Yeah, that pretty accurately captures my thought process when it comes to aro Narvin. He genuinely doesn’t seem to have experienced friendship before Romana and Leela, so it’s very plausible to me that he assumed he was experiencing romantic attraction at some point but nope, he just really loves his friends and is experiencing really intense platonic affection for the first time. (This is also me going ‘I know this is a wildly unpopular opinion, but I’m totally down to interpret Erasure as platonic.’)

Anyways, at some point recently all three things fused together in my brain, and I went: what if new CIA Coordinator Romana and Deputy Coordinator Narvin who aren’t getting along very well end up in a situation where they have to pretend to be married.....and also they’re both aromantic? Writing a fic like this feels like an excellent opportunity to actually sit down and have a think about ‘what are the cultural associations and expectations around romance on Gallifrey?’ (‘what does being aromantic mean by Gallifreyan standards?’) And ‘what are romantic associations and expectations on whatever planet they’re on?’ And the potential bonding experience of two aromantic people trying to navigate those layers of expectation, while also grappling with the interpersonal tension in their friendship and slowly learning to communicate better in the process....this is a very interesting story to me!

No, I have not actually figured out the details of the off-world diplomatic situation/mission they would accidentally end up in that would require this, and thus I probably won’t get around to it for a while. Also this would probably be a longfic and I’m trying to stick to a ‘one big project at a time!’ rule, and my current big project is the post-Time War fic, and then fantasy au has been waiting its turn for so long (and actually has, y’know, plot points). But I simply love this concept, and so I’m keeping the doc in case I maybe figure out a way to keep the fic short, or get a particularly good idea and decide that I really want to write it? (But also – if someone else wants to run with this concept, please do!)

This has been such a long answer to your ask, whoops, but thank you so much for giving me the excuse to ramble on about all of these things!!

[lady-daydream]

MacCready and Duncan Headcanons-Fallout 4

4 Year Old Deacon -

Lucy was always the one that got him to laugh or stop crying. So when MacCready had to deal with all these issues without any help or guidance he felt extremely lost. Unknown to him at the time however MacCready didn't have to worry when Duncan was a baby since he reasonable quiet child however he became concerned when by the age of three he still wasn't talking, just nodding or shaking his head. MacCready was borderline considering getting a doctor to check if his son was mute when Duncan talked for the first time. MacCready had just come back from his farm around midday, physically tired and thirsty. As he walked into there little shack of a home he saw Duncan sat under the wooden table (His favourite spot). Greeting him with a tired smile he laughs before asking “ you alright down there bud?, almost didn’t see you there. You must have superpowers just like in the comics”. Duncan nods while smiling before going back to playing with a poorly stuffed Teddy Bear MacCready had picked up while scavenging, while MacCready slowly made his way over to the broken fridge. He was halfway through drinking some of the water he had collected that morning when he heard a small voice say “ Can I have some water as well dad”. This was followed by MacCready dropping his glass, muttering something he hoped Duncan didn't hear under his breath before quickly rushing over to kneel next to his son, holding his face in his hands. “Did you just talk little bud? “ he asks his eyes almost watering as Duncan says yes. Duncan had just caught onto speaking however just didn't feel the need to speak.

Duncan could follow basic direction and instructions by the age of 4. He would follow his dad around while he was working on the farm. So MacCready would ask Duncan to pick up small items , or to go fetch things such as bullets if he was checking over his gun or to show him where items are. MacCready loves the curiosity and excitement in his sons eyes. 

Duncan likes to make and sing silly songs with random words as well as goofy made up words. MacCready likes to try and sing along if he can pick up the tune, so when he is working in the field it always cheers him up to sing with his son since it distracts them of all the darker and sadder memories surrounding the two of them.

Duncan is naturally creative and since MacCready is normally away doing work Duncan ended up with the neighbour family and idea, play together. Duncan started developing an imaginary friend quite earlier one, and would try and draw pictures of his imaginary friend as well as his friends and his dad.

At this point, Duncan is able to do basic things such as getting dress and eating and cleaning himself, and due to this slowly MacCready starts taking up Gun for hire jobs again. Though he is hesitant and has the neighbours check up on his son after a few months of getting used to this routine it becomes routine, with MacCready making up the time he is away whenever he comes back.

Duncan still have tantrums because of changes in routine or not getting what they want and for a while he started getting into a small phases of arguing over thing that Duncan understands are wrong just to see his dads reactions. This of course was a strain on MacCready since he is a naturally blunt person, he had to learn quite quickly to separate his love for his Son, but also understand he had to teach Duncan right or wrong so that he had more guidance than MacCready did.

11 Year Old Duncan - 

After getting the cure and finally joining his dad in the Commonwealth, slowly Duncan fit in better than anyone expected. Everyone felt some sort of compassion for the small kid. After a few years of this it seems he has picked up small traits from everyone. He enjoys listening to Uncle Hancock's wacky and weird stories, both their height amounts of energy  (despite Hancock trying to sober up a little around the kid) leading to chaos, Having Valentine, Preston and Piper around though always means the kids has a high levels of curiosity , wants to ask question and can read and write to a considerably high level for his age. He enjoys following sole around though, watching what they are doing and always asking why.

