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kylosgenesis · 4 years ago

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Teardrops on Fire

Synopsis:

Steve Rogers is the last Alpha of the an almost extinct Lycan pack. With only less than 100 members left. Steve must produce an heir to ensure the species survival and reduce the chance of attacks from others. Omegas are rare, and betas have a hard time producing children. Steves reality is finally setting in as his obligation of producing an heir faces a major set back.

Reader is the last suitable omega to mate with Steve, due to the fear of her daughters fate in the pack, her mother kept her hidden from the pack after her own exile. Only her mother, and Bucky's family know of her existence. Bucky is Steve's right hand man, and the packs best warrior! He and the reader developed a friendship and bond over the years, but age forced them to become distant.

What happens when she presents and her first heat cycle comes? Her body is in excruciating pain and a strong fever quickly overcomes her body. Facing the fear of her daughters possible death, her mom calls on the only person who can save her at this point, Alpha Steve! Bucky and the alphas friendship will be tested. The reader will be faced with her love for Bucky or her duty to the pack.

warnings: quick mentions of minor character deaths, A/B/O dynamics

Chapter 1: No longer children

The nights in the outskirts were loud, filled with crickets, and nature! The smell of the woods is all she'd ever known, her mom was exiled from the pack when she was pregnant with her, but only a select few knew of her existence. Those who did, protected her mom out of respect. She was kind and strong, she brought her daughter up on her own in a harsh, and desolate part of the woods. Still within pack territory, but at least an hour journey on car. Following the waterfall all the way to the bottom creek where the water came to a halt, and the cascade fell into a peaceful flow, That’s where she called home. There was only just an abandoned hunting cabin back then, but her mom rebuilt it with bloodshed, and tears. For a long time she managed on her own!

Winnifred Barnes was a kind woman, the only other person she'd ever known, Winnifred was a beta from the same village her mother came from. Every so often she would sneak out of the village, and travel down unto the creek with supplies, and fresh bread to deliver to them. She barely saw her, but her favorite memories involved her. She had a son, his name Was James, but he hated being called James. He went by Bucky.

~15 years ago~

“Here fishy fishy, I’m a friend” she'd had taken out a fish trap to the creek and spent the entirety of the morning watching fish just swim by her feet as they neatly avoided the trap she'd set up “ fishy, fishy please come “ she'd sighed in frustration! Whenever her mom came to the river, she made it look so effortless. She would just sing, and it was like animals wanted to be surrounded by her presence! It never took long for them to catch dinner and return home. “ Maybe it's because you're scaring the fish away with all the talking and paddling your making!” Bucky said with a smirk!

~flashback end~

Looking back, that was her first memory of Bucky. He was older than her. Maybe 12 at the time. He didn't let that stop him from being her friend. He taught her to fish that day! She went home with three small trouts and some catfish. she was stoked to show her mom the progress she'd made! She knew her mother often worried about her. She was alone, but Bucky brought a spark of life and joy into her life, she couldn't quite comprehend.

Years went by like that! She saw Bucky almost every week! He taught her everything she knew now!

They hunted together! Fished! Started fires!

They could spend hours around the woods within their own imaginations. She'd pretend that the king of the forest had kidnapped her, and hide! Bucky would use his tracking skills to find her! He was always the knight in shining armor, and they'd be gone for hours within our own world. As she grew older, she knew his interests would one day shift!

They stopped playing like kids, his body began to change, and her body did too. She no longer imagined the trees were magical , and she was a princess! Bucky no longer was the knight to the rescue! The world started to become more real, and her childlike imagination faded! Along with her favorite memories of Bucky.

It was the day of her tenth birthday! Winnifred showed up with a delicious tart, she was so exited when she heard her voice from across the cabin, her little heart nearly burst with excitement as she raced to meet her. Her happiness faced as she noticed Bucky was not with her! He hadn't come!

He had presented an alpha! He had officially grown up and had a different mindset now, he'd have duties and would soon start his own life. His days without responsibilities were over, He had a new life and had to to help take care of a pack now!

She had cried all day that day, her mom could tell she was inconsolable! Once again she was alone! Her only friend was gone, and it was just the two of them once again! She knew Bucky wasn't dead, but as the years went on without him it was like she was dead to him!

They saw Winnifred one a month at least, sometimes Rebecca, Bucky’s younger sister was with her. As Rebecca grew she too presented! She was a beautiful beta, it didn't take long for her to find a role and love within the pack.

Two years after Bucky stopped visiting had passed, and she was once again alone! She didn't know much about the people from the village, but Rebecca painted beautiful stories with her words about her friends and the guy she wanted to be mated to.

She used to fall asleep to her stories, and would imagine what they were all like! How Bucky was doing? what if she was there? What did being in love feel like?

Secluded from the world she loved books! They were her escape into any world she could wanna be in. As she grew older hunting became less fun, and more of a necessity! Her mother was growing older and weaker, she could see the strain that household tasks did to her body. She no longer sang when she cooked, the piano she used to play sat in the corner untouched, only collecting small specks of dust. Her life, just seemed monotone to her. Wake up, live, repeat! it was like she gave up living, while still being very alive! Losing a mate would often take a physical toll on the body, as well as an emotional one. She had noticed that when her mom lost her Pa, she lost half of herself along with him! She tried to be strong, but without a bond your body starts to become frail! Winnifred said her mother used to light the whole pack with her smile and kindness! She was so beautiful there wasn't a day she didn't have fresh flowers from prospects at her door, and that was long before she presented a as a beta.

She began to take responsibility for housework, gardening, and making sure there was protein on the table. In our household nothing went to waste! We used furs for shoes and clothing, Winnifred had been kind enough to donate us her old sewing machine once she was able to afford a new one.

Coming home from the lake after a long day of fishing, she tucked her old leather boots near the door. They were a couple of seasons old and needed to be reinforced with a new leather, but they were the best she could do with the nearly approaching winter season. Tossing the bucket full of freshly caught trout on the kitchen sink. She took the scales and bones out before neatly placing the fish on the freezer. It wasn't much, but it was enough to last through the harshest part of winter season. They still had a few months to prepare, but she didn't want to be caught off guard. Hunting big game was next on the list, they'd have enough to get them safely though.

After dinner they sat down near the fire! Her mom reminisced about her friends when she was young, and her father. Specially how much she loved him! You knew he was a good man, but it was no secret he had a temper, and a hard time taking orders. It was because of him you guys were banished! Her mom never wanted to talk about what happened, or how he died! She knew it must've been something bad. Despite everything they were lucky to be allowed within pack territory. Being outside a marked territory was very dangerous, and not many could survive the cruel nomad packs that would kill, steal, and rape any wondering females outside of a protected territory.

That night as she laid in her small bed. She looked to my side to see a hoodie. It was so small now! It used to belong to Bucky. She vividly remembered him giving it to her! One day, it got too dark, too soon! The walk back to the small cabin became straining to her small body. Bucky offered his hoodie to provide an extra layer of warmth. It still smelled like him! He smelled of pine and firewood with hints of fresh morning rain, his scent was comforting! Still to this day she couldn't let go of the thought of him.

Little did she know that would be the last time she saw Bucky!

That flashback brought her comfort, and soon sleep overcame her. Waking up the next morning felt as if she'd hunted an entire season, and hadn’t rested a second. Her hips were screamed for her to stay in bed longer, head spinning, and fluttering stomach, she pushed it all aside! She rose up to get herself some water, the thought of a nice warm tea with some fruits and maybe some nuts already alleviated her body, and caused her to salivate at the thought of relief.

As she walked into the kitchen to see her mothers usually tender eyes, She saw the opposite! Her mothers tender smile and eyes had fallen! Her eyes became filled with tears as she dropped her mug. Ignoring her aching body, she ran to comfort her in a hug! She hadn't seen her mother cry often, but at this very moment she sobbed, and looked at her in disbelief! It wasn’t tears of pride, it was pain that filled her words. She knew it was coming! They had hoped when the day came, she'd present as a beta, just like her mother! Her mother was apologizing with her soft sobs and tears. She had brought an omega into the world, the implications of being an omega without status or protection meant that a bad heat could kill her! Or a wandering cruel alpha could hurt her and claim her if I wasn’t careful.

This changed everything! She was an omega!

Bucky Barnes POV:

Bucky stepped out of his pickup truck. His hair was getting too long to handle, but he hadn’t had the time to get it cut. He had been away from the pack for what felt too long. He missed his mother’s cooking and the mead that Natasha's pub brewed fresh every morning. He couldn’t wait to shower, and become one with his bed.

Steve had entrusted him with a supply run for winter. Blankets, medicine, extra food and anything that could be used to fix an electric grid in case the power went out like the last few times. The village was nowhere near desolate or old, but the decline in births and the battles against other packs had left their village vulnerable.

Steve was his best friend! he had inherited the title of the pack leader from his father. He was caring, and would do anything in his power to keep his pack safe and prevailing! Bucky was only a year older than Steve! Growing up with him was the best childhood he could ever imagine. Steve’s father wasn’t as kind as forgiving as Steve was! Steve would often fall victim to his fathers outburst. His father needed a strong healthy Alpha heir, and Steve was small and often sickly.

His dad often reminded him he would never be a leader, and he probably wouldn’t make it past his fist designation season. When his father died ten years ago, little did he know that in only one summer that boy would tower over the pack at 6’5 and had the strongest and most intimidating glare a leader could have! What made him a leader was he had the heart, he was still that scrawny little kid on the inside, but with a giant heart.

Steve had fallen into his role as an alpha so naturally. He made sure everyone was taken care of! He took care of the widows! He made sure that the sacrifices their husbands made to protect the pack wouldn’t be in vain! He’d deliver wood and food from those supply runs Bucky would often make before every winter season. Steve and him were also 2 of the 4 teachers in the village. Wanda and Sam would take turns with the students as they tended to their own families as well. But Bucky knew that Steve was in a hard position, omegas were becoming rarer and rarer. The few omegas in the pack were already mated long before Steve presented. And the few unmated betas had difficulty getting pregnant. Less than 20 kids had been worn in the last 15 years, and that worried Steve! Their pack was declining in numbers and was soon gonna become vulnerable to invasion.

Bucky was grateful that his role as Steve’s right hand man was less straining than Steve’s. He was more of a warrior than a leader. He patrolled, and defended the pack from intrusions. He was the best hunter the pack had. Steve teased him about never crossing his way when he was on a mood, but he just loved the woods. He liked the calm! It reminded him of a simpler time, a time with her! He often wondered, how she was doing?

After he presented he had to leave behind all those childhood memories, it often hurt him to think of her. She was special, and kind. She must’ve been so hurt when he stopped coming over. When his mom first made him come with her to the outskirts to visit a friend, he had been so angry at his mom for not letting him stay over at Steve’s.

Seeing her near that creek trying to lure fish in by talking to them, he knew he’d never be the same! He assumed the role of a mentor in her life. He's spent years teaching her how to hunt and fish, and the best ways to start a fire, they even competed on who could hunt the biggest game. She was a little less than half his age, but she had a fire to her. They were equal in the woods and you couldn’t tell her otherwise.

Then one night they hunted for too long! Night came, the sky opened up to rain, the temperatures dropped; he could tell she was starting to grow tired. The hair around her face became wet, and her lips were quivering. She smelled different than she usually did, It was delicious and intriguing to him! She smelled of coconut and honey, but with small delicious hints of lavender.

He couldn’t pinpoint why he was able to smell her that night, but after driving home he was met with waves of pain and rage. Like he needed to run away, and stay locked in at the same time! That night he presented as an alpha! He realized the world smelled different now and everyone had a distinct smell. But nothing or no one has yet to ever smell as good as she did that night. He was scared of himself; he was an adult alpha now.

Looking back on the memories of her, he thought she’d probably be a lot older now. She probably wouldn’t even remember him. He was not a 16 year old boy anymore he had the battle scars and beard to prove it.

After delivering the supplies around the village and finishing his patrol, he drove home! His house wasn’t fancy or big, it was enough for him to just lay down, and occasionally read or watch some tv.As he pulled up into his muddy driveway, he saw his mom's car, it wasn’t weird for him that his mom was in his house. She often came around to do some cleaning, and drop off some warm food for him when she knew he’d be back from a long day.

When he entered his home there were two scents, his moms, and a scent he hadn’t smelled in ten years. It was her mom, but what was she doing here in his house with a look of pain on her face? Winnifred motioned him to sit down! Her mother looked older, she’d grown weaker since he last saw her. She also smelled different, but it wasn’t her smell! He could scent her, her smell was mixed with her mother’s, but still ever so lovely and potent. There was something scaring him about your smell though.

As to confirm his suspicions his mom met his confused gaze, and confirmed what he already suspected from that hint of her lingering smell. Bucky could barely breath, he felt like he'd received a punch to his gut.

She’d presented!

She was an omega!

He had to let Steve know! It was his duty to let Steve know of this omega, she could save the pack. She was the first unmated and fertile omega in the pack in the last 25 years. To keep her hidden would be a crime against the pack. Steve needed her, he deserved to have this happiness.

Then why did it hurt Bucky so much to give up this Omega?

Taglist: @austynparksandpizza

#alpha/beta/omega verse #bucky barnes x reader #alpha steve x omega reader #alpha Bucky x omega reader #steve rogers x reader #omega reader #bucky barnes fanfiction #alpha steve rogers #alpha bucky #bucky barnes must be protected #protective bucky #protective steve

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wild-karrde · 3 years ago

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Guarded - Part 5

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Wrecker was the most nervous he’d ever been in his entire life. He’d battled battalions of clankers against insurmountable odds, nearly been eaten by creatures of various species multiple times, and survived countless crash landings, but standing at attention in a room full of politicians was making him break out in a cold sweat. He had tried to stand perfectly still, blending into the shadows cast by the enormous columns in the room, but he still felt eyes boring into him every time someone passed him. I stick out like a sore thumb.

He went over Typho and Hunter’s instructions in his head again. Stand at attention, but do not make a spectacle of yourself. Keep the queen within your eyesight at all times. Never allow her to get more than twenty meters from you. If anyone acts suspiciously, report them immediately via your comm. Your shirt should be tucked into your gloves and your pants should be tucked into your boots. It was a lot to remember, and it made him feel even more anxious as the queen cast another look at him. He wasn’t sure what expression he was supposed to wear, so the one he gave her was embarrassingly blank.

Queen Nodala excused herself as the meeting dispersed, walking up to Wrecker, who looked around even more nervously as she approached. “Come along, trooper. I think the next thing will be more your speed.” Wrecker nodded nervously, falling into step next to her.

He waited until they were further down the hall before he quietly spoke up. “If you don’t mind me askin’, what is the next thing?”

She smiled up at him. “I hear you’re good with children.”

“Who told you that?”

“Hunter.”

He immediately thought of Omega. The kid had been a welcome addition to the crew, and he had bonded with her in a way none of them had anticipated. Sure, he loved being around Cut and Suu’s kids, but that was different. When Omega had a recurring nightmare about being in a tube in Kamino, he’d been the one she’d woken up. He’d always scramble down from his bunk, carrying her and Lula back to her makeshift bedroom in the gunner’s nest onboard the Marauder, assuring her that they’d never let that happen. All of them had agreed that leaving her on Yavin-4 was for the best, but Wrecker had taken the most convincing. Even now, he knew some of his reasoning was selfish, but he missed her presence and her camaraderie. She’d always seemed to understand him a little better than his brothers did, and while most of them would chalk it up to their shared childlike nature, Wrecker knew it was because she didn’t talk down to him or think of him as childish; she just thought of him as Wrecker, and he loved her for it. He’d never considered the option of having a younger sister when they were growing up, but now he couldn’t imagine what his life would have been like without her.

He flexed his enormous hands nervously at his sides, and the queen noted it. Turning to glance over her shoulder to ensure they were alone, she reached over and rested her hand on his arm. “Wrecker, you’re doing a fine job. Don’t be so nervous.”

Wrecker smiled self-consciously. “I’m just not used to covert stuff.”

She grinned. “I understand you normally have quite the affinity for explosives, so I have to imagine this is quite dull.”

“It’s a job, and I just want to do it well.”

“As I said, you’re doing fine. Now, our next appointment is with children from the local political program. It’s the same program I and many of our other elected officials participated in, so having them meet the elected ruler of the entire planet is quite important.”

Wrecker nodded. “It sounds very important.”

She smiled up at him. “Some of them also go on to become members of our security forces in time, so I think it would be good for them to meet you as well.”

“Me?” he asked, the nerves creeping back in.

“Yes, you. You don’t have to give them a big speech or anything, but I think them seeing you performing your duties will serve as a good example of what may be in their future should they choose to pursue that route.”

“So…you want me to stand there?”

“I want you to continue to protect me. Easy enough?”

He grunted an affirmative and she gave him one more encouraging pat on the shoulder before they turned down the central corridor and headed for the main entrance of the palace. Wrecker paused, holding an arm out to slow the queen. “This is outside?”

“Yes, we’re meeting on the front steps of the palace.”

Wrecker remembered the front entrance of the palace from the tour they’d been given. It was very open with plenty of vantage points on surrounding buildings. “Do you have someone covering the rooftops to keep an eye out for anyone suspicious?” he asked, and Kestia frowned at him.

“I hardly think that’s necessary for meeting children, Wrecker.”

“It’s not the kids I’m worried about.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m going to greet these children for all of twenty minutes. This was a last minute appointment. I hardly think any trained assassins are waiting for me to greet school children.” With that, she turned and strode towards the door. Wrecker paused, drawing his comm from his belt.

“Crosshair, you there?”

His brother muttered on the line before responding. “What is it?”

“Queen Nodala is meeting some kids on the front steps of the palace. Think you can give me some eyes in the sky to make sure no one’s watching from a roof top or somethin’?”

Another sarcastic sigh. “I suppose. When is this happening?”

Wrecker grimaced. “Right now.”

A curse on the other end. “I’ll be right there.”

“Trooper?” Wrecker hurriedly tucked his comm away, jogging to catch up with the queen who was impatiently tapping her foot. “All this fuss to meet with some kids,” she muttered before plastering a smile across her face and stepping into the sunlight.

Around a dozen children had assembled at the base of the steps, and the queen held out her hands in a welcoming gesture as she stepped towards them. “Greetings young ones. I’m so glad you had time to meet with me this afternoon.” She went down the line, introducing herself to each child individually and asking them about themselves. Wrecker’s eyes were quickly scanning the crowd, but he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Glancing backwards, he caught the gleam of Crosshair’s scope peering out of one of the windows above them and gave a small nod when his brother’s face appeared. Crosshair nodded back and resumed his survey of the surrounding buildings. I don’t like this, thought Wrecker.

“…and this is one of my guardsmen, Wrecker.” He snapped to attention as the queen gestured back towards him. He stepped forward, smiling sheepishly at the kids who were all staring up at him in awe.

“Do we have to be that big to be a guard?” one of them asked finally.

“Naw, I just run on the larger side,” Wrecker chuckled, squatting down to speak to the child.

“What’s it like to guard the queen?” one little girl asked.

“It’s uh…an honor. I just have to make sure no one harms her. It’s pretty boring really.” Wrecker stiffened, hoping he hadn’t said anything wrong, but when he looked up at the queen, she was smiling down at him.

“We do prefer it that way,” she teased.

“Yeah. We do.”

After several more moments of answering questions, the instructors began to herd the children together, thanking the queen for meeting with them and bidding them farewell. Wrecker straightened, standing next to the queen as she clasped her hands in front of her, watching them disperse. When they had disappeared from view, she turned to face him.

“See, that wasn’t so-“ Something changed in her face, a look of panic overtaking her. “WRECKER, MOVE!” He was off balance, and she shoved him violently away from her, sending him stumbling a meter or so backwards just as a blaster bolt slammed into the ground between them. It took Wrecker a second to process what had happened before he grabbed the queen around her waist and dove behind one of the large statues. He tucked her down, inspecting her quickly for any injuries. “I’m alright!” she assured him, and he nodded as he dug his comm from his belt. Poking his head out a bit, another bolt clipped by his face, the heat searing into his cheek. “Stay down!” Kestia hissed.

Wrecker punched the comm on. “Crosshair?!”

“I see him. Just a little further…”

A shot rang out from the windows above them, blazing towards a rooftop at the end of the street. “Shooter down,” came Crosshair’s voice. “I’ll alert Typho. Stay where you are until we can clear the area.”

Wrecker tucked his comm away, turning back to Kestia, who was frantic. “The children-“

He grabbed her hands, trying to steady her. “They were gone. They’re ok. We’ve gotta stay here.” He could hear shouting in the square behind the statue they were crouched near and hoped no one had been hit. Suddenly, a battalion of guardsmen poured out of the front entrance of the palace. Typho sprinted down to them, weapon drawn, closely followed by Hunter.

“M’lady, are you alright?” Typho asked, squatting down near her.

“I am. Thanks to Wrecker.” She gave him a small apologetic smile. “You were right. That was foolish. Thank you for calling for back-up.”

The captain gave Wrecker a nod as he helped the queen to her feet, covering her with his body as the guards swarmed to get her back inside the palace. Wrecker stood cautiously as his comm buzzed. “I’m not seeing any other shooters,” Crosshair stated.

“Good work, Crosshair,” Hunter replied. “And you,” he said, turning to Wrecker, “good work as well.”

Wrecker rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Just doin’ my job.”

“Yeah, well we were almost out of a job.” The sergeant turned to look at the front entrance of the palace. More guardsmen were pouring out and beginning to swarm the streets. Crosshair also emerged, rifle in hand, indicating the rooftop he’d spotted the assailant on to several guards, who took off at a sprint. He strode down the steps to meet Wrecker and Hunter.

“She knew it was coming, didn’t she?” he asked Wrecker.

“What are you talking about?” Hunter said.

Crosshair’s eyes were dark. “There’s no way she could have seen that sniper. I needed my scope to see him. She shoved Wrecker out of the way before the first shot. She knew it was coming.”

“That…that’s impossible,” Hunter said, turning to Wrecker. “What happened?”

Wrecker looked at Crosshair. The sniper was angry at being dismissed once again, but he remained silent. “Cross’s right. We were meeting with some kids, finished that up, they left and just as we were about to head inside, she pushed me. I…I don’t know. She was looking at me when it happened, not at the buildings. She seemed scared though.”

Crosshair stepped forward, lowering his voice as he eyed Hunter. “You need to start considering the possibility that the queen knew this was going to happen and what that implies.”

Hunter shook his head incredulously. “What could she possibly gain by staging her own assassination attempts?”

Crosshair shrugged. “She seems awfully keen to keep the Empire off of this planet. Painting them as the villain would be quite effective.”

Wrecker’s brows furrowed. “But no one knows it’s the Empire. Except for us and the other guards.”

Crosshair looked at him. “All the right people you’d want on your side if you were going to make a stand against an Imperial force. She’d be able to keep power and potentially rally for a military response from the planet.” He scowled as Hunter remained silent, bringing his face closer to his brother’s. “I know what you think, but I am not loyal to them anymore. I don’t really care who comes out on top of this little spat, as long as I get paid.” He sneered, flicking a toothpick between his teeth and storming off.

“Crosshair, wait.” Hunter tried to call after him, but the sniper ignored him, marching back into the palace. He sighed in frustration, and Wrecker’s face fell. He knew that wasn’t what Hunter had thought, and he wasn’t sure how to convince Crosshair of that. He also didn’t believe for a second that Crosshair’s moral compass ended at whatever side was paying him.

Hunter was still standing there silently before heaving a deep sigh. “He’s right. Something isn’t adding up here.”

Wrecker stared at him, slack-jawed. “You don’t think the queen-“

“I don’t know, Wrecker. All I know is that she hasn’t been honest with us from the start, and here we are less than a week in and there’s been a second attempt on her life with sketchy details attached to it. There’s something else they aren’t telling us, and it may be more important than they’re letting on.”

“What are we gonna do?” Wrecker asked.

“I don’t know yet, but let’s keep our suspicions close to the vest.”

----

Crosshair strode through the palace quickly, anger seething within him. They’ll never trust you again, and to think otherwise is a foolish waste of energy. He knew what he’d seen. She knew. As he turned down the hallway that led towards their suite, he slowed his pace when he heard raised voices.

“Kes, you took a foolish risk stepping out like that. Thank the Maker Wrecker had some common sense and-“

“That was a last minute addition to my schedule that very few knew about, Gregar. Don’t you think that’s the larger issue here?”

“The larger issue? Kes, you could have been killed! You shouldn’t have even been out there!”

“So I’m just supposed to live my life in fear and never leave the palace? Is that what you’d have me do? I’ve already spent my entire life hiding, Gregar. I will not cower.”

“Then you might die!”

“At least then I die serving my people.”

A frustrated sigh. “I don’t understand your determination to be a martyr.”

“You think I want this?”

“You certainly don’t act like someone that doesn’t have a deathwish, Kes.”

A rustling of robes and the sound of metal clanging against something.

“Clara is going to be upset if you dinged that headpiece,” Typho muttered.

“Oh, kriff the headpiece and kriff this entire thing. What is the point of being elected to a public office if I’m relegated to hiding while some Imperial puppet masters pull the strings?”

“We’re not there yet. They don’t have control, and they’re not occupying us.”

“Yet.”

The sound of metal scraping against marble echoed down the hallway. Crosshair peered around the corner, watching as Kestia straightened, retrieving the headpiece she’d flung off in frustration. Her hair was askew and he saw her hurriedly wipe at her eyes as she tried to tuck the braids back into place. Typho suddenly stepped forward, helping her. He slipped the headpiece down over her ears, letting his hands rest on her shoulders before he pulled her into a hug.

