#army pt gear changed me

[balladofthe101st]

This is my Roman Empire

[ronsenthal]

Ron Speirs x Reader

Summary: Nobody really stands alone at Currahee even if you try. Sometimes we try to run away from our thoughts and demons but sometimes they catch us on the race for the better or worse.

A/N: This fic was written on the sole purpose of filling the big void in my heart caused by the showrunners who refused to gives us Ron in Toccoa, it was based on this post ignited by this military AU prompt. Also slightly based on the fact that Speirs used to be a runner for the athletics back when he was a student.

Since he was a kid he loved to run, he ran all the way from school to his home trying to get there as fast as he could because it meant more time to play with his toys and his friends. When he got a bit older he loved to run because it was a relief for his troubled mind, but also because he was so good at it, he was always a competitor and the winning feeling gave him joy and praise it was his runaway.

Life was going fast and there was no way to stop him, in his mind there was a clear path, study, get a job, get a house and so far everything was going in the right direction, but that was until the news about a war came and he had to put a hold on everything he thought was in his path.

It’s been some weeks since he arrived at Camp Toccoa for his basic training, so far the physical requirements were the last of his problems, he even enjoyed the preparations and of course his favourite part was the endless running exercises. He has always been smart, but the endless morning classes studying maps, sand tables, aerial photos were a torture, not because he couldn’t understand it, no! In fact he understood it better than the old officer trying to teach them, and that was the problem, they were too slow and he was a natural born tactician.

One afternoon after a torture session was over he had some spare time on his hands, so he quickly changed into his PT gear and headed towards the mountain he was getting so acquainted. When they said that Currahee means “Stands Alone” he could understand why the natives gave this name to the 1.700 foot tall giant. It was the chance for his mind to go blank for some time.

*

You wanted to get better, you HAD to do better for you and for all the women who couldn’t yet join the army, this was always on the back of your mind, you embraced every chance to get some extra training. Each company had 5 women to the personnel as part of the government development plans (and propaganda), of course being ever so lucky you got into Easy Company, the same company that had the worst CO in the entire battalion.

Herbert Sobel enjoyed every chance he got to torture and make the whole company miserable, at first you thought it was some personal hatred towards you and the other girls, but turns out he seemed to hate everyone. He pointed out the most ridiculous reasons to make everyone run the goddamn mountain, once he didn’t like the way you tied your hair during a friday night run. After the incident you decided to cut your hair short to prevent any other problems, poor Bull was furious when he saw you that it took Martin, Luz and Christenson to hold him back from trying to strangle Sobel. 

One afternoon you decided to try to improve your time running Currahee so you got your mussete bag filled with some fruits you charmed Winters to give to you back in the kitchen and your water canteen. You were finally alone this time which gave you more liberty without feeling watched every step.

After some minutes you saw that there was someone else behind you but didn’t paid any attention as you looked at the watch on your wrist and so far your time was good, so you decided to maintain your focus and keep your good rhythm. The landscape was slowly changing as you was getting closer to the summit of the mountain, suddenly you looked at your left and someone was passing you like a lightning bolt, “oh great another show-off fucker trying to prove that he is better than me” you thought to yourself and muttered a “dickhead” after he was gaining advantage so you pushed yourself harder and harder, but he was so quick you couldn’t catch him.

Some more 15 endless minutes later you arrived to the highest point of Currahee, you once again looked at your watch, a new record!!! You got so proud that instead of running down the other 3 miles you decided to stay and enjoy the landscape down bellow. You chose a nice spot to sit down under some plants that were covering at least a tiny little bit of the sun and decided to take a fruit, but then you saw him.

Being in the army surrounded by some handsome men gave you at least the useful ability to pretend not to stare down a shirtless man, but this one was a completely different story. The dickhead you saw earlier was laying down on the sun just a couple of feets away from you, using his PT shirt under his back as some kind of towel to protect him from the rocks and the gravel underneath.

As the sun was kissing his sweaty pale skin and his dark hair you watched how his toned chest was going up and down in some uneven rhythm, your mind was racing, your heart beating faster and your breath was matching his so you tried to shrug it off telling yourself it was the adrenaline from your effort, wrong again. You watched as his long eyelashes rested so peacefully as his eyes were closed, then once again you tried to change your thoughts and peel the orange on your hand.

You took your knife to split the fruit and when you finally opened it the citric smell filled the air, the man near you slowly opened up his eyes as he was taken from some trance and scanned your face, he took a look at his watch and smiled to himself as he closed his eyes again to which you rolled your eyes. As if reading your mind you heard a hard voice suddenly speaking.

"I'm not judging you, on the contrary, I'm quite surprised you were so quick, I had to push harder to get past you" he said opening just one of his eyes to glance at you.

That took you by surprise, you could feel your cheeks burning after the compliment and you only mumbled some weird thanks.

After an awkward silence he started to get up to sit down, now his dirty shirt was thrown over his left shoulder, you followed his movement as he was so close you could see the freckles in his back. Trying once again to change your focus you reached your canteen to get some water, he glanced at you and gave a soft smile to witch you could only understand as a quiet plead for some water.

"You want some?" you said reaching it for him to take.

"Don't your admirable CO forbid you guys to drink water while running up and down here or something like that?" he asked raising one of his eyebrows in a playful way.

"Sometimes yes but thankfully he is not here" you said trying to hold your laugh.

"He got quite a reputation for himself, poor bastard, couldn't imagine being in his skin" he said giving back your canteen and nodding his head with a silent thank you, his eyes carefully watching you.

"Wait how do you know I'm from Easy Company?" you said suddenly curious after realising that you had not yet introduced yourself.

"Well, you got quite a reputation too, a better one, the toughest girl on the whole battalion" he said with a grin on his face "that and the fact that I saw you running up here with Winters, a girl and a redhead is quite a sight here, you know"

"I'm Y/L/N" you said with a polite little smile.

"Speirs" he said in return as you shook hands .

"Well Speirs, nice to meet you but now I need to return now or I'll be in big trouble" you said shoving your stuff into your bag again and cleaning your hands in your shorts.

"Want to race?" he said suddenly getting up and wearing his shirt, you could swear.

"Winner buys a drink?" you said laughing.

"Smartass" he replied and started to run down the mountain

You tried to keep up with him for the biggest part of the trail and tried your best but before he was fast, he reached the finishing line and then he watched as you finished too.

You both were trying to catch some air and exchanged some looks while sharing friendly smiles.

That night at the bar as you waited while he went to get a couple of beers for you both you couldn't help but smile as you realised that nobody stands alone at Currahee.

*

When you saw someone running through the streets of Foy and through the enemy lines you heart almost stopped, you knew it was him, you knew nobody could be this fearless and run so fast like Ronald Fucking Speirs.

At this point everybody knew he was at little bit crazy on the head and he got quite a reputation too. The thing is he was almost too crazy for his own good and once again you were the one holding your breath and silently praying for no harm.

When everybody thought he was crazy enough here comes the lunatic running again after passing some info to I Company. You could see the happiness and relief on the faces of your friends, Lipton even got a dumb smile in his face. They were all happy that Easy finally got a good leader again.

As soon as he got his helmet off and sit down to rest you came furious stomping you way towards him.

"You crazy son of a bitch are you out of your goddamn mind?? Fucking stupid dickhead" you said slapping him on the arms and even giving little punches to his chest

Everyone else was sharing a confused look while watching this scene, Ron had no reaction and was somehow also confused looking at you. He let you curse and hit him, he knew why you got to that point.

"Woow woow woow, Y/N, calm down it's okay, look thanks to Lieutenant everything went fine" Lipton said holding you by your shoulders and carefully taking you away from Speirs.

"No you don't understand" you shouted as tears started to roll down your cheeks.

"Yes I do, okay, I might seem dumb but it's not that hard to figure where you were running away to every night since Aldbourne" he said giving you a comforting look you two often shared "Besides, it was so fucking awesome what he did there you must admit" Lipton said giving you a little wink.

You rolled your eyes at your best friend while trying to wipe away the tears. You felt a hand on your back and you turned around to see him but before you could curse him once again you felt his lips gently pressing yours.

For a moment you could swear that even the world stopped spinning around, the only sound you could hear was your own heart pounding on your chest, for a moment you were back at running Currahee, you could even smell some citric scent on the air. His lip were soft, his hands warm just gently squeezing your hips.

After the two of you went for the drink as part of the bet made on the summit of Currahee a friendship began. At first he was just a good friend but then you started to feel things you've never experienced before, it was love. Your first kiss was before making the jump on D-Day, on France you almost lost your head but he was there to help you, at Holland you almost lost him and thought you would never see those eyes again, on Bastogne you survived the freezing temperatures and used every opportunity to use his scarf to cover your face with the excuse of hiding from the cold when you were sick. He was always there, for you.

When he parted the kiss the smell of metal, gunpowder and dirty came all back like a punch, you looked at him once again and all your anger was gone, he was okay and so were you.

"Dickhead" was everything you said before he gently kissed your forehead, adjusted the M-1 on his shoulder and started to run between the line barking orders to the men.

Taglist: @mads-weasley, @footprintsinthesxnd, @sweetxvanixlla, @xxluckystrike, @malarkgirlypop, @lostloveletters, @next-autopsy, @ewipandora, @executethyself35, @easycompany123, @whollyjoly and @basilone

[itjazzbicch]

Fighting With Destiny PT. 3

Pairing:  Reiko x Umgadi!Fem Reader 

Summary: Fighting With Destiny PT. 1 - Fighting With Destiny PT. 2

What the reader thought would be a change for the better and the end of the war ended as a turn for the worse. Not having any answers and rage filling her heart, she sides with Princess Kitana, her army, and Umgadi Priestess, but when she ends up on the battlefield, the strong love in her heart turns the battlefield into an imaginable scene...

Warnings:  Fighting/War Battle, Death (or maybe not?) Mentions of blood

Word Count: 1.1k 

Starting to toss and turn, I blinked, looking out the window across the room to see it was dead in the night; I turned around as I felt for Reiko, and he wasn't there.

I was confused. We couldn't have been asleep for long.

My heart fell as I looked over the bed and saw that his clothes were gone, but mine were still on the floor; I wrapped myself in the blanket and looked around to see he was nowhere to be found.

Standing in my empty home, tears started flowing down my cheeks, sobs turning into huffs of anger.

After dressing, I marched back to the kingdom and my quarters among the Umgadi.

As the sun was rising, I was facing my mirror, in gear, coloring my face with war paint.

"Y/N?"

Looking in the mirror, Kitana was poking her head in, quickly stepping in to shut the door as she saw that I was ready for the attack on Shao's army.

"Don't tell me-"

Turning to her as she rushed over to me, she was sad to see how red my eyes were from crying. Meanwhile, my face was emotionless.

"Your eyes," She whispered, hating to see me like this, "He didn't listen, did he?"

"He wasn't till I told him to prove that he loved me," I explained, skipping the details to avoid the tears, "I woke up in the middle of the night, and he was gone."

I didn't need the details for her to understand, and much like me, it put great anger in her heart, but she was still trying to care for me:

"You don't have to go-"

"It's fine," Facing the mirror, I finally decided, "I am Umgadi. Need I say more?"

Shaking her head softly, she put a hand on my shoulder, staring deep into my eyes and meaning:

"Today, we end this."

"Yes, we will," I said with determination, leaving with her as we gathered our army.

Shao and Reiko's army made some movements since I warned him the first time I searched for him, but they underestimated Kitana's abilities.

Knowing their exact location and closing in carefully, all Kitana had to do was share a quick gaze with me, nodding our heads before she stood, all of us running out there with a war cry.

Shao was the source of all this, so Kitana needed a clear path to him, which I started to create, painting the ground red with my sword as I made that path.

"Y/N?! What are you doing?!"

Reiko, protecting Shao as always, was somehow surprised by my presence.

"Move," I said without emotion, but there was no time for words as rebels swarmed Kitana and me.

Fighting them off, Shao decided to show some courage, trying to go after Kitana, but she gave him the fight of his life, even slashing his face with her bladed fan.

"Shao!"

I was too busy fighting off rebels, but Reiko's voice caught my attention, slicing the last one near me to the ground. I saw Shao running, Reiko on the ground, desperately trying to stand with the use of his staff as Kitana was towering over him, aiming to kill.

I didn't know what happened. All I felt was this weird tingle from my magic, then an unbelievably powerful, piercing sting in two spots through my back.

My jaw clenched shut, blood spitting between my teeth, feeling my body grow heavy, drooping eyes finding Reiko beneath me, a traumatized look all over his face.

"Y/N. No-"

I heard Kitana behind me, the shakiness in her voice, barely able to feel as I turned to look at her, seeing the ends of her fans sticking out of my back.

"Kita-; I-," Barely able to speak, I couldn't fight the pain anymore, my dead weight dropping onto Reiko.

"Y/N-" A battlefield had never been so silent, Reiko switching from shock to panic, "Y/N!"

It was dark in the corners of my eyes, but I could see his face. I couldn't talk, only blood staining my lips, staring till my eyes started to drift.

"No!" He began shaking his head, protecting my body, "I'm not going to let you die here like this!"

Pointing at Kitana, who was still frozen, the last thing I could hear was Reiko's roaring command to their army:

"Don't you let that witch leave here alive! Kill her! Now!"

—————

There was no sense of time in the darkness I was seeing, but here and there, I saw images of these two women in a forest, around a fire, smiling. I think they were talking to me.

My body tingled from numbness, groaning softly as I attempted to move off my stomach.

"Stop, stop," Someone was next to me, holding my arm still.

I tried to look, but everything was blurry, and I felt so out of it. The lighting was dim, but I recognized their face paint.

"Reiko?" I guessed, "Is that you?"

"Yes," His voice sounded so raspy and dry, shaken as he nodded, "It's me."

"Are you okay?" My voice was breaking up, lips moving slow, but smiling softly as he answered:

"Physically."

"Good," I could only remember seeing Kitana going for the killing blow on him, my heart genuinely meaning, "I was so worried."

"Y/N, why?" It sounded like he was crying, but I understood. I walked onto that battlefield, but I never intended on harming him, and so, answering as I was so loopy:

"Because I love you, silly."

Holding my cheek gently, his hand was so warm. Finally able to see his face clearly, my voice dying down to barely a whisper:

"I didn't want you to die."

"I know, love," He swallowed, trying not to let his emotions best him, "And don't you worry. I'm doing everything I can to make sure we get you healed."

"It's okay," My Eyes started to drift again; my subconscious was leaking, seeing those women at the fire again, not realizing what I was telling him in prolonged words, "I was talking to these women. They're so pretty and nice. They're Umgadi."

Reiko fell to his knees, trying to get me to look at him, confused as to what I was saying:

"What do you mean?"

"They were telling me stories," My words grew slower as I was remembering, unaware that it was death that I was facing in that moment, "I wanna hear more."

"You stay here with me, okay?" He quickly realized that, able to find his eyes briefly before drifting off again, he pleaded, "Please, Y/N."

It must've been scary and confusing for him that I was partially smiling, seeing my life play before me. All the good memories, including the ones with Reiko, eyes closing as I asked him and wondered about what I saw before:

"You think I'm as great as them?"

Knowing that I was talking about what I saw while unconscious, his voice started to break as he emphasized in his cry:

"The best. You're the best. Never forget that."

2023 © itjazzbicch — do not repost or translate my work. Likes, reblogs, and comments are always welcome. 

[theredharpy]

Can't have one without the other || König x Reader x Ghost ||

Jealousy • Mature • Slowburn • Enemies to lovers • R18

As Price is forced to make a tough call to bring in someone he had promised an old friend of his to protect, a mission that holds the weight of countless lives, needs the involvement of both KorTac and the mysterious red haired woman who had previously been in an elite trained military team that had supposedly disbanded and vanished.Ghost is against the idea but something draws him to her, whereas König wants to know more, what unravels nobody could've expected.

