#but it is canon to a pocket full of rye

[incorrectsibunaquotes]

The Interconnected Family Tree of Anubis

I was trying to keep my family tree headcanons on straight for fic purposes, so I devised my own family tree for all the complicated pre-canon HOA connections. Almost everything on here is headcanon, so take it with a grain of salt, but if you like it, feel free to use this!

First up we have the Frobisher-Smythe & Rush families! I added some lore surrounding RFS’ family, which is as follows (TRIGGER WARNING FOR MENTIONS OF SELF UNALIVING)

Eleanor Frobisher-Smythe (1841-1881) was a Paragon, but could not handle the burden, nor could she deal with the constant badgering from spirits and gods in her head. After the birth of her second son, Robert, she suffered with postpartum depression. She killed herself via morphine overdose a year after his birth.

Julian Frobisher-Smythe (1841-1908) was Eleanor's Osirian. He built the Anubis Estate (though it wasn’t called that yet) based on a vision he had that essentially insisted that it would be a crossroads of destiny. He could not save his wife and Chosen One from herself, and blamed himself for her death up until the day he died of TB in 1908

Robert Frobisher-Smythe (1880-) was a brilliant (and mental) man who was superbly skilled in chemistry/alchemy, riddles, metalworking, carpentry, masonry, archaeology, and history in general. He, after several successful trips to Egypt, suffered the from the curse placed upon all who disturbed the tomb on Howard Carter’s expedition in 1922, along with taking the fall for his friends on the expedition who dared to disturb the Staff of Osiris. He was cursed to sleep by Ammut for their folly, and pronounced dead to avoid suspicion, with only those he trusted for the ceremony aware of the truth.

Edward Frobisher-Smythe (1878-1918) was Robert’s older brother. He was not nearly as brilliant (or mental), but he was strong and good-hearted. He, like many brave men, fought in WWI and died in the Second Battle of the Somme in 1918.

(Louisa also had ancestors who were Chosen Ones, and while that does technically mean she and Robert are related, it’s incredibly distant since Amneris’ descendants are spread all over the globe.)

Sarah Frobisher-Smythe (1915-2010) was the Paragon, and her life was incredibly tragic and tumultuous, marked by being her family’s secret keeper for secrets she didn’t really know. She went into hiding in the 70s/80s after discovering the Society’s existence and what their ultimate goals were, and assumed the identity Emily Grant. She is buried with that name.

Rebecca Rush (1881-1950) was a brilliant woman, one of the first WOC to be educated in England, which is where she met both Robert and Louisa. She and Robert fell in love, got married, and a year after the birth of their son, Charles, in 1913, they got a divorce and she moved both herself and her son to America to set up with family there.

Charles Rush (1913-2012) grew up in America with very little contact with his father before he was put to sleep, but he knew his role well. He married a woman, Eloise, and had two children, Robert “Bobby” Rush and Nora Rush. Bobby suffered from severe depression and anxiety, but he was a good man. He married Josie Rush, and they had a daughter, Kara-Tatiana “KT” Rush. Josie died of melanoma in 2005, and Bobby lost his battle with depression that same year*. Nora moved back to England, and resides in London as a bit of a recluse museum curator.

KT Rush (1995-) is the great-granddaughter of Robert Frobisher-Smythe. She came to school at her grandfather’s behest to do what Charles had become too old to do. She was a member of Sibuna.

*Note that KT is raised by her aunt on her mother’s side, Becca Talbott

————————————————————

Now we move to Louisa’s side of the family, which you might recognize as the Denby family. Yes, I’ve decided to connect Louisa with the Denby family as a way of incorporating that family more closely with the Frobisher’s. Hang on tight cuz it’s about to get complicated.

Cartwright & Elizabeth Denby gave birth to three children: Isabel, Thomas, and Louisa. They were strong willed people who were not afraid to push their children toward greatness.

Louisa Denby became Louisa Frobisher-Smythe (1883-1922) in 1913, after Robert and Rebecca divorce. Louisa is a brilliant mind, a woman who, like her husband, could make just about anything. As kind as she was, she was also greedy and complicit (often more than complicit) in her expedition party’s exploits. She gave birth to Sarah Frobisher-Smythe in 1915, and after several successful trips to Egypt, suffered the curse placed upon all who disturbed the tomb on Howard Carter’s expedition in 1922. She died in a horrific car accident the end of that same year.

Thomas Denby was a strong, no-nonsense man; he married an equally no-nonsense woman named Victoria. He was entrusted by his brother-in-law Robert to act as his Keeper, a roll he passed down to his only son Thomas Denby Jr, who then passed it down to his oldest and biological daughter, Harriet.

Harriet Denby (1977-) is a pragmatic woman, who made her living as a teacher, while also doing her best to live up to her family’s legacy as a Keeper. At least until she’s drugged and stuck in a mental facility by her adopted younger sister Caroline, who then assumes her identity and role.

Caroline Denby (1979-2012) was a deeply troubled young woman who was adopted by her neighbors, the Denby family, after her mother hanged herself. She had delusions of grandeur and didn’t care who she had to hurt, even if that meant her beloved older sister, to achieve that greatness. She was murdered and devoured by the goddess Ammut.

Isabel Denby became Isabel Zeno when she married Gustav Zeno, a French historian. She was a frivolous woman, and she had a bubbly, playful personality that was hard to dislike. She happily raised Sarah alongside her son Rufus after her sister died.

Gustav Zeno was a French historian from Paris, who married Isabel and had a son Rufus. He worked closely with Robert and Victor Rodenmaar Sr on the Elixir of Life recipe.

Rufus Zeno (1915-2011) was a bright, rambunctious, and strong young man, divinely tasked with being the Osirian to Sarah Frobisher-Smythe. He had ambitions far beyond being a mere protector, however, and the more Elixir he took, his resentment toward his cousin/adopted sister grew. He, Sarah, and Victor Jr founded the Amun Academic Boarding School in 1960, and soon after, he and Victor founded the Society, along with several others. In 1936, he had a daughter, Evelyn, who he and the woman he’d been seeing with decided to put up for adoption. Later in life, as he still appeared young, he had another child with Maggie Sweet, named Eric. He betrayed Sarah and the Society and eventually came to ruin when his hubris got him possessed by the Forgotten Ruler, Senkhara and sent to a fiery end.

Evelyn Meridian Martin (1936-) was put up for adoption almost immediately after her birth, and was taken in by a kindly American couple. She lived a happy life, unburdened by her origins, and eventually married a kindly man named William Martin, and had a son Peter Martin, who married a Spanish woman Marie. She raised her granddaughter after Peter and Marie died in a car wreck in 1999.

Nina Martin (1995-) is potentially the last Paragon to walk the earth, since she has fulfilled her purpose of restoring the Cup of Ankh. She is the former leader of Sibuna, and now lives her life back home in America.

Eric Sweet is the headmaster of Amun Academic Boarding School and a former member of the Society, as well as the Seeker. He attended school and lived at Anubis House in his teen years, but did not know that Rufus was his father until much later in life. He moved to America for a time after he met an American woman Catherine “Cathy” Miller, and had a son. When he discovered his son, Eddie, was the Osirian, he knew that if Victor or Rufus were to discover that, he would be exploited. So he divorced Cathy and returned to England.

Eddie Miller (1994-) is a rambunctious and loyal young man who also acted as the Osirian, until he sacrificed his powers to appease Ra’s wrath. After Nina stepped down, he acted as the leader of Sibuna.

[everlarkficexchange]

Written by: @alliswell21

Title: One of Us

Prompt 145: She moves in with her aunt and uncle when her parents dies in a small town. After suffering through trama, Katniss slowly starts to get better with the help of her family (aunt, uncle, cousin) and the Mellark brothers. But when things starts happening to her and the people around her, it’s revealed that she and almost everyone in the towns are apart of the werewolf pack and that one of the Mellark brothers is her mate. #werewolves [submitted by @animekpopxx]

Rated: G for general audiences.

Tags: Canon Divergent!AU; Modern with a dash of Supernatural; Grief/Mourning; Feeding as a Language of Love.

Note: This is my final submission to this year's EFE challenge! Yay! I really am grateful to @xerxia31 and @javistg for their continued support of this fandom and for hosting once again this event. You are such amazing people, and I’m absolutely honored to be part of a community with people as amazing as you two are! Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for keeping EFE alive!

@animekpopxx, thank you too! You feed my muse! And you give me Werewolves!!!!

This story was a bit of rushed job, though, and there’s more of it, I mean... we haven’t seen them turn into wolves yet!!! 🤣 I just didn’t have time to edit the complete fic before the deadline, but if you’d like to read the finished product, keep an eye out for it on AO3. I’m fairly sure the rating will keep, but we will see.

 Kpkpkpk

There’s nothing but the sound of crickets and frogs filling the vast darkness of the night.

It’s another moonless night out here in Panem… or is I like to call it ‘the middle of nowhere’. It’s weird, how dark nights feel here, there’s barely a start peeking tonight, but in a strange way, I like it.

Sitting on my aunt and uncle’s porch to watch the infinite dark ahead while listening to the nocturnal critters it’s about my favorite thing to do… it’s what did used to do when we came here for long summer stays, anyway. He used to say he felt at peace and relaxed, connected with nature. Too bad it took him to be gone, for me to appreciate what he meant by that. So every night I come out here and sit in the steps hugging my knees, staring at nothing but the deep, black night surrounding the cabin, whisking my dad was sitting next to me.

Tonight is different than usual, though. It was raining until recently, and the smell of wet earth is so familiar my chest feels tight and my throat is knotted.

“Petrichor, Katniss,” I mumble the words noiselessly, “is the smell of rain, hun. It smells the same everywhere in the world.”

I lean my chin on my knees, wishing I could go back to feeling numb like when my parents just died. But thinking of the word petrichor, while smelling the thing, is bring forth a plethora feelings and memories I don’t know how to handle.

Dad used to love Scrabble, crossword puzzles and trivia challenges. He tried to get me interested in those games, teaching me words and their meanings, every time he had a chance.

I wish I had been more enthusiastic about learning the darned stuff; it would’ve meant an extra moment spent with Dad, and less regret to feel right now.

An involuntary whine leaves my chest. It hurts to think about it, and not for the first time, I dig my nails into my skin to keep myself rooted in place, and not tear running into the void.

I feel like I’m spiraling out of control, I fear this time something will break in my head and I’ll do something crazy, like scratch my skin away and run wild into the woods, like a beast… but the overwhelming thoughts gets halted when I hear soft noises from out in the distance.

It’s like the crunching of footsteps on the gravel at the mouth of my aunt and uncle’s property. It’s too dark and isolated here, deep into the country. I’ve seen big wildlife roaming around: deer, raccoons, coyotes and even a lynx. But the longer I hear the noises, the more certain I am I’m being stalked by something big and fast.

My heart beats erratically in my chest; every hair in my body stands on point, fear is clawing its way up my chest and into my throat, my eyes feel about to pop from my skull, and then I’m disentangling my knees from my arms, standing up as tall as I can— which isn’t saying much—and then I call into the night, “Who’s there?!”

I hear a faint disturbance of air, and then…

“Good evening, Katniss!”

Slowly, from the shadows, a blonde head pops, eerie for a second. Broad shoulders follow, and then a torso. Before the rest of his body comes visible into the light of the porch, two more blonde heads come into view, flank the first person on either side: Shoulders, torsos, Jean covered legs… The three Mellark brothers make their way leisurely towards me.

I nearly faint from relief after the rush of adrenaline pumping in my veins. Going through so many emotions: grief, sorrow, dread and relief, so fast in such a short amount of time has left me winded and unsteady.

I lose my balance, but one of the boys— Peeta, the youngest— breaks ranks, and rushes to hold me upright.

“Are you okay?” He asks softly, helping me sit back down on the porch steps. I lean my head against the main post.

“I’m okay. Just a little lightheaded,” I try not to glare. They gave me a fright, but I doubt they did it on purpose.

It’s something I’ve learn over the years. People in Panem are kind of quirky.

“Sorry we scared you,” Peeta offers, sheepishly. “We wanted to check up on you, and bring you something…” he looks up at his two older brothers and Rye — the middle one— steps forward, holding up a brown, paper bag, with little greasy spots on the sides.

I can guess what’s inside. They’ve been bringing me cheese buns almost daily, since Peeta found out they’re my favorites.

Rey hands the baggie to Peeta, and the latter offers it to me with a soft smile.

“Thanks,” I mumble, gratefully. I can smell the cheesy, yeasty treat through the bag; I can feel the warmth of the buns too! “While I love freshly baked cheese buns, you guys didn’t have to make this trek just to bring me a treat… on a dark, moonless night no less,” I fix them with a glare. “How did you even get here anyway? You couldn’t have walked and I never saw a car coming?”

My aunt and uncle’s cabin is at least 4 miles from town, and surrounded by woods; but then again, most houses in this weird little place are built in similar locations. It seems the townsfolk take their privacy extremely seriously.

“We rode our dirt bikes,” chimes Rye in, cheerily. “Not much light on those bulbs, though, but it’s okay. Our night vision is prime!” He gives me the A-Okay gesture.

“Rye,” the eldest, Bannock, warns lowly. Baring his teeth.

Rye shrugs and slips his hands on his Jean pockets.

