#besides me personally thinking it's compelling ofc
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a large amount of time I've been spending on -untitled undefined scope original fiction project- since the last time I posted about it has been trying to develop the protagonist concept I came up with last summer or whatever into like, a character that would feel real and era appropriate.
it's fun research to do. naturally a lot of the details I assigned to her are things that I already think are cool, so it's been a lot of fun trying to trace her traits back through the relatively recent past, getting reminded of how much things have changed, or where the gaps in my intuition are, and then doing a flurry of reading to get a sense for exactly how someone like her and the people around her could have happened and what her life was probably like leading up to her present day. hopefully this results in some good good verisimilitude.
#I wrote a short story from her perspective over the holidays and then didn't know how to continue it#and then I got distracted by real life stuff for a few months#I forget if I posted about that#and then I've been picking through archive dot org for the last few weeks looking at this stuff#the last big rabbit hole was trying to get a better feel for era appropriate ts/tv subculture#the current one I'm looking at is how she would've gotten into language learning and how that would've worked#nettle has been prodding me about the setting thing lately so I've been thinking about that more too#probably the biggest hurdle by far is figuring out how I want to play that#and how I want the thing to be divided up#since the original coc scenario I'm developing this out of is centered on a flight from LA to honolulu#and the airport dungeon was definitely meant to be a hook for a larger campaign#some amount of it is going to cover protag lady's failed life in LA and some of it is going to be worse things happening in hawaii#but it's like. how much do I want to balance it one way or the other#and realistically how much does the aesthetics of 20th century air travel add to the story#besides me personally thinking it's compelling ofc#a lot of what I find compelling about hawaii is that it's an east/west cultural crossroads and realistically that's also true of socal#and I can wax poetic about socal as much as I want without worrying all that much about mishandling something#and there's also a lot of socal specific history along similar parallels to pull from that I'm more familiar with#I guess it comes down to whether curiosity re: 'doing it right' is enough of a motivator to do the increased amount of research#which I guess it has so far with the above character details. so hopefully that will continue#but it also feels like using machine translation a bit yknow. it's hard to know how effectively I'll be able to sanity check#although depending on where this goes I might be able to get other people involved to sensitivity read down the line#with most of the creative things I do I just have a tendency to always rely really heavily on figuring things out myself#I also want protag lady to have a Cool Car and idk how to get that from point a to point b narratively#this is like an entire second or third post's worth of tags but I don't feel like unfucking this so whatever. suffer. I guess.
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hellooo how would you rank the aftg characters personally? like in order of favorite to least favorite?
bestie I actually wrote a whole thesis essay response before realizing how unhinged it is so here is the abridged version: (note this is all for the canon versions of these characters, fanon ratings would probably be different)
Neil Josten
David Wymack
Nicky Hemmick (I know I know but it will take me 1000000 years to explain all my Nicky thoughts)
Kevin Day
Matt Boyd
Andrew Minyard (WHY IS HE THIS LOW?? Guys I don’t know I do love him I promise I would do anything for him)
Allison Reynolds
Jean Moreau (once again should be higher I love him I do)
Danielle Wilds (her and Allison could also swap places and I’d still be like “yeah that’s right” bc I love them both)
Catalina Alvarez (my fave tsc character besides Jean she means everything to me you don’t understand)
Jeremy Knox (I love him I do I just know nothing abt him)
Renee Walker (it physically hurts me to put her this low I love her so much I would die for her)
Laila Dermott
Aaron Minyard (don’t come at me pls I like him and I love fanon Aaron I just wasn’t Aaron’s number one fan in canon but I still have so much love and respect for him I swear)
Seth Gordon
I don’t really hate any of these characters I swear (except Riko he’s ranked so low he didn’t deserve a spot on the list) ((he’s a compelling villain tho)) (((Tetsuji is ranked like -100000000 I will never forgive Tetsuji ever)))
if you really want my never ending thoughts here they are under the cut:
warning for a long ass post I’m so sorry because sometimes even I can’t focus enough to read my own long posts
I have spent so long staring at this ask and trying to figure out how I can pit my children against each other but here is my best try: (this is in order of how much I enjoyed their characters personally when I was reading. The list would prob be different if I was ranking them as people and not as characters):
Neil Josten. It’s always gonna be Neil I’m sorry. Recency bias means that I’m currently thinking (and posting) abt Jean 24/7 but Neil Josten will always take the cake for me in ways I can’t even articulate. His dry humour and narrative choices always have me in stitches. He’s got so much trauma but he doesn’t want to do anything about it but push it down until he meets people he cares about and they found family him into actually healing. He cares so deeply and loves in such a subtle but incredibly strong way. I don’t know how to even express this without saying that the reason I can’t put aftg down every time I pick it up is because of Neil. He tells the story in a way that makes me want to know everything about literally every scene. It’s all Nora ofc but the personality between the lines is how I define “Neil” and I will never not love it. You’ve got me going and now I’m not gonna stop. I can’t even apologize for the length bc I will never apologize for yapping about Neil Josten I say that shit with my FULL CHEST
David Wymack. Do I even have to explain myself here? Those are his fucking KIDS and he would do ANYTHING for them while being a SASSY LITTLE SHIT about it the whole time plus he’s a DILF I would kill and die for him.
Nicky Hemmick don't shoot me pls LOOK do I think what he did to Neil in Edens was at all ok? Absolutely not. When I first read tfc I was HARDCORE hating on Nicky and then trk and tkm made him one of my favourite characters. I don’t think he’s perfect but I love the way he loves. It isn’t hard for him, none of the monsters had to prove themselves to Nicky, or even try to be a decent friend for Nicky to automatically decide that these were his people and that he cares about them. When we meet him Aaron is a homophobic dick to him and Andrew literally pulls a knife on him and yet we immediately find out that he willingly dropped everything and moved an ocean away from his home and his boyfriend to raise them both in the US and not ONCE does he act like he seriously regrets it. Me? I would be holding that shit over their heads every time they act disrespectful but for Nicky loving them despite the shit they put him through is not even a question. It’s not even just the twins too. That one scene where Neil asks “are we? Friends?” And Nicky is SO SHOCKED that Neil didn’t know and goes “oh kiddo of course!!” is my Roman Empire. Plus he’s hilarious obviously.
Kevin Day guys I love him ok, the first two books he compelled me but TKM he POPPED OFF. “I’ve never been skiiing” BANGER “I’m gonna be the deadliest piece on the board” GOOSEBUMPS, “My father comes to all my games” HAD ME IN TEARS. Don’t even get me STARTED on that sexy ass racquet hand switch at championships I’m going to combust. I love that he’s literally obsessed with exy and has the most complicated relationships with the mc’s of every book and yet steals the show every time. Kevin Day I love you.
Matt Boyd. I love him because he would love me for putting Neil first and kill me for not putting Dan before him. He loves his girlfriend and his homies and his sport and cars in that order. He’s a golden retriever who saw a team full of scary-ass wolves and still tries to be friends with them. He wasn’t a part of the “clique” that Neil was in but he did not let that affect his perception or love for Neil in any way. He’s been to hell and came out with just as much love in his heart as he did when he came in. He told Neil that he didn’t know if Andrew would be good for him but then he saw that Andrew fought Kevin for him and decided that he approved bc all that mattered to him was that Neil had someone who would defend him the way Matt would. Then he immediately becomes the #1 wingman right before the shower scene bc he would rather die than cockblock his homie. I love him so much
Andrew Minyard. Like Nicky, I was absolutely a HATER in book one and then he became one of my faves. I like that he’s brave and determined, standing despite everything when the world tried to put him down, but not without his flaws. I really appreciate that Andrew isn’t perfect, he struggles, he’s violent when it’s necessary and sometimes when it’s not. I love how he was always willing to protect Neil, despite everything in him telling him that Neil couldn’t be trusted. He’s a flawed man, but at his core, a good one.
Allison Reynolds is that girl. She reminds me of Andrew (both of them would kill me for saying that) because she takes no shit and gives no fucks. She’s who 16 year old me wanted to be when I grew up. She goes through every emotion in these books and comes out full of righteous anger and uses that to kick the raven’s ASSES and I’m so here for that
Jean Moreau. It’s weird to me that he’s so low because I love him he’s my special boy. I thought that he was interesting in TRK but Riko was a more compelling villain to me. Then ofc we learn that he was never meant to be the villain and he was ranked just below Kevin for me because I just wanted him to be happy. Then tsc happened and he became my hyper fixation. He has a VERY similar sense of humor as Neil except for Neil his jokes were directed at abnormal behaviour, and for Jean he just gets so appalled at the most normal things. I digress about his humor I love Jean and if u want to know why just read literally any of my posts
Danielle Wilds is my GIRL. Her story compels me so much and I really wish we got more backstory for her (obvs we got plenty considering the cast of characters is so huge but still… I want more). She loves her team so much despite everything and she works so hard to keep them together I wanna give her a hug and a kiss. (That scene in TKM right after Andrew breaks Riko’s arm Dan was the FIRST one to find Neil and she was so concerned about him she cares about him so much STOP they’re FAMILY I LOVE THEM)
Catalina Alvarez was my favourite character in tsc (aside from Jean) because I love her so much. @theresalwaysafiresomewhere said that cat reminds her of me and it was still to this day the best compliment I’ve ever received. I cannot name a single thing abt cat I don’t like so I’m just gonna keep going.
Jeremy Knox is only this low bc I still know nothing about this man. Reading his pov and seeing him thru Jean’s eyes was helpful in securing him a spot in my list of faves tho, I want to know everything about him please Nora please
Renee Walker also should not be this low it physically hurts me to put her here but like most other characters in this half of the list, she didn’t compel me as much until tkm. Just a personal thing I guess. I do love her though and I wish she got more time with Jean. It still bothers me that she loved Jean but was the bigger person about it and knew that they weren’t at the right place in their lives, and yet we don’t get to see how making this decision affects her. I think she deserves to be loved more. I hope she gets a happy ending the same way Jean does.
Laila Dermott I love her I just don’t really know enough abt her
Aaron Minyard I like him I promise I do he’s got some of the best one-liners! He killed drake did all that in college with an gf and all the power to him but really I think that fanon aaron just appealed to me way more. Canon Aaron just annoyed me because— gunshots actually you know what maybe it’s once again because unreliable narrator Neil hated him and Neil’s my fave so I had to be a hater too 😔
Seth. I know some fans love him and I respect that but I just… idk I don’t see the appeal. Fanon Seth is great tho I’m a fan.
Canon Thea is somewhere on this list near Laila again bc I love her but I don’t know enough about her to be like “yeah she’s my fave”. The version of Thea I created in my head based on the crumbs the books and the ec gave us, on the other hand… she’d probably be somewhere up there with Kevin
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1, 7, 12, 17 for Ms Athena Cykes since she’s your current icon?
Athena my beloved aaa I love talking about her any chance I get hehe putting this under a read more bc it’s gonna get LONG
1. Why I like her: so so many reasons. Where do I even start lol um I’ll start w just her personality!!! Ace attorney has a lot of characters in the “peppy happy girl” category but Athena has always stood out to me because of her unique quirks and how well she bounces off any and every other character!! Her dynamics w other characters (esp Simon and Apollo) are always really really good, and I think she’s a really strong character that a lot of ppl overlook due to not liking aa5 as much as other games (which, btw, I’ve never seen anyone fault athena for, it’s usually the cases themselves and the handling of Phoenix and maybe Apollo they don’t like but notice how athena is like never complained about in terms of writing quality, at least from what I see lol). She feels cartoony and realistic at the same time, which is hard to achieve but is also exactly what aa protags need!! Her trauma and trauma responses are compelling for the mystery aspect of her story while also being compelling just in general, which isn’t always the case in these sorts of games, and I just really like how she’s written overall.
And ofc I have to mention I just have a really personal connection with her. As an autistic person w adhd I saw myself in her more than in p much any other character, but whereas when I first got into ace attorney I was gloomy and grumpy Athena was so energetic and so dedicated to helping ppl that I just really looked up to her, and even now I consider her to be like almost a role model in some sense?? And her being into psych pushed me more into psych than I already was and is probably part of what has led me to where I am now— graduating with a psych degree this year and going on to pursue grad school and a career in mental health counseling. Athena just makes me so happy and she’s so good at helping people despite and even because of her (probable) autism and I wanna be able to make people happy and help them too yknow???
7. Something the fandom does w her that I like: tbh not a ton lol, but I always appreciate when people see how she can very easily be interpreted as autistic and they work that into fan content!! I also appreciate the calls for an athena centric game, as I think she was very strong in aa5 but needs a little bit more. I truly think she could be like THE strongest written female character I’ve ever seen if she got just another bit of an arc and capcom doesn’t mess it up lol. I actually have faith in capcom tho, ik that’s a bit uncommon but if tgaa is any example of the sorta writing they can do i have faith.
12. A headcanon— besides the obvious and like basically implied neurodivergencey, I like to think she likes animals, specifically more uncommon ones!!! I think she should have a pet, maybe some sort of reptile or bird. Simon has a bird, maybe she gets one too lol. I like sun conures a lot and they do have athena vibes tbh
17. A ship with her I’m fine with/don’t hate but also isn’t my favorite: hmm well by now you probably know I’m a big justicykes fan but other than that I don’t ship her too hard w anyone??? I guess after justicykes I’d say her and pearl might be my next choice, it’s a rare one but I think they could be cute!! But since I lean towards liking that one instead of being neutral, I suppose the true answer to this question would be junithena. I’m like. Entirely neutral on it lol. I think they’re real fun as friends but I just never saw the romantic spark everyone else seems to see??? Who knows tho, maybe when me and my gf play aa5 together I’ll see it. A lot of the fan art is super cute but I just never really got the romance vibe w them idk
#thank you for asking lol I almost never get asks in ask games and talking about athena specifically makes me SO happy#athena cykes#ace attorney#ask game
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do you ship domlene?
ok to be honest i dont find domlene all that interesting, but i dont hate it. i certainly enjoyed it more in s2 when it felt like cat and mouse, but i started to lose interest during s3. its not that i think the ship is bad or anything, its just not my style. i like ships that are a little more crazy, and dom is kind of a square. shes too "good" of a person for me to be interested in her lol. it felt like in a sea of characters undergoing corruption arcs (my fave thing ever), dom was always a constant espouser of "good morals": following the law, looking out for your family, trying to do the right thing. i seriously just do not find any of that compelling at all, and especially given that dom is a fed, i was even less interested.
in my dream world, dom starts off as a "good cop" but begins to resort to more and more shady methods as she gets increasingly obsessed with tracking down darlene. s2 would end with darlene getting caught, making a deal to keep her and elliot out of jail, and then continuing to work on fsociety projects behind doms back. i really liked darlenes role as a ringleader in s2, doing random PR acts like sawing the balls off the wall street bull, and i wish she had done more of that. in s3, darlene would be a double agent, giving dom bullshit information while helping elliot try to track down tyrell/stop mr robot themselves. all of this done out of their mutual distrust in the legal system to provide any justice or do anything besides serve the interest of the government, ofc. dom would start to break away from the fbi and pursue darlene more out of personal morbid interest. maybe she'd even do something that really breaks the fbi code of conduct and earn herself a suspension or something, idk. maybe she gets too close to figuring out who whiterose is and is fired for no reason, leading her to become even more suspicious and unhinged in her detective methods. just ANYTHING to complicate her morals a bit.
so to answer ur question, i think domlene is fine, but a bit boring for me, and it all stems from my lack of interest in doms character. when they hooked up in s3 and dom immediately turned herself in to the fbi for breaking the rules i was just like ugh, seriously?? i wish dom had been forced to examine the role of the fbi in state violence or how theyre so clearly owned by the rich and powerful more, but she never really got there. even in 410, shes concerned with clearing her name with the fbi. i also find it kind of hard to believe darlene would be able to put aside the fact that dom is a cop so easily lol, but what do i know.
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ᯓ★ tasha
now that jjk has ended, what do you think of it? ><
Hello Ray! 🌷
I'm gonna go off because my thoughts are pretty mixed 🥲 Spoilers below the cut!
Obviously, I loved jjk and still do. Gege created one of the most beautifully complex characters in his story with a compelling storyline that kept me at the edge of my seat, wondering what would happen next. Like at one moment I would be like "nah gege won't do that it's too risky" but in the next chapter he would prove me wrong and do the exact same thing. And this is something I really appreciate - when authors take risk in their writing.
Given all this, one would expect better from the ending right? I think I see the vision Gege had. A lot of people compared it with AoT ending (including me) before the pages with Sukuna's conversation with Mahito came out. But here's the thing, Sukuna says that he will take a different path, try to do things differently and that makes it so much different from AoT's ending? It doesn't show that whatever happened in jjk is an endless cycle, but more like completing a full cycle and going back where it started, but this time things will be different?
Like in the first chapter, we see Sukuna's finger all bound in those seals because it was such an ominous and potent object, but at the end it's just there in the open with no seal or anything and it just shows that it's not that big of a threat anymore yk? But this is just my perception.
Now this being said, I think the ending is really incomplete and a lot of things could be done better.
Firstly the character development. Yuji had the most character development and so did gojo, but since Megumi and Nobara were such an important part of the story I feel like their development wasn't shown. And yes I know it all happens under 3-4 months but look at how much Yuji has changed. I don't think it's wrong to expect it from Megumi or Nobara. Don't get me wrong, I love these two people, but something didn't sit right with me when it comes to their ending or character development. Honestly just one panel of Nobara saying yes to Yuji when he asks her to watch earthworm man 5 would have made a good impact.
And then Megumi. Man I expected him to acknowledge Gojo. That man literally raised him? And also more reaction for his sister's death besides just visiting her grave. I don't know, Megumi ended right where he started and while he is one of my faves, I don't think there was much character development in his case yk?
And I am happy with Yuji's ending. I don't think I have anything to say there ahaha
I think my biggest complaint from the ending, aside from Gojo's treatment, is that there was no solution for curses. Geto left the jujutsu society and turned into a curse user because he wanted to get rid of curses. Gojo never wanted to steal youth from children, and tried to make sure everyone loved their youth and was not burdened by the responsibilities of being a sorcerer. But in the end, we see the trio take on a mission. So ultimately, all those 271 chapters + jjk0 resulted in the death of the king of curses which didn't even get rid of curses. That's the net change we had from chapter 1 to this. And ofc losing some beloved characters. We don't see how Sukuna's death affected the curses, aside from Mahito. Did they get weak or something? We don't know. From what I understood, Sukuna was a part of the problem but not the problem itself. I hope this made sense.
I am not a Sukuna fan, but his ending was really well done. I think a little info about the person who was standing behind Sukuna towards the left would have made his ending perfect, but it's gege holding the pen.
Oh and Gojo. The character he is, the connect we had with him aaahhh sometimes I cant believe he is fictional because I just feel so much for him😭 and i absolutely HATED how gege treated him. Like he made your manga this popular, let's be real. That's why he was used so much in the marketing of last few chapters else who will read it? If you see the posts by official accounts and official art released in the past couple of months, almost all had gojo and they were some important panels.
Without gojo, most people wouldn't have survived Shibuya (I am looking at you kasukabe (?) it should have been you instead of Nanami) yet somehow gojo was the one to blame for everything. We did not get any kind of acknowledgement from any characters except Yuji, and kinda Yuta. It made me hate everyone like wtff??
Anyways, I found this twitter and it makes so much sense? Because at times it did feel like gege isn't happy with his manga. Maybe he wanted to do something different but because what he wanted to make was not what people wanted to read, he was forced to change things up a little and create this. Even after all this, gege did cook. If we remove the takaba part - which is funny but idk I am not a big fan of that part - I think the manga was pretty good up until the last 3 chapters. And (again, just what I think) gege has been kinda sick this year a lot. Maybe the rushed ending had something to do with it because I kinda see the vision, and if it was properly executed it could have been really satisfying.
Yeah I know I went on, and there still so much I wanna add 😭 but I'll leave it here. These are just my views and I am not even sure if this answers your question aaaahhh. But I wish you a great day and would love to know your thoughts on the ending! ✨
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✨ New meta by @cross-my-heartt dropped ✨ - it's 🎶lunch time🎶
More seriously: You bring forth a lot of really good arguments and it's intriguing to replay TBB03 in my head with your added commentary. So I'd like to add my two cents.
First of all, "We’re meant to believe that his time on Tantiss and Hemlock’s attempted reconditioning has changed him as a person. Which is all fine and dandy until you realize that this new character we get feels more like he’s gone through therapy rather than trauma." rings very true. It's like Omega changes him through her sheer prescense into a big softie - it's inhearently not a bad idea, but it happens way too fast. I could imagine that Cross three years later has tuned down his aggressions and his urge to defend himself but in the span of one day I don't see him leaving his very combative and confrontative personality behind, especially if reuniting with the Batch means that he was wrong - and oh boy, I don't think that Crosshair of all persons would admit this openly during the first months back together. It would be more like "a certain lieutenant let me down personally" instead of "I was wrong about the Empire as whole".
Also "he rolls over at the first sign of conflict" - looking at episode 4 I agree. The guy who started a fight with Jesse over curious looks is the same who lets himself be ordered around by a child? Feels ooc to me. (Personally, I would have let them play cards as doubles in this scene because it would have underlined that they work together now as brother and sister without hierarchies and it would have been an awesome opportunity to let Crosshair show off his amazing eyesight like in utilizing some tiny mirror in the background to see the Imps cards! And probably Crosshairs sparkling personality would have let the situation escalate far more earlier so that the detour with the animal smuggling would have been superfluous.)
"[T]hese first two season have felt like they were steadily building towards a confrontation between these two." - Exactly, after all the second season hammered Hunters POV through Crosshairs thick skull that he's replaceable for the Empire. So a call-back to the training room argument would have been perfect to tie all of it up and to reestablish a meaningful connection between them and let's be real: Hunter still owes Crosshair an apology for not trying more.
Regarding the PTSB-bit: When you put it like that (personally, I think it's grand that they even tried to include this ugly side-effect of torture and war), my knee-jerk reaction is "you're so right". After all, Crosshairs conflict up to this point was to discover that being loyal towards a cruel system doesn't give him anything, being loyal towards people/family gives him purpose and courage. To conclude this I had expected/hoped that he joins Echo and the Clone rebellion as atonement and because of his insider information.
Earning again the trust of his family and even more the other clones would have been a compelling sub-plot, even more when the mistrust runs deeper than "oww, he's a Dad, ofc we have to trust him" (sorry, this scene is cute and everything but when looked at it more closely it feels hollow, there I agree as well besides the Howzer-bashing that went on). But this couldn't happen due to time issues (albeit these were partially home-made considered that this season was the shortest of all three by far).
The PTSB-bit would have fitted better to Wrecker as a response to Techs "death" or the loss of Omega since he had no compelling sub-plot of his own so far (except the chip-thing, but that's more chip-plot than truely a Wrecker-plot). Loosing his strength or his ability to run odd jobs to care for Omega would probably influence him a lot. Otherwise, Hunter would be a candidate for this - after all, his senses are in Season 3 nowhere near the level that they had in TCW07, so experiencing that his senses are on the fritz would have amplified his character arc because as a family father, he doesn't need them anymore.
Anyway, these are only some thoughts that crossed my mind after reading your meta.
Thanks a lot for sharing, as usual it's a joy to see you on my dash 🤩 - stay safe!
Alright, I’m saying it
I hate what they did with Crosshair in season three
Yes, the entirety of season three, barring maybe only the first three episodes. Let me elaborate.
I’ve been seeing people be more open about criticizing the finale and it’s given me the push to be more open about my own thoughts. And since I still advertise myself as a Crosshair girlie, I think this is a good place to start.
I really honestly don’t like the majority of what they did with Crosshair’s character this season. And yes, that includes the hand tremors. From the myriad things that felt out of character for him to making him a walking exposition dump, to completely stripping him of his more interesting qualities I honestly struggle to see him as the same character I loved right up until the end of season two.
I almost understand why so many people have come around on him – it’s because he’s a completely different character. We’re meant to believe that his time on Tantiss and Hemlock’s attempted reconditioning has changed him as a person. Which is all fine and dandy until you realize that this new character we get feels more like he’s gone through therapy rather than trauma.
New Crosshair is much more agreeable. He’s mild, he rolls over at the first sign of conflict, he talks about his emotions at the drop of a hat and there’s barely any meaningful tension between him and the other characters (not one that’s not forced anyways).
And my question is, why? If we’re just going to use off screen trauma (off. screen. trauma???) to change characters willy nilly then what even is the point of watching a show?
Say I suddenly wanted to make Wrecker this very angry character with a short fuse and I decide that he got an injury off screen that’s causing him chronic pain. It makes sense logically while at the same time making zero sense for him, even less so if you don’t see it play out, because it erases core parts of the character that we already know.
One of the first things Crosshair does in tcw is start a fight. Crosshair has always been a belligerent guy. He literally responds to being hurt by attacking. Where is that combativeness now? I would even go as far as to say that he’s been the primary source of conflict for the group since season one and I don’t even mean that in a bad way. Crosshair bites back. He hides pain by trying to inflict it, he talks back, he challenges, he digs his heels in to the point of proactively making bad life choices.
And the reason why he’s worked so well in this team so far is because his tendencies were counteracted by those around him, right up until the inevitable rift caused by the chip. I could go on about Wrecker and Tech but we all know that the main counterbalance, Crosshair’s foil here, is Hunter. Hunter is supposed to be the one that deescalates, they’ve gotten along so far because he’s the one that handled rising tensions (it’s the reason he’s the leader of their group to begin with. Remember who deescalated that fight in tcw? Remember who started it?) Where Crosshair pushes, Hunter puts a stop to it. Where Crosshair attacks, Hunter deflects, maybe sometimes too much.
And these first two season have felt like they were steadily building towards a confrontation between these two. We wanted Hunter to snap at Crosshair on Pabu because we’ve been craving it. This whole time Crosshair’s been saddled with more and more trauma, unresolved tensions from as far back as season one (which we all seem to have forgotten about as if that story never happened, tldr I’m still bitter no one addressed the Crosshair being abandoned subplot, hello remember that) while the narrative has simultaneously been stripping Hunter of his patience; months of anxiety and frustration and stress chipping away at him and wearing him down so that we can finally get to see these characters clash. The perfect recipe for all of that tension exploding and being set loose.
And what did we get instead?
A tiny little spat. An argument that gets interrupted before fizzling out (because Crosshair can talk about feelings all of a sudden). We got Hunter in the exact right position only for the show to purposefully strip Crosshair of his characteristic belligerence because apparently we don’t want to see any conflict. It’s like they’re teasing us – look Hunter’s on the verge of snapping but Crosshair’s the bigger man now so we don’t get to see that! Why??? What part of that was satisfying?? We got Crosshair pushing back for the tiniest of seconds and resolved two seasons of tension in half an episode. Where they had to fight a giant worm. In what universe is that a satisfying conclusion.
The only reason I can think of is that this mirror development is supposed to be some kind of irony or subversion but honestly that explanation falls so flat in the face of our expectations as an audience.