Physically Duncan is also a perfect 50/50 of MacCready and Lucy. He has his mother’s eyes and more roundish cheeks as well as inherited her smile. He does have MacCready hair as well as his more muscular but lean built, as well as having MacCready left handedness.

However, there are other things as well. He is thinner than normal, and he never seems to be able to put on weight, He has a gap in his teeth that always stands out. He has freckles that only get more prominent on sunny days. He also gets tired easier, running out of breath as well as having a slight limp from not being able to walk for a long while. This added with growth spurts means Duncan ends up in a lot of pain. MacCready always tries to have painkillers on him, and hates seeing his son like this.

Though Duncan is still close to his Dad, Duncan starts to resist physical affection. He wont want hugs as much or doesn't want to spend as much time with his dad. Though he still enjoys sharing comics together as well as hearing his dad’s stories about what him and sole and all the adventures they got up to.

This ones for you  @theartofblossoming I hope its okay, sorry its a bit short. I'm sorry in advance if their are many spelling mistakes please comment if you see any so I can correct them. :) If anyone has any suggestions/imagine/headcannons please just message me or comment and I will try and write it as quickly and to the best as my ability. I hope everyone has an amazing day, love you all <3

[darkpoisonouslove]

Griffin and valtor and faragonda and griffin

Griffin and Valtor:

When I started shipping it if I did:

At the very beginning of 2019.

My thoughts:

Currently I am a little freaked out because I have not really felt in the mood for this ship in a while (except for that spur-of-the-moment fic I speed wrote a few days ago) and I don’t know if I will get back to it which is seriously scary to me. I have so many ideas for them! I do not want to abandon them! But it might just be burnout. I have been in a generally weird mood lately and I really need to get the rest my mind is screaming for and has been for about over a month at this point.

What makes me happy about them:

The moral dilemma and the extremely complicated situation that their whole relationship developed in. I just love how much things there are to consider. And the tragedy of being a perfect match but being pulled apart by circumstances and loyalties and desires is just delicious. I love me some angst. But I also love the idea of the two of them actually being happy in an AU where their love won out. I just think they make a great couple.

What makes me sad about them:

The fact that they were pulled apart by their commitment to other things besides each other and their relationship. Also, the fact that they couldn’t get back together even while still loving each other because there will be this lack of trust between them.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me:

Not like there is that much fanfic about them that isn’t mine or yours... I guess what annoys me is seeing Valtor marking Griffin with his mark (when they’re supposed to be in love, I mean). It feels like it tips the balance of trust between them too much towards Griffin. I just think that him just trusting her feelings without feeling the need to brand her his makes for a better balance of trust in their relationship.

Things I look for in fanfic:

Some semblance of them being in character? Which is pretty subjective but I just can’t stand it when either (or worse, both) of them get overly sappy without any reason. They are not your typical romance and that is what I like about them. I want them to be this unique pairing that they are that has so much darkness and bitterness, anger and trauma to carry but at the same time they are seeing something good for themselves in the other and finding home. It just feels so romantic and intimate and... fuck, Imma cry! They are so damn precious! It is basically a storm that is their safe place from the other kind of storm out there in the world that is not their speed and is threatening and I want it to be just as dynamic and explosive while also welcoming and gentle at the same time without sacrificing either side of the delicate balance that the two of them strike for each other.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

For Valtor - no one. I just can’t imagine him with anyone else. For Griffin - Faragonda (if we’re talking canon) or Marion.

My happily ever after for them:

This is hard because I have so many AUs and in all of them they kinda have different iterations of the same happy ending and I can’t decide between the different details. I guess a general scenario is them just having peaceful lives without that much drama (of course, there will be the occasional shitstorm because of who they are as people) while they’re doing what they love together meaning just being there to support each other and spend their lives together.

Who is the big spoon/little spoon:

Usually Valtor is the big spoon because he likes holding her. But letting her hold him is also pretty tempting. Griffin doesn’t mind either way, though being the little spoon makes her feel safe while being the big one almost makes her cry with how much he trusts her.

What is their favorite non-sexual activity:

Playing chess or sparring together, depending on whether they feel more like doing some physical activity or would rather relax and put their minds to the test.

Griffin and Faragonda:

When I started shipping it if I did:

I, honest to god, cannot remember. When I got back into the show I guess? So, again, about the beginning of 2019? Or maybe towards the middle once I started developing my thoughts on the characters and their relationships. I am not too certain.

My thoughts:

They are the bestest of friends and it would just make so much sense for them to end up together after everything they have been through! It would be just like coming home and realizing that you have always been home with that person, that they are such an inseparable part of your life despite all of your differences. It just feels like such a graceful endgame for both of them. Absolutely perfect!

What makes me happy about them:

That they have been friends for so long and just know each other so well and are so close despite being opposites. There is so much beauty to their relationship after everything that they’ve made their way through together and them finding love and happiness in each other (romantically speaking) feels like a real fairytale ending in an otherwise very harsh story. It truly feels magical and I love it!

