#but because their enemies are strong and they dont want to see him fail. they dont want to see him hurt

[hylianane]

Of course Sanji and Zoro’s rivalry is their thing, its emblematic of them, but sometimes I have to take a step back and remind myself that they aren’t total opposites, and though they don’t always meet eye to eye, they are, in fact, capable of understanding each other even without words.

There’s a couple of scenes in particular in which Zoro just seems to be entirely transparent to Sanji. In Alabasta and in Punk Hazard, Zoro grits his teeth to hide his worry about their Captain- hell, their entire crew- being overpowered. And Sanji right away points it out.

They’ve only known each other for maybe over a month, and already Sanji is picking up on Zoro’s habits. And the way he calls him out on it doesn’t strike me as malicious. I would hardly call it teasing, either. I think he’s trying to goad Zoro into admitting his hesitation so he can overcome it. It wouldn’t do to have the Crew’s now-lead combatant stewing in angry/anxious silence with the long road ahead of them.

It’s this subtle communication, poking at each other when what they really want to say is you’re stronger than this or dont forget I’m standing next to you. “Marimo-kun, are you worried about me?” or “I now have something to look forward to, so don’t die before then.” It’s understanding without words. They don’t butt heads because to some sort of miscommunication, no. They understand each other perfectly. That’s sort of what makes them want to go all out.

[naruto-6-3]

Obito vs Itachi

There is a lot of debait who is stronger and i dont want to continue with the same Power scaling. Instead i will explain their dynamic and my Interpretation of the character changes depanding on who is stronger.

I see them as a Snape and Voldemort Comby. Not entirely because of personality but because of their stand to each other.

One is a spy and the other is the master and teacher. The teacher is the one who is able to manipulate an army and the servant is not great with people but is more book smart and able to archive things the master cant, so he is valueble for the master. Even though the leader knows the servant is untrust worthy he still ends up relying more on the spy than he should. This works and is impressiv because the master is smart enough not to be fooled by everyone. Meaning the student is even better in terms of intelligence than them. The student has good enough inside into the Situation to fool the big bad which makes him ecential for the good side. This includes the knowledge that he cant win the fight and his dead at the master Hand would lead to no good outcome. So he has to Plan around an all out confrontation. This means setting Others up to fight the big bad with tools their hid and didnt use themselfs. This is also the reason why they never fought, even if they could do some damage. Because it would never last and make no difference for the defeat of the bad guy. Only hit them off and lead to the villain looking into what the spy did exactly and destroy the plans they set up.

Snape was never able to defeat Voldemort in an all out battle and he knows it. What makes his spying so great is that he spent time with someone more evil and powerful than him and still management to fool Voldemort into trusting him enough so he could plan his downfall.

That is Itachi for me. He knows he cant win against Obito so he plans his steps around him. During this he made such a great job that even Obito didnt know about Amaterasu or Shisui eye, even though he know itachi was a spy and he should have keept a close eye on him. Itachi never even tryed to fight because he know that even if defeating Obito would stop the greatest danger to Konoha, it would just end in his dead instead so it would be pointless to try.

Itachi had great inside into his own and Obitos cababilitys and made a move with put him into the smarter spy Situation. This is what i like about Itachi. A good hearth who did what was smart in a dangerous Situation.

If Itachi was stronger than Obito it would change my perspective on him. Itachi would have been not smart enough to see that he could have gotten rid of Konohas biggest enemy and than fight sasuke later. since Obito loses some danger if Itachi could just get rid of him the information stealing and ahead planning becomes less impressiv. Both Obito as the Main villain until the war arc and Itachi as the smart double agent would lose some respect if they fail in their roles. Even if Itachi is now stronger and Obito now smarter it is not part of the character role their should play.

This would be like if Snape could have killed Voldemort permanently and never did it because even if his Main role was spying, he never found out he could do it. So he died instead and if Voldemort was a worse actor snape would have found out and just killed the Main villain before harry potter could.

Even though i think Obito is stronger than Itachi and Itachi is smarter based on facts. This is irrelevant because for the story and for how i like the characters ( a smart spy and charasmartic strong villain ) it is necessary that Obito is stronger. Otherwise the dynamic has to change and Obito is the smarter and Itachi the stronger character. No character can be smarter and stronger than the other At the same time or one of them would be dead already. Like i showed above the first dynamic makes more sence simply on the role they play. It could work the other way around, but i would hate it for Obito to be weaker than his own members and Itachi dumber than Obito. It is simply not the way they are written and as i see them. As a fan of both, i see if i hold Itachi into to high of a regard in strenght, he loses some of his intelligence, with made me a fan of him to begin with.

So short Obito is stronger than Itachi for story and character sake.

[fruit-salad-ship]

Do not get this twisted, i will never play and do not like League of Legends.

BUT.

HUGE BUT

Arcane is my fav show, and I dont know how i've not made an AU for it yet. So here we go!

Plums a daughter to a high powered Trencher, she has a good life, despite being part of the lanes. Her education is great, mind sharp, and tongue sharper. Hired hands keep her safe, not that she needs any help with that. She is known to most as someone you dont cross, her enemies do tend to dissapear without trace, that is unless she wants you to find bits of them. Her hatred to topside is minimal, she's been priviledged all things considered, but harbours a lot of spite within her tiny frame, and is a fantastic drivign force to others. Her compelling intelligent words can rally folks to fight for her cause, whatever it may be. Her friends are superficial, all quick to nod and agree with her, even if they dont actually like her ideas, and she's not stupid enough to miss that. Her company is bought, not true, and it irks her some days. All those close tend to keep her company for personla gain. For this reason she struggles to truly trust anyone. Weapons of choice: pistols, daggers. Category: precision, mid/close range, stealth.

Grey is a topsider but learnt to hate his own, seeing the injustices first hand due to his curious nature, he went to the lanes and found himself having more fun than he's ever had in his life. this however showed him a side to life he took for granted, he had a lot, and many had little. So every other night he sneaks out and dresses to blend in, skulks down into the trenches to party with more interesting, far more hard working folks. His deep pockets are spent helping people when he's not drinking it away, son of a writer, his penmanship gives away his heritage. He if offered a job scribing for a high powered family in the lanes, and is privvy to a lot of secrets and information he would otherwise not know. His family dont understand why he'd do that work, and distance themselevs from him for it, he however has found a new cause, a reason to try to better whatever he comes into contact with, one way or another. The people he's met are good, or at leaat, have every potential to be. Weapon of choice: Rifles, throwing knives. category: Technical, long range, deesculative. Peach is an apprentice to an old herbalist and doctor, one of the Lanes oldest providers of medicine, learning all there is to know about helping people who can pay. The new issues of Shimmer make work tough, and even her own life has danced with that demon once or twice, enough to understand what it does to someone. Her family sold her out as a worker, so she's been job hopping her whole life, dodging danger whenever possible, often being less lucky and finding herself in less than optimal situations. Because of this she's grown to be strong, physically and mentally, handling most issues with a cockiness that comes with the territory of being so big and so brutal. Free time is spent either drinking or fighting for extra cash, her friends are solid, connections loyal, and knowledge growing as she studies medicine more, learnign all she can from her boss. Sometimes she goes out to the moores to collect herbs, a moment of peace compared to the lanes. Weapon of choice: improvised, unarmed. Category: brute, close range, poisons and tonics.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Plums family is the one Grey works for, so those two see each other in passing, and his good nature is curious to the young woman, who's so use to dishonest and devious people in her life. Yet this man seems genuine and open hearted. He is a fool to her, but a fool she rather enjoys for his realistic approach to situations, not fogged by social status, personal opinion or potential gains to be had. He gives balanced judgement, something Plum values. Grey likes the young woman, she tried to spook him during their first interaction but failed due to his genuine lack of awarness on who she was, and the seemingly fun joke she played. He is almost painfully oblivious to just how dangerous she is, that is until he gets caught in the crossfire because of her dirty deals and underhanded tactics. Greys sudden injury leaves Plum with little choice, hobbling his huge form to the closest doctor she could recall.

Inside the cramped herbalists she demands someone help her friend, the first time she's used that word and meant it. The owner of the place was out but his apprentice was there, a tall intimidating looking woman who did not look at all medically skilled. Plum even questioned her abilities upon seeing her for the first time. Peach explains this care wouldnt be cheap, especially not for a topsider. Plum starts to haggle her down, thretening with her family name, something peach doesnt even care about. The price actually goes up with every mention of them. Peach wont touch him until the amount is agreed on, and Plums fuming she's being taken for such a ride. Grey however is bleeding out in a chair, both girl looking to him, one calm and collected, suggesting to hurry, as he didnt look too good. Through gritted teeth Plum agrees to the price, hands over too much coin, and watches this woman haul her injured friend into a back room. There she's able to patch him back up, it takes a while, Plum's sat in a chair amongst all these strange plants and potions, a few hours later turnign her head as Peach returns, bloodied, explaining that the patient would be fine with rest.

After that, Plum is mildly intrigued that a laner would be so bold with her, no one dares normally, but Peach didnt care, and actually, she did do a good job with Grey, he made a full recovery in no time. Its not that Peach didnt know who Plum was, of course she did, but when someone that powerful walks into your little shop? You take the opportunity to gain some extra cash. Grey returns to the doctors place of work to find the manager back, saying Peach had a day off. He wanted to thank her, so the man suggested he looked at a local bar she frequented if he's that bothered. If he doesnt need anything however, he should leave. Undeterred, Grey treks off to this place, its a seedy little joint with loud music and a notable shimmer presence around, but he can buy a drink and glance about the space, not seeing her. Its not until he notices several people going downstairs that he decides to follow. Beneath the bar is what looks like a makeshift boxing ring, people crowd and jeer, most drunk, some hosting bets, others smoking and laughing. And there she is, his doctor, the woman who saved his life, is mid fight in the centre of this space against someone twice her size, Peach looks bloodied, as does her opponent, both exchanging blows, each time with a loud cheer or boo, depending on who was on whos side. He watched her slip an uppercut through their defences and her foe falls, The woman bends over, spits out blood, a couple of laners at her side, one shaking her form with a smile, another handing her a beer. They all laugh as she catches her breath and stands up straight, looks like hell but grinning. She calls it, heading back upstairs with a little wobble in her step, shaking it off. Grey follows and waits until shes finished her drink, buying her a new one to approach with. She doesnt recall his name, surprised he's found her, refers to him by his injuries, hard to forget him, got a pretty penny for that job.

Their chat turns to laughs, to more drinks, to jokes, turns out the topsider is actually a bit more fun than Peach had first thought. kind of glad she didnt fuck up his medical procedures now. After adequate partying they stagger out, arms over shoulders trying to support each others forms from falling, gut laughing, peach pulls a smoke, offers one to grey who goes with it, joins in, coughs less than Peach expected, somewhat use to the nightlife in the lanes by now. She drags him towards her apartment, keys jingling as she gets the door. Inside is a small functional space, lived in, but she's not focused on that, no no, she's focused on getting this big rich kid out of his clothes. Grey doesnt argue, and the two spend the night doing anything but sleeping.

Plum of course worries when Grey doesnt turn up for work on time the next day. He's usually punctual, but by midday he's snuck in, back to work. He looks like shit, tired, groggy, a little deshevveled, when she gets close he smells like a bar, smiling to herself as she catches him off guard, the man jumps at her suden presence, relaxing once he sees its just Plum. She immediatly points out the state of him, to which he explains he went to go thank the Doctro who helped him, and things got...out of hand. He was pulled to one side and Plum demanded to know everything, fascinated with this situation. Who knew a topsider had it in him to charm a woman like that? She was impressed.

Eventually Plum finds an excuse to return to the herbalist, making sure to wait until the guy who owened the place went out, leaving Peach alone in the shop. Her apperance didnt surprise the larger woman who leant on the counter reading, only briefly glancing up at her before smirking and returning to her book, stating how it was only a matter of time Plum would crawl back to her, expert medical skills were hard to come by. A statement that immediatly threw plum, why did this one not fear her like the rest? Regardless, she came in for medicine which was true enough, complaining of headaches, awful ones. A little digging and Peach suggested its stress related, maybe she should try to relax a little between beating the shit out of people for looking at her the wrong way. Plum realised in that comment that Peach did know who she was, had done the whole time, just...didnt care? or chose to ignore it? Brave, or stupid, she was not sure.