“You are my oldest friend, Kestia. I came back to this job because of you. I can’t lose you too.”

Kestia’s eyes were closed as she rested her chin on Gregar’s shoulder, but they snapped open, looking directly at Crosshair. He felt a tingle run up his spine as her eyebrows raised and she gave him a slight nod. Pulling back, she met Typho’s eyes, giving his hands a slight squeeze. “I’m going to head back to my room and see about getting changed.”

“I can escort you.”

“That won’t be necessary. Please go check and see what the men have learned about the incident today. I can’t have something like that happening again.”

He was still looking at her, and she rolled her eyes. “It’s literally ten meters down the hall. I’ll be fine.”

He nodded, bowing stiffly before retreating off in the opposite direction. Kestia turned, her eyes meeting Crosshair’s again as she strode quickly towards him.

“Make a habit of listening in on private conversations?” she hissed as she walked by him and he fell into step beside her.

“Only when I believe people aren’t being entirely honest with me.”

She scoffed at him as they turned into the hall that led to the dormitories, brushing past him, but he grabbed her by the arm. His grip wasn’t painful, but it was firm enough for her to whirl on him.

“What do you think-“

“You’re hiding something from us, and trust me when I say if it costs the lives of one of my brothers, you and I will have problems,” he spat.

“I have told you everything relevant to my protection,” she said evenly, her eyes flaring at him.

“You knew that shot was coming.”

Her eyes widened. “I most certainly did not. Do you think I’d have put children in danger? And your brother’s life? Are you out of your mind?”

He leaned closer to her. “I know what I saw.”

She met his gaze, glaring daggers at him as she leaned closer, their noses almost touching. “I don’t know what you think you saw, but you might want to get your eyes examined.” Taking a step back, she wrenched her arm free of his grasp. “I am grateful to you for saving my life today, but do not think for one moment that means that I excuse this.”

“Didn’t expect you to.”

She glared at him for a few more moments before turning towards the door to her chambers.

“What do you have to hide from, m’lady?” he asked quietly. She turned to face him in the doorway of her room.

“What?”

“You said you’ve been hiding all of your life.” His eyes bored into her. “Why?”

She stared at him for another minute. “We all have things we’re hiding from, Commander.”

The statement hit him like a blaster bolt, and he clenched his teeth around the toothpick. Before he could retort, she bowed her head slightly at him. “Good evening, Crosshair.”

“M’lady,” he said quietly, watching as she turned and walked into her chambers, his eyes following her until the door slid shut behind her. Crosshair waited another few moments before slipping into the suite he was sharing with his brothers, leaving the hallway empty.

Tag List: @imalovernotahater

Author's Note: I know I've been all over the place schedule-wise with posting, but I hope you can forgive me. It might even out eventually, but I'm hoping posting more frequently/sooner isn't a bad thing. Thank you for all the love for this fic so far!

#guarded #the bad batch #star wars #tbb #karrde writes #fanfiction #fan fic #my fic #wrecker #crosshair #tech #hunter #echo #naboo #original female character #slow burn #we all know I love a good slow burn #it's probably going there #so I'll add the tag

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im-no-jedi · 3 years ago

Photo

it’s time once again for self insert AU shenanigans that literally no one asked for, starring TBB!✨

since the hyperfixation is STRONG with this one, I figured it was time to make some art, especially since I’m almost definitely never sharing any of my fics related to this AU publicly hahaha

basically, little ol’ me unintentionally gets caught in the middle of some shady business that the boys are trying to thwart, which leads to them having to take me with them, which is cool cause the Empire basically took my home away from me right before I met them (and even within the SW universe, I am a Clone Trooper fangirl, so yeah, of COURSE I’m gonna follow these guys ROFL), and after some ✨shenanigans✨ they bring me to Cid and she gives me a job at her parlor (along with an apartment she was using for storage that she no longer needs conveniently haha). domesticity ensues AKA the boys finally have a place to shower and someone to cook food for them every night 😁

for those who are curious, here’s a summary of my relationship with each of the boys plus the best girl:

Hunter (Mister Vigilance): do I even need to say it?? 😂 basically, during my initial encounter with the boys, Hunter saves my life and I am completely smitten from that point forward. he in turn sees how well Omega and I get along, plus he feels bad for me because of everything I’ve lost and I have literally nothing except what’s in my trusty bag (the bag is important to the story ok TRUST ME), so he quickly goes into “MUST PROTECC” mode, followed by “what are these Feelings™”, and topped off with “hey Omega would you like a big sister” LOL. there is much mutual pining and playful flirting, but it takes forever for things to become “official”, which is irrelevant because literally everybody just assumes we’re married when they see us together 😆

Tech and Echo (Smarty Pants and Handy Man): I’ve lumped them together cause I have a pretty similar relationship to both of them. they’re both my source of infinite knowledge, as well as my emotional support group. I’ll always turn to one of them first whenever I have a problem. they’ll be the ones to set me straight most of the time and give me words of wisdom. Tech is more blunt about stuff, where as Echo tries to at least soften the blows LOL. reciprocally, I’m always willing to listen to whatever they wanna tell me, which thrills both of them (mostly Tech 😆). they tell me stories about the war and what being a soldier is like, and I always end up crying about it hahaha. I admittingly confide more in Echo than Tech (more than anyone else actually), but I love both of my nerd bros very much 💙

Wrecker (Big Boy): MY CHAOTIC TEDDY BEAR BRO 🥰 similar to Hunter, Wrecker has a moment where he gets me out of a bad situation during our first meeting, and that becomes a running theme between us to the point where he will ALWAYS be the one to Protecc when something tries to threaten me (even if Hunter beats him to it, he’ll be the secondary protective wall haha), and I will similarly defend him and watch his back when he needs it. we definitely enable each other’s chaotic natures and are always joking around and having fun; he, Omega, and I basically form our own little chaos crew, which drives the others crazy LOL. if I’m sad or scared, he’ll be the first one to try and cheer me up. there are many hugs and squeezes. we are v cute 🥰

Omega (Baby Girl): the one who brought us all together! I met Omega first, and we instantly bonded. she was the one who convinced Hunter to bring me along with them, and ever since then, she and I have treated each other like sisters (even going so far as to eventually start calling each other “sister” or just “sis”). of course, like Hunter, I also have a parental relationship with her, but I’ll more often than not be on her side versus Hunter’s whenever they have conflicts haha. our first encounter involved a lot of Omega leading me around by the hand, so that becomes a recurring thing between us; she and I are seen holding hands even more than me and Hunter 😆 we also bond a lot over the fact that she and I both are uneducated about a lot of things; we learn how to fly the Marauder together, how to fire a blaster together, and stuff like that. she’s waaaaaay more talented than I am of course, which is fine cause she’s my precious baby sister/daughter that I would die for 🥰 oh, she also sleeps over at my place like, all the time. we love having sleepovers. and going grocery shopping together. and doing fun girly stuff that she doesn’t get to do with her bros💙

Crosshair (Grumpy Puss): oh boy... I honestly don’t have much to say about this yet. I don’t come into the story until around the time of episode 10, so we don’t even see each other until the events of the season finale (which is SUPER brief, like literally the end of the last episode LOL). I know all about him thanks to the others tho, so I’m on the same page as them in wanting him to rejoin the family. but beyond that... I’m kinda waiting to see how season 2 plays out before deciding anything else. idek if Crosshair is going to maintain his commander position in S2, so... yeah. I definitely have ideas tho. many ideas. most of them involving jealous!Crosshair Imeanwhutwhosaidthat 😋

the only others I have a significant relationship with are Cid, Bolo, and Ketch. Cid is my boss, first and foremost, and much like with the boys, she has no problem being blunt and apathetic towards me. she does value my services tho, and she’s definitely willing to defend me if necessary (writing out the events of episode 13 was a BLAST lemme tell ya LOL). and as for Bolo and Ketch, I’m almost like a babysitter for them most of the time, constantly cleaning up their messes and breaking up their squabbles. they’re very nice to me tho, and I interact with them a LOT since they’re always in the parlor. they’d never tell Cid, but they prefer how I prepare their drinks LOL

and that’s it! ...for now✨

#didn't feel like shading any of these oh well LOL #welcome to my life for the past like two months #like any of you are surprised tho hahaha #idk maybe someday I'll actually lose my mind and post some of the stuff I've written #for now just enjoy the visual fluff I guess #I'm really happy with how all of the drawings turned out sooooooo #also this is the most realistically I've ever drawn myself before #idk if it 'fits' with the style of the show but idc I just wanted it to look like me LOL #I'm sure this will NOT be the last art you see of this AU; just warning you all #🤗#my dark and broody bandana man #Goggles™️#Mr Iconic One Liner #Muscles™️#my tiny sunshine daughter #Mr Snarky Sniper #star warz #my artz

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hag-rambling-on · 4 years ago

Text

Boys hc’s feats Diaspro

Riven

Riven Cassios was born to two Omega prisoners. What surprised everyone, because staying healthy enough to carry out a pregnancy on a planet that sucks your magic is... Obviously the Rocalucce Council keeps an eye on the planet, they took him out of there because no child would pay because his parents, and he has been in foster homes, although it doesn't last long since the requirements for his adoption were more strict than most -which in the long run the Council would realize was COUNTERPRODUCTIVE for his character-. That is what Darcy detects and why the high spheres are somewhat "permissive" with him.

His mother died giving birth, it was already miraculous that she lived so long and ‘bout his father I think I'm going to kill him too, maybe. The father I assure you would be love him (he called Riven to himself Daru, his gift) thought was not his initial idea, the mother always saw him as an experiment (she was a witch who followed the Ancenstresses). Ohm, also in his blood there are dark elves and giants.

Riven surname is actually the name of the galaxy where he was born or a derivation of it, as is common for orphans. So the boy knows NOTHING about the above.

Timmy and Riven are the only specialists who have passed the full course at Fonterossa, without skips. In the end they bond about it. Timmy gives him a recommendation to work as a part-time mechanic at Magix (good boy face, he knows how to use it)

Timmy

Timeus “tshhhh, it’s Timmy.... i’m not my grandfather” fulfills the physique requisits as much as any other specialist, but it is true that his physique and abilities, adapted to the distance, give him a more "feline" air.

He is also the one who wakes up at night and moves silently, scaringthe rest of the squad if they wake up unexpectedly.

His glasses are for both sight and Aura Vision. His parents are rich enough to pay for an operation, but since he would have to wear glasses for his ability anyway, why? Practical guy.

And the glasses make people look down on him, something that when his self-esteem is high and he’s being rational and cunning he knows it’s wonderful, although many others times may hurt. He is mostly leprechaum with something human.

Nex

Nex is still a Paladin born in Lymphea and with blood of literally ALL races. He adapts well to any planet, although not its people at first. His race mix makes his face “charismatic”, like always draw attention even if people don’t know very well why they are draw.

His ability is Delay Sleep. It allows him to hold over his need to sleep for days without going crazy or losing physical capacity or needing many days to recover (he can stay awake for 5 or more days, sleep 8-10 hours and go back to being his usual self). Sometimes he does not control this well and has plenty of energy in need of drop but he is the one who has the most control of his ability.

One of his parents spent time in Rocalucce Fortress as a "guest" so at times he feels like he has something to prove.

Roy

Coming from Andros, most of the population are merpeople with a few elves and humans. which avoids the 100% aquatic population. Roy, unlike Aisha is mostly human-elf with a bit of merpeople in a grandgrandgrand level. One of his parents comes from one of the colonies on the moons of Andros and he was born there although they moved almost immediately.

Roy’s paladin ability being the canon “Triton Aura” used to breathe underwater. That and learning to swim and drive all kinds of water vehicles was what made him feel "adapted" to Andros. But he always try to be useful.

He only became a Paladin at the beginning of season 6, and it was visiting him that the season began. He’s bi but he thinks of himself as straight.

Nabu

I plead guilty to liking Nabu even though I shipped Aisha with Flora and Nex. So I have a hard time thinking about him. Except, EVERY time I try to think of something. EVERY TIME. Rapunzel. So, he will never cut his hair.

But with an island instead of a tower and a babysitter (male and wizard) more dumbledoor (not, actually more like Newt Scamander mentor like).

Sometimes he misses out on some "social customs/things/normalcies" whatever is called due to his little dealing with people. He may seem naive or that don't understand sarcasm. He understands and learns quickly, but people were very respectful to him and there are things he is not used to. 1/2 merpeople 1/4 half elf 1/4 human as both of his parents are half merpeople.

He likes to swim as much as any merpeople, but they didn't let him do it much because they were afraid he would go away or lost, so he usually went off "to the heights", going up to the rooftops and things like that.

Helia

Helia is trans but keeps his first name as chosen name which I don’t understand. Also he has formally tried study practically everything he wanted. Specialist, Paladin, Wizard (of Threads). Painter.

He can't make up his mind, his family hurries him just to STOP making them dizzy and spend a few years with everything -and actually end a single “major” choice- he wants to experience, that he has a very long life and can dedicate a few decades to Everything and they can support them. Well, more or less, but he was vip pass to all these options because family connections.

Long story about Sky, Brandon and Dia.

Sky, Brandon and Diaspro's first meeting was a show. Has it all. Costumes, lies. Confusion. Kidnapping. And that is why Diaspro insists on the wedding (I would like to mention that although I don’t know her romantic orientation yet surely bi or lesbian, here, Dia is asexual. And Sky is non-binary but his parents do not approve so go for he/him to avoid problem with them. And here our story begins)

A bit of background. Brandon actually hails from Isis, the son of the military and was chosen by the whimsical chibi!Diaspro as a playmate and future personal guard (because then she believed that touching children gave "lice" and her character and age did not have the 18like wall of royal education, then in a random encounter he called her among many things what Dia's mind translated in a strange way "uncracked geode", which is a double-edged compliment in Isis that many would not accept from strangers but she liked it). Rarely they would end up becoming friends in the end. When the series begins, Brandon and Diaspro keep up with calls, which will prevent Dia's reaction with Bloom on the one hand.

On a visit (officially only from the kings of Erakyon to to the kings of Isis) for the children to get to know each other, somehow, they all ended up happily dressing up, with Sky and Dia looking like two pretty princesses and Brandon assessing whether his dress would be green or yellow because Diaspro insisted that she and Sky had already taken the blue and red and so it would be more "thematic".

Here began the first of many attacks on Sky's head, because before it had begun to be rumored (true) that Erendor had fertility problems (btw his race dwarf-high elf and Samara is leprechaum-high elf, Sky gots mostly high elf part). When they came in and saw two girls and a boy, Brandon, not the highest IQ, but one of the wisest of his team and definitely the best fighter, played along so he ended up pretending to be Sky (also helps that his hair colors looks like Erendor) Everything worked out well in the end, although Brandon ended up as Sky's squire (better for him, worse for Diaspro), and Diaspro made Sky promise that he owed her a big favor. Anyway they grew up over the years in friendship and they both knew they were not of each other's true love interest, but, they could put up with each other (because that's what royalty does).

Sky and Diaspro have a sonorous (affectionate) war over Sky's hair to annoy/exasperate Brandon. Diaspro always complains that he doesn't grow it and it would look great then. Sky says that he is fine as with his hair at it is (it's actually Erendor's thing). The soft part of Diaspro that she doesn't usually show off has taught Sky many ways to style his hair and subtly put on makeup to look more feminine if he wants to.

How I am amused by that image from wikipedia and that Diaspro entered Sky's guard so quickly. Another headcanon is that Diaspro would sometimes change her appearance a bit and go into Sky's guard to be with Brandon to annoy him and Sky, when Brandon has to talk about her without giving details, she is simply "his sister Charbonne" (she hates that alias). They were discovered when she was 15 years old but she had already trained and the royal families considered it a sign to formalize the engagement since “they search each other” (people only sees what they wants).

The Diaspro family is not good, first Brandon was a shield (emotional) because as a child they were not “that” bad and then Sky joined him (physically and politically), handling things with Bloom so like that was not a good idea when the floor was full of cracked bottles.

... omg i’m sorry you three i’m sorry what I did to you

Also, Brandon's ability as a green user is very interesting and helps with this a lot. I temporally call it “Keypoint Warning” and I like it a lot, it's like a "tic" that tells him "be careful, what you say, what you do now, even the smallest thing could change everything for youself (for better or for worse)”. He actually has a scar on his forehead (not a lightning bolt) that his hairstyle hides after “that” day but a little less fine on the words and the kidnappers might have broken his mouth so... His parents have been cured (spoiler: no) of heart attack since then.

#winx #winx club #rewinxing #winx rewrite #winx specialists #winx paladins #winx timmy #winx brandon #winx riven #rambling about winx #winx helia #winx sky #winx roy #winx nabu #winx nex #winx diaspro

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solalunar-eclipse · 4 years ago

Text

Team Dark: A Holiday Special

Chapter One: Omega

Two | Three

Word count: about 5800 words

WARNING: this chapter contains entomophagy (eating insects)

Author's Note: I'm finally back! Sorry to make you all wait so long, but I really wanted to get this project out by December, so...here it is. I hope you all enjoy! (Also, apologies in advance for any bad formatting: Tumblr is being very uncooperative right now.)

...

It was, officially, a ‘lazy day’.

Team Dark was spending time at home, resting after the holiday frenzy of yesterday. Rouge had suddenly realized that they hadn’t decorated yet and that they all still needed to come up with present ideas for Team Sonic, so she and Shadow had spent the entire time in a sort of constant state of panic. Omega tried his best to help them, intermixed with a lot of gloating about his perfect memory and how he’d remembered to get a gift already.

He’d gotten punched halfway across the room for that one.

Now, a certain striped hedgehog was relaxing in his room, reading a book quietly. Until (of course) the peaceful silence was shattered by a loud blaring noise that sent him racing out the door and halfway down the stairs to their common area. Rouge was standing in the middle of the room, and shouted out to him, “Shadow! Come down here, I’m calling a group meeting!” Shadow winced and massaged one of his ears, his quills relaxing from their startled position as he walked over and sat down on the couch. He glowered at Rouge, who stood in front of him with the ‘team meeting airhorn’ still in hand. Despite his stare, she was still poised to blast again if Omega didn’t show up soon. Thankfully for Shadow’s hearing, Omega appeared quickly, albeit with much complaining about being dragged away from his targeting system calibrations. “Alright, Rouge, what’s all this about?” the hedgehog sighed, leaning forward and resting his arms on his knees. She smiled cautiously at the two of them. “Before I say anything, I want you guys to know that this offer is optional. If it’s too much for you, you don’t have to say yes.” Omega spun one of his hands around, making a slight whirring noise. “Please continue.” Rouge sat down on one end of the aforementioned couch, sinking into the cushions with a sigh. “Okay. Let’s see. I haven’t...ever talked to you guys about my family before, have I?” “I do not recall you initiating any such conversation.” Omega answered, at the same time as Shadow replied, “No….?” “Well. Considering everything...I kind of figured it’s about time I told you all my story.” She smiled again, but it was a little bittersweet. Shadow inched closer, caution sparking in his eyes. “Where to start...I mean, I have a mom, two sisters, a stepsister, a stepbrother, and a stepmom. And a dad too, I guess?” “You guess?” Omega asked skeptically, before being shot a fierce ‘no questions‘ look by Shadow. “It’s alright, hon.” Rouge said, putting a hand on the hedgehog’s shoulder. “I guess I should really start at the beginning.” “My dad was a cat and my mom is a bat- obviously, hah. My two officially related sisters are twins, three years younger than me. Right before they were born, though...my dad left. He took all the cash with him when he did. And, well. Left Mom with a barely-paid-for apartment and without a job. “We, uh. Heard later that he ran off with some lady from his job. Mom...didn’t take it too well.” Shadow’s eyes widened and Omega smacked a fist into one hand. “Rouge. Is your father, hypothetically, good at withstanding high-powered attacks from a hypothetical extremely destructive robot?” She snickered. “No, he’s not. But please don’t actually fight him, alright?” His hands crackling with chaos energy, Shadow hissed, “Rouge...I think I like his plan.” He bared his fangs as he spoke, looking furious. Rouge smiled gratefully at the both of them. “Thanks, guys, but he’s really not even worth your time. Let me keep going, okay?” Omega sat back, irritated at the lack of pulverizing Rouge’s father going on, and Shadow, reluctantly, allowed his chaos energy to dissipate. “Yeah, so he left, and that was a whole thing. Mom worked hard for us, but it just...wasn’t enough to make ends meet. I started my career of...relieving people of their fancy objects-” here she winked- “at the age of eleven to help out. Dropped out of school after eighth grade to start full-time thievery once I turned fourteen, and, yeah. I had to leave home, otherwise Mom and the twins would’ve been in real trouble. “I got busted after two whole years by the one and only Guardian Units of Nations- not a bad streak, if I do say so myself. Then, I started working for G.U.N. to pay my dues to society, and...you all know the rest after that. I still kept sending checks back to the family, though.” Shadow and Omega were both looking at her with unreadable expressions at this point. “I’ve stopped doing that now, actually, since Mom’s been with her girlfriend for like a year now. She’s dating this super sweet cardinal who gives her basically everything my dad never did- her name’s Camellia and she has two little kids from her last marriage. She’s been so good for Mom, honestly.

“I know it’s usually supposed to be this whole thing where the stepdaughter hates the stepmom, but that’s not for me. When I got the news, I was just like ‘Oh, so that’s why I’m pan’ - yeah, really- and now I’m cool with it. Plus, I’ve got two new little sibs, so it’s all fine.

“So...yeah. That’s my family.”

Shadow sat there in deep thought for a minute. “Your family sounds nice...I’m just sorry you had to go through all of that.” he said, when he finally spoke up.

“Yeah, they’re great- and it’s okay. I mean, if it wasn’t for all that, I never would’ve found you guys!” she said, looking much brighter now. “Now that you know about them, you wanna see some pictures?”

“Certainly.” Omega said, curious to see these people that Rouge cared for so deeply.

“Okay, so...these are my twin sisters, Midori and Neela.” she said, showing a social media post of two identical coffee-colored cats posing for a selfie. Even their fur markings were exactly the same, as well as the shade of their golden eyes. Despite the fact that they were felines, something about them looked an awful lot like Rouge. The shape of their faces, perhaps?

“And here’s Camellia and Mom.” A picture came up of a beaming, moderately curvy white bat and an equally overjoyed cardinal with their arms around each other in front of a beautiful sunset.

“This is Jade, my stepsister, she’s ten-” Rouge showed an image of a young goldfinch playing soccer, kicking the ball fiercely. “-and that’s Spark, my stepbrother.” A small cardinal with a grin as broad as his mother’s was swinging on a swing at a playground, his eyes bright with the excitement of childhood.

Shadow smiled, looking as though he were a mixture of genuine happiness and a little ever-present pain. “They all look wonderful, Rouge. I’m...honored...that you felt like you could show us this.”

“That wasn’t so bad, honestly- I’ve been wanting to figure out how to do that for a while.” the bat said. “This is going to be the hard part.”

Two pairs of eyes watched her expectantly.

She exhaled. “Every year...my family has this big, three-day Wintersweek party. And when I say big, I mean seven out of my mom’s nine siblings and their spouses and kids. Like, more than twenty guests big.”

Omega interrupted her there. “If your mother has nine siblings, why did none of them bother to help her when she needed them?”

Rouge looked at the floor, a little sad. “Four of them were in debt themselves, two live in crazy places around the world and didn’t really know, and...the other three tried to help. Mom refused to take more than she could pay back. They still helped do other stuff like watch us while Mom was working, though.”

“Understood. You may continue.” Omega replied, shifting into a slightly less confrontational pose.

“So. I always go to this party, except for those two years when I was on the run. This is going to be my third year back. And…

“I really, really, reallyreally want to introduce my family to my two best friends. You know, the ones who live with me and always have my back and mean the world to me.” she said, looking straight at Shadow and Omega. The former blushed a faint green at the praise, while the latter scoffed.

“Of course you wish to do so. Our excellence is unparalleled.”

Rouge smiled hopefully at them. “I know it’s a lot to ask of you guys, but...will you come to the party this year?”

Omega processed this for a minute. “How amenable is your family towards weapons of incredible destructive power being present in their home?”

“Well, see, about that….” Rouge muttered. “...you might have to empty your weapons cartridges before we go.”

“I am unsure if this is an acceptable outcome. I will respect your wishes to an extent, but I refuse to be without weaponry at my disposal.”

The bat thought for a moment. “...you can bring the flamethrower, but only if you put a PIN lock on it.”

“...”

Rouge stared him down. “There’s going to be kids there. Kids.”

“Accepted.” Omega said finally. His tone switched to a more triumphant note as he added, “I shall come and impress all of your relatives with my power.”

Shadow had reservations, too. “Won’t it be weird, having people who aren’t really your family there?”

“Shadow…” she said gently. “...you two are as close to me as my ‘real family’, and I want you to be there.”

Omega noted that Shadow was behaving in a manner that suggested he was ‘flustered’. He folded his arms tightly, lowered his head, and his mouth was pressed tightly into a line- an attempt to hide a smile. “...but won’t I take up too much space? An extra bed is more difficult to manage than an outlet.”

Rouge sighed sharply, becoming frustrated with his hesitance. “Mom has air mattresses up to her ears specifically for this, and she lives in Camellia’s house now, which has like ten bedrooms anyway. And you’re totally not going to be ‘a bother’ or anything, so don’t even say that. Mom basically screamed when she found out I was bringing people, and I mean that in a good way. She didn’t stop asking me questions for half an hour.”

“I…” Shadow said tentatively, close to giving in.

“If they’re ever too much for you, though, just feel free to hide in one of the back rooms. There’s plenty of places where you won’t be disturbed.”