Sugar: Pt.4 ||

Morning approached all too quickly, Red scnurched her face at the rude awakening of her alarm clock that was sat across the room, it was a routine she'd always set for herself when she joined the army early on for one thing, it made her get out of bed and stand up.

6:30am.

"Jesus Christ." She groaned to herself as she violently flung the bedsheet from her body and quickly got herself up to switch the alarm off, peering around the room her eyes adjusted to the dimly lit space around her.

It didn't take her too long to throw on some of her basic training outfit and gather her gear for the day before exiting the room, deciding to quickly stop by the reck room to make some breakfast and a coffee as she walked down the hallway her mind soon trailed off to yesterday's introduction to the team, especially to Ghost, Soap and König in particular, her body was already feeling tense about the upcoming training session with Ghost.

She rolled her eyes at her own thoughts and decided to put it to the back of her mind as she turned a corner and entered the doorway leading into the Reck Room, the air was strife with the smell of coffee and food.

Standing by the kettle was the towered over form of none other than Ghost, no-one else was around which to Red caught her off guard she noticed how Soap almost stuck by his side like glue but then again, they are all preparing for this mission, everyone needs their downtime.

Ghost had gone to detailed lengths to make his coffee, a specific brand, followed by his personal cup which of course was a white cup with a black skull face on it.

He was completely unaware of her presence in the same room, for a moment she second guessed about approaching him but her mind told her otherwise, she needed to diffuse the situation before it spiraled into something else.

She had to swollow her pride.

Just fuckin say sorry to him.

So plucking up the courage she continued to walk into the room and spoke aloud.

"Got any left for another one." She spoke in the gentlelist tone possible.

Ghost lifted his head, his eyes broke contact from placing the kettle on boil and set his eyes on the woman instead.

"If I did have another one, why should I give it to you." He responded bitterly but not with a raised tone, he sounded exhausted.

Red furrowed her brows at his words but brushed them off all the same as she stood at the oppositw side of him, she knew he had enough.

"I'm sorry for how I spoke to you." She gestured with her hand. "This is also very strange to me too, so I get the distrust." She broke eye contact with him for a second looking around the kitchen counter top for a spare cup before moving her eyes up to start looking through the cabinets.

Ghost continued to watch her, he picked up the tone in her voice, the way her face slightly changed expressions as she apologized to him.

He needed to hear that.

No.

He wanted to hear that,

Deep down he was sorry too, but he was too stubborn to admit that right now.

"Would you like me to make you a coffee?" He responded calmly.

"That would be great, thank you." She stood up on her toes to grab a single peach coloured cup before placing it down beside his.

She'd gone to sit down on the nearby breakfast bar, there was a momentary pause of silence until the kettle had finished boiling, filling the air around Ghost with hot steam.

"What happened." Ghost's thick accent cut through the silence, there was no emotion in his tone, but it was softer than a few moments ago.

"With your team." He glanced over his shoulder after he'd finished pouring the coffee into the cup.

"Oh we're gonna talk about that right now." Red sat up feeling an unsettled ease run all the way up her spine and into her shoulders the moment she caught his gaze and his question.

"Right now, Red." Ghost stubbornly responded, finishing making both coffees he brought them over to the table and dragged one of the bar stools to the opposite side, facing her directly.

"Right." She swallowed thickly and placed a hand under her chin. "Where the hell do I even start." She mumbled to herself as she studied the table for a second, lost in her own thoughts of the past.

"Why do you even wanna know." She questioned him.

"So I know you ain't gonna stab me in the fuckin back when I need you Sargent."

"I have plenty of time, I ain't moving until you've told me."

Stubborn bastard.

Red huffed in annoyance finally giving in to his demands, "they all died." She deadpanned and looked him dead in the eyes, watching for any sign of emotion as he slightly leaned forward.

"Alot of people die that's part of the job."

"Yeah but not the entire fucking team."

"You gonna tell me how that all played out."

Red choose her next words carefully as once again she broke eye contact with the towering force starring directly at her, it was an extremely tough subject to talk to, but then again she was talking to Ghost, which is like being thrown in at the deep end of the pool and wishing for the best.

"It was my team.." She smacked her hand down on the table as she shook her head at herself, a pained look set in on her delicate face.

"My fuckin fault." She side eyed him.

"A mistake like--but still." She spoke through broken words.

"Mistakes happen." Ghost couldn't help but study the woman, her words where almost a mirror of his own past.

"Just like you I was place in charge of a team, I thought I could handle it..fucksake they where like family to me." She swept her hand along the table before tightly clenching it into a fist as her jaw tightened. "I just--." She bit her lip as her mind was filled with memories she would've rather forget. "I made a wrong move and everyone paid for it including me."

"Captured, Tortured and used as a lure to bring the rest of my team out from the fuckin woods."

Her tone raised as she continued to shake her head at her own disappointment with herself.

What Ghost wasn't telling her is that he'd gone through her files after their heated exchange, he wanted to know full details about who he was working with, who Price was bringing into 141.

Just trusting his word wasn't enough on this one,

but hearing it from Red in person, showed him she could be trusted, in a way knowing what he knew now, he was more pissed at Price for bringing her back into a situation that was probably more difficult for her to deal with than she or anyone else realised, simply putting it, he'd been in her position one time too many.

He studied her, each slight emotion in her pale blue eyes, each time her jaw clenched and tensed up, each reaction, her shortness in breath, the way she stopped herself from getting overwhelmed.

Red had to stop herself from the memories, from the pain, she buried it a long time ago.

"But I can't let it effect me, not now.." she grabbed the coffee cup in her hand, swirling the liquid.

"Not when you guys need me for this, we are a team." She pursed her lips together giving the lieutenant a smile, before bringing the cup to her lips and taking a sip.

"Glad to hear it." Ghost grabbed his own cup in his hand and excused himself from the table, but not before saying one last thing to the woman. "I expect to see you at training Sargent, no excuses."

Red lifted her cup in response, "I'll be there." She watched as he turned away to walk out and into the hallway. "thanks for the coffee! It's really good." She yelled, her voice echoed down the hallway.

No problem, love.

[varian-wonder]

"GREASE IS THE WORD"

Splatoon x Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies Soundtrack PT 1.

THE SONG FICS BEGIN (I'm gonna try to make it non-cringe and not have them sing every line and not take every line from the song... I promise lyric changes aren't to be cringe :3)

Trace arrived to Inkopolis again after defeating Octavio with fresh eyes. The Great Zapfish is back and despite the grueling few months or so she was challenging the DJ, she was back to the surface with a smile.

She had just bought some near gear as her hero gear was on job only and as she finished putting on her jacket she headed out of her apartment.

"I solved my problems and I see the light! We gotta loving thing we got to feed it right," She was singing her her trusty hero shot, sadly she had to use the replica in ink battles but she still loved it so. "There ain't no danger we can go too far! We start believing now we can be who we are. Grease is the word!"

Trace raced off to the lobby wearing a hand me down jacket from Marie. The idol's name was embroidered on the back.

"Is that Tiny Trace?" A inkling in the plaza muttered

"In Marie's jacket? Susan's going to flip! I've got to go tell her!" Another muttered before getting up

Around Trace in the lobby of cephalokids they were hyping eachother up.

"Grease is the word! It's the word that you heard! It's got groove it's got meaning!" Chanted the lobby with Trace joining in with equal enthusiasm. "Grease is the time! It's the place! It's the motion! Grease is the way we are feeling!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Addison was packing up with Marina. After hearing the Calamari inkantation they were freed... but not everyone was. And the army wasn't fond of defectors. Addison looked at the older octoling for some guidance.

"We take the pressure and we throw it away! Conventionality belongs to yesterday," Marina put her hand on Addi's shoulder with a smile.

"Yesterday?" Addi repeated confused

"There is a chance that we can make it so far. We start believing now... that we can be who we are..." Marina grabbed her bag and Addi followed suit before sneaking out.

They started their way to Mount Nantai, Addi looking back on Octo Canyon quitely remarking to herself, "Grease is the word..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Callie and Marie came back to Inkopolis under alot of paparazzi. They had just helped defeat DJ Octavio and had helped Cuttlefish recover. Lights were flashing all over their eyes. Marie leaned into Callie and muttered to her cousin, "I forgot.. I hate the spotlight; let's hurry up." Marie covered her eyes with her hand squinting.

Callie smiled at Marie and went to assure her, "It's fine! Let's just go grab some burgers!" The cousins tried to push their way through the crowd but people were following super close, "Grease is the word! It's the word! That you heard! It's got groove. It's got meaning!" The crowd said in unison. "Hey Callie! Where you going so fast? I just have a few questions-" One reporter was cut off my the cousins running into their apartment and slamming the door closed. "This is a life of illusion..." Marie huffed as Callie went into the kitchen to search for food, "wrapped up in trouble... laced with confusion." Marie said softly. She walked over to the window as the paparazzi was clearing, "What are we doing here?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Grease is the word~! Woah! It's got groove it's got meaning!" The inkling girl packed the final book into her bookbag and stared at her scholarship at Inkadia University. She ran out grinning, jumping off her steps as she ran towards the train station at the end of town. "Happy last day of summer dipsticks!" she said to her friends while she was running. "Bye Zera!" Grease is the time! It's the place! It's the motion! Grease is the way we are feeling!

"Woah~!" Zera jumped down the steps of the train station, her sneakers contrasting with her school uniform. Grease is the way we are feeling. Grease is the word, is the word that you heard! "The way we're feeling~" She ran towards the train as it was nearing time to depart. Making it on just as the doors closed behind her. She sat down and grabbed a photo of her younger self and her older sister smiling after Zera's spelling bee.

"I'm on my way Tracey"

[mccall-muffin]

The things you don't know - Part 1 // Carwood Lipton x OC

Summary: Being in the army as a woman can be challenging. That's what Tori needed to learn as well. Four weeks in, she has no friends, no one to back her up, and she is living in the constant fear that her brother finds out that she enlisted. But one day, everything changed.

Warnings: Language

Taglist: @liebgotts-lovergirl, @softguarnere

Here is the prologue!

October 5, 1942 - Camp Toccoa, Georgia, USA

"Name?" "McNeil, Victoria M." "What exactly are you doing here, Private McNeil? You're a woman. You don't belong here. Or are you trying to prove me wrong?" "Yes, sir!" "We'll see about that." With only her eyes, Victoria pursued Lieutenant Sobel. She had never hated anyone as much as she hated this man. For four weeks, Tori had been at Camp Toccoa and Easy Company, and still, this son of a bitch acted like he had forgotten her name every time. That he didn't want her here, she was well aware of.

Sobel went through the ranks and picked apart one soldier after another. At least it cheered Tori up a bit to know that Sobel wasn't just out to get her. Finally, he ended up revoking all of their weekend passes.

"Put on your PT gear; we're running Currahee," were his last words, and Tori groaned softly. That was the second thing she hated. This mountain they ran up and down at least once every day. She followed the other soldiers back to the barracks and briskly changed her clothes. "You better get home while you still can, doll," someone suddenly said to her. As she turned, Bill Guarnere looked at her with pity yet slight irritation. "Why should I?" was all she returned. Bill just shrugged his shoulders. "Would be better for ya, I guess. Women don't belong in the Army." Inside, Tori was already boiling. She had a temper, she knew that, and it was very easy to bring it out, depending on the subject.

Before she could reprimand Bill, the door opened, and Carwood Lipton entered the barracks. "All right, let's go. On the road, in PT formation. Let's move, move, move," he shouted, then looked briefly at Tori and Bill. "Guarnere, McNeil! Come on!" demanded Lip looking at Tori for a moment before she walked past him.

Carwood was impressed with Tori from the start. After all, she put up with Sobel for four weeks, even though he made her life hell. With her ash blonde hair, small height, and blue eyes, she didn't stand out much out, but something about her captivated Carwood. However, they were preparing for war, not for a dating spree. Besides, fraternization among soldiers is strictly forbidden.

As they ran up the hill, Tori was among the furthest behind. Physically, she was weaker than the men, and her legs were shorter. And yet she gave it her all. "Come on, Victoria. You can do it," she heard Lipton next to her. He was the only one who called her by her first name. Everyone else addressed her only as McNeil.

McNeil. That was the other thing... Because that wasn't even her real name. As it was her mother's maiden name, Tori went by a different one. And this one was Victoria Martha Speirs. But no one was supposed to know this. Above all, her brother should not see that she was here. When Ron told her about the paratroopers, Tori was blown away. Of course, Ron volunteered and also for the paratroopers. Ron wanted to be one of the best. And it was a good fit for him, too. But when he had already been gone for some time, Tori felt useless. She kept reading about the troop her brother had joined in various magazines, and the desire to do the same grew. Finally, she had gone through with it. Even though it wasn't effortless for a woman to even get into the army, let alone the paratroopers, Tori had somehow managed it.

In the last letter Ron had written her while she was still at home, he had told her that he was being transferred to Camp Toccoa, Georgia, and assigned to Baker Company. At the time, those words didn't have much meaning to Tori, but panic set in when she learned that she was also being assigned to Camp Toccoa. Her brother would have a fit if he knew she was here. At least Tori was assigned to Easy Company and not Baker. However, it would have been funny to see Ron's face's look if he spotted her. Whereas he probably would have kicked her out the door himself.

When they returned from Currahee, Tori was out of breath and sweaty. Her face was red, and her hands and feet were swollen. Quickly she went back to her barracks to get the shower things, but when she came back out, she found herself in a group of soldiers from a strange company. "Hey, sweetheart, are you lost?" she heard the first chatter. "What are you doing here?" it continued. She was used to the catcalls by now. And then something happened Tori didn't expect at all.

"Victoria?"

Tori jerked her head up and looked for the soldier who had called her name. "Jesus Christ, David?" she asked when she spotted him. David Webster. The Harvard boy. "You know the doll, Webster?" one of the other soldiers asked, looking at Web. "Yeah, I do, so shut up, Thompson," Web glared at him. "What are you doing here, Tori?" asked Webster, striding toward her. His comrades didn't seem to find this exciting anymore, so they continued walking. "Eh, we're off, Web," they called after him some more, and he gave a half-hearted wave.

Web quickly had his attention back on Tori. "So? What are you doing here?" asked Web again. "I volunteered," Tori said with a shrug. "And your brother just let that happen? I thought he was so protective of you?" "Well, he doesn't know anything about it," Tori said, trying to sound as innocent as possible. A grin settled on Web's face. "Victoria Martha Speirs..." he began, but Tori immediately put a hand over his mouth to silence him. "Shh!" She looked around to make sure no one heard her. "Mhmhmhm," Web asked under Tori's hand, which she took back from his mouth. "What?" she asked, confused. "What was that about?" "No one here knows my real name, David. And I want to keep it that way! And they are not supposed to know who my brother is!" whispered Tori. She points to her name tag on her ODs.

"What, why is that?" "Isn't it obvious? I thought you were the smart one of the two of us," she said, frowning. "Ron's in the paratroopers, too. But I don't want him to know about this. If I'd signed up with my real name, he'd have had me out of here in a day. That's why I signed up with my mother's maiden name." Web nodded slowly. "I see, and your brother is here too?" he asked, looking around for a moment. "Yes. At least here in Toccoa. He's a platoon leader at Baker Company. But enough about me. What about you? What about your studies? Don't tell me you dropped out?"

Web laughed at the sudden change of subject, but that was Tori's way. "Well, I felt obligated to help. And why not be one of the best when you have the opportunity? They assigned me to Fox Company. And as for going to college... Harvard can wait. This is more important." Tori smiled at David's words. Then she takes him in her arms. "Oh, I missed you, Brainy."

"Hey, McNeil! If you want some more hot water, you should move your butt now!" They heard someone call out. Tori broke away from David and saw Joe Toye nodding his head toward the showers. "See you later?" Tori then asked David, who nodded. "Sure thing. We could go out this weekend?" he asked, and Tori pressed her lips together. "My weekend pass was revoked. The whole company's." "What?" "Our CO's an ass. But I've got to get going. See you, David." She waved goodbye to him, then headed for the showers with her things.