What makes me sad about them:

The fact that they had that fallout before season 1. It breaks my heart, especially after the whole trauma that they must have gone through after the war and losing their friends and lovers. It breaks my heart to know that their friendship gave way to something else for a while but they still got back together so that is all that matters.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me:

I haven’t really seen any fic about them besides two one-shots I read a while ago. But if we’re talking about some cameos they have made or even headcanons, it really annoys me when people only portray them as colleagues or even as begrudging allies. I think that season 2 made it clear that they are actually pretty close and it just hurts me to think that they aren’t absolute besties after they made up back at the end of season 1.

Things I look for in fanfic:

What I’d like to see more about them would be the way Griffin is important to Faragonda. It is obvious that Faragonda is Griffin’s hope and her good judgment in a lot of cases. She is her light. But as much as that relationship may seem tilted to one side, I think they actually have a pretty good balance and Griffin is just as important for Faragonda as Faragonda is to her. I feel like that can be ignored sometimes (by me as well).

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

Griffin - with Valtor, of course. Maybe even Griselda. And Faragonda - with Hagen. I think there’s enough cuteness in that ship for it to be endgame.

My happily ever after for them:

Just living together and spending the nights either at CT or Alfea while bickering innocently over the eternal fairies vs witches debate and getting mixed up in shenanigans thanks to their colleagues or students. Or mixing up their colleagues and students in shenanigans. Whatever happens! XD

Who is the big spoon/little spoon:

Faragonda is the big spoon. She just wants Griffin to feel loved and protected and she feels like that is the best way (it totally works). And it is better for her too as she just likes the feeling of Griffin in her arms.

What is their favorite non-sexual activity:

Having a tea party together while they just relax after a long day or banter innocently (as much as that is an option with Griffin involved).

[heroes-writing]

Hello! It’s great to see you back again, you’re one of my favourite OPM writers! And greetings to Stella, it’s good to have you aboard •v• Is my Zombieman with a former experiment s/o still on the books? If not, I’d like to request it again if that’s alright. Good luck with the quarantine, and stay safe! •v•

Greetings Anon!

Okay well shit, maybe it’s impossible for me to do headcanons for prompts like these without turning it into a story-length outline, goddamnit. I always feel the need to put more and more detail to make it feel real. Hi, my middle name is ‘Extra’.

This also turned out to be a wild animal - morphed into a double whammy of HC-scenarios. I hope it’s close enough to hit what your prompt asks.

Enjoy under the cut,

Stella

Word count: 1202

Okay, so I get the feeling that successful mad scientists like Dr. Genus are not, in fact, running rampant, even in a universe like OPM’s. This shit takes a lot of hard work and knowledge and you gotta know what you’re doing. Most rogue scientists either quit because of the low success rate or get killed by their creations.

Zombieman’s SO would, in fact, be a scientist that volunteered to experiment on themselves, backed by a team in the Hero Association’s Research & Development biology division. (Side note, obviously no one in the OPM world ever has taken a course on scientific ethics or human subject research.) They’re trying to get powerful enough to become an A-class or even an S-class hero. They have a strong drive to make the world a better place, along with scientific curiosity (to see what they can do with their knowledge), and this is the result of their extreme devotion and obsession taken to its conclusion.

They know what they’re doing, but guys, shit happens. The experiment is only moderately successful due to some unforeseen hiccups. SO joins the Hero Association as a high B-rank hero. This obviously isn’t good enough to investigate further in, so that little research foray is scrapped by R&D and kept on the down-low. 

SO is neither particularly well-known nor obscure and they periodically suffer from side effects of surgical augmentations; their hero name is “Human Experiment” (lol). Zombieman hears about their vague origin story (at least part of it, anyway) and seeks them out to find out if they were also a victim of the House of Evolution, in hopes of tracking down Genus.

He’s disappointed to find that they are not part of the House of Evolution. Despite that, he still feels a weird kinship of sorts with them, and they end up talking a little longer. Zombieman ends up enjoying their company, and they start hanging out whenever they’re both at HQ. Because it’s classified information, SO doesn’t reveal at this point that they experimented on themselves with the help of the HA.

After a few weeks, Zombieman finally asks SO out on a proper date, and it’s during this first date that SO reveals their true origins as an experiment, because they don’t feel like they should let Z get into a relationship with them under this huge lie of omission. Z is surprised and a little disappointed since he’d been under the impression that they’d had an extremely similar experience to him. But, they didn’t actively deceive him about it, so he puts it behind him and accepts it for what it is. 

Despite this, after a while of being in a relationship with SO, he feels able to talk about his experiences with them and is interested in hearing about how theirs was similar or different. He’s a little bitter, but too rational and calm to truly be upset about how his experimentation was forced, and how theirs was consensual and self-inflicted. It’s their past, they accept each other, it is what it is. 

Although they’ve both come to terms with their life before meeting each other, they still talk about their experiences together. It provides him with a source of relief to be able to share with someone the worst parts of his life that he can remember and not have to censor the most graphic parts. He shares his fears and anger, and they their hopes and doubts, about what they both went through during their experimentation. 

