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serpentandlily · 9 months

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Untouchable III - Azriel x Reader

Untouchable - Azriel x Rhysand'sSister! Reader ✨

Summary: For as long as you can remember, you have always had feelings for Azriel, your court's spymaster. But after centuries of watching him pine after your own cousin, hoping he'd eventually move on, your wish came true. He moved on-with Elain, your brother's mate's middle sister. Unable to watch him fall in love with someone else again, you flee from Velaris, from him. But things are a lot more complicated than that - more complicated than you ever imagined.

Warnings: angst

a/n: Okay all your comments/reblogs have literally made me dieeee laughing. Y'all are so funny lmao. Hope you enjoy this one! I had lots of fun writing it <3

➻❥ Part I ➻❥ Part II ➻❥ Part III ➻❥ Part IV ➻❥ Part V

➻❥ Part VI ➻❥ Part VII ➻❥ Part VIII ➻❥ Part IX ➻❥ Part X

─── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ───

Part III

─── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ───

The cool night breeze kissed the flesh exposed by your silk nightgown as you sat on the railing of your balcony, dangling your legs over the edge. You could faintly hear music and the sound of laughter as Velaris came alive around you. You blew a loose strand of hair out of your face as you gazed up at the bright moon glowing down on you in the night sky.

“I need some advice right now, Mama,” you whispered into the night. “Everyone seems to be finding their place in this world but I…I don’t know where I belong or what I’m even here for. And everything has been falling apart recently and I could really, really, use one of your hugs right now.”

After the disastrous training session this morning, you had spent the rest of the day watching over Nyx. Being with him made you feel better. Your nephew was a reminder that there were more important things in your life than a certain shadowsinger and his crazy mood swings.

But now Nyx was asleep and you were left alone with your thoughts once again.

Azriel had been so rough with you today, so cruel. And your heart panged with the thought that he would never dare treat Elain, or even Mor, like that. You let out a sigh and drew one knee to your chest, resting your head against it. Would this heartache ever go away? Or were you cursed by the Mother to forever yearn for a male who would never want you?

Somehow you could sense him before you even heard the flap of wings. A thud sounded behind you and the smell of night-chilled mist and cedar flooded your senses. His presence felt heavy and dark and you refused to turn around despite the way it put you on edge.

Silence. Nothing but tense silence filled the air. If it wasn't for Azriel's looming presence behind you, you might've thought you imagined him coming. You waited a breath...then another. Still nothing. You felt him take a step closer to you; his shadows eased their way between your arms, over your shoulders, through your hair. You could feel his warm breath on the back of your neck.

Another moment went by and you couldn't take it anymore. You blew out a low breath.

"I didn't snitch on you if that's what you're thinking," you scoffed, your gaze never straying from the moon. "You can blame that on Cass. So if my brother sent you here to apologize, save it."

Silence once more. Your grip on the edge of the stone railing tightened. Why wasn't he saying anything? Why did he come here?

"Rhys didn't send me here." You almost jumped at the sound of his voice, your heartbeat rising. "In fact, your brother forbade me from seeking you out."

Yet here he was, going directly against his High Lord's orders. Your brows furrowed but you refused to turn around, refused to look at him. So much had changed between the two of you in the last twenty-four hours.

"So why are you here?"

"I hurt you." His voice was as dark as his shadows.

You glanced down at your bandaged hand. The image of his cold face as he struck down on you with his sword replayed in your mind. But you weren't sure which had hurt more. The slice down your palm or the words he had spat at you.

"You did."

"Y/n..." he whispered your name. You felt his hand ghost over your shoulder, as if he were about to touch you, but his touch never came. "I'm sorry. I was...I was angry and I took it out on you—”

"You weren't just angry, Az," you cut him off. "You were angry with me. Why? What did I do to earn your ire?"

You finally turned around and gasped as you caught sight of his face. He had a black eye, his left cheekbone was surrounded by black and purple bruises, and his bottom lip had been split open, though it looked to be already healing. His hair was tousled as if he had spent hours running his hand through it, some pieces hanging down his forehead.

"I deserved it," he said, darkly as your eyes searched his face for any more injuries. You knew your brother had been behind them. "You've done nothing wrong. Like I said, I wasn't angry with you."

You let out another scoff and jumped down from the railing. The ground was cold against your bare feet as you brushed past Azriel and strode towards the glass doors leading to your bedroom.

“Where are you going?”

You waved a dismissive hand in the air. “I refuse to entertain a conversation with you if you’re going to blatantly lie to me.”

“I’m not lying,” he ground out through his teeth.

You whirled around, crossing your arms. “Then why did you say all those things to me? If you were just angry, why not let off steam by sparring with Cass like you always do? You targeted me.”

“I didn’t mean any of the things I said, y/n.”

“You still said them.”

“Fine,” he snarled. He stalked towards you looking like a fallen angel straight from Hell, wings and all. You couldn’t help but take a step back. “Do you want to know why I’m so angry, princess?”

You gasped as he pressed a large hand flat against your sternum and pushed you against the wall, holding you there. Your eyes widened as you stared up at him. His expression was dark, his jaw clenched.

“I’m angry because you let that undeserving, piece of shit male put his hands all over you,” he growled. “I'm angry you even let him look in your direction.”

You glared up at him. “Why should it even matter to you?”

“Because it does.” He slammed a hand against the wall beside your head causing your heart to pound in your chest. “It fucking does.”

“Why?” Your voice was a mere whisper.

Azriel sucked in a breath, his head dropping into the crevice of your neck. You didn’t think your heart could beat any faster or you might possibly die. He splayed his hand out on your stomach, holding you in place.

“Azriel?” you questioned, uncertain of what he was doing. He had never acted so erratic around you. You went to take a step forward but he slammed you back against the wall with the hand on your stomach.

“Don’t,” he said through gritted teeth. “Don’t move.”

Your breath got caught in your throat. He trailed his nose up your throat column, barely brushing against the fragile skin. Butterflies erupted in your stomach at his touch, at his closeness to you.

“Az,” you started, placing your hand on his chest. “What are you—”

You stopped talking as he laid his hand over your much smaller one. He closed his eyes, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “Don’t touch me.”

But his hand squeezed yours, keeping it in place. You were so confused—so utterly confused by his behavior. He pried your hand off his chest after a moment and you let your arm fall limp.

“Do you have any idea what you do to me?” His voice was so low, it sent a shiver down your spine. His hand gripped your hip so tightly, the fabric of your nightgown bunching in his fist.

When his eyes opened again, he looked wild—feral. His hand slid up your waist, grazing the side of your breast, until it lingered on your throat. Heat started to coil inside of you. Fire burned a trail through your veins. You couldn’t find any words, your mind suddenly empty of every single thought except one.

Azriel took a deep inhale and you were certain he could smell your arousal. Your cheeks turned pink with embarrassment. But his pupils dilated at your scent, making his eyes look black, as the hand that was on the wall clenched so tightly, parts of the brick chipped off, clattering to the floor. His other hand moved up your throat to cup the side of your cheek, a scarred thumb brushing against your skin.

You swallowed audibly, frozen in place. You could scent his own arousal, could feel it pressing against your stomach, as his hard body kept you as its prisoner. Your mouth parted in a gasp and his head dipped down, his nose brushing against yours. And then his lips hovered over yours and you held your breath. Your body screamed at you to do something, anything. But he had ordered you not to move, not to touch him.

Your heart nearly stopped as his lips feathered yours and you waited. Waited for him to make the final move, to press his lips against yours for real. To kiss you. Something that had only ever happened in your dreams. But instead, he let out a loud grunt of pain and pulled himself away from you so quickly, it felt like you had been slapped.

You blinked up at him, disorientated. “A-Azriel?”

He let out a frustrated growl, running a hand through his hair, as his whole body seemed to tense. When he met your eyes, goosebumps covered your skin because of the darkness in his gaze. The hand at his side clenched in and out of a fist. Like he was restraining himself from something.

You were shaking like a leaf, glad the wall could support you, otherwise you were sure you would’ve crumbled to the floor. You waited for him to speak, to say anything that might explain what the hell had just happened. But when he finally did, his words were like a spear to the heart.

“Do yourself a favor, princess, and stay the hell away from me.” The words came out in a snarl and his huge wings snapped out, casting a dark shadow over your form. Before you could even say anything, he launched himself into the air and disappeared into the dark night sky.

The breath you hadn’t known you’d been holding in was expelled out of your lungs and you slid down the wall until you were on the floor, drawing your knees up to your chest. Your mind whirled as you tried to figure out what just happened.

But hours later, when the sun began to crest over the horizon, you were still so lost.

─── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ───

A few days passed by without you so much as catching a glimpse of Azriel. Apparently, your brother had sent him off on some mission, likely out of spite. Or perhaps even for your benefit. As much as you wanted to see him after that night on the balcony, his absence gave you time to think about what you wanted or needed to do.

Ultimately, you decided the next time you came across him alone, you would force him to talk to you, to tell you what the hell that night was about. It was only fair. You deserved an explanation after all. He had treated you like shit, then came to you and nearly kissed you, before disappearing. And his words had been ringing in your head every single night.

Do yourself a favor, princess, and stay the hell away from me.

They made no sense to you. It had seemed like he wanted you that night, judging by the arousal you had scented, the feel of him against you. And you knew he could tell you wanted him too. So why would you be doing either of you any favors from staying away from him? It made no Godsdamn sense and you needed an answer to his cryptic words. So you would demand it of him the next time he came around.

You stretched your legs out on the couch, yawning as you placed a bookmark to keep your place in the novel you were in the middle of reading, and snapped it closed. It had been a long day of taking care of Nyx while Rhys and Feyre had to attend to some courtly duties. The house had been noticeably vacant today, just the two wraith twins occasionally floating in to check on you and baby Nyx.

Normally Elain was around to keep you company on days like this but even she had run off somewhere for the day. You had just started to get up, ready to retire to your bed, when the front door slammed open. You jumped at the noise, whirling towards the foyer. Rhys and Feyre weren’t due back until tomorrow morning, so who else could it—

Elain stumbled into view, followed by Azriel. Both hadn’t even noticed your presence as they kissed wildly, bumping against the walls as they moved inside. The scent of Elain’s arousal flooded the room and you choked on the scent causing them to break apart in surprise.

Your stomach sank at their appearance. The top buttons of Azriel’s shirt were undone, exposing some of the tattoos on his chest. Elain’s hair was in disarray, her lips swollen, as if they had been up to this for a while now. Well, that explained why Elain had been gone all day.

You stared at them with wide eyes as hurt slammed its way into you. Azriel had returned from his mission. He had returned and had sought out Elain. Hadn’t even thought to come to you to maybe give you some explanation of that night. You were probably the last thing on his mind right now anyways, that much was clear.

“Oh my Gods,” Elain exclaimed, placing a hand to her chest. “I’m so sorry, y/n. I knew Feyre and Rhys would be gone and assumed you’d be in bed by now.”

Azriel said nothing, only stared at you with a cold, unfeeling look. You felt your breath shallow out, your nerves causing your hands to shake. You wanted to scream, wanted to vomit, to cry. But you did nothing. Just mustered up a small smile and muttered, “It’s okay.”

Elain went to say something else but Azriel grabbed her hand and leaned down to whisper in her ear, holding eye contact with you the entire time. “Come on, let’s go.”

He smirked as she blushed red and you could do nothing but just stare and stare at him. You didn’t move an inch as he pulled her away and up the stairs, Elain giggling the entire time. You didn’t move even after you heard her bedroom door slam close.

You thought there was no way he could’ve hurt you more, but you had clearly underestimated him. How could he? How could he…act like that with you and then just carry on as if nothing happened? How could he just carry on with another girl after that charged night? You hand clenched the book you were holding as you struggled through your feelings.

Your already broken heart somehow found even more ways to tear itself apart. But unlike months ago when you had caught them in the same predicament and cried all through the night and eventually fled from Velaris, no tears came this time. No tears at all. Instead white hot anger burned through you instead.

You were tired of being captive to your own feelings. Tired of letting the stupid shadowsinger have so much power over you. You were so unbelievably tired of being constantly hurt by him. You couldn’t even use the excuse that he had no idea what he was doing to you when he had just made it so clear he did.

Your jaw tightened and you gave yourself over to the rage you felt. He had told you to stay away from him. So you would. But you sure as hell were about to make it impossibly hard for him to stay away from you.

─── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ───

The next two days, you did exactly that. You ignored Azriel entirely. Didn’t so much as look in his direction. At training each morning with the Valkyries, you made sure to have a sparring partner ready to go before he could even open his mouth and demand you train with him. You didn’t greet him, only hugged Cassian good-bye each day, and pretended you didn’t hear him when he would call out your name.

Meanwhile, you had spent your time in heated negotiations with your brother. You were ready to carve a place out for yourself in this court and after many discussions with him, Feyre and Mor, you three had reached a compromise. A certain letter that came from the continent had helped you plead your case.

And that is why when Rhys stood up at family dinner, clearing his throat to get everyone’s attention, you knew exactly what he was going to announce. You kept your hands folded in your lap, your shoulders held back, and your body angled away from the end of the table where the shadowsinger sat.

“Another announcement in a week?” Cassian laughed. “Don’t tell me Feyre’s having twins!”

Everyone chuckled as Nesta slapped him on the back of his head. He only grinned at his mate, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. You smiled at their interaction despite the envy that crept its way into your head. Oh how you wished for that kind of love. Perhaps one day you would find your own mate and forget about the shadowsinger entirely.

“Gods no,” Feyre chuckled from beside Rhys who conjured a piece of parchment in his hand. “We come with some news from the continent.”