The hedgehog sighed, but he didn’t look upset. “I suppose I can try, for you.”

“Yes!” Rouge shouted, kicking her legs before getting up and bouncing up and down. “Heck yeah! This is gonna be great!”

…

Over the next week, they discussed the party numerous times, and Rouge spent a lot of time sitting in the middle of mountains of wrapping paper, packaging presents for her family. Omega and Shadow had tried to help her, but she’d insisted that they not worry about it. “It’s my family,” she had said, waving them away. “You being there is already more than enough. I’d never ask anything else of you.”

Shadow had still made cupcakes, though. Omega helped with the icing.

On the first day of the event, they set off early, making the several hours’ drive from Central City up to Rouge’s family’s house (north of Empire City) so that they’d arrive just before lunch. Thinking of Shadow, Rouge didn’t want him in particular to get caught up in the early (and supposedly quite intense) greetings that her family usually participated in. Omega resolved to turn his force output down just a little- he didn’t want to accidentally break someone’s hand instead of merely shaking it in introduction.

Of course, this all meant they had to endure a four-hour car ride together, involving lots of fights over what music was playing, several different long-distance driving games, and multiple threats to toss one another out the window while moving at 80 mph or more.

So, generally uneventful for them.

...

When they arrived at the family’s house, the E-series robot decreased his optic zoom to 85% just to take the entire place in. It was truly an enormous building, built from what appeared to be stone but on closer inspection was...actually stone. Unexpected, yet impressive.

Omega was mildly uncertain about the heating capabilities of such a house, but at least it was structurally sound. He would have to decide on its defensibility later.

“Wow.” Shadow muttered, his eyes wide. “I know you said it had ten bedrooms, but...wow.”

“I said I wasn’t messing around with you!” Rouge laughed brightly. “This place is crazy big.”

As soon as they opened the door and the bat stepped inside, the team was greeted by a loud shout of “Rouge!” from various delighted family members.

Her immediate family rushed over first, giving her lots of hugs (while her parents relieved Omega of the numerous presents she’d had him carry). Her stepbrother jumped up and down, asking, “Did you bring a present for me? Do I get one? Do I?”

Rouge smiled at him, picking the little cardinal up and giving him a hug. “Of course you do. There’s one right over there!” she said, pointing towards the giant pile of presents.

Rouge’s mother came rushing back over at that, greeting her daughter with a tight embrace. “Oh!” she exclaimed, noticing Omega and Shadow standing by the door. “Are these your friends, Rouge? Come on, introduce us!”

The younger bat grinned. “Alright, so this is my partner-in-crime and our resident edgy goth, Shadow,” she said, gesturing towards the hedgehog. He responded with a glower at Rouge for the latter remark and a polite “Nice to meet you.” to the family.

“And this is my personal palanquin (just kidding, just kidding) and awesome destroyer of enemies, Omega.”

“Greetings, Rouge’s relatives.” Omega said, turning his volume down to a level that Rouge had termed ‘inside voice’. First impressions and all that.

After making their way through many, many more greetings- which Omega recorded to play back for name storage later- the team were finally seated at one of the large couches in the living room. Rouge, being Rouge, began to chat cheerfully with a couple of her family members, describing her latest escapades with the other two team members as well as her general social life.

Shadow and Omega didn’t speak much at first, but the latter in particular soon began to interrupt her stories to point out multiple inaccuracies (mostly Rouge underplaying how utterly awesome he was). He found that he quite enjoyed talking about their various adventures, in fact.

However, the three quickly discovered that some of Rouge’s relatives had...misunderstood her stories.

One of the many aunts- whose name Omega had not yet stored- spoke up. “Rouge, I know you said you were bringing friends, but you don’t have to be shy with us, sweetie. Shadow here seems like a very thoughtful boyfriend.”

Chaos ensued. Rouge choked on her water and Omega had to pound her on the back to help her breathe again. Meanwhile, Shadow seemed to have reflexively assumed a defensive, curled-up position, yet Omega could still make out a faint glow of green from within the black and red ball.

“No!” the bat shouted, once she’d regained her breath. “No, no, we’re only friends, really!”

Her aunt seemed unconvinced, as did several other guests.

Shadow slowly uncurled, prepared to back Rouge up- though he seemed to have temporarily forgotten how to speak in his shock. His mouth moved silently, and he seemed to be having trouble stringing together a coherent sentence.

“I am not romantically involved with Rouge in any way.” he began slowly. “I assure you, she means the world to me, but in a platonic manner. I am grateful to have a friend like her, but that is all we are to each other.”

Several other relatives decided to weigh in on this.

“He seems like a very polite friend!”

“Rouge, even if you’re not together, you had better hang on to this one.”

“He certainly likes you, and that’s what’s important.”

“It’s alright if you aren’t dating, honey!” Rouge’s mom added. “Healthy platonic relationships are very important.”

The younger bat shook her head, covering her eyes with her hand. “Guys, please.” she groaned, before looking over at Shadow.

The hybrid appeared to be surreptitiously trying to get in touch with his hedgehog heritage and burrow underneath the cushions by this point. Rouge grinned at him and wrapped an arm around his waist, pulling him back out into the open. “Come on, don’t make him embarrassed! It’s only day one, guys!”

Shadow cringed at that. Omega, meanwhile, was most definitely not recording any of this and storing it safely in his blackmail folder. Not at all.

…

A little later on, after everyone had eaten lunch, Omega (being the strongest on the team, despite Shadow’s protests otherwise) hauled their suitcases upstairs with little trouble. Rouge had been too busy talking to come with him, and Shadow looked as though he’d buried himself in a pile of cushions and probably wouldn’t be moved without extreme force, so he’d gone up alone.

Looking around the small room, he...found it quite tolerable, honestly. Sunlight streamed in through two medium-sized windows, and there were several empty floating shelves on the walls for their things, as well as a linen closet. There were only two beds in the room, since Omega just required a…

Ah, there it was. A charging port.

The robot was actually more pleased than he expected with the amount of mock evergreen, poinsettias, and other such ornaments in the room, though. He wasn’t much one for artistic expression himself (preferring to express his thoughts via some choice language and a few well-aimed rockets), but his friends were more...appreciative of such things and would likely enjoy the decoration.

Bored with examining the room already, he put down the suitcases and began to explore the house, trying to figure out what the floor plan looked like. He walked through all of the different rooms, enjoying himself while examining all of the possible defensive vantage points and the most optimal attack areas.

Sure, fighting was his job, but who said he couldn’t enjoy contingency planning? Mapping out attacks on his place of residence and figuring out how to best repel invaders was one of his favorite pastimes (right up there with visiting the mall with his friends).

However, once he had planned out about five different strategies, he realized that an hour had gone by and that it was probably a good idea to go check up on said friends.

After he carefully made his way back downstairs- trying to walk in a way that didn’t shake the house was difficult- he saw Rouge still chatting with some of her cousins and looking very happy. Shadow was barely even visible, curled up in a dark corner and alternating between reading and listening to the conversation. Everyone honestly seemed to be enjoying themselves.

However, there was one jarring thing about this warm, familial scene that Omega noticed.

The little children.

They were everywhere. Climbing their parents like a jungle gym, interrupting conversations left and right, running around underfoot, and generally causing mayhem in their wake. While Omega highly appreciated their impressive ability to cause confusion and chaos, he suspected that most of the other people here did not. Multiple guests looked ready to break something, and the robot was fully aware that Rouge’s family did not share his opinions on wanton destruction.

So, he decided to do something about this.

“SMALL CHILDREN,” he shouted, gaining the attention of the entire household. “I CHALLENGE YOU TO A SNOWBALL FIGHT.” That was an acceptable (and fun) form of violence, if he remembered correctly. Rouge certainly looked interested.

The children began to bounce around in various states of excitement, their energy somehow increasing exponentially at this prospect. “Whose team will you be on, mister?” Rouge’s stepbrother asked bravely.

“MY OWN. NONE OF YOU CAN DEFEAT ME.” Omega declared.

“Yeah, right!” an older child shouted. “Come on, guys, let’s go!”

The entire group rushed outside and began to build a snow fort for the upcoming attack. Most of the children were clearly struggling to organize, as half seemed to comprehend the need for a well-structured creation and half were just piling up snow like maniacs.

Meanwhile, Omega began to carefully form large building blocks out of the snow, building a formidable fortress (snow could be imposing, alright??). Once he was satisfied with his semicircle construction, he noticed that he still had a few minutes to wait before the children finished theirs. He spent this time making snowballs, as well as a few other...adjustments. When the children shouted out “Ready!”, he was more than prepared.

Since they were, again, Rouge’s relatives, he was very, very generous and gave them the first chance to fire. The children launched snowball after snowball, but he ducked behind his fort and only one found its mark. Once they were all out of ammunition and scrambling for more, he felt a smug sense of satisfaction.

It was time.

He loaded his arms full of snowballs…

And proceeded to launch them out of his machine gun ports at the children.

The kids scattered in all directions, shrieking with a mixture of fear and excitement. Omega, during their attack, had thought to make even more projectiles, turning what was supposed to be organized warfare into a one-sided rampage of destruction.

By now, Rouge had appeared on the deck and was currently howling with laughter, tears streaming down her face as she watched Omega launch his onslaught of snow. Shadow was standing at the doorway along with several others, a giant wicked grin spread across his face.

The E-series robot truly wished he could make that second expression right now. He turned to Rouge, watching her cackle…

...and immediately proceeded to fire a massive amount of snow at her as well. Her laughter transformed into a gasp of mock betrayal as she scooped up some of the offending substance, packing it into a weapon of her own. “Oh. It. Is. On.”, she hissed, shaking the snow off her wings.

Taking to the skies, she began a counterattack, distracting Omega with varied sizes of snowballs and forcing him to try and fire directly upwards. The children, realizing that they had a powerful ally in Rouge, began to make new projectiles themselves and threw them at him from all sides, until Omega finally found that he was struggling to handle the attack.

As he began to turn the tide again, he realized suddenly that this was entirely due to Rouge’s absence…

...and of course that was when a shadow fell over him.

Followed by a giant pile of snow.

He flailed in the icy trap as he struggled to regain his bearings. Once he had managed to clamber halfway out of the snow, he saw Rouge hovering above him. Her wings struggled to hold her in the air as she laughed again, and he noticed sulkily that she was holding a sheet.

“Cheater.” he muttered, indignant at having been trapped in such an unflattering manner.

“Cheating?! From the guy who launched snowballs like missiles? Really?” she shouted down to him good-naturedly, shaking her head. “Talk about hypocritical, Omega.”

The E-series robot still insisted on having the last laugh, though- he had to get out somehow, so he powered on all of his fans at full blast to clear away the snow. And if everyone was standing too close to avoid the resulting icy shower, well then that was their problem.

After that, though, everyone had to go inside and dry themselves off. Organics couldn’t handle being wet and cold very well, and Omega didn’t like the idea of his circuitry being shorted out. He felt a great sense of satisfaction at having established his status as the cool one on the very first day, though.

He spent a little more time with the young ones after that, playing several rounds of a popular card game called One with them and stacking up all of the plus-fours. The robot showed no mercy even in games.

Several children, evidently impressed by his prowess (or perhaps just in awe of the fact that he was a giant robot) begged him for promises that he would play more tomorrow, to which he quickly agreed. Not long after, to everyone’s disappointment, the kids’ parents came and practically dragged them to the dinner table, having shouted their names four or five times by this point.

As he walked into the dining room, Omega surveyed the area, focusing for a moment on the glow that the many candles gave off on the table. Fire was always a nice touch.

Looking further, he noticed that the wooden table alone was a formidable piece of furniture, filling the largest room in the house and forcing some chairs to squeeze up against the wall just to make space. And that wasn’t even mentioning the feast laid out on top of it. Omega ignored that for now in favor of sitting down on one side of Rouge after he saw her at the table. Looking over to her other side, he noticed Shadow surveying the food spread out on the table with what most would consider a completely blank look.

Omega, however, had experience with analyzing Shadow’s facial expressions, and noted the slight tension in his face as well as the fact that he was fidgeting with his silverware. Both he and Rouge had a good idea as to why, too- Shadow didn’t need any of this.

The hybrid had been created with incredible physical resilience, able to withstand the most arduous of conditions. This included a significant lack of food. He actually ate only about three times a week, and even then he only consumed small meals. While it was about time for him to eat today, the fact that there would be even more food over the next couple of days seemed to have produced a conundrum for him.

If he ate now, he wouldn’t need to later, which could be quite awkward, particularly when everybody else would. Omega thought through the options and decided that there were three main paths he could take: eat now and not later, not eat now but do so later, or possibly attempt to eat a little on all three days.

Rouge seemed to have realized this as well. Leaning over to Shadow, she whispered, “Whatever you want to do is fine, hon. It’s okay if you eat a lot over these few days- everyone else here will too. If you don’t want to, though, that’s cool- just make sure you have something at some point, alright?”

The robot watched as Shadow relaxed slightly at her understanding words. The change was almost imperceptible, but he now sat back in his chair instead of forward, and he’d stopped adjusting his place setting.

Once everyone was seated and they’d given a quick toast, the family began to dig in. Shadow sat back and waited for everyone else to take some food first- a wise choice. Rouge, on the other hand, entered the rather impressive food frenzy with a voracity that her team members knew all too well- she often complained that one of her few vices (aside from gems and other sparkly objects) was food.

Omega took this time to survey what he could see of the dishes, interested in finding out for himself what a proper Wintersweek meal looked like. He saw two dishes that appeared to be some sort of poultry, as well as bowls of finger food that looked like they were filled with crickets and beetles. Various platters of cooked vegetables in every color of the rainbow covered the table, some with sliced fruit available as well. Loaves of bread in multiple shapes and sizes were scattered throughout the presentation, accented by artfully placed centerpieces.

Quite honestly, it looked impressive.

Rouge had a little bit of everything on her plate, and was currently digging into a buttery baked potato like she hadn’t eaten in weeks. Omega silently put his napkin next to her plate, the (sarcastic) message clear: You need this more than I do.

Shadow, meanwhile, had taken a little fruit, one piece of meat, and two slices of bread, but seemed very hesitant to eat much more than that. He looked to be quite invested in a conversation that several of the adults were having about their own teenage experiences, often leaning in slightly when a funny story came up.

Omega mostly kept an eye on his friends, while also half listening to the children talk about the latest video game that had become popular. It seemed to contain lots of fighting combined with some impressive storytelling, and the robot made a note of the game title for his own use later.

However, as he checked on Rouge again, making sure she hadn’t choked on her food, he noticed that she had left her plate to the side in favor of talking to her family about...wait.

Omega knew this story.

This was a story where he was walking through the halls of an abandoned underground hideout for a highly sophisticated ring of criminals (an assignment for their entire team). In which said diabolical criminals had installed multiple traps designed to keep people out. And these traps. Included magnets. That specifically messed up artificial intelligence.

Omega’s memory had been severely impaired by the event, but Shadow and Rouge told him later that they had discovered him stumbling around the main hub of the base, rambling out loud about things as ridiculous as current weather patterns and- he shuddered internally- kittens. He was eternally grateful for this memory loss, though, as the two had apparently, instead of taking this seriously, dissolved into helpless laughter on the spot.

Of course, they had taken him to Tails to get fixed up. But not until after Rouge had filmed another five minutes or so of him acting absolutely loopy while their laughter, punctuated with the occasional gasp for breath, filled the background.

And she was just getting to the part where they found him now-!

The E-series robot shot out of his chair and clamped a hand over Rouge’s mouth, turning his volume low and hissing “Don’t you dare.” in her ear.

Unfortunately, this only added to everyone else’s interest, as Rouge began to cackle loudly at Omega’s evident embarrassment and her memory of the event. “Tell us! Tell us!” Camellia (Rouge’s stepmother) cried out, clapping her hands and looking for all the world like a child who had just been handed a chocolate bar.

“Help me, Shadow!” Rouge shouted through the steel grip on her face, slurring her words with laughter. The hybrid, happy to take a break from the crowded room and equally happy to shame Omega, pried the robot off of Rouge and somehow managed to drag him out of the room as everyone now leaned in to hear her finish the story.

“So we were really worried, right? Since we hadn’t heard anything? And then we-”

Shadow shut the door on her voice and smirked at Omega, but there was a tinge of real happiness in his expression. “It’s alright, Omega. She doesn’t actually want you to feel bad, you know.”

“That’s what you say.” he scoffed. “Rouge isn’t in there telling them about the time you didn’t eat for a month on a mission and then binge-”

“Alright, alright!” Shadow groaned. “I get it, but let’s let her have fun, alright? This is her family, after all.”

“Fine.” Omega grumbled. “But I will get you back for this.”

“Sure you will.” Shadow raised an eyebrow at him.

This led to a fierce staring match/arm-wrestling battle and subsequent argument over who won, immediately followed by Omega pulling out his phone and the two watching a recently popular obstacle course show. Of course, they both agreed that they could do far better than any of the contestants.

Eventually, though, as the evening wore on, the two joined back up with Rouge to head to their room. Shadow took a hot shower while Rouge changed into her favorite pajamas- they were soft and white with little pink hearts all over (her favorite colors).

She yawned loudly just as the hybrid walked in, already wrapped in a blanket and pulling on some plain black nightwear. He didn’t really need it, but his fifty-year stint in what was essentially a superpowered freezer had left him with a distinct dislike for the cold.

Omega had already plugged into the outlet and begun to charge, but yet…”Why don’t I get a blanket?”

“What the heck d’ you want one for?” Rouge muttered, already exhausted.

“Well, you both have them.” he muttered sulkily, glowering at them from his corner of the room.

The bat opened up the closet in the room, looking up at the top shelf. “Shadow, c’mere. I can’t reach this thing by myself.”

He walked over quickly, not appearing to be tired at all. Omega, as always, knew better, and saw the fatigue from the long day that he tried to hide behind his “Ultimate Lifeform” title.

Rouge jumped onto his shoulders in a practiced movement, snatching a pale purple fluffy blanket from the shelf and flinging it half-heartedly at Omega. “There’s your blanket.” she declared, before jumping straight from Shadow to her bed.

She settled into her usual sleeping position, with her feet hooked over the headboard and her face and pillow about halfway down the bed. It wasn’t a typical behavior for most, but she was a bat, after all. “‘Night, guys.” she murmured, already half asleep.

Shadow carefully lifted his blankets and slid under them, trying to keep them as neat as possible. The hedgehog shifted into a half-curled position, displaying his quills to the world and protecting his vulnerable legs and chest. “Sleep well, Rouge. Goodnight, Omega.” he said softly, still trying to stay awake.

“Good night.” the robot replied.

Omega kept an eye on his teammates, the room lit only by a patch of moonlight from the window. He listened to Rouge’s slight snoring, and watched as Shadow’s eyes slowly closed and his breathing evened out.

The robot was always cautious about shifting into his own form of ‘sleep’, but reminded himself that this was not enemy territory. This was Rouge’s family’s house, and they were all safe.

Still, he watched his friends sleep peacefully for a while longer. Then, he selected low power mode from his menu of choices and allowed his eyes to go dark.

#shadow the hedgehog #rouge the bat #e 123 omega #team dark #team dark: a holiday special #thought i'd give rouge a big family to make up for shadow & omega having none #she still had a rough childhood though...#:(#90% of omega's 'contingency planning' was definitely fantasizing about awesome battle scenes #shadow is moderately sad as always #hope you enjoyed!!#sol's fanfiction

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nightfurylover31 · 4 years ago

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My favorite Pokémon Girls

I felt like creating a list of my rankings for Ash's female traveling companions.

Putting this undercut because there might be some disagreements. Please note these are just my personal thoughts and nothing official.

10. Serena

Sadly, Serena is at the bottom of the list. Don't get me wrong, I like her but I didn't like how 85% of her character was being in love with Ash. It was almost impossible for her to have a focus episode, and not touching upon that in some way. And that gag with every reoccurring female rival pointing out her crush got old real fast.

I'm glad she really picked up in the Team Flare arc, and began to understand her own obstacles, like realizing how dependent she was on others and tried to do more, like helping Mairin save Chespie.

9. Lana

Now this is something I can't understand myself. Lana has many of the traits I love; kind, funny, a strong battler. But for some reason I couldn't really get into her character, and I feel bad about it. She was the first of the classmates to get a Z-Ring after Ash joined the school, and she has such an adorable relationship with her Popplio.

8. Bonnie

Even though she's not a Trainer yet, Bonnie's on the list. (couldn't find a gif though) She's so adorable, and I love watching her bond with so many Pokémon. From Dedenne, to Squishy, even Tyrantrum, I think she has the makings of being a great Trainer. Her gag of trying to find a wife for her brother was a fun twist to Brock's habit. And I love how she has different clothes based off Pokémon.

7. Mallow

Mallow may not have gotten as much development as some other characters, but she certainly won my heart. She's such a caring person, like a mother or big sister. And while her dream may be a simple one, it's no less pure and wholesome.

Learning about the loss of her mother really opened my eyes on how she may cover up her own sadness and focuses on making others happy. She hid that loss from most of her friends for a long time, but she was able to make amends with her thanks to Tapu Fini, and soon met Shaymin. Mallow deserves love!

6. Chloe

Chloe's still new, but I adore her. She has become such a joy to watch her development. It's my favorite part of Journeys. She starts out not that interested in Pokémon, but soon gets caught up in learning more and more about them. Now she has her own partner, Eevee, and is off finding her own dream.

She might end up higher on the list later on. I can't wait to see where that takes her, and I hope she'll be a part of more of Ash and Goh's adventures.

5. Dawn

Dawn starts out as a confident rookie to a skilled Coordinator. She could be quite overconfident at times, but the losses she had helped her develop, strategically and emotionally. Dawn has come up with so many amazing and beautiful combinations for attacks, and I have enjoyed watching her progress.

4. Lillie

Lillie comes in at Number 4. I loved her in the games, and I love her in the anime. I liked her backstory, with struggling to touch Pokémon or with the distance in her family, but that doesn't stop her from trying her best. She loves to learn about Pokémon and has grown into quite a good Trainer, and supports her friends like how they support her.

3. Iris

While there might be a lot who disagree, Iris is one of my favorite Pokégirls. She did come of as brash in the beginning, but we see later that had to do a lot with her experiences and a child. Even young, she was a good battler, with a 99-win streak. But we also saw how she struggled at Opelucid Academy, making it difficult for her to make friends. Once she learned to trust Ash and Cilan, she began to open up about herself.

I love her wild child nature, her willingness to take risks, independence, and her ability to understand Dragon-types. And I am really looking forward to seeing her again in Journeys!

2. Misty

Can't forget the girl who started it all. I absolutely love Misty. Her passion for battling, as well as her caring side make her a wonderful character. She clashed a lot with Ash in the beginning, but they grew to become great friends. In Sun and Moon, even after being apart for so long, they still have a great dynamic. And just watching her battles really gets me fired up. She's definitely one of the best girls.

In all honesty, I think she's the best match for Ash. She can be both firm when he acts out, or gentle when he needs comfort. Besides, we all know there's nothing Ash finds more attractive than battling.

1. May

And to top it all off, my favorite girl May! She's the one I can relate to the most. Being confident but also uncertain, easily flustered but also caring. Plus, she likes a lot of the foods I do. Despite her father being a Gym Leader and everyone expecting her to challenge gyms, May found her own passion in Pokémon Contests. I like competing in them more myself, Play Ruby and Sapphire, and also Omega Ruby. Watching her grow and compete was my favorite thing in Advanced.

May's the one I can relate to the most. Being confident but also uncertain, easily flustered but also caring. Plus, she likes a lot of the foods I do. She even caught some of my favorite Pokémon, including Munchlax.

And that's my rating for my favorite Pokégirls. Remember, these are just my personal opinions. If yours are different, that's fine.

#pokemon #pokeani #pokemon advanced #pokemon diamond and pearl #pokemon xy #pokemon best wishes #pokemon sun and moon #pokemon journeys

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reeltoreal-cl · 4 years ago

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Black TV Shows & BGLOs

In 2020, the United States is finally confronting its issues with racism in society as well as the entertainment industry. With that, there has been a surge in black content on various streaming platforms.

Television shows with predominantly African-American casts often feature a glimpse at special pockets of black culture. One pocket often featured is the cultural experience of pledging historically black fraternities and sororities, otherwise known as Black Greek Letter Organizations (BGLOs). The five fraternities and four sororities that comprise BGLOs, affectionately called “The Divine Nine,” are officially known as the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC).

Feature films tend to focus either on stepping, as with Stomp The Yard and Step Sisters, or the issue of pledging vs. hazing, as with School Daze and Burning Sands. Black sitcoms and other small screen productions, however, tend to explore BGLO issues with more nuance and humor.

A Different World - Ep. #216 - “It’s Greek to Me” - 1989 - NBC

Hillman College best friends Dwayne and Ron are in the midst of pledging fictional fraternity Kappa Lambda Nu. As time goes on, Dwayne becomes disillusioned with the process and argues with Ron over whether what they’re enduring is worth the benefits of the frat. Dwayne eventually drops line while Ron crosses into the brotherhood, and they see that their friendship can survive different paths. The matter is handled amicably and respectfully, and Ron is seen in future episodes as an active member.

Season 2 is when A Different World found its identity within the HBCU experience, as Debbie Allen took over the direction of the series after Denise’s character departed. Debbie and sister Phylicia Rashad are both Howard University alumnae, and Phylicia is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha.

