#also very proud of her facial expression on this one i got her right this time

[crescentmp3]

what if she had a corset.

[image desc: traditional full body sketch of monique weaver, op's original character. unlike her usual outfit, she's wearing a white blouse and a corset. besides that she remains unchanged. // end id]

[imtryingbuck]

Timeless Love.

~ gif not mine credit to owner ~

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x fem!Reader

Summary: Bucky might have met the love of his life in the middle of a war, he just wished he was able to live a life with her.

Word count: 6,598

Warnings: angst. kidnapping. fluff. Hydra. forced breeding. forced miscarriage.

A/N: enjoyed writing this!! Thank you for the request. Also thank you to @buckys-wintersoldier for helping me when I needed it!🤍

Part 2

Masterlist

“Y/n L/n. 107th.”

She nodded smiling at her friend who had also been given the same unit. All the nurses - professional and volunteers alike were waiting for their names to be called to hear what unit they would be stationed with.

Then she was given the news that she was going to be the matron. And at twenty four years old that was a massive accomplishment, herself and her parents were beyond proud.

“Hey doc” she couldn’t help but roll her eyes at hearing the familiar voice that she began hearing everyday. “I’m injured doll, need your help to patch me back up”

Looking up for the clipboard she carried around she saw the Sergeant who had captured all the attention from all the nurses. Though he never paid any mind to them, just her.

James Buchanan Barnes.

“Firstly I’m not a doctor, just a nurse and secondly this is your seventh time coming here this week”

“Firstly you should be a doctor, better than the one we’ve got and secondly I keep getting hurt”

“Bucky… it’s only Wednesday.”

“You love me. Aren’t you going to ask me what my very serious injury is?”

“I don’t love you. Okay, what seems to be the problem Sergeant?”

“Y-you don’t love me? I’m going to cry myself to sleep tonight thanks to you!”

“What’s your injury Sergeant?”

“My heart” he places his hand on his chest and looks up at her sympathetically. “My heart hurts doll”

“James… you do realise that your heart is on the left side not the right…”

Moving his hand to the left side “Oh… are you sure?”

“Yes I’m sure” chuckling at his facial expression, he winks causing her to laugh.

“The truth is that I just wanted to see you, I like you even though you’re being mean to me” he pouts and bats his eyelashes as he kicked his legs back and forth.

“How am I being mean to you?” She asks whilst counting stock, trying her hardest to ignore the intense gaze of his ocean blue eyes on her back.

“Because you won’t let me take you dancing”

“You should go with one of the other nurses James”

“I don’t want any of the other nurses, just you”

“You-“

“Y/n! Y/n quick we need you!” Mary’s panic scream interrupted her. Jumping up and rushing out of the tent with Bucky right behind her, a group of men carrying a stretcher with a man lying on it. His right leg gone as well as his left arm.

“Get him in here” Bucky opens the flaps of the tent, his eyes trained on the young soldier as they passed him. “Help me transfer him on to the bed, carefully.”

Bucky watched on as Y/n took control, ordering the nurses around and trying to get the soldiers to move away so she could work. When one of the men wouldn’t move Bucky stepped in.

It wasn’t long before Y/n made everyone get out except for the nurses.

“Go” Bucky’s head snapped from the medical tent to Dum Dum sitting next to him, giving the man a questioning look, Dum Dum laughed. “The doc”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about” he mumbled before downing the rest of his drink.

“You’ve been turning down women all night and I’m honestly surprised that you haven’t burnt a hole into the tent with how intense you’ve been looking at it. Oh and let’s not forget that you’ve been obsessed from the second you laid eyes on her”

“I-no I haven’t.”

“You have, and don’t bother trying to argue with me. Go and talk to her”

“And say what?”

“That’s on you” Bucky contemplated on whether or not to take his friend’s advice, it didn’t take too long before he was getting up and heading over to the medical tent. “Shes in her own tent” he heard from behind him so he changed course.

Standing outside the small tent he fixed his hair before pushing the flap aside, he found her sitting hunched over the small table one hand in her hair and the other scribbling away as she filled in paperwork.

“I can feel your eyes on me” her whispered voice snapped him out of his head.

“Are you alright doll?”

“I’m fine don’t worry, go and enjoy your night”

Moving closer to her he saw the tears falling freely down her cheeks. “Hey, hey why are you crying doll?”

“He… he didn’t make it. I tried everything bu-but it wasn’t enough, he was only seventeen Bucky.”

“Oh doll. You did everything you could-“

“But it wasn’t enough! And within the week his parents are going to know I failed, I failed to save their son”

Bucky pulled her into his arms, holding her close to his chest ignoring the feeling of her tears wetting his shirt. “It’s not your fault” he whispered over and over again as she fell apart in his arms.

“I failed”

“No you didn’t! Nobody would have been able to have saved him Y/n and you know that.”

“He was only seventeen Bucky. A child!”

“I know sweetheart, I know.”

As the laughing and music continued outside Bucky kept Y/n close to his chest, rocking them both from side to side slowly. Sleep began to overtake them, being the gentleman that he was he turned his back on her waiting for her to change into her nightwear.

“Goodnight doll”

“Stay… please”

“Of course” he was slightly shocked by seeing her shifting over in the small cot then patting the space she had created.

Climbing in next to her, wrapping her up and pulling her into his chest. Pressing his lips to her forehead “goodnight my love”

It became an unspoken routine between the two of them that Bucky would sleep in her bed, they ignored the teasing from all those around them - as if the nurses weren’t warming the soldiers beds themselves. There was nothing sexual about what they were doing, it was just two lost souls finding themselves seeking shelter within one another.

That however changed one night when Bucky went into their now shared tent finding her once again hunched over the table. “Hi doll”

“Hi Sergeant”

“Me and the guys move out tomorrow”

“I heard. How are you feeling?” She asked looking up from the papers in front of her.

“Nervous I won’t lie, but I’m going to miss you”

“I’m going to miss you too but you shouldn’t be gone long, right?”

“Two weeks, three at the most” he shrugged. “Doll, come and dance with me”

“There’s no music…”

“So? Come on” he held his hand out for her to take, his heart fluttering with the look she gave him as she puts her hand in his. “You are so pretty” he whispers as they swayed together.

“‘M not.”

“Yes you are. From the second I laid eyes on you I thought you were the most prettiest dame I had ever laid eyes on.”

“You’re lying!” She chuckled.

“I am not!”

“If you say so”

Bucky gently raises her head up by her chin, “I have never lied to you.”

“Bucky… kiss me please” she asked softly. Their lips met slowly at first before growing heatedly and passionately.

The next morning with only a thick blanket covering their naked bodies they basked in the silence of the camp, Bucky running his fingers through her hair and Y/n drawing invisible circles on his chest.

“When this war comes to an end me and you are going to get married” Bucky declared as he broke the silence.

“Don’t I get a say in this?”

“Nope” he chuckled. “Why, don’t you want to marry me?”

“And put up with you for the rest of my life?”

“Yeah, why what’s wrong with that?”

“You’re annoying”.

“And?” He drawls with a cheeky grin on his face.

“I’ll probably smoother you in your sleep?”

“And? Doll you aren’t giving me a good reason for why we shouldn’t get married”

“You honestly want to marry me?”

“More than anything, and I promise I’ll be an amazing husband and we’ll have so much fun together an-“

“Yes”

“-d we’ll make so many memories-“

“Yes”

“-and we’ll grow old toge-wait… yes?”

“Yes Bucky, I’ll marry you when the war is ov-“ her words get cut off from him pressing his lips to hers.

“I can’t wait to annoy you for the rest of our lives together”

Later that morning, before Dum Dum led his unit out of the camp heading to only where they knew they were going Bucky ran over to Y/n giving her a kiss and promised her that he would come back to her.

Since the only people left there was the nurses, injured men and some of the officials the camp was excruciatingly quiet. And since it was only just them… well the camp had become very boring.

Two weeks passed quicker than she thought, waiting to hear the loud chatter from the men to fill in the silence yet it never came. Another week went by and again there was no sight of them. Y/n was helping Private Smith sit up in more of a comfortable position when Mary came rushing in, slightly out of breath.

“Th-they’ve been captured!”

“What? How do you know?”

“Word just come in, I overheard it but apparently Captain America is going to rescue them because he knows someone in the unit”

“I-okay. Okay erm… we’ll need to get things set up for when they come back just incase they are hurt” Y/n rambled off, unaware that she was squeezing Smiths hand - not like he minded.

“He’ll be fine darling” Smith squeezed her hand back.

“I-I know. You need to eat-“

“I will don’t worry but you need to eat too darling as well”

Sitting down next to him they enjoyed a nice meal together, Smith doing everything to help get her mind off of Bucky and the others by talking to her about his life before the war, his wife and children, telling her all the plans he had planned when he got home. It worked. Until it was time to go to bed, being alone with her thoughts made her mind come up with all kinds of scenarios and most of them weren’t good.

It was another two weeks before word got to them that they were coming back. Captain America had saved them.

Y/n was in the medical tent filling out paperwork when applause erupted in the air as Captain America approached with the 107th behind him, hearing the cheers she jumped up and began getting things ready, as the first person was brought in her sole attention was on the solider and not the other one she had been worrying about in the five weeks since she had seen him.

“Hey! Let’s hear it for Captain America!” She smiled at hearing his voice as she concentrated on the patient in front of her.

“He’s already asked about you” Ann says as she put pressure on the solider’s wound.

“Ah, your the famous doc that he wouldn’t shut up talking about”

“Excuse me?”

“Barnes? Yeah he wouldn’t stop talking about you, if you ask me he’s in love with you” the guy winked.

It wasn’t until everything in the medical tent had calmed down that she had heard his voice again. “I’m injured doll”

Spinning around she sees him standing there with a grin on his dirt covered face. “Who are you?”

“Your future husband, silly. Missed you doll”

“I missed you too” hearing her words he crossed over to where she stood and placed his hands on her face, cupping her face before placing his lips against hers. Both sighing in content at the feeling they had both been missing for weeks.

“Are you hurt? Where?”

“‘M not hurt my love, just messing with you”

“Are you not going to introduce me Buck?” A new voice cut through making them take a step apart from each other.

“Y/n this is Steve, Steve this is my doll” Y/n smiled at the blond who happily returned the expression.

“It’s nice to meet the woman who this one wouldn’t stop talking about”

“I didn’t talk about her once” Bucky rushed out. “I didn’t doll” shaking his head whilst looking at her.

“He’s actually not the first person to tell me that” Y/n winked at Steve making the man laugh.

“I hate the both of you.”

A celebration was held that night when they came back, the men sharing the tale of how they were captured - all teasing each other when they said they weren’t scared. Telling the women how Captain America had told them to leave but they refused, Dum Dum said that they arrived together and were going to be leaving together. Everyone including Y/n hanging on to every word that was spoken of their rescue and how they defeated the enemy.

Bucky never spoke a word, no, he was too lost in watching the flames of the fire-pit flickering off Y/n’s face. Mesmerised by the way her eyes shined so brightly in the darkness, audibly groaning as he watched her bite her lip - his mind going straight to the gutters.

Much later that night Bucky took his time in making love to her.

The 107th Infantry Regiment had been teamed up with Steve to take down an organisation, Bucky promised her that he would contact her whenever they set up camp for the night. Every night they spoke even if it was just for a few minutes, he told her where they were and asked how everything back at camp was going, before ending their call he would tell her that he was coming back to her.

The last time she spoke to him he informed her that they were in Austria, he made her giggle when he complained that they had to go up the alps, telling her how cold it was. He then shocked her by telling her that he was in love with her. Before she could even respond the connection cut off.

She knew there was something wrong when she never received another call from him, Mary and Ann told her that he was just busy and that he would come back and everything was going to be fine. Every time she tried to speak with the General about the update of where they were he just walked away from her.

For two months she didn’t hear anything from him or from anyone, for two months she spent her time trying to take her mind off of the brunette who had wormed himself into her heart.

Mary came running over to the river where Y/n was sitting watching as the ducks swam past her. “Y/n… they’re back.”

Jumping up and running to where the men were, she looked around for the man who she had been missing more than anything, her eyes moved frantically from man to man who all seemed to have a problem with making eye contact with her. Her heart settled when a hand rested itself on her shoulder.

“Darlin’ I-I need to talk to you” it was Dum Dum.

“W-where is he? Dum…”

“Come with me love” he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and moved them to her tent. “I’m sorry darling, he… he didn’t make it”

“W-where is he though?”

“He fell off the train in the alps, we couldn’t find his body”

“No… no we need to fi-find him so his family can bury him… Dum please” his heart ached for the woman in front of him, all he could do was hold her in his arms as she broke down crying. He didn’t have the heart to tell her that Bucky’s last words to Steve was him begging the blond to make sure he looked after Y/n.

After crying for a good solid ten minutes she removed herself from his arms, wiped her tears before nodding and walking out - leaving Dum Dum standing there dumbfounded.

She knew herself that she wasn’t going to be able to be aloud time away to mourn, they weren’t dating or married, while they had feelings for each other and they spent every waking moment together it didn’t mean anything to the higher ups. Walking into the medical tent everyone went quiet at seeing her, Mary tried telling her that she could go and rest but Y/n just shook her head and got to work. She needed the distraction to take her mind away from the pain in her chest.

For months after she became a shell of herself, no longer laughing or smiling, no longer holding conversations with anyone, always working and taking little care for herself. And finally that day came when the war ended, everyone around her celebrated whilst she was packing up her things ready to head back home.

It had been two years since the war ended and people were still picking up their lives. Y/n was on her way to home after finishing her shift at the local hospital when a black car pulled up alongside her.

“Excuse me Miss, are you Y/n L/n?” A man asked as he got out of the car.

“I am, who are you?”

“Ah, we have a friend in common”

“We do? Wait what are you do-“

“Don’t make this harder than it has to be Miss L/n, wouldn’t want to hurt you.” Her eyes were wide as his hand tightened around her neck, her whole body trembling with fear. “Nighty night” he smirks as he presses a needle into her left arm.

Y/n woke up disoriented and dazed with her hands and ankles tied painfully tight, trying to speak but her words came out as slurred. “Ah little lambs awake. Go back to sleep little lamb” the same guy from side of the road spoke, but instead of a needle being pushed into her arm he raised his leg and kicked her straight in the face. Knocking her out instantly.

The second time she awoke was when a bucket of stale water was thrown into her face, both arms tied to arms of the chair she was uncomfortably sat in. A man infront of her smiled as she was trying to blink away the water droplets off her eyelashes.

“So you’re the precious little one that our Soldat keeps muttering about, no matter how many times we wipe his memories he always mutters your name”

“I-I don’t know who you are talking about”

“Soldat! You know him” the unnamed man shouts as if it was the most obvious thing. “Get her ready. Miss… I won’t lie to you, what’s going to happen next is going to hurt… well have fun” the man sighs dramatically and then chuckles making his way to the door, leaving her alone with four men holding guns.

Everything that happened next happened in a blur from two of the men grabbing her roughly and dragging her down the corridor, to being strapped down on a cold metal table - a meek looking man muttering something to her that she couldn’t quite understand before a large needle was injected into her arm. 

When she woke the next time she was in a small room - on the floor, that only had a chipped white framed bed with a thin mattress on top of it, she grimaced at seeing the blotches of stains. Her nose crunched upward at the nasty aroma lingering the room. Y/n flinched at hearing noises just outside, she could hear clearly that a man was laughing which caused her to back away and put her hands over her ears trying desperately to block out the sound. Not understanding why everything was amplified.

“Ah, little lamb you’re awake. I’m pleased to tell you that it’s worked, your going to be our new little asset-“

“W-what have you done to me?”

“We’ve made you stronger than any man could wish to be! We’ve made you fast-“

“What have you done!”

“Right, we’ve injected you with a special serum that’s enhanced you. Your lucky little lamb, those before you never made it past the thirty minute mark after injection. Now you’re ready for your second phase of becoming our little asset, boys… be careful with her.” The second he finished his sentence the same four men from before came in and grabbed her roughly once again.

Being dragged down a corridor and into a room she tried to beg the men to let her go, pleading with them that she had a family and they’d be looking for her, she even tried bribing them. Her begs and cries fell on deaf ears.

“Now little lamb, from what I can gather is that this chair here, a beauty in her own right isn’t actually nice to those that sit in her. She’s not exactly been kind to your little boyfriend but that’s because he tries to fight it, I’m going to be kind to you and suggest that you don’t do the same as him otherwise it will hurt more.” He waved his hand in the air lazily and the two agents that had ahold of her shoved her towards the chair, once sat they strapped her legs down and placed a strap across her chest.

“P-please stop ple-“

“None of that little lamb, it’s not going to hurt… much” he chuckles. “Try not to scream, it’ll will only annoy me”

She goes to reply when a loud buzzing sound came from both sides to her, frozen and strapped into place as two metal plates places themselves onto her face. Y/n could hear the man in a white coat start to count down from five, squeezing her eyes shut tightly she saw a blinding white light as her whole body spasmed and withered in pain. The agents all flinched as the glass behind them started to crack. Once it finished and the plates were moved away from her head, her head started to roll to the side as drool began seeping from her mouth.