Their thinnly veiled threats had some kind of flirty undertone, a dangerous dance between two equally dangerous people. Eventually Peach suggested that the little lane royal should come out for drinks, see if she's able to let go of her duties and pride and just be one of the normal trash folks for a night. Plum agreed, adamant it was to prove she was more than capabale of keeping up with her, and no other reason.

The girls turned up at the usual bar Peach frequented after her shift, Plum had met her outside the herbalists so they could walk over together, she wanted to dig for more on this woman, she was a nobody, reputation either very good or very bad, no inbetween at all, and their conversation yielded very little to expand on that. Drinks flow, the pair settle into a competetive state of existing, exchanging stories, trying to one up each other for the entire night be it at drinking, or playing cards, or trying to get bottlecaps in someones glass from 20ft across the room with a throw. Admittedly, Plum was actually feeling a lot less stressed out, maybe this big idiot was a better doctor than she'd first thought, a statement she said out loud. Peach laughed, corrected her that technically she was only a nurse right now. Plum had a moment, maybe it was the drink, maybe the sight of this jacked woman's arms while she shuffled a deck of cards to play another round, but the image of her in the nurses uniform you'd see people wearing at parties to try to be sexy wouldnt go away. It was both hilarious and unnerving, mainly because she didnt know she wanted it until her brain put it there. Maybe she could convince her to play that role someday.

A few more drinks and Plum was done, her small frame and lower tolerance made it clear she needed to go home. Peach threw her on her shoulder, pickpocketing her in the process to pay for the tab, pretending like it was her money to Plum who was none the wiser at this point. Getting her back to her place was difficult, for a little human she truly made life difficult, grabbing onto posts when she wanted to stop to look in a window of a shop or catch a cool view. After a while Peach became wise enough to avoid all grabbable things, but that just diverted Plums attention to her. The last street before home and Peach feels these little hands slip up under her shirt on her back, something that doesnt bother her, but she does question her company with a chuckle, the hands following lines of muscle. Plum shrugs, slurs out something about 'just lookin'. Peach has to fish around in the drunks pockets to find keys, trying two before the third works and the front door of this womans home opens. Its far nicer than where she lives, plush for a lanes home, tall ceilings and heavy silk drapes, furnitures in good condition, theres a distinctly cleaner quality of air in here.

Plum gets put in her bed, water on the side table, Peach is ready to leave but theres no way it'll be that easy. This wirey little monster she's helped is far more agile than she thought, and admittedly, Peach is also pretty drunk, capable sure but not at all her most alert. Before long the bigger womans stuck under the thighs of Plum who's just not letting her go. Their interactions are closer to a fight, any kind of collision with a woman like this is a dangerous choice, Peach isnt an idiot, this could be great, it could be terrible, theres no way to know the outcome...but she's only human, and the opportunity to sleep with someone like Plum is far too tempting. May as well go with it, whats the worst that could happen...right?

Well the outcome was great, for a while. Until it dawned on Peach that she was seeing a lot more of Plums goons coming to her place of work for medicine and care. The buisness was making good cash, and her name was alwasy the one asked for, a fact peach's boss couldnt overlook...now she owed Plum for this, she was the sort of woman who'd find a doctor in her pocket very useful too no doubt. Peach knew she was being used, it'd creep up and be clearer to see when Plum would ask for specific poisons, or about methods of removing things from people without killing them, at first harmless medical questions in passing but it was eventually clear she was using this information. Then a body turns up of someone high powered...

Things get dangerous when rich folk turn up poisoned. Then one day a topsider is found. wealthy guy who was killed with a familiar toxin, one peach knew all too well, a toxin that if someone wanted could be traced back to her shop, her work. She had to stop this, but it was too late. Plum had brought a lot of buisness and money her way, Peach owed her, a debt she was unable to repay without a miracle. Now under the thumb of a tiny tyrant, her services are bought out, becoming a doctor for Plum's family, providing carefully curated medication for all that aisles, partered with her old boss who was happy to see her bring such a high powered customer to his doors.

So Grey and Peach become lackeys, one happily, the other reluctantly. Their boss is harsh but fair with them, they get into all kinds of altercations, and while they love eachother, its sometimes very bitter sweet. Greys a smart, well spoken sweet guy but his lack of lanes knowledge gets him in trouble sometimes. Plums crazy sure but shes got a sweet side, and takes care of her own well. and Peach is a bruiser, who'll fly off the handle if pushed too hard, but my god do they need someone who knows medicine. Together they cause a lot of trouble.

[ruleroftheeasternlands]

okay hear me out, no im not trying to change people's mind but seriously hear me out.

Y'all have to realize demons don't care, they are essence of evil, (Except in Inuyasha) it could have been much worse in Inuyasha but it didn't. Its a show for entertainment purposes only, demons in real life are MUCH MUCH worse and far more corrupted.

But anyways here's my opinion on Inuyasha plus Toga & Kirinmaru.

I wanted to say something, In my opinion i dont think Toga would be stupid enough leave stuff behind for the boys to clean up (i will explain later), the only thing he had intentionally wanted to teach them (clearly stated in the 3rd movie) was finding the answer and working together against a common enemy plus learning how to use their swords. Aka teaching Sesshomaru compassion and Inuyasha learning and harnessing the power of the Tetsusaiga). By the end of that movie he also clearly stated he HAD nothing else to teach them then went into eternal rest. He didn't mention anything of having more for them. Been watching Inuyasha since i first read it from my teenage years, at first i never knew about Toga i just simply enjoyed reading the Inuyasha manga but now that I have been rewatching and rereading Inuyasha i have failed to notice the Dad until now. Honestly im ashamed but truthfully in my opinion, He's a better character and a great demon with a big heart just like Kirinmaru which is how i grew to love the two strong demons in the Inuyashaverse. I really dislike how fanfictions ruins those certain characters from the original series. There are great fanfictions But Yashahime is not a great fanfiction. Sorry guys but im sticking with the original series. Truthfully most of the trauma Inuyasha endured was mostly from his brother, humans and other demons ESPECIALLY Naraku. Omg he is a good villain but omg he's horrible, especially when involving children in his plans 😭.

I had JUST learned of Kirinmaru from a couple months ago i never knew anything about Kirinmaru until i saw him on Pinterest. Then i took a liking to him like i did Crowley Eusford, i loved all three of them, however when Crowley was killed off i got very upset, looking to cope i met and learned about Kirinmaru. Took a strong liking to him and relate because we are both redheads with hazel eyes, loved him and his daughter. He was more human than demon especially in his heart very much like Toga & Crowley. But when i found out he was to be a villain i was like "now hold on, they are turning a good character into a villain? Are you kidding me?" It didn't make sense because absolutely NOTHING about his character was regarded as villainy. Tbh, he should have been in the original series because i believe he could have posed as a perfect challenge and maybe an ally for Inuyasha & his friends since Inuyasha is practically an exact image of Toga. But anyways he was in so much of a grieving stage that he did things OUT OF CHARACTER and immediately he's the bad guy? Dude we all make mistakes and grieve differently so why do this to him huh? It makes no sense whatsoever to make him a villain, they should have gone with a better character that fits that role aka the Grim Comet take form or something like his sister. But Kirinmaru? Nope they had to ruin ANOTHER character. Kirinmaru expresses emotions & even went as far as to being concerned for the granddaughters like when he asked what did they see or was concerned when they got distracted. That is not what a villain does, do i need to remind people Naraku was a much worse and much terrible villain than Kirinmaru? Sheesh they love destroying characters nowadays smh.

I wish Kirinmaru was in the original series, or maybe he was just wasnt shown onscreen. But anyways sorry for the rants.

[the-firebird69]

Trump was fully around with BJA and inciting him and BJH started wiping out Trump in an organized fashion and Trump pulled up a big machine near BJ A and some message to use explosives on BJA and his and BJA caught it and has gone after Trump ever since this afternoon in in a very heavy style and it is a lot of people that he has pulled in and is pulling more because of what they are saying and the information you got it has increased and it will not decrease at all shortly these people are going to lose. Is something on TV is kids got ripped off and and lemonade stand and it was trump and his brother and they've been doing a decent act and people wanted to thank them so they came by and drinking their stuff it's not a personal recipe but they thought they might do that and they couldn't get it going but people wanted to see what they would do for personal recipe so they might try to do it tomorrow and also they're showing PG in court enforcement to character and they apprehend him and they put him in court and their sentencing shortly. He actually might be sideshow Bob not crusty. There's a lot of stuff happening it's one of the only few people who take our son kind of seriously I think some other people are having a say in other groups which is partly true but boy I've never seen so many people breeze over someone who is powerful except for Trump who's doing the wrong thing and it is going to cause problems and he's supposed to look like a cracker or something and he doesn't and let's see his trumps playing some week again but they have other stuff with it so they're going to try and sentence him and he's going to get out and it's a two idiots from Publix and they're the idiots from here Now he's got a certain style it's not that abrasive and people find him to be abnormal but boy there's a lot of really dumb people and our son's back does not look like his you know saying it does but they're saying that his back is strong and is our son is back is strong and says just because my back is strong doesn't need to be weak like yours and your back is going to be broken soon because you are separated by a people who are going to come and break your spindly little backs like little shrimp bags and you don't know it and if you're getting people who are defending you to actually attack you I don't wish you lost I wish you and yours would go somewhere else bother someone else go bother them act proper which you are now engaging in can't raise your head from in any way.

;; If our son was treated with dignity and respect by anybody else and these people held off you would have support from him but you don't and you don't treat him with dignity and respect and you'll learn what it's like to face a real enemy without your friends who make your armor and your suits and he's not facing the death penalty no they're trying to do that to him and he can't stand them anymore

wade wilson acts like a weapons guy. nd this bitch goes and we place her on a list and the others frying him up and injection and his brain willb e ruined and thy need him.

they are not strong and fail. and need him. badly.

the dod is placing him on the list to protect no. and mightno. and hen this let him rot you dont do what he does and no suits now and he says why fn us there he is smll and ok ok and worked and said it need a lot.

these trumpsterss die

Thor Freya

Olympus

[37-children-of-the-dreams]

Actually, about Klipse's dissapointment, I dont know how it even can exist, I mean, yes, Dom can scare shit out of enemies, but he never succeed so Six. Ok, Six is small, cute, and not annoying, here I can see reason. But Dom... Even Hargrave is one nerve away from grabbing him away and punish him. Dom was distacting Klipse a lot of times, asked for more money and monsunos even if he uses only Dragonburn if he uses monsuno at all, cause he himself mostly, but he still couldnt really do anything, like kill Core Tech's monsuno or anything, he just began to be Jinja's main rival, and loonatic dude. I mean, I really dont see any reason to have Dom in team and tolerate him so much and so easy if Dom isnt Klipse's son. Hargrave's here cause he isnt battler, but butler (haha, joke...), and he does most of job in all hq, basicaly he's brain of whole Eklipse hq and team. Six has potential of Klipse's own lynchpin. And Dom... Meme is, he has strong sight, he can handle a lot of monsunos on his own, but Klipse doesnt see him as candidate for lynchpin, probably because he fails everytime, but again, why so Klipse keep him only if not Dom is his and probably Hargrave's son??

Idk why Klipse even keeps his kids at this point. He seriously looks like a tired parent. He and Hargrave share the brain cells of Eklipse and are just wondering when their children ask for the brain cell.

Like Dom is a heckin’ man child who’s always ready to annoy people, and also make adults call the police on him when he’s close to children. He’s failed a ton of times and even Hargrave has a hard time dealing with him. Maybe Hargrave and Klipse can’t afford another clone disaster, but like, they lost more than three clones at this point and are ready to make another, so maybe they just want to see if he can grow up? Like actually grow out of his bratty mind and be the clone they need to take out Core Tech? I mean Dom has grown up, but only because he lost Dragonburn…

Yeah, trauma isn’t the best way to grow character but it’s a tried and true writing idea so Klipse and Hargrave got their slightly mature son so it works out. In the saddest way possible since Dom really cared for Dragonburn.