And the thing is, I think even the authors realized that they had nuked their most intriguing character. Because once they removed his established response to trauma, which was all of those wonderfully complex emotional reactions, they realized they needed to manifest it in some other way. So we got the hand tremors.
Now Crosshair doesn’t get angry or stubborn he just gets jittery. And I know this sounds dismissive but the only reason that is is because the show itself deals with it in a completely ham-fisted and surface-level way.
I hated the hand tremor subplot. Me. Someone who spent two years being disabled because of neural damage to my hands that prevented me from doing the hobbies I used to define myself as a person. Someone who spent two years depressed and dysfunctional because of the loss of identity and purpose I suffered because of that disability.
So no I’m not fucking happy that they used something as serious as ptsd to spice up a character they themselves made bland in the first place. For no reason other than a subplot that went literally nowhere. A subplot that was shish kebabed after an underwhelming fight scene.
Don’t even get me started on the pun level writing of chopping said hand off.
But back to Crosshair… or what’s left of him after this season (see I can make a pun too). Crosshair was already interesting enough as a character without the added hand tremor subplot and I'm dying on that hill.
The thing is, they were so intent on pushing this new, watered down version of Crosshair that even more reasonable, level-headed characters had to be thrown under the bus, made irrationally aggressive next to him to try and make us believe it. I have a lot to say about Howzer this season but the only thing I’ll say for now is that he’s the most prominent victim of this, along with his entire retconned season one plotline.
And speaking of victims, I can’t help but feel like I need to apologize to all the Tech fans out there once again. Because what I think actually happened is that Tech was never the writers’ favorite and was never meant to get any sort of satisfying conclusion.
That was always Crosshair.
The focal point of season one. The most prominent source or drama and conflict. The character who drove the plot forward even when he appeared in a fraction of episodes. The character who got the most development (even if that development spiraled wildly out of control at the end). Nearly every major subplot in this show happened in relation to or in favor of Crosshair’s arc. Tech’s death. Omega’s capture. The CX clones. The hand tremors. All of the meaningful developments and events reserved for two characters in this show, Omega and Crosshair. (Some would argue Hunter as well but really, did Hunter get any development as a character? Spoiler alert, a happy ending is not the same as a character arc.)
My guess is that this was always meant to be the case. The writers just weren’t prepared for the fans’ response to Tech’s death, it caught them off guard, and here’s one more reason why I think creators should stay away from social media or any kind of prolonged fan interaction. Because all it got us in the end was some form of cruel teasing, them trying to ride the wave of attention and thinking their original plans would make up for it when that wave inevitably crashed.
But anyway.
What happens when you dump a bunch of pain and suffering onto a character with a problematic response to adversity? Apparently it makes them emotionally intelligent, at least according to this show. Crosshair in season three feels like a shadow of his former self – the combativeness and complex emotional responses that made him so interesting to begin with are gone, replaced with a ham-fisted manifestation of trauma that gets resolved in an equally ham-fisted way.
And I’m just not on board with that. Nor will I ever be. Even if you give me all the supposed emotional payoffs, hugs or whatever.
#tbb crosshair#tbb meta#tbb season three#tbb spoilers#tbb critical#massive salt#sorry for all the enjoyers of season 3#but the writers missed a lot of beats in it
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[banging pots and pans] torment night! it's dhmis theory torment night!
TONIGHT i am TORMENTED over: the implication from 6 that duck and red were somehow created just for this world to watch over yellow, who is probably more of a real person than them
(whatever that means in this context. we don't have enough information about the nature of everything yet. bear with me please)
the evidence presented to the court (under the cut bc this got way longer than i expected):
WHY are there no versions of YELLOW on the higher floors? WHY do the big and bigger versions of his friends say they've been waiting for him to learn alongside them?
the line about them no longer being in charge of him... implying that at some point there was an assumption that those two were caretakers or watchers-over, even though they didn't act like it? they mostly acted like friends. like really condescending jerk friends who still cared about him, but mostly like friends. i know we joke about them being parents to him, but they don't really act it.
this is more an argument from symbolism but: only yellow has batteries and is thus is able to move autonomously from an electrical outlet, which obv ties in thematically to his revelations about the weirdness of the world while his friends are left behind. what does that then say about the guys without batteries? does that imply the other two are less autonomous and more linked to this world?
we do not see any replacements in lesley's drawer for anyone but duck, so DUCK at least is most likely to be artificial, given how rigid he tends to be in behavior and how he questions things least alongside this little visual tidbit.
"but op!" you're not asking, "we know that duck doesn't usually question the world and mostly just gets annoyed with it, but what about RED? doesn't he always feel out of place? what about him escaping in the original series?"
my answer: he never actually escaped in the original series. going back and watching original 6 after the new series, the "real world" that he is in... does not seem quite real. it falls away so readily. everyone in it is just another version of him. he doesn't even free the three of them; pulling the plug just resets the world. it might just be a higher layer of the world they're in.
as for feeling out of place: i think an artificial being that gains sentience can and will feel that
and now we get to what torments me so much: if yellow's tragedy is that his existence IS somehow more than the simulation but he's had that taken from him, and if the other two guys are both artificial and their existences are dependent on this world, it make both of them tragic in opposite ways. duck's tragedy is being an artificial being who simply cannot be anything more. RED'S tragedy is being an artificial being who so strongly WANTS to be something more.
and the thing! is! i think that they're gaining more autonomy as they spend more time existing and interacting with each other and yellow. if you watch the three guys' character progression from 1-5, just like in the original series, you can see the three of them start doing more and more and more stuff on their own besides just Sitting There and Receiving The Lesson. and just for red and duck's part, ofc there's That Scene between them in 6; when the lights are off and the world seems shut down, they still move, and they express more vulnerable feelings than normal. (is there meaning to how they are cut off before they can talk about how they feel about yellow? is there meaning to the fact that their demeanor completely shifts the moment a bit of light re-enters the room? probably. hard to say exactly what at this point though).
i fully accept that this theory may be wrong. compels me though. and by compels me i mean it has me on the ground writhing
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I won’t tag this or anything so it’s just u and me tonight my loves but I’ve been reflecting a bit abt why the fanonization of billy batson + cap marvel w the aid of iterations like yj, the animated movies, the dceu movies and also just. n52 in general really is such a sore spot for me and feels so odd and strange. and it’s truly just because the family part of the marvel family is now purely an.. objectification. the family are props to aid the plot or billys own personal growth. like besides mary and freddy being literal shadows of who they used to be (the weird antisemitist new take on freddy included) but darla, pedro and eugene being cast have never felt like a genuine push towards the heroism they’re supposed to represent.
genuinely try to think abt it. you think of wonderfam, aquafam, batfam for gods sake, and every individual member of the family has a real title, real arc, real backstory that fleshes them out, builds their goals and desires and mistakes. makes them slip into the hero mantle that fulfills their “family”. I think of even jaime reyes’ family, who aren’t heroes at all, but have genuine quirks and rhymes and reasons to their relationship with jaime, and feel full and real. eugene is an asian boy who is good at games. in the ten or so years eugene has been a member of this family, in the few instances we see him, has he ever gotten a genuine moment alone with billy or anyone outside this family to develop his goals and reasons for wanting to not only actively use the Power, but stay as a hero? besides the power making him and his siblings cool and badass? using this logic, how can we fully ever accept him or darla or pedro as the Power-wielding heroes of color they are versus the one notable white boy most recognizable as the leader of this family? it’s just so distasteful and racist. I can tell u the backstory of at least one member each from the wonderfam and arrowfam without even reading their comics but with an outsider looking in, n52 shazamfam has like. nothing to tell except everything comically reduced to “billy loves his family”
why this ties to n52 billy characterization is huge because without being equals with his family, he’s the sole dependent champion- every huge event or big bad fight relies solely in his hands, every interaction w any other dc character is representative of not just himself, but his entire family which is kind of odd (meaning the others have no thoughts or feelings of their own??). in shazam 2021 where he’s in tta and goes on the journey to save freddy and recover their powers, there’s no excuse whatsoever for why darla and pedro and eugene and mary can’t go against his will to go it alone and join him because they too are holders of the power so why aren’t they feeling any sense of responsibility either? I mean there are arguments to be made there w the three youngest, but n52 mary is college-aged. she should be feeling the responsibility more than anyone, but ofc she was just a messenger to this system. let alone freddy. my god we can talk about the murder of freddy freeman when n52 arrived. but essay for another day lmfao just know that relegating one of the most iconic disabled heroes in history with the most interesting goals and ambitions of the marvelfam to a literal damsel in distress in 2022? y’all r going to hellll lol.
and the same for mary bc not her being another thing billy has to protect when she’s saved his hide a billion times before. and also has been inexplicably rid her fascinating and compelling backstory. their personalities used to be so encompassing and vast but now it’s just “supporting billy in sidelines”. that’s why the simplicity of “billy loves his family, they love him too” is so out of tune. just bc they love each other doesn’t mean they need to get along all the time. the amount of times freddy n billy fought, or billy and mary or whatever billy was angsting abt tht week made them actually real and made them. you know. EQUALS.
I know a lot of this is bc we’ve never had a long running shazam based title in so so long so there’s no time to fit any of this but we wouldn’t need 50 issues to establish that all these kids are supposed to be just as faceted as each other. they don’t even have to be a team, or be good at fighting with each other (BECAUSE THEY WOULDNT NEED TO.. they’re literally like superfam when they all fight together at once - too overpowered so almost useless). at least that’s the point anyway, though writers choose to nerf them bc again. they’re props to them. what is this about each member of the family getting only one power/letter from the acronym ? ordway dividing the power was messy enough but now these kids have a 1/6th of the power? (I don’t think this is confirmed, but the implication was there in the movie as well which was a bad sign djjwjdjdje) tokenizing these kids to make them seem like a mob rather than individuals will be the death of me
#billy is nothing without the family btw I wouldn’t have liked him this much without them that’s y I’m looking at how#the kid gets represented sometimes and I’m like who tf…
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sugar sugar - april.
Summary: Henry is a man of many talents and Becky finds out another: book editor
Sugar Daddy!Henry Cavill x Becky Kim (asian OFC)
Warnings: There is a brief mention of daddy and anal (but not in the way you think, i promse 😂) and some period things.
Wordcount: 6k
A/N: I managed to edit this chapter, so here it is! I hope you enjoy. Also, @thelastsock thank you for helping me out! My non native English ass is very grateful for your input 😘
Masterlist // Sugar Sugar Masterlist // Previous chapter // Next chapter
April 4th 4 p.m.
The End.
As soon as I have written down those words, that means it’s done.
I finished my book.
I have yet to title it, but there are more than 80.000 words in this document, all containing the mysteries of the story I have been envisioning for so long. I wrote—if I may say so myself—quite the compelling YA mystery novel that has been living its own life in my mind for years.
I press save and lean back in my chair when I closed my laptop.
Of course I absorbed myself with the best tips on how to write a novel, but I broke a prominent one. One that I found on almost every single author platform: don’t edit while writing.
Thankfully, my rebel move allowed me to actually be satisfied with what I wrote on the first go. Because I kept perfecting each chapter after I wrote it, I continued to be in the right mindset for that chapter. That way, I wrote out what I initially wanted in the first try and I got it right when I went through it once or twice.
While my first initial next step is to send it off to a publisher straight away, I manage to restrain myself. I should show it to someone else first, get their input on it.
Genevieve hates these types of books, Viola is working on her thesis and probably doesn’t have time for this either, meaning that there is only one person left who I trust with my written words.
Henry.
After what happened to us last month, I’m sort of over my hurt and disappointment and thankfully we are back into our normal routines.
Do I still think about his gracious dick? Yes, absolutely. Do I dream about him completely ravishing me at night? All the damn time. Did Genevieve pull me into a sex shop so I had to point out the dildo that resembles Henry the most? Yep, that sure happened.
But I decided to be the bigger person here, the wise one and instead of sulking about the fact that Henry and I will probably never do this again ever, I should appreciate the fact that he felt safe enough for him to be honest with me.
However, there is still one thing that continues to run through my mind.
How long has it been for him since any of this happened? He told me on my birthday it was fifteen years ago since he last had a date. But did he ever date before that? And maybe this is shallow of me to think, but doesn’t he have needs?
Did he—for example—pay women to have sex with him? I feel like many women would do it for free honestly.
I know I would.
I push those thoughts aside and I grab my laptop as I walk towards the elevators. I barely had anything to do at the archives today and I work on my book a lot during those empty moments.
I know Henry doesn’t have any appointments right now (I have his schedule synchronized with mine, so I know when I can bother him with my presence), therefore walking up to his office, shouldn’t be a problem now.
I scan my pass and when I walk into the office after the elevator doors slid open, I see he is busy at work at his desk. Maybe he doesn’t have meetings, but he still is a business man, who has plenty to do. ‘I can come back later,’ I say, already stepping back in the elevator.
‘Nonsense, baby,’ Henry says. He looks up and smiles. ‘Come in.’
Of course I thought about calling him ‘daddy’, to see what his reaction would be. Sometimes there is a moment where I feel like that would be such a perfect moment to do so, but I simply can’t, especially because I know that it’s a pretty risky move to do without telling him.
Besides, what if he doesn’t want me to do that anymore?
I feel like our arrangement would be out of the window in no time.
I walk over to him and sit on his desk when he cleared the spot for me. ‘I finished my book,’ I say, placing my laptop on the wooden top. ‘And I kinda want you to read it.’
Henry’s eyes light up. ‘Congratulations,’ he says with a smile, ‘and about time that you are allowing me to read it.’
I roll my eyes. ‘I can still take it back, of course.’
‘No, no, no,’ he says with a chuckle. ‘I’d love to read it. I’d be honored even.’
I nod, as I look at my hands. ‘It’s just that I never had someone read anything of mine. Actually, this is the first time that I put anything on paper. Maybe I suck as a writer and then—’
‘No, don’t go there,’ he says, with a determination I can’t compete with. ‘I’ll be kind and provide you with constructive feedback. Do you want to print it out?’
‘It’s a lot of paper, Henry.’ Do I even hear myself? I let out a chuckle. ‘Like it matters. I’m sorry, that was pre arrangement Becky speaking.’
He smiles. ‘You can print it out here. There is enough ink in it.’
Henry helps me find the right printer and while the machine is working on the entire manuscript, he leans back in his office chair. ‘You have plans for tonight?’
‘I’m hanging out with Genevieve and Viola,’ I answer. ‘I think we’re going for a late night picnic.’
‘Nice. You want the driver?’
Yes, please. ‘Maybe.’
‘Is something on your mind, sweetheart?’ he asks. ‘You look a bit worried.’
‘It’s just that I’m getting in my head. Worrying about how you will hate my book and that you will regret that you ever gave me the laptop and… I don’t know.’
He gets up and stands in between my legs, placing his hands next to my thighs. It’s the first time he stands in front of me like that. I want to hook my ankles behind him, do all sorts of nasty things, but I manage to pull myself together. ‘It can be scary to let someone in on your creative work,’ he says. ‘I remember when I first showed my grandmother my design for a different type of computer. I knew she would love what I designed, but… Her opinion mattered so much to me. She paid for the supplies I needed, she always supported me, what if I sucked at it?’
It’s the first time he tells me a story like that, without me having to ask for it. I place my hands on his shoulders and ask: ‘What did she think of it?’
‘She loved it,’ he says, a smile of reminiscent on his lips. ‘She thought I was talented and actually gave me the right feedback to improve.’
‘Meaning you’ll do the same?’
He nods. ‘Exactly.’
‘Henry,’ I start, as I play with his collar. I love you a lot and I want us to put this whole sugar daddy/baby thing aside and actually get into a real relationship with each other. While I am not sure if you are up for it, I do think that you are actually considering it. There are things you do and say that make me doubt everything and it’s driving me nuts. I love you and only you. ‘Thank you for being so supportive and understanding.’
‘Of course, baby.’ He wraps his arms around me, places his chin on top of my head and lets out a content sigh. ‘Always.’
✤ ✤ ✤
‘He still hasn’t confessed his undying love for you?’ Genevieve takes a sip of her beer, shakes her head and adds: ‘That’s so fucking weird. I was and still am convinced he is into you.’
‘You and me both,’ Viola says.
I groan. ‘It’s just that he is so irresistible now. I was aware he was handsome and kind, but now… He turns hotter with the second and is even more desirable. Even when it’s obvious that he doesn’t want me.’
‘It’s weird,’ Viola says, ‘but I kinda understand.’
‘Uh, ouch?’
She rolls her eyes. ‘No, not like that. You are absolutely gorgeous and I don’t think he doesn’t want you. What I think is that his youth, his family situation and the way he grew up, is part of his uncertainty about all of this. You told us he barely dated and that his last date was fifteen years ago. This man isn’t used to having someone around him. Besides, he wanted a sugar baby, not someone he would develop a close friendship slash relationship with like he has with you. I think this entire situation is scaring him.’
‘But he specifically told me that we’re never doing that again.’
Genevieve nods. ‘Well, he will come around eventually.’
‘But what if eventually is too late then?’ I ask them.
She shrugs. ‘I don’t know,’ Genevieve says. ‘But, at least you can say that you sucked a multi millionaire’s dick on an airplane.’
I groan. Leave it to her to say something in that direction. ‘Why are you saying it like that?’ I ask her.
‘Because that is really awesome,’ Viola butts in. ‘I mean, imagine if you weren’t interrupted. Then you could say you had sex in a jacuzzi with a multi millionaire.’
‘Can we just skip this subject?’ I ask. ‘Pretty please?’
‘Sure,’ they say, but at that exact moment my phone beeps and I see Henry send me a reminder that we’re going shopping on the sixth. ‘Look at that smile. I swear, Beck, if you just confess to the man that you are in love with him, maybe he would realize that you two are perfect for each other, that you two should get married and have tons of kids.’
‘Oh,’ Viola interrupts Genevieve, ‘can you imagine how cute their babies would look like?’
‘Guys, guys, guys,’ I say, ‘stop right there.’
What made me think they would even listen to me? ‘How many kids did you want again, Becky?’ Genevieve asks. ‘I thought it was at least four.’
While they are talking about Henry and I literally doing it like bunnies in order to get pregnant, baby names and whether or not they should become godmothers, I look over my shoulder to a couple nearby. It’s obvious they are in love, in that disgusting honeymoon phase and it makes me slightly jealous.
Of course do I think about the future and in the last few months, my visions of that would include Henry. A lot of Henry even. It’s the way he looks at me, he touches me and talks to me that makes my mind go in overdrive.
I can imagine him being extremely protective over his pregnant wife, even more so than he already was before. Him starting to work more from home, simply to be with her and the kids. Him being the supportive husband that would join her to those birthing classes. Him talking to the baby bump. Him spoiling their children rotten.
While I first was part of those dreams, the woman next to him now turns faceless. It’s not me anymore.
Oh gosh, this is depressing.
I take a sip of my beer and sigh deeply, trying not to drown in self pity. I look at my screen and decide to type back a message.
Becky: What are we buying?
Henry: I was thinking a new television for you
Becky: Why?
Henry: Just because 😉
I can’t help but smile. Maybe I should just let this be our agreement. Maybe I shouldn’t dream about Henry in my future, but just enjoy what we have now.
‘Okay bitches,’ I say to my friends. ‘Another subject, please.’
‘I agree,’ Viola says.
Genevieve nods. ‘What do you guys think about anal sex?’
‘Gen!’
April 6th 2 p.m.
Henry and I walk passed the different types of televisions in the store. To me they all seem the exact same, but Henry is really going for it, checking the description of each and every single one of them, apparently comparing them to each other.
I don’t get it. I can’t even see the difference. I’m nearly giving up on this entire shopping trip. I honestly don’t even care for a new television, but it’s a promise he made me when I moved into the apartment. I got an old one of his company and while that one works fine to me, he isn’t satisfied with it.
I am willing to just leave the store empty handed, but then my eye falls on a smaller one. It still looks like a cinema screen to me, but compared to the rest, it’s on the smaller side. I stare at the pink edges and even the remote is blush pink!
I walk over to that specific television and crouch down in front of it.
This is my dream, packed up in a television. Sure, I still think I don’t need a new television, that it’s a waste of money anyways, but seeing this one, I realize I cannot possibly leave the store without this one.
‘I should’ve known,’ Henry chuckles, when he stands behind me. ‘You like this one, sweetheart?’
‘I do,’ I say, looking up. ‘You want to buy this one for me?’
He tilts his head, not so sure really. ‘It’s not the best quality, though.’
‘I don’t care,’ I say, standing up again. ‘It’s pink, that’s all I need. If you don’t buy it for me, I’ll do it myself.’
‘No, no, no, you’re not doing that,’ he quickly says. ‘I’ll get it for you, baby.’ He signals to one of the employees that he wants this one, before placing his hand on my back. ‘This fits your apartment perfectly.’
‘Right?’ I chuckle. ‘Thank you for buying it for me.’
‘Of course. That’s what I do.’
And that’s solely what you do.
Henry takes the box from the employee, flashing him a friendly smile, before the two of us walk towards the register. The television is around six hundred bucks, but I’m getting used to the rich life style. I know that this is nothing for Henry and with what I have on my bank account, it’s nothing for me either.
Who could’ve know that this would happen to me.
I wrap my fingers around his sleeve, since I notice it’s a bit crowded outside. He looks back and smiles, grabbing my hand, in order to keep me close. When we’re back in the car, Henry tells me he’ll help me install it.
‘What are you gonna do with the other one?’
He shrugs. ‘Thought I might take it to a secondhand shop or something,’ he says.
‘Can I give it to Viola?’ I ask him. ‘Viola and her boyfriend don’t have tv anymore. since theirs broke.’
‘You don’t need to ask that,’ he says in a soft tone. ‘Of course you can give it to them.’
I lean back in the chair and wonder what goes on in his mind. He seems tired and that makes him appear older. Maybe he is coming around about us (not me hoping for that). ‘Are you okay?’ I ask him.
‘Yes, sweetheart, just a bit tired.’
We drive back to our apartment building and when we’re at my place, he starts to unplug my old television, while I sit on the couch and I stare at him. He takes off his jacket and now he is only wearing a t-shirt with short sleeves, one that totally and completely accentuates his arms.
He must do this on purpose.
‘Do you need help?’
‘No,’ he says. ‘Okay wait, I do need your help.’
I push myself up from the couch and when I’m next to him, he tells me to plug in a few cables. He looks over the screen and guides me as I plug hem in. ‘Here?’ I ask him.
‘Yes there,’ he says. ‘You’re doing great.’
Once I’m done, he pulls me up and together we check if I did it right. Henry has his hand on my shoulder and I lean against his strong body. ‘It’s cute,’ he says, as he is flipping through the channels. ‘Tiny though. You still sure you want this one?’
‘I’m one hundred percent sure,’ I say with a chuckle. ‘I think I have the box somewhere, so we can pack the other.’
I grab the right box from underneath my bed and Henry places the television in it. With the other television packed, he says: ‘I’ll be right back, okay?’
‘Okay,’ I say, with a slight frown. I walk towards my window, stare outside and wait for him to arrive. Wonder what he is doing now. Another gift?
‘I read your entire manuscript,’ Henry says, walking back in.
My heart stops beating for a few seconds, before it starts to painfully pound inside my chest. Okay, he must’ve despised it, I think to myself. He is wondering why on earth I even have ambitions to become an other. ‘Oh.’
He sits down at my dining table and ushers me over. ‘Come here,’ he says and when I’m near him, he pulls me on his lap. ‘I absolutely loved it, baby,’ he says. ‘You’re so talented.’
What? I’m talented? ‘Really?’
‘Yes, sweetheart, it was amazing. Now of course, I’m not an editor, however I am an avid reader and I enjoyed it. It was fast paced, funny and thrilling. There were a few things I think require some editing, but other than that… I absolutely loved it.’
This shouldn’t make me teary eyed. This absolutely shouldn’t.
However it does. My emotions have been all over the place the last few weeks (it has to do with the person whose lap I’m sitting on).
‘No, no, no,’ Henry quickly says, ‘don’t cry, baby.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Come here, come here,’ he says, pulling me in a tight hug. I bury my face in his neck, as I wrap my arms around his shoulders. ‘It’s scary,’ he whispers, ‘showing people your creative outlet.’
I simply nod.
‘It’s okay,’ he tries to sooth me.
I let out a slightly nervous chuckle as I pull back. ‘I’m sorry, this is totally too much of a reaction.’
‘No, I understand.’ He lets out a soft sigh and then says: ‘Showing something this personal can be scary, but I’m so glad you trusted me.’
I smile. ‘Of course.’
‘You know,’ he then says, ‘I know a guy in publishing. Maybe, after you read through it a couple more times, I can give him a call. See what he can do.’
I’m absolutely speechless. He wants to do what for me now? ‘What?’
‘I can give him a call, eventually. But maybe you and I should make ourselves a cup of coffee and talk about the feedback I wrote down.’
I nod. ‘I’ll think about it, thank you,’ I say. ‘I’ll make some coffee.’ I jump off his lap and walk towards the kitchen. I bite my lip and realize that I might become a published author. I mean, Henry loved it and he would actually tell me if it sucked or not. I am sure about that.
I look over my shoulder and see that Henry is already looking at me. He smiles and reassuringly says: ‘Don’t you worry, sweetheart, I loved it.’
April 11th 8 a.m.
‘Good morning Henry, I brought coffee,’ I say, as I walk into Henry’s penthouse. ‘I know you said you wanted hazelnut flavor, but I wanted caramel and I accidentally was selfish and only ordered two caramel.’ When I enter the living room area, I see him pacing back and forth. ‘What’s wrong?’ I ask.
‘Nothing, sweetheart,’ he says, as he stops walking. ‘Nothing for you to worry about.’
The fact that he tells me not to worry about it, causes me instantly to be concerned. ‘You seem nervous. Sure there’s nothing wrong?’ I ask, placing the coffee cups on the coffee table.
He lets out a sigh. ‘I have an interview.’
‘Oh sweet,’ I say. ‘Or isn’t it?’
‘It’s my first interview in three years.’
I pull him with me on the couch. ‘I bet you’ll do great.’
Henry rubs his face. ‘But what if someone asks me about you?’ he asks. ‘I know not much is known about my private life, but I’m scared they’ll somehow figured out about you and ask about it. I don’t want to put you in the spotlight like that.’
‘I appreciate that,’ I say and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. He is concerned about me, meaning he cares. ‘If someone miraculously knows about me, say I’m a well loved employee of yours.’ I place my hand on his cheek and add: ‘Don’t worry too much.’
‘Come here,’ he says, wrapping his thick arm around my waist, pulling me closer to his body. I can’t help but enjoy being engulfed in his embrace. As I place my head against his chest, I feel his fingers running through my hair. ‘I shouldn’t worry,’ he says, ‘I know that.’
‘No, no, none of that,’ I tell him. ‘You should tell me how you feel.’ I close my eyes, as I play with his tie. ‘Can’t you just cancel?’
‘I have been thinking about that, it’s just that… I should’ve done that earlier.’
‘Why are you even doing an interview anyways?’
‘Freddy,’—his assistant—‘insisted on that.’ He lets out a soft laugh. ‘Can’t believe I got that punk talk me into this.’
