#and the bullets were weaker than a punch

[nick--knack]

*taps you on the shoulder* *opens my hand to show you my tiny pistol* :)

[aetherdoesthings]

Heyyyy, can I request a hurt/comfort with luffy and sanji separately who have a reader whose very cocky when they fight but can usually back it up just not this time. They win, but they like, nearly die trying.

heyyyy anon! one hurt/comfort with luffy and sanji coming right up!

forethoughts: i didn't really proofread because i was on a schedule, so apologies if it turned out not that good.

notes: gn!reader for luffy, fem!reader for sanji

Luffy (gn!reader)

You were a very formidable fighter; that’s why Luffy asked you to join his crew. Maybe you were weaker than Zoro, Jinbe and Sanji, but you could hold your own. You saw fighting as an opportunity to prove your worth, to prove your spot in the Straw Hat Pirates. A chance to have glory. 

That’s why you always jumped head first in a battle against marines or other pirates. Most of the time you walked out of the fight with a couple scrapes and bruises, sometimes a broken bone. This time was different.

The Sunny had docked on an island, as everyone desperately needed to be on land for just a bit. However, none of you was aware of the battalion of marines that swarmed this one island. The moment Nami spotted a man wearing a white vest and cap, blue pants and holding a rifle, all the Straw Hats were on high alert. Sanji, Franky, Nami, Robin and Chopper went back first, seeing that they were carrying supplies and materials. Likewise how Nami spotted the marines, the marines spotted you. Clenching your fists, you sprinted towards one of the marines, knocking him out. Several pointed their guns at you, but you weren’t concerned. Before any of the bullets could hit you, a flash of red covered your body, the sounds of multiple marines screaming telling you that you were safe. The flash of red slowly morphed back into the shape of your captain, who smiled widely at you.

“That was a close one, Y/N! Come on! Let’s defeat them and go back to the Sunny!” With his devil fruit, he swung off into the distance, defeating marines left and right. Every other Straw Hat had their own hoard of marines to fight as well, using their powers to fight them off. Pretty soon, a hoard of marines started to swarm you too. You successfully fight off the first few waves, but the more marines you knock out, the more start to appear. Your strength and speed starts to falter, as the marines start to take more punches and jabs at you. Somewhere in the distance you could hear a cry, but with the kicks to your head, everything was just foggy. 

Consciousness started to kick in when you realized you were in a completely new environment. You were in Chopper’s office, lying down on one of his beds. Your entire body was numb; it hurt to even move your head. Tilting your head to the side, you realize Luffy was sitting on a chair next to your bed, looking at you with a frown.

“Luffy…?” You croak. “What… happened?”

“You nearly died, Y/N. A bunch of marines were kicking and punching and shooting you. Don’t ask me what happened.” Luffy said.

“Oh..” You look at him, his frown even more visible. “Are you… mad at me for losing? I’m sorry…”

Luffy frowned even more. “You’re lucky Nami and Chopper banned me from hitting you. I���m not mad at you for losing, Y/N. You always rush out so recklessly in a fight without any plan, and sometimes you almost die. I don’t mention it because you always win, but this time you didn’t. I’m not worried if you lose a fight. I’m worried that you won’t be here for the next fight. I like you, Y/N. I don’t want you to die recklessly in a fight. You’re fun to have around on board. Next time, go easy on yourself. If you need help, just ask for help. There’s a lot of people here that’s willing to fight for you.”

Sanji (fem!reader)

You loved to fight. You got to prove to yourself and to others that you can fight, and will fuck anyone up if you wanted to. That’s why Sanji fell in love with you the moment Luffy asked you to join the Straw Hats. Not only because you were a girl, but because you were a girl that could hold her own at any given point, maybe even being stronger than Sanji.

But on some days you weren’t as strong.

During one of the fights against some marines who decided to ambush you, you were quickly overwhelmed and didn’t have enough time to react, forcing you to fight defensively as long as you could before help came. You managed to hold the marines off for a bit, the sound of Sanji’s distant cry bringing a sense of comfort to you. But he wasn’t fast enough, as the marines got to you first, firing three rounds into your weak body and beating you up until you were a bloody pulp, unconscious and on the brink of death.

You woke up to screaming. You thought it was a girl screaming. Maybe Nami or Robin. When consciousness starts to come back to you, you realize it was neither of your guesses. Sanji was standing over your body, screaming at Zoro for not helping you or something along the lines of that.

When Sanji realizes you’re awake, he’s ecstatic, trying hard not to shake your body or overwhelm you. “Y/N? Y/N, can you hear me?”

You see the green haired swordsman leave the room, leaving you alone with Sanji.

“What… happened…?” You weakly ask.

“You got into a very bad fight against the marines. If I didn’t find you… you would’ve…” Sanji didn’t need to finish his sentence for you to know what he meant.

“Oh… I’m sorry for worrying you… I promise I’ll be stronger next time…”

“No, no. Y/N, please. You don’t need to be strong. It’s okay.” “But…”

“No buts. Just rest, please. It’s okay to not be strong. There’s so many people outside this room that’s eager to fight for you and make sure you’re okay.”

“But if I’m not strong… then I can’t help everyone…”

“You don’t need to be physically strong to help everyone. It’s okay if you aren’t strong, Y/N. Please, just rest. You don’t need to worry about anything for now. Leave it to Luffy, Mosshead, and everyone else. You did what you could do, and I’m so proud of you. But please rest.”

[colorsofinquiry]

Episodes 75-76 of Dragon Ball Super are becoming my favorite episodes because of the role they play for Krillin.

When Krillin is on his job as a police officer, he gets injured by a stray bullet. #18 chides him for getting injured by a stray bullet. Its clear she's worried for him, because she did not expect his durability to get lower. Marron also wonders whether her dad was weaker. This spurs him to accept Goku's decision to spar before they both go to Master Roshi's island like the old days.

This is where we see the issue Krillin is facing. Master Roshi catches on that Krillin is feeling lost. He feels frustrated with his strength and wants to grow, but he had no idea how. Roshi explains that he can feel this in the hesitations in Krillin's punches and footwork. Krillin then opens up about Marron wanting a strong dad, and #18 calling him timid. Its clear that what happened in the episode has impacted him deeply on top of everything he has gone through.

By this point, Krillin has died thrice, plus the enemies they have faced were stronger than he was and he feels like a weakling surrounded by 2 full Saiyans, 3 Hybrid Saiyans, a Super Namek and his own wife, along with the case that he cannot catch up to his best friend. All of this has weighed him down.

This is why I think Master Roshi sends him along with Goku to the Forest of Death. It was more for Krillin than Goku, because Krillin had to confront his fears and face them head on. He himself admits that this is what Roshi wanted him to do. After this, Krillin finally decides to start training again.

That's why these episodes are good, as they give Krillin his desire to become stronger again, and play into his growth.

[somereaderinblue]

Hyacinths & Daisies

Tesla is tired.

She wants humans & Plants to be equals. She wants the humans who are selfish enough to abuse her Plant sisters & innocents to stop. She wants Knives to stop so Nai can properly heal. She wants to go back to those days where they were kids & innocently carefree.

She wants her wishes to be heard. But no one listens. 

She tries anyway. 

She screams and shouts and uses bullets as punctuations when she has to. But ammo is finite & she’s been screaming so much, her throat tastes of dried blood even when she’s just breathing.

She’s tired. She’s so tired.

Tesla’s hope is akin to the sand of No Man’s Land. Seemingly infinite but rough & coarse, a witness that enables misery more than anything. She grabs it in tight fists until her palms are scraped raw but it spills through her fingers sooner or later.

We’ve seen heroes who start out as idealistic become realistic, if not outright jaded. Try as Tesla might, she knows she’s not really living. She has no idea what she’ll do once Knives is stopped because at this point, she’s more likely to die trying to do that than achieving her dream of building equal ground for humans & Plants.

Still, she helps where she can. She can’t play God, surely she can make sure death at least finds the bastards who deserve it more? Surely this time, she can add a tally to the people she's saved instead of another she's failed? She’s trying, she’s trying, she’s trying.

Enter Livio (& the age-reversal wand).

All the kids at the orphanage avoided the scrappy boy who sharpened his teeth so nobody would pick on his brittle bones. When Nico bit Livio hard enough to draw blood, he teared up but didn’t flinch. When Nico finally let go because his jaw ached, Livio wiped the dirt from his cheek instead of slapping it.

In turn, Nico didn’t run from Razlo either. Livio taught Nico how to calm a crying baby while Razlo taught him how to punch the older meaner kids in places that count. Livio was the shield, Razlo was the sword.

When the Eye of Michael came, Livio accepted it; showed them Razlo & proved his compatibility with their experiments. He became their Double Fang. Naturally, everyone preferred Razlo but a coin only had value when both sides were intact. Putting up with still stupidly gentle, weaker, Livio was a small price to pay.

Until they decided they had a mission that was perfect for Livio, not Razlo.

And so, the sheep that was forced to wear the fangs and claws of a wolf was once again stuffed with cotton until it soaked up the blood & left his lungs clogged.

The worst part? Tesla meets Livio and slowly but surely, the sand-like hope she has is refined to glass. Still fragile and capable of cutting once shattered but the transformation? It burns, it shapes, it’s delicate & it’s beautiful.

Neither of them were meant to be weapons, but maybe with the help of each other, they can learn to be people again.

Extra AU notes:

TW: mention of addiction

-Tesla loses her right eye while Livio covers his left (it dramatically comes off when Razlo takes the reins).

-This visually shows how they're similar yet different in a way that complements each other & foreshadows that they're literally on opposite sides.

-Tesla jokingly calls Livio a grandpa because he carries a lot of candy & always nags her to rest more.

(The irony of that nickname is not lost on either of them.)

-Nico of course, followed Livio. The Eye purposely got him addicted to cigarettes laced with the serum to further keep him under control.

-Instead of canon!Livio's skull mask, he wears a mouthguard to resemble a muzzled dog (I'm sorry for doing this to you Wolfwood-).

-Livio doesn't smoke but he carries a lighter to perform tricks, it's calming for him.

[glacialswordsman-a]

52 + 100 ........... kaea.

∗ 52﹕ sender  takes  a  [ punch / stab / bullet ]  meant  for  receiver . | ∗ 1OO﹕ sender  has  just  died ,  receiver  finds  out . | prompt.

Red.

Red is all that Kaya sees, as he watches his twin crumple and collapse to the floor right before him. The skies were burning again, the sun blotted out as flames billowed and hid its shining light. They’ve been here before. They’ve experienced this before when their home was burning. When Khaenri’ah was burning.

Except, they were no longer children. They were older, led their own lives, followed their own paths and allegiances. They were once joined at the hip, their hearts intertwined, and their stars woven together into Geminae Pavonis. But ever since Aether…

Ever since Aether whispered promises to Kaea that they would have everything they’ve lost again, that everything would go back to the way things once were as long as Celestia and Her Children burned, Kaya had lost his brother. He was desperate to bring him back, to make him see reason that Aether was wrong. That things wouldn’t go back to normal, and they’d lose more than they have before, that he’d lose Kaea himself. He wouldn’t have his brother, he would have a monster instead. However, Kaea refused to listen. Refused to see reason. Refused his little brother over and over again and kept trying to convince him that this was the right choice, instead.

… Oh, how wrong Kaea was.

They had started at opposite ends of the field. Across from Mondstadt’s Cavalry Captain, the Ordo Favonius’s Quartermaster, Kaya Ragnivindr, stood Khaenri’ah’s Last Hope, the Eldest Abyssal Prince, Kaea Alberich. Both of their expressions were hardened as their gazes never left one another, their eyes of reversed palettes boring into each other, before they moved in and clashed their blades together. Around them, the Abyss Order and the Ordo fought tooth-and-nail as the twins focused solely on one another, refusing to let anyone else get between them.

It was a fierce duel, cryo against dendro. However, Kaea also had the advantage of the Abyss, while Kaya relied only upon his Vision and battle prowess. It wasn’t hard to tell which of the two had the upper hand, yet Kaya tried with all his might. He refused to let this happen, refused to let his brother be lost to him forever. Even now as he bled and cried, he tried to convince him to stop this, to come back to him. They could fix this; this could all go back to normal.

Kaea denied him once more.

The weaker Kaya got, the bolder the Abyss Order grew. The Knights were being pushed back, their losses ever growing despite the help they were receiving from Lumine. Although, there was a brief lapse in Kaya’s awareness as he focused solely on his brother, and he hadn’t realized the encroaching danger. All he heard was a frantic cry from Lumine to move, yet he didn’t register it. All he registered was a sharp shove before falling.

Kaya was dizzy as he attempted to regain his senses, blinking the haze from his eyes as he tried to figure out what had happened. What he saw was his brother collapsing onto the floor, clutching at his stomach.

There was a gaping hole, and it was dripping ichor onto the already bloodied grass.

“—Kaea,” Kaya would gasp out, his brows permanently stitched upwards as he scrambled over to his fallen brother, his voice pitched octaves higher as panic and dread began to set in. “No… No, nonono. Kaea, please, I—! Oh, why did you—?” he spluttered as he began sobbing, shifting to wrap his arms around his twin star.

He wailed for Lumine, wailed for Aether, anyone, to save his beloved brother. The brother who protected him, who saved him, who loved him, even when their previously intricately woven paths diverged. However, no one heeded him, as they could not save the fallen Heir.

The Princeling watched as the stars faded from his twin’s eyes, his breathing quickening as despair settled within him. “Kaea… Kaea!” he howled, grieving and pressing his forehead to his older brother’s, shaking his head as he held him, drenching himself in the ichor they once shared.

“You said you wouldn’t leave me—you said you wouldn’t abandon me. You promised, Kaea… You promised. You promised…”

[knight--error]

A random scenario or trope I love to see in fiction is when character A has been beaten to a pulp, totally brought to submission, and is about to be finished off by character B, but before it can happen, C, a much, much weaker character, steps in B's way and says something to the effect of, "I won't let you do this. If you insist on it anyway, you will have to go through me."

