#but don't ask how long it took me to edit this graphic lol

[mumms-the-word]

Lady von Valancius’s Notes to Herself

Tempt not the interrogator, Spark not his jealous rage, Light not the match of his desire, Or coolly fan the flames. Bring not ‘fore him a savage feast Bereft of all but flesh, Guide not your hands to brush his skin, And lead him to the edge. Speak not to him of fantasies, Remark not on his blush, For his control is naught but glass And shatters at a touch. But should you choose to follow through, These warnings cast aside, Then afterwards remain with him, In gentle arms abide.

[rosesloveletters]

rainy day.

Pairing: 1971 Willy Wonka x Reader

Word Count: 1,758

Warnings: depictions of depression, self-medication, sleeping aids, unhealthy relationship dynamics, mentions of suicidal tendencies.

Summary: Amid their daily struggles with sadness and depression, Wonka offers a piece of himself in the form of a small vial, both as a love letter to them and a startlingly worrying testament to how far things have gone and how much of himself he's given up.

Author's Note: Happy New Year! This may be my first fic of 2025, but it was actually my last completed fic of 2024. I've been saving it for a rainy day (lol) and decided to post it today for you all to enjoy. This fic is very different from anything I've ever written—I don't tend to touch on topics like this, but I was going through a rather rough time when I wrote this one and my mind was much more raw than normal. That being said, this is not based in reality, it was written simply as a coping mechanism through fiction and I am delighted to divulge that I am doing much, much better since this was written. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy!

Edited.

divider created by @/saradika-graphics on Tumblr.

Chaos roiled within my heart like storm clouds rolling across a clear blue sky—the air stilled, my heart calmed, the storm passed, at the mere sight of him.

I had been struggling to find a way to cope, to carry on despite the thunder, the beating of the rain and the lightning spidering across my soul like cracks in glass threatening to break me. 

If this was what it felt like to shatter, there must have been pieces missing long before I noticed; I hadn’t been whole in years.  

I would have done anything to be the version of myself that he deserved. 

He deserved sunshine; I was a rainy day. 

I had lost track of the number of times he had sworn he loved me despite my imperfections, my glaring flaws and faults, even though I knew he did not see me as I saw myself.

The blemishes, chips in otherwise smooth wood, chinks in my armor, were what made me unique…were what made me his. 

It was difficult to hear him over the sound of my sadness, the thunder that crashed within me, but when he gently held my hand within his larger one, thumb stroking my tender inner wrist, I could feel his presence and that did more for me than any words ever would. 

In those desperate moments under cover of darkness and our duvet that shielded us from the open chill in the air, when he swore he was never going to leave me and I believed him, even if I wouldn’t say it. 

When the sky turned black and I had cried all the tears my body could produce, then the numbness radiated outward, down to my fingertips and my toes and I could hardly breathe because of how heavily my chest ached…he stayed. 

I appreciated each rainstorm more than I ever did before because now I knew how good it felt to let it all go and how thankful I was to feel the sun on my face again, even if the warmth was not my own. 

When there were clear skies again, and I knew there would be, in whatever direction the winds had blown me, I would never forget that he was the one who braved the storm with me. 

Even though I believed he deserved more than I could ever have to give, I kept pouring more of me into us because no matter how the storm raged, he remained under the deluge, exposed and vulnerable, soaked to the core and shiveringly saturated in me. 

“I have something for you to try…it may help.”

Wonka’s gentle voice, dulcet maple mixed with the grit of sugar between one’s teeth, roused you from your thoughts.

Cupped in his hand was a small vial filled with a dull, rainwater blue liquid; you were mesmerized. 

Your gaze lingered on the concoction, most likely some sort of potion he had mixed, and you opened your mouth to ask after it, how long before it took effect after ingested, but what truly surprised you was how easily you considered taking something he offered. 

You trusted him and knew he would never knowingly harm you. 

It was a turning point, a crack that had sprung a leak suddenly turning into a burst in the damn, and it should have caught your attention, but you were feeling worryingly reckless when it came to your safety, or at the very least, passive and apathetic. 

You did not entertain fatal ideations, however, should tragedy befall you, heaven forbid your mortality catch up with you prematurely, it did not frighten you as much as it should have.

It frightened Wonka enough for both of you. 

The two of you had begun the personal healing journey of finding you a therapist, or at the very least, someone you could talk to about how you were feeling, but the solution evaded you and so, he chose something he might normally not. 

Self-medication was never the answer, but as someone who seamlessly achieved the impossible, it frustrated him that he could not cure you. 

“What is it?” you asked as you sat up on the bed, the thick duvet pooling in your lap as you adjusted your position and inquired about the mixture he proffered. 

“Just a sleeping aid,” he explained vaguely, “nothing dangerous. You know that I would never-”

He never broke, never lost his composure, but this time he had to stop himself, his words trailing off as his throat constricted with unshed tears, unexpressed emotion, because if he fell apart then who would look after you?

You were deeply affected by the unhealthy aspects of your relationship; how had it come to this?

“I know you wouldn’t,” you were swift in your reassurance, wanting to reach out and hold him, knowing that feeling his arms around you wouldn’t fix anything but would make it all a hell of a lot easier to manage, “I trust you.”

He adored that phrase more than an ‘I love you’.

It meant more to hear that you trusted him than it did to know you loved him because it was easy to fall in love, but to trust was to make yourself vulnerable, to dig your fingers into the wound and to pull it apart for the other person to either rub salt into or bandage and treat like it was their own blood spilling through their fingers. 

His cerulean gaze softened, tearful ripples becoming calm waters once again as your tranquil words washed over his sandy shores, “And I would never betray such an honor.”

You reached out and timidly grasped the vial, palm warmed from the transfer of heat from his own, into the glass and then to you, secondhanded yet just as much of a relief as though it had come in the form of an embrace. 

“You know that I do not believe in using my ability for such purposes, but if I can bring you a small amount of relief before we can get to the root of the issue and have it resolved, then I…” he had to steel himself, inhale a shuddering, stabilizing breath before pressing on, “…I would never forgive myself if I denied you that reprieve when I had the power to give you one.”

You gazed lovingly at the vial like it were a precious stone, a priceless piece of jewelry or any other gift a man might bestow upon his lady love, but this was a disappointing thing, a betrayal of his morals, a breach of contract of sorts, a code of conduct he never should have been forced to break…

“I can’t take this.”

You held it out to him, pressing the glass vial back into the palm of his hand. 

“You have no idea how much I appreciate you trying to help me, no matter the cost…” you explained, “but I cannot let you betray yourself for me, that I will not do.”

He opened his mouth to argue, but you put up a hand to silence him and he went quiet as you proceeded, “I’m sorry, Willy. I know that relationships are all about compromise, give and take…sometimes you will have to pour from your cup to refill mine, even if that means accepting less fulfillment and I will sometimes have to do the same for you. Being in love means…imposing on each other from time to time, taking up space in each other’s lives, but to take something like this from you…asking you to abandon your principles this way…I can’t do it.”

He wanted to protest, but his eyes were filled with relief. 

He had never used his natural talent for creation to self-medicate, though on the loneliest of nights he knew long before you had come into his life, there were times of great weakness when he almost gave in to temptation. 

Nights when he was awake past a comfortable hour, eyes bloodshot and mind weary with exhaustion, yet it was never enough for sleep to come. 

On nights such as those, the temptation clawed at him, as well as the shame and the guilt that came with it. 

He never yielded, never gave in to his worst desires, yet he had caved when it came to you.

For you, he would have abandoned himself and everything that had made him who he was.

That type of love was dangerous, that much he knew, but there was no stopping it. 

He was fortunate that you were not with him for any personal gain or to take advantage of him or how much he would do for you. 

You loved him because he stayed. 

You loved him because of him. 

“I appreciate that, my dear,” his response was akin to a timid child as he glanced down at the vial his hands were now fidgeting with, “we’ll find a way through this. I know it is not my responsibility to make you happy, but that doesn’t mean I’m not here to support you, to fight alongside you, to make you laugh…to help in any way that I can. You’ve been so strong for so long, you’ve fought this battle for longer than anyone should have to, and it might take time, but I promise you, darling, the light will shine for you again.”

Perhaps it was because the words had come from him, spoken in a tone like a warm batch of cookies, but they resonated within you. 

It was healing just to be in his presence. 

The clouds were beginning to dissipate, the skies clearing, the sun beginning to shine again and you felt your heart beating with renewed resolve to try for him. 

The least you could do was try to better yourself, to find help, to lean on him for support, to not hide, to show him who you were, cloudy days and all, because if there was one thing he should know, it was that if he was going to be with you, the rain would come, and even though the sun always returned, water could find its way anywhere. 

You took him by the hand and he barely managed to set the small vial onto the nightstand before he was pulled into bed with you, letting himself get tangled up in you and the sheets, nose buried into your soft hair and arms wrapped tightly around your midsection in submission to your desires and needs. 

You might not have ever let him medicate you, but this, you would never say no to.

[robinsnest2111]

Here's the promised Def Leppard/Mötley Crüe concert experience post <3

Under a read more because I don't want to hit any of you with this giant wall of text, videos and photos without any way to skip past lol

I arrived at the venue with time to spare, saw many people in just black bandshirts (for comfort which I totally get. Not everyone's as extra as me who dresses up like he's Mick Mars' stunt double in the 80s lol)

I sadly had to throw away my umbrella. It wasn't allowed inside the pit. I get it, hazard and whatnot. The 4€ fee to have someone look after it and only a half hour window to get it back after the concert ended seemed not worth it for a cheap umbrella so buying a new one on monday it is.

I got myself a shirt as soon as I got in. The choices were not great, gotta admit. Mötley Crüe seem to be going for some japanese-esque Samurai-inspired graphic for their new era (felt like an Iron Maiden copy-ish thing to me, not my thing)

The rest of the black shirts were meh, either too plain or prominently featuring John 5. The only shirt with Mick on it was a pale pink and was 5 bucks more expensive than everything else. All shirts and tank tops, both for Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard, were 45 bucks each (rip my June budget fr), bandanas were 25 bucks, basecaps and limited edition signed prints 35 bucks, etc. The Mötley keychains were all sold out by the end of the night, else I would've gotten one of those. My Iron Maiden keychain from 2018 is looking a bit worn and I would've loved to have a new one but oh well. I can still try and DIY one myself. I wanna get more into bleach-painting and patch making and embroidery anyway so it'd be great practice!

I had a t-shirt and tank top by the end of the night lol

---

After the initial shirt purchase I still had ample time for a toilet break (and a sip of free sink water) after almost 2 hours of travel time and found a nice space in the crowd somewhere in the middle distance from where I could see most of the action on stage.

A local rock radio station did the pre-gig music entertainment. I also met 2 nice dudes who are in a band called Nathanael and play Victorian folk metal! They handed me their business card and I will definitely check them out as soon as I can, maybe even go to one of their gigs soon?

Between the rock radio station signing off and the start of the actual gigs they played some other songs to keep the crowd entertained, Fox On The Run by The Sweet among others! A personal mini highlight 🦊💕

Mötley Crüe was up first and they took their sweet time to actually get on stage.

There was a pretty long classical music piece playing before their proper intro sequence.

The official start was supposed to be around 6.30 pm but they got on stage at sometime around 7.30pm? My inner punctuality freak was not amused but it is what it is lol

I loved the song selection, knew almost all of them but had trouble singing along for reasons other than my Swiss cheese brain. Not sure if it was intentional or just very unluckily adjusted speakers but most of what I heard of the songs was the droning of the subwoofers. Most of Vince's vocals and a bit of Nikki's bass, John's guitar and Tommy's drums were drowned out by the reverb of the sound system and the overwhelming boom of the speakers. Kinda disappointing. It also rendered the audio of most of the videos I filmed during their set useless. But ah well.

As this was my first time seeing Mötley Crüe on stage I have no idea if it's a common thing for the sexy dancer ladies to have their own mics and sing some of Vince's parts? It didn't matter much due to the aforementioned "subwoofer drowning out most of the sound" issue lol

And how could I forget the tits cam zooming in on the crowd, at dear Tommy's request. I guess if you're famous enough you can simply ask to see your fans' tits and most of them happily oblige. I've never seen so many tits out in the wild/on the big screens, it was strange. But it firmly cemented just how wildly asexual I am. Although I am capable of appreciating some nice boobies from an aesthetic point of view no problem, they don't do anything for me beyond that haha

Strangely, the only song the audio was fine on was Home Sweet Home. I really wish I could've heard more of Vince's voice in the other songs like that :')

John 5's formal intro was an almost 2 minutes long guitar solo, not sure how to feel about that. Like yes, he's good, he has the skills, but. Eh.

(Loved the violin bow on guitar strings intro to Kickstart My Heart tho, that was kinda cool :P)

Nikki and Vince introducing their older more well known songs with "Wanna hear more of our old shit?" rubbed me the wrong way? On the other hand Nikki said the band loves Germany (he even waved the German flag on stage) and loves the crowd so, eh. I guess I'm a weenie and that's just how they are haha

Also got a little sad about them changing some of the lyrics to Smoking In The Boys Room (from "my buddies Sixx, Mick and Tom" to "my buddies Sixx, 5 and Tom") and the caricature and logo on the screens near the end of their set featuring John 5 instead of Mick. I wasn't quick enough to get a photo because the sadness of a new Mick-less Crüe era hit me full force in that moment. Can't help that my brain is hyperfixating on Mick Fucking Mars and that I missed him dearly all night long :'))))))

At least they didn't cut him out of any of the 80s footage video edits playing on the big screens during some songs. It would've been pretty asshole-ish if they did. Like completely erasing him from their band history.

