#but damn it I want to see professor Grant so bad

[fullfriendnerdclutch]

Archive: Rent-a-Cop Part 1 - 3

"It’s supposed to do what…? …Are you serious Captain?” Officer Grant Johnson sighed looking at his commanding officer with incredulity.

“Johnson, remember you volunteered for this. Now if the professor’s machine works like he says it does, its value to the force will be immeasurable," The Captain typed in some more information onto the panel, going back and forth between some hand-written instructions, furrowing his brow.

“Fine… So you scanned me in or whatever, now what?”

“Just a minute! I need to finish calibrating the damn thing or God knows what it’ll do to you!” Johnson rolled his eyes but nodded, running his hand through his salt and pepper hair impatiently.

“Okay okay… Just remember we do well enough without some freaky gizmo though. I’ve put away some of the baddest guys in this city in my day…” Officer Johnson patted his gut with a chuckle. “…I suppose I have been getting a bit soft though,"

“Well why don’t we see what we can do about that?" The Captain lifted what looked to be a simple wireless microphone.

“Load profile: Grant Johnson.” The machine behind them made a small noise, Officer Johnson looked to it then the Captain and shrugged.

“Reduce age by half, increase muscle mass 300%, and reduce body fat ratio by 80%—”

The Captain cut off and gaped at the sudden change in his subordinate. Gone was the weary looking Officer with the pot-belly looking forward to an ever closer retirement. In his place was a mountain of a man, who looked half bodybuilder/half cop. Johnson just stared at the Captain.

“…What? How long do we wait?”

“What do you mean what? You’re huge!”

Officer Johnson narrowed his eyes at the Captain then looked to his arm, pulling back the sleeve and flexing his massive biceps; it must have been around 24 inches.

"It doesn’t look any bigger… definitely not 200% bigger. And what was with the command to halve my age? You trying to send me back to highschool?” He chuckled a deep, rich, masculine laugh.

The Captain stammered a moment before looking back to the hand-written notes, thumbing through them before speaking into the small microphone again.

“Recall self prior to last command," that did it. Grant yelped, looking back to his arm, giving it a small poke then looking back to the Captain. 

“Holy shit! Captain! Look at me! I can’t believe it! That machine is nuts!” The Captain frowned lightly but nodded.

“Yes, yes. The possibilities are endless, but we’ll need to make sure we note any Officer’s previous self to their changed self… I think we’ll just keep this to ourselves until we can learn a bit more about it.”

“Aww– Fine… Too bad though, with this thing I’d be right back in the swing of it. All those bastards I’ve spent my career taking down would just be the beginning; I could be back on the beat full time.”

“Well, we’ll see. For now lets get you back to normal, lock this place up and head back upstairs. Don’t want anyone in the precinct getting nosy down here…”

-

The captain returned Officer Johnson to normal then the pair left; all without taking note of the surveillance camera silently blinking above their heads. 

In the security room, rookie cop Noah Bartlett stared at the camera footage. He’d been benched and given desk duty after none other than Officer Grant Johnson had accused him of being on the take… 

Nevermind the fact that he was, afterall there were several local crime bosses who paid good money for any tip or advantage they could get against the cops….

An idea slowly formed in Noah’s mind as he looked to the wall at the master security keyring and a smile grew on his face… He wondered how much they would pay for a chance to rent that machine and use it on Officer Oh-So-Perfect Johnson…

--

"You understand, Captain Diaz?"

The older cop replied in a dull monotone "Yes,"

"Yes....what?" the rookie replied, smirking vindictively

"Yes Master Noah,"

"Good," he pulled the machine's microphone close to his mouth and read off a little notecard he had prepared

"Captain Diaz won't consciously remember the events of the last 10 minutes or so. Captain Diaz will return to his office, wait one hour then call Officer Johnson in, and then follow the previously given instructions,"

With that, the Captain wordlessly walked out, while Officer Bartlett quickly reset the room to how it was, before hurrying back to his desk in the security room.

Rico Antonetti was one of the mid to upper level mob figures in the city and he and Officer Noah Bartlett had worked out a few arrangements before getting caught by one oh-so-squeaky-clean Officer Grant Johnson.

Noah had reached out to the mobster and informed him of the department's prototype machine. Rico was skeptical so the two worked out an appropriate demonstration.....

Precisely one hour later, Noah looked up to see Officer Grant Johnson on one of his monitors, step into the Captain's office and take a seat

"Listen Johnson, we've got a tip off about some new little bordello Antonetti has setup downtown. It might be bogus, but I need you to go in and investigate,"

"Sure Cap, let me get a team together and we'll be able to hit the place by tomorrow nig---"

"NO! Er......no, that will be too late, these places move around and we don't know how many ears Rico has in the department. If we want to hit him while this info is good, we need to do it tonight and I need you to go by yourself,"

"Uhh....that sounds more than a little bit risky, don't you think, Captain?"

"Yes, or at least it would be, if we didn't have our department's new toy," the Captain said sternly

"Oh....yeah, I guess so then. If you think it's that serious...."

"I do, let's get you prep," quickly replied the Captain as he stood up from his seat and opened the door briskly

Noah almost giggled with glee as he watched the two depart the Captain's office and head to the storeroom where the Professor had dropped off the machine. Everything was going according to script so far

"Alright Johnson, you ready?" The Captain picked up the wireless mic, flipping the machine on

"Yes Sir," Grant smiled, giving his somewhat rotund belly a gentle pat goodbye

"Load Profile: Grant Johnson." once more the machine whirred to life, humming softly and awaiting input. "Subject will recall self following this set of commands: Reduce age by 60%, increase muscle mass by 200%....."

The Captain's voice and face then seemed to go a bit slack and he took the microphone and opened the door to exit the room

"Err...everything alright, boss?"

"Yes, wait there, I need to check something,"

Captain Diaz quietly made his way down the hall to the security room, he opened the door where Officer Bartlett sat grinning

"Welcome Cap, I'll take that," he reached out, grabbing the mic and looking back to the video feed of the new, younger, buffer Officer Grant Johnson sitting patiently

"Subject will not recall self following this new set of commands. Change sexuality to homosexual. Increase libido by 300%. Reduce work ethic by 75%. Add behaviors: narcissism, arrogance, exhibitionism, bullying, domineering, perversion, and of course, corruption," Noah watched as the posture and attitude of Officer Johnson shifted. The man in the monitor crudely rubbed his genitals through his uniform pants and impatiently checked his wristwatch before noting the mirrored window in the room and stepping up to flex in front of it

"Perfect, now reduce subject employment standing to rookie, erase all experience of previous service and update it to 3 months," the stripes on Grant's uniform vanished, "Subject will continue flexing in the storeroom until Captain Diaz returns," there was no change in the cocky behavior on the monitor, but Noah knew Grant would stay like that as long as needed now

"Load profile: Carlos Diaz. Subject will believe that Officer Grant Johnson has always been as he is now and has not been changed by the machine. Subject will load in each member of the department's profiles overnight tonight and make the same changes to their recollection as well. Subject will not consciously remember the events of the last hour and will return to scold Officer Johson for being where he shouldn't be, then send him out,"

Captain Diaz silently left the security room and Officer Bartlett returned to his monitor. He watched smiling as the Captain entered the storeroom and clearly yelled something at the now rookie Grant Johnson. Officer Johnson replied by gripping his own groin and flipping the Captain off as he left.

"Now then, tonight should go on as planned,"

--

Grant drove down the street slowly. It was dark and while he may not have given a shit about what he was doing, he was still a cop. He saw the kid on the corner signal to someone as soon as he showed up. But that was fine, let 'em get their shit out of there, it would be less work on his part.

He parked a couple houses down from the address his tightass Captain had given him for this supposed brothel and slowly approached. From the front it looked like any other kind of shared housing in one of the city's projects

He eyed the door, strangely it was left ajar. He carefully slipped inside, having to squeeze his muscular form through rather tightly so as not to risk moving the door any further

The first floor was dark but as he peered up the stairs, he saw the second level was well lit......if anything's going down, it's up there

He thought he moved quite silently but in reality he was rushing and the house creaked under his weight with each step. When he reached the top, he saw a hallway full of closed doors, save one left half open with light pouring out of it

He crept towards it, growing annoyed at what a waste of time this was turning out to be. He paused by the door when he heard a young man speaking on the phone

"Yeah....yeah he's comin' so I called like you told me to....yeah, you're sure about this?.....Naw naw, I'm good for it.... Alright, alright, then do whatever it is you're gonna do, I'll let you know,"

The young man hung up the phone, Grant furrowed his brow at what he'd heard.....it sounded like something might actually about to go down....Looks like showtime. He stepped forward, kicking the door open and entering the room with his gun drawn

"DON'T MOVE!" yelled Grant with his deep baritone voice with that hint of coarseness from his smoking habit

The room looked like a simple one bedroom unit, hardly the sex den he was expecting. On the bed seated a rather handsome college-aged jock, he had his arms raised and was watching the police officer, but he didn't seem startled. Grant frowned and looked around the room before stepping to the man and patting him down; finding no weapon, he put away his firearm.

"We got a tipoff about prostitutes working out of this address to supply the mob. You know anything about that?"

The young jock paused for a moment looking at Grant just long enough to begin annoying him, before finally answering tentatively

"Of course Officer.....that's what I'm doing here," Grant just stared a moment......did this little twunk just admit to being a whore?

"You're a hooker?"

Sensing Grant's confusion, the young man smiled and nodded. He stood and approached the cop

"Yeah.....Rico said I was your favorite after last time, so it was my job to......cover your protection fee...." the jock's hands were a bit rough but his puppy eyes really caught his attention and radiate this submissiveness Grant cannot resist. He softly stroked Grant's chest and stomach, causing the ripped Officer to moan and shudder in delight

"Oh...oh yeah, now I remember you," Grant's stated with more conviction, his memories betrayed him as it created false imagery of the time he's sitting in the mob-run nightclub with all the male strippers dancing to tease him

The rather handsome hooker simply smiled impishly, his hand caressing lower, which caused Grant to growl in beastly burst of lust, pushing the young man back onto the bed

-

An hour or so later, Grant called in to Captain Diaz, the tip had been bullshit it seemed. The Captain was pissed but Grant didn't care. Meanwhile, Officer Bartlett popped open a bottle of wine when he received a call from one very convinced and very interested crime boss....

-------

Check out my spin-off from this beloved series originally made by coyote-r

More to come later this week

[elaemae]

The premium version of human is here to wreck house, mfs.

[Twst x Obey Me!AFAB!reader]

CHP. 4

PREVIOUS CHP.: PROLOGUE 3

Thank you guys for the likes, reblogs and comments.

Also, to the people who became my followers, I'll be forever grateful for that😊

CW: When MC gets mistaken as a guy, they get referred to as he/him, but the problem is that there's too many males around the MC.

So, I've decided to color the pronouns blue when it's MC that's being addressed. Just to avoid confusion.

CLARIFICATION: The headmaster, and MC knows that Yuu is from another world, so MC decided to play along and pretend that they're from the same world as Yuu. (The human world where MC came from is mostly similar to the human world that Yuu describes. i.e. landmarks, cultural, knowledge, current trends, anime and manga are all mostly the same.)

REMEMBER: Read this before the chapter.

Experience changes people.

If you see MC doing something you think you won't do and you decide to complain about it, remember this:

• You act the way you do because of the things that you've gone through in your life.

• MC is the same.

• They experienced a lot of traumatic events and almost lost their lives a fuck-ton of times.

• Because of that, they've changed. They've diverged from being you into the MC that they are now.

• The life you're living now shall be treated as the MC's canonical past.

• Also, because The Obey Me!cast feels bad from all the times you suffered and almost died because of them, they tend to overcompensate you.

• You get dressed in the finest of fabrics, most luxurious jewels, as well as housed and fed with the best things that the three realms have to offer.

• You don't take them for granted, but years of living with that lifestyle had raised your standards to new heights and changed the way that you act towards certain things.

• You're free to make up your own head canons if you don't like mine, also y'all can give me feedback if you want so I can improve my work.

• This story will be set a few years after the canon of the Obey Me games.

• • • • •

Who would've thought that it would be a bad idea to try to trick someone who literally reeks of luxury to live in an old, bout-to-fall-apart dormitory?

Well, certainly not Crowley.

That fact became known when 'The shady looking dorm leader™' and also, the tablet decided to tag along with you, Yuu and Crowley, but then had to help Yuu in holding you back so that you wouldn't beat the ever living crap out of the headmaster the moment he dared to bring y'all in front of this rustic establishment and say "It had charm". (Too many You's)

Oh really? really?? Oh you'll see real charm when I beat you straight into the afterlife you greasy son of a bitc–

*Ehem*

It did not end well.

So instead of that, the headmaster had to temporarily put you and your fellow stranded-in-dis-school-human into the infirmary as your temporary abode and promised to fix the shoddy dorm so that it can safely house people in it. (Grim will appear in the future, dw)

*Que Azul tryna make you stay in Octavinelle and you vehemently declining that offer.*

Also, you're starting to get creeped-out by the floating tablet that keeps following you around and won't stop with taking pictures. there's also the small maniacal giggles coming out of the device.

• • • • • •

So there you two are, two people that've been kidnapped by this school's fuckin carriage are now bonding in the infirmary and distracting each other by venting about problems back home. (You two are too wary to be able to sleep properly.)

Like, yes Yuu, I'm in a polyamorous with more than a dozen problematic individuals.

Yes, it works out. somehow

Damn, three assignments due tomorrow all from the same subject? Have you ever tried cheating off of your classmates?

Oh— wait what?! a classmate from biology was caught fucking with a professor in a classroom!? Seriously??

No, I unfortunately no longer have a grasp on the concept of private space and poverty.

Yes, maintaining a relationship with a lot of people at the same time can be hard.

A lot of them are rich.

Wait, a seatmate of yours really gave two free expensive sketch pads just because you asked?? Where can I find that person??

Yes they all act like my sugar daddies and my man-children in one way or another.

No, don't you dare pimp yourself out, okay? There may be a lot of people in my life but the important thing is that we all love each other.

We support, comfort, protect, and guide each other to the best we can.

No— that didn't happen in a day, I had to bend over backwards and almost die a shit-ton of times before I managed to wiggle myself firmly into the hearts of those fuckers.

...Q- Questions about our sex life will be automatically ignored.

Just.. be nice to others, even if it's seemingly stupid.

Unless they are absolute scum then just maintain distance.

You just gotta eyeball it to figure out when to stop being nice to someone.

Never and I mean NEVER treat anyone badly unless they did something unforgivable to you.

Don't call me kind. It's easier to have a grasp on other people if you're nice.

Pft— You once saw a book called "How to be a sugar baby 101" in the school library?! And you saw your principal reading it?!

Sure-sure, I'll help you with your math homework— wait a second.. Seriously?? We've been kidnapped, I ain't allowing you to do math. Where the hell did you even hide that thick-as-fuck test sheet anyways?? Up your ass?!