I pull back and smile. ‘You don’t think he is a punk. You think he is sweet.’
Henry smiles back, before pulling me on his lap and I can’t hide my blush. He grabs our coffees from the smaller table and takes a sip. ‘Shame it’s caramel.’
‘Shut up,’ I chuckle. ‘By the way, Henry, remember: you don’t have to answer. No matter what they ask, you can plead the fifth.’
‘Yeah.’
‘Stop getting in your head,’ I say, holding his chin. ‘Promise me.’
He chuckles. ‘I promise.’
After I drank my coffee, I tell Henry I have to go, because I have a nail appointment (yes, I’m living that kind of bouche lifestyle now) and he walks me all the way to the ground floor, though I tell him that’s not even necessary. He even suggests that I can take the car and driver, but I simply shake my head and tell him that it’s literally a ten minute walk.
‘So, break a leg,’ I say to Henry. ‘And don’t worry too much. You are intelligent, you are kind and if someone mentions me, I’m a well loved employee and don’t mention me having access to your office.’
He nods. ‘Will do. And you be careful, okay?’
‘I always do.’ I flash him one more smile, before I walk out of the place. I turn around, wave at him and chuckle.
See, I can do this. I can be helpful to him, without us having to develop feelings for one another. This is what friends do. Friends are kind to each other, supportive and give each other words of encouragement.
And that’s what we can be, what we can become.
✤ ✤ ✤
Henry: It went well
Becky: See, I told you it would go well!
Henry: Yeah, you were right
Becky: Like I usually am 💁🏻♀️
Henry: Check your bank account, baby
Becky: Henry…
Henry: You’ll like it, I promise
H. Cavill transferred $650 to your bank account.
Description: You’re the kindest, sweetheart.
Becky: 😒 😒 😒
Henry: One usually says thank you
Becky: I have something for you
Becky: 🖕🏼
Henry: 😮
Becky: 😘
Henry: 😘
April 16th 10 a.m.
Period cramps when you’re already on your period just hit different. I’ve had my fair share of cramps, but these are on another level. For a few long moments I think I am actually in labor, but then I realize I didn’t have sex nine months ago. I actually think I didn’t have sex for two years, so pregnancy is off the table and it’s just severe period pain.
I’m curled up on the couch, while I watch movies and cry whenever something is even remotely emotional. It has been quite a while since I felt like this and I can conclude I haven’t missed this at all.
I hear three knocks on the door and with a groan I get up from the couch, I stumble towards the door and when I open it, I’m met with a confused looking Henry. ‘What’s wrong, sweetheart?’
‘I’m on my period,’ I mumble.
‘Oh,’ he says with a frown, ‘that’s too bad. You have a hot water bottle?’
I shrug. ‘Well, I do have one, but I’m too scared to make those. I’m afraid I’ll burn myself., because that seems like something I would do.’
He nods. ‘You go sit on the couch. I’ll make one for you.’ He walks in and I curl myself back up on the couch. I hear him boiling water in the kitchen and it doesn’t take long before he gets back. ‘I didn’t know if you were in the mood for something salty or sweet, so I brought both,’ he says, placing a bowl with chips and a chocolate bar on the coffee table. He places the hot water bottle on my stomach and asks if I want tea or coffee.
‘I want hugs,’ I mumble.
He smiles. ‘Can be arranged.’
I sit up and he gets on the couch. He leans against the armrest with his back and I position myself between his legs, placing my head on his chest. ‘Thank you.’
‘Of course.’
‘I hate that I’m being punished for not being pregnant.’
He chuckles. ‘That’s quite unfair indeed.’ He places the blanket a bit better over me and pulls me closer to him, his hand pushed underneath my shirt as he places it in the dip of my waist. ‘Want something?’
‘Chocolate.’
He leans over and grabs the chocolate bar. He already breaks it into pieces and brings one to my lips.
We watch the movie and it all goes well, until it feels like my uterus is actively trying to exit my body. I groan, as I squirm in his arms. And not the good type squirm.
Boy, do I wish it was the good type of squirm.
‘Did you take a painkiller yet?’ Henry asks.
‘Yes,’ I growl, ‘I just have to wait another three hours or so before I can take the next one.’ I sit up straight and take a deep breath, but the pain isn’t subduing at all.
Henry places his thumbs on my lower back and gently massages exactly where I need it the most. ‘Is this okay?’
I nod. ‘Yes.’ I wipe my tears away and whisper: ‘Thank you.’
‘Of course.’
The pain finally starts to drift away and I grab his wrists, before leaning back against his chest and wrapping his arms around me. ‘I take that it’s better now.’
‘It is,’ I say. ‘How do you know exactly what I need?’
He doesn’t answer, but he simply places his hand on top of mine, our fingers intertwining. ‘Instinct, I guess,’ he then whispers. ‘You go sleep, sweetheart, I’ll be right here.’
✤ ✤ ✤
When I wake up, it’s five hours later since I last checked the clock and I’m not on the couch anymore, but in my bed. I look around me and see there is no sight of Henry. On my nightstand, I see a glass of water, some painkillers and a note.
He is so damn thoughtful. I see he left a note for me and after I took the painkillers, I grab the note.
Becky: You are amazing
Becky: Thank you for everything
I wonder if he even has time for me and if he is gonna respo—
Henry: Not a single problem, baby 😘
April 25th 11 a.m.
‘I’m taking you driving today,’ Henry tells me when I open the door the next morning. Thankfully I’m already dressed and ready for the day we were going to spend together. I just figured we’d go for lunch or shopping.
Not driving?
I frown. ‘What? No, what if anyone sees?’
He smiles. ‘No no, I thought of that. I made sure I found a place no one can see you.’
‘Henry,’ I say, already putting on my jacket and grabbing my purse, ‘you drive manual. I’ve heard that shit is hard.’
He nods. ‘I know, but if you learn driving in a manual, that’ll only be beneficial for you later on. I guarantee.’
‘You sure?’ I ask him. ‘I don’t want to wreck your car.’
‘You’re not gonna wreck my car, Becky,’ he says, holding out his hand for me to take, after I closed the door behind me. ‘Besides, I truly think you should learn how to drive.’
‘I don’t want weekly lessons. Not from you, not from anyone.’
‘I’m not going to force you, but it’s nice to at least get a bit familiar in the car.’ He smiles as he squeezes my hand. ‘I promise you, it’ll go fine.’
The two of us get in his Range Rover and he starts the car.‘Place your hand on the stick,’ he says.
‘Why?’
‘So we can practice with shifting gears. No worries, I’ll help you.’
I carefully place my hand on the stick and Henry places his on top of mine. ‘Since I just started driving,’ he says, ‘I’m at one. I’m going to push in one of the pedals here, before I move up to the two, okay?’
‘Okay,’ I say.
Judging from the flexing of his thigh, he pushes in the pedal and together we shift from the one to the two. ‘Very good,’ he says.
‘Henry, I barely did anything,’ I chuckle.
‘Allow me to give you compliments, Becky,’ he says with a smile.
Henry drives to a secluded place, where we have space enough to drive around a bit, without people watching. He continues to hold my hand and every now and then, we shift together.
He pushes his chair back, pats his lap and says: ‘Come here.’
My eyes enlarge. ‘What?’ I ask him. ‘Why?’
‘So you can have a feeling of driving,’ he says, ‘without actually driving.’
I unbuckle my seatbelt and sit on his lap. He lowers the seat a bit and places one hand on my thigh, while the other rests on the stick. I remember when I was younger, I would sit in the back of the car, while my sister Celine could drive with dad, sitting on his lap and driving just like this.
I sure missed out on a lot.
‘Okay, don’t you worry,’ Henry says, placing his chin on my shoulder. ‘You only worry about steering and then we’ll shift gears together.’
I can barely function like this, however as Henry starts up the car and together we shift, the car goes forward and I hold the wheel, trying to keep the car straight.
‘Turn right,’ Henry says, after we drove straight forward for a while.
‘Now?’
‘Yes now.’
I turn too sharply, because the two of us nearly tumble over.
‘Careful, careful,’ Henry says, placing his hand on the wheel, to help me not to steer too sharp and uncoordinated. ‘There you go,’ he says with a chuckle. ‘You’re doing okay.’
‘Okay is not good,’ I say. ‘I’m still very glad we’re secluded. I’d die of embarrassment if someone saw this.’
Henry starts to laugh. ‘You are doing great.’
We continue to drive like this and at one point, I don’t need Henry’s hand anymore to shift gears and minus the pedal thing (I can’t reach), I’m doing it all by myself.
Not gonna lie, I quite enjoy this.
‘You are doing great,’ he says, squeezing my side. ‘I’m proud of you.’
‘Thanks daddy,’ I say, only quickly realizing what I did. What have I done? Not me totally and severely panicking right now. I’m sitting on his lap for crying out loud. ‘Oh shit, pretend I didn’t say that. Forget it right now!’
Our eyes meet as I look over my shoulder. ‘Did you just call me daddy?’ he asks.
When he says it like that, it’s even worse. I get off his lap and while I sit on the passengers seat, I say: ‘Don’t repeat it, please. This is absolutely mortifying. I really shouldn’t have called you that.’
He cocks an eyebrow. ‘Why not?’
‘Henry!’ I exclaim. ‘This is no where near bedroom setting and I can’t call you that outside of those types of activities. Besides, we don’t even engage in those types of activities. I’m just glad that we are getting back to normal again and look at this: I’m calling you daddy. This is so embarrassing. I wanna die. I’m just getting out and stand over there, so you can hit me with your car.’
He chuckles. ‘Okay, take it easy, drama queen. It’s not that I mind. Took you long enough to say it.’
I let out a laugh, but I don’t know if that is just simply to mask my embarrassment. ‘Of course you would say it like that,’ I say. ‘I don’t even know where this came from. I’m so sorry.’
‘Don’t,’ he says. ‘It’s quite funny and once again: I didn’t mind.’
‘Can we forget it and go home?’
He nods. ‘You want to drive?’
I glare at him. ‘Not funny.’
He chuckles. ‘I’ll drive us home, baby.’
✤ ✤ ✤
When we walk back in our apartment building, the receptionist hands me a large box. ‘For you, miss Kim.’
‘Oh thanks,’ I say with a smile. I look up to Henry and say: ‘I ordered some clothes. You want to see?’
He nods. ‘Of course, baby,’ he says with a smile. He pulls the box out of my hands, so he can hold it and he wraps his arm around my shoulders.
After the daddy incident, we haven’t spoken about it (thankfully) and we simply decided to move passed the unfortunate event.
I’m so not gonna tell Viola and Genevieve about this embarrassing slip up.
We walk into my apartment and though I shouldn’t feel self conscious about the way I look (he saw me partially naked), I still hide in my bedroom when I’m changing outfits. I show him the dress I bought, a pair of jeans and a white crop top and he approves every single one of those clothing pieces.
But the last entire outfit is my favorite.
My skirt and matching crop top are both in a blush pink color and I even ordered some white boots to match with it. ‘And?’ I ask Henry, as I twirl around.
‘I love it, you look absolutely beautiful,’ he says, as he stands up with a smile. ‘This is my favorite look.’
‘Yeah?’ I ask him. Desperate for some more validation from him, I add: ‘It is?’
‘It is,’ he confirms. He walks towards me, takes my hands in his and whispers: ‘I have to apologize.’
‘Why?’
‘I’m trying, Becky,’ he says in a soft tone, ‘but I’m not trying hard enough.’
I tilt my head, as I still don’t understand what he is on about. ‘Henry, I don’t get it.’
‘I don’t want to hurt you, but I am.’
Oh… ‘It’s okay.’
He shakes his head. ‘It’s not okay. I’m so sorry.’
I pull my hands from his and wrap my arms around him. ‘Don’t work yourself up,’ I say. I can’t take this anymore. ‘It’s all okay. I’m just glad that you told me about your feelings and how you are looking at the matter. Just…’ Let me know when that changes, so we can have more sexual rendezvous. ‘Don’t forget I am always here for you.’
#henry cavill#henry cavill x ofc#henry cavill x oc#henry cavill x asian ofc#henry cavill x becky kim#henry cavill fanfic#henry cavill fandom#sugar daddy!henry cavill#sugar sugar#becky kim#asian ofc
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hi! first of all i just wanna say how grateful i am for your unending great headcanons, and for being one of those blogs who are always feeding my carlesme heart with content that sm*yer deprived them of. honestly, thank you. and idk if you've done this already, but i just wanna ask what do you think are the cullens up to during this pandemic? <3
tysm! I'm so glad people are enjoying the absolute drivel im churning out bc i have so much more coming.
I love thinking about how these guys are gettin on in corona. Most of my thoughts on this are headcanons shamelessly adopted from @askcarlislecullen and @gisellelx but ofc I have my own thoughts too! I'd really recommend you check out their fic Cien Años de Compañerismo on ao3 because it's some grade A Cullens-do-corona content imo
i personally headcanon that the pandemic has been hard on the Cullens but no one more so than Carlisle. He and Esme have been moving constantly since February 2020, following the hot spots around the world. He worked in Italy for two months at the beginning of the pandemic because he felt compelled to use his lack of fatigue where it was most needed. Briefly, he considered staying in Volterra for vampire-safe residency but Aro, as hospitable as he is to Carlisle, is undeniably creepy. Both he and Esme felt they would actually be safer living amongst dense human population in Lombardy. In March and April, Carlisle was working for entire weeks without break and when he did come home - for human appearance's sake - he was severely distressed, uncharacteristically short and anxious to get back. He's lived through a number of plagues in his time but, to this day, he's never seen anything like what he saw in Bergamo hospital.
Pretty soon he was drafted back home so he and Esme moved back to the US. Rosalie and Edward both hold medical degrees so they retrained and volunteered for the front of the pandemic. It was incredibly hard on both of them - Rosalie because, despite her inhuman strength and power, she could do nothing to stop innocent people from dying. She had never encountered innocent death before and it will take years to process when its all over. Edward because of his own undoubted medical trauma. Edward ended up having to take a long break in June of 2020 as the climbing sickness and death was getting to be too much for him. When he did return in October, he volunteered his effort outside of ICUs and emergency rooms. He takes much shorter shifts and Bella has learnt a lot about how to help someone suffering with PTS tendencies. Rosalie has resumed her newborn blood-resistance lessons with Carlisle and the extraordinary amount of time they're spending together have actually made the pair a lot closer.
As for the others, some of them have taken great advantage of online schooling becoming more widespread. Alice and Jasper took themselves to the South and are fuckin about on zoom school (fashion with a thesis on green-washing and, weirdly enough, philosophy and ethics respectively). Emmett and Esme are enjoying their time off. They wanted to dedicate some of their luxury to the pandemic efforts of course, but neither could hope to be around dying humans or vaccination centres without chowing down on somebody. Instead, they take semi-regular shifts with a volunteer domestic abuse support hotline because when Esme read about the spike in victims, she wasn't going to do nothing about it and so yes she drafted her son in too. They also donate ofc. She can't take too many calls without it getting too much for her so in her ample off time whilst Carlisle is working, she has thrown herself into multiple renovation projects. Emmett, with little to do besides keep Rosalie propped up, likes to help. He's only allowed to aid in demolition though as it's all he seems to understand. When Carlisle does come home, he immediately lies face down in Esme's cleavage in their room with the lights turned off. It's how he unwinds.
Emmett, Alice and Esme have all created tiktoks.
Bella was mid English Lit degree when the pandemic struck so she's just a stay at home vampire student.
Those that don't have to interact w society, generally don't. Getting temperature tested is honestly a ballache for someone without much of a body temperature. Carlisle, Rosalie and Edward usually just rub their hands on their foreheads really fast before going in. They also signed off on each other's lateral flows and covid swabs until the pandemic progressed to the point of human doctors just doing their own. Six needles were necessarily broken when they had to get "vaccinated".
It's weird and they're barely getting to spend any time w their loved ones in comparison to usual but the six of them that are living together are making it work the best they can. Carlisle and Esme have made a promise to take a year away from all work when this is all over as they've officially had history's shittiest 100th annivesary so far (they did do a lil something special for her 100th birthday but they'll also likely celebrate that again afterwards too).
rutabaga doesnt exist bc she creeps me out
#ask#raeser#the Cullens#see how neatly i shipped Alice and Jasper off#i dont hate them#i simply dont have any emotion towards them#they can come back after the pandemic okay#rip carlisle tho mans is fuckin tired#when will he get a break idk#i do love the idea of him and rosie getting closer over this tho#bc genuinely i think theyd be such a powerful duo being like the two smartest fuckers in the fam#also them having a real father/daughter relationship warms my cold dead heart#thank you for the ask <333
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Believe Because He is Good
a/n: I’ve been thinking of writing something like this and I read these beauties by @volleychumps and was inspired to just write out what was in my head. This is very much a self-comfort fic regarding my personal experience, ofc featuring my og hq mans :)
notes: y/e/n = your ex’s name. requests are open :) find my masterlist here
pairing: sawamura daichi x fem!reader | genre: angst (w/happy ending) | warnings: asshole exes, implied past abuse (emotional, manipulation, slight physical), implied panic/anxiety attack | word count: 2,395
Balls were bouncing off the court, slapping the wood as Karasuno wound down, practicing serves. Even Noya tried his hand at serving, the ball smacking into the net. Tanaka laughed at Noya, ceasing when a volleyball knocked into his head. The culprit, Hinata, squeaked as Tanaka scrambled after him, Noya roaring with laughter all the while, gripping Asahi’s arm as he in turn knitted his brows together. Tsukishima rolled his eyes as Yamaguchi hid a giggle behind a hand.
Despite the chaos of Karasuno, an immense feeling of pure joy washed over you as you stood in the doorway of the gym. Nothing felt quite like seeing the team together. Their bond and their energy always lifted your spirits. And, of course, the handsome captain was the cherry on top.
“Great work today, guys!” Daichi called out to his team, signalling that practice was well over. They started to casually saunter over, Suga coming to take his place as vice next to his captain. “We’ve got a practice -- Nishinoya, Tanaka, shut it -- we’ve got a practice match next week, so I wanna see you all working hard to be ready. Shimizu and Yachi left early to run some errands for Sensei, so please do your best in cleaning up. Alright, get to it!” Daichi clapped, releasing the group to their chores.
As the group dwindled, you watched as Suga tapped Daichi’s arm and jutted his head in your direction. Confused, Daichi glanced towards you and instantly his face melted from slight exhaustion into absolute adoration. He bid goodbye to Suga who clapped him on the back with a mischievous grin in return, causing Daichi to cough.
You giggled, waving to Suga whose grin widened as he threw a peace sign up before turning to do his part in cleaning up. Daichi joined you at your place by the door, lightly touching a hand to your hip, leaning down to peck your lips in greeting.
“Hi, Y/n,” he welcomed warmly as he smoothly laced your hands together as if it were second nature.
“Hi yourself,” you replied. “Shimizu told me you’d need some help cleaning today.”
He sighed and shook his head. “Still, you didn’t have to come.”
“No,” you agreed, entertaining a wicked grin, “but I heard the captain of this team was really hot so I just had to come see for myself.”
Daichi grinned at your teasing. “Well, you should see the captain’s girlfriend. I heard that she’s a real looker.”
“Mhmm,” you hummed, leaning in for another kiss which Daichi gladly gave. “So what can I help you with, Mr. Team Captain? Because with these boys you will most certainly need it.”
Daichi huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, you’re telling me.” He looked around, scanning the gym for a task you could take up. “Ah! You could take care of the water bottles, if you wouldn't mind.”
“Just dump them out, yeah?” Daichi nodded. “Seems simple enough. I’ll go do that and then when we’re done here we could go out for meat buns, maybe.”
“You struck another craving, haven’t you?”
“Your treat!” you teased in answer, snatching up the carton of bottles and escaping from the gym before Daichi could reply. Stepping out, you begin absentmindedly busying yourself with unscrewing the lids of each bottle as you make your way to the outdoor sinks. Focused on the task, you don’t notice the person in front of you until you’re crashing into them, effectively spilling the water you were on your way to empty. Well, that’s one way to do it.
“Oh, my gosh,” you crouched down, quickly picking up the bottles, “I am so so--”
“Hi, Y/n,” the boy said, looking down at you with a tight lipped smile. He was a year your junior and also your ex. You had broken up with him at the beginning of summer vacation but had fortunately not seen him since, even through several months into the school year. You had foolishly hoped that your luck would continue and you would miraculously not ever see him again. But he was also a student at Karasuno and shared not only many of your extracurricular interests but also a handful of friends, of whom were responsible for setting you two up in the first place. What they didn’t know is that they were setting you up for disaster.
The relationship had started with no base friendship or really any genuine knowledge of the other besides the words of others from the grape vine. In retrospect, it was a plain bad idea. You two had fun at first but soon into your relationship, your boyfriend had begun pressuring you. He started with little things, subtly manipulating you until it was hard for you to recognize what your own boundaries genuinely were, as blurry as he made the lines. He was cunning and cornered you into situations you didn’t want to be in as easily as he could talk. He never complimented you, never made an effort for you, never validated you. Normally, you would stand up for yourself, speak out against this mistreatment, but something about him made you weak. And not in that head over heels kinda weak. The type of weak that drained you, that made you doubt yourself where you wouldn’t have before, that twisted your own strengths to look like hindrances.
It seems that even after months apart, he still had that same, nauseating effect on you.
“Hi, Y/e/n.” You forced a pretty smile, trying your best to stay polite and to ignore all of the sudden flowing emotions, not wanting to admit to him -- nor yourself -- that the damage he had done was still raw. “Sorry about that, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”
“Still ever the clutz,” he laughed, something cruel and mocking.
You grit your teeth, smile impossibly tight. Whatever semblance of sanity you had left pleading for you to remain polite. “I’m sorry. Now if you’ll excuse me--”
He abruptly put a hand on your shoulder to stop you. “Where’re you heading?” The thinly coated politeness was easy to see through when you had suffered through the consequences of believing it.
“To rinse these.” You lifted the carton of now mostly empty water bottles. You went to move past him and tried to brush off his hand, but it only tightened, his thumb painfully digging into the dip between your shoulder and your collarbone. You inhaled shapely at the resulting shock and pain.
The movement reminded you of other times he had done this subtle control, other times he had wanted you to just shut up and comply, other times he coerced you, forced you--
“Why don’t I accompany you, hm? It’s been awhile since we’ve had the opportunity to chat. Let’s catch up,” he said with a toothy smile that even his eyes carried. The familiarity of this compelled you to learned submissiveness, breaths desperately trying to claw their way from your throat. You tried to swallow them down, but they were clawing faster than you could handle.
“I have a job to do, Y/e/n.” Your voice sounded weak, even to your own ears. You weren’t fooling him.
His thumb dug even harder. “C’mon it’s the least you can do after purposely spilling that water all over me--”
“It was an accident--!”
He raised his other hand, going in to grab your arm -- to gain more control over you -- when someone caught his wrist.
“What do you think you’re doing?” A voice said quietly, eerily so. Despite that, under its influence and familiarity, an intense calm washed over you, wrapping you in comfort and relief.
Turning, the image that greeted you of Daichi’s wrath was that of an angel of death, beautiful and fearsome in all of his glory. In his eyes he held enough heat to burn the ends of the earth. And it was all for you.
Your ex shook his wrist from Daichi’s grasp, trying to subtly shake it out. His grip on your shoulder loosened though he didn’t pull away. “I’m just catching up with an old… friend,” he spat, his polite veil thinly covering his malice.
“I’ve never known old friends to hurt each other in greeting.” Daichi was fuming, to say the least. Whatever you had against your ex, you were amazed at his sincere idiocracy. That, or his delusionment that he could genuinely stand level to Daichi.
“I wasn’t hurting her,” he sneered, “I was just saying hi.”
“You could do that without putting your hands on her. I suggest you take them off.”
Your ex snorted and glanced down at you, his hand squeezing reflexively. “Are you really just going to cower there and let him speak for you? You were always telling me what to do, I’m surprised you’re actually staying quiet.” You instinctively flinched away from him, tears threatening to sting your eyes. You knew he was wrong, that he was trying to hurt you, but that broken part of you couldn’t help but believe him.
Daichi, from the corner of his eyes, saw your distressed state, the sight causing his heart to lurch. In his eyes, you were absolutely incredible. So kind and giving and loving and it angered him to no end that anyone would be able to make you believe anything otherwise. He loved you, so incredibly much and he wanted nothing more than to protect you and keep loving you.
“Get off of me,” you whispered, trying to convince yourself that your ex no longer had any control over you.
Your ex smiled wickedly, finally taking his hand off. “There you go, sweetheart. All you had to do was ask.”
“And all you had to do was leave,” Daichi seethed.
“Sorry?” Your ex asked lamely.
“You’ve had your stupid fun, now leave. I’m giving you five seconds.” You looked at Daichi and almost flinched away from the absolute hatred burning in his features. The fire that was there before had grown impossibly hotter.
He laughed. Your asshole ex actually laughed in Daichi's face. "And what will you do?"
"Stay longer than five seconds and find out." As much as Daichi was wonderful and patient and mature, if something really got him going, he threw that all out the window. And perhaps that was Daichi's one fault. That he would gladly abandon reason when it came to you.
"Really?"
"Daichi," you breathed, "he's not worth it."
"No," your boyfriend agreed, "he's not. But it would be so satisfying." Without warning, Daichi lunged and gripped the front of your ex's shirt, pulling the shorter boy roughly to be chest to chest with him. Your ex gulped audibly, his tough persona crumbling away far too easily at a single physical touch. Granted, an angry Daichi held all the fury in the world barely contained in a wall of muscle. Even the word intimidating would be too much of an understatement. "Don't you ever touch her again. Don't look at her, don't talk to her -- in fact, stay far away from her," he snarled, boiling over like an animal on the hunt. He threw your ex away from him. You watched as he stumbled, tripping over his own feet and landing harshly on his ass. Daichi took advantage of this, squatting down over him before leaning in and whispering, "your five seconds are long gone. You can either leave or stay and find out what I can do."
Your ex glanced between you and Daichi, defiance somehow still lingering in his features. Seeing Daichi, though, had given you some courage and confidence as being around him often did. You believed in yourself again, just enough to look your ex in the eyes.
"Goodbye, Y/e/n."
He scrambled from his place on the ground (where he surely belonged, you thought bitterly) and disappeared from sight. You gasped for air, relieved he was gone, the anxiety that threatened to overtake you flooding from your body.
Daichi immediately turned to you, worry and love replacing the wrath in his eyes. "Can I hold you?"
"Please," you gasped, tears that rarely ever came already spilling silently down your cheeks.
With your permission, Daichi rushed from his crouch, pulling you gently to him as his hand came up to card through your hair. You clung onto him, holding him impossibly closer as you sobbed into his chest. He pressed a soft kiss to the top of your head, pushing hair that had fallen into your face behind your ear. You leaned into his touch, revelling in the love and comfort he provided.
"I love you, Y/n," he said as you lifted your gaze to meet his searching one, "I love you so much. I'm sorry you ever had to deal with that but… but I'm so glad that I'm here with you."
"I'm glad you're here with me, too," you sniffled, wiping at your face. "Where's everyone else?"