I swear Rye hisses something like “it’s true” under his breath, but Peeta has been rubbing my back with the tip of his fingers all this time, and I’m getting drowsy, so I may have imagined the whole exchange.

“You should eat those while they’re still warm,” Peeta murmurs close by my shoulder.

I nod, and open the bag, releasing all the delicious smells of the buns, while Peeta massages my shoulders, encouragingly.

I must be really out if it tonight, because outside of my family, I’ve never been comfortable with people touching me… but, my family is all gone now, and I can’t go through the rest of my life without human touch, can I?

Grief stricken me out of nowhere, and barrels through me. I gasp at the acute pain in my soul at the loss of my parents. But in an instant, I’m enveloped in strong, thick arms, warm and steady. I’m sobbing into a hot, solid chest, covered in the softest cotton I’ve ever felt.

“Shush… I’ve got you, Katniss. I’m here for you,” Peeta whispers soothingly into the crown of my head.

He smells so good; like cinnamon and dill, from the bread he must’ve made this afternoon at his family’s bakery.

It takes a few minutes for me to get a hold of myself, and embarrassedly push out of his embrace, “I’m sorry,” I mumble, mortified.

Bannock presents me with a handkerchief, and I take it gratefully to wipe off my face and nose, before returning the soiled square of fabric to him.

I’m not sure why the Mellark brothers are being so nice to me. I’ve never been around them more than a handful of days over the past few years, when we came to see Dad’s remaining family outside mom and I, his half brother, his wife and their child.

I don’t know the Mellarks all that well, but in the handful of weeks since my parents’ funeral, the three brothers have been incredibly attentive and generous to me. Peeta more than the other two, but I don’t mind… I like him best anyway.

“It’s okay to cry and be devastated, Katniss.” Says Bannock, sagely. “You’re going through the worst time of your life, and we care for you… like family.”

“Oh,” I sit straighter, blowing my nose. I feel a little strange hearing him say that, “thank you? I appreciate your kindness,”

He nods, “Peeta’s right, though. You should eat the cheese buns before they go cold.”

“A full stomach always helps me feel better,” Rye adds, patting his belly, and smiling at me.

My stomach growls, as if to show agreement. I am hungry. I didn’t touch my supper earlier. I pick up the bakery gingerly, and pretty much shove my nose into it. The steam curls out of the baggie, filling my nostrils with the delicious smells. I pluck out a bun and practically inhale it in a second; quickly followed by another one. My third cheese bun, I decide to savor, slowly.

The Mellark siblings just hang around while I devour my treats.

The front door opens just as I’m wiping my hands on my leggings. My aunt’s head peeks out of the door.

“Oh, why hello everyone!” She greets, as bubbly as always. She’s wearing a dark purple wig, to match her dark purple outfit.

“Good evening, Effie,” says Peeta, standing from his squatting position next to me. “We brought Katniss a gift,” he points at the now empty bag in his hand.

“How sweet of you, Peeta!” my aunt gushes, “thank you for checking on our girl, and making sure she’s put something in her tummy before bedtime!”

I roll my eyes. Aunt Effie keeps treating me like a kid. I hate it. I’m 17 and mourning, not a freaking baby!

“It’s no problem at all, Effie! We were just on our way home anyway.”

“Well, it’s always nice having you boys over,” she offers, “but it’s getting late, and Primrose is already in bed, which is why I came out here to begin with, to let Katniss know that her sister was already asleep, so she’d know to tip toe back inside when she was ready to go to bed herself,” my aunt smiles.

I feel a slight pang of guilt; I’ve been wallowing in my own sadness this evening, and missed tucking my sister in to sleep. She’s the only person I’m sure I love, yet tonight I’ve let my own misery drown me.

“Don’t mind us, Effie,” Says Bannock, “We were about to leave…” he pauses and then calls a meaningful, “Peeta?”

“I’m going to wish Katniss a good night, and then we’ll go,” he says.

Not for the first time, I wonder if Peeta has a crush on me? I wouldn’t know he did, even if I wasn’t feeling so rotten inside. I’m not very good at flirting… but with Peeta it is different I think. He’s so nice to me, he’s taken up asking if I’ve eaten that day and if I haven’t, he feeds me something from his family’s bakery without charging me… it’s like he actually cares for me and my well-being, and his brothers care, because he does. It’s mesmerizing at times.

Peeta looks me in the eyes, “Are you ready to go inside?” He asks, offering his two open palms to me. He helps me up from the floor, and then smiles sweetly. He doesn’t let go of my hands while we stand facing each other.

Then something strange happens. Peeta doesn’t blink, as his clear-blue eyes bore into mine, and then his pupils blow out full, until only a ring of deep, glowing azure remains for his irises, “Sleep well, Katniss,” his voice sounds deeper and warmer than usual, “Rest and have a relaxing, dreamless night. Remember what I said: we are all here for you, to help through this hard time… alright?”

I feel groggy, “Yes, Peeta,” I mumble feeling my eyelids getting heavier.

“Oh dear, can you please instruct her to walk herself to bed? She might look lithe, but I promise, her little body is as heavy as any of us,”

Huh? What’s aunt Effie going on about? I don’t understand.

Peeta chuckles, squeezing my hands warmly in his, “You heard Effie… don’t fall asleep until you’ve gone into your bedroom and change into comfy pajamas.”

I nod, “Okay,”

“Good night, Katniss, I’ll be back tomorrow. Try to eat something on your own, I know you’re sad, but you need your strength for when the solstice comes.”

What a weird thing to say! Everything is strange here though… so I nod and march inside the house, mumbling my good nights to everyone and rubbing my very sleepy eyes. Once I’m in my sleep clothes, I lay in bed, and try to ignore the yearning of having Peeta rubbing my back like he was doing while I ate my cheese buns.

I sigh and go to sleep, a weird thought pops into my mind: “I’m so lucky to have such a sweet, caring mate. Peeta Mellark. Can’t wait to be bonded with him,”

[whocalledhimannux]

I GOT 2 ‘C’ VOTES WHICH MEANS I GET TO POST MY RECS

For those you who are unfamiliar with Agatha Christie--she was an extremely prolific crime writer in the 20th century, spanning from the 1920s to the 70s, during which she wrote 66 detective novels in addition to an abundance of short stories and several pseudonymous romance novels. One of her books, And Then There Were None, is the best-selling mystery novel of all time (and in the top 10 of books in general), and her play The Mousetrap holds the world record for longest initial run--it from 1952 until this year, when the West End shut down due to COVID.

She didn’t invent the genre, but she certainly reinvented it for the 20th century and had a huge impact on the genre. CLUE is an homage to Christie. Knives Out is an homage to Christie. Basically any mystery set in a large mansion, and/or featuring a group of people trapped somewhere and being picked off one by one, is an homage to Agatha Christie. So let’s get to the recs, shall we?

There’s a fantastic podcast call AllAboutAgatha that reads and ranks all of Christie’s novels, and I completely agree with their top 3, any of which would be a fabulous introduction to the Queen of Crime: Five Little Pigs, And Then There Were None, and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. (I was practically giddy when Five Little Pigs was ranked #1, because the previous top 3 were all, arguably more famous Christie novels that had a big impact on mystery as a genre, but Five Little Pigs is imo the best-written. It’s very Rashomon-esque, 8 years pre-Rashomon)

For my fic purposes, I would also recommend The Hollow or Sad Cypress (especially the former) which have some tone and character similarities, and either Cards on the Table or Towards Zero, which both feature Superintendent Battle, the detective I’ll be borrowing. Tbh, he’s one of Christie’s more boring detectives--which is why I’m using him, because I don’t think he distracts from any of the QT characters--but a good detective novel doesn’t need a fascinating detective, so they’re worth it.

If you just so happen to love the above and are looking for more recs, some of my tops are Death on the Nile, Peril at End House, Lord Edgware Dies, and Evil Under the Sun.

If you can’t get your hands on a copy or just don’t feel like reading, fear not! There have also been many film and TV adaptations, some worth watching, and some... ahem. My personal favorites (asterisks for favorite-favorites):

Agatha Christie’s Poirot (Amazon):

Murder on the Orient Express*

Five Little Pigs

Mrs. McGinty’s Dead

The Clocks* (which is impressive because the novel is kind of a mess, tbh, and the episode is much better)

Dead Man’s Folly

Agatha Christie’s Marple (Hulu):

Ordeal by Innocence

Towards Zero*

A Pocket Full of Rye*

Greenshaw’s Folly

Endless Night

And Then There were None* (2015 BBC miniseries--this adaptation is notable because it’s the first English-language film to actually keep the novel’s original ending instead of the alternate theatrical ending that Christie wrote when it moved to the stage in the 40s. it’s an excellent adaptation, a little overdramatic, but it has Aidan Turner, Anna Maxwell Martin, Sam Neill, and Toby Stephens, so are we complaining? No we are not.)

Actually, I just remembered that Toby Stephens was in Marple, too, as well as Poirot (the Five Little Pigs ep already recommended)—The Secret of the Blue Geranium isn’t my favorite episode of the show, but it’s worth watching if you want to hit up all of Toby Stephens’s appearances in the Christie canon. No judgment.

Witness for the Prosection (1957--MARLENE DIETRICH, that is all)

Death on the Nile (1978--tbh I don’t remember too much about this particular version, only that it was perfectly adequate and it has Maggie Smith, Angela Landsbury, and Bette Davis and I enjoyed watching them all on screen so I think you would too.)

[foofygoldfish]

ultimate relationship ask meme

tagged by @theknifegame, @shellibisshe, @tomexraider, @amistrio, and @joeyhxdson!

doing this for faith and alice! (...i’m not crazy enough to do it for multiple ships lmao)

Disagreements:

Who is more likely to raise their voice? ....alice? it’s rare, but she’s more likely than faith. Who threatens to leave but never actually does? neither of them will. if they need space, they’ll usually just go to different rooms, or alice will go over to the auto shop for a little bit. Who actually keeps their word and leaves? ^^ Who trashes the house? ...the cats? neither of them really do. Do either of them get physical? never. How often do they argue/disagree? ....if you hadn’t figured it out yet, they don’t argue often lol Who is the first to apologise? alice.

Sex:

Who is on top? usually alice, but she doesn’t mind switching with faith 👀 Who is on the bottom? usually faith, but again, they don’t mind switching spots lol Who has the strangest desires?  ...alice Any kinks?  Who’s dominant in bed? ..........both. Is head ever in the equation? i mean... If so, who is better at performing it? ...faith.  Ever had sex in public? lmao yes Who moans the most? .... i... don’t know?  Who leaves the most marks? faith Who is the more experienced of the two? alice, by quite a bit. Do they ‘fuck’ or ‘make love’? yes. Rough or soft? ...yes. How long do they usually last? uh, how much time do they have? Does it ever get boring? not really?  Where is the strangest place they’d have sex? a tie between at the base of joseph’s statue and one of the shrines i mean -- on one of the hiking trails, yep

Family:

Do they plan on having children/or have children? they didn’t really get a chance to talk about it before the bombs - in a no-cult/no-bomb au, they do plan on having kids someday, but they want to have time to themselves before they add kids into the mix. If so, how many children do they want/have? in both canons, they end up with six... three adopted and three with staci. 

Affection:

Who likes to cuddle? they both do, but faith is the bigger cuddlebug. Who gets naughty in the most inappropriate of places? alice.  Who struggles to keep their hands to themself?  ....in PG ways? faith. in R and over ways? alice. How long can they cuddle until one becomes uncomfortable? hours. Who gives the most kisses? faith. she’s constantly giving alice little kisses. What is their favourite non-sexual activity? alice likes watching faith garden - they’ll take turns telling stories - alice about anything she can think of, faith about the plants. Where is their favourite place to cuddle? bed? or on the couch, with a giant blanket and a cheesy movie. How often do they get time to themselves? not nearly often enough - even with the no-bomb au, the cult and the fallout from takes up a lot of their (alice’s) time.

Sleeping:

Who snores? faith. If both do, who snores the loudest? faith Do they share a bed or sleep separately? together, always. even if the only option is a twin bed or a couch, they make do. If they sleep together, do they cozy up together or lay far apart? if they aren’t curled up into the others side, they’re at least holding hands or touching in some way. What do they wear to bed? If they’re together? if they’re home/kids/guests aren’t around? nothing. if they have a possibility of being interrupted, alice will wear a cami and shorts, and faith will wear a soft nightgown (/a shirt that alice stole from someone who is bigger than her) Are either of them insomniacs? alice can be Can sleeping pills be found by the bedside? in the no-bomb au, definitely. alice has a hard time falling asleep after everything that happened in the county. Do they wrap their limbs around each other or just lay side by side? all the time Who wakes up with bed hair? yes. Who wakes up first? faith, always - even if alice is supposed to be up first, it’s faith. Who prepares breakfast in bed for the other? faith. alice isn’t allowed to try any more. What is their favourite sleeping position? spooning. faith is the little spoon. Do they set an alarm each night? it depends on what is happening the next day/the continuity - no bomb/other aus? sometimes. main verse? nah, alarm clocks aren’t important. Can a television be found in their bedroom? yes! alice likes watching disaster movies at night. Who has nightmares? they both will, particularly after the events of the game. they both had somewhat regular ones to start with, though - alice’s aren’t terrible, just those vaguely unsettling ones, but faith had bad ones. Who has ridiculous dreams? alice has a lot of weird-ass dreams. a lot. they’re worse when she’s been around the bliss - not like, nightmare worse? just what the fuck just happened????? worse. Who sprawls out and takes up most of the bed? alice is like a cat - tiny, yet a bed hog. Who makes the bed? neither of them - alice never has the time in the morning, and faith forgets about it by the time alice is out of bed. What time is bed time? faith usually heads to bed around 11pm or midnight, and alice is happiest going to bed at like... 3-4am, but she’ll settle for midnight to 1am. before the game, when she’s on night shift, she’ll usually pass out as soon as she gets home from work, whenever that may be. Any routines/rituals before bed? not really? the usual brushing teeth and taking care of the cats, but that’s it. Who’s the grumpiest when they wake up? it doesn’t matter how much sleep she got, alice would like ten more minutes of it, please.