• • • •

You sigh for the third time this hour, looking at Yuu who's making a "Mom.. I threw up in the carpet... I'm sowwy🥺" expression as they stand beside your bed.

"What happened?"

Yuu winced, feeling embarrassed as they hear you talk to them like a disappointed parent, they had failed to appeal to Crowley about becoming a temporary student of this school and now had to be a janitor/errand kid.

"The headmaster said that I'll be the handy-man of the campus while he searches for a way to get us home..."

You feel a vein in your head throb and your eye start to twitch by of the sheer audacity being shown in front of your face.

You are now feeling the immense urge to hex that bird-bitch.

Satan sat straight in his seat, speaking out to the others in the meeting table.

"I can feel irritation and the urge to curse someone again." He said.

It would've been funny if this was another situation.

"That's definitely from MC, isn't it? You mentioned being half-asleep and feeling MC get agitated through your pact mark, right?" Diavolo asked.

"Yes, at least our pacts are still intact..." Satan nodded.

"Great, we can use this to monitor MC even if they're far away." Lucifer stated.

Countless search-parties and interrogations have already been conducted, but they're still clueless on where you can be or who could've taken you.

Even Barbatos couldn't see what had happened.

They're starting to get agitated, MC..

• • • • •

Jade watched as Azul frantically drafts and redrafts a new plan of his.

It seems that something caught the eye of their housewarden in the ceremony today.

"What could be so eye-catching that you're in such a hurry to obtain it, Azul?" Jade couldn't contain his curiosity and asked.

"It's a new student, Jade." Azul started.

"He possesses such a large amount of magical artifacts in his hands, It's unbelievable! They were all high quality too!"

Jade blinks.

"Don't you have enough magical artifacts around?"

Jade is confusion.

"You don't know it because you weren't there." Azul narrowed his eyes at Jade.

"I first thought those jewelry of his were similar to the ones that you can buy with enough money in annual auctions, but then I realized that it's very likely that those jewelry are customized."

"...How so?"

"So I decided to try and take a closer look, but when I actually got closer and almost touched one of them, I felt a strong thrum of magic that I haven't felt before!"

Oh?

Now that got Jade's attention.

Azul has been exposed to a lot of strong, powerful people and magical artifacts over the years that he and his twin were following this dormleader of theirs and yet there was actually an artifact so strong that he can feel strong waves of magic by just almost touching it?

How curious..... If the magic of the artifact was so strong, why didn't Azul sense it up until he literally almost held it in his hands?

Seems like this year won't be boring, after all..

• • • • •

BONUS: Someone has a crush.

"Brother, Your package has arrived— What are you... Are you making fan art of Mr. [L/n]...?"

Idia screams like a dumb girl in a horror movie as he tries to block the screen with his body.

"O-ORTHO?! WH-WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT KNOCKING FIRST??!"

"And... what's with the pose?"

Ortho tilts head innocently, confused on why his brother is drawing a new student in a pose that can often be seen on videos that are called "Thirst traps". he's still confused about why they're called that way.

Idia: "O- ORTHO THIS ISN'T ANYTHING BAD I SWEARAHGJSI—"

*Starts to fuckin steam*

"brOTHER YOU'RE BURNING THE CHAIR!"

"AH CRAP!"

← Pr.3 | Chapter List | Pr. 5 →

Don't forget to like, comment and reblog guys, It's a big help :3

What do y'all think of the chapter? pls respond, I need feedback🥺

I woke up today and decided to kick canon's ass.

Elae: Thanks for reading this far.☺️

See y'all next time~

Next chapter: Prologue 5

@f0urleafedcl0ver

@a-traveling-void-human

@speckle-meow-meow

@leviathans-tail-scales

@citrus-cinnamon

@prefesro

[mintawasalreadytaken]

i saw in ur pinned post that ur into horror & am curious if you’ve extended that into fics at all? do you have recommendations?

i recently got SLIGHTLY into drarry + horror-ish vibes in fics and only read a few but i fell in LOVE with “Yours Is The Earth (Hold On, Hold On)” by chickenlivesinpumpkin - and it was like just the right amount of fucked up & just the right amount of like ‘holy shit??? DAMN’ with normal drarry in it.

was wondering if u had any similiar spooky time recs for drarry fics- maybe??

(‘: thank u so much ( ur works are so large they scare me a bit but i’ve bookmarked them for a less coward me in the future )

🦇 SPOOKY DRARRY RECS! 👹

hullo and THANK YOU for this rec! i am dearly thankful to get 100k+ of deliciously dark writing to sink into!

unfortunately, while i know i've read some really great drarry horror, it's lost to my AO3 history instead of bookmarked, so i'll be damned if i could remember or find any of it ☠️ my bad.

instead, i asked some fandom buds for their spooky drarry favs. in no particular order, here they are:

🔪 cruel blade by @wheezykat

Drowning in his grief after the murder of his husband, Draco will do anything to bring him back.

But this is not Harry. This is something else entirely.

🧠 mastermind by @schmem14

Draco Malfoy has been with Hermione Granger, is currently dating Harry Potter, and he's determined to have Ron Weasley at any cost. He has to complete his set of three, after all…

🌊 saltwater stain by @the-starryknight

Seven days stuck on a boat investigating a rogue ghost wouldn't be so bad if Harry didn't want Draco so much. Draco has his rules and Harry's content to follow them, but the air feels different away from the shore. Is it possible that the sea could offer Harry something impossible on land?

📚 i demand a soft epilogue by @the-starryknight

James didn't arrive on the Hogwarts Express, and so Harry hasn't slept in a week. Something has brought him back to the stoop outside a building marked "Library" in gold letters. He's going to go inside. Maybe the Librarian can help.

🩸 in our blood by @secretsalex-blog

Draco is an accomplished pure-blood curse breaker, and Harry is tasked with accompanying him on his latest job—cleaning up the Van Boer mansion, which has been under a devastating fertility curse for seven generations.

🎃 the other cottage by @corvuscrowned If Pansy wasn’t shagging Ginny Weasley, Draco would never have been dragged to Luna’s ridiculous Halloween party in the first place - meaning he wouldn't be sitting in the corner of the room with Harry Potter all night.

But when a strange comet passes overhead, things start to get even weirder than usual.

As the night unfolds, Harry and Draco are forced to grapple with strange realities, reckon with new sides of themselves, and find their way back before the comet finishes crossing the sky.

👻 on the last day by @thusspoketrish

Draco is still mourning the recent loss of his mother when the Wizarding World is struck with the tragic news of Harry Potter’s untimely death. It’s just his luck that Potter not only comes back as a ghost, but seems intent on haunting Draco as he’s the only one that can see him. It’s a race against time to retrace the last few days of Potter’s life in order to find his body before he’s lost to the living or spiritual realm forever. On their journey, they’ll uncover secrets, betrayals, and a horrific truth that will disrupt both the living and the dead.

🏚️ the manor by @kittycargo

There was something wrong with the Manor.

✨bonus points / non-Drarry✨

🐓 tidewracked, sidetracked by @vukovich (Luna/Theo)

A Cursed professor. An attractive Cursebreaker. A hut that grew chicken legs and rampaged around Hogwarts.

☁️ flour & flesh by anon (Pansy/Hermione) The cottage on the hill is shrouded in clouds like a secret. Our secret. In some muggle neighborhood lore, I’m sure we’re the witches inside, granting a glimpse of the future in exchange for a rusted penny. And no one else could find us unless they knew the way.

i'll shamelessly self-rec my whumptober collection and this erotic body horror fic replete with puns for you to sample as well.

do you have a fav spooky drarry fic to share? leave your recs in the comments/links in a reblog!

thx to @prolix- @kittycargo @the-starryknight @fictional @schmem14 @nv-md @citrusses @vukovich & @kittycargo for the recs xo

[justatypicalwizard]

Wants Within | S. Shinazugawa | Chapter 8

✦ Sanemi Shinazugawa x femReader!, college au, reader is adult

✦ Synopsis: You're a college student taking classes with a very strict lecturer- professor Shinazugawa. Because of an unfortunate even you got on his bad side so now you're trying everything to regain in his eyes. Well, you most certainely didn't expect that kind of attention.

✦ Word count: 1,6k

18+, minors do not interact

''Damn, I should probably try this one.'' You pointed your finger at a piece of paper hung on the information board, gaining Ann's attention.

''Hm?'' She mumbled, chewing on a sandwich.

''It's a competition. If I would win inside the university then I could represent us higher.'' You started to explain what you just read.

''Isn't that like... hard to get out of the university level?'' She gave you an open eye look.

''It is. Yet, if I don't try I won't know. What bad could happen from trying?'' You shrugged.

''And what do you need to study?''

''Oh, I'm thinking about this one because it had okay requirements. You don't need to write any test, you actually have to do some research and present the results of something that they called 'an interesting, creative and innovative view of an existing academic work'.''

''So you'll have to rewrite the work?'' Ann questioned you.

''I don't know.''

✦

After filing a form to participate in the competition, you waited to be assigned to a competition group. You were supposed to complete your work with the help of a professor. Looking at the piles of forms that other people brought, you spotted that it was very small. Just a few of them lying sadly on the desk. This was good for you, not many people got interested in this.

What you wanted to achieve is representing the university. This would nearly grant you a scholarship for the next year.Grinning to yourself at your sneaky plan, you took off for your next lecture, feeling that the day would be good.

✦

After a week, you got an answer. Looking at the email you received, you bit your lower lip. You got assigned to the group led by professor Shinazugawa. Group members: 1

So, yet again you may have some alone time with the white haired man. Were you happy? Somehow yes, but on the other hand, crushing on him from your comfortable seat in the classroom was one thing. Spending time alone with him and having those types of thoughts felt uneasy. Will you be able to get rid of them, or will you rub your thumbs together and stutter, thinking about dirty things rather than about science.

Well, one way or the other, you will still proceed with the competition, your horniness can't get in the way of your career.

Finding him sitting in one of the empty lecture rooms, you knocked on the door lightly, only to hear a mumble. He was deep in thoughts, looking at his laptop. These freaking two buttons were unmade. You swear to god, you would grab them and either button them up so that it doesn't distract you or tear them all the way down to finally get what you want to see.

See girl? That's the thought I was telling you about. And you know what? You can't get rid of them no matter how hard you try in front of him.

''Good morning. I'm here to talk with you about the competition on the academic paper interpretation.'' You greeted him with a small smile, walking up to his desk.

He gave you a glance. After recognising you, his face lightened a bit.

''Mhm. Give me a moment, I need to do one thing.'' He went back to his computer, pulling a chair standing next to him and shoving it next to his.

You took the place. Putting your hands on your knees, you realised your legs were just next to his. Of course he was sitting like a king on his throne, claiming his space. Squeezing yourself into the chair, you begged that he would not shift and touch you by chance.

As if the gods were laughing at you, the man put one of his legs on the other one, nearly brushing you. You swiftly dodged that, not wanting to get a critical hit just at the beginning of the battle.

-10 hp

The white haired man put his head on his palm, his hand comfortable on the desk as he bit his lip ever so lightly, focused on the task he was completing.

-50 hp (the enemy was able to distract you)

Shinazugawa bounced his fingers on his chin. You followed his movement with your eyes, realising how well carved his jaw was.

-20 hp (enemie's distraction was unsuccessful)

Groaning quietly he let his hand through the messy, white hair. His voice low and somehow harsh.

-20 hp

Typing something and making the last few clicks, he finally completed whatever he was doing. Pushing his chest into the chairs back, he stretched slightly. The buttons on his white shirt also started to move, tightening up, just as if they wanted to pop out. Shinazugawa took a sip of his black coffee, which made his fully exposed Adam's apple move.

-100 hp

You have died!

Letting out a shaky breath you looked down, fumbling with your fingers. Why is it so hard to keep a hold of your mind sometimes?

''Is something wrong?'' The man's voice tore you out of your dirty thoughts.

''No.'' Back on earth.

''Okay. Then, let's talk about the competition.'' He turned fully your way. ''I've seen your application and I must say I'm impressed. You're really trying at this university.''

His compliment made you smile a little, looking to the side, past him.

''First we need to find an academic paper that covers the required topics and is short enough to be good for this work. That is your first task. I'll tell you where you can look for such things in the library. Pick up a few that you like and we will choose something. Then we will discuss what the paper is about, find the key topics and start to work on them. We will need a bunch of meetings.'' He looked at a piece of paper he had printed out. ''It will mostly be your work, I'm here to coordinate you.''

Nodding your head you took a look at the paper he handed you. It was a plan, everything that he just said plus some details about the topics, requirements and other stuff.

''We need to decide on the first meeting date.'' He took out his phone and swiped through his calendar. ''When are you free.''

Whenever you want.

But you didn't say that. Opening your plan on your own phone, you put it on his desk. Shinazugawa took a quick glance and decided.

''Is Wednesday, six p.m. okay for you?''

''Yes professor.''

''Great. Until then, look through the requirements and find those academic papers.''

✦

Wednesday came far too quick. You found a few interesting works and picked them out of the library. Making your way to Shinazugawas office in the university, you also wanted to stop at the cafe you work in to pick up your charger that you left the other day.

Retrieving it from one of your coworkers you looked at the coffee machine.

''Can I get two coffees? One [your favourite] and one black.'' The girl at the counter nodded and soon you had two coffees in your hands.

Going back to the university, you found his office. It was dark outside the vast windows. Fall would soon merge into winter.

Knocking on his door, you heard a faint 'come in'. Pushing the door, you greeted Shinazugawa and put the coffees on his desk. The white haired man looked at them, a bit shocked, but not too much for it to change his stoic face expression. Not explaining anything, you just took your cup and started to sip on it, taking out all your materials. He also didn't say anything, taking the coffee for himself, which made you smile lightly.

After he took a look at all the works you brought in, the two of you started to discuss them.

''This one may be too hard. Look, it starts off easy but the further you get, the more specific the author is. It may be hard to come up with anything giving the amount of details in this. Here, you have a few topics that you'll have next year and we don;t have enough time to teach you them. This one looks good, you already had all the topics and it leaves a lot of space for further explanation...'' As he was judging the academic papers, he slid his finger on them, showing you the places he was talking about.

''And what about this part, won't it be problematic? The author crealry points out that he sees no further interpretation of this fragment.'' You tried to show him the place where you saw an obstacle but you had to turn the paper around and then around once more, losing the sentence from under your finger.

Shinazugawa looked at you in a bored manner and stretched his hand for a chair. Sliding it closer, he put it on the same side of the large desk that he was sitting at and gave you a meaningful look. Nodding, you stood up and changed places. Only now you spotted how bigger his shoulders were compared to your own. He could tower over you easily.

''Here.'' You pointed out once more.

''Mhm, good suggestion. This might be a problem. We can look for another one.''

Finally, after some time you found the paper that fitted you the best.

''Are you fed up for today?'' The white haired asked you after picking up the rest of the work lying on the desk.

''Not really, I can still do something.'' You answered but at the same time a yawn escaped your lips.

You heard a small laugh out of Shinazugawas lips.