“I received some correspondence from Prince Cedric,” Rhys explained. “The King of Vallahan’s first born son and Heir to the Throne.”

“Go on, read it to them,” Mor said with a giddiness that caused you to smile.

Rhys read from the letter out loud:

To High Lord of the Night Court, Rhysand,

I am writing to you because I have had the pleasure of spending the past month in the company of your lovely sister, y/n. I must admit, your sister has charmed my heart with her kindness, grace, wit and loyalty to your court. We know very little of Prythian’s courts here on the continent, but if your sister is a shining example of your citizens, I must admit, I am all the more curious about your court. As you might know, I am next in line for the Crown and my time may be coming soon.

In a world dictated by power, alliances between territories have allowed for stability and peace. When my time to wear the crown comes, I would like it to also come with the forging of two strong realms. With the utmost sincerity and goodwill, I believe a union between our territories through marriage would not only reward me with a beautiful bride, but prosperity and peace between our people. I assure you, High Lord, that I will propose with sincere commitment to your sister, to give her a life filled with love and respect as my future Queen.

I understand that this is not a decision that will be made without proper communications, so I am prepared to meet with you at your earliest convenience to discuss this matter further. I hope you consider my request and I will remain with anticipation until you reach out.

Sincerely yours,

Prince Cedric of Vallahan

Heir to the Throne

A fork dropped on the table somewhere behind you and the room was silent for a moment before Cassian let out a loud whistle. “Holy shit, y/n!”

Mor cackled, reaching over the table to give you a high five. “That’s right, our girl bagged herself a Prince.”

Your cheeks turned a bit pink at the attention. To be honest, you had no idea that Prince Cedric had been captured by you. It wasn’t like you engaged in any romantic courting or even so much as touched each other's hands. But your mere personality had won him over. Too bad he just wasn’t the male your heart had set its course on.

“Not just a Prince, girl,” Amren chimed in. “A future King.”

You could feel a heavy gaze settle on you from the other side of the table but refused to look that way.

“And what about you, y/n?” Nesta asked. “Did the Prince win over your heart as well?”

“I must admit, the letter came as quite a surprise to me,” you answered honestly.

“To me, as well,” Mor jumped in. “I mean, it’s not like they spent much time together outside of the formal dinners and parties we attended while there. Unless, of course, you snuck off with him while I wasn’t watching, you naughty wench.”

You scoffed, crossing your arms over your chest. “I assure you, I was a proper lady during our time at the King’s Cross.”

“You certainly weren’t a proper lady during our time in Nysa,” Mor mumbled under her breath with a smirk. You kicked her under the table with a glare.

You couldn’t stop yourself from glancing at Azriel this time. He was already staring at you, his jaw set, his fist clenched around the stem of his wine glass. You could’ve sworn a bit of jealousy shined in his eyes. You quickly looked away, not wishing to show him you even cared about his reaction, though you did.

“Well, as fun as this is,” Cassian said. “There’s no way you’d marry off your sister to go live in another territory. Right, Rhys?”

Rhys looked inclined to agree but Feyre nudged him in the gut with her elbow. “If that is what she wishes, she will always have my blessing. It is her choice, of course. But a marriage is not the announcement I planned on making today. I merely read this letter to you all to show you how successful y/n has been as a representative of our court. And because of that, we have officially decided to not only give her the title of Emissary, but she is also going to take over Mor’s position in the Court of Nightmares since Mor has had her hands full with negotiations on the continent.”

“It's about time you let your sister prove herself as a valuable member of this court,” Amren said, the closest thing you’d ever get as a congratulations. She did give you a small smirk, pride shining in her silver eyes.

“She has always been a valuable member,” Cassian snided but smiled at you regardless. “If this is what you want, y/n, then congratulations! I’m glad I’ve taught you all the ways to kick ass, especially if you’re now going to be spending more time in Hewn City.”

You laughed but gave him your thanks. Feyre proposed a toast for you and you couldn’t keep the smile off your face for the rest of the night as they planned for announcing the shift in leadership to Hewn City. You had already bought your dress for the occasion, ready to make the shadowsinger eat his heart out. You even felt a bit vindicated as a certain male decided to spend the rest of his own night brooding in his shadows.

─── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ───

Azriel tossed and turned in his bed, unable to sleep. Both his mind and his shadows seemed to be in a permanent state of chaos ever since dinner. He couldn’t get the image of you smiling as Rhys read the Prince’s letter out of his mind. He had never considered the possibility of you leaving this court, had never thought Rhys would ever allow that.

He threw his sheets off, standing up and prowling towards the floor length mirror in the corner of his room. His eyes fell on the skin above his hip, on the small tattoo of Illyrian wings with a sword going straight through the middle of them.

He wished he could take truth-teller and slice that bit of skin right off his body. But even with its absence, the burden of it would never disappear. He let out a curse, pure rage racing through him. How could he have known things would turn out this way? How could he have known how much pain that tiny tattoo would eventually bring him?

His fist shot out, punching straight through the mirror. He was so angry he didn’t even feel the pain of the tiny shards of glass piercing his scarred flesh. Gods, this was all so fucked up. So incredibly fucked up.

His heart pounded as he thought about how you had felt pressed against him that night on your balcony. How your scent had driven him crazy. How stunning you had looked under the moonlight in that tiny nightgown. The Princess of Night was an accurate title for you and all your beauty.

He fell on his knees, the broken shards of glass crunching under his weight, letting the blood from his hand drip down on the floor. No pain would ever compare to the one he felt now. The pain of craving you. Craving the touch of your skin, the taste of your tongue, the moans he could drag from that pretty little mouth.

And Gods, the way you had looked at him. He had almost caved. Had almost decided to burn it all to the ground for one chance to taste you, feel you, claim you. But he couldn’t. So he went back to doing what he always had–keeping you at a distance. It hurt to do so, even more so whenever he saw how much it hurt you, but it was better this way. You needed to move on, needed to look for love elsewhere.

Life had always been unfair to him but this, this was quite possibly the worst of it. For he knew he would always yearn for you, crave you, love you—but only ever from a distance. Because for him, you…you had been made untouchable.

─── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ───

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zvtara-was-never-canon · 5 months

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Can you give examples of Aang showing Empathy? Oh wait, you can't.

Actually, I can - because unlike you, I base my opinion of the characters on the actual stuff that happened in the story, not the bad faith takes dumb people on the internet come up with.

Zuko literally only survived past book 1 because Aang was the ONLY person amongst the heroes that gave a single fuck about his well-being. Aang offered to be FRIENDS with him as early as episode 13, even though this dude is trying to kidnap him.

In the first damn episode we see him realize and try to remedy Katara's struggle with no longer being able to act like a kid and have fun. He wants to travel with her so SHE gets to learn waterbending. He willingly lets Zuko take him into his ship because he understood that a conflict could lead to the people of the water tribe getting hurt or killed.

In Warriors of Kyoshi he apologizes to Katara for letting all the praise and admiration go to this head. He makes sure to put out the fires Zuko and his crew started in Suki's village.

He tries to help remedy the Hei-Bai situation, even though he is unsure of himself and even scared, because he knows he is the only one that has any chance of helping - and the thing that allows him to connect with Hei-Bai is the fact that he is ALSO upset about the destruction the Fire Nation has caused AND hopeful that the world would eventually heal.

He thinks Jet is awesome because he wants to help people that are being oppressed by the Fire Nation - and then is horrified when he finds out his intension is to "free" them by killing everyone

He wants to help the two rival groups not only safely cross the Great Divide, but also stop hating each other.

He confesses that he hid the map to Hakoda because Bato, Katara and Sokka are showing how much they appreciate and trust him and he feels unworthy of it after what he did because he knows it'd hurt him if the roles were reversed.

He is so devastated by the fact that he ACCIDENTALLY hurt Katara that he swears to never firebend again. He is also able to recognize the same principle behind his mistake in Zhao's fighting style, allowing him to win the battle against the bastard.

He accepts the fact that the Northern Air Temple is now occupied by people who not only don't belong to his culture but also don't understand it and unknowingly destroyed something sacred to him (and that one of them had been forced to make weapons for the Fire Nation) because these people have nowhere else to go and he doesn't want them to suffer.

He is furious at Pakku for refusing to teach Katara waterbending, because he knows how much it'd mean to her and how unfair it is that she can't learn it just because of her gender.

He is so devastated by the death of the Moon Spirit that the Ocean Spirit latches onto him to avenge it and save the day - and the leve of destruction it causes haunts Aang, even though the violence was against his enemies. And still, he tries to go into the Avatar state again because people are dying and he can't accept that.

After the fall of Omashu, he wants to rescue Bumi, not because he needs a teacher, but because they're friends.

He felt empathy for Toph when she was explaining to her parents how lonely and unappriacted their over-protection made her feel.

He and Katara both feel bad for snapping at Toph during "The Chase" and wanted to apologize for not understanding that being part of a group was a radical change to her, even though she had refused to even try. He also didn't have a problem with fighting alongside Zuko and Iroh against Azula, AND he looked concerned when Iroh was injured.

After Katara comments on the fact he called Toph Sifu but not her, he calls her Sifu while bowing, to show that he respects her both as his master and friend.

The hopelessness and downright depression he was feeling after Appa was stolen only starts healing because he saw a couple being happy with their newborn baby - the same couple he decided to help cross the Serpent's Pass, even though he and his friends had just been allowed to take a much safer route to Ba Sing Se.

His understanding and sympathy towards Jet, even after everything the guy did, was so strong that it freed him from literal brainwashing.

He doesn't want to push his love for Katara aside to gain power because he cares about her too much - and then does it anyway because, even though not making her his main focus 24/7 offers the risk of her being hurt, him neglecting his mission guarantees she'll get hurt.

He is devastated to learn that the world thinks he is dead because he knows he was everyone's last hope - and yet in the end he still accepts the burden of failure because he understood that, at that moment, everyone would be safer if no one else knew he was still alive.

He goes to a Fire Nation school and bonds with the kids, wanting to give them a taste of freedom and joy, as well as trying to understand what the war is like from their perspective. The same episode also has him pull Katara for a dance because he noticed she was feeling left out.

The boy felt empathy for, and understood the mistakes of, both Ruko and Sozin. SOZIN. Aang could see the humanity in the monster that is responsible for him losing his entire culture and everyone he loved.

When Zuko spoke about wanting to control his impulses so he wouldn't accidentally hurt anyone, Aang explicitly connected with that struggle and saw them being teacher and student as fate, and Zuko agreed because that's how deep their connection was.

Aang is not happy about Katara wanting to murder a man, but he still lets her take Appa on her mission and is not disapproving when she ultimately spares the guy but does not forgive him and makes it clear she never will.

He feels empathy for freaking Ozai, to the point that refuses to kill the guy - even as he has the balls to say that Aang's family, his people, deserved to die. He spared that guy - but only after he had a way to do that without it meaning the death of more innocents. Aang, the pacifist, was going to turn his back on everything he believed in just to avoid more human suffering.

So yeah, miss me with your bullshit and don't come back until your brain is developed enough to understand a cartoon aimed at kindergarterners.

#anti zutara #pro aang

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stawbeemilk · 3 months

Text

⤷ relationship headcanons – hq

✩ characters: hinata, bokuto, tendou

✩ warnings: f!reader

✩ a/n: i had so much fun writing the first part so i'm doing more!! i love these three so much it's actually insane

⭑ hinata

⤷ you two are so cute together it's almost sickening, you're definitely that couple who everyone is lowkey jealous of because of how utterly infatuated you are with each other

⤷ hinata literally adores you so much, he sometimes annoys his friends and teammates because of how much he talks about you

⤷ he tries to dial it back but he can't help it, he just loves you so much— you and volleyball occupy pretty much all of his thoughts <3

⤷ hinata is literally a ray of sunshine, he always knows how to make you feel better when you're having a bad day

⤷ likes to send you good morning and good night texts when the two of you are apart, it's his way of showing you that he's thinking of you

⤷ he definitely prefers to be the little spoon when cuddling, but gets super embarrassed if you ever mention it in front of anyone

⤷ hinata thinks you look adorable in his clothes, whenever you put on one of his t-shirts and it's all loose and oversized on you it makes him weak in the knees— you're just too cute <3

⤷ he can't explain why but he gets so flustered whenever you wear his jersey and will start blushing and fumbling his words

⤷ loves to randomly pick you up and spin you around, lifting you so effortlessly as if you weigh nothing to him

⤷ lets you do his makeup because he gets to see your face up close, he thinks you look so pretty when you're focused and will have a lovesick grin plastered on his face the entire time

⤷ likes doing chores with you such as cleaning the house or buying groceries together, but every time you go shopping he somehow always manages to get lost and you end up spending half of the trip looking for each other

⤷ hinata is always showering you with compliments, and will call you beautiful at least three times a day

⤷ overall a huge sweetheart <3

⭑ bokuto

⤷ when bokuto falls in love, he falls hard— he adores absolutely everything about you and genuinely thinks the world of you

⤷ he's a very affectionate boyfriend, definitely gives the best hugs and makes you feel so safe when he wraps those beefy arms around you <3

⤷ he loves pda and will happily kiss you regardless of who's watching, but only if you're okay with it!! he never wants to make you uncomfortable and will definitely tone it down if you ask him to

⤷ bokuto can't sleep without you, when the two of you are away from each other he always has to call you and listen to your voice or else he won't be able to sleep

⤷ whenever you're sad he will do everything in his power to try and cheer you up or comfort you— likes to break out the puppy dog eyes if you refuse to tell him why you're upset