[isabelguerra]

timeline of events:

1st year

- theres probably some instigating insult that spurs the bad chemistry and sets the dynamics tone. ive barely considered 1st year so i dont know what that inciting incident is. a kid insults you first day of school and you immediately on principle Do Not Like That Guy

- impersonal, casual friction. their personalities are so individually strong and similar enough that they naturally clash in situations involving them. its the classmate you see in the hallway and butt heads with in a few classes. hes competitive in the same way she is and he picks on other students. isabel wont go out of her way to interact with him, but if hes walking by and trips on her foot, then he shouldve been watching where he was going.

- compass fiasco. this is more between max, who finds it, and the jang, who are his bullies by nature. the rest of the AC friend group is roped in by virtue of Hey What Happened To That Cool Object You Showed Us Yesterday? What? Those Dudes Who Are Always Bothering You Took It? Ok, Well We’re Taking It Back, Then. now theyre more directly involved due to the nature of their two friend groups interacting. the classmate who you butt heads with but don’t otherwise interact with is now nonseriously bothering your friend, so suddenly he’s your business. isabel knows of johnny a little bit herself and now knows of him More because shes close with max. over the course of the compass being stolen between the two groups she interacts with him more directly, and it ranges anywhere from indifferent, to annoyed, to frustrated, to haughty, to indignant, to Active Altercations

- idk

- they go from ‘knowing of someone’ to ‘knowing someone’ over the course of the year. it’s mostly setup and establishment.

- oh wait. flying class. they definitely butt heads in flying class. theyre both excellent flyers and like showing off and dont like being one upped

year 2

- Oh Great Its That Fucking Guy Again

- y2 is the closest to what we’ve seen of their canon dynamic so far.

- they constantly foil each others projects, plans, and endeavors. again with the similar personality friction, but now it’s slightly more personal and no longer casual.

- they do petty pranks and nasty comments to get the others’ blood boiling. now its gone from ‘guy whos bothering my friend’ to ‘guy who bothers me and i bother him back’. its almost rival-y. very one uppings. very ‘i dont like you and im going to make a spectacle of how much i dont like you. and my spectacle is going to be better than yours.’ isabel charms johnnys shoelaces together during breakfast and he trips in front of the whole school. two weeks later at dinner, johnny pours magic slugs down the back of isabel’s robe. isabel then casually shoves him into the lake during a herbology field trip.

- when its not a spectacle, its Very personal and just meant for the other person. ‘i enjoy embarrassing you publicly, but dont worry. if youre the only one around, that will not stop me’. johnny throws isabels bag off the astronomy tower. isabel flips johnny over her shoulder into a rotting pumpkin.

- quidditch. isabel tries out for beater. johnny tries out for beater. they both try for beater because they know theyll get to hit things, and theyre good at hitting things, and they want to hit things. they both get beater. everyone’s working on a team, obviously, because it’s sports, but what the two of them failed to realize about the gig is that it’s a 2-person position that specifically requires cooperation with the other beater. the job requires them to protect their team from two 150lb bewitched iron balls by hitting those iron balls at enemies with their bats. so its up to you and the other guy to keep an eye on things and track the big picture. if you’re not taking it seriously or being careful it will go south.

- it goes south

- they cant work together. they cant, for the life of them, work together. they get into arguments during practice, they ignore the other and only focus on their own growth, and they start fights DURING GAMES that makes the team lose once and almost lose a bunch of other times. theyre uncoordinated. johnny hits a bludger at isabel instead of the enemy team. isabel shoves johnny off his broom. during practice johnny hexes isabels broom to spin wildly and it makes her so dizzy that she throws up on him.

- their captain is a 5th year named molly heavens. captain heavens takes quidditch so seriously. the first few times they lose the plot in practice she doesnt approve of it, but lets slide. but once it makes them lose a game things change. if they are here to learn she’ll teach them. shes seen them in action and theyve got potential. but if theyre doing this to goof off and take out petty violence on each other, then that is stopping her team from winning and she can find other beaters. once isabel and johnny realize that they could get kicked off the team, they start learning what it means to take this seriously. they still bump heads and struggle working together, but they want to hit things more and theyre not going to let the annoying other person get in the way of that.

- they still squabble outside of practice but heavens makes sure they leave it in the changing rooms

- more miscellaneous rivalry stuff. they’ve matured enough by the latter half of the school year to not be outright malicious, but that doesnt mean theyre friends

- and then there is

- the eightfold incident

talking about izjo last night made me realize how much fun focusing on their pre-3rd year dynamic is. sappy romantic conflict is great and all but the idea of 12yo isabel and johnny being forced to work on the same team for the first time and being so dysfunctional at it that isabel lets her emotions take over and shoves johnny off his broom is killing me. thats gold. why arent i focusing on that more

[mxttellion]

Giggles cutely!!! It' RA time

So FINALLY. here they are!! I dunno why i waited for soo long to show my hcs and like. Even the pic itself is kinda old LMAO (it's from may, i think?)

update: I tweaked the designs a little because of a few details that I didn’t really like, jsyk /gen

click the read more to see all the headcanons, lmao

So here's the Red Army!! Or Red Legion, or Red ....whatever name they come up with for the day. Don't let the name fool you, they're anything but a serious army. They're just a bunch of idiots trying to take over the world. And failing miserably.

Red Leader is well. The Leader lol

multiple people have mistaken Tord for the leader, because of the horns on the helmet, but it couldn't be further from the truth:

that's his brother, Dominik!

Tord's older brother, almost 40, founder of the army along side Yanov (his and Tord's adopted brother in my hcs lol) and Paul. He seems like a cold blooded leader at first glance, but he really is just as much of a goofball as his brother: he got the idea of creating the army from anime he used to watch as a kid, go figure. He wanted to create a strong group of vigilantes that would bring order to the world!..and he. Kinda failed but it's okay! Yeah, he's a fucking weeb just like Tord. and also a brony, you know. Tord designed his uniform, he specifically wanted it to look as intimidating as possible so enemies could be scared of him. Going as far as adding a voice changer. Also, dont ask him where most of the army funds went. No he wont tell you. no. shut up it's not anime figurines. and he may or may not asked Tord to build robots of their waifus. lord-

Tord is a general! nepotism moment; however, he really couldn't care less about his status, as he just acts like he's the army mechanic/scientist/robot expert, you name it: he hides in his own laboratory, creating robots, weapons, and little robot companions- and waifubots and clonebots. Dont ask him what the clone bots are, but he sure loves scaring Yuu with those: robots that will immediately take their place if something happens to them.

Paul is basically just a grade lower Tord, and he acts like he's the actual general, as Tord is too busy in his own world to even care, and also lets him do whatever he wants. Paul is basically an honorary general and used to be Yanov's co pilot. That's before he broke his arm was deemed unavailable, and then changed his role. Now he's Pat's co pilot. He cried for an entire night after getting the news that he had to be with a newbie. But said newbie quickly warmed up to him, anyway! He's. always. constantly busy. even when he doesn't have a flight programmed, he always has to find a duty to do in the army. Chill a bit, dude.

Yanov USED to be a pilot. One of the most trusted pilots, calm, chill and collected. But also LOVES to witness chaos. He broke his arm in the stupidest way possible (probably falling down the stairs). Just after that, he decided to then step down as a pilot and become a medic. And considering his gentle mannerism and carefulness, maybe that's the best. Aaaand the army needed more medics. He loves his new occupation!

That's where Patryck comes in! He's a novice pilot, freshly recruited from the army. He didn't even actually have a plane driving training, nobody knows how he got in there. (Actually. it was desperation. They NEEDED another pilot and he seemed so eager to accept his role. He asked it himself to become one.) Well, Paul was assigned as his supervisor AND co pilot to his dismay. Like previously said, Paul cried to Yanov and to himself the entire day after the news. Please anyone BUT THE NEWBIE. Nobody knows Yanov made this choice. Despite his...rocky, beginnings. He's a ..somewhat great pilot! You know, despite the montly 4 crashed planes. That's also where most of the funds go. He's forbidden from going anywhere near the weapons depot, especially after he gets energy drinks. It happened once and half of the base exploded. Rocket launchers disappeared. Patryck what dID YOU DO.

Yuu is the uhh.. weapons guy? He's in charge of well. Keep the weapons depot in check. But it's a mystery how he manages to keep this role, as he always ends up letting someone (PAT) blow it up with the bombs in there anyways. He's also a great marksman! incredibly useful unit in battle. It's kinda like Patryck, no one exactly knows how he got there, he's such a scaredy cat, always alerted by anything that happens.

That's all i have for now JSGSJHDJ

[trashpocket]

hey just wanted to pop in and say that any pacific rim AU is high quality and an indication of impeccable taste, but making it Steve and Robin as a drift compatible pair, and Eddie as the mechanic who hates sending them out there is extra genius.

if I may add just one more concept to the table: Dustin as the kid with the kaiju obsession. he knows all sorts of stuff about their behaviors and biology, and maybe he bugs Steve to try and sneak him samples so he can mess with them. he has quite a few suspicious mason jars under his bed. and Eddie will pepper little kaiju details into the enemies in their DnD games because it makes Dustin happy. also, with Eddie being a drug dealer, and kaiju parts being highly sought after for medicinal purposes, I imagine he knows a bit about the kaiju too, but he's a bigger fan of them when they're dead.

AHHHHHHH, THANK YOU SM!!!!!! when i thought about the pacific rim AU at first glance, it already made sense to me that robin and steve would be the copilots, not only because it'd feel half assed to slap on eddie as his copilot and let them go to town, it'd make me feel like I've disregarded and deliberately misunderstood the dynamics between all three of them, if I hadn't made Steve and Robin the copilots and soulmates. Steve and Robin's friendship mean so much to me, because it not only mirrors what me and my bestie have (platonic with a capital P, each of us LITERALLY having the same dynamic, and me having liked him before, then getting rejected cause of), but having a platonic bound be so strong that they're two sides of the same coin, halves to each others whole, means a lot to me. And I believe that Steve needs a platonic bond so bad, because he's surrounded with so much potential partners in women, so much romance signaling that it's fuckn overwhelming and I fully believe Robin balances out all of that, all of his traits and little quirks and I'm not saying that is her purpose—because it is NOT, she is her own person and she exists OUT of Steve, not around him—I'm rather, seeing it as a side effect, so Steve and Robin are good for each other that way.

That, and Eddie as a mechanic makes so much sense, esp if we factor in the angst that this bad boi can give us. Not only that, but Eddie's creative mind tinkering with the Jaeger's design and model, constantly modifying like he does to his clothes in canon. Eager to help even though it fucking scares him that two of the people he loves always walk into the battlefield, knowing they might die. He's so fucking afraid for them, even though he KNOWS they signed up for this. signed their lives away for the world, so Eddie makes sure to do everything down to perfection cause mama,,,, he doesn't want to be the reason the jaeger fails. Doesn't want to see every avoidable little thing that might cause a chain reaction, that will cause him to lose robin, and most esp steve. Everyday, or on the days that kaijus do appear out there, he wants them to fight to live, because if they die, he dies, knowing that he sent them out there to fail. That he could be the cause of their deaths. So he prays to whatever god out there that his jaegers dont fucking break too fast before steve can return home.

And AHHHH, dustin being obsessed over Kaijus—I can TOTALLY see it. his dangerous fascination with things? Similar to Dart in s2. Eddie would def keep a small collection of Kaiju parts, not only cause theyre good to deal as a side hustle, the mofo think its pretty metal too (jk jk)

but yes, I agree, he likes them more when they're dead

sorry for the lil rant HAAHAHAHA

just wanted to thank u and say i feel honored, that u like this au, more particularly, the art i mde if

[dykeyote]

thinkin about cecil going on a redemption arc and joining the carte blanche . i have VERY HYPERSPECIFIC hcs about how hed interact with each and every member of the crew which i will now share with u because im insufferable

RITA

honestly . i think theyd be besties i think theyd get along SO fucking well . i think theyd talk a ton a ton a TON and watch streams together . they both have super strong opinions on said streams and get into VERY BIG ARGUMENTS ABOUT THIS but its all in good fun . they goss about juno a lot which jet is sometimes in on . they chat about other people sometimes but NEVER NUREYEV because it will incite an impassioned rant from cecil without fail which leads us to.....