''Yeah, you really look ready to work.'' He gave you a yeastioning look, returning to his usual, judging glare.

''Sorry, that was nothing. I'm serious.''

He took a minute to glance all around your face which made you anxious. Why was he eying you so much?

''Okay then. We can make a rough plan of the work we are going to present.'' he shifted back to the papers like nothing ever happened. 

SERIES MASTERLIST

[quirkle2]

PLEASE PLEASE TALK ABOUT THE LEGENDS ARCEUS AU I'M SO NORMAL ABOUT IT <- LYING I AM NOT NORMAL

HI WE'LL BOTH BE NORMAL TOGETHER

(uhm warning for injury/blood/whump, parental death, uhhhhhhhhh fire? a lot happens (also idk if the read more thing has been fixed so let's pray. i refuse to smack these long ass paragraphs in front of innocent bystanders (this is so long. im so sorry)))

ok so reigen is the professor of the galaxy expedition team and u may be wondering how he got that job: lying :)! he claims he knows everything abt pokemon and that he's been studying them his whole life when in reality he's not even totally sure how many pkmn types there are. granted, the rest of the team doesn't either, so his ability to bluff himself out of any given situation is massively helped by their cluelessness

he just wants to sleep in a bed with blankets and eat food to survive and lying into the professor position was the quickest way he saw to get there. he'd been wandering in the wilderness for a while since coming to hisui before that and it kinda sucked. bro just wants a house in this crippling economy

mob n ritsu were originally from another village! they don't meet reigen until mob is 9 (ritsu 8). there's no powers in this au but mob's whole shtick is that he takes the,, extreme pacifist route i guess? he thinks pokemon r to be respected and loved and Not Bothered and he's against the use of pokeballs to store them and commanding them to battle each other, etc. essentially if he were in a modern era he'd think the way present-time people treat pkmn is, for the most part, cruel

anyway their hometown gets attacked by pkmn and the village is destroyed. their parents die protecting them, so 9-year-old mob was left to fend for himself n his little brother alone. they travel together kinda aimlessly for 7ish months until they get remarkably (unknowingly) close to jubilife village and come across that giant fuckin rapidash before the bridge

it's their first alpha pkmn encounter. neither of them have pkmn to defend themselves with (mob's reason: he ain't like that. ritsu's reason: He Is Eight and Scared). mob has always been able to empathize w pkmn a lot and sorta get a read on what they're thinking, so the vibes comin off that rapidash were rancid and he was worried abt it. mob has never been afraid of pkmn, not even the rly big and scary looking ones. so he approaches it with the intention of calming it down, seeing what's hurting it. he makes ritsu stay back in case things go bad

he's kicked in the head. if u forgot how big that rapidash is just google it. the hooves r the size of ur player character's head and ur player character is like 15. mob is 9. the fact that he doesn't die immediately upon impact is a miracle. the fact that he survives longer than 5 seconds after the fact is basically divine intervention

the doodle i made in the top left corner of ritsu screaming is this ^ encounter. he watches it happen, and then watches in horror more as the rapidash panics at ritsu's scream and rolls a flame wheel over his brother's limp form. ritsu manages to dive for him and run, but the kid is thoroughly terrified and traumatized

i'll spare u the horrid bits but long story short ritsu finds a cave to settle in and while he's rly inexperienced with medical treatment he does his best. his best isn't very good in the grand scheme of things but him being 8 is a pretty damn good excuse. he camps out there for Three Whole Days waiting for his brother to wake up or respond to literally anything but it isn't happening and the longer this goes on for the more terrified ritsu gets

mob's taught him how to survive pretty well all things considered, but ritsu is a lot more worried abt mob than taking care of himself and he ends up neglecting his own needs pretty fiercely. he feels too sick w guilt/fear to eat. he tries to stay up as long as he can in case mob stirs. by the end of it he's pretty worse for wear too

reigen finds them while out in the field doing research (wasting time). he sees a little kid half stuck in a bush looking for berries and when reigen tries to get his attention ritsu, who is extremely on edge and sleep deprived and scared, just straight up screams at him. reigen sees his dirty clothes and skinny arms and flushed face (fever. definitely fever) and alarm bells ring in his head to not let the kid go no matter what cuz he Will lose him otherwise

once ritsu gets his bearings and realizes this is a human (first one other than mob he's seen in forever) and not a pokemon coming to kill him he starts crying to him abt his brother and reigen feels his heart drop to his stomach bc if This kid is worried about a brother who is supposedly worse off,,, dear god

ritsu leads reigen to mob. the dressings around his arm where he was burnt are completely incorrect and most definitely horribly infected and ritsu didn't rly do Anything for the head injury other than clean the blood away bc well. again. he's 8. idek if eight year olds know what concussions are

reigen BOOKS it back to jubilife faster than he's ever ran and halfway through he realizes ritsu has passed out in his arms too (kid's probably exhausted beyond belief. reigen has no idea how long they've been like this but he guesses a while) everybody in the village is kinda horrified when the professor comes back with two hurt kids, one of which is on death's door. the medical team there does everything they can

it takes a while for mob to wake up, but thankfully he does in the end. reigen finds out thru ritsu that they've been alone for "a long time" (ritsu doesn't know. doesn't rly remember. reigen asks mob when he wakes up and mob says he stopped counting somewhere after day 140)

even though mob still isn't quite back to his old self and is still generally confused and Slightly Off, the doctors say he'll be okay after a few weeks and reigen has unintentionally gotten very attached to these kids. ritsu had told him their parents died during the attack on their village. they have nowhere else to go, and like hell is Any member of this village gonna be happy with simply throwing them out into the wilderness again. so reigen takes them in

anyway that's how they meet <3 GVEYAI mob is back to his normal self (the occasional Moment of Confusion comes around from the brain injury, but they taper off after a while) and reigen is very much surprised to see that mob, as ritsu has described to him, still very much loves every pkmn he comes across. he gets a bit nervous around rapidashes in particular, but other than that, mob is still just as caring and just as respectful as ritsu described him to be. ritsu is scared of bigger pkmn like any other kid is. mob is an exception, even after that experience.

reigen waits about a year so that they have time to settle and recover (and so that he has time to observe), and then he gives them each a pokemon. this might seem odd, but mob has never expressed any ill will toward Any pkmn, and ritsu still smiles at the smaller ones

he gives them a choice between the pla starters that have been hanging around his office. mob picks cyndaquil and names her cindy. ritsu picks rowlet and doesn't name him at all (this gives reigen pause, but ritsu seems to have a new fire in his eyes, so he brushes the worry away)

when they're of age (mob waits for ritsu to reach 13. they do everything together) they both join the survery corps, and mob ends up becoming reigen's assistant :]! reigen is admittedly a little worried abt this development, about his kids going out into the wild, but they both seem ready for it (ritsu seems ... a little Too ready for it considering his past) so he relents

mob has made his opinions about pkmn clear, especially to reigen, and reigen has ended up adopting some of his ideals since he met him bc they,, well thwy sound reasonable. they sound nice. mob doesn't ever put cindy in a pokeball, and cindy had never once been in a battle other than play fights with rowlet. mob treats cindy like any other normal pet, like a friend. he looks at those boxes of pokeballs in reigen's office with a frown. he finds the idea of fighting pkmn in the wild for sport despicable. he openly scratches out the pokedex tasks like "defeat 10 times" with disdain. reigen starts seeing another world that he never rly considered before, with mob

this is where reigen senses some,,, tension, between the boys. ritsu evolves his rowlet into a dartrix remarkably quickly since joining the survey corps, and not even a few weeks later he's a got decidueye on his side. ritsu catches pokemon left and right and if they're "not strong enough" he keeps them in pokeballs until he remembers they exist again. he works on building a team with no weaknesses, or as few weaknesses as possible. bro invents competitive pkmn

obviously, mob sees this and ,,, doesn't like it. he doesn't like how Distant ritsu is with his pokemon, with creatures that he wholeheartedly believes should be treated as friends or family. he doesn't name any of them, he spends nearly all his earned money from the survey corps on items that boost their strength, but almost no money toward items for comfort, or even treats, or toys. ritsu treats his team like they're tools. the relationship between ritsu and his pkmn is,, strained. mob can sense they aren't nearly as happy as they could be

but mob knows that he can't just,, police ritsu on how he should handle his own pokemon. he may not agree with how ritsu approaches the subject, or with how ritsu's first instinct for anything pkmn is usually "fight it," but mob knows ritsu Does like pkmn. ritsu's never hated pkmn, he's just,,, scared of them, sometimes. he thinks maybe this is his way of making himself feel protected. mob doesn't like the idea of taking that away from him, no matter how much seeing ritsu refrain from giving his team a break grinds on his soul

little does he know, ritsu's strictness with his pkmn isn't born out of a fear for himself at all. he's building a dependable team to protect his brother. that's the whole reason he's doing this, the whole reason he didn't name rowlet when he first got him. ritsu knew that if he were to do this, he couldn't get attached to them, bc losing pokemon in fights is a very real possibility. it's been drilled into each and every one of his pkmn's heads that they r to protect mob at all costs. if there's a repeat of That incident, ritsu doesn't think he can handle it (>:])

WOW THIS IS ALREADY SO LONG i haven't even gotten to the kleavor part yet. fuck. if ur still reading this can i have ur hand in marriage /silly

OKAY SO . The Game's Plot comes in, finally. took long enough. reigen starts getting reports of frenzied nobles and he's most worried abt kleavor bc it's rather close to them, and the village could very well be in danger if kleavor decides to say fuck you in particular. so reigen goes Hey This is an Actual Threat That Needs My Attention I Have to be Competent For a Sec and spends the next few weeks tirelessly searching for an answer for this kleavor. some of the staff have already gotten mauled by it. reigen cannot ignore this and put it on somebody else like he usually does

the whole town is getting antsy, and mob most definitely notices. ritsu's jumpy all the time anymore, like he expects kleavor to rampage through the streets any second now. reigen looks tired and worn down, and he's been coming home later and later. mob watches as reigen makes plans to use force against kleavor with a sour taste in his mouth. he tries to tell reigen that force isn't the answer here. reigen, bless him, doesn't know how to tell a kid that friendship and rainbows isn't always the answer

after another week or so, mob's had enough. they've gotten nowhere closer to calming kleavor and more people have gotten injured, so mob quietly writes a note and leaves it on his bed, makes sure he doesn't wake up ritsu or cindy, and leaves the house before reigen comes home. he sneaks out over the fence so the guards at the gate don't catch him. he sets off to go see kleavor

he fully and truly believes that force is not the answer. he fully and truly believes that if he goes up to kleavor with no pokemon to fight it with, no weapons or spears pointed at it, and just a calm voice and peaceful demeanor, kleavor will see there is no danger. the galaxy team's previous attempts have all centered around violence and scare tactics. nobody has recently come up to its territory without posing a threat. mob genuinely just thinks that kleavor needs calm

reigen finds the note. freaks the fuck out. immediately rounds up every person in the village that's capable of fighting and they march out of the village to save a kid who's in way over his head. reigen makes ritsu Promise him that he will not leave the village. he can see it in ritsu's eyes, the way he wants nothing more than the come with them, but reigen gives the argument that ritsu is their strongest soldier back home and they still need to protect the village from anything else while everybody's gone. it takes all of ritsu's self-control to not go against him (he's fully set on coming with them until reigen Grips him by the arms and says "i can't lose both of you.")

mob's plan does end up working in the end, but not quite perfectly and not at all in a good way. he steps into kleavor's territory and has it calm at first, but smth changes in kleavor's eyes and whatever Force that's corrupting it surges and kleavor snaps.

mob gets Fucked Up by that thing. sliced and thrown and clawed until he can barely stand up to run away, but it's the last blow that matters. kleavor comes down on him with a chop right to his middle and everything stops. there's a sizeable gash that cuts through mob's side horizontally and kleavor's axe is stuck in the flesh there, but once mob isn't moving anymore and nothing is making kleavor afraid, the fog in its brain clears and it sees what it's done

it also sees that mob is still awake, and despite everything kleavor did to him, he's still looking at it like he knows its capacity for gentleness. even through the pain mob looks at kleavor like he Knows this isn't what it's rly like. and as soon as mob sees the light return to kleavor's eyes he smiles, blood gurgling in his throat

kleavor hears shouts from the forest, sees torchlight and panicked yells for mob. it doesn't know what to do, don't like what it sees, what it Did to this poor kid. it winces when it has to slide its axe out from the gash in mob's side—the squelch it makes and the Noise mob lets out is the last thing kleavor needs to book it

u can only imagine how fuckin hysterical reigen feels when he sees mob on the ground like that. they brought half of the medical team just in case and reigen is rly glad they did bc if they didn't there's a good chance mob would've bled out right there within a few minutes.

he's in rly rly bad shape and is barely conscious by the time reigen grabs his face and tells him itll be okay. they bring him back to the village at record pace and every minute they take he looks paler. reigen is so scared the kid's going to die in his arms before they even get there

when they get to the gates someone from the medical team takes him from reigen's arms. reigen hears ritsu scream. the kid's shoving people away who're trying to comfort him and beelining his way to mob, but reigen catches him before he can fully see the damage bc he does Not want that bloody mess to be in ritsu's nightmares for the rest of his life

ritsu fights him and pushes him and shoves him away, screaming that he just wants to see his brother, but reigen holds him back and he ends up pulling ritsu close when the kid loses steam and just starts sobbing into his chest

to ritsu, he's failed again. to reigen, he's failed them both. to mob, despite holding onto the living world by a thread, he succeeded.

anyway that's the story so far VGEAYVUA I HAVEN'T .. FIGURED OUT TERU YET. or dimple. i know the gist of i how i want teru and mob's meeting to go tho. teru is just like ritsu but like . Worse when it comes to pokemon. uses them as tools and doesn't even rly think of them as sentient at all. until he meets mob that is :]

i'm thinkin he's the warden of sneasler! and yaknow what, just for shits n giggles and bc i love ingo too much to get rid of him, what if ingo is teru's unofficial teacher. what if. wouldn't that be fuckin hilarious and completely ruin any sense of consistency here. what if (it's happening)

i'm also pretty set on making dimple one of the wisps from the spiritomb quest that ends up following mob around. that's fitting i think

[just-animaxiz]

Sylvia: Here are some of my teachers!

This is Ms. V, she's from my Botany class. Despite my grades there, she's very sweet and understanding.

Mint: Awww! She sounds like a kind person!

Sylvia: Well... I don't think some of the Monstrous Venus Flytrap experimental pets she kept would say the same. Granted, they tried to eat some of the students.. Myself included. Here's her letter!

Sylvia! I'd heard that not only you inherited your uncle's shop, but you won 5 times in Rafta's Potion Competition Tournament! Congratulations, dear! I would love to see it, but some of these naughty critters tried to run away from tax fraud! Ugh! If I have my paycheck soon, I'll plan a vacation trip there! Have fun~!

Sylvia: Oh! And this is Mr. Stines - He's in charge of the Experimentation section, which means he tests if the potions are efficient enough to work depending on their progress.