⤷ if you have an argument, he's always the first to apologise, even if he wasn't in the wrong

⤷ the first time you took him to a yakiniku restaurant on a date he very nearly got down on one knee and proposed to you

⤷ no matter how busy bokuto is with volleyball, he always manages to make time for you

⤷ he loves when you come to his games and cheer for him, and whenever he scores a point he'll make a heart with his hands at you

⤷ regardless of whether the team wins or loses, you always give him the biggest hug afterwards and tell him how proud of him you are

⤷ bokuto enjoys watching you do your skincare routine and will be over the moon when you ask him if he wants to do it with you

⤷ he would be lying if he said he understood what any of your products actually were, but he loves the feeling of you applying all the different creams and serums to his face

⤷ he's such a golden retriever bf

⭑ tendou

⤷ tendou still doesn't understand how he managed to end up with someone as gorgeous as you, he honestly thinks he's the luckiest guy on earth

⤷ literally worships the ground you walk on

⤷ he still can't believe he gets to wake up next to you, and he sometimes has to pinch himself in the morning to make sure he isn't dreaming

⤷ the first time you called him handsome he cried

⤷ tendou gets so excited if you're someone who also likes anime, the two of you binge watch so many shows together and he'll talk about his favourite characters with you for hours

⤷ takes you on cute little café and park dates

⤷ he's also quite spontaneous and will do things like randomly surprise you with tickets to disneyland or the eiffel tower

⤷ likes to sneak up behind you and scare you for absolutely no reason, he thinks it's so cute when you get mad at him for it

⤷ tendou actually gets really insecure if he catches someone else flirting with you— it's not that he doesn't trust you, because he does more than anything, it's just that there's always a voice in the back of his mind telling him you could do so much better than him </3

⤷ needs a lot of cuddles and reassurance from you, please tell him that he's good enough and that you love him just the way he is

⤷ if you have a sweet tooth, he likes to surprise you by bringing you little chocolates home from work <3

⤷ he's so touched starved, when the two of you first started dating it caught him so off guard when you would show him affection

⤷ but as time went on and he grew accustomed to your touch it wasn't long before he revealed his clingy side to you— asking you for cuddles and kisses all the time and sending you texts while he's at work saying that he misses you

⤷ protect him

⤷ please do not repost my works on any other sites!

#★彡 elle’s writings .ᐟ #hinata shouyou #hinata x reader #hinata x you #bokuto koutarou #bokuto x reader #bokuto x you #tendou satori #tendou x reader #tendou x you #𐙚 ‧+ ̊ ⋅fem .ᐟ

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thedemonscrawler · 3 months

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I'm just gonna do this to Ruin

LIKE. YES I KNOW HE DID EVERYTHING WRONG. BUT HAVE YOU CONSIDERED HOW SAD HE MIGHT BE ABOUT IT

Like aaaaa I'm cursed to only like characters when they're losing I guess, and a Pyrrhic victory counts as a loss. I didn't CARE about this guy when he was the main antagonist, and then Eclipse 3.0 chucked him in the back of a car and kidnapped him and I was suddenly interested. And NOW, when everyone is very much upset about Solar, I'm off to the side shaking this bastard around because we finally got some concrete answers to what's going on in his head.

Just! This whole thing-- this is an exceptionally Moon thing for him to have done. To go 'I'm going to completely and totally remove this possible threat from ever occurring, and I'm fine with being the bad guy to do it'? That's some Old Moon kind of thinking. This wasn't a plan he came up with in the past few months, this took him years.

And speaking of years! Fifty years of playing pretend! Of acting like you enjoy hurting people, that you don't care as your body literally falls apart around you. I'm not a fan of the idea that he was never infected, I like the perspective better that he was infected, it just wasn't as responsible for his behavior as he made it out to be-- but still. At some point he had to have gone numb to it for the sake of his own survival.

What does that do to your mentality? Your outlook? What's it like knowing that your whole world was brought to its knees by your creator? What's it like being the only semi-stable person you know for half a century? What's it like realizing that you're also changing, and not for the better?

He's just... so painfully isolated, in a way that Eclipse doesn't even come close to touching.

And! And even after being 'cured'! He's still isolated! Like it was a good thing he WAS up to something-- can you imagine how crushing it would be if he'd been genuinely not doing anything, and he was still treated with suspicion for a solid like 4 months? By probably the most consistent group of animatronics he's had to talk to that weren't infected with a weird virus?

Like, the man didn't get repaired until 3 months after being cured, after Solar made a blueprint in his spare time. He didn't get a bed until Moon felt guilty about rummaging around inside his head-- and tbh I don't know if he ever got to actually use that bed. He let them call him Ruin.

Ruin never had a home in 'our' dimension.

And hhhhngh like I'm not even sure he cares, because he's past the point of caring. He's got one of Sun's worst traits as well, "There's no point in sharing what I'm thinking because no one is listening". He could have approached Moon and Solar with like "Hey okay so I started on this plan to do this thing like 10 years ago, I would like some input" and maybe an alternative could have been found!

But he didn't, because he's alone. He came up with the best plan he could, weighed the risks, and acted on it, all by himself. A single weird Eclipse against 5,000 Creators, because he felt like that was the greatest threat.

And like, lets be real-- Solar's death was 100% a narrative necessity. Otherwise we the audience wouldn't really care that Ruin had wiped so many dimensions from existing, it'd just be a number. That thing of like, you gotta make it personal to have impact. Very good storytelling right there.

(Though from a in-universe perspective, man it must have been an unpleasant shock to learn that of course the only other dimensional refugee was from one of the worlds you had to destroy. Like, come on, what are the odds)

He did something horrible. A multi-dimensional catastrophe to prevent a multi-dimensional catastrophe. He probably accepted the ramifications of it ages ago. He just... utterly lacks any hope, you know? No hope of forgiveness, no hope of improvement. He survived his world long enough to do this thing, and he has nothing else going for him.

He's just waiting for them to finally kill off his body, because he already died years ago.

Anyway I'm desperately trying to find an angle that can be used to maybe pull him out of his coffin here and so far I'm not seeing one qq but maybe future eps will give me something to work off of.

#the sun and moon show #tsams #the sun and moon show spoilers #spoilers #i guess?#also i have no idea if i wanna make rants like this on this blog or my main #ruin eclipse apologist tm #maybe not apologist maybe defense lawyer #your honor have you considered that my client's actions were not malicious and also he's really not okay inside

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captainsophiestark · 9 months

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The 60s

Klaus Mikaelson x Reader

Masterlist - Join My Taglist!

Written for Fictober 2023!

Fandom: The Vampire Diaries/The Originals

Day 9 Prompt: "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Summary: Klaus wiped the memory of the love of his life after hundreds of years together to try to protect them from Mikael. Now, however, his ex has their memories back is going to find their boyfriend. Even if he is in someone else's body.

Word Count: 2,215

Category: Angst, Fluff

Putting work into an AI program without permission is illegal. You do not have my permission. Do not do it.

I was going to kill Klaus Mikaelson.

Unlike the other thousand people who'd probably had that thought in the last week alone, however, mine was actually justified. For hundreds of years, Nik and I had been together, happy, and in love. We'd wandered the world together, side by side, having each other's backs through thick and thin. Out of everyone in the entire world, I was the only one he'd always trusted, completely, without a doubt in mind.

And then Mikael had shown up one time too many.

Nik and I had faced him a few times, and he had firmly held the spot of 'my least favorite Original' for literal centuries. We'd always come out shaken, but fine, until about a hundred and fifty years ago. That time, he'd gotten Nik cornered, so I'd jumped in to save him. Mikael had almost killed me instead.

We'd managed to both make it out alive, thankfully, but Nik had been foaming at the mouth with nerves and fear. I'd tried to calm him down, but it hadn't worked. He'd gotten too scared, so for the first time in our entire relationship, he broke my trust. He compelled me to forget him, and to go somewhere else, far away, where I'd never be put in danger by him and his family again.

It had worked, unfortunately for me. Until recently, when something had happened to break the compulsion and bring my memories back. At first, I'd been terrified that it meant Nik had died. But, after a little investigating and compelling of my own, I realized he'd been body-hopping with the help of witches. Something about it must've shaken his compulsion loose, and allowed me to remember.

It hadn't taken me long to track him down to Mystic Falls, Virginia. I couldn't help being a little proud of myself for finding him so quickly; it helped that I knew him well. I'd arrived in Virginia last night, and managed to track down Nik's exact location and hiding place just as quickly. He'd apparently taken over the body of a history teacher at the local high school. Who would I have been to miss that opportunity?

With a little more compulsion, I'd convinced the front office staff to let me into the teacher's history class. I found a seat to one side of the classroom, then settled in to wait for Nik to show up. I almost blew my cover when, a moment later, the spitting image of Katherine Pierce walked through the door.

I knew he'd come to town for the doppelgänger, but it was still surprising to see someone who looked just like Katherine. Apparently, that lie we'd planted about the Curse of the Sun and the Moon had been working out pretty well. She sat on the other side of the room from me, flirting with another vampire and sitting with her witch friend. I sighed, already ready to leave the classroom, when Nik finally walked in.

The teacher, Alaric Saltzman, was tall, with brown hair, and dressed in something I could almost see Nik wearing normally. He strode through the open door with a "hello class" and went right to his desk like it was any other day. I snorted.

"What... are we learning today?" he mused, flipping through his history book. He hadn't looked up once; hadn't had a chance to see me yet.

"With the decade dance tonight we've been covering the sixties all week," a girl in the front chimed in. Nik looked up.

"Right. The sixties."

For the first time, he turned, and I thought his eyes might finally find me. Instead, they found the doppelgänger—Elena—like a heat-seeking missile.

Understandable, since we didn't think she existed. But still annoying.

He glanced from her to the open classroom door, then turned to the board. I huffed a sigh and rolled my eyes. What was he gonna do, just grab her and run? Much too obvious for his style, and we both knew it.

"The uh... the sixties," he started, mentioning the decade for the third time now as he turned around to write the same words on the board. "...I wish there was something good I could say about the sixties."

I covered a snort with my elbow. I almost raised my hand to say something like "Maybe they would've been better if you'd still had me with you", but that was also too sloppy for my style. Too many students asking questions, seeing me, and too many enemies possibly getting hints about Nik.

"They actually kind of sucked," Nik continued. "Except for the Beatles, of course, they made it bearable."

His eyes strayed to Elena's witch friend, and my heart squeezed in my chest. Nik was recounting memories that didn't include me, when I should've appeared in almost all of them. The hurt was only semi-manageable because I wasn't looking at the love of my life's face while hearing this, too.

"Uh, what else was there? The Cuban Missile... thing. The uh... we walked on the moon, that was, uh... Watergate."

"Watergate was the seventies, Ric," Elena chimed in with a fond smile. "Uh, I mean, Mr. Saltzman."

"Right," Nik continued, a familiar edge to an unfamiliar smile. His eyes never strayed from Elena. "It all kind of... mushes together up here. Sixties, seventies. Thank you, Elena."

I watched him teach the rest of the class in a way that could only be described as 'playing with his food'. He said Elena's name another time or two, savoring it in a way I recognized as him relishing in victory. I was happy to see him happy, but the added side effect of him being so wrapped up in doppelgänger nonsense meant that he still hadn't noticed me.

I tried not to let it get to me. Especially since it had given me the best opening I could've asked for to scare the daylights out of Nik and get just a little bit of payback.

Once the bell rang, I stood and hovered at the edge of the classroom. Nik dismissed everyone and said goodbye to the class, saying a special, specific goodbye to Elena and watching her leave. It wouldn't have been terribly obvious to anyone with no reason to suspect 'Alaric' was not who he said he was, but it was ridiculous to me.

Nik moved to the door to look out into the hallway as the classroom emptied of every single student except for me. He watched Elena go, his back to what he thought was an empty classroom, giving me exactly the opening I wanted. I crossed the room quickly but quietly, using all of my vampire skills to keep him from noticing me until I was right next to him, almost shoulder to shoulder.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," I said, right into Nik's ear. He'd jumped and spun around at the first word, but now stood frozen, his mouth open in shock as he stared at me. I grinned. "You know, whatever you were planning to do to the doppelgänger. At school. In a human body. While she's surrounded by supernaturals. That's just a bad idea."

"Y/N..." he breathed, voice barely above a whisper. Then, he surged forward, wrapping me tight in his arms and spinning me around in a hug. He moved backwards into the classroom, and I slammed the door with my heel just to avoid any prying eyes.

Nik finally pulled back, eyes wide and a vague smile on his face, like he was happy but didn't actually believe this was real. I smiled back at him, even though he didn't quite look like my Nik, and gave his hands a reassuring squeeze.

"How... how is this possible?" he asked, his voice still quiet, like any loud noise might shatter the moment. "How are you here?"

"I still don't totally know. But I think, when you moved into this... teacher body... it was enough for your compulsion on me to break."

Nik's face fell immediately, as it should have. I frowned, the immediate happiness of finding Nik having worn off.

"I can't believe you did that to me, Nik," I said, taking a step back from him. "It was supposed to be the two of us, through everything. Against everything. No matter what. How could you betray that?"

He gave a frown of pain, taking a half step towards me before thinking better of it.

"You don't understand. My... Mikael... almost killed you. If I'd been the cause of your death-"

"Okay, first of all, you would never be the cause of my death. You know how I know? Because you would never kill me." I stared at Nik long and hard, and although he looked away from my gaze quickly, I never did. "Second, the only person who would've been the cause of my death was Mikael. You are not responsible for a bad person trying to kill me."