RANSOM

they r like ..... frenemies . they hate each other but in an affectionate way . they both think the other one is STUPID AND PRETENTIOUS and they both are weirdly possessive over juno and these traits do NOT clash well . cecil loudly goes BLEH and sticks his tongue out every time he sees him and nureyev goes UGH and rolls his eyes. they still watch my little pony generation seven hundred and three together tho . cecil does NOT know that him and rex glass are the same person and he will FREQUENTLY discuss how much he HATES HIS WORST ENEMY REX GLASS loudly and at length when nureyev is in the room . on a series note theyre blth kinda jealous of the other for each others anonymity or lack thereof respectively

BUDDY

he like . right . ok so my lore for the way cecil gets on the carte blanche is that he was basically just him and min for ages because cass is off mars and croesus and he ran away with junos help . and at the start hes like MAD desperate for maternal validation so hes like HI BUDDY HI BUDDY HI BUDDY DO YOU NEED ANYTHING (:????? HEY MS AURINKO HI HI UM DO YOU NEED HELP WITH THAT???? YES I ASKED TWNETY MINUTES AGO BUT STILL . but the ego crushing lands BAD with him hes all huffy and pouty which breaks the idolization and then theyr just hangin out . familied

VESPA

and VESPA he has the OPPOSITE thing with . because at first i think they dont like each other because cecil doesnt like how brash she is (junebug ): junebug sniffles shes so MEAN to ME ugh ugh ugh) and vespa is like ayo we r really inviting a KANAGAWA on the carte blanche . THE KANAGAWA WHOSE WHOLE DEAL IS MURDERING PEOPLE ON TV FOR FUNSIES . but eventually i think they grow to like each other because cecils whole mad scientist deal means hes a pretty solid medical assistant. plus because cecil is so BLATANTLY untrustworthy like he CONSTANTLY talks about how evil and myrderous and mwahahaha he is . he kinda comes around to being trustworthy again . vespa is confident that if he WAS plotting against her there is NO way he could or even Would hide it bc hed just be going GUYS I HAVE THE MOST EVIL PLAN AND ITS GONNA BE SO COOL WATCH ME GET OUT MY GUILLOTINE so shes just like ok cool

JET

i think like ok . theyr the ones i have the Least strong opinions on i think theyr mutual friends through rita and they hang out sometimes . jets a good role model in some senses

JUNO

i could go on about them . for HOURS . so i am ending it here because none of u want me started on my cj agenda

[handledwithgloves]

so sorry to my followers for doing this again its just happened to pop up on my dash and i had to say something. its all in good fun!

i wanted to debunk some of these dots!

- neville’s boggart

this one tends to be many people’s qualms about snape. while i admit that snape was never kind to neville or any of his students i will say that it doesnt mean snape is neville’s boggart for that reason. and as for bella, well, neville’s never met her so of course hes not afraid of her, hes only ever heard stories and she’s locked away at this point. i think his whole thing is that he’s afraid of people he likes or authority figures being disappointed in him. its his fear and that makes him brave because he’s around them all the time. when remus asks neville what he thinks his boggart would be he said his nan. i think out of all his teachers hes most fearful of failing snape. that’s what makes sense to me so i dont think it really has anything to do with snape but more about neville himself.

- trevor

snape fed trevor the potion knowing that hermione helped. and as for threatening that’s a very strong word. i could just as well say he suggested neville try the potion on his pet to see if it works. snape knows that if neville were to ever make a shrinking potion and administer it to someone it had the potential to be poisonous. as do most potions. potions needs to be taken seriously and can be useful in many situations given the right ingredients. though he definitely went about it in a very mean way. his teaching methods are quite unfavorable for sure. but that’s it. he’s just mean. no animal cruelty here.

- harry

yeah i have nothing to say about this except that although he didn’t favor harry he did keep him alive all the years he was at hogwarts. no matter how many times harry got himself in trouble severus was there keeping him, well, alive.

- death eaters and lily

ive said it before on my posts. it only makes sense to me that he aligns himself with the death eaters because not only did he agree with them politically but they were also winning the war. he hated muggles after being abused by them his whole life and then some more the more he spent time with his slytherin housemates. and even if he started to realize, like draco, that this wasnt what he wanted, he couldn’t back out now could he? couldn’t rescue any muggles or muggleborns if he wanted to or else he’d be killed. lily was his breaking point. obviously. for him she’s always the exception. he risks his life asking voldemort to spare her in a way he hoped would make voldemort see reason and when that fails he risks his life and dignity again when he seeks dumbledore for help. since lily’s death he’s reformed. made up for his wrong for the rest of his life.

- sectumsempra

well, considering that severus was rather infatuated with the dark arts its not a surprise that he would create a curse like this. i’d say cruel is a touch too much though. he clearly made it for self defense: for enemies. not for fun. lets also remember that no one else knows this spell aside from him and harry and snape had never even used the spell on its intended, the marauders.

so yes snape was not by any means a good or kind person but he was certainly complex and self-serving (a rather common slytherin trait). i think hes so interesting a character but i dont think hes a horrible person (he certainly did horrible things or had horrible ideologies though), so yeah i guess youre right.

i just don't get snape defenders... like do they know you can have a fav character and still acknowledge that they were a horrible person????

[bowandcurtsey]

Can you do black clover headcanons of (William, nozel, and other characters of your choice!) react to their crush having chaos magic like Wanda from marvel! so basically they have the ability to use any type of magic! but reader can get very chaotic and reckless because they're the only one to have this kind of magic so they had to train themselves at such young age and was treated very harshly if they messed up (even though it's not their fault 😭poor baby) so it's hard to control it when they get emotional! they can be extremely strong like super powerful! but they dont give a f**k about becoming wizard king they don't want responsibility they just wanna have fun! That doesn't mean their irresponsible they just don't want to be held down! so as long as it doesn't hurt anyone they choose to let their chaos flourish! (In short words reader is a chaotic neutral 😂)

Scarlet Witch is OP as hell. What kind of power is chaos magic seriously! She is so underrated!

If you guys don't follow Marvel, basically her magic is telekinesis and telepathy. So it allows her to control objects / break objects and also do hypnosis. she can also produce energy waves. Meaning she can basically control any matter. LOL. Since that includes air, it also means she can fly.

Also this request is similar to Reckless series, here's PART 1 and PART 2. You can check it out!

William | Nozel | Zenon x f! reader

William Vangeance

Has always known that you were a powerful individual by the look in your eyes. He's really happy that you're on the side of good instead of evil, else you would probably be a very troublesome enemy to fight.

He was always very rest assured when he sent you on missions but one day, you lost control. The enemy hit a spot when they killed of some of your allies and villagers.

The enemy was ripped to pieces but you couldn't stop your powers. Things were being smashed into pieces and there was chaos everywhere.

William rushed to the scene. "Y/n! It's me!"

"Will.. don't come near! I'll hurt you." you cried, your mana surging throughout your body.

"No. you won't. Control yourself." William inched closer to you.

You calmed down slowly and before you knew it, you were wrapped in William's arms.

You were shaking in fear because when you messed up, you always got beaten up and abused. But William held you and stroked your back gently without uttering a word.

"I'm sorry Will.." You apologised to him after you recovered from your episode. "Should I.. leave? Should I quit being a magic kn-"

"No." he shook his head and smiled. "No you shouldn't give up just because you made a mistake y/n."

He stroked your head, "we should learn from our mistakes and just be a better person from now on."

William still put you on missions and he even put you in charge of the younger knights. He hoped that by teaching the younger ones, it would inspire them and also have you learn about yourself.

Sometimes the best way to learn is through teaching others. You were still the pride of the Golden Dawn and William. He's always so proud to call you his and wouldn't hesitate to drown you with compliments.

If he saw that you got a little too reckless, he'll be worried for you and he would only chide you behind closed doors, telling you that he was so worried and he could never bear to see you injured.

Off duty, he would also treat you as a princess and even though you might be stronger than him, he'd still treat you as equals in a relationship.

He'll never fail to hold you close to him at night and whisper sweet nothings in your ears so that you'll always feel safe and sound with him. William is absolutely your pillar of support and he makes sure that you know that.

Nozel Silva

Nozel finally understood the true extent of your powers when he saw you losing control during the fight with the devil. The devil played some dirty mind games with you and succeeded.

Seeing you lose control, reminded him of Noelle and how his heart ached for you. He put you in his silver star of execution and was careful that you did not hurt yourself or others.

He just waited until you calmed down yourself.

When you woke up, you were in Nozel's arms and you were both flying on his silver eagle.

What got him surprised was when you started sobbing uncontrollably.

After awhile, you felt him stroking your head and you looked up at him.

"You should be telling me 'thank you', not this."

He eased a little when you started laughing again.

Since then, Nozel was always protective of you. Not because he couldn't trust you to control yourself; on the battle field, he still let you go all out. But because he realised that you were always someone that had your weak points and was trying your best to be strong.

On nights where it was just the both of you behind closed doors, he would always hold you tightly in his arms and tell you, "you'll always have me. You're not alone."

One day you replied him, "So are you. You have me too, you're not alone. Sometimes, you can depend on me to shoulder your burdens too."

On days where you had a little too much fun and got injured, you could see that he would get extremely grumpy at you.

"I'm sorry~" you'd give him a little pout and your puppy eyes and it would work all the time.

"if you don't care about yourself, then care about people around you that are worried for you." he'd give a little humph while holding you in his arms.

Zenon Zogratis

He was absolutely star struck with your powers. He loved watching you fight, he thought it was like a dance and it kept him captivated and mesmerised.

Once, he saw you lose control of your powers and it even sent a little shiver down his spine. You were indeed formidable if you were in control of your full capacity of your powers.

You caught you as you were falling, you had run out of mana, but what took him by surprise was your trembling lips and your eyes in a daze, muttering "sorry" repeatedly.

He held you tightly, telling you "it's okay".

A week later, the headline on the spade news was that the school that you grew up in, was burnt to crisps and that there were no survivors.

Although you were strong and you could easily whip an enemy's ass, Zenon was still protective of you. He still enjoyed watching you fight though, but he would never let you come in any harm's way.

God bless anyone that speaks of any nasty remark about you. As long as it reaches Zenon's ears. They're dead.

He'll step in mid fight if you get too reckless and one glare from him is all it took for you to understand that you've gone too far. He'll finish the fight swiftly and move on.

He'll be a little more quiet the rest of the day but you know that he's just worried for you.

Give him a little physical affection and this man is whipped. Holding onto his hand and giving it a squeeze, pulling him into a hug when you both got home, pressing a little chaste kiss on his cheeks and telling him "thank you" was all that was needed.

Afterall, you're his precious woman and he loved everything about you.