“Little lamb, do you remember me?”

“W-w-where am I?” Her mouth felt like it was full of cotton wool, and her tongue felt heavy.

“What’s your name?”

“Y-Y/n”

“Do it again”

By the eighth time of having her mind wiped the window was gone, she had blood seeping from her ears and nose, her bottom half was wet. After they were done with her she was dragged back to her cell and tossed on the ground as if she was nothing.

Y/n had forgotten everything. She didn’t know who she was or where she was. They kept calling her little lamb. Crawling into the corner of the room she pulled her knees up to her chest and began mumbling incoherently to herself.

Every time she closed her eyes all she saw was a blacked out face with the brightest blue eyes.

For years she moved and breathed when they told her too, she spoke when they said, she ate when they told her to eat - not like it was much mind you.

Throughout those years she didn’t understand her purpose of why she was there, she never got to leave the place she was kept at, all she did was train and fight with those who were a lot bigger then her in height and weight.

What she didn’t realise is that she did have a purpose for those she worked for, and that she was leaving the base to do their bidding. Completely unaware that she had taken so many lives.

She didn’t know what they were injecting into her every few months was the sperm belonging to the Winter Soldier in hopes that they could create an army of pure bred super soldiers that they could use to fight and take down their enemies without themselves having to do anything. Or that the nurse who seemed to take pity on her would give her a tablet to force the innocent little foetus to never grow up in a world that it would only be used for pain and suffering.

She didn’t understand what she had done wrong, one minute she was training with the other super soldiers and then she was being hit and shocked by the batons and then dragged to the room that kept the cryostasis chambers, she pleaded with the agents that she would be good, begging them not to put her in there again but they didn’t listen. Her whole body stiffened when they gave her the option - chamber or chair.

She hated the chamber.

But she hated the chair even more.

“See you in a little while little lamb.”

Fury had told them that SHIELD had discovered a new Hydra base and that they needed to go and take it down, not even an hour later they were fifteen minutes away from touching down at the location of the base.

“Cap, it looks deserted…” Natasha said as she slid her gun into her holster.

“We still need to be cautious” Steve told them. He tapped his foot against Bucky’s to gain his attention. “You okay?”

“Don’t worry about me. Seriously punk I’m fine”

“Alright. Everyone be careful.”

They moved quietly and slowly towards the base - that had seen better days - without any trouble, getting inside they all stole quick glances at Bucky making him sigh. “No I’ve never been here before”

“Didn’t say anything Barnes”

“You didn’t need too”

As they moved further inside it became obvious that they were the only ones there, apart from a few rats running around. Steve gave the orders out, him and Wanda going together down one hallway, Bucky and Sam - which he did mainly to annoy his best friend, Natasha and Tony going off to find the computers to see if they can get anything off them.

“How long do you think this place has been empty for?” Wanda asked.

“Not sure… it looks like awhile.”

“Steve?”

“Yeah?”

“Why are they all open?” Wanda points at cryo chambers, looking at Steve with a raised eyebrow.

“I don’t know? But let’s keep looking there has to be something here for us to ta-“ Wanda cuts him off with a gasp. “What’s wrong?”

“There’s a woman, she’s pretty…”

“What are you- Y/n?” Wanda’s head snapped from the woman in the chamber to the blond standing next to her.

“Do-do you know her? Wait… Y/n?”

Pressing his comms button Steve tells Bucky to come to where he was, told him to hurry up, hearing the distress tone of their captain Nat and Tony also went along too.

“Steve is this the same Y/n that Bucky calls out for in his sleep?” Wanda asked, watching him nodding slowly she looked down sadly.

The team had slowly grown use to Bucky screaming and hearing him thrash around in his sleep and had even witnessed him trashing him room trying to escape, thinking and believing he was still at the Hydra base he was kept at. One night it had actually taken all of them to try and pin him down on the ground after a horrific nightmare, it took Thor to grab Mjölnir to place it on Bucky’s naked chest to pin him down and for Wanda to use her magic to clear his mind just so they could get him to calm down. She apologised profusely for it the next day but he just smiled, placed his hand on hers gently and thanked her. But every night without fail they all heard him mumbling or crying out for Y/n and none of them wanted to overstep that boundary by asking him directly so they asked Steve who this person was and all he told them was that it wasn’t his place to say anything but that she meant the world to Bucky. And after that they let it be though they were all curious.

And now Wanda was staring up at the woman who had been on her friends mind for so long, she didn’t know how Bucky was going to react to seeing her here.

“Steve?” Bucky stood at the doorway with Sam, Natasha and Tony behind him. “What’s up?”

“Buck… she-she’s here”

“Who?”

Steve watched as Bucky paled and his eyes got shinier with tears filling them. “Y/n.”

“N-no no you’re lying Steve.” His eyes moved to Wanda when he noticed her shifting from foot to foot. He knew by the look on her face that what Steve was saying wasn’t a lie.

He moved slowly to where Wanda stood, never taking his eyes off her until he stood in front of her, it wasn’t until she gave him a sad smile that he finally looked to his right. A choked sob was the only sound in the whole building. Wanda tried to grab him before he fell but it was no use, Bucky landed with a loud thud on his knees as he looked up at the woman he had fallen madly in love with in the forties. The woman he had made a promise too. A promise he couldn’t keep.

“St-Steve we need-I need to get her out of here”

“I know Buck, I know but we need to be careful, we don’t know how long she’s been in there for”

“We can’t leave her!”

“We aren’t going to leave her Barnes, just give me a few minutes to try and figure out how we’re going to get sleeping beauty out of here, okay?” Tony says before looking around the room to find a way to get her out.

As everyone moved around the room trying to find a way to get her out of the chamber Bucky stayed on his knees looking helplessly up at her. “That’s why you couldn’t find her, she’s been here”

“I tried Buck-“

“No, I know you did. H-how long do you think she’s been here for?”

“I… I don’t know”

Not long after, Tony managed to find a way to open up the door to the chamber without causing any damage to Y/n. They all shivered as the cold air hits them, Bucky took the straps off her and took her gently into his arms. His body tensed when Tony injected something into her arm. “It’s just to keep her asleep until we get back to the tower”.

Steve told him to take Y/n onto the jet so they could finish off clearing the base, they all watched as he carried her as if she was the most delicate thing in the world.

“Steve, she’s a super solider” Nat looked over at him from the computer.

“Have you found anything else about her?”

“She’s got way more kills under her belt than I do, they call her little lamb” saying that nickname made her nose scrunch up. “And… oh Steve, they’ve been injecting her with Bucky’s sperm, it never worked” Steve’s eyes burned a hole into the computer screen angry at everything that he was hearing.

“Sh-she was a nurse you know? A great one, all the men said they loved going to her because she was just the kindest of them all. She deserved so much better than this.”

“Steve she’s been in cryo for twelve years… they wrote down when they were put in and taken out, she was never taken out twelve years ago”

“Jesus. Right, gather everything you can on Y/n and I’ll meet you on the jet”

Leaving Natasha to do what she did best he went to the jet, he stood there watching as Bucky stroke his fingers through the top of her head, not taking his eyes off her face.

“I-I’ve put blankets on her from the back, she’s still freezing Stevie.”

“Buck, there’s something I need to tell you about her.”

“What is it?”

“She’s like us, she’s got the serum too. T-they were trying to impregnate her with-with your… you know, and Nat found out that she’s been in cryo for twelve years”

“T-they don’t care do they? They don’t care who they hurt or the pain they inflict, they-they’ve hurt the sweetest, big hearted person and for what? Just to leave her in there for all those years? It’s my fault isn’t it?”

“No Buck, it’s not your fault-“

“It has to be, I kept saying her name when they first got me. I didn’t want to forget her so I kept saying her name and look what happened!”

“Bucky it’s not- don’t try and interrupt me- it’s not your fault. But we’ve found her and she’s going to come home with us and we can help her”

“Did she do bad things too?” His voice was so small and quiet that it was lucky that Steve had enhanced hearing otherwise he wouldn’t have heard what his friend said.

“Yes but Buck we know her, we know she’s a good person just like you she’s been made to do bad but we can help her, I promise you”

“We’ll all defend her tin-man” Tony says, when both men look over they see the four of them nodding in agreement.

Two weeks after finding his only love and brining her back to the compound Bucky refused to move away from her hospital bed, on the fourth day Steve had to beg him to come with him to get some food - it wasn’t until his stomach growled in hunger that he finally accepted Steve’s offer, he left her with a kiss on her forehead and made Natasha and Wanda watch over her, made them both promise to ring him the second Y/n started to stir awake.

Steve then tried to get him to leave just so he could get a good night sleep or to have a shower but the brunette shrugged him off - it wasn’t until Dr Cho came in and told him to get a shower, told him that he should be clean and smell nice for when Y/n woke up. That had him running to his room and showering quickly before running back down to her.

It was better than nothing.

“Steve?”

“Mhm”

“What’s Fury going to do when Y/n wakes up?”

“Nothing, him and Tony have already pleaded her case and all she’s got to do when she wakes is give all the information she can remember. Fury is positive that she’ll be be fully pardoned and he thinks that she could be an asset to the team, that is if she wants to stay”

“W-why-do you think she’ll want to leave?”

“I don’t know Bucky”

“Would you be mad at me if I left with her?”

“No. I would be mad though if you didn’t invite me over for dinner” Bucky let out a laugh whilst he rubbed his thumb over her knuckles.

Steve and Wanda had left after spending a couple of hours keeping Bucky company as he watched over Y/n, he was just starting to drift off to sleep when he felt her hand twitch.

“Y/n? Doll?” Another twitch. “Doll, come on wake up”

Bucky shot straight up knocking the chair backwards when Y/n jumped up out of the bed, falling down instantly, he watched as she pulled herself to the wall bringing her knees to her chest, her eyes moving around the room frantically. Her voice hoarse as she mumbles softly to herself, Bucky slowly moved around the bed.

“Doll? Y/n it-its me Bucky”

“Bucky?”

“Yes, yes it’s me” she says his name again, her teared filled eyes looking straight at him. “You’re safe.”

“W-where are we?”

“Somewhere safe, I promise.”

“They will be here for me” slowly standing up, ignoring the blood seeping down her arm she moved over to Bucky. “I-I need to leave, I need to go back home, they-they’ll be mad at me”

“Y/n hey, hey stop, doll look at me, they aren’t looking for you okay? You’re safe here, I’m not letting anyone hurt you again. I promise”

“You promise?”

“I promise” Bucky moved closer as soon as she was in reach he pulled her in his chest, squeezing her tightly, repeatedly pressing his lips to her hair.

Helen came in a little later to run some checks, talking to Y/n like she was an actual person and not like she was a nobody like she was use to, when she said thank you it meant more than just a simple gesture. The next day Steve, Sam and Wanda walked into the hospital room shocked to seeing Y/n sitting up and talking to Bucky, though they had slowly gotten use to seeing Bucky coming out of his shell even after all these years of knowing him Sam and Wanda stood there watching Bucky be a whole new person, the only person that didn’t find it weird was Steve who had a huge smile on his face, happy to see his best friend finally happy and at peace now that he had Y/n with him.

When Fury got word that she was awake he came down to see her, she answered all of the questions he had as best as she could. Fury reassured both her and Bucky that nothing would happen to her.

A month after waking up Y/n hand in hand with Bucky sat in a room with the team standing behind them, Fury at the end of the table and members of the government in front of them. She was nervous to hear what punishment she was going to receive, yes Fury promised that she wouldn’t be but when Bucky finally caved and told her all of the crimes she was connected to - not only did her heart break at hearing the things that she did but she feared what kind of punishment she was going to receive, she felt like she needed to be.

“Y/n L/n you are granted a full pardon, but you will need to be a part of the Avengers-“

“That’s not what we agreed on!” Fury interrupted the man.

“It’s the best thing-“

“I’ll do it. I-I need to do it” Y/n nodded.

Bucky and Steve had to beg Tony not to throw a party to celebrate Y/n’s freedom and her new role in the team of superheroes, he reluctantly agreed but told them they needed to do something as a team for her. Bucky told him a nice meal would do, it wouldn’t push her out of the comfort zone she had created for herself, so that’s what they did. Their laughter throughout the meal bounced off the walls as Y/n was retelling her memories of the antics Bucky would get up to during camp, told them how she managed to push Steve in to the river when he refused to go into the water.

In that month Bucky had been sleeping in bed with Y/n after she begged him to stay with her, and that night was no different. The team no longer heard Bucky’s screams because he no longer had nightmares.

“Y/n”

“Yeah?”

“I never stopped loving you, you know?”

“I’ve never stopped loving you either.” She smiled up at him. Slowly their lips met, both sighing at the familiar feeling that they had been deprived of feeling for nearly eighty years.

Just as Bucky closed his eyes to get some sleep he began chuckling when he heard Y/n’s question.

“Are you still going to marry me so I can put up with you for the rest of my life?”

“I made a promise didn’t I?”

Tags: @imcinnamoons | @pigeonmama

[momoswifee]

Peaches and a Broken Car

Pairing: Mina x reader

Synopsis: Mina decides to take some time off and when she goes to her parents' house, her car suddenly breaks down leading her to meet Yn.

Warnings: The reader has abandonment issues and tbh I think that's it for now.

w/c: 5558

a/n: I've been working on this for a while now, I'm planning on making this a mini-series? I'm really excited to finally put this out and for you guys to read it! Again, I really appreciate criticism so that I can do better next time, so if you have any, please let me know :) Also big thanks to @cry4mina for their amazing brain that helped me figure out what to do with this story :)

Pt1- Pt2 - Pt3

Mina had always loved the art of performing. She found the idea of immersing herself so much in a character that she could be able to portray characters and tell their stories just by using her body language and facial expressions in a certain way fascinating. 

She loved the way she could tell stories of people for thousands of people to see, it was something she was very proud of. However, the fame that came with it was something that she wished was not part of this ordeal. Fame was something that many always wanted to achieve, the idea of being adored by many and of being an idol to others was for some their life dreams. However, Mina never wanted a loud and busy life, she had always preferred the quiet aspect of it. 

After finally finishing filming an adaptation of “All the Lovers in the Night”, which she considered to have been one of her most challenging works, she was on her very much-deserved holiday, which she planned to spend with her parents, who had recently moved to a quiet little town just an hour or so away from the city. 

“...turn left in 300 meters” 

Finally, Mina thought to herself, after hearing the GPS’s directions, showing how close she was to arriving at her parents. 

Suddenly, she hears a clicking sound before the car starts jolting.

What the hell?

Suddenly, the car comes to a halt, letting out a whooshing sound as a small cloud of smoke come out from its hood. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she mutters as she gets out of the car after trying to park it as much to the right as possible. After a minute of silence, she tries to restart the car, in hopes it wakes up.

A glimmer of hope forms inside her as she hears the car slowly start before the familiar clicking starts again, making her turn it off, knowing she wouldn't go anywhere with that car soon.

Fuck

After the failed attempt at restarting the car, she decided to get out and see if she could call for car support so that she could get over this as quickly as possible. As soon as she’s out of the car, she's trying to call for support but soon notices that her battery is running out, making her dial the number as quickly as possible. 

“No no no no no” she mumbles as she watches her phone die. “You have got to be kidding me” she almost screams in exasperation. 

I cannot believe this is happening right when I decide to go on holiday, she thinks to herself sighing. 

After a while of sitting on the hood of her car, taking breaks from trying to restart her car long enough to connect her phone so that it could charge a little bit more to call for assistance, she sees a ball of white fur bark and run towards her. 

“Hi buddy!” she exclaims when the dog adorably walks up to her, pushing his head closer to her tight as if to ask for pets, making her laugh and crouch down giving him her full attention, slightly compensating for all that had happened until that moment. 

“Otis!” Mina hears from the direction the dog had come, assuming the voice as being the owner’s. “You can’t just run off like that.” says the voice, slightly off-breath as it approaches them. 

“It’s fine really!” Mina says, trying to sound reassuring, “He seems like a good boy…” she trails off as she looks up, meeting your gaze. As she looks at you, she feels her shoulders instantly drop, as if every ounce of stress accumulating in her throughout the day had vanished.  

“I’m sorry, he really just ran off as soon as he saw the car here.Is that your car?” you ask her as you leave Otis in her grasp to check it out.

“Uh yeah, I guess it had some engine problems? It never had any problems before, I was not expecting it at all” she answers, still upset at her car breaking down so near her parent's place. 

“If I could, I would totally help you out, but I’m not that good with my hands when it comes to cars,” You tell her sheepishly, “I do have the contact of a mechanic in town who could probably figure this out with no trouble” you add for Mina’s great relief. 

“Really? And do you think they could come today?” she asks with a hopeful tone. 

“Hold on, I’ll give them a call,” You tell her as you take out your phone to quickly call the mechanic. After the short call, you walk back to deliver the news. “It shouldn’t be long before they get here, they said they would come in maybe 20 minutes since it’s not that far.” You explain, making Mina feel like a big weight had been lifted off her shoulders. 

“I don’t even know how to thank you…” Mina says, smiling softly at you, making you laugh. 