He shares his hatred of being drugged to the gills, the mindless terror of a prey animal he’d felt as he fought for his life and then died during the first few dozen times his regeneration was tested, desperately wanting to actually die to end it, the rush of adrenaline that still floods his body after he wakes before he realizes he’s no longer a captive in the basement. His sensitivity towards being called a monster as he is definitely still a human.

SO has the utmost empathy hearing about Z’s experience -- they were willing, but he wasn’t; they imagine their own experimentation if it were non-consensual and how awful it would have been. SO is extremely indignant on his behalf and can’t help but rant about how disrespectful it was to Z, how improper those procedures were, and how Genus is a disgrace to all scientists and shouldn’t be considered a proper one. They soothe Z with kisses and reassure that he is in no way a monster.

His SO shares their naive idealism that had spurred them to volunteer their body for the cause, their wavering conviction as it became clear that the overwhelming success they had planned for was no longer guaranteed, their uncertainty that it was worth it at all. Their struggles as they doubt if they’re human anymore: they look like one, but they feel like they’ve been changed on such a fundamental level, they’re not sure if they can even share the full human experience anymore.

Z is not unsympathetic towards SO and knows better than to blame them for their self-inflicted situation they’d created. He tells them that they shouldn’t worry if they’re human or not: their heart is in the right place and their actions are pure and good.

SO then confesses that they actually hate killing monsters because they feel that they’re too much like humans -- monsters have feelings, ambitions, thoughts, and dreams of their own. Zombieman reveals that his enjoyment of killing monsters (often brutally so) is only because he feels the desperate need to prove he’s not one.

Shit gets philosophical between them. They become engrossed in their conversation as the sun sets and the street lights flicker on. What is the line between human and monster? The difference between extreme experimentation and monsterization? There are humans that harm other humans in egregious ways, but they don’t get hunted down like monsters. There are monsters that don’t harm humans, but they are exterminated anyway. What makes a monster a monster? Intent, actions, self-perception, or how others see you? And in the end, does it even matter at all? 

-----

Finally, I have an unhealthy love of angst, so I have a little separate headcanon-plot about Zombieman and his little science-experiment-SO being in a steady relationship, but with the twist that they have to deal with the fallout of his SO’s experimentation, which is starkly different from his own outcome. 

His SO doesn’t have a “positive” result like Zombieman and their experimentation was botched and unsuccessful. Instead of regenerative abilities and basically not being able to die, she has the thematic opposite, i.e. slow-acting but terminal cancer from her exposure to the carcinogenic substances that were used during her time in captivity. 

She can buy a little time with amputations of body parts (contrast with Z being able to GROW BACK parts), but it will kill her eventually. She opts to do this to be able to spend more time with Zombieman, but they both have to deal with the consequences of her declining ability to be independent and care for herself with the loss of each limb. 

Oh lort I just made myself supremely sad.

[opalsiren]

W.I.T.C.H. Reboot! W.I.T.C.H. Reboot! W.I.T.C.H. Reboot!

hi love! so, with the plethora of reboots kicking around mainstream media these days, its no surprise that the question of a w.i.t.c.h reboot has been broached by its fans. i have so, so, so many thoughts and this, but ill divide them into three categories for the purpose of brevity: firstly, general thoughts on what i would like to see if a w.i.t.c.h reboot is on the cards; secondly, what i would like to see in a live-action w.i.t.c.h reboot; and finally, what a decent animated reboot of w.i.t.c.h might entail. this is not an exhaustive list so please feel free to add onto this if youve any more thoughts! without further ado because jesus, we might be here a while….

general thoughts:

a w.i.t.c.h live action reboot should largely use the comics are source material. while the cartoons are beloved by many including myself, i reckon the good parts of each should be combined to be thematically consistent, fix plot holes etc. but the comics should be the bible here

the target demographic of younger women and girls would need to be established early on by the producers (personally i would love to see a slightly more mature, w.i.t.c.h college AU where the target demographic could be teens/young adult women and girls, but more on that later). this isnt to say that young men and boys would be absolutely excluded as an audience, but misogyny is alive and well in 2019, and our voices as women need to be uplifted. this is exemplified by the fact that caleb was given far, far, far too much screentime in the cartoon so that the show could reach a young, male audience, and his characters was mangled by chauvinistic tendencies. thank u, next.

i have my own preferences wrt to ships, but i think we can all agree that introducing male characters as mere plot devices for drama/conflict only to put them ‘on a bus’ when theyre no longer useful is just plain bad writing. this is a critique levelled both at the cartoon and comics, but largely the comics (see: Eric)(rip in peace).

i also believe that sticking to the conventions of a particular genre, or hybrid genre, would be preferable if a w.i.t.c.h reboot were to take place. some shows get it right, but I’ve seen a ton of shows go off the rails when they try to be a fantasy/comedy/crime/drama/horror/sci-fi/occult/soap-opera extravaganza all in one. i reckon a YA fantasy drama with comedic moments, something with a similar vibe to Shadowhunters or The Shannara Chronicles, could work really well. if we’re talking animated reboot, something with a similar tonal atmosphere to The Dragon Prince or Into the Spiderverse, would also be great

this shouldnt even need to be said but please, for the love of god, no musical episodes (heres looking at you, Riverdale).