When she got back out of the shower, she bumped into someone. "Oh, sorry," she said quickly, seeing that it was Wayne Sisk. He was one of Easy Company's first soldiers, she had learned. "No, I wasn't paying attention," he said quickly, smiling at Tori. Tori smiled as well. She had never really talked to Skinny, as they called him. "You... Your name is Victoria, right?" he asked a little shyly, and she nodded. "I'm Wayne, but everyone calls me Skinny," he said, extending his hand to her, which she accepted. "Nice to meet you," she smiled back.

She eyed Skinny for a moment. He was really cute; she had to hand it to him. "We're playing a game of cards tonight. Are you in?" he asked out of the blue, and Tori looked at him in surprise. The boys had never invited her to play cards with them before. "Uh, yeah, sure, why not?" "Well, good...", Skinny said thoughtfully and smiled at Tori again. He'd never admit it, but the blonde made him nervous. And Skinny was far from that otherwise. At least not when it came to girls.

In the evening, Tori was a little nervous. Not about Skinny, but about the other guys. After all, she didn't know how they would react if she suddenly stood among them. "Hey, Vic. You ready?" she then heard a voice from the entrance. Amused, Tori turned around. "Vic?" she asked, addressing Skinny, who stood grinning in the doorway. The latter just smiled at her and shrugged. "Well, I thought Victoria was so formal, don't you think? Or do you have another nickname?" Tori laughed. "Well, most people call me Tori," she explained, but Skinny cringed. "I kind of like Vic better. I'll call you Vic." "Well then," Tori said. "Do what you can't help doing."

"So, are you ready? The others are waiting. " Tori nodded. "Yep," she said, zipping up her jacket before following Skinny out the door. "Do the others actually know you invited me?" asked Tori as the two headed toward the dining hall. "Sure," was all Skinny said. "Skinny?" asked Tori again, causing him to stop. He turned to look at her before taking a step toward her. A faint scent of whiskey rose to Tori's nose. "Fine, I didn't tell them anything. But it doesn't matter, because you're coming with me now to meet the guys. We're a company; why should you be any different just because you're a girl?"

Tori faltered for a moment before nodding slowly. "Come on," Skinny said, pulling her by the arm. "You're not afraid of Sobel; why would you be afraid of the boys?" "I don't know, Skinny. But they don't seem too pleased with my presence..." "Who couldn't be pleased by the presence of a pretty woman? They just don't know you yet."

Tori didn't reply to anything more. Had Skinny just called her pretty? Skinny had let the words slip from his lips faster than he could have stopped it.

The boys were already looking up as they entered the mess hall together. "Skinny, there you are at last!" shouted Malarkey to him already. "And you've got McNeil with you?" he asked. Tori's nervousness rose at the questioning look Malarkey was giving her. " Folks," Skinny said, pushing the young blonde in front of her. "This here is Victoria. Or rather, Vic," he introduced her, and she had to stifle an eye roll at her new nickname.

"We know what her name is, Skinny," Joe Liebgott said, annoyed, looking at Tori with raised eyebrows. "Yeah, but we don't know her. And we're going to change that now," Skinny said, pushing Tori into an empty chair. There was silence for a moment, and everyone looked at Tori. "Maybe this was a stupid idea, Skinny," Tori whispered to him uneasily. "Oh, bullshit!" Skinny looked around at the faces of his friends. "Come on, guys... She's part of our company. She's one of us, so treat her that way." Grateful, Tori looked to Skinny, who pulled a flask from his pocket and took a sip.

Joe Liebgott looked at Tori for another moment before he began shuffling the cards and shrugging his shoulders. "Fine by me. You play poker?" he then asked, and Tori nodded.

Six years earlier:

"I'll never learn," Tori whined as she lost again to her big brother. "Eventually, even your birdbrain will understand, Tori," he laughed as he dealt the cards again. "Why are we still doing this anyway, Ron?" "So you can learn. Poker is fun, and you'll learn."

"All right..." said Malarkey then, sitting down on the other side of Tori. Also sitting at the table with them were Muck, More, Alley, and to Tori's surprise, Lipton. She glanced briefly at him, and he smiled encouragingly at her. A wry smile also appeared on Tori's face as she looked at her sergeant. She didn't tear her gaze away from Lip until Skip placed a beer in front of her. "Sorry, we don't have anything else," he said, and she nodded her thanks. "That's okay. That works for me."

They'd been on for a few rounds when only Tori and Lipton were left in a game at one point. Everyone stared at their sergeant, whose turn it was. Lip studied his cards before turning his gaze to Tori, who was trying to keep her best poker face. "I'll raise you two," Lip says, tossing two dollars into the middle. Tori briefly glances at the center before looking Lip in the eye again. She licks her lips and bites down on them shortly. Lip's eyes automatically moved to Tori's lips, and he got slightly nervous.

"I'll call your two and raise you two more," Tori said, smiling mischievously at Lip. "Come on, Sarge, you're not going to put up with that, are you?" asked Malarkey, grinning at Lip, who was studying his cards again. "Hey, why don't you make it a little more interesting?" then interjected Liebgott, who looked at Tori with an interested grin. His sentence tore Tori away from Lipton so that she was now looking at him. "What do you have in mind?" she asked.

"All or nothing. All in!" Liebgott then said, and Tori looked back at Lip, who was also looking at her. 'Jesus, this game has too much eye contact,' Tori thought as she averted her gaze from Lip again. She then pushed her cards together and placed them face down on the table before folding her hands over them and looking at Lip again. "All in," he said, rummaging in his wallet and then tossing a few dollar bills into the middle. "Twenty dollars."

"Fine by me. But I want something else if I win," she said perkily, taking out $20 and putting it in the middle, and Lip raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah, and what would that be?" "A dance." "What?" "A dance when we finally get to keep our next weekend pass." "If it's just that," Malarkey laughed, and everyone looked to Lip. The latter nodded before tossing his cards into the middle. "Flush," he said mischievously, as much as he ever could, and then looked at Tori, who looked at his cards in shock for a moment. Then she looked back at him. "That's too bad," she said, and the guys were already starting to cheer. Tori looked briefly at Skinny, who looked at her with pity, but then she threw her cards into the middle. "That's too bad, but I'm afraid you owe me a dance, Lip. Full house!"

There was silence for a few seconds, but laughter and cheers erupted. "Whoa, Lip, she just tore you apart," Malarkey laughed, patting Tori on the back. "Not bad, McNeil!" Alley congratulated her, and she took a sip of her beer while grinning at Lip, who probably still couldn't quite believe what had just happened.

"You're really all right, Vic," Skip laughed, toasting Tori. Tori smiled contentedly and slumped back in her chair. The guys around her were still clowning around, teasing Lip about his loss. Tori couldn't hide a laugh and felt like she belonged for the first time since she'd been in Toccoa.

The following day, when Tori entered the mess hall to have breakfast alone, as usual, she was surprised when a few voices suddenly called out to her.

"Hey, Vic! Here!" Looking up, she quickly spotted Skinny, Liebgott, and Alley sitting at the table with Tipper. She looked at them for a moment to make sure they meant her. But then she nodded and gestured briefly toward the food counter.

She approached the boys with her tray when she got the food. "Hey Vic, we saved you a seat," Joe said directly, pointing to the empty chair next to Skinny. Tori sat down and smiled at the guys. "Thanks... That's nice of you guys," she said hesitantly and started eating the grayish-looking oatmeal. "No biggie, you're with us now," Alley grinned at her, which made Tori laugh. "That sounds like, like, a gang or something," she laughed, and the others did the same. "More like a company," Skinny said, nudging Tori briefly.

"You still have to answer me one question, Vic," Joe then butted in again. Tori looked up at him and raised her eyebrows. "Huh?" "Why a dance with Lip?" he asked, and Tori almost choked on her coffee. She coughed twice and then looked at Joe again. "Well, I uh... I don't know," she said, briefly considering why she'd asked him for a dance. "Because if you're looking for a good dancer... Then you better take me," Joe continued, and the boys around him laughed. "Yeah, sure, Lieb. That would suit you," Tipper laughed, slapping Joe on the shoulder. "What? I'm just speaking the truth. You could ask the girls at the bar, and they'll tell you."

Renewed laughter erupted at their table before Joe turned back to Tori, who had hoped he had already forgotten about the question. "So, Vic? Why Lip?" Tori glanced briefly at Skinny next to her, who was also looking at her with interest. "Well... I thought it would be funny. Sergeant Lipton has always struck me as a bit - how shall I put it - reserved, and I just can't picture him twirling girls around or anything, which is why I wanted to get him a bit... Out of his shell."

Tori's gaze traveled straight down the mess hall, stopping briefly at her sergeant. Then she looked back at Joe and shrugged. "I still think the idea is pretty funny." "And believe me, everyone probably wants to be there because we're definitely not missing the show," Alley laughed now, and Tipper nodded in agreement. "Oh, for sure."

Suddenly someone sat down across from Vic. "Fucking hell, what's this crap again?" the soldier, who turned out to be Frank Perconte, got annoyed. Suddenly he looked up and realized that Vic was sitting across from him. He paused in his movement and opened his mouth to say something. "Since when are you sitting here?" he asked after a while of silence. Tori frowned for a moment, then looked over at Joe, Skinny, and the others for help. "I, uh..." the blonde stammered uncertainly. "Let her, Frank. She's with us now," Skinny said quickly, getting Percone's attention. "Uh-huh," was all he said then, silently continuing to eat his food while Tori sat uncomfortably across from him.

A few minutes later, Tori's attention was drawn outside. There stood David, gesturing with his head for her to follow him. She nodded barely noticeably and then slowly stood up. "Uh, if you'll excuse me," she said absently, then headed for the door. "Hey, Vic. Stay," Skinny called after her, but Tori was already out the door. "Way to go, Frank," the private reprimanded his friend. "What? I didn't do anything!" the latter defended himself with his mouth full. "She's having a hard enough time with Sobel picking on her all the time. Why do we have to do this, too, huh?" "What's the matter, Skinny? Are you in love?" now quipped Malarkey, who had also just sat at the table. "Fuck, no!", Skinny immediately defended herself. "But still, I think we can be nice to her." "I agree with Skinny," Skip spoke up, who had taken the seat next to Malarkey. "I think she's great. There's something about her - I don't know how to put it. She seems so proper somehow, but something tells me she's not at all."

"Oh, believe me, she's probably all wicked in bed," Liebgott said, laughing, and Skinny rolled her eyes. "Of course, that's what you're all about." "What? She's not ugly, after all. And if I have to look at you guys all day, why not at least imagine something beautiful? With that son of a bitch fucking up our goddamn weekends all the time by taking away our fucking passes, I haven't seen another woman in weeks, Skinny."

"And yet I don't think she'd get involved with you," Malarkey now grinned, causing Liebgott to throw a piece of bread at his head. "Oh yeah, and you think you have a better chance?" the latter shouted back. "Better than you, definitely!" "Well, I don't think either of you has a chance because our dear Victoria must have her eye on Lip," Skip now interfered again. "Now, what makes you think that?" asked Alley. "Well, because of the dance." "Nah, she explained that to us earlier, and it makes total sense," explained Skinny.

"Well, whatever. It still wouldn't be a good idea. Fraternization among soldiers is strictly forbidden, remember?" then Tip asked, and Joe rolled his eyes. "Meh, it might still be worth the risk if the soldier looks like her." Skinny eyed Joe. Even though he was rather a skinny man, he had already made a point or two with his looks. The idea that he could throw himself at Vic didn't appeal to Skinny. Maybe he just had to be faster now.

[rinadoesstuff]

Secret Soldiers

Chapter Five

Georgia, Camp Toccoa, 1942

After returning to her barracks and changing into the PT gear she had been given, Maggie realised that the army had done the same with her PT shirt as they had done her OD shirt. It was tight against her chest, almost highlighting the fact that she was a woman. Not letting it get to her, Maggie tied her shoes up and left the small building. Waiting outside for her, still in OD’s, was Camilla. 

Smug look on her face, Maggie rolled her eyes at her friends as she continued walking toward the base of the mountain. Already gathering at the base were Easy Company, a few of the men turning to look at her as she walked to an isolated spot.

No one spoke a word directly to her, some whispers could be heard from some men, but nothing was said to her. “Don’t worry about it.”

Finding somewhere to stand, Maggie crossed her arms over her chest and turned to Camilla with an eyebrow raised toward the woman. “Don’t worry?” She snorted quietly “Next time you have to run up a mountain with a group of men who potentially hate you, you can tell me not to worry about it.”

Camilla grinned at Maggie, spotting Sobel coming toward the group. Grabbing Maggie’s hand, she gave her a quick squeeze before slinking off the other way. Camilla was headed to put Maggie's Lieutenant bars onto her uniform before getting herself acquainted with the base. 

Letting out a sigh, Maggie got ready to run up the mountain beside Easy. She was fit, someone who could run a fair bit before tiring, but she knew the men would be out to test her. They always would be until she proved she belonged amongst them. 

After an hour long run up Currahee, Maggie ached. Her back hurt from falling into the mud, her shins hurt from being kicked ‘accidentally’ by the men and she was just exhausted. 

Not only had the enlisted attempted to trip her multiple times, Lieutenant Sobel had been right in her ear with taunts. Her hands shook as she locked the door of her barracks, sliding down the back of the door as she held in the tears.

She didn’t care about aching, that would always be a part of exercising - especially with the army - but she cared about her treatment. She knew the men would have a hard time, why should they respect a British woman, but she hadn’t expected Lieutenant Sobel to be so vile.

Maggie was sure that even the men were shocked by the language he had been using toward her, the words he deemed acceptable to use directly at Maggie. However, she knew she couldn’t complain. She had to stay there, she had to jump into battle with Easy Company. Letting out a sigh, Maggie stood from where she had been leaning against the door and started to strip from the PT gear she was wearing. 

Covered in mud and sweat, Maggie made the decision to place it on the shower floor beside her. Though not the best way for cleaning her clothes, she decided it was the quickest way. 

In a few days, however, Maggie knew she would have to brave the laundry room and get her clothes properly cleaned. She had nothing against the women that cleaned the laundry, but she didn’t exactly want the men to have access to her clothes at any point. Especially not after the attitudes they had shown her during their Currahee run. 

After her shower, clothes hanging on the windowsill inside her room, Maggie changed back into her OD’s, smiling as she realised Camilla had given her the Lieutenant bars, and made her way out of the barracks to find Vest. The man was in charge of all the mail that the men got, Camilla had told her anyway, Maggie expecting a letter from the SOE in the next few days. Camilla had already received hers, before the pair had even gotten to Toccoa. 

Finding her way to the mailroom, Maggie noticed that there was one man already there. She vaguely recognised him, the man who had started the singing whilst the men were running Currahee. Taking a breath, Maggie walked in with her head held high and a smile on her face.

Dresden, September 1942

Her eyes shot open and Claire looked up at the ceiling of her bedroom. Her first night back in Dresden and she just couldn’t fall asleep. Her head was pounding from all the alcohol she drank together with Viktor, Ilse and Hans. When she first heard that alcohol was forbidden in Germany she was confused on why someone would come to such a stupid idea but now she started to get behind it. She would have to remember to never touch Russian liquor ever again.

Letting out a groan she reached for her wristwatch which was placed on the bedside table. It took her a few tries but she was eventually able to grab it. The blonde woman had a hard time reading the numbers in the dim moonlight and she wasn’t sure if it was 2 or 3 am but what she knew was that it was way too early to be awake. 

“Come one Claire. Just fall asleep like normal people do.” With a defeated sigh she placed the watch back down and covered her eyes with her arm. The pillow below her head was too soft. Usually Claire wouldn’t be complaining about the feeling of a soft feather filled pillow but being able to feel the hard metal edges of the welrod pistol beneath it offered, she wanted nothing more than to burn the soft pillow and throw the pistol out of the window. 

Claire turned on her side again and placed her head next to her pillow and closed her eyes. She hates sleeping without a pillow but not as much as having metal edges disturbing her beloved sleep. 