“It’s fine, Your car will be in good hands too, don’t worry,” You say, shrugging. “You know…I really wouldn’t feel good with myself leaving you here alone though… would you like to come to the farm while we wait? It’s totally fine if you don’t want to!” you say, quickly adding the last bit, not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable. 

“I’d really appreciate it.” Mina says, smiling at you relieved, knowing that she’s going home soon.  

As you both walk to your house, you attempt to make small talk to avoid the awkward tension, learning that Mina is going to be spending her holiday time with her parents, in search of peace and quiet. 

After arriving at your place, Mina notices that you live on something alike to a farm, but a little smaller. As you wait by the porch, playing with your dog, Mina has the opportunity to check your little farm out, taking notice of the various fruit trees you had. 

She learns that you had once been a Hockey player in the city but due to a knee injury, you had retired and decided to come back to your hometown to help your parents with their business, eventually leaving it to you. 

After a while, the mechanic finally shows up at your house, with the car already towed, honking to call for your attention, making you smile instantly. 

“Hey pretty!” You say, getting up quickly to greet the person driving the car. Said person getting out quickly as well in time to greet you properly with a hug. “Mina, this is my friend Jeongyeon, she will be taking your car to the shop and give you a ride to your parents since it’s probably on the way.” You explain, detaching yourself from your friend, who gives Mina a small wave to greet her. 

“Well, I hope you have a good rest.” You say, guiding her to the car with Otis on your tail trying to get more pets from his new friend. 

“I’m sure I will.” She says, leaning down to pet Otis for the last time before she leaves.“Thank you for letting me stay here while I waited for the tow.” 

“Of course, it was really nice having you here.” You say, smiling shyly at Mina. 

Honk 

“Hey, love birds! It’s getting dark, we should really get going, so I can drop Mina off and close the shop in time!” Jeongyeon calls from the truck, making you both blush at her nickname. 

As she gets in the truck, she sees you waving goodbye and then remembers she had forgotten to ask you for your number. Before she can get out to ask, the truck is already getting out of your house. 

After a short-ish and quiet drive, she’s finally home. When she opens the door, her parents come rushing to hug her, worried because of the calls that went unanswered by her. After letting them know what had happened, she just went straight to bed, too tired to keep them company for much longer. 

As days go by, Mina has finally begun to feel more and more at ease, more in contact with herself. One day, as she’s preparing lunch, she hears someone knock at the door. 

“Mina, please get the door!” she hears her mom call from outside. 

When she opens the door, she sees a surprising face on the other side. There you stand, carrying a crate with a mix of fruits and vegetables, wearing your hat backward, sporting a small smile on your face. 

“Hi”

“Hi”

“Please come in” Mina hurriedly says, not wanting you to carry such a heavy-looking crate for too long. 

“I didn’t know you were the Myoui’s daughter.” you say as you enter the house and put the crate by the table. 

“Yeah…” she answers, still a bit surprised to see you there 

“I come here once a week to deliver fruit to them since the crate is usually a bit too heavy for your mom to carry” you explain, not wanting to seem like you just like to pop up to people's houses. 

“Thank you for that,” she says, touched by your consideration. “She told me that this week we’d be getting the fruit delivered, but I guess I forgot what day it was coming.”

After an awkward silence from both parts, you finally ask her how her time there has been, if she had her car fixed.  “Oh yeah, thank you! They already have the car ready to get picked up. I’m going this afternoon.” she answers, grateful for the break from the awkwardness. 

You only nod at that and give her a small smile, and you two get awkward again and stay silent for a bit, not knowing what to say. 

“Yn honey hi! Thank you so much for bringing the produce!” The older woman says, going to hug you. 

“Of course, I’m always happy to help!” You tell her with one of the brightest smiles Mina had ever seen, making her instinctively smile as well. 

After exchanging pleasantries, you decide to go back to work. As you’re almost out the door, Mina follows you, not wanting to let you go without asking you for your number.

“Yn! Wait up!” Mina says, following as you’re almost inside your truck. 

“Yeah?” You say, peaking your head out of the car, almost hitting it as you rushed to see what it was that Mina wanted. 

“I uh, I wanted to know if I could get your number?” Mina asks, suddenly shy. 

“Yes! I mean, yeah, sure, of course.” You say, trying to act nonchalant as you quickly hand her your phone.

“Let’s keep in touch, yeah?” Mina says as she hands you the phone, giving you a big gummy smile, making your insides melt. You’re only able to give her a nod, unable to answer her verbally. 

❂

“Did you just giggle?” JIhyo says, barking out a laugh as she sees you staring at your phone after receiving a message from Mina. 

“What are you talking about?” you ask, rolling your eyes. “Did a puck hit you too hard on the head?” you joke, trying to avoid talking about your shameful giggle at a text from a girl you had just met. 

“Hardy har har” she says, rounding the corner and following you as you move through the furniture looking for the renovated table Jihyo had ordered. “You can’t just lie to me, I know you like the palm of my hand! Jeongyeon back me up??” Jihyo says, turning to her friend for support. 

“Hm? Sorry, I was not paying attention at all. Can we speed this along, though? I have a job.” The older one says, putting her phone away as she moves to meet the other girls in the middle of the furniture maze. 

“Who were you texting though” Jihyo insists as she picks up the end of the table to carry it out.

“Oooh was it the girl I picked up from your place?” Jeongyeon joins in, teasingly wiggling her eyebrows at you. 

“A girl?” JIhyo says, almost dropping the table. “Why am I the last one to know about this?”

“There is nothing to know about.” You tell them as you slowly put the table down, ready to put it on Jihyo’s car, ready for her to stop pestering you. “She had trouble with her car a while ago, so she stayed at my place while she waited for Jeongie to pick her up to take the car to the shop. Since she’s staying here for a while, we decided to keep in touch-” you try saying, but are cut off by teasing “ooohs” and whistles from both girls. “Just as friends!” you quickly add, rolling your eyes. 

“You know it would do you some good to get out of the house,” Jeongyeon says, bringing you closer when she sees you trying to get away from their teasing by going back to the shop. 

“I do get out.” You say almost indignantly, making both of them snicker. 

“You getting out of the house to go to work or to go to the farmers market does not count. You don’t even visit some of us in the city as frequently.” Jihyo says, already getting inside the car. “You don’t giggle at texts, you’re a loser, but I’ve never seen you like this. If this girl does that to you, you should give it a try, even if you’ve only known her for a short while. Get to know her.”

You only mumble in agreement, not wanting to commit to something yet. After Jihyo leaves, you try sneaking off into the store, knowing Jeongyeon will still try to talk about what had just happened. 

“Nope, come here.” She says when she sees you slowly backing away, pulling you by the hand to sit on the bench outside your store. “I know this is scary, you don’t like getting close to new people-”

“I do like it-” you start 

“Let me finish,” she says, cutting you off. “It’s good for you. We get together often, but since you came back you’ve been pulling out of social interactions. Mina seems like a sweet girl.” She continues, holding your hand gently. “I’m not saying you have to make a move, you’ve only known the girl for what? Two weeks?” she asks, getting an inconclusive hum from you. “Just get to know her, she told me she’s staying here for vacation when I drove her to her parents. You can make a new friend.” she says, ending her little encouragement speech. 

“You sound like my mom.” You grumble. 

“I’ll take that as a compliment, I love your mom.” She says, patting your head as she gets up. “I'll call you later, ok?” She says, already walking away. 

It’s not that you didn’t want to get to know Mina better, you’d like nothing more. Even after days of texting back and forth, sharing jokes and facts about you, you were still hesitant about letting someone else in. 

You sighed and looked at your phone, still open on the messages app with Mina’s text waiting for your response. 

Do you want to meet tomorrow? I can’t wait to see you again :) 

You smile down at it before finally answering. 

I’d love to. I can’t wait to see you too :)

❂

“This one almost fell off!” Mina says excitedly as she puts the peach inside her basket. 

“Yeah, they’re good to go right now, I’ll probably take them to the market this weekend.” You say, chuckling at her enthusiasm. “You should be careful though, if you pick them out with too much force, some parts that will get spoiled more easily.” 

After your friend's visit, you decided to invite Mina to your house to create a more intimate environment so that you could get to know her better without any stress from people being around. 

"Oh, look at this one! It’s you!" she says laughing, holding one out for you to see. 

You move closer to her, trying to see what she means as she points at the fruit. 

"You know, cuz you're a peach." she says, maybe in an unusual attempt at flirting. After a moment of silence, she turns away from you and goes to another tree to get away from what had just happened. You only stare at her with a dumb smile on your face, completely infatuated by her. 

“Are you flirting with me?” You ask, moving closer with a cheeky smile on your face. 

“Me flirt- flirting? Why would I- No of course not” Mina says, stumbling over her words as she moves further away. 

“Why did you call me a peach, then?” You ask chuckling, finally able to be close to her again. 

“Well because you look like one.” She says shrugging, looking away, not wanting to make eye contact. 

“Yeah, cuz we share oh so many similarities.” You say, tilting your head, trying to look at her. 

“Yeah, both round and red.” she says, shrugging, making you bark out a laugh. 

“You’re saying I’m round and red?” 

“You’re insufferable” she huffs and turning away again, only making you laugh more. 

“You can’t say I’m insufferable, we’ve only known each other for two weeks or so” You exclaim, still laughing. 

“Would it be bad if I was?” Mina finally stops, turning to you, and looking into your eyes. As you look at her, you find yourself unable to form any words, this seeming to be becoming a recurring occurrence now.  

You only shake your head no and move closer to her. You see her tense up as if she had stopped breathing, and unconsciously do the same. As you get closer to her, you’re now able to check ever single detail on her face, every single line, every single mole. 

“It would not be bad at all” You say, almost whispering with your voice shaking, as you adjust the straw hat on her head as it was slowly falling forward. 

“Yn!” you two suddenly hear, making you both hastily make some distance between each other. 

“Mom?” You call out, having recognized the voice, moving towards the sound, taking Mina’s hand in yours to follow you not noticing her almost freezing up at the contact. 

“Hi baby” she enthusiastically says, with open arms ready to engulf you in her arms. She, however, stops mid-way when she sees you holding hands with an unknown girl. “Who is this?” she asks, with a mischievous smile forming on her face. 

As soon as you realize what she’s talking about, you feel your face heat up, realizing that you were holding hands with Mina. Quickly, you let go of her hand, not wanting to make her feel comfortable, too embarrassed to notice the slight look of disappointment that had crossed her face as you did so. “This is Mina, she’s the Myoui’s daughter.” You explain, weekly gesturing to the girl beside you. 

“Well, it’s really nice to meet you!” your mom says, going to hug Mina, surprising her. 

“She’s always like this” you mouth to her when she looks at you for help. 

“Don’t run from me!” You hear as you see Otis speed away from your father, who’s chasing him. 

“Dad, stop pestering Otis.” You say, sighing, going in the direction your dog had run. 

“It’s not pestering, he loves it!” The older man says, before spotting Mina. “And who is this?” he says with a curious gaze and a little smile playing on his lips.

“This is the Myoui’s kid.” Your mom says, introducing her, and instead of a warm hug, he instead offers a warm smile, one too similar to yours. After a bit of short talk, and your parents wanting to start sharing stories about how you were as a child, you volunteered to walk Mina home. 

“They seem fun” Mina says as she walks by your side. 

“They’re pests.” You say fondly, not being able to contain your smile. 

“I’m glad we could do this today…” Mina says, sneaking glances at you, catching you doing the same from time to time. 

“It was really fun, yeah.” You say with a smile. Out of nowhere, a gust of wind hits you both and sends Mina’s hat into the field. “I’ll pick it up don’t worry.” You assure her, trying to chase it. 

“You don’t have to!” She calls after you, going after you. 

“I want to, stay there, I’ll be back in a minute.” 

After no longer than 5 minutes, she hears a thud and a groan, making her look your way, only to see you holding her hat looking quite disheveled, with furrowed eyebrows grumbling. 

“What happened?” she asks worried, seeing small tears on your pants.  

“I didn’t see the roots” You mumble, dusting yourself off with your free hand, before offering her a beaming smile. “I got your hat though! Here, let me put it on,” you say, dusting it off of any dust it might have before adjusting it on Mina’s hair again. “There.” You say, smiling, finding yourself in the same position you both had been in before your parents had come home. 

“Thanks” Mina mumbles, looking away, not attempting to make eye contact. 

As you both continued your walk, you could feel your fingers brush hers, making your face erupt in flames. You decided to look at her, sneakily and found yourself breath taken. It wasn’t just her shy smile that had your knees trembling, but also the light coming between the trees and how they hit her skin, how her eyes gained a new shine as she watched the birds chirping above you. You would never admit this out loud, at least not to her, but even though you had only known her for such a short period of time, you were absolutely smitten. 

“We should do this again,” Mina says as she steps on her parent’s porch. “I had fun.”

“Yeah.” You manage to get out, fiddling your fingers. “I’ll text you?” you ask, receiving a nod. “Yeah, I’d like that.” she says, getting closer to you. Before you can process it, Mina kissed your cheek and was already inside the house. 

❂

“We've actually been hanging out a lot, even if she's working too. Last Tuesday she took me to the lake, we spent the whole day there. But now she won't even answer my texts” Mina sighs, not knowing what to do.

“Well you've already tried talking to her, I'm honestly not sure what else you can do.” Sana, her friend, says through the phone. 

“Well, yes, but I actually thought things were going well.” The girl continues, pacing around. 

She knew that she couldn’t expect anything romantic out of this relationship, at least not at that moment, but she did think that your relationship was progressing in that direction, and she was happy about it, there didn’t seem to be any problems until you suddenly stopped answering her texts and only came by her parents place when she wasn’t there. 

“I’m not sure what to tell you, honey, I wish I could offer you more words of comfort, but it seems like this all came out of the blue so…” The older girl says. 

After a long talk, Mina decides to come down, only to see a very familiar crate full of veggies and fruit sitting at the table. She realizes then that Yn had come over to deliver the produce as usual, managing to avoid her again. 

“Mina hi! What can I do for you?” Jeongyeon says as she gets out from under the car she had been fixing, oil stains all over her. “Is your car giving you trouble?”

“Not the car, no.” Mina answers with a dry chuckle, looking around.

“What happened?” Jeongyeon asks, cleaning her hands, and guiding Mina to her office so that they could talk more freely. 

“I just…” she started, frustration settling in. “Is Yn alright? Has anything happened? Was it something I did?” Mina ends up asking, rapidly. 

“Hey no what?” Jeongyeon says, holding her arms, trying to calm her down. “It’s not you, ok? You did nothing wrong.” She says, trying to reassure her. “Yn has a complicated relationship with people. Has she told you about her retirement?” She asks getting up, getting a cup of water, and giving it to Mina, but only getting a negative nod as a response to her question. 

“I’m not sure whether it’s my place to tell you about all the details, that’s something Yn should tell you if she thinks she wants to. She had it pretty rough with her team after her injury, it hit her pretty hard.” Jeongyeon says, sighing after remembering how everything had impacted her friend. “After her injury, some people on the team started blaming her, people that were supposed to have her back, people that Yn trusted a lot. After that, she got too much in her head and started self-isolating. Those people leaving her, blaming her, made her start to think that others would do that too.” She ends, frustration lacing itself into her tone. 

“I didn’t know…” Mina says, almost in a whisper. “That must have been tough.” 

“It was, she has been trying to get out more and get better, but you know how these things are…” Jeongyeon says, searching for understanding in Mina’s eyes. “I know it doesn’t excuse her keeping you in the dark, but I hope it at least explains it.” 

“It does, but I still want to try and talk to her.” Mina says, getting up, ready to see if you were at your shop. 

“Yeah, but if you want to try today, you won’t have any luck. She went to the city, she’s hanging out with a friend.” Jeongyeon says, guiding Mina out, almost apologetic. 

“I’ll see if I can catch her at the market then.” Mina decides, gaining a nod from Yn’s friend. 

As Mina walks home with this new information she starts to understand why you had done what you did, however, she can’t help that she felt hurt by those actions. She decided that she had to confront you, to ease her mind and also in turn ease yours.

A couple of days later, her mom had decided to go to the market so Mina took that opportunity to go see you. When they arrive, they see you at your stand with your dad and waste no time to go over there. 

“...yes, Yn only started producing this type of tomato this year, but I really like them, especially in salads, they really bring out the taste…” says your father, engrossed in his tomato talk with a possible customer. “Mina! Hi!” He suddenly exclaims as he notices her presence. “I haven’t seen you in a while, have you been enjoying your time off?” He asks, after making sure the other customer did leave with the tomatoes he was so enthusiastic about. 

“It’s been great yeah!” Mina answers him with a tight smile, more focused on Yn and how she’s suddenly checking every single peach on the stand for defects. 

“she’s really been able to relax more, she works too hard”

“Do you come here often?” comes out of Mina’s mouth before she can stop herself, feeling silly since she is literally at her stand. There is a small victory since a small smile shapes itself on your lips unintentionally. 

“Yeah…” you say, not wanting to prolong this conversation, too scared of where this might go. 

“How have you been?” Mina tries again, not feeling deterred. 

“Eh I’ve been alright.” You say, offering her a small smile, but looking away almost instantly. 