A Different World - Ep. #421 - “Sister to Sister, Sister” - 1991 - NBC

Though no episodes depicted Whitley pledging, in this one Whitley oversees Kim’s pledge process for fictional sorority Alpha Delta Rho. Like its predecessor, the episode questions the pledge process itself, and further, the ethics of whether someone should pledge a friend. While Whitley defends her actions, Kim ultimately gets revenge when she over-seasons Whitley’s eggs with pepper. Whitley realizes she was being harder on Kim because they were friends, and learns how to be a better sister overall.

You can watch A Different World with a subscription to Amazon Prime Video.

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air - Ep. #408 - “Blood is Thicker Than Mud” - 1993 - NBC

Once Will and Carlton matriculate to University of Los Angeles, they decide to pledge fictional fraternity Phi Beta Gamma. However, things take a turn for the worst when Will finds out he made the cut, but Carlton didn’t because he doesn’t “fit their image.” When Carlton finds out the truth, he reads them for filth in an iconic speech that defends his authenticity. There is no mention of the fraternity in the rest of their college experience.

You can watch The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air with a subscription to HBO Max.

Moesha - Ep. #224 - “Prom Fright” - 1997 - UPN

The episode begins with Frank reminiscing about Kappa Alpha Psi with his frat brother, complete with cane twirling and chanting, “I'm pretty on my left, I'm pretty on my right, I'm so damn pretty I can't sleep at night!” Frank believes his frat brother’s Harvard-bound son would be a good fit to date Moesha as an alternative to Q, but later finds out the boy isn’t interested in Kappa or anything Frank had hoped for. The boy even says he isn’t interested in organizations that perpetuate a “herd mentality,” a rarity in depictions of children with parents in BGLOs.

Moesha - Ep. #401 - “Moesha Meets Brandy” - 1998 - UPN

There is no discussion about Greek life in this episode, however, Moesha’s new college boyfriend Aaron and his frat brother show up wearing Kappa Alpha Psi shirts for their weekend trip to Big Bear.

Moesha - Ep. #407 - “A Terrible Thing Happened on My Tour of College” - 1998 - UPN

Moesha and her friends take a campus tour for prospective student weekend of Maynard University. Part of their introduction to campus is a step show featuring Omega Psi Phi, Kappa Alpha Psi (and Moesha’s ex Aaron from #401), and Delta Sigma Theta. This episode centers on Moesha grappling with the betrayal of a college student named Melvin drugging her drink at a college party, but thankfully Aaron comes to her rescue.

One of the writers on Moesha was Mara Brock Akil, who pledged Delta Sigma Theta at Northwestern University.

You can watch Moesha with a subscription to Netflix.

Sister, Sister - Ep. #608 - “Greek to Me” - 1998 - The WB

Like the transition from ABC to The WB, the show saw Tia and Tamera transition from high school to University of Michigan. As the twins are exposed to Greek life, Tamera finds her anniversary dinner plans interrupted when Jordan goes undercover for student newspaper to investigate hazing. Meanwhile, Ray tries to convince Tia to pledge Alpha Kappa Alpha, while Lisa tries to sway her towards Delta Sigma Theta.

Lead actor Tim Reid wore an Alpha Phi Alpha sweatshirt in this episode, as he pledged the fraternity at Norfolk Stage College.

You can watch Sister, Sister with a subscription to Netflix.

The Parkers - Ep. #101 - “Grape Nuts” - 1999 - UPN

As Nikki and Kim start Santa Monica Community College, they also decide to pledge the fictional Alpha Alpha Alpha, or “Triple A’s.” As they continue in the pledge process, however, Nikki becomes increasingly fed up, which leads her to tell off the sorority sisters. She drops the line while Kim goes on to cross.

This is a rare depiction of a mother and daughter on the same line, as well as an extreme age gap in pledges for a collegiate one.

The Parkers - Ep. #404 - “Meter Maids Need Love, Too” - 2002 - UPM

Kim and Stevie are troubled by three ex-cons pledging their same sorority. Meanwhile, a fictional fraternity pledge bothers Professor Oglevee and T. While some sororities have clauses against criminal records, this is a rare depiction of one in which women who’ve traded prison for college are able to participate.

You can watch The Parkers with subscriptions to Netflix and YouTube TV.

Girlfriends - Ep. #616 - “Game Over” - 2006 - UPN / The CW

The show’s transition from UPN to The CW coincided with Joan’s transition to “It Girl” with the success of her restaurant The J-Spot. In this episode she mentions that she will be honored at a gala for business women thrown by Delta Sigma Theta, and needs to ask one of her potential suitors to be her date.

With this show being set post-college, this reference is a reminder that sororities and fraternities continue to be involved in their communities well beyond the collegiate pledge process and for good causes.

Girlfriends creator Mara Brock Akil pledged Delta Sigma Theta at Northwestern University, and previously wrote on Moesha.

You can watch Girlfriends with a subscription to Netflix.

Luke Cage - Ep. #108 - “Blowin’ Up The Spot” - 2016 - Netflix

When the police bring in Mariah for questioning, Misty jokes with Priscilla, “Look, I was just about to compel her to make a statement before you let your little soror Skee-Wee on out of here.” This is a reference to Alpha Kappa Alpha, but Priscilla corrects Misty with, “Oo-Oop,” indicating that she and Mariah are members of Delta Sigma Theta instead.

Similar to Girlfriends, the show exists outside of the collegiate realm. Mariah is a politician and Prisicilla is an inspector, showing that women in these organizations go on to have prolific careers, in which they are often expected to have each other’s backs in various situations.

You can watch Luke Cage with a subscription to Netflix.

Dear White People - Ep. #104 - “Chapter IV” - 2017 - Netflix

With a blast from the past, this episode sheds light on Coco and Sam’s friendship as freshmen and how their different experiences affected it. Coco is eager to join fictional sorority Alpha Delta Rho, while Sam wants to join the Black Student Union. Alpha Delta Rho is more interested in Sam than Coco due to colorism, and when Coco finds out, she drops. When the sorority sisters later attempt to enter the Pegasus Party that Coco is in, she denies them access.

Colorism is a topic that many in the African-American community are finally beginning to have open conversations about. This is another rare depiction among portrayals of BGLOs, as it is a controversial part of the culture that speaks to issues of elitism.

Alpha Delta Rho may be a callback to A Different World, as it bears the same name and similar colors to Whitley’s fictional sorority. Early on in the episode, Sam even describes their historically black dorm “like a mini Hillman College.”

You can watch Dear White People with a subscription to Netflix.

Marlon - Ep. #208 - “Homecoming” - 2018 - Netflix

When Marlon and Stevie return to Howell University, Marlon is reunited with his frat brothers, with whom he founded a fictional fraternity for those rejected by the more popular ones on campus. Marlon looks forward to overseeing the latest line of pledges, until he realizes that Stevie is on line as an alumnus. It is later revealed that Marlon was the one who blocked Stevie from joining while they were in college, and Stevie becomes determined to prove his worth. Stevie ultimately completes the process, and the episode is punctuated by a step show.

You can watch Marlon with a subscription to Netflix.

While popular 90s sitcoms and TV shows in the late 2010s feature similar references to BGLO experiences, they often were able to host more complex conversations about them in the span of an episode, especially in regards to character values and relationship dynamics. Here’s hoping that as the new renaissance of black television takes place, we see even more diverse perspectives on these fraternities and sororities in relation to issues at large.

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alphaimagine · 5 years ago

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Could i get an Omega Ravus with a smol Alpha Reader (female if you wouldnt mind ^_^) headcannons?

I’m so weak for Omega Ravus. Also, this is an ‘everyone lives nobody dies’ au. I’m still in pain over that game.

Luna had many people in her life who cared deeply for her, though she kept very few close friends. One of them being a tiny Alpha with dreams of traveling to the world. She and Luna were nearly inseparable, and Ravus came to regard her as part of the family.

As the years went on, they grew closer, and Ravus couldn’t ignore the ache in his chest whenever they were apart. How much he longed to be with her while away. Luna picked up on it quickly, teasing her brother about his crush on her best friend.

Outside of his immediate family, not many knew of Ravus’ status as an Omega. He hid it well, and desperately wished he could be anything else. Having been shamed from a young age. Passed over in favor of his Alpha sister.

The only other living creature that knows these days is that little Alpha. The only one who is allowed near him when his heats become unbearable was her. The only one he trusted was her.

They never officially announced their relationship. Ravus deemed it safer for her to be kept behind the scenes, away from the eyes of anyone who might want to use her against him. She would have none of that though, proudly walking by his side and holding onto his arm with a smug grin. Daring those that wanted to come between them to just try it.

Ravus isn’t big on jokes or pranks, however, he’s endless amused at holding things over his Alpha’s head and watching her jump and swat to try and retrieve it. Climbing up his back and pulling at his hair, cursing him for being so damn tall.

No PDA at all, though, Ravus adores cuddling in private. When his Alpha holds him tightly, stroking his hair and whispering sweet nothings, he’ll purr like a contented housecat.

#ffxv #ravus nox fleuret #Anonymous

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whatarubberchicken · 5 years ago

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The Bodyguard’s Tale -Chapter 6

<<Previous - Ao3 or ff.net - END

Chapter 6

Two weeks had gone by. Two weeks since Blue had chosen Prince Lanceon as her pilot (the local populace was going with the term Paladin, but Keith wasn’t sure how he felt about that). Two weeks since Princess Allura and Prince Lotor had gone missing on some secret trip to a magical world.

Two weeks since Keith had been forced out of being a bodyguard and thrust into the position of Ambassador, trying to fill his brother’s role, and only barely able to stumble along with Shiro’s help.

No word from Allura or Lotor. They hadn’t attempted to make contact with Altea, or tell anyone anything; not even which direction they’d gone. They didn’t know if Allura had gone willingly, if Lotor had kidnapped her, or if they both had been kidnapped by someone else. Understandably, the royal family was a bit stressed.

Announcements had been made. The citizens had been given some version of the truth that Keith hadn’t even bothered to keep track of; if anyone asked him what happened, he was just going to say he didn’t know and move on.

But now, now was the moment he’d been both dreading and looking forward to: he had to see Emperor Zarkon. Not in person, of course, he didn’t dare leave Altea that long without an ambassador (especially in this situation), but the holograms were imposing enough. Hopefully, his father would simply appoint a new ambassador and let Keith go back to his old job, but….

“Prince Keithyr. Were you responsible?” Zarkon’s voice rumbled from his throne. Even though it was just a hologram in an empty room, Keith could feel his father’s fury.

“No, your majesty,” Keith said simply, keeping his head bowed, even as he winced. Lotor and Zarkon had never been close, but Zarkon had valued Lotor enough as his Heir to be righteously angry. He was too honest to claim he loved either of his sons, but nobody dared to attack something the Emperor had claimed as ‘his.’ So, even though the rest of the Empire would see Lotor’s assassination by Keith as simply a show of power, Keith knew better than to try to claim he’d had something to do with his brother’s disappearance.

He was gonna have a hard enough time getting out of this alive as it was….

Impassioned speeches about his own innocence, declaring how much he loved Prince Lotor when they both knew it was a lie… these things would gain him nothing from the Emperor except disgust and more suspicion. Instead, he slowly raised his eyes to meet his father’s.

“The crown prince and I had our differences, but he was no threat to me, sire,” Keith said, keeping his voice even and calm. “I had no reason to strike him down. Nor was I a threat to him. Was that not the reasoning behind my current post? To get me out of the way?”

Zarkon growled a bit at his impudence. The official reason was to promote the alliance between Daibazaal and Altea, but again, everyone knew the truth.

“This Altean prince,” the Emperor said next, his tone considering, “what do you make of him?”

Oh, quiznak!

“Prince Lanceon is quick and clever,” Keith said immediately. “He’s creative in times of crisis and is surrounded by friends and advisors who would gladly give their lives to protect him.”

Please, father, please don’t be thinking about what I think you’re thinking about—we don’t need a war—anything but that!

“That would include you, I assume?”

Keith froze, too stunned to reply.

Zarkon snorted in derisive laughter. “I should’ve known. You were always too soft. Even as a child.”

Keith remained silent.

“My informants tell me you’ve presented—”

“I’m an omega,” Keith said quickly, daring to interrupt his father this once. If it meant not being dragged back to Daibazaal and forced to become the new Heir, he’d take the stigma that went with that label and be grateful. Nobody on Altea would care, anyway.

Zarkon, of course, was displeased. “Of course you are,” he spat. Keith could imagine how his father felt about that. Lotor had never presented, and now Keith….

Keith exited the room a few minutes later, his hands still trembling a bit from the experience, but otherwise okay. King Alfor was just down the hallway, waiting for him.

Keith swallowed before telling him the news. “Emperor Zarkon choses to withhold his judgement of the incident with Prince Lotor and Princess Allura until a more thorough investigation can be done,” he said, proud that his voice didn’t tremble anymore when he had to deliver official news. Alfor nodded. They’d been expecting that.

“He will also be sending another, more experienced, ambassador to continue to negotiate relations with Altea,” he added, unable to keep the relief out of his voice. “I know Thace, he’s a good man. You shouldn’t have any problems with him, your majesty.” Alfor chuckled and clapped him on the back. He’d been so patient with Keith these past few weeks, so kind and caring, even with his own loss, that Keith hated the next words that came out of his mouth.

“Sendak has been named Heir,” he said, watching as the king went pale. They both knew what that meant. Officially or not, the Galra Empire had basically just declared war. “I’ve been disowned, but… he’ll probably be after me by the end of the next movement.” Sendak wasn’t really known for being merciful, or even strategic. If he thought something was in his way, he destroyed it. “Don’t worry,” he assured King Alfor, “I’ll be gone long before—”

“You’ll do no such thing, my boy,” Alfor said, leveling him with an even stare. “I have no doubt Sendak would attack us whether you were here or not, and I will not send you off to face him alone. Besides, my son would never forgive me if I made you leave.” He gave Keith a smile. “I know you don’t see it, but you’ve been good for him. Can I count on you to stay with him now?”

“I stand with Altea, sire,” Keith said solemnly, giving the king a bow. It was partially to hide his own shining eyes. All he’d ever wanted was to find a place and a family, and here it was. He’d been gifted with such unquestionable loyalty and acceptance…. He had to swallow down a sob. Alfor gave him a little smile, not unlike the ones Shiro had been giving him lately, and nodded him down the hallway towards Lance’s room.

Keith was very willing to go (he hadn’t had a proper conversation with Lance in forever), but there was something he had to do first. Red had been getting anxious in the back of his mind.

….

In no time at all, he was knocking on Lance’s door, and opening it as soon as he heard someone tell him to enter. Shiro stood from where he was sitting with Lance on the edge of his bed, relaxing only when Keith gave him a small smile.

“Hey,” he called softly.

“What are you doing here?” Lance asked, obviously still pouting. “Don’t you have big ‘ambassador duties’ to do? Not that it ever stopped Shiro from visiting me…,” he muttered.

“Sorry,” Keith sighed. “But, in my defense, we aren’t trying to stop Earth from attacking.”

“C’mon, Lance,” he heard Shiro murmur, “he’s trying.”

“Fine. Fine. When do you leave, Mullet?”

Keith studied his former charge. Lance was sullen and sulking, and had been ever since Allura had gone missing. Ever since… he and Keith had been separated.

“I’m here to deliver a message,” he said casually, grabbing the item off his belt. He tossed it to Shiro. “Black sends her regards,” he grinned, “and would like it very much if you’d visit her again, just to make everything official.”

In their heads, all of them heard Black roar her affirmative. Shiro’s jaw dropped, and he turned the bayard over in his hand, studying it with wonder.

“But then, who—?”

Keith held up his own bayard.

“YOU!” Lance exclaimed, standing up and pointing at Keith accusingly. “You got Red?! But—but, you’re leaving! You’re gonna go off and be Zarkon’s right hand while he pulverizes us into dust and…!” He trailed off when he realized that Keith was raising an eyebrow and looking at him like he’d just said something Extremely Stupid.

Keith didn’t look away. “Shiro,” he said quietly. “You probably shouldn’t keep the giant, sentient war machine waiting.”

“R-right,” Shiro said, catching on quickly, “if you two will just excuse me….” He exited, leaving the two of them alone.

Keith waited until the door closed behind him to make eye contact with Lance again. He didn’t know what expression was on his face, but it couldn’t have been good, because the prince gulped and took a step backwards.

“What part of our interactions together made you believe I wanted to go back to Daibazaal to attack you?” he growled, pacing forward.

Lance was sweating, but he stood his ground now. “Our-our very first one!” he stammered. “You said you wanted Lotor and Allura to get together so you could go home!”

Keith blinked. Had he? Yeah, that sounded like something he would’ve said. “I meant home to the Blades,” he sighed, rubbing his forehead. “I grew up with them. They—they’re an organization dedicated to maintaining peace in the universe—and they’re probably gonna have to go underground now; Sendak always hated them—but anyways, they never would’ve attacked Altea.”

“Oh,” Lance also seemed to be at a loss for what to say. Yeah, they really needed to work on their communication skills. “Well, you’ve never made any secret about how much you hated me—”

“Lance—,” Keith was trying not to give into the urge to just take the other boy and shake him, but it was growing harder by the moment. Instead, he took a closer look at the prince. “When was the last time you did your skin care routine, your grace?” he asked, smirking.

“What?! My sister is missing, who has time for—wait, why are you looking at me like that?!” Lance exclaimed. He felt around his face. “Oh God, I don’t have a pimple, do I? Keith, what did you see?!”

“Oh, nothing….”

Lance obviously didn’t believe him, because he rushed into the bathroom, muttering about his perfect skin. Keith followed him in, already working on the next part of his plan as Lance examined his skin closely in the mirror.

“I don’t see—maybe there—hey, Keithy-boy, where did you—” Lance turned to Keith at just the right moment for Keith to smear a good-sized glob of the prince’s favorite facial cream all over his cheeks. Lance immediately flailed backwards with an indignant squawk, his eyes round.

Keith snickered. “C’mon, Lance,” he teased, grabbing more of the goop, “let’s get you exfoliated!”

Lance yelped and ran for it as his former bodyguard chased him all over his room, intent on getting him covered with as much of the pungent cream as he could. They only called it off when they started getting it on his clothes too; the prince started wailing about cleaning costs, which Keith didn’t want to think about. He even relented enough to let Lance take a shower.

By the time the prince came out again, the dark circles under his eyes had all but disappeared and that familiar spark of laughter was back on his face. Keith smiled in satisfaction as Lance flopped onto his back on the bed beside him, looking up to grin at his former bodyguard.

“Feel better?” Keith asked smugly.

Lance laughed. “Yeah,” he admitted. “God, I missed you, Mullet,” he said, reaching up to brush a stray hair out of Keith’s face.

They both froze when they realized how intimate this must look. Even this simple touch was far more than they usually did (not including severe cases of being-out-of-one’s-mind-with-pheromones) but…

Oh, what the hell, Keith decided, leaning into Lance’s hand and closing his eyes. He’d already been disowned. He wasn’t technically the prince’s bodyguard anymore. And he’d been giving Shiro’s advice some thought….

He liked it when Lance touched him—softly, slowly—like this.

He’d certainly enjoyed that kiss before. And he wasn’t even sure he could totally blame the pheromones for that.

Could he have this? If only for a moment?

“Do you remember when Allura made us dress up in her dresses?” Keith asked quietly.

Lance laughed lightly. “You looked really good in the purple one!”

“And you were determined to wear high heels.”

They both laughed at that. Lance’s sad smile had brightened somewhat.

“Yeah, good times,” he muttered. “But I was thinking of a different memory….”

“Oh? Which one?” Keith asked. To his surprise, Lance flushed.

Oh. Huh. I don't think he meant to say that out loud….

Now I really wanna know.

“Lance?” Keith prompted. Lance didn’t reply, but his eyes flickered to Keith’s lips for an instant, and Keith just knew.

After all, it wasn’t like he hadn’t been thinking about that kiss too…. Unconsciously, he licked his lips, realizing halfway through that Lance was still following the movement with his eyes. He drew in a deep breath. Okay, he reminded himself, you can do this. Even if you’ve been disowned and you’re not technically breaking any rules, you two still have to work together and the last thing you want to do is make him feel uncomfortable. So—

To his surprise, Lance suddenly rolled away from him to sit up on the bed, his eyes bright with determination.

“Look, don’t get mad,” he said, looking like he was working himself up to something as well, “I just—I need to see something—just to try it—and then we can go back to… whatever it is we have. I just—” He slid forward and Keith froze, partially to keep himself from throwing Lance to the floor in a defensive move and partially… because Lance was cupping his face with both hands and kissing him as desperately as he had the other night.

Oh.

Keith balled his hands into fists on his thighs to keep himself from grabbing the prince and taking control of the kiss. But it was hard, especially when Lance brushed his tongue across lips, obviously begging for entrance. Keith groaned and granted it, unable to keep himself from responding anymore.

And Lance’s little sigh of happiness when he finally started kissing him back? Keith was gonna have to find more ways to draw that particular noise out.

To Hell with protocol and responsibilities, if Lance was actually on board with this, that changed everything! I wouldn’t have to lie and say that nothing had to change, that it was just pheromones and would never happen again—oh, I want, I want, I WANT….

“Lance,” he gasped against the other boy’s lips, even though Lance was enthusiastically still trying to kiss him, “are you sure?!” Lance paused, looking at him with pupils blown wide. “You’re sure you want this?”

“Are you kidding me? Yes!” Lance exclaimed. “Have I not been kissing you for the past—Mmph!”

Whatever he’d been about to say was cut off when Keith lunged forward, finally allowing himself to wrap his arms around Lance and flip them both, so that Lance landed on his back in the middle of the bed. Lance let out a breathless squeak at their change in positions, but gladly reached up to meet him when Keith bent down to claim his lips again.

Oh God, oh God, just when he thought his life couldn’t possibly get any better, he was actually allowed to have this?! Every glance, every suppressed want, every single time he’d put duty over desire—now he could feel Lance beneath him, warm and sweet and soft, but not completely soft, Lance was still all angles and burgeoning muscles and Keith wouldn’t have it any other way—

“Hey, Lance, do you—OH MY GOD, MY EYES!!” they heard Hunk screaming over by the door. “KEITH!! How could yo—”

“I’m off-duty,” Keith deadpanned from where he remained on top of Lance, choking back his laughter at the indignant expression on the other guard’s face.

“Oh, for—If you’re OFF-duty, that means I’m ON duty, which means I have to protect him from people like you!” Hunk exclaimed.

“Good luck?” Keith said, raising an eyebrow. Hunk couldn’t take him in a fight and he knew it.

“YOU—Get off. The. Prince,” Hunk growled, pointing an accusing finger at the former bodyguard.

“Nooooo,” Lance wailed before Keith could tease their friend again. He wrapped his arms around Keith’s neck. “Let me be ravished, Hunk! Go away!”

“Ugh, LANCE!”

“You heard the prince,” Keith said smugly. “Orders are orders.” He sighed in mock-exasperation. “Work, work work….”

Lance grinned up at him. “That’s right. Get back to work.”

“As you wish, your grace,” Keith murmured, leaning in to brush his lips down Lance’s neck. Lance shivered in delight.

“Guys? Seriously?! I can’t watch this! Like, I’m pretty sure I’m not legally allowed,” Hunk moaned. “Besides, Shiro’s calling a team meeting, so if you two could keep it together for another varga or so….”

Keith and Lance both grumbled at that, but they started to get up anyway.

“Oh, thank God,” Hunk muttered, exiting and probably still bemoaning his current situation. Obviously, he trusted them enough to follow—which was valid. They could all feel the pull from the Lions, excited and eager to finally fly together for the first time….

“Hey,” Lance said, pulling on Keith’s arm before he could completely get off the bed. “We’re still good, right? This isn’t gonna… get weird?”

“It’s going to get very weird,” Keith informed him solemnly. “In fact, it’s been weird ever since I got here, so why would we stop now? Only now,” he continued, leaning his forehead against Lance’s, “we are going to fly super cool ships into battle—and watch Shiro get some vindictive pleasure out of smashing Sendak’s squadron to bits—and then, we’re going to find my idiot brother and your sister and put them back on the throne where they belong—because I was not kidding, we’d—”

“We’d burn the universe to the ground,” Lance finished, laughing softly.

“Exactly.”

“And after that?” Lance asked, looking at him with hope shining in those big, blue eyes.

“And then,” Keith paused, thinking for a moment. “How did you put it? I’m going to take you—” he grabbed Lance around the middle and pulled him closer, “—and keep you—” he tightened his grip, “—and hug you—” he tickled Lance’s sides, right in the sensitive spot he knew was there, and Lance cracked up.

“Did you just compare me to a Kaltenecker?!” he howled.

“—and completely obliterate you when it comes to flying our Lions—”

“HEY!” Now Lance was trying to squirm away from him for real. “YOU WILL NOT!”

“That sounds like a challenge, your grace,” Keith purred, standing up and holding out a hand to Lance.

Lance grabbed it instantly. “Challenge accepted!” he declared. “Race you to the hanger!!”

…..

Sometime later:

Shiro facepalmed. “Did you two just face-plant those Lions into the sand?!”

“Lance started it!”

“I did not!!”

“That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!”

-END

#bodyguard AU #klance #keith (voltron)#lance (voltron)#yay the end!#VLD #voltronsecretsanta2k19 #hope yall enjoyed this!#i had a lot of fun writing it

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yukipri · 6 years ago

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BF OT4 Kids Headcanons

WOWIE kids HCs time! Was in response to this ask meme BUT got really out of hand ^ ^;

Thanks so much for sending me a number~!