Work:

Who is the busiest? alice - the county keeps her pretty busy, even in a no-bomb au. Who rakes in the highest income? i mean, neither of them really are making much money, but alice. Are any of them unemployed? technically faith? she doesn’t take up any sort of formal role in the county after she leaves the cult for quite a while, other than gardening advisor in the “canon” story. she does help mary may and maizie when she can, but that’s not often. Who takes the most sick days? ...alice?  Who is more likely to turn up late to work? lol both whitehorses learned very quickly to tell alice that her shift starts 15-20 minutes earlier than it actually does Who sucks up to their boss? ...alice. What are their jobs? in most versions of their story, alice is the junior deputy/unofficial mayor, and runs the auto shop in town on the side. in no-cult or the alice isn’t the deputy au, she runs the shop, and in the not in hope county aus, she’s involved with local government or is a personal assistant. in “canon” faith is... well, faith, and then she does what she can, but mostly doesn’t work. in no cult/etc aus, she works at the jessop conservatory or whatever garden center is closest to them. Who stresses the most? faith. Do they enjoy or despise their careers/occupations? alice honestly would rather be working for the mayor (if fall’s end still had one) or at the auto shop full time. at the start, faith does like her role in the project, but she’s very glad to be out when she does leave. Are they financially stable? by hope county standards? yeah

Home:

Who does the washing? they both will, but usually alice Who takes out the trash? their rule is whoever notices it first deals with it Who does the ironing? ...neither of them really iron anything? Who does the cooking? faith. Who is more likely to burn the house down just trying? a l i c e. Who is messier? faith lol - alice isn’t the tidiest, but she was surprised by how often faith just leaves things where they are instead of putting them away Who leaves the toilet roll empty? alice - she doesn’t do it on purpose, she just forgets to grab a new one on her way out... Who leaves their dirty clothes on the floor? faith Who forgets to flush the toilet? ...neither of them Who is the prankster around the house? neither of them, really? alice would be more likely to, but even then, it’s not often. unless they’re in a prank war. then all bets are off. Who loses the car keys when it comes time to go somewhere? alice lol -  she tends to leave it in her pant pockets and then they go through the wash... Who mows the lawn? ... casey.  Who answers the telephone? it doesn’t really seem like phones are a thing in hope county after the start of the game? in other aus, though, they both have their own cell phone. it’s easier to get alice by text, but faith will answer if you call.  Who does the vacuuming? their roomba, pikachu. Who does the groceries? they both will - getting a good amount of groceries involves a day trip up to butte, so they make a day of it. Who takes the longest to shower? alice, but only because faith prefers baths. Who spends the most time in the bathroom? alice - her hair takes a lot of work

Miscellaneous:

Is money a problem? not really.  How many cars do they own? just the one, but alice has an ATV and a dirtbike as well. she much prefers those to the truck. faith will drive any of them, but she doesn’t have one that is “hers” Do they own their home or do they rent? own, technically - it was her parents house, and jane gave it to her when she moved back to hope county. in the “canon” version of their story, faith takes it over the second year after the bombs, when people start moving away from the areas around the hot springs. Do they live in the city or in the country? bumfuck nowhere, as alice says. Do they enjoy their surroundings? eh, alice would like to be back in the city, but she likes hope county well enough - the hiking and fishing is certainly much better than back in LA. faith doesn’t really know anything else, but she’s most comfortable being in the country. What’s their song? “crazy he calls me” What do they do when they’re away from each other? ...normal things? if they can text each other, they probably will be, but other then that they’ll just go about their day. though - during the five years that alice is stuck in the bunker with joe... welllllll, i wrote that if anyone actually reads all of this and is curious 👀 Where did they first meet? technically, the memorial day barbeque at the rye’s, but they had a “proper” introduction at lorna’s truck stop a few days later. Who spends the most money when out shopping? alice. she tends to want to buy any cat toy she sees... Who’s more likely to flash their assets? ...neither of them? Who finds it amusing when the other trips over? dklfjs faith Any mental issues? ooooof. well. i haven’t really thought about it too much, but faith has severe anxiety (particularly after leaving the cult), and both have ptsd from all of that Who’s terrified of bugs? neither of them Who kills the spiders around the house? neither lol - they will both peacefully evacuate it from the premises.  Their favourite place? to be together? they found an abandoned hunting cabin in the henbane that they claimed as theirs. even after the bombs, when they’re reunited, they’ll have the rye’s watch the girls so they can escape there for a few hours. Who pays the bills? alice Do they have any fears for their future? in any version of their story that has the cult? ooh yeah. they’re both worried about faith being accepted in hope county, and in “canon,” they have the worry of, y’know, the apocalypse. Who’s more likely to surprise the other with a fancy dinner? alice would try. she really would. but the fanciest place in town that’s still open is the spread eagle... Who’s the tallest? faith. it’s not hard to be taller than alice lol Who’s more likely to just randomly hop into the shower with the other? faith! Who wanders around in their underwear? alice, but faith isn’t opposed to walking around without any clothes Who sings the loudest when singing along to the radio? alice, but faith sings better lol What do they tease each other about? alice’s cooking, the amount of cat hair that is constantly on faith, just little things Who is more likely to cringe at the other’s fashion sense at times? faith says that alice reminds her of 2006 Do they have mutual friends? at first, lol no - but the ryes, elizabeth, and sharky are won over by faith pretty quickly when she starts to show signs of wanting to leave the project. Who crushed first? alice. she can’t help it, faith is pretty... Any alcohol or substance related problems? ....isn’t that faith’s whole story? Who is more likely to stumble home, drunk, at 3am? a l i c e. in her defence, 3am isn’t too late for her, and the spread eagle is less than a minutes walk from her back door Who swears the most? alice. easily.

[aerielart]

An Evening Chat

WELP look who wrote some more of her ocs!

After that really short and angsty thing I did last time, I thought it might be nice to do something a little more substantial (and canon compliant) to give you guys a better idea of their characters. I hope you like it!

(Fair warning I wrote this all over the span of today and it is very minimally edited so proceed with caution lmao! I am not the most skilled with prose, I just wanted to share something of my fictional kiddos)

Without further ado please enjoy

-

Mae heaved out a sigh as she fumbled in her pocket for her box of cigarettes. With her other hand she flicked open her lighter, and in one smooth movement she had the death stick lit and in her mouth. She closed her eyes and took a nice long drag, concentrating on the warmth in her lungs and waiting for the pleasant lightheadedness to come, but it didn’t. Nowadays, all it was good for was scratching the itch. A ritual that she couldn’t break out of. 

She exhaled, disappointed, watching the smoke escape from her mouth and disintegrate into the evening air. 

Muffled laughter reached her ears, and she turned her head toward the source of the noise. Her… neighbors? Landlords? She still wasn’t sure exactly what to consider them. Her… whatevers, Jim and Carol, were standing around a merrily roaring bonfire, chatting and drinking and just enjoying the balmy summer weather. From the other side of the smokey haze Jace appeared, his arms full of fallen branches which he began feeding to the fire. Of course he was there too. He always seemed to be over there, inserting himself into Mae’s life unprompted. 

He said he was just helping them with yard work, clearing out brush and all that, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something more to it. He was a strange guy. 

As if sensing her attention, Jace glanced up from where he had been squated next to the fire and the two of them locked eyes. He smiled and waved, and Mae averted her gaze, pretending to occupy herself with her cigarette once again. But that didn’t stop him from straightening up and walking over to where she stood leaning against her house.

Shit shit shit shit shit…

“Hey!”

Shit shit shit shit shit!

She gave a resigned huff, causing more smoke to billow from her mouth as she removed her cigarette again. “Hi…”

Jace frowned at her unfavorable reaction and stuck his hands into his pockets, glancing behind himself a few times. “Did you, uh, wanna join us and have a beer? Or… something?” he tried. 

Mae bit her lip. “No thanks, I’m… trying to cut back.”

“Oh.” Jace replied. His eyes strayed down to the still burning cigarette between her fingers, and Mae let it fall to the ground, stomping it out with her shoe.

“Besides, I would rather not get eaten by mosquitos,” Mae continued. “I only came out here for a quick smoke.”

A high pitched buzzing suddenly started and a mosquito zoomed in between the two of them to accentuate her point. She grimaced and swiped at it.

Jace gave a great belly laugh, revealing his slightly-too-sharp teeth. “Yeah, well, it was a bad idea to move up to the mountains then. They’re pretty bad around here.” 

He grinned at his halfhearted joke, and Mae grunted. 

Jace grew quiet for a moment, scrutinizing her with a subtle tint of his head. “So, what did bring you out here anyway,” he asked suddenly. “No offense, but you don’t really seem like the type to wanna ruff it.”

“It’s none of your business.”

“Oh come on. Carol said you’re from California, right?” His grin returned and Mae watched as he sauntered around her and over to her side, settling himself against the wall next to her. “Let me guess, you’re one of those city folk who wanted to ‘get away from it all’, so you move to the mountains or out to the country thinking it’ll be a peaceful, magical wonderland, and then run screaming at the slightest sign of mother nature.”

A flash of anger ignited in Mae’s chest at that and she rounded on him. “What the hell? Who do you think you are? You don’t know me!” The nerve of this kid!

That finally wiped the shit-eating expression off his face once and for all, and he raised his hands in front of him. “I’m sorry,” he blurted. “Bad joke. You’re right, I don’t know.” He paused for a moment to lower his hands and head in submission, then murmured. “I’m sure you had a good reason. And… if it’s too personal, you don’t have to tell me…”

Mae held her glare for a moment, but decided to let it go. She had already gathered that Jace could be a bit clumsy and tactless sometimes, and it wasn’t like she wasn’t the same way, so it wasn’t fair for her to judge. She leaned back, her gaze drifting back over to the bonfire next door. “Are you from here?” She had gotten that impression ever since she’d met him. He just… seemed like he belonged here, somehow. Even more than, say, Jim and Carol. Which was a weird thing to think, and she couldn’t exactly explain it even to herself, but it was still true.

Jace glanced up at that, giving a sheepish chuckle. “Actually, no. This is gonna make me look like an ass, but, I’m from the city too.”

Really? With the way he seemed to know just about everybody, Mae had assumed that he’d lived here his entire life. Mae raised her brows and gave him a sidelong look. “Well, at least you're self aware about it.”

Jace winced.

A silence settled over them once more, though Mae wouldn’t exactly call it comfortable. Without her cigarette she had nothing to occupy her hands, so she copied Jace and stuffed them inside the pockets of her jacket. 

“So why’d you move out here then?” she finally asked, half out of pettiness but also because his answer had not been what she expected and she genuinely wanted to know. 

Jace frowned. “It’s… complicated.”

Mae just nodded. This strange kid might still be an enigma to her, but that, at least, she could understand. So she decided not to press the issue. 

“It’s great here, though,” he went on. “Everybody just does what they want, goes at their own pace. Not like in the city. Feels like… home.”

Home. Mae thought she might have known what that felt like once, but not anymore. Would this place ever feel like home? She wanted to believe, but she also didn’t want to get her hopes up.

Then again…

She glanced at the younger man next to her, and then back over at her neighbors. They had all been so kind and welcoming to her when she had first arrived here, did all that they could to help her settle in. The thought brought another spark of warmth to her chest, though it was softer this time. Gentler. Was that what home was supposed to feel like? The thought caused the corners of her lips to quirk in a tentative smile. 

Movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention and she glanced back over at Jace to watch him pull himself from the wall. He looked up at her with a soft, earnest gaze. “You sure you don’t wanna come over and sit with us? It can’t be fun being in the dark by yourself.”

“What if that’s just the way I like it?” 

“Oh, well, I guess that’s alright. But you know,” Jace gave her a long look. “Even introverts need friends.”

It was very difficult to leave Mae speechless, but somehow, Jace’s words struck her deep and managed just that. They’d known each other, what, maybe a week or two? Yet he was able to drop the F word so easily? It left a whirlwind of emotions swirling inside her, making her want to laugh and cry and slap him in his stupid, naive face all at the same time. Instead, she settled for dropping her gaze to the ground and watching as some sort of bug that she couldn’t identify scuttled around her foot. 

“I’m... not the kind of person people wanna be friends with…” 

At that, Jace broke out into a deep, sardonic laugh. “Yeah, me either.”

Mae wasn’t sure what reaction she had expected, but that definitely was not it. What the hell was that supposed to mean? She grimaced. Was he mocking her?