“Are you not going to ask how I’ve been?” Mina says, trying to meet your eyes, finding them guilt-ridden. “Well, I haven’t been that great. My friend, or at least someone I thought was my friend, stopped talking to me and has been avoiding me. I’m not sure if she’s doing it because of anything I did, but she won’t even answer my texts so I can’t really know.” Mina finally lets out, unthinkingly letting out her frustrations on the situation as well. 

“No! No. I- It was not you, it was all me. I get too inside my head and end up pushing people away. This is no excuse, especially since I’m not even explaining it well, but I am still sorry Mina.” You quickly say as you fiddle with your fingers. 

“You know, I wouldn’t have left.” She says, after a silent moment. “I texted a lot, I would think that that was an indicator right?” she says chuckling trying to lighten the mood, making you smile slightly relieved. “You do have to make it up to me…”

“I’ll do my very best,” you tell her, now smiling more openly. 

❂

As time progresses, you two end up making up, and you start visiting the city more because of Mina since she had returned to work. 

Knock Knock Knock

“Coming!” Mina yells from the kitchen, hurriedly going to the door, not knowing who could be at such a late hour. Once she opens the door, she is pleasantly surprised to see you there holding a bag of takeout with one of your big smiles on your face. 

“Hi” you say, already going inside, not wanting to stay out in the cold. “I brought take out from that place down the road.” You explain, already going to the kitchen with a familiarity Mina hadn’t noticed until now, but still a welcome one. As you both ate, Mina started realizing that the silly infatuation she had felt over the summer had evolved into a full-grown crush, and suddenly she didn’t know how to act. 

“Do you want to watch a movie after?” You ask her with a mouthful, which was honestly disgusting, but for Mina, who found herself realizing that she was unbelievably down bad for you, it was somewhat endearing. 

“You’re so gross.” She says, with no sentiment behind it,  a love-sick grin starting to spread on her face. “You choose, I’m cleaning up the dishes.” She says, getting up quickly not wanting you to see her smile like that. 

Once she returns to the living room, she finds you already sprawled comfortably on the couch with Spider-Man on the screen waiting for her to press play. Once you were both comfortably watching the movie play, you decided to explain to her little details that could help her better understand the plot and the reasons behind some behaviours of certain characters, and even though she had tried so hard to pay attention to those details, the only things she could focus on were how your eyes lit up, how you knew all about this fictional universe and how invested you were in it. 

“...and that’s why-What?” You ask, finally noticing her unnerving stare. 

“You’re such a nerd,” she says softly, her voice filled with adoration, making you flush under her gaze. “Tell me more about it.”

“Do you actually want to know?” You ask her, laughing, knowing she was probably not paying any attention to your side information. 

“I like listening to you talk.” She shrugs. “It’s cute. I might have to try and get a Marvel contract, maybe then you’ll talk about as me as passionately as you talk about Peter Parker.” She says, inching closer to you, with a teasing smile, and at that moment you thank everything divine for not being too close to her, or else she would’ve felt the heat emanating from you, from how flushed you were starting to get because of this banter of hers. 

“Do you think I’d make a good spider woman? Hm?” Mina says, feeling more confident after looking at your state, already so close, she could see your chest rising rapidly. “I’d let you try out the iconic upside-down kiss…” she finalizes, feeling a surge of confidence she normally didn’t feel, as she gently turned your face towards hers, getting closer and closer, already being able to feel your ragged breath mixing with hers. 

“Mina…” You breathlessly whisper, following her lead, your mouth opening slightly, not being able to stop your eyes from following her every move.

She only hums in response, tilting her head slightly to kiss you gently on the cheek, lips so soft you could’ve missed them. Instead of stopping there, she starts to slowly trail little kisses in your mouth’s direction. As she’s almost there, her eyes find yours as if asking for permission. You don’t even try and answer verbally, knowing full well you would not be able to do so, instead, you just let your hand go to her nape and gently bring her closer to you, letting your lips finally meet in a soft kiss. As you try to deepen the kiss, you feel her smile against your lips, making it impossible to do so. 

“What are you smiling about?” You ask, still impossibly closer, lips almost touching, not even wanting to think about putting some distance in between both of you. 

“Nothing” she simply says, pulling you in for another kiss, sharing the same thought of not wanting to be apart from you a minute longer. 

[amoreva]

yes i’m so glad you’re writing for clarisse because im obsessed with your writing.

could you write something with reader being a really confident and vain daughter of aphrodite who channels her mothers war goddess attributes and is one of the best sword fighter in camp? also playful teasing from reader and sparring because 1 i need justice for the massacre of aphrodites character and 2 clarisse x aphrodite!reader is essential to my life force. haters can hate.

maybe also show how other campers interact with her as well, like luke showing percy around idk

LOVER AND A WARRIOR

—– ٠ ✤ ٠ —–· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • · —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —–

pairing: clarisse la rue x daughter of aphrodite!reader

summary: clarisse has always been a hard hitter and a tough lover, but a certain someone from aphrodite makes her soft. and she doesn’t entirely mind it.

warnings: use of “y/n” once or twice, kinda switches to percy’s pov, fighting, almost death(?), fluff, mentions of beckendorf!!

a/n: i really hope i did this request right! enjoy! i was trying to crank this out as soon as i could.

—– ٠ ✤ ٠ —–· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • · —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —–

Everyone thought you’d be claim by Ares (even though your dad was still very present and not a god) or at least by Athena. You were smart and a hell of a lot strong; both mentally and physically.

So it came to a surprise when Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, claimed you.

Though, Clarisse knew you were her daughter. You were every bit of passionate: about life, hobbies, interests, her. You paid attention to every little detail that flew out of her mouth (she noticed).

It didn’t help that you channeled your mother’s past title and abilities. After all, in Sparta, she was known as Aphrodite Aeria, “Aphrodite the Warlike”.

Clarisse was head over heels for you the minute she saw you fight (you even bested Luke, how was she not supposed to not fall in love with you?)

You and Clarisse started dating at the peak of the Summer Solstice and never looked back. No one knew Clarisse could be so…tolerating to someone outside of her cabin, especially to one of Aphrodite’s daughter.

Percy surely didn’t expect it either.

Clarisse was so callous and you were compassionate. He guessed that thing about opposites attract was true.

“Look, you want attention here, dummy?” Clarisse spoke condescendingly to the newest camper. She just couldn’t believe a scrawny kid took down the Minotaur. “You better be ready for it when it comes.”

Clarisse made Percy flinch and walked past Hermes’ kids. An amused smile plastered on her face. Luke shook his head as Ares’ kids passed which begged the question. “Why don’t they mess with you?” Percy asked.

“They know better.” Luke smirked.

“Luke’s the second strongest swordsman in camp.” Chris added with a proud grin.

“Who’s the first?”

“Y/N.”

Suddenly, you walked by in perfect timing. Percy’s eyes glued to you. You witnessed the whole situation and went to talk to your girlfriend. “Clarisse…” You muttered.

Percy watched Ares’ daughter soften at the mention of her name from your lips. Nothing in the facial expressions, it was all in the eyes.

“She doesn’t look menacing or intimidating—” Percy acknowledged.

“Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Luke reminded as he glanced back at you and Clarisse. “Got my ass handed to me when I sparred with her.”

Percy looked at Luke. “Really? Can I train with her?”

•••

It wasn’t odd to find Clarisse in Aphrodite’s cabin; nor was it odd to find the two of you cuddling on your bunk. Sunlight beaming onto the two of you and the only sounds were the campers outside. All of your siblings when do go enjoy camp activities while you read to Clarisse.

Ancient Greek flows from your mouth like the water from River Styx. Clarisse had one arm haphazardly thrown across your abdomen. Her head perched on your shoulder.

Silently, she admired the way your lips moved. The way you were invested into the story. The way she can see all the tiny details on your gorgeous face from this position.

Clarisse found herself falling for you more and more with each second of the day. She was aggressive and intimidating. She was Ares’ favorite daughter after all, but she found herself becoming more softhearted to you.

“You’re my…everything.” Clarisse whispered fondly. It might’ve been a slip of the tongue, but it made you blush.

She never failed to make you blush. Your rosy cheeks complimented with a sheepish grin. “Clarisse…” You mumbled and put down the book.

“I mean it.” Clarisse stated firmly and sat up on her elbow. Her heart locket fell from her orange Camp t-shirt. It matched yours, except you had a sword charm. Clarisse insisted on giving it to you (after threatening Beckendorf once or twice) for your two month anniversary.

“I know.” You reassured and pecked her lips quickly. Clarisse smiled and dived back in to press her lips into yours

A giggle erupted from you. A rush of dopamine intoxicating your brain. It always felt like the first kiss with her. “I love you, I love you, I love you—” You repeated into her lips.

“I get it, lovergirl.” Clarisse chuckled as she pulled away. Her cheek tinged with pink. “I love you too.”

She continued. “Will you keep reading? You sound so beautiful when you read—”

“Clarisse!” You exclaimed. Your blush even more prominent.

“What? I can’t tell my girlfriend she has a voice from the sirens that could bring the Big Three to tears?”

“Clarisse…”

“Keep reading, lovergirl.”

•••

“This is safe, right?” Percy asked Grover.

“Yeah! Perfectly safe.” Grover reassured with a smile.

Luke had recruited you to help train Percy (Clarisse just so happened to tag along). There were swords in all of your hands. You were going to fight Clarisse and Luke and Percy doubted you were that good.

It was all to help Percy learn more about fighting with the sword and a great way to show off. The forest clearing gave enough room to really show your talents in combat.

“Don’t go easy on me!” You yelled at Clarisse and Luke on the other side of the clearing. Percy and Grover were sitting on rather large rocks anticipating the battle.

You took a deep breath and your eyes hardened. It was like switched had been flipped within you. You shifted your foot, sliding it in the dirt. The air felt different. Tense, sharp, lung-crushing.

Clarisse and Luke tightened their grip on their swords and gave each other a confirming nod. Percy and Grover watched as the three older half-bloods charged one another.

With precision and quick-wit, you were able to keep Clarisse and Luke on their toes. Luke shifted his weight in his feet before charging you again. You clashed swords. Celestial Bronze against Celestial Bronze.

Your ears perked up on shoes slapping against the dirt. You ducked causing Clarisse to swing at Luke. There was no trace of a your warm sweet smile Percy saw, only your hardened gaze.

It was kind of scary to see Aphrodite’s daughter switch up so fast.

Clarisse cursed under her and swiped her sword as if flicking off imaginary blood. She met your gaze, her heart skipped a beat. She rushed you again and swiped your legs. You jumped back with the grace of a swan, but Clarisse parried her sword immediately after.

You riposted Clarisse when Luke cane out from behind Clarisse to continue an onslaught of attacks. You scoffed quietly, but you could never complain. It was a good workout.

Yet, a particularly heavy swing from you knocked Luke’s sword from out of his hand. His sword flinging at Percy’s head. Percy shouted and ducked.

“Oh my gods!” You exclaimed and slapped your heads over your mouth in surprise.

Clarisse and Luke stopped their attacks and looked back at Percy and Grover. Luke’s celestial bronze sword was sticking out of a tree. Percy centimeters away from the blade.

You apologized for your reckless behavior. Percy was more scared of how fast you switched from your focused nature to a worried attitude.

“It’s okay…” Percy laughed nervously.

“He said he was fine!” Clarisse called out and walked towards you, pressing a small kiss to your cheek.

“Sorry, Percy.” Luke apologized.

“A lover and a fighter. Got it.” Percy noted in his mind as you complained to Clarisse about feeling bad about impaling Percy.

—– ٠ ✤ ٠ —–· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • · —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —–

[greynatomy]

suspended

leah williamson x reader

based on this request

changed the request a bit so i hope this was fine anon

———

You were at training when one of the coaches flagged you down.

“Hey, your phones been ringing.”

“Oh, thank you.”

Your wife, Leah, was watching you from the pitch, seeing your facial expressions go from concerned to shocked. She excuses herself from the group she was in and walks towards your form.

“What’s happening?” She stands behind you, placing her hands on your waist.

“That was the principal.”

“The principal? Of Bella’s school?”

“No, of Chewbacca’s school. Of course Bella’s school.” You answer sarcastically.

You hear your wife Breathe in deeply, a way for you to know that she’s trying to calm herself.

“What did he say?”

“Bella’s been suspended, for punching a kid.”

Leah walks away, presumably to where Jonas was to excuse the both of you. You basically had to run after Leah, as she already packed both your things and taken her boots off, leaving you to change out of your boots in the car.

You could tell she was fuming. Bella is her little girl, a mini Leah, so she was very strict on her. Picking Bella up from school, she didn’t say a word. The way her eyebrows were furrowed, you and your daughter could tell she was in a bad mood.

“Sit on the couch.” Was all Leah said once she parks the car in the garage.

Bella did as she said while you followed after your wife.

“Hey.” You softly greeted while she’s drinking a glass of water. “Don’t get mad right away. We don’t even know what happened exactly.”

“She punched a kid for crying out loud. What more is there to know?”

You pull Leah’s hair out of the ponytail it’s in to be able to run your fingers through them, calming her down a bit.

“But why would she do that? You know Bella. She’s a mini version of you. There has to be a reason why she did it.”

After Leah’s calmed down a bit more, you both head into the living room, seeing your daughter sat on the couch staring at the floor.

“Hey, Bells. How are you?” You crouch down next to her while Leah takes a seat on the other seat. Bella shrugs and you can see some tears lining her eyes. “Why don’t you tell us what happened?”

“Billy keeps messing with me. He *sniffles* he’s always shov-shoving me and laughing beca-because I’ve got you and Mama.”

“What do you mean, bubs?” Leah asks softly, scooting to the edge of her seat.

“He said it’s weird and gross to have two mums.” She bursts into tears, falling in your open arms. “I’m sorry Mummy, I’m sorry Mama. I didn’t mean to hit. He was just being so mean.”

“Hey, hey.” Leah sits on the floor, taking Bella from your arms to sit her on her lap, holding her close. “You’re okay. Me and Mummy are so proud of you for sticking up for yourself, for us, but we don’t need you to do that. We can deal with it ourselves. You’re my little girl, but you’re also so brave.” Kisses are placed on her head. “But we do not hit people, okay?”

Bella nods, pushing her face further into the crook of your wife’s neck.

“We do not hit people. We tell an adult and let them handle it. I’m glad you told us. I’ll have a talk with the principal tomorrow.”

“You’ve got the rest of the week off.” You get up from your crouched position, dusting yourself off. “How does a little movie night sound?”

[aticklishpercivalwriter]

A Sleepy, Ticklish Aether

Links to Art (credits go to original artist(s) as always!): Xiao | Lyney | Aether

—

Summary: A sleepy Aether is a very needy, ticklish Aether and Xiao and Lyney take notice.

A/N: This takes place post-cooking for Lyney in the 4.4 cooking event. The animations for Aether and Lumine cooking are so cute! Xiao has softened up in this one and is quite a tease. Wonder where he learned it from 🤔. Anyway, hope you enjoy this one; happy reading!

Word Count: 1615 Also on AO3!

—

Aether yawned as the fatigue of nonstop cooking at Wangshu Inn started to catch up to him. Paimon had it worse as she was sleep talking, so Aether sent her to their room. Wanting to close his eyes and feel the cool breeze on his cheeks, he made his way up the stairs to the top balcony. 

“Yawn. I'm so tired. I wish Xiao was up here. I wonder where Lyney- oof!” 

Aether collided with someone making him rub his eyes and start to apologize before his eyes widened when he realized who he bumped into. 

“L-Lyney?”

“Oh! It's you, my golden ball of sunshine. Though…” Lyney took a double take at Aether’s facial expression. “You look exhausted.”

“Yeah. Yawn. I am. Yawn. Long day…” 

Aether suddenly stumbled forward as his eyes drooped. Lyney caught him with a concerned expression on his face. 

“Hey. Let’s get you to bed now, okay?” 

Lyney squished Aether’s cheek with his hand before he carried him bridal style. 

“Heyyy,” Aether pouted, weakly batting at Lyney’s arms. 

Lyney smiled fondly at him and gave him a peck on the forehead. 

“You are so cute, you know that?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“Ahem.”

Both Lyney and Aether jolted at the sound of another voice as they tightened their grip around each other and looked towards the source of said voice.

“Oh. Sorry for scaring you both.”

Xiao stood before them with a red hue on his ears. 

“Xiao! You are here!” 

Aether sent Xiao a sleepy grin that made his heart melt and face heat up, the red tinge on his ears intensifying. 

“Oh? Is the Yaksha blushing,” Lyney teased. 

“Shut up. You can’t tell me that you aren’t affected by that. Even Wanderer isn’t immune to that.” 

“What are you guys talking about? I’m just being me,” Aether said, confused.

Xiao and Lyney looked at each other before looking back at him with soft looks in their eyes.

“And that’s why we love you,” they said at the same time.

“You are just so cute for all of us,” Lyney added. “Especially for him.”

Lyney wiggled his eyebrows at Xiao who just rolled his eyes and started lightly tickling Lyney’s sides.

“I believe you were the one that was down bad for Aether when you first laid eyes on him.”