On a lighter note: Vince introducing Nikki as his brother, who he has known for over 40 years, and their little in-sync swaying back and forth with the mic stand and bass respectively moment with them laughing and talking and exchanging smiles and grins was super cute :') <3

Also Tommy receiving a small bouquet of roses, smiling, and then proceeding to stuff them down the front of his pants lmao

And that was that for Mötley Crüe

A little break in-between, enough time for another trip to the loo and afterwards sip some more water from the sink like an animal (not gonna pay anything over 5€ for a puny little cup of water from the overpriced beverage stands, no sir)

Def Leppard were in another league compared to Mötley Crüe! Their sound was PERFECT. Very harmonic, powerful, you could hear everyone SO WELL!!! None of the pesky subwoofer problem the Crüe had, and they all looked like they had so much fun!!! I'm not as well-versed with Def Leppard's discography and all the band members (yet), but everyone looked great in their stage outfits! The lights and background videos were so nice too!!!

And they played the 2 songs I do know (Foolin' and Pour Some Sugar On Me)

but also a bunch of songs from the album they worked on during the worst of the pandemic years. Which also sounded very good!!! I'm actually considering buying that new album if I see it out in the wild for a decent price.

The background video montage for Photograph was so adorable with all the pictures from the band's history, from the late 70s to present day. They were all such adorable babies back then and seeing all the photos gave me the same warm fuzzies as looking at old band photos and candid shots online does <333

Very much a 180 to Mötley Crüe in every regard, Joe Elliott thanked us in German and English, and told us the band loves us <33

I might actually try to get more into Def Leppard now that I've seen how awesome they are on stage <33

The crowd for Def Leppard was a little older and less rowdy, a very welcome change. Still a bunch of almost blackout drunk people, sloshing their beer everywhere and bumping into everyone around them. One major thing I dislike about bigger concerts tbh.

---

I also got a bunch of compliments on my hair, make up, and outfit throughout the evening <3

Even got called Nikki (and Mick, after informing people of my style influence) a few times lol

A couple older folks said they admired my style and that you don't see many people like me anymore and that I should keep doing my thing because it's so cool to see :')<333

[Some comments bordered on some icky misogynistic topics tho, like "oh girls nowadays are too prissy and not as cool and rock-n-roll and bold and rough-and-tumble as they were in the 80s/like you", etc.

And yes, I let everyone think I'm a girl. Not worth it trying to correct tipsy and/or drunk off their asses metalheads in a loud crowded venue. I don't really pass on a masculine day; much less dressed to the nines, face slathered in theatrical 80s make up and hair backcombed and hairsprayed to hell and back.]

On my way to the train station I got to talking with some other tram passengers heading home after the concert, an older couple and two guys around my age. The couple had pretty cool battle vests, all covered in various pins and patches. One of my favourites was the Zappa For President patch on the lady's vest which made me think of @feeshies , really wish I'd asked for a photo :')

The guys my age roped me into going to a strip club with them instead of going straight home. They even covered the entry fee for me, so I didn't have to pay anything! They were very respectful and I was free to go whenever I pleased. It was interesting to see pole dancers/strippers up close in real life and not only on TV, but it's definitely not for me lol I'm too aroace and neurodivergent for this. The ladies had some badass pole skills tho! Effortlessly dancing in 10 inch platform stilettos and with barely anything covering their bodies? I could never! Kudos to the ladies!

Anyway, it was good I decided to head home around 1am, I could already feel the joint pain creeping up on me. it's full-blown throbbing and piercing agony, 7/10, now. I only got 3 hours of sleep before the aches woke me up the first time orz

But hey, 3 hours and a bit of dozing here and there are better than nothing. I spent Sunday taking it kinda easy, only did a few chores around the house, and went through all the photos and videos i took (111 files in total) of course! I weeded out all the blurry and shaky ones and the few good ones should be peppered throughout this post!

Hope y'all had a good Sunday and Monday <3

[pangolinheart]

(how far did you have to dig to find that post wow lol)

Anyway Lahabrea

[[Actually it wasn't that hard to find! My obsessive tagging system isn't only for forcing my followers to look at huge blocks of text they don't care abou - it's also so I can find posts when I want to go back to them without going through hundreds of pages of reblogs!

Anyway, when I saw this ask I thought this was going to be the hardest pairing to write for... but it was actually one of the easiest. At first I thought the only way to make something work was to do something Hephaistos/Azem, but I still haven't played Endwalker so I wasn't confident in my ability to write for that time period, and based on ambient spoilers it seems like Hephaistos was pretty preoccupied with his wife and child. Then I realized I didn't actually know what Lahabrea really looked like and, well...

I'm not super happy with the way this turned out, but I'm too lazy to edit it again so it's good enough.]]

Send me a character and I'll describe a ship with them and my OC.

Cid | M'zhet | Lahabrea

TW: Dubious consent (implied). Nothing graphic or anything, it's just, um, sketchy as hell.

What are you drinking?” He leaned over the bar, putting his weight on his elbows. He didn’t sit down – not yet. He waited for an invitation.  

The miqo’te perched on the next barstool looked him up and down appraisingly. She didn’t even bother to hide it. Not in the mood to play coy tonight, it seemed. Maybe she had had a rough day.  

He had waited for her to notice him from across the room. And notice she did. Their eyes met and he fancied he could almost hear her thinking to herself: He’ll do. 

“That depends,” She almost purred, “What are you buying?” 

She hadn’t asked him to sit down, but she might as well have. He slid onto the plush velvet seat. This was a nicer place than usual, he noted. A classy little place where respectable people came to get less-than-respectably drunk. Was she celebrating something? Or did she just want a change of scenery? Who could say? He beckoned the bartender over. Wine seemed like it would suit the mood. He ordered something red and expensive – it wasn’t as if money meant much to him, anyway. 

He was an elezen tonight – dark hair, dark skin, dark eyes. He usually preferred hyur, but this body had been available and seemed like something she might like. Then again, her tastes were wide and varied.  

Why was he doing this again? 

It was no use asking himself the question. He didn’t have any new answers. He told himself that keeping tabs on this shard’s Warrior of Light was his business, but even he didn’t believe that. This could hardly be called business.  

Maybe it was because she made him feel the echo of something he hadn’t felt in a long time: interest. How long had it been since he was really interested in something? Detachment had been second nature to him for so long that he had almost forgotten what it felt like.  

And she was interesting for a mortal, at least in some ways. In others she was almost offensively average. And yet there were times she almost seemed… familiar, somehow. Perhaps it was because she was a Warrior of Light. He’d seen plenty of Warriors on plenty of shards; he could hardly be blamed if they all started to blend together. If nothing else, though, she was interesting because of how interested Hydaelyn seemed to be in her. She had expended quite a lot of power to protect her from the might of the Ultima Weapon, after all. With her strength already waning, he couldn’t help but wonder why she had risked exhausting what little of her power remained on this Warrior of Light. 

The bartender returned with two glasses of wine, and he offered one to her. She accepted it with thanks and took a sip, though her gaze never left his. His own traced along the features of her face with which he had become so well-acquainted – her dark eyelashes over her mismatched eyes, the swoop of her bangs across her forehead, the gentle curve of her lips. He smiled, and she smiled back. 

The first time had been an accident, of course. Entirely improvised. It had been shortly after he had possessed one of her colleagues, Thancred, but before he had been able to manufacture a pretense for the man’s absence. He had, of course, watched his vessel closely enough to confidently impersonate him, at least for a short time. He had planned to slowly withdraw from the Scions, until his presence would no longer be missed. A contingency he had not prepared, however, for was Thancred being seized by the Warrior of Light herself and all-but dragged to a dive bar outside of Ul’dah. He had been caught off guard by this turn of events and he was left with no choice but to humor her, drinking and laughing (or at least pretending to) until the early hours of the morning. Fortunately, he doubted she would be able to remember the night clearly enough to recall if he had said or done anything out of character. His grand plan had also failed to account for being pulled into her sleeping chambers upon their return to the Waking Sands, and into bed with her. He had no way of knowing if this behavior was typical and expected or not. He had never seen it happen before, but that didn’t necessarily mean it hadn’t. He was a busy man, after all. So, he had decided in the moment to just… play along.  

It had certainly been a novel experience. 

“So,” He said in the elezen’s low, smooth voice. “Are you here waiting for a friend?” 

She twirled the stem of her wineglass between her fingers. Always so fidgety. “More like looking for one.” 

“Well,” He set his own wine glass back on the bar. “I’d be happy to keep you company while you look.” 

The second time had been… less excusable. 

After the debacle that was Ultima – curse Hydaelyn for her interference! – he had needed time to formulate a new plan. And while he devised his next strategy, he had had little else to do but keep tabs on the Warrior of Light and her companions. 

It was during this time that he had begun to recognize a pattern to her behavior. On a semi-regular basis, usually when she had quarreled with a compatriot or was otherwise upset about something or other, she would seek out an establishment that sold alcohol and spend several hours there, eventually leaving with someone else. A different person each time.  

Having been expelled from the body of Thancred, he had been forced to seek out a new host, presumably yet unknown to the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, and in his idleness he had begun to wonder… 

Would she even notice? 

She would not, it turned out. At least, she hadn’t yet. And that had been half a dozen times ago, give or take. It had become a fun little game to amuse himself with while he waited for wheels to turn. No round was ever quite the same, and he never used the same guise twice. He tried to vary his selections; different appearances, different origins, different genders. Recently he’d begun branching out into different races, as well (though they might as well all be the same to him). The other unsundered had always nagged him about the frequency with which he discarded his vessels, to which he usually responded that it was hardly his fault these fragments were so breakable and so boring. Not everyone’s scheme could include the industrialized production of clones like Emet-Selch’s did. In the event he hadn’t assumed a new vessel since the last time, though, projecting a different appearance was a small feat for an Ancient of Lahabrea’s caliber.  

He tried a different tact in each iteration, partly to avoid arousing her suspicion and partly because it made the game more interesting. He wasn’t always successful – sometimes she was only in the mood for drinking, other times there was another patron than interested her more than he did, which he found annoying. Once he had even said something that offended her for some reason. He couldn’t remember what it was. Did it really matter? 

She was watching him thoughtfully over the lip of her wineglass. She had half-emptied the glass already. He wondered if that was all it would take tonight. But when she opened her mouth, it wasn’t to invite him somewhere more private. 

“Have we met before? You seem familiar for some reason.” 

The question surprised him, but he didn’t lose his cool, didn’t miss a beat. 

“I shouldn’t think so. You don’t seem like the sort one would have an easy time forgetting,” 

Her grin took on a sly tilt. “Careful. With talk like that one might start to think you’re getting me drunk with ulterior motives,” 

Internally, he sighed with relief, though he didn’t let it touch his face. Instead, he gave her a coy smile and picked up his wineglass for another sip. “Perish the thought! I would hate for you to think me so ungentlemanly,” 

He probably should have stopped after one of her cohorts killed Nabriales. It was no small feat to kill an Ascian, even a sundered soul like his. In fact, he hadn’t even thought the mortals capable of it. Somehow, though, that only made things more interesting. It added the tiniest hint of danger to his little game, and he found he enjoyed it all the more. He had little real cause to worry, of course. Nabriales had been the architect of his own demise.  

Even so, after the last round he had sworn to himself he wouldn’t do it again. 

And had known with unshakeable certainty that he would. 

She set her now empty wineglass on the bar. She had shifted to face him more fully, and he might have missed the way she leaned ever so slightly inward had he not been looking for it. 

“Would you like another glass?” 

She considered it for a moment, or at least pretended to. “Please.” 

“Of course,” He ordered another glass and waited until the barkeep’s errand had taken him safely out of earshot. 

“You know,” he said, surveying her as she had him earlier. “I don’t believe I’ve given you my name.” 

Her lips quirked in a way that he found for some reason endearing. “I don’t believe I’ve asked you for it,” 

He raised his eyebrows in amusement and opened his mouth to respond with some quip or other when he felt someone tap his shoulder. 

He turned in his seat, a bit irritated by the interruption, to see a young Midlander with brooding grey eyes. “May I have a word?”  

He had never seen the man before, but he would recognize his brother anywhere. 

Oh dear. 

How was he going to explain this little caper? He wondered. His previous justifications had barely convinced him, so they certainly wouldn’t convince the Emissary. 

Ah, well. He was sure he would think of something. 

He was, after all, Lahabrea: Speaker of the Convocation. 