i think i speak on everyones behalf when i say that, irrespective of the age demographic of the show, LGBT rep in w.i.t.c.h would be amazing. irma/cornelia have always been a practically canon fan favourite, but cassidy and nerissa’s relationship is definitely more than strictly platonic, so that could be developed upon too. trans/nonbinary!will is also a popular headcanon that could work. once there are lgbt heroes, and not just lgbt villains, i think we’ll all be happy.

similarly, seeing some neurodivergency in the characters could also be great: elyon dealing with pts after the fallout with phobos; irma struggling with adhd in school or college; hay lin and taranee also exhibit some traits of anxiety in canon. autistic!will would also work, and someone else in the squad is bound to be affected by depression given its pervasive nature these days.

much and all as i adore the guardian outfits, i think there would need to be a few changes made. the midriff-and-leg-baring get-ups, though very cute, become very jarring when you realise the characters are meant to range in age from 12 to 14. i dont have any specific thoughts on how improvements could be made, but lengthening hemlines could be a start. if anyone has any more thoughts, i’d love to hear them!

of course, there needs to be women in the writers room, lgbt people in the writers room, poc in the writers room, people with neurodivergencies in the writers room, etc. we all know what happens when writers rooms lack diversity, and it sure as hell aint pretty.

body diversity was something that was tentatively approached in the comics (irma is curvier than the others, at least in her mundane form), but eschewed almost entirely in the cartoon, with all the girls maintaining similar heights and waifish proportions. it would be worthwhile, not to mention realistic, for the girls to go through some body-image hang ups. maybe will is insecure about her ‘underdeveloped’ body, or maybe taranee longs to have the same curvaceous figures as other dancers her age. i think if they were to go for a message of body positivity, irma, loud and brash with no fucks to give, should love every inch of her fat body and encourage the girls to adopt her 'devil-may-care’ attitude. the patriarchy be damned.

one flaw with the comics AND the cartoons are that they dont really explore the worldbuilding a lot. we do spend some time on meridian in the comics and the cartoon, but largely from the perspective of either elyon, or caleb and the rebels. i wonder what a day on meridian would look like for the average meridianite peasant? what do meridianites do for fun? what language(s) do they speak? what are their religious/spiritual belief(s)? what are the styles of dress dictated by? meridian is based on medieval societies, and a caste system is suggested, but i would have loved to see the social hierarchies expanded on a little more. does the matriarchal nature of meridian rule value women and their labour? what about LGBT people on meridian? people with disabilities and neurodivergencies? is there any discrimination against the different species on meridian? in fact, i dont know if it was ever explicitly outlined to us the different species of peoples on meridian, in the cartoon or the comics. honestly id be happy to see a filler, AtLA Tales of Ba Sing Se-esque episode on meridian to cover all of these bases

one thing i loved from the comics that didnt translate as well in the cartoon were the girls’ passions and interests. will is obsessed with frogs, she rides her bike to her job at pet store, she swims, stresses over math homework. irma loves music and talking to her pet turtle, leafy; i could totally see her doing a stint at the college radio station or working part time at a record store. cornelia loves ice skating and has received tons of awards and accolades for her achievements on the ice. taranee is an avid photographer and dancer, but i could totally see her spending her spare time at rallies and protests too. hay lin is a proficient artist, making her own clothes and poring over paintings between shifts at the silver dragon. all of these things and more are what make these characters so well-rounded, relatable, likeable. their hobbies need to be weaved into the fabric of the show (not just brought up once for a silly plot device in cornelia’s case, or never brought up at all in taranee’s, as seen in the cartoon) in order for it to work

live action reboot thoughts:

this should go out without saying, but a live action w.i.t.c.h reboot should cast actors of colour to play characters of colour. hay lin, and by extension her family, need to be played by Chinese actors, while taranee needs to be played by a black actor, preferably one of east asian descent, etc. if they add a little more diversity to the cast i would be totally pleased. latina!irma is a popular headcanon that i ascribe to, and will has always been kinda ambiguously brown, so adding less ambiguous representation for poc to the cast would really be excellent

of course, age-appropriate casting is a must. more specifically, there should not be any 25-30 year olds playing characters in their mid-late teens, unless ofc they could actually pass for the age they are trying to play. shows like The OA and The End of the Fucking World really get this right (most other teen/YA dramas, not so much. less of the chiseled abs and rock hard pecs on teens, please)

this one might be tricky to get right, particularly with budget constraints, but i think a really good CGI/visual effects team is necessary for a w.i.t.c.h reboot to work. unless an adequate amount of the budget is spent on making sure the magic looks realistic, almost plausible, it will make everything else look cheap by comparison

also, this is more of a personal preference, but i’d love to see someone with a really beautiful visual aesthetic and scope of cinematography. i’m talking Sense8-esque levels of cinematographic beauty

i’m really rambling now but, similarly, it’d be so cool to see someone who could use lighting/colour theory in very particular ways. in Marvel’s Netflix Originals, each character has their own theme colour; in Jessica Jones, for example, all of the scenes are very blue and almost leeched of warmth, while in Luke Cage there seems to be a warm yellow filter over everything. how cool would it be if all Taranee-centric scenes had a slight gold hue? or if all of cornelia’s scenes were lit with green? maybe all of the colours could combine in the a subtle yet effective way when all of the guardians are together to show their unity and combined strength.