Xid: That's quite a lot of bling for someone so serious.

Sylvia: He likes to... Experiment with fashion too... Which gives half of the school either headaches or impressions. His favourite is the Old Gothic + Steampunk mix, which really works well, until he got blown up by one of the explosions from the potions.

Hello, Sylvia! How's it like in Rafta? Too expensive? Too cheap? Never been there but there's quite some good styles! Nevermind that though - How's the potions? Are they as good as your college ones? The Masterworks quality is hard to achieve, but it's worth when you do your worth! Anyways, gotta run - I need to try this Disco + Jungle look for next semester! Don't use Quantum Crystals as Fuel - THEY'LL EXPLODE!

Sylvia: ....

Boss Finn: And I thought I got a creepy grin.

Sylvia: Mx. Crow is the ONLY scariest substitute I'd ever encountered, with their long neck and creepy gaze... Not only that, but their cryptic words sink like venom whenever they talk to any of us, stressing us out.

Sylvia. I'd heard of Rafta, conquered by a witch-queen only to be 'defeated' by a scoundrel of heroes. An average story like always, but I wish my happy shivers came back on the part they all died. Well most of them. That blue-eyed Robin character defeating MAEven. Tell him to watch his back, or else something will creep up again~ Just kidding~........... Am I?

Sylvia: Damn it! Something tore apart Professor Calypso's picture! It's a bad luck thing... Whenever his face comes up on every frame, there's always something blocking it or it mysteriously shreds a piece.

Quinn: From a glimpse of him, I can see he's wearing a mask over a wrap?

Sylvia: I don't know much, only heard rumors of why and how. But if it not were for him being my homeroom teacher, then I would've never passed my college... Oh! Here's his letter!

Dear Sylvia,

I am writing this to you from The Gallant Tower, where the stars are now aligned to The Adventurer. It reminds me of you, and I hope you have a wonderful life in Rafta. How was it? Did you make any friends? Any connections?

I'd heard your uncle is actually alive, which is a relief and concern. You might need to detail me more on that.

And you not only succeeded on paying the debt, but you'd won in a tournament five times, making yourself popular in public. I am more than proud at your growth, and must advise you to keep your chin up even at the darkest of times. Things might come soon, and a trusty hand will need your aid for it, so you must use the right cards for the best advantage.

Oh, and Raven wanted to say hi.

HI SYLVIA!

Sylvia: Raven's his daughter... I think she's turning 18 soon!!

[besidesitstoowarm]

"The Voyage of the Damned" thoughts

put this off forever bc i didn't want to see it. in the end it was fine even if i keep mixing the title up with "planet of the dead"

ten slaying in his tux-with-converse look that had the 2007 girlies in a chokehold. troy bolton wears the same thing in high school musical 3 btw. if you even care. he gets interested in the angel statues that to me look like craghas "crabfeeder" drahar from hit hbo drama "house of the dragon". do you think the doctor would support the greens or the blacks

we meet max capricorn who is the most "john waters from wish" looking person i've ever seen. and max capricorn as a name sounds like a discount drag name. i like that everyone is wearing 10s-20s era clothing, the mix of titanic-era set dressing with typical sci-fi machinery actually blends really nicely. the two "low class" contest winners are in cowboy clothing which i also like since a lot of the nouveau riche around the turn of the century were oil millionaires from out west (in america anyway). they seem extremely nice and i would love to hang out at a buffet with them

the doctor flirts with kylie minogue, who actually does a really good job in the role, she's very wide-eyed and charming and the character felt fully realized. doctor who is really good at one-offs. he offers a "brand new sky" and she takes it and off to london where we meet WILFRED MOTT, MY GRANDDAD!!!! i completely forgot he was in this one. i screamed "GRANDDAD" when he appeared and scared my bf

the captain is on a suicide mission and apologizes to alonso. i have never seen alonso's actor in anything but he looks so familiar. the actor is gay btw. i loved the captain's "they promised me old men" speech, he's dying and needed the bribe money to take care of his family once he's gone but he was trying to limit the collateral damage to his crew ASTEROID ATTACK

we learn that the doctor is 903 years old. i think this is the first time his age is stated? nine had the whole "900 years of time and space" but i'd assumed he was just rounding. does he celebrate his birthday? i love the idea that he has no idea how old he is and is just guessing. the second doctor was canonically ~450. anyway they're trying to navigate the ship and the cowboy couple try to repair a broken angel bc they were like mechanics back home. i think it's interesting that in sci-fi, robots are stuff for poor people

cyborgs were recently granted rights and "can even get married" which is nice for them. the doctor says "you should see me in the morning" and astrid says "okay" and he looks like he stuck a fork in a socket. they're both sooo down bad this ep. i'd like to have seen her as a companion for a few episodes, adam-style except adam sucked and astrid is cool

max capricorn is a head in a jar. i'm not kidding that this is the exact same twist as the movie "prometheus" did ridley scott steal that from this episode?? it's the same goddamn thing. that movie was awful. i rejoiced when astrid killed him with a forklift, barbara-style (running over bad guys is always barbara-coded for me). the doctor brings the tour guide professor to london cause he's a millionaire on earth and he just like. cries with joy cause he can have a HOUSE with a DOOR and a GARDEN and DISHES and wow he's just like me fr. he refuses to take him with him cause he "travels alone" tenth doctor voice what kind of time lord takes a companion you can't fuck

this episode was in memory of verity lambert who had recently died when it was released. i had no idea who she was last time i saw this episode so i never noticed that. always famous to me verity <3

[dailyrandomwriter]

Day 454

Something I’m seriously considering setting up next week is a sticker focus spread. A place to just cut out stickers with a craft knife and place them on the page. 

Why do you ask? And how is that different from what I normally do with my stationary?

I want to see if the act of focusing on something that requires detail, but not all of my brain matter (so I can still listen to a lecture  and focus on it) would help me not fall asleep during a teaching session where I’m primarily a listener.

The idea came to me while I was trying to figure out why I never had this problem in university. And by problem, I mean I just fall asleep when tasked with any activity that requires me to just sit still and listen. I’ve always had this problem to a certain degree. Any poor soul who had to sit near me during an all staff meeting probably has heard me snore at least once. It’s gotten worse with the rise of virtual training, which is why I’m stuck going on site three times next week because I hope in person training will mostly prevent this from happening.

But it brought up the question to me, why am I like this now and not in university where most of what I did were large scale lectures. The reasoning was two fold.

First, in history, especially in classes where the professor had slides I had something to write down for notes. Whereas in classes where there weren’t slides and only a few things jotted down on the board, I wouldn’t write notes. This is primarily because I have information processing issues. I find it very difficult to listen to someone and write things down at the same time. My ability to keep up with what people are saying and write it, is pretty non-existent.

Which is bad for someone whose profession is being an administrator. Fortunately no one makes me take minutes anymore, and I have no idea how anyone dealt with my minutes when I did take them. Well, I know how, I had to fucking re-write them because they were a mess.

But, of course, the problem is, if I don’t write something, I’m not doing anything and if I don’t do something, I will damn well fall asleep. So how did I do it? I forgot that I used to make item art when I was in university.

Item art is literally drawing items. I used to draw a lot of tea cups and potions when I was in university. And I would do this, with nothing but a mouse touchpad and photoshop on my laptop. Which meant it required a lot of focus on small details, but I could still hear and understand the lecture going on because it didn’t require a large amount of thinking. 

The closest thing to that now, is my stationery crafting. In fact I will listen to things while I cut out stickers from my image tapes, because I don’t find that distracting to what I’m doing or listening. So, I do want to see if that helps. Granted, I might not need it because we do need to practice and write notes in order to be able to use the new database at the end of November. But I would like to have those pages just in case I need them. So I’m thinking about setting that up for next week.

[dystopicjumpsuit]

I jumped to Ao3 to keep reading because I can’t wait lol

That is the biggest compliment, omg! I legitimately squealed and hugged my phone when I read it.

I chose to make Maree older for several reasons, and one of them is that there are SO MANY fans who do not fall into the usual age demographic that is typically represented in fanfiction, and I wanted to rep them (for example, my mom is 78 and obsessed with The Bad Batch, and now she's working her way through The Clone Wars, two episodes per day). I HC Maree as being in her late 30s/early 40s, but I also wanted to leave it vague enough that readers of many ages could easily imagine themselves in her place. I considered tagging the story with older woman/younger man, but opens a whole can of worms with the clones' accelerated aging that I didn't want to get into. I think I might go ahead and add the tag, though. It's not one I see often in the Star Wars fandom--or any other, really.

Another reason was just realism; I work in academia (not as an historian, lmao), and I take a shot every time I read a college AU with 26-year-old tenured professors or head librarians. A friend of mine just got full tenure at the age of 42, and she is a damned rock star. It's possible for younger faculty to get full tenure, but I've never met anyone under the age of 40 who has it.

Granted, I don't expect realism in fanfiction, and there's nothing to say tenure works the same way in the GFFA, so rock on, college AU writers! I might get alcohol poisoning, but I still love their work!

Martyrs and Kings - Chapter 1

A Clone Walks Into a Library

Rating: T (rating varies by chapter; mature content will be tagged)

Pairing: Kix x archivist/historian OFC

Wordcount: 3.3k

Warnings: slight angst; mentions of canon character deaths; office politics are canon in the GFFA

A/N: Finally migrating this story over from AO3. I'll be posting a chapter on Tumblr every few days until I'm caught up, but if you'd like to read ahead, here's the link to the story up to chapter 8.

Summary: Clone medic Kix is a man displaced in time. Captured by Separatists and put into cryostasis when he learned the truth about the clones' inhibitor chips, he awakens fifty years after the end of the Clone Wars. The Republic is gone. The galaxy has changed. And now, the last clone trooper searches for answers with the help of a New Republic historian.

Next chapter | Masterlist | Tag list signup form

Republic City, Hosnian Prime

32 ABY

The man gazed up at the imposing building in front of him, squinting against the harsh sunlight. The air was chilled despite the brightness of the day, and his breath swirled in clouds around him. He stood, seemingly oblivious to the pedestrians that bustled past as airspeeders whizzed through the skylane behind him. Few noticed the man, but those who did felt a strange sense of unease, of slight wrongness, as though he did not quite belong in the setting. Whether they observed this or not, the pedestrian traffic instinctively steered away from him, leaving a wide bubble of space around the stranger.

He stood, unmoving, for some time, locked in a silent debate with himself, until at length, he reached a decision. With a sharp nod, he walked into the building.

It was cold in the New Republic Galactic Library. Maree readjusted the shawl that she always kept in her office for mornings like this, then wrapped her hands around her mug of tea as she scrolled through the morning’s holomessages. Most of them were from colleagues complaining about the temperature. Most recently, the head maintenance droid had sent out a dispassionate mass response explaining that the sprawling complex’s central climate control had been automatically adjusted due to the spring equinox. Maree’s eyes lit with amusement as the indignant replies began to pop up in her inbox.

New Republic efficiency at its finest, she thought. Everything had to be automated. It didn’t matter that the outside temperature was still well below freezing; the equinox had passed, and so they were moved to the spring climate schedule. No doubt the decision had come from a droid that had no problem functioning in the cold. It would probably take weeks of complaints and committee meetings by the time the issue was resolved, and by that point, Republic City would likely be in the middle of a full and magnificent spring, rendering the problem null.

She nearly laughed as she skimmed through her messages and saw identical leave requests from two of the department’s interns who thought they were being subtle about their burgeoning romance. Ah, young love. Who was she to stand in the way? She quickly approved the requests, then moved on to carefully review the latest research directive from the New Republic Judiciary. Finally, she could longer put off reading the last message in her inbox. Despite herself, her heart began to beat a little faster as she opened the message. 

To: Dr. Maree R. Finnall From: NRGL Department of Outreach Subject: Decision on Expedition Proposal Submission Submission Number: ORE-R-72-00066T5 Dear Dr. Finnall, It is with great regret that we must inform you that your recent expedition proposal has been rejected. As you are aware, the current political climate in the Outer Rim is somewhat tenuous. . .

The message went on, but there was no need to finish reading it. Force knew she’d received it often enough to know what it said. Maree turned off the holoprojector with a small sigh. She took a sip of her tea and grimaced when she found it had gone cold. 

Taungsdays, am I right?

She crossed to her small kitchenette and dumped the tea down the sink. She briefly considered making another cup, but it would likely share its predecessor’s fate, so instead, she moved to gaze out the massive window. Glacial air flowed off the transparisteel, but the view was worth the discomfort. The early morning sun sparkled off the thick layer of frost covering Republic City, transforming it into a glittering wonderland. Beyond the city’s magnificent towers and spires, she glimpsed the deep azure of the western ocean.

I love it here, she reminded herself. It wasn’t exactly a punishment to stay on Hosnian Prime. Surely the benefits outweighed the disappointment of yet another rejected proposal.

The soft chime of her office door startled Maree out of her reverie.

“Come in,” she called.

The door slid open to reveal one of the library’s receptionists, Eidani Olphes. Maree didn’t know her well, but she passed the younger woman at the library’s front desk every morning when she arrived at work, and Maree always tried to be friendly with the support staff. She remembered her own early career when senior faculty were often dismissive and condescending, and she had vowed never to be the cause of anyone feeling so small and unimportant. 

“Good morning, Eidani,” she said with a warm smile. “What can I do for you?”

“Dr. Finnall, I have a gentleman here who is visiting Hosnian Prime to research the Clone Wars. Do you have any availability to meet with him this morning?”

Maree’s interest was piqued immediately. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d gotten such a request from a private citizen.

“As a matter of fact, I’m free now,” she said. “Is he here?”

“Yes,” Eidani replied. “TJ-60 asked him to wait outside your office.”

Eidani fidgeted a little as she spoke, and Maree wondered if the man had made her uncomfortable. Maree commed her droid assistant, fully prepared to ban the visitor from the library if he had harassed the young Devaronian.

“Teejay, please show the gentleman into my office.”

“Right away, Dr. Finnall,” came Teejay’s monotone reply.

Maree heard the outer office door hiss open as Teejay directed the visitor to her office. Eidani turned around as soon as Teejay opened the door and watched his approach with a wide smile and undisguised interest. As the visitor walked into view, Maree realized she had misread the young receptionist’s reaction.

Force almighty.

Maree had never seen such a gorgeous man. He was tall and athletically built, with golden brown skin, curly black hair, and a neat beard. His nondescript clothing entirely failed to disguise his powerful frame, and he moved with the relaxed confidence of a man with absolutely nothing to prove. The beard emphasized his high cheekbones, but his eyes were the most arresting. They were a warm, luminous brown that reminded her of sunlight glinting through amber. Something about his face tugged at her memory, and she wracked her brain trying to remember if she’d met him before.

“Hello again,” Eidani giggled. “This is Dr. Finnall. She’s our Clone Wars expert.”

His solemn gaze flicked from Eidani to Maree, and she nearly blinked at the intensity in his eyes.

“Maree Finnall,” she said, shaking his hand. 