"Unless that bad person is trying to kill you to get to me." He said it quietly but firmly, looking up at me with a rueful smile from lowered lashes, like he'd just said some checkmate truth we'd both been avoiding. I put a hand on my hip and glared.

"Actually Nik, no, it's still not your fault. It's the bad person's fault. That's it. And before you start telling me it's your fault for dragging me into it or whatever, I could've left. I didn't want to, and I still don't want to. I've seen every level of crazy your life has to offer, and I'm signing up for all of it.

"And Nik, before you try to tell me how much you'd miss me if you lost me, you did lose me! By letting fear drive you to compel me out of your life. And I also lost you. I guess I've been generally content for the past hundred and fifty years, but I've never been totally satisfied. Because something is missing. I've known total and complete happiness, and it's whenever I'm with you. This immortal life isn't worth living without you, Nik. Don't try to tell me it is."

He stared at me for a few long moments, then pulled me to him again. Unlike the first hug, this time our feet stayed planted firmly on the ground, wrapped tight in the strong hold of each other's embrace. I sighed as Nik rested his head against mine, moving his mouth right next to my ear.

"I'm... I'm sorry, Y/N. I shouldn't have done that to you. I was just... terrified at the thought of losing you."

"I know. But Nik, we're nothing if we're not together. I need you to promise me you won't do that again. The two of us, side by side, for eternity. That's it, alright?"

He pulled away, hands holding my arms tight as he stared me straight in the eye.

"I give you my word."

Slowly, a smile spread across my face, a new warmth growing in my chest. Not once, in hundreds of years, had Nik ever broken his word to me. We were going to be okay.

He grinned back at me once he noticed my smile, then leaned in to kiss me. I stopped him, jerking back a bit, and he gave me a concerned look.

"I love you, and I am so happy to see you again, but I'm not kissing you until you're back in your own body. I have no interest in kissing this rando you've possessed."

Nik grinned, and although it wasn't his body or his smile, I swear it looked exactly like it was supposed to.

"Fair enough. I don't think I want you kissing this 'rando' either. What do you say we get out of here, and do what needs to be done so I can get back into my body, break my curse, and kiss you properly?"

"...Not in that order, right?"

"No, not in that order."

"Then deal."

Nik smiled and took my hand, giving it a gentle squeeze as we headed towards the door together. I had no idea what the next part of his plan was, but once I was caught up to speed, I knew we'd be putting it into action shoulder to shoulder again, and all would be right with the world.

"You know, you're a shit teacher," I mused as we headed off into the high school together. Nik shot me a look as he kept leading me towards whatever destination he had in mind.

"Do you remember much interesting information to teach children about the sixties?"

I shrugged. "No. But I could probably fake it better than you. Watergate."

"I was in Australia, Watergate was a low priority."

"I was in Greenland, so... checkmate."

He just shook his head, a smile finding its way onto his face all the same. I was the only one in the world Nik trusted endlessly, the only one who could find him in a matter of days no matter where he was in the world, and the only one who could get away with giving him shit with absolutely no repercussions. And now that I had him and my memories back, I was never letting him go.

****************

TVD/TO Masterlist: @elenavampire21

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visionofvoid · 1 year

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How the Drivers React to Seeing/Meeting You For the First Time - Part Two

George Russell:

“They’ll let anyone in here.” Lewis joked to an unknown woman beside George as they walked through the hall to make it to a strategic meeting and expectations on the track for the new year. Lewis was a legend in the game, quite literally a world champion though they needed to work harder if they wanted to earn Mercedes the title of Constructors Champion and get points for the new season. George? He was still newish, he was still trying to navigate his way through his role, especially when his teammate was the one and only Lewis Hamilton.

“Lewis!” The girl seemed as if she was full of energy, Toto nodding at his two drivers in acknowledgement before looking back to the strange woman, a fond look on his face. “It’s been so long!” She had a slight accent, reminiscent of Toto’s. She seemed warm, like she cared to make a positive impact with everyone she had ever met. She had this radiant energy that George felt drawn to, and he wasn’t too sure how to feel about that given she was a stranger to him.

“Well maybe if you visited your father more.” Toto jokes, the girl rolling her eyes as Lewis chuckled and embraced her.

“Father?”

“Ah yes, you must be George. I’m Olive, Olive Wolff.”

Valtteri Bottas:

Tiffany Cromwell and Valtteri Bottas were a well known couple in the Formula One world, so, when the two decided to end their relationship everyone was shocked. It was rather amicable but Valtteri spent a lot of his free time healing, beginning to get used to being alone, and starting to fall in love with himself more. The two had remained close friends; nothing would ever change the love the two shared for one another, they just wished for different things in their lives and that was normal, that was okay. So, when Valtteri decided he wanted to put himself out there again, he called on for some advice from the closest female he knew that wasn’t family; Tiffany.

Valtteri stood on the podium, his first P3 of the season in the third race of the season and he felt absolutely over the moon. He was in a new car in a new team and was just thrilled. He felt as if there was some luck out there for him, someone there to cheer him on. After all the interviews and the post race press conference he finally had some time to celebrate with his friends, team and everyone that worked behind the scenes and other celebrities that were in the city.

“Valtteri!” The Finnish man turned, hearing the familiar feminine voice over all the others as he walked into the bar. Tiffany, with a drink in her hand, bounced on her feet towards Valtteri, leaving a friend awkwardly standing to herself. She embraced him, clearly a couple of drinks deep but excited to see him nonetheless. He chuckled as she pulled away, a pink flush on her cheeks. “I’m here to set you up with my girlfriend! You’ll love her!” He turned to the female that was making her way over, her cheeks also flushed but from the embarrassment of Tiffany’s statement. Valtteri noticed she was wearing a casual dress, not overly dressed up like everyone else in the bar. Just comfortable, though she still looked gorgeous, that much he knew.

“I’m so sorry! I tried to get some water into her.” The friend apologised, taking the drink Tiffany was waving around out of her hand. “I’m not some groupie, by the way. Tiffany has made it her mission to find me someone. God, that makes me sound so desperate!” Her cheeks continued to flush a rosy colour, even under the dim lighting of the bar. Valtteri had he fair share of women clinging onto him for their five seconds of fame but this a thousand times different. “We were there, cheering you on. Though I must confess I wasn’t too sure what was happening. Tiffany, come on, everyone wants to say hello to hi-” Tiffany rolled her eyes, taking the drink back.

“May I buy you a drink?” Valtteri chuckled at the duo, interrupting the woman’s nervous but rather cut rambling.

“Yes, of course she wants a drink, Bottas.”

Mick Schumacher:

To Whom it May Concern

Mick rose an eyebrow as he sorted through his mail, spotting a handwritten note. He didn’t believe it to be fan mail as it all got sent to another location that he picked up on a fortnightly basis and he kept his private life and address very out of the limelight, so he continued reading.

I am your new next door neighbour. My name is Josephine Kruger, I have all the horses you can probably see shitting in the field. I’m writing this note to apologise in advance if you hear my new pup barking at night or if he gets out into your property, the bastard is an escape artist.

Here is my number if Nigel (the dog, a black labrador) gets out and wanders onto your property. I’m working on it.

Apologies in advance.

Mick chuckled at the note before leaving it on the bench to sort through the rest of his mail. He made himself busy around the house before he decided to take some trash out to the bins, opening the door to see a black labrador puppy sitting on the top step, his tail wagging happily. His tongue hung out his mouth sloppily and his ears looked much too large for his head. He still had a lot of growing to do. Mick chuckled as he bent down, holding out his hand for the pup to sniff before he deemed Mick safe enough to jump up, asking for pets and scratches.

Mick didn’t have pets of his own, especially when he travelled so much for work so he embraced the love he was receiving from the pup, picking him up. Nigel looked minuscule in his arms, twisting around so he was on his back, his paws in the hair and his tongue, once again, hanging out of his mouth.

“Nigel? Oh goodness!” Mick looked up as he heard frantic yelling, the female presumably his new next door neighbour that he was yet to meet. He walked down the steps, looking down at Nigel whose ears seemed to perk up when he heard his name called by his owner.

“Let’s go find your human.” Mick mumbled, walking down the path that led to his horseshoe shaped driveway, the sound of shoes hitting the pebbled driveway, coming closer with every second. Mick glanced up as he saw the figure of Josephine round the corner, her hair up in a rather messy bun that looked more like a mushroom cloud than anything else. She had a helmet in one hand and a leash in the other.

“Nigel! God, I am so sorry!” Josephine was embarrassed to say the least. Her next door neighbour was gorgeous and here she was in a pair of riding boots, a dirty shirt and shorts with sweat dripping off her, running after her escape artist dog. “I cannot apologise enough.” Nigel almost seemed as if he was ignoring his owner, turning in Mick’s arms and hiding his face in the gap between his arm and chest.

“No, no! It’s not a problem, honestly. He’s welcome here anytime. I’m Mick, I’m not home much.”

“I’m Josephine. I’m home too much.”

Pierre Gasly:

You've got a new match!

Serena looked at the notification on her phone, sliding it open to see what new man she had matched with now. She was in sunny Australia, having just finished an extra credit trip to help assist Indigenous Australian elders, archeologists and anthropologists in rural Victoria unearth the remains of a small family or tribe and now she was in a hotel in Melbourne flying out back to gloomy England in two days time. She had some steam she needed to blow off.

She scrolled through the profile, noticing that the man she matched with was not from Australia which was perfect because it made one night stands just that much easier. His photos consisted of him in what looked as if to be luxurious sports cars, with his friends drinking wine in fancy restaurants and lots of motorsport pictures, not that she cared about the sport in the slightest. His profile had no other bio except for ‘In Melbourne for the weekend’. So, she bit the bullet and sent a message.

How far away from the Pullman Hotel in Albert Park are you?

She waited no more than a few minutes to get a response.

Pierre weighed up all his options before coming to his final decision. She could be a massive fan girl for all he knew, but then she could also be someone that was oblivious to who he was. She was stunning, that much he could tell from the photos. She didn’t appear to edit them at all. They were mainly images of her with what he assumed to be her dogs, her family and friends and photos of her travelling. He would be happy to spend a few hours with her. Quickly googling the hotel he found that he was only a five minute walk away.

Five minute walk, give or take.

I’m room 412. Message me when you get here.

Say less, Pierre thought.

Kevin Magnussen:

After three seasons away, Nico Hulkenberg was back driving for Haas alongside former rival, Kevin Magnussen. It also meant it was three seasons since Nico’s younger sister was at a Grand Prix and back behind the scenes helping her brother. She was last to be introduced to everyone, this time as someone on Nico’s PR team rather than his little sister, and she was the last to formally meet Kevin.

The two had both undertaken a number of changes since the last time they were at the same event. Kevin was now divorced, a devoted father and now a close friend with his teammate, Nico. Lena was now a university graduate, just getting over a heartbreak from a stupid boy and was much more mature, both in her mannerisms and in her appearance. She seemed like a whole other person, at least to Kevin.

“I look forward to working alongside the team, alongside Guenther, the engineers, the event planners, the mechanics, everyone. Thank you, Nico, for this opportunity and Kevin?” Kevin looked up from his beer, offering a sly smirk to Lena as she stared down at him. She looked ravenous and it was dangerous that the sole purpose of this dinner was to celebrate the start of a new season with an open bar. God, the things he wanted to do to her. He nodded, waiting for her response. “If you get into another PR nightmare like in 2017 with Nico, respectfully, suck my balls.” She sent him a wink that was enough to make Kevin feel hot, slightly turned on. Guenther let out a roar of laughter, everyone holding up their drinks to cheer.

He was in for a long night.

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vitaminseetarot · 1 year

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Quick General Advice for Your Situation (PAC)

One thing I want to mention is that all three piles had earthy palette cards with something spicy on the back of each pile's deck. This could have been the influence of Moon in Taurus as the lunar nodes are beginning to switch over to Aries. I'm sending frustration with all three piles but also a lot of passion and motivation.

Pick which earthy palette color you prefer for some quick guidance.

(piles 1, 2, 3 - images from pexels.com)

Spring Grass: XV Devil, Page of Swords, III Empress (Back: 3 of Wands)

The energy you're building up is leading you to seek out or attract new opportunities to travel to places you haven't experienced before. I'm sensing a strong draw towards what's new at this time, so it could be literal travel or you're seeking out a new experience overall. This could be a radical change from what you're used to. If you feel you're not in any position to travel soon, this may still be your pile, so hang on! Don't feel stuck! I'm letting you know now that plans can change quickly and spawn out of nowhere just as quickly. Your advice is to be in a state of expansion and open mindedness. Although 3 of wands is Aries energy, you're being asked to step into more Sagittarian energy of enthusiasm for adventure and optimism for brighter times. There might be a long period of time where this traveling doesn't happen even when you finally get itchy for it. That's because you need to sit down and do some planning. Make an itinerary, even for a fake trip. Look up photos, have conversations with people about it. Get in the mindset for it. Yes, it's possible to experience the impossible. But you have to be in a state of preparedness for it. Get your basic needs in working order so that when the opportunity does arrive, you'll be more than ready for it, inside and out.