Claire was so close to finally getting rid of her pounding headache in the sweet state of sleeping but a knocking on her bedroom door pulled her back. A groan left her lips as she sat up. 

“Yeah?” Her voice was groggy, filled with exhaustion as she tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes. 

The door creaked open and Hans looked inside, the dim light of the living room giving Hans a good look at Claire’s tired form. “Come out.”

The woman furrowed her eyebrows as Hans closed the door again, not giving her the chance to reply. She swung her legs over the bed and shuffled towards the door. In her mind she went over different scenarios as to why Hans needed her at such an ungodly hour and she would get back at him for disturbing her. 

“I hope you have a good- Oh my god.” Claire stopped in the doorway, lips slightly parted. In front of her were five chairs, standing in the room with a blanket on the ground and on top of them. Her gaze turned to Hans. He held to glasses of water in his hands while smirking at the blonde woman. 

“I heard you tossing and turning and well, thought about the old times.” After handing Claire one of the glasses he crawled into the, not so much with pillows, built pillowfort. “Come on, Clara.”

Claire hesitated shortly but eventually followed the man, careful not to spill any of the water inside of her glass.

It was cramped but Claire couldn’t help the smile forming on her lips, seeing her best friend snuggled up below the blanket already but still holding the side up for her to climb under. Claire didn’t need to be invited twice as she laid down beside him. 

“What makes you think that this will help with my sleeping troubles?” Claire asked after properly nestling in. Her back was facing the man, his arm placed below her head.

“It always helped you.” He said while yawning.

Claire couldn’t deny it. Whenever she wasn’t feeling well, Hans and her brothers would build a pillowfort only to cheer her up and it worked every time. She missed those times.

“Thank you.” She mumbled and closed her eyes. The hard ground with only a blanket draped over it felt better than her bed. Her best guess was that it was because of the presence of her best friend by her side. Her brothers were still missing but she was happy.

“No problem.”

Claire fell asleep with a smile on her lips. The headache was long forgotten.

• • • • • •

Taglist:

@wexhappyxfew @teenmagazines @immrsronaldspeirs @trashgoddess600 @junojelli @kmorecoffee @vintagelavenderskies @order-of-river-phoenix @adamantiumdragonfly @happyveday @alrightnicelighter @easy-company-tradition @keoghans @jamie506101 @ultralillylove @pxpeyewynn @pinkesfaultier @madstertb

[ragingbookdragon]

To Challenge The Flow of Fate PT. 1

An Adrian Tepes (Alucard) x Reader Story

Warnings: Explicit Language, Mentions of Violence Author’s Note: So, after binge watching seasons 1 and 2, of course, I started a mental story, and I’ve finally put it down to word. Enjoy! Cause I have no idea where this is going tbh. -Thorne <3 Update: I changed the title from ‘To Challenge The Flow Of Immortality’ to what it is now, because I feel that it fits better with the story!

Her eyes snapped open the second after they hit the ground, and she shoved at the legs across her torso. “Trevor. Get the fuck off me before I amputate both your legs.” His chuckle quickly dissolved into a groan as he rolled off her, clutching at his stomach, and she leaned up, hands coming to her side to help push herself up. She muttered to herself as she dusted off her pants, slipping the sword back into its scabbard, “What type of genius lands on metal beams that have been under the goddamn ground for who knows how goddamn long?” Trevor rolled his eyes as he helped Sypha to her feet and retorted,

           “Will you stop complaining (Y/N)? You’re alive, aren’t you?” She jerked around, narrowing her eyes into a glare.

           “You won’t be in the next few minutes if we don’t find a way out of here.” When Sypha found her feet, he looked over at (Y/N), pulling a smug face.

           “And what are you gonna do? Stab me?” Her hand went to her hilt and she spat,

           “Don’t tempt me you arse.” Trevor stuck his tongue out at her, but stopped when the Speaker next to them groaned,

           “Will you two please stop fighting? You’re acting like children.” The siblings glared at each other for a moment before they scoffed and began walking to the hallway. They entered the room, and (Y/N) immediately drew her eyes around the walls.

           “Wow…look at this place…it’s amazing.” She drew her gaze to the center of the room, scanning the large coffin. “Is that what I think it is?” Trevor shrugged and muttered,

           “Won’t know ‘til we find out.” No sooner did the words leave his mouth, did his foot sink into the ground. The sound of gears turning echoed through the room and he blurted, “I didn’t do that.” (Y/N) glowered at him from his right and quipped,

           “Nice goin’ loser. You just woke up whatever’s in there.” Before he could retort, a cloud of gas released from the coffin and they stared at it as it rose, the top sliding off. She leaned over slightly, voice soft as she murmured, “Trevor…is that…” He nodded, lips pursed into a thin line, and (Y/N) gripped the hilt of her sword. The lid dropped against the marble with loud thunk, and she felt it resonate in her chest as the man rose from it, coming to levitate above it. He hunched over, voice low and gravely as he asked,

           “Why are you here?” Sypha’s eyes grew wide as she exclaimed,

           “The story…the Messiah sleeps under Gresit! The man who will save us from Dracula.” The man didn’t respond, simply turning his attention to (Y/N) and Trevor.

           “And you two? Are you in search of a mythical savior as well?” (Y/N) opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off as her brother remarked,

           “I fell down a hole.” She grunted, elbowing him in the side.

           “Will you fucking shut the hell up before you say something even more stupid?” He eyed her from the corner of his eye, tempted to stick his tongue out again, and she turned to the man. “We need your help.” Sypha nodded, adding,

           “Dracula is abroad in the land. He has an army of monsters and is determined to wipe out all human life wherever he finds it.” The man’s head simply tipped as he acknowledged her, but then asked,

           “Is that what you believe?”

           “That Dracula’s released his horde on Wallachia? That’s fact. There’s no belief involved.” (Y/N) watched carefully as her brother spoke, hand tightening around the hilt of her sword as his voice dropped and he questioned, “But that’s not what you’re asking.”

           “No.” Trevor drew his gaze up and clarified,

           “You’re asking if I believe you’re some sleeping Messiah who’ll save us and no, I don’t.” Even Sypha’s shocked call of his name didn’t stop him as he growled, “I know what you are.” (Y/N) knew a grin was on the man’s face as he challenged,

           “And what am I?”

           “You’re a vampire.” At this, the man finally looked up at them and with Sypha’s gasp in her ears, she caught sight of pointed fangs. “So, I have to ask myself, have we come down here to wake up the man who’ll kill Dracula…or did we come here to kill Dracula?” The man rose to his full height, but before he could speak, (Y/N) announced,

           “He’s not Dracula.” Everyone’s eyes turned to her, and Trevor scoffed,

           “He’s a vampire (Y/N). Under Gresit. That doesn’t leave a lot of room for misinterpretations.” She side eyed him before glancing at the vampire, eyes scanning his face.

           “And Dracula’s forces are attacking Gresit in a war on humanity. No person, not even a vampire, would sleep as they waged war. You have to be awake and present.” She observed the man for a moment. “Trevor, he might be a vampire…but he isn’t Dracula.” The vampire lowered towards the ground, eyeing (Y/N) as she inconspicuously moved to Trevor’s blindside.

           “One calls me Dracula…the other doesn’t.” Trevor grunted at him.

           “I’ll call you whatever you like if you’re gonna show me your teeth.” The vampire gestured to Sypha.

           “She called you Belmont…are you from the House of Belmont?” (Y/N) could feel the tension rising as Trevor affirmed,

           “Trevor Belmont. Last son of the House of Belmont.” The man glanced at (Y/N).

           “And you? The one who is standing at his back?” (Y/N) met his eyes, amazed at how they looked like pools of molten gold.

           “(Y/N) Belmont. Last daughter of the House of Belmont.” The man’s eyebrows pulled together, and he explained,

           “The Belmont’s fought creatures of the night, did they not? For generations.” Trevor barely spared the two women glances before he moved, ignoring (Y/N)’s hum of concern.

           “Say what you mean.” He threatened, stepping to the sides, watching as the man’s eyes followed him.

           “The Belmont’s killed vampires.” Trevor huffed.

           “Until the good people decided they didn’t want us around.” The nonchalance made (Y/N)’s fingers twitch as she started moving the other direction, opposite of Trevor. The vampire’s eyes darted to her moving figure, letting her know he was aware as he said,

           “And now Dracula is carrying out an execution order on the human race.” He paused, then raised a hand. “Do you care Belmont?” The question gave Trevor a pause, and he looked at the wall in front of him.

           “Honestly, I didn’t, no.” He took a breath and continued. “But now…yes, it’s time to stop it.”

           “Do you think you can?” Trevor turned, hand moving to his whip and declared,

           “What I think…is I’m going to have to kill you.” Sypha grunted, taking a step forward.

           “Belmont! No!” She argued. “He’s the one we’ve been waiting for.” Trevor moved back a bit, (Y/N) doing the same.

           “No, he’s not. He’s a vampire. And he’s not been waiting here for hundreds of years, have you?” The man’s eyes narrowed into slits as he warned,

           “I don’t like your tone, Belmont.”

           “This place is old, but it’s not been abandoned. It’s alive and working. So, go on, vampire, tell her exactly how long you’ve been waiting down here.” The man’s attention turned to the Speaker.

           “What is the year of your Lord?” Her voice was clear as she responded,

           “1476.” He turned back to Trevor.

           “Perhaps a year, then.” Trevor nodded.

           “There. And on top of that, what kind of messiah creates mechanical death traps to buy himself an uninterrupted nap in a stone coffin?”

           “My defenses we not for you.” Trevor huffed.

           “You could’ve told your defenses that.”

           “They are machines, nothing more. They were not intended to protect me from you.” The vampire’s tone was clipped, and (Y/N) quickly concluded,

           “Defenses of that power would give even the best monster hunters trouble.” She regarded him with a look of suspicion. “You’re protecting yourself from something more dangerous than simple monster hunters.” He nodded at her, turning to look back at her brother.

           “I asked you a question. Do you care?” Trevor leaned forward and announced,

           “I care about doing my family’s work. I care about saving lives.” He turned his body. “Am I going to have to kill you?” At this, the man’s tone colored with anger and he sneered,

           “Do you think you can? If you’re really a Belmont and not some runt running around with a family crest, you might be able to.” He flicked a finger, and (Y/N) heard a clinking sound before a silver sword spun through the air. He caught it and slung it back, the air cutting before it with a sharp slice. “Let’s find out.” Sypha leaned forward.

           “Belmont you can’t do this!” She turned to (Y/N). “(Y/N)! Stop him, please!” Trevor cut her off before she could speak.

           “Tell it to your floating vampire Jesus here.” The man’s face pinched and he countered,

           “You’ve got nothing but insults, have you? A tired little-” The whip cracked the lower end of his torso, sending him flying. He skidded across the ground, and looked up, a hiss passing his lips, and (Y/N) warned,

           “Trevor.” He didn’t look at her.

           “Stay there (Y/N). I’m fine.” The two began to fight, and (Y/N) moved back near Sypha, knowing she couldn’t help her brother.

           “(Y/N), please! Stop them!” She glanced at the woman and grunted with laughter as she watched Trevor knee the man in the groin. Her laughter quickly faded into shock as she watched her brother’s short sword snap, then get punched to the ground. The vampire dropped his sword, moving to Trevor, one hand gripping the hair at the crown of his head, the other shoving his shoulder down.

           “Do you have a god to put a last prayer to, Belmont?” A grin played at Trevor’s lips and he quipped,

           “Yeah. Dear God, please don’t let the vampire’s guts ruin my good tunic.” The man’s bled with confusion as he asked,

           “What?” He let out a pained grunt as the dagger entered his chest. He leaned forward, hissing, “I can still rip your throat out.”

           “You can, but it won’t stop me staking you.”

           “But you will still die.”

           “But I don’t care. Killing you was the point. Living through it was just a luxury.” The vampire let out a chuckle, but stopped as a hand tightened in his hair, pulling him back, and an edge of a blade rested against his throat. He made no movement as he felt breath next to his ear.

           “I might be the only Belmont willing to talk my way out of fights, but make no mistake, I will cut your head off if you kill my brother, vampire.” A bright light appeared in the vampire’s gaze and he looked forward at Sypha, who stood in front of him.

           “And I will incinerate you before your fangs touch that man’s throat.”

           “I thought I was your legendary savior.” Sypha’s head lowered.

           “So did I. But he saved my life.”

           “You’re a Speaker-Magician.” She nodded.

           “Yes, and his goal is mine…” Her eyes shone bright as she added, “To stand up for the people.” The vampire regarded her for a moment before looking down and muttering,

           “Good. Very good. Two vampire hunters and a magician.” The cut began to heal on his torso, and he leaned up off Trevor’s dagger. “You’ll do.” He let go of Trevor’s hair, but made no more movement when (Y/N)’s blade didn’t move.

           “You won’t kill us?” She queried. He nodded, as best he could and added,

           “On my honor.” With his confirmation, she drew back her blade, and released her grip, smoothing the hair down from where she had it gripped. He stood up and turned to them. “I am Adrian Tepes. Known to the Wallachians as Alucard…son of Vlad Dracula Tepes.” Before he could continue, (Y/N) leaned around his body, pointing at Trevor.

           “Fuckin’ told you dumbass.” Trevor’s blue eyes filled with annoyance and he gave her a sarcastic clap.

           “Congratulations sister, shall I give you a pat on the back for your excellent deduces?”  She scowled at him.

           “How ‘bout you bend over and let me plant my foot up your ass.”

           “Children, please!” The two went silent at Sypha’s exasperated call, and Adrian continued.

           “I’ve been asleep here in my private keep under Gresit for a year,” He placed a hand over his chest, and (Y/N) caught sight of the angry red scar across his pale skin. “to heal the wounds dealt by my father when I attempted to stop him unleashing his demon armies.” Sypha’s hand lowered and she marveled,

           “You are the sleeping soldier.” Adrian turned to her.

           “I’m aware of the stories. I’m also aware that the Speakers consider the story to be information from the future. Do you know the whole story?” A dust of crimson touched the tips of Sypha’s cheeks, and she ignored (Y/N)’s snicker as she nodded.

           “Yes.”

           “The sleeping soldier will be met by a hunter and a scholar.” Trevor’s neck disappeared into his shoulders as he muttered,

           “No one told me that.” (Y/N) waved him off and questioned,

           “The hell am I then? Chopped liver?”

           “You smell like it.” She flipped her middle finger at Trevor who snorted, and Adrian turned to her, golden eyes zeroing in on the onyx raven crest at her chest.

           “A huntress from the Order of Shadows…I never expected to see one in person.” (Y/N) blinked in stunned silence. When she found her senses, she asked,

           “You know the Order?” Adrian nodded.

           “Only by the outstanding reputation for being protectors of the innocent and oppressed.” He eyed to silver sword in her hand. “And for being deadly in combat.” He looked back at Trevor. “I think I might’ve lost if she’d engaged me instead of you.” Trevor rolled his eyes, ignoring the barb, and Sypha took it as a chance to speak.

           “Why do you think my grandfather tried everything to make you stay?” Trevor picked himself off the ground, groaning,

           “I hate speakers.” The three waited for Adrian to dress, then Sypha inquired,

           “So, what happens now?” Adrian shoved the scabbard into his belt.

           “I need two hunters and a scholar. I need help to save Wallachia…” The sword lifted from the ground, sheathing itself. “Perhaps the world and defeat my father.” Trevor glanced at him, suspicion coloring his tone.

           “Why?” Adrian’s feet stopped and he murmured,

           “Because it is what my mother would have wanted…and we are all, in the end…slaves to our families wishes.” The words made (Y/N)’s heart heavy, but she ignored it, tightening the armor at her wrist.

           “You’ll help us kill Dracula and save Wallachia?” The four met at the doorway, and Adrian nodded.

           “My father has to die.” He glanced at them, eyes stopping to rest on (Y/N). “We four…we can destroy him.” For a moment, no one spoke, then (Y/N) pointed to the doorway, deadpanning,

           “Not to break the dramatic silence here, but numbnuts broke the gears and shit coming down, so how the fuck do we get out of here?” Adrian passed her by, his eyes so focused on her, it almost made her sweat.