-end-

[fnfxreader]

sarvente and ruv both crushing on angel!reader? you can make it headcanons or a oneshot, i dont mind. :)

   ohh this is interesting 👀 ty for the request! im so sorry for accidentally posting this and confusing it for the other 😭😭

sarvente & ruv crushing on an angel s/o

   sarvente

when she first met you, she was so entranced. the wings looked so fluffy! it’s been so long since she’s seen an angel’s wing up close.

when you both continue to hang out at her church, she can’t stop admiring you. your eyes are so pure and bright, your smile brightens the whole room.. she can’t stop the fuzzy feeling forming in her chest, nor the small smile that grows on her face when she sees you.

when she realizes she’s fallen for you, she’s doubtful you’ll reciprocate her feelings.

she’s afraid that you won’t return her feelings because of the controversy between the two species. an angel is “holy” and she’s basically lucifer?? 

overthinks so much. she assumes you know the good she’s doing, but she’s still a demon. she’s very hopeful that you’ll see past that and love her for who she is.

if you show her affection of any kind, she’ll freeze up and become a blushing mess. if this makes you laugh, she won’t know what to do, though she does feel happy she made you laugh.

prepares a ton of jokes for you to hear! she hopes you’ll like them, though she might be nervous when she’s trying to say them. what if she stutters and the joke slips her mind?

she becomes 10x clumsy around you. carrying a box to the garden, seeing you on the way there? her hands lose grip of the box and it falls on her foot. 

   ruvyzvat

ruv could literally care less about your species. you’re an angel, so what? 

when you come around the church to give a helping hand, he can’t help but stare. he’s so mesmerized by your patience and kindness, the way you won’t hesitate to help someone..

he has no idea what the warm feeling in his chest is. it’s so intense whenever he sees you. he hates it, the fact that he doesn’t know what it is.

ruv will personally ask sarvente what it means, and when he hears something about “love,” he's unsure of what to do. he’s never experienced this before. 

he cherishes the friendship you’ve built and he doesn’t wanna ruin that. plus, why would an angel love someone who’s done so much bad in their life?

tries his best to avoid you; even though he’s good at hiding his emotions, it saddens him knowing that you two are completely different. there’s no chance.. right?

sarvente tries to get him to confess. she knows a thing or two about this, and she has a strong feeling you may return his feelings. ruv refuses to listen, though. he thinks it’s better to give up on this feeling as quick as possible.

the more you two hang out, he gets to know you better. how you see through people, the good in them, and appreciate them for being themselves. a small spark of hope ignites in him and just maybe.. maybe there’s a chance. 

   sarv & ruv

when they both figure out they have a crush on you, as expected, they go to each other. they’re so surprised when they find out they both have a crush on their angelic friend?? 

ruv doesn’t mind, honestly. it’s only sarvente, someone he’s very close to and trusts with his life. 

sarvente doesn’t mind, though she is worried. what if only one of them manage to get with you? what if you don’t like poly? 

she thinks ahead to when you accept their confessions. sarv will try to figure out if you’re interested in poly without giving them away. ruv, on the other hand, doesn’t do much about it.

they’re both new to this, but sarvente has more knowledge around this subject. she tries her best to inform ruv about these things.

they both adore your wings -- so fluffy?? though they have yet to feel it, sarvente imagines how warm and cuddly they might be. she rants about this to ruv.

ruv has to deal with sarvente’s clumsiness around you. she’s staring at you and gets distracted, about to trip on a rock? ruv is there to catch her with a sigh. he doesn’t want to be given away, and sarvente is doing a terrible job at trying to prevent that.

ruv and sarvente have to reassure each other that there’s a chance for them -- ruv has doubts with his past, and sarv is doubtful because of her species. angels and demons are sworn enemies!! hopefully you don’t care about that.

you’re smile can instantly brighten their day. they both tend to notice small details about you, and they know you can see the good in people. sarvente has hope for ruv, she’s seen the good in him, but for herself? she’s unsure.

sarvente likes to make up scenarios in her mind and share them to him. about you three, how dates would be, how you’d react to her wings, etc.

if you ever help them tuck their hair into the hats, they’ll be so thankful. 

the tip of ruv’s ears will flush while sarvente is giving you a genuine smile. she makes a lot of updog jokes around you two and laughs when ruv still manages to fall for it. 

ruv and the “yo mama” jokes happen more often. they want to make you laugh and it doesn’t fail to work.

   i’m unsure if this was supposed to be together or not so i did them both in one post! sorry if i misunderstood 😭 

[starlightshadowsworld]

According to Canon wiki, Winter never inherited the family company because of her decision to become a soilder and join the military.

But she's the oldest so I imagine it being that she had the inheritance i.e was the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company but because of the whole military thing she was disinherited.

... Which would leave the title and position to fall to Weiss.

"Father? You called for me."

Weiss was confused and failing to hide just how tired she was. She hadn't gotten a glimpse of the time but she had been asleep. Quietly awoken by Klein, who ushered her to get dressed and head to her fathers study immediately.

He didn't say why, he couldn't.

"They're are to be some changes around here" said Jacque, standing behind his desk. He towered over her without trying, he was as calm and collected as ever as he studied her. Weiss resisted the urge to look away, instead meeting his gaze with her own. "Changes?" She asked curiously, getting a small nod from him.

"You, my dear are going to be the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company."

Jacques said it so casually as if he was merely commenting on the weather. Weiss, however felt as if she had been hit full force by the winds themselves. Heiress..? The words echoed in her mind, it didn't feel real. Was she still dreaming?

"But I... Winter..." She paused, seeing his posture shift ever so slightly. Any other wouldn't have seen it but Weiss knew her father better than most, he was mad. "Winter is the former heiress, she has found other... Prospects. And so the position has fallen to you." He explained, never averting his gaze.

A Schnee was to be brilliant, to always be ahead of others. This was something he wanted her to figure out herself.

"Winter's left" the words hung in the air frozen before her, for once Weiss wished she wasn't right. But Jacques's solemn nod confirmed the news, he placed a gentle hand on Weiss's shoulder.

That surprised her, her father was many things and a brilliant man but he wasn't one for such gestures.

To Winter yes but not to her.

It was comforting.

"I'm afraid it is true, Klein found several of her belongings and a suitcase missing. As well as a letter, she does not intend to return to the manor. I know this is a lot to take in but I had to inform you at once." Said Jacques, solemnly.

Weiss nodded, she felt numb. Winter had left... In the night, just like that without a goodbye or anything. It certainly felt like a dream but the chill bursting inside of her told her otherwise. Tears welled up in her eyes, rolling down her cheeks, she was powerless to stop them.

Surprising her again, her father chuckled softly and handed her his handkerchief. "I know it is hard, we've lost someone dear to us but we must go on. For we are Schnee my dear Weiss, and we can't let them see us fall."

Weiss wiped her eyes and nodded slowly, he was right. They had many enemies who would use this to their advantage, The White Fang were still at large, as much as it pained her she needed to be strong.

"As much as it pains us, Winter is of age. She is free to do as she wishes and her prospects did not lie with the family but elsewhere." Continued Jacques, saddened. It made her heart hurt to see her father in such a state.

Winter had done this... Done what she believed to be impossible.

'I can't... I can't let us fall...'

The Schnee name was one of strength and pride, born of loyalty. The heiress was a symbol of that strength, with it missing they would fall.

She stood tall, meeting her fathers gaze with her own.

Weiss was not Winter.

To Weiss, Winter been a symbol herself, perfection. Everything a Schnee was supposed to be was embodied by her. An unattainable standard that Weiss could never reach, but idolised like many others.

But that was a lie.

Because Schnee's dont abandon each other, and Winter had left her with her title...her leftovers. Leaving without even thinking of anyone else.

What of their mother who needed them? What of Whitley who was just a child?

'... What of me... Was I not enough to get you to stay?'

Clearly not, so Weiss made her choice. She would be their strength, she would stand tall as Winter used to and do her family proud. She would do what Winter had failed to do. The tears were gone, her resolve echoed in her voice with a strength she never had before.

"When do we begin?"

Jacque smiled at her, it was slight but it warmed the chill that had washed over her. "Day after tomorrow, meet me here after breakfast." He let his hand fall from her shoulder "now go, run along to bed. You have tomorrow to rest."

It was her dismissal, she nodded and left but before she did.

"I'll make you proud, Father"

Jacques nodded, with a small smile "I know you will."

Leaving his study left her exhausted, all of her emotions bubbling to the surface. She walked back to her room, pausing at the family portrait.

At her face.

"You promised..." Weiss whispered in the dead of night knowing she wasn't there to hear her.

She had promised Weiss that she would sheild her, would protect her and Winter from the dangers of the outside. Had promised to stand at their side.

Being the heiress... Meant more than just it's title said. She would be a target, would be putting herself in the spotlight Winter had promised to keep her from.

A tear fell from Weiss's eye, the last one she'd ever allow herself to shed.

She was the heiress now, she had to be perfect.

No matter what it takes.

[simpz-art-stash]

A friendship poisoned by bad blood between brothers.

Day 4 - Poison for Starsfic’s prompt list!

Have a lil fic from the rp which inspired these drawings <3

Fang had of course went the same route as she usually did via cloud. Picking up Mei and telling her to wait atop one of the nearby skyscrapers. That she'd stay connected with her via phone call to allow her to listen in just in case. And that she'd call for her help if it felt like backup was needed.

Hopefully that would not end up being needed.

But the closer she approached the peak of the tower, the more her instincts were screaming at her to bail. She could only chalk it up to nerves at that point.

Just seeing his blurry silhouette in the distance waiting for her left her a lil uneasy as she approached.

Red stopped pacing when he caught her approaching. He glared silently at her, trying to look mean. However, the pained look in his eye made the effect more akin to constipation.  

"You have 1 minute to convince me I shouldn't just throw you from this roof." He said, hoping she'd be combative and he could explode on her.

"Well you're lively as ever.." Her brows furrowed a little, at least he didn't look like a dead mess inside like she did. Though he did look like he'd been put through a few restless cycles... Stepping off the cloud, her eyes barely glanced around to the garden, her sights set on him. Everything put back as it were as if their little scuffle hadn't happened at all. She stopped a few feet from him, looking just as uncomfortable to be there. "I need you're help. There's something ancient and evil lurking beneath the city working with Spider Queen. And someone told me that you've dealt with it before..." She claimed. "I'm not looking to reforge what we had because I know you're right. That we can't be together...But I was hoping at the very least..that maybe just for this, we could truce?" She looked at him hopefully.

"You're coming to me to help defeat the Spider Queen yet again?? Are you serious!? Are you all REALLY so INCOMPETENT that you cannot just handle her for once!? She's not even that strong of a demon, she just keeps getting lucky!" He snapped.  "Why don't you go ask your ole daddy to save the day on this one?? I've got better things to do!" If she would just leave, get angry and run off, he wouldn't have to....

She grimaced at him blowing up at her. Any other day she'd hardly find it all that hurtful to listen to him rage his frustrations into the air about her. But then he had to go and make things personal. And she only barely manged to keep her composure at him throwing her dad into the mix like that. "My dad's missing Red...I can't.." She sighed, crossing her arms as she glared at the ground. "Interesting." A voice of static crackled to life in one of his ears. His father's voice. "Proceed with what we discussed." Red winced at the static in his ear, but tried to pass it off. "Your... dad is missing?" He asked slowly. "UuuuUUGHHH!! FINE! Just... fine, let's sit down, have a drink, and talk it out, Monkey Princess." He waved her to follow over to the table. He reached under and brought out the drink. Rather spicy water, even for him. Ancient and potent looking. He must really feel bad about their break up...

She shot him a glance, almost a little surprised to see him succumb to her words. Honestly thinking he would've told her to just 'get over it' or 'who cares'. This only stoked what little hope she had for them. She breathed out a little, "Thank you.." Before she made her way over with him, sitting herself down opposite to him. Though she'd abstained from drinking for as long as she could, all the stress was just begging her mental status to relax.

He poured the drinks white she was settling, slightly obscured to her when he did. 'Better you than me,' he thought as he dropped in the poison. This was a mantra he'd adopted over the centuries when he started to feel bad about the things he did. This was the first time he didn't quite believe it. He picked up the glasses and handed the poisoned one to her. He sat across from her and took a bigger drink from his than he ever normally would, needing this for courage not to knock the glass from her hands. To her, it would just seem that their falling out was harder on him than he let on.... which was true.  Evidenced by him  brushing a finger over his old facial scar, something he didn't even realize he did when he was anxious. "So what in the realms could POSSIBLY have you worried about that self-important pestilence infesting the sewers calling herself a queen?" He FINALLY asked.

Though a part of her wanted nothing more than to just drink the night away like it were any other, she knew they had more important business. And considered that through the end of it that maybe it would be better to simply savor what she could of what time they had. Opting for once to speak over her drinking for the first time in a while. "She's working with someone..someone a lot more powerful. An ancient demon with dark magic..." She contemplated aloud, "We think it might've been what gave her the boost she had when she tried to take over the city the first time..but we're not sure." She glanced at him. "You feel it too though don't you? The city has been restless for weeks...something worse is coming." He winced when she didn't immediately start drinking.  He did contemplate about the city being restless.  "I thought that was just me being a surly bastard." He tilted his head in thought.  But now that she mentioned it, yes, for once, it did seem to effect more than just him. He sighed and sat back, swirling his glass, looking bitterly into it.  "That would make sense, I suppose.  That something bigger than her would be what's allowing her to be more effective at her job than usual." Fang nodded a little, "We've got a name to her but..we're unsure of just how strong she really is. She's managed to put a curse on my brother..an lead my father down a path even I can trace him back to..she calls herself 'The Lady Bone Demon." There was a bit of an avid silence between them before that same gravely tone crackled to life in his ear, "Interrogate her on this enemy." If she wasn't going to off herself then to them then they might as well gain any intel they can on this enemy.