43. Would they have any kids? If so, describe.

For my Banana Fish OT4 aka Ash + Shorter + Sing x Eiji <3

Held off on answering this for a while as I tried to solidify my thoughts on this more, and well, as always my feelings may always change but here’s what I got for now!

This...actually isn’t about the kids themselves, but more how Eiji & Mates came to the conclusion that they want kids? Lotsa chara HCs ^ ^

Posted in advance on Patreon and references some other HC posts but still hopefully understandable by itself. Happy Mother’s Day? haha

＊Assuming this is an ABO variation of the BFF/Everyone Lives AU

Alpha!Ash, Alpha!Shorter, Alpha!Sing, Omega!Eiji, established polyamorous relationship.

Nonexplicit mentions of mpreg and canon trauma. LONG POST.

Kids aren’t even remotely on the table for a very, very long time. The three alphas had pretty turbulent childhoods, and they know more than anyone that the streets aren’t kind to children, and that children can be extremely vulnerable.

Eiji knows and respects this, and is content to just be with them, and for them to all slowly heal together. Taking care of themselves is far more important, and something they need to have the time to do before they can even consider intentionally creating tiny humans who will be entirely dependent on them.

While they’re not exactly “their children,” they have Sing and Skip too. Both the kids were always too mature for their age, forced to grow up too fast (and other than Eiji, wasn’t that the case for all of them), and especially in Sing’s case, there really isn’t that much of an age difference between him and the “adults” at all. They’re much less like their children and more like lil brothers, but Shorter’s protectiveness and mentor role with Sing and Ash’s very similar role with Skip made them people to look out for, to care for, and to a certain extent raise.

Eiji, however, didn’t really get that with Sing OR Skip. From that very first day in America, Skip was looking out for him despite being such a young kid, and Sing most certainly was Eiji’s guardian, not the other way around. Eiji takes care of them in his own way, he does for all of them, but they aren’t his protégés like they are for Shorter and Ash.

And, well, a tiny, quiet part of Eiji sorta wishes he had that.

It’s not necessarily about Eiji wanting to mentor someone, or him feeling he has anything of value to teach. There’d been a few calls recently from people interested in him getting a photography apprentice, and while Eiji doesn’t dislike the idea, he doesn’t really know if it could be the same; he doesn’t know if they would be family. It’s most certainly not Eiji hoping for someone even weaker and more vulnerable than him coming into their lives, for the sake of giving him someone even he can protect.

It’s not even about Eiji wanting to become stronger, because Eiji’s never been about that. Yes it can be a little frustrating when all he can do is sit back and hide and have others take care of him, and yes he’s happy when he can do something to help, but at the same time, he’s accepted it. It’s less acceptance of his own weakness, and more trust in his mates, and respect for their need to protect him. Eiji has his own ways of helping.

Eiji’s own feelings are complicated, but as he sees Sing and Skip grow up, influenced so deeply by Shorter and Ash, he feels a weird longing. It’s stupid to think of Sing as Shorter’s legacy when they’re only a few years apart in age, and Shorter is RIGHT HERE beside him, but Eiji feels that even if Shorter was gone (he hopes that’s never the case), he’d still see so much of Shorter in Sing, and in a way would be able to feel him through his successor. Skip’s so different from Ash, but he’s also so clearly the Lynx successor, Eiji knows he’ll always be able to see Ash in him too.

He knows his lovers would hate him for thinking of this, but Eiji’s okay with being realistic, because they don’t know what’ll happen, and any single one of them could suddenly be gone with no warning.

And Eiji wants Ash, Shorter, Sing, everyone he loves, to have someone who irrevocably has a part of Eiji living in them, in the case Eiji has to depart.

Eiji knows his loved ones have lost so much, and how frail especially Ash and Shorter can be at the thought of losing him. In the hopefully unlikely chance of his demise, Eiji wants them to have a reason to live on.

Eiji wonders how all this rather morbid thinking somehow leads him to the answer of children (because really, it clearly has nothing to do with blood), but the more he thinks about it, the more the idea appeals, and the more he feels a gut longing for it.

He knows if he tells anyone, maybe Jessica, the beta woman would joke about his Omega Mothering Instincts calling or something, which would be inaccurate (he hopes). He thinks that if he confided in his sister-in-law and fellow omega Nadia, she would just smile kindly and tell him that he should do what he thinks is right, and to talk to his mates.

It’s an awkward topic to breach, but one night it happens, and the room goes still. Eiji wonders if he should backpedal, but decides to hold firm. If this is completely off the table, then that’s okay, he will always choose his mates. But he thinks if that’s the case, he also wants to know now.

Sing frowns a little bit, not upset, but contemplative, as though the thought hadn’t really crossed his mind before. Shorter’s eyes widen–Eiji suddenly knows that he has thought about this before, but probably never thought it’d be thrown out in the open like this–before Shorter’s gaze flicks to Ash.

Ash is completely expressionless, and Eiji immediately knows he’s thrown up a wall.

Eiji can’t blame Ash, and honestly Ash was part of why Eiji was so hesitant about asking in the first place. Eiji knows that parents, mothers, and the very idea of fatherhood itself is extremely complicated for Ash. Eiji knows that Ash knows that Eiji would never abandon a child of theirs, so that shouldn’t be too big an issue. But so many “father” figures have hurt Ash, tainted his image of the term, his very definition of it, and Eiji gets Ash being hesitant to put himself in a position to take the role himself.

Max, Eiji knows, has been a positive father-like figure to Ash, and Eiji knows that Ash likes visiting that family, and seeing Michael together with his parents, watching a happy childhood that he never got to have. Eiji only hopes that Ash can see it being possible with them.

Shorter and Sing are always oh so careful and respectful of Ash’s past and triggers (they all are; they all need to be, with lives like theirs), and hold off on voicing any opinion for a while. Eiji backs off too. He just wanted them to know it was on his mind.

The answer Ash gives them, after months, is a disappointed, resigned, “I don’t know.” Eiji can see that Ash had struggled with himself, and had tried to bring himself to give a different answer, but just couldn’t.

Eiji knows Ash loves him, loves them, loves their family, and would do anything for them. Ash tells Eiji in no uncertain terms that he doesn’t doubt for a second that Eiji could be an amazing mother, the best in the world. But the idea of Ash as a father…all Ash sees ahead of him is the maze of ways he could fuck up, and horribly, just like he was fucked up.

He doesn’t want to be the father who makes his child lose faith in adults, whose actions indirectly cause his child to run directly into the arms of predators. He doesn’t want any association with the father figure idolized by his community, who secretly hurts children in the shadows of his home. He doesn’t want anything to do with being a Papa, and all the ways that word has been used around him, all those years he fought against saying it himself. And then how his father was officialized and forced on him without his consent, tying his real identity to a man he loathed.

Ash knows his image of fatherhood is fucked, he knows that this isn’t what it’s about and this isn’t what Eiji’s asking him. But Ash knows, has personally experienced far too many examples of the Fucked Up fatherhood. And he just can’t risk it.

Because if Ash fucks up too, this time it won’t be Ash, it won’t even be Eiji, it would be their child who pays the price. And that just isn’t a risk he can possibly take.

Ash isn’t ready. He looks ashamed and that self-loathing that still won’t stop coming back despite his healing flickers all over him. He wishes he could be, for Eiji, but he can’t in any good conscience lie about this. And he doesn’t know if he can ever be ready.

Eiji comforts him, reassures him, and tells him it’s okay. Eiji would never force Ash, would never ask him to try. Ash will always be more important than any hypothetical child, and a child isn’t Eiji’s priority (and Eiji doesn’t think he can really tell them his real priority).

Once things are settled, Ash’s answer found, Shorter steps up next, Sing’s eyes tracking him with calm patience.

Shorter says bluntly that he wants a kid with Eiji.

Does he need one? Absolutely not. But if it’s something that Eiji wants, and ONLY if it’s something Eiji really, really wants, then it’s something that Shorter really, really wants with Eiji. All due respect to Ash.

Shorter doesn’t know if he’ll be a good dad (Sing snorts–it’s not like all the Chinatown street rats didn’t consider Shorter their guardian figure, back in the day–and Shorter playfully smacks him). Shorter repeats that he doesn’t know if he’ll be a good dad, but he’s prepared to give it everything he’s got. And well, it wouldn’t ever be just him and Eiji now would it, or are those two other wedding bands in the room fake. And the way Shorter sees it, a kid being raised by all four of them, and all their friends and family, probably isn’t in shabby hands. If the others are alright with it, he’s happy to take primary responsibility, if they want to see it that way.

Later, more quietly and to just Eiji and Sing because he doesn’t want to pressure Ash, Shorter confesses that he has another reason too. His and Nadia’s parents died while they were young, and Shorter barely remembers them. He loves Nadia, and couldn’t have wished for a better guardian, and knows how hard she worked. But as a kid, he still missed his parents, and even now, he wishes he’d had more time with them.

Shorter confesses that he thinks there’s a chance that he doesn’t have all that much time.

They’re out of any immediate danger now, out of the fighting and daily crises of gang life. But they didn’t get out unscathed. Ash took so much damage on the inside, which showed itself in his decision regarding kids. They all took mental damage, and none as much as Ash.

But Shorter took the most physical damage.

He survived, and Shorter can’t ask for more than that, and he considers every day he has with them a blessing and he wouldn’t trade it for anything. He’s happy as he is now.

But he also a brain that should never have regained consciousness after Banana Fish burned through him, if not for Yut-Lung’s antidote. He has a skull that was cracked, with scars on his head to prove it, and who knows what was done to his brain then too but definitely nothing good. And he has a heart that, while healed, also had a bullet go straight through it.

There’s nothing really physically wrong with him (other than the extreme PTSD, the unpredictable blank outs, the extreme phobias and triggers–), and it may just be Shorter’s paranoia. But, Shorter admits that he’s thought about this a lot, talked to his therapist Blanca about it too, even if this is his first time telling Eiji and Sing. He doesn’t want to tell Ash, at least not yet, because Ash will only blame himself and Shorter doesn’t want that. But Shorter thinks that if all of them live out their current life expectancies without a hitch, he’ll be the first one gone by a long shot. And he’s okay with that.

(It’s most definitely not the main reason, but it’s also part of why he was so adamant that Ash also be Eiji’s partner, and later his pushy encouragement with Sing. He doesn’t want Eiji to be alone when he leaves. He doesn’t want any of them to be alone. Eiji feels something burn in his chest, because he understands, gods he understands.)

Shorter doesn’t know if he’s ready to be a father, but he’s also around thirty now, a far cry from the teenage street rat trying to live on to the next day. He thinks he’s as ready as he’ll ever be. He’s honestly never felt better prepared for anything.

So again, if Eiji wants this, if and only if he genuinely, truly wants this and feels ready himself, and if Ash and Sing are okay with this, then Shorter wants to be a dad. Shorter wants as many years to love his kid as possible. He wants to see them grow up, if he can. He wants his kids to be able to remember him, to never have to doubt that Shorter loved them with his whole heart. He’s not in a rush, but he also isn’t going to hesitate.

But of course, it’s not just about what he wants, and not even what just he and Eiji want. With their family, it’s what all of them want, for a decision like this.

Ash knows he isn’t ready, and Shorter doesn’t want to push him, and doesn’t want Ash to think that he’s somehow holding them all back either. But Shorter has a hunch that maybe, this could be a way to get Ash comfortable with the idea of being a father, without personally feeling that he must carry the title.

Sing speaks up, and he says he gives Shorter his full support, and thinks it’s the right decision. Sing’s had a few years as part of their relationship now, and while he’ll always deeply respect and admire both Shorter and Ash and often lets them lead, he’s no longer the idolizing puppy trailing behind them. He’s smart, calculating, and doesn’t give his support blindly. At the same time, he’s so gentle and warm, leaning into his mentor as the two of them pull Eiji between them.

Sing says that he thinks he also wants to be a father, one day, possibly one day soon. He’s the youngest of them, but he’s prepared to give everything for their family, and he has the strength and confidence now that he knows that that actually means something. But he also thinks that for him and Eiji, maybe the time isn’t quite right yet. Maybe in a few years.

And even if the child is biologically Shorter and Eiji’s, the child would be theirs, at least for Sing. Sing knows that any child of theirs, he’d consider his too, blood be damned. And well, if he’s already going to be a father, then a few years will only prepare him even more, if Eiji ever wants him to father another kid.

Shorter’s so damn proud of his lil bro for really getting at the heart of the matter, and Eiji feels so full he could burst. Because gods, he does want a kid, a baby of their own, and maybe it’s selfish, but Eiji really does want this, for all of them.

All that really remains is Ash.

Ash calmly listens to Shorter and Sing, and promptly says that they should go for it. He supports them.

Shorter reminds him that any kid of theirs would not be a Them but an Us. Ash would be the child’s dad too, if he wants.

Ash is still firm; he’s sure. He supports them, the family, including himself (the if you’ll have me is unsaid but felt, and rejected. Of course Ash is family). He takes Eiji’s hand and apologizes for not being able to take the initiative this time. But he can’t lead this. But he can and will do anything and everything to be there with them, to help, and be a part of the kid’s life. He’ll give them everything, protect them with his life.

And maybe, just maybe, being a father (of sorts) to this kid will help him overcome his own fear too.

Ash confides in Sing, because their relationship has gotten to the point where he can do so easily. He knows Shorter and Eiji think of Ash as a dad for their upcoming kid, just like they thought of him as their husband. But “husband” and “father” are so different for Ash.

Ash is okay with them calling him a “dad” out loud, but on the inside, Ash will probably think of the kid as a little brother. He may not be able to handle being a dad, but he can, and wants to be a big brother and mentor. He can be someone like Griffin, like Nadia, who basically raised them. He can be like Max, a pretend dad, but a dad whose role still means so much. He can even be like Blanca, a mentor figure whose presence is so grounding. Ash can only hope he can be like them, and he hopes that’s alright, and that’s enough.

Sing assures him it will be (but also while thinking that all the figures Ash listed are more certainly more parental than any of Ash’s official dads), but also warns him that the kid might still take him by surprise. It’s Eiji’s, after all.

The child is eventually born, looking so achingly like Eiji but beaming with Shorter’s smile. Sing and Eiji clutch at each other with wet eyes, and Eiji wonders how he could have ever been so focussed on goodbyes, when this is so clearly about new beginnings and greeting a new someone he already loves so much it’s almost unbearable.

Shorter is sobbing the manliest tears ever as the nurse passes him the babe. After a few moments, Shorter passes the tiny bundle into Ash’s arms and says, “Hey look kid, meet your other dad.”

And when Ash looks down at that little life in his arms, someone who came out of Eiji and is the product of love he feels so intimately, he feels something crack in his chest. His eyes feel unexpectedly hot as salty droplets spill down his own cheeks to rival Shorter’s. Ash numbly thinks that this isn’t what he thought he was signing up for, and that he could never have prepared for this–but also wouldn’t, couldn’t give it up for the world.

(A few years later, Sing fathers their family’s second child).

(And a few years after that, Ash fathers the last child).

Marriage/Wedding HCs

Get to know my Shipping Preferences & Ships Ask Meme

#Banana Fish #Shoreiji #Singeiji #Asheiji #Ashoreiji #Headcanons

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rosaxlunar · 5 years ago

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☾ Mia & Christian { @dvrkprinces }

The moment Mia gained her position as one of the council members as a werewolf representative, she had already planned her official visit to Freyr Wood. She’s never really had reason to go before, seeing that she’s a beta and she knows no one there. Mia had always been curious of the village that was solely created to ensure the safety of the registered omegas. She’s always heard lovely things, about how magical the setting was, and how it was like stepping back in time into a fairytale. She had been giddy to see it for herself, and so she ensured that her presence would be expected and welcome, paperwork all in order and such. She never once forgot her true purpose in going, how she would go there to see for herself that omegas were treated with kindness and respect. That she would remind them that she was a voice for them, so they could confide in her any disturbance, any issue. And so it was. Busy as Mia Navarette could be, she always made time for at least two visits to Freyr Wood a month. The more she went, the lovelier the reception towards her was, it got to the point that she would bring gifts to certain omegas and other times she was allowed to play with the cubs found around. Mia was most honored by that confidence, as she so loved children.

Mia also found another gift in that picturesque village. As her visits became apart of the routine in the village, Mia befriended a few of the guards on duty. The most impressionable one in her mind was Christian Bennet. A fellow werewolf himself, Mia quickly gravitated towards the other warm soul. His kindness and southern charm were absolutely delightful and a fresh of breath air in a world where people prefer to be snarky and mean. As the months went on Mia found she looked towards her visits to Freyer Wood just because it meant some time to mingle with Christian. He often offered a listening ear to whatever stresses were tearing her down. His presence becoming a sort of big brother comfort, perhaps because she knew he was there protecting his own sister. It made whatever ache she had when she thought of her oldest brother Sebastian, dissipate. At least for the time they shared together. Whenever she would head back to the heart of the city Mia would be overwhelmed with the need to call Sebastian and beg him to move to Amsterdam too. She always stopped herself from actually doing it, she could never be so selfish. Besides she had Santi with her and Carmen too. She wasn’t alone, and that reminder would calm her of the urge to disrupt her eldest brother’s life with her nonsensical worries.

The sound of the door opening alerted Mia that they have already arrived, She shook her head, a little disoriented by how quickly the hours long ride was over. Perhaps because she decided to reminisce how these trips became a regular part of her routine. Stepping out of the car she immediately spots her dear friend waiting for her. His height forcing her to look up in order to see his face. She grins, “Mr Bennet! How kind of you to be my escort today. How have you been?”

#☾ fool for love : ( threads + mia )#{ christian 01 }#ft. christian #starter: closed #//ok its my head canon that she refers to him as Mr. Bennet in front of other officials #//but when its just the two of them she uses his first name haha

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wipbigbang · 6 years ago

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Art Claims Round 2

Second round, same as the first, only better. We got some stories claimed this past week, but we still have about 92 that are up for grabs and need some wonderful artists. In this round, you can definitely take two stories at a time. If you'd like to claim two stories, please wait until you get an email confirming your first claim, then fill out the form again for a second claim. Everybody spread the word! Grab your artist friends, stuff them in a potato sack, and drag them here kicking and screaming if you have to! This year, art claims are working a little differently than in years past. We are using a google form to streamline things, which should make things easier both for you as participants and us mods. To claim a story, the form requires email, check in ID, and the identifying number of your first choice of story. Putting your top three choices is best in case your first or second has already been chosen. Please be sure you've read the FAQ before claiming.

Click here to claim a story.

Stories are listed by fandom in alphabetical order and then by the story name, with a number identifying that story (for our records). Stories are first come, first serve. I'll update the post as stories are claimed. Official posting dates begin on July 27th. Once all stories are claimed and all artists/authors have been notified, I will put up a sign-up sheet so authors and artists can choose their posting dates.

Authors, if something is wrong with the info for your stories, please let me know ASAP here or via email at [email protected].

See all fandoms in a google doc.

A Song of Ice and Fire #1 Story Title: Pairings, Characters: Ned Stark/Cersei Lannister Rating: Explicit | E Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: Ned Stark and Cersei Lannister are made to marry after the Rebellion ends Angel the Series/Buffy the Vampire Slayer #41 Story Title: Like Stone Pairings, Characters: Connor, Dawn Summers, Buffy Summers, Angel, Wesley Wyndham-Pryce (and pretty much the complete cast), not shippy fic but there is Angel/Buffy and Connor/Dawn) Rating: Mature | M Warnings: Graphic Violence Summary: Twenty years after the battle with the First and the aftermath of Jasmine’s reign, life still isn’t easy for Buffy and Angel and their friends and family. Connor has been on the outside of his father’s life for years and isn’t particularly happy to be brought back in when Dawn shows up in L.A. with a case that requires his attention. But that is just the beginning of the badness threatening to swallow them all whole. Arrow