           “Follow me.” The vampire walked ahead, Sypha following him, but the two siblings stood solemn. The two didn’t speak at first, then she whispered,

           “Are you sure about this Trevor?” She looked aver at him, watching as he glared daggers into Adrian’s back.

           “No…no I’m not.” (Y/N) took in a breath, then let it out.

           “Well…nothing we can do about it now.” Trevor nodded, following her as she jogged to catch up with the other two. “So, Goldenrod…do you prefer Alucard or Adrian?”

[straightouttaneptune]

It girl pt. 4 - Superhero debut

Pairing: Mentor!Natasha Romanoff x Mentee!Reader, Platonic!Avengers x reader, Peter Parker x Reader (In the future)

Warning: Reader being a kickass, Peter x Reader is settling in... Not much to warn.

Summary: Natasha had once joked about picking a random new recruit trainee to teach all her skills since Tony had recently become Peter’s mentor. Fury sees this as a legitimate idea, and asks Natasha to choose her protège, code name: “it girl”.

A/N: I’m so sorry it took so long! But it’s finally here, and the reader is on a mission!!! Anyways, it’s been decided that this little series will end with Part 5 or a 6, depending on how long it will be. Enjoy xx

Prologue Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 5 Part 6

———————————————————————

2 weeks later

“We gotta go to that Stark internship now!” You and Peter told Ned and MJ simultaneously, before rushing out of the campus hand in hand.

“Peter, gimme your backpack.” He tossed his bag to you as you placed his and your bag into a self-navigating drone you pulled out of your pack, the coordinates heading right to the Avengers Compound.

“Alright. Ready?” You turned back at Peter in his spider-man get up, giving him a thumbs up.

He wrapped his arm around your waist, flustering you a little. No matter how many times the two of you did this, the contact with his well-built body always got your heart to pick up its pace. You’d liked Peter ever since he had that crush on Liz, but you’ve never had to suppress your feelings harder than the last few weeks. There were a lot more secrets, touching, grabbing and moments spent together compared to when you were just in the same friend group.

Peter thanked god that his mask covered his obviously red cheeks, and tried his hardest not to stare at your excited, adorable face.

You let yourself feel the cool wind combing through your hair, that drop of your stomach when he lets go of the web to shoot another, the awes and gasps of the people down below and obviously being hugged by Peter.

The two of you land right in front of the door, where Bucky and Sam were bickering at each other again. Something about Sam eating Bucky’s plums again, so now Bucky was going to make Sam mow the entire field.

“Oh hey, kids. Stark, Nat, your kids are here!” Sam yelled into the building, then continued to sass Bucky with arguments that made no sense whatsoever.

“Well, you have cooties, so I saved the plums from Bucky germs. It is safer in my stomach.”

“I hate you. So much.”

You waved goodbye to Peter and rushed up to your room, ready to change into training gear. But as soon as you entered the walk-in-closet, MINT's voice rang through the room. 

"Mission gear lock: Deactivated. Welcome, Y/N Y/L/N." Your eyes widened in surprise, rushing to the furthest side of the closet to look at the Mission gear compartment. 

To your surprise, the blue shield had been taken down, revealing black combat suits of different uses. The usual one, with all black form-fitting shape, tactical with bullet vests built into the top and knives stored in various places, covert that included zero design and came with a black eye mask, and so on. You pushed the clothes aside to reveal a screen, that asked you to swipe left and scan fingerprint to continue. 

You followed the instruction without hesitation, MINT immediately replying with "Authorized personnel. Agent in training, Y/N Y/L/N. Congratulations, Y/N." 

You jumped back in surprise as the walls started moving, the clothes that were hung up moved to the other side of the wall to reveal a new one, stacked with weapons and many types of guns. 

"What. the. fuck." You mumbled to yourself in astonishment, staring at the various weaponry that seemed too high-tech to even exist on the Earth. 

"I see you've already opened my gift." Your head couldn't whip sideways any faster,  spotting Natasha standing by the entrance, leaning her shoulder on the doorway. She dressed in her Black Widow suit that you only saw on TV during the NY and Sokovia attacks. 

"This is insane. I'm allowed on missions?" 

"Only a small mission, with me supervising from the compound, okay?" She held up her finger and gave you a stern look, which you nodded happily to. You were already pumped with adrenaline, ready to take on basically anything. 

“Alright. Let’s get you to Fury. Put the one with the... blue design on.” She rummaged through the suits, finally pulling one out. It looked exactly like the ones she wore during the battle of Sokovia, except it looked a little more updated.

You looked at yourself in the mirror, body covered in full-leather or spandex or whatever the material was. You looked good. Even though it was quite the workout to put it on, it felt perfect and comfortable, every inch of the suit hugging you right.

You felt the reinforced shoulder plates, the gun holster on your thigh squeezing lightly, and the best part was, the material was engineered by Tony to make sure whoever wore it, doesn’t sweat out of their minds. The material kept it’s cool even after the workout putting it on, and you didn’t feel uncomfortable at all.

“Alright it girl, let’s go.” Natasha knocked on the closet door before her head poked out. “Grab that gun on your right, and follow me.”

Not even a few hours later, you were dropped off on a lonely hill of god-knows-where in America, left on your own to fend for yourself.

“Agent 13 will only be a few miles away in case anything goes wrong, okay?” You heard Natasha speak into your comms. “And, call me Natashenka on missions. Especially covert ones.”

“Natashenka?”

“Yeah, it’s the Russian nickname for Natasha.”

“Mm, I like it.”

You walked alone for a little while, no enemy or buildings in sight. So it really caught you off guard when a bullet flew straight beside your ear, landing itself in a tree behind you.

You recalled your past training with Natasha, rolling on the ground to find shelter behind a thick tree. Taking out the gun out of your holster, you tried to keep calm as you tried to spot the shooter. You also powered up your shock bracelet just in case.

If you were gonna do this, you were gonna do this right. Kneeling down on one knee, you aimed your gun at the man standing in front of a small army-camp looking building. With a sharp exhale, your fingers pulled the trigger and the bullet flew through the warm summer air.

The bullet buried itself in the guard’s bulletproof vest, knocking him out cold. “Good job, Y/N. But be careful. He’s not dead.”

“I don’t wanna kill anyone!” You whispered into your comms, slowly making your way to the gate. It must’ve been a severely under-staffed base since that guy you took out was the only guard outside. 

You stalked into the base, and all you could say was that it looked damaged. It looked very close to collapsing, and you were trusted to retrieve all of the files on the Avengers from this dump. 

"Hello, sweetheart. What's a girl like you doing here?" You turned around to face an unexpected number of guards, all standing behind one especially dark, suspicious-looking man. 

Your mind rushed to find you a perfect lie to deceive them, so you wouldn't fucking die in there. "Mm. Anastasiya Primanova. Sent from the base in Russia, courtesy of Strucker." You used the thick Russian accent you've heard in movies before, hoping it would sound real. "Y/N? What is going on?" You heard Natasha's frantic voice after you introduced yourself as someone else entirely. You hid the nervous hammering heart behind a cold, dead expression, putting your gun back in the holster. Please buy this, please buy this, please...

"Strucker's dead." He stared at you, inspecting you, but at least he wasn't shooting at you. 

"Obviously. I did his dirty bidding. He wrote a will. I was to take over this American base. It's quite the dump. кто ты?" (Who are you?) You used all the techniques in the book, making sure he took you in as 'Anastasiya Primanova', not 'obviously American girl on a mission'. You raised your chin and cocked your head, an unmistakable sign when one is looking down at someone. If you wanted anyone to see you as above them, you had to fake it till you made it.

"Kazimir." 

"So, are you going to show me what you've been doing or what?" Your hand rested on the gun in your holster, the other on your hip. He looked like he was conflicted, but in the end, he bought the act. He dismissed the soldiers to go back to their designated posts and signaled you to follow him. 

"You shot one of my men." He looked at your side-profile, seemingly still skeptical. But to be fair, that was justified. 

"And I'll shoot you too if you keep talking to me." Your pocket knife made a sharp slash sound as you popped it out, looking back at him warningly. "I trained with the Winter Soldiers. Do not try me." Your acting was so on-point, you had to give yourself a pat on the back for it. Threatening him as a first-impression made him fear you, even though he didn't know anything about you. It was simple psychology in the animal psyche, where one learns to fear another if they seem superior to them. 

“Oh, my god, Y/N, what are you doing?” A faint panic in Natasha’s voice was evident, but you were improvising.

He took you to every room from floor 1 to sub-levels, and you were down to the last room. Now, you had a perfect image of the whole base in your head. The base was much more complicated than you had thought, it was working perfectly underground even though it looked like a mess on the outside. The Avengers would have to come back to destroy this place.

“This is the archive.” Kazimir scanned his card to show you the inside, before taking off to do whatever evil thing he had on his schedule.

You grabbed his jacket before he could fully walk away, pulling him back forcefully. He showed you a look of hostility, but you paid his resentment no attention.

“Card.” You put out your left palm, and he uneagerly left his card in your hands.

“Thank you.” You eyed him carefully one last time, making sure he had no intention of betraying you or knowledge that you were an imposter. When he only showed bitterness, you let him go.

“Наташенька, I’m in.” You whispered proudly, but discreet in case there were any listening devices or cameras. That was most likely.

“Good job! What was the whole thing with Anastasiya and everything?” She sounded relieved, letting out a small sigh.

“Simple acting... Human psychology... The important thing is, I got the file on the USB.” You stared at the USB in your hand, letting out the breath you didn’t know you were holding in.

“Great. Now, get out of there.”

It was too easy from there. You glared at a couple soldiers on the way, made your way to the elevator and up, and just strolled out of the building. Once you were far enough, you called for the quinjet to take you back in.

“Y/N! Oh god, I was so nervous.” Natasha jumped out of the jet right as the door opened, rushing up to you. 

The adrenaline was starting to wear off, and the full realization of what you did started to dawn on you. “I just walked into a HYDRA base, made them think I was their leader and stole confidential files?!” Your organs felt like they were being jumbled up in the washing machine. You felt so dizzy you even had to hold onto Natasha for support.

“Director Fury, Mr. Fury, um, that base, that base was not what you said it was.” You crouched down to sit on the floor of the quinjet, safe and sound on your way back to the compound.

He looked to you curiously, waiting for you to say more.

“There was a place, underground, and hundreds of soldiers. You gotta- you gotta send the Avengers or something in there. There was a room, sub-level 2, where they were doing experimentations on animals, and they said they’ll start-“ You rambled while Natasha sat by your side, her face twisting into various emotions before she set her eyes on Fury with anger.

“We sent her to a fully-operational HYDRA facility?!” She shot up, her eyes wide with rage. Fury appeared more interested in how you went in there and didn’t die.

“You went inside and fooled them all? You saw- no, they guided you through every inch of the place, and you remember it?” He walked over to you, eyes narrowed and tone low.

“Fury!” 

“Right. But to be fair, you did a really good job.”

You chuckled, looking up at Natasha who still had a worried look on her face. Her sharp features softened when her eyes met with yours though, seeing how content you looked with yourself.

“Yeah. You did.” She smiled down at you sheepishly, as the quinjet came to a halt in front of the compound. The jet lowered itself on the concrete, FRIDAY’s voice ringing through the speakers. “Destination Arrived.”

A couple days later, practically everyone knew of the ‘it girl’ in the building who fooled over 100 HYDRA men and retrieved inside information and base layout that spies would take weeks to obtain.

You helped Steve make up a strategy for the infiltration, drawing him a map of every exit, every hide-out and all the places to avoid bombing. Sam started to randomly give you high-fives when crossing each other in the hall.

“What’s up, it girl?”

“Not much, Sam.”

*high-fives*

Thor would address you as “Y/N Natashadottier”, completely mistaking the whole Earth’s last-name system. You quite liked it, to be honest. A lot of times you went home to find your mother gone, her things packed with money on the table, clearly gone after your father again. In times like this, you never had anyone when you were younger. But now, you could easily show up at the Avengers Compound, and be welcomed, your room ready for you at all times. So in some ways, Natasha was your undocumented guardian.

Natasha couldn’t be more proud, everyone working in the new SHIELD was buzzing about the ‘it girl’, who was not a mutant, not an enhanced, not a genius, just a high-school girl who reads a lot of psychology books.

Peter also was excited for your big debut in the superhero world, the corners of his eyes crinkling every time someone mentions the ‘it girl’. Tony and Natasha obviously notice this, but they’re keeping quiet to see how fast you’ll get together.

Next chapter: Part 5

Taglist: @mindset-jupiter @fangirlingisajob @theadventurousqueen @gwenmxnstacy @ballerboobitch @the-lady-cersei-lannister @golden--rain @dollofbucky @sakuranomegami @elizabeth-santana-98 @anne2cold @eyeballtoes @marvel-is-a-mood @roseryss @redqueenstorm @orchideax @huntersociopathavenger @petertinglessss @marv-ells @hopefuloperaangelnerd @je11yfishwriter @iloveyou3000morgan @kewl-r @missmulti @grace-barnes-13  @samarcher79 @slow-dance-in-the-dark @intricate-melody @editsbyjenny @brenleestar @a-vvenger @princessizzy36 @sweetcrvture @itsbebeyyy @caws5749 @thenerdiverse

[yodawgiherd]

Scars that time can't heal, pt.2

Rating: T

>>>Read on AO3<<<

First of all, I was blown away by how many of you commented on the last chapter, thank you all very much for that. Taking and processing all your opinions, I've concluded that there was enough support for me to get to work on the second part. To the readers who wanted this thing to continue, this chapter is entirely your doing, and I hope you enjoy it at least as much as the previous one.

Stay cool. :D

Alone, as she should be, as she spent the long years of her life. It was good, solitude, it taught a person to be independent, not to rely on anyone or anything. When Mikasa was sure that Eren was truly gone, she dragged herself from the bed and towards the shower. Look, maybe her place was a mess, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t give her body the basic care package, including peeing after sex and having a shower. Her legs still felt weak from Eren’s performance, as it was some time since Mikasa got laid and her body probably forgot the strain. Leaning on the slick wall, she ruffled her boyishly short hair, a cut that she had from her days in the army to today, made so short that it wouldn’t tangle in any gear. Lazy thoughts swirled in her head.

Eren was probably never coming back. That was the thing with one-night stands, they lasted, as the name aptly suggests, one night. As of now, standing under the water with her eyes closed, feeling positively ravaged yet in a good way, Mikasa would definitely go for the guy again, but that wasn’t happening. Meh, you can’t always get what you want, right? Right.

It was better like this anyway, repeated encounters could lead to unpleasant questions. For example, Eren could ask to see her naked, an understandable request considering that they had sex and all, but Mikasa didn’t feel like flaunting her scars in front of just anyone. They were hideous, spread over her body like a web of snakes, marking the otherwise pleasantly smooth skin. The price you pay for foolishness.

Abruptly ending her self-pity session, Mikasa turned the shower off and crawled back to bed, not even bothering with dressing herself. One of the many benefits of being alone – no one can see you.

The sleep was exactly as peaceful as she predicted, with no nightmares or dreams to bother her, leaving her positively refreshed in the morning. No headache either, but recalling the events of last night, Mikasa couldn’t say that she was surprised. She didn’t drink much, neither did the guy, which posed the question why the hell did that last night even happened. It wasn’t much of drunk sex, it was more like normal sex with some alcohol involved. But why? Was it as Jean said, and Mikasa was simply looking for some fun? And why did that guy’s voice sound so familiar? It felt as if he was a part of some repressed memory, imprinted deep into her brain but unrecognizable, and it pissed her off. With a muttered curse, Mikasa rolled off the bed in search of some clothes, yearning to get out and fill her head with something else but that mysterious stranger.

How was Jean awake and looking like he just had a full night's sleep was still a mystery. Seeing Mikasa, his face split into a grin and he gestured for her to come closer.