No… She may have only known Jace for a short while, but she did know enough to be sure that he wouldn’t joke about something like that. It caused her natural curiosity to kick in and she almost chose to dig a little deeper, but in the end she thought better of it. After all, she had her secrets as well. He could keep his. 

“Well, I guess we’re a perfect match then,” she replied sardonically. 

Jace gave his own rye smile in return. “Guess so.” But then, as if he finally realized that he’d let his guard drop, that same big grin that he always wore suddenly returned. The one that Mae was finally starting to see for what it was: a mask. 

The one that made her even more curious to find out what was going on behind that mask.

“Well, sorry for interrupting your smoke. I’ll let you get back to it.” He raised a hand in farewell, then started heading back over to where Jim and Carol were still sitting around the bonfire. They waved and gave a greeting that Mae couldn’t hear before inviting him to sit down in one of the lawn chairs that must have appeared sometime during their talk. 

Mae glanced down at the snuffed cigarette that still sat beneath her shoe and frowned. Well, her smoke had been ruined, might as well just go back inside now. She turned around to do just that, but before she did, she couldn’t help taking one last glance over her shoulder. 

And, as she watched the three of them drink and laugh and be merry, she couldn’t help the thought that maybe next time it wouldn’t be so bad to join them.

[ma-sulevin]

In which it’s clear that I don’t get to do recreational drugs and have decided to make the Lamb of God Church episcopal for no particular reason. Some of the tags are more applicable to this chapter than the others, so, uh. Give them another glance.

Pairing: Sharky Boshaw/Female Deputy Rating: E, but mostly for swearing Warnings: Canon-typical violence, but nothing particularly explicit I don’t think Word Count: 6300, chapter four of twelve

Read it on AO3 instead and say nice things.

---

It’s almost like John knows exactly when she crosses over the Henbane River and back into the Valley. Her radio crackles to life, interrupting the comfortable silence in the car; Sharky jerks in his seat like he was falling asleep, and Mattie covers up her giggle with a little cough.

“Why… is it so difficult for you to understand that all of your efforts are absolutely, unquestionably… worthless?”

She hisses at his words, gripping the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles blanch. She grits her teeth and pushes too hard on the accelerator, taking the car from a comfortably legal 45 miles per hour up to 55. Sharky reaches up and grabs the handle over the door, but doesn’t speak.

“You believe you're on the righteous path, you believe you're a force for good, but you're not! You're selfish. All you're really doing is quenching your thirst for blood.”

His voice is mocking, derisive, and she bares her teeth even though he can’t see. She sees a peggie on the side of the road with a regular person in the dirt on their knees, and she veers to run them over without a second thought. The peggie crumples; the captive hops to their feet and sprints away.

Maybe John has a point. Maybe she does have a thirst for blood. 

Like his people are any better.

“We're going to share a beautiful moment, and you're going to tell me your deepest… darkest… fears.”

The radio clicks off. Mattie forces herself to ease off the accelerator, but she can’t make her fingers relax on the wheel.

“A beautiful moment, huh? Sounds gross.”

She lets out a bark of laughter, fingers relaxing on their own accord. When she glances at Sharky out of the corner of her eyes, he’s smirking at her, eyes sparkling. 

“Man, he sure does have a hard-on for you.”

“Oh, my god,” she laughs again, reaching over to slap at his arm. “Gross.”

“So I’m thinkin’,” he continues, and she can hear him smiling even though she’s trying to focus on the road, “you should probably just fuck and get it over with.”

“No! Sharky! Oh my god .” She hits him again, but they’re both laughing. “You’re gonna be sorry when I throw up in this car.” 

He just shrugs and fishes around in his pockets for what turns out to be a crumpled pack of cigarettes. “I mean, if you don’t wanna give one up for the team…” He’s faster at finding his lighter, but he only gets to take one good drag before Mattie’s reaching over and plucking the cigarette out of his mouth.

“Thanks, dude,” she says, sticking it between her lips instead. She winks at him. “Thoughtful of you.”

He rolls his eyes and lights a second one. This one she lets him keep.

---

She’s met Nick Rye a handful of times, mostly at the occasional neighborhood barbeque she was bribed by Joey or Staci into attending, once to give him a ticket for going near double the speed limit in the Henbane (she knocked the recorded speed down on the ticket to give him a break, but he was going very fast), and the sight of peggies crawling all over his property makes her stomach turn.

Boomer is thrilled to be free of the car, running ahead with gleeful barks to bite at the heels of the first peggie he comes across. Shit’s on fire and there’s debris on the runway, and she suddenly remembers she never got to take the aerial tour he was always bragging about.

Sharky helps her bring down the peggies, setting even more shit on fire, and then the little battle is done (when did killing only six people become a “little battle”?) and they find Nick pacing in his garage. 

He gives her a full on hug when he sees her, almost knocks the hat off his head with his enthusiasm, and she squeezes him back in exhausted relief. She’d rather die -- actually die -- than have something bad happen to him or Kim. They’re good people, some of the best.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” he says, then he releases her from his hug and puts his hands on her shoulders instead. He shakes her a little, still worked up, and is too loud when he says, “We’re fuckin’ trapped! I’m gonna kill that sonuvabitch John Seed.”

Mattie nods at him, not all that concerned at the threat even though technically she should be. “What’s up, Nick?”

“You see those peggies take off with my plane? We need it! Without it, my family is fucked. Please.” He looks up at Sharky, then back at Mattie, eyebrows drawn together over his mirrored glasses. She can see herself in them, dirty and sweaty, deep circles under her eyes, already nodding before he’s finished asking, “I need your help.”

“You think John has it as his ranch?” She’s never been, personally, but she knows people who have been, and it’s supposed to be beautiful. It also has a private airstrip, because John flies planes as a hobby . “I guess it’s the only other place that makes sense.”

“I know it’s a lot to ask,” Nick says, but he’s already letting her go and walking deeper into his garage. “I just can’t leave Kim, you know.”

Mattie and Sharky trail after him. “Yeah. How’s she doing?”

“She’s due any second. Here, you feelin’ okay?” Nick squats behind the counter and pops back up with ammo boxes in his hands. He sets them down and disappears again, coming up with a first aid kit. “I really appreciate you doin’ this for us. You know how to fly?”

She shrugs, takes the ammo she needs and then lets Sharky take a look. She doesn’t take the first aid kit.

“I’ve flown once,” she says, and it feels like a lifetime ago. “Stace -- uh, one of the other deputies was a licensed pilot, and he used to make me practice on the simulator so he could boss me around.”

Nick winces, but he nods anyway. “I can talk you through it. Just call me on the radio when you find my plane.”

“Sure thing,” she says. “I’ll go now.” 

She makes it out of the garage with Nick still thanking her, then she turns to Sharky as soon as Nick is out of earshot. “I want you to stay here.”

“What? No fuckin’ way.” He’s too loud, so she shushes him, but he just glares down at her. 

She falls into her cop stance without really thinking about it, one hand on her hip and the other hovering near her pistol. She levels a glare at him and he stares right back, not at all intimidated by the woman he spent the night spooning through her tears. “It’s dangerous, and it’s faster if I just get in by myself and fly the plane home.”

“You can’t go by yourself!” Sharky flails his arms around as though that will help him make his point. “It’s dangerous! You need my backup!”

“I need to go in quietly, and you’re good at a lot of things, but I don’t think being quiet is one of them.”

He frowns, the fight melting out of him. “I don’t like it.”

“I’ll come right back here,” she says, promises. He doesn’t understand she won’t die if she’s alone. She won’t die, she can’t die, but he… he can. She doesn’t want him to die. She doesn’t want that on her conscience, not when she can keep him safe just by making him stay with the Ryes. “Okay?”

She offers him her fist, and he bumps it after a second’s hesitation.

She makes it halfway to the ranch before he catches up with her.

“God damn it, Sharky.” She covers her eyes with her hands. “I thought you were going to stay with Nick.”

He offers her a grin. “You see, I thought about it, but I just can’t sit by and let you walk into danger by yourself. You haven’t arrested me yet, and I respect that you totally could’ve by now, but that means I owe you. You’ve pulled my ass out of the fire, literally and figuratively, and I just think I need to stick by you. You know. Ride or die?”

“Ride or die?”

Christ, that makes her chest hurt. What has she done to inspire that loyalty?

“Yeah!” He shrugs. “So… we doin’ this?”

She wants to say no. She wants to send him back to Nick, back to where he’s safe. But… he won’t listen. He obviously is dead set on staying with her. All she can do is try to keep him safe.

“Yeah,” she says. “I guess we are.”

---

John’s ranch is absolutely crawling with peggies, and Mattie sits at the edge of the property, still concealed in the trees, watching them go about their business through her binoculars. Boomer sits alert at her side, ears cocked, nose testing the air every few seconds in case one of the cultists gets close enough to smell. Sharky sits at her other side, chin in his hand, watching the peggies with a sense of detached boredom.

She finally lowers the binoculars when he sighs and starts gnawing on his nails.

“Are you having a problem?”

“I’m just ready to bang some peggie heads together, that’s all,” he says, and at least he’s kinda quiet this time. “Didn’t think it would take this long.”

Anger flares, hot and bright. “I’m trying not to get you fuckin’ killed since you won’t fuckin’ stay at the Ryes’.” Sharky freezes at the bite in her voice, lowers his hand to his lap and presses his lips together. His expression looks so much like a kicked puppy that she’s torn between laughing and feeling bad; she settles for feeling bad. “Just… give me another minute, okay? We don’t want to burn the place down.”

When his expression doesn’t shift, she leans into his space and bumps his shoulder with hers. He huffs, then when she looks back over at him, he smiles. 

“Maybe you don’t want to burn the place down.”

She raises the binoculars back up to her face, finds the peggie sniper standing on John’s roof. “Keep it in your pants, Boshaw.”

She listens to him snickering for a minute and doesn’t fight the smile from blooming on her face. It’s almost easy to forget they’re about to commit several crimes in the process of stealing Nick’s plane back from a cult leader.

“Okay, I’m going to sneak around that way,” she says, pointing around the back of the house, towards the garage. “You cover me, take out anyone who happens to notice. Once you see me in the plane, head back to Nick’s.”

Sharky frowns again. “But--”

“Would you just fucking listen--”

Boomer barks, once, a sharp warning before taking off. Something lands in the dirt between Sharky and Mattie, comes to a rest against her knee, and she doesn’t even panic when she looks down to see a grenade, just scoops it up and tosses it back where she thinks it came from -- back toward John’s house, into his yard, where it explodes and sets a truck on fire.

“Holy shit,” Sharky starts, but she barrels right over him with a simple command.

“Go!”

She rolls to the side and vaguely hopes he’s done the same, then she pops up right in the space of the peggie who threw the grenade, running forward to finish the job. She punches him in the throat, then grabs the back of his head and introduces it to her knee. It crunches sickeningly, sends pain radiating up toward her hip, and when she drops him there’s a dark, wet stain on her jeans.

The rest of the cultists fall quickly, though one gets close enough to give her what she’s sure is going to be a beautiful black eye when she’s busy ripping the wires out of the radio tower. If they hadn’t cut off most of the usual means of communication in the county to keep citizens from calling for help, they wouldn’t have to keep setting these things up for her to tear apart. 

John’s front yard is littered with corpses, abandoned weapons, and two burning trucks filling the air with thick smoke and the acrid scent of burning rubber and hot metal. Boomer runs up to her with a handgun in his mouth, and she’d be more worried if she’d never seen him do it before. She can’t quite figure out how to get him to quit, so she just leans down and takes the slobbery weapon from him and scratches him behind the ear in thanks.

He runs off again, and his spot on the porch is replaced by Sharky who has his hands tucked deep in his pockets and a wide grin on his face.

“Glad you brought me now?”

She rolls her eyes at him, but that grin is infectious and she can’t stop herself from laughing just a heartbeat later. “You’re a dork,” she says, and he just keeps beaming down at her. “Wanna go look through John’s shit?”

“Hell yeah!” Sharky bounces like this is the first time he’s considered he has mostly free reign of John’s house, takes three normal steps toward the open front doors before breaking into a jog. Mattie trails behind him, not hiding her little smile, fingers brushing over the tender spot along her cheekbone. 

It takes her three tries to find John’s kitchen, first opening up a door to a study and then a formal dining room (of fucking course -- he probably hosts Seed family dinners here, all the fucking cult leaders in one place, listening to Joseph preach and watching Faith float around the room), and then when she finally pushes the kitchen door open she nearly bumps into Sharky on his way out. He’s got a real ice pack in his hand, the kind with the little gel balls inside so it will stay flexible, and he’s wrapping a hand towel around it.

“You okay?” Even with her cold fingers pressed back to her bruise, concern that he’s hurt and she hadn’t noticed fills her, wrinkles her forehead. 

He rolls his eyes at her, then cups her jaw with one hand to hold her still and presses the ice pack against her temple. His fingers tighten when she hisses and flinches away, holding her still, and she glares up at him with her good eye.

“ ’s cold.” It’s also most of why she was looking for the kitchen, and she’s only arguing because she’s kind of embarrassed at how she assumed it was for him and how good it feels to have someone worry about her beyond what she can do for them. His fingers are warm where they’re still cupping her jaw, his thumb sweeping across her cheek, and she’s almost entirely sure he’ll be able to feel her blushing just as easy as he can see it, so she closes her eyes and leans into the gentle touch.