You often see this used as a way to humanize villainous characters—or make "heroic" characters much less heroic. In either of these, A is more heroic, B is more villainous, and C is someone B holds dear, usually a child. This can come across as very heavy-handed if done poorly, but when it's executed well, whether A relents or not, it's a gut punch. Seeing your downed enemy, knowing victory is yours, knowing the struggle is over, only to be brought up short by the realization that the person you just defeated is just that. A person. So maybe you stop, you reconsider; or maybe all your considering is done, and the hammer has to come down. Great drama either way.

Personally, I think it's even more interesting and dramatic when it's the hero who is down, and the villain is brought up short by a display of this kind. That's when things get really tasty, because it implies all manner of internal conflict. Your villain isn't the sort to simply blast through a vastly inferior obstacle—why? Is it the power imbalance that makes them think? If C were a fighter in their own right, would your villain just blast through them at once? If C is a child, is that the only thing saving their life? Or is it the simple and powerful display of love that makes them realize they've gone astray?

The power imbalance between A and C—whatever moral lines A falls across—is the real meat of the matter to me. C stands without a hope, without a whisper of a prayer of success. They have put themselves directly between the gun barrel and the person they love, even though they know that bullet can punch straight through them and still hit its mark. All they can hope is that their willingness to sacrifice themselves can make A pause, just for a moment.

Another excellent twist of the knife is when B is conscious enough to try to get C to leave them behind, to not sacrifice themself for B. When C is young, this is especially heartbreaking, because it usually takes the form of B insisting they'll be alright, and they just need C to turn away, go in the next room, go outside—because all B can do is spare C the sight of what's about to happen.

It can also be very effective if C and A have a connection, maybe even a more intense one than C has with A. In that scenario, it's usually C trying to pull A out of a morality spiral before they hit the event horizon, which is great climactic stuff.

I think the thing that makes the whole scenario interesting is how power shifts along unusual lines. C is the weakest of the three, but for a moment, they are the crux of the scene. Then that power passes back to A, because what happens next is up to them—but it's no longer a physical fight, like it was just a second ago when they took down B. It's a moral one. What are you going to do? Are you going to do the right thing? Is the right thing to take down B, whatever else happens? Or is the right thing to not hurt C, even if that means B leaves this place alive? All very juicy stuff, very fun.

[edensungilda]

Finally finished this today, god I love angst.🥺

BIG spoilers for my story, “FIREWEAVER: A spiderverse story”, so read if you don’t mind lol

Coincides with Chapter Twenty-Two of my story.

"Wake up, Esmita."

Esme blinked her eyes open, though the world didn't look any brighter than before. It was dark. She was lying down on something soft, her hair being combed back by several plush things. Fingers?

"Where... where am I?" her throat felt like a dusty compartment neglected for weeks.

"In the warehouse, you fell asleep. Come on, it's Saturday- we should be spending it doing something fun." His voice wrapped around her like a tight hug, her skin fluttering with the machinations of her heart. She smiled. Oh how lovely it was to wake up in his arms- wait.

She quickly sat up, blinking rapidly to take in the form she had been laying against- taking in his face. This couldn't be real. He couldn't be real.

"G-Gavin? Is it really you?" She reached out, trying to grab any bit of him to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

None of this was right. The last thing she remembered was that she was... wait. Why couldn't she remember? She knew she was somewhere else. Someplace else. With other people- bad people. And Gavin... why was she so shocked to see him?

"It's okay Esme, it's going to be okay. You're here." He spoke but his voice sounded dislocated. Distant. Robotic, almost.

His face was foreign too, only a vague inclination of what Gavin was supposed to look like. Basic blue eyes and fair skin, but not mirrorballs nor cream puffs.

"You're here." He repeated, but his words sounded dislodged. Felt like bullets that vindicated her doubts.

His face began to swirl as she backed up from him. This wasn't right. This wasn't her Gavin. Not her coffee boy. As much as she wished it was, she could never forget what happened. She could never lie to herself no matter how badly she needed to. Or delude herself to think this was a phantom.

Because the honest truth was that Gavin was dead.

Esmerelda gasped awake, coughing and feeling her hot breath bounce back onto her skin. Her arms were held behind her while she sat on something cold. She adjusted to the harsh light, blinkng as rapidly as she pieced together that she was in a lab room, restrained to a metal chair.

A woman stood with her back turned to her, tapping a finger against the silver tip of the yellow filled syringe, a drop seeping from the needle. Ophelia.

"Did you like my hallucinogen? That was just the beta formula, a weaker dose- but I thought I'd prep on you before I tested the final version on your spider friend. He seems to have a higher tolerance than you though, I've assessed his self-healing is more advanced than yours."

Esme narrowed her eyes, glaring at her.

"I'm curious to see what those eyes look like behind the visors, for someone with such intense expressions." Ophelia chuckled. "It would have been delightful to see what they would have looked like as you screamed that boy's name. What was it... Gavin?"

She clenched her fists, lunging forward to punch her stupid face only for a sharp pain to jolt up her arm as her restraints bit into her wrists.

"Careful with that temper, hot head. I haven't even begun the worst yet." Ophelia approached her and gripped her arm, stabbing the needle into her shoulder and injecting the liquid.

Esme gasped in pain. "You'll regret this! You pendeja!"

Ophelia just laughed, watching her with a gleam in her eyes. Esme fought to keep her eyes open- she really did, but the room was already becoming vignette. The hallucinogen worked faster than anything Esme anticipated, black eyes forming in the walls and wide mouths gaping at her in screams. She shook her head, her eyes feeling like bleach.

"What a tenacity." Ophelia laughed, kneeling down and meeting Esme's eyes. Her face tilted, eyes turning purple. "Do you feel it coursing through those veins of yours? Feel it muddling your thoughts?"

Esme groaned, pulling and jerking in her chair for relief. Her head felt like it was going to explode.

"Why... Why..." Esme couldn't speak- bile rising in her throat.

"Why are you here? That's a good question. I'm not sure why he wants you. Let's find out."

The chair she was seated in slowly began to sink into the floor, and no matter how much she thrashed her legs or pulled at her restrains until the chair groaned, she couldn't evade the fall. Couldn't stop as she landed back in that warehouse room.

It wasn't real, but she felt the sunlight filter in through the upper window and wash the walls in watercolor. Esme sat up slowly, acclimating to her new surroundings. It felt like each corner of the loft was reaching for her- faces shrouded in the shadows. She needed to wake up- to fight Ophelia and escape before whatever boss showed up to do who knows what with her. But how was she going to do that?

She felt something tap her shoulder.

"Welcome back." Gavin laughed as she jolted to the other end of the couch, leaning on her hands and kicking her feet.

"You're not Gavin. You're not real." she muttered; eyes locked on his hollow ones.

"No, I suppose I'm not your Gavin. But I do indeed share the same name as him. The same face. And I am as real as you imagine." He chuckled when she made a confused face. "I know all about your Gavin too. How you left him to die."

"I didn't!" She yelled. "You don't know what you're talking about!"

"I don't? You think I'm not aware of how you used him as bait for your little vendetta?"

"W-what?" Esme clutched her forehead, groaning as she felt pressure on her ears. Felt it threaten to pierce straight into her brain. "Agh! S-stop- stop talking!"

"You saw the same thing I did, right? No? Let's go back then and get a refresh. Look up." She felt hands grip her shoulders and her body convulse. "LOOK at what you did!"

The world opened back up to the overhanging streets and sleek reflections of flashing red and blue lights. The sleek cars filtered around her in the street like fish, as if she was a stone in the middle of a river. Gavin melted away with the current, but she stood firmly rooted. Honks filled her ears, muffling the ringing only for a moment.

"Get out of the middle of the street! Crazy!"

If it hadn't been for that policeman's voice she wouldn't have snapped out of her daze. She ran to the sidewalk and lurched over, vomiting in a small absence to the side of a building. What was that? A daydream? It had to be. What a strange dream to be in another world. And in the future?

She checked her watch, confirming it was still the year 2026, May 2nd.

"Earth to Esme~" she jumped- why was her ear speaking? she tapped it and felt stupid when her fingers made contact with an earpiece.

"Y-yeah? Sorry, I think you cut out. Hit a dead zone." Esme cleared her throat.

Sophia sighed. "Right. Gavin and I found out who's employing Halcón. Guess who it is- I'll give you a hint, your favorite group in the whole city~"

Esme clenched her jaw. "Don't tell me..."

"Goliath's gang."

"God damn it." She took a fist full of her hair and pulled, a small shriek suppressed in her throat, so she didn't further agitate any onlookers. "CAN'T this guy stop screwing with this city?!"

"It'll be fine, Esmita." Gavin softly soothed in her ear. "Maybe it's a sign you were meant to stop this guy, since he keeps coming back."

Sophia added, "And he should be easy too- he's not a supervillain or any worse than Halcon who just relies on fancy gadgets. I have faith you can take down this tyrant."

'Is that what you told yourself, too?' a voice whispered.

"What?" Esme looked around.

"I said I have faith you can handle their leader?" Sophia looked to Gavin behind the screen, lifting a brow. Gavin just shrugged.

"Look, we have a plan. We should look into some of the guys my dad has on his list and interrogate them- find the whereabouts of their armory- their drug supply, the smuggling- all of it. Build up enough photo evidence and info for the cops to have enough to keep them in prison once you catch them."

"That sounds dandy and all out loud, but you forget I'm the one that has to actually do all the work- and you're severely overestimating my capabilities. I've only been at this for six months you guys. I'm still getting the hang of the weird strength, the webs and the tingling every time something bad is about to happen." Esme sighed and started walking again. "I appreciate the ideas, but let's start small. Beginning with rehearsals today. It is currently 9:45 and I still have to show up to class at 10 PM sharp or Ms. Veronica will most certainly lash my wrists."

"Alright miss fancy tulle pants." Sophia rolled her eyes. "Didn't know we were in the 1900s again. Hurry up then before renaissance incarnate gets you."

Esme chuckled alongside Gavin and smiled. "Love you two. See you tonight? At the performance?"

"Definitely-You know it!" They each replied. "Kill it my swan princess!" Gavin added.

'Hmm, that's not it. You're fighting back. Suppressing the memory, are we? Don't think you can get out so easily.'

Esme cried out, falling onto her knees. Shadows moved, light turning from orange to white. When she got back up, it was dark out. She was in a hallway. 'I'm back in this dream?! Why won't it stop?!'

'You can't deny what happened forever. You know what you did.'

"I didn't do anything." Esme snapped, "Stop talking- stop impersonating him- I know you're just a figment of my mind."

"A figment? Explain to me then which part of you is lying to yourself? The one that believes you killed me, or the one that doesn't?"

When Esme didn't respond, the hallway brightened- like a stage light queuing the start of the scene. Illuminated where the walls opened out into an open ledge looking out over the entire city.

"Go on then. Go back to that day."

Esme shook her head, trying to back away from it- but the floor lifted to a sharp incline behind her, her feet and hands desperately clawing at it to keep herself from sliding. But down she fell, and felt herself falling into the city.

CHELSEA, NY | 12:00, July 16th 2066

The sun was worse today. Her holowatch wouldn't stop alerting her to the all-time record the heat kept breaking every hour. There was no performance tonight, because with all the technological advances New York had made, they still couldn't prevent Brookyln's breaker from going out from the heat. The outage had already lasted two days, her apartment room a sweltering fry pan. So Esme swung over to Gavin's like usual, his side of town's AC still functioning.

This time though, she couldn't help but notice the car that sat outside his apartment. A black sedan. Cliche, but served its purpose to raise her suspicion. She went around to the back of his building and perched against his window, checking his room for any unwanted roommates before she lifted the panel.

"Honey~ I'm home~" she teased, her feet tapping the floor softly as she slid her mask off of her face.

Arms wrapped around her, lifting her off the ground and flopping onto the bed with her. "RAH! Gotcha!"

Esme playfully shrieked and giggled, squirming out of his hold before Gavin's hands lurched to her sides and tickled her.

"Ack! Stop that! Gavin Maximus Stacy! St-ahehehe- stop!" She cried, grabbing at his fingers that attacked her through her suit.

"The scorching spider-woman- defeated by the amazing Gavin! Quiet as a ghost, she never saw him coming!" He laughed and Esme managed to weasel herself out of his grasp finally.

"You brute! Don't make me web you!"

He lifted his hands in defense, squeezing his eyes shut and pouting his bottom lip in mock fear at her threat. "OH WOE IS ME! Super hero turned villain- whatever will the world do?!"

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," Esme giggled. She may not be a nerd like Sophia or Gavin, but she knew her literature. "Hey, how long has that car been parked outside your place?"

Gavin lowered his hands, his face quickly turning to stone. "What car?"

"You haven't noticed?" She asked as he walked over to the window. He pulled the curtain over it, and Esme felt herself stiffen.

"No, I haven't. It's probably nothing." He turned back to her and flashed a smile.

"You're lying." Esme crossed her arms. "Gavin, why didn't you tell me?"

He looked away. "I didn't want you to worry. It really is probably nothing. My dad knows, his partner is already casing in on it."

"How long? How long has it been there?"

Gavin sighed, shoulders slumping forward. "I noticed it three weeks ago."

Esme's mind was reeling. How could she have been so oblivious? Who could it be? It had to be a member of Goliath's gang- she had gotten to careless. She must have slipped at some point in her nightly excursions- led them straight to Gavin. It was no surprise that she, yet again, was the cause of putting someone else's life in danger.

"It's my fault." Esme rubbed her temples. "I'm sorry. I'll take care of it- I'll stop seeing you, and maybe they'll assume we're no longer acquainted and leave you alone-"

"No, no Esme don't be like that." He reached forward and grasped her arm, pulling her closer. "Esme, it's going to be alright. Sophia is already looking into it."

"You... You told Sophia, but not me?" Esme pulled away, her eyes wide and lips parted.

"I told you, I didn't want to worry you!" Gavin stepped forward when she continued to move away.

"No- you just didn't trust me." Esme hugged herself. She couldn't handle this. It was too much to grasp. She thought the voices in her head telling her she wasn't good enough were the worst- but hearing it implied that he may think the same felt like a thousand more cuts.