“Kix,” he replied.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Kix.” 

“Just Kix,” he said.

He had a lovely voice, smoky and dark and beautifully accented, and Maree briefly wondered if he had any flaws at all. She hoped she had a better sabacc face than Eidani.

“My mistake,” she said. “Please call me Maree.”

“You specialize in the Clone Wars?” he asked.

 “To a degree. My scholarship focuses on the military history of the late Galactic Republic and early Imperial periods,” Maree clarified. “The Clone Wars are, of course, a major part of that era. How can I help you?” 

He glanced at Eidani, who was staring up at him with a worshipful expression.

“I, er—I’m looking for some fairly detailed information,” he hedged.

Maree took the hint.

“I see,” she said. “Please come in. Thank you, Eidani. I’ll notify the front desk if we need your assistance again.”

“Of—of course!” Eidani gushed. “Please let me know if you need anything. Anything at all!”

“We will keep that in mind,” Maree smiled.

She shot a meaningful glance at Teejay, who immediately began to usher Eidani out of the office. Maree closed her door and turned to Kix, who was looking around the room with interest.

“Nice office,” he said.

“Thank you. Please make yourself comfortable,” she replied, gesturing to the soft, padded armchairs that were strategically placed around the room. “May I offer you a cup of tea?”

“No, thank you,” he said. “I don’t want to be a bother.”

“It’s no trouble at all,” she said. “Let me know if you change your mind. For now, can you tell me what specific information you are looking for?”

He selected a chair that was oriented so that it faced both the window and the door of the office, she noticed. Maree’s mother was the same way; she hated the vulnerability of having her back to an opening. Mindful of Kix’s hypervigilance, Maree picked up her datapad and settled into a chair on his left, leaving plenty of space between them, as she prepared to take notes. From this angle, she could see the edge of a tattoo peeking out from his hairline. It looked like aurebesh, but his hair covered too much of it to be sure. It was intriguing, and she had a sudden and distinctly unprofessional urge to brush the hair away from his face and take a closer look.

“I’m interested in the late months of the wars,” he said. “Everything after the Battle of Anaxes.”

She tapped the information into her datapad. He observed her closely as she worked. She wasn’t accustomed to such scrutiny, and she found it slightly distracting. She felt a bit like a bug that was being dissected and studied.

“I can prepare an overview,” she said, “but that is still quite a broad area as there were so many simultaneous campaigns. Is there any particular battle or unit that I should focus on?”

“The 501st Legion,” he said in a clipped tone.

“General Skywalker’s legion. A fascinating unit,” she said. “Are you interested in their actions in the Imperial era as well, or only those preceding the fall of the Galactic Republic?”

“Both,” he said. “Is there a way to research individual soldiers in the battalion?”

“Yes, if you send me a list in advance,” she replied, “though it may take me a few days to compile the records. Will you be on Hosnian Prime long?”

“As long as it takes,” he said.

“I see. Perhaps we can meet on Primeday morning?” she suggested. “That should give me time to collect the combat reports at least, and once we’ve had a look at those, we might have a better idea of where to direct our research efforts.”

“What time on Primeday?” he asked.

“Any time you like,” she said. “I’ll have Teejay clear my schedule so I can be at your disposal all morning. I do have appointments in the afternoon that I won’t be able to reschedule, unfortunately.”

He looked startled. “Oh, I don’t want to take you away from your work for that long.”

“This is my work,” she said. “And I am delighted to meet someone who shares my interest in this particular field. Not many do. Consider yourself warned; you are far more likely to get tired of me than I am likely to run out of things to talk about.”

“I doubt that,” he said, meeting her eyes squarely. 

“Let me know if you still feel that way after I send you so many reports and articles that I crash your datapad,” she said.

He smiled for the first time since she’d met him, and it made him look younger and even more handsome, if such a thing were possible. She found herself smiling back at him even as she told herself not to indulge her interest. Not only was the man a client, but he was at least a decade younger than Maree—much closer to Eidani’s age, in fact. 

“I should forewarn you,” she said. “This period of history—it’s a difficult one. Most of the stories do not end well.”

“Trying to scare me off, Doc?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Not at all,” she said. “I just want you to be prepared. There’s a reason most historians choose other periods to study. It’s a hard time to confront.”

“I understand,” he said, and something in his eyes told her that he truly did. “I will see you on Primeday.”

Kix exited the library feeling decidedly ambivalent. He stepped into the frigid air, which had failed to capture any heat from the bright sunshine during the time he’d spent inside the building. Still, he took a deep breath and felt the sting of it in his lungs.

He had been nervous when he entered the library. He’d spent over a year with Sidon Ithano and his crew, throwing himself into their skirmishes with a ruthlessness and ferocity that startled even the notorious pirate’s crew. But the violence failed to distract him from his own thoughts. He’d been consumed by grief and rage, overwhelmed by feelings of failure and guilt and the futility of everything he and his brothers had suffered and sacrificed. And worst of all, the knowledge that all of his brothers—every single one of them—were long dead. 

He had never felt so alone. 

Every time he looked in the mirror, his fallen brothers’ faces looked back at him. So he avoided mirrors as much as possible. Growing a beard helped disguise the resemblance, but he still couldn’t stand to meet his own eyes in the reflection. When he decided at last to uncover his brothers’ fates, the ship’s Twi’lek mechanic Reveth had warned him that nothing good would come from digging into the past.

“It ended bad,” she said. “I don’t think it could have ended worse. Don’t do this to yourself.”

They had been lying in bed. It hadn’t taken them long to seek each other’s company after Kix joined the crew. They both needed comfort—needed to forget. Just for a moment. He was haunted by his memories, and she by her hopeless, despairing love for the ship’s mysterious captain. They found oblivion in each other’s beds, but nothing more.

“I have to know,” he said, no longer able to bear the uncertainty. 

And so, he took a temporary leave from the Meson Martinet crew and traveled to Hosnian Prime in search of someone who could give him the answers he needed. The New Republic Information Bureau had directed him to the library, explaining that the facility maintained an extensive staff of archivists. At least one of them would surely be able to help, the information droid had assured him. When Kix had arrived at the entrance to the library’s vast structure, he’d hesitated, remembering Reveth’s warning before he’d departed the Meson Martinet three days earlier.

He’d shaken off the voice in his head, squared his shoulders, and gone inside. The pretty young Devaronian receptionist at the front desk hadn’t been able to answer his questions, but she had located an archivist who could, leading him through the labyrinthine facility with an ease that spoke of many such trips. She had been friendly and outgoing, peppering him with questions that left him tongue-tied, so he responded with mostly monosyllables or silence. His reticence did not seem to affect her at all—quite the opposite, in fact, and by the time she had located the archivist, she had escalated into full-blown flirtation. It had been a relief when the office droid had requested him to wait outside the office until the archivist was free to speak with him.

When he’d been admitted, he braced himself for another verbal onslaught, but the archivist was very different from the bubbly receptionist. She was older, for one thing. Her elaborate hairdo was threaded with silver, and a few fine lines crinkled around the corners of her eyes, evidence of decades of laughter. Her greeting had been friendly while maintaining a professional reserve, and he was struck by her low, melodic voice. 

And Maker, she was beautiful. Kix had found himself staring as she introduced herself, taking in the graceful contours of her face. She was dressed in elegant, flowing robes, and he had felt a moment’s self-consciousness about the shabby plainness of his own garb. But she had given him a kind smile, and despite the chilly air of the library, her small hands had been warm when she had clasped his in greeting. He clenched his fist lightly when she released him, trying in vain to hold onto that warmth. 

Her office was a comfortable, cozy room that seemed more like a home than a workplace—at least in Kix’s opinion, accustomed as he was the the harsh sterility of Kamino, the endless gray of the Republic Star Destroyers, and the chaotic violence of the battlefield. There was a large desk, which he had expected, and an assortment of soft, mismatched armchairs set around the room, which he had not. The expansive view from the enormous window naturally dominated the space, but she had decorated the room to suit her own taste as well. Several paintings hung on the walls, a few sculptures were tastefully displayed through the room, and there was a vase of fresh flowers on the desk. When she offered him tea, he noticed a small kitchenette, and he wondered exactly how much time she spent in this room. 

As she settled into the chair next to him and began discussing his request, he felt his anxiety spike again. He wasn’t sure how he was going to explain his interest in the Clone Wars without giving away his identity. It was something of an open secret in the Outer Rim that Sidon Ithano traveled with a clone trooper—though there were those who insisted this was merely another rumor designed to fuel the Crimson Corsair’s intimidating reputation. In general, Kix kept to himself, and he was reluctant to disclose his origins to anyone, let alone a government representative. To his relief, she did not interrogate him about his motivations; instead, she directed her questions to how she could best assist his search. Her soft voice made him want to lean in closer when she spoke, and as they conversed, he felt his tension begin to disperse.

She had a way of drawing him into the conversation without pressuring him for personal details, and he deeply appreciated her tact. It was not easy for him to talk to people, whether they were strangers or friends. Not like it used to be. He was not the same man he’d been before the Separatists tortured him for information and shoved him into a cryo-cycle stasis pod. 

During the Clone Wars, he had been fun-loving and easygoing. He’d been popular with his fellow clones and with the civilians he encountered—in fact, the bubbly receptionist from the library would have been exactly the kind of partner he would have sought out during a night out at 79’s. And most importantly, he’d had a group of brothers who were his best friends. Hardcase; Tup; Jesse; and the Domino twins, Echo and Fives. They had fallen, one by one, replaced by shinies, until it was just him and Jesse left of the original group—and Captain Rex, of course. The best commanding officer a clone could have asked for, and the closest thing Kix had ever had to a father. 

Finding Echo alive had been a miracle, and it was entirely due to Rex’s instincts. But the man they had found on Skako Minor had been so different from the ARC trooper who’d been left for dead at the Citadel that he had felt there was no longer a place for him in the 501st, and so Kix had lost Echo a second time. That loss was what had pushed Kix to take up Fives’s investigation. What he had found had horrified him deeply. He had tried desperately to alert the Jedi to the sinister plot, but the Separatists had found him first.

And now, fifty-one years later, he was a stranger in a strange galaxy, begging an alluring historian to tell him how his brothers had died.

---

Chapter 2

Tagging: @blueink-bluesoul @secondaryrealm @spicy-clones

[drifting-pieces-blog-blog]

Professor Grant

Summary: You heard there was a new teacher for Egyptology and can’t wait to see what this class is about. Especially with all the hype coming from those that have already taken it. 

Does this count as reader insert? It’s second person point of view. I don’t know what I’m doing...  

Warning:  none. unless you count bad indulgent writing.

Word Count:  1069

You’re so excited to start your new class on ancient Egyptology. There’s a professor there that everyone raves about. 

Despite him not taking the usual approach to becoming a professor, (rumor has it he showed up one day and no one could get him to leave, which is only partly true), his class is quickly becoming known as THE class to take on the subject. 

He has written papers, articles, books, and debated all the old famous people that were once considered top tier. This man came out of nowhere and pointed to a blip on a map and said “Alexander The Great is here”. 

It also helps a bit that there are a whole bunch of wild rumors about him. Some believe he is a time traveler from Ancient Egypt. Others speculate that he’s some sort of unknown superhero. Some think he’s an alien or one of the Asgardians displaced on earth. It’s hard to see him as any of those things when you pull up his profile picture on the school website. 

Curls, glasses, a goofy smile, a tie with hieroglyphs all over it, and his background is a fish tank. 

First day of class he walks in with his coffee cup, his briefcase (which seems to only contain his lunch), and points to his name on the board. “Hello!” he waves. “My name is Steven, with a V. Steven Grant. I’m here to teach you about Egyptology!” 

There is the briefest of pauses while he sets his things down and collects himself. You have just enough time to wonder ‘who is this man?’ and then he goes off. 

The way he talks, his hands gesturing, his body moving, his pauses, his stares, his smiles… It’s mesmerizing. You can’t help but love the topic as much as he does. You can feel his passion and he makes it all so amazingly reachable for you. For anyone. He could be speaking in ancient Egyptian and you’d still hang on and understand every word. 

Now and then he seems to remember himself and will slow as if unsure if he should still be talking. A sign of someone used to being told to shut up or of an audience that doesn’t care. Once he checks in with the group and is sure everyone is following, he will give the biggest smile and fly off again, pointing to maps and drawing fun scribbles on the board. 

Someone that has seen his class before leans over and whispers to you, “He’s having a good day. Totally with it today.” 

You wonder what that means. 

He holds class twice a week and only a few hours each day. You overheard one student going on about a taxi cab she took home from a party a few nights ago and she swears up and down that it was Professor Grant in a disguise that drove. He acted like he didn’t recognize her. 

Every now and then Professor Grant comes to class and gives a different sort of lecture. His normally cheerful and wide gaze is drawn down into a cranky and unsure glare. He pulls lesson plans from the desk drawer like a substitute teacher and flips through them halfheartedly. “Yeah yeah. I’ve got this terrible headache or whatever. Today we’re supposed to talk about uh… Yeah I don’t know what that is. Read chapter twenty. I’m sure that’s a good one.” 

The next day when Professor Grant comes in, he stares at the notes on his desk. “We just started chapter twelve. Why would we jump to twenty? I wrote it clearly in my instructions what chapter we were on!” 

The girl next to you leans over. “He does this now and then. He once gave a lecture on why the old Egyptian gods were all assholes then dismissed class early. I honestly think those lessons are amazing.” 

“Nah, those are boring.” Someone else leaned in. “I’m here for the other types.” 

“Other types?” You wonder aloud. 

“Yeah. It’s hard to describe but sometimes he comes in and just exudes this whole…mysterious sexy aura.” They sighed and smiled wistfully. 

You wondered what the heck that could mean. You only have to wait a week to find out. He came in one day dressed in form fitting clothes, a popped collar, a tie, and a flat cap. He rushed in ten minutes late and sat down at his desk in a hurry. Looking around, he leaned back in his chair and glanced at his watch. 

“Lo siento. I lost track of time while taking care of some things.” He tapped a finger on the desk as if expecting something to happen. When nothing did, he sighed heavily. “Alright.” He pulled out some notes from the desk and glanced through them. “Okay, we’re on chapter fifteen. I hate this chapter. I always get stuck with this chapter. I think he does this on purpose. Today we are going to review the revival of the gods and reconstruction of the pantheon powers in the new kingdom.” He paused to mutter something under his breath in what sounded a bit like Spanish. “We’re going to start with the moon god Khonshu and how his cult was overturned in favor of Ra.” 

It was a lecture unlike any other. Filled with curses, graphic descriptions of violence, and a bizarre story about Ammit and Khonshu having a nasty break up. At the end of the lesson, he got up and looked like a man in need of a cigarette. “Alright, tomorrow is back to normal. Tonight…. I don’t know, write a page about what your favorite animal is.”

When Professor Grant had collected the papers and stared at the first paper on his desk, he had put his face in his hands and muttered to himself about how he promised not to force chapter fifteen on to someone next semester. 