“I came in here lookin’ for frozen peas or some shit, but figured this would do just as well. Hell of a shiner you’re getting here, Dep. Didn’t think you’d let a peggie ever get close enough to you to take a swing.”

She licks her lips before she speaks. “It was a lucky punch.”

The ice repositions on her face, moves closer to where the punch landed, right where the bruising is worst. “You got shit luck.”

The laugh that escapes her is too high pitched, a little too hysterical, because Sharky doesn’t even know the half of it. His stroking thumb stills on her face, and she forces herself to pull back from the breakdown she can feel bubbling up in her chest. She doesn’t know if she’s going to keep laughing or burst into tears or just curl into Sharky’s body heat like a cat, but she needs to stop it.

She takes a deep breath and reaches up to take the ice pack from him. He doesn’t move right away, not even when she covers his ice-cold fingers with her own slightly warmer ones, just stands there with his hands on her face until she opens her eyes and looks up at him.

The moment stretches, silent, and then it’s gone as he lets his hands drop back to his sides and he takes a step back. “I’m gonna see if I can find any contraband,” he informs her, too loud in the quiet. “Or like, a weird sex dungeon. Seems like Johnny’d have one, somewhere.”

“You sound like Adelaide,” Mattie says, forcing a smile, glad for the subject change. She pushes deeper into the kitchen, admiring the size and decor despite herself. It would be amazing to cook in here.

Sharky’s laugh follows him down the hall, and Mattie’s finally alone again, able to lean against the counter and groan into her hand.

How has her life come to this?

---

John calls her on the radio when she takes off in Nick’s plane, clammy hands clutching the throttle and her heart already in her throat. When she hears his hissed voice coming through the receiver, she’s afraid for a few heart-stopping moments that she’ll actually be sick in Nick’s plane and she’ll have to return it to him covered in vomit.

She swallows hard and doesn’t get sick.

John’s not sure whether to be more mad that she’s taken over his house or that she’s stolen Nick’s plane, but he does manage to make a confusing reference to his walls screaming and a threat about skinning her and hanging her skin over the mantle -- which, gross, who even thinks about that? -- and she resolutely ignores the talk button on her radio. He doesn’t deserve any response she can think of.

Nick comes on when John’s finished pitching his goddamned hissy fit, guiding her through a couple of exercises to make sure the plane’s in top shape, then she flies the plane along the river back to his house.

If flying didn’t have to happen so high off the ground, she’d like it a lot more.

---

By the time she makes it back to the ranch -- having helped Nick defend his property, load his car, un load his car, and accepted water and snacks from Kim -- it’s dark out and weariness has settled so deep inside her bones she’s not sure she’ll ever feel fully rested again.

The vehicle fires have burned themselves out in John’s driveway, the doors are closed, and no peggies are in sight. Boomer’s asleep on the front porch, but he doesn’t do much more than open his eyes and sigh heavily, like he’s saying good, you’re back, do you know what time it is, young lady?, and roll over to sleep more.

The place is hazy with smoke when she opens the door, the distinctive scent of marijuana hitting her right in the face. She coughs, starts to hold her breath, then she just laughs.

“Sharky?”

He waves when he hears his name, and she finds him reclining on one of the leather couches, hat and shoes off, a joint in his hand and an ashtray balanced on his chest. 

“Party got started without ya,” he says, smile soft as he offers the joint over to her. When she hesitates, he prods, “C’mon, who’s gonna arrest you for it?”

Oh, well, fuck it. “Good point,” she says, and takes it from him. She inhales deeply, closes her eyes and holds her breath for as long as she can before releasing a thick cloud of smoke. “You been carrying this the whole time?”

“That’s the best part! John had two dime bags sitting right on the table here. Wonder what Joe would think about that.” 

She takes another deep drag before she starts to feel her muscles loosening. “They probably think it’s okay, ‘cause it’s natural, like the bliss or whatever the fuck,” she says, then passes the joint back and sits right on the low table to start unlacing her boots. “Which is, whatever, I don’t care, but it would be fuckin’ hilarious to finally nail John on possession when we know he’s doing all this other shit.”

The urge to start laughing rises up and she fights against it, focuses on getting out of her boots, then out of her bloody flannel. She badly needs a shower, but the thought of walking around until she finds one is just exhausting.

“What’s all that?” Sharky’s hand is suddenly in her space, fingers brushing over the sharpie marks on her arm. She shivers and doesn’t hide it as his touch tickles her sensitive skin, turning her hand to catch his as he starts to pull away.

“It’s how many times I’ve died,” she says, honesty coming out before she can think to lie. “I need to add one, though, since there was a fight at Nick’s.”

Sharky’s hand disappears from her view, and her stomach drops when she realizes what she’s said, what she’s admitted to, what he must be thinking --

“What the fuck?”

His hand is back, grabbing her arm and pulling her forward so he can fully see the lines covering her skin. The oldest ones, from Fall's End, are starting to fade, but there are so many others, covering her from the crook of her elbow right down to her wrist. She started out making the marks too big, so they start to taper off around #15, but they’re still easy enough to count.

“Thirty-two? You tryna tell me you died thirty-two times?”

She risks a glance up at his face, breath still caught up in her throat, but it doesn’t look like he’s laughing at her, or like he thinks she’s gone crazy. He just looks… surprised, almost in awe.

“Yeah. Mostly at the beginning, when I was by myself.” Her breath catches again when he runs the fingers of his free hand down her forearm again, clears her throat to move past it. “You’n Hurk helped a lot.”

“You’re not dead, though.”

“No. Every time I just… listen, I can’t explain it, okay? It really fucking hurts, and then everything goes black, and then I start over a few minutes before I died, with enough time to do something different. If that grenade today had exploded, I would have started over right before it landed between us, and I would’ve known to throw it back.”

She watches his face as he listens to her and stares at her arm. His eyes are red, his lips parted like he’s so shocked he just forgot to close them, and the reverence on his face is almost enough to make her cry.

“Is that what happened? Today?”

“No.” She shakes her head, her weariness creeping back and making her eyelids too heavy. “I’ve just tossed enough grenades back where they came from to not be freaked out by it, s’all.”

“Well, goddamn,” Sharky murmurs. He releases her hand and sits up straighter, meeting her eyes from his seat on the couch. “God damn .”

“Yeah, that’s the sum of it.”

Sharky takes another hit and passes the joint off to her. She takes it then snuffs it out on the ashtray that he’d let fall to the floor when he sat up.

“So you believe me?”

He blinks at her as he refocuses his attention on her instead of whatever he was looking at on the ceiling. “What? ’Course I do. You wouldn’t lie about that, would you, Dep?”

“Well. No. I just thought you’d think I’m crazy.”

He blinks at her real slow, then shakes his head again. “You’ve heard all Hurky’s stories, right?” He stops talking long enough to pull his hoodie off over his head, then he lies down on the couch. “You think all that’s real, but I wouldn’t believe you? None of this shit makes sense -- hey, watch the moneymaker.”

Mattie, who started crawling into Sharky’s space the second he was horizontal, finally gives in to the giggles brought on by a combination of relief and the gentle high from John’s weed. She removes her knee from between his legs -- the source of his panic -- by just collapsing onto his chest. He shifts, wrapping one arm around her and tucking the other behind his head.

“I don’t know if we’re in, like, a video game, or a simulation, or some fuckin’ Groundhog Day situation, or what. You’re like a, a, oh, what’re those birds or whatever that die and then come back to life? With the fire?”

She’s still giggling quietly, head on his chest, eyes already drooping as he warms her. “Phoenix.”

“Hell yeah, you’re like a phoenix! Joe-bro is definitely going down now. You can’t be stopped.” There’s a pause as his fingers tickle against the bare skin of her arm, just at the place where the strap of her tank top is, and she lets the motion lull her to the edge of sleep. “Thirty-two times. Goddamn, shorty, you’re somethin’ else.”

She falls asleep with a smile on her face.

---

There’s a little dog in John’s bedroom. It’s tiny and white and fluffy, and the minute it sees Mattie walking in, it runs forward with its tail going so fast she thinks its butt might lift right up. The room smells like piss, and she feels a deep pang of guilt -- not for John’s rug, which has obviously been the dog’s bathroom over the last eighteen hours, but because the dog has been stuck in one room without food or water.

It’s wearing a little collar with its rabies license and a little heart-shaped tag that says its name is Moose, and the search for a shower is derailed as she scoops the dog up and takes it outside.

“You got a dog? What the hell you got a dog for?” Sharky’s eating at the long table by the empty fireplace, but he abandons his food when she appears at the foot of the stairs with the little bundle of excited white fur. “John has a dog?”

“Apparently.” Sharky opens the back door for her and follows her into the yard. Moose doesn’t move a single step away before he starts to pee in the grass, and doesn’t even care when Boomer trots up for an investigative sniff. “Poor little guy was in the bedroom upstairs. Did you see dog food in the kitchen, or anything?”

“Lemme check.” He takes another second to stare down at the dog, then he kind of bumps his elbow into hers before he goes back into the house. 

After Moose finishes peeing, he returns Boomer’s attentions, sniffing the new animal until they’ve both decided the other one can be trusted. Curiosity sated, they start to play, Boomer encouraging Moose to chase him around the yard before returning the favor.

It’s cute, watching them run around like this. It’s so much closer to what she thought adult life would be like than what she has right now that an ache settles into her chest and she has to clear her throat to stop herself from crying.

It doesn’t matter.

Moose cuts to the house mid-run, zooming past Mattie and through the still-open door without stopping. She follows, Boomer ignoring her, and finds Sharky in the kitchen spooning food from a can into a little steel bowl. Moose is at Sharky’s feet, standing on his hind legs, spinning in the occasional excited circle. It’s fucking adorable, and Mattie says as much.

Sharky glances at her over his shoulder, grinning. “Thanks, chica. I do my best.”

His smile grows when she snorts and then starts to laugh.

“We’ll have to take Moose into Fall's End,” she says, watching Sharky bend down to put the bowl on the floor. “We can’t leave him here.”

“Whatever you say,” Sharky says. “You’re the boss.”

---

Being in Fall's End means talking to everyone in Fall's End, and that means chatting with Jerome about the people who need her help around the county. There are even more now than there were before, farmers and just regular citizens who have been holed up this whole time who suddenly need help or have information for her. Some of them are willing to exchange hard-earned supplies for her assistance, and she knows just by the serious expression on Jerome’s face that she can’t say no this time.

The two of them bend over a map of the valley together, tracing out routes with their fingers to see where she should go first and how many people she can help as fast as possible. Sharky leaves them to it as soon as he gets bored, taking Moose with him, and comes back a while later with beers to share and food for all of them.

“Mary May’s gonna watch the dog,” he says, settling sideways on one of the pews so he can stretch his leg out in front of him along the seat. “Didn’t figure it’d be all that useful against the peggies.”

“Thanks, Shark,” she says, smile warm. She turns back to Jerome in time to catch his own soft smile at the exchange. When he catches her eye, he looks down and twists the top off his own drink.

For a while, it’s quiet.

They decide to head up to the Lamb of God episcopal church first, following up on rumors that Grace Armstrong has holed up in it to protect some of the graves from the peggies. Jerome promises to send some resistance members to John’s, thanks Sharky for lunch, and then they go their separate ways.

Sharky keeps up a stream of empty chatter on their way to the other side of the valley, sharing meandering tales from his childhood that are designed to have her laughing as hard as possible. They park a safe distance from the church, around the curve and on the side of the road, but neither of them get out of the car right away.

Mattie has her sleeves rolled up to just below her elbows, the day unseasonably warm, and she stares down at the dark tally marks without speaking for a long moment. When she looks up, Sharky’s already staring at her face, his lips obviously pressed together to keep himself quiet.

“When we go in there, I don’t want you to worry about me. You need to watch out for yourself and stay out of harm’s way, okay? I’ll be fine no matter what -- you won’t.”

“Shor--”

“No.” She holds up one hand to cut off his protests before he can really get started on them, then lowers it and grabs his wrist. “You have to do this. Promise me. I won’t be able to forgive myself if something happens to you.”

He’s frowning hard. “Well, how do you think I’m gonna feel if you die and then stay dead?”

She pushes away the voice inside her that says if only and squeezes his wrist. “I promise you that won’t happen, okay? You believed me last night, you can believe me now.”

She waits until he nods before she releases him and climbs out. Boomer hops out of the backseat and immediately pees on a nearby fence post before dashing off in the direction of the church. Sharky’s muttering something under his breath at a constant rate, but she ignores him because she can’t quite hear all his words -- if he wanted her to know, he’d be talking louder, she’s completely sure.

It only takes a minute of walking before they can hear gunshots, and the pair exchanges a glance before setting out at a jog down the road.

There’s a single peggie truck parked to block traffic, a handful of men ducked behind trees and stone walls closer to the church building, all their fire focused on either one of the headstones or on the church itself. A green laser sight flits over Sharky’s chest, then Mattie’s, then disappears and a woman’s voice comes over the radio. 

“ You the deputy Jerome was telling me about? I could use your help. ” A shot rings out then, and the nearest peggie drops dead. 

Sharky and Mattie exchange another look and split up, heading in opposite directions to keep themselves from being surrounded. It works for them, habits accidentally forged as they burned their way from the Henbane and back into the Valley, and the few peggies trying to get to Grace fall pretty fast without causing any more damage than they had before they were interrupted.