"Gone," he replied and you noticed for the first time that he was already changed out of his gym clothes. Just behind you was his discarded bag. "Suga and Asahi went on ahead. I thought it was odd that you didn't ever come back in so I came to check on you."
"I'm glad you did."
Daichi smiled softly. "I am too."
"I'm sorry you had to step in. I don't know why I couldn't handle it, I usually can it's just-- he--"
"Hey, hey," he lifted his other hand to your face, holding you as he gently coaxed you to look at him, "you have nothing to be sorry for."
"But--"
"No buts. You did a great job. You can't just erase what he did to you or how he made you feel. You're allowed to react the way you did, Y/n. Okay?"
You nod. "Okay."
Daichi smiled warmly. "Good. Now how about we put those bottles away and we go out for meat buns."
"Your treat?"
Daichi laughed, the sweet sound bringing a smile to your lips. "Yeah, my treat." He laced his fingers through yours, still grinning.
"Daichi?"
"Hm?" he hummed.
"Thank you. I love you."
His smile softened as he leaned down, kissing you softly. "I love you too, Y/n."
And because it was him, because Daichi was so kind and charming and good, you truly believed him.
taglist: @samwrights (ily mom)
#sawamura daichi x reader#daichi x reader#sawamura daichi#daichi#haikyuu x reader#haikyuu imagines#thanks for letting me tag you in my stuff mom ahhhhhhh#this is the definition of a self-comfort fic#it was really cathartic for me to write!#sorry if it went too hard for anyone yikes#tw: abuse#believe because he is good
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I seriously debated keeping this one in the drafts...
Okay, I felt compelled to analyze the timeline of all of Taylor’s rumored/alleged boyfriends (barring any that she supposedly dated pre-fame) and why I believe they could have been fake/pr setups...
Disclaimer: this is all speculative and is just my opinion. No one has to agree... we don’t all have to agree because really the only people who know the truth are Taylor and those she has shared it with. I do have a very skeptical view of the entertainment industry and pr, so that is a bias I will own up to. I especially think Taylor, for a very long time, was willing to play along with the pr side of things, but eventually reached a breaking point (as any normal human under that amount of pressure and scrutiny likely would). Whether that means she has faked all of her public relationships or some of them or just aspects of them... I can’t really, truly know that. So, just keep in mind that this is one little, insignificant person’s view of Taylor’s public relationships and that I do not personally know any of the people involved...
Don’t take this too seriously, peeps... I’ll even tag it as crack theory...
Joe J.: June/July-September/October 2008
If nothing else this feels like a typical pr setup of two young stars. He had Camp Rock, a Jonas Bros’ album and a tour and concert film to promote. Camp Rock came out on 6/20/2008. The Jonas Bros’ third album, A Little Bit Longer, was released on 8/12/2008. In August, Taylor joined the band on stage during the filming for a concert movie that would be released in February 2009.
Taylor had an album that was released just weeks after their alleged breakup. An album which contained a few songs that would be attributed to Joe J. due to the publicity surrounding their relationship. Hmm... what a great way to drum up interest in an album that includes quite a few heartbreak songs. Not saying I know that is the case, but they both had a lot to promote between June and November 2008.
Lucas T.: March-April/May 2009
He was in the Hannah Montana movie, which was released 4/10/2009. Taylor had a cameo in that movie and also wrote a song for the soundtrack. Lucas also played Taylor’s love interest in the mv for YBWM, which premiered 5/2/2009 on CMT. He was in one of her Myspace vlogs in April 2009. IMO, this was a setup to promote the Hannah Montana movie and the YBWM mv, but it didn’t really take off. Lucas later said they dated briefly, but he realized that he just saw her as a friend...
Taylor L.: August-December 2009
They played a couple in Valentine’s Day. In September, just days after the VMAs where KW interrupted Taylor on stage as Taylor L. stood a few feet away, Taylor went to an Owl City concert at the Bowery Ballroom where she met the man who would supposedly inspire “Enchanted”. Umm... “please don’t be in love with someone else”... even though I am currently dating Taylor L. and he is my forever crush, but like, I am totally crushing on you actually. I have no clue if any Swifties have ever picked up on that discrepancy.
Oh, and Taylor L. also “dated” Selena in early 2009 and I doubt Taylor would go there, even if they ended on good terms. I mean, it’s possible, but idk it seems unlikely to me.
John M.: December 2009-February 2010
I think Taylor admired him as a musician (this seems to have been mutual with John praising her talent multiple times) and she may have seen him as a mentor at first. I do not believe that anything happened between them beyond that. I think he was so thrown off by “Dear John” because of that. He was already tweeting in the spring of 2009, hinting at wanting to collaborate with Taylor. The album their duet was on came out in November 2009, right before they started “dating”. Although it wasn’t released as a single until June 2010.
Besides, Liz (friend or otherwise) has remained a fan of John and even went to his concert a few years back. So, either she didn’t care that he screwed one of her supposed good friends over or it didn’t go down how people were led to believe it did.
Jake G.: October 2010-December/January 2011
Unless this relationship started much earlier than everyone has been led to believe, it is very unlikely that ATW is about him. It certainly seems to have been written prior to the maple latte/scarf/sister’s house articles that were abundant after that pap walk. Either Taylor used him as a scapegoat for a song that wasn’t about him or he was a willing participant in a pr scheme to make sure people thought the song was about him.
He couldn’t have been setup with his costar, Anne H., because she was already in a long term, committed relationship. At the time Taylor was still good pr since she was still known as a kind of girl next door, all American type with genuine talent.
I’m not saying I know for a fact it was fake. I’m saying there are plenty of reasons why I think it was. Everyone has different perspectives... mine is that this was purely a pr setup.
Will A.: sometime in 2010 and/or mid or fall 2011-January 2012 or May (?) 2012
They were likely just friends, but people did think they were dating back then. The songs that people think he wrote about Taylor (”White Dress” and “Kiss Me Slowly”) were recorded in 2010. So, if she started dating him in September 2011, which people think because the dress she wore to his May 2012 birthday party was the one she is wearing on the “Begin Again” cover art, then those songs aren’t about her. About the party dress... Sarah B., who took the picture, was also friends with the Parchute guys, so maybe the photoshoot that the picture on that cover art came from happened earlier that day.
He was friends with Liz’s ex Jason and one of his best friends is still to this day very close friends with Liz, so that’s probably how he met Taylor. I think Taylor hung out with that crew a bit back then. AND those times Will and Taylor were seen hanging out in late fall/early winter 2011, Jason and/or the other friend were there. Yes, I am saying that Taylor was hanging out with Jason in November/December 2011, just a few months after he and Liz supposedly broke up. She was also still hanging out with Liz a lot at that time and after, though, so I think it was all good.
Conor K.: July 2012-September/October 2012
This was Taylor’s worst pr. If it was a real relationship... it is borderline predatory. If it is fake... still a big yikes... I don’t have much to say about this one. I think it was fake and an attempt at making him the muse for “Starlight” (how cute, this song she wrote about his grandparents sort of became about them), “Begin Again” (nevermind that the copyright record say the song was written in 2011), and EHC (nevermind that the song was written in May 2012). It would have been great pr, though, if he was a couple years older. Taylor should have fired Paula after this one... (because the public should have never known about it, real or fake).
Harry S.: November 2012-January 2013
Similar to all the others before (and after), there were “random” sightings, including a birthday trip to “the lakes” and blatant pr (go on and wear that fox sweater and paper airplane necklace, Taylor...). That NYE kiss, though...
Calvin: February 2015-May/June 2016
Taylor finally dropped her old publicist and brought on Tree. First step, was to erase the “boy crazy”/“man eater” label (and possibly the “professional beard” label) and become an independent woman who just wants to have fun with her gal pals. It got a bit gayer than expected (whether Kaylor was really a thing to some degree or not is irrelevant to the point). The gay rumors were actually catching on even faster and people were like “oh, that’s why she couldn’t keep a man” (sexist/homophobic as all of this is/was, ofc).
Enter Calvin... a playboy DJ who some might deem “tall and handsome as hell” (peeps, I am not really the best judge of a man’s attractiveness, so this is just how I think people see him). He seems sooo straight. I don’t know how else to say it. All of her other supposed boyfriends had gay rumors, whether or not those rumors were just people gossiping or had some basis in reality... I think he is the only one that doesn’t have them, that I know of anyway.
I know a lot of people think they were really together, but I think this was an attempt to have her in a more serious, long term relationship to counteract both the gay rumors (not necessarily as a cover for a woman because I don’t think all of the guys have been or need to have been covers for a secret relationship with a woman, it’s about appearing straight) and the “can’t keep a man” narrative that had followed her around. Even if they were in some sort of situationship (not what I think, just theorizing here), it wouldn’t have been a steady thing and they seemed to not like each other very much when all was said and done.
I still laugh that he said Taylor was the opposite of his type (and specified that he likes brunettes) in November 2014 and then he allegedly dated her for almost a year and a half, starting literally a few months after he made that comment. If that was a real relationship, he was either playing it cool when he said that or he misjudged her or Taylor was determined to date him because it was a challenge.
Either way, it seems like her team controlled the public narrative and maybe Calvin was okay with that at first, but over time it seemed like he wasn’t a big fan of that. Maybe that visit to the strip mall massage parlor was a bit of a rebellion...
At least they both got some royalties out of it...
Joe A.: September 2016-Present
Taylor’s team absolutely has control of the public narrative and he seems okay with that. He is a literal mirrorball. He is whatever Taylor supposedly says he is in her songs/whatever Swifties want him to be.
He likes to drop fun facts like how his family jumps into a freezing pond at Christmas or that he worked at a yogurt shop as a teenager. Whether they are real or not... he seems to be playing into the pr. Dropping little bits of information that will tie him to her songs... it is very “maple latte”/“paper airplane necklace”/dark jeans and Nikes... OR Taylor is just taking the few facts people know about him and using it to pin songs on him.
If he is a beard (which imo he likely is), I think he gets along with Taylor and doesn’t mind the minimal pr of it all.
I don’t think he is WB, either way...
Again this is just my view of things. This has no bearing on which women Taylor may have dated. I could do a separate post on what I think that timeline might look like.
One point I will reiterate is that I do not think that a beard would always be a cover for a secret relationship with a woman. I think it sometimes is, but it can be more of a general cover for someone who is gay. So many people think Taylor is the straightest person who has ever lived simply because of her public dating record. I mean, heteronormativity and homophobia also play a big part in that...
Edit: I completely skipped Tom lol. I just don’t buy that one either. Maybe he thought it would be good publicity or maybe he was led on to think it was more real than it was or maybe he was just having fun. Idk. All kinds of articles written about them at the time included some caveat about how they seemed fake or were maybe filming something...
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how different is writing an actual book as opposed to writing fanfiction besides the obvious (og characters/backstories/plots)? Bc publishing my writing is something i’ve always wanted to do, but i’ve never felt compelled to be in depth with metaphors/subplots/motifs, and I’m sure they show up but in a natural way? Does that make me a less efficient author for just wanting to create vs putting together a puzzle? I’ve always liked books with plots to be clear and forward, while leaving room for dissection as like an extra activity vs something thats necessary, if that makes any sense, and I feel like that reflects in my own writing and I can’t tell if that makes it less — and for lack of a better word — good. Ik this is a lot, but generally if you’ve got any tips regarding the process and importance of some aspects of professionally writing, id greatly appreciate it <3
Hi, anon! Thanks for asking, let's see what I can do for you for some answers! ♥
How different is writing a book compared to writing fanfiction?
In my personal experience the biggest difference - just in writing, not editing, publishing, etc - writing a book versus writing fanfiction is actually with characterization. If you have a fully developed character in your mind from knowing what happens to them it can be kind of difficult to write them pre-development and have them change on-page. In fanfiction, usually you already have your starting point with the character and you only have to worry about how to get them where you want them.
(And also you usually can't use lyrics for your titles lol.)
In Depth Subplots & Motifs (& Foreshadowing, etc)
These things are super hard and can be very complicated, so don't worry too much if they're not your favorite thing to work on!
I think at least in regards to motif, if you're really writing from a genuine place it pretty much takes form as you go. Sometimes in the plotting stage you have only the "point" or you have only the fun delivery mechanisms - the characters, plot, setting. Whatever little pieces you start with, in this particular case most of the time the easiest way to figure out the shape of everything else is to just dive in and let it happen.
I also do that a lot with fanfiction, actually, because often it's a total accident. @kedreeva has a post about why sometimes you can realize you have to rework your plot only to find that what you've already written already supports your new direction. I think pretty much everything said there can apply just as readily to motifs and to the purpose your story is meant to fulfill for the audience, or for you. I don't remember any exact words from the post though so I don't think I could find it lmfao. It might be a ways back in my /writing-process tag, but maybe they have easier access to it and can share it again, in which case I'll come back and add the link.
As for subplots, those are really fucking hard and there's not much else I can really tell you about 'em. However! You don't always necessarily need a subplot. They can add extra depth to your characters and to your world, or they can emphasize your main plot, but frankly good character development alone can do those things just as well. It can be a little difficult to get a full novel if you don't have a subplot, but not everyone is a novel writer and that's good! Not everyone is a novel reader either.
Metaphors are also mostly for good flavor. Depending on your subject matter and your style, you might not need them either. Off the top of my head I don't think Steig Larsson (Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) used many metaphors in his series, and that mostly just made the content feel more grounded. It's not for every reader (some might call it 'dry' or 'dense' or something like that) but for some people that's their preference!
You do of course need some background and flavor text other than just A, B, and C things happened, of course, but they can be in any style or amount of detail that you prefer. Your editor and test readers will let you know if something doesn't make sense or seems incomplete.
Does that make me a less efficient author?
If you're writing fiction, it's not really about efficiency! It's about being engaging. Stephen King and J.R.R. Tolkien both spend pages upon pages giving textbook-like information on their worlds or on character backstory that I personally would have said to cut if I was their editor, but again some audiences prefer that kind of read!
If you think it's more interesting/important/fun to spend time on literal description versus making your work fit an aesthetic, then that's what will be interesting/important/fun for the audience you'll find eventually.
The only thing you can really do to find a style that you are satisfied with and is readable is to practice, share your work, be open to critique (when appropriate ofc), and read a lot.
Other Tips
In fanfiction having an editor, beta-readers, critique partners, and maintaining a group of peers is all really kind of optional and honestly even above and beyond. In publishing that is 100% not true. You absolutely need an editor and test readers, and you need to keep up with other people in the industry and especially in your genre and/or publishing method (traditional, indie, self). Mutually assured success is necessary - not a nice extra - in publishing. You have to be willing to spend time on others' work and to accept the value of their input on yours if you want to make good art and reach an audience.
Again, thanks for sending in an ask. I hope this helped!
♥ Jack
I'm an award winning author. AMA!
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Chapter 1: Welcome Back
Current Story Masterlist // Previous story // Maleny’s Masterlist
Pairings: Klaus Mikaelson x OFC
Pronunciation of OC’s name: Ma-leh-nee
Requested tag: @ocfairygodmother @anotherunreadblog @transformerfan97 @stareyedplanet @perfectlystiles
Story Summary: As they wait for the arrival of their long lost son, Klaus & his family face the prophecy spelling death for them all. Meanwhile, Maleny comes face to face with a past left buried within her thousand lives. She's faced with the one truth that she never thought would happen. Has her heart always belonged to the same man? The truth may sting and the enemies will take the advantage. Against their enemies and losses, Maleny and Klaus come up with a new promise: they will come back to each other in the end. First, they must save each other.
~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~
The Quarter was having a relatively calm night, as had been the custom for several months now. No one could have ever guessed there had almost been yet another battle among the supernatural. Thankfully, everything had calmed and although there there were still unresolved issues, there was no more threats coming to the Mikaelsons.
Well, perhaps Klaus could think of one but it was no threat to others besides him. He had forgotten how chatty Maleny could be when she learned new things, or when she was simply excited.
"And did you know they made chocolate red!? That is so weird!" Maleny laughed, while flipping through a magazine. "And then I heard about what humans really think vampires are!" she laughed again, "Do you know you're supposed to glitter outside?"
Klaus seemingly paid more attention to the bed covers' edges than her. Maleny was straddled over him, holding a magazine in her hands, and rapidly telling him all she was discovering of the new world. Frankly, that was not what he pictured when he'd suggested they move back to his room earlier in the day.
After a while, Klaus snatched the magazine from her hands, tossing it over the bed. Maleny pouted and gave him a glare, "I was reading that! And you weren't listening!"
"I was, selectively," Klaus said calmly, languidly turning his head to her. He moved up halfway to meet her 'pout' and proved that he was, indeed, listening. "You want to try the red chocolate, you can't believe they put pineapple on pizzas, the fact there's reversible sweaters bewilders you and yes, I did know of that ridiculous glittering rule."
Maleny stared at him a full two minutes before teasingly smiling, "Hmm…" she put her hands over his bare chest, "...all I heard was you watched that Twilight movie."
"I would rather dagger myself than ever watch that," Klaus rolled his eyes, "Humans are idiots."
"So broody," Maleny continued to tease, "How do I make that go away?"
"I have some...suggestions..." Klaus passed a hand down her hair and to her arm.
Maleny chuckled. They had somewhere to be yet they had fooled around for quite some time, and now he was less than half-dressed and she was still in sleeping garments. "While that is mighty tempting, I want to read a little more. Every accomplishment these humans have made is amazing. Is it true there's an actual place in Europe where the streets are full of water? And people have to literally sail on boats to get through?"
Klaus nodded, "Venice is quite beautiful. I suppose you'll have to see for yourself when we visit."
Maleny's eyes lighted up at the insinuation, "We're...we're gonna go? Are you serious?"
"Of course," Klaus reached to run a hand down her loose hair, "I was thinking of a family trip for when Nicolas came home."
"Ooh, I like the idea," Maleny gasped at the idea.
"I thought you would…"
"I do," Maleny grinned, giving him a kiss. One kiss soon turned into a second, which then turned into a third, and suddenly Maleny found herself being flipped over. She now gazed at a smirking hybrid above her, "Don't we have an art exhibit to go to? Your art exhibit?" she innocently questioned.
"It can wait a little while more," Klaus pressed another kiss to her lips, soon turning into dozens more.
~ 0 ~
Amarrah Collins grimly walked alongside Vincent Griffith down a street where police lights were flashing and brightening up the 'do not cross' tape that covered nearly half the street.
The French witch sighed as they grew closer to the crime scene, "Tell me again why it is you decided to call me in?"
"Well," Vincent coughed awkwardly, "to be honest, my first choice was Cami but she's not answering-"
"She wouldn't," Amarrah agreed with a small smile, "She's a bit busy dealing with the matters of this Quarter. Seeing as she's now controlling it, she's got a lot to deal with."
Vincent threw her a playful glare, "Oh, and she's a bigshot now?"
"Hey," Amarrah elbowed him on his side, "she's doing good and you have to acknowledge that."
"True, true," Vincent nodded, "I thought because of her psychology experience she would have some insight on this crime. But you're not so bad, seeing as you were an officer in your days?"
"Detective," Amarrah corrected with a smirk.
"Ooh, maybe you're better than Cami," Vincent shared a chuckle with her. "Now listen, me and all the P.D. have a relationship that goes back to that nastiness with my ex-wife. I'm their expert in anything that even seems occult. And every so often, they come across the aftermath of some black magic and they call me in."
"Hmm, and I'm to assume they've ran into something even you haven't seen yet?"
Amarrah's question was never answered as they turned for an alley where they were greeted by a blonde man, presumably a detective. "Is this your friend the shrink?" he nodded to Amarrah who frowned at such a distasteful greeting.
"Hey, I'm a Detective and you need to learn some manners," she gave him a pointed finger.
Amused, the man smiled, "Detective? From overseas? Well, you should have said so."
"You didn't exactly give me a chance," Amarrah slightly lightened up. "I'm Amarrah Collins."
The man took her hand to shake and introduced himself as well, "Detective Will Kinney. Now, I'm not trying to be rude but I was really hoping the shrink would be here."
"Technically not a shrink," Amarrah clarified, "And she's a bit busy. But I'm pretty good myself with strange cases. What am I doing here?"
"It's an impressionable sight," Will warned as he led Amarrah and Vincent further down the alley.
"Oh believe me when I say I have seen impressionable sights all my life," Amarrah shared a look with Vincent, almost laughing at the irony. However, once they passed a dumpster and saw the corpse, the smile vanished from her face. "Although this would be a first…"
"Maybe now you would consider having your almost-shrink friend looking into this," Will patted her arm before leaving the two.
"Clearly a vampire," Amarrah announced several minutes after the Detective had left.
The victim was a middle-aged man, dressed in a fancy black suit. He had his wrists and elbows held up by ropes, making him seem like a puppet. What had horrified Amarrah was the gruesome, wide slash the man had from ear to ear, still dripping fresh blood.
"Which one, precisely?" Vincent raised an eyebrow at her.
"Well, we'll have to figure that out ourselves," Amarrah gulped but could not, for the life of her, take her eyes off the corpse.
While unpleasant, Amarrah found traits she could easily identify from a vampire. She didn't know whether to thank the Mikaelsons for her newfound knowledge of the vampire world or be ashamed of herself for being unfazed with the work before her.
"Well, I'm no forensic psychologist, but whoever did this took their time," she started making conclusions to Vincent, "He bled- a lot- which means he was alive... but it was like he just stood here. These ropes are just for display," she gestured, "He wasn't bound- there are no marks on his wrists, no signs of struggling or clawing…"
"He was compelled," Vincent said what she had been trying to get at, "Maybe Rich-Boy pissed off the wrong vampire."
Detective Kinney came back to join them at the moment and cut off any vampire talk immediately. "How are you guys doing over here? Tell me you got something."
Amarrah quickly came up with a less supernatural conclusion. "It seems methodical. Precise. The wounds might have a special meaning to the killer. Not a formal ritual, but intentional. And, the things we do on purpose, we tend to repeat."
"Well," Kinney looked mildly impressed with her work, "that's not going to bode well for us."
"I'm afraid not," Amarrah agreed with a resigned sigh. She knew the next person they would have to talk to.
~ 0 ~
Now dressed in a white blouse and leather black pants, Maleny strode into the lounge room where Freya was sat on the ground with Hope, attending to her. "You forgot this, Freya," Maleny said, holding a small golden necklace as she joined the two.
"Sorry, I forgot to put it back on her when I took her out of the bath," Freya apologized and moved to handle the matter herself when Maleny waved with a hand she would do it herself.
Maleny pushed her recently curled hair behind her shoulders and got on her knees. "It's fine," she sat back on her legs and gently put the necklace around Hope's neck, "There we go, sweetheart," she kissed the toddler's head. "Now you be sure to show that to your Mummy again, alright?" she raised the necklace's locket and opened it up, revealing a picture of Hayley inside, "Who's that, Hope? Mummy. It's your Mummy."
Freya watched the toddler intently stare at the picture inside the locket. Since breaking Hayley's curse had turned out to be much more difficult than was assumed, Maleny had taken all measures so that Hope never forget who her mother was. The necklace had been a gift from her, and every chance she got she made sure to show the picture of Hayley to Hope.
After a while, Hope looked up from the locket and squealed as she reached for Maleny's golden necklace. Maleny laughed and picked her up, "Excuse you, young lady, I had this one," she pointed to Hope's locket, "bought for you so you could leave mine alone."
Hope paid no more attention as she gripped Maleny's necklace. She babbled to herself instead.
Maleny sighed and looked up at Freya, "Kids…"
Freya knew the word meant millions for the blonde, and especially now considering that Nicolas had made no such appearance nor contact. While Maleny tried to keep strong and simply wait, it was getting more difficult. To say, even Klaus often found himself impatient and broody over the subject. Their patience was slimming and Freya wondered when the couple would reach their breaking point and go in search for Nicolas themselves.
"So, where exactly are you headed?" Freya then asked as an attempt to disway any bad feelings. "If I'm correct Klaus' artwork doesn't open to the public until tomorrow night."
"He says he wants to give me a private tour," Maleny smiled deviously, instantly making Freya raise a hand and stop her.
"Spare me the details or I jump out," she warned. Maleny laughed at the antics but didn't continue.
Elijah walked in at that moment and smiled at the sight of his niece, probably the only thing that managed to make him smile nowadays.
Maleny smiled at him, "You wanted to hold her?"
"No, no, um…" Elijah seemed restless, unable to decide what it was he wanted. In another time, it would have surprised Maleny, but knowing what had happened between him and Cami, it had become a rather usual thing for him.
Freya exchanged a look with Maleny, and partly to help her brother, she offered a distraction, "Were you coming in to make plans for tomorrow? It's the full moon and I assume you want me to go with you?"
"I'd offer myself but…" Maleny made a face, "...I don't think Hayley's quite ready to see me yet. I bet she's still pissed - and with great motives."
Elijah didn't exactly want to agree with her and make her feel worse, so he simply waved a hand and said back, "I thought tomorrow I could just take Hope myself. Give you a night off," he looked at Freya.
"Are you sure you don't deserve a night off?" Freya challenged, "Perhaps several days off...or a week…?"
Elijah looked to the side, aggravated the same thing was being offered to him - take a break from the Quarter. "No, I'm fine, thank you," and with that, he left the room.
Freya shook her head and walked to the couch, plopping down, "Poor brother, he's suffering a lot."
"Yeah, well, he's not the only one," Maleny reminded.
"But it's her fault, you know," Freya shrugged.
"No, it's not. Cami's angry too, and she's hurt. It's gonna be some time before either can move on from what happened."
"If you ask me, I think Cami's doing a lot better than Elijah," Freya gave the blonde a hard look, more inclined to defend her brother. "She's taken the reigns of the city and hasn't remotely directed a word to Elijah, me, or even Klaus. It's like she's trying to forget we exist and frankly I find that rude."
Maleny playfully rolled her eyes, "Oh, Freya, if you knew the Cami I knew, you would see she's barely keeping herself from falling apart."
~ 0 ~
The following morning, the newest leader of the Quarter had gotten up early to train with Marcel at St. Ann's church. The place had been remodeled into a training gym for anyone interested no matter vampire, wolf, witch, human, etc. At the center of the place stood a large cage made of chain-link fence (and reinforced with steel for those tougher visitors). This was where Cami and Marcel currently were, sparring with each other. Marcel was having quite a surprise as Cami nearly managed to get him from one angle. She ultimately pinned him to the fence.
"How's that?" she grinned ecstatically.
Marcel arched an eyebrow, using Cami's momentary distraction to turn the tables over and pin her to the wall. "Now I told you, don't get cocky," he laughed and released the blonde from his neck hold.
Cami rolled her eyes but smiled anyways, "My bad."
"But you are getting far better," Marcel praised sincerely after a minute, "You've improved over these months and I'm proud of you. You'd be quite the challenge in a real fight."
Cami light heartedly nodded her thanks. Although she hadn't explicitly told Marcel the reason for her endeavoring to train harder, he had already made the assumption it was to make sure no one would ever so easily snap her neck anymore - no one would ever break her again.
"Although," Marcel's voice pulled Cami from her thoughts, "if you do get into a fight, you'd have a hell of a backup with the guys," he nodded over to the other vampires working out in the room.