Even with those odd days, Professor Grant was amazing. You have never been more interested in a subject and never done so well. After all, it was hard not to catch his passion. Even on days where he mumbled as if caught in a haze only to change tactics and deliver some off the wall content, you looked forward to each class. 

You hear he’ll be starting a third day soon where he is going to start teaching hieroglyphic translations. You can’t wait to take that class too. 

[halloiambored]

Random Snippet

CW: math… be warned.

“Ahhhhhhggggh.” BANG.

That… was strange, Villain thought, head cocking to one side. They thought the agency’s shining star lived alone?

“Mmmhmhmhm… fuck fuck fuck. What even is this?”

They did. Hero did live alone.

And no one else was here, Villain had made sure of it. So… ?

“Why?!”

At Hero’s particularly passionate exclamation, and a second loud thud, Villain rolled their eyes. Clearly, Hero was the crazy one between the two of them.

Granted — they were trespassing, but that was besides the point.

Not even a few seconds later, curiosity killed the cat, and Villain slammed open the door to Hero’s room.

“It’s nOT maT—”

“Hero—”

Their nemesis bolted upright, eyes wide and mouth agape. On reflex alone, Hero launched a pencil at Villain’s head.

Unfortunately, they missed, but watching Villain flinch away from the writing utensil was well worth it.

“The hell was that?!” Sighing, Hero slumped back into their normal relaxed pose - a glare already replacing the shock on their features.

“A pencil.”

“Well, duh.”

“Why are you in my house?”

Stepping closer to admire their surroundings, Villain ignored Hero’s comment entirely. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing that concerns you. Why are you in my house?! I just answered your question, it’s only fair—”

Huffing, Villain grinned. “When have I ever been fair?”

They continued advancing towards the desk on the far side of the room, forcing Hero to shy away from their current project. It did give them a much easier escape route, but well. What good is running if you have nowhere else to go?

“Hey! No. Why are you here, Villain?”

“I wanted to give you fair warning, is all. You have been especially difficult lately, and the way I see it, you have one of two optio— is this math?!”

“Uggh, no… well, technically yes, but no.”

Oh my.

“You were making all that noise over a math problem?”

“It’s not math!!”

“You’re a student?”

“Why do you care?”

Villain looked around the room again, this time paying much more attention to detail. Well, if the forest green banner was anything to go off of, Hero was a student. At the local college. Huh.

“You are—” it’s been a while since the criminal had smiled. Genuinely, smiled.

“Shut up.”

“I didn’t even—”

“You did.”

“So—”

“It’s due tomorrow.”

Villain was full on laughing now, doubled over with a hand on the desk behind them. How many times had Hero missed a deadline?

“Last month, when I had you all chained up and useless for, how long did it take you to get out? Two weeks?”

Scowling, Hero knew exactly what Villain was referring to.

“Yeah, thanks for that. It’s not like I could explain to my professors, ‘Hey, I’m that hero everyone sees on the news. Sorry for missing your test, I was kidnapped.’ No, they all think I’m incompetent.”

“They’re not wrong—”

“One of them almost fucking failed me.”

Oh my god, it was too much. Wiping tears from their eyes, and cursing their aching stomach, Villain fought to regain their composure.

“Damn, then you’re not going to like what I am about to say.”

“Nno - no no no no,” Hero swung up an arm to try and delay the inevitable.

“Hhhmph, yes, but don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt you, you’ll be fine. For the most part, at least.”

All at once, the humorous mood sank into something serious. Dangerous. Dear goodness, Hero did not like the sound of that.

It was easy to forget that Villain was… a villain. Even after the thinly veiled threat, it was hard to recognize the 22 year old idiot in their room as someone who tortures people (people like Hero) on the daily.

Damnit.

“Oh, don’t look so frightened, love. If you’re going to play hero, you have to deal with the consequences. So, which would you prefer? Will you come with me now, by your own free will?”

“Hell no—”

“Or will I have to drag you out of here myself?”

Mmmm. Such lovely options.

Eyes darting to the floor, Hero’s stomach dropped. This was bad. This was… Villain was in their house, for goodness sake.

All they could think to say was, “No.” Which was incredibly lame, but what else could they do about it? They just wanted to finish their assignment and go to bed. They wanted nothing to do with whatever… whatever this was.

With a great deal of effort, the crime fighter met Villain’s darkly amused gaze. “No?” they echoed, lips hung open in feigned offense.

“Please, I just—”

“My little Hero, you’ve gotten quite bold, so much so that I can’t let it continue unchecked. We both know that I will win this fight, and frankly, I see no reason why we have to do this the hard way.”

Yeah, the hard way was not ideal. Best to avoid any unnecessary pain while they still could.

Hero’s jaw clenched subconsciously, before relaxing along with their audible sigh. “Where are we going?”

[father-time-and-baby-new-year]

alphabet boy II

SYNOPSIS: college AU. Armin, your brilliant tutor, invites you over to his house for some studying. Naturally, you're nervous and he seems to be giving you a reason to be.

PAIRING: SCUMBAG!Tutor Armin x FEM!Reader

WARNINGS: half edited, noncon/dubcon, fingering, non-penetrative sexual content. gaslighting, manipulating,

A/N: really need the motivation to write again and I've been slacking on my multi-parters so here's a somewhat highly anticipated one. Armin fuckers, this is for you. non-Armin fuckers, I hope this converts you

WORD COUNT: 2.0k

II. I.

“You’re not paying attention.”

You feel his voice right by the shell of your ear, and the proximity nearly makes you reel back in surprise but you manage to catch yourself.

“S-sorry” You apologize, wishing you didn’t stutter.

The thing is you’re just really out of your element. This is the first time you’ve been to Armin’s house for personal tutoring, and it was hard to focus on the material when his presence was so distracting.

It wasn’t like you were fantasizing about him or anything [well…]-you always tried to banish those thoughts as soon as it came. But still, being alone with an attractive boy with a disarming charm was causing some jitters. You felt like a shy middle schooler, on edge and jittery.

The last tutoring session in the library when he [basically] called you stupid plagued your mind. The memory of him feeling up your thighs lived in your head rent-free.

“Let’s take a break.” He sighs. Your heart drops at the noise of disappointment but you suppose it’s what you deserve.

You push your laptop lightly aside on the table, the bleak light straining your eyes, and ask for the bathroom. You just wanted to freshen up and be alone for a few seconds. The bathroom is meticulously clean, something even you knew was unexpected for a boy. You looked at yourself through the spotless mirror, scrutinizing every flaw.

You sigh, fiddling with your dress collar. Why you had tried dressing pretty for a boy so out of your league, he may as well be in Mars--you didn’t know.

When you return, there is a tall glass of lemonade waiting for you.

“Thought you might be thirsty.”

It’s a simple gesture that makes you blush so you thank him earnestly. Like the gentleman he is, he assures you it’s no problem. Not wanting to prolong the awkward silence, you compliment his apartment, “This is a really nice place. So much light and space.”

You’re babbling but he engages you regardless, and you two are mindlessly discussing the benefits of living at off-campus housing over dorming. His words are pleasant but there’s a sinking feeling within you as you notice he’s bored. Or maybe distracted was a better word.

“So, do you have a boyfriend? Or anyone you’re seeing?”

You nearly choke at the question uttered through a buttery voice.

“Oh um, not really.”

“Not really?”

You made a mental note to answer in definitives. Armin seemed the type to snuff out anything he reasoned as half-truths.

“No. I uh, don’t have a boyfriend.” And then you clarified a pin-drop later, “And I’m not seeing anyone either.”

The blond hums a playful tune that’s vaguely nostalgic.

“Have you ever had a boyfriend?”

You don’t understand the point of this line of incessant questioning, and can’t calm your heart rate.

“I-um, I don’t-“

Taking one look at your serious face, eyes rimmed with worry and cheeks pink, he laughs. It’s a startling sound like bell chimes.

“Relax. I just wanted to know if you had any experience.”

The sentence flies out of your mouth before you can even ponder it: “What do you mean by experience?”

It’s not his fault if he can’t hide the feral grin that crosses his mouth right at that moment. You can’t discern his expression as you’re staring at anywhere but him, so you don’t notice the uncontained excitement that glimmers in cerulean eyes.

“Let’s move to the couch. You’ll be more comfortable there.”

You think about saying that you’re fine wherever you are and didn’t really feel like changing positions, but he’s already striding towards the couch. So you start packing up the materials, before a clear voice calls out to you, “It’s okay. You don’t have to bring all that. Just bring your flashcards.”

You hoped that wouldn’t mean he’d quiz you, but that’s exactly what he meant to do.

“Law of diminishing returns.”

“Wait! I know that one!” You brightly exclaimed, “ Uhh..it gives way to the catch-up effect which means poor countries tend to grow more rapidly and they’ll one day essentially catch up with wealthier economies.”

The blond ran his hand through his hair before sighing. You could feel your heart drop. You were sure you were right. Was your answer wrong enough to cause exasperation?

“Stick with the formal definition next time. I didn’t ask for the theory based on the law.”

You pouted, and Armin couldn’t help but relish in how eagerly you sought his approval, like a puppy performing tricks to appease their master.

“You should sit closer. Can you even see the word?”

You moved closer to him, knees knocking into each other. He looks down at the completed set.

“Well, you didn’t do as bad as I expected.” Ouch. But maybe he meant it as a compliment?

“But,” the corners of his mouth curled, “I’d say you’re still struggling.” Never mind.

“T-this is a new chapter though. I don’t think we’ve even gone over it in class.”

Blue eyes narrow, and you wonder if he’s going to give the well-meaning spiel about how staying ahead was the only way to keep up. That mantra may work for someone with high ambitions and an extremely good work ethic but you were no well-oiled machine. You had other classes too!

“Why are you so defensive?”

Your eyes widen in surprise at the question, spoken so softly and casually, you almost miss the disdained lilt.

“Oh uh-“

“Listen to me. I quizzed you so I’m able to assert your skill level. And your response to my assertion is that it’s something you haven’t gone over in class yet. Do those things relate to each other at all?”

Meekly, you shift your attention to the rug.

“Answer me.”

“N-no”, you squeaked.

“And what have I always told you? The only way to keep up is to-“

“Stay ahead.” You finished, “I’m sorry, I just-“

“Did I say you could interrupt me?”

You could feel the blood rushing to your ears, unsure when the atmosphere had shifted. Your heartbeat was beating rapidly and you could feel your body go warm.

He sighed, and placed a hand over over your folded ones, squeezing your palms.

“You know I’m just looking out for you right? It almost feels like you don’t care-“

“No!” You exclaim, “I-I do.” Heat pools into your cheeks once you realize your grave mistake, “I-I’m sorry for interrupting you.”

The blond smiles radiantly and it nearly melts away all of your worries…until he opens his mouth to deliver another damning remark.

“You know, with your looks…you don’t really even have to graduate. Maybe choose an easy major and then get some rich husband to take care of you.” There’s a distinct lack of humor in his tone as if he wholeheartedly believed every word he was saying.

Your eyebrows furrow in blatant confusion, and in the back of your mind, danger signs are flashing at the back of your head. Your thighs are growing warmer. Oh no, this could not be happening right now.

“That’s what most girls’ dreams are anyways.” He inspects his spotless nails, “You chose this class because Ackerman’s attractive right? That’s why his class has such a high drop rate…silly girls join, not understanding how harsh of a grader he is.”

You open your mouth to defend yourself but the next inflammatory remark he spews almost sends you to shock, “Though I bet, if you got on your knees for him, you’d be getting an A on those finals.” He laughs as if he was saying something particularly amusing, an undercurrent of spite coloring his words, “You wouldn’t even need me as your tutor.”

There are a million things on the tip of your tongue but no voice to speak them out. You want to ask him why he’s been so weirdly invasive, what his weird hang-up with professor Ackerman was, and of course, the casual sexism was really throwing you in a loop. Still, you have no doubt Armin could beat you to a bloody pulp several times over in a verbal lashing, and your mind was too fragile to deal with this.

You’ll sign up for a new tutor or better yet no tutor. You’ll get over your social anxiety and join a study group. You’ll go to all of Professor Ackerman’s office hours. Anything had to be better than this. You’re giving yourself this pep talk in your head but there’s no denying that your legs feel warm, and the self-improvement speech is withering away in your mind as it seeks to instead process how Armin fucking Arltert is touching you right now.

He pins you against the cushions, one hand locking both of your wrists. You’re shaking but your pupils are blown out wide.

He smirks, “There’s an excellent stress reliever for studying you know.”

You limp in his hold but the cocky attitude behind his words brings you back. You thrash under him, earning an annoyed growl from the blond.

“I’ve been so fucking patient with you, you know? Planning out your study guides, sharing my notes with you, proofreading homework, going over the mock exams—don’t you think I deserve a little compensation?”

“I-I’m sorry.”

He's right. He's right. Armin actually has done so much for you. Maybe it was too easy to take for granted because of how efficient he was, and how he acted like it was nothing. But right now, nothing really was everything.

He smiles. Yeah, this is who you were. Add just a little bit of pressure and you crumble. That flash of bravery from before was nothing but a petulant outburst from a child who didn’t know any better.

Armin coos, “Isn’t it a little embarrassing to be a virgin at your age?”

With unbridled precision, while he’s still holding your lower body down with the weight of his legs, he unbuckles his belt and ties it around your strained wrists. Red fills your face, and like always, you’re struggling to find the right words to respond. To say anything at all. Most of all, you can feel a wetness building at your core.

“I know the way you look at me, you know.” He kisses the dip of your neck, slender fingers splayed from under your shirt, “I know you’re into this.”

And because he is a scientist who must have evidence to back up his hypothesis, his hands find themselves under the waistband of your floral skirt that you foolishly wore, pushing the cure pastel underwear aside. You’re writhing in his grasp but maybe not as much as you should be, but it’s not your fault your movements are sluggish right?

“You have such a funny habit of not deleting your windows and keeping your bookmarks open.”

You freeze.

“This entire time I thought you were some prudish virgin even though you dress like a whore. Someone with who I had to be gentle. But all that fucking porn you read? Nasty. Is that why you need help in this class?” He punctuates slowly, "Because you're wasting your brain for something else?"

Immediately, you remember how you left your laptop on the table. You remember how many times he used your computer to double-check the notes, and you trustingly let him, forgetting that despite deleting your tabs, the hidden windows of steamy erotica were not yet erased out of their existence. Embarrassment violently paints your body.

He doesn’t wait or care for your response as he starts a vigorous assault on your clit with his slender finger, rubbing up and down in a vicious manner. The second finger prods at your entrance, feeling a tight cavern despite the amount of slick collected. Your eyes roll back in pleasure-is this what being with someone is like?

Stop. Get a hold of yourself. Why are you so fucking horny right now? It doesn’t matter what Armin said about you or how he called you out for the fiction you’ve read, because this is real life. But Christ, it’s Armin, the boy you’ve had a crush on since the moment he explained to you what a marginal abasement curve was. Stupidly handsome Armin with a gentle voice and too-blue oceanic eyes. Stupidly handsome Armin who coerced you into being under him.