Once the yard falls quiet, Mattie climbs up and scoot-walks across the roof of the church to where Grace is sitting in the bell tower. She ignores Sharky’s laughter from below her, focused instead on getting to Grace and not fucking falling down because breaking her neck because she slipped would be the shittiest way she’s died yet. 

Grace watches her with a half-smile and soft eyes. “You got good timing,” she says, shifting back to make room as Mattie crawls wholly inside the tower and sits with her back against the wall as Grace explains what she’s doing.

The peggies are defiling the graves, specifically of the war heroes like Grace’s dad, in an attempt to demoralize them. It’s a pretty damn good attempt, based on how angry Grace is about it, but Mattie doesn’t know how to respond.

She already feels pretty damn demoralized, graves or no graves.

“I’m a good shot, but I need somebody to watch my back.” Grace cocks her head to the side, ear pointed toward the road. “They’ll be here any second.”

Well. It’s not like Mattie can say no to this.

She nods at Grace, crawl-walks back to the ladder, and slides down. Sharky’s there, a grin on his face, and she punches him in the chest hard enough to make him step back in mock agony.

They don’t have time to tease. Some peggie’s truck squeals to a stop, worn out fuckin’ pads announcing their presence to the people they’re trying to kill, and Mattie and Sharky split up again.

There are more peggies this time, absolutely pouring out of the woods and crawling up the hill. Mattie runs out of rifle ammo and ends up using it to smash one peggie in the head as he tries to light a stick of dynamite stuck in the crack of the crypt.

She lights the dynamite herself and tosses it back to the road. One of their trucks explodes in a deeply satisfying ball of fire that catches two of the closest peggies off guard and throws them to the ground.

Grace snipes them both.

The yard of the church is so chaotic that Mattie doesn’t realize she can’t hear Sharky’s taunting calls until after the last peggie falls to her feet with his blood under her nails.

Even though her blood is rushing in her ears, it’s too quiet. It’s too quiet and she can’t see that green hoodie or the bursts of fire from his flamethrower and she can’t hear his laughter or his comments about how her being spattered in peggie gore is (somehow) hot.

She can’t hear anything but Boomer’s sharp bark from the other side of the cemetery. One quick high-pitched call. Help.

She breaks into a run, hopping over bodies and toppled gravestones in her haste. Cold dread settles in her gut, growing with each footfall, until she knows what she’s going to see before she sees it.

Sharky, on the ground, half-hidden behind one of the larger crypts, slumped to the side. His lips are blue, his face pale, his hoodie soaked through with blood. It’s on the crypt behind him, like he’d been standing against it when he was shot, and when she reaches under his chin to check for a pulse, his eyes stare back at her, empty.

She screams.

Grace is at her side in an instant, checking for a pulse alongside Mattie’s bloody fingers, hissing curses under her breath when she can’t find one either. Mattie pushes the hoodie up over his chest, out of the way, and presses her palms flat against the bullet wounds like she can do anything now to stop the blood.

She told him.

She told him.

“I told him, I told him to be careful, and this is what happened! I should have made him stay behind, why wouldn’t he listen, why--”

“Hey, hey.” Grace’s hands find her face, fingers wrapping around her chin. “You can’t do this here. Help me get him to my truck.”

Mattie nods, blinks the tears from her eyes, and gets her shoulder under Sharky’s arm. Grace helps her lift him, and together they drag his body through the woods around to the back of the church where Grace’s pickup is waiting for them.

They lay him down in the back, and Mattie hesitates by the tailgate as Grace moves to climb in the driver’s seat.

The engine turns over and covers the sharp cry Mattie releases when a bullet hits her shoulder, but it doesn’t cover the sound the tail light makes when it shatters.

White lights surround her and she falls to the ground, vertigo making her retch. She wants to tell Grace to go, to take Sharky back to Fall’s End and leave her here to whatever punishment John has cooked up for her for taking his home and kidnapping his dog, but she can’t make her body obey her.

She loses consciousness just as one of John’s Chosen starts to haul her upright.

[themenof--marvel]

For Those We’ve Lost (Chapter 3)

Summary: It’s been more than a decade since Tony Stark and his daughter have made eye contact, or any contact for that matter. With the ever-looming threat of disaster and loss haunting Tony, and with the new Avengers Headquarters completed, maybe there was a chance for him to find a sliver of happiness in his lost family. After living in the shadows for so long, will his estranged daughter be willing to reunite? Will she even have a choice when she’s thrown into the chaotic world of the Avengers? Perhaps they both stand to gain more from this overdue reunion.

Warnings: none  

**Non-canon storyline**

Taglist:  sims-4-cc0707

Chapter 1 Chapter 2

--

The next day passed pretty much normal. By midday, she was always three cups of coffee in and still going strong. She browsed her work platform for anything interesting. She even tried to see if anyone had any information on the Avengers headquarters, but as far as she could tell, no one knew anything. That was a relief; that last thing a protective agency needed was to have their location floating though the media.  

An hour later, she had a simple lunch of PB&J on rye bread. Under normal circumstances, she was leading another normal day. But today was not like any other day; today was THE day. She tried to distract herself by working on a new software program; a pet project for the future. The problem with distracting yourself is that it can work out way too well. When she glanced at the computer clock, she gasped. It was already 5:30PM, meaning Happy would be around to pick her up in under an hour.  

Y/N saved all her changes and shut off the computer. She hurried into the small shower in her apartment and tried her best to hurry. With every passing minute, she swore her heat beat increased.  

Just as she dried off and dressed herself in the pantsuit (which fit way too perfectly in her opinion), she found a pair of high-top wedged black sneakers and put her hair into a messy bun. A glance in the bathroom mirror and she had to take a moment to stare at her reflection. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been out of a hoodie or tee and jeans. Looking at her appearance, she could really see the features of her father, and that made it hard to smile at herself. Although she looked dressed for the event, her emotions weren’t backing her up.

She strolled back to the main room and put on her one and only accessory; the bangle. She gave it a few seconds to rest comfortably on her wrist and line up with her internal system. The moment she sensed that it was ready to fulfil whatever request she wanted, she adjusted her shoulders and grabbed her phone.  

One of most redeeming qualities of the suit was that it came with pockets, which saved her from having to buy some miniature hand-purse.  

Her phone buzzed in her hand and Happy’s name appeared on the screen. She answered the call and Happy informed her that he was downstairs, just outside of the building.

She took one last breath and made her way out of the apartment. Shutting it securely, she made her way down the flights of stairs.  

Out on the curb, Happy stood, smiling. “Hey, kid. Looking good.”

She smiled in response and strolled over to the back seat. “Let’s just get this over with.”

Happy closed the door after her and they took off for the event.

-

The drive lasted about 40 minutes, all during which Happy and Y/N shared little words. While Y/N tried to settle her rapidly beating heart, Happy hummed along to the radio.  

Soon enough, they turned off the highway and arrived through a poorly lit dirt road. After being surrounded by forest, the road emerged to reveal the headquarters. On a screen, this building didn’t seen that impressive but in reality, it was a dream. The overdone steel gate entrance also screamed security. Happy got through easily enough by swiping a key card by the guard booth.  

The grounds were much better lit than the entrance path. From the side of the compound, she could make out the track and field training grounds. She couldn’t hide how impressed she was; this was simply amazing.

Happy pulled up to the side entrance of the building, but she didn’t want for him to open the door. Once she faced the building head-on, she could see that the entire building was lit. However, most of the noise came from the ground floor. The music hummed through crisp speakers and she took a deep breath when she saw the moving crowd of people just behind the entrance.

“This is it, kid,” Happy said, moving to stand next to her. “You ready for this?”

She couldn’t even look at him; she didn’t even know the answer. From where they just came, another car appeared. The driver, and apparent guest, was a frail woman with cascading strawberry blonde hair. Y/N recognized her instantly. This was Pepper Potts, her father’s assistant and now romantic love interest.  

Their eyes met and she could tell that Pepper recognized her as well.  

“Happy, is this-,” she trailed off, ushering her hands to Y/N and glancing at Happy for confirmation.

“Yes, ma’am, this is Y/N Stark.”

Y/N could feel herself pulling back. She wanted to step back but the car was right behind her. There was nowhere to go when Pepper approached with open arms.  

Pepper pulled Y/N into her arms and grasped her tightly. “It’s so good to finally meet you. I’m glad you decided to come tonight.”

Y/N was silent. She was having a bit of a culture-shock. People didn’t hug her and she didn’t hug people. This was entirely new. And she didn’t know how to react.  

Watching her stunned state, Pepper grasped her hand and pulled her towards the entrance of the event. “We better get in there before all the good food it gone. I’m starving.”

Y/N hurriedly glanced back at Happy, who only showed her a smile of encouragement bordered by two thumbs-up.

The music hummed through the doors, engulfing her when Pepper opened them. She was ready for an elegant evening, but these people were here for a full-blown party. The lighting was dimmed but she could easily make out the backdrop of the bar lights and the celebratory decorations hanging from the ceiling. One quick survey and she could easily tell that she was dressed to fit in with this people; everyone opted for casual with some men even wearing plain dark jeans.

“Oh, I think I see Tony over there! C’mon, Y/N.” Pepper’s grip on Y/N’s arm tightened as she pulled her to the left of the room.  

An alarm went off on Y/N’s mind; this was too much. She was being dragged to reunite with her father, like a dog being pulled to the vet. This was not how she saw this going, and she needed it to stop.  

With one strong inhale, she planted her feet in place and yanked her arm out of Pepper’s grip. The strawberry blonde gasped slightly but the look of pure surprise shone through her wide eyes was more than enough to satisfy Y/N.

There was no way she was going to let this woman cart her off to face something she’d been regretting for so long.  

Pepper took a step closer, keeping her hands to herself, and said, “He’s right over there. I’ll let him know you made it safely.” Not waiting for confirmation, Pepper turned her back and strolled off through the crowd of people.

In the spacing of the mingling crowd, she caught a glimpse of him. At least, she thought it looked like him. The golden lights fell on his well-maintained wavy coffee-coloured hair. The same type of hair that she now had stuffed into a bun. She watched as he spoke to another, taller man. She kept her gaze as he let out a laugh, letting his smile-lines exaggerate.  

Something clicked in her mind. The memory of the last time she actually saw her father. A memory that she tried so hard to cover up, to forget. A reflection that now made her chest tighten with the pain of remembrance. As she watched Pepper appear next to Tony, and whisper something in his ear, she felt the pain reach her eyes, causing them to water. The lights around her crinkled as a single tear made its way down her cheek.  

The second Tony reacted to Pepper’s message and turned to face the direction of his daughter; Y/N cast herself away. Her back faced Tony and she hurried to leave the building. She didn’t even care if Happy wasn’t there to take her back; she already had her software retracing the path to the mainland.

She was glad for the music. Now, she couldn’t hear if anyone was calling after her. She pushed any noise that wasn’t music out of her mind. She didn’t need to hear his voice; it was still ringing through her mind from that wretched memory.  

[thatgoddamnflipphone]

Fic Rec Friday: 10/4/19

WELP my laptop bit it and had to be sent back for repairs, so I missed a few weeks. That means I have about a bazillion recs for yall!  PLEASE SHARE THIS SO THESE FICS CAN GET SOME LOVE!

616 

What Tomorrow May Bring by simmyschtuff A post-CW get together where Tony is on the run from someone trying to take down him and his company, and ends up at Steve’s place (of course!). A mystery! Something’s wrong with Tony! Memory loss! Lots of good stuff 33k here. https://archiveofourown.org/works/20599958

Wash That Man (right out of my hair) by @mizzy2k​ Current canon Tony has a brand new body, which Steve notices in the communal showers ... before he realizes who he’s looking at. Then there’s the teeny weeny ginormous problem of trying NOT to notice the rest of the time when parts of Steve are VERY MUCH AWARE NOW THANK YOU. 7k https://archiveofourown.org/works/19943740

MCU

A Penny Saved by @atoria420 This is ADORABLE AND PURE you must read it. Steve saves a dog, Steve comes out to the team, misunderstandings ensue because of course they do, mutual PINING! Cutest DOGGY FRIEND! Dumb boys figuring their shit out! It’s lovely. 23k https://archiveofourown.org/works/18822151

take my heart clean apart by @mistymountainking This is a LOVELY and perfect friends-to-lovers first kiss ficlet. Tony comes home exhausted and emotionally worn out after a gala, and Steve meets him in the kitchen as he usually does after such events, but this time Tony’s masks aren’t on quite tight enough. It’s so sweet I’m definitely putting it on the reread list. 6k https://archiveofourown.org/works/20768645

Semi-Canon AU

My heart in your hands by @itsallavengers A year ago, Steve and Tony broke their engagement after Steve’s grief from losing a friend pushed them further and further apart. Now, Steve’s being sent by SHIELD to get close to Tony again to find evidence that he’s the terrorist Iron Man. I think you can figure out what happens next! I really liked Steve’s journey in this from hurt and suspicious to slowly figuring out who the badguys really are. 34k https://archiveofourown.org/works/20703704

Mister Fixit and the Mechanic by @mizzy2k GOSH this has so many of my favorite things. Steve is defrosted several decades early, and has spent the last 10 years retired and incognito as a small town mechanic. Enter Tony Stark whose mansion has just been blown up by the Mandarin -- or as Steve knows him, Anthony the somewhat mysterious and attractive newcomer to town who keeps buying weird combinations of things at his shop. I love how this all ties in to canon while still being a SUPER ADORABLE small town au! You’ll fall in love with the townsfolk, too. 40k https://archiveofourown.org/works/18878581

of dreams, ice and scales by @awesomelifechoices​ A very unique, beautiful fic where canon is basically the same but Tony is also part dragon in human form. Give it a try, it’s very clever! 12k https://archiveofourown.org/works/20734481

I'll See You When I Fall Asleep by @citsiurtlanu OH MAN I LOVED THIS SO MUCH As kids, Tony and Steve start switching places and living each others lives when they fall asleep. Not only that, but Tony is living in the 80′s and Steve is a sickly young kid during the Depression. This is a beautiful and extremely clever concept since they don’t even really interact (until ~spoilers~) except through messages written when they “jump” into each others lives, but by living in each others bodies they come to care deeply about each other. So it’s kind of like a pen-pals-through-time fic! 36k https://archiveofourown.org/works/20633348

Full AU

A Pocket Full of Rye (Biscuits) by @shetlandowl TONY’S WALKING HIS DOG WHEN HE REALIZES THE TOY SHE GRABBED IS NOT HERS BUT IS. ERM. HIS TOY. AHHHHHH! This is adorable and hilarious. 3k https://archiveofourown.org/works/20591939

Pythagorean Expectation by @papistark A huge and wonderful baseball AU! Turning fandom norms on their head a little, Steve is the older veteran player and Tony is the young rookie rival he slowly falls for. Great characterizations, exciting slow burn, I didn’t want this to end. 182k https://archiveofourown.org/works/15994514

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That’s it for this week! Find my 300+ fic recs organized by verse HERE! And past Fic Rec Fridays that haven’t been added to the rec list HERE.