Pink Quartz: Hermit, XIII Death, XVIII Moon (Back: 5 of Wands)

Even though you feel motivated enough to move forward, there's still tiny threads trying to pull you back into overthinking things. It can feel like you're busy when in reality your plans go nowhere because they're dead on arrival. It's one thing to be sparked by an idea, it's another to put it to print without losing what made you want to do it to begin with. I'm seeing an image of somebody sitting hunched over at their bench, writing down one sentence on a sheet of paper before crumpling it and starting again. This isn't a healthy mentality as you're not giving you and your imagination a chance. Your advice to be kinder to yourself by giving your inner vision more space to breathe. Being in stillness and sitting back with a blank canvas is part of the creation process and is in the end more productive than deleting the first page of your book over and over again. You have all three cards as major arcana, so learning this lesson will prove to be monumental to your life's overall progress.

Stone Brown: IV Emperor, III Empress, 7 of Swords (Back: 7 of Wands)

I think this pile is definitely experienced when it comes to making big plans and carrying them through. It seems the one thing that motivates you most is the feeling of "this has to be done, whether or not I like it." You put on a strict poker face only to fall apart as soon as no one's looking. Please let me tell you, pile 3, that you do not always have to be strong for everyone else. It's beautiful for you to see yourself as an important part of what makes life work, that your skills and patience are needed and appreciated. But all the praise in the world won't make up for that hollow feeling of coming home and realizing that you have to be strong for yourself, too. Your advice is similar to pile 2. You need to greatly soften your approach. Allow other people to pick up the pace and help you every now and then. Especially if there are many moving parts and you get into "octopus mode" of needing to be involved in all the cogs of the wheel. It shouldn't always be equal work, going out and dealing with people, then dealing with yourself. When you need time for yourself, take the chance. Ground yourself through nurturing and soothing habits at home, something that lets you take off the "big boss" mask for a while.

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eldritchamy · 1 year

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We probably won’t see it in great detail in the campaign itself, for a number of reasons (not the least of which is that this is a fade-to-black campaign that has to be Twitch-safe), but I’m just thinking about the symmetry of Laudna and Imogen and what it’s going to be like the first time they have sex (if ever, because it’s very possible for Laudna to be played as ace, which Imogen would of course respect, but just hypothetically and for no self indulgent reasons whatsoever).

They really mirror each other in such beautiful ways. They have a deeply intimate relationship built on years of comfort and trust and the safety that they find in each other. They are each other’s tether, and have the kind of emotional home in each other to have said so before they acknowledged these feelings.

These two women are absolutely reverent for each other.

They’ve been traveling together for at least two years. They went to a red light district together where they thought the tiefling girls and their tassels were pretty. Imogen canonically experiences the thoughts and feelings of the people around her, and experienced that in a red light district. We’ve known that for a year. In the negative space between the things she said about it, that was all but an admission of Imogen having experienced attraction to the female body. In Laudna’s company. During the time they spent traveling alone together. And meta-character jokes aside, Imogen has expressed pretty clearly that she finds Vex’ahlia beautiful. The woman Matilda Bradbury was chosen to represent for her similar appearance. (I mean we all knew this girl was gay.)

And these are two women who were driven from their homes by traumatic experiences with strange magic. Both of their bodies are marked with the scars of what that magic has done to them, and how that magic has chased them away from the homes they used to have. Laudna by her hanging and resurrection at the Sun Tree, Imogen by the will of some god-devouring monster imprisoned in the Red Moon. They literally have a sun and moon parallel hard coded into their character designs. They found each other on the road and found a kinship that neither of them have known from anyone else, even with the rest of the Hells, though those relationships are significant to them in other ways.

I definitely think their relationship will be healthier for the fact that they HAVE met the rest of these people. Especially for Laudna to have that rock-steady friendship with Ashton, who is such a great source of stability and mutual respect and emotional wisdom for her. Both of them have known acceptance from other people now, but the profundity of that connection they share with each other is still so deeply special, and the rest of the Hells give them that perspective. They both have the potential to trend towards unhealthy codependency, especially in their isolation, if not for these other people around to keep them from falling. The M9 were thought of as a much more chaotic neutral party than Vox Machina and their heroes-of-the-world story. But Laudna and Imogen might be two of the most neutrally-aligned characters we’ve seen so far (except Fearne). Both of them have been burned by the world, and there’s a part of each of them that would let the world burn back if that’s what it took to protect each other. Their moralities could truly fall in any direction with the right circumstances.

They would follow each other into hell as long as they were together, but it’s better that Orym is there to remind Imogen that his family died at the hands of the people she’s not sure she disagrees with. Laudna and Imogen are practically MADE for each other, and everyone they’ve met on the road since has picked up on the force of that connection, but having friends around them will make their relationship better than it would have been if they were still living alone with no one to keep the darker side of each of them in check.

They are, despite the current circumstances, so much better off having their relationship go in this direction NOW, as opposed to during their time together pre-campaign, or without so much intra-party development behind them.

But that is where it all started: when they ran away together and made home after home, protecting each other and that connection above all else, fostering this bond that they have, rooting each other to the earth with pure, unconditional acceptance.

Imogen was the first person who didn’t run away or try to chase Laudna away with pitchforks. Laudna was the first person Imogen could hear as music, a soothing presence in a world of psychic noise. And they found a quiet, private peace in each other that neither of them believed they would ever have again. They ARE each other’s home. They give each other something that neither believed they could ever have.

That connection, that intimacy, brings each of them a kind of comfort and trust that they have never known from anyone else. There’s no one else that could make either of them feel so safe with someone else’s body. One dragged back to life by magic twice, and one so flooded with power that it runs across her skin like inflamed, bruised veins. And yet there’s no judgment either of them will ever have to fear from the other. There’s such a beautiful, comfortable intimacy and safety between them.

And I really think that’s going to translate into something magical.

So many soft, reverent touches. Laudna tracing those scars, Imogen feeling that slow but full heartbeat, hearing only music. Two bodies scarred in different ways by strange magic, finding the safety and comfort of home in each other.

They just fit.

#yes all of this DID occur to me while thinking about Laudna seeing Imogen's lightning tiddies #Critical Role #laudna #imogen temult #imodna #critical role spoilers #crspoilers #cr3 #bells hells #imogen x laudna #I will never forget about the Red Light District story #we knew Imogen had canonically experienced attraction to women a YEAR ago #anyway they're perfect for each other #they mirror each other so well

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aziraphales-library · 6 months

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Hello!! I love this blog, and thank you so much for doing this!!

I was wondering if you know any fics where people try to set them up?

Hi! We have a #matchmaking tag you can check out. Here are some more to add...

Oblivious by EdosianOrchids901 (T)

“Mr. Crowley and Mr. Fell had been truly baffling to watch all evening, often trading jabs about weather and horses and philosophy before stalking away to different corners. And yet they orbited each other, never staying apart for long, always drawn back together. Phoebe had never seen two people so desperately in love and yet so oblivious to it.”

Love is Blind (Tied Up and Gagged) by RoseDoesFanfiction (G)

"What-” Crowley starts, cutting himself off as he tries to make sense of the scene he’s currently observing. His mouth hangs open around the choke of inarticulate sentiments—mostly ardent confusion—he doesn’t have the words to voice. A shaky breath steadies his nerves as he slumps down upon the edge of his bed. From what he can see, Gabriel and Beelzlebub have kidnapped Aziraphale. He would laugh if it wasn’t so achingly tragic. “He was miserable,” Gabriel explains simply. (Or the one where it takes a minor kidnapping to get them to actually sit down and TALK for someone's sake.) Post Season 2 fix-it.

7 minutes in heaven by waddlesthejoghog (T)

"If Crowley and Aziraphale couldn’t figure it out, Muriel would have to take a different approach. It wasn’t enough to put them in the same location. They had to plant some seeds of conversation. They had to come to a conclusion naturally, but with a push." OR Muriel reads every book in the shop, then comes up with a plan to get Aziraphale and Crowley back together.

seven minutes in somewhere by whicorzoo (T)

In which Aziraphale Fell, in his last year at Eden High School, has had a long-standing, unyielding crush on Anthony Crowley that leaves him a flushing, stuttering mess at the other boy’s mere mention. Because of his affliction, he’s vowed to never speak with Crowley to avoid the inevitable and soul-crushing embarrassment that would surely follow. It’s not as if he’s really risking anything this way, anyways; Crowley likely doesn’t even know he exists. His scheming-but-well-intentioned best friend Anathema, a pantry, and a game of seven minutes in heaven aim to break that vow.

Muriel's Arrow by marsnack (T)

After waiting thousands of years Muriel is finally given their first mission on earth. To make humans fall in love. Only one problem. Or several, actually. Muriel isn't all too good at matchmaking. And Hell, for some unknown reason, really wants to steal Cupid's Bow. And er, the Instruction Manual heaven provided Muriel is a little... outdated When Muriel shoots Crowley with Cupid's Arrow, Aziraphale is desperate to find a way to reverse it. But Crowley is acting differently than everyone else who was shot by the bow. Perhaps it was because he's a demon. Or was there another reason?

The Whispers of The Moon by comicallybadwriter (M)

“Aziraphale, for the eleventh time we have enough wine!” Crowley groaned and leant across the bookshop door, waiting as impatiently as one could for their best platonic friend of 6000 years to finally finish packing a picnic basket for a night of looking at the stars. “Angel,” Crowley stepped into the kitchen and took Aziraphale’s hands in his own, “Anything you’re missing right now, I’ll miracle up in the snap of my finger. Literally.” Crowley raised an eyebrow and snapped his fingers for show when a tartan ribbon had fallen into his hands suddenly. The angel picked up the ribbon softly and turned it around in his hands, making Crowley pink in the face, “Sssorry Angel let me-” "Turn around dear." ::: Aziraphale and Crowley are finally left alone, but where there's a demon and angel, there's drama. What could possibly be worse than the end of the world? Well, a lovesick demon struggling to cope with the evergrowing need and want for their neighbouring angel could do some damage.

- Mod D

#good omens #good omens s2 #ineffable husbands #matchmaking #mod d

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rambleonwaywardson · 23 days

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Clegan Astronaut AU - Part 4

Masterpost

Author's Note: I promise this fic will get more mission-oriented soon, but the next couple chapters will be very relationship-focused in the lead up to the Artemis 3 launch. I love these two and have a lot of fun writing them, so I hope y'all are okay with that!

Nearly everyone loves Gale Cleven. Those who followed the space program before have loved him since he first came on the scene as an astronaut candidate. Those who are only listening in as Artemis ramps up have the chance to fall in love with him now. Tall and handsome, cool and confident yet a little bashful, bright blue eyes, a winning smile, and a southern drawl. And an accomplished Air Force officer to boot.

Even as controversy over his sexuality continues to permeate certain spheres, for much of the world, it’s hard not to love Gale Cleven. Between training sessions, Marge sets him up with interviews and photoshoots, rushing him onto the Artemis scene as fast as he was selected for the mission. He’s tired as all hell, but he puts on a smile and sweet talks the media.

“It’s an honor, you know?” he’ll say when reporters ask him what being selected to Artemis 4 means. “I really believe we can learn a lot about our world, and about the human species, through Artemis. We’ve been working towards this for years, and I’ll do my best by the American people to make them proud.”

“It’s real exciting, the way people are interested in the moon again,” he’ll say, with a cute little half smile, a wonder in his eyes, a confidence to his voice. “I’ve been in love with it since I was a kid. I get to share that with the whole world now.”

“Oh, we’ve got a great crew. Two great crews, on 3 and 4,” he’ll say when he’s asked about NASA’s preparedness for these missions. “We’ll get it done, don’t you worry.”

And when he sounds so sure, so calm, how can you not believe Gale Cleven?

It’s been a long time since NASA has been able to capture the interest of the public so fully, but with the Artemis crews, there is a growing echo of the adoration that surrounded the Apollo astronauts so many years ago. These men and women are budding celebrities, whether they like it or not, and Gale Cleven and John Egan are the face of it.

Since the press conference, everyone tiptoes around the sexuality question. The marriage question. John hasn’t talked to the media since. But if anyone asks Gale about John Egan, no one can miss the undying love in his expression, the way his eyes go soft and his smile becomes just that little bit more genuine.

How can you not root for that?

The days following the Artemis 3 press conference and Gale’s appointment to Artemis 4 are busier than ever, filled with training, media, meetings, and more training. As the back-up commander for Artemis 3, Gale has gone through extensive training already in the Artemis mock-ups, including EVAs, flying, docking, and anything else NASA can throw at him. Now, however, he has a new crew to catch up with, including him as the new mission commander, Sandra as the new lunar module pilot, and Richard Macon and Helen as mission specialists.

He jumps right into the deep end – literally – with the crew. Their first few days training together consist of Orion simulations, excursions on mock lunar terrain while bogged down with EVA suits, and conducting mock zero-G EVAs in the neutral buoyancy tank. This includes donning full EVA gear and taking a deep dive into JSC’s 40-foot deep pool, where they can interact with full scale mock-ups of NASA spacecraft in order to simulate working through EVA activities in zero gravity.

While Gale grapples with performing repairs on the fake Orion hull, using tools through a bulky space glove as he floats around in a 6.2 million gallon tank of water, Bucky and Curt work through one of their final sim days for the Starship lunar lander, combatting scenario after scenario of different ways they can fuck up landing on the moon. While Bucky hops around on fake lunar terrain with a massive oxygen tank on his back, fighting the urge to pretend sword-fight with Curt using their sample collection tools, Gale leads his new crew through flight scenarios in the Orion sim. While Bucky artfully avoids any and all reporters by constantly busying himself with mission prep, Gale speaks transparently with the media about his new Artemis role.

And while Gale turns in for the night after longer-than-ever days, Bucky is still at the space center, pushing himself and his crew to new limits.