thoughts on an animated reboot:

i know very little about animation so these thoughts will be brief, but an art and animation style something like that of Into the Spiderverse would be really gorgeous. it is fluid, dynamic, beautiful to look at and, most importantly, reflects the comic format in a moving image perfectly. alternatively, the animation studio behind The Legend of Korra could also be wonderful. the visual effects used for magic would look absolutely incredible

one thing i have to praise the Jetix cartoon for is their choice of voice actors, which were, in many cases, spot on. while cornelia’s VA was annoying and shrill, the actors playing characters of colour were themselves people of colour. if an animated reboot was on the cards, i think it could be a great opportunity to once again include some diversity to the cast, namely hiring actors of colour to play characters of colour

please let no one who worked on voltron near a w.i.t.c.h animated reboot with a ten foot pole. no i will not elaborate

tl;dr at the risk of sounding like an entitled millennial, a w.i.t.c.h reboot should be less about creating something entirely new for a brand new audience, and more about building on what the longtime fans of w.i.t.c.h already love and bringing it forward for the older generation. all on all, we grew up with w.i.t.c.h, so it’s time for us to have our reboot. thanks for coming to my TED talk!

[firefrightfic]

Jaydick for 01 and Jason for 02 because I want to ask about both.

Excellent. Both are things I was hoping for XD

Jason Answers:

How I feel about this character:

Jason Todd is my favourite forever and he breaks my heart in too many ways. From the beginning where he was this sweet, homeless, abused kid who wanted to do right even as he was forced to do wrong to survive, to being Robin in the best period of his life. To the fallout where he was this teenage kid trying to process through the trauma of his earlier years and punished for it by the readership at the time, then finally to the jaded, angry, wounded vigilante he is now, who just still wants to do good. To help and protect those who cant’t do it themselves by any means necessary, even if it means he has to sacrifice his own connections and happiness to do so. I love Jason for his protective streak, his inability to stop caring as much as he tries to pretend otherwise. He’s self-destructive and in pain, and he’s done terrible things not because he enjoys it, but because he believes they’re necessary, and just… gah, how can you not love him?

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

Dick, Tim, Damian, Bruce, Roy, Starfire (in the Outlaws ot3), Midnighter and most recently Slade which is all Skalidra’s fault.

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

Rebirth has absolutely made me fall for Artemis and Jason for this. Their whole dynamic is fantastic. I want them to go on road trips and have witty banter together forever.

My unpopular opinion about this character:

Again, not sure if this is actually unpopular, but I do not like dude-bro Jason who hangs out in bars and drinks all the time. This is mostly Batman & Robin: Eternal’s fault and it really just grates on me so much. There was this whole effort to characterise Jason as the rebel/bad boy Robin in the most stereotypical way and please no. Luckily Rebirth seems to be backtracking on this approach.

One things I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

Follow up with Bruce and Jason in the pre-52 canon. After all the drama and pain of Under the Hood, they never really met again? Like, ever? I think the closest there was is the message Bruce left for Jason after he died. I really wanted more effort on Bruce’s part to bring Jason home and demonstrate that, contrary to what Jason believes, he really does love him.

Other things include: That the first RHATO had been done better; that Jason had more of a reaction and there were bigger consequences to how far Bruce was willing to go to bring Damian back to life when he didn’t do the same for him; that Talia and Jason’s relationship had continued post-Lost Days.

my OTP:

JayDick, so much. See below XD

my cross over ship:

Bucky Barnes/Jason Todd. Formerly dead sidekicks unite!

a headcanon fact:

Jason donates a lot of money to women’s/homeless shelters and drug rehabilitation programmes for underprivileged kids. Otherwise, other than paying for his own equipment and needs, he actually lives pretty frugally (if comfortably). It’s a knock-on effect of his childhood that he just doesn’t feel comfortable spending excessively on himself when it’s not necessary, and if the money he has can keep others from going through what he and his mother did that’s a much better use for it than luxuries he doesn’t need.

JayDick answers:

when I started shipping it if I did:

Around 2 years ago? After I came back into the Batman feels after a long break, read some fanfiction and fell in love XD

my thoughts:

Stupid pretty boys who can emphasise with each other so much if they just give each other a chance.

What makes me happy about them:

So many things. I like them in a healthy relationship where they’ve slow-built and there’s trust and compassion and understanding on both sides for each others issues. I like how protective they could be over each other. How they both come from poorer backgrounds (though Dick had a much happier childhood than Jason did). I love how they both care about each other even if they’re not always great at showing it (see that punch Jason landed on Dick when they found out he wasn’t actual dead, and also Dick’s breakdown pre-52 on discovering Jason had died).