“So?”, he began, as soon as she sat down on the barstool, “How was it?”

Mikasa shrugged.

“How was what?”

“Oh come now, I saw you luring that poor man into your lair last night.”

She didn’t say anything to that, simply pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. Another souvenir from her time in the army, not only the scars but also a crippling nicotine addiction. For god and country.

“T’was fine,”, Mikasa mumbled, nondescript, filling her lungs with smoke.

“Just fine?”

“Nothing special.”, she lied, looking up to meet Jean’s eyes, “Not great, not terrible. Just sex.”

“Really?”, Jean dragged the word out, eyes squinting in suspicion, “Why do I find that hard to believe…”

“No idea.”

But he didn’t drop it, as Mikasa hoped he would, instead Jean stroked his chin, somehow mimicking a detective who’s trying his damndest to crack open a case. It irritated her.

“Look,”, she snapped, “It’s not like you tell me all about your fuck adventures, so why should I?”

“I don’t tell you about them because you want to hear it,”, Jean shot right back, “You’re my best friend, Miks, I’d tell you every dirty detail if you cared.”

Seeing that Mikasa still wasn’t very prone to talking, Jean decided to switch into another tactic. Extortion.

“See, I have made a cup of coffee for someone who would tell me about their last night,” with an overly dramatic sigh, he stirred the liquid, “But since there’s no one, I guess I’ll just have to pour it in the sink…”

Bribes are hard to refuse, especially when they are this tempting. And sometimes, giving ground in an argument for temporary gain is acceptable, Mikasa decided. Reaching out, she swiped the cup away from Jean, who had a devilish smirk on his face, and took a sip. God-sent brew.

“Well,”, he said, watching her gulp it down, “I’m waiting…”

Setting down the now empty cup, Mikasa organized her thoughts. She couldn’t tell Jean everything, of course, but some choice facts could be said between friends.

“You were right,” she nodded at him, “When you said that I needed some fun. It was pretty good, made me sleep well too. And... Uh… He knew what he was doing, that’s for sure.”

“What was his name?”

“Eren.”

“Eren… ?”

“I didn’t ask about his surname,”, Mikasa frowned at Jean, “Why should I?”

“Because you guys were talking for hours here?”, he apparently had a hard time believing her, “What did you talk about then?”

“Uhm… Stuff?”

“Such as?”

“I…”

But even trying to remember as hard as she could, Mikasa couldn’t recall anything specific. They talked, sure, but it was just the classic small talk. She didn’t know his full name, what he worked as, his hobbies, nothing. The time simply went on so fast when they were sitting together and….

“I honestly have no idea.”, she confessed.

“You two were just so taken with each other that you didn’t even notice how the time flies? Well, you know I would call that?”, Jean’s smirk was smug for a change, “I’d call it lo-…”

“Don’t.”, Mikasa interrupted him, “Don’t say that.”

“What? Why not? If you enjoyed his company so much then..”

“We talked, we fucked, that’s it. End. Over. Done.”

“Mikasa…”, Jean’s voice softened, “You haven’t been in a relationship since we broke up. Maybe you should stop sinking everything around you and give it a try.”

“There’s nothing to be given try to.”, she shook her head, “It was a one-night stand, that’s all.”

“I feel like you are unnecessarily hostile towards the idea. It didn’t work out for us, sure, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t find someone else.”

“I’m not going to stalk a guy just because he’s good at sex, that’s hardly a solid base.���

“Not all couples have a dreamy beginning. Remember how we started?”, Jean leaned on the wood, eyeing her face, “I saw you at high school, the goth girl sitting all alone, and I instantly thought that you are the prettiest woman I’ve ever seen. So summoning all my courage, I walked up to you and told you that your hair looks beautiful. Do you remember what you answered?”

Mikasa couldn’t hold back her own smirk at this point, her and Jean’s first interaction was quite hilarious.

“I told you to fuck off.”

“See? Not ideal now was it.”, Jean tapped the wood with one finger, “But I didn’t stop, I just kept following you around and being a nuisance until you agreed to go on a date with me.”

“A decision I never came to regret.”, Mikasa smiled at him, “We had a good run, even if it ultimately didn’t work out.”

“I loved you as my girlfriend, and I love you still, as a friend. And I wish nothing more than to see you happy, Miks.”

“Can you stop being the overly nice ex for a minute.”, Mikasa massaged her temples, “Can we talk about something else? Please?”

“Fine.”, with a sigh, Jean collected the empty cup from her, setting it down behind the bar, “But you should really think about what I said.”

“I won’t.”, Mikasa claimed, unmoved, “I appreciate the advice but I’m sure I’ll forget about this soon enough.”

A week went by.

Then another.

She didn’t forget.

During her days, it was fine, as long as she kept herself busy Mikasa didn’t waste time with reminiscing. But evening and nights were bad, when she was alone the memories came flooding back, making her toss and turn on the bed, finding no rest. Jean’s words didn’t help either. But even if she wanted to find the guy, to talk to him again, she couldn’t. Eren left no trace behind, appearing and disappearing over the span of a few hours. She washed his scent from her skin, changed the bedsheets, and it was as if he was never even here. If only the memories would stop.

To suppress them, Mikasa spent most of her evenings drunk, indulging her alcoholism to the max. Jean didn’t comment on it, but the sideways glances he threw her way from time to time were enough to know that he didn’t approve of her coping method. Well if he was this judgmental, there was another way…

Jean didn’t seem much surprised when Mikasa came down one night just as the bar was closing, meaning that it was very early morning already. They often talked over a drink, about stuff that was happening. Mikasa talked about her fights, about her training, about Louise, while Jean would tell her how the bar is doing, how many new girls he met and some of the life stories he was told by the unfortunate souls who felt the need to confide in a bartender.

“We should hit the gym together more often,” Mikasa was just suggesting, making him laugh.

“I’d love to, but the bar isn’t going to open by itself.”

“You know, there’s a new workout I’ve been willing to try,” moving a bit closer, Mikasa eyed him up and down, “One I need a partner for.”

“Really?”, Jean was a bit taken aback by how much Mikasa was invading his personal space, “And what’s that?”

“This.”

And she kissed him. Reaching out to wrap Jean in an embrace, Mikasa pushed on, doing her best to get him to cooperate, but for some reason, his mouth was slack beneath hers. But then, finally, his hands came to rest on her shoulders and he, he…

Pushed her away.

“I know what you’re doing.”, Jean had sort of a melancholic smile, as he kept her at an arm’s length.

“Well, that’s obvious, isn’t it? You want to take this straight upstairs or…”, Mikasa looked around the empty bar, “We never christened this place properly. You could lay me across the counter and then…”

But Jean interrupted her before she could finish her sinful fantasies.

“That’s not what I mean.”

“Then what’s the problem? Don’t you want to fuck me?”, sneaking one hand down Jean’s body, Mikasa moved her mouth to whisper into his ear, “Do you remember what you used to call me when we were dating? Do you?”

“I do.”, completely stoic, Jean reached down to take gentle hold of the hand that was making its way towards his crotch, lifting it to his lips instead, “I called you my dark princess.”

And with a fleeting kiss to her knuckles, Jean stood up, leaving Mikasa alone at the table. Crossing the distance to the counter, he leaned on it, turning to face her with the same sad expression. It only made her angrier.

“Jean, what the fuck is the problem? We are friends, right, can’t we be friends with benefits?”

“If you asked me this question back when we broke up, I’d definitely go along with it.”

That didn’t explain anything.

“Then what the fuck changed?”

He smiled, but there was no happiness in it.

“You met that guy.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“You’re not trying to sleep with me just because of that act itself, you’re trying to do it to see if it helps you forget about him.”

“Bullshit…”, Mikasa whispered, but the blush on her cheeks betrayed the fact that Jean had guessed it perfectly.

“I just value our friendship too much to ruin it by this.”, Jean continued, “You know that it would only complicate things, for no good reason, right?”

“But…”

“There’s no need to pretend, Mikasa. Do I find you attractive? Of course, I do, you are damn beautiful, even if you don’t realize it. But am I willing to fuck over the thing we’ve been building for years just to get you to bed? No.”

“Fine…”

With a sigh, Mikasa stood up, heading towards the stairs without looking at Jean. She couldn’t bear his eyes, not after he shut her down this perfectly. Because every word he said was true.

“I’m going to sleep,”, she called over her shoulder, “Night Jean.”

His reply was something half-hearted, and Mikasa couldn’t even hear it properly as she made her way up the stairs and into the bed. This night, her sleep was once again restless.

And another week passed, gone in a dull grey mist that descended over everything.

“Oh! And he’s down again!”, the scream of the commentator was loud enough to pierce the cheering of the crowd, “After such hit, how will he ever recover?”

Dancing back, Mikasa cautiously watched her opponent on the other side of the cage, crumbled down into a shape on the ground. Her breathing was quick but steady, and the few bruises on her body that he managed to score didn’t even hurt. This match, as it looked, was safely hers, which meant that a bit of taunting was in order. These underground fights were basically like Rome colosseum, Levi always said, the more popular the gladiator the fatter the pay after each duel. And people loved a good show.

Raising her arms above her head, Mikasa faced the packed spectator seats, causing even more applause and cheering to erupt. She could see Louise, of course, the girl was bouncing in her seat and clapping wildly, eyes only for her idol. Levi was watching too, arms crossed on his chest, his scarred face not betraying any emotion.

“That’s right!”, Mikasa shouted, getting them even more ecstatic, “I’m the best!”, she hit her chest, “Me!”

Just at that moment, the cheering subsided and a wave or murmurs ran through the crowd.

“Oh? It looks like we have been celebrating too early!”, said the commentator’s voice.

Turning around, Mikasa could see that the guy was indeed picking himself up, standing on shaky legs.

“You fucking bitch….”, he growled through gritted teeth.

Looking him up and down, Mikasa saw that he had it bad. Eyes unfocused and watery, the muscles of his neck clenched, he was holding himself up by the sheer force of will, the trashing he got from her rather thorough.

“Dude, stay down.”, Mikasa advised him, in a much quieter voice, “It’s over.”

She had no problems beating people up, but this guy could be one of the cases that will just keep standing up until they are physically able to. Mikasa didn’t want to kill the guy, damn it.

“Shut the fuck up, jap whore.”, with a pained grin, he reached down to his shorts, “Let’s see how you like this.”

And he pulled out a fucking knife. Short, thin-bladed, but still a knife, glistening dangerously in the lights. The arena erupted. The cage fights had next to no rules, almost anything was allowed, but weapons were strictly forbidden. You could beat someone to death, and it happened a few times already, but you had to do it with your fists. Levi shouted something behind her, people screamed, but none of that mattered. She and the knife holding maniac were locked together in the cage, one that had no chance of opening quick enough for Mikasa to get any kind of help. She had to do this on her own.

For a man who was beaten half unconscious, he moved fast, closing the distance between them in a few short steps. And then he attacked. Short stabs, a slash, one dangerously close. Mikasa gave ground, retreated, looking for an opening, but then her back hit the steel bars of the cage. No more ground to give. Her opponent saw it, and with a maniacal glint in his eyes moved in for the kill. It was a good move, stab at her stomach, hard to miss and quickly executed. Yet Mikasa was faster. Moving with the hit, she jumped to the right, stepping forward at the same time and bringing her elbow down at his outstretched arm. He screamed in pain, but to her surprise didn’t let go of the knife, somehow keeping his grip. The second slash was wild, unprepared, and it caught her off guard. The blade slid along her forearm, leaving a red path in its wake. But the attacker paid for this by leaving himself completely open, and Mikasa took full advantage. The left hook was strong and quick, executed just in the right angle to land on his face, breaking the maniac’s nose and sending him flying at the same time. Falling on the ground with a thud, his body twitched but didn’t move anymore, and from how his eyes fluttered close, it was clear that Mikasa had finally knocked him out. And the crowds cheered once more.

“How did he get a fucking knife into the cage.”, Mikasa’s words were pained, pushed through her teeth while Levi examined the cut on her arm, “How?”

“I don’t know.”, face calm, her brother cleaned he blood before dabbing the wound with something that burned, most likely to prevent an infection. “But I will find out, I promise.”

Focusing on the pain instead, Mikasa closed her eyes, really wishing that she had something to drink. Like a bottle of scotch.

“Is it bad?”, she asked instead of thinking about alcohol.

“Not really. The cut isn’t very deep.”, nodding to himself, Levi continued, “Do you want me to get someone to stitch it for you?”

“No, I’m sick of this place. I’ll ask Jean to do it.”

They healed each other wounds in the army, and Mikasa saw no reason why Jean wouldn’t help her now. Not questioning her decision, Levi bandaged the arm. It gave her time to study her brother’s face. Mikasa was not the only one with scars in their family, Levi had his own, even worse than she. Right over one of his eyes, permanently closing it, and one of his hands was missing a finger, the middle one. Levi’s wounds didn’t happen in the army though. He was an underground fighter, before Mikasa, and the same as she, he was very, very good. Too good. And despite his height, Levi had his pride, which in the end was his downfall. In short, Levi was asked to lose a match, because the boss wanted him to, and he refused. In retaliation, he was ambushed in an alley, and multiple men with their own knives made sure that he got the message.

To everyone’s surprise, Levi didn’t disappear into some dark corner to lick his wounds, instead, he came back as Mikasa’s trainer, once again ruining everyone’s day with how unbeatable his sister was. It made the mafia respect him enough that they even indirectly apologized for what they’ve done to him, and assured Levi that nothing similar threatened him or Mikasa ever again. This meant that whoever orchestrated today’s accident, whoever helped the fighter smuggle in the knife, was at this very moment probably regretting his decision.

“And Levi?”

“Hmm?”

“You don’t have to look into this, I’m sure the mafia will clean up their own mess.”

“Someone tried to cut up my little sister.”, Levi’s voice was quiet, but it had a deadly threat in it, “I’m definitely making them pay.”

Standing up, he made his way to the door of Mikasa’s dressing room.

“You go back home and have Jean stitch you up.”, he said, right before leaving, “I’ll make sure that his incident will never repeat itself.

And he was gone, leaving Mikasa with a slightly itchy arm and no answers.

Something was wrong. Mikasa could see it as soon as she entered the bar, Jean’s posture just gave it away. And when she came closer with a question clearly written in her face, the bartender answered it for her.

“He’s back.”

They both knew who the “He” is. Eren sat at the same table as last time, with a drink in front of him, once again looking up as Mikasa neared him.

“Care to join me?”, he asked with a smile, holding up his glass, “I’m willing to buy you a drink again.”

Sliding into the offered seat, Mikasa patted her pockets, searching and finding a pack of cigarettes and lighting one up. Seeing how Eren eyed the box, she offered him one too, but he shook his head.

“I quit.”

“Suit yourself.”

Taking a drag to calm her nerves, Mikasa blinked a few times, doing her best to ignore the pain her arm.

“I’m going to guess that you are here to see me, right?”, she began.

“Maybe I’m just here for the drinks.”, Eren argued, but from his tone, Mikasa knew he was joking.

“I doubt that. And considering that I’m part owner, I do have certain authority on that subject.”

“All right, you got me.”, Eren picked up his glass, “I’m here to see you.”

Mikasa had to get rid of him, and fast, considering that her arm was still bleeding and overall she felt like shit. Being attacked by a knife didn’t really set the right mood. So, pulling out her best resting bitch face, she went on.

“Well, too bad, because I’m not in the mood today.”

Eren arched an eyebrow at that.

“Not in the mood for me?”

“Not in the mood to fuck.”, she corrected him, “That’s why you’re here, no? To fuck?”

“That’s a bit jumping to a conclusion.”, Eren wasn’t that unbalanced by her bluntness as Mikasa hoped, keeping his cool, “In fact, I’m here to talk.”

Right, like she believed that. But the sooner she lets him say his piece, the sooner she can tell him to fuck off. Dragging another smoke from the cigarette, Mikasa nodded at him.

“Talk then.”