“Xiahohoho!” Lyney giggled, wiggling side to side as Aether tightened his grip around him. “Nohohohot truhuhuhue! Wait! Wahahahait! I’m gohohoing to drop Aehehehether!” He squeaked when Xiao tickled a particularly sensitive spot. 

A proud smile crossed Xiao’s face. “That was for your teasing. Now come over here.”

Lyney hesitantly walked over to Xiao, giggling all the way as the tickle sensations lingered. Xiao wiggled his fingers teasingly as a small smirk appeared on his face.

“Hehehey! Whehehen dihihid yohuhu becohohome a tehehehease?!” 

“I learn from the best,” Xiao said, looking towards Aether then him.

As the two continued to talk, Aether stared at Xiao's hands, mesmerized by his fingers. Their voices faded away and he imagined being teased into oblivion by both his boyfriends. Fingertips that gently graze against his side as they keep him on edge and giggling as they pepper him with kisses.

“I wanna be tickled so bad now. Please wreck meheheheeeee.” 

Aether whined, burying his face into Lyney's chest before he realized that his chest feels more defined than before. He let go of who he was hugging and looked up to find a surprised looking Xiao whose expression was slowly morphing into a smirk. 

“X-Xiao!?”

“What got you so whiney, sunshine?~” a deep, teasy voice sounded right against his ear as arms wrapped around him, trapping him. 

He let out surprised giggles as the vibrations and breath of who he knows to be Lyney sent ticklish sensations throughout his body. 

Being squished in between his boyfriends, in which he knows to be Xiao's room and bed, Aether can't help but feel more ticklish.

Xiao whispered in his other ear. “What were you thinking to not notice me teleport to my room, hmm? Was it this?” he raised his hands again and wiggled them right in front of Aether’s eyes making him shiver and hold back his giggles as he shook his head defiantly and scoot backwards only to bump into Lyney's chest. 

“Are you surrree?” Lyney teased, his smirk audible. He tightened his grip around Aether as he made him look on at Xiao's wiggling digits as they slowly descended. 

“I-ihihihi hahahave no idehehea whahahat you arehehe tahahalking abohohout,” Aether giggled. 

He raised his hands up to prevent Xiao from touching him, but Lyney with surprising ease raised both his arms and hugged his middle tightly. 

“Nu uh uh~ Come on. Tell us what you were thinking.” 

“Ihihihi hahahave nothihihihng to- hehehehe sahahahay!” 

Aether felt vulnerable as his body was stretched taut, his nerves on edge. 

“Youhuhuhu wohohohn’t geheheht ihihihit out of mehehe! Eep!”

“Oh? So, you did have something on your mind.”

Xiao's fingers landed on Aether's belly, but never moved, much to his dismay. 

“We have all night, baby,” Xiao teased. 

In a different situation, Aether would be proud of him for being such a tease but being on the receiving end made him arch into his touch and whine. 

Xiao just raised his hands to avoid grazing his stomach, not giving him satisfaction.

“Plehehehease! Xiahohoho!” Aether begged. 

Xiao and Lyney hadn’t seen their lover be this needy before, but they had no complaints as they continued, loving this side of him.

“Please what?” 

To add to his predicament, Lyney began blowing puffs of air on his ears, making him squirm and scrunch up his shoulders. 

“Youhuhuhu guhuhuhuys! Hehehehehe! Thihihis ihihihisn’t fahahahair! Ahahahahaha!”

“All's fair in love and… tickling,” they said in unison. 

Aether giggled uncontrollably and whined as he tried to follow their touches, but they didn't bite.

“My lohohoves, plehehehease dohoho ihihihit! Hehehehehe!”

He was losing his mind and could only think about getting his lovers to tickle him. 

“Please please please plehehehease!”

Xiao experimentally slid his fingers along his belly causing him to buck up and laugh.

“AHHAHAHA! Yehehehes! Finahahally- Wh-why did you stop?” 

Xiao's fingers settled back on to his stomach, not moving.

“Did you think I would just give it to you like that? Tell us what you want,” he growled playfully, blowing a raspberry on Aether's neck. 

Lyney did the same, overwhelming him with ticklish sparks. 

“GAHAHAHA! WAHAHAHAIT! IT TIHIHICKLES TOO MUHUHUCH! AHAHAHA!

As quick as they started, they stopped. 

“But you loved it didn't you?” Lyney whispered into his ear.

Aether nodded, giggles filling the air as Xiao lightly drummed his fingers against his belly.

“Just say the words.”

Aether hesitated on whether he can hold out, but with Xiao tortuously drumming his fingers and Lyney now nuzzling against his neck, he couldn't hold back anymore and needed to get wrecked.

“Plehehease tickle me! I nehehehed it so bahahad! Wreheheck mehehehe!”

Giggles slipped in as Xiao and Lyney exchanged a look.

Did we actually break him? That was more than I thought he would say. Is he really that tickle starved?

Not one to make their lover suffer any longer, they went in. 

Lyney moved his hands down to Aether's hips, squeezing rapidly, while Xiao went to town on his tummy. 

A look of relief and excitement passed through his eyes before a bright smile appeared and laughter started pouring out of him. 

“GAHAHAHA! AHAHAHAHAHA! OH MY ARCHOHONS! IT TICKLEHEHEHES SOHOHOHO MUHUHUHUCH! HAHAHAHA!” He thrashed in Lyney's embrace, as he reflexively tried to curl in on himself. 

“Of course it does, silly,” Lyney grinned, planting ticklish kisses along his neck. 

Xiao just smiled as he switched to wiggling his fingers against Aether's neck and Lyney started drilling into his ribs. 

“AhhHAHAHhaha! Oh maHAHAhahan! Ihiht TIHIHICKLES! NAHAHAahahaHAHA!” Aether spasmed, the mix of light and intense tickling driving him crazy.

Xiao growled, knowing how much it affects Aether and started nibbling the shell of his ear making Aether shake his head. 

“Xiahahahao! Dohohon’t- heheheahaha- AHAHAHAHA! LYNEHEHEHEY!”

Lyney slid down and kneaded his thighs catching him off guard and laughing hysterically. 

Not to be outdone by the magician, Xiao blew raspberry after raspberry on Aether's navel, causing him to throw his head back in ticklish mirth and tears to run down his face. 

“OHOHOHO GOHOHOD! LOHOHOVES! HAHAHAHA! AHAHAHAHAHA! NEHEHEHAHAHA!”

They noticed his energy slowly slipping away and decided to drive him over the edge as a finale.

“Ready Lyney?” The adeptus called over Aether's laughter.

“Yup! Let's finish it.”

Taking their positions along the golden boy's death spots, Xiao at his armpits and Lyney at his hip bones, they went all in. 

Massaging, swiping, rubbing, any technique they know, they used, and Aether dissolved into laughter.

“AHHHAHAHHAHA, AHAHAHA! OHOHOHO- NAHAHAHA! GAHAHAHA! EHEHEHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHA-” 

His laughter went silent, making them back off and watch as he recovered. With whatever remaining strength, he brought Lyney in front of him with Xiao and hugged them both, giggles filtering in as he relaxed. A blissful look made its way on his face as he cuddled with them. 

“Thank you, my babies,” he said softly, giving them each a deep and passionate kiss. “I needed that. I really love you both oh so much.”

“We love you too, sunshine,” they said, returning the kiss with equal fervor.

Aether closed his eyes and fell asleep peacefully, embraced by his lovers.

“Night, Aether.”

“Sweet dreams, sunshine.”

Xiao and Lyney waited to make sure his breathing evened out before going to sleep themselves.

“Love you, Lyney.”

“Love you too, Xiao.”

“Good night.”

“Night.”

They gave each other a night kiss before they snuggled up closer to Aether, his laughter playing in their dreams. 

[muffinsin]

Hello muffin, I was wondering if you could write abt Bela, Cassandra, and Daniela holding their s/o baby for the first time?!?!?

Hi! This is so wholesome! Absolutely! :)

Let’s get into it!

Masterlist 1

Masterlist 2

Masterlist 3

Bela

She’s amazed

Have you ever seen a cat’s eyes sparkling when they look at a Christmas tree? That’s Bela’s expression, 1:1

How can something so tiny, so perfect, be hers?

She is in love with her little one from the first moment on

She knows, she will coddle them, and spoil them rotten, and cuddle them very often

She’s completely lost in her own world and doesn’t even notice you smiling at her or squeezing her arm

The tiny bundle in her arms is all that matters to her

Now, she thought she was prepared. Bela has been fussing throughout your entire pregnancy

She wanted to be prepared and perfect. A perfect partner and mother

Yet, she feels as if overwhelmed. In the good way

She leans close to her little one, and giggles at their tiny hands reaching out to grab her blonde hair

The small one has her eyes. Bright golden, just like Bela. She can’t get over this

And later on they will share your hair colour. For now, it’s clear they share your smile

Even with tiny lips curved upwards, she recognises your smile on the little face

“I will always protect you. Nobody will ever harm you”, she swears with happy tears in her eyes

Cassandra

Mean, sadistic, rough Cassandra. Reduced to a puddle of tears and happiness, gentleness and soft smiles for this moment

She’s so proud. Of you, and of the tiny baby snuggled between blankets in her arms

The tiny one shares her pale skin, and your facial features, even if the little one hasn’t got much to say for itself yet

Little sounds come from the baby, tiny fingers heavy and attempting to touch Cassandra’s finger

She gently pushes her larger fingers against the tiny ones

She’s so meticulous in her movements, her breath held in concentration so she does not graze the soft, unprotected skin with her sharp nails

The small fingers, still weak and heavy, grasp her finger and a squeal comes from the tiny one

She smiles widely

This one will be a fighter- she has a feeling

But the most outstanding, most remarkable thing are the baby’s eyes

Your little one has heterochromia

One eye, the left, shining dark gold. Cassandra’s dark golden colour

The other eye, the right one, shares the colour of your eyes

“You will always be safe, tiny one. If anybody dares hurt you, I will make them pay”, she promises

Daniela

Normally, Daniela is loud. Hyper. Restless

Yet in this moment, she is completely still

Her lips parted and eyes wide, she watches the perfect little baby in her arms

She didn’t even want to hold the small thing at first, too scared of dropping them or doing something wrong

Now, she can’t imagine ever letting go of this little wonder

She cries tears of happiness, and gently wipes at the tiny baby’s cheek. It’s soft, round and warm

The little thing is sleeping soundly against her chest

Little eyes are closed. They share your eye colour, as she was granted to see before sleep overtook the tiny thing

There are also some of her features apparent already, like her button nose the baby seems to have inherited

She is so excited, and yet doesn’t have words

She can’t stop smiling down at your little wonder

Daniela smiles at you, wide and happy, relieved tears rolling down her cheeks. She was so worried, but it all worked out perfectly. You are healthy. Your little one is

Immediately, she snuggles up against you, the baby still against her chest

“I promise, I will always be by your side. I won’t let anybody take you from me”, she whispers, a promise delivered with a kiss to the tiny baby’s cheek

[mercymermaid]

so

next stop theatre rtc production rant

@ihavenoideamanokay you're being sacrificed

- jane didn't actually sing during her first verse of karnak's dream of life, she just flung her doll around which was iconic

- karnak unfortunately spoke very quickly and didn't have the comedic timing of 2016 :(

- virgil was this tiny little rat who moved up and down it was so silly

- karnak had little blinds in his booth and the front one got stuck and at first we thought it was a bit until he opened the side one and said "oh that one works-" (and then during the entirety of uranium suite he was trying to fix it 😭)

- ocean and constance both had the same outfit, jane had the same outfit as them but with white socks (instead of black), noel had a whole ass blazer over his dress shirt, mischa was. mischa. and ricky had a normal sweater vest over his dress shirt and a beanie

- during uranium suite constance kept managing to channel Main Character Energy (/pos) and then ocean just went. nope <3 and constance actively looked hurt

- once karnak started speaking and they were all standing there ricky was rubbing his throat like "oh my god-"

- noel was a lot less vocally expressive but damn his facial expressions were on POINT

- constance was just having this huge ass panic attack throughout the entirety of everyone's catchphrases and it's hilarious

- speaking of, during everyone's introductions, they hovered by karnak's booth just in like a video game idle animation

- noel, instead of being disgusted, just kinda shrugged like "okay, me, pop off"

- ricky did a handstand and slayed

- jane sounds a lot more like an actual teenager, which was great

- she also had a ragdoll which slayed and it's head was constantly falling off

- noel looked like he was struggling very VERY greatly to keep it together while ocean talked

- mischa and noel were so nice to jane 😭 - noel was talking to her about nails during ocean's intro and waving ajd shir, and they both like ushered her around and shit oh my godddd 😭 they'd make hand gestures and jane would imitate and they looked so proud oml 😭 

- mischa sounds german 😭 

- ocean started her songs by aggressively blowing a whistle which spurred everyone into choreography

- jane was really out of it and didn't actually know what she was doing until towards the end of what the world needs 

- ocean somehow managed to hurt everyone at the end - noel was hit in the nose, constance was knocked down, ricky was as well, mischa got kicked away, and ocean used jane as a little stepping thing at the end

- they all very much enjoyed that, and as karnak announced the 'unanimous vote' thing, ricky and noel both were trying not to laugh

- noel started dramatically clapping and it was great

- "not all gay people are fun to be around" he stared ocean right down, stuck his middle finger in his mouth and then cornered her into the middle while aggressively flipping her off (as he should)

- noel yelled a LOT more than "sweet jesus christ on a stick" when he was fed up "I LOVE YOU GUUUUUUYS-"

- his idle animation was some really weird sexually invigorating writhing (funnily enough mischa was sitting behind him 😭)

- instead of the gay pose for the "his mother found out two things", this mf all but twerked and showed off his ass to the audience 

- this man. /pos

- during the "i hear it gives you an erection" ocean looked on the verge of tears and smiled and nodded aggressively when constance suggested just moving on

- noel was fruiTEA he was not holding back at ALL 

- the taco bell pic was on thr back of a karnak poster and noel all but sprinted and screamed to stand in front of it and trying to play it cool (he failed miserably)

- oh the flirting with mischa was WILD

- at one point he made some innuendo ("never wrote a novel.. or had sex.." points at mischa with a wink) and mischa immediately started texting talia

- instead of a full-blown kiss scene it was a bit more of a little peck and then mischa going "😍"

- and then right after that he got his wig lmao

- he was laughing like a MANIAC he was FERAL

- he was about to do a split and then after constance refused to pay he gave up

- his "tell the lord im dying like him" moment was less dramatic and more peppy

- he just say up and excitedly started rattling off what he would say

- he walked down a pathway of chairs and boxes to The Box and then did his lovely singing while everyone else was also on chairs and shit lmao 

- ricky's accordion was rapidly falling apart 💀

- karnak danced to every song except wtwn and ballad

- again. more fucking flirting with mischa. this man was WILD-

- everyone was sitting on the sidelines during ocean's lesson rant

- jane was sitting with constance, trying to show her her doll, which constance accidentally threw onto the stage

- jane went to get it and mischa went "no-"

- also when karnak said "not every story has a lesson" constance was motioning for him to stop like "please do not-"

- tsia was dope. he had a fur coat and EVERYTHING. he was slaying hard

- everyone was being extremely sexual which was fuckinf hilarious to watch 💀 

- noel was getting INTO IT

- ricky had a silly little robot head thing

- "i lay my masculinity at the altar of your maidenhood" he offered his rapper dollar sign necklace 😭 ily sm my guy

- someone said "aw" and he focused on them for the rest of the song lmao

- talia was beautiful. the big projection fabric was brought in as a veil by jane, and then they used it to shadow project jane and (i think) noel dancing behind it it was so cooollllll 

- instead of the dance circle they all just started dancing crazily it was great lmao

- mischa fucking THREW himself at ricky and noel that mf was sobbing

- no sped up speech from ocean (thankfully /j)

- however at the virginity bit noel immediately walked over like "fucking SPILL"

- they all collectively nudged ricky forward it was so sweet like "you should go"

- it was. wild.

- as he was explaining his religion, noel was nodding along like "yeah this seems sick dude"

- instead of having ocean, jane, and constance at the beginning, he had jane, constance, and noel (bisexual king) 

- he had a cape for a bit but took it off before the "it gets weird now"

- speaking of there was no backstage or costume change he just played guitar aggressively smh

- everyone had a cat helmet and fluffy cat tail and they all has different color and they all had visors and mischa's was constantly falling off 💀 

- mischa: "dude you are so cool now" ricky: "nobody-" *gives the biggest fattest nastiest side eye to ocean* "-ever listened to me"

- BALLAD WAS SO AMAZING HOLY DHRIROFJDUSSHITITISHUDIEKDSB AJRUSJSJFJFJRAUGHFHDUSUFJEIIRH can you tell it's my favorite song

- jane gave her doll to karnak 😭 dadnakdadnakdadnakdadnak-

- her voice was so powerful holy SHIT

- the choreography was everyone moving around with masks on their hands like heads before the first chorus, and then after that it was just hands constantly grabbing at her

- she was terrified kf the hands and heads

- oh and there was uv lihting which made everything very very ckntrasty holy shiat

- her voice was torn between fear pain and anger and it was so fucking gorgeous DUDEEEE

- THOSE HIGH NOTES 🤩 best jane ive seen since emily rohm (i say, this being the only other version i've seen-)

- at the end she just kinda stood there, nobody else was on stage, she kicked the floor like a lil pouty child (my sweetheart) but then when the others started singing happy birthday her eyes widened like "what the fuckkkk"

- mischa beat boxed the first half of the og birthday song

- the new birthday song was super awkward but then ocean figured out the beat and it got really fast really randomly for some reason- felt a bit rushed

- they all blew it out together so once she reached for the cupcake it was already put out

- she didn't wander off to eat the cupcake shr went straight to Ricky

- at first he kinda dismissed her but... oh my goD

- her voice was so confident "savannah, with the greenest eyes..!"