I enjoy portrayals of them on the unhealthier side too. I mean, when it’s Dick’s frustration over Jason’s behaviour and beliefs combined with Jason’s resentment of Dick for being ‘the favourite’ and the good one, the insurmountable pedestal he was always held up to and could never hope to match, building into sexual tension that eventually explodes is just so enjoyable.

What makes me sad about them:

A lot of things. Mostly that they never really had much of a chance to bond when Jason was Robin, due to Dick being at odds with Bruce at the time and also off with the Titans. I feel like Jason would have had so much of a better chance if Dick had been around for him then like he later was for Tim.

And let’s face it, that there’s a good chance their conflicting beliefs would realistically end up driving them apart if anything did ever happen.

things done in fanfic that annoys me:

I’ve seen some portrayals of Jason where he’s this semi-evil dude bro who is borderline abusive, if not outright, and Dick as the submissive uke who just rolls over for him (this is also a trend I’ve seen when Jason’s paired with Tim) and it drives me up the wall. Each to their own, but it’s not for me. Similarly, stories where Jason just gives up on his beliefs for the sake of being with Dick with no conflict or believable development about it. 

things I look for in fanfic:

Oh boy. Stories where Jason has/had a crush on Dick as a kid are my ever loving favourite. I also have a massive thing for sub/bottom!Jay in the relationship (with healthy understandings of each other’s boundaries included). Dick who does grand (even everyday) romantic gestures and Jason who constantly gets embarrassed about them because he just doesn’t know how to handle open expressions of affection. Either of them being protective over the other for whatever reason. And also especially stories where Dick is understanding and patient with Jason for all the traumas and pain he’s been through while also not taking his shit.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

Dick/Starfire and Jason/Roy.

My happily ever after for them:

Something dreadfully normal where they live together and work as partners in their nighttime activities. Dick possibly takes over as Batman again for a while until Damian’s old enough for the role once Bruce retires, then goes back to being Nightwing. They adopt a couple of kids (because Dick definitely wants to dad, and to a lesser extent so does Jason, even though he’s afraid of messing it up), and eventually retire with most of their health, offering advice and a helping hand to the new, younger generations of heroes when they need it.

who is the big spoon/little spoon:

Dick is the big spoon. At first Jason was actually more comfortable not sleeping in the stranglehold of another person, but Dick’s a cuddlebug in his sleep and he eventually learned to like it (especially when pillow barriers quickly proved to be no deterrent).

what is their favorite non-sexual activity:

Patrolling and fighting bad guys is the easy answer XD After that, working out, or racing in a playfully competitive way, either on bikes or foot (Dick almost always wins the latter, and it almost always leads to sex). Also the rare quiet moments at home, where Dick’s got a movie on and Jason’s probably reading, and they’re curled up against each other in comfortable silence

[vieuxnoyesrp]

Eoin. Honestly, it isn’t an exaggeration to say that we were on the edges of our seat in anticipation of an app for Jennifer after posting her bio. The anon who was asking about her got us very excited - and while we don’t know whether that was you or not - we do know that the excitement ended up being very much justified. You seem to be exactly what we were looking for in terms of a roleplayer who understood Jennifer’s character beyond the superficial titles of ‘good’ and ‘evil’. Your thought-provoking answers to our app questions made her very human and carefully avoided any of the trappings of a typical stereotype. It’s clear that you took the time to do your research on our story and setting, and we love how you tied so many of these details into your application. We also enjoyed your headcanons, and how they added another very human layer to Jennifer Blake. One thing we intentionally left out of her bio was the casual vibe of human!Jen; her interests outside of magic and sacrifice, her pastimes, and the tone she uses in her day-to-day dealings with the world around her. You brought this side of her to life in your headcanons and in the sample app, and convinced us that you understand all sides of her character intimately well. Needless to say, we cannot wait to have her on our dash and get to interact with your Jen in person!

Eoin, thank you very much for applying. As for Jennifer…

                ⚜ ~ WELCOME TO VIEUX NOYÉS!!! ~ ⚜

Wondering what to do next? Click here and let the good times roll!

⚜ Roleplayer:

⤜ Name/alias: Eoin

⤜ Pronouns: He/Him

⤜ Age: 23

⤜ Timezone: GMT

⤜ Activity: I’d put my activity at an 8 out of 10. I usually check in everyday and attempt to get a few replies out after Uni, though I tend to go quieter around weekends since I work then.

⤜ Best form of contact: Just on tumblr is best for me.

⤜ Any Triggers? No triggers.

⤜ How did you find Vieux Noyés? I came across it while searching the tag ‘supernatural rp’

⤜ What drew you to the RP? The design and intricacy of the RP is phenomenal, the story-world, interconnecting characters and events were all so interesting. But the main element would have to be the maturity it boasts; the emphasis on character development, and seeing characters as three-dimensional people over simple hero/villain labels.