Leaning forward, Eren put his hands on the table, serious for a change.

“I haven’t been entirely honest with you, last time we met. You see…”, holding out his right hand, he made sure that Mikasa saw that band of gold on his finger that surely wasn’t there last time around, “I have to tell you something. I’m married.”

Mikasa stared at him, at that ring, wondering why the hell did that piece of information made her feel so squished around the heart. If she felt like shit before, now she felt like a double shit, and the needles that prickled her skin weren’t helping. It just didn’t make sense. What did it matter to her that he was married, why should she care? And why the fuck did she feel like crying all of a sudden? Pushing all those negative emotions back, Mikasa kept her face without expression, shrugging.

“So?”

That finally broke his cool.

“Well, I mean…”, Eren scratched the back of his head, the uncaring attitude not the one he was expecting.

“I don’t give a fuck that you’re married, it’s your problem that you’re cheating on your wife, not mine.”, Mikasa pressed on.

“I…”

He was close to the breakpoint, close to just getting up and leaving, so Mikasa continued.

“What’s wrong? Now what you were expecting?”, she let her lips curve into a cruel smile, “Or are you just sad that your wife doesn’t make your cock hard like I do, sad that…Ah…”

Whatever she wanted to say was lost, because her damn arm chose just that moment to bring itself back to life, the painkillers she took to survive the bike ride here apparently running out. With a curse, Mikasa clutched her arm, baring her teeth against the pain.

“Mikasa? What’s wrong?”, Eren’s tone changed completely, the surprise replaced by something that sounded like genuine concern, “Are you hurt?”

“I-I’m fine…”, she growled but wasn’t fooling anyone.

“You’re holding your arm.”, he observed, “Can I help?”

“No, you can’t.”, Mikasa was angry, hurt, and just wanted that guy who kept messing with her head fucking gone already, “Unless you are a doctor, I don’t see how you could.”

For some damned reason, that made him smile.

“As chance would have it, I am a surgeon.”

Well, that answered her question of what he was doing for a living.

“A surgeon huh? Well…”

Yes, Mikasa just wanted to send him to seven hells, but her arm hurt like shit and only a stupid person would refuse the help of a professional. So, instead of telling him to fuck off, as intended, they once again ended in her room, sitting on her bed, while Eren gently took off her jacket.

“You should take off your shirt, the blood…”, he began but was promptly cut off.

“I’m not taking my shirt off.”, Mikasa shook her head, “Out of the question.”

The scars were still there, last time she checked.

“But…”

“No buts.”

Eren signed, rubbing his forehead.

“Fine, have it your way.”

Then, blessedly, he finally shut his mouth and got to work. Mikasa couldn’t deny that Eren knew what he was doing, his stitches were neat and fast, and before she realized it he was done, once again covering her arm in a clean bandage. But it was getting dangerous, the proximity, the body heat she felt radiating from him, bringing back the memories of their night together. His smell was intoxicating too, although Mikasa couldn’t recognize it, and she found herself dreaming. How would Eren respond if she asked him to spend the night with her? Nothing would have to happen, they could just lay down on the bed together, cuddle and…

No. She slapped herself, mentally, cursing her own naivety. A single glance on her scars would send him running, and to add insult to injury, he was married. Damn it, Eren only came here because he was bored of his wife or some shit, maybe she had a headache often and it sent him out in hunt of a more willing pussy. She was a broken woman, he was an unfaithful bastard, and that was it. Nothing will ever happen between them, nothing, so stop fucking lying to yourself, you dumb bitch.

“It should be fine now.”, he said, standing up from the bed, “But if something hurts or…”

“Nothing will hurt, I’m fine now.”, Mikasa jerked her chin towards the door, “You can go now.”

“I…”

“Just leave, okay?”

“Right...”, he made a step towards the door, but then as if he remembered something, Eren fished in his pocket, pulling out a business card.

“A precaution, all right?”, he set it down on her table, “If anything unusual happens, call me.”

Almost out of her room, between the door, Eren was stopped by Mikasa who finally remembered her manners. She should probably thank the man who stitched her up so nicely.

“Eren?”

He stopped.

“Yes?”

“Thank you. I…Ehm… I appreciate it.”

Eren smiled at her, and for some reason it made Mikasa feel all warm inside.

“Don’t mention it.”

And then he was gone, just like last time, yet with one significant difference. This time, he left behind his card, and picking it up, Mikasa finally learned the good doctor’s surname. The man who was supposed to be just a night one stand and turned into a much more complicated thing had a full name.

Eren Yeager, his name was Eren Yeager.

[celebrate-the-clone-wars]

10/17 Writing Wednesday Submit

Story: Tallying Scars Chapter: A Fading Echo (48 of ??) Published: Wattpad (https://my.w.tt/tLMf7qqYZQ)

CONTENT:

“Fives? Are you- do you- wanna talk about it?” Tup asked quietly, his voice small and unsure. Fives, lying face down on Echo’s bunk in the barracks, turned his head slightly so that he was facing the wall.

“Okay, maybe later then.” Tup sighed, shoulders sagging in defeat as he turned away. They were much narrower in breadth, Rex suddenly realized, than either his or his other brothers of same age, and he wondered if he had ever looked that young and vulnerable.

Glancing about the barracks he noticed for the first time that the younger recruits were slimmer in build and slightly shorter than the Old Guard were, and it made his breath catch in his throat. They were all just so… young. Echo had only been ten years old and four months when he’d- and most of the newest troops were still nine. Rex himself was just shy of eleven and a half and aside from Jesse, Brye, and Kix he was the oldest there. Ailen and Denal had both only just turned eleven.

The door opened and they all started sharply as General Kenobi halted in the entrance, wary of stepping fully in and crossing some sort of unspoken line that they were all aware existed. To invade the personal space of those who had never had nor never would have anything else left to call their own without prior consent was a serious matter.

“Any news?” Rex asked. His voice was hoarse. Obi-wan shook his head ‘no,’ eyes dark with defeat. The room, only seconds before full of hope, seemed to have the light sucked out of it.

“No. They still haven’t found her yet.”

“First we lose-” Brye swallowed heavily as everyone turned to look at him. His eyes were dark and shimmering with suppressed tears. “And now Ahsoka’s gone missing. Are we cursed or something?”

“Or are we making up for lost time?” a Shiny asked sourly. “We’ve had the lowest casualty to difficulty of assignment ratio in the entire frontlines GAR since the war started. Are we catching up with everyone else?”

“You weren’t on Teth,” Ailen snapped, eyes blazing hot with anger. “Don’t ever say we’ve had it lucky with our numbers.” Obi-wan managed to catch Rex’s eye as the entire barracks erupted into loud and angry argument, and the two slipped out into the hall.

“Anakin won’t leave the Temple,” Kenobi explained quietly. It was easy for Rex to see, after having spent extended time with the man, that he was upset. “He won’t even leave the tactical room. Nothing I say seems to make a difference.”

“I’ll have a word with him,” Rex assured. Obi-wan gave an appreciative nod, hesitated before laying a comforting hand briefly on the Captain’s shoulder, and then departed. Rex braced himself before walking back in to the chaos.

“ALL RIGHT THAT’S ENOUGH!” He shouted. The entire barracks froze, all eyes wide and shocked. Rex never yelled at them when he could more effectively issue commands with quiet authority. He cleared his throat and then continued on with soft disappointed firmness, which scared them more. When he sounded disappointed it meant he was so angry that he was physically restraining himself from throttling someone (usually Hardcase or Brye).

“This is a difficult time for the entire Company. If we’re gonna get through this we need to stick together. We’re not cursed, and we’re not lucky. We’re skilled, and we use smart tactics. You can’t expect the newcomers to understand what it was like at the beginning, and the newcomers can’t expect the veterans to understand the pressure they have since their training ended before it was completed. But we can all understand just fine that we’re scared, and that we’re hurting. Focus on what you do know and put aside what you don’t, because I promise you this: if we can’t come together now then this will tear us apart. And the next time we gear up to fight it’s likely most of us won’t be coming back.” He fixed them with a tired look.

“I’m going to the Temple to check in with Skywalker,” he continued in a normal tone and stress of voice. “I expect you to have figured it out by the time I get back. Fives, with me. Better wear your formal fatigues.”

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

Rex hadn’t actually been sure that Fives would obey, but a few minutes later they had left the Coruscant GAR barracks and were headed for the Jedi Temple in their smart formal uniforms. As usual, people stopped what they were doing long enough to stare; it was rare that they ever got to see a clone trooper out of armor or even simply with their helmets off.

“They look so young,” someone whispered. To anyone else it would have been impossible to catch the words, but they had been trained to utilize all their senses to their utmost and optimum efficiency, and it carried easily. Rex’s step faltered slightly, breaking perfect and subconscious rhythm with Fives.

“Sir?” He murmured uncertainly.

“I’m fine. Just… it’s been a hard few days.” Fives nodded in understanding, swallowing hard to stop himself from crying in a public venue. “The Temple’s not far. Come on.”

They had been raised to suppress their feelings. Emotions were messy and inconvenient, so unlike the machine efficiency the Kaminoans wanted and so incredibly sentient that they had no place in the perfect slave army. If you had a problem, you dealt with it rationally and compartmentalized. Above all, the issue was not to interfere with one’s work.

It meant that they had a hard time properly expressing grief or trauma, and it was leading to a lot of problems with PTS and ghosting. There was no counseling in the GAR because they didn’t require it. Truth was, they probably required it just for the problem that they didn’t.

Rex shook his head slightly. He was confusing himself now. But one thing struck him as something of note, and that had been his knee-jerk reaction to immediately label himself and his brothers as part of a slave army. Did he really think that?

They passed by a group of civilians protesting the war and the use of the clone army and was surprised to find that he actually did.

They’d had no choice but to go out and fight. To serve and take orders unquestioningly. They’d been born for it, and it was all they knew how to do. They had no pay, no leave. Just the endless toil until they eventually died or the war ended, whichever came first.

If given the choice, Echo would probably have become a teacher to a young group of children instead of fight.

“Why did you take me with you, sir?” Fives asked quietly as they ascended the Temple’s steps.

“You needed a change of scenery, and you’ve never been.”

“I didn’t need a-”

“Fives.”

“…Thanks.” He was looking anywhere except into Rex’s eyes. “I’m not taking this well.”

“You just lost your last Squad Brother. I wouldn’t expect you to.” Fives hesitated before speaking again.

“Ever had it happen to you?”

“No.”

“Really?” He registered surprise. “I thought, because it’s just you and Brye…”

“Most do.” Rex’s smile was dark. “Teri, Aeric, and Chester. Our other squad mates. We were too good at what we did, unfortunately. They separated us for specialized training in different respective fields right before Geo I. That was the last time we fought together, and I got split from the rest early into the battle. Haven’t seen them since, and I don’t know where they’re stationed so I can’t call. Don’t have the time to look either, the way you guys keep me running about putting out fires.”

“I think that’s worse than knowing they’re gone,” Fives murmured sympathetically. “The not knowing.” They were walking through the ornate halls with the vaulted ceilings now. Rex considered for a moment.

“I suppose. But I wouldn’t wish either on anyone for the world.”

“No.”

They went to talk to General Skywalker in the Tactical Room, and while they couldn’t get him to leave or sleep they did succeed in persuading him to eat something, which was a small victory that they were willing to accept. Afterward, Rex made a detour accompanied by a confused Fives to the Room of a Thousand Fountains.

Rex was pretty sure they weren’t supposed to just roam the Temple without supervision when the area wasn’t designated as military for the duration of the war, but no one seemed to care that they were there. In fact, they passed several Jedi both too old and too young to do any field fighting as they moved through the little pools and rivers to sit in the soft, thick grass next to the waterfall.

The holographic ceiling portrayed a synthetic view of the stars visible in the Coruscant night sky above them, and they laid out on their backs side by side and just soaked in the peace and calm for a while.

After a little bit Fives hesitantly tapped Rex on the top of his hand. He was asking. Rex responded in like kind to let him know it was okay, and they entwined their fingers together. Just laid there, looking at the stars and missing their brothers, quietly grieving for Echo. Rex didn’t need to look over to see that Fives was crying.

Things had quieted down by the time they got back to barracks; everyone was heaped together in a mess of blankets and pillows on the floor. Legs and arms were tangled hopelessly together, everyone needing the reassurance of the warmth of their brothers beside them that night. Fives and Rex exchanged a glance before changing into their fatigues and worming their way into the group.

\•!•!•!•!•!•!•!•/

When Ahsoka got back from her ordeal as Trandoshan ceremonial hunting prey she was pretty shaken, and she was admitted immediately into the Temple’s med wing with the other Padawans. While she was in there she had terrible nightmares, so when she was released Obi-wan and Anakin decided to camp out in front of her quarters for the first night or so to let her know that she was safe and that she wasn’t alone.

They had a hard time even getting close to the door because they had to step over 150 sleeping troopers who had already beaten them to it, but eventually they fell asleep against the wall with Obi-wan’s head resting against Anakin’s shoulder and Anakin’s chin resting on his forehead. Fives was curled into a tight ball against Rex’s side a few feet away surrounded by the rest of the Old Guard.

Everyone needed companionship every now and again, even troopers and Jedi.

[sociallyawkwardsailor]

Today was kinda stupid.

It’s the Army’s birthday, which meant everybody on the base had to participate in their Hooah Shit and do a base wide formation run.  We (the Navy) were told where to be and to be there around 0615 ‘cause they finna block off some roads for this nonsense.  Fine.

I drag my ass out of bed at 0500, woken up earlier than that of course by the students hootin’ and hollerin’ outside, to shave, freshen up, and get dressed.  I anticipated showing up for accountability purposes, then chillin’ in my truck until it was over and I could drive back to shower and change for school.  I even brought a protein bar for breakfast.  

Thaaaaat did not happen.  Instead I spent 10 minutes trying to find a route to the schoolhouse because even by 0600 they’d started blocking off roads.  I felt my blood pressure rising (”This is impractical and dumb as fuck!”) and decided to park back by the barracks and walk.  Made it to the muster point on time, but then my “no running” note havin’ ass be like “Chief, what you want me to do this morning?”  thinking maybe he’d just tell me to self PT.  He was kinda like “go home” in code language, because he knows and also is a good Chief and ain’t finna violate what medical says and have me to it anyway because “it’s a slow pace.”

So I kinda hang out until they start runnin’ because it was kinda cool (Army was REALLY motivated), then went back to shower.  Right when I get out the shower, I get a text from ET1 about how we finna clean up our section of the barracks because a Master Chief is fixin’ to visit.  *sigh*  So I put my PT gear back on, we clean for about an hour, change, then go to class.

By this point I’m getting a stress headache (partially contributed to by the heat).  Class was fine though; went through a lot of basics because we gotta, but it’s good information for our new Sailor and a refresher for myself.

Also I got my lather bowl and container of actual shave cream I ordered!  Finna wash/break in the brush tonight, and class starts at 10 tomorrow, so I may try my razor out then!

[analyticsloading69]

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Intense Boxing Workouts

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Whether you travel to an exotic location or stay close to home, a training camp can provide many benefits for your athletes. Kickass workouts are one key to your camp’s success. But you need to devote considerable time and thought to constructing a framework in which those workouts occur. Consider everything from diet and stress reduction to minimizing commute times and outside influences.

You can click the image to the enlarge it. Only if you want to (I dare you).

MeasurementWeek 1Week 4Week 6Height6.1″ (185cm)N/AN/ANeck15.5'15'15' (same) (lost 0.5' total)Chest46'43.5'42.5' (lost 1') (lost 3.5' total)Waist (around belly button)41'39'38' (lost 1') (lost 3' total)Waist (natural – smallest area) 38'36.5'36' (lost 0.5') (lost 2' total)Buttocks42'42'40.5' (same) (lost 2' total)Biceps13'14'14' (same)(gained 1' total)Thighs23'22'22' (same)(lost 1' total)WEIGHT 203lbs191lbs 185lbs(lost 6lbs) (LOST 18lbs total)

The end of Week 6. 6 weeks of boxing training, that’s 30 intense boxing workouts. I can hardly believe it.