Okay in all seriousness this is definitely the most off-the-wall ship I was sent this round. I don't think it would happen, and if it did it would be a total shit-show. It's not necessarily because Lahabrea's a villain - there are of compelling villains ships out there. It's because he's both a villain and not Rhiki's type. He's braggadocios, megalomaniacal, and patronizing (and if there's one connecting thread between all of my characters it's that none of them would up with being condescended to by A Man.) And, for what it's worth, there's not really anything for Lahabrea to like about Rhiki. As an Ascian he's never portrayed as having any interest in or sympathy for mortals. The most any hyur, miqo'te, elezen, etc. could ever aspire to be to Lahabrea is "useful." To be honest, he doesn't really even seem to have any affection for his fellow ascians, though I'm aware there's something of a canonical reason for that. ARR really struggled with creating compelling antagonists, so Lahabrea (and most of the other villains) are painted as just... cartoonishly evil. I'm sure that he's given a lot more pathos in the Pandaemonium raid series, but I haven't played it yet so I can't speak to how well the original Lahabrea would have gotten along with Rhiki/Rhiki's Azem. Really, if you cut out all of the enw backstory, the above is really the only angle I could really see having any legs (as slimy and terrible as those legs are.) In realizing that I didn't know what Lahabrea actually looked like, I also realized that Rhiki has no idea what the real Lahabrea looks like. When I went over all of the times the WoL actually encounters Lahabrea, it dawned on me that the only time Rhiki sees him without his mask... he's Thancred, which is where the idea came from. (TBF to both of them I don't think ARR Rhiki would have had sex with Thancred no matter how shitfaced she was lol. This is just for the sake of exploring the possibilities.) Whether or not Rhiki actually found out about Lahabrea's body-hopping shenanigans is up for debate. I don't necessarily see how she would unless he or Elidibus told her. Lahabrea doesn't seem like he would have any motivation or opportunity to tell her. Elidibus might, if only to make it harder for Lahabrea to do anything stupid that might jeopardize their mission in the future. Obviously, Rhiki would not be pleased to learn this. I don't think any relationship the two of them could have could possibly change the trajectory of the story. The relationship isn't necessarily... romantic in nature. And I doubt there's anything about Rhiki that would make Lahabrea fall so head over heels for her that he would abandon his plans to resurrect Zodiark, which inevitably involves her death. Rhiki has no feelings for Lahabrea (except maybe anger, if she ever found out) but even if she did, she doesn't really have the opportunity to spare his life, since it's Thordan VII that ultimately kills him. BUT this was still a very fun thought experiment! I still apologize for everything that's happened above this point in the post, though. ^^;

[lilbardrhi]

Chapter 1: The Shire

Pairings: Kíli x Original Female Character; Fíli x Original Female Character

CW: graphic depictions of violence; major character death; self-insert style original characters; The Trifecta (smut, fluff, and angst); time travel; MGiME

Author's Note: Tumblr, this is my very first "I committed" fic! This was started in 2019, posted on AO3 originally in 2020, taken down cuz I goofed in 2020, reposted on AO3 in 2021. I lost steam (bit off more than I could chew at the time, that's for sure lol) and it's been on pause since 2022. This is not edited, it is copy-pasted from the editor on AO3. Check out @megjameswrites for more T-V content!

"Meg," I shoved my friend who was on her stomach beside me, passed out in the lush green grass. Her hand came up to wave me off.

"Five more minutes," she mumbled into the ground. I groaned and rolled her over so she was in a patch of sunlight instead of the shade of a tree.

"Wake up, woman!"

Her arm flew up to shield her closed eyes from the bright light.

"Rhi, what the fuck? You better have coffee for me."

She opened her eyes, squinting up at the sky, and I sat back to wait for her to realize where we were, which was not home for either of us. It didn't take long for her to bolt upright and look at me with wide eyes.

"Where are we?"

I was about to explain and give her my theories when we heard someone walking towards us. We both turned back to the tree I rolled her out from under.

"Hello, ladies. Are you alright?"

The old Wizard was now next to the tree. My face was, honestly probably a mix of shock, recognition, and a bit of fear. Meg, on the other hand, continued her mission for coffee.

She took one look at the man and, with a very serious look, she told him, "Look, the only adventure I'm going on right now is to find the Middle Earth version of coffee."

While Gandalf did his best to conceal his amusement, we could both see it along with his surprise. I pushed her shoulder gently and she seemed to get the hint.

"Wait... Hi. Where the fuck are we and how did we get here?" She paused briefly before shaking her head and standing up, pulling me with her. "Nope, don't care. I will care after I have caffeine of some variety, preferably coffee."

I sighed and shook my head then spoke up finally.

"I'm sorry. She's rather grouchy or, as we call it, 'stabby' when she first wakes up. Caffeine is the quickest way to pull her out of it. Coffee is the most effective. It is nice to meet you, though."

"No need to apologize. I have known many similar people in my life. Though I do not know what 'caffeine' is, I know that some black tea may help her. I am sorry for I do not know anyone nearby with coffee."

Meg seemed to perk up a bit at the promise of black tea - even though I know she'd have preferred the coffee.

"We can ask my friend Bilbo if he would mind sharing any with you."

I was still confused as to when we were, even with the mention of Bilbo. My only clear clue, so far, was that Gandalf seemed to be traveling on foot, not by horse and carriage full of fireworks.

"I'm Rhi, by the way. This is Meg. Please, don't take offense to anything she says or does from now until the tea filters through her system."

Gandalf nodded and chuckled.

"It's nice to meet you both. My name is Gandalf," he paused for a moment, as if to think, then added, "Something tells me you already knew that."

"Yeah, about that," I looked over to Meg, who was growing more agitated the longer she went without her promised caffeine. "How far away is Bilbo's place?"

"Not far but I am sure we will have plenty of time for us to chat along the way. Shall we?"

Meg was the first of us three to move and started marching past Gandalf.

"This way?"

Gandalf was clearly amused by her, but nodded at her question.

"That is the way to the road which will lead us to Bilbo's, yes."

"Well, here goes nothing. Gandalf?"

He looked back at me as we all started walking to let me know he was listening.

"This is going to sound so weird, and feel weird to say, but we're not from Middle Earth? We're not from your world in general," I continue.

"I know."

I raised an eyebrow, confused.

"You do?"

He nodded then gestured towards Meg.

"Do see how you two are dressed? I have not known someone of this world to wear clothing such as what you two do."

I looked up to Meg who was, in fact, wearing her Boondock Saints t-shirt, black leggings, and a pair of tennis shoes. I also noticed her hair seemed to be its natural color even though I'd only seen it like that in pictures she showed me. Looking down at myself I saw a plain black tank top, my "witchy" hoodie that had random symbols along the hem of the hood and where it opened in the front. I also had black leggings on and my bright pink tennis shoes.

"How are you so calm about this? Aren't we going to be considered... odd? And probably in a 'not safe' way?"

We had reached the road by now and Meg turned to face us.

"Left or right?"

Gandalf motioned towards our right so she started heading in that direction as we followed.

"I am calm because, well, that conversation may take longer than our short walk allows. Rest assured that, thanks to the many books and records kept in Valinor, The Undying Lands, this kind of thing has been mentioned," the Wizard explained.

I narrowed my eyes then remember what a friend told me back on Meg's and my Earth.

"That's right! You're one of the Maiar! Olórin!"

Gandalf definitely wasn't able to hide his shock and stopped walking briefly but started up again shortly after.

"How do you know this?"

"Well, where Meg and I come from, this whole world is a world from the mind of a man named J. R. R. Tolkien. I usually call him Tolkien. Most do actually. He wrote multiple books about this place. Six movies were made about them as well." I looked over to him then realized he probably didn't know what a movie was. "Oh! Movies are um... moving images with sound? That's really the best explanation I've got."

He nodded so I continued.

"Hm, we both know what happens in both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. However," I held my hand up, index finger extended so he didn't interrupt me, "we know that telling anyone here what we know can be dangerous and change everything we know. Also that some things need to happen whether we like it or not."

I smiled up at him as I dropped my hand.

He looked a bit impressed and smiled back.

"As long as you remember that always, things should be just fine. Are you going to ask your next question? We are almost there."

As he asked, we all stepped past the last bit of trees around us.

"The Shire!"

I exclaimed with a large grin. Meg groaned at my loud outburst and turned to face us.

"Gandalf should probably lead now," Meg declares.

She fell in step with us while Gandalf and I continued talking.

"So where is- No, I can't ask that. This is going to be a bit more difficult than I thought. How about... Can you point out Bilbo's house?"

As we walked over a bridge and through the hills filled with Hobbits, young and old, I had to refrain from asking about Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin.

"A few more minutes and we will be there."

I heard Meg sigh in relief to know that she'll get her caffeine soon. We walked in silence the following few minutes. Gandalf stopped suddenly and motioned to the side of the road.

"Stay here. I am sure you will know when to join us."

Then he wandered up the hill to talk to Bilbo.

"Good morning," Bilbo greeted him.

"What do you mean? Do you mean to wish me a good morning or do you mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not?" Gandalf paused as I tried my best not to laugh at Bilbo's silence. "Or perhaps you mean to say that you feel good on this particular morning? Or are you simply stating that this is a morning to be good on? Hm?"

"All of them at once, I suppose. Can I help you?"

"That remains to be seen."

I nodded at Bilbo's question, but Meg smacked my arm.

"I'm looking for someone to share in an adventure," Gandalf continued.

"An adventure? No, I don't imagine anyone west of Bree would have much interest in adventures. Nasty, disturbing, uncomfortable things."

The squeak of Bilbo's mailbox could be heard then the gentle thud of it shutting shortly after.

"Make you late for dinner." His laugh was forced. He hummed and grunted while shuffling through his mail then, finally, "Good morning."

"To think that I should have lived to be 'good morninged' by Belladonna Took's son as if I were selling buttons at the door."

"Beg your pardon?"

"You've changed, and not entirely for the better, Bilbo Baggins."

I shifted from one foot to the other while we waited.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?"

"Well, you know my name, although you don't remember I belong to it. I’m Gandalf. And Gandalf means," the old Wizard sighed, "me."

"Gandalf," Bilbo whispered. "Not Gandalf the Wandering Wizard who made such excellent fireworks? Old Took used to have them on Midsummer's Eve." His excited voice and laugh lasted only a moment before he cleared his throat. "No idea you were still in business."

I watched Gandalf's smile fade and suppressed a smile.

"And where else should I be?"

"Where else...?" Bilbo's excitement turned to nervousness as he cleared his throat again.

"Well, I’m pleased to find you remember something about me even if it's only my fireworks. Yes. Well, that's decided." He tossed his staff from his right to his left hand then pointed at Bilbo. "It'll be very good for you and most amusing for me. I shall inform the others."

That's when I grabbed Meg's arm and pushed her forward. She stumbled closer to Gandalf and stopped by his side as I skipped to the opposite side of him.

I watched Bilbo trip and fall backward, up the steps to his front door.

"Who are they?"

"Ah, this is Rhi," the old wizard motioned to me as I smiled and waved. Bilbo lifted his hand in an unsure wave. "And this is Meg who is in need of some tea. As strong as you can make it. Would you mind?"

We watched for a bit as Bilbo looked between the three of us while thinking it over. I could tell Meg was getting impatient, though.

"Bilbo, I will beg if I must. It won't be pretty and we'll all be embarrassed but I will do it."

Suddenly he stood from his seat on the steps and opened the gate for us.

"This way, please."

He motioned us in and we followed him up the stairs and into Bag End. We went straight for his dining room. Meg and I took a seat as Bilbo started the water.

"Now, Gandalf," Bilbo turned to speak to him but the Wizard was gone.

I raised my eyebrow in question and followed Bilbo back to the door. It was closed. As Bilbo gave the door a confused stare, I picked up a small piece of parchment paper with Bilbo's name written on the side facing up.

"It's for you," I said and handed it to him.

He read over it a few times then decided to read it out loud.

"Bilbo, I have some business to attend to. I leave Meg and Rhi in your care until I return. Gandalf."

As he read, I took in Bilbo's appearance. Once he finished reading it clicked for me as to when we were.

"Well, that explains some things," I whispered as I returned to Meg.

"What? What happened?"

Meg watched as Bilbo set the letter down on the table near us, then went to prepare Meg's tea. Upon seeing the teapot, her expression looked less... murderous.

"Would you like some too?" Bilbo held up a teacup and I shook my head.

"No thank you. I appreciate it, though."

He nodded and poured some tea for Meg and himself. Getting her first sip of tea, Meg seemed that much more human.

"So where's Gandalf?"

I pushed the letter towards her and watched her read it. She nodded and took another sip of tea.

"Fuckin' Wizards," she mumbled into her teacup.

Bilbo looked over at her. The look on his face almost looked like approval.

"Quite right," he agreed with her.

His gaze returned to the fire. Once Meg was completely human again Bilbo sighed.

"Well, I am not sure what I can offer two Human women. All I have are heirlooms and books."

Meg and I both smiled brightly at him.

"I wouldn't mind reading some of your books," Meg said cheerfully, a whole new person.

"I'd love to hear your stories behind the heirlooms!"

A large grin spread across my face but Bilbo looked shocked. He responded to Meg first.

"The, uh, the library is just down the hall. Second door on the right."

She jumped from her seat and happily made her way to the world of Middle Earth knowledge. I laughed quietly as Bilbo watched her go but he turned to me shortly after she was out of sight.

"Are you sure you want me to talk to you about my family history?"

"Of course," I nodded happily. "I wouldn't have said if I if didn't mean it."

He gave me a wary look but nodded and stood.

"I guess I can start with my mother and work my way back. If you'll excuse me, I have some things to gather for this."

He then left the room to gather some things relevant to his stories.

Masterlist | Tolkien Masterlist

[salbei-141]

Rescue Mission (Johnny 'Soap' MacTavish x Reader)

Masterlist

word count: 6.1k...i can't write a 3k essay but I can do this

warnings: 18+ mild smut, fluff, a lot of violence, self-doubt, graphic stuff etc. (forgive me if I've forgotten anything)

a/n: Wow am I entering my writing era again? I haven't written any sort of fanfic since I was like in my early teens, and I'm sure you can imagine how bad it was then, so I'd like to think this is better, but that's up to y'all to dictate. I do hope you all enjoy it, and as much as I desperately wanted to write for Ghost (which maybe I will in the future) I wanted to do something for Soap, he deserves love too, and there's not enough.

I don't know if I'll make this a part 2, if enough of you want it then I'll see what I can do - I also don't know how much more I'll write - knowing me it'll be like once in a blue moon lol

Anyway, I've spent my time writing this instead of completing uni work, which I desperately need to finish, but anything to procrastinate. I'd really appreciate any and all feedback, so please let me know if I can improve and if y'all wanna see anything specific in the future.

(I've gone over and edited it, so hopefully there's no mistakes)

:)

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

With an intruding knock on your door followed by Ghost’s command of “Smoke get your ass up, Price wants you in his office in 10.” You were left to get ready in a rush with no negotiations.