Cami rolled her eyes, "They're not an army. And I wish you'd stop calling them that," she laughed, "One of these days they'll take it seriously."
"C'mon, just a little joke between a previous city holder to the new one," Marcel nudged her, both sharing another laugh.
"You could have been with me, both of us looking after the Quarter," Cami sobered up and warmly looked at her friend, "And the offer still stands, you know. I don't know much about politics and you definitely know how to keep things in order."
Marcel shook his head, patting Cami on the arm. "It's better this way. If I were to take back the Quarter, sooner or later Klaus would endeavor to take the crown again. There's just too much tension boiling. At least with you, we know Klaus wouldn't, and couldn't, hurt you even if he wanted to."
Cami chuckled lightly, shaking her head disappointingly. She had kept her words to Amarrah and done what she could to help more people out. After officially quitting school, she kept the long-ago promise she made Elijah and took her place at the factions meetings. Although it was tough to convince the other faction leaders, which now also included Davina (being Regent of the witch covens), agreed to let her lead the city in a peaceful manner, both for humans and vampires. Because of her, the Quarter had had many months of peace.
That wasn't to say she had much peace, however.
"Cami?" Amarrah called as soon as she and Vincent came into the place. Cami nodded and walked out of the fighting ring, along with Marcel, and headed to the two mortals. "We have a problem," Amarrah announced while Vincent pulled out his cellphone. "Last night there was a murder and we're pretty sure it was a vampire."
"Or vampires," Vincent made sure to add in. He handed the phone now showing the pictures of victim, which Cami took and began to swipe through as she and Marcel studied the injuries.
"Gnarly stuff," Marcel sighed, already beginning to assume who could have done the murder.
"Yeah, the guy was torn apart," Amarrah shook her head, "I mean, there are no obvious puncture wounds, but whoever did that had to be a vampire. And nobody heard any screams, so he had to have been compelled to just stand there and suffer."
"Since when are you into this stuff?" Cami raised an eyebrow, curiously looking between the two.
"I'm a Detective, remember?" Amarrah laughed, "They were looking for you but got me instead."
Marcel stuck to the subject more seriously and handed back the phone to Vincent, " You think this was us? The guys know better than to leave a body in the streets."
Vincent didn't seem to buy it as he gestured to the other vampires in the room, "How well do you know your guys?"
"It doesn't make sense for us to leave dead bodies on the streets," Cami cut in, "That would eventually get into the headlines which would make tourism drop. We don't mess with our food supply, Vincent."
"Maybe someone new lost control?" Amarrah offered an alternative that could very well be plausible.
"Maybe you guys should consider that our guys aren't the only vampires in town."
Amarrah then frowned, even Cami understanding the implication, "You don't think this was work from the Mikaelsons?"
"They're a hot mess whether they want to admit it or not," Marcel put his hands in a neutral manner, "Klaus has 'patiently' been waiting for the arrival of his long lost son who still hasn't even made contacts. And Elijah…" Marcel cast a sideways glance to the blonde vampire beside him, who was already shifting awkwardly, "...kinda had trouble of his own," he left it at that out of consideration for Cami. "Pick one."
"They wouldn't," Amarrah declared, far more sure than the other three with them. Frankly, she was surprised Cami could believe that.
"Listen, I know you all like to think Maleny can control Klaus but the truth is sooner or later he'll cut loose because that's just who he is," Marcel shrugged, not sorry to say the utter truth - at least his view on it anyways. "This is some wicked fairy tale you all like to think, but if you want a real suspect go to the compound."
As Marcel turned to leave, Amarrah mumbled a couple words to Vincent and he walked out as well. Afterwards, Amarrah sharply looked at Cami, seriously asking, "You don't actually think Elijah could do this right?"
Shifting to her side, Cami quietly answered, "I don't know."
The answer didn't seem to please Amarrah, in fact it almost made her angry. "You're not gonna let these feelings cloud your mind are you? It wouldn't be fair."
"Oh none of this is fair," Cami waved a hand at the witch, "I'm only saying that maybe, for a moment, one of them lost control. I'm not accusing them, it's just an idea."
"You're such a liar," Amarrah rolled her eyes, "I'll let you know what else I come up with Vincent. And don't worry, I won't tell Mal any of this nonsense you and Marcel just uttered."
Cami playfully rolled her eyes and waved goodbye to the French witch, choosing to forget the moment they had just passed through. That was what she tended to do nowadays anyways when it came to the Mikaelsons - forget and move on.
~ 0 ~
"Oooh, I like your dress, Miss Mikaelson," Maleny laughed as Freya quickly looked down to her going-out dress as if she'd forgotten what she'd put on.
The two blondes were in the courtyard, Maleny coming down from the stairs, while Freya looked into her bag for her last things before going out.
"You clean up nice yourself, Miss Rowan," Freya winked.
"I don't know, is this what you wear to an art exhibit?" Maleny chuckled sheepishly as she looked down at herself, truthfully unsure. She had opted for a tight dark blue dress that reached above her knees with an open black jacket over it.
"Don't know, but it goes great at a party," Freya nudged her with a smirk, "You said you'd come with me the next time I went to one."
"Ooh, I did say that, huh?" Maleny made a face, clearly remembering the promise she made to Freya after having to decline the same type of offer in favor of a dinner with Cami and Amarrah.
"Get away from my date, Freya," Klaus warned as he approached the two blondes from the downstairs corridors. "She's already said 'yes' to me a long while ago."
"Also true," Maleny pointed to him in thought, "Oh dear…"
"Lighten up," Freya momentarily frowned, "She can come to my party first and then go to your exhibit."
"Or," Klaus gave her a smirk, as they probably assumed what he would say next, "she could go to the exhibit...and stay there."
"She said yes to me before she said 'yes' to you!"
"Okay then," Maleny cut in between the two siblings, holding her arms out to keep the two from continuing arguing, "How about I go to Freya first, party a little, and then I meet you at your exhibit and stay there for as long as you like?"
"Maleny," Klaus tilted his head, his tone implying he wasn't quite agreeing with her.
Maleny turned to Klaus, languidly draping her arms over his shoulders, "Oh c'mon, your sister doesn't know the city as much as I do. I'm there, one hour, two hours and then I switch venues...where I will be all yours."
"Oh, brother," Freya muttered under her breath, almost gagging at the sight.
"Using your charms will one day fail you," Klaus warned her while pushing back a strand of her hair.
"I doubt it," Maleny cheekily grinned, "I learned it from the Mikaelsons - among other things."
"You're almost one of us," Freya spoke up behind them, over her gagging moment and now smiling at the two. "You know...except for that big 'Rowan' at the end of your name."
Maleny blushed and removed one hand from Klaus to stand sideways and glance at Freya, "Well, it is my name," she said quietly, twiddling with one of her blonde curls, blushing fiercer as she felt Freya smirking wider at her.
"You could always change it," Klaus casually said, misunderstanding the implication his sister was trying to give him.
Maleny let her curl drop and lightly sighed, "I guess…" her tone went slightly sour, and disappointed. It's not that she expected something grand for her to truly become a Mikaelson, but she did want a little something more than just 'you could always change it'. Feeling a little more disappointed suddenly, she looked at the two siblings, "I forgot my purse upstairs."
Freya watched the blonde take her sudden leave with almost a sense of amusement. She waited until Maleny was completely gone before teasing her younger brother. "For a man that's lived a thousand years, you sure are clueless."
Klaus arched an eyebrow at the woman, displeased at the insult, "Come again? What, pray tell, have I apparently done this time?"
Freya laughed and stepped towards him, "You really didn't see how disillusioned Mal was after you so poorly suggested she just 'change her name' like it was a piece of paper."
"But...it is," Klaus said slowly, still not understanding the problem, "In fact, with us, it's only a matter of changing how you introduce yourself. There's no need for legal matters."
Freya rolled her eyes, wondering if this was what it was to have brothers. Were they supposed to be clueless? Well, she already had to tend to a clueless Elijah who would simply not admit his true feelings for, and directly to, Cami. And now she had to deal with Klaus, who so stupidly did not see what it was Maleny actually wanted. She supposed with Klaus, it was a little easier considering the two were actually together and in full knowledge of what they felt for each other. It was just pointing out the delicate details that needed to be resolved.
"Let me ask you some simple questions, alright?" she began calmly, "Have you ever pictured anything else for you and Maleny?"
Although Klaus couldn't see what she was trying to get at, he went along with her questions. "'Anything else'," he mimicked her tone, "was simply a child," he smirked triumphantly, "And as we all know, that's been resolved."
Freya upheld her calm look despite it looking like she was losing. "And...beyond that?"
"What else is there, Freya?"
"How about the 'forever' part? The part where Maleny is turned so the 'always and forever' can actually be 'always and forever'?"
The question immediately put Klaus in a mood, "That is none of your business," he declared and made to leave...but Freya wasn't having it.
"So that's your plan, then? Ignore the inevitable truth until Maleny has aged and is no longer that youthful blonde you're so used to?" Klaus stopped walking, but kept his back to her. "Maleny is mortal again, brother, and by nature's law she will age," Freya continued, "Do you intend to leave her like that? Bury her down at the graveya—"
"ENOUGH!" Klaus boomed and turned back for his sister, stalking up to her, "You will desist in any of that sort of talk...especially when Maleny is around."
Freya sighed, completely unalarmed despite having provoked a great rage in her brother. "Don't be upset because I'm calling in the truth. And that was all just to make a point."
"I'm not interested in your point," Klaus scoffed.
"My point was trying to get you to see how disappointed Mal was when you so poorly told her to just change names because she expected more."
"Like?"
"Oh my God," Freya had a small laugh to herself, "Do I have to go buy the ring myself and ask her to marry me instead?" The realization struck Klaus, and hard, and for a minute he was left frozen in his place. Freya laughed again, patting his shoulder, "There we go, brother. Ponder on that, will you?" she looked past him to the stairs, where Maleny was quietly making her way down. "Looks like my date's here—Mal!"
"I'm ready," Maleny assured as Freya walked towards her. "Klaus, I'll be there in about an hour and a half," she called to the hybrid, but he simply waved a hand at her while still overthinking on Freya's "point". Maleny gave him an odd look as Freya led her out, "What's gotten into him?"
Freya snickered, "Some words."
~ 0 ~
Cami walked into her place and flicked the lights on, sighing at the large mess of boxes she still had lying around, but soon got over it upon seeing Amarrah inside. "Uh...hello!?" Cami blinked, shutting the door behind her.
"Hello," Amarrah was sitting on the couch looking through a police file of the same victim she had come to Cami for information on. She looked up with a cheery smile, "I sent Vincent home, thought you could help me better instead. You want a drink?" she got up and walked for the kitchen.
Cami continued to cluelessly blink, remaining in place, "Um...what exactly are you doing here?"
"Looking for more information on the murder case, clearly," Amarrah returned with two glasses of bourbon.
"Why, exactly, are you here?" Cami raised an eyebrow, blankly taking the drink from her once it was handed. "Not to be rude, but...why?"
"Because I thought we could work on it together," Amarrah shrugged and returned to her seat on the couch. She opened up another file and slid to the edge of the table, where Cami was. "I thought you could help me out on the vampire details."
Cami sighed and finally walked over, picking up a paper and skimming it, "I don't know what I can do, Ams. You're the Detective, here."
"Yes, and you're the vampire here. Do you see how we can make the perfect team?" Amarrah tilted her head, giving the blonde a look.
"Alright, fine," Cami put her glass down on the table, "but I still think it's worth asking Maleny about this."
"Absolutely not," Amarrah shook her head as she returned to her work, "I just don't think Klaus or Elijah did this. They've got no reason to do so."
"I still think you should at least talk to them," Cami persisted, leaning back on the couch, "At least give them a chance to tell you if they did it so you quit doing unnecessary work."
Amarrah sighed, finally relenting, "Alright, fine. We can go—"
"Oh n-n-n-n-n-n-no," Cami shook her head and began getting up from the couch, completely refusing the idea, "I am not going anywhere near that compound-"
Amarrah rolled her eyes, "We can ask Maleny and Klaus, they're probably at the art exhibit going on tonight. Plus, I know for a fact Elijah's in the bayou."
Cami narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms in suspicion, "How?"
"Because it's a full moon tonight," Amarrah sighed, thus relieving Cami, as well as also reminding them both of their guilt for still being unable to help Hayley and their closer wolf friends, Alton and Yamilet. "So," she pushed herself up to her feet, "Now you want to come with me?"
"Yes," Cami said, still acting like she was being asked far too much.
~ 0 ~
At St. James Infirmary, the setting for the art exhibit, Klaus had been impatiently waiting for Maleny to finally make an appearance. Two hours had passed and yet there was no sign of the blonde. However, he did get a rather surprising visit instead from an old "friend", Lucien Castle, whom he hadn't seen in over a thousand years. His impatience of Maleny subsided mildly after a couple of drinks with Lucien.
In the end, a blonde did make an appearance...along with a French dark-haired woman.
"Give me a moment," Klaus motioned to Lucien as he got up from their table and went to greet the two women, "To what do I owe this visit?" he smirked, "Mal's not here and I doubt Elijah will be making an appearance."
Cami deeply sighed in irritation, "I'm here on business," she snapped, "And I intend on making it short before you make another round of jokes like you commonly do."
Klaus rolled his eyes, "What do you want?"
Amarrah cleared her throat, "Someone tortured and killed a local. Left the body right out in the open. I think it was a vampire."
"Last time I heard vampire business was now your department," Klaus pointed to the blonde, "Don't bother me."
Cami was near losing her temper with him, "We need to know if it was you or Elijah that did it so Amarrah knows what to tell the cops."
The accusation was surprising but caused far more amusement to Klaus than anger, "You think I left a sloppy mess out in the street? You have confused me for a simpleton, clearly. And as for Elijah, don't bother. He rarely goes out nowadays."
"We're being serious, Klaus," Amarrah gave him a scolding look, "The victim was found like like a-"
But Klaus had lost interest in the conversation and turned to walk away from the two. The only reason he stopped midway was because of the familiar scent that had wafted in from the entrance. Maleny straightened herself up and walked further into the room, but was stopped as Amarrah and Cami passed by.
"You need to teach your boyfriend some manners," Cami snapped, making Maleny rapidly blink, barely able to process when Amarrah added something as well.
"Look, Mal, we really need you guys to look into the latest of murder victims," she pleaded, "I'll send you the file later."
"Wh-what?" Maleny uttered after the two women had left. Slowly, she continued walking and met Klaus with a questioning, yet not completely 'there' look, "Do I want to know?"
"No," Klaus shook his head, quickly instigating her to smile. As she wrapped her arms around his neck, he smelt traces of alcohol on her. "Why exactly were you late?"
The grin on Maleny's face widened as she giggled, "I may have...tried some drinks…" she tilted her head to the side, catching view behind him. "Why exactly is that guy looking at me like I'm his next course meal?"
Klaus glanced over his shoulder, following Maleny's gaze to Lucien who was sitting and smirking their way. "Dinner, snack…" he even said to joke, "...appetizer?"
"Klaus," Maleny said, rather shaken up at the man's bluntness.
"He's merely joking, love," Klaus started leading her towards the table, "Although you probably would feel less scared if you hadn't had too much to drink."
"It was a party, what did you think was gonna happen?" Maleny rolled her eyes, "I was being a good friend to Freya who didn't want to drink alone. And don't start with me. Who's your friend?"
"Old acquaintance. Nothing more," Klaus said quietly, a hint of reluctance in his tone that Maleny didn't pick up on.
"Old acquaintance?"" Lucien frowned, feigning offence, "You wound me!"
They came to a stop at the table where Lucien had already gotten up to greet the blonde. She stared him up and down for a minute, "You're kinda cute," she remarked, earning quite a response from both men.
"Ooh, I definitely like your friend, Nik," Lucien laughed while Klaus tried not kill him there and then.
"She's not my 'friend'-" Klaus began when Lucien cut him off.
"Even better," he made one step closer to Maleny but Klaus immediately blocked the way with himself.
"She's not my 'friend', she's mine," Klaus finished with an air of triumph.
Maleny tapped his shoulder, making him look back, "I'm not property you know," she said calmly, the amount of drinks clouding her real emotions. "I do have thoughts and feelings."
"Yes, and at the moment I fear they aren't at their best," Klaus gently motioned her to come forwards.
"They are," Maleny insisted and took a deep breath and started over again. "What was your name again?" she asked Lucien.
"Lucien Castle," the old vampire took her hand and kissed it.
The blonde smiled at him warmly, and as she looked at him she began getting brief flashes of...a hallway?
...My lady, why are you crying?…
…No reason, simple...family issues…
...Absolutely no one should make you shed tears...
Maleny crinkled her nose as a familiar painful jab took over the side of her head. "Oh," she came back with a gasp. She had been sat down at the table, and had both men attending to her as if she were dying. "I'm sorry," she mumbled, still feeling rather hazed, "I don't know what happened…"
"I do, you had too much drink," Klaus frowned, already thinking of berating Freya when he saw her again.
Maleny briefly looked at him for the comment and instead focused on what she had saw and heard in her mind. She knew exactly what they were, or at least what had seemed to happen. She would never forget that type of head pain. It was a memory that had tried to resurface. The scenery was completely new to her, as well as her new persona. Things went by so fast she couldn't understand it. She supposed now that it had tried to come back, it probably would be making another attempt soon. The only thing that concerned her was if it was normal for the pain to still come with them, as this was her original body, her own mind.
"Mal," Klaus' voice brought her back to the present. He was holding her hand, trying to see if she was in yet another trance. "Mal, are you alright?"
Maleny kindly smiled, "I'm always alright. Whatever it was, it passed. However, I do think I should see what had Amarrah and Cami so concerned. It seems like you already found yourself a drinking buddy…" she glanced at Lucien, "...and I definitely wouldn't want to crash a guy's night, so maybe it's best I take my leave."
"By all means, do stay if you'd like," Lucien smirked at her.
"Lucien!" Klaus snapped, making the other vampire raise his hands in a non-threatening way.
"I was being polite!"
Maleny chuckled and got up with ease, "So it's settled. Although," she walked up to Lucien, "You seem like the typical rich vampire guy that knows how to have fun…"
Lucien nodded with great pride, "Well…"
Maleny suddenly turned serious, "Keep your little girlfriends off him," she pointed back to Klaus, "or I will personally drive a stake right through this heart," she tapped Lucien's chest with a wide, sarcastic smile, "Got it?"
"Very feisty for an apparent mortal," Lucien remarked in amusement.
"I look out for what's mine," Maleny calmly declared and stepped back to where Klaus was, now addressing him, "And if you let those hands get on you, I'll kill you. And when you come back, I'll kill you again."
"Understood," Klaus smirked at her, "Ma'am."
Maleny rolled her eyes, "Oh, shut up," she grabbed her purse from the table and walked off.
"Where'd you pick that one up?" Lucien curiously asked as the two watched the blonde leave, "She's certainly no where near like the psychopath you had during our time."
The reminder provoked a tensed silence to break between the two men. In all the centuries, Klaus hadn't once thought about the redhead and he wasn't going to have any details of that time be told near Maleny. However, now that Maleny was gone, his curiosity was able to get the best of him.
"Have you spoken to her?" he quietly asked Lucien.
A grim, distasteful look spread over Lucien's face, "Aurora and I parted ways centuries ago - thankfully. You know I never had desire to see her after what she did to Cecilia."
"Yes," Klaus nodded, recalling the event that had occurred right before his family was forced to run from Mikael again. "The tragedy…"
"It wasn't a tragedy!" Lucien snapped and turned on him, suddenly angry, "It was murder. Aurora killed her out of spite, and ruined—"
"Lucien!" Klaus raised his voice, stopping the vampire midway in his passionate fury, "It's done," Klaus said quietly, not as indifferent as he might have been had he not discovered Maleny had also gone through similar cases.
Still heavily feeling, Lucien snatched his drink from the table and headed for the bar for more, grumbling under his breath.
1002 A.D. France.
Keeping his promise that would save his life, the servant Lucien had introduced the Mikaelson siblings to his master, the Count de Martel, under the name of the real family he had been sent for (but had been killed in a feeding spree by the vampires). He hadn't been sure how the event would go down, for the Count was smart and would be suspicious of the children of the Count de Guise whom had never been mentioned. Thankfully, with his instructions, the Mikaelsons had successfully charmed the Count de Martel and were now taking joy of the party the castle was holding.
Now, as his status only allowed, Lucien stood at the side of the room simply looking at the ongoing celebration when Klaus approached him.
"You've proven to be an immense help," he remarked to the servant, meaning it to be as close to a 'thank you' as it could get.
"Oh. Of course, my lord," Lucien replied, rather bashfully.
"Though, I must say, you don't seem at all disturbed about leading us into your master's home."
Lucien sighed and glanced at Count de Martel, "My master is a cruel drunkard who torments his minions for sport. Beggars who seek supper. Vassals who cannot pay a debt... like my own father."
Klaus nodded with understanding, "Ah," following the glare sent to the Count.
Lucien continued with sudden anger, "All these gentile folk, behind their silks and their jewels, are slavers. Killers. Whatever evil you are, you walk among greater evil still. What do I care if you kill the lot of them?"
But then laughter carried over, grabbing both of the men's attention. It belonged to a dark-haired woman who had taken to a rather odd dance with another young man. And it was as if Lucien had never been angry in the first place.
"Who is that?" Klaus asked, curiously.
"The Count's niece - Lady Cecilia," Lucien replied, never taking his eyes off the dark-haired woman, "Her parents passed away years ago and the Count took her under his protection with his children."
"Children?" Klaus repeated, now more interested in the story.
Lucien nodded and gestured to the incoming young man and woman on the other side of the room. "The Count's children- the Lord Tristan and the Lady Aurora."
Klaus suddenly became more interested in the bright redhead Aurora, "She is exquisite."
"Ah, yes," Lucien agreed carelessly, "Um, as her brother is wicked, might I suggest that you avoid them completely?"
Klaus followed the steps the redhead took, "But would she really be a threat, even to one like me?"
"She is an intelligent one, do not doubt it," Lucien warned, but it went over Klaus' head as he became more entranced by the strange woman.
At a club heavily packed with all sorts of people, Freya was dancing with some new women she had met after Maleny left. She had to stop dancing, however, after her cellphone went off. She covered one ear to listen to Elijah on the other line.
"Hello?"
"Did I misinterpret the kind of exhibition you're attending?" Elijah asked, sounding bemused by the loud music he could hear in the background.
"I switched venues!" Freya chuckled.
"Forgive me for cutting into your free night, Freya, but I am in desperate need of help," Elijah said, sounding equally frantic which made Freya rush to the outsides where she would be able to hear better.
"What's wrong, Elijah?" Freya asked, concerned.
"There are hunters in the bayou and I fear Hayley has fallen into one of their traps…"
Freya's eyes widened, "Oh, dear…"
"I need to search the bayou but I cannot do it on my own. Plus, someone needs to look after Hope."
Freya nodded in understanding, suddenly getting an idea of just who could help him scour the bayou for missing wolves. "Okay, I'll be there - I have an idea."
~ 0 ~
The art show was over, and while the people had left, Klaus and Lucien remained inside, both still drinking yet Lucien still in a foul mood from the earlier reminder. Frankly over it, and partially wanting to get back to Maleny and see how she was doing, Klaus approached Lucien and got straight to the point.
"Lucien- what are you really doing in my city?"
Lucien sighed and turned to him, "News has spread, old friend. Every vampire in the world knows you've been attacked. A number of times, nearly killed."
Klaus rolled his eyes, choosing to ignore the matter, "Oh, well, I can assure you that all those who stood against me ended up either desiccated, dust, or dinner."
Lucien lightly laughed, though still seemed unusually nervous, "Yes, but... what if it had gone the other way, hmm? When Finn was killed, we all learned the truth- the life of every vampire is linked back to the Original who begat the line. Kol's death confirmed it. Two entire lines of vampires wiped out! As you can imagine, the threat level doesn't sit well with those of us who remain."
"Anyone fearing death as a result of my demise should come see me!" Klaus sarcastically smiled, "I'll be happy to reassure them."
"Of course. You and your siblings are mighty, indeed. Though, the attacks on you show that you are not completely invulnerable," Lucien continued, "While you've wallowed in your family affairs, your progeny have grown somewhat... restless. The world is a finite place, territory limited. And even ancient vampires are not above vicious turf-wars. What if I told you there's a growing conflict between the remaining three sirelines? Suppose one of them wanted to annihilate the other? By killing Elijah? Rebekah? You?"
Although the idea was rather unsettling, Klaus easily hid it, "So, you came all this way to deliver a warning?"
"Think about it! Kill an Original, wipe out an entire line of competition! A tempting goal, made more so by the fact that your family isn't so intact with each other."
"My family is hardly weak!" Klaus snapped, coming closer to Lucien so that they were face-to-face. "In fact, we are unkillable- the last of the white oak is gone."
Lucien narrowed his eyes skeptically, "Are you so certain it's all gone? Every last splinter of it? Vanished for good?"
Klaus responded by grabbing him from the back of the neck, harshly squeezing it, "Lucien, if you had even the slightest inkling any fragment of white oak still existed, of course you would tell me."
"Easy, Nik," Lucien cleared his throat as he removed Klaus' hand from his neck. "You are my sire. My fate is linked to yours," he reminded the crucial detail, "If you want to know what I do about the dangers you now face, trust me enough to come with me. There is something that you must see."
"I have other places to be at," Klaus stepped back from him, highly suspicious.
"I assure you want to see this," Lucien insisted, motioning to Klaus for them to leave. "It spells your family's ending, and I think that little blonde of yours wouldn't be so happy."
Klaus sighed, once again caving to something that, one way or another, led back to Maleny.
~ 0 ~
Out in the bayou, Elijah was impatiently sitting at the front porch of the cabin with Hope in her stroller, the setting being meant to have been a Crescent wolf reunion due to the full moon. However now it was going to be a life saving night, or at least trying to find Hayley. Suddenly, Freya appeared a couple feet away from him and Hope...but she was not alone.
"Camille," Elijah breathed in as he rose to his feet, awed to have Cami so close after so many months.
Cami looked to the side, clearly uncomfortable being there. "Freya said there were wolf traps out here and you can't find Hayley?"
"Yes," Elijah nodded.
"I'm here for her, Alton and Yamilet," Cami clarified, watching Freya walk to the stroller. "Otherwise, Freya would have had to poison me to get me here. Shall we get going?" she gestured to the trees behind her.
Elijah nodded silently, and soon the two sped off to begin their hunting tasks. Freya sat down on the steps and turned Hope's stroller so that she could see the baby.
"Hello, sweetie," she smiled softly at the almost asleep toddler. "You'll have to excuse your Auntie Freya, I've had a few big-girl drinks tonight."
Hope stretched her small arms over her head as her eyes slowly closed, falling asleep there and then. Freya sighed and looked out to the dark bayou, hoping that all turned out well for the missing Crescent wolves.
~ 0 ~
Amarrah walked into the lonely Mikaelson compound where after shouting for Maleny a couple of times in the courtyard, she was promptly scolded by the blonde witch.