- once the focus shifted off of them ricky unwrapped the cupcake and then he took a bite to show her how to eat it then they took turns until she just shoved the entire thing in her mouth-

- mischa was all alone and then he pointed the bottle at noel who came over

- he offered a sip and noel was such a lightweight hetook one gulp and his knees buckles 😭 

- they had their deep convo and then just took turns drinking until they ended up finishing the entire bottle

- the constance ocean situation. goddamn. it escalated to yelling and then constance punched he really hard and ocean sat down and sulked for the entirety of jawbreaker

- mischa was the guy and he had the tattoo and once he was Free the look of disgust on his face as he tried to dust himself off

- everyone was kinda smiling somberly as constance talked

- DADNAK GAVE HER A SPARKLY JACKET EAFHFHGJGJG

- they all kinda did their own jigs yk

- dadnak had them walk past his booth and grab various sparkly accessories from a bucket for them to dance with it was so cute

- no recorder solo sadly but she did do some wicked scatting

- it was utterly amAZING

- AFTER SUGAR CLOUD. OCEAN HUGS CONSTANCE AND OUT LOUD FULL ON TELLS HER "I'M SORRY" LIKE FUCK YEAHHHHHH

- as ocean being the final vote is announced, the choir turns to look at her rhythmically, and then just look at that exact spot for the rest of her monologue

- it is. long. obviously

- as she's turning around to pick the final vote, everyone makes varying faces of some sort of hope, and as she chooses jane, they relax

- jane's life is revealed by a waterfall of photographs coming from the ceiling and everyone crowds around her to point out all the stuff in them as ocean starts its not a game

- eventually she has all the photos and she's shuffling through them quickly on the verge of tears

- she leaves without much fanfare, constance WAVES and jane runs off behind the wings

- karnak gets his ass killed and just leans out the window, very dead (his death scene was.. interesting)

- as they start it's just a ride oh my god 😭 it's so happy because they're just kinda running around and dancing together and everything AUGH MY HEART

- NOEL HUGS OCEAN. 

- THEY DO THE SPIN ON THE "TURNING ROOOOOUND" BUT NO BIG JAM OUT HOW DARE THEYYY

- JANE COMES BACK OUT AS PENNY WITH A DARKER WIG AND GREEN EYES AND SHE GUIDES THEM ALL TO THE AFTERLIFE BC THEY ALL END UP SETTLING INTO THE ROLLERCOASYER POSITION

- AND THEN PENNY SINGS THE “I KNOW THIS DREAM OF LIFE IS NEVERENDING” WHICH MEANS HER NOT SINGING IT EARLIER WAS FORESHADOWING LOOK AT ME I’M A GENIUS

OTHER STUFF

- this one chair to the side was used as the breakdown chair because constance had like thirty anxiety attacks on it and noel was barely keeping himself together from tearing ocean to shreds 

- can't remember in which interaction specifically but ocean pisses mischa off and he stomps off to sulk backwards on a chair by ricky

- either at the beginning of lament or tsia jane fucking. chucks. her doll somewhere behind karnak's booth

- at one point jane and ocean are sitting next to each other and jane keeps trying to initiate contact and ocean is leaning away like 'fuck no babes'

- mischa beat boxing was a good bit and he did it twice-

anyway that's all-

[fandomsandfairytales]

Live reactions to Quigley Down Under

Basically a form of liveblogging. I wrote all this down while I was watching the movie.

Putting a "keep reading" cut here because ~spoilers~

The bullet points are split up by lines every now and then, usually based on scene. I'm leaving my phone typos in there for amusement purposes and adding in occasional brackets for clarification.

[Opening scene in the boat] Oooooo he's got manners

AND SASS!

[thought this but didn't write it down at the time] Very good introduction to his character, effectively shows us what his character is like with one interaction right off the bat

Very Max Way like, helping Cora

Also yuck to those guys

Lol to him insulting and then totally doing away with those guys [my autocorrected it to "bugs" and it's not wrong]

My name isn't Roy - gives off "don't call me Shirley" vibes a bit

This man is so sick and tired of everything in this country not even 10 minutes in

They got a body!

LOL at "we sent them back to England"

Trying to grasp the plot here

The look in his eyes is saying "What if I'm actually Roy?" at about 13 min

Severus Snape voice!! [Alan Rickman came onscreen and said "Matthew Quigley"]

Fancy specs there [about the gun]

Cora admitting she doesn’t know him!

Here we gooooooo

Got earplugs sir?

Oooooo he’s got SKILLS [shooting the bucket from far away]

Knew he would, of course, lol

That deserter guy's got VERY blue eyes

Dunno if Alan Ricjmsn [Rickman] is reminding me of someone else or just himself

Well that was a fast execution

Aha, I think it’s Ben Barnes as the Darkling, a bit [the person Alan Rickman was reminding me of, because of the facial expressions]

“yOu WeRe AcTuAllY IN dOdGe CiTy???”

This guy [Quigley] is such an American

Jack Pearson vibes hair & facial hair

Why are u so proud of your mint jelly sir

Aha more plot

OoooOOOOO

“Your American Indian” I’m going to skin u alive

What is that box for? Oh, cigars

This Marston guy is so rude

Ugh white supremacy

He’s making me bristle every other word

I’m wondering if Quigley is gonna become an outlaw

The tears in his eyes!!!!

LOL GET THROWN OUT

The outlaw part might be happening faster than I thought XD

GET WRECKED

Lolllll at the turnabout

Also the guys being afraid bc of the long shot rifle XD

YRAHHH PUT UR FEET UP ON THE TABLE

Lol they’re trying to ambush him

Of course it was the slave who got him bc nobody listens or expects them

Cora is so brave!

I KNEW THEY WERE GONNA THROW TJEM TOFETJER

enemies to lovers via being dumped in the desert, let’s go

Stunning landscape

Oh no, he doesn’t have his gun. Sad

Those rickety wagon wheels!

LOL the whisper

Oooooo he’s gonna knife em

Oh he put down the gun. Big mistake

Cool theme!!! The music!

YES HE CAN SHOOT FROM THERE

YOU CAN DI IT MISRER WYIGKEY

he’s giving beat up Walt Longmire

“On a new job it’s quite common for things not to go well at first” 😂 love how they both laugh

Also she’s lowkey giving Mallory from Studio C character vibes

The way she just leaves the hoop there on the ground

Also serious Thorne and Cress vibes

Had that the moment they said “dump them in the desert” They’re really dying ooof

You’re not just going to LEAVE HER THERE ARE U Of course not. Bc you’re a man with morals

Ouch that sunburn doesn’t look fun

This is also giving Walt Longmire dragging Henry through the desert

The moon!!!

They so want us to think it’s Quigley and Cora [the two people the British guys brought in]

Nope, lol

Aha!!! The guys he killed

Lol GET WRECKED

Aboriginal people!

That shot of the silhouettes against the sun is beautiful

Interesting

More Max Way chivalry vibes! “You okay?”

“The shady side of dead” is a cool phrase

Lolll to the kangaroo bit

Oh, grubs

Her accent is making me think of Ed in the movie where they take the babies [Raising Arizona]

“I don’t eat things that are still moving” then kill it first

Cool montage!

Cora backstory??!

The slow zoom in on her is so nice

Wait. Did she actually kill her baby? The poor woman

Dang

SGE WAS TRYINH TO SAVE HER AND THE BABY!!?!!!!!!!

“I know, cause I watched him leave” ughhhh (around 50 mins in)

This poor man just got trauma dumped on

Oh they’re gone!

Is he playing along with her?!

Oh NOOOOO

The way she’s running even if she can’t do anything. She cares so fiercely

Those guys deserve to die

GET RHEM GET THEMMMMM

Lolll yeah she’s not making this any easier for him

Yay he did good!!!!

This man is like Walt Longmire and Jack Pearson combined

“Are you trying to get your head blown off?” Lowkey Riser and Billie vibes to me

Oh 😭

“I could’ve used some help up there” wdym? she didn’t have a weapon

Awww the hand over her hands

Her smile looks like the aww yeah lady

Literally burst out laughing at “I’m cold.” I see EXACTLY what you’re trying to do there sweetheart

LOL to the flirtation

Oh she’s taking her corset off

He’s sweet

LOL

“Matthew”

“I’m not sharing my bed til I know who’s in it” completely and legitimately fair and you should be that way

This is a man hard pressed to deal with her

So very American Cowboy looking at 57 min

Interestinggggg about her not remembering the night before

I feel like O’Flynn’s going to become more important or something

“Not again!!!” Spider-Man school teacher vibes

And something else too I think ^

“Matthew Quigley is really starting to annoy me.” GOOD

The whole “are we lost” exchange was interesting and amusing, you can see him starting to get it

NOOOO

IM GOING TO KILL THEM TOO Idc that it’s a movie

GOOD THOSE MEN SHOULD FALL

I love Cora so much. Her compassion is beautiful

He feels it too even though he doesn’t say anything

I hope she gets to kill someone too

Lol his sass

“Or I’ll let you live” what a threat

“It’s only 20 miles past the bingabong!”

“You only got one shot left in that shooter. Make the most of it” WOW

Don’t worry Cora I’m sure he’s fine

My heart is going to break

This baby

Him on top of those rocks is a cool sight

This is really turning into that movie with Ed and Hi, isn’t it, lol

I like the lighting in that cave

Hmmmmm Idk if it’s a good idea to leave her alone

I’m scared she’s gonna get kidnapped

“You’re the only man on this continent that would ask me what I think” oh man

Awww “little bit”

The deadpan stare at her asking to find her some other clothes

Very American Cowboy of him galloping off. This is the first time he’s actually been alone since getting here

YEAHHHH RIDE HARD

TJE EPIC MUSIC

Yah! Yah! Get your woman and the baby sustenance!!!

Missed where the long coat came from

Definitely a Longmire shot of him on his horse

Cowboy town here

Doc Brown lookin guy

“She ain’t my woman” yeah yeah they all say that

I’ve been called a lot of things ma’am but never that - Riser way vibes

NO NOT THE KID

Oh NOOOO

Not dingoes

Look at those tails those are good dog actors

NO DONT SMOTHER HIM

KILL THE DINGOES

You have the chance to change history

GOOD LADY

GET THE DOGGIES

Dang I didn’t know dingoes were cannibals

Lollll yes take the gold

Mhmmmm u gotta get back

GUN FIGHT GUJ GOHNY [I don't even know what I was trying to type there)

EPIC MUSIC

He has a habit of throwing ppl through windows doesn’t he, including himself?

FIREEE

Hopefully nobody’s in there

Put your bandada over your mouth!!! Good

Seriously more Jack Pearson vibes with a house on fire

LOLLLL to him jumping syreakght thru the roof

You’re just giving him holes to shoot throuh

Oh nvm he’s out

NOOOOO NOT THE MOM

Whoa okayyyy we are knocking the horse over

YEAHHHH “go tell Marston I’m coming after him” definitely reminds me of something but can’t remember what. Maybe Once Upon a Time “tell the evil Queen we’re coming" or something

“Oh, shut up”

None of these guys want to go, do they? Lol

I hope that black guy does something

Bandana over mouth like Riser on his bike

I knew she was still alive

Awww. She’s back in her old mind. “I killed the Comanches”

And the way he understands and goes “didn’t get any sage hens, but I got the next best thing”

Oh, he GOT HER A DRESS

I like how we see them coming over the same hill he came over

Now giving Court Jesysr [Court Jester which is another movie] vibes with him with the baby

Oh her earrings are pretty too

Uhhh should I be scared that she won’t give the baby back? Oh nvm

Love the fade to white transition

He looks like a general sitting there

Ohhhh is it only one bed type scenario??? I see I see

Oh he’s going off without her!

LOLLL she’s awake

The scene with them!!! Emotions!

That theme again

OH. The way he looks back at her. Tears in my eyes

Nice transition into the house

This fluffy haired guy reminds me of someone

The zoom in!

Oh fluffy haired guy is a Scotsman!! Or something, judging by his glengarry. Not his accent tho

Now I’m wondering. Do horses usually run into their home barn/area and rear when they’ve lost a rider who’s dead?

Lol, they’re all going to be tired, but I bet Quigley got sleep

Alan Rickman is giving me Nic Cage as Hi vibes [once again, character from Raising Arizona]

Is that O’Flynn riding?

Horse chase!!!

Oh goodness. Those poor horses.

“On ya feet ya lazy mongrels!” [Adrian Von Ziegler reference]

“Move you gutless bloody wonder” lollll

Got all the grass on him naturally, you wouldn’t see that nowadays, it’d be all brushed off by hair and makeup

Oh NO

noooooooo

Oh gosh he’s being dragged through the desert?!

Not fun not fun

Knew O’Flynn would come up again

I want that slave guy to kill Marston so bad

“What? Nothing clever to say?” Severus Snape vibes

The way if he stood up straight he’d be taller than the other two—

Oh fluffy haired guy IS wearing a kilt isn’t he?! Wait nvm he’s not, thought so bc of his coat

Okay his name is Dobkin, that’s who he is

“Some men are born in the wrong century. I think I was born on the wrong continent.”

What are you WAITING for???

This ain’t Dodge City - that again?

HAAAAAAAAA

I had honestly really wanted the slave to kill him so that he would be the one actually driving the action here lol

Marston dying in the sand is giving Dr. Brenner from Stranger Things dying

“Never said I didn’t know how to use it” mwahaha

The slave guy is back tho!

Yeah he got his gun!

Wait was HE the one who fired at the other two?

Yes!!! The aboriginal ladies!!! And the man! BE FREEEEEEEE

Oh that makes me so happy

Love the dunking the face in the barrel

Lollll here come the British

Oh he is NOT in the mood is he

Snorted at the guy interrupting the other one reading off that long paper

“In short, this paperwork says we can hang you.”

Oh?? Hmm????

YESSSSSSSS Im not surprised!!!

The aborigine people!!

….he’s giving the ”you were saying?” look

Yay! The aborigine man who was a slave seems to have been the one to bring them back!

And now he’s all alone here on this big ol ranch

Ohh goodness

Oh SHE LOOKS SO PRETTY

SHE’S SO PRETTY IN RED

Ohhhhhh he’s gonna say “Roy” isn’t he

I yelled YEAHHHH

Cobb? I didn’t realize that was her last name

Two, of course, he’s staring into her eyes [not sure what I meant by "two"—I think that was an autocorrect of something else]

She was so right about her being pretty in red

Ooooioooo she called him by his name!

She mussed up his hair!!!

Love the traditional still on the kiss and fade to black, very nice

Catch me clapping like it's a movie theater, lol

Thank! You! SO MUCH for telling us no animals were harmed or killed in the making of this movie. That matters to me

Those are some cool names for the aboriginal group

I’ve come to be fond of the theme track :)

A very good movie and a good way to spend Saturday evening.

1990, okay! Would've thought it was a bit older.

And no ads the entire time, huh. [I figured out after this that it's because I was watching it on the TV at my friend's place, who I'm housesitting for currently, and she told me she has YouTube without ads. I'm SO glad I chose to watch the movie while I'm here XD]

@thegreenleavesofspring bc I know you want to see this :)

[lightwise]

TBB S3 E13 Reaction

- Ooooh, Tantiss has light on it again for the first time since the beginning of the season 👀 that is hopeful. Omega’s presence is bringing light back to this desolate place

- We haven’t seen male scientists before have we?

- Scrunchy nose and scowly eyebrows. Baby girl is in full blown revenge mode 😎

- I have to point out that every time a tv show has characters be given perfectly fitting outfits in a new environment (especially something like a prison) it cracks me up to no end. There’s no way Omega and Bayrn sized prison jumpsuits were just laying around somewhere.

- Omega has grown SO MUCH 😭 physically, emotionally, rationally. At the start of this season she made that doll to keep herself sane and now she knows that she doesn’t even need to mention that fact to Eva. She is so confident and focused in her mission and in showing up as a leader and example for these kids. I’m so freaking proud of her

- And to juxtapose that with Bora Vio, where Omega was captured by Cad Bane and confronted by Fennec about her fears of becoming an experiment in a test tube—AND where she got herself out and where the boys could pick her up. Chefs kiss

- Echo!! I love their brotherly handshakes

- Hunter and Echo are not playing around sassing Rampart around lol.