⤜ What is one subplot/element from the Plot page that you are particularly looking forward to seeing in this roleplay? Marcel’s decision to ban magic within the quarter has left many witches and even some vampires in tricky situations. Between the ambitions of the witches and the need for magical items (such as daylight rings) I can see Marcel’s orders being ignored and, if punishment is met out, the fallout from that would be very interesting to see.

⚜ Desired Character: Jennifer Blake

⤜ Why do you want this character? 

From the first time I saw her portrayed in Teen Wolf I adored Jennifer’s character, the change from almost clumsy teacher to powerful Darach, but I was very disappointed at the overall story she was given. There was so much more they could have offered this character instead of labeling her as a ‘villain’ and moving on. The lengths she went to in order to avenge her pack really caught my interest.

Furthermore, within this RP, Jennifer is again a multifaceted character whose immense intelligence and ambition is met with an almost childlike misunderstanding of emotion and consequence. The variation and conflict you can give a character that is this complex would be a very exciting opportunity.  

⤜ What are your future plans for this character? 

Jennifer’s bio makes it clear that she’s already conflicted. But the one element left with no ambiguity is her obsession and determination to increase her strength. Her method of doing this, sacrifice, and the consequences of her doing so is something I’d really like to explore. How her mind would cope with the strain of other personalities seeping through. And whether or not she may be able to create a connection with someone other than Rain to possibly help her through it.

Her mimicry abilities also present an interesting chance for character exploration. I’d like to see whether this woman, who understands so little about sentiment, could perhaps find in someone else the feelings of friendship and family she found in Rain, and may need to find after the recent conflict between the two. Especially since this could provide further conflict with her own plans down the line.

⤜ Put yourself in your character’s shoes. Give us a few lines to describe a day in the life of your character… Where do they live? Where and how do they spend their time? 

Jennifer, despite her ambitions for herself and her coven, found employment at the local high school, Saint Aloysuis, and finds the job satisfying. Just as Rain taught her she reaps a little satisfaction out of imparting the great works of the English language to her students, the subtleties of a well-constructed argument, the best methods of textual research and analysis and even the odd break in the teachers lounge with Jenna, one of the few teachers not to bore her. And, as the school motto insists, develop her talents. She’s worked hard to develop the persona of the slightly clumsy, endearing and only occasionally strict teacher who’s becoming quite popular with the students. After school she may head to either Café du Monde with Jenna, or even Rousseau’s if it’s a Friday, for the odd drink and talk. If not she is fond of frequenting Bourbon Street, for the people and the music. Or even the French Market. She rarely shops, but she keeps herself around people, she has more opportunity to spot a candidate for sacrifice that way. At the end of the day she returns to her apartment on Jackson Square, the noise of the few shops quieting down so she can mark her classwork or further her research, usually with a glass of wine in hand and some soft music playing, before retiring for the evening.

⤜ Give us three headcanons regarding your character of choice.

Jennifer has quite a love for music and dance. Even before coming to New Orleans she had a fascination with jazz, the devil’s music. The way the singer and musicians can create tunes on the spot and the rhythm of the music just resonates with her. Her singing voice is rather good, plus she’s an excellent dancer, and loves to sing, sway and undulate her body to the music of New Orleans.

Despite her position as an English teacher, Jennifer, in her free time, tends to read chick-lit and crime novels over the classics or Pulitzer Prize winners. Her reasons for this are to try and improve her understanding of that strange thing called sentiment; the love shown in chick-lit and the human behavior show in crime novels has helped her a little with that. But, on a more secretive level, she sometimes finds escapes in them. It’s a chance to get away from the tensions of her life and indulge her mind in the mundane problems of the ‘heroine de jour’.

Jennifer is an avid gardener. Not just because the plants and herbs she grows could have properties in her covens spells, but also because life is just one more mystery to solve. She’s seen the inside workings of animals plucked apart, the beauty in that. But there’s an almost similar beauty to seeing a seedling sprout through the dirt, grow, bloom, wither and die. Whole cycles of life and death having come and gone in a single year. One more thing for her to observe and learn from.  

⤜ What are some plots you’d like to explore with your character? 

I’d like to see a plot in which Jennifer is first introduced to someone while putting on her ‘persona’ and developing a relationship based on that. Then having the truth of her nature revealed and how both she and the other party would cope with that. Whether the feelings she ‘put on’ over that time could develop into something real or if the other party could even attempt to make a connection with the real Jennifer. Also, I’d be interested in seeing Jennifer perhaps take on a student of her own. Someone who she thinks could be taught to be what she considers ‘better,’ more wild and ambitious in their studies, always striving for the most powerful outcomes of magic.

⤜ Para sample: 

(Retained for privacy)

⤜ Would you like to be considered for another character if not accepted as your primary choice? No thank you.

⤜ Have you read the rules?: I have, several times in detail.

⤜ Anything else? Just to gush a little about how amazing this RP is. And to please request that if this application isn’t acceptable to you that you’d please message me with some feedback on my performance. I’d really appreciate the opportunity to improve and come back again if need be. Thank you very much!