"There is no need to shout," Maleny appeared from one of the downstairs room, holding a cup of coffee in hand.
"You look plain awful," Amarrah declared after a minute and Maleny came to sit down at the couch.
"And it's not from the special drinks I tried tonight, I promise," Maleny sighed and leaned back on the couch, rubbing her temple. "What's wrong, Ams? And where's Cami?"
"Oh, Freya stopped by and said Elijah needed her help in the bayou," Amarrah decided to cut the explanation short.
Maleny raised an eyebrow, looking surprised, "And Cami just said 'yes'?"
"It was urgent," Amarrah coughed awkwardly, hoping Maleny would leave the subject alone.
"Well, did you need something?" Maleny, thankfully, moved on. "I know Klaus was a bit rude to you guys earlier. What exactly were you talking about with him?"
"There's murder case going on and I'm pretty sure it was from a vampire. The guy was compelled not to scream or call for help. He was left hanging like a puppet on strings with his face cut."
"That's awful," Maleny scowled at the idea, "but why come to Klaus? He's not exactly in charge anymore."
"We just wanted to know if he or Elijah had cut loose or something and..." Amarrah motioned what the others has suspected.
"What!?" Maleny leaned forwards, looking indignant of the accusation. "You think Klaus or Elijah did that? Why the hell would they leave the guy out for everyone to see? Plus," she shook her head, "they wouldn't do that. Elijah's refined, sophisticated, it's not like him to be so messy. He barely leaves the place anymore, anyways. And I know Klaus wouldn't do that either. It's not exactly his forte to leave his victims like a doll. It's not them, Ams."
Amarrah sighed, but before she could say she agreed, her phone rang. She pulled it out from her bag and saw it was from the Detective and answered. "Hello?"
"Hey, it's Kinney. Wanted to let you know you were right."
Amarrah gulped, "Oh...really?"
"It happened again. So, if you're not busy, I could use your brain."
"Yeah, of course," Amarrah nodded and hung up. Maleny was staring at her, expecting an explanation. Amarrah thought for a minute and decided she should see for herself what was happening. "Can you come with me somewhere?"
"Just as long as there's no more alcohol," Maleny sipped one last time from her coffee cup and got up, straightening her blouse. After getting home she had changed into more comfortable lounge clothes, consisting of a simple blue blouse with dark jeans and boots.
"I promise you there will be none of that," Amarrah mumbled and grabbed Maleny by the arm to lead her away.
~ 0 ~
Cami and Elijah came to a stop in a small clearing in the woods after seeing a steel-jawed animal trap meant for the wolves. Heavily annoyed, Elijah walked for it and began to break it apart as loudly as possible to get the responsible hunters out into the open. After a few seconds, he heard the clicking of a gun behind.
"What the hell are you doing?" the hunter demanded.
Cami and Elijah exchanged a look before Elijah stepped forwards,feigning innocence, "Oh my goodness, where are my manners? Permit me to explain-"
But he quickly sped up to the hunter and snatched his gun before throwing him to the ground.
"Elijah!" Cami turned just as a second hunter appeared.
Elijah used the gun from the first hunter and threw it at the second like it were a javelin, causing the barrel of the gun to impale the chest. Afterwards, he took the first hunter, who'd been trying to crawl away, by the back of the shirt and put him down to the ground.
"Lesson one of the hunt: Lay the bait," he slammed the hunter's foot into another of the traps, making it clamp down on the ankle.
Elijah remained unfazed and merely stepped back, adjusting the cuffs of his shirt. Cami, who'd been only standing so far, roughly swallowed down as Elijah met her stare. She felt a chill run down her back as he stepped towards her. She would never admit it to anyone else, and after admitting it to herself she would try and push the thought away, but she felt so attracted to him at that moment.
The only thing that broke her from her embarrassing thoughts were the three laser sights pointing at Elijah.
Cami whirled around to the direction from which they were coming from. "Lesson two," she mumbled and sped off, leaving Elijah to follow.
It didn't take long for them to corner the remaining hunter in another part of the woods. Being closer, Cami grabbed the man by the neck and raised him, angrily glaring.
"You're gonna give me the precise location of every last one of those stupid traps," she warned him, "And we also want the routes used by any of your other men."
"I-I don't know-" the man barely got to say when a different person, a woman, appeared out of nowhere and lunged for him.
Cami stumbled back from such force as the man was tackled out of her grip. The woman clawed and clawed until the man was dead. For a minute, Cami and Elijah could only stare as the man was marred to death. When it was all done, the woman rose to her feet, and with nothing on, she revealed she was a Crescent wolf.
"Yamilet…" Cami breathed in, both relieved and terrified of the woman's conditions.
"Good to see you, blondie," Yamilet greeted with her usual sourness. "I have a question and I expect to be answered with the utmost truth: Where. Is. Alton.?"
"We...we don't know," Elijah replied, currently looking to the side out of embarrassment and courtesy.
Yamilet wad too preoccupied with her missing boyfriend to care who saw her or who didn't. "There's traps set all over this place!" she gritted her teeth, more furious than ever, "If I don't find Alton rest assured this time I will come after all you Mikaelsons with all I have."
Cami cleared her throat and looked down, "We'll find him, we promise."
Yamilet rolled her eyes, no longer so trusting of them all. "Sure," she sneered, "Right after you break this curse, right? Spare me the crap and let me follow the scent of the remaining hunters, no?" she started picking at the hunters shirt, intending on using it as a makeshift dress until she found proper clothes.
Afterwards, she joined the hunting and followed the scent of the remaining hunters - who all died soon after - and came across a truck. Immediately, Yamilet felt her stomach churn as an awful smell penetrated the air.
Elijah went towards it, hesitating a minute to pull the tarp covering the back. But in the end, he chucked it back, and revealed at least half a dozen dead werewolves.
"Oh my God!" Cami exclaimed, horrified at the sight. She and Yamilet rushed towards it, but in the end only Yamilet dared to touch them.
Yamilet began hyperventilating at the idea that one of those wolves could be Alton. Her hands shook as she reached towards her companions, her eyes watering up.
"Alton? Alton!" she whisper-shouted as if someone would respond back.
Behind her, the feeling of overwhelm started washing over Cami and Elijah. Neither of them knew if Hayley was in there as well, and it just terrified them to their core that they were perhaps too late to help them.
Without taking notice, Cami inched closer to Elijah, close to tears herself. Elijah put an arm around her, bringing her to him, but both were too distraught to remember their situation.
~ 0 ~
Maleny was not one to feel comfortable around police crime scenes. She would never understand how Amarrah once decided to willingly do this for a living.
"Detective," Amarrah came up to the blonde man with Maleny coming in a couple seconds behind. "Oh, um, this is my friend," Amarrah gestured to the blonde witch, "She knows a thing or two about these odd cases."
"I do?" Maleny blinked, looking at Amarrah in confusion.
"Detective Will Kinney," the man shook her hand nonetheless.
"Maleny Rowan," she politely said back, feeling awkward in such a different setting. "So, Ams said you found another victim?"
"Unfortunately, yes," Kinney sighed, looking at Amarrah, "And in the same type of position as the first one."
Amarrah nodded and so Kinney began leading the way to where the victim was. "Of the same background as well?" Amarrah questioned curiously.
"Yes, high status," Kinney nodded, turning for another alleyway. This time the victim was just at the corner. It was another man, dressed in a rich suit, and was propped like a puppet.
As soon as Maleny saw it she became horrified. But no less than a second did she began to feel that annoying jab on the side of her head. For a minute, Maleny felt the world around her fade away as two voices in her head became prominent.
...this is sick torture, Tristan…
...as the son of the Count, I do punishments as I see fit….
...it is immoral, inhumane…
...yet you allowed far more immoral things to continue...
After Kinney had left, Amarrah finally took notice of the distant look on Maleny's face. Concerned, she gently shook Maleny by the arm. "Mal? Are you okay?" Maleny snapped out of it quickly but it still took her a moment to remember where she was. "Maleny, what is it?"
Maleny slowly laid eyes on the victim again, her horror and shock replaced by confusion, and...familiarity. "I think...I think I've seen this before," she whispered with nothing but utter dread.
~ 0 ~
Hayley was angrily screaming and pounding against an invisible barrier Davina Claire had trapped her in. It was beyond ridiculous, and infuriating, to be trapped by a witch on the only night she could see Hope.
Davina returned to the room completely at ease, holding clothes in her arms along with other supplies.
"Davina, let me out of here right now, or I swear I will kill you!" Hayley shouted at the teen but it was of no use.
"You can try," she sarcastically motioned, "Or, we can have a polite conversation."
Hayley was in no mood to 'converse', not tonight at least. "You magically kidnapped me on the one night that I can see my daughter. Do not talk to me about "polite!""
Beginning to grow frustrated, Davina rose her voice, "I drew you here to help you!"
"Amarrah and Maleny asked you months ago to help them break the curse, and you said no!"
Davina looked to the side, trying to hide her guilt, "The Regent of witches can't be seen doing favors for the Mikaelsons."
And though Maleny wasn't technically one, she was already branded as one of them. Since she their fallout of bringing Esther Mikaelson back to life, Davina didn't exactly want to do anything for Maleny and her...people. She was still upset with Maleny for having played that foul trick that cost her Kol's resurrection. But now the tables had turned, and she was in need of assistance...just not from Maleny this time.
"But, maybe we can help each other," she looked at Hayley sternly as she tossed a blood bag through the invisible barrier. Hayley threw her a dirty look but feeling the ravenous hunger inside, she dropped to her knees and started drinking from the bag. Look, I have access to the witch ancestors. I can channel the power of the one who created the spell that cursed you. You can be free, Hayley."
Hayley licked the blood that had gotten on her fingers, and slowly rose to her feet. " Under your terms, I'm guessing." Davina sighed, guiltily looking down, but Hayley saw an opportunity she wasn't going to waste. "Spill."
"There's a witch in the 9th Ward who hates that I'm Regent. She tried to kill me. If I retaliate, I'm starting a civil war, and I don't want to do that."
"Fine," Hayley said without a second thought. "Just tell me who you want dead."
~ 0 ~
After finding another wolf turned human - Jackson - who was injured due to a trap, Elijah had them all return to the cabin. It was there that Cami made her choice to leave, as there was the special hour coming up and she needed to be back in the city to oversee 'feeding time'.
"You can't go," Yamilet said, her no voice no longer sour. She was extremely shaken up by the sight of dead wolves, and the fact Alton was still no where in sight wasn't helping her. "You need to help me." She glanced back at Elijah who was tending to the injury on Jackson's leg. "They won't help me," she shook her head, knowing their main priority was going to be Hayley.
Cami could see that happening, since Jackson had no idea where Hayley was. "Okay," she considered, "then come back with me, and...we can get Ams to do a locator spell. If Alton's human and…"
Yamilet's eyes lowered, quietly finishing for Cami, "...alive."
Cami awkwardly cleared her throat, "Um, yeah. If so, then she'll be able to find him. Okay, so come back with me."
Yamilet nodded, glancing back at the other two men, "I'm going with her," she declared to them, "We have five hours until we turn back and I'm not going to waste it on some woman when my boyfriend's out there too."
"Agreed," Jackson got up, "I want Hayley - she's my wife."
"Then we split," Cami looked at Elijah, doing her best to remain rigid. "I have to get back to the other vampires."
"Thank you Camille," Elijah said honestly, "For your assistance."
Cami nodded and gently took Yamilet away with her.
~ 0 ~
"Are we actually doing this?" Maleny paced back and forth in Amarrah's living room while the French witch surfed through the internet and made notes of the murder cases.
"If you meant 'researching the possible murderer' then yes," Amarrah looked up from her laptop with a sly smile. "What's the big deal?"
Maleny stopped pacing to face Amarrah, biting her lip nervously. "You're kidding right? That's the guy that's apparently friends with Klaus. What am I going to tell him? 'Sorry, my friend thinks that your friend is on a killing spree'."
Amarrah rolled her eyes and returned to her work, "To be fair, Klaus doesn't exactly have nice, sane friends."
"Ams," Maleny sighed, plopping down on the couch chair, rubbing a hand over her face.
"Maleny," Amarrah took on a stern voice, "you said this guy, Lucien, just got here tonight - the same night the murders started. That's worth of suspicion. And Klaus doesn't have to know you told me."
Maleny shook her head, resting her arms on the sides as she thought back to those brief memory flashes. She may have been out of it in the beginning, but she was certain they started just when Lucien Castle returned...was that worth of suspicion?
"What do you know of the guy?" Amarrah asked, missing the thoughtful look on her friend's face.
"Hm?" Maleny's eyes flickered to the dark-haired woman, "Um, nothing really. Klaus just said he was a friend - acquaintance, actually."
"Hm," Amarrah mused as she clicked on a link that led to a video that seemed to be about a donation the man had made. "Well, your boyfriend's acquaintance seems to be some rich boy…"
"Yeah, kinda figured that out on my own," Maleny muttered, flushing when she recalled her imprudence during their first greet and meet.
"He's the CEO of some important company - Kingmaker Land Development," Amarrah continued and unplugged her earphones, pulling out the cable so that the rest of the video she was listening to played out loud for Maleny.
"Listen to the advice of your superiors, then do better! Study the weaknesses of those who outrank you and eliminate them from your own experience. Authority is meant to be challenged! Great achievers refuse to stand in shadows."
Amarrah then paused the video, giving Maleny an 'I told you so' look as the blonde grew concerned. "I need to go talk to the Detective," Amarrah got up and stuffed her laptop in her bag, "I won't tell him anything, maybe just...sidetrack them for a while until you get Klaus to do something about this new friend of his."
~ 0 ~
Freya had gone back to her club as soon as Elijah had returned for Hope. Even though she was still partially drunk, she was relatively surprised to find Cami entering the place. Upon seeing the blonde witch, Cami walked towards her.
"Didn't think you'd be back," Freya mused as she grabbed her drink from the counter.
"I went for my friends, I found one, and now I dropped her off in a place she can get the help I can no longer provide," Cami said sternly, and looked to the side.
"Mmm, just like that?" Freya arched an eyebrow before taking a full shot of her drink.
"Yes, just like that," Cami rolled her eyes and returned her gaze to Freya, "Now, I'm back for business here. It's almost midnight, Freya."
"Well, I'm not wearing glass slippers…" Freya began, but soon realized what Cami was trying to say and groaned, "Do you have to turn the best club in town into your personal blood bank?"
Cami lightly smiled at that, "I know, I used to hate it when I finally learned what really went on in this city. But this is how Marcel used to run things and I'm going to follow in his footsteps. It's how it works. We feed on tourists, compel them to forget, locals turn a blind eye. That's how NOLA works. So, unless you want to become an appetizer-"
Freya raised a hand, "Pass," she pretended to shiver and started on her way out. However, as she went by, she grabbed the hand of a young man and pulled him with her, "This one's coming with me!" she announced and the man went with her without a problem.
~ 0 ~
At the compound, Klaus had already returned from his...interesting...visit to Lucien's apartment, and after getting a notice from Elijah that Hayley was missing, he went straight to find Freya. Finding her no where, he opted for a phone call...of course there was no response.
"Freya, I'm aware that 21st century technology remains a mystery to you, but when you see my name pop up on your phone, you answer it," he left her the voicemail in grave annoyance, "Come home. Immediately."
As he hung up, he heard footsteps from the entrance and dramatically sighed when Maleny came in. "Well, and here I thought you would be resting and getting over your 'special drinks'."
Maleny rolled her eyes, "I did, and then Amarrah came over with the news of murders happening outside. Do you know, she's pretty sure your new friend, Lucien, is responsible for it."
Klaus scoffed, "Your friend isn't exactly the smartest—"
"Hey," Maleny scolded him and dropped her bag onto the couch, pulling her phone from her pocket, "she has evidence and it kinda fits."
"So this is what you did in the meantime I was out? Play detective?" Klaus mused, slightly amused as Maleny handed her phone for him to see.
"I know a thing or two about vampires if you haven't noticed," Maleny motioned him to take a look at the pictures Amarrah had sent to her phone earlier. "Amarrah thinks Lucien is torturing and killing humans in the Quarter. There have been two victims so far and," she sighed, "if you ask me, it's just creepy."
"Lucien would never be so sloppy," Klaus rolled his eyes before taking a look at the pictures of the victim.
Maleny arched an eyebrow, "Hm, seems like you know him a lot more than you've told me. For acquaintances, I mean…"
Klaus was too stunned of the photos to respond back, "There is a familiar method to this particular madness…" he said quietly, the face cutting making him slightly nervous.
"You need to make sure the latest victim is the last one," Maleny took back her phone, seeing the brief nervousness flash through his eyes.
Klaus replaced his nervousness with amusement. "Are you suggest I kill my oldest friend?"
"Ah, so he's a friend now," Maleny raised her eyebrows, feigning surprise. "Well, listen, the NOLA PD can't take down a thousand-year-old vampire murderer, but you can. You're the smartest, and the strongest, and the scariest."
"Are you trying to persuade me...or flirt?" Klaus chucked her cellphone to the couch, turning to her with a smirk as he pulled her towards him.
"I'm not kidding," Maleny sighed but suddenly took a sniff, "Um...you smell like perfume," she declared, tilting her head, "And it's not mine."
"I visited Lucien's new place and he had a party," Klaus began but Maleny pulled herself away from his embrace.
"Look, I know you let me threaten you because I can't actually do anything, but it is upsetting when you deliberately try to get women's hands on you," Maleny crossed her arms and looked to the side.
Klaus chuckled in amusement at the blonde. "I assure you nothing was deliberate," he took her hands and gently brought her back to him. She huffed and turned around, giving him her back. "Mal…"
"Don't 'Mal' me," the blonde muttered, "Go get your murderous friend to stop. Next thing we know, I could be the next victim."
Klaus slid his arms around her waist, both amused yet still serious enough to assure her, "If anyone would even consider that, they wouldn't live to see the morning."
Maleny turned her head to meet his look, pleased to hear his response. "Nice to know I'm cared for here."
"Always, my love," Klaus pressed a kiss to her lips, relaxing when Maleny returned the kiss. Although he was basically suspecting of Lucien himself now, he didn't want Maleny anywhere near Lucien, nor researching information on the man. The last thing he wanted was for Maleny to learn of the part of his past Klaus didn't think she was ready to hear, nor one he was ready to tell.
~ 0 ~
Amarrah and Yamilet, who was now properly changed into Amarrah's borrowed clothes, walked down the street in a heavy rush. After Cami had brought Yamilet to Amarrah's, the French witch performed the locator spell on Alton and found a peculiar result across the Quarter. They didn't know if Alton was trying to get to them, or perhaps was lost, or thinking that Yamilet herself had been killed in one of the wolf traps, but they had to get there. Unfortunately, they stumbled across a new crime scene.
"What is going on in this place?" Yamilet muttered to the witch beside her, having been told by Cami of the two earlier murders. "Wasn't Cami supposed to be taking care of the Quarter now?"
"This isn't her fault," Amarrah shushed her as she saw Detective Kinney making way for them.
"Who's that?" Yamilet eyed the blonde man with mild appreciation.
"You have a boyfriend," Amarrah hissed. She didn't exactly want to run into Kinney at the moment seeing her laptop with all her notes on the case had mysteriously gone missing after seeing him last time. She didn't understand how it could have gotten away from her, but it had and she felt overly irresponsible because of it.
"Amarrah?" Kinney came up to the two women wearing a polite smile, "Miss," he nodded to Yamilet.
"Look, I know I'm supposed to be helping," Amarrah sighed, glancing at Yamilet, "but my friend really needs me right now."
"Actually, Ams," Yamilet looked between the two, getting the feeling the man was staring at them a little too suspiciously, "I can go get Alton on my own."
"What?" Amarrah blinked, "But we need to go together. I want to help you-"
"And you have," Yamilet assured with a small smile, "But, um, there's only a couple of hours left until, I, um…" she made a clawing motion to remind of the full moon passing, "...so maybe it's best I start heading out on my own."
Amarrah sighed, "Okay, but be careful. And I will find a way to...help...both of you."
Yamilet nodded, "Good," she meant to so sound authoritative and chuckled, giving the French witch a hug before leaving.
Amarrah watched her go feeling mildly guilty before facing Kinney. "So, what exactly do I do this time?"
Kinney glanced over his shoulder in the way Yamilet walked off in, and responded with a different topic. "You know, I've seen you in town before...with the two blondes - Camille O'Connell and Maleny Rowan. Thing is, the O'Connells have an unusual history with strange deaths, unexplained behavior, grave-robberies, be-headings, missing persons, police reports with entire sections blacked out. Now she's acting like she's the boss…"
By the time Kinney finished, Amarrah was stunned that he had all that knowledge about her good friend.
"And then your other friend," Kinney chuckled a little, "-the irony- has no background whatsoever. No history in the Quarter - she just popped out of nowhere. Only detail available, and only because we can see, is the fact she's with the mysterious philanthropist-slash-artist Klaus Mikaelson. And then you, you just...came out of no where, much like Miss Rowan. Highly praised Detective coming in yet doing no such thing to get herself on the force here as well…?"
Amarrah gaped with an open mouth, "Um, so...what is this? Some sort of accusation I make weird friends and don't work on what I studied to be?"
"No, I just think you three women are a lot more than you're giving off to the public. There's something you're hiding, and I'll figure it out."
"O-okay," Amarrah blinked, still quite out of it after all she heard. She watched the man walk away from her and became nervous. She worried that the man could get himself into trouble over a simple curiosity.
~ 0 ~
Much later, Freya returned to the compound with her new friend she had picked up from the club. It didn't take much to get to the making out part in the courtyard. Of course, Freya didn't count on her brother to come in and interrupt.
"Freya!" Klaus appeared a couple feet from them, unusually bright, "It's about time you brought a gentleman home to meet the family." He stepped towards the young man, "I'm Freya's brother. And you are? No, don't tell me. Let me guess- Brad?"
There came a giggle from upstairs, where Maleny was residing, "Try Chad, they're always called Chad in the movies."
Klaus pointed to her in agreement and continued, "What are your intentions for my sister? Shall we discuss a dowry?"
The poor human man was terrified when Klaus let his hybrid-eyes came out. "Bro, what the...?"
"Leave. Now," Klaus ordered, momentarily serious.
Maleny laughed when the man ran out in terror. "And the award for 'most annoying little brother' goes out to…" she gestured towards Klaus, who only laughed more.
Freya, meanwhile, gave them both a playful scolding look.
"He was drunk! No one will believe his story," Klaus gave her a smirk.
"You two can make out at every corner of the house but you make the first guy I bring home run away," Freya sighed, only lightly annoyed.
"You can still catch him outside," Maleny called as she came down the stairs. "He was kinda cute." At the sharp look Klaus gave her, she reminded, "Unknown perfume still on you."
"I thought we went past that…"
"I may have forgotten a lot of things but not that one."
"Was there something you two actually needed?" Freya cut into the looming argument, "Or did you just plan this little skit while I was gone?"
Maleny took a sigh and nodded, "We need you to perform a locator spell. Hayley's missing. I don't trust myself without anyone with me."
Freya smiled, "You are more than capable of performing that on your own."
"But seeing it's Hayley out there, we didn't want to take a risk," Klaus said that time, exchanging a worriedly look with Maleny. Both knew Hayley was still raging of what had been done to the wolves and honestly weren't excited over this disappearance.
"'ll need the best connection to Hayley. You'll have to wake Hope," Freya announced sadly, hoping to God there would be no more fighting tonight.
After bringing Hope downstairs and using her for the spell, Freya got straight to work and searched for Hayley. However, she only practice for about a minute before she gasped and abruptly stopped.
"I can't find her," she said quietly, eyes looking over the map before her. "There's nothing- ... It's like she doesn't exist."
"...Or she's dead," Klaus offered another, very plausible, idea, not too pleased.
"No! No. No!" came the voice of a distressed Jackson who rushed inside, 'You have to find her."
"You're here…" Maleny blinked, slightly alarmed.
"Where is Hayley!?" Jackson plainly ignored her and demanded from Freya, whom had tried to do the spell again.
"She's...she's not coming up," Freya shook her head after coming up with the same results. "I don't know what's happening."
Before Jackson could say anything back, he doubled over in pain. Realizing he was turning back into a wolf, Freya stopped her spell.
"Klaus, the chains!" she exclaimed.
Klaus handed Hope to Maleny and rushed to retrieve the chains. But even as Jackson went through the pain of the changing, he continued to plead for Freya's help.
"Freya, please! Please do the spell again!"
Freya glanced back at the table, knowing there wasn't anything else she could that would work. Hayley would not come up anymore, the reason why still such a dread to them all. Klaus returned with the chains, and dragged Jackson to a threshold to chain him up.
"I can't go a month withou- AHH!" Jackson screamed, doubling over again.
Suddenly, he stopped. There was no more pain, no more bone snapping. The changing...stopped.
"It stopped…" Jackson said after a while, much in awe as the others.
~ 0 ~
Much later, Davina looked away the special candle that was to keep Hayley and her pack from changing back to wolves. With a normal lock and a magical one, no one would be able to get through to it but her.
When she turned around, she came to find Marcel coming in. "There's a problem," he sighed.
He led the young teen towards a café shop, specifically the one belonging to Karen Nguyen, the very woman Hayley was sent after. Davina was petrified to see dozens of smoldering, ashen corpses lying in a pile over the patio. There were already other witches, loved ones of the dead, crying over the corpses.
Cami appeared beside them, startling Davina, as the two hadn't exactly spoken out of the faction meetings. But of course, this was part of business.
"There's eleven bodies," the blonde said, "a lot of pissed off loved ones. They thought it was a vampire thing, but all our guys are accounted for at the Abattoir."
Davina gulped as they watched the son of Karen Nguyen, Van, appeared at the scene and discovered his mother was one of the victims. That wasn't what Davina had wanted, at all, and now she had caused a massacre.
~ 0 ~
As Maleny placed down Hope in a playpen, Klaus took out his phone to dial for Lucien's number as they had agreed. "Put it on speaker," Maleny said calmly, her back to him as she made sure Hope was fine. "I want to hear what he says about it."
Though Klaus wasn't too fond of the idea, he did as she wished.
"I taught you better than to leave your leftovers in the street!" he began as soon as the line had been picked up, "My streets."
It sounded as if Lucien was a little out of it. "You'll have to elaborate, mate."
"Two bodies were found sporting rather memorable lacerations. Are you exorcising your demons by carving up the innocents of New Orleans?"
Lucien laughed weakly, "Oh, your family is full of unfounded accusations today. And if I was the culprit, why would you care? We used to make fantastic messes together."
Maleny turned to Klaus, giving him another suspicious stare, questioning him over Lucien's last words.
Klaus ignored her as best he could, for her eyes - while shiny and entrancing - could be very ominous and raging. "There is a delicate balance in this city. There are rules."
"Ah, and people you care about. You can't afford to have weaknesses like that right now."
Maleny crossed her arms, further displeased of what she was hearing.
Klaus promptly looked away from her, knowing he would be paying for that one tonight. "Speaking of weaknesses, there is a wolf chained to my wall who claims he took a chunk out of your arm. Come see me. I'll give you my blood in exchange for your word that the killings will stop."