"I never said that! I do trust you!"

She shook her head. "Look, I'm just gonna go. I'll talk to Sophia myself- you stay here tonight. Don't go anywhere until I say it's safe." She pulled her mask back over her face and pulled the curtain back aside.

"Esme-"

She leapt out, her silk finding its mark and swinging her body forward. She swung around the block til she landed on a roof overlooking the street, watching the car until the sun sunk low. It began to move, and Esme moved with it. She felt sorry she left things the way she did with Gavin- but this was for his benefit. She needed to push him away- keep him safe from her. Keep him safe from spider-woman.

'That wouldn't be the last time you hurt me.' The voice spoke. She had grown aware by now that it wasn't her Gavin, but it still felt so close to him.

'So, what next? You going to fast forward to the part it happened? I lived through this already- why are you making me see it again?'

It was meant to be bitter remark, a last effort to snap back at the torturous voice- but he only seemed to laugh in response.

'I was wondering when that snarky attitude would rear its ugly head. If it's the lady's wish...'

The city swung forward, passing through time. She knew where this was going. The call she made to Sophia to push their plans forward. Following the car to a club, hoping to tail the man who was stalking Gavin and be led to his boss.

That was the plan, anyway. She didn't know Sophia and Gavin had gone behind her back with another plan.

The car suddenly pulled to a back alley and went through the side door to a much larger building. She swung over to the large window, peering into the huge interior with slanted roof and catwalk down the middle. There were rows of metal crates filling the room, blocking her vision from this angle. She pushed the windowpane slightly and found it rotated, so she slipped through it and landed on the catwalk, overlooking the group below. She froze in her tracks.

"Sophia what is this- why is Gavin here?!"

"I'm sorry- I wanted to tell you but Gavin made me promise. He said the only way we could get Goliath out in the open was to bait him!"

Esme gripped the rail, trying to center herself as the room seemed to sway. "No- he needs to get out of there right now-"

"We aren't going to find him by ourselves Esme! Gavin has a plan, trust him!"

Esme grit her teeth. She couldn't allow Gavin to put himself in danger like this- she couldn't believe Sophia was even going along with it.

But it was too late. She heard the door open, blue light from outside streaming out onto the wall- illuminating Gavin surrounded by three men.

"I know you've been following me. So I thought I'd make things easier." Gavin spoke. "Where's your boss? Doesn't he want to know where spider-woman is?"

Esme peered over as the first man stepped forward. His head was shiny and bald, eyes dark as they narrowed in on Gavin. Several men poured out behind him, but Esme's eyes caught onto the tall blonde woman beside him, but by no means did she look like she was just arm candy.

She was muscular- a square jaw and rigid nose with narrowed dark eyes. Maybe she was a butterfly. Pretty things could be deadly, after all. She uncrossed her arms and Esme caught the silver glint on her wrist. A rhino tattoo.

Esme's heart thundered. There was more than one? No matter, she just needed to focus on capturing Goliath. Stop him from hurting Gavin.

"Are you suggesting you'll rat out your girl? For what reason?" She hissed.

Gavin flinched slightly but held his ground. "So you leave me and my family alone. Make the call, I won't say anything else til your boss gets here."

"What makes you think we won't just beat the information out of you?" She demanded further.

"Because you don't like to get your hands dirty. And plus- I have too much to lose to just give in that easily. The only reason I'll tell you is if I have your boss give me incentive."

The woman exchanged a look with the man before he tapped his watch.

She waited several, aching moments before the door opened again. A larger man than she had ever seen before filled its frame- having to practically bend over not to hit his head. Esme pressed herself against the floor, craning her neck to get a better view on Gavin. She could not let Goliath do anything.

"So, you're the spider-woman's boyfriend, hmm?" Goliath chuckled. "Why is he still standing? Didn't you fools think to search him for any devices?"

"We did- He's clear." The blonde answered.

Esme gripped the edge, waiting for the right moment to intervene.

"So, I hear you're willing to talk if I give you an offer?"

Gavin nervously shifted. "Perhaps, if its reliable. But you know, I have friends in high places."

Goliath laughed for a moment- then punched Gavin. He landed on the ground with a thud, his hand quickly lifting to his nose to stop the blood.

"Little dirtbag- you think you can come to me and think you have grounds to make a deal with me? No, its on my terms. Not yours. Now, you better tell me where the bitc-"

Esme jumped down faster than she could even think- quickly webbing the first two men who lunged for Gavin. With her white visors narrowed, she dodged a punch then grabbed the extended arm and twisted it with a crack. She turned to Goliath.

"Big mistake." She seethed, lunging for him.

"It was a dirty trap! Get her!"

The blonde leapt at her, knocking her over. She tussled, trying to break free from the grapple while also trying to withstand the kicks from the other men. She had to- she couldn't let them get to Gavin-

'And yet that's what you did. You let them kill me.'

Esme screamed in pain, her head knocked back and hitting the ground hard. Two pairs of arms seemed to hold her down and she heard scuffling down the room- the doors slamming open- tires screeching.

No-no no no- no. No she couldn't let it happen again- even in a dream. She thought she could have stopped it. Stopped him from doing it-

'You ussed me as bait.'

"You- Gavin, Gavin has a mind of his own- I couldn't stop him." Esme panted, kicking off the blonde before scrambling backwards and shooting two webs, then rolled over and hit the next two shoes that tried to kick her.

With them now pinned to the ground, she got up to her feet and looked for Gavin. The room seemed to tilt - Goliath and a few other men dragging Gavin towards the opened doors at the end of the warehouse. A van was parked outside, and Esme chased after them. She ran and shot more webs at the two goons who held Gavin- then landed a kick to one of their sides.

She was quickly snatched from behind- large hands that eclipsed half her torso prying her away and throwing her across the alley. The side of her head collided with the brick hard and she slumped to the ground, fighting her decaying vision. Her interface blinked red- her hearing was ringing. There was no music playing anymore- she couldn't even hear the open mouths of the goons as they opened the back door of the van.

'With all your super powers, you couldn't stop them?' Gavin laughed. 'Lies.'

"Shut up. Just shut up."

She lifted herself to her hands and knees, the alley walls closing in on her. The graffiti seemed to choke her with its colors- a spiderweb tightening itself around her throat. She couldn't let them take him.

She watched Gavin struggle against the goons- saw his eyes connect with hers. And then watched Goliath punch him hard in the gut- Gavin's perfect pink lips sprouting roses that's petals splattered onto the wall. Esme saw it muddle that taunting graffiti- and she felt something snap.

Her hands lifted almost in slow motion. She saw the silk fly through the air- glistening in her chemicals- and latch onto Goliath. And then she tapped her sparker. She didn't realize her second wrist had missed.

"Wake up Esme. This is the truth. You killed me."

She held her ears, trying to drown out his voice. Drown out the sound of the explosion. Drown out the sound of the gunshot.

"I tried to save you- to undo your stupid decision Gavin! I went to that warehouse to save you-"

White seared into her vision and she shielded her eyes. She heard the metal beams groan, heard the glass windows shatter- felt the ground shake from the explosion. She opened her eyes again and saw the van explode. The debris catch the surrounding buildings on fire. The flames in her dream looked so vivid- exactly like that day.

"Did you save me? Did you even try? Wake up Esme."

Her lip quivered, her vision blurred as she stared slack jawed at the vision in front of her. Heard the screams echo down that alleyway. If this was a memory, she would be inside of that alleyway right now- fighting for her life. Fighting to escape the flames she made.

You weren't even sure if I was dead. You gave up so easily. Could have gone back to save me. But you didn't, because you're selfish." Gavin spat. "Wake up."

"No- no that's not true," she felt tears pool at her chin. "I tried everything to bring you back Gavin! I fought and fought but there was too many of Goliath's men- y-you were gone by the time I reached you!"

A red river flooding the alley way, swirling around her feet and pulling at her weight. Blonde hair bobbing against the toe of her shoe. Her hand reached for it while her thoughts screamed 'DON'T REACH DOWN! DON'T REACH DOWN!' all while her fingers took that grasp anyway, and turned over his face.

Two white mirrorballs stared back at her. Ice blue lips began to move.

"You killed me."

Esme screeched, reeling backwards and falling onto something soft. She looked down, propped on her elbows, seated on a couch.

"Welcome back." Gavin sat beside her.

"Just stop- stop with these mind games Gavin- what do you want from me?!" Esme sobbed, holding her head. She couldn't take all these transitions anymore. She didn't want to hop from one memory to the other- or dreamscapes to another. It was all too much- too much-

"I want you to admit the truth and wake up." Gavin spoke.

"What good is that going to do? You're not actually him. You're not real."

"The line between fictional and reality is not comprehensive to the mind. So long as I exist in your mind, then I am as real as you think."

"Will you ever stop existing, then?" She sobbed.

"No. Because you'd have to erase the memory of me completely- and you don't want that. You might think that. But you don't." He tilted her chin.

"I do- I do! I want to forget you! I can't bare this pain in my body. They say grief is in your heart but if it was only that then I'd be fine! It is in all of me- my veins, my lungs, my intestines and bones!" Her shoulders racked with further sobs.

"Pain is good. Pain is how our bodies tells us something is wrong. And feeling, feeling tells us we're alive." He brushed her hair back.

"Just leave me alone." She pushed his hand away, hoping it would ease the grip he had on her heart.

"I can't do that. I need you to say it Esme. I need you to wake up."

She clenched her eyes closed. The bait. The warehouse. Goliath. Gavin. She replayed that memory almost every day since he disappeared. There was no body. Yet the firefighters said the temperature of the fire had been so high that there was really nothing to recover if Gavin did succumb to his wounds. But there was a chance he survived. A small chance.

All their memories. Laughing in the coffee shop. Laying in the warehouse, side by side on the couch talking about their day. Swinging at night and gazing up at the sky pierced by the city lights. Riding his motorcycle. Dancing together after every performance or band session. His hand in hers- her eyes held in his.  There had to be a chance.

"He's not dead. I didn't kill him." She sat up, wiping away her tears.

Gavin blankly stared back at her. She couldn't read his expression, but the world was becoming more murky. Less opaque. Like dull watercolors. But through that dreary veil that was beginning to form over his face, she saw his lips twitch. The smallest smile. Like how he used to.

"You still don't get it. We're out of time. I'll be seeing you again though, Esmita."

"Wait-"

She wanted to reach out, to ask him who he really was- but she was pulled back into her chair, waking up to the stark white room she was in before.

[jeanjauthor]

My dad went to see Star Wars when it first came out in the spring of that year. He wanted to see if it was any good. It was so good, he brought ust to see it at the 70mm theater in downtown Seattle (a PITA to get to, because of parking). I was barely halfway through being 5 years old, my sister almost 4 years older. Seeing it in 70mm was absolutely astonishing.

(Also, WE got to see "the fat man in the furry vest!" original version of Jabba the Hutt, because that scene was NOT cut out of the 70mm version that we saw, for some reason...which REALLY CONFUSED ME for decades afterward, until I saw a "deleted scene segment" showcasing it. All showings of the original movie on t.v. that sayd "full / not edited" did NOT have that scene in the broadcast which was really really confusing....but I digress.)

One of the things my father knew he wanted his daughters to see was the scene where Princess Leia is not just rescued, but grabs a gun and rescues herself. Grabs that gun from the heroes, and starts shooting on her own, fiercely and accurately, absolutely courageous and "as brave as any boy!" Doing things that "only boys" ever got to do, prior to that point...aside from Wonder Woman (as portrayed by the fantastic @reallyndacarter, yes, she's here on Tumblr, hi!)

But the difference between Princess Leia and Wonder Woman was that Princess Leia wasn't a superhero. She didn't have magical powers. She didn't have invincibility or strength or magical anti-bullet deflection bracelets. Princess Leia was literally a woman who had grown up to be a Galactic Republic Senator...just as any woman could grow up to be a U.S. Congressional Senator.

...That had a profound impact on girls & women.

The only thing blocking Leia's path of escape was literally a door she couldn't open from the inside of her cell, and a ship to carry her away. Everything else, she had a direct hand in enacting. (Well, that, and the droids who stopped the trash compactor, but by that point it was a group effort to escape the place.)

It was literally the first time "a real woman" took control of her own battles on the big screen. Prior to that, we had a superheroine--and she was fantastic! (waves again, hihi, Lynda!!)--but it was a one-two punch to the collective zeitgeist regarding women's power and women's empowerment. First, a weekly heroine who could lift and throw cars if she wanted...and then a silver screen princess "who grew up to be a general (later on)."

Any guy trying to claim that the original Star Wars didn't have a profound impact on the females watching it isn't a real fan of Star Wars anything.

In fact, I can honestly say that the effects of Star Wars on fandom was weaker on males than it was on females. Yes, there were more males than females who watched it...but remember the Inverse Ninja rule, men:

Quantity is NOT the same as Quality.

[snstse]

Anyways, my ace team for triples was Mega Slowbro, Sylveon, Meowstic M, and the last three were flex slots that I played around with.

Slowbro and Meowstic were my openers. Slowbro had Oblivious to avoid Taunt, while Meowstic ran Quick Guard to stop Fake Out plays.

Slowbro is my Trick Room setter + healer. I also ran Trick Room on Meowstic as a surprise back-up if the opponent didn’t have a Taunt/Fake Out opening. My Meowstic was purely support—no attacking moves.

Sylveon was my go-to DPS. It had mid speed, so it was perfectly slow for Trick Room, but fast enough to screw over slower ‘mons when Trick Room was over. Pixilate Hyper Voice was sooooo good. It had great bulk too.

A lot of players surrendered facing my Slowbro + Sylveon combo, because Slowbro kept healing it back up. They’d panic and try to KO Slowbro, but you needed a STAB move to 2HKO. So, whenever they switched targets, I spammed Slack Off to heal off the damage; Heal Pulse if they switched to anyone else. Scald to be annoying with lucky Burns lol.

My next three slots were a huge array of different ‘mons. I liked running Conkeldurr, Ursaring, and Togekiss best.