"Lady Bone Demon..." He furrowed his brow, not needing to be prompted by his father one bit on this.  "It seems like a familiar name, maybe I've come across her in my research." he shook his head.  "But do go on, please." he waved, urging her to divulge everything. "Someone did say that you've dealt with her before. It's why I arranged this meeting in the first place..they claimed that you 'dug' her up from the 'pits of hell.'" She pointed out, not really sure how true it was but she wanted to cover her source as he'd claimed he wanted no part in anything regarding it all. "I'm not pointing you at fault whatsoever, I don't think you'd purposely let someone loose like that just to give them the upper hand...I'm just going on the only lead I have at this point.." She claimed. Red Son's brow furrowed at that, and he wondered how closely his family was listening.  It had indeed been the Demon Bull Family to dig up this menace from the depths of the earth. "That's... That sounds like the ancient energy that my father had us dig from the earth... The one that possessed him.  The soul reason we blighted our names to team up with the Monkey King and Nyoodle Boy.  But we defeated that!  Noodle Boy dealt the killing blow!" So he had dealt with it before. "Apparently he didn't finish her like you thought he did, because she's underneath the city working to off us all." Fang stated, "All the signs are there, and this proves it." He shook his head, cursing his father's arrogance under his breath.  Not that Red would have done anything different, in fact he was one to help dig the spirit up, proud to help his father in his glorious purpose.  However, he was still sore that his father had turned on him and his mother, even if his mother had forgiven DBK. "So now this horrible power that possessed my father, nearly killed me, and already nearly destroyed everything anyone holds dear, is BACK?  With the Spider Queen of all people, that DOES explain how that little gnat took the city!" he growled and was on his feet.  "So?? What are you doing about it? What sort of measures are you taking to combat this?" She blinked a little in surprise at his sudden boisterous attitude, well at least he was putting his anger towards something more worthwhile instead of taking it out on her. "Weeell..we've got someone currently scoping out the sewers looking for them, in hopes that we'll be able to find out exactly where they are. We've also been looking for any manner of history regarding them, or any relic's that might be of use to us for this specific demon. As well as any other allies..but we haven't had much luck..we're sort of on our own here an I..well can I just be honest with you? I have no idea what the hell I'm doing..." Red had been pacing, but when she got down and honest with him, he stopped. He looked back at her, seeing the scared, vulnerable girl that she didn't let out much to anyone. She'd been working so hard to stop this, and she was floundering, and destined to fail. Maybe it would be kinder of him to end her. Maybe this was for the best. He came back and sat down, nearer to her. "Well. I suppose that..." he sighed. "Dont worry your monkey head about this. I will do everything in my power to stop this demon, then. Not for you!" He quickly amended, remembering his parents listening. "But to avenge my family's honor! Take down anything that thinks it could possibly be greater than the Demon Bull Family! The audacity of this Lady Bonehead." Hus ears were blowing out a tiny bit of steam after his fit of passion. And though it might've made sense to him that it would be best to truce in hopes of taking down such a powerful ancient enemy. His father apparently thought it just as much of a mockery the second time around than the first. Where Red saw logic, Bullking saw the only fleeting chance he had to finally one up his oldest enemy and lose what footing he could to overtaking the city. He didn't need the aid of ANYONE, the Spider Queen had simply gotten the jump on him. But he knew now that was just because of some devious relic. And he wasn't about to tarnish the family name further. So again he had to remind his son who was really making the demands here. "Remember your place child." He warned him, "If you value what little sliver of loyalty you have towards you're family you will do as I say. And follow through with your mission." A small chuckle escaped Fang then, and a tear almost would've escaped her had she not hid it by brushing back her bangs. "That's probably the most relieving thing I've heard all week..." She smiled at him, that glimmer of hope in her eyes in knowing he had her back. Her hand raising her glass to him as a toast, "May we both be victorious in the end." He felt his blood run cold at his dad's chastisement.  He knew he wasn't likely to be spared should DBK's wrath overflow.  His father had proven time and again that he was more or less expendable. He had a good upbringing, though, and raised his glass to her as well.  "May victory smile on the Demon Bull Family." he made as if to drink, but waited to be sure she was drinking first. Then he slammed his drink, standing up.  "We'll take it from here.  Just rest." he told her, brow twitching in dismay. She took her shot then, her face scrunching a bit at just how strong the after burn of it was before she sighed. "Thanks...I really needed this.." A tired smile stared down at the now empty glass, never the wiser. "I mean it..even if we'll never be able to speak to each other ever again after this. And pretend we hate each other's guts. I'll always cherish those moments spent between us all those years ago...Just so you know..in case something happens to you." She stated her claim, before slowly standing herself upright. "I'll always be here for you man." Oh sure. She was just going to twist the knife in his gut.  Curse these goodie two shoes and their sentimentality!  And she was outing him more and more to his family!  He should have used a stronger poison.  What if the alcohol nullified its effects?? "I will genuinely miss you.  Forgive me that I don't have your back..." he hunched his shoulders, thinking quickly.  His parents didn't have a visual on them, just an audio link, as far as he knew. Before her eyes, he started his agitated pacing yet again.  And suddenly, he yanked something out of his ear throwing it to the ground and crushing it under his boot.  "I'm so sorry Fang..." She tilted a little at his sudden abruptness to it all, having wondered if he was just getting misty at her being so forward of just how much she'd miss him. But watching his jerking motions prompted a bit of confusion to her. "What're you?-" Then there was a cough that escaped her, and looking back at her would reveal her holding a hand to her throat with a look of discomfort. As if trying to breathe only for further coughing to escape her. "Red?.." She wheezed a little, staring at him with a confused look. He paced a little more, trying to think of anything he could do to stop this.  Any antidote.  But there wasn't one, that's why they had chosen it.  At the cough, he froze.  "My father was going to kill me if I didn't--" was all the explanation he offered, before biting down hard on his tongue and turning his back to her.  Poisoning was one of his least favorite ways of killing someone.  Too personal, too up close.  Imprecise and messy.  This was DBK's own way of torturing Red, by choosing such a horrible demise. He couldn't look at her, and he turned his back, holding his head up.  "I'll take care of things from here.  Just rest." he repeated.  He tried to look dignified but he was close to throwing up. Further coughing ensued, her fighting just to get any ounce of air in her lungs at that point. Her mind finding it hard to focus on his words but she heard him, and she felt a sharp panic drop in her stomach as a swelling heat rose in her core. "W-what did you-" She tried to get another word in, trying to edge around the table to meet him, but found her limbs betraying her and forcing her to collapse on the ground with a cry. Tears pricked her eyes at the surge of heat that was becoming overbearingly hot within her. Like she'd just eaten a demon pepper, only it was causing her to lose every manner of senses and replace it with pure hellfire. Where all she could do was grip at her chest in agony and let out a wrenching noise as she bellowed out a pleading cry. But that wasn't the only thing that bellowed out of her right then, a plume of red smog began to leak from her nose and mouth. Only furthering her suffering as she choked on it all, unable to breathe in nothing more than the pure rage inducing concoction she'd had forced upon her. A sickened snarl escaped her right then as one of her hands gripped at the ground, clawing at it enough to leave marks buried into the concrete that had forged it. And though her breath was shallow, it warped in comparison to the haunting fury that now laced her breath. "What did you do to me?!!" She screamed. He tried to be cold and cool, aloof the way his mother had taught him to be.  A strong man, not a quivering, weak boy.  But when he heard her collapse on the ground choking he let out a pained cry of his own, ducking his head and covering his ears.  He should have just let his father kill him.  It would have been preferable to this!  His only friend choking to death behind him.  His eyes squeezed shut, causing tears to fall that he hadn't realized even welled up. The last scream made his blood run cold, a particularly horrid sensation for a man so hot.  Something was different about her voice at a primal level, and it caused him to spin around to face her.  Any pretense he had held before this point was gone, and his face was just that of a sick, scared child.  "Fang!" Another pained cry left her curled in on herself as she almost looked like she was having a stroke. But that couldn't of been farther from the truth as a wicked sense of something horrid radiated off of her, like a mix of dark magic and death. A whimper escaped her as her fur began to warp from its pure sunshine blonde to a morbidly dark black, her hands involuntarily flexing in on themselves as she let out a haggard breath. "I trusted you..." It was low, warped and hollow, and through it all somehow she forced herself up onto her knees. If not to just look back at him with a look he'd only seen her wear the first time they'd met when he'd fought for his life and given her that horrid scar of hellfire. A look a pure primal rage.

[buckyskorpion]

11 hours - part seven

Pairing: Biker!Bucky x Reader

Summary: bucky is the mystery you can’t wait to solve. if you can get out of his bed long enough, that is. a biker au.

Warnings: gang-typical violence, sex scenes, alcohol mentions, probably more to come so stay tuned

A/N: hello i apologise in advance. pls dont hurt me!!! i would appreciate your feedback and your theories about where this fic is going! i hope this part isn’t too..... upsetting lmao. i wont be taking tags for this so please dont ask.

title taken from 11 hours by wet | playlist | please donate to my ko-fi!

masterlist

You believed, until now, that you walked the world seeking out dark corners and underbellies other people didn’t want to touch. That’s your job. The current case you're supposed to be working on involves a man suspected of drugging his girlfriend to take nonconsensual nudes of her and sell them to his friends while she slept. You’re well aware the world is a dangerous place.

But things look different now, in a way you never could have imagined before the Lerna. Those men were dead before you could blink, and you know life is expendable and fragile and so easy to take but it’s another thing to see it taken before your eyes. It’s another thing to take it yourself. And you know, now, why Bucky would only show you parts of his life and himself because this whole truth feels like staring directly into the sun - painfully bright, to the point where it’s all you can see and all the good things are reduced to a spotty, hazy blur.

You’re sitting in your office, at your desk where you’re trying to work but you can’t get the sound of bullet casings hitting the floor and the thunk of a knife in skin out of your head. There, in the centre of your tiny office, was where you sat on Bucky’s lap and kissed him and demanded ‘no secrets.’ Too stubborn to know he was keeping them for a reason, that maybe there are things you don't want to know after all. But you can feel his skin under your fingertips and the brush of his stubble as he kissed you, a memory you can touch, and you can’t help but think it still feels worth it. At the end of it all, if it was a choice of the Lerna happening or never having Bucky at all, you know what you’d chose.

As if he can hear you, your phone buzzes with a text from him. Joey’s at 7?

It’s already 6:30. You’re grabbing your keys and leaving the fear on your desk chair as you text him back. Sounds perfect.

It really is. Joey’s is your favourite bar, and just seeing the grimy neon sign outside makes your heart feel less heavy. This, after everything, remains the same. You still feel giddy jogging down the stairs, ready for the heady bass music to push through your chest and a whiskey apple to numb the wounds. It feels like the beginning, half-nervous half-excited to go find Bucky tucked in a booth at the back, dim purple light chiseling out his cheekbones and catching bright on his sharp smile. Back then it was innocent, if a fuck buddy hook-up could be. Now that you know you would do things for Bucky you’d never do for anyone else, that you don’t think you’ll ever be able to remove his brand from your heart- well. You skip a couple more steps as you head down into Joey’s, only a few minutes late.

You don’t slow down as you enter the bar, weaving through patrons searching for a familiar face. Now that you’re here to the urge to see him, to have him in your arms, is almost unbearable. When you do find Bucky, spinning a glass between his fingers in a nervous habit you’ve noticed he has, he feels your eyes on him immediately. He stands and you crash into him, burying your hands under his leather jacket to feel the warmth of his body against your palms. Bucky hugs you back just as harshly, the force of his embrace lifting your toes off the ground. When he pulls away his runs a hand over your head, down your hair, coming to rest by the side of your neck as if to check your pulse and make sure you’re really there.