Walking into the bathroom all you can focus on is the redness around your eyes followed by some bags to bring the look together, and the faded scar under your left eye as a reminder of past fights. You find yourself rarely getting any sleep these days - between random calls for missions and the ongoing night terrors, there’s little to no time for rest. You tend to wonder how much longer your body will be able to handle before it gives into exhaustion and you hit the ground - probably with Ghost at your heels telling you to get the fuck up before he drags you up himself. It really wouldn’t be a surprise if he did that to you, you thought to yourself with a small smirk gracing your face.

With several minutes to spare you throw some water on your face, flinching at the temperature - not quite awake enough to readily process things - patting your face dry and smoking your eyes out with some black paint you're closer to being ready to leave. You find yourself thinking back on a memory where Lt argued you had stolen his look of the blacked-out eyes and anonymity, but you begged to differ, plus you teased you looked better than the big man anyway, which had made him quietly huff.

Finishing up in the bathroom you slipped the plain black balaclava over your head, weary of the healing cut that laid as a reminder of the last mission on your cheek. In some fresh undergarments and black uniform you find yourself robotically walking out the room and down the hall to Price - there’s little thought in your actions anymore, everything’s just an automatic response, and there’s no need to think.

With a deep breath, you knock on the door, “Captain.”

“Come in Smoke.” Price said with a gruffness to his tone - he's not quite a morning person himself despite how long he'd been in the military.

Walking into the room, there’s a thick layer of tension that feels suffocating - your not sure what he’s going to ask of you, but you're on edge, he looks nervous, and Price is never unnecessarily nervous.

“Please sit Smoke.” And he averted his gaze on your eyes to look back down at his desk - it was definitely nerves, he didn't quite have Ghost's staring issues, but he always stared you down when you were walking into the office.

“Yes, Captain.” Without much else to say, you took your place on the dingy chair in front of his desk.

“Did Ghost tell you anything?” He made eye contact then, not averting it like before.

“…no, he didn’t. Just said to meet you in 10.” You felt your brows furrowing slightly at his question - should Ghost have said anything? You would've liked a pre-warning from the guy seeing Price's nerves shining through.

“Well, we’ve got a mission come up for you. It’s solo.” He states staring directly into your eyes, he knew you weren't going to be okay with this arrangement, so why the fuck had he decided on this.

“And you can’t have Ghost complete it?” There was a growing edge of anger to your tone, you didn’t want this, and you were getting progressively defensive.

“He’s aiding Laswell in a separate mission. You can’t hide forever y/n - it’s been a year now, and you’ve had more than enough time only participating in group missions…I wouldn’t make you do this if I doubted you.” There was sincerity in his tone, but you didn't want to believe him, you refused to.

“You didn’t doubt me a year ago and look how that went down, almost got the whole team's data exposed and ended up near enough getting Johnny killed while his ass was dumb enough to accept a rescue mission to save me.” Your hands were starting to shake underneath the table, and you could feel your heart rate starting to beat faster at the memories of Johnny coming to save you. “Look Price I’m not the fucking one, you got enough men on this base better than me and-“

“It’s MacTavish Smoke, and no I don't", you felt your stomach drop and the thoughts started running wild through your head. "Soap lost contact with us 2 days ago and we’ve received intel that a new terrorist organisation in the Middle East have taken him hostage. I’m not going to tell you again Sergeant - your mission is to save Seargent MacTavish and you’ll do it without fail. Do you understand?” He was giving no room for you to back out of this, there was no way to. You couldn't leave Johnny, but you also didn't feel capable after screwing up your last solo mission.

The tension had snapped after his confession, but was replaced with trepidation - it was all up in the air now, but you still felt like you were suffocating. Johnny was supposed to be on an in-and-out mission, nothing too difficult - he was supposed to be done tomorrow, what the fuck had happened?

Swallowing, you asked for the necessary intel, and Price started to brief you on the mission. You were to head to Yemen, following coordinates that Price would send to you once you were in the country. From here you were alone - it was a high-risk operation and they didn't want to risk losing more soldiers than was needed - Price knew you were capable of completing this alone, even if you didn't.

~~~Time skip~~~

Now in the heli you were about an hour away from the house Soap was situated in - you had, had time on the aeroplane to figure out a basic plan and between the anxiety of what Soap was currently enduring and the desperation to succeed you knew what you were going to do.

Price's intel suggsted there were about 50 men minimum around this base at all times - but tonight there was some sort of event, and there were going to be about half that, which made things easier, but you knew it meant they'd be on higher alert; especially when they have a member of the 141. About 5 men would be at the entrance to this home give or take; another few men would be around the back of the house; give or take there would about 6 men patrolling the ground and first floors; then that left probably 3 men with Johnny and some stragglers patrolling the ground of the place, but there was no guarantee this was even close to the layout in reality. What you did know though was that there was a blind spot around the east side of the house where there was a small hatch to the basement of the place - this was your only safe way in and depending on how things went, it'd also be your safe way out.

"Seargent y/l/n, we're here, you ready?" you heard a static voice come through the headset from the pilot.

"As ready as one could be I guess.", you all but muttered into the mic.

And with a count down you were sliding down the rope and landed heavily onto the ground - it was dry land, which meant it'd be easier to cover tracks if necessary, but it also meant there were fewer ways in which you could hide yourself and Soap wouldn't be in the best of conditions for this, assuming he was alive.

Hiking to the house, you were half expecting someone to take you down on the spot with every step you took, but with each step, you got closer to where you had to be, but you still couldn't allow yourself to take a relaxed breath of air.

After about a 40-minute walk, you found yourself on the edge of the compound if you could call it that. You were in the middle of nowhere and already knew you needed to do this quietly - running away was going to be difficult with the sheer amount of open land, but there were a few valleys into the back of the compound, which you were sure you'd be able to escape and camp up in, assuming there were caves within them.

You noticed there were a group of men at the front - maybe about 11..something wasn't right, but you had no clue what was going on yet. There were 2 guys covering the back of the place and no one on the east side - at least it was a blind spot for sure. Without another thought, you went from your prone position to stalking toward the hatch, which would hopefully lead to Soap.

Putting an ear to the small hatch, you listened for what was beneath, and so far there was only silence - hopefully, it stayed that way. With that, you lifted the hatch carefully, making little noise, and peered in, seeing steps leading down - it was dark though - had they been depriving Soap of all his senses hoping he'd go mad enough to confess or something?

Without little insight into what was beneath you, you had no real way to plan how you'd go about this, but what you did know was there were more men outside than you'd planned for, which gave you a little less anxiety. Creeping down the stairs, you turned your night vision on and took a moment to look around. Where the fuck was Johhny? All you could see were damp cobble walls and dirt. Walking to the bottom of the stairs you pulled a suppressed pistol out and a knife and stalked the room looking for another door.

Suddenly a door above you opened - there was another set of stairs and light seeped through before it closed again, welcoming the darkness once again. With the night vision still active you could see one of the men walking down the stairs with what looked like an AK-47 - that made it a lot easier for you to take him out from behind, it would take too long for him to adjust and fire. Watching him reach the bottom of the stairs, you stalked closer to his figure and just before he could flip the switch on the wall, you pulled your knife and plunged it into his neck, covering his mouth and slowly lowering his writhing body to the floor - making sure to make as little noise possible.

Moving the guys body to an empty corner of the room you remained silent and listened for anything else above - no sound. You assumed he was to take watch of Soap - hoping he was behind a door you noticed was under the stairs this guy had come down. There was again no light seeping underneath; either he was elsewhere or they were indeed depriving him of his sense, but you had no idea if there were any men in there. Putting your ear to the door all you could make out were some shallow breaths - it had to Johnny.

Pushing the door forward, you cringed hearing it squeak on his hinges. If someone was in here, then they knew you were too, and with no precautionary thoughts, you walked into the room, scanning it with your gun aimed and knife up.

There he was. You felt tears prick at your eyes, his body had stiffened and his breathing had picked up - Johnny wasn't ever usually this scared, what had they done to him?

Turning to your left you flipped a switch and closed the door behind you, putting a chair underneath in case anyone tried to walk in before you could prepare.

Walking to Johnny you placed a gentle hand pulling up the cloth bag they'd placed over his head - the small flinch hadn't gone unnoticed by your gaze. Letting him adjust to the light, you placed a gentle hand on his jaw, examining the cuts littering his face - you doubt they'd scar, but you were guessing the real pain was done to his body - you could see the crimson that was dried to his clothes - he looked like a mess, you had to get the both of you out of here and straight to a medic, you couldn't bare this for much more.

Of all the years you'd known Johnny, you'd always denied how you felt about him - he was a friend, a coworker, and there was a fine line you refused to cross, you didn't want to lose him nor your team. But seeing him like this, seeing him so broken - noticing his pained stare holding onto your eyes, you knew you couldn't deny what you felt anymore. There was no way you could deny that the pain in your chest wasn't due to the man you refused to accept your feelings for.

"Smoke? That you?" Soap all but managed to mumble out - his eye was bruised up and there was some mild swelling - nothing that concerned you too much, but you could imagine he was having a hard time properly focusing on you.

"Yeah, it's me Johnny. You're alright now, yeah." you said it more to convince yourself than him, but you had to start making moves, as much as you wanted to hold him in your arms and soothe whatever was going through his head, you had to get him out of here before they sent more of them down here, you knew you were counting down mere minutes before they would come.

"Johnny I'm going to cut you out and give you a stim, then we're going - we'll find somewhere to hold up for a bit then I'll call for evac." you were rushed in your movements, still careful with him to not hurt him any more than what he was.

With his hands now free, he brought them to his sides and tried to loosen his arms up a bit from where they had been stiff behind his back. Coming to his front, you gave him a stim and he became more aware of what was happening.

Standing tall, you held his sides, noticing his lack of balance. He sucked a breath in when he felt your hands come up on his sides - you were so gentle, he'd only felt calloused hands pressing into his body over the course of the past few days, and it felt comforting to have you holding him with such care.

With one last look up into his eyes, you told him to follow behind - just to trust you. He never doubted you for a second, the moment he'd known it was you who was sent to rescue him, he knew you'd get the both of them to safety - he admired your skill on the field, even if you didn't possess the same ability to believe you could succeed this.

Moving the chair from the door you flipped the switch, feeling one of Soap's hands come up to your shoulder - he didn't want to admit it to himself, but he knew this was going to take a toll on his mental state.

Opening the door, you took a deep breath and moved forward with Soap at your heel. Crouching back in front of the guy you'd taken out, you took his gun, and gave it to Soap behind you, which he gladly took - feeling more confident now he could aid you.

Heading up the stairs to the hatch, you both suddenly went stiff hearing the door open. Without much thought to pushed Soap further up the stairs whispering for him to leave and run into a valley - you'd be right behind him. His eyes remained on yours - he looked worried, he didn't want to leave you - he'd never forgive himself if you were hurt because he ran. With another push, he lifted the hatch - he trusted you, he had too.

Aiming the pistol you hit the first guy directly in the head, knocking him cold. He fell to the floor with a thud and before you could get a solid aim on the second guy, he shouted something in Arabic and suddenly you could hear chaos starting to ensue upstairs - all you could think was how the fuck you were going to do this now. Shooting the guy in the leg, he fell to the floor with a pained scream and you rushed out the hatch hearing several men shouting at each other. You could see Soap at an edge of a valley - it wasn't a far run, you could make this you were sure.

Without a second thought, you took off for the valley edge where you could see Soap prone aiming his gun. Suddenly bullets started to litter the ground around you and Soap could only do so much to fire back before they'd eventually get him to. Pulling the infamous smoke grenades from your belt you pulled the pin in one throwing it behind you and another one you threw in Soaps direction. With bullets still firing at nothing, you pushed your legs as fast as they'd go, and just as you got to where Soap was now stood, you felt a searing pain travel up your left arm.

"Fuck! Soap I've been hit" you gritted between clenched teeth, "carry on running, we need to find somewhere to bunker down for the next few hours while tensions calm".

Nodding his head in your direction, Soap continued forth with you in tow - you could both hear the men shouting from behind - they were gaining, but you were still ahead enough to hide. Feeling a hand grip your right arm, you were pulled into Soap's side in a crack big enough for the two of you. You could feel the beating of his heart and for a minute you felt yourself relax and just as you did the adrenaline started to wear off, and your arm was throbbing in pain.

Looking over Soap, he seemed to be okay - the stim hadn't worn off yet, and you still had another one for when it did.

Leaning his head down, you felt your heart pause - you felt yourself staring at his lips, wondering how they would feel pressed against your own, thinking that it'd be enough to distract you from the current pain you felt. You felt your hands running up his torso to lay on his chest, feeling his heart beat even faster if that was possible. He was warm despite the nipping breeze. Preparing to move your hand to his neck, Soap bent closer to your ear whispering for you to follow him. You felt stupid - of course, he wasn't about to kiss you in the middle of a mission, let alone ever - you had selfishly been misinterpreting his body's response as something else - he was hurt and tensions were high - you were stupid to think it had been anything to do with you. With that you dropped your arms back to your sides, flinching as you lower your right arm, and followed Soap deeper into this crack, seeing it led into a small cave - it was still cramped, but you'd live.

As you were about to open your mouth to speak, Soap placed his hand over it - silencing you from making any sound, clenching your thighs, you found yourself keening into his touch before coming back to your sense when you heard footsteps and Arabic being shared between people. Suddenly things got very real again and you felt Soap's over arm come across your waist and pull you into him - the both of you needed some sort of comfort right now, and the both of you relished in each other's warmth.

With quiet shallow breaths, the men passed by and you relaxed against Soap's chest. You felt safe with him behind you, you had been so anxious completing this mission that you felt back in your comfort zone being with Soap.

"Think we're okay now hen?" That stupid pet name he used had you smiling underneath the mask, you secretly loved how he only said it to you, but would always pretend it bothered you, which only made him tease you more.

With a staggered breath you turned to face him - you didn't realise how close you were, your noses almost touching but you didn't make the effort to move. "I think we're okay Johnny, for now at least, we'll wait a couple hours then I call for evac".

"How're you feeling?" you asked tentatively placing a hand under his cheek where there was a cut, careful not to press too hard - you never wanted to cause him pain.

Feeling bolder than usual, Soap placed a hand over yours that held his cheek - you felt your heart rate pick up, feeling his calloused skin run over your gloved hand and onto your wrist where your skin was exposed. He could feel the fast pulse within your wrist and wanted to ignore the dull ache in his body, noticing that the stim was starting to wear off. He stared into your open eyes, looking at him so full of admiration, and all he wanted to do was press his lips to yours in a searing kiss - so selfishly he wanted to distract himself with you. He'd seen you with your mask off once and the image was burned into his mind - he spent countless nights led in bed remembering how full your lips looked; how smooth your skin was - with a faded scar beneath your left eye; the way your hair perfectly parted down the middle with bangs that perfectly framed your face, and hair stopping at your shoulders; with a jaw so perfectly carved he wanted nothing more than to bury his face in the crook of your neck and place gentle kisses upon your jaw, trailing down to your neck - you were perfection to him, pure perfection and all those nights he'd relish in that memory thinking about your beauty, or fisting his hard cock - precum dripping from his tip as he imagined those full lips taking him in while he praised you from above as your doe eyes stayed locked on his.

Taking a sudden breath in as you felt the pain back in your arm, Soap was pulled from his thoughts with worry plastered over his face, "Oh yeah, I'm okay hen, the pain's starting to come back, but let's get you fixed up."

Even though he'd been through a torturous hell the last few days, your wellbeing was somehow on the forefront of his mind, it made your heart flutter unexpectantly. You couldn't allow him to sort you out first, you'd live, you'd been through much worse, but right now his wounds needed cleaning.

"No Soap, I need to clean your wounds before an infection starts to fester. Then we can attend to whatever I've got, but I'll live." He gave you a narrowed look, but the look you sent back made him remain silenced, you weren't going to let him help you.

Without much more talking you pulled your first aid kit from your back and asked him to remove his shirt. With a smirk he all but obliged and you rolled your eyes - Soap was still Soap. You noticed him struggling and helped him pull his gear over his head, placing it down next to him.

Staring at his body, all you wanted to do was admire him - despite all the marks that littered his torso, you thought he was the most beautiful man you had laid your eyes on. You saw his body stiffen and noticed the look of insecurity in his eyes, making you your face fall in sorrow - you didn't want him to feel like this, he didn't deserve to. Tracing his abs and some scars, you asked where it hurt most and he just let out a chuckle, "Everywhere hen, I couldn't tell you where to start".

Pulling the remaining stim out, you gave it to him and it again started to rapidly kick in. You took some disinfectant on a cloth and started to clean his wounds as he hissed in pain, letting small whimpers slip past his lips - you were doing everything not to clench your thighs right now, he was in pain, but the sounds coming from him were making you delirious - you'd be mad if you were to never make a move on this man - you'd dreamed of pulling those sounds from his mouth.

Feeling his hand grip your arm, you were pulled back to reality and continued cleaning him, whispering your apologies each time he'd grip your arm a bit tighter when it'd get too much for him to deal with. You wanted to press your lips to each wound and hope it'd cure his pain, you could see they had done a number on him, but luckily none of the wounds were too deep. You felt his ribs, seeing his skin was patched in a mix of purple and blue bruises - you could count 2 of them were broke, but a medic would have to confirm this. Placing gauze on his wound, you then wrapped his middle and placed your hand back on his chest - staring into his eyes.

"That any better Johnny?" you asked doe eyed, worry on your face that you hadn't done a good enough job.

"I dunno hen maybe a kiss would make me feel better." You felt yourself blush, you couldn't believe he was flirting with you out here, but maybe you actually had read the signs correctly earlier, maybe you weren't so stupid. Leaning down you pressed a lingering kiss to his head through the mask.

"Better now Johnny?" you asked, a smile forming on your face.

"A bit hen, just a bit" There was a pout on his face, you knew he wanted more, but you were on a mission and didn't want to risk your chances compromising it - you needed him to make it to the evac.

With a last stroke of his chest, you pulled back and helped him dress into his gear again. Turning away from the man you took a deep breath, you needed to get your head completely back into this misson.

"y/n?" you hummed back in response to him, "let me help you fix your arm up yeah?" You'd forgotten about the dull ache in your left arm and turned back to him with your medkit in hand.

In silence he gently took your arm into his own hands, you were only skimmed by the bullet luckily. He wet a new cloth in disinfectant and wiped over your wound, weary of your flinches, feeling guilty about the pain you were in. Wrapping your arm he ran his own hand up your arm placing it on the back of your neck, giving you reassuring strokes as you closed your eyes and leaned into his touch.

"You know I'm glad it's you that came Smoke" he admitted.

"Yeah?" you questioned back.

"Yeah." he confirmed staring sincerely into your eyes.

"You know I didn't originally want to come here Johnny. Price didn't give me much choice, to begin with, but when I found out it was you, I couldn't say no." you were building up a confession to him, hoping he'd read between the lines - you didn't want to admit to him directly how you felt, just in case you were wrong, you were full of doubt, suddenly becoming self-conscious under his gaze, "I was scared I was going to fuck it up like I fucked my last solo mission. I've been so scared I was going to get you killed this time, I still haven't forgiven myself for the rescue mission, you shouldn't have been the one to fix my failure Johnny, and this time I..." you felt yourself choking up, you didn't realise how deeply you really felt about things and found yourself pulling away, embarrassed at your confession.

Johnny could see how genuine you were being and it made his heart clench that you felt this way - he had been the first one to volunteer to go on the rescue mission - it was supposed to be Ghost's mission, but he convinced Price to let him go on it. He knows how scary of a day it was and how close to death you both were, but he'd do it again if it meant you were the last person he was with.

Pulling you back into him before you could pull yourself away too far, he brought your head to his chest carefully, making sure you weren't putting too much pressure on his torso. You were holding back your tears, you didn't want to break in front of him, but it was hard, a few escaped as his hand came up to cup the back of your head and stroke your hair gently. Without another word, Soap placed both hands on your masked cheeks and pulled you eye level to him, wiping the few tears that fell from your eyes with his thumbs. He didn't want to cross a line, and placed a tentative peck on your masked lips, watching as your eyes flutter closed. You couldn't believe it, without another thought you pulled your mask up, revealing your lips and nose, not feeling secure enough to completely remove it. Taking his chances, Soap placed his lips back onto your own, relishing in the feeling of the both of your lips moving in sync with each other. You felt in over your own head, keening into his body as the speed picked up between the both of you - small breaths getting caught between each other's lips. Soap moved his hand down to your neck, caressing the skin as he passed, and rested on your right breast, caressing it through your uniform. As his palming got needier, you let out a small moan, urging him to move from your lips to your jaw, placing gentle kisses before he nipped at your neck, being sure to leave small marks behind - he was marking you, and you had no issue with it, you'd let him mark your whole body in small love bites if he wanted to. With the both of your breaths picking up, and each other's hands getting needier for one another as a wetness started to pool between your thighs, making you clench them together - not going unnoticed by Soap who gave a deep chuckle at your desperation - a sudden dull shrill was sounded, echoing in the cave.

"Oh come on hen, do we really need evac yet?" you chuckled, pulling you mask back down and gave him a stern look.

"I'm sorry, but I think it's in both of our interests to call for evac - we both need medical attention; you more so, and we can always carry this on back at base hm" You stroked his pouting face, noticing the hardness in his jeans - you felt bad, but you knew you couldn't give into your own desires.

With one last huff from Soap, and a laugh from you, you called evac, and found they were about 40 minutes out. You'd probably been hold up in the small cave for a couple of hours and were sure it'd be safe to continue down the valley.

Pulling yourself up, and helping Soap to his feet, he gave you one last peck on your head, before you took lead, making sure it was safe to walk down the valley before pulling Soap alongside you.

In a comfortable silence, the both of you spent the next 30 minutes walking to the evac location, with no issue, apart from Soap almost tripping on a rock, which had you holding your laughter as he glared from your side.

The evac was close by - you could hear it. Soap pulled you from your thoughts staring into your eyes, "when we get back, we're not going to just forget this right?" you saw the vulnerability in his eyes and it made your heart ache.

"Johnny...no I- I would never do that to you, god no. I didn't go through all of this just to pull your leg and get back to base and ignore you like nothing had happened. I love you Johnny. I love you. I really do and I'm sorry it took me this long, I really am, I've been in denial for so long, just scared, but I'm ready and -"

"I love you too y/n, so fucking much" you could see his eyes well up at your confession, "I'm sorry it took me this long too, I think about that rescue mission a year ago all too much and find myself regretting every passing second where I didn't admit how much I cared about you, and while I was down there getting beat, all I could think about was how I potentially wasn't going to see you again."

You placed a hand on his cheek, bringing your heads together gently, "Johnny, I'd never let you die, never. I'd risk it all for you. We'll head back to base, get cleaned up, then we'll discuss things more okay? But I'm not letting you go - not now, not ever" and with that he placed a final kiss to your head just as the evac came into view.

Holding onto Soap, you helped him onto the evac as it landed - you knew he was perfectly capable, but you wanted to be close to him - it was an excuse.