- This shuttle looks very similar to the one Crosshair and Omega escaped in at the beginning of the season

- Why does Crosshair’s “yes” sound like someone screwed up on the sound mixing side? It’s so weirdly quiet and whispery

- The little tappy taps on the uniform and “I can’t wear this” “you’ve been demoted” I’m DYING 💀

- The grid layout of these prison cells reminds me of the Box episodes in TCW where Obi-Wan becomes Rako Hardeen

- Scalder is definitely trouble

- Yeah Emerie stand up for yourself and the kids!

- These kids voices 😭

- And Omega’s voice 😏 allll her training is paying off

- They stripped their armor 😭😭😭😭 all of their individuality and expressiveness gone. I do not like this

- Alright, I can see why the hair and beard trim is driving everyone wild, but it’s still not for me 😆. The bitchiness is endlessly entertaining though

- Okay this is now infinitely nerve-wracking

- Hunter putting his hand on Rampart’s shoulder and him immediately wiping it off is so hilarious 🤣. I think there is a modicum of respect that is established here though. Hunter is warning him but also giving him the clone sign of respect with the shoulder grasp. Rampart is still fastidious with his uniform but begrudgingly admits that he’s in on this mission even if it’s because he has no other choice, letting them know that he will handle himself properly.

- It’s interesting that many of the imperials this season have had beards. Last season most of them were blond and clean shaven, and now they’re dark haired and bearded. Coincidence? Trying to reuse facial models? An extra cold winter and Tarkin didn’t get his hands on the dress code protocols? 🤷🏻‍♀️

- I LOVE when the Empire is just flaunting one’s rank and bring an asshole to get things done. It works every time

- “I’ve missed this” 🤣 honestly it’s too bad Rampart isn’t willingly on the right side bc he would be steadily becoming hotter if he was

- Surely Echo appreciated the regulation drop 😅

- Ruh roh. Does no imperial ever see the “invite you into the ship and then hit you in the back of the head” thing coming??

- Echo’s always “working on” encryptions

- They’re going to have to go straight there?? 😱

- I have to say, I do feel for Rampart here. He genuinely didn’t sign up for this. Neither did the rest of them really but they don’t have a choice.

- “Wonderful. We’re all going to die” pls no 😭😭

- At no point did I ever worry that Rampart was going to give them up though. He might be pissed but he knows he’ll be sent directly back to prison if anyone in the empire recognizes him. He was sentenced by Palpatine himself. There’s no coming back from that. Whatever he chooses to do going forward, I think he knows it will have to be something he carves out himself, and trying to betray the Batch won’t help him at all in that process. Hopefully this remains true for the rest of the episodes.

- These overhead shots are insanely beautiful

- Bayrn is just a baby 🥺

- The perfect amount of suspense 😱 and Omega knows how to sound perfectly innocent

- Dr. Scalder is feeling like Nurse Ratched right now 👀

- “Our way out” “One way out” aghhhh let’s go!!

- And we get another “Echo is the baddest badass ARC Trooper ever” sequence and I LOVE it

- The droid chute lowers for the little mouse droid 🤣 adorable

- Echo 🤝 Omega doing what they need to do in the nick of time

- Wrecker wearing the tiny hat I can’t 😂😂😂

- Cue the hyperventilating

- This is so nerve-wracking

- Omg if Echo had gone out that way 😭

- “Negative” SIR 🥵 🥵 🥵

- In the last possible second!! The very warranted trust they have in Echo after all they’ve been through! Rampart’s quite reasonable fears and yet their crazy plan working as the Bad Batch does! And Crosshair catching Rampart so he doesn’t fall even though he doesn’t have to!

- I was officially white-knuckled by the end of this episode 😱💀

- Can we take a minute to appreciate Hunter’s leadership and piloting skills here? His choice to make this jump is insanely brave, his ability to fly has been proven to be capable and daring when needed, and his calm, proactive decision making that has largely been missing since their military days is back in full force. He’s on a mission and he’s not stopping until he gets his girl back for good.

[nct-charlee]

Mark + Charlee (Marlee)

“Marlee & Me! Like the dog movie!”

// masterlist // NCT DREAM //

(english, korean)

Warnings: talks abt religion (under off screen)

WC: 585

The First meeting

“The first time I got to meet Chae, it was right before the release of Chewing Gum. I just remember going up to her and saying ‘woah, you’re dancing is really good’ or something like that.”

It was Charlotte’s second week since becoming a trainee and to say she was a wreck was an understatement

She felt she was so behind and would often stay late to just keep practicing. Dance, singing, rap, facial expressions, everything and anything she could

Mark still to this day thinks she hasn’t shown her full dance potential.

“She was in a dance crew that performed on the World of Dance…she picks up choreography so quick guys.”

But back then he was so much more mesmerized by her dance he had slipped into the practice room and just watched (creepy behavior mark…)

She didn’t even realized he had came in, she just kept dancing

When the music finally came to an end, all that could be heard was her heavy breathing…until Mark started clapping

“That was so good! Sorry for barging in on you…”

All the alarms were just going off in her head. Mark, her senior, had just watched her dance. A dance that she could barely clean up

“Lord, please help me,” she has whispered (or so she thought), “It’s fine. I’m just surprised, you know.” She faked little laugh

“Oh you speak english?”

“You do too?” She was definitely surprised but that was only the start

Fan Favorite Moment

During Marks NCT World 2.0 quest where he has to make eggs, Charlee is teaching him what he has to do

She shows him how to make the first one and then she lets him to the others

“Mark…dude…” All of the first few come out very questionable and so he continues just to cook multiple at a time

Her and Xiaojun end up having the fire extinguisher on standby

On Screen

“We’re Marlee. Marlee & Me! Like the dog movie.”

Popularity: 5/10

Nicknames: Chaewonie, Lotte, Chae, Charlotte

They are the most expectations of having an older sibling

Mark is the youngest in his family and Charlee is the oldest so it’s her being the “big sibling”

Charlee is often seen with the ‘tsundere’ personality and is often ‘cold’ on camera

Mark is 1/3 members that are able to fully break down that ‘cold exterior’

She’s also super sarcastic and he’s 1/2 members that is able to get her to be quiet

“Char…”

“Fine. But just know you’re silencing a woman Mark.”

Off Screen

Both are really serious and like to get things done

But also can never get anything done because both are so stubborn

More often than not it’s Charlee telling Mark to take a break, or checking up on him

Off Screen Charlee is actually really talkative, and Mark was the person to break her out of her shell for her to talk to them

Both are Christian and she makes it a thing that if she’s not seeing him that day she sends him a bible verses to him (which he looks forward too)

Also on days they don’t see each other they just send a simple “🦋” to tell each other they’re okay

One of the first tattoos she had gotten was dedicated to 8dream, each member had a little doodle she drew that reminded her of them.

His was of course a butterfly

“You’re doing amazing and I’m so proud of you”

“No, I’m proud of you.”

©️nct-charlee

[kitkatopinions]

New rwby ep dropped V9 ep6, my thoughts, praise, and criticisms (as well as obvious spoilers) beneath the keep reading.

Praise:

I'll give it to rwby, the twist that Alyx had a brother was not expected! I'm proud of them, actually, the two falling lights and the guy in the portrait, and even the footprints in the sand, that was all well done foreshadowing! Good on them.

The blink and you'll miss it reflection of Summer in the water is well done, not a lot of attention drawn to it.

Might hate that Jaune is here, but his line delivery of things like "I was the Rusted Knight" is well done too. Perfectly captures Jaune having wanted to be that, it captured his old feelings of pride that he must've felt, while obviously still bittersweet.

The thing is that I'm half-convinced that Jaune is going to be a secret accidental antagonist, and that his story about Alyx is him being an unreliable narrator, and if that's the case then to me the scene where he talks about Alyx seems - as of right now - pretty good!

The animators are once again knocking themselves out of the park on Blake's facial expressions.

I've already said it in another post, but it deserves repeating that after ten years, rwby confirmed main characters as queer. No matter how it's done (and I talk about my problems with it below) and how badly it's been handled before, it's a point blank period good thing and every bit of rep we see on screen helps normalize it and encourage it as expected for future media.

Again, I have very little praise.... Um, the sound effects remained good? That's all I've got tbh.

Criticism:

Me seeing even a moment of Jaune's POV going through a similar thing to Ruby in the beginning of ep1 was a curse. I am sincerely starting to hate him, and that's such a sad thing because I'm one of the few rwby critics who ever liked him at all (mostly as a concept, he's been used so badly,) but I just get so sick of seeing him and now me at Jaune is like:

Honestly they really just wanted Jaune to get a time-skip and be super old but needed an excuse for why the same thing didn't happen to Team RWBY so they went with special time fruit that he picked that sent Jaune back in time in the Ever After and created himself as the rusted knight he knew from the story in a time-loop worthy of Doctor Who. But I think it's stupid as hell. Sure Jaune jus yank a clock-fruit off of a clock-tree, that sounds like a good idea. /s Sure writers, just make a clock-tree that sends Jaune back in time, that sounds like a good idea. /s

Little is still an annoying intrusion.

Weiss being into Jaune is a bad choice.

I know it's hard for these writers because Jaune fans make up like fifty percent of their most loyal fans (the other fifty are bees shippers,) but if they could stop trying to convince us that Jaune is hot that would be great. Especially because let's not forget that Jaune was a total nice guy to Weiss, bothering her when she'd made it very clear she wasn't interested and I know 'times change' or whatever but it's a bad look to have her thirsting after him now and again it's just gonna feed the more misogynistic Jaune fans.

They cut away from Jaune actually telling Team RWBY what happened of course. Why would the audience want to see characters react to things when we can just understand they had emotions off screen? /s This is just like Yang's story about landing in the Ever After, we just brush it aside, but it makes the emotions so shallow and lacking.

Ruby: "We lost Atlas and the Relic." Blake: "But we got everyone out safely." NOOOoooooo babygirl, you did not do that. Not only were tons of soldiers sacrificed to try and hold her back, but Cinder attacked citizens on that bridge and apparently they were dead in the explosion, and also the Mantle and Atlas citizens were tossed into the middle of a sandstorm and got attacked by Grimm and that last one might not something the girls know, but they know the rest and nobody protests that Blake and Jaune both just think everyone is safe? This is especially weird to me considering that they don't know that Qrow, Robyn, Maria, and Pietro are safe (and they might not be!) And Penny is literally fucking dead. Like no, you guys are just delusional tbh and at this point I legit feel like the writers are trying to manipulate their fans into thinking that what they watched wasn't actually what they watched.

Ruby: "What good is saving anybody if Salem just destroys the world anyway?" Yang: "That's how Ironwood thought." So that's boiling down the volume 7 problem to being incredibly simplistic and tbh in not a very fair way (this is acting like Ironwood didn't want to save anyone in volume 7 and it's acting like Team RWBY had any real plan in volume 7 themselves,) but it's also.... Not wrong. If Salem gets all the Relics, the world could end and kill literally every person alive, Ruby is just saying 'we should've prioritized her not getting a doomsday key because not doing that could lead to Salem KILLING EVERYONE ALIVE ON THE PLANET. Yang is acting like being slightly realistic for two seconds is being on the path of villainy!

Blake's like "Hope the Cat is okay." I understand that the girls are processing a lot, but some of them didn't even think about the Cat risking itself, risking death, after having been freaked out by the Jabberwalker, and now the most they can muster when they remembered it existed at all is "yeah hope it's okay." Shouldn't they be slightly more worried about the life of an ally?

Jaune needs to take a million chill pills. Mr. Trauma he may be but if it's a choice between him or the Cat... I'm taking the cat. And he needs to not pull a "team RWBY" and draw his weapons on people. What was he gonna do, kill the cat? Nice thought, that Jaune might want to be a cold-blooded out-of-anger murderer as well as a it's-what-she-wanted out of kindness murderer.

Weiss: "We've been following this story the whole time and it's not even true?!" Okay, let's review. They arrived in the Ever After and a couple of things that happened to Alyx also happened to them so they assumed that they were going through the story in the same way as her - which is why they played the game with the Red Prince - but then when they beat the Prince's game same as Alyx, they got wildly off track without any of them mentioning it while none of them recognized the Cat right away and encountered a whole character who didn't exist in the book and then said they were off book, and then they went to a market to get a growgurt with none of them even sort of saying Alyx had done the same iirc, And now Weiss is insisting that they have been following the story? No, they stopped doing that like two episodes ago, right? The only thing they've been trying to do in the story is just go to the Tree, and they've been relying on the Cat for that since they ran from the Prince, not the book. So why is Weiss now acting like they've been following in Alyx's footsteps the whole time? They already know the Ever After contains lots of things that weren't in the original book - like the concept of Ascencion and the Caterpillar and other things they act like they don't know about like the loop, so why are they now acting like the story not containing everything in the Ever After is new?

So because of people being mad at the Cat, either the Cat or Ever After itself put everyone in a "punderstorm" (stupid name,) which is a "physical manifestation of a mental or emotional problem" (It's implied the Cat did it, but I'm unsure.) This is another thing that isn't in the Ever After book based on the reactions of the girls, and it immediately punishes Weiss for saying its the pits? Implying that the Ever After itself is an entity with enough consciousness to be offended? Also the gag where Weiss falls through the hole and then reappears falling on her back is very Marvel, very Spongebob. Oddly enough Weiss is just like "yep my bad lol" and doesn't say something like "omg did the Ever After itself just punish me for insulting it?!"

Jaune says the only way out is to fix the problem or 'wait for the storm to pass' before he directs them to keep moving before saying that Blake and Yang must've had 'something bigger' to work out. Here's the thing with that. Yeah, Blake and Yang did have their feelings to talk to each other about, but the Ever After forces them away from the others to talk about their emotional problem, and didn't like, force Jaune and Ruby into a place where he tells her he killed Penny? It doesn't force Ruby to stand across from her teammates and tell them she can't take everything anymore and it isn't fair that she's carrying them on her shoulders? The Ever After doesn't trap Weiss until she works out her clear emotional problems about losing Atlas? The Ever After doesn't put Jaune across from the Cat until they make up again over the situation with Alyx and Lewis? Why is it that Blake and Yang get singled out? Oh yeah, because the writers are singling them out. They might as well have had the RWBY writers appear on screen and shuffle Blake and Yang away from the others while breaking the fourth wall to tell the camera Office-style that they just can't write for characters to do things naturally so please stick with 'em for this brief intermission.

Blake and Yang need to get to the platform in the middle!

It's too bad that they aren't hunters who can launch themselves into the air or have weapons that help them with that!

Yang earlier: "Wasn't Alyx bad? She lied and cheated her way through the whole book." Jaune now: "She wasn't just a little petulant, or inconsiderate. She was selfish, cruel." Either Jaune misread Alyx in the book or Yang did, lol. 'A little petulant' is a minor character flaw (and every character ought to have at least one character flaw,) being a bad example for little kids on what not to do and a liar and a cheat through the whole story is something else entirely! This is hilarious, Jaune and Yang would've been out there accusing the other of being brainless antis who didn't read the same story. XD

So Alyx poisoned Jaune and he died? He says "I was dead" So... how did he come back to life? Is he alive?

Also it's worth noting that Blake and Yang don't even call for Weiss, Ruby, or Jaune and don't act worried about them at all despite the fact that "punderstorms" and their role is clearly also not part of the book. That's not helping the 'no they do care about other people' argument tbh.

Yang: "I like that you've never been intimidated by me." No lie, when I heard this, I burst out laughing. Blake has never been intimidated by Yang? She acted like Yang would hit her because Yang chose to go on a separate mission! Blake has been animated to make worried faces all season long while she tries to patiently coax Yang into not losing her temper like one would talk to a five year old. Blake has acted hesitant to express her worries with Yang - heck, throughout most of season six, Blake was acting like she was waiting for Yang to hit her, and their 'triumphant' moment in volume six was Blake sobbingly trying to assure Yang that she wouldn't ever leave her. Again, these characters are acting like they're delusional. Yang claiming that Blake has never been intimidated by her when Blake as recently as three in-universe days ago at least was ducking her head with a sad face and hunched shoulders while she waited for a scolding looking like she feared being hit because Yang had left her... It just makes Yang look like she doesn't pay any attention to Blake really, and during their love confession, that's a very bad look!

I would so much prefer a love confession where Blake and Yang naturally just told each other how they felt or kissed in the heat of a moment or something rather than having them forced into it, not only is it very fanfic in the worst way but it's also.... Cutting it kind of close to uncomfortable. If I was forced to confess my attraction to another girl, then no matter how sure I felt about my own feelings or how sure I felt that she felt the same way, I'd be pissed off. The fact that Blake and Yang are just like "aww I think we have to tell each other how we feel uwu" and not being like "god the Ever After doesn't even know if we're out and they're forcing this on us?" is weird lol.

Blake and Yang start telepathy communicating with each other?? I think??? And neither of them reacts to it????

Also here's the thing, being completely honest when I don't ship something, the attention and focus the ship gets and the shipping scenes are annoying to me. It's the same thing with Arthur and Gwen in Merlin, it's the same thing with having to watch Aragorn kiss Arwen. It's a complaint that I don't expect or even want to be adhered to because I'm not the only person in the world and I do think Blake and Yang needed the confirmation they got (though with most ships I don't ship my problems usually extend to not thinking they're super well done,) but it did lessen my personal enjoyment of the episode that such a large chunk of it was devoted to this ship that I honestly don't really like. This would be a skip on every watch through tbh.