–

October 8, 2025

Nassau Bay, TX

With their schedules demanding more of their time, Gale and John have barely had a spare moment together. Gale can hardly remember the last time they actually sat down and ate a meal together. One of them dropping by to see the other at JSC with a cheap cup of coffee doesn’t count. But their wedding is just a few days away, and, at Gale’s insistence, they had agreed to leave work a little early (or, less late than usual) in order to spend a nice evening away from the endless chaos of their exceptionally poor work-life balance.

Gale had finally managed to pull himself away and is now sitting on a stool at the kitchen island. He’s changed out of his work clothes, thankfully swapping the sweaty flight suit for a thin gray sweater and old jeans. He’s fighting the urge to check the time every twenty-three seconds. He is, however, acutely aware of the fact that it’s past 7pm, and Bucky had promised to make it home by 6:30. He sends him a quick text – “Waiting at home. Dinner’s almost ready.” – and decides to grab his laptop and review some mission protocols, answer emails, and anything else he can think of to distract himself.

By 7:30, he’s tapping his fingers nervously on the countertop. He’s called Bucky twice, both times with no answer. Texts went unheeded. Marge hasn’t heard from him. Gale takes the pasta dish he’d made off the warmer and fills two plates with it, covers them, and puts them in the fridge. He sends another text – “Are you okay?” A couple minutes later, another – “What if I told you that I’m naked?”

Nothing. Even for that. He tries to brush off his growing disappointment and worry.

Bucky hasn’t been the same in the days since the press conference. They’d discussed at length how to proceed in the future -- Bucky didn’t like the idea of screening and pre-selecting every single question beforehand because he knew he’d come under fire for censorship or some shit. Gale agreed, knowing he’ll be facing the same things as Artemis 4 prep ramps up. However, they had decided to warn reporters that probing questions about the astronauts’ personal lives will result in them being removed from the premises at the discretion of the astronauts and the public relations officer. All Bucky has to do is give Marge a certain look and security will escort someone away.

Otherwise, he’s avoided all discussion about it. Gale can tell, though, that it’s getting to him more than he wants to admit.

By 7:50, Gale decides to eat without Bucky. He gives Pepper a few pieces of plain pasta to feel less alone. By the time he’s done, he feels officially stood up by his own husband-to-be. He picks up his phone and calls Rosie. “You guys still at JSC?”

“Yeah,” Rosie says. Gale hears a door swing open to the sound of an evening breeze and footsteps on pavement. “Yeah, we uh, we just finished up for the night. We had a hard time with one of the sims. Got it sorted, though.”

“Mmm.” Gale runs a hand through his hair and tries to figure out how he feels about that.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Gale drawls. “John, well, he said he’d meet me at home tonight for dinner. He’s over an hour late.”

He can imagine Rosie furrowing his brow, looking thoughtfully off to the side. “Oh, he didn’t say.” Gale hums again but doesn’t say anything else. Rosie sighs. “He’s been… off. Since the press conference. Like he has something to prove.”

“Right,” Gale says sadly. “Yeah, I know.”

“Will he talk to you about it?” Rosie asks.

“Hardly.”

“No, me neither.” Both men go silent for a long moment before Rosie says, “I’m sorry Gale. If I’d known I would’ve kicked him out of there faster.”

“Yeah. Thanks Rosie.” Gale clicks the end-call button, and he buries his face in his hands, rubbing hard at his eyes, not sure if he wants to cry and yell or bang something real hard. He does none of it. He just sits alone at the island, feeling like an island himself.

When Pepper, tail wagging, runs to the front door at the sound of the knob turning, it’s nearing 8:30pm. Bucky walks into the dark house. He follows the faint glow of light through the living room and into the kitchen, where he sees his fiancé sitting alone at the island, clicking away at his laptop and pointedly ignoring him.

“Buck?”

Silence.

“Gale?”

Bucky throws his bag down and walks to the other side of the island, sits down on a barstool, and stares at Gale. Gale stares at his laptop. Bucky reaches across and gently pushes the laptop shut. Gale frowns down at it. “When you’re two hours late, you don’t get to decide if I should pay attention to you.”

“You know how it is, Gale.”

Gale nods curtly and tries – fails – to swallow his frustration. “Yeah, John, I know how it is.”

“Great,” Bucky says. He reaches to take Gale’s hand in his, but Gale jerks away. “Why are you so upset then?”

Gale scoffs, still avoiding eye contact. His words are careful and deliberate. “I know how it is better than anyone. But that’s the point, John. We’ve both known how it is for months. That’s why we agreed to make today different. Just today. That’s all I fucking asked for. And you couldn’t even give me that.”

“We had to-“

“I don’t care what you think you had to do.”

“I can’t just-“

“You can do what you want. You always do anyways.” The words are, somewhere deep down, meant to sting. And Gale wishes he hadn’t said them, but some part of him can’t stand how John’s behavior tonight has left him wounded and defenseless and alone.

“Gale, come on, I know I’m a little late, but I had to-”

“You’re more than a little late.”

Bucky slams a hand down hard and loud on the counter, startling Gale into looking up. He regrets it instantly, the moment he sees the hurt in Gale’s eyes, a sense of betrayal and wariness that Bucky can’t believe he just instigated. “Can you let me speak?” He grits out, forcing a calm into his voice. Gale stays quiet. Bucky sighs and pulls his hand away, curling his fingers tightly in his lap. “I need… I need this to go perfectly.”

“None of it goes perfectly,” Gale bites back. Even though he knows what Bucky meant.

“I know. But I need to be perfect. I need to show them-“

“You don’t need to show anyone anything. You just need to do your job, like always.”

“The stakes are higher this time and you fucking know it.”

Gale clenches his jaw, trying to parse out the anger from the sadness from the worry. “This is about the homophobia.”

“No,” Bucky says too fast. Gale arches an eyebrow. “Maybe,” Bucky relents.

“You won’t talk to me about it.”

“It doesn’t need to be talked about.”

“Clearly it does,” Gale exclaims, spreading his arms out wide. “Everyone is worried about you. Rosie, Marge, and Curt all say you haven’t been the same since the press conference. And they’re right. I’m worried about you.”

“Maybe everyone needs to mind their own business,” Bucky spits out bitterly.

“You’re training too hard.”

“I’m going to the moon.”

Gale is quiet for a long time. Because he knows. God, he knows. He knows better than anyone. Bucky is going to the moon. Just a month after they get married. They don’t even have time for a damn honeymoon. And now Gale has to train for Artemis 4. The long days won’t get shorter, the short nights won’t get longer. Often, they barely see each other when they’re not at work or collapsing into bed. They rarely have time alone. Time to talk. Time to be close to each other. They knew this was how it would be, but that doesn’t make it easier.

“We’re getting married first,” Gale says weakly. “That’s… that’s still important, too.”

Bucky sighs and grips his hair in his hands. He can’t bring himself to look at Gale. He doesn’t even know why he says it: “you knew what you signed up for. Sometimes we have to prioritize.”

The echo of cruel words rings in the brief silence that follows. Gale stands up, looking anywhere but at Bucky. “Well,” he scoffs. “Good to know where I stand on your priority list.”

He walks away towards their bedroom, but stops in the hallway. “Dinner’s in the fridge. I made you a plate,” he mutters, and the gesture is kind but the words hit like a ton of bricks. Pepper follows Gale, trotting loyally at his heels, and Bucky hears their bedroom door click shut.

He walks through the doors of the Hundred Proof because he doesn’t know where else to go. His head is spinning, pounding with an anger that he isn’t sure is towards Gale or towards himself or towards the assholes of the world who think they get to decide what he is and isn’t worth in the public eye. There’s something else under the anger, too, something that he isn’t ready to name, and it simmers beneath the surface like flames fighting for breath against water.

The bar is always full of familiar faces, but he doesn’t look at a single one. A couple of voices that his brain doesn’t bother putting a name to call out to him, but they let him slip away. He wonders if that’s all it takes to disappear: just act like you don’t hear the words that people throw at you like stones. Except in the real world, they never stop throwing them even if you pretend they don’t hurt. He sits on a stool near the end of the bar and just stares at the astronaut portraits on the wall. Him and Gale. Always him and Gale.

“Can I get you something honey?”

Bucky blinks, adjusting his focus to see Jackie in front of him. She knows something is off, he can tell. He’s alone at the bar around dinner time, without Gale or anyone else, just a couple days before his wedding. All of that, and it’s written all over his face.

“Whiskey,” he says.

She nods and grabs a glass. When she sets it down in front of him, it’s got ice in it. He looks at her, and she looks back. “On the rocks,” she says. Like it’s a challenge. But she smiles softly at him. “Cause I don’t think you want it as much as you think you do.”

Bucky thanks her – he isn’t so far out of it that he won’t be polite to a woman who has looked out for him as long as he’s been in Houston – and he takes a sip. He lets the alcohol sit on his tongue, slide down his throat. He lets it burn, and he sips it again. With a gentleness he doesn’t feel in his heart, his fingers brush across the condensation on the glass, and he thinks about how Gale always does that as a nervous habit when he’s been out a little too long and is starting to get tired of the company.

He takes another sip. It doesn’t burn anymore, and he wishes it would. His throat feels numb like the rest of him, feeling like he’s drifting aimlessly about with no anchor to hold him down. He thinks about Gale. Shakes his head, tries not to think about Gale.

He thinks about the press, shakes his head. Grips the glass too hard. Gets worried he’ll break it and lightens up. Tries not to think about the press.

He thinks about the mission, rubs a hand over his face. Tries, for once, not to think about the mission.

If we’re lucky the fag will die up there.

He holds his breath to keep it from coming too fast. Where would that leave Gale?

He shakes his head, feels his lungs start to hurt as he keeps them from exchanging carbon dioxide for oxygen. Elevated CO2 levels and suffocation are common concerns in a spacecraft, common obstacles that, if not overcome, could be fatal… He gasps quietly and draws burning air into his lungs. The condensation from the glass leaves little droplets of water dripping from his hot fingertips, rolling down and splashing on the wooden bar top. He sips his whiskey and holds his breath again.

He’s getting married in a few days. Right before he leaves the fucking planet. He just spat in his fiancé’s face.

Gale deserves better.

Bucky really might die up there. Is that better?

He shakes his head, decides, firmly, that that thought process is a little too far even for his brand of melodrama. He forces himself to exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, and rubs his whole hand up and down the cool glass, letting it ground him when he has nothing else to keep his wandering mind on this planet.

“You okay, John?” Jackie asks.

What the fuck is he doing here?

He thinks he nods his head, but he isn’t sure. He might shake it instead. He stares at the pictures on the wall. Blinking tiredly, he looks around the bar.

What is he doing here?

He looks at his whiskey glass and raises it to his lips, but he doesn’t take another sip. His mouth tastes bitter all of a sudden. He doesn’t want to be here. Why is he here?

He only came here because he didn’t know where else to go: where do you go when you’ve denied yourself access to the only place you want, no, need to be? He doesn’t want to be here at all.

He can’t be here.

He thanks Jackie in a hurry and tosses some cash on the bar, next to a nearly full glass of whiskey.

Gale has only been sitting in the living room, letting himself feel hurt and lost with a dog comfortingly in his lap and the news on in the background, for less than an hour when he hears the front door fly open. Pepper looks at him, as if she’s asking a question, asking permission. He scratches her behind one ear and tells her to “go get ‘im.” Without another thought she flies off the couch and he hears a faint “hey Pep” from the foyer as he gets to his feet.

Bucky, assuming Gale would still be in the kitchen or bedroom, comes barreling in so fast that he bumps into him right in the middle of the living room. After a stunned pause, Bucky wraps his arms tight around Gale. “I’m sorry,” he whispers. “I’m so sorry.”

Gale slowly raises his arms to wrap around Bucky, and he lets his head drop to nestle against Bucky’s neck.

“Can- can we talk?” Bucky asks quietly. His fist is clutching the fabric of Gale’s sweater, and he still feels sick at the whirlwind of unwelcome feelings in his head.

Gale nods against Bucky’s neck, holding him just as hard. He still feels dizzy with the relief of his fiancé choosing to come home to him. “I’d like that.”

–

The night of October 10th, 2025, after an evening of low stakes partying with the entire wedding party, Gale is at home with Marge and Pepper while Bucky crashes with Curt. They’d decided to keep with tradition and stay apart for the night. Tomorrow, they’re getting married, and Bucky feels like he could really use a drink. Curt refuses him – for once, he’d agreed not to be the instigator or enabler. It’s his job as best man to get Bucky down the aisle in one piece, and that includes not being drunk or hungover.

Bucky knows this, and really he’d never disappoint Gale like that, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t use a goddamn drink.

He can’t stop anxiously tapping his fingers, shaking his leg, biting his lip as they watch some crappy movie on TV. Curt wants to smack him to get him to stop, but getting the groom down the aisle in one piece also means no bruises.

After entirely too long of this, Bucky suddenly asks, “What if I’m not good enough?”

Curt nearly chokes on his drink as he splutters in disbelief. The day before the wedding, after knowing Gale for over 15 years and being passionately together for much of that, Bucky questioning himself now is absolutely laughable. Buck and Bucky are not the most stable people in this world, but Curt has never in his life seen a relationship as solid and quite literally bomb-proof as theirs. They bridge the gap between admirable devotion and concerning co-dependency quite flawlessly.

Bucky is furrowing his brow, though, frowning deeply as he clutches the arm of the couch with his right hand and stares at the floor. “What if Gale doesn’t… what if he doesn’t want… me? Anymore.”

“Bucky, what the fuck.” Curt can’t help but actually laugh. Bucky just stares at him with the widest eyes, though, and Curt rubs the bridge of his nose. “I love ya man, but get it together. There hasn’t been a single moment since you two met that Gale hasn’t wanted you.”