~~~Time skip~~~

Back in England, you were both at the base - you having been treated by the medic quickly, and Soap having to stay for probably the next few days.

The nurse had relayed Price wanted you in his office for a debrief - you wanted to check in with Soap desperately but knew he was in safe hands, so you made your way to Price.

With a knock on the door you walked in without waiting for a response - you were so exhausted you didn't think.

"Yes, Seargent y/l/n, please come in, don't wait for me," Price said with a sarcastic tone to his voice. You laughed and gave a small apology to which Price gave a small smile to you in return.

"I told you, you'd do it" That bastard you thought, he was wearing a cocky smile on his face, and giving you a sympathetic stare at the same time. "Smoke, I put you on the mission for a reason - we've all seen the way you look at Johnny, we knew you'd get him out alive." They knew this whole time how you felt, were you really that obvious.

All you could do was respond with a quiet "oh" embarrassed at the fact the whole task force was able to read to you so clearly and had done for so long.

"Smoke. Work relations bring a lot of issues," you tried to interrupt, you didn't want to lose your only chance of happiness and contentment, but Price silenced you before you could get anything out, "hold on Smoke. While typically it can cause issues, I've pulled some strings for you and Soap, and you can both remain on the task force, while having relations if that's what you both want - you just need to keep your love lives separate from your work lives when your out on the field, okay?"

You instantly agreed, of course you and Soap could do that - neither of you would ever want to jeopardise your jobs, so you shook on the agreement to not let each other interfere with your jobs - you could be coworkers and lovers. With a goodbye, Price excused you and you were back at Soap's side who was sleeping peacefully - you knew he needed it after everything he'd been put through.

Sitting in the chair placed next to his bed, you took a hold of his hand, kissing the top of it before you too fell victim to exhaustion, closing your eyes, holding the hand of the man you loved.

[vivilove-jonsa]

Hello,

Since you've published a book I was wondering if I may ask a couple question?

Does it feel different from writing fanfictions?

Do you find your self relating to GRRM's pace of writing like the long years between books?

How did you like your covers for your original works? Did it take long to pick out?

This is just crack question but any chance there's a minor red headed character with her dark haired partner? You know as a little Easter egg jk. But in all seriousness we always knew you could sell your works and I'm glad you took the chance!

Hello!

Wow, I'm flattered that you want to know this stuff so thank you for asking! I'll happily answer each one below the cut :)

Does it feel different from writing fanfictions?

Yes. The joy of writing is still very much with me but there's some major differences and things I've had to adapt to when looking to sell books as an unknown author versus writing fanfic for a pairing that people are seeking out. The biggest is the wait for validation. Can't post a chapter of an idea, see how people respond and start crafting a story from there. You write the whole damn novel with little to no input from anyone else and then put it out there for critique before publishing.

It may sound weird but I've found more freedom writing original works in some ways and more restrictions in others.

The restrictions involve more planning, outlining and plotting. I have to stay on track instead of indulging in Side-Character B's backstory or a secondary romance, etc. Also, I would hop from genre to genre with my AUs and, while there are authors doing that I'm sure, it's not a safe bet for a newbie looking to make money. So, I found a niche in contemporary romance that I enjoy reading and writing and I dove in. I'll probably tackle another niche with a new pen once I've got ten or so books under my belt with the current pen name to try it out.

The freedoms involve making my characters whoever they tell me they are. No one will scream 'that's OCC!' because these are my characters. There's no trappings of canon or expectations in that sense either although romance readers tend to have favored tropes, etc and they expect you to stick to the 'formula of romance.' Also, I miss talking fic with other writers and fans of my Jonsa works as there's more distance between me as an author and people who read my books. Don't get me wrong, I love interacting with some of them who have reached out but the gap is there and it can feel lonelier.

Do you find yourself relating to GRRM's pace of writing like the long years between books?

No, lol. This is a side hustle for me but a romance writer would starve going at his pace unless you had that miracle hit right off the bat (which is soooooo rare) and even then you need to keep producing product to keep from becoming obsolete. I started my first novel February 1st last year. I will have FIVE completed by February 1st of this year. I'm shooting to average a book every 3 months this year at least. It takes me roughly six to eight weeks to write it and the remaining time goes into editing, formatting and submitting for ARC reviews. Quality AND quantity are the name of the game to earn money. In GRRM's defense though, my books average 75k words and one of those five was a novella at 40k words. And my books are romance centering on two individuals which are far less complicated to tell than his enormous fantasy opus with a cast of hundreds.