The Physical Training (PT) Guide Contains: A nutritional guide to maintain a healthy diet while focusing on your Army workout plan. Standardized Warm-up and Cool-down Exercise Drills. Conditioning, Stretching and Military Movement Drills. How to make a auto clicker for mac. Four different week-by-week Army-standardized training schedules. Everlast Training Camp Ultimate 6 Week Workout Pdf; allworlduv.web.fc2.com ♺ 2018.

My Measurements

Okay, it’s embarrassing photo time (how did I agree to this again?!). It’s the 3rd photo and this time a shorter space of only 2 weeks.

I’m very happy the weight loss is continuing at a rate of 3lbs per week (same as the first 4 weeks). As you can see there’s more to work on. But it feels like parts of my body are definitely tightening up and changing shape. I’m pleased the ‘moobs’ are decreasing (another 1″ off the chest) and there is definition around my ribs – although I’m beginning to think progress around the belly and hips will be the biggest challenge.

Initially I was slightly disappointed with the biceps size – the same at 14″. I’ve been hitting the bag harder and faster! But after taking a closer look there is now minimal loose fat around the triceps – so I’m counting that as a “gain”!

What I’ve noticed

I’m certainty noticing not carrying around an extra 18lbs. It’s sounds weird but walking is different, it’s like I’m wearing new shoes or switching from heavy boots to light running shoes. Icy tower 1.4 full version. I’ve calculated my camera bag with 4 lenses and all the gear weighs 16lbs – and I constantly moan how heavy it is when hiking on a photography trip. 6 weeks ago I was carrying more than that.

Everything is going in the right direction, and there are two factors I’m actively looking at for the remaining 3 weeks – Diet and my Sedentary lifestyle.

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I’ve been learning more about food and diet. Calories, protein, carbohydrates, fat. These are not words I’ve paid much attention to. Generally speaking I eat a healthy diet, low in processed food for main meals – but I let myself down badly at other times. In between meal snacks can have a massive impact. I’m shocked how easy it is to undo all my hard work.

Next week – I’m making a big effort to be more aware of what I’m eating and avoid the obvious bad choices. I’m also adding in a morning and afternoon walk – to combat all the sitting I do during the day. I’m sure this can help make a difference.

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Overall it’s looking very positive. I’ve followed the program for 40 days and it’s got me this far. I now feel lighter, stronger and fitter – with more persistence, I’m confident it can only improve and I can continue to feel the benefits of boxing training!

6 Week Workout Plan Free

Cheers, John.

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Are you using intense boxing workouts for weight loss? Let us know your experiences.

[boredbusstories]

Butler Academy Part 2-1

'Eh bro! Where did you go yesterday?' Raj burst into the bunk room, throwing his backpack onto his bed. 'I tried calling you but you never pick up.' Raj took off his white polo-T and jeans, leaving on his dark blue briefs. The night was warm and humid, so he was still slightly coated in sweat as it was a distance from the guardhouse. Not hearing any reply, Raj turned to see Ming lying in bed in his PT shorts, staring at the ceiling. 'Uh you okay?' Raj cocked his head. 'Yah... okay. Just thinking.' Ming mumbled. 'Oh okay. Anyway you're not gonna believe this. I got invited for the preliminaries!' A flash of silver as Raj waved the card excitedly in the air. He grinned happily, trying to get Ming's attention. 'Wait, what the fuck?' Raj's gasped as he spotted a familar looking piece of paper placed beside Ming's pillow. 'You got one too! How did you do it?' 'Uh...' Ming seemed to be in a daze as he propped himself up on an elbow 'One of the instructors asked me to do a few things.' Raj nodded knowingly, 'Oh yah okay, I know what you mean.' Ming's eyes widened in surprise. 'How did you get yours?' Raj hesitated for a moment. 'After you left, I went to the fitness booth right? There were a few areas you could choose from to show your skills, so I chose soccer. After that, they gave me some sports gear to wear and I showed them a few moves, like dribbling all these. After that, I was in the changing room when one of the instructor came and told me he needed to take my measurements.' Raj seemed to blush a little. 'He measured my biceps and waist all these okay lah. But after that he asked me to take off my shorts, said he needed to measure my dick when both soft and hard.' Raj looked away and continued. 'Anyway, no big deal. I watched some porn on my phone and just let him measure lor. Maybe need certain physical requirements. My dick must have passed cause he gave me the invite after that.' Raj gave a small laugh and waved the card again, but a bit more feebly. Ming looked incredulous. 'You mean that's all you had to do?' 'What do you mean that's all I had to do?' said Raj, visibly confused. 'Uh... anyway, did you see the rest of the instructions?' Ming quickly changed the subject and pulled out a folded piece of paper from the NPBA envelope. 'Yeah. I was gonna show it to you but I guess you've already read it. Eh wait, actually this is great! We can go through this together, like our officer course!' Raj exclaimed. Ming saw his wide grin and immediately felt better. He had been feeling out-of-sorts since after the threesome with Mr James and Troy. He couldn't believe what he had done, and wasn't sure what to feel. He thought that he should feel grossed out, but he wasn't. In fact, his mind had been wandering back to Troy's butt and Mr James' cock over the day. He didn't understand why he kept getting a semi either. Ming shook his head to clear his mind. 'Yea. Actually I'm glad too.' Ming returned the smile. He had been worried about choosing butlering as his vocation, but if his best army buddy was going to be there with him, then it wouldn't be too bad. 'I go bathe first. Later we read the instructions again together?' Raj grabbed his toiletries bag and moved off to the door. Ming nodded behind him.

[clonerightsagenda]

TLC DVD commentary: Vriska’s arc, pt 2

I'm back at it responding to a request to discuss Vriska's arc in TLC. Since this is commentary on her story overall I won't dive too deep into any single scene, although I'll skim through them. Part of the reason we tag updates is for people to see them, but mostly I use the character indexing so I can reference specific scenes as needed. It has saved so much time.

As some general notes, as I said before, I'm skeptical of "redemptions" where someone says "yeah I regret what I did". Post-retcon Vriska pays lip service to that, but she doubles down on her abusive behavior, so I'm not convinced. I wanted to make sure TLC Vriska actually demonstrated growth and change. However, she has a tendency to take over the story. Luckily, the dreambubbles are a pretty good quarantine. You'll notice that although she gets the most updates out of Team Dreaming Dead, she doesn't really impact the story in any direct way. Sure, she delays/distracts Lord English, but we could've left that out and just had him show up as needed, and people would've accepted that as part of the narrative. So Vriska doesn't get to be the super relevant hero of the story the way she wants to be, but what she does get to do is grow up a little, even if she physically can't.

After Meenah and Aranea die, Vriska ends up enlisting with the ghost 'army', for lack of a better word. While before she was in charge of a bunch of dreamers that she used as 88, now *she* is 88 protecting them. Her situation has flipped upside down, including in that while at one point she was bossing Tavros around, he is now in a position of command. I had been planning for Tavros to show up leading the ghosts, and when it happened in canon, I was like oh hey, look at that. Then, after showing up the person who's treated him so horribly, Tavros is promptly subordinated by her again. I was rather miffed by this. In TLC, Tavros is calling the shots. That makes sense to me. The dream bubbles sap people's wills, and Breath players seem to be the best antidote. Vriska livens up after being merged with Tavros, and the treasure hunt loses steam after John bails. Tavros is the perfect person to keep the ghosts energized and focused. As I've acknowledged before, part of Vriska's abusive behavior comes from her conditioning by Alternia and her situation with her lusus, although that is not an excuse. Tavros was abused by her in turn... and when he is in a position of power, he doesn't misuse it. The cycle of passing pain along ends here.

Ok, looking at some scenes in depth... When Vriska is upset, she uses 8s for way more vowels, and right after Meenah and Aranea's death, they're all over the place. Meanwhile, Aradia is making heavy use of the Socratic method here, not passing judgment but asking leading questions to try to get Vriska to realize some things about herself. Aradia has been doing this for a while. She’s gotten good at gently guiding spirits in the right direction. 

VRISKA: They were 8mp8rt8nt t8 VRISKA: T8 the missi8n.

I've posted about this before, but a tricky thing w/ writing Homestuck is that the characters' voices are established through online communication, and we talk very differently in person than online. Online, we have a lot more opportunities to choose our words and convey an artificial persona. However, especially if you're doing a fic w/ someone else's characters, you don't want to deviate too much, because then it sounds wrong. It's a tough balance to strike. One addition I made to spoken word logs was people cutting themselves off, talking over themselves, or leaving sentences dangling. You can add some extra meanings there, or just indicate distress and uncertainty.

VRISKA: Anything is better than n8thing. VRISKA: That's why I had t8 d8 something. VRISKA: It's this pl8ce. VRISKA: If you st8nd still for too long, you get stuck in the s8me stupid cycles of v8pid teen 8ullshit forever. VRISKA: T8lking and t8lking 8b8ut n8thing while the w8rld 8r8und y8u 8r8ks 8p8rt. VRISKA: I had to 8r8k out of that! VRISKA: I had to keep g8ing 8r VRISKA: Or I'd 8e really dead.

It's easy to forget with the existence of an afterlife and a life/death revolving door, but Vriska is a kid who died at thirteen, and recent events have driven that home for her. It's hard to think that your story is over, and life goes on without you, especially when you're young and tend to be more solipsistic. That's one of the drivers of her behavior. If she lets go and stops struggling, she has to admit she's dead, which is hard to bear.

Gill calls page 519 the 'put me in coach, I'm ready!' panel.

Anyway, Vriska joins up, primarily for vengeance. Most of that is offscreen, although we've got a bit in the Vriskagram flash. That flash exists entirely because we wanted at least some practice on getting something audiovisual up on mspfa, youtube, and tumblr before we did an actually important flash. It's near the top of my list for the Director's Cut to add in a lot more character dev for Team Dreaming Dead members (plus Sollux and Aradia who are team liminal or something.) Perhaps Gill will even put fewer OCs in the remake. (This shows me it's rather silly to act like her drawing everyone in Metal Gear outfits is some huge burden. She has always pulled this shit.) However, there is indication that Vriska has started taking her job a little more personally and is becoming invested in the safety of the dreamers. Progress.

Of course, Vriska is all about appearances and bravado, so she's not going to admit it. In her conversation with Eridan she claims to be one of the good guys but is rather dismissive about their ideals, and it's intentionally ambiguous how much she's sincere about. (As a writing sidenote, Vriska often refers to her fellow trolls by their last name, probably as a gesture of ironic distance. Later, I no longer have her do that. That could indicate character dev but is also a matter of practicality. If you're dealing with thousands of versions of one person, it's hard enough knowing who you mean when you use their first name, let alone their surname.)

We get more sincerity from her when she talks to John. That's usually who she's most likely to open up to, because John tends to be less judgmental, and Vriska gets defensive very quickly. With John, who sort of served as a morality guide earlier, she seeks absolution, eagerly saying she's changed her ways and it should all be fine now. Unfortunately, Vriska's attempts to push bad stuff under the rug crashes directly into John's attempts to push bad stuff under the rug and he has a mental breakdown. Afterward, although Vriska is taking some steps to improve herself, he suggests she clear the air with her former victims. Although she's reluctant, John has suggestion powers, probably linked to his aspect. Often, when he tells someone to do something, they end up doing it, especially if it's in line with their own inclinations or suppressed urges. (I think puppets aren't that cool. Why don't you fly away and never come back? Why can't space and time work the way I want it to?) At least he Breath-hexes Vriska in a constructive way.

VRISKA: I guess there's ONE person I'd like to clear the air with. VRISKA: I'll skip the 8r8kdown part though.

Me, lurking overhead with my .txt files open. No, Vriska, you are both going to scream and cry about it.

You'll notice that Vriska frequently adjusts her outfit and/or hairstyle. Again, this is part of her whole appearances routine. She's not quite sure what her new facade is going to be, so she keeps trying various ones out.

Sidenote for the bonus panel log

TAVROS: aND ARADIA SAID SOMEONE WAS ARRIVING SOON, wHO SHE WANTED TO TALK TO TAVROS: sO SHE’S WAITING FOR THEM VRISKA: Wonder who 8it the dust. VRISKA: Do you think it was someone we knew? TAVROS: iT COULD BE ANYONE,, fROM ANY TIME TAVROS: ,,yOU KNOW THERE’S A LAG, sOMETIMES

Aradia's lurking around to give Dave his peptalk. Gotta roll the carpet out for your fellow Time hero.

And we're up to the last Vriska, Terezi, and Kanaya conversation and her exit. I feel like that deserves its own separate post, which I will work on later.

[ohitsjustcorina]

Nobody asked, but since I got time, I thought I’d do the first 12 questions to this “BTS Asks” post.

1.) How and when did you get into BTS?

-Late summer of 2016. I had first watched Fire and would occasionally watch it. It wasn't until after listening to RM's mixtape that I decided to watch more videos (bombs and fan edits) of BTS.

2.) Did you make new friends thanks to BTS?

-Yes! I've gotten close to a few ARMYs through the VLive app. I'm hoping one day I could meet them in person.

3.) Has bangtan influenced your life in any other way?

-They have influenced me in many ways, and their influence is with me every day. When I started listening to them and began looking into their lyrics, they helped further my journey with myself. Right now, in my life, I'm at the part where I'm trying to face my past and solve them in the best way I can. I'm continuously amazed by the fact that BTS came into my life at the right moment that I most needed it. Lately, I've been watching the highlight reels a lot. I repeat what Jin said at the end and remind myself that I need to push myself to face it so i can have a happier future.

4.) Top 10 Songs?

1-네시4'Oclock, 2-Mama, 3-Young Forever, 4-Save Me, 5-Run, 6-Spring Day, 7-Cypher Pt. 2: Triptych, 8-2학년 So 4 More, 9-House of Cards, 10-Do You (RM)

5.) Favorite Album?

Another difficult question! It's between Dark&Wild and The Most Beautiful Moments In Life. I can't pick one.

6.) Favorite Lyrics?

It changes from time to time. Currently: "If you can’t fly, run. Today we will survive. If you can’t run, walk. Today we will survive. If you can’t walk, crawl. Even if you have to crawl, gear up. Point, aim, shoot!"

7.) School trilogy, HYYH era or WINGS?

Two because I'm indecisive af.

HYYH because I see it as a guide that helps anyone that needs a shoulder to lean on, cry to, hype up to and receive advice either directly or unconsciously. 

WINGS because we hear their stories. This isn't so much about us, but mostly about them. It's not just reading and knowing the lyrics, but listening to their voice. How they sang it. Each of their solos made me cry and gave me goosebumps. 

8.) Which cypher part do you like the best?

Cypher 2. What I love is that not only is it one of the best diss tracks I've heard, the music transition snatched me. Every time I listen to it, I always imagine all three rappers on a round stage, a mic hanging in the middle and each rapping their verse. It's also due to Yoongi's iconic verse.

9.) Your favorite AGUST D and RM track?

Agust D- 치리사일사팔 724148. It's the start and rise of not just Agust D, but Min Yoongi.

RM- Do You. This song will always be special to me for two reason. One, it's what led me to discover BTS. Two, it's my muse.

10.) Your favorite cover of BTS? (Doesn't matter if it's one of Jungkook, Taehyung, Jin, etc.)

Too Much by RM

11.) Is there any BTS song that has a special meaning to for you?

Awake. That song makes me cry almost every single time it comes on my playlist. It's melancholic. This affects me through the years that I struggled with my depression. I'm now in a better place, so it's become like a reminder in a way? Of what I overcame.

12.) Your favorite live performance?

J-Hope's Mama in Seoul. I remember being in the bts ch+ on vapp and listening to the concert on a periscope link. When Mama came on, I cried. And I mean I CRIED. It was like 3am and I bawling my eyes out, listening to Hobi's beautiful voice through my earbuds. He finally got his spotlight.

Maybe I’ll do the other questions another time. Maybe not.