You’re so fucking warm and tight, and Armin can’t wait to sink himself inside of you, can’t wait to humiliate you further. With nimble fingers he untied the ribbons of your dress like you were a Christmas present, groping your soft mounds and marking up your collarbone with teeth and tongue. Crystalline tears roll down the side of your face. You really shouldn’t be crying when you’re this wet.

“So fucking funny how you can’t look at me in the eye when we have a conversation but you read the filthiest fucking smut I’ve ever seen.”

taglist: @candy-hime

[happilychaengs]

Love Countdown - 10

you slung your backpack over your shoulder before making your way through the school gate. you've officially entered the seven circles of hell and you couldn't be more depressed.

as soon as you caught a glimpse of lisa, you immediately ducked your head and turned the other way. she was your generic jock. incredibly pretentious and obviously she had a victim to bully but sadly, it was you. you were that victim.

"hey loser!" you heard as there were a few snickers behind you from her and her friends. you sighed as you turned around and stood up straight. you watched as she strutted over, but one thing you could notice that she didn't was one of her shoelaces were untied.

making her way over to you, she accidentaly stepped on one of her laces and immediately tripped, landing flat on her face. her 'friends' looked at her with such distain, you wanted to laugh so badly at her but if you did, you knew you'd be quickly silenced with a fist to your face. you mumbled a quick 'excuse me' as you scurried past them and went inside your classroom building.

you swiftly made your way through the morning crowd as you made it into the only class you had for today. you took out your laptop, ready to start typing things down but when you saw a random man walk in to the class and stand in front of the class, you knew today was your day.

for the rest of the class period, you worked on your own thing, doodling and sketching in your sketchbook completely unaware of the time passing by. soon enough, you were leaving the school gates and making your way to the nearest café.

you decided to take the scenic route today, passing by the local park and admiring that things you once took granted for. you were truly happy today. even though happiness was something you thought you wouldn't feel during your years at hel- school, the joy of seeing your bully fall flat on her face and the absence of your professor today didn't fail to bring a smile on your face. you mean, what could be better than that? absolutely nothing. pure bliss is what you'd call it.

blinded by your small glimpse of happiness, you carelessly turned the corner of a building and bumped into someone, knocking the both of you over. as you fell over, you saw a cup of steaming hot coffee slip out of the person's hands and spill all over you.

you winced aloud as you quickly got up and looked down at your clothes. you shouldn't have worn white today. but the most worrying part of it all was how the liquid got into your bag. everything was in there. you immediately took your laptop out and tried to turn it on.

"no!" you exclaimed as you kept pressing the power button of your laptop with no avail. you noticed the girl you bumped into was standing as she dusted herself off and quickly made her way to you.

"are you okay?"

you gave her no response as she looked at you trying your hardest to try and turn your laptop on.

"this was so expensive!" you muttered under your breath as you closed it and gave up, "god damn it..."

she had never felt so bad in her life. she immediately tapped your shoulder and asked you, "would you let me buy you a new one?"

"what?" you glanced over at her, almost dropping dead from how she beautiful she looked, "uh... no... you don't have to."

"c'mon, i feel so bad! it's the least i could do!" the girl complained as she examined you and your items," i messed up your clothes, drenched your books, and broke your laptop!"

you wanted to decline the offer but... it was dark times. you saved up a lot of money to buy that laptop but now everything on it was also gone. you hated to agree with her but it really was the least she could do.

"... fine." you sighed, "how can i contact you?"

her eyes lit up as she pulled out her phone. strange, you thought. why would she be excited about losing money? "here!" she put out her phone in front of you. "put your number in and i'll call you!"

you put in your number, putting your name in as a contact and handing it back to her, making her glance over it. "alright... y/n! I'll see you around okay?"

holy shit. you loved the way your name sounded coming off her tongue. you almost didn't respond but you caught yourself as you quickly responded and packed your stuff.

she walked away not long after but not before waving you goodbye, "i'm nayeon by the way!"

you waved her goodbye before just talking to yourself. "nayeon huh? what a pretty name."

[sunjaesol]

you're just my type

chenford | drabble | post-canon | title: my type // saint motel

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////

"Sienna Lee," Lucy recited, scrolling on her phone. "Twenty-nine, works at a marketing company and is thinking of getting a PhD."

Tim snorted. "In marketing?"

She rolled her eyes. "Snob."

"Not my type, moving on."

Tim should've known this was a bad idea. Hell, he did know, he just had a little problem denying Lucy Chen the joy of making fun of him, because in turn, that meant he got to tease her as well. Their whole dynamic got muddled the second she turned P2 and he had no control on it anymore — hence, this predicament. After Rachel's departure and Tim's visible apprehension to date anyone new, Lucy took to her role as matchmaker again.

Granted, she did make a good gamble with Rachel. They had a great relationship, albeit short, so Lucy wasn't completely ignorant about who'd fit him best. That should be concerning, as that meant that whoever he'd like was someone that resembled Lucy, but again: it was hard to say no to her.

As Los Angeles was on its best behaviour today, they had time to peruse the 'candidates', as Lucy put it. Tim felt twenty and stupid again.

"You haven't even seen a picture," she countered.

"And I'm the snob?" he smirked.

"Fine," she relented. "Persephone Miller."

"Jesus."

"Yeah, the name's a mouthful, but she's the heiress of a multinational and throws these, like, amazing beach parties."

Tim shot her an incredulous look. "How do you know her?"

"I arrested a guy that mugged her," she grinned, triumphant. The expression did something to him. "So, I got invited to a party."

Keeping his smile in check, he shook his head instead. "Not for me. Don't like beach parties—"

"Lies!"

"—and I don't... what? Lies?"

Lucy fervently nodded. "You don't hate beach parties. Remember Nolan's Fourth of July party? BBQ, volleybal, running with Kojo..." She trailed off, shrugging. "You had fun then."

"That's not a party," he argued, trying to find the right term. "It was, you know, a gathering. Close friends and family. Not LA socialites that all hate each other."

Also, the only reason he had more fun than he normally would, was because Lucy had been his volley partner, Lucy ran with Kojo, Lucy helped make killer burger. It all lead back to her, really. A conclusion that had been hard to accept, but he knew exactly how he felt about her. And why exactly he didn't like any of her dozen options.

They weren't her.

Her lips tutted. "Fair. Okay, Olivia Cirillo. Greek, extremely beautiful, thirty-four, a comparative literature professor at USC." Her brows wiggled. "A total catch. And I know for a fact she's into blondes."

"Again," he pressed, perplexed. "How do you know all these women?"

"We were friends in college," she smiled. "She was a couple years ahead, obviously, but we had a great talk about Beckett at a frat party once."

Now he couldn't keep the smile off his face. A more 'Lucy'-sentence she couldn't have uttered. "Of course."

Then he sighed. Another friend of Chen? Did she have an entire harem of beautiful, intelligent friends that would sweep him off his feet for a couple of months before his focus would inevitably divert to Lucy again?

She frowned and pocketed her phone. "What's wrong?"

Looking out his window, he gathered his thoughts and said, "This was a bad idea. You aren't a matchmaker, Chen, you're a police officer. Focus on your job, please."

"I... yeah. Okay." Her tone seemed downtrodden. "Sorry. You're right. And your love life is none of my business."

"Damn straight," he mumbled.

"It's just... I want to see you happy, Tim." Her earnest words caused him to look at her anyway, quietly embarrassed for his own surprised reaction. Of course she wanted that; they were close friends. "And I don't want you to give up on love just because of what happened with Isabelle and Rachel..."

"What happened with Isabelle isn't exactly light, Chen," he grumbled.

"I know," she rushed. "I know that. Still. That shouldn't be the perogative to just become a... I don't know, a Love Grinch."

That got him to chuckle. "Love Grinch?"

"You know what I mean!"

"Yeah. But don't worry about it, Chen." His eyes flickered across her face. "I'll find my person. One day."

She held his gaze for a moment, pensive, and slowly nodded, before putting all her focus in the radio spurring alive with a new case on their hands. Matchmaking was over.

Which was good. Ironically, doing his job calmed Tim down. He knew he was good at it. He went through the motions, was able to rely on his instincts and judgement and the fact that Lucy always got his six. Getting caught in a bar brawl was far easier than discussing feelings.

"Why do you always do that?!" Lucy exclaimed afterwards, angered by his rash decision to jump in the chaos. He stayed in the passenger seat while she went to grab the first aid kit from the trunk. Her yelling reached him regardless. "Do you know how scary it is when you voluntarily jump into a fight with drunk people like that? I could—"

"You could what?"

"I could write you up for impulsive behaviour," she cut, taking him by surprise. "Which I won't do," she added, "but please, Bradford, stop doing it. Communicate with me before you plan on losing an eye and a leg."

"Just those two, huh?" he said, trying to alleviate the mood.

The trunk slammed shut and Lucy reappeared by his door, promptly dumping the kit on his lap and then sifting through it to find the right supplies. Biting his tongue, he holds back the comment that she was overreacting. A man wouldn't die over some cuts and bruises and a soon-visible shiner on his left eye. But he knew it'd be fruitless discourse. When Lucy decided to care, she cared.

"Not to bring it up again, but you need to be alive if you want to be in a relationship," she mumbled, disinfecting the cuts.

"They're not my type, Chen," he sighed. His eyes clung to her ministrations, feeling awfully young between her soft palms, and hazy with her perfume lingering in his nose.

"None of them? Not even Olivia?"

"I'm sure she's great, but no."

They stayed quiet after that. Finished, she put everything back in its rightful place and sat in the passenger's seat. Their shift was done by now. He found they frequently caught themselves in familiarised situations like this, where he hardly remembered the daily cases and rather their sprawling conversations, to the point where he couldn't remember if some memories were just his, or hers.

He repeatedly wondered if his admiration for Lucy had simply translated to love. But if so, when? When she got abducted? When their prank wars brought a goofy smile to his face? When she wore that dress at Wes and Angela's infamous wedding? He couldn't recall. Tim felt ripped off his axis by the gravitational Lucy Chen and there was nothing he could do about it.

"What about you?" he asked.

As it had been silent for a while, she didn't instantly react. "Huh?"

"Why're you not matchmaking yourself?" He eyed her from across the console, wary, and out of his depth when asking such questions.

Her brows raised. "Uh... because Emmett was an asshole and before that I got abducted by a psychopathic man, so."

"Fair."

"Maybe we should date someone with equal amount of baggage," Lucy joked, "so it balances it out."

Tim puffed, amused. "You think that would work?"

"I don't know. Maybe." Her tone had a hopeful tinge to it, making his heart warm and twist up like baby Jackson's Play-Doh, though unsure if the implied was, well, implied.

"Maybe," he hummed.

"Let's make a deal!" She suddenly perked up and twisted in her seat. "If by the time I'm forty and you're forty-nine, we're both still single—"

"—Chen—"

"—we'll live together. Like a cool, hipster, co-habitation situation." Her signature smile flashed in the fading sunlight bleeding through the car windows. "What do you say?"

"I'm saying you're insane."

"C'mon, Tim!" she groaned, head lolling back. "Just go with it!"

Rolling his eyes, he let a small grin bloom on his cheeks and then nodded. What the hell, he thought, by then Lucy would've found her match and the deal would be off. How could she not? She was Lucy.

"Alright," he drawled, grabbing her hand from across the console to firmly shake it. "You got yourself a deal."

Their hands stayed together a beat longer than necessary, fingers slowly gliding apart 'til they awkwardly rested back in their respective spaces. Their faces turned shyer. An odd deal to make, but he once more couldn't refuse her.

"This deal doesn't leave the car, Chen."

"You got it, Bradford."

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

if carlisle and dumbledore were put in each other's respective stories / dilemmas , how do you think they would react? how would a carlisle cullen have dealt with voldemort/grindelwald? and how dumbledore would have dealt with vampirism, etc? i almost view the two of them as a sort of foil to each other, not yet able to articulate why or how though

I mean, they'd live completely different lives, because they're completely different characters. It's very unlikely they'd end up in the same situations.

But alright.

Carlisle is Dumbledore

Carlisle's born in a working class family that quickly begins to fall apart. His father's sent to prison, his mother dies, his sister has a chronic illness that will never disappear, and it's just him and his brother left with very little chance of a future between them.

Handsome Gellert Grindelwald moves in next store with grand, new, ideas concerning the muggles.

Now, this particular Carlisle won't be Christian, he's a pureblood wizard and we can pretty safely assume that the Dumbledores were no more religious than any other wizarding family is.

It's a little up in the air whether Carlisle would be seduced by Gellert or not. Gellert is learned, foreign, and has all these radical, new, theories that weren't very prevalent at the time (well, anti muggleborn sentiment was, the facism was new). On the other hand though, Carlisle is also a man who once radically changed his own beliefs to something that went against nearly every edict of his previous religion. This is not a guy who takes things for granted and is not afraid to both confront himself and the true nature of the world he lives in.

And he has a deep respect for human life that, had it been any lesser, would have undoubtedly led to him eating humans as a vampire.

So, I'm going to say no, or if he does, it lasts up until Gellert says, "We should totally make the muggles our slaves." The muggles may have irreparably damaged Carlisle's sister, they may be hated by society, but they are free thinking beings who should be enslaved to no one. Carlsile raises his pacifism flag.

As a result, Gellert probably thinks he's a tool. Hot, of course, and intelligent, but a useless tool. Without somebody to bounce ideas off of/confirm his radicalization, Gellert has little to no interest in Carlisle or any of the Dumbledores. Gellert spends his time in Godric's Hollow then goes elsewhere, Ariana lives, at least for now, unclear how long her lifespan was going to be otherwise, Carlisle does not have the Gellert incident, and he and Abeforth remain on good terms.

Carlisle graduates Hogwarts and either is a) bullied into taking Flamel's apprenticeship opportunity by Abeforth who screams "DUDE, GET YOURSELF A FUTURE or b) immediately sets about trying to find a relatively high paying job so he can support the family. In the case of B, I imagine he goes to work for the goblins who seem to hire those straight out of Hogwarts with good enough grades. In the case of A, well, he goes to study alchemy.

Knowing Carlisle, he does a bastardization of both. He studies alchemy under Flamel and then works nights as a bartender in Paris or something to that effect. When he finishes, what career he does then is out in the air.

Given that, as a vampire, he had all the choices in the world open to him in terms of education (and tried many different things) before eventually settling on and sticking with human medicine despite the dangers, I think that's telling. Carlisle probably tries to get a job in something healing related.

However, that strays more into the "What if Carlisle was in the wizarding world" vs. "What if Carlisle was Dumbledore" so we'll say that the idea of teaching appeals to him and he returns to Hogwarts for the Transfiguration position.

This all goes well except then there's a first world war on, the muggle world goes completely insane, and no one understands why Carlisle's so upset.

And now we enter the world where Carlisle starts really making choices in Dumbledore's shoes.