How did you like your covers for your original works? Did it take long to pick out?

Yes, I love them! The cover of your book is the single most important part of your passive marketing and you want your book to be as to-market as possible to attract readers in your genre and niche. My niche involves hot guys in suits on the covers and my dear friend made them for me except one which I paid a graphic artist $75 to do an illustrated cover for. Anyway, we would tinker and talk about the color or font, the placement of the title, etc. but, for me at least, this was a simple process. Some self-published folks spend far more time working on theirs or might pay hundreds of dollars on them but mine seem to draw eyes just fine. Maybe once I'm making bank more steadily I'll consider farming this out to a pro.

Any chance there's a minor red headed character with her dark haired partner?

Absolutely!! In fact, my first book includes a pairing that looks suspiciously like Jonsa (I changed the eye color for her and gave him Kit's brown eyes though). Partly, that's because the original idea for the book was going to be a Jonsa story until I decided to switch gears. My third book has a guy that fits Jon's description and my novella includes elements of Sansa's love of songs and such in the female lead. It's fun to have bits of the characters I love in my books even when they're my own creations.

Thanks so much for this delicious ask! Lots of fun to answer <3

[yichens]

for the ask game: 4, 8, 12, 21

aliii ♥ thank you so much for this ^^

4. What do you enjoy about making graphics?

tbh i enjoy the whole process - after am done with screenshotting and choosing the images i will use. that part is a pain. but otherwise? i am having so much fun. it is insane how much of a kick i get from something so simple :'D but if i had to choose an exact favorite part out of everything, i think it's either coloring (for edits where colors play a big part, like i.e. the bb seasons one) or the details (for edits where i end up adding stuff that isn't just the pictures, i.e. my danyok edit where i actually liked writing down their dialogue for the ripped paper parts). i also love research which has translated into a lot of symbolism edits lately ^^ (also i have at least three more ideas for things like this bc apparently i love reading about random things online)

8. Your favorite graphic created by yourself

oh boy hmm. i love my latest one bc it was very different from the edits i've been making for bb. my personal fave out of the pics is the one for kryptonite! it was a struggle but looks so nice now. then i also gotta mention this seanwhite edit bc i just grow all soft every time i look at it. it was fun working on the overlays and i think they came out nicely ^^

my absolute favorite edits i've made so far are the sets (1 & 2) i made for dew the movie. i love that movie so, so much, and bc of the emotional connection, these edits are very important to me. i also like how they capture the vibes of the whole movie :')

12. Font(s) you like using

i have a ton! and i try using new fonts all the time. tho i of course have some i always return to. current favorites are:

basic fonts: Quicksand / Josefin Sans / Lemon Milk which all are kind of similar, just simple and clean fonts for basic text

curvy fonts: Adriatne / Crehme Honstlan / Dancing Love / Modena Script / Roses Please / The Scientist which are all big and have long lines that seem to curve nicely around the edits, so to speak. especially Modena Script is one of my go to -fonts if i want the highlighted words to Take Space

brush fonts: Beardies / Castedral / Chasing Embers / Garland / Halcyon / Julya / Mind Rush which i don't use that often anymore but at some point, i was actually obsessed with all these bold brush fonts. now they feel like a bit too much but they still find their way to me sometimes

bold fonts: Al Veshion / Athene / Black Gold / Glimmer of Light / Grozery / NT Josefine which i use A Lot. i have found a new love for this type of bold fonts. they look cool and clean and i can always add effects to them myself (if am not fond of the ligatures)

21. How much time do you spend on a single graphic?

does "single" mean like one image or one sets? i'll take that as one set bc i usually finish the set at once after i start working on it.

but hmm, if i count in the time it takes for me to take screenshots, i'd say maybe 6-8 hours? it depends of course on how long the edit is/how many images the set has, how many details i need to work on, and if my plan for the edit is very detailed or not. for example, my bb sun & moon edit took only a couple of hours bc it's only two images and i had quite clear plans for it (i also had the screenshots ready in my folders haha). then again, the not me seven deadly sins edit actually took 2 days and maybe 10-ish hours (i have not counted really, might be more) plus all the research i did for it during the week. i had plans for it but they kept changing and there were so many details, oh boy. also i failed the white edit once bc i used the wrong colors for him :'D i saved the other version bc i liked how it looked and was kind of sad i had to abandon it, so take it here:

(wrong color bc i somehow got the sloth and gluttony colors mixed up in my head hhh probably bc my initial plan for white was sloth)

thank you once more ^^ this was fun! also a great way to avoid writing my last essay of the semester lol. hopefully this was fun to read too!

ask me graphic maker questions!

[dilirebas]

I saw yangdi in same places in the weibo posts and it go viral for them but leidi also had same place in their posts (maybe same hotel). Whoever Dilraba choose I am happy but I still root for leidi very much (sorry english is not too good)

No worries, your English is fine! (Long post incoming, sorry)

I'm sure whoever she dates will be the right choice for her, and if she prefers to be single that's great too! That being said, YangDi shippers are disrespectful and delusional. Dilraba is out there working so hard to kill this ship and they just ignore her. Maybe these shippers love YY themselves so they don't care about how she feels and what she says, idk..

The things that YangDi shippers get excited about are so funny lol. Celebrities are travelling all the time and it's inevitable that they'll end up visiting the same places at some point. It's their teams that arrange these things. So when LeiDi work in the same locations all I think is, okay they happened to work in the same locations. It's not complicated.

Anon, if you don't mind some comparisons... ;)

30 and 88 always wore matching outfits when promoting TLB, and there were 2 times when 88 styled her own hair (braids for Happy Camp and pigtails for 5/4). 88 and YY always wore unrelated outfits when promoting YAMG, including a big and fluffy dress that 88 said "keeps everyone far away from me".

Whenever 30's dramas finish airing, his studio publishes a graphic with the stats, and they include a list of phrases that trended on weibo when the drama was airing. When TLB finished airing, 30 and 88's studio published matching graphics in that format, and they both included a bunch of trends about GeSun's cute moments. When YAMG finished airing, it seems like YY's studio decided to copy the template, and he included a bunch of trends about JingTu moments. 88's studio published her graphic with only QJJ's solo trends. It made YAMG sound like a drama about QJJ's career with zero romance lol... The studios were clearly not on the same page about this.

As for 88 herself.. When they asked her to describe YY, she called him a "positive boy" and said that he laughs really easily. When they asked her to describe 30 and the character of A'Sun, she literally didn't say anything about A'Sun, just started talking about how she thinks 30's future girlfriend will be lucky, how he took care of her, etc. and her answer was so long that whenever LeiDi fans put her answer in a fanvid, they always edit this clip to 2x speed. She also said the 30 was the only actor that didn't make any comments about her weight when he lifted her, and he was able to pick her up and spin her around and put her back down easily. She said this after she finished filming YAMG, so... either YY made comments about her weight or she forgot about YY.

It's possible she forgot, because she doesn't really keep memories about past dramas in her head. In one of her interviews they asked her about a story that YY told them, and she literally couldn't remember it happening. But she remembers so many random details from TLB including playing rock paper scissors with 30, which scenes they shot at what times, 30 getting a heat stroke, 30 eating her yogurt snack, etc. She definitely has favourites between her dramas. She has said many times that TLB is special to her and it changed her.

Every time they asked her about her experience filming YAMG she said that it was just work, and everyone was working hard. When they told her that YY was shy about kissing her and asked if she felt shy, she said, "No, why would I feel anything? It's just two characters interacting." When asked about her experience filming TLB she said it was a happy set to be on. When asked about what it was like to film the roof scene, she turned to 30 and said, "I was just telling them that your future girlfriend will be lucky!"

On Happy Camp, they were guessing what everyone's number represented and 30's number was 94.44. She was able to guess that 94.44 was the number of kilometres that 30 had biked, and that was the only correct guess anyone made in the entire game, and still no one knows how she knew.

She said that she and 30 chat about places to travel, food to eat, and fun things to do. She said it in the present tense, so they kept in contact after filming. They were also messaging TLB memes to each other while the drama was airing, and she sent 30 multiple memes of him topless. I guess an interviewer got inspired by this during YAMG promotions because she asked 88 and YY which of them sends more memes. They were both like ...... so it kind of got revealed on the livestream that they don't chat.

Visually, she has said that she prefers a guy that works out, because if he doesn't have a good physique it'll feel like "he's not very young". I'm not saying anything negative about YY's physique (don't come at me for this) but 88's fans have commented on it lol.... Meanwhile, 30's physique speaks for itself. Also when she drew a picture of 30, she wrote the word "handsome" on his face.

Look, I'm not trying to say anything about how 88 feels about 30 because none of us know for sure. It's very possible that she's single and still waiting for the perfect guy. But purely in terms of comparison, it's pretty obvious that she's closer to 30 and he's more her type.

Notice how the examples I raised were all public information and stuff that came out of her own mouth. YangDi shippers are out there making these wild guesses, meanwhile 88 has already spoken for herself.

[coupsnim]

Hi Izzie, it's me your secret carat again! sorry it took so long to send another ask Hope you've had a lovely week and will have a great weekend :)

I'm still a baby carat so it's always nice to meet more veteran fans! I personally knew about them since their debut because my friends really liked them and casually listened to them for years. Didn't properly get into them until pretty recently tho but I'm glad I'm finally here! Better late then never, right? 😂

I won't name any specific members cuz that will more than likely give away my identity lol But the member who originally caught my attention are now pretty low on my bias list and my biases were ones I never expected to bias one of them exactly my type tho i just like to be in denial sdklfjgdfsg

As for fave titles tracks, I think we have the exact same ones! For bsides I absolutely love Shadow, Anyone, Flower, ODIHTD, and I Don't Know. And so many more tbh, their discography is truly amazing <333

Some new questions: How did you get into making content? Do you prefer making gifs, grfx, or art more? What are some of your favourite Seventeen concepts and what's one you would love for them to try?

hiii 🧡

noo please don't be sorry! I appreciate you took the time to write to me 😊

my week was okay but I was out all weekend and didn't have time to reply, sorry about that! hope you had a great weekend as well

I love all the songs you mentioned as well! totally biased opinion, but I think seventeen has one of the best discographies in kpop. there are maybe one or two songs that I usually skip but other than that I love all of them ahah

I think I first started making gifs around 2011-2012? I joined tumblr because of doctor who and saw a tutorial on how to make gifs - I tried it out and it was quite fun, so when I rejoined tumblr around 2017 and created a kpop blog I started making gifs again first for groups like shinee and wonder girls and then for seventeen too. however, I only started creating gfxs after I made this blog, I saw so many great creations of other carats and was inspired to make my own 😊 my dad is a graphic designer and he taught me how to use photoshop a long time ago but I mostly used it for photo editing ahah

I love making gfx, way more than making gifs, but it's been a while since I posted something here because I feel that nothing looks good ahah I have lost my touch, I believe. I do have the urge to delete everything I made each time I go on my gfx tag ahah

I love drawing too, but it's also quite dangerous for me because once I start a new project I can't stop until I'm done ahah and since I I can't take time off of work to draw, I usually only do it when I'm on holiday

my favourite seventeen concept? fallin' flower and home;run, probably. everything about fallin' flower is perfect, the song, the choreo and the whole vibe of the mv, but I also liked the theme for the home;run mv, it was fun and so seventeen (if that makes sense?). I'm just sad that they didn't reflect it in the album design too 😔

honestly they already fulfilled my every wish with fallin' flower when it comes to concepts, so it's hard for me to answer this question. however, I really liked the concept for their photobook 'social club' so maybe something similar would be cool? or maybe something inspired by a noir movie?

what about you? 😊

this reply turned out so long, I'm so sorry ahah hope you have a great day!

[fanatichistory]

The Dark Within Part 20

*Edited

Masterlist1 Masterlist2

This is it! The END!!!! Well, the end of Harbor City from Maven and Deimos’s story points of view lol I will be writing a lot more of Harbor City and everyone in it sooooo....no worries teehee.

It’s also really, really long too so heads up there as everything is wrapped up ^.^’

CW: Deimos is villain caretaker only to Maven, whumper to everyone else, Maven is Sidekick/former hero, some fluff/slight suggestive themes at the end with Maven & Deimos (don’t worry they’re not graphic but they do finally have their first kiss :D), tw smoking moment,

Deimos blinked awake slowly as light and sound came back. The soft plush of the couch from the cushioned his body...his body. 

It no longer burned. The jackhammer had turned off, the smell was gone for the most part and as he bolted upright into the sitting position with a hand to his head he felt the locks of his hair. 

Confusion instantly swept over him when another hand joined his and carded through his hair, a soft shushing noise sounded though it was muffled and ringing in his ear.

The bleary shape was that of a small woman and he instantly grabbed the hand she was carding through his hair and pushed it away. There were more shapes in the background, moving back and forth that she would occasionally turn too or wave an arm at.

Her arms came back to him as his vision became more focused and he was able to make out more of her features.

"Maven."

He pulled her face closed to his to make sure he was seeing correctly, not caring that his voice broke on her name or that the moving blobs in the background were people who were seeing a potential weakness of his.

A problem for another day.

"How?" 

Maven rested a hand on his cheek, knowing all that he was asking in that one word. How did they make it out? How was he alive? How is he not scarred? How is she alive? The usual. She tried not to chuckle as she layed him back down on the couch and continued to heal him.

"You're not out of the woods yet boss, I'm still healing you." She grew concerned when he simply layed there and watched her as she snapped her fingers in front of his face to test his senses. 