“Curt,” Bucky sighs, putting his head in his hands. “I fucked up, man. I… shit, I did and said some things. We’re having a hard time with Artemis you know. I fucked up.”

Curt sets his drink on the coffee table and leans across the couch to put a hand on Bucky’s knee. “Bucky, you both know how this goes. You’ve been through everything together. That man loves ya more than anything in the world, and I don't really get how but he does. So yeah, ya fucked up. But couples fight. You’ll get through it.”

Bucky bites at his lower lip. “What if… what if it gets to be too much? Gale deserves so much better than me. What if I can’t… what if I can’t keep my head straight and…”

Curt tries not to roll his eyes. He is not cut out for this kind of thing. He’s NASA’s least eligible (but he likes to think favorite) bachelor for a reason. “Ok, ya know what, I can’t deal with this.” He pulls out his phone and scrolls through his contacts before pressing call. “Marge, I’ve got a code blue… blue for depressed… Marge, don’t give me that. I’ve got a kicked puppy over here freakin’ the fuck out the night before his wedding cause he thinks he ain’t good enough and Gale’ll quit lovin’ him… yes, I know. I laughed too… I tried… yes I fucking did I don’t need your sass… ok fuck you, I’m putting you on.”

He shoves the phone at Bucky’s face and mouths ‘talk.’

“Hello?” Bucky says into the phone.

“Honey, what’s going on?” Marge asks.

“Curt’s the worst best man is what’s going on.” He glares at Curt who sticks out his tongue as he leans back into the cushions on the other end of the couch.

“Well he called me so he must not be totally useless,” Marge jokes.

Bucky frowns and picks at the fabric of his sweatpants. “I, uh… I guess I’m havin’ cold feet. Is that what they call it?” Marge hums patiently, letting him know he needs to go on. “I just.” He breathes deeply. “I can’t get our fight the other day outta my head, and uh, I still feel shitty about it, you know? And it’s making me nervous about… fuck I don’t know. What if… what if Gale... What if he…”

“Bucky, take a deep breath for me,” Marge says. He follows her instructions. “Now, tell me, do you really think, after all this time and everything you two have been through, you need to be concerned?”

“Yes.”

Curt smacks a palm to his face, and Bucky feels like he can hear Marge doing the same. Curt grabs the phone. “Just put him on,” he demands. Then he hands the phone back to Bucky and there’s rustling on the other end.

Then, “John?”

Bucky bites his lip as his heart starts beating faster. “Hi.”

“What’s wrong?” Gale asks. Something in Bucky crumbles and reassembles at the same time when he hears the warm cadence of his concerned voice.

“People keep asking me that.” Bucky sighs. Then it all comes tumbling out. “I’m sorry, really sorry, about the other day. I didn’t mean what I said. I didn’t mean it. I don’t know why I said it. Everything has been crazy. The press is getting to me and this mission is… it’s big Gale. You know that. And with the wedding, all eyes are gonna be on us more than before. And they’re gonna say things. Shit, they’re already sayin’ things. And there’s been threats and… I should be used to it and I am but… it’s hard sometimes. And I was… I don’t know. I don’t know. I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you about it more. I fucked it, and I was upset and I hurt you and I still feel terrible and… I’m just sorry.”

“I know,” Gale says gently. “We talked through it that night, remember?”

“I know.” Bucky feels dangerously close to crying and he hates it. Gale’s voice is exactly what he needs to hear and it kills him anyways. “I can’t get it all outta my head. The mission, the wedding, the press. And it’s just, it feels like too much. And I’m… They… they want me to die up there. What if I… and then you’re…” He can’t even speak the words. He’s been a pilot for over a decade now, and he’s barely ever given the prospect of death a thought. But the idea of tying himself to Gale only to… well, only to miss out on their future. Only to leave Gale on his own… he can’t even think about it.

“It’s gonna be alright,” Gale reassures him. “Y’all are the best damn crew in the agency, John. The risks have never stopped me loving you before.”

“God, Gale, I’m fucking scared.” He hates to say it out loud, this feeling that he long ago decided he isn’t allowed to have. But if he doesn’t say it to someone, he feels like he might self-destruct. And if he can’t say it to Gale, he can’t say it to anyone.

“You don’t need to be, darling,” Gale says. “I’m right here with you.”

“But what if… what if you change your mind?” Bucky feels so small, and his voice sounds far away to his own ears, infinitesimal, like screaming into a void.

But Gale chuckles softly and Bucky just cannot understand why that question is so funny to everyone. Until Gale starts to speak, his voice measured and gentle and emotional and everything Bucky loves about it. “John Egan, I loved you the moment you barreled into my life, and I have loved you every moment since,” he says. “I have loved you with my entire being, my body, my heart, and my soul for over 15 years. I don’t know how not to love you anymore, and I don’t want to know.”

Bucky feels the forbidden tears prick at the corners of his eyes, but Gale is just getting started. “Because no matter where we go, or what we do, I want you there. We were just kids when we met. Now we’re pilots, Air Force officers, astronauts. We’ve seen and done incredible things that most people can only dream of, and now we’re both going to the moon. But even with all of that, today is the day that makes everything worth it, because you are the person who makes everything in my life worth it.”

He trails off, and Bucky takes a deep breath, wiping at his eyes, willing himself not to break down right there and then.

“Are those your vows?” He manages to choke out.

“Part of ‘em.”

“Aren’t you supposed to save them for tomorrow?”

Gale lets a brief silence linger between them. Then he says, “seemed like you needed to hear them now.” When Bucky is quiet, he adds “I can’t wait to marry you, John.”

“Well now I really have to step up my vows,” Bucky laughs shakily. “Gotta tell my bride everything he deserves to hear.”

Gale ignores the bride comment. “You’ve always been enough for me. You always will be.”

When they hang up, Bucky doesn’t know if he wants to laugh or cry, so he grins like a maniac at the phone on the table and Curt sighs dramatically in relief.

- -

Part 5

#my boys struggle #but they love each other too much #clegan astronaut au #clegan fic #clegan #mota #mota fic #masters of the air #gale cleven #john egan #buck cleven #bucky egan #john bucky egan #gale buck cleven #bucky x buck #buck x bucky #buck squared

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lovingaquarius · 1 year

Text

My own little astrology observations ;p

‼️DISCLAIMER‼️

this is completely based on my personal experiences and observations do not take what i say literally i am NOT a professional astrologer 🫶

jj and kiara from “outer banks” are the PERFECT example of a leo and aquarius duo and the best thing is rudy is a LEO IN RL and madison is an AQUARIUS 😩 kinda wanna do a separate post on this…

idk if any other gemini moons like watching reaction videos but i love them sm (this may be a gem placement thing overall)

i feel like sag moons favorite tv/movie genre is comedy/adventure. my brother is a gem sun, sag moon and he refuses to watch scary movies, even tho he’s a scorpio rising?? then again he will fall ASLEEP to scary stories on yt??

heavy aqua placements may make you hard to read to people or seem unpredictable

7h moon synastry may make you and your partner feel like you can feel eachothers emotions or know what they’re thinking/going to say

10h lilith ppl need to get used to people talking ab you, rumors being spread about you or just all around peoples perceptions of you being contrary to how you really are.(i have many favorable placements but this one still has its power 😭) what’s helped me is realizing that everyone’s perceptions of you is purely based on their perception of the world and past experiences with people. it’s rarely even ever about you

i don’t know why but i feel like gemini and sag placements are the types to like anime/video games

if leo moons/venus feel like they’re not getting enough attention or validation in their relationship they will find it somewhere else that is not something they can be without

i hate to validate stereotypes but every person i’ve known with taurus placements in big 6 have a passion for food and sleeping.(one of my old friends had a heavy taurus stellium and she was alllways sleeping/falling asleep and would sometimes fall asleep with food in her mouth 😭)

is there such thing as an aries mars with a low labido??

i feel like water placements (especially pisces) are the ones to listen to and really appreciate Lana del rey’s music or like/romanticize the older eras like 50s-90s (i’m a 7h pisces venus and i’m obsessed w the aesthetic of the 70s flower child )

moon mars synastry is so real yall ofc the whole chart matters but if your persons moon sign is your mars or vice versa there’s just a strong attraction, sometimes you dont even understand why.

the leo and aquarius attraction is so true i can point them out in a crowd and everytime i want them 🙄 it’s suspicious at this point 😑

idk if this is a pisces moon thing but i’ve noticed the pisces moons i know always have their comfort movies they rewatch over and over again and never get tired of. (or prefer to watch what they’ve already seen and like) maybe it’s a nostalgia thing?!?

#astrology #astrology observations #aquarius

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theminecraftbee · 1 year

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i know this isnt the meme but i would LOVE to hear your mumbo hot takes. whats the characterization thats important to you but "isnt canon" or "is only constructed from your own internal logic inscrutable to anyone else". or otherwise overlooked or underrepresented -girltws

OKAY SO. various mumbo things that are important to Me Specifically in his characterization:

if you have reduced mumbo to grian's emotional rock, you are writing mumbo wrong. mumbo CAN be the one who is acting as the emotional rock, but in the sense of. anyone who is close friends with another person can be. he's not a well-put-together, emotionally intelligent man, though. (i mean. okay IRL mumbo is probably a pretty well-put-together man from what i understand but you know what i'm trying to say.)

further point deductions if either mumbo's sole characteristic is "grian comforter" or "grian comforter about scar", a late-joining addition to my list of grievances.

also further point deductions if you write the grian/mumbo/scar trio but have put absolutely no thought whatsoever into how scar and mumbo interact.

(the above three items incidentally are often the ones that end up problems in the specific kind of watcher angst fic i find hard to read.)

mumbo is not responsible. he will, however, be appropriately flustered and concerned about irresponsible actions. this is not the same as being responsible, and his SCALE for what is or isn't irresponsible and should be worried about is wildly out-of-tune.

mumbo will also retaliate but he will be so wet and floppy about it. he gives as good as he gets he's just also pathetic about it the whole time. do you understand me.

mumbo is a guy who really, really wants his world to fall into order. this is not the same as being a stick in the mud or something - i am going to gesture at everything mumbo does in season eight, actually, as a really good example of "mumbo wants his world to be ordered but he doesn't necessarily mean for it to follow the same rules as everyone else, it's just ordered by his own internal rules". literally everything mumbo does about the potato situation and also the moon situation falls into this. another good example is the whole hobbit thing during hcbbs i think.

oftentimes, mumbo's attempts to maintain an ordered world that makes sense to him makes the world much more nonsensical, both to himself and everyone else. this then has a tendency to spiral.

also, mumbo is, in fact, smart. like, he's also a spoon, but he IS smart, and people lose that sometimes a bit, i think. (or lean too hard into 'smart redstone guy' and then make him the responsible adult for some reason.)

..........when i write mumbo he normally also comes out autistic gonna be honest here. this is at least 50% projection but is also somehow vital to characterizing him in a way i like, i think.

honestly the stuff about "mumbo wants an ordered world but is also a very chaotic person" and the autism beam are probably the most singularly "i am pretty sure these are just me" things and also i'm never good at explaining characterizations i like in plain language but something like this,

#answered #girltimeswithscar #ask game #...sorta? on-topic? i'll leave the tag there.

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tired-reader-writer · 2 months

Text

I was re-listening to the AU playlist (thankfully my headache doesn't seem to be preventing me from music tonight) and I felt the urge to ramble about stuff sooooo. Lyric highlights, a brief aside on why I might've chosen a particular song, that kind of stuff! I won't be breaking down entire songs, though.

If y'all wish to listen along as you read this... inordinately long post... Here's the link to the playlist:

“If these newly sprouted feelings resound in your heart, I can stay by your side and protect you, right?”

“Holding up the light I erase my hesitations

What I wanted to give you was a future

I scream out my grief, holding onto crying nights”

— Oath Sign, by LiSA

Ain't this just so fucking Shapur in Wolfsong?

“Even if I lose, even if I fail

I have no choice but to keep living

No matter how many times I fall

I have something to protect”

“This is the path I choose, the only path given”

— Kamado Tanjirou no Uta, by Nakagawa Nami, covered by Raon Lee

Pretty much the theme of the AU. They didn't choose this world, but they have to live in it. And protect what they can, while they're at it.

“Can you still smile even after seeing the real world?”

“A spiral song clears the way for one willful hope”

“You don't know how reckless you are

You make me blue”

“Whisper your name again

Then restart it right away

Oh my bitter color ardour wander

Gotta feel it undercover”

— Avid, by Mizuki and Hiroyuki Sawano

Of Ayunnen and Kashi's POVs as they're befriended by Shapur, though the final highlight was from Shapur's POV.

“The moon moves on

Death rides on

The raven flies in the evening”

“Long is the journey

Long are the paths to go

Long-lasting is the longing of men, if this is to be”

— Máninn Líður, by SKÁLD

Aaaaaand the massacre happens. They're dead. Grief enters the scene.

“Within this neverending rain

No longer am I afraid of yesterday

The future that had lost you

Had just begun”

“The cruel sky shines upon

Both what was lost

And what will never change”

— Aria, by Kalafina

The neverending rain both for the literal rain that bookended the chapter but also the metaphorical rain of grief that will follow the characters for years to come.

“You who are crying, you who are lonely

It is you who is right, it is you who is human”

“Dreams you want to fulfill, dreams that you can't reach

They themselves turn into dreams, into hope, and that's how people live on, right?”