"I'm afraid your family dog missed the mark, friend. Barely a scratch. No venom breached the skin."
"You listen carefully, friend - my city has enjoyed months of relative peace. If that peace is in any way disrupted, the next gruesome murder will be yours!"
"Now there's the Klaus I know," came the amused response of Lucien before hanging up.
With a heavy sigh, Klaus put away his phone. As soon as he looked back to Maleny, she was already in front of him, staring at him in mild irritation. "So, I'm just a weakness, then?"
"Lucien has a way with words that—"
"Mhm, nice story," Maleny cut him off, patting his arm, "You know, I'm starting not to like this 'acquaintance' of yours. He's making you lie an awful lot."
"Mal—"
"Find me in my room when you can get your stories straight."
Maleny gave him a smirk as she walked past him out the door. She wasn't actually angry, but she was mildly annoyed Klaus couldn't just tell her what was the deal with this Lucien Castle guy.
~ 0 ~
The night had almost passed and as it did, Jackson remained chained in case he would suddenly revert back to a wolf. But when he saw the changing didn't happen, and the sun had come out, he was angry the chains hadn't been removed and that Hayley hadn't yet appeared.
Freya stood a couple feet from him, awkwardly trying to see if she could help him in any way that didn't involve a locator spell or taking the chains off. "Can I get you some water, or... something?"
"Let me out!" Jackson ordered, yanking on hid chains, "It's dawn, I haven't turned back yet. It doesn't make any sense. I need to find Hayley."
Freya sighed and came towards him, placing her hands on his chest, using her magic to try to decipher what was going on. "I can still feel the curse in your blood. Something's restraining it, but you could transition at any moment."
However, Hayley appeared and shoved the poor blonde witch into a nearby column that temporarily knocked her out. Jackson gaped at the sight of his wife covered in blood from head to toe.
"Where the hell is that bastard?" Hayley panted in rage as she sniffed out the two culpable people that kept her away from Hope. Getting the scent of one of them, she backtracked and saw someone coming down the stairs in a hurry.
"Freya?" Maleny was calling, having heard a funny noise from upstairs she hurried to see if Jackson was still his human self. "Freya-" unfortunately, she got herself entangled into something worse - an angry mother. "Hayley!" she gasped as the brunette hybrid sped up to the stairs.
Hayley grabbed her in a choke-hold, harshly pinning her against the staircase rail. "Do you have any idea what you have taken from me?"
Maleny was well aware Hayley was leaning her farther over the rails and for a minute became alarmed. Someone in anger was bound to do horrible things. "Hayley, you need to calm down—"
Hayley shook the blonde violently, "Don't you dare tell me to calm down after months of being cursed!" she squeezed Maleny's neck, causing the blonde to gasp for air. "You took Hope from me you—"
"Hayley!" Maleny sputtered, her frail hands trying to claw Hayley's off her.
"How could you!?" Hayley kept squeezing, knowing it would only take a quick snap to instantly kill the blonde.
During her distraction, Klaus appeared from upstairs and shoved her down the stairs, and would've done more if he was not more preoccupied with Maleny's condition. Maleny violently coughed as the air filled her lungs again. Klaus grabbed her forth, quickly checking to see if she was alright. She only had the growing red marks from Hayley's hold but she was going to be fine.
"You want to fight, fine, but be a little more decent and come after one that can give one back," Klaus turned to Hayley, missing Maleny's momentary irritated look for his comment. "Do not ever attempt to do that again."
Hayley picked herself back up, glaring at both. "All I see are the two people that took my daughter away from me."
"Klaus, don't—" Maleny barely got to say when Klaus sped downstairs to start the fight she had foolishly prayed wouldn't ensue. "Stop!"
Hayley roundhouse-kicked kicked him in the face and sent him across the courtyard. She sped up to him and continued to throw punches.
Maleny hurried down the stairs and saw Freya waking up, as well as Jackson breaking his chains and setting himself free. "No!" she exclaimed, causing Freya to look over and see what was happening.
She cast a spell that kept Jackson back and away from the fight.
"Let me go! He'll kill her!" Jackson shouted, both angry and fearful for Hayley.
"He'll kill you!" Freya snapped.
"I'll get them to stop," Maleny muttered and turned back for the courtyard, catching sight of Elijah coming in and trying to intervene. "STOP IT!" she screamed so loud it managed to draw attention, but only for a couple seconds. She sighed and looked all around, seeing Elijah helplessly trying to stop his brother and Hayley, while Freya struggled to hold Jackson back with her spell.
Exasperated beyond all doubt, she drew on her magic, and caused everyone in the scene to get aneurysms. She waited until everyone was down on their knees before she stopped.
"You're all terrible people," she said afterwards, looking worse for wear herself. That amount of power cost her some energy but she was not going to let anyone get hurt, or accidentally die.
"You're one to talk," Hayley spat as she stood up, still glaring daggers at her.
Maleny rolled her eyes, passed from the apologetic, guilty phase. "Oh shut up, you're no innocent dove yourself my dear."
Hayley's hybrid eyes came out and she sped up to Maleny, raising her head as if to show her superiority over the blonde. Not a minute later did Klaus cut in-between the two, pushing Hayley away.
"No, Klaus, let her," Maleny went around him, heavily nervous but more than ready to speak what she had to say. "I'm not going to hide behind you." But still, Klaus didn't move and kept his protective stance against Hayley. Maleny sighed, but figured if Hayley didn't move Klaus wouldn't either and therefore she began her rant. "You're a hypocrite," she declared, only provoking Hayley's hybrid side to re-emerge and step towards her.
"Excuse me?" Hayley arched her eyebrows, "You curse me and I'm the hypocrite here?"
"First of all," Maleny stepped towards her as well, "It was Dahlia who sprung the curse out of nowhere. We didn't plan it!"
"Right, on a plan neither of you thought to share?" this time it had been Jackson who made a response.
"There was no time!" Klaus snapped at him, "Or did you forget you were already midway out of the bayou with my daughter? On the run?"
"We had to get her away!" Hayley exclaimed, "Your family was only hurting her!"
"That's a crappy excuse and you know it," Maleny accused and endure the glare sent her way.
"You can make up excuses all you want, Maleny, but I was only trying to do what was best for her," Hayley frowned. "You two," she pointed at Maleny and Klaus, "took her away from me. You are cruel, and murderers of the very wolves that would have laid their lives for Hope. You took my daughter from me!"
"So. Are. You," Maleny calmly said, bitterly laughing at the accusations and angered Hayley more. "In fact, no one here in this bloody place is innocent. You're a hypocrite for trying to make it seem so."
"What the hell—"
"Or have you told anyone of the massacre you caused over in the witches' territory?" Maleny's questioned left Hayley silent for a moment, and confused the others due to their lack of knowledge of the subject. Maleny smirked at the brunette hybrid. "Thought I didn't know about that? That's what happens when your friend is the leader in the Quarter now. I don't know how you did it, but I'm sure Davina was the one that brought you back and in exchange for a curse delayment, you killed those people. And don't even deny it because all the evidence points to you. You claim we're the evil ones but you're no better. You killed people's' parents and that was on purpose. That was your goal." She then turned back and pointed at Jackson. "And taking Hope and Hayley from where they belonged was your idea in the first place. You were going to take a little girl's father from her. And," she sighed and pointed her finger at Freya, startling the blonde witch that she was now next, "you killed your mother and we never even touched on the subject, but when Klaus did the same to Mikael everyone went nuts. And Elijah," she sourly smiled, "you daggered your brother after taking a decision that did not belong to you. Klaus," she turned to him, "you killed your father, brought back your mother only to be killed hours later. And as for myself, I ensured Kol remained on the other side where he's probably being tortured daily by the spirits of New Orleans as well as letting my friends suffer in a curse I couldn't solve. So," she finally returned her gaze back to Hayley, daring Hayley to challenge her again, "is there any other bloody detail you want to discuss concerning loyalty and innocence?"
Hayley swallowed hard, suddenly all the rage and insults she had thought of gone from her mind. She hadn't quite counted on being put on the spotlight like that, a thought everyone else shared with her.
Maleny deeply sighed, "That's what I thought," she said rather irritated herself. "No one is innocent here. Now, I do apologize for what happened, because that was no where near what we had planned. But we would never take away your daughter from you. Or are you forgetting how someone took mine from me centuries ago? Hope is upstairs, and she does know you love her. But mine? My son has made no contact with me, nothing to show that he's coming. Maybe he's not coming back, maybe he's…" she looked down, the realization finally setting over her shoulders, "...he's over the fact he had parents in the first place. Go see Hope, she's up there, napping."
Being uncomfortable was the last thing Hayley pictured when thinking of returning to the compound. But, she was, and she didn't quite know what to do.
"Go!" Maleny exclaimed, her voice abruptly breaking.
Hayley rushed to go see her daughter upstairs, Jackson quickly following her. Everyone else felt the thick sense of guilt, and melancholy for their previous actions.
After a minute, Klaus went for Maleny, "Let's—"
Maleny shook her head, "I think I just want to be alone for a while." He agreed with a small nod, and only because he saw her weariness from lack of sleep finally catching up to her. Rubbing her sore neck, Maleny walked for the stairs, ignoring the looks she received from all three siblings.
Once she was gone, Freya spoke up, and not pleased herself. "That was nothing of what I was expecting," she admitted with a long sigh.
"Yes, Maleny has always had a way of pointing out our faults without being rude about it," Klaus sighed as well, unlike the others not as surprised of what happened.
"I still believe perhaps we can cut the tension by allowing Hayley and Jackson to have their own space," Elijah suggested, immediately receiving a hard look from Klaus. "Hayley has missed many months of Hope's development, and perhaps this can do well for all. There's a new apartment right across the street, so that Hope would never be out of our hearing-shot."
"I think it would be a good idea," Freya agreed, nodding her head. "Intentional or not, the curse did happen and it did break a lot of families. Let Hayley spend time with her daughter for all that she missed out."
"It's only temporal, brother," assured Elijah, able to see the fear of Hope being, once again, taken flash through Klaus' eyes. Only somewhat on board, Klaus gave the nod and allowed Elijah to go set things up.
~ 0 ~
Amarrah loudly slammed her hand on the top of Kinney's car, startling the man into looking away from the radio. She was unamused, irritated, and frankly indignant. "I've been meaning to talk to you about my missing laptop and notes?" Kinney shot her a wide smile, almost amused with her. That only infuriated Amarrah, "You think this is funny? I could report you for that."
Kinney raised a hand and with the other handed her back her laptop. "All the interesting stuff was password-protected, but I knew Vincent wouldn't just pull you in for kicks."
"He wanted Cami, not me," Amarrah clarified blankly, upholding her annoyed face.
"But he brought you in nonetheless and I doubt he did that because 'there was no one else'. He knew you knew your stuff. You're not an amateur."
"I would thank you for the comment but I'm kinda of upset with you if you haven't noticed."
Kinney smiled smugly as he got out of the car. "I finished up the end of that video you were watching. Lucien Castle? Highly motivating. Feeling like my best self already."
Suddenly Amarrah's annoyance vanished from her face and was replaced with due concern for the man. That was exactly what she wanted to avoid. "Nothing's concrete, I was just...looking into the new tourists that came in yesterday," Amarrah swallowed hard.
"And the brief notes on him?"
"Just...brief. It's nothing set on stone."
Kinney stared long and hard at the French woman before warmly smiling. "You could very well report me but you haven't, because you know I was right about your family. You're not a suspect, Amarrah. I'm actually looking out for you. I think you're mixed up in something much bigger than you realize."
Amarrah would've scoffed at such irony if she was conversing with anyone else. "Trust me, I realize." She was going to add more onto that when she heard snippets of the radio from inside the car. "Wait…" she turned to the car, "Turn up the radio…"
Confused, Kinney reached inside and did as she wanted. As soon as he did, they both heard announcements over the murders.
"While police refuse to release information, sources allege that a manhunt is on for a possible serial killer. Two violently mutilated bodies entirely drained of blood have been recovered..."
"How the hell did they know about the blood?" Kinney anxiously, and beyond confused, looked at Amarrah, the witch unable to come up with anything herself.
~ 0 ~
Back at Lucien's apartment, he had the very journalist behind the newest article that consisted of all the murder details. He took a glass of blood from her and headed into his bedroom, leaving the journalist to look over her article for a while.
He meant to return the briefcase that consisted of ingredients he used to cure himself of Jackson's bite, but became distracted by a leather-bound journal in the trunk. He picked up the journal and opened it up to the same page he always did when he came across it. Even though the drawing was over a thousand years old, he firmly believed the drawing of Cecilia de Ark remained as beautiful as she had been in her time. But then came the memories of her tragic ending, and he felt the fury that he had felt on that day...and never ceased to disappear completely. Those who caused her death would have their ending, and very soon.
~ 0 ~
Freya walked into the lounge room with an ice pack in hand, and found Elijah nervously pacing back and forth. "Dare I ask what's wrong now?" she sighed, slightly amused.
Elijah eyed the iced pack for a minute, when Freya gestured to her bruised forehead, and he dismissed it. "I received some unsettling information from Lucien Castle. I don't trust the source, but I... trust you."
Freya nodded, and in the next couple of minutes she had him and Klaus downstairs in the courtyard, preparing a spell that consisted of Klaus' blood and several other herbs.
"If you fed on this prophetic witch, her blood is still in your system. If there's a weapon that can kill you, we need to know," Freya lighted a tall, black candle and placed it on the center of the table where it would be surrounded by other small, lite white candles. She grabbed the bowl with Klaus' blood and put it down in front of three strips of papers with Norse runes on them, meant to have the names of the three remaining Originals.
Nervously, Freya dunk her fingers into the bowl, thus beginning the spell. "No mentre le prophecie que la otra ve. No mentre le prophecie que la otra ve."
As soon as she did, she felt the overwhelming power curse through her body. Her two brothers became concerned when blood began oozing from her right ear. She chanted louder, and more aggressively, but as she did more blood appear came from her other ear, and nose.
"Freya, stop!" Elijah reached out for her but Freya was now in depth with the visions of the -so-called prophecy.
She saw Elijah's painting that hung in one of the rooms being splashed with blood, as well as a beast with large, long and sharp fangs roaring and blaring out bloody teeth.
Out of the nowhere, the three strips of paper burst into flames. Freya came back, gasping deeply and opening her eyes. Although the flames slowly died out on their own, Freya looked worse for wear.
"It's true," she said grimly, "You have a terrible shadow over you. Rebekah, too. If this prophecy is fulfilled, you will all fall. One by friend, one by foe, and one...by family."
~ 0 ~
New York
A young woman with straight, long black hair, finely dressed and wearing black, rounded sunglasses, walked into a diner, momentarily scanning the area until she spotted the person she came in for. She walked towards a booth where a young man was sitting. She glanced over a map settled on the table, and the laptop sitting in front of the man.
Upon seeing her, the young man smiled and motioned her to sit across him, "I'm glad you came."
"You knew very well I was on my way back to England," the woman berated him in a thick English accent, but smiled widely as if unsurprised the man had pulled that type of stunt. She pulled off her sunglasses, revealing bright blue eyes behind, and leaned forwards, "So, what was so important you just had to pull me from my jet, Xavier?"
The man, Xavier, chuckled and turned his laptop around, immediately capturing her attention. Xavier smiled proudly then, "Good, huh? I found that a couple hours ago."
"Lucien Castle," the woman breathed in, "What about him!?"
"It seems like he's donated a large amount of money to clean up a bayou, near…" Xavier drew out the word as he went to the map of the United States, pointed to the spot of New Orleans, "...here."
"Really? And you're telling me because…?"
"Well, over the last year or so, there have been reports of strange disappearances, and fights in the French Quarter. And now suddenly the old vampire Lucien is heading over there? Why?"
The woman's eyes widened, the delight pouring from her eyes, "You think, that...he's there?"
The man smirked and gave a nod, "I am willing to bet my life that if you were to go there, you would find Klaus Mikaelson."
#ocappreciation#fd: the originals#klaus mikaelson#the originals fics#klaus mikaelson fics#klaus mikaelson imagines#the originals imagines#camlijah#oc: Maleny Rowan#fic: under the same stars
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thin walls
gif cred: @mrpascals
rating: NC-17 lol
word count: 3.1k
warnings: SMUT SMUT SMUT!! 18+ !! graphic depictions of sex, auralism, mentions of alcohol, jealousy, dumb oblivious clownery, a lil pining, a smidge of angst at the end u know me
a/n:
this is a side story for my ongoing series “migraine” !!
i NEEDED to write something fun since the last part of migraine was so angsty. i really wanted to just explore them having fun together and being bros!!! just vibin!!! being young and dumb!!! and ofc their obvious sexual tension before migraine girl and mando started their romantic relationship. idk when part 5 will be out since i have finals next week, but i definitely dont want to wait a month to post it LOL
for now, enjoy this fun and sexy romcom bullshit
summary:
“You’re the worst wingman ever,” You tease as you kick his calf lightly.
He kicks you back, “Look, the night isn’t over yet. I bet I can get at least one of these people to talk to you.”
You ponder over his challenge for a moment, and then shoot him a mischievous grin. Reaching into a pouch on your belt, you slap some credits onto the table.
“Spoils go to the winner,” you say with a smile, “You have one shot. Blow it and we both go home, casanova.”
ao3 link
A rough shove from behind nearly had you on your ass in the middle of the firefight. A blaster shot whizzes by your head, nearly clipping you as you struggle to maintain your balance. Another shot goes off, and you hear a body crumple to the ground. You snarl as you bring your elbow around, only for it to be caught by a strong hand.
“Easy!” Qin’s voice echoes in your ears, “A ‘thanks’ would be nice.”
You scoff, roughly tearing your arm from his grip, “I nearly sliced you in half, crazy bastard.”
“Oi, don’t get all riled up, sweetheart. If it weren’t for me, you’d be dead.”
“I’m not your fuckin’ sweetheart, Qin.”
He grunts, waving you off in annoyance. Rolling your eyes, you turn around to proceed forward, ready to berate your beskar clad partner for not watching your back. Yet, to your frustration, The Mandalorian is already far down the hallway, Xi’an bouncing in tow.
--
You’re not jealous.
You say it to yourself when you wordlessly slip away from your coworkers upon returning to one of Ran’s hangars, ignoring their confused looks and the “Oh Mando, you’re so in trouble” from Vidar. You say it to yourself when you lazily bonk your head against the shower wall in frustration, and you nearly scream it when you hear Xi’an’s breathy giggles from his bunk.
This had been going on for weeks now.
A scrap sheet of durasteel could probably muffle more sound than the current wall you shared with the Mandalorian. And while for the most part, he was a respectful neighbor, it was times like these that you wished you could throw yourself into dead space. The first time you confronted him about the noise, it was almost cute at how awkward he was in apologizing to you. That night, amidst the wanton moans and cries of ecstasy coming from next door, you kept hearing him shush the Twi’lek in that gentle, gravelly voice of his. Even then, every noise still drifted into your bunk, but you decided to be merciful and save him any more embarrassment by keeping quiet. (You made a note in your head, though. He so owes you for this.) Instead, you picked up an old busted radio from the market, fixing it up and tuning in during crises like these. It only connected to one station, but you’d take Val Syko’s Quenk Jazz Jams over the sounds of your partner’s pleasure any day.
But tonight, drowning in the funky sounds of Val’s extensive music collection wasn’t doing it for you. Mando’s groan echoes dully off the walls of your room, and your thighs instinctually press together in an attempt to quell the warmth pooling at your core. You press your fingers to the bridge of your nose. It was unfair, really. Mando was getting action at least once a week, yet your pool kept coming up empty, and you refused to fuck around with any of your current colleagues. Sighing, you check your watch; the night is still young and therefore, incredibly long. Your eyes dart over to your tiny closet, pursing your lips together in apprehension. Another one of Xi’an’s moans rings in your ears.
You know what? Fuck it.
It’s almost comical how the ship falls into abrupt silence when you knock on his door.
“I’m going out,” you say quickly before he could open the door. Silence follows and you roll your eyes.
“Don’t wait up. I’ll be late.”
--
You’re not sure why you thought your luck would change tonight.
You were nursing your second drink, lazily twisting the straw in the glass and scanning around the cantina for anyone who could catch your eye. On your first round, there was a cute redhead who gave you a sweet compliment on your outfit, but your hope died when she slipped into a booth next to her boyfriend on the other side of the room. You let out a long, exasperated sigh, letting your head drop as you squeeze your eyes shut. This was a dumb idea. You’re gonna be listening to those two all night while Val plays that one song from Mooneyes for the thousandth kriffing time–
“Is this seat taken?”
You groan loudly at his stupid fucking modulated voice.
“I’ll take that as a no.”
Mando slips into the stool next to you, leaning against the bar as he tilts his head.
“I wondered where you ran off to.”
“I can have my fun too, Mando.”
“Clearly,” he quips, gesturing to your lonely exasperated form, huddled over your drink.
“You’re so annoying, you know that?”
You shove him and he laughs, head shaking at how easy you are to tease. Rolling your eyes, you take a sip from your drink. He shuffles a little, subtly leaning to the right, visor skimming over your backside. You smirk, catching him in the act.
“Hey!” You snap your fingers in front of his helmet, “Eyes up here, tin can.”
Pushing your hand to the side, he takes the hem of it in between his fingers and says, “I didn’t know you had clothes like these.”
“What? This old thing?”
Though your lifestyle didn’t allow for a big wardrobe, there were a few times you would indulge yourself in some of the finer things. The dress was oxblood in color, made of soft velvet with a high neck and open back. It hugged your body snugly, ending just above your knees with a leg slit that traveled up your thigh. It took a decent chunk from your paycheck, and you were so compelled to buy it that you didn’t even consider where you’d wear it. But you loved the way it made you feel, and it was a lovely change of pace from the typical bounty hunter getup you often sported.
“It looks nice on you,” he tells you, nonchalantly.
You swallow hard as his gloved fingers brush against your thigh. Dizzying warmth washes over you. What the hell? Drunk already?
“Thanks.”
“What’s the occasion?” He asks you, releasing his hold on your dress.
You shoot him a sardonic smile as you raise your glass, as if you’re toasting.
“I’m taking applications for a new partner. My old one was too busy getting his dick wet and I almost got shot. Had to be saved by Qin, of all people.”
“I dunno, Qin could be a worthy candidate. He seems to be very friendly with you, too.”
“Are you insane? He’s a kriffing psychopath. Almost as crazy as your girlfriend.”
“Hey, she’s not–”
You cock your brows at him and smirk.
He playfully punches your arm as you take another sip.
“Alright, alright. I get it,” he says as you laugh at him, “Let me make it up to you. Are you trying to go home with someone tonight? I can be your wingman.”
You snort at the thought, “Yeah right. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Mando but you’re not exactly the most approachable person. And besides, no one here is really catching my eye. I think I’m just gonna go.”
You’re moving to stand up and pay until he grabs your arm to keep you still.
“No, wait. C’mon, stay. Lets–Let’s just have some fun.”
You smile earnestly at him; Mando’s insistence to spend time with you genuinely warms your heart, so you lean back to your seat and flag down the bartender.
--
Though a second set of eyes helped in checking out people that you may have overlooked, it kind of defeated the purpose when that set of eyes was known for being one of the fiercest warriors throughout the galaxy. You thought you were able to catch the eye of a particularly dashing fighter pilot, exchanging flirty glances and a little wave. But the second he saw you in an exchange with a Mandalorian, he was quick to dash out the cantina without so much as saying a word to you. Mando kept insisting you both stay, denying that his intimidating armor had any effect on your chances of getting laid.
“Mando, I’m telling you this in the nicest way possible, but you’re scaring people off.”
“Maybe they just like what they see.”
“You’re the worst wingman ever,” You tease as you kick his calf lightly.
He kicks you back, “Look, the night isn’t over yet. I bet I can get at least one of these people to talk to you.”
You ponder over his challenge for a moment, and then shoot him a mischievous grin. Reaching into a pouch on your belt, you slap some credits onto the table.
“Spoils go to the winner,” you say with a smile, “You have one shot. Blow it and we both go home, casanova.”
Needless to say, he fails. Miserably.
The first person he goes up to must’ve been guilty of something. Because as soon as the Mandalorian stalks around the corner to his seat, the poor soul tosses his drink at him and dashes out the door. The metal man stands for a second in shock, and you see his shoulders slack as he lets out a defeated sigh. He rounds the bar back to you, Corellian rum dripping off his helmet and all over his beskar. Your stomach hurts trying to suppress the laughter building inside you, but you couldn’t help it. Your hand flies to your mouth as you snort loudly, laughing so hard that tears almost form in your eyes. You didn’t expect the night to go this way and your endeavors for a hookup had failed terribly, but it still made you happy to spend time with your friend all the same.
“That wasn’t fair. Let me try again.”
You struggle to form a response between your laughs, “No–no way! I–I can’t watch that again.”
“C’mon, I didn’t even get to try. Gimme another chance.”
You shake your head, taking your credits off the table and slipping them back into your pouch.
“Nope, rules are rules, Mando. Let’s just get outta here.”
“No way, I refuse to give up so–”
“She asked you to leave, buddy.”
You turn to look at the new voice, confused and a bit irritated for interrupting your exchange with Mando. You’re met with green eyes, strong shoulders, sexy scruff, olive skin, and a very dashing smile. Your retaliation dies in your throat, and your lips curl into a smile. Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.
Mando didn’t pick up on this though, “No, it’s not like that. We were just–”
“He was just going, actually. Right, Mando?” You look back at him and give him a wink, “I think I’ve had enough of you today.”
His helmet tilts upward in surprise, and then he chuckles lightly.
“Okay, then.”
He slides off his stool, gesturing to it for your new friend before walking out of the cantina. You watch Mando walk out the door, and the man takes over his seat.
“Was he bothering you?”
“No, actually,” You give him a sweet smile, “He’s a friend.”
He raises his eyebrows in surprise, “Friends with a Mandalorian, eh? What’s that like?”
“Well, they make awful wingmen,” you joke.
“Is that so?”
“Why? Looking to take his place?”
“No, I’m here to buy you a drink.”
Catching your bottom lip with your teeth, you smile and your heart flutters.
“What’s your name?”
“Deo.”
--
He presses you up against the wall of the cantina outside, hands snaking up your waist and lips pressing hard against yours. Deo grabs and pulls at your flesh, slipping his tongue in your mouth and you moan against him. It’s been so long since you’ve felt someone this way, and it makes your skin sing in pleasure. When he pulls away, he keeps his forehead up against yours, breaths labored and heavy.
“So, mine or yours?”
A devious grin crosses your lips, “Mine.”
“Lead the way, sweetheart.”
You take his hand into yours, clinging to his arm for balance. The drinks have finally caught up to you and there’s a pleasant buzz warming your body as you try your best not to stumble through the streets. As you make it back to the Razor Crest, you stop in front of the side gate, opening the hatch as Deo’s hand meets the small of your back. You pull him up into the loading dock, and he digs his face into your neck, biting at the skin as you press buttons on the door panel. When it shuts, he pushes you up against the wall of the ship, sucking at the skin beneath your jaw and grinding his pelvis up against your ass. You try to suppress a mewl, as you push off the wall and turn to him.