"Boss? Can you hear me, Boss?"

"Barely...But it's getting better." He reached up to play with her long hair as he reassured her. Breathing a sigh of relief, Maven continued working on healing him.

"How?" Deimos reiterated when she didn't elaborate from earlier. He watched her bite her lip nervously and knew instantly there were others in the room with them. "I see..."

His vision snapped back into focus and the others in the room came into clear view in the dim light. It was the other villains of the group and they were waiting for further instruction it would seem.

Oh what a time...

Deimos sat up, raising a hand and giving a 'forgive me smirk' to Maven when she protested, as he addressed the the group. 

"Several of you are missing...please tell me it is because they are guarding the restrained heroes and watching over the children." He hated how tired and worn out his voice sounded, it wasn't the strong voice of a leader he was hoping to be, but he did just nearly burn to a crispy critter. Again. Something that seems to happen quite often around his little hero.

"You're correct boss, we only lost 5 Heroes, 3 Villains and 1 Civilian today. The rest are restrained with the rest of the group downstairs, we just don't know where to put them."

Deimos almost chuckled when they took after calling him boss just like Maven but was saddened to hear that they did lose people today. "The civilian?"

"A doorman. Got in the way."  Another villain piped up, leaning against the wall. "It couldn't be avoided, they escaped they're restraints and fought like hell when we blocked the kids in the room. Wouldn't listen to reason." They added when Deimos had pierced them with a look.

"Then it could have been avoided." Deimos stood on legs that were steady and strong now thanks to Maven's healing abilities. He couldn't kill the villain over a doorman though, that was bad politics. He had no choice but to move on to the next task. Though he did make note of the Villain for some future shit detail.

"The warehouse we gathered at before the fight is where I want you all to bring everyone. That is my base and is now everyone's new home for the time being."

He held up a hand to halt the protests. "Until we clear this building of all it traps, from top to bottom, and can officially take it over."

"So I take it joining your group is a forever thing now?" Villain piped up from his hidden corner. Always chafing against Deimos's direction and leadership. 

He was the second villain from that night when Deimos had went around the city putting on a show, the one that had questioned him rather than be terrified of him. This villain was the type to still question while somehow keep his head attached.

Maven had pointed him out as a recommendation for right hand along with two others when things with Maelstrom didn't pan out. 

She also warned him that he could be problem and potential threat if the two didn't get on the same page and find common ground soon enough. That the others listened to him as well. 

It reminded Deimos of his villainy days from back home that he grew up with raised under Supervillains tutelage. Only this villain was far more serious and focused than the one Deimos grew up with in Supervillain's penthouse.

"It always was." Deimos responded with a grim smile. "I called it a takeover for a reason."

Deimos strode around the room which was still nice and dimly lit the way he liked and knew Maven was looking out for him as the shadows grew in strength. Prepared at the ready to protect him if needed, as always. 

"So...boss, or shall we call you City Councilman?" Villain continued, venom lacing their tone as he stepped forward with their lip curled.

"Boss will do just fine but it's still early." Deimos flicked his wrist as the shadows coiled around Villain's body and restrained him against the wall while simultaneously gagging him from further while he turned to address the rest of the villains and sidekicks.

"The Academy has power dampener cuffs and bracelets. I want every Hero, Sidekick and Civilian restrained down there wearing one before we move them. Team A is in charge of getting the vans from the garage packed and ready with supplies, we're going to go through them with the amount of people we will be having." Deimos waved off Team A as they went to pack the vans with enough food and medicine for almost 100 people. 

Which was only enough to last them all 2 days. Rationed. If the calculations in his head were correct based off of memory from previous intel and that’s providing nothing had changed or was destroyed in the attack to change those numbers.

"Team B you're in charge of supply. Naturally, we're not on anyone's nice list but we need those supplies. No killing anyone who doesn't deserve it. I don't want a repeat of the doorman. Is that understood?" The shadows wrapped around the throats of each individual member of Team B as he spoke and squeezed tighter while he continued speaking to emphasize his point as he pierced daggers into the eyes of the careless villain from earlier. 

When their eyes about bugged out of their skulls he let them go as they gasped for air and choked on their hands and knees while he heard Maven quietly giggle behind him.

"I don't condone wasteful killing. There is no gain in it. Now, Team B, we need food and medical supplies pronto so you will 'liberate' a food delivery trailer and take one of the vans and raid one of the medical warehouse for some basic first aid and trauma kits." Deimos stepped forward in front of them as they got to their shakily and looked about themselves while nodding at him. 

"I'll also need you to pick up insulin, needles, and all the goodies that go with checking your blood sugar. We have 14 children who are diabetic and will need it tomorrow so do not waste time, this is important and time sensitive. Understood?"

"Those kids will get their insulin boss." The villain in charge of the team said, still a bit sheepish and too nervous to make eye contact yet. 

"Just see that you mind my rules while you do so. I know having a crash course isn't fair but once we get settled I'll be sure to go over them so there is no confusion in the future." Deimos promised with a wide grin to them as reassurance as he sent Team B off to their mission.

Team C was all that was left, aside from D and E being downstairs with the kids and the restrained Heroes.  

"I want you in charge of putting power dampeners on all the children and prisoners. The children get bracelets, they don't come off either and are functionally the same but I don't want them to feel like our prisoners."

"Even though they are?" One of them asked hesitantly as uncomfortable as everyone else about the matter.

"I can't have them homeless and running around on the street at the mercy of who knows what. We know what's out there, that it isn't just the Academy, but the kids don't know that. I want to preserve what little childhood they have left. Care to indulge a soft-hearted villain that much?" He asked them.

"Of course boss." Team C responded before they took turns adding.

"Yeah, we were just curious."

"And glad to know you're not...you know...bad bad...you know..." 

Deimos laughed aloud at them and sent them on their way, telling them to inform that Teams D and E were to coordinate with A on transporting everyone to the warehouse and once done with that then their team was in charge of dismantling the booby-traps floor by floor once everyone was wearing their bracelets/dampeners and being transported by the remaining teams.

Once everyone had gone that left Deimos, Maven and Villain still strapped and gagged to the wall by his shadows in the room alone.

Now that everyone had their marching orders and Deimos had a second to breathe while he figured out how to reach and talk to Villain to get on the same page with when an acrid smell permeated the room and wafted through his nostrils.

How had he not noticed the smell of nicotine sooner? 

He spun around looking wildly to find it's source only to find it sitting on the couch in the form of Maven who was currently zoned out and puffing away on a menthol cigarette as if she smoked them everyday.

Deimos stood stone still as he watched her. 

She sat hunched over, one leg over the other with the foot bouncing. A faraway look in her eyes as she took long drags before reaching out to the ashtray and flicking the ash off into the dish when she caught his gaze. 

A slow, predatory smile spread on her face as she held his eyes and trapped them in her own. At least he felt trapped there. Her behavior wasn't her own and he knew it. Never once had she smoked before, first and foremost, and second she would never behave in a way such a this. It was too much like...

"Take a picture, it'll last longer."

Deimos blood turned to ice when Maven spoke those all to familiar words and he felt his concentration falter, releasing his grip on Villain as his shadows let go.

Villain who was watching the whole thing quietly, with no clue as to the context as to what was going on. Only that it involved the past of a dangerous man and that the small woman on the couch had changed in the span of a moment.

Villain knew her from the rooftop, that she was both bubbly and shy, if that combo could ever be a thing. Maven is what he seemed to call her on several occasions today, though Villain was knew her as Shadow from that rooftop. That was further confirmed when Deimos called her that name, Maven, again as he stepped forward with an arm outstretched towards her.

And just like that, she blinked and made a face at the cigarette she was smoking and fanned the smoke away from her face in disgust. Jumping to her feet and eyes widening at the number of butts already in the ashtray without her knowing only heightened her fear. She wasn’t sure which villain she got them off of either.

"Deimos...I-I'm so sorry. I don't know what's h-happening..." 

Villain took a tentative step forward towards her which earned the immediate attention of Deimos who put himself between them.

"I want to help." Villain raised his hands in surrender as he glanced between them. Wondering why he should want to. He should really just get the heck out while Deimos was distracted with her.

"We still have issues to work out. To get on the same page."

Villain laughed and raised a brow at that. "You mean you weren't just going to kill me outright? " Guess Deimos was still adamant about working together...

"I'm trying something new today. Maybe." 

"I'm usually-usually trying to dis-dissuade him from killing without r-reasons..." Her voice was still stuttering and panicky.

Deimos was still watching Maven like a hawk as she nervously paced about the dim room. Effective at dodging furniture in the low lighting now thanks to her time with him.

In a way he was relieved that her stuttering was back. That meant it was her and not...him...his own Superhero nightmare. The one that had tortured and ran the rehabilitation program Deimos was in when he was first arrested as a boy.

Villain glanced between the two, briefly wondering if they were ‘official’ or not before deciding not to bring it up and instead move on to the matter at hand so as to get business out of the way and head out.

"Right, you said you wanted to get on the same page? So let's talk then and fast because I want to help her and I think I might be able to. I don't think you'll give me the information I need to, to determine if I can until we are on the same page so let's get it over with then." Deimos turned back to him with a dark smile that no doubt promised pain if Villain wasn't careful and minded his place.

"Alright. Talk." Deimos simply demanded as he guided Maven back to the couch as he sat them both down. He began to rub calming circles on her arm as she leaned her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes as if her head hurt.

Villain was growing in concern that with her healing abilities...no. Villain needed to focus and not worry.

"What are you're plans for the city... exactly. In terms of running it, I mean. Will it be like Supervillain from Florens City? Or is it going to be Old Town all over again?" 

Deimos took his time to take in Villains body language before answering him. Most Villains around here had no idea that the Supervillain from Florens was the same Supervillain who raised him and popped in to visit him from time to time.

Of course being the telepath that Supervillain is helps in concealing her identity and keeping their connection a secret so that Deimos could forge a name for himself like he always wanted.

Old Town, however, was a genuine concern a lot of villains had whenever they plotted whole town or city wide takeovers of any degree.

If they couldn't broker a peace treaty with the government in some way, through any kind of means, that usually meant said government sent a nuclear missile to wipe everyone out. That not only left everyone dead but an inhabitable wasteland for hundreds of years that also had repercussions on the surroundings cities and environment no one wanted and were understandably afraid of.

"I have yet to work things out with the government." He answered finally in truth.

Villain groaned and dragged a hand down his face in worry. The events of the day couldn't be undone and the government would send their agents to figure out what was going on here to to speak with them, or rather Deimos. The fate of Harbor City was in the hands of the city's youngest and most feared villain?

The newly minted Supervillain?

The shadow tendril from earlier had wrapped it's way around his throat once again as Villain caught sight of Electron through the door. He was cuffed and still unconscious, the two villains...were they all sidekicks now? Anyway, the two had Electron by his shoulders and under his arm as they dragged him to the elevator as the doors dinged open. 

The knot in his gut twisting further as he wondered why Electron was the only board council member spared and what was to be done with him. The air in his throat closed off as the tendril tightened it's hold when it didn't get the desired reaction from Villain and he choked, reaching up to try and wrench it away as he turned back to Deimos who was watching him with unblinking eyes as he released him.

"Good to finally have your undivided attention." He murmured dangerously low, brushing back Maven's long hair as he gently layed her off to the side. She had fallen asleep on him.

"I saved Electron for you. Thought you might want to work some final words out with your brother before I kill him." Villain blinked in surprise at the blunt delivery but was otherwise unfazed that Deimos knew his secret.

"You had her gather intel on everyone up on the rooftop the other night." Villain stated it so it wasn't really a question Deimos bothered with an answer as Villain continued.  "We have the same powers too, Electron and I, only mine are different. More passive. Growing up I could only affect electronics, turning them off and on and the like, or reading electric currents. My brother was the true gift. He could do so much more...always could..."

Deimos was silently listening as he leaned forward on his knees, his eyes tracking Villain's pacing as he told his story, now that Maven was stable and resting he surmised he had the time to hear Villain’s story. 

Deimos was already aware of his powers and the fact that they were brothers but he had no idea of the beef that was between the two and he was listening intently.

"That why they call me Glitch. Because my electric powers are weak compared to my brother and I always failed all my tests. Electronics go haywire around me. Everyone says I shouldn't have been born." Villain/Glitch cried out in pain and threw his up as he spun to meet Deimos's unflinching gaze. 

"I really am a Glitch!"

Slowly rising from the couch so as not to disturb Maven and wake her as she restlessly slept and walked over to him and stood in front him. Villain/Glitch was shaking with fear, having shared his story and waiting for Deimos's judgement, when Deimos pulled him into a hug that had Villain/Glitch's eyes practically bugging out of his skull but not from lack of air.

Villain/Glitch had not expected it, had not expected himself to share such a vulnerable part of his history either but felt the need to after having seen his older brother being dragged away as a prisoner and feeling like he could be next at the rate Deimos was taking over things in Harbor City. 

But he did not expect the boogeyman to hug.

Pulling away and giving him a reassuring pat, Deimos looked him dead in the eye while the back of his hand held Villain/Glitch's head in place so the man couldn't look away.

"You are not a Glitch. And you are not weak. You were just raised to think you were, understand? You have powers I don't think even you know you have...powers that make you useful, that make you matter...Kye."

He flinched hard when Deimos said his name, his real name, proving that Maven was just that good at intel and that he had everyone's real name. Yet he couldn't look away from the unblinking eyes that stared into him and promised him... home.

A place within this city.

"Kye, do you know about your energy manipulation powers?" Deimos abruptly let him go and stepped back as he allowed Kye his space back to breathe again.

Kye blinked back hot tears and ran a shaky hand down his pant leg as he nodded. The stress of the day and the current topic was certainly getting to him. Not to mention the uncertainty of tomorrow didn't help...