#3 Story Title: No Regrets: A Love Unexpected Pairings, Characters: Oliver Queen/Roy Harper Rating: Explicit | E Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: An A/B/O love story. Roy learns that he’s not a beta like he always thought and has to cope with starting to have omega heats. Due to circumstances, and latent affection, alpha Oliver agrees to help Roy through his first. They unexpectedly bond during that first time, and the successive chapters each explore another aspect of the couple coping with their relationship: a heat coming on suddenly while Oliver is out of town, and Oliver going into rut while they’re in public, finishing up with a softer chapter of some romance and switching, ending on a hopeful note. Lots of feels and smut. Batman #4 Story Title: Scenes From a Gotham Romance Pairings, Characters: Bruce Wayne/Selina Kyle Rating: Explicit | E Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: Bruce finally pops the question to Selina and she accepts. Slowly, they begin building a family together. BBC Sherlock #6 Story Title: ...And All The Men And Women Merely Players Pairings, Characters: Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, Mycroft Holmes/Greg Lestrade, Mary Morstan/John Watson, Eurus Holmes/Jim Moriarty; Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft Holmes, Molly Hooper, Greg Lestrade, John Watson, Mary Morstan, Anthea, Janine, Eurus Holmes, Jim Moriarty, Original Child Character(s), Mummy Holmes, Siger Holmes Rating: Mature | M Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: Mycroft Holmes is not-so-subtly trying to make sure there's a reconciliation between his youngest sibling Sherlock and his ex-wife, Molly Hooper, by forcing them to work together on a theatre project. But it isn't all smooth sailing when his and Sherlock's sister comes back from the States with a boyfriend who is the devil incarnate...and all hell is about to break loose. #7 Story Title: A Boon For You, A Boon For Me Pairings, Characters: Mycroft Holmes/Molly Hooper; Molly Hooper, Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock Holmes, Eurus Holmes, James Moriarty, Siger Holmes, Mummy Holmes Rating: General | G Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: When Molly saves the life of a fairy prince, she’s given the chance to ask for whatever her heart most desires, and since what she wants to do most is help others, she’s given the ability to grant boons by the prince’s eldest brother. Little does she imagine such a simple and generous wish will change her life forever... #8 Story Title: A Merry Christmas After All Pairings, Characters: Mycroft Holmes/Sally Donovan; Sally Donovan, Mycroft Holmes, Anthea, brief appearance by Sherlock Holmes and Molly Hooper Rating: Teen | T Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: Sally and Mycroft make an arrangement to have a pretend relationship together, culminating in a spectacular break-up at a destination wedding in Hawaii. But what they intend to have happen doesn't go according to plan when pesky feelings decide to get involved. #9 Story Title: A Study In Pink Pairings, Characters: Eventual Sherlock Holmes/Mary Morstan (though not in this story), fake!��John Watson”/Mary Morstan and Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper one-sided infatuation; Mary Morstan, Mike Stamford, Molly Hooper, Sherlock Holmes, Greg Lestrade, the cabbie, OCs Rating: Teen | T Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: Rosamund Mary Watson had never expected to set foot in London again, but she finds herself in need of employment and a better flat. Enter her old professor Mike Stamford, who tells her about the man who will change her life forever... #10 Story Title: All The Little Signs Pairings, Characters: Eventual Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, John Watson/Mary Morstan, past Tom/Molly Hooper, one-sided Greg Lestrade/Molly Hooper; Sherlock Holmes, Molly Hooper, John Watson, Mary Morstan, Greg Lestrade, Mrs. Hudson, others TBD Rating: General | G Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: The repercussions from Sherlock’s faked death did more than just affect his relationships with his friends, Sherlock realizes when Molly loses her position at St. Bart’s for falsifying medical documents and loses her fiancé in the process. While Molly gets her life sorted out and decides what she wants Sherlock does the same, but is it too late when he decides what he wants in his life is Molly? #11 Story Title: As Long As You Love Me Truly Pairings, Characters: Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper; Molly Hooper, Mrs. Hudson, Greg Lestrade, Philip Anderson, Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, Sally Donovan, Henry Knight, Irene Adler Rating: General | G Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: All Molly Hooper wants to do is get her big break on the London stage. She might have a chance when she's asked to be the lead in one of the most anticipated productions on the West End, and by the star himself, Sherlock Holmes. But things don't exactly go according to the plan she had in her head of how she would become a well known actress, and as time goes on she needs to figure out whether she wants fame or whether she wants something more fulfilling. #12 Story Title: Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures Pairings, Characters: Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, Mycroft Holmes/Anthea, Mr. & Mrs. Holmes, OC pairings; Sherlock Holmes, Molly Hooper, Mycroft HOlmes, Anthea, Mummy HOlmes, Siger Holmes, OC Holmes Brother, assorted OFCs and OMCs Rating: Teen | T Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: It all begins with an invitation to Mycroft's wedding to his PA and seven days at a resort in Jamaica, with the assumption that Molly pretends to be his girlfriend that his mother might be under the impression that he's going to propose to sooner rather than later. It ends up being so much more than that... #13 Story Title: Ever Changing, Ever Growing Pairings, Characters: Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, background Mycroft Holmes/OC and John Watson/Mary Morstan Rating: Explicit | E Warnings: Major Character Death Summary: They make the arrangement to present what society wants from them to the world as husband and wife, but childhood friends Sherlock Holmes and Margaret Hooper agree that their lives are their own. But with the death of Sherlock's brother and an unexpected scandal, their marriage of convenience is shaken. Will their friendship remain intact as their marriage falls apart, or will they decide that it is in their best interest to make this a true marriage between partners instead? #14 Story Title: It Can Be As Real As You Or I Pairings, Characters: Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper with background John Watson/Mary Morstan and Janine Hawkins/OMC; Sherlock Holmes, Molly Hooper, Mary Morstan, Janine Hawkins, Kitty Reilly, OCs Rating: Teen | T Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: At the very beginning of a case to help Janine, it comes out that the very eligible and spectacular stud in the bedroom Sherlock Holmes has married local specialist registrar, Dr. Molly Hooper. Which would be fine and all, except it's a fake marriage...that Sherlock wants to make real by the end of the case. But Kitty Riley's constant hounding of him throughout the case, turning every tidbit she hears (always out of context) into tabloid fodder, is going to make that virtually impossible, he fears...though he might very well be surprised himself. #15 Story Title: It Takes The Whole Of London Pairings, Characters: Background John Watson/Mary Morstan and mentioned fake!Sherlock Holmes/Janine, but generally no pairings; Molly Hooper, Mary Morstan, John Watson, Tom, Meena, Greg Lestrade, Sally Donovan, Mike Stamford, Sherlock Holmes, OCs Rating: Teen | T Warnings: Original character death offscreen Summary: When one of Molly's best friends and her husband die in a car accident, Molly finds herself the guardian of their six-month-old daughter, and in an instant her entire life changes, and she comes to find solace in the fact that there is truth in the old adage"it takes a village"when she finds herself raising Maya on her own. #16 Story Title: Jam Session Pairings, Characters: Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper with background Mycroft Holmes/Sally Donovan and John Watson/Mary Morstan; Molly Hooper, Mary Morstan, Sally Donovan, Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft Holmes. Jim Moriarty, John Watson Rating: Teen | T Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: Molly Hooper is known for making some of the best baked goods in all of England, and no one knows what her secret is. Her most popular dish is her Jam Tartlets, and it’s a recipe she shares with absolutely no one, not even those who work in her shop. When a new resident arrives in the village, an apiarist named Sherlock Holmes, they begin an exchange: some of her special jams in exchange for his honey. But what starts as a simple trade of sweet foodstuffs becomes so much more when Molly’s shop is broken into and ransacked by someone looking for the secret recipe. #17 Story Title: Like Night And Day Pairings, Characters: Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, background John Watson/Mary Morstan; Molly Hooper, Sally Donovan, Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, Mary Morstan, Meena, Mike Stamford Rating: Mature | M Warnings: Illegal drug use, drug overdose and withdrawal symptoms Summary: Molly loves Sherlock, she does, but one night when Sherlock makes a decision that nearly costs him his life, she knows she can't be his caretaker anymore without dragging herself down too. Trying to make a clean break of things, she leaves the university they attend together and goes to the States to finish medical school and put it all behind her. But after graduation, Fate has other ideas... #18 Story Title: My Chosen Queen, To Rule By My Side Pairings, Characters: Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper; Molly Hooper, Hooper OCs, Sherlock Holmes, James Moriarty, other OCs Rating: Teen | T Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: Ten years ago, Molly Hooper got lost in the forest near her brother's cottage trying to find her niece. She found the girl as well as an injured man who was more than he seemed. Now, Molly's niece is missing again and so Molly ventures into the forest once more to find her, with decidedly different results this time. #19 Story Title: Neither Living Dead Nor Fully Living Pairings, Characters: Sebastian Moran/Molly Hooper, past Sebastian Moran/James Moriarty and James Moriarty/Molly Hooper; Sebastian Moran, Molly Hooper, Sherlock Holmes, OCs Rating: Explicit | E Warnings: Major Character Death, Character death is temporary, as character is turned into a vampire Summary: When Sebastian Moran inherits a building, a business and a servant from James Moriarty, he tries to live as normal a life as he can. But when Molly Hooper does the unthinkable and falls in love with him, he finds himself fighting a battle he'd never imagined he'd be in. #21 Story Title: Nothing's Changed That Matters Pairings, Characters: Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, past Mycroft Holmes/Anthea; Sherlock Holmes. Molly Hooper, John Watson, Eurus Holmes, Greg Lestrade Rating: Teen | T Warnings: Major Character Death Summary: When Sherlock comes to Molly in Oxford ten years after their divorce with a favour to ask, she agrees to help. While a lot has changed some things remain very much the same...including the love that Sherlock and Molly once shared. #22 Story Title: Old Books & New Flames Pairings, Characters: Sebastian Moran/Molly Hooper, Greg Lestrade/Sally Donovan, John Watson/Mary Morstan; Molly Hooper, Sebastian Moran, Mary Morstan, Sally Donovan, Greg Lestrade, John Watson, Jim Moriarty Rating: Explicit | E Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: When Sebastian Moran asks local bookstore owner Molly Hooper for a job, all he wants is a second chance to live the life he should have been living before prison. What Molly gets is more than a loyal employee and good friend. What she ends up with is what she had always wanted her entire life: happiness. #23 Story Title: Pawns On The Board, Flies On The Web Pairings, Characters: Mycroft Holmes/Anthea, Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper; Anthea, Sherlock Holmes, Molly Hooper, Mycroft Holmes, Elizabeth Smallwood, Greg Lestrade, Sebastian Moran Rating: Teen | T Warnings: Violence, OC character death Summary: When an American politician is murdered and deposited in Mycroft’s office, it’s Sebastian Moran’s sign that he is done allowing Mycroft and Sherlock their little game at dismantling Moriarty’s organization. But with Sherlock having returned to London, albeit not in time to stop the plot from being put into motion, Moran’s ploy may not be as effective as he hopes it to be, not with Mycroft, Sherlock, Anthea, Molly and others working hard to stop him in his tracks. #24 Story Title: Rectifying Past Mistakes Pairings, Characters: Sherlock Holmes/Mary Morstan; Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft Holmes, Anthea, Mary Morstan, John Watson, Mrs. Hudson, Molly Hooper, Greg Lestrade, Sebastian Moran Rating: Teen | T Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: When Mycroft gets Sherlock out of Serbia, he drops a bombshell on him he isn't quite prepared for: after years of being gone out of his life, Sherlock's ex-wife Elizabeth has reappeared, under the name Mary Morstan. While he was off taking care of Moriarty's mess she was protecting those he cared about and helping his brother, for reasons, he finds, that she is keeping close to the vest. But when they're forced to stay in close quarters at Baker Street both secrets and old wounds come to light and, perhaps, things might turn out for the best after all. #25 Story Title: The Babe On The Doorstep Pairings, Characters: Mycroft Holmes/Anthea; Mycroft Holmes, Anthea, Greg Lestrade, OCs Rating: General | G Warnings: Child Abandonment Summary: One morning an infant is left on Mycroft’s doorstep with a note, signed by a woman named Laura. As Mycroft tries to find out who would entrust a child into his care he slowly opens his heart to the infant and lets the other people in his life that he’s kept at arms length in more, bit by bit. #26 Story Title: The Cursed Dragon Pairings, Characters: Sebastian Moran/Molly Hooper, forced engagement between Charles Augustus Magnussen/Mrs. Hooper; Margaret Hooper, Mrs. Hooper, Charles Augustus Magnussen, Mary Morstan, Sally Donovan, Irene Adler, Meena, OCs Rating: Teen | T Warnings: Major Character Death Summary: On the eve of Princess Molly's twenty-fifth birthday, a dragon comes to lay waste to her kingdom. Eventually, a lottery is set up to give the dragon a virgin sacrifice, but when Molly stumbles onto a wicked scheme by the royal advisor Magnussen, she finds herself picked as the next sacrifice and kept from telling the truth to her mother. Prepared to fight the dragon on her own if need be, she is taken to a remote part of her kingdom by the dragon...who is not quite what he seems. #28 Story Title: The Head Knows What The Heart Wants Pairings, Characters: Sebastian Moran/Molly Hooper, background John Watson/Mary Morstan; Sebastian Moran, Molly Hooper, Sherlock Holmes, Mary Morstan, Mycroft Holmes, Eurus Holmes, OCs Rating: Explicit | E Warnings: Mild violence Summary: After the revelation that there had been some plotting between Moriarty and Eurus before his death, Sebastian Moran had decided to do whatever it took to keep Molly safe...even if that meant ruining whatever the results of his ex-lover's collusion with the Holmes sister were. But after enough time had gone by, things changed, and that was when Eurus decided to strike. That was when Sebastian couldn't deny the truth any longer: Molly Hooper had become the most important person in his life...and he would do whatever it took to make sure she was safe. #29 Story Title: The Pesky Virginity Issue Pairings, Characters: Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, John Watson/Mary Morstan, past Tom/Molly Hooper; Molly Hooper, Mary Morstan, John Watson, Sherlock Holmes, Tom, OCs Rating: Explicit | E Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: After Molly's engagement ends she decides she wants to rid herself of her virginity since that was a major cause of the dissolution of her relationship with her ex. When her friend Mary suggests she knows the perfect person, things don't go quite according to any sort of plan she may have had in her head...but it has a pleasantly surprising result nonetheless. #30 Story Title: To Live Again Pairings, Characters: Pre-Mycroft Holmes/Mary Morstan, background Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, past John Watson/Mary Morstan;Mary Morstan, Mycroft Holmes, Molly Hooper Rating: General | G Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: After the events at the aquarium which leaves most of the world thinking Mary Watson is dead, Mary deals with conflicting feelings and moving on in the wake of knowing her marriage is, for all intents and purposes, over. #31 Story Title: What Could Have Been, What Will Be In Its Stead Pairings, Characters: Mycroft Holmes/Molly Hooper, past Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, mentioned Anthea/Kate and Mr & Mrs. Holmes; Mycroft Holmes, Molly Hooper, Siger Holmes, Mummy Holmes, Greg Lestrade, Anthea, OCs Rating: Teen | T Warnings: Major Character Death Summary: When Sherlock dies, he leaves behind a woman he planned to marry and a child he did not know about. Mycroft is determined to take care of them both in his brother's stead, but nothing is ever as easy as one plans. That is the true Holmes legacy. BBC Sherlock/Doctor Who #32 Story Title: The Detective And The Hound Pairings, Characters: Sherlock Holmes/Amy Pond, background John Watson/Lorna Bucket; Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, Amy Pond, Henry Knight; other Sherlock characters in"The Hounds of Baskerville" Rating: Teen | T Warnings: Unconcensual drug use Summary: Sherlock and John get given a case from Henry Knight, who believes his father was killed years prior by a hound in the moors. But what starts as a much needed break from the tedium that Sherlock is experiencing turns into a case that has him questioning many things and feeling something he has not felt in a long time: the type of fear that leaves you with a chill in your bones. #33 Story Title: When In University Pairings, Characters: Sherlock Holmes/Amy Pond; Amy Po/nd, Sherlock Holmes, Aunt Sharon, Mummy Holmes, Mycroft Holmes, Mrs. Hudson, Rory Williams Rating: Explicit | E Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: Sherlock Holmes was a jerk the first time she met him. She had no idea how much he was going to grow on her as time went on... BBC Sherlock/Marvel Cinematic Universe #34 Story Title: A Potential Loophole To Exploit Pairings, Characters: Thor Odinson/Jane Foster, Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, implied Loki Laufeyson/Darcy Lewis, Phil Coulson/Melinda May, Antoine Triplett/Daisy Johnson, Jemma Simmons/Leo Fitz and Clint Barton/Natasha Romanoff; Thor Odinson, Loki Laufeyson, Frigga, Phil Coulson, Molly Hooper, Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft Holmes, Tony Stark, Clint Barton, Jane Foster, Melinda May, Jemma Simmons, Leo Fitz, Antoine Triplett, Daisy Johnson, Darcy Lewis, Sif, Heimdall, OCs Rating: General | G Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: After Thor and Loki leave a meeting with their mother, they start to talk about what can be done to stave off the foretold arrival of their sister, Hela, and begin to make plans. #35 Story Title: Playing The Game: Act II – Knights & Knowledge, Romance & Regret Pairings, Characters: Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, implied Clint Barton/Natasha Romanoff and pre Phil Coulson/Melinda May, Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons and Antoine Triplett/Skye | Daisy Johnson; Molly Hooper, Sherlock Holmes, Phil Coulson, Mary Morstan, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Melinda May, Skye | Daisy Johnson, Leo Fitz, Jemma Simmons, Antoine Triplett Rating: Teen | T Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: After tracking down Phil Coulson and his team, Molly and the others join him on their hunt for Grant Ward so that Molly can get retribution for Victoria’s death and Nat and Clint can further Fury’s assignment to help deal with all of the escapees from the Fridge. But as things get more complicated with the appearance of the Diviner and all the entails, Molly begins to wonder if she will ever get her end goal of Ward disappearing in a deep dark hole where no one can find him. #36 Story Title: The Forgotten Wife Pairings, Characters: Stephen/Molly, past Stephen/Christine, eventual past Tom/Molly; Stephen Strange, Molly Hooper, Wong, Christine Palmer, Baron Mordo, Tom Rating: General | G Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: Fifteen years ago, to fulfill the dying wish of someone who inspired him, Stephen Strange married Molly Hooper on a whim. And then life happened. A life full of many different things for both of them. But when Molly turns up at the Sanctum Santorum demanding an annulment so she can marry her fiancee, it presents an entire situation where neither of them have any idea how to approach a marriage that they aren't sure they want to end as they get to know each other better. BBC Sherlock/Midsomer Murders #37 Story Title: Every English Village Has Its Secrets Pairings, Characters: Past/Unrequited Mycroft Holmes/Gregory Lestrade, Tom Barnaby/Joyce Barnaby, Sally Donovan/OMC; Greg Lestrade, Sally Donovan, Mycroft Holmes, Tom Barnaby, Gavin Troy, OCs Rating: Teen | T Warnings: Summary: When Greg and Sally get called to Midsomer County for a case, right from the start Greg knows it will be a headache when Mycroft offers him lodging (so long as he's alright with his former lover being his housemate for his time there), and it doesn't get much better when he meets DCI Tom Barnaby and immediately their Detective Sergeants take an instant dislike to each other when Sally arrives the next evening. And that isn't even getting into the actual case itself and all the secrets hidden in the village of Elverton-cum-Latterley... BBC Sherlock/Star Trek: AOS #38 Story Title: Serendipity & Coincidence Pairings, Characters: Leonard McCoy/Molly Hooper, background Jim Kirk/Carol Marcus and Spock/Nyota Uhura; Leonard McCoy, Molly Hooper, Jim Kirk, Carol Marcus, Spock, Nyota Uhura, Joanna McCoy, OCs Rating: Explicit | E Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: Bones knows one thing: he likes Dr. Molly Hooper and doesn't want his friendship with her to change...even if the voice in the back of his head says he'd like more than just a friendship with the female Starfleet officer. But a dare from Jim leads to more than he had expected and certainly more than he wanted...or could ever have hoped for. Black Sails #39 Story Title: a tide of hope Pairings, Characters: Abigail Ashe/Billy Bones Rating: Mature | M Warnings: mild violence Summary: "My point being, unless my crew decides that they don’t want to give me up for dead, and if what you say is true and no one will come looking for you, then we are very much stranded on this island.” Abigail Ashe awakens to find herself shipwrecked on an island. However, she is not alone. Abigail Ashe/Billy Bones, post season 3. Boku No Hero Academia/Star Vs the Forces of Evil #40 Story Title: Princess' guide (title may be subject to change) Pairings, Characters: Star Butterfly/Tenya Iida Rating: General | G Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: A Sequel to 'An Earthling's Guide to Dealing with Mewberty' Star was serious when she offered to take Iida on a multidimensional adventure as a thank you for helping her get through Mewberty, and after hearing about the Hero Killer's capture, and Iida's own encounter with Stain, Star is more sure than anything else, that her friend could use some uncomplicated fun. Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Hellblazer #42 Story Title: Insert Hell Pun Here Pairings, Characters: Rupert Giles & John Constantine, Willow Rosenburg/Tara Maclay, Xander Harris/Anya Jenkins, implied John Constantine/Spike Rating: Teen | T Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: Giles thought he'd never see John Constantine again. But when John turns up at the Magic Box looking for help, it brings back some memories Giles would much rather forget. Some sins you don't get absolution for. Code Geass #43 Story Title: World Enough and Time Pairings, Characters: Suzaku/Lelouch and Gino/Kallen (both minor) Rating: Teen | T Warnings: Graphic Violence Summary: Six months after Ragnarok, all Kallen wants to do is protect the people she loves, even if it means betraying everything in her heart to serve a Britannian prince. Suzaku wants to reverse a mistake he made but would never take back. Euphemia is willing to risk everything of herself in order to be a better person and find a cure. And Lelouch... Lelouch wants to make the world safe for his little sister, even if it means destroying everything in his path. (The AU where the royal family controls the elements through music instead of Geass, and the Ragnarok Connection united the living and dead... by bringing back the dead.) Critical Role Campaign One/Dragon Age Origins (Awakening) #44 Story Title: TBA Pairings, Characters: Vax'ildan/Keyleth; Vax'ildan, Percy, Vex'alia, Scanlan, Keyleth, M!Mahariel, probably others from both canons, Grey Wardens from Awakening Rating: No Rating Warnings: Chooses not to use Warnings Summary: Merging of the two canons, but mainly in the Dragon Age setting with some Critical Role characters. Vox Machina finds the ancient thaig containing the tomb of the Raven Queen's champion, but in the process Vax'ildan is infected with the Blight. Only Loral Mahariel, hero of Ferelden, can save Vax's life -- but will he be willing to pay the price? Crossing Lines/Grey's Anatomy/Hawaii Five-0/Marvel Cinematic Universe/The Sentinel/S.W.A.T. #45 Story Title: This is our sanctuary Pairings, Characters: Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark, Clint Barton/James Street, Natasha Romanov/Sam Wilson, Ellie Defont-Bogard/Sebastian Berger Rating: Mature | M Warnings: Graphic Violence Summary: Clint Barton and Jim Street have been together for about a month as Guide and Sentinel when Jimmy's mom is released from prison. Clint wants Jimmy to have nothing to do with his emotionally abusive, Hydra mother. But Jimmy feels he owes Karen Street too much to abandon her, and Clint loves Jimmy too much to break his Sentinel's heart. So despite Clint's misgivings, they go to Los Angeles to visit her. The idea is to spend a couple hours with Karen and then hopefully never see her again. But what not even Jimmy realizes is how much Karen hates Clint for being Jimmy's Guide instead of her. Or how far she'll go to get her son back. Because Karen Street will do anything to get her son back. The problem is, Clint and Jimmy might not survive it. CSI: NY #46 Story Title: Twist Of Fate Pairings, Characters: Don Flack, Jr./Jessica Angell; Don Flack, Jr., Jessica Angell, Mac Taylor, Stella Bonasera, Lindsay Monroe, Danny Messer, Samantha Flack, Don Flack Sr., Sheldon Hawkes, Adam Ross Rating: General | G Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: What if Jessica had a very good reason for not escorting Connor Dunbrook's kid to trial? What might have been? CSI: NY/Law & Order #47 Story Title: Theraputic Pairings, Characters: Eventual Danny Messer/Lindsay Monroe; Danny Messer, Mac Taylor, Emil Skoda, Don Flack Jr., Lindsay Monroe, Lennie Briscoe Rating: Teen | T Warnings: Major Character Death, Character deaths are in the past, but they were characters from CSI: NY Danny knew Summary: In Danny's eyes, the hits just keep on coming...though this particular hit may turn out all right in the end. Daredevil #48 Story Title: Pairings, Characters: Brett Maloney Rating: Teen | T Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: Brett Maloney has no magic. He is not magic and he likes it that way because it means that magic is not his proble- Oh who is he kidding. It's totally his problem. Especially since this latest serial killer case he's sticking his nose into has magic written all over it and he's the best cop to investigate. Now to catch this guy before he targets another Hell's Kitchen witch like Foggy... DC Extended Universe #49 Story Title: Pairings, Characters: Dick Grayson Rating: Mature | M Warnings: Graphic Violence Summary: After Superman dies, Dick Grayson reconnects with his father Doctor Who/St. Trinian's #51 Story Title: Adventures In Unexpected Places Pairings, Characters: Rory Williams/Amy Pond; Amy Pond, Camilla Fritton, Kelly Jones, Eleventh Doctor, Rory Williams, Mels Zucker Rating: General | G Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: After being sent to the worst school in the whole of England, Amy meets up with the man whose fault it is that she’s there, and things go vastly more differently than anyone expected. Dragon Age #52 Story Title: loves to learn, love to burn Pairings, Characters: fenris/f!hawke, carver hawke & f!hawke, Rating: Mature | M Warnings: Graphic Violence, there's an implication that a character might consider suicide (from a different character's perspective): there are no mentions of suicidal ideation expressed as such. haven't decided if i'll keep that in or not but it is currently in one of the snippets. Summary: pictures at an exhibition sort of thing about what we don't see from a fenris rivalmance from playing da2. if you're not a total music nerd then I guess i'd describe it as scenes loosely arranged around a central plot of a rocky romance, and of finding family- broadly following the chronology of the game. also explores how carver and marianne hawke deal with the changes to their family (losing bethany and their mom, etc). Football RPF #54 Story Title: It's A Long Way Up When You Hit the Ground Pairings, Characters: Christian Eriksen/Vincent Janssen Rating: Mature | M Warnings: No Warnings Apply Summary: Vincent's future is still uncertain, but rather than dwell on it, all he wants to do is welcome Christian home from the World Cup and find a few moments of bliss in each other's company before the world comes along and sweeps them away again. Christian, however, isn't making things at all easy, and Vincent starts wondering if maybe he has other ideas. A story about moving in, uncertainty, finding true friendships, and questioning everything about your past, present, and future. Gilmore Girls #55 Story Title: The Thing He Carried Pairings, Characters: Rory Gilmore/Jess Mariano and Luke Danes/Lorelai Gilmore Rating: Teen | T Warnings: No Warnings apply, Minor violence Summary: This story is based on a post on Tumblr pertaining to what if Jess did not go to California. It is also based on 'The Things That He Carried' by Tim O'Brien, who also wrote an episode of 'This Is Us'. It's about growth and acceptance. it's about love and relationships. It's about rising above adversity. Glee #56 Story Title: Merry and Bright Pairings, Characters: Blaine Anderson/Kurt Hummel Rating: Teen | T Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: Kurt's built his life to cut out all feelings. The cute singer that comes into the Lima Bean every Thursday night breaks that idea. Guardian #57 Story Title: As Winter Fades Pairings, Characters: Zhao Yunlan/Shen Wei Rating: Explicit | E Warnings: dub-con Summary: Zhao Yunlan is a proud omega, but when he gets thrust back into Old Haixing, his life depends on impersonating alpha Kunlun. Then he meets Shen Wei and it all goes to hell. Hannibal #59 Story Title: The Art of Her Mind Pairings, Characters: Hannibal Lecter/Will Graham, Aralie/Travis Rating: Explicit | E Warnings: Graphic Violence, Depiction of drug use Summary: A young girl was accused of murdering her entire family, but one clever psychologist got her to serve a five year sentence at a mental institution. The day she is released from the hospital, Aralie has to adjust to life beyond her past. Aralie finds that when her anxiety becomes to much she occupies her mind with sketching the world around her and losing herself in ballet. Harry Potter #61 Story Title: Lionhearted Girl Pairings, Characters: Regulus Black/Severus Snape (minor), no other pairings at this time, but future Female!Harry Potter/Neville Longbottom Rating: Teen | T Warnings: No Warnings apply, Forced Amnesia Summary: Roswitha Artemis Black had gone from orphan to heiress to daughter in remarkably short time frame, like a dream come true. Now starting her first year of Hogwarts, she faces challenges she is certain regular first years don't have to deal with -- like the castle talking to her and demanding she find and evict an artifact deep beneath the stone floors. Or how whispers of another girl, nameed Heather Potter, stir some strange dream within her. #62 Story Title: Pairings, Characters: OMC/Pansy Parkinson, Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy Rating: Warnings: Summary: Evan Potter grew up knowing two things were true: that he was the Boy Who Lived, and that because of that, it wasn't safe for his squib brother Harry to live in the magical world. He'd be an easy target for any angry Death Eater who wanted revenge. No matter how badly he wants to be an ordinary kid with an ordinary brother, his life is never going to work that way. Then it turns out that Harry isn't a squib after all. And when Evan follows him into Slytherin to protect him... well, maybe his life isn't as set in stone as he'd always thought it would be. Hetalia #63 Story Title: From Spacious Skies, To Perilous Fight Pairings, Characters: America (Hetalia); Canada (Hetalia); Germany (Hetalia); North Italy (Hetalia); England (Hetalia); France (Hetalia); Molossia (Hetalia); Additional micronations Rating: Mature | M Warnings: Graphic Violence, Invasive Medical Procedures Summary: America’s explosive appearance on the national stage sent ripples of shock throughout the world. As he grapples to find his place as the Personification of the United State of America, dark forces begin to stir once more. Sequel to"In Need of Representation". James Bond #64 Story Title: GoldenEye Interrupted Pairings, Characters: James Bond/Alec Trevelyan Rating: General | G Warnings: No Warnings apply, Canon-Typical Violence Summary: James Bond meets up with his partner, Alec Trevelyan, to complete a mission — destroy a chemical weapons facility. When he finds Alec, he quickly discovers there’s something else going on. Following his instincts, he talks to Alec, leading the pair to realize they have two different sets of orders. The two partners know that if they had followed their separate orders, they might both have been killed. Now, they will carry out James’ orders to destroy the facility, and then they will go hunting. There’s a mole in MI6, and they’re just the Double O’s to catch him. #65 Story Title: My Partner the Car Pairings, Characters: James Bond/Alec Trevelyan/Q Rating: General | G Warnings: No Warnings apply, Canon-Typical Violence Summary: James Bond's partner, Alec Trevelyan, recently died. When he goes to pick up Alec's old car, he discovers there's more to the Jaguar than he realized, and that Alec wasn't as dead as everyone thought. With the assistance of MI6's Quartermaster, James has to find Alec's body, and somehow return Alec's spirit to his body. It might be an impossible task for some, but not for MI6's best Double O's. Law & Order #66 Story Title: a moment of transition Pairings, Characters: Mike Logan/Elizabeth Olivet; Mike Logan (Chris Noth), Elizabeth Olivet (Carolyn McCormick), Caroline Olivet (I'm picturing Madeline Zima), Lucas de Motigny (OC, I'm picturing Tom Sturridge) Rating: Mature | M Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: Caroline Olivet starts her first semester at Yale. Les Miserables #67 Story Title: We’ll take a cup of kindness, yet Pairings, Characters: Minor/Background relationships. Grantaire, Enjolras, Courfeyrac, Combeferre, Joly, Musichetta, Bossuet, Bahorel, Bahorel’s laughing mistress, Feuilly, Jean"Jehan"Pouvoir, Eponine Thenardier, Marius Pontmercy; Cosette; Gavroche Rating: Teen | T Warnings: No Warnings apply, Alcohol, mentions of marijuana, Summary: They’re having some sort of winter holiday… thing. She’s never quite sure what to call these gatherings. They're not religious, and they’re not meetings; they have regular meetings and this is not one. But, it’s not quite a party, either. It could be if they decided on a theme or reason, beyond"its cold and we’re all busy and everyone else is getting together, so let’s eat food and enjoy each other."So, it’s a thing. That works right? They’re having a December Thing. In which R discovers Enjolras can cook, Cosette tricks Gavroche into eating vegetables, Bossuet both forgets and wins at White Elephant, and having close friends is just generally awesome. Marvel Cinematic Universe #70 Story Title: it's in the past we can make this leap Pairings, Characters: Characters: Clint Barton, Steve Rogers, Peggy Carter, a few OCs, some Howard Stark, Colonel Phillips, Daniel Sousa, and Angie Martinelli. Pairings: Mostly gen, with minor Steve/Peggy, minor Clint/Natasha Rating: Teen | T Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: After a mission goes horribly wrong, the Avengers end up separated and scattered in time. Clint joins forces with someone unexpected while Steve meets a kid who’s in way over his head. They both try not to completely screw up history. #71 Story Title: till human voices wake us Pairings, Characters: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Clint Barton, James"Bucky"Barnes, James"Rhodey"Rhodes, Rating: Mature | M Warnings: Chooses not to use Warnings Summary: Tony is called out on a rescue mission. Things deteriorate from there. [post-Civil War sort-of fix-it reconciliation fic, de-aging (kid!Steve), action/adventure, ensemble, eventual Steve/Tony] #73 Story Title: Whoops, I slipped Pairings, Characters: Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Clint Barton, and the rest of the Avengers in more of a supporting role Rating: General | G Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: There's an explosion in the labs and Tony Stark finds himself in the body of a 3 or 4 year old. Unfortunately, his adult brain is calibrated for an adult body and all of the connections are scrambled, so he's in a bit a pickle. It's hard to let your teammates know that you're capable of rational thought when you can't even figure out how to operate the controls that enable you to walk and talk. #74 Story Title: Pairings, Characters: Matt Murdock & Peter Parker; Peter Parker & Tony Stark Rating: Teen | T Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: Matt never liked Tony Stark until he met Peter Parker. Now... now he HATES him. But he's not going to be the one to start a fight. End it yes, but there's no way he'll risk Peter's anger by starting it. And what does Stark mean, Peter's missing? Marvel Cinematic Universe/Torchwood #75 Story Title: The Stars Lead Me to You Pairings, Characters: James 'Bucky' Barnes/Ianto Jones, Natasha Romanoff/Toshiko Sato, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Thor/Loki, Clint Barton/Phil Coulson Rating: Teen | T Warnings: MPREG, Miscarriage, a/o/b Summary: A person can only take so much being someone's second or in Ianto Jones case third or even fourth choice but still he stays with Jack because he loves him until the case with the Space Whale cost him the child he didn't know he was carrying, unable to watch Jack fawn over Gwen anymore Ianto decides to leave. Seeking out his father Phil Coulson advice Ianto ends up becoming the second handler to the Avengers and finds himself growing closer to the former Winter Soldier Bucky, who seems to know him from another time and many just find happiness with him. Once Upon A Time #77 Story Title: The Stowaways Pairings, Characters: Ruby/Belle, Killian/Emma Rating: Teen | T Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: On a much needed vacation, Emma and Killian find that they are not alone on the Jolly Roger. Original Works #78 Story Title: Taking Over Pairings, Characters: Original Male Character/Orc, Original Male Character/Original Male Character Rating: Explicit | E Warnings: Graphic Violence, Major Character Death, Chooses not to use Warnings, Past abusive relationship, PWP that grew plot, Summary: The King is dead, long live the King... As king's consort, Teyrin had never expected any strife. Then the orcs attacked. Now Teyrin has found himself torn between two world: rebellion against the new King of Athary is brewing in Neith. However, stuck at the castle, Teyrin finds himself falling in love not just with the Orckish culture, but with their king as well. As the consequences get more dire, Teyrin finds the stakes increasing. It's no longer just his life that hangs in the balance. #79 Story Title: The Naked Legion Pairings, Characters: Original Male Character/Original Male Character Rating: Explicit | E Warnings: Graphic Violence, Tentacle sex, ovipositioning, inflation, symbiotes Summary: Rio's husband Shen has joined the Bio-Armor Division of the Stellar Marines, those who bond with a symbiote to gain living armor in order to fight powerful extraterrestrial threats. Six months after Shen, Rio is now ready to go through the intense bonding process with his own symbiote and join his husband in the Naked Legion so they can make a difference in the fight against the cruel and uncaring Krellians... Peaky Blinders #80 Story Title: A Battle Joined Pairings, Characters: Esme Shelby/Tommy Shelby Rating: No Rating Warnings: Chooses not to use Warnings Summary: "Your wife is gone, Tommy. Does it matter how?" A sprawling tale of family and deceit, love and regret, anchored by Esme and Tommy's complicated arranged marriage. Primeval (BBC) #81 Story Title: untitled role reversal fic Pairings, Characters: Nick/Stephen, Ensemble Rating: Explicit | E Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: Nick emerges from an anomaly into a world where Stephen is still alive . . . and Nick is the person who betrayed the team by siding with Helen. Nick doesn't know if he could return to his own 'verse even if he wanted to, but finds that Stephen is reason enough to make him want to stay in this one. At first Nick is distrusted, especially by Claudia. Nick helps the ARC by pointing out the differences between his world and this one and helping them try to figure out what Helen's up to. Eventually he is allowed back on the team; this time with Stephen as the team leader. Connor and Abby welcome Nick back with open arms (even if he isn't ~their Nick) and the four of them hang out together as a team and as friends. Nick and Stephen rekindle their friendship and grow even closer until they admit that the relationship they want is far different from the one they had before. (If you're familiar with Primeval, this fic was started for the role reversal square for trope_bingo.) Star Trek: AOS #82 Story Title: The Paths We Take, Glittering And Entwined Pairings, Characters: James Kirk/Spock, Leonard McCoy/Christine Chapel, may be other ships; Spock, James Kirk, Leonard McCoy, Christine Chapel, Nyota Uhura, other characters TBD Rating: Teen | T Warnings: Drug use; drug withdrawals Summary: When Captain Spock is assigned captainship of the USS Enterprise, he thinks it will be nothing more than a chance to improve upon his last post...until he finds himself in the same room with Ensign James T. Kirk. They find themselves both on the receiving end of a mental link that they now share, which brings complications for them both: for Spock, it is how to remain unattached in the face of a crisis and for Kirk it is how to keep the secret he is keeping from both his captain and his best friend. But in the face of a threat that could bring about the end of the Federation as they know it, perhaps this link is the best thing for both of them in the end. Star Trek: DS9 #83 Story Title: Shared Burden Pairings, Characters: Keiko O'Brien/Kira Nerys, Keiko O'Brien/Miles O'Brien Rating: Explicit | E Warnings: Pregnancy, description of injuries, infidelity Summary: After Keiko is injured, her unborn child is transferred to Major Kira to finish its gestation. The O’Briens invite Kira to stay with them while she is pregnant with their child, but she and Keiko share more than one burden. The attraction that existed previously now blooms to something far more serious and complicated. Star Trek: TOS #84 Story Title: Day Of The Cypok Pairings, Characters: Pavel Chekov/Irina Galliulin Rating: Mature | M Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: Pavel Chekov experiences his own version of Groundhog Day--aboard his new command, USS Integer. Star Wars #85 Story Title: a million lightyears away (from you) Pairings, Characters: Kylo Ren/Armitage Hux Rating: Explicit | E Warnings: Chooses not to use Warnings, canon typical violence, injury recovery, developing relationships Summary: Following Crait, Hux takes a medical leave, to recover from his injuries. Supreme Leader Kylo Ren does not approve. #86 Story Title: Cinnamon Sugar Pairings, Characters: Finn/Rey Rating: Teen | T Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: Rey is a pretzel stand worker hoping to go to Republic University right across the way when she meets a handsome student, Finn... #87 Story Title: Out to Sea Pairings, Characters: Kylo Ren/Hux Rating: Teen | T Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: A hundred years ago, a lord's son was lured to the sea by a mermaid and was never seen again. Now a mermaid has appeared once more, and she seems to have her sights set on Kylo. As the mermaid promises Kylo a better life under the sea but can he trust her? If what she is saying is true, then Kylo needs to decide between paradise and his family. Based off the book"Forbidden Sea." #88 Story Title: Pivotal moments (working title) Pairings, Characters: Luke Skywalker/Han Solo Rating: Teen | T Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: Han wasn't used to looking at life through its pivotal moments #89 Story Title: Still un-named Pairings, Characters: Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren Rating: Explicit | E Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: Kylo Amidala is the drag queen who keeps getting arrested by Hux nearly every week. #90 Story Title: Strike True Pairings, Characters: Kylo Ren/Armitage hux Rating: Explicit | E Warnings: Chooses not to use Warnings Summary: Seducing the new Supreme Leader is the best course of action, Hux decides, both for the order and for his own personal safety. #91 Story Title: Pairings, Characters: Anakin Skywalker/Padme Naberrie, Obi-Wan Kenobi Rating: Warnings: Summary: There haven't been any more major changes in Obi-Wan's life in the months since Anakin and Padme's not-so-secret marriage (and pregnancy) became public. He's almost let himself become optimistic since Dooku's death: all they have to do is stop Grievous and the war will be over for good - and, after this amount of time, the Council can't possibly change their minds about allowing Anakin to be a married Jedi. Everything's going to work out the way he wants it. Life, of course, is never that simple. Star Wars Legends, X-Wing series #92 Story Title: Just Like That, Everything Changes Pairings, Characters: Wes Janson/Derek"Hobbie"Klivian, Wedge Antilles, Tycho Celchu, minor characters Rating: General | G Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: After years of being"just friends", an imminent separation forces Wes and Hobbie to finally accept their feelings for the other, and in time, they may even admit this to each other. Supernatural #93 Story Title: Angel of the Morning Pairings, Characters: Gabriel/Christa(OFC) Rating: Explicit | E Warnings: Chooses not to use Warnings Summary: slightly inspired by the Juice Newton song of the same name. sequel to Invisible Touch (OC Edition). Things don't go as planned for our golden-eyed Archangel (do they ever?) Not every human has an Angel as a soulmate, but every Angel has a human as a theirs. Will Christa be able to accept the truth when she finds out just how deep the bond between her and Gabriel goes? Or will she reject him forever? Can true love really conquer all? #94 Story Title: Minus One Pairings, Characters: Jody Mills Rating: Teen | T Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: When Dean turns up on Jody's doorstep, injured and minus Sam, she and Bobby have to work out what happened in order to save both Winchesters. #96 Story Title: surrender feels safe Pairings, Characters: Gabriel/Sam Winchester Rating: Explicit | E Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: Sam just lost his job. And no, it wasn’t his fault or his employer’s. This isn’t the best of times for small enterprises in Detroit. He is also a week away from being evicted from his apartment and nobody seems to want to employ him. But let’s take a step back and think about the mysterious job offer he receives on the night he becomes unemployed. With no options left, he gives it a try. He doesn’t expect to throw his new employer’s world off-kilter, forge an unexpected friendship with the oldest being in creation and be swept off his feet along with all of it (not necessarily in that order). Things just happen, right? Right. Supernatural RPF #97 Story Title: Spies, Suits and Alpha's Pairings, Characters: Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki Rating: Mature | M Warnings: Minor original character death, a/o/b, attempted rape (not by either J's), alpha!Jensen, omega!Jared Summary: J2 version of Kingsman. Jensen Ackles made it his mission to look after his fallen partner's family, especially his omega son Jared, promising Jared he would always be there for him. When Jared's step father attempts to claim him Jared runs and calls Jensen for help as a Kingsman Legacy Jared's world is changed as he proves that just because he is an omega he is as good as any alpha and deserves his spot. Transformers Generation One #98 Story Title: Pairings, Characters: Prowl & Barricade, Prowl & Bluestreak, Prowl & Bluestreak & Barricade, Prowl/Starscream, Prowl/Jazz, Codicil, First Aid, Lifeline, Nightstalker, Accord, Trailbreaker, Crosscut, Pulse, Incidental OCs Rating: Teen | T Warnings: No Warnings apply, Chooses not to use Warnings Summary: Prowl, a young single parent, manages raising his creation, the demands of his own neglectful former guardian, and seeks to enter into a relationship. TVXQ #99 Story Title: Digital Stockholm Pairings, Characters: Jung Yunho/Shim Changmin Rating: Explicit | E Warnings: mentions of suicide, stress induced anxiety, depression symptoms Summary: Yunho has no idea why there are concerning videos of Changmin on his laptop, but it might just unhinge the volatile and complicated relationship he’s maintained with Changmin for the last decade. Set at the end of 2014, a psycho-dramatic get-together fic. Vampire Hunter D #100 Story Title: Delivery Pairings, Characters: D, Left Hand, Necessary OCs Rating: Teen | T Warnings: Chooses not to use Warnings Summary: Vampire Hunter D has his most difficult bounty yet...taking care of a six month old child across the Frontier! Voltron: Legendary Defender #101 Story Title: An Inconvenient Attachment Pairings, Characters: Keith/Pidge | Katie Holt, Ryan Kinkade/James Griffin (mentioned), past Pidge | Katie Holt/Original Male character, Pidge | Katie Holt Shiro (Voltron) Keith (Voltron) Iverson (Voltron) James Griffin (Voltron) Ryan Kinkade Rating: Explicit | E Warnings: No Warnings apply, Trans Female Pidge | Katie Holt, Accidental Voyeurism, Summary: In the aftermath of the failed Kerberos mission, Katie Holt descended into despair. No amount of skill would give her the information she wanted, especially after being banned from Garrison property by Commander Iverson. Thus there was only one solution in her mind. She had to infiltrate the Galaxy Garrison, to be close to the source and enable her to find what she needed to find to know the fate of her father and brother. Getting in was the easy part. Being able to stay? That was a little harder. Remaining unattached so she could focus entirely on finding her family? That was the hardest part, harder than she ever could expect after years of being brushed aside. #103 Story Title: home is just another word Pairings, Characters: Keith Kogane/Lance McClain Rating: Teen | T Warnings: No Warnings apply Summary: When Lance and Allura break up, it’s quiet. Keith doesn’t understand why that bothers him so much. OR: after a kinder, gentler season eight, Keith and Lance go on a road trip, and Keith doesn't have any reference points for the ways he's starting to feel. #104 Story Title: show me what you're made of Pairings, Characters: Pidge | Katie Holt/Original Male Character, Pidge | Katie Holt/Ryou Shirogane, Pidge| Katie Holt, Ryou Shirogane Rating: Explicit | E Warnings: Underage Drinking, Dubcon, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Ryou is Shiro's twin brother, Trans female Pidge, Transphobia, trans slurs Summary: Katie Holt, graduate student at the Taylor-Keaton Institute of Technology, was proud of the work that her father and brother did at the Galaxy Garrison. Even knowing they were going to be gone for several months at the least going the furthest any manned mission had gone, filled her more with pride than with dread. Months passed, and then days passed without word from Matt. And then she saw the news. And her world crumbled apart. (A story in five parts about mourning, denial, and coming into adulthood by throwing oneself in the deep end and struggling to stay afloat.) Watch Dogs (Video Games) #105 Story Title: Hurricane Pairings, Characters: Aiden Pearce/Jordi Chin, Marcus Holloway/Wrench (Watch Dogs) Rating: Mature | M Warnings: Graphic Violence Summary: People keep going missing in downtown San Francisco, including a member of DedSec. When Marcus and the rest of the gang start to investigate, their mission runs face first into one that Aiden Pearce is involved in too—but this time, close and personal instead of from behind the safety of a camera and a drone. When all of that piles on top of a job Jordi Chin's on, Marcus begins to wonder if he's pissed off any unloving gods recently.