“You ok?” he asks, bright blue eyes now dark and hooded as he stares down at you.

You nod, unwilling to let go of your grip on the back of his t-shirt even as he pulls away, and say, “Am now.”

“Need to talk to you, it’s important,” Bucky says. He escapes your grip with ease, because he’s huge and strong and it’s easy to forget that when he softens for you. He sits at the booth and you slide in across him, watching as he downs the rest of the straight whiskey in his glass like its water. That bad feeling is back, like back at Steve’s tattoo shop, but you don’t want it here. You fumble for Bucky’s hand across the table, and he lets you hold it but it doesn’t stop the dread settling heavy in your gut. You squeeze his fingers tighter, just in case.

“Is everything alright?” you ask. “Are we- did the cops find out-“

“No, no,” Bucky says, shaking his head down at the table. His gaze catches on your intwined fingers, the glint of his signet rings in the dim bar light, and says, “The cops aren’t the problem.”

“But there is a problem,” you say, and now Bucky raises his eyes to look at you.

“I need to tell you something, it’s important” Bucky says, again, and the dread rises from your stomach like bile to your throat. “You have to understand this, so you can see that I’m not- that this isn’t just-“

“Bucky.” He lets out a ragged breath as you cut him off mid ramble, scrubs a hand through his hair. You hate the way your voice wobbles when you say, “You’re scaring me.”

You almost make yourself laugh as those words leave your mouth. This scares you? Bucky, frustrated and nervous and clinging to your hand like a lifeline, but when he walked over lifeless bodies he sunk bullets into with a giant rifle on his back - that was just fine.

“You know when we were at Steve’s, and we were talking about Hydra? About Rumlow? Do you remember that?” Bucky asks. He stares at you like he’s imploring you to say it for him, whatever it is he’s struggling to say, but you don’t understand.

You nod slowly and say, “Natasha said Rumlow had it out for you. You said Hydra is your biggest rival.”

“Yes, right,” Bucky says, nodding a bit manically. He’s still gripping your hand tight. “Rumlow hated me, and as far as we can tell - or Nat, I guess, she’s been looking into it - he was acting on his own, to get to me.”

“That’s good, right?” You don’t feel sure, with the way Bucky is acting and looking at you all glassy-eyed. “No big gang war, or whatever.”

“I need you to understand why Rumlow hated me, because it’s not just- it wasn’t just about him, ok?” Bucky says, and now he’s looking around the room like that night in your office. Casing the bar, looking for exits. “He’s dead, but none of this died with him.”

“What is ‘this’?” you ask, and wonder for the first time, do I want to find out?

“The first time I met Rumlow was in the hospital, a couple of days after I got back from Afghanistan,” Bucky says. “I’d been honourably discharged, my arm was all fucked up and fried from a chem bomb and I lost all sensation in it so they sent me home. I remember I was lying in the bed looking out the window, and it was snowing. I hadn’t been anywhere but a desert in so long and I was like, what do I do know? I don’t own a coat anymore. I’m a black ops sniper, that’s not exactly a transferrable skill - can’t even put it on a resume because it’s classified. My arm’s fried and ugly lookin’. I’m fucked.”

“You must’ve been so scared,” you say. Bucky meets your eyes, and you can see it haunting him in the back of them - so much heat and fire and pain left behind, so much cold and unknown and pain lying in front. Your dad has told you a similar story, when he came back from Iraq, and he had the same look in his eyes Bucky does right now.

“I was,” he says, and you squeeze his fingers. He looks towards your hands again and says, “I was, and they knew it.”

“Hydra,” you say, and you know you’re right. Bucky nods anyway.

“Rumlow came into my hospital room and told me, Hydra helps guys like me. They helped him and look - he’s got a job and money and friends and a team again. A purpose. But I said no. I’m black ops, I know shady guys when I seem ‘em and Rumlow reeked of it. Just, Hydra doesn’t like being told no.”

“They target vulnerable, traumatised vets in hospitals?” you ask, disgusted. You can taste the hate that boils up, and that ugly, angry part picturing Bucky lying in a bed so alone and afraid and imagining someone like Rumlow trying to take advantage of him like that - that ugly part says I’m glad he’s dead.

“They’re highly trained and easily moulded,” Bucky says in way of answer, and you shudder at the thought. “But seem Rumlow failed and it was my fault. He failed over and over again every time they sent him to recruit me. So he hated me, and then I started the Commandos with Steve and Sam and Nat to target them. The only way to save the next poor bastard like me from ending up with Hydra is to end them, except there ain't a cop in the city who can touch them.”

“But you can,” you say, and you know it’s stupid but your heart has never been known as terribly smart, so you add, “Bucky, that’s dangerous.”

He smiles, small but it’s there, and he rubs his thumb over your knuckles as he says, “I know, doll. I don’t know if you know this about me, but stupid’s kinda my thing.”

“Very funny,” you say, rolling your eyes at Bucky’s cheeky grin now splitting his face. As quick as it came, though, his smile dies and so does the small spark of hope that maybe this story has a happy ending.

“I’ve made Hydra my enemy and I can’t change that. I don’t want to,” Bucky says, nodding solemnly at his own words and you watch him physically turn cold, stony and distant in the space of a second. “But that means that as long as Hydra is around, they’re going to be coming after me. First Rumlow, but it won’t stop there. They’ll come and keep coming and what if, one time, I don’t get there in time? Or you don’t get to leave your phone on, or even make it to a location before they shoot you in the back of the car?”

“No,” you say. You’re not stupid, you know where this is going and just- no. Bucky is being deliberately harsh, speaking loud and unfiltered to try and make it easier to do what he’s about to do but you won’t let him. That dread turned bile has now turned into straight, acidic fire pumping through veins and it hurts.

Bucky smiles faint and sad, says, “You said it yourself - it’s dangerous no matter what.”

“That's not what I meant,” you say, shaking your head vehemently, wildly, as if you can physically shake Bucky of this stupid idea and the actual pain you’re in just entertaining this conversation. “You know that’s not what I meant, what are- you asked me to stay, Bucky. You asked me, and now you want-“

“I know, I know,” Bucky says,  tugging your hand close to him now but it’s your turn to try and pull away, albeit unsuccessfully. “I know and I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, but you almost died. Do you understand that? They would have killed you, and the only reason is me.”  

“That’s such bullshit,” you say, trying and failing to pull your hand free of his grip but he isn’t letting go now and the death-grip he has on you, tethering you to him even as he pushes you away, makes your eyes sting with ugly tears.

“It’s not,” Bucky says, so sad, and you just want to kiss that guilt away for him even still, even as your heart is breaking under his fist. “You will always be in danger until the day comes where I can’t protect you, and I won’t do that to you. I can’t, I can’t be the reason you get hurt.”

“You can’t protect me if you’re not around,” you say, so soft you can barely be heard over Joey’s house music but honestly, you might as well be completely alone for how little you care about the bar around you.

“The safest place for you is away from me,” Bucky says, and that makes you laugh. Humourless, fucking painfully, but you laugh and Bucky glares so dark you’re reminded of the look in his eyes when he stared down at Rumlow’s body bleeding out on the ground. Through gritted teeth he says, “You think I would do this if there was any other way?”

“There is another way,” you say, glaring right back. “There’s not being a coward about it, Bucky. You lead a dangerous life, I get it. Believe me, I fucking get it, and I chose to stay. Ok? I wanna be here anyway, so why does my choice not matter to you? Is this some stupid excuse to get rid of me?”

“Don’t say that,” Bucky all but growls, and you should be scared. He’s scary, Bucky is dangerous by his own admission but you refuse to be afraid of him. Even when he’s trying to force you to be, holding your hand too tight and dragging you around the booth so he can pin you to the seat and you both know the only way you can move is if he lets you. As if he thinks he can scare you away from him, if he can’t reason you to go.

“I don’t care how dangerous it is,” you say into his seething face, inches from yours, teeth bared in a truly terrifying snarl as he pins you to the leather in a show of strength that will leave bruises tomorrow. “I don’t wanna be away from you.”

For half a moment, you really think Bucky is going to hit you. He moves so fast, and you’ve never seen his face look like that - hurt and angry and upset and half-insane all at once. But he just presses his forehead to yours, closes his eyes and breathes you in, and for another half a moment you get to think, maybe he’ll change his mind.

“You’re all I want,” Bucky breathes, so soft and quiet you almost don’t hear him if it wasn’t said almost directly into your skin. “But that’s selfish.”

“I don’t care,” you say, like a mantra now, or a prayer. Just hoping he’ll hear you, “I don’t care, I don’t care, I don’t care.”

“You should,” Bucky says, and pulls away from you just as fast as he came in. “I won’t be the reason you end up dead.”

Bucky sits before you like a solid brick wall - unbreakable, immovable, cold and blank. His eyes are shuttered from you and you know there’s no way to get to him now. There’s nothing else you can say. If you aren’t enough for him to push past his fear and love you anyway, nothing you say is going to change his mind. Just because you know it’s true doesn’t mean it hurts any less, though, as you sit there boxed in by this menacing stranger looking at you in a way you never want to be looked at again. Like he already doesn’t know you. Like you’ve already been forgotten.

“This was always gonna happen, wasn’t it?” you ask, more to yourself than to Bucky. You laugh at his silence, the flat set of his mouth and clenched fists on his thighs. Maybe if you never went to that first party at Natasha’s house and remained at arms length, sneaking out his window and never staying the night, then maybe you could’ve had him just a little bit longer. But you didn’t, and now you’re hurt in a way you’ve never been before. Your dad never prepared you to survive a pain like this.

You slide out the other side of the booth, tripping slightly as you climb to unsteady feet. It’s hard to see through unshed tears but you don’t bother looking back at Bucky still sat in the booth. You weave through people just as fast as when you came in, but for the opposite reason now - you can’t leave behind this dim-lit bar painted with the gorey tatters of your heart fast enough.

When you emerge onto the street you know Bucky has followed you, his hulking presence palpable behind you as you stand on the sidewalk and try and calm your rapid heartbeat. You’re surprised its still beating with how much it hurts, especially when Bucky places a hand on your shoulder and cracks your heart neatly in two. He says, softly under New York traffic, “Let me drive you home. Please.”

Instead of asking why, why does he care, why does he want to, if the safest place is away from you then leave me alone, what you say is a mildly whiny, “You don’t know where I live.”

“I’ll put the address in my phone,” Bucky says, calm and low as if to placate you but you’re well past that point now. You’re crying openly on the street like a lunatic as Bucky gently takes your hand and leads you towards his bike, manhandles you onto it, clicks a helmet on over your head. It feels cruel for him to be this soft after so ruthlessly tearing you apart, but you suppose it’s better than being left alone in the street like he never cared at all.

When you pull up to your apartment building Bucky kills the engine and leans in close to you before you have a chance to jump off and run away. You think, surely he’s not about to kiss me right now and you really hate the part of you that hopes he does, but he doesn’t. He just leans in close and whispers into your helmet, “They could be watching your place, after what happened. I’m so sorry.”

You close your eyes. Bucky’s right, this will never stop, but that doesn’t mean you want to face it alone. Your whole life has been carved out for you only, but just once you thought maybe you could live it with someone else. That’s not a life for you to have, it seems, so you take a deep breath through snotty tears and nod, say, “I can handle it,” because you know you can. You’ll have to.

“I think-“ Bucky starts but falters, bites his lip blanched white before continuing, “They might leave you alone if you make it clear I’m not in your life anymore.”

“You can’t ask me to do that,” you say, and all the resolve you just gathered is shattered as instantly as you found it. You’re crying again because fuck, nothing has ever hurt like this has, from the inside where you can’t find it or heal it or stop it so it just sucks the life out of you one painful second at a time.

“You have to, honey,” Bucky says, and you want to punch him for it. The way he talks to you like he loves you, like he cares, but he can’t if he’s making you do this. Break your own heart to save his. “Scream at me, send me away. They won’t need to target you then.”