"Good. You're going to save Maven." Deimos knew he was rushing it a bit but he had too. Her sleep became fitful and didn't sit well with him especially after her behavior earlier. She had perfectly mimicked him, his own Superhero torturer who was in charge of his rehabilitation program when he was first arrested as a juvenile.

"I don't understand...and you're not going to call me by my civilian name in front of the others are you? You're still going to call me Glitch?" Kye asked him apprehensively as he stepped forward to the couch and crouched, leaning back out of the way when Maven rolled over as her arm flopped in the direction of his head.

"You don't want a different villain name? I can gift you one as the new boss. You've earned it today. Everyone has."

"Well...I'll think about it. But for now just Glitch."

"As you wish." Deimos folded his arms nervously and sat on the arm of the couch on the other end by Maven's feet as Kye placed a tentative hand on her sweaty forehead as he closed his eyes.

"So what's with all these different colors? What did she all absorb?" He turned to Deimos, eyes still closed and scrunched in confusion. Deimos could see them move back in forth beneath the lids as if he was trying to keep up with something or see, he wasn't sure which. 

"What are you talking about? What colors? What are you seeing?" Deimos's world revolved around what he could see and touch. It had nothing to do with energy or whatever 'colors' Kye was talking about.

"Tch. Okay, forget the color thing then. That's an energy/electric power person thing to understand I guess. What did she absorb?" Kye tone was back to his usual gruff and chaffing self, which was nice and all, except for the matter at hand.

"Not what, who...and three of them." 

Kye broke contact then and turned to look at him with his mouth hung open in shock and fear.

"You look like villains don't normally kill people." Deimos chuckled.

"People like us...we shouldn't kill people like this. It's dangerous and that’s what's hurting her." Kye leaned back when Maven grumbled and turned over in her sleep. "She's lucky though, she’s already gotten through the worst of it on her own without dying. Now it’s just processing the memories which is normally done during sleep like this, so she is out of the woods you could say. But you have to understand... absorbing the energy core of one person is enough to potentially kill oneself with the overload of information-"

"She killed three in that way." Deimos interrupted as he got to his feet as upset and worry set in his body. She killed three that way and enjoyed it. Which scared him.

"And she's only restless and disgruntled. Like I said, she's lucky." Kye sat back on his heels and studied Maven's back of the head in thought.

"What's the overload of information you were talking about?" Deimos asked him, pressing for as much information as he could get since he knew Maven didn’t know and was learning much of her powers by the seat of her pants.

He should have stopped her sooner, power dampeners be damned.

"Some people can flow the life energy of another into their own. Like Maven can. Life energy consists of health energy, memories, thoughts and abilities." Kye explained as he got up from his crouched position.

"Wait. I knew about the first three, but abilities?"  The puzzle pieces were slowly clicking back into place and he wondered how much Maven even knew about herself or if she was only just finding this out along the way. And if she did just find it out then why didn't she share it with him?

"Got chairs around here?" Kye asked instead of answering as he looked around the dim room. 

Deimos scoffed before suddenly remembering that unlike him, he couldn’t see so well in the dim light and flicked his hand at the shadows as they did his bidding. The large room was in fact one of the many meeting rooms on this floor and the wall was lined with chairs.

The wooden table standing tall and leaning against it out of the way which opened the whole area while Deimos was giving commands earlier so he had the shadows move the conference table and chairs back in place. Gently setting it in place as Maven whimpered softly in her sleep on the couch behind him.

With another flick he sent a shadow to get a blanket from down below and lift from the linen closets from the lower sub floors of the Academy and drape it over her, effectively tucking her in while Kye took a seat in one of the chairs that the shadows had finished setting up now that the conference room looked like it had originally before the group moved everything off to the side to make room when he was passed out.

He was still unsure all that transpired in that time and needed Maven to recover to fill in the blanks for him. More than that though he needed her to be well.

"So, every living thing has an energy core right? It's what houses the life energy of that being. And life energy is what stores all the things that make up a person." Kye explained as he leaned an arm on the table. He tried not to appear bored, truth was he was tired as hell, he just didn't want it to come across that that way as he tried to explain what was inherently understood on a fundamental level to all people who’s abilities connected with it. 

"Including their habits? Like smoking for example?" Kye nodded as Deimos sucked in a breath and took one of the seats himself as he, too, leaned an arm heavily on the table.

"And it will be like that for all three of them. " Kye continued as dread filled Deimos's gut. "Their habits, manner's of speech, their powers...I mean, they're all hers now. She absorbed them. That's why it's so dangerous.”

Kye pressed hoping that his new Supervillain boss understood and wouldn’t push Maven. That the two Superheroes and one Hero, that three people, were dangerous enough. That he had enough power now through her and to not push her further than she could handle and ultimately kill her.

"What happens when an overload is too much?" Deimos asked, almost unsure he wanted the answer. Deimos was unaware of Kye’s misgivings with him, fearful that he will view them as the Academy did, as Maven was the one who would always be the one to tell him such things when the Villains around him got to good with their poker faces.  

On that note...

Under the table and without the knowledge of Kye, Deimos waved his hand and made a tiny shadow that gently made it's way to her and settled on the back of her shoulder like a tiny black dot. That way he could watch her, not be surprised like this ever again in the future and it would look like a mole on her skin while not even scratching the surface of his own energy to draw from to monitor her.

"The body burns up and has a meltdown." Kye was blunt when he finally answered but his tone was somber which led Deimos to think that he either knew someone who went through such a thing or seen it happen in one of those energy memory things Deimos had trouble wrapping his head around. Maven tried countless times already to explain to him before ending it with a ‘just trust me then’.

"I won't let that happen."

Kye was going to be sarcastic like he usually was to try and lighten the mood but the look on Deimos's face shut him right up and the fierceness in which he spoke so protectively while looking at her made Kye decide against it.

He instantly remembered the night on the rooftop when he fought Superhero, toyed with him really, just so Maven could get the intel on all the city Villain's before he instantly and simultaneously dispatched the present heroes while incapacitating the present villains.

He was a scary guy, a boogeyman, for a reason.

Without another word Deimos stood up and walked back over to the couch before pausing and turning back to him. Kye couldn't help but squirm a little under the intensity of the gaze but otherwise remained composed.

"Maven did a rather... in depth intel report with you...Electron was spared per her request because she wanted to offer you a chance for closure. To decide your own fate for a change, if you so choose it, and the fate of your brother."

"I thought you were going to kill him."

"Oh, I am. But how and when is up to you thanks to Maven's request. That's a story for another day though, you're own story. But know that you're brother's fate is yours to decide when you’re ready. He will be my prisoner until then."

"Thank you..." Kye stood from the table as Deimos bent down and picked Maven up. "You didn't have to do that, request or not."

"I'd also like you to be my right hand."

"You heard me. "

"W-What?!"

Deimos chuckled as Maven stirred a bit at the noise of Kye's outburst as she curled tighter in his arms and grumbled some nonsense words. 

"Why?"

"Well, for one, that right there. Despite being scared of me, you still have the balls to question me. To put the welfare of the city first. I know we all wear the title of villain but that wasn't by choice for most of us. It wasn't for me." 

Kye blinked in confusion as he digested this. The boogeyman didn’t choose villainy? Deimos turned to face him then, holding sleeping Maven still against him but he needed to make eye contact with him to drive the point home. 

"Can you pick any of the other villains that fought with us today that would have questioned me about whether or not I was going to make Harbor City the new Old Town? I don't want that for our future. I want Florens city as our future and our city has the infrastructure in place, the trade resources and tourism...let's just say I've looked into it and I have all the paperwork we need to convince the government just waiting to be filled out."

"And if we can't? Convince the government that is..." Kye asked him quietly after a silent pause while Deimos waited, shifting Maven in his arms knowing this conversation with Kye was important and not wanting to just teleport through shadow out of there.

"Oh, I'll convince them. I'm the boogeyman after all." 

"Boss, that's the kind of response that's gonna get us nuked." Kye groaned with his hand on his head while he shook his head back and forth.

Deimos just chuckled as he ported out of there and to the warehouse base with Maven. He had the shadows drop off the papers he mentioned that Kye would need to convince the government not to nuke the city for his newly minted right hand to fill out.

As he tucked Maven in to her new, though still temporary bed, he could practically see Kye throw his hands up in the air as he paced around the table as the shadows deposited file after file onto the table for him to do, giving him tonight's job.

Hoping to smooth things over with his new right hand, Deimos sent over toiletries, a pillow and blanket for the couch to make it a little nicer to sleep in later, and an extra large meal from what he was told from his intel report was his favorite drive thru. Which in hindsight probably served to unsettle the Villain further with how well Deimos really researched them all.

Zeroing his focus back in on his little hero, Deimos couldn't resist petting her hair as she slept. She was sleeping a little more peaceful now and that provided him some modicum of relief as he went about the small bedroom, lighting the candles.

He had the room specially prepared at the warehouse base in case Maven turned full hero and betrayed him, back in the beginning. Granted he was using it for other purposes now, having refurbished it and adding the plush bed with the candles for her to see by when she woke up later.

The pit in his stomach still continued to sink however. She had crossed the line. She didn't betray him, no he trusted her implicitly now, but she still had crossed the line with her powers.

It scared him. 

"Deimos?"

"I'm here, little Maven." He sat down on the bed next her, relieved he didn't have to wait any long for her to wake. Usually when she power drained someone, she was giddy, hyper and super giggly. Seeing her like this, however, set his teeth on edge.

"Where are we?" Though she spoke more clearly and with less takeover of someone else, Maven’s voice was still tired and slow to him. He took that to mean that she was back in control of her own mind again as Kye had explained.

"At the Warehouse Base." He played with her hair some more as she groggily blinked up at him. 

"So we won?" He smiled and nodded down at her. "Cool beans boss."

"Maven?"  He leaned over her as made sure she was tucked securely in and comfortable. Deimos made sure to make all the arrangements beforehand, back in Supervillains Penthouse but with all the chaos of returning to the city he wasn't sure if everything had finished in time. 

He was glad to find it was and that the Teams were still following orders and putting the kids in their new rooms. That the heroes and villains from the city programs were led to their cells for the night.

"Mmm?" Her eyes were closed tiredly but she turned over and grabbed his hand that was petting her hair as he stilled, wondering if she didn't like it. If he was out of bounds. He had made it a point to stay professional until now.

But just as his brain was short circuiting she began to pet his hand with her fingers and hold it close to her chest so he could feel her heart beating.

"I...I think I love you." He whispered in candlelit room as she opened her eyes and smiled sweetly at him in response. She reached up and circled her arms around his neck pulling him close.

She placed a chaste kiss on his cheek and hugged him close to her. "I love you to boss. So don't die on me okay?"

Leaning back to look at her fully he took her face in his hand while holding his weight on his other arm so as not smoosh her. 

"Same goes for you. You don't get to die on me either. No more absorbing people like you did... because it did hurt you."  

"I promise Deimos." Maven murmured as she gave him little pecks along his jaw. "You have your city like you always wanted..." another kiss on the cheek. "...the Teams are basically all henchpeople now really...all at your command." The last of the her sentence was a trail of kisses down his throat.

He pressed his forehead against hers as his eyes pleaded with hers.

“When you hurt, I hurt. Promise me."

"Are you trying to turn me on now that we're official?" He practically purred.

"Maybe..." She smiled at him. "Or maybe I'm waiting for the boogeyman to strike."

Deimos didn't need any further encouragement as he took her lips with his own in their very own first kiss.

Meanwhile, Kye was handling the paperwork in preparation for the incoming government agents. The Teams were handling the supplies and prisoner transfer as well as getting the kids settled into their rooms on the upper warehouse floors. 

There was still much to do but they had tonight.

[poirot]

This might be a stupid question but I was wondering how long it took you to get notes on your edits when you first started? I only have about 300 followers and most of my edits don't get many notes. I'm not sure if its because they aren't good or if it's because I don't have many followers.

Tbh I took a very long time ! I’m on tumblr for a crazy long time now because I’m a nerd and can’t get away from this hell site. I think I’m on tumblr for about 6 years now and I started posting edits right when I joined. My edits back then where HORRIBLE, like I’m not even exaggerating they just were horrible. But you knoowww,,,, that was okay because you just need time to learn and get better and I was so young back then and had no idea about editing. The first time my edits really got notes where after a few years I guess but I made almost just celeb edits back then because my hp stuff didn’t got any nooootes lol so I basically just edited stuff for smaller fandoms (and like I said especially celebs). Then about 2 years ago I started to make real life aesthetics for one of my favorite anime and that brought me into this whole moodbaord/aesthetic/fancasting thing and I became really obsessed with it because I have so much fun doing moodboards/aesthetics/etc. And around that time I also started to make (better) gifs and my stuff got more notes + I got more followers and since then it’s just gone really well tbh. I think it probably is because,,,, well my edits became a lot better and I’m a way better with making ‘fandom aesthetics’ than I was with making gifs/graphics. 

But I guess it really depends ! I know people who are on here for like half a year and already have like 3k+ followers and thousands of notes on their edits. So I think it really depends and like I would give you the advice to just never give up. I know it can suck to get less notes on edits that you spended a lot time on but don’t care about it too much. Make edit because you have FUN making them because that’s the way you’ll get better at editing. And like I really feel you because I spended years on editing without getting any notes but I had fun doing it and that’s why I kept going and became better at it. Also maybe try to tag some blogs in your edits because it will help you to get them spread (+ most people love to be tagged in edits (like me)) and also maybe ask other users for their opinion or tips if you want to improve your edits. Okay this turned out a WAY too long lol but I hope it helps a bit cuuutie