“Not here,” you whisper.
“Why not here?”
A muffled whimper comes from further away, and both of your heads abruptly turn to the source of the noise coming from behind Mando’s door.
Deo looks back to you, brows furrowed, “You sure this ship is yours, honey? Looks occupied.”
“Roommate. He won’t bother us, though.”
You shove him off of you and saunter over to your own bunk door. You turn around and beckon him to come with a single finger.
“C’mere.”
--
Your dress, along with Deo’s clothes, was left forgotten on the ground of your tiny room. He was quick to the draw, pulling your legs up so they wrapped around his hips and holding your ass for support. He pressed you up against the wall, pushing his cock inside you. You moan loudly, relishing in the feeling of his length filling up your pussy and the pressure of him crowding you against the metal.
And that’s when you realize–
Deo is fucking you up against the wall you share with Mando.
The mere thought of it makes you clench tighter around him and the smile on your face is downright devilish. Your partner can hear every lewd noise you make, just as you’d heard his, and it drove you crazy. Your body flushes with heat, wetness pooling at your core. Your arms pull Deo tighter against you, burying him deeper inside and mewling against his neck.
“Maker, you think he can hear you, honey?”
“Probably,” You let a breathy laugh against him, “Thin walls.”
A distinctly modulated groan echoes from behind you and you can’t suppress the grin that spreads along your lips.
Bastard.
You pull at the base of Deo’s neck, and guide his head to your chest. He nips and sucks at your collar bone, leaving another mark along your skin. Lifting a hand from your ass, he brings it to your breast, kneading it in his hands and running his thumb over your nipple. You whine as he begins to pinch it in between his fingers while he fucks up into you. Coincidentally, Mando’s moans reach your ears again only seconds later.
So we’re playing this game, are we?
You squeeze Deo’s shoulder, the knot in your lower belly getting tighter and tighter the more you focus on the noises coming from the next room over. You know you shouldn’t, but you can’t help the image of your partner holding you like this, fucking you relentlessly against the wall you shared. You wonder if he looks anything like Deo; does he have the same green eyes? Or are they brown? What about his lips? How do they feel against yours? Your neck? Your cunt? You imagine that it’s his hands clutching and squeezing your soft flesh, his cock stretching you open, his stupid fucking voice whispering praises in your ear.
“F–Fuck! I’m gonna cum,” you panted, pressure building up inside you, aching for release.
You swore, you heard Mando’s breath hitch behind you.
“Cum for me, sweetheart. Cum all over my cock.”
You nearly scream as you come undone around Deo, waves of pleasure washing over you. In your haze, a single thought crosses your mind: Mando was chasing his own release as well.
You know it, you feel it.
So you moan again.
--
“I had a good time tonight.”
“I did too.”
You hug your body tightly, the air of the hangar was cool against your skin, and you were clad in only a thin shirt and shorts. Deo is holding your upper arms, smiling softly at you as you shivered.
Brushing a strand of hair away from your face, he presses a kiss to your forehead.
“We should do this again sometime,” he whispers against your skin, “Maybe, somewhere without your little roommate?”
You giggle, warmth heating up your cheeks.
“We’ll see.”
He bids you goodnight, and you walk back into the Crest, shutting the ramp behind you. You’re turning to go to bed when the sound of your partner’s door makes you freeze. The Mandalorian emerges, free of his beskar armor save for his helmet. He stops when he sees you, surprised by your presence at this hour. You stare at each other in silence for a few moments.
And then you snicker, and he does too.
A pleasant feeling blooms in your chest at the sound of his laugh. You take a few steps closer to him, letting your arms fall to your sides.
“So,” he begins in a low voice, “You didn’t hear any of that, right?”
“Hear what?” You ask him, innocently, “I was a little preoccupied.”
“Really? I didn’t notice.”
You hold a hand against your mouth and giggle.
“So,” he murmurs, “Who was he?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Mando cocks his head to the side, and you swear you see a glint of mischief flash along the t-shape of his visor.
“Well, if I’m not mistaken,” he starts, taking a step closer to you. Your heart picks up in pace.
He gently pushes aside the collar of your shirt to reveal deep red marks blooming along your neck. Your stomach flips at the feeling of his bare fingers along your collarbone. Your throat goes dry.
“You owe me some credits.”
He stays still like this for a moment, and you take a deep breath, his touch feeling electric against your skin. When he goes to remove his hand, it’s instinct when you reach for it, clutching it and holding it in place. You feel him tense beneath you as your fingers wrap his palm. You swallow hard, drinking him in beneath the lowlight of the ship: the shine of his dumb helmet, how he towers over you, the warmth of his presence.
You squeeze his hand, and to your surprise, he squeezes it back. His thumb traced over your fingers, and in your boldness, you gently pull it towards your cheek.
“Mando?” you hear Xi’an’s voice call from his room.
You shut your eyes tight, heart dropping to your stomach. Her call felt like ice water dumping over you, killing the warm, fuzzy feeling that engulfed you only moments earlier. You drop his hand quickly. You hug yourself, fingers buzzing so wildly with nerves, you need to hold it close to keep your hand from shaking. You clear your throat and shoot him a weak smile, avoiding his gaze. Bristling past him, you stop in your doorway and whisper.
“Goodnight, Mando.”
“Goodnight, Y/N.”
-
i imagine deo as jake gyllenhaal when he played mysterio just less of a crackhead. :)
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thank u for reading, space cowboys <3
#migraine#the mandalorian x reader#the mandalorian/reader#din djarin x reader#din djarin#the mandalorian#the mandalorian smut#din djarin smut#din djarin/reader#IT'S ALMOST 5AM WE WILDIN OUT HERE#I DID THIS INSTEAD OF DOING MY FINALS WOOO HOOOO#ok gnight i have class in like 5 hours
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omfgggg pregnant!deku. imagine where no. 1 hero is not only an omega but is pregnant and it's still early in his first trimester so he's running around kicking ass but IT'S DEKU so ppl frets and worry over his safety that even villains r like uh i dont wanna mess w/ that. deku is like ridiculously popular & well like even among criminal bc he believes in 2nd chances & rehab of the criminals/villains & fight for disenfranchised youths who fell on the wrong side of the track. so yea, they fight against him but they're also kinda soft for him!!!
so when they found out their fav hero is pregnant & still patrolling there's like some super-secret nonverbal agree among them that they won't stop doing what they are doing but like,,,, nobody fucking touch deku ok or you'll deader than dead. which is ALL KIND OF HILARIOUS bc deku coming to a bank robbery & the criminals doesnt stop their crime but when they fight him, they're like super careful w/ him making sure he doesn't get knock back, fall, or hurt himself too much.
when deku finally captured them and as they're about to taken away, they happily congratulated him on his pregnancy & ask if he'd thought of names yet & one of them is like, "oh, when my husband was pregnant eating X & Y really help with the nausea." and izuku is like,,, thanks???
there's like so many ppl invested in deku's pregnancy that it bizarre bc he's not the first or the last omega to ever be pregnant but he's deku, prohero, no.1 rank, and symbol of hope. all that means is there's a hyper fixation on everything about him esp now that he's pregnant. talk shows, news channel, & celeb gossip show are all talking about it one way or another. whether he's should take an early leave of work or not bc of the danger of his job, the baby's sex, his pregnancy craving, bump watch (I KNOW), & even a countdown to his due date.
the entire country is in a baby fever just bc of deku. everybody talk obsessively about it & even if you find that one person who does not care they def know someone who does. all this happen while deku just go about his day like all of Japan isnt watching his every move lol. the strangest thing about deku's pregnancy is that there's no sign of the other parent?? deku isnt even dating anyone. he never mention any alpha AT ALL, only declaring that he plans to raise his baby all by himself as a single parent which blew their fucking mind bc wtfffff.
look, deku is the most famous omega around, sitting high atop of the world as the no. 1 hero & is adore by the mass--he's greatest omega of his generation some would say so yea there's lot of expectation & hope place on him but deku is deku & he does what he wants. ppl speculate that maybe he's pregnant bc he had a one night stand and this was accident, maybe he has been in a secret relationship all this time, maybe this baby was from a spurned lover or WORST yet a produce of rape... LIKE there's so many rumor swirling around but the answer is actually v v v simple. deku has always wanted a child and since he's nearing 30 right now, he thought it's hightime he has one and the other father? JUST A DONOR. it's nothing serious or complicated as ppl imagine to be.
deku wants a kid and now he has one!! but ppl just can't comprehend how it could be that simple when the most notoble omega in all of japan decide he wants a kid W/O having a mate and he's going to raise this baby all by himself and nope he's not even going to quit his job at ALL to have a family. deku is just--blowing their mind lol
the world doesn't so much get over it as they just kinda get dragged along bc deku does not give a single fuck wut other think and proceed to be immersed in his pregnancy and try to survive the next 6 months while everyone waited on bated breath to see what deku does next. the only thing that stick is the constant rumor mill of who is the donor of deku's baby. they assume that deku wouldn't just pick a stranger bc he's sentimental like that so speculations run amok about every alpha that is closely associate with deku.
there are public polls, betting rings w/ billions on the line, televised debates, internet flame wars, and ACTUAL ARGUMENTS B/T FAMILY/FRIENDS/COWORKERS on who the fuck is deku's donor! even more than deku's baby, they're fucking obsessed on finding out who is the actual donor. the thing is it's not THAT big of a secret. all of class A are in the loop, his mom know (ofc), and even his agency but they all managed to keep it a secret bc deku's privacy is the utmost important & beside the other father would literally MURDER them if it ever get expose.
this is how it went: bullied by his pr team, deku went on a variety show where they have to babysit kids & put through various childbearing challenge while cameras record them for entertainment purpose. It's there when deku realized "ah, I WANT THIS. I WANT THIS V BADLY." deku is climbing close to his 30 now, he's well established presence in the hero world, and his life is pretty stable so it's high time he have his own little family but the thing is babies are two ppl business. they don't just come from thin air so deku did the next best thing.
katsuki would like to say he didn't see this coming the same way you would not expect to be attack by a shark on land, but in this case deku is that fucking shark & katsuki is the idiot that get completley blindsided by him when deku cornered him one day and asked for his sperm.
ok, bakudeku aint dating. they have deep & complicated history that is not only confusing o everybody else but also confusing to them. 'friend' would be to light of a word but anything else is left undefined bc how do you explain more than 2 decades of w/e they are to each other. katsuki doesn't want to talk about the amount of time he'd used image of deku to get off while in rut just so he can survive through it, while the next few days trying to resist punching deku in the face bc he act like a sacrificial idiot who got a cross he wants to bear.
it's not 100% healthy his therapist unhelpfully pointed out but the core of all his volatile feelings have always been named deku & katsuki doesn't know how to compartmentalize it properly bc katsuki may have squashed to something small & insignificant but it's heavy & permanent. so when deku laid his fucked up request at katsuki's feet, he broke the table they were using and nearly walked out if deku didn't catch him by the arm in time.
"kacchan, pls here me out first," deku begged of him, his sweet permeating the air; he's NOT PLAYING FAIR AT ALL. whoever said alphas are the dominate sex in the world have never met an omega, a determine goal focus omega with babies on the brain like deku.
"kacchan, recently i realized that im only getting older so i want a child when i still can," deku explained. "so won't you help me? i know settling down right now is the farthest thing from your mind, but im not asking you anything like that," he continued as katsuki quietly fumed in the background. "i just want your help in making this selfish wish of mine come true. you're among my top choices, kacchan."
Katsuki jerked up. "wait, you mean to say there's a fucking list of alphas you plan to extort their sperm from?" he seethed, feeling like deku had took a goddamn knife to his pride and butcher it completely. "how many other ppl have you asked before you even came to me?!"
"im not extorting anything from anyone." Deku frowned. "and, well, you always lectured me about diving head first w/o any backup plans," he pointed out, "so i made sure to leave several options open just in case the first one fell through. see? i did thought this one thru."
katsuki nearly broke another piece of furniture at the thought of deku asking someone else to father his child as though he was just another face in a long list of ppl deku could use. "What did every alpha on ur shitty list rejected u already so now have to come to me for help?"
deku, who was no.1 for a reason, narrowed his eyes and the air crackled around them. "kacchan, this is extremely important to me so i wouldnt just chose anyone. i only know a handful of alphas i can trust and someone im happy to share the other half of my child with. you're the 1st person that came to my mind when i thought about a child growing inside of me," he said, wrapping his arm around his flat tummy. "despite our many differences you're the one i admire the most. your strength & ambition, grounded by your strong drive & work ethics. the fact that you got where you are w/ your own hands & wits to guide you, i think you're just amazing. so how could i not want those kind of qualities for my own child," deku explained. "im sure a child born from half of your genes you will shine just brightly as you do."
katsuki felt so taken back that found his tongue heavy and words were escaping him. on one hand he felt a rush of pride and a strange sensation of happiness that deku had specifically chosen him out of his potential candidates bc of the greatness he had seem in katsuki but he'd also narrowed katsuki out not bc of some sentimental bullshit or lingering feelings but he thought of providing his future child with the best gene pool as possible so his child can flourish. it's a damn ego busting for katsuki but deku was clearly a man on a mission.
katsuki hesitated and thought what it would mean to have a child out there who carry a lil part of him in them; it's unnerving and humbling at the same time. he never thought of it himself but deku had dream of this, wanted this so badly enough to beg katsuki for help.
"alright," he said finally, not knowing exactly what compelled him to agree, but the look of utter happiness spreading across deku's face as he can barely contain his joy. a single word from him had caused deku's word to shift and rearranged itself to make room for another life.
and that's how katsuki got con into helping izuku make a baby lol. but, really katsuki was the one who agreed to it out of his own will bc he's an idiot & also terribly whipped; omegas are the ones ppl should be frighten of bc once they make up their mind it's hard to move them. they're an unstoppable force, something to be reckon w/ esp when that omega is the no.1 hero who fought his way to the top of the rankings and maintain that status quo for many years despite how many times katsuki tried to topple him from that perch LOL.
katsuki already lost the war before he'd even put a foot down on battlefront the moment deku'd opened his mouth & demanded his sperm AND HE KNEW IT TOO. so that was how katsuki found himself preparing to empty his balls in front of a two-way mirror in a mating clinic bc of deku. omegas, esp males, are the most fertile when they're in heat & when an alpha go in a rut, but the both of them have this arrangment that's more of a duty than any feelings involve bc they cant risk getting mix up in the hormones. this is for deku & his future child!!! so the clinic had prepared a large room w/ two way dividing mirrors& open air vents circulating b/t the two rooms so they can breathe in each other scene where deku can have his heat on one side and katsuki can watch BUT NOT TOUCH and get his rut on so he can produce sperm.
it's uh, not supposed to be v sexy since it's all clinical & shit but bakudeku being bakudeku they nearly tear the room apart to get to each other in heat/rut madnes. deku had blushed earlier as he asked to be bind with quirk restrictions cuff just in case he go crazy which HE DID. at first the nurses there was more worry about katsuki going crazy and out of control bc he has been known to fall pretty high on the alpha aggression and they fear it would be katsuki who would be dangerous; BUT NOPE it's deku all all along who almost broke the REINFORCED MIRROR just so he can get to katsuki!!!! DEKU WHO PPL SOMETIMES FORGET IS LIKE THE NO. 1 HERO FOR A REASON. soft and sweet deku who single handedly can fuck you up with just his fingers if he want to. he's an omega on a mission and he wants that knot up his ass AND HE WANTS IT NOW.
the nurses & docs have to use everything in their toolkit to pull bakudeku apart. when it's all said and done, katsuki embarrassingly produce buckets of cum enough to last deku a looooooong long time if the first one didn't take lol while deku couldn't look at katsuki in the eyes. they are both horridly embarrass about their 'not mating' and their action toward each other there even though they never actually touch each other through out the whole heat/rut procedure. despite the fact that they DIDN'T HAVE ANY SEX, it was still the hottest exp for both.
katsuki never seen more more feral and fierce omega who nearly broke the entire room just to get to him, in that moment if katsuki wasn't in love already he would have been half way there and izuku didn't expect KATSUKI AT ALL. the way he had handle izuku was completely diff. in izuku's heat fever, katsuki was the lone anchor who'd provided him grounding. he tried to calm deku down from his ramp up hormones even though he was as clearly affected as deku. forceful but not unforgiving, commanding not unyielding, firm but gentle.
it was electric.
it was as though izuku was a wild animal unleashed and katsuki managed to tamed him and he never had even had to raise a single finger to do it. it was all in his words that cut through izuku's hazy feverish wants and desires. the kind of alpha that made deku's knees weak.
after that, they have wordless mutual agreement to never talk about it. deku got the sperms he wanted and katsuki had finally fullfiedd his obligation and isn't responsible for deku or his future child. HE'S DONE. they dont have anything to do w/ each other anymore. RIGHT??? ha.
it's funny bc izuku had his hope on a child but didn't think it would take so soon! he'd thought he would fail a few times first before he get really lucky w/ conception bc of his age now that he's older, this 'psuedo mating' can't replace real mating, & biology is fucking weird. even the fertility doc couldn't promise this procedure to insert bkg's sperm in him when he's still got in a heat fever will work 100% and if they fail, they have to wait for another HEAT to come before it could work. which mean months of waiting in b/t so izuku is desperate. BUT it took one try. THAT'S ALL IT TOOK as izuku anxiously waited for the news in next couple of weeks. he took at home pregnacy tests and when hall 3 results were positive he'd cried and called his mom but even then he didn't tell anyone bc he was so scare it just was a fluke.
he'd kept this secret until he finally got the visit to his doc and could get the firm confirmation he needed! when the doc revealed that he was indeed pregnant, izuku fell to his knees in relief bc finally, FINALLY, his dream of having a baby had came true. he's a father now!!
the doc had warned that the first trimester would be rough on him bc of his age and miscarriage is more likely for him than most male omega. maybe he should consider taking an early pregnacy leave bc of the danger his job poses to him & the unborn baby. deku had agonized over it. ultimately, he decided to continue w/ his hero work but won't take on as much stuff as before. he plans to be more careful & attentive to his safety, and defer his more dangerous work to his colleagues instead. all his friends and coworkers go out of their way to help him w/ this
izuku got an entire community of heroes WHO DO THEIR BEST TO ENSURE HIS PREGNACY GO SMOOTHLY bc look izuku may be doing this alone but HE'S NOT ACTUALLY ALONE bc he got his friends, colleagues, and mom to support him through this bc they know how much this means to him!!
katsuki was one of the last to find out but only bc deku plan to see him in person to tell him bc katsuki HAD GIVEN HIM ONE OF THE BEST GIFTS (beside OFA) and he wanted to thank katsuki in person but class A are a bunch of gossip mongers so he found out through their groupchat. it started as a joke about katsuki & his super seed bc what a fucking stud bakugou katsuki to have ONE TRY and is able to knocked izuku up so quickly lmao. w/e the fuck katsuki is doing or eating, apparently it works wonder for him bc one of his sperm luck out & hit jackpot. his so called friends cant stop ribbing into him for knocking up deku so quickly bc they know from deku's worry that it wasn't going to be an easy conception but IT'S BAKUGOU KATSKUKI, outdoing himself once more bc he never does anything by half, not even his own sperm lol.
izuku met up with katsuki right outside his agency bc he knew wassup and how to corner katsuki effectively by trapping him when he just high off his patrol when he least expect an ambush esp when he was too busy avoiding izuku's attempts to reach him bc of COMPLICATED FEELS.
it's not cowardice that kept katsuki away, but izuku was the source of all his confusing feelings already & now w/ the news that he's carrying katsuki's child now it'd gotten worst. izuku, though, was nothing if not persistent. he zeroed in katsuki right away w/ purposeful steps.
"kacchan, i'm so glad to meet you here," izuku says as though he hadn't coordinate this w/ katsuki's coworkers, who are all SOFT for izuku anyway lmao, to get katsuki alone JUST LIKE THIS. katsuki knew he was caught bc every one his friends & colleagues are FUCKING TRAITORS.
"what," he snapped, clenching the hands at his side as he tried to keep his gaze from izuku's still very flat tummy. it's weird to think a life was quickly taking shape there when it's not like izuku looked any diff but he smiling more brightly & warmth coming from his person. was this what they call the pregnancy glow? bc deku was fucking blinding that katsuki wanted to shove his hand to deku's face to block it out.
"what you want," he demanded again even tho they both know why deku was here.
unperturbed, deku smiled. "im pregnant now so thank you. you'd helped fulfilled one of my biggest dreams & im ever so grateful for it!" he continued, rocking happily back & forth on his heels but the words barely registered katsuki kept staring at the way deku's body swing out & he opened his mouth before he could think better of it.
"should you be even moving liek that ?" he asked BC SINCE FINDING OUT IZUKU IS PREGNANT HE LOST HIS MIND. as soon as the words left his mouth he knew he was a dead man walking.
izuku leveled him a glare so fierce that he actually took a step back w/ chills running up his back. "kacchan i may be pregnant but im not an invalid," izuku said with the sharp edge of a smile and thinly veiled steel in his voice. the scariest part was that he hadn't drop a single smile but the ominous threas was there. "do you want me to show you how much of not invalid i am?"
katsuki scowled, face pinching at the thought whether this was just the usual deku's bs or this was deku's bs + the pregnancy hormones that get him so rile up. either way, katsuki no matter how much of an ass he was, he wasn't going to punch a pregnant omega to prove a point.
"fine, that was dumb sorry," he said, scratching the back of his ear in annoyance. "so was that all you wanted to say?"
deku's eyes crinkle in amusement as katsuki's scowl deepens. "yea, i just wanted you to hear the news from me personally and expressed my thanks."
"i'll take good care of them," he said softly, a stray hand caressing his stomach carefully. "I promise i'll be good to them so you dont have to worry."
katsuki paused and then, "I know," he said bc he does. deku was going to be a good parent w/o a doubt. That is a truth.
deku's eyes light up at katsuki's words and there was a hint of wetness in them that katsuki had the unnerving fear that he was going to cry right here and katsuki's entire agency going to charge out & murder him for making a pregnant omega, THE PREGNANT OMEGA DEKU cry in public.
"t-thank you," he sniffs, but THANKFULLY NO ACTUAL CRYING INVOLE, "it makes me so happy to hear that you in believe me. i won't fail you, i swear!" he said it like he was making a vow for world peace or some shit bc of how serious it had sounded but this was important to him.
"yea, okay," katsuki said, looking away bc got this entire conversation was agonizing bc here he was talking to the person, but not JUST ANY RANDOM PERSON, who is carrying a baby w/ half of katsuki's dna & they're not fucking each other. like,,, that's fucking weird okay.
"that's all i wanted to say," deku told him, fully aware how uncomfortable this talk was making him, "so I won't bother you anymore." he gave one last smile and turned to go but KATSUKI WHO SHOULD HAVE LET IT END THERE found himself opening his mouth and grabbing deku by the arm.
it was careful, a firm but gentle hand placed his forearm like deku was glass that stopped him for a moment. "if--if," katsuki said, swallowing around a stone in his throat, "you find yourself needing anything, call me ok? ANYTHING i dont care just call me and i'll be there."
a slow but the brightest fucking smile he had ever seen bloom on deku's flushed face. "ok, i'll let you know," he replied, bc this was KATSUKI PUTING HIMSELF OUT THERE AND WANTING TO GET INVOLVE IN IZUKU'S PREGNACY even tho deku had given him a clean break from it. HE CHOSE THIS.
katsuki doesn't know what he was thinking then but the words slipped passed his guard before he can stop it & now he fucking doomed himself, doom himself to 3am late night calls of deku crying in hysteric at his home bc he ran out of some rare hard to find fruit bc CRAVINGS. so now katsuki had to dragged himself all the way across town to hunt for this shit. the morning news of that day was hero ground zero harrassing shopkeeper in the FUCKING ASS'S OCLOCK FOR SOME FRUIT AND DEMANDING IT NOW FOR W/E REASON, WHILE LOOKING SO FURIOUS & UNHINGED.
look, it's not like deku doesn't have an entire network of ppl to reach out to if he ever needed anything bc they would even laid down their life for him but even when he's cursing a storm trying to get deku's his midnight craving, he's so relief it's him that deku called first. besides, he firmly knew wut he had signed up for the moment he had opened his mouth. offering is help in the pregnancy process was him choosing to get involve and commit to deku & his (god fucking damn shit, he can't think of it as *theirs* bc that's too dangerous) baby. and bc this is bakugou katsuki and he never does any by halves so even though he may have been reluctant at first but now that he's firmly on board he's going in full throttle w/ no break in sight. katsuki dumps all his $$ on pregnacy & prenatal care books.
he read papers, argued on pregnancy forum, & even harassed his parents on it just so he can come at this like a fucking boss bc while he has full faith in deku to put the safety of the fetus first but also HE DOESN'T FUCKING TRUST DEKU TO PUT HIMSELF FIRST which is just as import. deku has the self-preservation of a damn child & he can't expect a *child* to take care of himself so KATSUKI OBVIOUSLY GOT TO DO IT FOR HIM. so he make diet plans, prepare prep meals for deku ahead of them, annoyed deku's coworkers to watch out for him lest he does something stupid. he make it his firm mission that this pregnancy will go smoothly as possible so even when he's running errands for deku, getting his weird ass food craving, and taking deku to visit his ob-gyn, sitting in the waiting room anxiously for any news in case SOMETHING GO WRONG.
He even drives himself crazy learning about the things a pregnant person can't do/is at risk of doing & he doesn't know how anyone can fucking take this for 10 months bc it's like walking on a precarious tight rope. it's scary & humbling and he just want deku & the baby to be ok.
there are still crimes and villains to wrangle, and the world keeps on spinning; nothing really change all that much now that deku's pregnant but katsuki finds himself personally accolating his precious time and energy toward deku & the baby. he became one of those *PEOPLE*, ugh. he never got it even when his friends had popped out spawns of their own. he wasn't going to get dragged down by biology & all that general bullshit about settling down. he's at the top of his game & prize to take over deku's position as no.1. he got no time for playing family.
yet here he is standing in the middle of a fucking baby store, staring down a damn baby crib and having a melt down. who the fuck knew that baby cribs come in so many fucking versions and THERE ARE JUST TOO MANY OF THEM. he thought he had come prepare but no this was toughs shit. he only saw this store in passing while on a patrol & thought he should drop by but the next thing he knew he got trapped here for three fucking hours just looking at baby cribs. he already got several people walking passed him, eyeing him weirdly as he internally freak out.
there are ridiculous amount of info floating on the internet about crib buying guide like the bars could only be certain inches apart, non-toxic paints, diff kind of mattress, safe headboards, etc etc. all of that to ensure the baby doesn't fucking DIE bc babies are like FRAGILE.
he calls deku & as soon as he picks up, the first thing katsuki says is, "last year, there were 1,842 babies death due to sudden infant death syndrome."
a long pointed pause, and then, "oh geez," deku answers, "where are you? I'll be right there, okay? don't go anywhere!"
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