Conkeldurr was really strong and brought the Physical damage I needed. Ursaring was a bit weaker than Conkeldurr, but I liked the coverage it brought. Togekiss’ main thing was being annoying with Air Slash and Follow Me.

I think I did end up making Landorus one of my mainstays, because I needed a fast ‘mon to apply pressure once Trick Room ended. I don’t remember who exactly I kept in the last three slots. I experimented a LOT.

I did try a Rain-theme Trick Room. IIRC I did Clawlauncher + Jellicent and… I want to say Vaporeon? Clawlauncher was fun, since it knew so many pulse skills. Jellicent did decently too, since it knew Scald and could absorb Surf from Vaporeon.

Outside of Trick Room, I did a sun theme with Lilligant (my second fav Pokemon), Ninetales, Hitmontop, Whimsicott, Typhosion (?), and… Mega Charizard Y.

I also tried a speed comp with a Galvantula + Crobat opener. Galvantula spammed Electro Web, while I spec’d Crobat to live as possible to set up Tailwind, then spam with Toxic + Super Fang. That was a fun combo, using two ‘mons I never would’ve before.

Anyways, here’s the looooong list of other Triple ‘mons I used:

Hitmonchan

Lucario

Gardevoir + Mega Gardevoir (Mixed, usually second Trick Room setter)

Amoonguss (Mixed)

Talonflame (Mixed)

Scrafty (Trick Room)

Aegislash (Trick Room)

Doublade (Trick Room)

Salamence (Speed)

Kingdra (Rain)

Dragalge (Rain)

Heliolisk (Sun + Rain)

Mega Mawile (Trick Room)

Aromatisse (Trick Room, same role as Mega Slowbro when I wanted to use another Mega)

Aurorus (Briefly tried a Hail team)

Glaceon (Hail)

Aerodactyl (Speed + Rock Slide spam)

Reuniclus (Trick Room, I loveeeed this one)

Gigalith (Trick Room, Rock Slide spam)

Mega Ampharos (Trick Room)

Mega Garchomp (Speed, Rock Slide + Earthquake spam… loved pairing with Salamence to make the opponent guess who was my Mega)

Goodra (Trick Room, love this gooey thing too… had decent coverage, but not enough DPS to justify a slot for too long)

Escavalier (Trick Room, Rain, I still love this one)

Politoed (Rain, can’t believe I forgot this one… it can run Fake Out too IIRC)

Bisharp (Trick Room… I want to say)

Chandelure (Trick Room, Sun… OMG can’t I believe I forgot my favorite ghost type!)

Mamoswine (Hail)

Weavile (Hail)

Tyranitar (Trick Room, for bulky coverage… I think ran a Sandstorm team once too w/ Mega Mawile)

Noivern (Speed, Hyper Voice spam… sadly kind of lacking)

Scizor (Trick Room, ran Bullet Punch to bypass speedy teams when it was over)

Hydreigon (Trick Room, mixed)

Dragonite (Mixed, I played around a lot with its build + moves; pretty versatile like Arcanine)

Klefki (Mixed, my main support before I replaced with Meowstic)

Musharna (Trick Room)

Krookodile (Sand)

Eelektross (Trick Room, mostly for coverage but quickly dropped)

Haxorus (Mixed)

Volcarona (Speed, how could I forget the coolest Bug type in the game)

Roserade (Mixed)

Cherrim (Sun)

Bronzong (Trick Room)

Breloom (Trick Room, I wanted to try okay I love Breloom)

Slaking (Trick Room, dropped for Conkeldurr)

Mega Camerupt (Trick Room, Sun)

Milotic (Rain, Mixed)

Mega Metagross + Metagross (Mixed)

Umbreon (Trick Room, support, quickly dropped)

Mega Heracross (Mixed)

Mega Blastoise (Mixed, Rain)

Rhyperior (Trick Room, Sand)

Mega Gyarados (Rain)

Kabutops (Rain)

[turtlemagnum]

so, i bit the bullet and played through the main quest and some of the side quests in fallout 3. i did this in order to affirm that it's as bad as i thought. and honestly i was pretty much right; though i will concede that there were some parts i genuinely liked (warning, spoilers for the entire fallout series more or less, and also a good chunk of star wars since i used an analogy)

THE GOOD:

the voice acting for most of the story important characters was pretty good. the actor playing your dad (iirc he's a famous actor but i don't know him because i've intentionally avoided learning as much about celebrities as possible), he makes the dad likeable and less bland than you'd think just by the written dialogue alone. during the whole sequence with escorting dr li to the brotherhood, her voice acting really impressed me with how genuine it felt; despite the writing she really gave it her all and convincingly portrayed somebody who just went through something traumatic.

the core engine itself is arguably pretty solid, a lot of really good stuff was there that was refined and iterated upon in new vegas and i think that new vegas might not be as good if some of that weren't there in the first place

i rarely found myself actively disliking the characters, most of them were likeable enough. moira was fun to talk to, and fawkes is a homie and an true gamere.....

i did really like the vault "dungeon" that you got the G.E.C.K. from. it was one of the only places in the game where you don't have a questmarker pointing you on where to go, so the game designers had to actually design an area that was fun to explore and navigate. and yes, that compliment was intended to be deeply backhanded

in my admittedly somewhat limited experience, the side quests seem to be decently fun. i haven't come across anything mindblowing or revolutionary though.

for all the lack of freedom and borderline cutscene-y vibe of it, the liberty prime tagalong showdown was admittedly pretty fun from a purely spectacle standpoint

the soundtrack is pretty good!

and now onto...

THE BAD:

i can't fault it too hard for this, but a lot of really small things just feel significantly worse than in new vegas. the gunplay, the skill checks, the leveling, honestly pretty much everything gameplay related, just a bunch of little quality of life things that wear at you but you probably wouldn't've noticed too much unless you were accustomed to their absence (like ME).

i think the leveling is, mostly, bunk. i had a pretty low score in pretty much every weapon skill throughout the game and never really felt like i missed out on too much; a low unarmed skill not stopping me from punching raider's heads off with my bare hands or just some brass knuckles i found, a low melee skill allowing me to virtuously baseball bat duel super mutants, hell at level 2 i killed a deathclaw with just a .32 pistol before it could even lay a hand on me (again, low small guns skill). and speaking of small guns, i understand that the small guns/big guns split was in the original 2d games too, but i still feel like that's an ass backwards way to go about a weapon's specialization and i think that new vegas was 1000% right in just merging it into a singular "guns" skill. speaking as a gun nerd, i have about as much interest in and knowledge of big fuckin machineguns as i do of small rifles and pistols, and honestly it doesn't make a lot of sense from a "you're gonna be playing the whole game like this" perspective to specialize exclusively in smaller, weaker guns when eventually you're gonna wanna graduate to something that could kill armored opponents. though, to be fair, the weapon damage was bunk and deeply inconsistent feeling, so i can't say that from a practical perspective in this case you're at too much of a disadvantage (more on that later). another gripe i have with the leveling is that for every useful, interesting perk, there's like 12 that are just "oh, you have at least a 4 in this attribute? take +5 skill points to these skills!". hell, near the end of the game i checked how many perks i had that weren't just stat increases, and half of them didn't even come from fucking leveling up!!! i'm not against there being perks you get by doing quests, but when there's like 3 perks from leveling that do something remotely interesting (imo they're bloody mess, lady killer and animal friend, which happen to be perks you can still get in new vegas because they're fucking good), that's a bad fuckin perk system. or rather, you took a fundamentally neutral system that has the potential to become good if you put actually interesting shit in it, and just asked "but what if you could do medicine and science 5 points better....".

the combat was... bad? at times it was decently fun, but at times it was a slog. sometimes you're punching the head off of bandits with one punch, and sometimes you're emptying 200 rounds of 5mm from a minigun into a super mutant from point blank and you're barely fucking doing anything, even though the minigun says it has a higher damage stat than your brass knuckles, but you try to punch the super mutant and it does more fucking damage somehow??? in what fucking world does that make sense??? in what fucking world is that fun, even, setting aside how utterly stupid it is, how is it fun to waste 200 rounds of ammo barely even killing one enemy??? the enemies tend to come in two varieties: can barely do damage to you and crumple like a piece of paper when you sneeze at them, and bullet sponges that do varying amounts of damage, but usually on the higher end. to be frank, that deathclaw i killed with my pistol outside of a super duper mart shouldn't've been so fuckin easy to kill. i think level scaling is at least partially to blame for this, but that's never been a strong suit of bethesda's and oblivion is similarly bad with level scaling, and i fucking love oblivion. but back to the combat, i think that the damage statistic you get isn't actually indicative of much of anything, and is just the developers ballparking it. maybe part of it is that they don't seem to have separate one shot damage vs DPS displayed like in new vegas, but there were several times where i attacked an enemy, did barely any damage, switched to a weapon that on paper has a lower damage output, and it has significantly more of a god damn impact. this results in it feeling really inconsistent, and rewarding trial and error in terms of what works and what doesn't rather than being able to look at a new gun and go "oh! this does more damage, and has a higher DPS! this is an upgrade!"

the writing.... oh, the writing.... if you thought this was ranty up to now, you know NOTHING of what is to come..... so, the writing was bad, right? it was just so unilaterally terrible that i'm genuinely having trouble articulating how fucking atrocious it was. i think in a lot of games, i like being the "good guy" and helping people out because i like the characters, i want to make their lives better, i feel genuinely bad for fucking with them. i genuinely felt no such attachment here. with every NPC, they could die and i wouldn't really care. when your dad dies, i feel like it's supposed to be this real fuckin tearjerker heartstring puller of a moment, dr li is fucking distraught, and i felt fucking nothing but a vague sense of "what? this is stupid. this whole thing's stupid." the enclave's opposition to you is ill defined, they also want to start the water purification process, but under their control? which would make very little practical difference, since while they're open about wanting to poison the water specifically for mutants TO YOU once you're in their base, they don't demonstrate a want to do anything other than... purify water? which is what you wanna do? but they wanna do it under their control, but this is your daddy's big boy project and he won't let it fall into their hands!! it feels very shallow, a deeply heavyhanded and poorly handled analogue to racism (president eden's whole "rargh we must kill the mutants" speech didn't really feel genuine in the slightest), and what colonel autumn wants is never really explored. you make one (1) speech check against the president, and he offs himself no fucking problem. your dad kills himself to kill autumn, but he survives! kill autumn again, dipped shit. autumns about to interrogate you, but eden's like "hmm, no, give him back his weapons and send him to meet me". that is not an exaggeration. there are no words i can use to describe how stupid it felt for the president to just... give you your weapons back? you didn't have to sneak out to get them back, the thing trapping you didn't malfunction, your gear is in the same room as the cell... why would he do that???? even if he wanted to work with you, why would he give you your weapons back??? he doesn't know how you're gonna fuckin react!!! you could blow the damn heads off of every dipshit in that place, and i did!!! i cannot stress enough, that there were several points through my playthrough of the main story, where i, out loud, physically proclaimed something to the effect of "what? that's fucking stupid!!"

you know how in the original trilogy for star wars, palpatine died when anakin decided to sacrifice himself for both the good of the galaxy and his son, redeeming him in one final selfless act of love, and meaningfully killing off the real evil at play. and you know how in the sequel movies, palpatine just... comes back? and it's not explained? and it's very obviously a nostalgia ploy that i doubt was even thought out in the slightest, and makes no damn sense in universe, and in terms of the overarching story it kind of invalidates the whole point of the originals. that's what the enclave being back is, to me. you killed them in fallout 2, and they're just.. back. no explanation, no real thought put into it, just... "we wanted the enclave to be the generic bad guys in power armor!!!!" and the brotherhood of steel, it's sort of the same, but to be fair like. the brotherhood does still exist, yes. but what the FUCK are they doing here ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FUCKING CONTINENT. and why are they just like, the straightforward good guys??? hell, why are the enclave just straight up "nyehh, we're evil!!!! we're the bad guys, with no nuance or subtlety!!!!" where's the fucking humanity of it all. why is the faction that's hiding behind a big fucking fortress immediately all like "pleasure to have you here!!", why is every good character just completely unproblematic??? your dad is just the good guy, he's handsome and has a nice voice, he just wants best for the world, and what's best for his dear beloved son!!! that wouldn't be so bad, if EVERY OTHER GOOD CHARACTER WASNT LIKE THAT!!! the main elder guy, lyons, he's just like. generic old man. he's nice, and fatherly, and has the personality of a plastic milk crate. his daughter is marginally more brash, but she always falls in line and does the right thing. they all have the same goal of just altruistically doing good for the wasteland, at seemingly no perceived benefit to themselves. what if, and hear me out here, they only wanted to complete project purity because they'd also like to have clean water, and they'll grudgingly help you (and thereby the whole wasteland) out in the process. what if, and hear me out here, what if you took the basic attributes that you gave to this disneyland marketable facsimile of the brotherhood of steel, and just gave it to a new faction that's local to the area???? what if you came up with, and hear me out here, new fucking ideas. though to be fair, they tried that in fallout 4 with the institute and the minutemen, but those are less egregious because they're new bad factions that don't give me associations with better, more interesting stories. but also to be fair, fallout 4 still fucking brought back the brotherhood, and while at least they're not the 2 dimensional good guys anymore, they've more or less replaced the enclave as the 2 dimensional pseudo-fascists