#WIP Big Bang #WIPBigBang #art claims #looking for an artist #looking for artists #artists needed #2019 #mod post

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redqueenmiku · 5 years ago

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A DECADE’S RETROSPECTIVE, REDQUEENMIKU STYLE

Here we are, facing down the start of a brand new decade. This decade has had its ups and downs for everyone. For me, this has been an extremely eventful decade. So much has happened that it’s actually ridiculous.

So, I got to thinking: as we enter 2020, I want to take a look back at my past ten years of existence and really give you guys a peek into my mind. You’re going to learn where I came from and how I got to where I am now. This decade contained my first experiences with the great wide world of posting to the internet and everything that came with it.

Are you ready? Let’s travel back in time to the start of this decade…

2010

2010 started with the final half of my eighth-grade year. I was an awkward child with a million original characters and no friends.

It was pretty sad.

Eighth grade came and went and summer came around. Wow! Look! What’s that?! Toward the end of the summer that year, a certain character named Jake Speed was born and Diametrics, then known as Lightning Speed, officially commenced. If you don’t know about my precious brainchild, Diametrics, don’t worry. I have something big planned for this summer to coincide with the series’ tenth anniversary that’ll answer everyone’s burning questions.

Then, toward the end of the year, after entering ninth grade, something amazing happened. I officially began my long and storied internet posting career.

Where did I start, you ask?...if you have to ask at all, I mean I’ve mentioned this probably a million times by this point but YES. I got my start as Shinymew76 on Nickelodeon’s official Invader Zim message boards. I was just getting my bearings at this time, so I didn’t do all that much of note, but I was getting ready to make my very first power move…

2011

Now, if you don’t know anything about what the Invader Zim message boards were like, we were kind of a hot mess. We were a tight-knit hot mess, though, and dang if we weren’t proud of it. The main activities of the message boards were making OCs and writing fanfiction. You know how sometimes on fanfiction.net you’ll find those really weird stories that are written entirely in script format? That was our bread and butter on the IZ boards. Just about everyone wrote that way. We had to be pretty kid-friendly too. I mean, what you could get away with depended on what our mod, NickZa, was feeling like that day, we were generally pretty restricted.

It’s important to remember that we were also little baby teenagers in a community revolving around Invader Zim.

In 2011, I began to really try to make a name for myself on the message boards. I started a short-lived gameshow series where people could submit their OCs to compete. It was a Total Drama kind of deal but it never really took off all that well. Then, though, I started a fanfiction titled “200 Years From Now”, which told the story of Dib accidentally transporting himself and Gaz to the future, where Zim has been exiled and a new Irken has been assigned to conquer the earth: Miki. Then, Zim returns to earth and something something rebellion to take down the Tallests. I don’t remember most of the story considering a good chunk of it was lost to time, but it definitely existed. The story also featured Zaz and Zelena, other people’s OCs that they submitted to be part of the story.

I don’t know how big that story made it. I really don’t know the scope, so I couldn’t say with certainty how many people read or enjoyed that story. Younger me, however, thought it was THE BEST. Immediately after it ended, I was already planning for a sequel with the same characters, adding villains from the still-thriving Lightning Speed. The story never actually got written and there was no real plan for anything about it aside from what I just told you, but there you go.

I also branched out further, spreading myself to other Nick.com boards with a variety of usernames because I was a coward. One account was 2darcara2, which was meant for the Danny Phantom and TUFF Puppy boards. I never did anything on the latter, the only remnant being an OC for the series known as Agent Darcara Fox. The former, though, came with two OCs, Annette and Aria Spectrelle, and a fanfiction: Eternal Darkness. The story revolved around Danny Phantom meeting Annette, who was being bullied by her older sister, Aria, and something about Aria being ultra-powerful and wanting Danny dead. Again, much of the story is lost to the ages. 2darcara2 also had an Invader Zim OC to coincide with it: Invader Erin, who had dark powers a la Raven from Teen Titans.

In case you couldn’t tell, 2darcara2 was the edgy one.

Then there was the other account: xxpetalxx. This account was meant for the iCarly and Victorious boards and also had her own Invader Zim OC, a human named Miriam. xxpetalxx published two stories, actually. The first was a crossover for Victorious and Invader Zim, where Zim and Dib end up at Hollywood Arts and Dib tries to get Tori to team up with him against Zim. It never finished, but it was something. More importantly, though, there was iMeet a Hero in Hollywood. I can’t even remember which board this went up on, but it was a three-way crossover between iCarly, Victorious, and Lightning Speed. Yeah. I was getting rather crazy here. I’ll talk more about the unfortunates of iMeet a Hero in Hollywood during that big surprise project I teased earlier, but it was a huge mess. Besides the fact that no one cared and I was way out of my element, it just sort of...dropped off the face of the earth.

Back to the main account, though. I lost the Shinymew76 account somewhere along the way, so I had to take up a new handle for my main account, JS712, named after Jake Speed. After getting bored of trying to maintain two secondary accounts, I cut the whole thing off save for iMeet a Hero in Hollywood and decided to just do things with my main account. That was when I decided to check out the miscellaneous boards. One was a board dedicated to original writing. Of course, I dabbled with posting the first story of Lightning Speed there only to have it rejected the first time around, likely because one of the characters was holding a gun. Yeah. This is how strict things were around there. I got it up the second time, but only by getting rid of the gun. The story never garnered any attention either, so that was a waste of time.

Then there was the video game board. This was a place for discussion about anything and everything video games. I remember everyone there making a big fuss about Chuggaconroy and how he was the best lets-player out there. Simpler times, those were.

On those boards, I attempted to launch a Sonic-themed series known as “Adventures in the Z-7 Station”. The series starred a character named Krystal the Hedgehog, who owned a boarding house called the Z-7 Station, where Sonic, Tails, Amy, Cream, Rouge, Shadow, Omega, Vector, Espio, Charmy, and Eggman lived. I also invited people to submit their own OCs to be included in the story.

No one gave a crap.

Even so, I endured, writing a good number of stories for the series. None of them actually went up, though. Sad, isn’t it?

Finally, I extended myself to the Penguins of Madagascar boards, writing a story known as “Penguins of Madagascar Humanized: Unleashed”. The story revolved around the adventures of the penguins, the lemurs, and Marlene, but as humans. There were also humanized versions of Dr. Blowhole and the android version of Skipper that showed up in, like, one episode of the show. They were the villains of the series alongside an OC named Violet. The story actually garnered a fair bit of recognition...until the whole thing randomly disappeared one day. Considering I didn’t archive it at all, that meant the whole thing was completely lost to time.

Of course, the message boards weren’t the only thing I was doing at this time. I was writing other fanfiction on the side too. One of these things was Shadow’s Story, a mega-crossover where Shadow the Hedgehog journeys across a crud-ton of different worlds to find the Chaos Emeralds to defeat an evil force that has made Sonic into its slave. It was one of the dumbest things in the history of ever, but I wouldn’t be mentioning it if it didn’t become important later.

Then, there came the end of the year, namely the date of November 4th. This was the day that I created a DeviantArt account under the handle KristoonzArtist76, and my life changed forever.

Immediately in the next two months I posted artwork for Lightning Speed, Penguins of Madagascar Humanized, 200 Years From Now, Shadow’s Story, and Adventures in the Z-7 Station. There was also the version of Lightning Speed’s first story that went up on the message boards as well as an attempt to recreate Penguins of Madagascar Humanized in comic form...and it was complete garbage.

I also met back up with people from the message boards during this time, seeing as they also had DeviantArt accounts. The most notable of these were Heidi and Mollie, both of which had been a constant presence on the Invader Zim boards and had actually made pretty significant names for themselves there. Mollie, though, had also been significant on the Penguins boards. I believe she even read the Humanized story before it was deleted.

Anyway, that brings us to the end of 2011. Now we move right into…

2012

2012 was when I started to get really frustrated with the boards...and I pretty much just left. You’re not really going to hear anything about the boards from here on out.

The first significant thing about 2012 happened in February: I bought a thirty-five dollar digital drawing tablet off Amazon. It was a cheap, floppy, plastic thing, but, to a younger me, it was the greatest thing ever. It was with that that I started my grand excursion into the world of digital art, starting with Microsoft Paint.

At the end of February, I decided that I was going to do something special to commemorate the leap year. This took the form of a new original story called The ExPERiMENT, which was about two experimental humans with the absolute worst names in existence, Haretaieto and Aidamizumi, nicknamed Hareta and Mizu for short. The two of them were labelled as defective and scheduled for execution, but are saved and brought to a secret compound for...well...undecided reasons. The story was meant to be told in the form of diary entries dated to the actual days each of them were to be released, but this quickly fell apart and ended up spelling the story’s doom. It stopped after the rescue on April 2nd and was never updated again, despite one or two unreleased efforts on my end to revive it.

In another turn of events, I published what I had for Adventures in the Z-7 Station on DeviantArt. The series went on to introduce Sonia and Manic from Sonic Underground, as well as several new OCs: Spright the Raccoon, Leigh the Hedgehog, and Raven the Echidna. A friend’s OC, Silverdust the Husky, was also included.