Jaune: "Feels like I've been waiting forever for that." Buddy, when have you talked to Blake or Yang for more than a minute? Jaune is not only like twenty years removed from this situation but has very little established closeness between either girl involved. I feel like this would be like if I went back to my hometown in ten years and saw two friends of my sister kissing and I was like "I've been waiting forever for that!"

At first I thought I liked the Celtic Women style song that plays when Blake and Yang kiss, but on my second watch of this ep, I feel like I don't.

Anyway, those are my thoughts.... 2/10 episode. Pretty bad generally.

[kittycatcarla]

fuck it games i played update post

tonight was just Chicory? i think? yeah

i wanted to play mc as well but i got so into chicory that i didnt have time

anyway spoilers for Chicory under cut

(also storytime and screenshots; at the end a little analysis about parallels between chicory and hollow knight)

ok so screenshots first(there's a lot of them)

ok so first of all i managed to diagnose the bug that made it so my cursor would randomly snap to the bottom-right for a single frame. playing in windowed mode seems to solve it. not ideal, but at least drawing isnt as frustrating

^ thanks for the reddit gold trash kind stranger!

^ hullo! ^-^

^ it's shit but i wanted to show off the holey design i made

^ the facial expressions of everyone lmao

^ still dont really know who the vandal is. anyway butts ehehe

^ I'm sorry but Nintendon't won't show mercy for that

^ her face expression (again) lmao

^ ace icon? or gay icon? queer icon nonetheless (yes that there is a very crude attempt at drawing little ghost)

^ love him (disregard the paintings)

^ somebody's horny on main

^ POTATO

^ Horn't shirt

^ ok fuck you game given the tools given and my skill level im actually kinda proud of what i managed to do fuck you (<2)

^ I forgot to make screenshots with the other lines related to this but... fuck i relate to chicory so much. The impostor syndrome. the self-hatred. except that im actually shit compared to what she canonically does but like. That only made what she did to Cupcake (idk i named my character like that. They asked for food it's not my fault) hit even harder on me. I am talentless. I do have no experience. But fuck you (<2) for being so relatable to me specifically and for making me see myself in both characters

^ why, hello there

Ok now i shorter analysis of connections between Chicory and Hollow Knight (maybe also Celeste?) cause it's 1AM and I'm kinda tired

(spoilers for both games)

(also have in mind that i still havent finished chicory)

Ok i first of all find really interesting the theme and the title of both chicory and hk. The title represents a character. Not hte playable character like in other games, but the final Boss, or at least the (apparent) source of Bad in the world. Granted i do no know for sure the final boss of chicory. and technically hk isnt the final boss of hk. I wouldnt be surprised if the final boss in chicory is my own depression. But that's beside the point.

Both characters, Chicory and Hollow, were left with immense responsibilities upon their shoulders. And both of them failed due to mental roadblocks. Because there was nobody to help them. Because they were supposed to be the best. And while they were extremely skilled, they became their own enemy. This caused in both cases, Corruption. Now, in one case it's the manifestation of a literal god that acts like a hivemind. In the other it's the negative thoughts of someone wielding a tool with pretty much godly powers. Same thing really.

Moreover, this Corruption manifests itself onto the entire land (we do not take into account the exceptions in HK and the possible exceptions in Ch. once again, i havent finished the latter). And it is in the hands of the player, representing somebody that was cast out, rejected by the ones they looked up to, but in the end becoming the best out of everyone, to fix it all.

The point is i dont know. But im excited to see how the plot of Ch unfolds

(also the idea i had about celeste was how Madeline and Chicory are in similar situations with their mental health. But unlike Madeline, Chicory does not accept any outside help, nor does she seek help herself (at least not yet)) (yeah this idea has even less sense now. disregard it if you will)

[kitkatwinchester]

LET'S F*CKING GO!!

Okay I know that episode had kind of a bad ending with that cliffhanger of Lydia and the Nogitsune vanishing and Stiles's very emotional and worried and guilty facial expression that is gonna haunt me forever, but DUDE!!

THAT WAS F*CKING INCREDIBLE OMG MY HEART IS JUST--

First of all, YES LYDIA!! YES SCOTT!! WAY TO SEE THROUGH THE TRICKS AND GET OUT!!! Lydia obviously had some help from Peter, but she was still able to fight it and find her way out.

Also as an aside, I feel like, no matter what else he may say, Peter really cares a lot of Lydia, and I feel like she cares about Peter too, in some ways, which is why she keeps going to him and calling him for things. I know there's a romantic ship out there, but that kinda bugs me, so I see it as platonic and I'll stick with that. I fully acknowledge that they care, albeit begrudgingly, about each other though.

And then Scott!! I'm so proud of him!! He knew something was off, but he couldn't quite place it, and as much as he loves/loved Allison, I'm so proud of him for being able to look past that and identify that no, that wasn't right, and he needed to get out, and YES SCOTT I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!!

Before we get into the big scene and ending that I'm obviously going to be adding to my "Best Sciles Moments" list, I do want to branch off for a second to acknowledge Kira and Allison (and Chris, honestly, breaking out of the chair and then not killing Derek because he's awesome), being f*cking bad*ss while fighting the werewolves and trying not to truly hurt them I just...

AND CAN WE JUST TALK ABOUT THIS SHOT?!

WHEN I TELL YOU I SCREAMED I MEAN--

WHAT A MOMENT!!

So anyways. Just wanted to acknowledge that.

AND THEN!!!

THE F*CKING ALPHA ROAR!!!

LET'S!!!

F*CKING!!!

GO!!!!

"He's human. But he's still part of the pack, right?" "Yeah. Yeah, of course." "So how do wolves signal their location to the rest of the pack?" "They howl."

YES LYDIA!!

YES SCOTT!!!

LYDIA'S PLAN!!!

SCOTT'S REALIZATION!!!

AND THEN THE BIG OLD TRUE ALPHA HOWL THAT FINALLY GETS STILES'S ATTENTION!!!

AND THEN THE WAY STILES GLARES AT THE NOGITSUNE!!

AND HE DESTROYS THE GAME OF GO!!!

AND THE NOGITSUNE LOSES CONTROL OF ALL THE WEREWOLVES!!

AND HE'S FREE!!

And then it's really emotional and terrifying for a second because they think it didn't work, and everybody's all panicked, and now Scott is wondering what the f*ck Lydia and Peter are talking about, and then in the grossest f*cking way possible, Void Stiles pukes up Real Stiles (but they don't know that yet, but you know what I mean), and everybody's freaking out (and here we love these little subtle moments of Peter putting a protective arm across Lydia's body, and then Peter and Scott diving to grab Real Stiles (before they know it's him) to keep him away from the others and Alan putting his arms around Lydia and Melissa protectively <3) and it's all scary and terrifying and gross.

But then I LOVE that Scott picks up on it. I LOVE that he realizes that something is off, and that the struggling is much more fear than it should be for the Nogitsune, and I love how he considers it, and I love that SCOTT is the one that realizes what actually happened, and then he uncovers his face, and it's STILES, the REAL STILES, and the way he just says "Scott?" with all of this emotion and fear and guilt and relief and Scott just looks at him in utter relief and they both look like they're about to cry and GOD I WISH WE COULD'VE ACTUALLY BEEN ABLE TO ENJOY THAT REUNION BECAUSE IT WAS SO GOOD AND I'M SO GLAD WE GOT HIM OUT!!!

But of course not, because Void had to f*cking run off with Lydia and now we have to deal with that and there's still two episodes left which means this isn't over but STILES IS ALIVE and he's OUT and Scott SAVED HIM and I just....

I'm gonna revel in that, okay??

I'M GONNA REVEL IN THAT!!

And then now we can go save Lydia and kill Void and everyone can be happy and okay and NOTHING ELSE IS GONNA GO WRONG, OKAY?!

NOTHING! (She says not believing a word she says.)

THE IMPORTANT THING IS THAT STILES IS FREE AND NOW WE HAVE MORE OF A CHANCE AND GOOD JOB SCOTT I'M PROUD OF YOU!!

Let's go kill this son of a b*tch.

(I couldn't find any of the gifs I wanted but this will work because THIS FACE I CANNOT THERE IS SO MUCH EMOTION IN THERE AHHHHH. Anyways. We love you, Dylan. <3)

[iviarellereads]

Harrow the Ninth, Chapter 44

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

(Herald icon) In which an old friend is back... sort of.(1)

THAT SAME NIGHT BEFORE THE EMPEROR'S MURDER

There's some description, in second-person, of the stabbing inflicted upon her in the prologue.

You'd been stabbed from behind, and you'd collapsed backward onto the rapier's hilt. Its foible(2) pointed upward where it protruded from your torso. And you'd gone and left me behind.

Our unnamed but obviously identified(3) body-animation algorithm pushes the rapier back out of Harrow's body, and she plans to make whoever stabbed Harrow sorry for the act. Her hands can't quite grip the rapier the way she wants to, because her hands aren't her hands, they're Harrow's. Gideon swears vengeance on whoever stabbed her Harrow, in the corridor so hot the air is shimmering.

Pool of blood: check. Air so hot: check. Surrounded by big and illicit bones: check. Looking at your hand to keep this tally--what hand there was, beneath the blood, and your fingers, and your small palms, and their absolute lack of thenar(4) muscle--reality went through me. Kind of like a big iron railing, now that I think about it.(5) You were gone. You'd left me behind.(6) Inside you. "Fuck," I said. It wasn't my voice. "Fuck. Oh, shit. Oh, fucking hell. Help. Yuck. Aaaargh."

Gideon encounters a herald in the corridor, and several paragraphs are spent describing its horror.

I lined up your front foot with your back ankle, thumb wrapped low around the hilt of your sword, which proves that you can put the swordfighter into the necromancer but you can't, wait, hang on.(7) And I said, "Goddamn it, I told you to lift weights."

After an encounter that goes badly for Gideon and Harrow's body, she manages to squeeze past it and into Harrow's bedroom.

I burst into the nearest room. The bedroom. I kind of knew the layout, but I'd never really been able to use your eyes. Living inside you--if I start I'll never stop,(8) so we have to move on--was like living in a well, and every time I bobbed to the surface I kind of got clotheslined(9) back down to the bottom. I'm not complaining, I just want you to know.

There, she retrieves her old two-hander. Looking at it, she gets cranky at Harrow for not understanding how to care for a sword.(10) Then she gets cranky at Harrow for doing her own brain surgery rather than be beholden to anyone, for taking Gideon's sacrifice and throwing it away. Then she gets cranky at Harrow AGAIN for not doing a single fucking squat or star jump(11) in ten months.

As I stood with that sword grasped between your hands, the hilt of the two-hander bit our(12) skin, but not fatally. There were a couple of callouses now on those soft necromancer's palms, and I was proud of you.(13)

Gideon engages the Herald, and some sort of healing process is definitely happening for her in a way it never did for Harrow, "probably because [Gideon is] a good girl and [Harrow is] an evil nun".(14)

She takes out the Herald, and catches a glance at herself in the mirror, seeing Harrow's face, with her own golden eyes so foreign to it. She tries different facial expressions, but they don't feel right in Harrow's musculature. It's Harrow's body, "but it was all filled up with me."

I said hoarsely: "Get back here. Get back here right now, or I'll make you say the worst shit I can think of. Just mean and gross. Beneath even me, is what I'm saying." No response. "Oooooh, Palamedes. I am measurably less intelligent than you. Put your tongue in my mouth, and I'll flop my tongue against it." Nothing. "I think bones are mediocre." Maybe you were dead. "Ohhhhhrr, Gideon, I was so dumb to think a tub of ancient freezer meat was my girlfriend. Please show me how to do a press-up. Also, I'm very obviously attracted to y--no, damn it, this is just sad.(15) This is garbage." My temper was going. Maybe your temper was going. "Come back. I hate this. Eat me, and let's go full Lyctor. I didn't fall on a fence for this, Nonagesimus."

More Heralds start to show up. Gideon realizes that she now has access to Harrow's memories, though she has to actively look for something to know it, as she realizes more were always going to come. She hopes and wants and practically prays for Harrow to return, but no luck.

"Whenever you're ready," I said. "Don't worry, honey. I'll keep the home fires burning."(16)

=====

(1) In this, the first chapter in Harrow the Ninth in which Harrow does not appear! I keep my tags for the book in a pinned entry in my Windows clipboard and it was so strange to have to delete #Harrowhark Nonagesimus from the tags after pasting, and then type #Gideon Nav (2) Foible - in fencing, the part of the sword between the middle of the blade and the tip, one of the weakest points in the sword. (3) Gideon! (4) The thenar muscles are the ones that make up the meat below your thumb, on your palm. (5) Gideon, you cheeky lass. You remembered! (6) Somehow Gideon has been witness to everything that's happened to Harrow, and still believes that Harrow doesn't want her. She can't read Harrow's thoughts, she can only see through her senses, just like Harrow couldn't read Gideon's thoughts in the Lyctor chamber at Canaan House. She can't see the motivation, and she has eighteen years, a lifetime's worth, of memories that say Harrow opposite-of-cares about her. The last few weeks of connection doesn't quite overpower the things Gideon still believes about herself, thanks to a lifetime of traumatic conditioning. (7) Ah, a classic phrase. For real though, I don't think there's a single origin, but more or less, you can take the thing out of its element but you can't make it change its nature. See examples like "you can take the mathematician out of the classroom but you can't make them stop calculating the golden ratio in the garden flowers" (not a thing I've ever heard before but given how many videos and essays there are about the golden ratio in nature, it felt appropriate). Not to be mistaken for "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink", which is more about not being able to force someone to do something they're uncomfortable with even when it would be good for them. (8) Laughing, crying, making jokes? All of the above? (9) It's kind of a wrestling move. Someone's running at you, you stick out an arm, run toward them, catch them in the neck, and bowl them backward with your and their combined momentum. Do not attempt at home without professional wrestling trainer supervision! (10) You never actually told her, and even if someone tried to teach her, she'd just have started throwing up and bleeding from her brain at the thought of caring for the sword that she thought hated her. (11) Jumping jacks, for those of us in the sort of North American region. (12) The jump back and forth between "your" and "our", between Harrow as an individual and Gideon as a part of her… My heart can't take it. (13) And this. Gideon believes that Harrow has abandoned her intentionally, but she's still proud of her. I just. MY EMOTIONS! (14) Or perhaps Gideon's return means that the Lyctoral process continues, making Harrow a full Lyctor, and the healing factor is what she was supposed to have had all along but had to actively fake. (See: when Ianthe stabbed herself and then Harrow at the beginning of the book.) (15) Gideon can't even let herself believe that Harrow cared about her. Never mind that Harrow put Gideon on what she thought was the easy mission (walking the Fourth kids through the facility) so that Harrow took the dangerous one (possibly confronting Palamedes and "Dulcinea" about being the killers) at Canaan House. Never mind all the other things. Again, a lifetime of conditioning compared to a few weeks of honesty and connection. (16) And even believing that Harrow has abandoned her, has wasted her gift and sacrifice, and outright doesn't care about her wellbeing... Gideon still does this. She still makes flirty, too-emotionally-revealing statements like this. She still loves Harrow so much.

[hoghtastic]

It might be more honest, but I deleted mine too bc it was embarrassing that I didn't see it at first and worst still it was too similar that I felt stupid for not seeing that I painted a girl with a pearl earring, almost exactly. A comment I got was "perfect pink copy." Damn I turned red from embarrassment. I had been so happy. Maybe not mature but totally understandable. So I can sympathize, hadn't looked or thought of that painting in years. Maybe it was "pure coincidence" I can understand.

I personally don't think it's stealing the artwork itself that set a lot of people off with Johanne. It's mainly the eerie vibe she gives off, plus all the other things she has done on top. Have you ever looked at someone who was popular and managed to charm a lot of people and thought to yourself that something just felt off about them? You couldn't put your finger on what exactly it was that made you feel cautious and uneasy about them? This is one of those cases. Most forms of communication are non-verbal and we can usually pick up a lot by observing someone's facial expressions and body language. Furthermore, we as humans have evolved to sense fear and uneasiness in others to get us out of bad situations, "the gift of fear" by Gavin De Becker explains this very well. Again this does not mean we are always right in our perception, sometimes we are wrong, but many of us happen to agree in this case so I think that's something to consider. Then there are also the bullying rumours from DKGossip (which again are not a definitive source) though we agree the poster sounded genuine by giving specific locations which most internet trolls wouldn't do. Add in the sly and devious actions and behaviours she has displayed numerous times (e.g the triumphant look she always gives when she is with Alex like he is her personal prized possession. You could defend her by saying she is just proud of showing off her partner, but then why did she make the same expression while he was drunk? Why would you show off your partner (someone you supposedly care about) like a trophy to everyone while they are in a vulnerable position? Things like that makes us question how genuine she is and what kind of person he is dealing with. Not to mention how she and her friends are benefitting a lot from her relationship with Alex.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, anon! 😊