i gotta ask, where's the fucking theme?? in fallout 1, it was relatively straightforward, hope. the man at the end of the long hallway, the man that they so utterly wanted john eden to be, he has to be talked down not with speech checks but with definitive proof that his plans won't fucking work. and in the last moments with him, he gives a heartwrenching little sentence about how hopeless this is, and how you need to go while you still have some hope. meanwhile, what does president eden have?? what does colonel autumn have??? well, in the case of the former, he has One Singular Speech Check where if you pass it, he'll decide to forfeit everything, including whatever he presumably believes in, and just offs himself and kills his entire army. colonel autumn, all he says at the end is "oh wow, it's you again. guess i gotta kill you !" and it's like. what's being said here, exactly? that racism is bad? i mean, kinda? though again, mutants are an extremely flawed analogue, since half of them (in bethesda fallout, at least) are just generic monsters that you're just supposed to kill with no remorse!!! i once heard a critic say that they're just orcs, reskinned to be fallout themed. and honestly that's fucking insulting to orcs, even bethesda has historically treated orcs with more personhood and intellect than the fucking super mutants!!! they're like, what a bad writer writes orcs as. no, don't worry about how that was at one point a human, and how they still have enough of that human intellect to form coherent sentences, they're The Bads, you don't have to feel bad about killing them!! you contrast this with super mutants in the good fallout games, where yes a lot of them are mentally impaired, but it's like... it feels like a very convincing analogue to real world mental disability, to me. they're not orcs, they're not mindless beasts, and i feel genuinely awful any time i have to kill one. when written well, they're an interesting reminder of the past, of what could have been the future of humanity, but ultimately wasn't. and like the brotherhood of steel and the enclave, they're reduced to something below a child's understanding of what they really were. every character, every story, it's bland and linear; much like the world they created

now, onto the world design. it all feels very small, and empty, and linear. the game has overtly stated pretensions of freedom and an open world, but fails to deliver on both fronts. nothing interesting happens en route to places, nothing interesting really happens at those places, the world is very closed off and samey leading you to only following the compass that isn't very good at leading you places. most places are hard to navigate to varying degrees of frustrating me, poorly laid out and borderline labyrinthine at times. i don't think that a space being labyrinthine is an innately bad thing, but i think that whether it's open or closed world you've still gotta make the actual exploration fucking fun. in some ways, it feels like ocarina of time is a more open game than this; it has a greater illusion of being a big world to explore despite being technically much smaller in scope, and being a fucking N64 game. ocarina of time is fun to explore, and has this feeling of freedom that fallout 3 distinctly lacks despite very obviously wanting you to perceive it as free. this lack of freedom and samey-ness applies to the rest of the game, too. you can go anywhere at any time, but due to them not wanting you to be scared off of exploring any place, everywhere feels the same, and every person feels the same. the most choice you have is what weapons you use, and while i feel that can be a satisfying choice to make in some games, i feel as though in what alleges to be an expansive, choices matter RPG, weapon choices should be ancillary to actual impact on the world around you beyond what weapon you use to paint the world red with; especially with how lackluster the combat can be at times.

some small gripes i have include that i couldnt really get a character to look like me unlike how i can do that fairly easily in new vegas? i don't know why, maybe the facegen morphs got updated between games or something, but i feel like i can make a character that both looks pretty decent and looks a fair bit like me in new vegas, meanwhile in fallout 3 i can't really do either of those things. i think the karma system is stupid, and i even think systems like it are stupid outside of the context of a fucking apocalypse story. i heartily feel like any game that feels it can measure your morality on a fucking single axis meter is either so incomprehensibly simple that you really can measure everything on an axis of "is this good or bad", or is written by people so full of themselves and their own perceived concepts of objective morality that they deserve to have their skulls caved in by a thick book that compiles every post modernist writer's works into a single titanic hardback, and i think fallout 3 is a little bit of both columns to be frank; it has deep seated and highly unearned pretensions of deep moral choices (one commonly lauded by the harebrained critics at the time), but they pretty much always amount to "do you want to kill a lot of innocent people... or do you NOT want to do that.....?". like gee, i dunno, the orphan crushing machine sure is brutal, but it sure does make me a lot of money!!! the entire game's lack of nuance and freedom loops back into this, you're either "the good guy" or "the bad guy", whereas i feel like a post apocalyptic setting is innately geared towards moral ambiguity and hard but meaningful choices.

i'd also add that from a nitpicky, nerdy perspective, the fact that it's been 200 damn years since the bombs dropped and the world is barely still holding it together is frankly unbelievable. aside from the fact that by most scientific estimates i can find, the most prominent of the short term and long term effects of a global nuclear war would only last for about 5-10 years, i just refuse to believe that the only two prominent settlements in the entire fucking capital wasteland are 1. a town with one (1) whole interesting person in it, and a fucking oversized boat with like 20 people on it?? the fact that people seemingly haven't even tried to rebuild TWO HUNDRED GOD DAMN YEARS AFTER THE BOMBS DROPPED is just blisteringly unrealistic, even i have a degree where my suspension of disbelief is toppled. also, this is really petty of me, but i have a recurring thing in my life where i meet someone who's never played new vegas but is obnoxious about insisting that 3 is better, and one of them was really annoying about liking 3 dog and how he's soooo much better than mr new vegas, so that's kind of left a bad taste in my mouth from the character. not that mr new vegas is a fucking messiah in my eyes or anything, it's not even that i like him so much more than 3 dog, it's just that that one person was really insufferable about it, and called new vegas bad because it didn't have 3 dog?? and it's like, bro, sure you don't have this one throwaway character, but you know what you do have in new vegas that 3 doesn't?? good fucking writing. the best 3 has is occasionally making me laugh, that's fucking it. and now that i've actually beaten fallout 3, i can say that it's bad without reservations!!! hooray!!!

and that more or less sums it up, to be frank. to be clear, i've derived some amount of fun from this game, but in my opinion its highest highs are lower than the lowest lows of new vegas, and it's kind of a worst of both worlds kinda deal. new vegas had marginally improved gameplay over 3, but had absurdly improved quality in terms of literally everything else (especially writing), and fallout 4 has pretty fun gameplay but even worse writing than in fallout 3, but the better gameplay and better world design makes it downright better than 3 imo. so in the middle, you've got 3, which is even clunkier than new vegas, and honestly only marginally less well written than 4. i will say, i appreciate its existence because a lot the smaller details that really made new vegas great and probably would've taken too long to implement if they weren't already there started here. i will say, that as a base to build one of the greatest games of all time off of, it did its job exceptionally well. but you don't remember the shitty little stepping stone as though "woah! that's a good stepping stone", you move on and sit on the actually good and solid rock and appreciate that damn rock. i'm tempted to say that you probably have no reason to come back to this fucking game. but i'll definitely concede that if you grew up with it in some form, it probably has nostalgic value, and that's worth more than the rest of this review altogether

now, is it alright to disagree with me? of course! this is just criticism, and any criticism of a thing you like should be taken in deference to your own experiences. im just some guy on the internet, man, i'm nobody special. if you have fun with the damn game, that's great! i fuckin' envy you! and i hope it makes you happy

[crystalelemental]

So like...okay.  Steven is getting a grid expansion.  We don’t know if it’ll be both, but considering Cynthia and Lance were the other two early PokeFairs, it’s likely both.  Regardless, there’s a particular...issue, which we’ve been dealing with for a while, that is going to spike really hard with Mr. Stone here.

Grid energy is rough.

Accounting for previously useful traits, Steven has Haymaker, and Aggravation on Iron Head.  Haymaker is a delightful trait that had been his selling point over Cynthia and Lance from the outset, while Aggravation is a really useful tool for Gauntlet.  His main approach has seemed to be his sync nuke and disruption, as his DPS is fairly low.  To give an idea of how bad we’re talking, it’s weaker than Solgaleo.  It’s weaker than Jasmine’s Gyro Ball.  Jasmine.  The support.  With like.  250 attack.  This is a man with 500+ attack post-mega, and he under-performs Jasmine.  Even in his better area of sync nuking, Steven’s miles behind units like Raihan and Gloria, even without their SEUN and Sync Buff multiplier condition respectively.  So what do you do?

Well, the obvious thought is utility, right?  But...what utility could he get that would be equal in value to Gloria?  Defense Crush 9?  Sure, it’s great for him, but Gloria does that.  She even does Rebuff.  They could try to lean into his tanking abilities, but who knows how well that works.  He just needs a lot to stand out compared to her.  Compared to Raihan, even.  But hey, if they give him really good traits, it can work, right?

Except he already had Haymaker.  Even with a full 100%, he’s still behind.  And like.  You probably don’t want to give that up.  Nor would giving up Aggravation be desirable for certain modes.  Especially if DPS doesn’t improve.  If you take both?  The minimum amount of energy remaining is 15.  He can get one (1) new full-cost trait, and it will be the one that goes into getting Aggravation.

This is dire.  Legitimately, there’s not much of a way to seriously save this as a totality.

Which means we’re probably SS Leaf-ing it.

The only way for Steven to succeed is to have options that are really strong, but allocate him toward one particular use.  A damage-focused build that adds a second sync multiplier, possibly on defense boosts, would make him plenty strong to compete, without needing additional conditionals like Gloria or Raihan to keep up.  But he’d also need a way to boost defense more reliably.  Self-setup is also a problem, but could be mitigated through grid, similar to how Lance did it though undoubtedly slower.  For the odd tank build, he’ll need healing and probably built-in Vigilance.  For utility, they’re gonna have to think of something more useful than just Defense Crush, or what’s the point of using him over Gloria?  If they’re going with the Aggravation build, they should probably emphasize speed boosts too, since his gauge control isn’t fantastic.

The only way I can see them pulling off a total overhaul is a combination of three things.  First, you ignore DPS.  It’s frankly not worth saving.  You can do stuff like a combination sync/DPS boost, but it’d probably be Super Powered 5, and while that’s cute and all and worked okay for Kris, it worked for Kris because Mega Kick was already serious DPS and she has +200% boosted sync without mega penalties.  Might not work as well here.  He’ll need another sync multiplier, and it will need to be big.  You also want to remove the need for Aggravation.  That provides you with 30 energy instead of 15, and more freedom on which tiles to take.  Staggering on Bullet Punch, with guaranteed MP replenishment.  It’s the only way.  And since it costs 15 energy to get to Aggravation, they’d need to do it with one of those two traits being on the 3/5 expansion.  Add in a way to self-buff crit like N does thanks to Sure Crit on trainer move, and really just better buffing ability in general, and we might have something that takes over.

I just...think Steven is a bizarre victim of his early success.  Cynthia and Lance could ditch nearly everything in their former grids without issue, but Steven?  He’s got useful stuff that’s going to be hard to give up on.  And every time there’s useful stuff at 3/5 they don’t want to give up, the grid gets messy.  This is going to be a challenge, but I’m hoping they can pull something interesting off with it.

[finderseeker]

For your consideration:

Asteri is a shapeshifter. She can get huge and very sharp and pointy and anything else you can think of. She is not limited to two eyes and one mouth. She does not have to follow the same rules for dodging as a regular humanoid because she can just melt out of the way if she reacts fast enough. Her fear of humans makes her quite angry and willing to fight, which would give her higher Defense. HOWEVER: she is a monster and therefore inherently weaker than a human (not in terms of physical strength, per se, but in Soul and intention.) She would probably not really want to fight human Asteri. And she does not regularly train to fight.

Human Asteri is human and therefore deals far more damage by nature of having a more powerful Soul. She regularly works out and knows how to throw a punch. She might be faster in terms of dodging, and she is smaller and therefore more difficult to hit. She does not have a trauma-based fear of monsters the way Asteri has that of humans, so she could focus on the fight itself rather than be distracted by fear. HOWEVER: she probably wouldn’t want to fight Asteri. Dodging bullets and physical attacks from a shapeshifter is a lot different than dodging punches; she isn’t as familiar with monster battles. If she were aware (in this hypothetical situation) that powerful enough harmful intent could make her blows strong enough to kill Asteri, she would be much more reluctant to go all out.

Even I’m not 100% how this would pan out. Please feel free to share your thoughts process guys. Even if you send it in an ask

Put 2 of your Blorbos in a poll (in the reblogs section) and let people vote who they think would win in a fight

[solumbellula]

Hands

"Why dont you just get it regrown at a monastery or something?" The Necromancer gestured at the Thuamtugist's metal hand. "It seems like a lot of upkeep, and not mention the inherent danger of walking around with several vials of thaum in your forearm. It's a big risk and no doubt way more expensive than the alternative."

She stopped tightening the triangular bolt and gave her magnum opus a once over. Decades of work, every bit of her mechanical and magical knowledge poured into a single device, and no small amount of trial and error given shape, all coated in dark earthy green paint worn off at the edges and joints, the places that rubbed and scraped against the world and eachother, and a big dumb near white and still fading pink star right in the middle of that back plate, the only concession to decoration on the whole thing.

She thought it was funny, at least. This rugged utilitarian machine in grimy military paint and fingers like steel tarantula legs having a cute little decoration on it was endlessly amusing to the old woman, and she was eternally perplexed no one shared her view, even the Zebra hide cloaked, purple dyed uniformed corpse puppeteer in front of her.

"It might sound silly to a young military man like yourself, but it wouldn't feel like 'my' hand if someone else replaced it for me. This is MY hand, I made it myself, it's a way to show my talents and interests with a part of myself.

And I just like it. At the end of the day I find it fun to always have a project literally at hand to always be tinkering on, fiddling with, oiling. I can crush anything weaker than steel in my palm and I can charge my punches with thaum when I need to defend myself." She resumed tightening the screw. "I imagine it's a but like yours, no?"

The Necromancer laughed at that. "No, I was just broke. I was a shrapnel filled deserter with nothing but the clothes on my back. It was cheaper to have my grandfather teacher me to puppet than to go buy a whole new arm in town. I only used my own bones for the core because they were what was most convenient. The right size, and my personal connection made them easier to control."

"So why not get it replaced now? Surely the Lilycanter jobs get you enough to afford the highest class replacement arm from the monks? You could even get a specialized one, with recoil dampeners or twitch compensation for your pet firearms?"

"...I'm not sure." The Necromancer looked down at his wooden arm. the finely forged loading gate carefully inlaid with the wood. The simple carvings hes added over the years. His old discarded and blown apart and screwed back together bones thrumming at his beck and call. "Maybe you're onto something. I am quite proud of it after all. Turning a broken old trench gun, some shattered bones, and an old pine into a working arm was a lot of work, almost two years of it. It would feel like a waste to just replace it with a 'better' one."

"Have you never thought about this before?"

"Not really. I'm too used to to just using what i have. I only made a new arm because I needed one. I dont need another arm for the time being so why go spend bullet and booze money on it?"

"Necromancers are allowed to drink?"

"You see any tribal elders around here?"