“Thank you to the miracle

That we were able to meet

Even in a dirty and ugly world

Even like this”

— My Song, by GirlDeMo(Angel Beats) uhhh I haven't tracked down the irl singer who sang this, SORRY 😭

I chose this track primarily for Farangis. Imagine a young Farangis, struck with grief of losing her parents, ostracized by everyone else in the temple out of jealousy, and the first highlight is a reassurance that she has a right to cry, that she's human because of it.

The second highlight is more abstracted from her, more about hope in general.

The third comes right back to Farangis, she feels grateful to have met the clan and expanded her horizons, even in a shitty world like this. It's what draws Ranna/Ashaya to her, as well.

“Tears spill for the days you cannot return to The sky above burns crimson”

“Here, fulfill the ancient vow O night, break to dawn!”

“As if piercing a passing doubt Nock your arrow to your bow, release it far, far away”

“You, don't forget Your dream of seeing the burning end of the skies Those fragments will surely awaken, waiting”

— Akatsuki, by Shikata Akiko, covered by Shannon

Mostly just for these lines

Ancient vows and dawn arriving, it kinda sounds like a prophecy, doesn't it?

“Where it's covered in all the colored lights

Where runaways are running the night

Impossible comes true It's taking over you”

“Colossal we come renegades in the ring

Where the lost get found in the crown of the circus king!”

— The Greatest Show, by The Greatest Showman Cast

Mostly for these lines about runaways and renegades lol

Also the song has immaculate Kazai vibes

And shenanigans

“Sticking it out, letting you down

Making it right”

“Seasons, they will change

Life will make you grow

Dreams will make you cry, cry, cry

Everything is temporary

Everything will slide

Love will never die, die, die”

“Some nights, I think of you

Reliving the past, wishing it'd last

Wishing and dreaming”

“Death can make you hard, hard, hard”

— Birds, by Imagine Dragons

The POV of those who remain.

“I met you

And had a dream that would never come true”

“Wanting to protect you

I reached out

And embraced you with my still trembling fingers”

“All we can do is keep on living

Until we lose all our strength

We'll keep shouting helplessly”

“The proof that I was here

Is still there, in your eyes”

“Crying, screaming, and even as we vanish

We are alive

We are here”

— Sprinter, by Kalafina

Themes of the story, pov of the survivors, the desire to protect, etc!

And from a people that kept being erased over and over, a declaration that they still exist.

No but really, the song is really good.

“In the silence of a world wearing a veil of misty rain Suddenly, I saw how cold the face of truth could be”

“What else shall we let go To live our lives the only way we knew The birds are soaring in the sky So high above us all, we who cannot fly We dragged our wounds behind us And kept walking on”

“Through the emptiest of nights, ones that freeze you to your bones If we stay together closely, we will see the morning light What is the reason why, we can't stop this chain of hurt How much longer will we relive the past, the same memories?”

“Unlike the birds that soar the sky We have no wings, and though we won't learn to fly We stand above the earth now And keep walking on”

— flowers, by Hana Hope (English version)

Almost copy-pasted the entire song here

It's a song about humanity. It makes me so damn emotional.

Keep walking on. Share the warmth. Stay close together. Hey why do we keep hurting each other?

Themes very relevant to Wolfsong.

“For what reason

Have I been engulfed by flames?

I have been captured by fear

For such a long time

Now these flames will never extinguish!”

— The Star Knows, by Hoshimi Junna (Revue Starlight anime), I don't know who the irl vocalist is

HILMES SONG.

MOST OF THE SONG IS VERY HILMES.

“Now I'm fighting this war

Since the day of the fall

I've been desperately holding on to it all

But I'm lost

I'm so damn lost”

“Oh I wish it was over

And I wish you were here

Still I'm hoping that somehow—”

“As I'm lying awake

I'm still hearing their cries”

“And I'm wondering why

I still fight in this life

Cause I've lost all my faith

In this damn bitter strife”

— Shot In The Dark, by Within Temptation

I know this song doesn't fit Saam's vibes but. Hear me out.

The first parts just scream of him after the siege of Ecbatana, yeah?

Though the part about losing faith reads more Kubard, tbh

“As I paint a crimson artwork on the ground

With every piercing sound another worthless soul lies dead

Until my hands are dyed a brilliant red”

“Destroy them all (destroy them all)

I can't stop

No, I cannot stop

This need inside of me for more destruction

Powerless, powerless

So fragile is humanity

Cause in the end (in the end)

They're nothing except useless puppets

‘What's the reason for our creation?’

Hey, I'm asking you

So what do you say?”

“Cause here we draw the line

And every single thing is defined (black or white)

The very moment we were given our names

Our roles have been pre-ordained

When I snap my finger

None will remain”

— Karakuri Burst, English cover lyrics by SirHamnet

Ranna/Ashaya and Hilmes duet. On hindsight Hilmes' parts need quite a bit of stretching, buuuut he is dubbed “The Prince of Justice” by the Master in canon so someone who's trying to rid Pars of “evil” could fit right in. Ashaya is lashing out, destroying everything in their path, and sees nothing worth saving in this wretched society. Hilmes is caught up on the birthright stuff (our roles have been pre-ordained) sooo. Yeah.

“Why'd you make my voice stutter?

Why do truths never matter?

Why'd you curse me with ‘You're a natural-born genius’?

Endless inferno (inferno)”

“If you wanted me to live

If you wanted me to forgive

If you wanted to pretend like we're civilized humans—”

“Why don't deaths end my torture?

Why don't anyone feel my hurt?

Why do we crown our most violent to be champions?”

— In Hell We Live Lament, by Mili

Could be Araya, could be Ashaya. Wounded by the world, questioning it.

“And besides in the mean, mean time

I'm just dreaming of tearing you apart”

“I just gotta get you out the cage

I'm a young lover's rage

God I need a spark to ignite”

“My childhood spat back out the monster that you see”

— Light Em Up (My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark), by Fall Out Boy

Kazai and Ranna/Ashaya's song. Their feral tendencies coming to the forefront!

“As long as we're together

I will believe

There's a continuation for our destiny”

“When we were small

We made a single precious promise

I will not give up

I will recreate it

I wanted to see you”

— Starlight, by Aijou Karen and Kagura Hikari (Revue Starlight anime)

Not gonna lie this song is on thin ice despite how much I love it.

I initially kinda wanted it to be a song for Ashaya and Alfarīd— in the case that they did meet in their younger years, but now I'm not so sure.

On second glance it oddly reads as Daryun and Narsus????

Do with that what you will.

“What will I embrace

As I discard in the shadow of desire

This ideal of mine, drenched in pain?

It feels like another world, but this is the truth

With these stained hands I will protect you”

“What have I lost

As my awakened heart

Betrays yesterday's justice?”

“Now I'll brandish my glittering dream in the darkness

So that it will shine upon our overlapping lives

With the strength I have chosen

I will reach the place I believe is paradise

The hope that is our bond

Is connecting us to the future

Let us overcome our unhealing sorrow

My full emotions, unafraid of being broken

Are simply waiting for dawn to come”

— Another Heaven, by earthmind

Shapur's song. His and Kazai's, moreso Shapur's for the lines about discarding the ideals he once had.

The song is from the perspective of a protagonist who lets go of his heroic ideals and his dream of becoming a hero, in favor of saving the woman he loves. A song from the story of a sword finally becoming human.

This is Shapur's resolve settling, having decided what it is that he wishes to protect.

“Finally breaking, so where are you now?

It's been such a long time that I've tried to live without

I'm suffocating, I need you to breathe!

So pull me up, pull me out

Before I am buried beneath!”

“Thought I was climbing out

But it's dragging me down

What's hidden here with me

Thought I was alone

But it pulls me deeper now

I can't escape!”

— Buried Beneath, by Red

Gurgin's song in this AU, imo. Thought he was sticking it to the society that hurt him and killed his brother by joining Team Zahhak, only to realize much later down the line (after unwillingly staying in Gorgan for a while) that... they were only dragging him down. Maybe he's calling out to his brother.

“Test my will, test my heart

Tell me how the odd's gonna stack, huh?

Y'all go hard, I go smart

How's it working out for y'all in the back, huh?

I've seen that frustration

Been crossed and told no

And I've come back, unshaken”

“I can't fall back, I came too far

Hold myself up and love my scars”

“I don't fold up and I don't bow

I don't roll over, I don't know how”

— Lost In The Echo, by Linkin Park

Mostly vibes, but I felt this captured Gurgin's kinda haughty attitude, lmao.

“An existence that was born in the city

Seeming stronger than anyone else

Now we can only imagine our cursed and doomed future”

“Running and falling

Embracing these wounds that won't heal

For this moment the world has been waiting for”

“Drowned in the weakness of my inner self

I don't even know what mask (face) I should wear now anymore

So won't you give me an answer?”

“I know that it may look ugly and pathetic

But this is who I am right now

A corpse that cannot become anything, so go ahead and laugh”

— Kaikai Kitan, by Eve, covered by Raon Lee

Hilmes, fresh out of the haunted-forced-redemption-temple :D

“The pain layers upon itself and becomes shackles

I have no time to be crying

The helpless night and the the disheartened morning

They keep passing over and over

And what was left of the cruelly broken hope

Was a wavering light”

“The justice someone's wielding hurts so much

Even if someone's crying

It will hurt my heart again

Even if there are scars behind every single truth

I have no choice but to simply—

Forgive them all”

— Untitled world, by ReoNa

Areyan/Arslan's song in the AU, after he's been rescued from Ecbatana.

“I will change reality itself

Even if the truth I find is harsh and cruel

The world is filled with disasters

Time to tame the sins, change our fate”

“The rocky castle is starting to shake, it's finally time to decide

Whether to repair or rebuild, a choice must be made”

— Vivid Vice, by Who-ya Extended, covered by Raon Lee

Song for a redeemed Hilmes.

“It's a scream that my body alone cannot contain”

“I have a heart that trembles

Only when I touch your hand”

“It's fine even if it's foolish

It's fine even if it's ugly

There where lies beyond righteousness

I want to hold your hand”

— Suzume, by RADWIMPS ft. Toaka

Song of a redeemed Gurgin who is in love with Isfan.

“A world where nobody hurts each other

May be a baseless optimism

But even so, I want to try betting on it”

“Anger and grief get passed

From person to person in the blink of an eye

They create enemies that don't even exist

And thus ignite the call to fight”

— Yakodou, by Sakamoto Maaya

The song's not particularly dedicated to any one character, really, it's more of an all-compassing song

ALL THE MENTIONS OF BELLS

Think of it as a song before the final showdown against Zahhak.

“As I carry irreparable shadows

The promised place is where flowers bloom

With no care for sin or love

There goes spring

The shining light

Is simply dazzling in the sky

Please do not forgive me

I want to be broken, I want to be reborn

I will laugh by your side”

— Haru wa Yuku, by Aimer

The ending song of the finale in a movie trilogy, this one carries a tone of finality. And the lyrics felt fitting for a Hilmes near or at the hypothetical ending of the story.

The rest of the song could be echoed for other characters, but yeah.

And that concludes most of the songs in the playlist!

Rapid-fire round for the ones I didn't cover:

Soleil: roughly has the tone of a tale being retold— a martyr who gave too much and then died— the song that inspired Araya, a mythological figure for the clan.

Lostbelt title theme: an instrumental, to set the tone for a grand story— though I initially envisioned it panning over the long-gone ancient island, where the clan was said to have originated from, the island where Araya died

Noh Chant: Kaykhusraw's betrayal, Iumaka's death

Dance of the Spirit: clan vibes, especially kinda sorta Kazai in a ceremonial setting?

Moonsong: Ayunnen's song

Parent's Feelings: the somber tone of the castle after the massacre.

girls, dance, staircase: the vibes of a quiet morning

Yuki no Hitohira: more of the somber grief.

Rain: The entire song is just so clan-coded

Wolf Blood: Isfan and Kashi, need I say more?

Crucible: Ashaya/Ranna character song

The Nights: Kazai vibes. The line “Think of me if ever you're afraid” makes me go soft.

Homeland: the castle and Shapur's lands as they grow with the clan's presence, the feeling of being home

Garden: joyful tone setter

Yakety Sax: SHENANIGANS

It's My Day: fun tune, an energetic morning

朝市にて: Ecbatana before shit goes horribly wrong

Sulcus: Areyan's brainstorming song during the siege and Lusitanian occupation

Chaotic Battle: Ashaya's battle theme

Shura Fire: Alfarīd's battle song

Spirit of the Wild: Kazai's song

Sediment: Team Zahhak vibes

Silhouette: Team Zahhak vibes

Deep Darkness: the haunted temple Hilmes gets trapped in

Hitogashima Ballad: seems to be a children's song/lullaby, the vibes fit Araya The Younger (not the mythological one, Kaykhusraw's son he killed and wiped off of history), a ghost Hilmes encounters in the haunted temple

Nijamena: I could not for the life of me find translated lyrics so it's on here for the supremely epic vibes

Fate/Apocrypha: preparing for the final showdown vibes, has a mystical air to it soooo

FGO's Grand Battle Theme: HERE COMES THE FINAL SHOWDOWN BABY

The Last of the Starks: Team Gorgan aka Shapur's family and the clan at the end of everything kinda vibes

Labyrinth: Hilmes leads a ceremony to apologize to those Kaykhusraw had betrayed and murdered, put the spirits at ease, held where the haunted temple is.

@innerchorus Since you were interested, here ya go!

#arslan senki #the heroic legend of arslan #heroic legend of arslan #wolfpack au #winds of wolfsong #I'm... not gonna tag the characters

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