[dreaminginsteadofsleeping42]

My Brief Thoughts on the 27 Books I Read This Summer

I love reading and I love talking about books and I’d love to give any of y’all some reading recommendations if you’re looking for them, so, here we go!

The Wings of the Dove, Henry James. I actually started this in January, but then Life Happened, so I only finished it in June. I really sped-read this one towards the end. Kind of took twice as many words needed to convey what was conveyed. Kind of had that sexist-ly written, male fantasy, early twentieth century woman element to it (this woman isn’t like other woman in that she is SMART! yeah.). The story was fine, but not my favourite.

King’s Cage, Victoria Aveyard. This is the third book in the series and it was MUCH better than book 2. The problem I have with this series is that I find the main character and her love interest boring af, so I’m not really interested in their story, but that’s just a personal preference thing. I loved some side characters and the villain.

War Storm, Victoria Aveyard. The last book in the series. Very long. Big book. Anti-climatic. My favourite character was done dirty. I was over it. Why were there two characters called Cameron and Carmadon? It was an enjoyable read, if the ending was a bit eh. At least [SPOILER ALERT] the lesbians got a happy ending.

Crooked House, Agatha Christie. This one was fun. Classic Christie, bunch of people in a house, someone dies, someone in the house did it, let’s figure it out, detectives! Interesting ending, something I hadn’t seen from it before and it was refreshing to read a standalone novel of hers (as much as I love Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple).

A Pocket Full of Rye, Agatha Christie. My girl Agatha! Another fun mystery. Old dude dies: was it his sons? His young wife? His young secretary? Wtf knows! Let’s go, detectives! 

Venetia, Georgette Heyer. Pretty enjoyable, good humor, likeable heroine. My only problem with this book was that the hero was an asshole and basically assaulted the heroine upon meeting and it was painted as attractive because it was the 1920s or whatever, so yeah. I didn’t like him. Kind of spoiled the rest of the really good book.

The Jane Austen Project, Kathleen A. Flynn. SUPER good, so intriguing, oh my gosh. The synopsis basically is these two people from the future go back in time to find a missing book by Jane Austen and try to stop her from dying. Had me getting confused about the logistics of time travel for a week. Awesome!

Heartless, Marissa Meyer. This was also great. It’s an origin story for the Queen of Hearts and I LOVE how the author incorporated characters and concepts from Alice in Wonderland while also making it a fresh story. Definitely recommend if you’re into fairytales and classics.

Tarzan of the Apes, Edgar Rice Burroughs. Very exciting. A real page-turner, if sexist and racist and uneducated about everything. 

The Glass Spare, Lauren DeStefano. THIS. THIS book deserves more hype. I really enjoyed it. It’s about this princess who discovers she has the ability to create gemstones. It was original, I couldn’t predict what was going to happen next in the best way, there was an actually interesting male love interest and it had a wlw relationship. Check it out, do yourself a favor. 

The Cursed Sea, Lauren DeStefano. The sequel to the above. Even better than the former, had all the qualities I mentioned above and more. Although there was not one cursed sea in this book and to this day I am still confused about that.

The Mystery of Three Quarters, Sophie Hannah. It was a very interesting murder mystery, in the format was a bit different than what I was used to. Four people were sent letters accusing them of murdering a bloke who died a few months back. Was invested and trying to figure out the mystery the whole way through, so I got my money’s worth in that respect. The ending was a bit of a surprise, but it was a fun read.

Tale As Old As Time. A HUGE book all about the history of Beauty and the Beast. I love that story so much, I was almost crying at times while reading this book, I was so overcome with love. Definitely check it out if you love BATB.

The Life of Charlotte Bronte, Elizabeth Gaskell. I’ve loved the Brontes’ books for years and this book reminded me of that love. Such a vivid picture of her life. Charlotte Bronte was pre-teen-me’s idol.

Victoria, Daisy Goodwin. This was a historical novel about the first year of Queen Victoria of England’s reign. SO interesting, I was so invested and annoyed when it ended. I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.

Armadale, Wilkie Collins. The gay vibes were strong with this book. I don’t care what anyone says, Ozias and Allan are in love with each other, it’s canon. We got crazy family history and drama here, superstition, mistaken identity, scheming women and an all-round good time. 800 pages of it.

Elizabeth of York, Alison Weir. This is a biography of, um, Elizabeth of York, Queen of England, mother of Henry VIII. I love the British monarchy. They are such a dramatic bunch in pretty gowns. Super interesting book. Very well-written.

The Big Four, Agatha Christie. This was a very different Christie. There were these crime lords all over the word trying to kill Poirot and Hastings. Very fast-paced and exciting, bunch of racist undertones. Reading Christie is like talking to your grandparents. It’s all fun until they throw some random racist comment out there and it sucks.

The Clockmaker’s Daughter, Kate Morton. Everyone go read all of Kate Morton’s books, thank me later. This was excellent as usual. 

Jane and the Wandering Eye, Stephanie Barron. This is the third in a series that re-imagines Jane Austen as a detective. I love them, lots of fun. 

My Own Book. This is the short story/poetry collection my little story got published in! There were some pretty amazing pieces in here (alongside mine ahahaha). Pretty cool to have my own writing on my bookshelf. Excuse me while I cry.

The Mystery of the Blue Train, Agatha Christie. Jewels. Woman murdered on train. Did someone on the train do it? Did someone go on and off the train to do it? Were they disguised as someone else? Was the murdered woman really the murdered woman? Was it her husband? Her boyfriend? Snow. France. Millionaires. Fun time.

Three Dark Crowns, Kendare Blake. The first in a new series. It’s about these three triplets and one of them kills the other two to be queen. I LOVE the characters in this series. For different reasons too. Great cliff-hanger ending. I love it. 

One Dark Throne, Kendare Blake. The second in the series. Continues to be good. We have to stan.

Two Dark Reigns, Kendare Blake. Third in series. Still good, but a little anti-climatic in that a spat of bad weather made everyone decide to cancel the big, climatic battle. There’s one book left in the series I haven’t got yet AND I WANT TO KNOW HOW IT ENDS.

Regina Rising, Wendy Tolliver. A prequel-esque story about the Evil Queen from the Once Upon a Time TV series. Interesting, but not revolutionary.

Partners in Crime, Agatha Christie. This one was so FUNNY. I love Tommy and Tuppence, I wish she wrote more books with them. It was so hilarious. They set up this agency where they guarantee to solve any crime in 24 hours. So good.

[shan282-ao3]

The Devil Has Come Ch9

Originally posted on Archive of Our Own [x]

Chapters: 12/? Fandom: Far Cry 5 Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Female Deputy | Judge/John Seed, Female Deputy | Judge/Jacob Seed, Female Deputy | Judge/Joseph Seed Characters: Original Female Character(s), John Seed, Jacob Seed, Joseph Seed, Faith Seed, Staci Pratt, Nick Rye, Sharky Boshaw, Female Deputy | Judge (Far Cry), Original Male Character(s), Kim Rye, Boomer (Far Cry), Joey Hudson, Earl Whitehorse Additional Tags: Canon-Typical Violence, Torture, Fluff, Minor Character Death, Recreational Drug Use, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Eventual Smut, Character Death, Slow Burn Series: Part 1 of Bottom of The River

Summary: They should never have been there. Whitehorse and Pratt were right when they spoke against going to Eden’s Gate. They should have left The Project alone. They’d started something and there was no going back now. The lamb had broken the first seal and the deputy had been helpless to stop her.

Read below:

Inside the VA Center, the world outside and seemed to stop moving, it was just the training course and cruel words of encouragement. It wasn’t until she was gone that she was hit full force with the fact that the world had indeed kept spinning.

She’d hiked through the forest for nearly three hours when she finally found a car. It had started, miraculously, but one look at the gas tank meter told her that it wouldn’t run for long. Still, she would take what she could get, if she could get to the ranger station she could get a better car and call for Rook.

She’d broken the radio Staci gave her when she tripped nearly an hour back on an exposed tree root she didn’t see. She’d landed awkwardly on one knee and scratched up her hands forcing her to walk the rest of the way with a slight limp.

The drive to the ranger station was thankfully uneventful, she listened to Peggie radio, humming along as she drove. She pulled into the gas station across from the outpost and climbed out, staying low when she saw the cultists walking around outside of it.

A dead man dressed in camo was slumped against the wall of the gas station, Sarah scrunched up her nose at the smell and searched his body. She had no weapons or ammo, if she was going to get into the ranger station she’d need to take out the Peggies surrounding it. She found a box of pistol ammo and a pair of binoculars but no gun, disappointing but at least it was something.

Around the back of the small cement building, Sarah found a ladder to the roof. She climbed to the roof with the thought that maybe she could use the binoculars to figure out where everyone was and hoped she could find a way to slip in and out without getting caught.

Instead, she found another corpse in camo clutching a sniper rifle against its chest. She grabbed the rifle yanked, cringing at the pop and crack the dead man’s fingers snapped and released the weapon. She found a box of rifle ammo on the ground beside him along with some bandages and a pistol not too far away. There was an arrow sticking out of his chest, she pulled that out as well, she may not have a bow but she could still stab someone with it.

“Thank you.” She whispered to the deadman, aiming the scope of the rifle towards the station. There was a silencer on the end of the barrel, she silently thanked the heavens for that.

She followed a single guard as he wandered out of sight of his companions and fired, watching him drop gracelessly to the ground. The next she sniped as he came around the building to check on his missing friend, he didn’t get a chance to see the body before was dead as well. The third and last one in her line of sight proved not to be as easy, he was doing jumping jacks of all things and the first shot went right past him, the bullet lodging itself in the van in front of him. He startled and as ran to see what had hit the van she fired again and he crumpled to the floor.

The remaining Peggies had heard the noise of the bullet hitting the car and witnessed their fellow cultist drop and jumped into full alert. Sarah shot out the alarms before they could be triggered before sprinting back to the ladder and quickly sliding down it. She had to be smart about this, the rifle would be no use in combat and she only had a clip full of ammo for the pistol. She couldn’t just fire blinding and hope she hit one.

She did her best to stay out of sight lines as she ran across the street, she wished Rook or Grace were here, it would be a lot easier to clear the station with extra guns. She slid into cover and took a few breaths to steady herself before aiming her gun over the crates she was hiding behind.

She fired at the first cultist to come into view, hitting him in the shoulder and sending him yowling for help and she dropped back into her cover. Almost instantly bullets started to fly in her direction, she crouched lower and prayed the crates would stay intact long enough for her to find sturdier cover. She waited for a pause when they would have to reload before running to a new cover spot, firing once more when she’d gotten there, she hit the one she’d wounded in the chest and he dropped to the ground.

The few minutes were tense as she switched between ducking and firing, she’d nearly emptied her clip by the time she dropped the last one. It was then, just when she let herself relax a bit, that snarling behind her sent her scrambling for safety. A Judge, its face painted red and body deformed from whatever sick process and turned it into the monster that it now was, stalked in her direction. Its lips curled and it snapped its teeth, she was close enough to see the blood staining the fur around its mouth.

Sarah fired her pistol, two bullets lodging themselves in the wolf’s shoulder before the clip was emptied. It barely flinched. All she had left was the arrow from earlier, frantically, she pulled it from her belt as the monster lunged. She drove it into the beast’s neck and rolled away, it yowled in pain and stumbled a bit but still turned to finish her off, renewed rage in its eyes.

She closed her eyes as it lunged with snapping teeth and waited for her inevitable death to come but instead she heard a high pitched whining. She cracked her eyes open to see another arrow lodged in the animal’s skull.