[hornet-breaker]

Lab Rats

Just watched a review of that old Disney Show “Lab Rats,” and I got inspired! This will be bullet points Bc I don’t feel like trying to draft an entire storyline. Also, ages will be altered in this au, so without further ado, trigger warnings!

Tw: vore mentions, some graphic violence, dehumanization, minor fearplay

Tommy is an intern for a very well known scientist and company called “Dreamcorp,” owned by Dream. The facility got its name for its first official invention of the company was a dream projector, which allowed doctors to further study the subconscious.

Tommy has been warned by Dream, multiple times in fact, “do not go down the elevator, it’s too dangerous for you.” Tommy being the little reckless shit he is, goes down anyways because screw the old man (even though Dream is 28 in this and Tommy is 16)

He goes into what he calls “The Underbelly” and explores. He hears a loud roar that sounds something like a dragon and scurries for cover. In the underbelly there are 3 odd looking men bickering with each other.

The tallest is nicknamed “Voidburn,” he is the youngest (17) has the ability to teleport and sense presences, and can determine easily if that presence is good or bad. That ability is only passive when sniffing, and can extend up to 5 miles. He has black and white hair, red and green eyes, and black markings on his skin.

The second is a little shorter, but definitely the oldest, (24) and is nicknamed “Ghost.” He can turn invisible, mimic voices, and his voice can be used to swoon others into doing as he commands. By far the most dangerous and definitely the smartest. He has a white streak in his burgundy brown hair and has amber eyes. He wears glasses too.

The third is smaller, but by no means is he weaker and is probably the middle child (20), he is nicknamed “Arson,” and as his name implies he has pyrokenisis, and is fire resistant, with super strength added in on the side. He’s got a heavier build compared to the others with reptilian eyes and a white bandana around his head under his bangs.

Tommy hides from their bickering, wanting to know more, when suddenly Arson punches Ghost hard in the stomach, hard enough to knock over Tommy’s cover. Tommy screams and the others freak out, why is there a new person in the lab?!

Tommy tries to run away but Ghost gets an idea. He loves to play tricks and scare people after all. He goes invisible and chases Tommy. Tommy thinks he’s safe in the elevator as it goes up, but then Ghost reveals himself, scaring Tommy enough, to make him jump. The elevator stops and the two are trapped.

Ghost decides to monologue and tells Tommy part of the story. He says they were genetically engineered to be the next generation of the human race, bigger, smarter, stronger, faster.

Voidburn teleports into the elevator to save the Two before Dream can find out Tommy broke the elevator. Tommy begins asking questions. The three answer carefully as to not give too much information.

Tommy finally asks what they mean by “Bigger,” and Ghost gladly shows him, transforming into a massive humanoid creature. Tommy runs away to hide while Voidburn and Arson try to keep Ghost away from Tommy.

Eventually Ghost manages to get them off him with his siren voice and lures Tommy out of hiding. Tommy thinks he’s about to die when Dream bursts in and deactivates Ghost’s Titan form with a controlled shock.

Dream yells at Tommy but then Arson steps foreward to defend the kid, saying he was curious and Ghost wasn’t going to eat him like he did the last assistant. This freaks Tommy out into thinking he is going to be one day fed off to these creatures but Dream reassures him he won’t as long as he doesn’t snitch. This does not make Tommy feel any better and Voidburn cautiously approaches to comfort the scared kid.

Once Arson and Dream calm down, Dream explains why the three can in fact grow 20 times bigger than what they are now. He explains they are genetically engineered sizeshifters and are soldiers for government tasks that normal soldiers cannot do. Dream forces Tommy to swear to secrecy, and Tommy promises since Ghost is looking at him like a dog would to a steak.

The next day Tommy immediately sneaks back into the lab to see the Titans’ daily routine for the day. He doesn’t get to see much since the chamber is closed off by curtains (thank god he thinks to himself) and watches them eat strange pellets.

Tommy reveals himself, the three are happy to see him again. Tommy asks about the pellets, Ghost says they’re nutritional pellets. Tommy mocks them for living like rats and offers to take them to the surface for real food. The three are ecstatic at the thought, but at the same time Ghost thinks it’s a bad idea. Tommy waivers this and tells them to be ready in 10 minutes. They’re ready in less than one thanks to their resting chambers.

He sneaks them out of the building, giving them lab uniforms to put over their clothes and tells them to pretend their interns. They make it out successfully without getting caught.

Tommy takes them to a burger joint, and doesn’t realize how much they eat, especially Arson who probably has a higher metabolism because of his firepowers. They each eat about 3 burgers which Tommy isn’t really happy about since it damages his wallet.

A man comes in to rob the joint and Ghost springs into action, running up to the guy and punching him. Tommy stops him from pulverizing the guy, and the man is dead. The employee calls the cops and the four flee the scene.

They sneak back into the facility and Dream is there waiting for them. He has his arms crossed and is pissed that Tommy took them out to eat, AND the video of Ghost beating the life out of a crook went viral. Tommy is guilty and Dream ops to send the Titans to a facility in Antarctica. Tommy begs him not too, and that’s when a new character appears.

Goggles is Dream’s security assistant, think of him like Jarvis but with an attitude. Dream nicknames him George. Goggles convinces Dream to let the Titans stay, and Ghost further convinces Dream to let them see the surface and eat people food (Ghost tries to sneak in also being allowed to eat people but Arson and Voidburn stop him with a quick punch to the shoulder and a stamp on the foot)

Tommy opts to give them nicknames for whenever he visits. Arson is nicknamed Sapnap, Voidburn is now Ranboo, and Tommy could care less about Ghost so he names him Wilbur. (When he wants something he calls the Titan “Wilby”)

And that’s pretty much it. Tommy is allowed to go down and help Dream with the Titans and anything new he’s working on. If this gets a certain amount of attention I might do a part 2, where things start to heat up a little.

[gamerwoo]

[Tales from the Pack] Joshua: Second Chance (Part Three)

Characters: Joshua x female reader

Genre/warnings: werewolf au, fantasy, fluff, some fluffy angst too so it’s not really angst is it lmao

Word count: 1,988

Summary: After his mate died, Joshua always blamed himself and never wanted to imprint again. However, fate has other ideas when he meets you: a young, energetic werecoyote that’s quite the opposite of him. He insists he doesn’t want a new mate – nobody’s even sure if he’s ready for a new one – but he can’t ignore his instincts.

Previous | Next | Second Chance Masterlist

“Oh,” the girl beside you seemed surprised that your eyes opened, squinting against the light, “you’re awake. How do you feel?”

You only groaned in reply. You definitely didn’t feel as awful as you recalled, but you still didn’t feel good.

“We’ve cleaned the remaining wolfsbane from your system, so you should make a full recovery,” the girl told you, her voice soft and soothing.

She definitely didn’t look like she was from here. She had brown skin, round eyes, and long black hair that she kept clipped back away from her face. Had you seen her before when you were dying? No, you couldn’t tell. Your memories from then were too foggy.

Wait, you were dying. How were you alive?

You opened your mouth to speak, but your eyes finally adjusted enough where you could see the person laying on a cot behind the girl. His eyes were closed, and you couldn’t tell if he was passed out or sleeping, but you just felt very strongly toward him. Much stronger than you’d felt about anybody ever. He was absolutely beautiful, and all you wanted to do was walk the couple feet of space between your cot and his to stroke his hair and cheek.

You didn’t know why you felt so strongly about a stranger, but you also weren’t questioning it. You were a curious person, yes, but you tended to just roll with the punches.

The girl noticed your gaze had drifted behind her, and she chuckled, “Would you like to be closer? It’s better for mates to heal if they’re as close as possible, and he needs all the healing he can get.”

Mates? That wasn’t something you’d heard about before, but you could probably guess what it implied. Either way, your head was nodding before your brain could really think much about it.

The girl stood and moved her stool out of the way before wheeling your cot closer to his until they were pressed together. Your face was almost right next to his now, and you observed every single detail of him. You didn’t even know his name or anything about him, but your heart and your instincts already told you you’d do anything for him.

“They’re cute,” Minjee commented once she entered the room as her partner continued to stand by the doorway and watch the two of you.

Prajya hummed in reply, her hand finding Minjee’s, “I don’t think the girl knows anything about herself. I told her he’s her mate and she seemed a little clueless.”

“Well, she is young,” Minjee noted. “Maybe nobody’s told her about creatures like her.”

Prajya nodded slowly before turning her head to look at her partner, “Did things with the other wolf go well?”

Minjee nodded, “Perfect, actually. Sura’s just finishing a few minor things and getting him settled into a bed to recover. His brother and the girls are still waiting in the living room.”

“I should go see if they need anything,” Prajya decided, pressing a quick kiss to Minjee’s cheek before she left.

Minjee turned back to the two of you after her girlfriend had left, but saw that you weren’t awake anymore. Your eyes were closed, one of your hands resting on Joshua’s as he slept. Minjee smiled to herself, thinking both of you looked like you were doing better already.

-

Josh still wasn’t awake. Even Hansol had woken up before his older brother did. Wonwoo had already brought Soomin and Suvi back to the house, and Joshua still wasn’t awake. It worried Hansol that he was asleep for so long, but Minjee assured him it was just because he had exerted his power too much.

“Is he going to get it back...?” Hansol wondered, his yellow eyes warily watching Joshua sleep beside you.

“Yes, with time,” Minjee replied with a warm smile. “You really have nothing to worry about, Hansol. Besides, he has his mate with him, so the healing will be faster.”

“Yeah, if he isn’t stubborn about it,” he muttered to himself, the human girl unable to make out what he said.

That was something else that was worrying Hansol. Joshua already had a mate and lost her. Would he really be so open about a new mate? Even if he did use the remaining energy he had in him just to save you, he did that on pure instinct. It didn’t necessarily mean things would go smoothly when he’d wake up.

“Who is she, anyway?” Kyung wondered, nodding her head in your direction. 

You were still sleeping beside him, your hand still in his. Neither of you had even moved, either, but Minjee also promised that was nothing to worry about.

“I’m not sure of her name,” Minjee sighed, “but my partners and I found her when we were out checking traps one night. My mate, Sura, knows where some of the werewolf hunters place traps regularly. He likes to patrol them and see if anyone was caught so we can help. We found her in one of them. Sura said she might be a werecoyote.”

“Werecoyote?” Hansol repeated.

The doctor nodded, “Yes. He noticed she doesn’t smell quite like werewolf, but she’s definitely something.”

The two mated wolves could admit they noticed the same thing but kept to themselves about it. They thought maybe it was just because of the wolfsbane.

The pair looked between the two of you. While Joshua seemed peaceful now, both Hansol and Kyung weren’t sure how he’d react when he woke up. They could practically already see the sour look on his face before grumbling something about not wanting a new mate. They hoped maybe they’d be wrong, but…

“What do you think she’ll do if he denies her?” Kyung wondered to her mate, unsure if you’d be as patient and understanding as Hansol. They didn’t know anything about you.

Hansol let out a quiet sigh, “I don’t know, but they’ll both just...eventually...” he didn’t even want to say it, but after a beat of silence, he quietly said, “die.”

-

“Werecoyotes are creatures I’ve never encountered,” Soomin hummed thoughtfully as she flipped through Beom’s book of creatures.

Once Wonwoo had returned home with her and Suvi, the youngest excitedly began talking about how Joshua had imprinted and saved his new mate. Meanwhile, the rest of the pack seemed shocked and almost horrified. They knew how Joshua was, and they knew he wouldn’t want another mate. What happened with Lilly messed him up pretty badly, but it also made him afraid of himself for a long time. He’d be too scared to be with someone else.

While Suvi was explaining what happened and the pack began spewing questions, Soomin was already looking through Beom’s stuff to find some answers.

“I think Beom had told me a story or two of werecoyotes, though,” Soomin continued.

“I met a few,” Yeji chimed in. “They didn’t really seem too different from you guys.”

“They’re not -- not really, other than some minor stuff,” Soomin said after finally reaching the page she was looking for. She scanned it over, using her finger to guide her eyes. “Overall, they’re essentially the same, just a little weaker -- smaller, not as strong, but they are a little quicker because of their smaller size. It makes them more agile.”

“Anyone can outrun that old man,” Jeonghan scoffed.

“Who’s the oldest, anyway?” Suvi asked.

“Nobody really knows anymore, but we just assume it’s Josh,” Jun shrugged. “Years start to blend together after a while.”

“Speaking of not knowing things,” Danbi spoke up as she looked around the packed living room, “where’s Soonyoung?”

“It’s nighttime, so he’s in town,” Jihoon sighed.

“I thought we were still being careful?”

“Since when does Soonyoung follow rules?” Seungcheol asked with a quirked brow.

Soomin cleared her throat to grab the pack’s attention and bring them back to the bigger matter at hand: you. Once they were paying attention again, she continued, “Werecoyotes have the same heightened senses, the same weaknesses, and the same instincts as werewolves. However, because they’re smaller and weaker, they recover slower and are more likely to die from things like silver bullets.”

“So Joshua’s new mate is essentially a hyperactive accident-prone child?” Wonwoo snorted.

Soomin frowned, finally looking up from the book to look at her mate, “That’s mean. And she may very well act mature. Just because they’re faster than werewolves doesn’t make them hyper.”

“You said werecoyotes are just werewolves, basically,” Jeonghan shrugged. “You’ve seen our pack.”

Seungcheol nodded, “Seokmin specifically.”

“Hey,” the young wolf whined.

“Let’s not judge her just yet,” Soomin sighed.

Jihoon raised his eyebrows, “You didn’t even meet her?”

“She was passed out,” Suvi was the one to explain. “Her and Joshua were sleeping beside each other when we left.”

“I wish I could be there when they wake up,” Seungkwan chuckled. “I’m sure that’ll be a mess.”

-

It wasn’t until the sun was about to peak over the horizon that Josh finally groaned and rubbed his eyes with one hand. The other felt warm with a light weight in it that kept him from moving it.

Wait…

The older wolf’s eyes opened before slowly looking to his left hand. He saw another hand in his and his eyes followed the arm up to the owner. He recognized your face. Not only did he remember what had happened as soon as he saw you, but he was bombarded with your face in his dreams -- well, more like nightmares. All he dreamt about was you and Lilly.