“You’re cruel,” you say, pulling away from him. You don’t want to touch him anymore, can’t stand to be this close so you trip off the bike and stumble down the street. Bucky stares after you, his own eyes teary and face screwed up in genuine pain. It could never compare to the sick feelings in your stomach as you take a deep breath and scream, “Go away, Bucky. Fucking leave me alone and never come back or I’ll fucking kill you, you hear me? Fuck off, and don’t come back.”

You can’t help the sob that rips from you, threatening to buckle your knees and break you right on the sidewalk. Bucky is looking at you like you’ve just stuck a knife in his chest but he asked you to, he keeps asking and taking and it’s always you that ends up hurt. You leave him on the street, stumble up the stairs to your apartment and sink to the floor as soon as the door clicks shut behind you. It’s dark in your apartment, nothing but streetlights outside casting shadows on furniture he never touched, but it still feels like he’s haunting you just the same.

Bucky’s bike revs to life and he tears away, the sound ripping straight through and down the street. It leaves you hollowed out, a burnt-through husk curled up on your hardwood floor. You know you’ll never hear that sound again.

****

For your entire life it’s always been you against the world. The only person you could ever trust is yourself, the only one who’s going to look out for you is you and you can’t remember a time where you didn’t think this way. Maybe it’s nature, maybe it’s nurture, but it’s how you’ve always seen the world.

However, you’re only now starting to feel what being truly alone is actually like.

Bucky’s contact lies open on your phone, but you don’t press call. You won’t. He pushed you away for your own ‘safety,’ for his own fear, and you’ll have to learn to live with his choice. Even though you still love him and always will, you can’t have him and you’ll just have to be ok with that. So you leave this contact photo up on your phone, resting on your coffee table beside your open laptop. You’ve got the input feed of the bug you planted in your dad’s kitchen open, chunky headphones on, scrolling through the audio from the past few days since you’d last seen him.

Your heart is broken by the first man you’ve ever let into your life and the only other person who knows you and who you trust, you’re currently spying on. Now, for the first time, you truly have no one left.

Focusing on work has always been an escape for you, and even when your life is in pieces around you and your heart looks no different, work still pulls through. Even if that work is your own father and the inane conversations he has with himself about the baseball teams on TV, or the calls he makes to his vet friends, or the late-night renditions of ABBA songs you remember well from your childhood. A file lies open on your coffee table with your father’s name on it and pages of notes you’ve made from nearly one hundred hours of audio recordings. You hope beyond hope that you’re just paranoid, and that this time when you go digging you don’t find anything at all.

The only thing you’ve noticed so far is your dad makes a lot of phone calls. They’re long, with a lot of names thrown around you don’t recognise as being his friends or anyone from work he’s mentioned to you before. You write them all down to look up later, but you’ve got to go meet a client so you shut everything down and collect your notes in the file. You hide them, just in case, and grab your leather jacket before you leave. You still have rent to pay. The world goes on around you despite everything being turned upside down, almost as if Bucky never happened at all.

You leave via the back of the building, to come out onto the street closest to the subway station. Usually smokers hang out around there so you aren’t surprised to see two men leaning against the wall, but you are surprised when they star following you down the alley. At this point you’re an old hand at being followed, and the petty part of you brain thinks in Bucky’s direction, see? Doesn’t matter if you’re here or not, dumbass. You sigh to yourself and plan to give them the run around once you clear the alley, but you don’t get a chance to.

From behind you hear a couple of solid thunks, a groan, a muttered curse from one of the men and then one final thunk before silence. You turn around, half afraid of who you’re going to meet once you do and half annoyed because you think you might know who it is. Sure enough, standing there in her leather jacket and a rusted metal pipe from the dumpster in her grip, is Natasha.

She blows a stray strand of hair out of her face and says, “Fancy seeing you here.”

“So he’ll break up with me but will still have me followed,” you say, folding your arms over your chest. Natasha shrugs and you mutter, “Figures.”

“I am always the first to say James is an idiot,” Natasha says, twirling the pipe like a baton in her delicate hands. She grins at you and says, “James is an idiot.”

“I’m aware,” you grit out, glaring at the red-head. “What are you doing here?”

“Making sure you don’t end up as Hydra mince-meat,” Natasha says, “What does it look like?”

“Doing whatever Bucky says even when it’s stupid,” you say. Natasha doesn’t like that, her bright grin dropping into a scowl as she steps up to you. Small, but with a clearly lethal weapon in her hands if the unconscious bodies behind her are anything to go by, she jabs the tip of the pipe into your chest and forces you a step backwards.

“James always has good intentions, even if his logic is sometimes flawed.” She drops the pipe, letting it clang to the floor between you as if to punctuate her saying, “Besides, James didn't tell me to do anything. I volunteered.”

“Why?” you ask, sneering slightly. “I think we both know you don’t trust me, or like me, and you make it very hard to like you.”

Natasha smiles at that, and you hate the face she makes every time you say something she ‘approves’ of - condescending, like she doesn’t expect you to have brain cells and is surprised every time you do. She says, very solemn despite the smile in her eyes, “I owe you.”

That makes you pause. Instantly, like you’re right back in that bar. You can see her groaning body struggling to stand after being thrown into a wall. Rumlow pointing a gun at her back, the blood-thirst emanating off him in waves. Your own hand, as if detached from your body, flinging the knife across the room into his neck before he can put a bullet in Natasha’s.

You swallow thickly, shake your head and say, “No you don’t.”

“I do,” she insists. She steps forward with her hand out, beckoning her fingers like she wants you to hand her something. You just stare at her empty palm for a few seconds before she clicks her tongue and says, “Phone.”

You hand it over without thinking, which was definitely stupid. But Natasha just types away quickly before giving it back and you see you have a new contact with her name attached entered into your phone.

“If you ever need anything,” she says, and taps your phone screen with her nail, “call me.”

It was only minutes ago you were sitting on your couch scrolling through audio from your tapped father’s kitchen thinking you’ve never been more alone in your life. Yet here you are, looking at a helping hand outstretched from the last person you expected it to come from. Your fingers shake slightly as you tuck your phone into your back pocket, and Natasha smiles at you like she understands.

“Thank you,” you say, and you hope she knows you genuinely do mean it.

Natasha nods, then says, “Get out of here, alright? I have to clean this up.”

You suppose that’s Natasha speak for ‘your welcome,’ so you leave her to it. The whole client meeting you can’t focus properly, too busy trying to decide if you feel safer or more afraid at having one of the scariest women you know watching your apartment. By the end of the day, your conclusion is that if Natasha is going to be in your life, its probably best she’s on your side rather than against it.

When you get home that afternoon there is no sign of the two guys Natasha knocked out, nor is she anywhere to be seen. You can’t help but feel watched, though, as you enter your building and climb the stairs. She’s a busy woman and you know she can’t be watching you all the time but you still feel her green eyes on the back of your neck - its not an altogether uncomfortable sensation. That’s something to unpack later, you think, as you collapse on the couch.

You try to resist, but as soon as you sit down and close your eyes the urge to forget about the case you’ve just taken on and look into your own hunches grows too strong. You get up again and fish out your dad’s file again from your hiding place, bringing it back to the couch to flip open. The list of names you’ve been compiling is at the top, scribbled in messy handwriting as you listened to your dad’s one-sided conversations. You tallied up how many times the same name had been mentioned and in what context, however it had been hard to decipher what your dad was talking about with only half the story.

You decide to go looking into the most mentioned name - more of a title, really. Somebody your dad calls Chief shows up in almost every single conversation he has over the phone, and when you were going through the audio it dredged up some strange, suppressed childhood memory. You used to hear him talking to guys downstairs when you were doing your homework, and you always thought he called them ‘chief’ as a nickname or weird, macho term of endearment like how kids in your class would call each other ‘bro’.

Maybe, he was only talking to one guy. You were going to find out.

Starting at your dad’s job, you scroll through their website and LinkedIn profiles to find any link to the name ‘Chief.’ He works as a security guard for a chain of clubs in the city so you are doubtful, and sure enough nothing really comes up to peak your interest. Your dad really only has one other major outlet to look into and that’s the VA, so you have to swallow past the dirty feeling of investigating suffering vets and start scrolling through the website for the Brooklyn VA group attached to the medical centre.

It’s all wholesome stuff and nothing of interest to your snooping at all until you get to a photo gallery from four years ago. It’s dedicated to commemorating the Brooklyn VA and New York Police Department workshop day promoting mental health for vets and servicemen. There are a bunch of photos of group activities and the lunch put on by the VA, and you spot your dad in a couple of them. You’re about to click off when you find one where your dad is posed with another vet and a very official, very dressed up cop. Nothing you haven’t seen at least forty of before in this gallery, but it’s the caption which makes you pause.

It reads, Some of the Brooklyn VA’s finest with NY Chief of Police. It has to be a coincidence, the man’s job title and nothing more. He’s tall, broad, with sandy blonde hair turning grey under his police hat. There are more medals than you can count pinned to his uniform and even in this grainy photo you can tell he would squash your dad like an ant if he gave the Chief of Police a reason to. You’ve never paid attention to this before, steering clear of cops whenever you can, but you find yourself googling him as soon as you can pull yourself away from his mile-long stare.

As soon as the NYPD profile on the Chief of Police loads, your blood turns to ice. You want to say you’re crazy, you’re crazy, you’re paranoid, but name one time your paranoia had led you wrong? Two strange coincidences don’t happen back to back, no matter how disconnected they may appear. Two worlds you never thought you would know, let alone be watching them collide, stare up at you from your computer screen. You can hear Steve’s voice like he’s sitting right next to you, saying “It is strange we haven’t heard anything from Pierce,” and right under a professional portrait of the Chief of Police is his name burning into the back of your eyelids - Alexander Pierce.

You shove your laptop onto the coffee table and stand, pacing back and forth in front of your couch. Scraping a hand through your hair and pulling half of it out of your head in the process, you try to reason your way out of connecting these dots. They’re barely dots, their echoes of dots - so your dad took a photo with the Chief of Police four years ago and he refers to someone he knows as ‘Chief’ as a nickname and Steve mentioned Pierce was someone in Hydra and the Chief of Police happened to be named Alexander Pierce. So what, right?

“Ok, ok, ok, ok,” you say to yourself, rushed and manic. You’ll just ask your dad. He’s your dad, he was never supposed to hide anything from you so why would he start now? If you just ask he might-

You don’t get to finish your thought. Three loud knocks ring through your empty apartment, your doorbell chiming impatiently straight afterwards. You stare at the door with your heart in your throat, long enough for them to ring the doorbell again and a loud, male voice to call out your full name. Someone you don’t recognise, yet they know where you live. You approach the door on silent feet and look through the peephole, reaching for the baseball bat you keep behind a pot plant as you do.

Standing outside are two men in suits, one of whom is looming at the peephole and making stupid faces while his college rolls his eyes and attempts to hold him back. Through the door, you ask, “Who is it? What department are you with?”

“I’m Special Detective James Rhodes and this is my partner, Special Detective Tony Stark,” the unimpressed cop says, elbowing his colleague out of the way who is still trying to look through the wrong side of the peephole. Holding up a badge and gesturing for his partner to do the same, Detective Rhodes says, “We’re with the FBI, ma’am.”

“Shit,” you say, before realising you said that out loud. Your hand feels numb where you grip your baseball bat tightly, and you decide in that moment you have to be dreaming. No way has the events of the past fifteen minutes taken place.

The guy who must be Detective Stark laughs and says, “Shit is right. Let us in, ma’am, we need to ask you some questions.”

You look back at the coffee table laden with copious notes on your father and your open laptop, Chief of Police Alexander Pierce’s face staring back at you. An omen, you think, but it would be even more suspicious if you asked them to wait to clean everything up. Your heart-stopping, life-changing, maybe-discovery will have to wait.

You slide off the chain and unlock your deadbolt, opening the door for the two FBI agents. They walk in without another word, and it really hits you then. It doesn’t matter what Bucky does now, if he leaves you and never comes back or if he never left at all - you’re in this, now. And now you’ll pay the price.