Then there was the day I logged on to find children staring me in the face. Heidi, one of the friends I had mentioned earlier, had written a story about her Invader Zim OCs that had also involved characters from Lightning Speed. In particular, the main character, also named Heidi, was involved in a romantic relationship with Dnias Speed, as agreed upon and supported by both of us. Then, one day, Heidi posted drawings of a theoretical set of children for the couple.

Those two children were Dante and Jupiter Speed. They will become extremely important later.

Lightning Speed continued to flourish in this time and I was still keeping up with trying to start getting good at digital art. At the end of May, I opened up five request slots, which ended up getting decent reception...from a bunch of bronies.

Did I forget to mention I was in the My Little Pony fandom at this time?

Things continued on from there. I went to prom, I made more Invader Zim OCs, I reached 100 posts on DeviantArt, I quit the message boards, I started learning how to drive, I pared down my ridiculous number of OCs, I read the Warriors series and actually started writing Warriors fanfiction with a whole four clans full of OCs, I made a group on DeviantArt for Lightning Speed, and many things continued as they already had.

Then, September rolled around and everything changed again.

It began with a class trip and the friend I sat next to on the bus. That friend introduced me to many things that day. One of those things was Law of Talos. Law of Talos is a phase in my life that I referenced for two seconds and then continued to haunt me for the rest of eternity.

The more important thing, though, is my first introduction to Vocaloid. On that day in September of 2012, I became a Vocaloid fanatic for the rest of my natural-born life. This would quickly become both a blessing and a curse.

Then, October rolled around and blessed me with Autodesk Sketchbook Pro. I immediately ditched MS Paint and embraced the new art program whole-heartedly. It was a whole new world. Suddenly I had layers and a color wheel and drawings that didn’t look pixellated.

Then, when Christmas came along, it also gave me a shot at a brand new tablet: a real Wacom Bamboo tablet.

I got fed up trying to get used to it and went back to my old tablet, handing the Bamboo off to my sister. I can’t tell if that was a terrible mistake or not, but here we are.

2013

In January of 2013, I discovered MikuMikuDance. MikuMikuDance is a free program that lets one pose and animate 3D models, primarily for use with Vocaloid models but with models for just about everything under the sun existing in one place or another.

This program was the worst thing that ever happened to me period.

Slowly but surely my art started to get completely drowned out by constant MMD images. I had MMD OCs, being crappy recolors of Miku and Rin. I had bizarre lore for different models. I put together those stupid Jewel Hearts that people keep downloading to this very day and I get messages of people favoriting them on DeviantArt constantly and it makes me want to scream because all I did was take a half of a heart someone else had made and just slap the two sides together and recolor it a few times yet it’s literally the most popular thing I’ve ever made someone please end meeeeee.

*ahem*

The MMD stuff wasn’t so bad in 2013, but this is where it started, so I’m obligated to mention it.

As for things that weren’t MMD that happened in 2013, we first have Lightning Speed. In 2013, the final material for the first run of the series was posted on DeviantArt. It wasn’t planned to be the last, but that’s how things worked out. The series still continued outside of DeviantArt, but there’s nothing on the internet to show for it.

There was also the X-Factor OC tournament, a tournament run by Heidi where various Invader Zim characters would be put up against each other in a literary battle of the ages. The character I entered was one I had adopted off the message boards before my departure: Quinn. Three of the tournament’s four rounds took place this year, all of which were wins for Quinn and my admittedly lackluster writing.

2013 also happened to be the time of a monumental shift in fandom for me. I voluntarily left behind the Sonic the Hedgehog fandom. To fill the void, though, I turned to...Koopalings. This, again, was both a blessing and a curse.

And, on top of that, 2013 was the year I attended my very first convention and wore my very first cosplay. I was a hastily-put-together Kagamine Rin. The costume was crap and the convention was just a tiny local event, but I still had fun nonetheless.

Then, at the end of 2013, something incredible happened. Heidi had created a shipping meme some months prior. As her friend, I filled out the meme and, in the process, I jokingly decided to pair Miku up with a cloud. Eventually, the joke devolved, said cloud eventually turning into one certain character of mine that had once had a cloud-like form. Then, that Christmas, I produced my very first annual Christmas shipping picture with said couple: Miku and the character known as Red King.

Yes, dear friends. This is where Red Queen Miku was born.

Oh, I also got a laptop for Christmas. That happened too.

2014

The first thing I did in 2014 was start up a challenge that would quickly become the bane of my existence: the MMD 100 Themes Challenge. This absolutely massive undertaking was the death blow for anything non-MMD related on my DeviantArt account. By that point, I was rarely posting actual art. 80 of 100 themes were posted this year alongside many more MMD images, dwarfing all other posts from this year.

Even through the MMD, though, I found the time and energy to start up my very own OC tournament: the Nightmare Manor OCT. Character submissions for the tournament began in February and, after the final audition phase from April to August, 14 characters had been entered and matched up for round one. After that, round 2 began in December, now down to only 6 participants after eliminations.

2014 was also the year that the first run of Lightning Speed finally came to an official close after over fifty quote-unquote “seasons”, ending officially on September 13th. In its wake, though, emerged Cannonfire, the story of Dante and Jupiter and their quest to escape nonexistence after being removed from their world. At the end of the story, Dante and Jupiter return from the city of those that don’t exist, Cannonfire, now existing in a parallel reality to the Lightning Speed series. The story was written early in 2014 and posted that summer.

Besides that, there were also my first full-fledged fanfictions for the Mario fandom. There was The Show Must Go On, a story about Lemmy Koopa getting kidnapped by a gang of thugs and Iggy and Larry venturing out to try to save him, and Cold Wind, a series of short stories about the Koopalings living in a normal neighborhood, going to a normal school, and doing normal things, based off of events from my own past. A few tertiary stories left over from the original run of Lightning Speed were also posted

Also this year, the final round of the X-Factor OCT began. Quinn ended up winning once again, securing victory over the entire OCT with a piece of writing that, honestly, was rushed and kind of lazy. I’m convinced I only got by because my opponent did literally nothing.

August 2014 would also mark the last time I’d open up requests on DeviantArt, this time only being single-character sketch commissions. I believe it was sometime after this that I abandoned the My Little Pony fandom for good, although not necessarily because of it.

And then tragedy struck. 2014 marked the release of my first Youtube videos featuring terrible voice acting that I tried to pass off as being good. People still watch these things to this day. I hate these videos and everything they stand for.

Most importantly, however, 2014 was the year I graduated from high school and the year I started attending college, going for an Associate’s in Simulation and Game Development at the local community college. I spent my first semester learning the basics and getting adjusted, eventually making my first college friend.

2015

2015 is the year that absolutely everything started changing for the better.

...well, almost everything. First, let’s get the bad news out of the way.

Checking back in on the Nightmare Manor OCT, the tournament’s second round of six contestants garnered a grand total of half an entry. After two separate calls to action, the tournament was abandoned in May without an official statement; a mistake on my part, but I was pretty depressed about the whole thing, so can you really blame me?

The MMD 100 Theme Challenge was also abandoned this year, stopping at theme 97 out of 100. Fun fact: the last three images actually exist. I just never posted them.

Then there was Curtain Call, the sequel to The Show Must Go On. Curtain Call was a disaster and it’s probably the worst fanfiction I’ve ever written besides, well, Shadow’s Story. Please don’t ever read it.

Now for the good news.

Firstly, 2015 was the year that I finally stopped using MMD. Even in the beginning part of the year, I was already posting far less of it. This meant I was focusing more on my art and, when I say that, that’s no exaggeration. 2015 was a huge year of improvement for me, from learning new techniques to adopting a vastly different art style that was more fun for me to use to ditching Autodesk in favor of Krita, allowing me to finally move past my inhibitions and actually use things like pen pressure, which I was too afraid to do in Autodesk, where I’d kept my settings the exact same since 2012. I also obtained a new drawing tablet: a Wacom Intuos 3 given to me by my uncle as a hand-me-down.

The things I wrote this year weren’t anything particularly special, for the most part. Cold Wind continued and Surveyor’s Wings, a crossover involving Larry, Wendy, and Roy Koopa getting transported to the world of Attack on Titan, started up, going into indefinite hiatus a short time later. There was also This is Me, a short one about Larry Koopa accidentally switching bodies with Luigi. Above all of them, though, was In Memoriam Vos, a twisted story where the Koopalings are suddenly thrust into a world that wants Lemmy Koopa dead. This was also the year I created an account on Fanfiction.net, named RedQueenMiku, where I posted “This is Me” and “In Memoriam Vos”.

This year was also the year of the Mushroom Timeline, my first attempt at a Mario timeline that also came with its own map. With that also came my first time arguing a Game Theory video, being that I couldn’t just ignore the fact that their timeline came out the day before I posted my own.

This year was also the year I entered another OC tournament: Origins OCT. I entered Dnias from the Lightning Speed series, partnered with his mental companion of cynical disposition, Yang. The tournament was a blast and I had a lot of fun with it, even with all the mistakes I made in the process. The first three rounds took place this year, all of which I won.

Lightning Speed also received a hard reboot this year, transitioning into the short-lived “Lightning Speed 2”. The first story of this run released this year.

This was also the year that I discovered and subsequently adopted a group of bootleg Koopalings I began affectionately referring to as the Bootleglings. Nonexist was created to coexist beside them later that year. The Sesonia AU was also launched, being an AU that shuffles around Koopalings from both the games and the cartoons and Bootleglings, placing them in a fantasy world heavily themed around the four seasons where magic is a prominent feature. Also, there was KoopaDoopa4321, a joke account I made on DeviantArt. I never did all that much with it, but it existed and I posted some art produced in MS Paint there.

This was also the year I created my Tumblr account, RedQueenMiku, this being the second account of mine to bear this name after the Youtube account the year before (because the Fanfiction account came afterward). Because of this, 2015 was my first year participating in the yearly Tumblr event known as Koopalings Week (as well as the year I created my human designs for the Koopalings). Later in the year, I created a second blog, justkristoonzartist76things, for posting small blurbs and generally ranting out of the way of the main blog. It took me a while to find my footing on Tumblr and get comfortable enough to start posting art, but, eventually, my main blog transitioned from reblog city to a mainly art-focused blog. Two more blogs also popped up toward the end of the year: little-red-dolls, which was dedicated to a dress-up game kick I’d had at the time as a big guilty pleasure that didn’t last that long, and frame-by-frame-mario, a blog devoted to weird inbetweens and animations errors in the Mario cartoons.

Finally, this year had one more significant occurrence: I witnessed my future anime husband, Sakaki Yuya, for the first time over my friend’s shoulder in class. Due to this, I asked my friend to teach me how to play Yugioh. Now you know why I started playing Yugioh. It was all Yuya’s fault for being so handsome.

2016

2016 built a lot upon what 2015 started. In fact, in a lot of ways, I regard it as a continuation of 2015.

2016 was also the year I snagged myself a Core Membership on DeviantArt and finally renamed my account from KristoonzArtist76 to the iconic RedQueenMiku you see today. I also changed the name of my second blog to correspond with this, it becoming justredqueenmiku things. From here on, RedQueenMiku would become a constant handle for me on absolutely everything.

The biggest thing that happened at the start of 2016, though, was me finally playing a certain indie game that had come out the previous year: Undertale. I immediately became obsessed. I drew art for the series, I made a blog specifically for it, rqmundertaleparty, to keep spoilers away from those that didn’t want it, and I undertook the challenge of drawing every single major character from the game, which I ultimately succeeded with, coming out with sixty-two drawings for the challenge.

Then, there were the AUs. Many of my AUs for Undertale at that time were simple derivatives of things I already had, like Sesoniatale, Yangtale (which was planned to have a story, but was scrapped), and Nostritale (based off of the Memoriam series, which had recently gained a new entry in the form of a very basic version of In Memoriam Nostri, which would be expanded upon later). There was also Underfire, an Undertale derivative of Cannonfire that had its own short series of comic strips, and Mariotale, which was my attempt to cast Mario characters in the roles of Undertale characters.

Lastly but most importantly, for April Fools that year, I decided to, as a joke, revive Adventures in the Z-7 Station as an Undertale AU titled Krystaltale. The revival, though, ended up having twisted meta elements that eventually warranted its continuation from the three parts posted on DeviantArt for April Fools. In the AU, Krystal was changed to a skeleton named Lucida, but still retained her memories from her previous incarnation and wished to recreate what she had in this new world she suddenly finds herself in using the powers of resetting and scripting to make events exactly the way she wants them. Sans catches on to them and starts to oppose Lucida, creating the back and forth that would persist for the rest of the series.

Also for April Fools that year, I attempted to start an ask blog on Tumblr for the Bootleglings, titled ask-the-real-koopalings. The blog never took off, however, mostly due to my own lack of motivation.

Also in 2016, Cannonfire received a sequel, Cannonfire 2, in which Dante and Jupiter are brought back to Cannonfire, where this time they would remain alongside another Lightning Speed child, Thicket, and a character that had been scrapped during the transition from Lightning Speed to Lightning Speed 2: Nightmare.

In January of 2016, the final round of the Origins OCT came and went, with myself taking the runner-up spot. Later that year, a second season of Origins would begin, this time with myself entering Dante. After the first round, however, the tournament abruptly ended.

2016 was also the year I finally started watching Yugioh Arc V. I made it through nearly forty episodes this year. I also updated my human Koopaling designs and started doing DeviantArt memes for fun, notably posting the very first version of the first crack lovechild meme I did. My first palette challenge was this year as well and, slowly but surely, I was moving myself away from DeviantArt and toward Tumblr as my primary platform. There was also the first death of KoopaDoopa4321, meant to be on April Fools, but accidentally delayed to April 2nd. This was also the year I changed the anniversary of Lightning Speed from July 12th to July 29th and posted the second and final story of Lightning Speed 2.

Speaking of, there wasn’t a lot of writing that came out from me this year. Besides Krystaltale and Lightning Speed 2, there was a one-shot based on my old headcanons about Bowser’s past titled “Her Name Was Annabel” and a story revolving around Ludwig von Koopa after the birth of Bowser Jr and the subsequent revoking of Ludwig’s birthright that also included elements of Superstar Saga, this one titled “Decomposure”. These went up exclusively on Fanfiction.net along with a cross-post of The Show Must Go On. There was also one more part of Cold Wind that went up on DeviantArt before the series went into indefinite hiatus. Behind the scenes, though, I was already starting up stories for the Sesonia AU, the Bootleglings, the Memoriam series, and multiple things for Undertale including two crossovers and two one-shots. I also received a dare from a friend this year to finally write a sequel to Shadow’s Story in the worst possible way as a great big joke, so that happened too, resulting in Shadow’s Sequel.

On top of all this, I finished the Simulation and Game Development program I was in, our capstone project being producing an RPG titled “Life’s Memory”. It was an extreme prototype of a game, but I believe we accomplished what we set out to do.

Then, at the end of the year, I posted the final awful voice acting video I ever made. It was meant to make fun of the previous ones, but it ended up being cringy in its own right, so I still regret it immensely.

2017

2017 for me started with news of an upcoming move that summer, which immediately sent me into a depression over having to leave behind the place I’d been living for nearly ten years by that point. As a result, I feel into a rather extreme slump. I took on an expression challenge to try to cure my art block, not posting a single finished piece outside of that until the end of February. I started several sketches for images that I never completed and subsequently threw out. I abandoned the frame-by-frame Mario blog after trying to hand it off to someone else with no reception. I didn’t return to DeviantArt until April due to anxiety about the amount of messages piling up from a posting flood at the end of the previous year. Generally, I was just feeling like a piece of garbage.

There wasn’t much that happened in the first part of the year. I was certainly writing more than I was drawing, though. I started two more Cannonfires and a project named “I Can Fix You” that was supposed to go up at the end of that year, but ended up being shoved back. There was also the next story in the Krystaltale saga, “The Mispersonification Ray” which actually did go up on DeviantArt. I did also create the Barian Koopalings AU at the start of this year as well.

Over the course of the year and especially during the move, I started watching more Yugioh Arc V, eventually finishing the series by September. I also watched Yuri on Ice this year. I also got back into the crack love-child meme and, after finishing my second one shortly after the move, I came up with the premise for “The Great S.T.O.R.K. Machine” and created worlds for all the children to live their lives, quickly revamping the first meme shortly after.

Then, on July 29th, I officially revealed Lightning Speed’s final reboot to Diametrics. I’ll talk more about Diametrics in that thing I keep teasing, though, so keep an eye out for that later this year.

Then Koopalings Week 2017 came around, I set unrealistic standards for myself, and it crushed my soul again.

This year also just so happened to be the year that I looked back on my rant on the Game Theory Mario Timeline and said “Yeah, I could have done better”. This led me to start writing theory rebuttals that would eventually turn into full-fledged videos. I created the first version of a video on Game Theory’s Rosalina Unmasked video this year, as well as wrote the first draft of a script on Game Theory’s Mario Timeline and a couple other theories.

Things proceeded as normal into the end of the year. I drew more Arc V art, I started writing my first Arc V fanfictions, I posted the somewhat-sequel to In Memoriam Vos, In Memoriam Eius, I made a Wattpad account that I posted Cannonfire 1 and 2 on and then swiftly abandoned, I drew a piece for Hatsune Miku’s tenth anniversary, I posted a Christmas special for Krystaltale, I made an account for the Yuri on Ice Amino, and…

...oh...right...

that drama started this year…

So, in December of this year, I was approached by a user I’ll keep anonymous for her own sake. This user, who I’ll call “T”, directed my eye toward her DeviantArt account, which contained uncredited drawings of her characters wearing some of the outfits of my Bootlegling designs and Nonexist. I asked for these to be credited and they weren’t. This doesn’t escalate, though, until…

2018

In 2018, the T drama escalated from an argument to an all-out war. I did some things I’m not proud of, but I tried to come at the situation with as much grace and dignity as I could muster. I’m not going into detail because, in the end, it doesn’t matter to the present day—the whole thing is over and no one needs to bring it back up like that—but the only thing worth knowing is that I unintentionally stoked a fire I was ill-prepared to deal with and, somehow, I gained a crud-ton of followers on DeviantArt because of it.

Finally, in April, after T had been ignoring large majorities of my messages and the situation moved far beyond needing my input, I dropped out of the whole thing, making my final statement and leaving it be.

Now I can talk about everything else that happened in 2018. Gracious.

The beginning of 2018 was slow because of the drama debacle, but I started a palette challenge on Tumblr and I drew pieces for Yuri Plisetsky’s fictional birthday and Mar10 Day, along with a third crack love-child meme for The Great S.T.O.R.K. Machine, finally revealing the whole thing on DeviantArt toward the end of the year and even starting on a fourth entry, and I entered a contest on the Yuri on Ice Amino with a picture of Otabek that didn’t end up placing.

April Fools then rolled around and, for 2018, I decided to re-release Shadow’s Story alongside the sequel I’d written two years prior on my newly-acquired AO3 account. The whole thing was massively ridiculous and even included pictures every few paragraphs, just like the original had so many years ago. I don’t know if anyone even caught chapter 19, though...

Summer came, I moved Diametrics’ anniversary to July 31st, I started up a challenge called the RedQueenMiku Redraw Bonanza where I redraw, like, a bajillion old pieces from my past, and I drew pieces and wrote a whole slew of bios for Koopalings Week 2018. Fall came, I went off on Nintendo’s announcement of New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe and the existence of Peachette, I started on a brand-new Mario timeline, I finally posted Roy, I started and subsequently failed my first attempt at a Goretober after only three days, I played Deltarune, I posted a redraw of an image involving Karl from Castle of Nations and Law of Talos that was actually a huge mistake to post, I started a Twitter account, and I created and started taking requests for a brand new challenge called the Yuri Expression Challenge, where I draw characters with expressions from various screencaps of Yuri from Arc V. Brilliant, I know. Praise me for my intelligent brain.

2019

And we finally come to the year we’re leaving behind us tonight: 2019. 2019 has been a heck of a year on its own.

2019, in itself, was a lot like 2017. I started off massively depressed, then, in the summer, we moved again.

In January, we lost our dog and I spiraled into depression again. Between that and computer issues, I didn’t actually do a lot in January. I did, however, join an art group on the Yuri on Ice amino in this time: Artevivo. I posted one more piece for the Yuri Challenge before my desktop failed on me and I was forced to either do art on my quickly-dying laptop or go traditional. The latter is what I did for the first Artevivo prompt post, though I took the former route to make a doodle post announcing my sort-of official return to the Sonic the Hedgehog fandom.

Next up was February. I did a few more traditional doodles, one set of them revealing an Arc V AU known as the Dragonia AU, before I finally got my desktop back online. I drew a couple more pieces after that, including an Artevivo prompt for Valentine’s Day involving Otabek and Mila.

March came with Mar10 day once again and an Artevivo prompt about boy bands in which I made a stupid joke by drawing Yuuri, Victor, and Yurio as Dreamboat Express a la Sonic Boom. I also entered a contest on the Amino for St. Patrick’s Day and, while I ended up just shy of winning the whole shebang, I did place first in my category, earning the title of Emerald Princess. Most importantly, though, I dropped a bunch of titles for future writing projects. Some of them, like “I Can Fix You”, “Yu-Gi-Oh: Arc INFINITE”, “Sesonia: The Dark of Spring”, “In Memoriam Nostri”, and Cannonfires 3 and 4 had already been previously announced, but others like “Tales from a Dark and Stormy Night”, “49”, “Jump Up, Superstar!”, “Memory to Hunt her Down”, and, most notably, “In Memoriam ihr Zerbrechliches Ego”, were brand new announcements.

April came around with a half-hearted failed attempt at an April Fools event that we don’t need to talk about and not much else. There was an Artevivo prompt about Cherry Blossoms, another entry in the Redraw Challenge, and I drew some bears. That was really about it.

In May, I traveled for Animazement 2019, which ended up being a heck of a lot of fun. There was also an Artevivo prompt about sea creatures AND the release of the first real story in “The Great S.T.O.R.K. Machine”’s series on AO3. At the end of the month, though, I had a real scare. I backed up everything on my laptop onto an external hard drive then, about a week after that, my laptop sang its final hurrah, dying to a critical hard drive failure.

June was a much slower month. I drew a few pieces at the beginning of the month, but, by the end, we had already begun our next big move. I managed to squeeze in a Sonic birthday sketch dump before we left and I even got the Artevivo prompt for that month done ahead of time. The rest of the month, though, was pretty much completely dead, as I had to pack up my only remaining computer for the move. At the very end of the month, though, I bought a brand-new laptop, meaning I was officially back in business and better than ever, at that.

July started with me taking on a style challenge on the Amino and just generally drawing a whole heck of a lot. This continued all the way through July.

Then, August came. I kept up with Koopalings Week like I never had before, ending it out with the least fatigue I’d ever felt coming out of a Koopalings week. I also finally finished an enormous piece for Diametrics that I had planned to finish for the anniversary, but that took much longer than expected due to the sheer scale of the piece. There was also an Artevivo prompt about fruit somewhere in there too.

September was a month that I vowed to be productive for considering the previous year’s September I did absolute bupkis. What a productive September it was too. I drew some Sonic characters in Vocaloid outfits, released an Undertale two-shot called “Vodka en Rouge”, added another three entries to the Redraw Bonanza, completed an Artevivo prompt for Fall, and started preparing for another crack at the Goretober I’d failed the previous year by drawing six different practice pictures. We also finally got into our new house this month, so that was great too.

Then, Goretober finally came. Did I succeed this time? Well, no. I managed to get most all of them done, but 27, 28, 29, and 30 were never completed. Even so, I produced a grand total of 25 images this month, which is still absolutely insane. I also made a rule for myself that I couldn’t draw for the same fandom twice, meaning the variety of pieces was vast and I even drew characters that I had never previously drawn like Twelve from Zankyou no Terror, Katara from Avatar the Last Airbender, Sakura from Zombieland Saga, Luluco from Space Patrol Luluco, and Kaoru from Ouran High School Host Club.

When November rolled around, I swore to myself I wouldn’t let myself slump into inactivity like I had after previous challenges like Koopalings Week 2018. With that resolve, I kept drawing. I drew a piece celebrating the new Sonic movie trailer drop. I did a short livestream only one person came to. I drew a piece of steampunk art for the Artevivo prompt. Finally, though, I started the Youtube channel I’d been preparing for for two entire years, RedQueenMiku2, and I started with newly-revamped videos on Rosalina Unmasked and the Game Theory Mario Timeline, just like I’d planned to do years ago.

Finally, we come to the present. December came with three more videos, a Silvaze Christmas piece, a Christmas Aretevivo prompt, and the retrospective you’re reading right now. Really, looking at 2019 as a whole, it’s like what 2017 could have been if I’d done things right. In 2017, I let depression get the best of me and let my work suffer because of it. In 2019, though, I pushed through and vowed not to quit, bettering myself because of it.

That’s the big thing here, really. 2010-2014 was all about me trying to find myself as a young, impressionable teenager, 2015 and 2016 were me discovering where I wanted to be and how I wanted to present myself, and 2017-2019 were me coming to terms with myself and pushing through my own mental roadblocks. Looking at where I started and where I’ve ended up, the difference is staggering. Of course, it has been ten years, after all. Now, as we look ahead to 2020 and the start of a brand new decade, I can only hope things will just keep getting better from here.

Happy 2020, everyone. Cheers.

#sorry for the long #this is just something i wanted to do for posterity's sake #it's fun to look back and see where you came from #also i'm highly sentimental #to a ridiculous degree #so yeah #that's where all this nonsense came from #*jazz hands*#happy new year everyone!!!

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