He wanted to snatch his hand away. He wanted to growl at you and wake you up and tell you to keep your hands to yourself. He wanted to yell at you to not touch him.

But he was too exhausted to do anything but lay there and glare at you with golden eyes.

“Oh, good,” a voice made him turn his head, “you’re finally awake.”

Joshua was briefly introduced to Prajya during his first check-up. She was a nice girl, but she had a little...bite to her. Josh liked her from the get go.

“See you’ve noticed your little friend,” Prajya chuckled. “You don’t seem too fond of her, though.”

His face scrunched up in almost disgust, “What is that?”

Prajya let out a snort at his reaction to his mate.

In your sleep, your nose wiggled a few times before you reached up to scratch it. Joshua rolled his eyes feeling his heart swell at how cute you seemed. He wanted his instincts to fuck off.

“I think you already know,” she replied in amusement.

“Who is she?” he asked.

The foreign girl just shrugged, “Beats me. We didn’t get a name from her or where she came from or anything.”

Unable to resist the curiosity, he slowly wondered, “...What happened to her?”

“Caught in a net that had barbs laced with wolfsbane,” she sighed as she leaned back against a wall and studied your face. “We were sure she was going to die until you showed up and--”

“Don’t,” he said sharply before dropping his tone to be only grumpy rather than angry, “mention it.”

Prajya just shrugged, “If you didn’t want it mentioned, you shouldn’t have done it. Kyung was right, you are a grumpy old man.”

He let out an exasperated sigh. Of course Kyung was gossiping with her old friends about him. The new alpha was a piece of work.

But she wasn’t really wrong, and even he knew that.

Prajya was silent as she watched Joshua watch you. It was clear that even though he openly showed his distaste for his new mate, his instincts were strong and hard to ignore. Even through the disgust and annoyance on his face, Prajya could see the love and adoration clear in his eyes.

The grumpy, old werewolf, and the young, carefree werecoyote. This would be interesting to see.

[missmonsters2]

Between the Lines || XI

PAIRING: Steve Rogers & Fem!Reader (Platonic) / Natasha Romanoff x Fem!Reader / Wanda Maximoff x Fem!Reader / Natasha Romanoff x Fem!Reader x Wanda Maximoff

Summary: Vampire AU. Life has changed drastically since the 1600s. Things are always on the move, and you’ve been very careful to not get on SHIELDs radar. Living on the down-low owning a café, you’re content to live out a quiet existence. That is until the Avengers enter your life.

[Set after the New York Invasion, in CAWS, and goes up to AoU. Canon divergent after.]

Warnings: This series will contain smut(**), poly-relationship, and dark themes.

Note: Hiatus is over hopefully and we’re on the last arc! Shit is gon’ happen so strap yourselves in and enjoy the ride 👏🏻👏🏻

PART I || PART II || PART III || PART IV || PART V || PART VI || PART VII || PART VIII || PART IX || PART X

PART XI of XX

Count: 5,532

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Hot. 

Your body felt hot, and there was something deliciously thick going down your throat.

Blood. 

You could taste it so very clearly. 

You could feel your body healing, the bullet holes mending themselves until there was nothing left, and your body in pristine condition. 

Thumping.

You could hear a pounding in your ears and then a soft, breathy moan. 

You wanted to be closer. 

Your hand presses against the wall as your other hand presses the warmth closer to you.

God, you could get lost in this forever as you swallow a mouthful of blood. 

"Ah..."

The sound is both melodic and also a warning bell to you. 

You need to stop.

You have to stop.

Your hand presses against the wall harshly as you feel it break as you curl your hand in an attempt to pull yourself away. 

The tight grip of Wanda's legs around your waist starts to loosen as you pull your mouth away from her neck. She's still holding you close, and you don't move your head too far from her neck. 

The thumping of her heart feels weaker, and you purse your lips, disappointed with yourself. You clean the drip of blood trailing down her throat, ignoring the way Wanda's breath still hitches before your lick at the bite wounds at her neck. 

Soon enough, the bite marks begin to disappear, leaving Wanda's neck bare and unblemished, but a slight red overtone stain from her blood. 

When you pull back enough to see her face, Wanda looks drowsy.

"I'm sorry," you swallow. "I went overboard."

Wanda shakes her head lightly, feeling dizzy from just the motion. 

"It's fine," she says, "I didn't mind."

Wanda tries to stand up, but it's too much as her legs give way, and she falls. You catch her before her knees hit the ground. 

You purse your lips before you hook your arm under the back of Wanda's legs, pulling her up to carry her.

Wanda rests her head against your shoulder as you carry her out. When the door opens, you're met with everyone waiting outside to see if you were okay.

You see Natasha standing there, looking at the two of you, and you feel like you've been punched in the stomach. But you don't get much time to dwell on it when Pietro comes up to you, worry all over his face when he looks at his sister.

He squints his eyes at you, and it doesn't faze you as you are to blame for her state.

"She's okay," you tell him quietly. "She just needs some rest and lots of fluids."

"I'll get her some juice. We should be landing soon, so I'll whip up something for her to help," David offers as he takes off. 

Pietro looks like he wants to take Wanda from your arms, but you cock your brow at him.

"You'll drop her in your state if you try to carry her," you tell him, looking at his bullet wound specifically and how he was hunched over slightly. 

Pietro scowls but relents as he follows you to the room next door as you set Wanda down gently. Your hand moves to gently get her to let go of your jacket, and you set the blanket over her.

As you get up to leave, Pietro stops you.

He presses his lips together, frowning initially before he lets out a sigh. "Thank you."

You merely nod, patting his shoulder gently before you leave him alone with his sister. 

When you leave, you're on a one-track mission to talk to Natasha, but before you can even reach her, Maria intercepts. It seemed Fury was looking for you to get some details regarding the mission and had some questions. 

You scrunch your nose as you look at Natasha. 

"We can talk later," Natasha says quietly so only you can hear as she nods. 

You sigh, looking at her forlornly before you follow Maria.

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There's a wave of peace when you arrive back in New York. You never thought you would feel this way about a place. A part of you thinks that maybe it's not the place, but the fact that you're here with all the people you care about.

Your family.

Talking with Fury had taken longer than you wanted, giving you no chance to speak with Natasha. 

Everyone heads back to the Stark Tower. At first, you were going to follow along with them, but Natasha holds your hand, drawing you back while shaking her head.

"Let's head back to your place," Natasha says quietly.

You gulp.

"Okay."

You feel it must be a good sign still with Natasha holding your hand as she leads you away to her car, though she's quiet the entire ride, making no move to talk. So, you also sit quietly as you watch the scenery out the window. 

Natasha walks herself straight to your bathroom when she enters your home. You feel grimy yourself and head to a different washroom yourself to clean up. 

You finish before Natasha, and you head over to the kitchen to make her a drink. Unsure of what Natasha wanted to say or how she would react, you didn't think it would hurt to try to bribe her with a drink. It has turned quite late into the night, so you decide to make her a tea instead of coffee.

You go to sit on the sofa, quietly putting soft music in the background in an attempt to soothe yourself as you idly feel the soft fabric underneath your fingers. 

Soon enough, you hear the water turn off in the washroom, and Natasha comes out, fresh and clean, with a towel around her neck as she dries her hair. 

Warmth spreads over your chest as Natasha comes to sit on the sofa, right next to you. You hand her the drink, and she quirks her brow at you with a slight curve in her lip as she takes it.

Humming after she takes a sip, she sets the drink down, towel discarded to the side as she looks at you. 

You purse your lips.

"I--"

You're cut off when Natasha launches herself at you, her lips hitting yours roughly as she slides her fingers across your jaws. 

Surprise takes over you as you automatically reach over to wrap your arms around Natasha's waist. She bites your lower lip, rather hard, and you wonder if this is a punishment. 

When she pulls back, the two of you are a little breathless. 

"Are you...upset?" You ask slowly, scrunching your brow and licking your bottom lip to soothe the pain Natasha inflicted.

Natasha leans back, settling to rest her head between your shoulder and neck as she sighs deeply and heavily. 

"Yes, and no," she answers after moments of silence. Your arms are still wrapped around her as your fingers slide down her arm. You place your hand gently atop of Natasha's. 

You don't say anything because it seems like Natasha is still putting her thoughts together. 

"I'm not mad," Natasha decides. "I know that what you did was out of necessity. You were severely injured, and the only person who could help you was Wanda."

You could sense the lingering at the end of her sentence. 

"But...I don't know. Seeing you with her, so...lost within her...it was different. I understand it, I really do, and on top of that, Wanda is a beautiful girl," Natasha sighs.

You nod, knowing Natasha could feel it. 

"I'm not mad," Natasha repeats.

"Then?" You lick your bottom lip.

Natasha turns her hand around to lace her fingers with yours, pursing her lips, annoyed by how she's unable to describe how she feels.

"I don't know."

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

You were miffed.

With David specifically.

The offender was aware since you've ignored him for a couple days now and haven't looked once in his direction.

You stood with everyone at the Stark Towers as they talked casually. The place is currently being repaired right now after all the damage done by Ultron, but it was still standing for the most part.

Tony talked about how he wanted to build a new compound for the Avengers and was considering either selling the Stark Tower or just taking it back for his company. 

You were standing at the side, between Steve and Natasha, as you tap your foot idly. 

David stood across from you, staring at you while you pointedly didn't look at him, mouth pressed in a firm line. 

A part of you wanted to be rational.

It's not like you were unaware of the circumstances. Drink from Wanda or risk killing everyone on the helicarrier, and also killing yourself in the process. 

And by God knows, no one would've been able to stop you.  

But...you were still so angry.

David knew the consequences of this, and he took it, and you could not blame him for it.

"You can't ignore me forever," David says quietly, moving his mouth so quickly, no one can hear but you. 

You don't say anything.

"Ignoring me isn't going to solve anything, and you know it," David continues on. "We need to talk now, and I'll make a scene if I have to."

You pause for a moment, eyes flittering over to Wanda, who is standing next to David along with Pietro. She's got her brow raised as if she could hear the conversation between the two of you. You don't doubt the possibility that she could.

You look at David, who is staring at you challengingly. Making a scene would be awkward, but you felt childish, wanting to ignore David a little more.

So, you called his bluff. 

And he proved you wrong. 

David barrels into you, tackling you into the empty space as everyone gasps, tensing as they want to break up the fight but knowing they physically would be unable to do so. 

"Stop being so stubborn!" David yells at you, atop of you, and you bare your teeth at him.

Being older brings advantages; David knows that as you flip him over, toppling him underneath you.

"You know exactly why I'm pissed at you!" You snarl at him.

David goes limp in your hold, sighing as he does so.

"I know," he says quietly, "and I'm sorry, but there wasn't any other choice."

Hearing David apologize to you even though you knew it wasn't really his fault made you grimace.  

God, you were such an ass sometimes. 

You sigh, loosening your grip on David as you stand up, pulling him up with you. 

"What...the hell was that?" Tony says, staring in disbelief at you two. 

"Just a disagreement," you mutter as you rotate your shoulder to relocate it back into place. 

Natasha purses her lip at you as you walk back up to her.

You shrug at her, not really wanting to get into it again.

"We've got some things we have to discuss first, we'll meet up with you guys later," David announces, pulling you with him as you frown.

Everyone just blinks at the two of you exist the room, and head to the rooftop. Once up there, you feel a slight breeze and can smell how fall is approaching. 

"Are you done being pissed at me?" David asks as the two of you look over the railing at the city. 

You exhale heavily through your nose.

"I know it's not your fault," you tell David, "but I would have preferred it more if you took me and jumped off the helicarrier and have our bodies be obliterated when we hit the ground."

"I'll keep that in mind the next time we encounter this problem," David smiles wryly.

"You put me in a horribly awkward situation, David, nevermind the consequences of it," you sighed, pressing your temples with your hand before rubbing your face. 

"How did Natasha take it?" David asked. 

You shrug. "She didn't really take it any way at all. She said she doesn't know how she felt about it. She's neither upset nor okay with it, but she understands."

"That must be better than her being pissed at you," David shrugs. 

"I don't know," you say, "I know how to deal with pissed, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do when even she doesn't know how she feels."

"And Wanda?" David probes.

You tense up immediately at her name, David catching it immediately.

"That bad or that good?" 

You turn to glare at him.

"Sorry."

You turn back to the city skyline. 

"I don't know," you tell him honestly, blinking slowly. "She looks incredibly so much like Tatyana, and yet, I know distinctly it's not her. She's both familiar and new to me. A part of me understands I'm the only link to explaining her family's past, but I feel like I need to keep my distance as well, even though I can't now."

"Why? Did you feel something for her?" David asks.

"A little too much,"  you wryly admit. "It was terrifying, honestly."

"But?" David probes some more.

You look at him. "But I am in love with Natasha."

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

You and David stay on the rooftop for a while just to enjoy the quiet while you can before you head back to have the real serious talk.

When you come down, you see that everyone had still stayed in the room, loitering as if they weren't waiting for the two of you to go back.  

Natasha looks at you, and you nod, telling her that you and David were okay. David looks at Natasha and gives her his dashing smile that she returns in small. 

"We need to talk," you say in a sobering tone, looking at Wanda, while you make a move to grab Natasha's hand. 

Wanda stares at you, not saying anything as she tilts her head.

"About what?" Pietro cuts in, looking at you with a frown. 

"Пьетро," Wanda says, accent thick as she grabs his arm to calm him down. "About what?" Wanda asks as she turns her head back to you. 

You look around the room as if to tell everyone else this is a private matter.

"Oh no," Tony says, leaning against a counter. "We're all in this together now. Share with the class."

Steve was the only other person in the room, and he nodded his head firmly at you in more of a supportive way than Tony. 

You let out a long sigh as you turn back to Wanda.

"It's about...what happened when I fed on you," you say slowly and rather awkwardly, feeling Natasha's hand tighten around yours. 

Wanda licks her lips. 

"You've probably figured out by now that I know an ancestor of your guys'," you say.

"That woman I've seen in your head..." Wanda brings up, and you grimace.