First, Tom Riddle. Carlisle, I imagine, makes 100,000 times of a better impression than Dumbledore on the young Tom. He does not, for one, light his wardrobe on fire and threaten him. Carlisle might think this kid is weird, but he lives in poverty and an orphanage, much of his behavior can be explained from that. I imagine Carlisle becomes determined to take Tom under his wing.

I imagine at first Tom thinks this is excellent, LOOK HOW MUCH HE'S MANIPULATING THIS ADULT! And then he realizes that, no, Carlisle is perfectly aware he's a little shit. He just likes talking to Tom after classes about how to fit in with pureblood society/weird esoteric muggle philosophy.

Trouble is, Carlisle is so damn likeable (see his friends all over the world), that Tom can't help but like him. When the Blitz begins, and Carlisle undoubtedly offers Tom (and any other muggleborn who was not moved to the country) a place to stay, that seals the deal, the wizarding world might suck but Carlisle's a pretty cool guy.

Of course, Tom still thinks the government should be reformed or overthrown, but he and Carlisle actually sit down to talk about things like communism and facism (Carlisle's not a fan though the modern, muggle, form of democracy not practiced in the wizarding world is a weird concept to him).

My point being, it's unlikely this Tom Riddle becomes Voldemort or even really aspires to become him. You want more on that topic, check out these posts.

Grindelwald meanwhile, becomes a bigger and bigger deal, and things start looking... bad. However, it's not immediately obvious that Carlisle's the one who should do something about it. He's not a duelist, he's a professor, and his job is to teach the children. He may have been alright in school, but that was decades ago now. More, unlike Albus, he feels no personal responsibility, he knew Gellert, briefly, yes, but they had no real connection. Gellert spoke about insane things and Carlisle said, "Mm, don't like". Add to that that Carlisle's a pacifist, he's going to insist that someone trained for the position do the job.

Given canon, this means that Grindelwald likely invades and takes over wizarding England and, with a strong enough foothold, enacts his "enslave the muggles" plan. Which very well might result in a nuclear holocaust as Grindelwald was likely not keeping up with muggle technology and the muggle world war.

The muggle world collapses, which in turn causes society collapse, and the world may or may not be a nuclear wasteland that Tom and Carlisle get to wander around.

If Carlisle by some divine intervention has a prophetic dream of "YOU MUST DEFEAT GRINDELWALD OR DOOM DOOM DOOM" then he goes and tries to defeat Grindelwald. Considering Grindelwald has the elder wand, he probably needs Deus ex Phoenix to win, but if it worked for Dumbledore it might work for Carlisle.

Well. No one saw that coming.

Carlisle's an overnight sensation and a national hero, the hero of Western Europe even. He's suddenly being presented medals, honors, seats of power, and Carlisle desperately tries to refuse, feeling very squeamish that he's being given these things because he took it upon himself to murder another human being (yes, even a war lord).

Tom finds this funny and Abeforth is ureservedly proud and tells everybody.

All Carlisle wanted to do was teach children and now he has to reside over trials in the Wizengamot. This is terrible.

As for what happens to the wizarding world from there, well, inertia probably carries it along for a good while. However, antimuggleborn sentiment is still on the rise an even without Voldemort I imagine there's quite a bit of unrest.

I imagine Carlisle, not wanting in any way to be a political figure, is not nearly as outspoken as Dumbledore on anything. He just wants to be headmaster, guys, leave him alone.

Tom may or may not go into politics and do it for him. But he probably ends up teaching too and just laughs as the country collapses.

Harry Potter is an ordinary student who has no prophecy surrounding him. Carlisle did not recruit children to join an illegal resistance movement nor does he have a plethora of spies and moles in the ministry.

Harry Potter canon does not happen.

Dumbledore is Carlisle

Well, Dumbledore undoubtedly also burned witches and very much believed in their existence. An irony there. He may chase the vampire, probably isn't first in the mob, in which case he remains human or dies.

If he does survive being bitten, I imagine it pains him for a while, but I don't see Albus having the same willpower as Carlisle. Or at least, not as much, Albus probably ends up eating people. He at first probably tries to be picky and eats those who harm society in some way (pick your poison for what that means) and then over time becomes less picky.

They're just humans, after all.

Albus probably isn't invited to stay in Volterra, he's not all that interesting. He doesn't become a human doctor, he's just your ordinary vampire. He might hang around libraries as much as he can but that's about as far as that extends.

He probably turns a Gellert equivalent at some point as a mate and they have a grand time together.

Edward is never turned nor the rest of the Cullens and Bella dies in a parking lot.

[froggie-recs-fics]

Fic Roundup (up to 9/26/21)

I'm gonna start collecting fics I've read recently to recommend them, because making trope lists takes too long and many fics fall by the wayside. Let me know if you like this new format!

The fandoms in this list are as follows: Marvel (SamBucky, HTP, SpideyPool, WinterHawk, WinterIron, Stony, Stucky, SpiderShield), DCU (Bane/Blake), Inception (Arthur/Eames), Teen Wolf (Sterek).

A * signifies a particular favorite (though I love all these fics)

Marvel

Sam/Bucky

double back by flowermasters (E, 12K, Post-Endgame, Time Loop, Time Travel)

Sam gets stuck in a time loop. In 1943.

Things could be worse, but they could certainly be better.

Companion piece here: quick time

I'll explain everything to the geese by napricot (Post-Endgame, E, 50K, Sam can talk to birds)

Bucky is so competent that it hurts my feelings is not a rational complaint to have about a person, and yet, after a year of being Captain America and partnering up with Bucky for the new and improved, post-Blip Avengers, that’s kinda how Sam’s feeling.

It’s not great. It maybe leads to Sam making some rash, ill-advised decisions like claiming he has a previously undisclosed superpower, and then getting caught in a web of lies when he ends up actually developing that surprisingly inconvenient superpower. Talking to birds had seemed like a harmless superpower, but it turns out that birds have a lot of opinions, and they don’t hesitate to tell Sam about them, especially when it comes to his supposedly subpar courting skills. Which is ridiculous, because Sam isn’t courting Bucky. Right?

Rumlow/Bucky

**blueprints for a better world series by itallstartedwithdefenestration @astralhux (CATWS, Post-CATWS, Noncon, E, 115K, Dark Main Character)

When Pierce discovers the asset is no longer capable of getting himself hard during recreational use, he tells Rumlow to figure out what the problem is, and to fix it. The solution turns out to be more complicated than anyone expected.

I can't recommend this series enough

Peter/Wade

*Dead Men Walking series by doctorestranged @lazystrawberrymilkshakes (E, 235K, Identity Porn, Slow Burn)

When a series of murders take place, Peter Parker goes undercover in Sister Margaret’s to get intel on Tony Stark’s prime suspect: Deadpool. Peter goes in hoping to get enough information so that Spider-Man can save the day, but like everything in Peter’s life, it becomes a bit more complicated than that and it soon becomes apparent that he might not be the best fit for the job.

All About Chemistry by TwiceBakedPotato @sedatedkoala (No Powers AU, M, CNTW, 74K, Teacher-Student Relationship, Slow Build)

After serving his 20 years in the Marine Corps, Wade Wilson is cashing in his GI Bill and going back to college. He feels like the old man on campus, but that doesn't matter. He likes his classes. He likes learning. And he especially likes his Chemistry professor with the messy brown hair.

Clint/Bucky

Making Me A Habit by Kangofu_CB @kangofu-cb (No Powers AU, T, 20K, Pet Store, Slow Burn, Pining, Misunderstandings)

Bucky is a disabled vet struggling with reintegrating into civilian life. He has a routine and a rhythm, and he doesn't like to let anything - big or small - disrupt it. That all changes the day Bucky finds himself inside CATastrophe, the local pet rescue, recovering from a panic attack in the back room of the shop.

He’s used to walking by the place, not visiting, but the next thing Bucky knows, he’s hanging signs and being used as a climbing tree for a bunch of freshly-acquired kittens. And he just...keeps going back. First for the kittens, then for the disaster shop owner who rescues actual kittens from actual trees and teaches archery as a side-gig, and eventually because he’s hopelessly in love.

(Clint was in love before Bucky ever walked in the door.)

*Nameless by AvaKelly (Post-CATWS, M, 101K, Time Travel, Time Loop, Slow Burn)

A gun is pointed at him before he can even move from his position, the Soldier's metal arm steady in its aim. Clint sighs.

"Nemo," Clint says. "It's tattooed on your wrist, right here," he lifts his right hand and taps his left index finger where his palm ends.

The Soldier's eyes widen. "How do you know this?"

"I put it there."

Glitter, G-Strings and Other Mission Hazards by flawedamythyst @flawedamythyst (T, 16K, Undercover, Stripper Clint)

“Which is why you need me to shake my booty for cash,” said Clint.

“Precisely,” said Coulson. “You’re the only agent we have who wouldn’t need additional training in the skills of an exotic dancer to take on the mission, and we want to get someone in there as soon as possible.”

Clint nodded, shutting the file. “Okay, awesome. I’ll dig out my sequined g-string.”

“You’ll have full access to requisition any costumes you might need,” said Coulson.

A mission requires Bucky to be Clint's back-up as he goes undercover as a stripper, which gets more difficult with every new costume he comes out in.

Paternal Error by EVVS @skylarkevanson (Post-CATWS, T, 33K, Kid Fic, Established Relationship)

Bucky has never once thought of being a parent. Not since the Winter Solider happened.

Until he falls in love with Clint Barton. And that idiot just keeps collecting children for his flock.

Now Bucky has to pretend like he's good at parenting.

Bucky/Tony

Forms of Love by bear_bell (Post-CACW, E, 33K, Split Personalities)

Months after the Avengers' dispute in Germany, the team returns to the US and moves back into the tower. As always, everyone pretends that nothing happened. Tony is just fine with this. He's used to pretending, and he'll be damned if he lets any of them see him flinch.

Tony's the bad guy, after all. He's used to it. He's fine with it. He's good at it.

Only now, there's something far worse loitering around the tower - The Winter Soldier. No one notices the guy at first, but when they do, Tony figures that he should have the soldier's back.

Birds of a feather should flock together, and the bad guys should start a book club.

Steve/Tony

While You Were Sleeping by betheflame @betheflame (No Powers AU, M, 65K, While You Were Sleeping AU)

It's been years since Steve Grant Rogers Drysdale has spoken to his twin, Ransom. So it was quite a shock when he was summoned to a hospital and found out that Ransom was in a coma.

Even more shocking? That Ransom is engaged. To Tony Stark.

Steve/Bucky

The Road Goes Ever On And On by PipGraham (Omegaverse AU, M, Noncon, Graphic Violence, 20K, Road Trip, Pre-Serum Steve, Past Domestic Violence)

When Brock's continued domestic abuse puts not only Steve's life in danger, but also that of his unborn pup, he flees into the night with just a small backpack of clothes and almost no money to his name.

Steve quickly runs into trouble as he tries to embark on a 3-day cross-country bus journey back home to New York City.

He meets a kind veteran when he most needs a helping hand.

Just Words by LadyRazzle (crimegimp) @ladyrazzle (Pre-CATFA, Soulmate AU, T, 2K, Fluff)

Inspired by that now legendary post: "soulmate AU where you wake up on your 18th birthday with the first words your soulmate will say to you tattooed on your body so you’ll know them when you meet them." Well what if they appear the moment you turn 18, rather than just the day? And what if by the time you turn 18, you'd already fallen in love?

Bucky wasn’t eager to discover what the words said. He already knew what he wanted them to say. He always had.

Peter/Steve

Forgetting It's There by spinstitcher (stygian) (NR, 8K, Crack, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Identity Porn)

“You’re Captain America,” he blurts out.

“What?” says Captain America, looking a little wide-eyed. He casts a nervous glance at the girl at the counter – he has nothing to worry about there, she’s rocking out to her iPod and could care less what they’re talking about – and says, “No, uh, Steve, it’s just, I’m Steve.”

“Right,” says Peter, and then because his brain-to-mouth filter had apparently been completely destroyed in the fight on Oscorp Tower: “Hey, your butt really is as tight as it looks on TV.”

DCU

Bane/Blake

7 Deadly Ass(as)sins by teacuphuman @teacuphuman09 (AU, E, 23K, BDSM)

Bane and Barsad own a sex shop and John needs a job.

Straws by Menirva (Bane/Blake/Barsad, AU, E, 38K, BDSM)

John works in a smoothie shop.

He has a knack, a second sense if you will, for being able to look at a person and know what they're going to order. It's not the most spectacular gift in the world but he likes being able to figure people out and he's never wrong.

Except for this scruffy asshole who is clearly just ordering the wrong thing to fuck with him.

How is he even finishing an extra-large?

Inception

Aurthur/Eames

Rough Trade by Whisky (whiskyrunner) @whiskyrunner (AU, E, 23K, Internalized Homophobia)

Arthur is an investment banker. He is professional and efficient. He's a halfway decent cook. He's totally independent and has been since the age of eighteen. Maybe he's tired all the time because he works about ninety hours a week which is twice what normal people do, but he's rich and he's competent at his job. He's almost thirty, and already a success.

And there are some things Arthur is not. For instance: Arthur is not gay.

Lucky by earlgreytea68 @earlgreytea68 (M, 37K, Kid fic)

Arthur finds a baby.

Teen Wolf

Stiles/Derek

Cut to the Bone by standinginanicedress (Omegaverse AU, E, 112K, Secret Relationship, Enemies to Lovers kinda)

“Not that it’s any of your god damn business, but my name is Stiles. Do you need something?”

The alpha grins. All teeth, shiny white, straight as an arrow. He’s got this sculpted perfection to him that Stiles is sure has worked on all the omegas he’s ever encountered before, but Stiles stands his ground and narrows his eyes. “A date.”

Stiles looks him up and down, slowly, from the black shoes on his feet, to his uniform khakis and blazer littered with pins, to his face. He frowns, makes a face, and says, “pass.”

Cornerstone by Vendelin (Human AU, E, 83K, Marine Derek, Blind Stiles, Friends to Lovers)

Suffering from PTSD, ex-Marine Derek Hale moves back to Beacon Hills to open a bookshop and find a calmer life. That’s where he meets Stiles, completely by accident. Stiles is talkative, charming and curious. Somehow, despite the fact that he’s blind, he’s able to read Derek like no one else.

Stand Fast in Your Enchantments by DevilDoll, Rahciach (AU, Graphic Violence, E, 76K, Captivity, Feral Derek)

"Stiles knew damn well what a pissed-off wolf sounded like, and every hair on the back of his neck was telling him that somewhere in this room was a very pissed-off werewolf." An AU in which Derek is feral, Stiles is magical, and they eat a lot of fast food.

The Payoff Pitch by Leslie_Knope (Sports AU, E, 83K, Coming Out, Friends to Lovers)

Derek is on the cusp of his second season with the LA Dodgers, and as the reigning runner-up Rookie of the Year, the pressure’s on him to become the team’s star pitcher and lead them to the playoffs for the first time in five years. He’s trying to deal with the burden of expectations and really has zero desire to spend any extra time or energy on anything that isn’t baseball.

But then he meets Stiles.