"Yeah, her," you confirm. 

"Wait, what?" Pietro says, swerving back to look at his sister. "She knows someone in our family tree, and you didn't say anything?"

"I didn't know for sure," Wanda shrugs. 

"How did you know her? Was that why you were looking for us?" Pietro asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. 

"Her name was Tatyana. She was..." you clear your throat. "She was...my lover. But yes, she was partly why I was looking for the two of you. But the truth is, every time there is a new descendant, I always look for them. Although somewhere along the way, I lost track because your great-great-grandfather decided to have multiple children in secret."

"So, we actually have a big family we don't know about?" Pietro scrunches his eyebrows together.

You shake your head. "No, you two are the sole surviving people left in your family. Everyone else has rather lived short lives or died due to an accident or illness."

Pietro continues to stare at you suspiciously but moves on. "You say this Tatyana woman was our ancestor, but how did we come to be if she was your lover."

"Tatyana had a life before me," you shrug. "She never really talked about it, but she was in an arranged marriage when she was younger and had a child. Of course, her husband took on a second wife since it was common back in the day. It wasn't the life she wanted, and she had never been inclined to children. Leaving was easy for her."

"She was...a witch," Wanda says slowly as if to confirm with you.

"Yes," you nodded stiffly. "Her...powers is genetic."

"But I didn't have any powers when I was born. I was given it through the scepter," Wanda argued. 

You lick your lips. "Over the years, your bloodline was diluted. The powers are genetic, but with Tatyana, but since no one in the family ever married another witch or warlock, the powers became weaker and weaker every time until there was basically nothing. In this day and age, you would be so lucky to even find a true witch or warlock by blood because they're all in hiding, though the stake burning has stopped."

"Then...the scepter..." Wanda pondered.

"You may not have had obvious powers, but you probably experienced smaller things as a child. A feeling you couldn't ignore, a dream that came true, something buzzing at your fingertips, but you just couldn't explain it. The scepter unlocked that gene within you. It jumpstarted the powers you had inside all along," you theorize. 

Wanda looked at you in shock, confirming that she experienced those things in her youth. 

"Why didn't I get the same gift as Wanda then if I have the gene too?" Pietro asked.

You shrug. "I'm only guessing. I've never actually seen any males in your family tree display any inkling of a gift. I'm assuming the scepter had more of play in powers for you."

Pietro hums, looking at his sister before shrugging and moving on. 

"Well, a great history lesson. You slept with my ancestor, is that what you wanted to tell us?" Pietro cocked his brow with a smirk, and you roll your eyes.

"No, I wish it were just that," you sigh inaudibly, feeling your stomach drop as you looked back at Wanda.

"The day I fed from you...did you feel anything happen to your body after?"

Wanda cocked her brow at you, and you felt your cheeks warm and forced it down before it could physically show on your face.

"I mean, like, a burning...no, I mean...did you feel any pain afterward?" You stumbled over your words, not even daring to look at Natasha as you kept holding her hand. "Specifically, did any of your bones hurt?"

Wanda stares at you a moment longer before nodding slowly. "I did," she says. "I felt something here like it was on fire...I assumed it was because too much blood was taken." She points to her sternum.

You pursed your lips, feeling suspicion rise higher inside.

You turn to Tony. "Do you have an x-ray machine here?"

"I do," Tony raises one of his brows. 

"Why do you need an x-ray?" Pietro asked, mildly alarmed.

You didn't answer as Tony led everyone out of the room into the medical bay area where there were multiple body x-ray scanning machines, though many of the devices but two were crushed when Ultron attacked the tower. 

You had to let go of Natasha's hand as you walk up to Wanda, who is looking at your own sternum for a moment before looking back at you.

"I need to confirm if what I believe is true," you tell her softly, asking her to get onto the machine.

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours," Wanda says with a slight raise of her brow and a tiny quirk in her lips like she knows you're hiding something underneath. 

You purse your lips, not really wanting everyone to see what is in your body, but you know it's only fair if you're asking Wanda.

"Alright," you agree with a nod. 

"Are you serious?" David blinks in disbelief, and Natasha turns to him with curious eyes. 

You shrug.

"It was bound to come out at some point...I wanted to show Nat sometime anyways," you look over at your girlfriend with a smile, feeling slightly guilty about hiding things still. 

Both you and Wanda get onto the machine while Tony operates it to get a CT scan of the bones. 

The scan is over relatively quickly, doing the front and back as you both make it out of the room to join the crowd around the monitor. 

The images slowly load.

"Jesus Christ," Steve exclaims under his breath.

"What the fuck," Tony squints his eyes as if he doesn't believe what he's seeing. 

Though both pictures showed up, yours drew all the attention.

Marks and drawings were engraved into your bones everywhere on the front and back of your ribs like they were tattoos. 

"What are these?" Natasha asked as she leans in to take a closer look at the images. 

"They're searings from a priest," you tell them, turning your attention to Natasha.

"Leo?" She asks quietly. 

You nod your head, blinking languidly as you look at her face.

"What's it for?" Steve asked, squinting his eyes slightly.

You stand straighter as you readjust your jacket.  

"They're markings that allow me to go into the sun without being burnt alive," you say, watching as everyone just blink at you. "David has the same ones, though not done by the same priest."

"So, something does happen if you go into the sun!" Tony exclaims as if he was right all along.

"...Yes, but I don't sparkle. It's quite the opposite. It burns and rips at the flesh and smells exactly like what you think it would smell like," you tell him. Tony made a gagging face at the thought. 

"Wait, what is that?" Pietro says as he looked at Wanda's image, finding a scrawling in red burned into her sternum.

Everyone draws their attention over before looking back at yours.

You had an identical one in the same place. 

The searings on your rib were in black, while the one on your sternum was red in color.

"Oh, shit," David says, breaking the silence. "We activated the second part of your curse."

"Curse? What curse? What did you do to my sister?" Pietro pushes past everyone until he's standing in front of you, gripping the lapels of your jacket. 

"Пьетро!" Wanda calls after him, putting her hand on his arm to pull him back, but he doesn't budge.

You swallow.

"As I said," you put your hands around Pietro's, forcing him to let go. "I was involved with Tatyana, your ancestor, and it didn't end well."

"She cursed you because of a quarrel or a breakup?" Pietro snorted as if he didn't believe you.

You quirked your brow at him. "No, she cursed me because I killed her."

"You killed her?" Tony says in incredulity. "You killed your girlfriend." 

"I had to," you shift uncomfortably, the guilt rising up as Natasha moves to hold your hand. "She turned. Upset with how villages were hunting witches along with other horrible things, she was trying to create vampires using her magic to destroy the villages. She was murdering innocent people, and nothing I said reached her anymore. When I begged her to stop, she didn't. I did what I had to."

"Jesus fucking Christ," Tony blinked. "You know, I'm surprised you didn't become a villain; your origin story would've been so good."

You roll your eyes.

"What was the curse, and what does that have to do with my sister?" Pietro demanded.

"The curse was that I could never feed from a human being other than her. But because you are descendants from her, you share the same blood, which creates somewhat of a loophole." You sigh, pressing your lips together as you look at Wanda. "The reason I was actually looking for the two of you is that I always keep track of the descendants of Tatyana's. I do that so I know who I cannot ever risk of drinking their blood, even if you donated blood by chance, I wouldn't take your blood bag."

You look at Natasha, "I'm sorry, but I didn't tell you everything that night," you say softly. 

Natasha bit her tongue, "You said that you didn't want to find a cure to this curse...but you've actually had already tried to find one, haven't you?

You nodded, biting your bottom lip.

"Yes...Leo and I spent years trying to find the cure at first. At one point, I encountered one of Tatyana's grandchildren. I could smell the same blood of Tatyana's in her. At that time, I was living off of animal blood," you sighed. "I don't know, something came over me, and I jumped at her. I realized that I could drink from her...but that's when I realized the second part of this curse." 

You looked at Wanda apologetically. "I inflict this curse back on them."

"What?" Pietro bellowed.

"What happened to Tatyana's granddaughter?" Steve asked with arms crossed as he processed the information.

"Another vampire tried to feed on her and she died instantly," you frowned. "When Leo and I realized the intricacies of this, I stopped looking for the cure because it was clear there wasn't one without Tatyana being the one to remove it. On top of that, it kept my bloodlust in check. I had to be more conscious about it unless I wanted to die."

"Why didn't you just tell me?" Natasha asked quietly. 

"Because I'm not proud of it. Worse than killing Tatyana because I had to was awful. But then I went and tried to remove her curse," you frowned slightly. "I'm not like you, Nat. You deal with your ledger every day proudly and without hesitation."

You look away, ashamed of what you're admitting. "I couldn't. I wanted to get rid of the curse because even though it was what I deserved, it was just a daily reminder of Tatyana, and I didn't want to remember what I had done to her."

Fingers grip your chin, pulling you back, and you face Natasha.

"Hey, you are the bravest person I know," she says softly, and the words linger like she wants to say something else, but there's a crowd here. "We'll talk more later."

Natasha lifts your fingers to her lips and presses a soft kiss to them. The action brings a deep pit feeling in your stomach, and you feel something threatening to spill over, but you swallow it because now isn't the time. 

"So, what do we do now?" Pietro asks, bringing everyone back to the matter at hand.

You look solemnly at Pietro. "There's nothing I can do. I have to keep feeding from her regularly. Otherwise, she'll die."

"Why?" Pietro demanded, stress clear on his face. 

"This curse is a catch 22 situation. On the one hand, Wanda is the only person I can feed from. But on the other hand, now I'm the only vampire who can feed on her. If any other vampire tries to feed on her, it will react badly with my venom and kill her. If I don't regularly feed on her and inject new venom, her cells will slowly deteriorate and kill her. My venom is both a poison and a cure for her." Your expression was grim, and you looked over to Wanda, but the girl seemed to have no reaction at all to what you were saying, so you were unable to gauge how she was feeling. 

"And what?" Pietro pressed. "You'll do this to her forever? Because there's no fucking cure?"

You didn't really have an answer to that because it's not like you've encountered this situation. The last descendant you drank from died due to another vampire getting to her. You were sure as hell not going to let that happen this time, but you had a feeling Wanda could handle her own if someone tried to attack her. 

"No," you decided, exhaling softly. "I'm...going to try to find the cure again. If it was just me, that's one thing, but you're right; I can't let Wanda be affected forever too."

Natasha squeezed your hand, and you turned slightly to look at her, finding her giving you a small smile.

"How are you going to find a cure? I thought the only cure to this was if Tatyana reversed what she did, and she's no longer here," Steve asked.

You lick your lips as you lock eyes with David.

"It's been a while, but we're going to find Leo's descendent."

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

The day comes to a quiet end, and you find yourself looking out the window. The city is still bustling, and it's a reminder that New York is a city that never sleeps, and you kind of miss the atmosphere out in the countryside where Clint lived.

Natasha left with David to help him try to track down Leo's descendent. Though, you know it will be relatively easy.

Steve had pulled you aside after asking you seriously if you wanted him to stay to help you with this matter, but you shook your head.

"You need to find Bucky," you tell him. "He's out there, waiting for you unconsciously, I bet."

Steve seems like he wants to stay still, but you smile as you pat his broad shoulder.

"David found a tip on Bucky for you, so you need to go because it's not looking hot for him," you pass him a folded piece of paper.

"What if you need me?" Steve frowned.

"You'll be the first I'll call, solider," you wink.

"I better be," he smiles back, pulling you into a hug before he left. 

A part of you wonders how things will play out like how you saw when you touched Tony's hand. Regardless, if you could get Tony to think the Accords was a horrible idea, then things would change.

But changing Tony's mind or trying to influence him was like trying to move a mountain.

"Hey."

You turn to see Wanda standing at the door, far from you. When you turn, she takes it as a sign to enter the room and approach you.

"Hey," you reply, feeling your body going stiff, the conversation with David fresh in your mind. 

Wanda stands next to you before turning her head to look at the view outside.

"The view is very different than what I'm used to," she tells you quietly. 

"Better or worse?" You ask in return.

"Both. On the one hand, this is not the view of my homeland, but I suppose this is better than watching my country collapse."

You purse your lips at that, feeling sympathy for the girl before you.

"They will rebuild," you tell her softly, "and when you return, it will be a beautiful view once more."

Wanda gives you a small smile as she turns to face you. No one says anything, and the quiet settles over the two of you as you stare at each other. 

"I feel like you were meant to be in my life, and I'm meant to be in yours," Wanda tells you, blinking as if she's unsure if she should be saying so. 

"You feel something for me," Wanda states, and you immediately rush to deny it.

"Don't," Wanda warns you, and you press your lips together to hold the words back. "You do, and you can't lie to me about it. I...I feel confused around you. You and Natasha. I don't know what to make of any of it."

"There's so much history tied between us...I worry that your feelings are because of my ancestor--because you mistake me for her."

"I don't," you tell her immediately, not wanting her to feel like she was some replacement. "I admit you two are similar...in more ways than you know...but I know that you're not her."

"How?" Wanda smiles sardonically.

"Easiest explanation? Scent. Vampires are extremely sensitive to scent, and you have your own distinct smell. Long explanation? There's no one that could ever replace Tatyana to me, and I don't want anyone to. You are your own person, just as Natasha is. In my heart, Natasha is something new and cannot also ever be replaced," you say, wanting Wanda to understand, but also to draw a line. 

"And me?" Wanda pushes. "Where do you want me to stand in your heart?"

You clench your jaw, just about to answer when Natasha and David enter the room.

"We've found the descendent. He lives in Texas," David tells you. 

You take a step back from Wanda, clearing your throat quietly as you nod. 

Your girlfriend stares at you, her eyes shifting to Wanda for a microsecond before she looks back at you as if Natasha could tell she just walked into a tense moment.

"Good," you say. "We'll leave tomorrow morning. Everyone should get some rest."

You walk towards Natasha, grabbing her hand as you lead her out the room, only looking back once at Wanda, who stood there with her arms crossed over her chest as she looks at you with an expression you find yourself unable to decipher.

Nor forget.

PART XII