Her savior walked up without casting a second glance at the thing and pulled her to her feet. “What are you doing out here alone?” He asked, genuine concern in his voice.

Sarah stared at the boy in shock because that’s what he was, a boy who barely looked 17. “It was trying to call someone.” She answered blankly, looking at the Judge wolf and then him, she was still shocked to be alive. “Thank you.”

“Oh, it’s no problem. I’m Wheaty.” He grinned and stuck out his hand, Sarah couldn’t help but smile slightly and shook it.

“Deputy Lamb, but you can call me Sarah.”

“Deputy? So you must know Rook then?” He was practically beaming at the knowledge.

“Yes, have you seen her? Is she okay?” Sarah’s voice was frantic, she clutched at Wheaty’s hand hopefully.

“Yeah no she’s fine. She’d been really helpful fighting back against Jacob and his guys.” He reassured her before stepping away and surveying the area. “So you took this back? Yourself?”

“I guess, I just needed to get a working radio but I figured I couldn’t do that with them all here.”

“You’re sniper,” He pointed at it slung over her back, “Where’d you get it.”

“A dead guy at the gas station. Why?”

“It’s one of ours, it’s got the Whitetail Militia logo, see?” Sarah pulled it off and looked at the unique patterning on the side and the definite logo.

“You’re with the Whitetails?” He nodded and Sarah suddenly felt a little pissed off at whoever was running it for letting a teenager join. “Do you want it back?”

“Nah, you just cleared a cult outpost all by yourself I think you’ll use it better than any of us.” He was grinning in slight awe and his radio sputtered to life with a loud click. It had to be some sort of code, he clicked the talk button quickly in response before looking back at her. “I’ve gotta go, thanks for clearing this, I’ll let everyone know it’s safe to come here.” With that he walked back to the ATV sitting on the side of the road and drove off, waving as he passed.

Sarah watched him ride off and hoped he’d be okay before turning back to the mess she’d made. She picked her way across the property, looting bodies as she went. She stuffed the cash into her pocket and the bullets into a backpack she found. There was a discarded radio on the floor that thankfully hadn’t been destroyed. She walked into one of the building and sat down on the floor, her back against the wall as she started flipping through channels trying to find Rook’s.

“Rook? You there?” Dutch’s voice blared over the radio indicating she’d found the right channel.

“I’m here.” Rook answered back and Sarah couldn’t help but grin, beyond grateful that she was really still alive.

“Eli just radioed me to tell me the Park Ranger Station got taken back from the cult. Good job, kid.” He congratulated Rook and Sarah felt her smile fall, the familiar feelings of inadequacy filling her stomach.

“Uh, that wasn’t me, I’m with Jess on a rescue mission.”

“You’re an inspiration kid. You’re responsible whether you know it or not.”

“Oh, uh thanks then I guess.” Rook didn’t sound convinced at all, but Sarah still felt a little bubble of rage at the fact that she’d accept the gratitude.

She knew she shouldn’t be upset about this, she was helping people to help them, not to get thanks. But still, she had done this, not Rook, not anyone else. She had risked life and limb to clear out the outpost and no one even had the decency to acknowledge that it had been her, not Rook.

She caught herself thinking that maybe Staci was right, maybe she should stop helping them. It was a dangerous thought and she wanted to curse Staci for putting it in her head. Only it’d been there for a while, waiting at the edges of her mind for the right time to overwhelm her with potentially traitorous thoughts.

Sarah looked down at the radio in her hand, suddenly aware of its weight. She was tempted to throw it at the building across from her, but rationally she knew that was idiotic and reckless. If she needed help this was her lifeline. Instead, she clipped it to her belt and grabbed an abandoned pistol across from her, throwing it as hard as she could through the glass windowpane in the door instead.

The sound of glass shattering set something alight in her soul. Soon she was on her feet, blind with anger and fear, screaming insults at the world and throwing anything she could get her hands on. She grabbed a discarded baseball bat and smashed in the windows of a truck nearby. There were angry tears streaming down her face but she barely cared as she hit on of the doors of the ranger station into it cracked and broke from its hinges.

The windows smashed, doors missing and cars wrecked, Sarah collapsed to the ground. Her rage was replaced with a hollow void as she sat there, numb. She rubbed at the tears that had streaked her face, sniffling and on the brink of crying again.

She felt like an idiot, she shouldn’t be this upset. It shouldn’t matter whether the people of this God-forsaken county thanked her for helping them or not. And yet here she was on the verge of crying over it.

She tried to focus instead on the pain in her hands, it gave her something outside of her thoughts to think of. Her knuckles were bruised from punching something during her rage, her palms scraped up from her earlier fall. There was blood dripping down her left hand from a cut above her wrist, most likely from a piece of glass. She pulled the medkit she’d found from her bag and pressed a strip of gauze to the wound until the bleeding stopped. She’d need to find a river or something where she could clean it out, she didn’t need tetanus or blood poisoning or something just as bad.

She didn’t want to find Rook anymore, she decided and shouldered her sniper rifle again. She wasn’t sure where she was going but she wanted to get the hell away from here.

The drive out of the Whitetail Mountains was thankfully uneventful. Sarah drove numbly, the sounds of Peggie radio filling the car and drowning out her thoughts of fear and anger. She eventually found herself crossing the border into the Henbane and pulling into the 8-Bit Pizza Bar parking lot.

The parking lot was empty and she was honestly glad for it. She really didn’t think she was in the mood to talk to anyone right now, she just needed a drink.

Inside was quiet, Sarah turned on the radio sitting on the corner and walked around the bar to get herself a drink. She blew the dust out of the glass and filled it with whiskey before she dropped down into one of the stools, her glass in one hand and bottle in the other.

She was on her second glass when the sounds of a car pulling up outside interrupted the silence of the evening. She sighed and threw back what was left of her drink, filling it before whoever it was came inside.

The door was thrown open haphazardly, smacking back against the wall beside it. Her new drinking companion strode forward, dropping something on a table as they went. Sarah didn’t look up, hopeful that whoever they were they would get the memo that she wasn’t in the mood for company and leave her the hell alone.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the newcomer walk past her, no words were shared as they grabbed a few beers from behind the counter. There was heavy silence when they finally stopped moving, their staring obvious even if Sarah couldn’t see them.

“Hey, Dep.” Sharky greeted, his voice laced with concern. Sarah took a sharp intake and looked up at him, she tried her best to off a smile but it fell short.

“Hi, Sharky.” She felt some of the tension leave her shoulders. She was glad it was Sharky as opposed to anyone else.

“No one’s heard from you in weeks. Where’d you do?” He came around the counter and sat down next to her, chugging half his beer before looking at her for an answer.

Sarah didn’t answer immediately, instead, she ran her finger around the rim of her glass milling over how she wanted to answer the question. Did she tell the truth about where she’d been, who she’d been with, or did she lie about just as she lied about her run-ins with John? One look at Sharky’s honest expression made up her mind, she didn’t have to lie to him, he wouldn’t going to judge her like everyone else.

“I was with Jacob. He got me and Rook a while ago. The Whitetails rescued her but I got left behind.”

“What? Why the fuck did they leave you?” There was indignation in his voice and Sarah couldn’t help but smile, a part of her cheering for the fact that someone genuinely cared about her.

“They found Rook alive and assumed she was the only survivor I guess. It’s fine, Jacob found me a couple days later.”

“A couple days? How are you still alive?”

“It was just a couple days, that’s not long enough to starve or dehydrate. Anyways I was barely conscious for most of it, I ended up sleeping for three days straight after Jacob got me.” Sharky nodded, finishing off his beer and opening another. Sarah took another gulp of the liquid in her glass, cringing at the taste.

“So have you been with him this whole time?”

“Pretty much yeah. He had me running trails for a week or so, then when he brought me back to the VA Center he had me running training courses. I don’t know why he didn’t just kill me or continue running me through the trails. He called me strong when he found me, I don’t know why. I was barely alive.” She shrugged, looking at the contents of her glass in mock contemplation while the memories of her time at the center replayed. “John showed up two nights ago, he’s gonna kill me when he gets his hands on me.”

“What’d you do to piss off ol’ Johnson?”

“I kinda cut his throat a bit last time we were in the same room as each other.” Sarah answered somewhat sheepishly and finished the rest of her drink before retelling the events at John’s bunker and her other run-ins with him to a very amused Sharky.

“Look, I’m gonna be honest, sounds like Johnson wants to bang you.”

If Sarah had a drink in her mouth she would spit it out. “Where did you get that from my story.”

“The dude made you a fancy dinner after baptizing you, no one else around here has ever gotten that kind of treatment. He sent someone to pick up your drunk ass because he was worried you were gonna kill yourself driving home. He let you just walk off his ranch without even an escort. And he said he wasn’t going to force you to atone, he doesn’t give people that choice.” Sharky explained acting like the all-seeing relationship counselor of the county.

“Yeah okay.” Sarah dismissed him, waving his words away with her hand. Sharky grabbed it and frowned before dragging her off her chair to sit on the table where he’d dropped his stuff.

“How’d you fuck up your hands?” He asked as he poured some of her whiskey over the cuts then set to work bandaging them.

“I smashed in the windows at the park ranger station in the Whitetails.” Sharky let out an amused snort and shot her a look that told he didn’t believe her. Sarah just stared back until his eyes widened a little when he realized she wasn’t lying.

“Alright go, Dep. Smashing private property like a badass.” He laughed and Sarah couldn’t help but join him.

“I’m an awful deputy Jesus.” She proclaimed with a grin on her face. “I vandalize property, I’m always at least 15 miles over the speed limit. Hell, I even let you go free and you’re technically a wanted fugitive. Who thought it was a good idea to give me a badge.”

“Thanks for letting me go, by the way, jail sucks.” Sharky grinned, switching to bandaging her other hand.

“I’ll take your word for it for now. Though if we all survive this and the government shows up I’ll probably end up in jail too. Maybe we’ll end up in a unisex prison and we can talk to each other through the fences in the yard.”

Sharky let out a hearty laugh at that and let go of Sarah’s now wrapped hand. “Fucking hope so.”

They fell into a comfortable silence, Sharky finished off his beer and Sarah pulled at a loose thread on her shirt. She needed to change, these were the same things she’d been given at the VA Center.

“I miss it.” She broke the silence, not daring to look at Sharky as she continued to talk. “The VA Center I mean. I miss the routine. Jacob didn’t give me time to breathe let alone think, it was nice. No one asked me to find their errands or find their friends. I didn’t have to think about anything besides the next obstacle. I didn’t have time to think about how insignificant I apparently am.”

“I think you’re pretty significant.” Sharky offered, pushing her shoulder with him.

“You might be the only one.”

“What about Nick and Kim?”

“Fine, you’re one of three.”

Sharky glared at her words before pushing himself up. “You tired?”

“Sarah was a little caught off guard by the sudden change of subject and shrugged helplessly. “I guess so yeah.”

“Then let’s go, I’ll take you to Boshaw Manor, my couch is relatively comfortable.”

“What, you’re not gonna offer your guest the bed?” Sarah teased as she followed him out to his car. Sharky laughed and gave her an incredulous look.

“Fuck no.” He responded playfully and got into the driver's seat, Sarah snorted out a laugh and got into the passenger’s. She turned on the radio, immediately flipping it to the cult radio and earning a groan from Sharky. “Please Sarah, anything but that Peggie shit.” Sarah snickered and switched it to another station.

[incorrectsibunaquotes]

i used to hate oc fics, but then i realized that as an adult, i simply have more to offer from additional characters/insight than when i was a child. like i’m not gonna sit around a write a mary sue or a self insert like most 14 year olds do yknow?

[vipers-hat]

I don't know what has or hasn't been asked for the otp ask so whatevers left answer? Also I love them

1: Whospends almost all their money on the other? John wants to splurge on Nic allthe time. Nic… is apparently more materialistic than most of the Deps I’ve seenfor this answer because most of the time she’s all “Well alright!” :D unlessthe price tag gets too steep/over like $500 for stupid shit.  She tries to treat him as much as she can tomake up for it. She thinks it’s all in vain because of the differences in justhow much money is spent compared to him, but he loves it.

2: Who sleeps in the other’s lap? Both. John just latches onto her more because he’s a touch starved mess. 

3: Who walks around the house half-naked and who yells atthem to put on some clothes? If they’re on their own and the kids are with theRyes/Sharky/etc, they’re both A-Ok with it. They figure if they’ve got it,flaunt it for themselves/each other. It’s all fun until Whitehorse comes for avisit, sees them both half naked and is very unimpressed that it was the secondtime it’s happened, at least the first time John was fully clothed and he onlyhad to be embarrassed about seeing his surrogate daughter like that.

4: Whichone tells the other not to stay up all night and which one stays up all nightanyway? More often than not, John is the one pulling all nighters, whether it’swork to look after the Resistance people he likes/ Post-Collapse population, ornightmares from the old days. Nic gets a sixth sense about it after a while andalways tries to goad him into coming to bed or trying to get him back to sleep.

5: Which one tries to make food for the other but burns itall by accident and which one tells them that it’s okay and makes them bothcookies? John cooks a lot to further prove it was not him who made the waterymac and cheese. Funnily enough, his mac and cheese comes out fine. It’s justeverything else under the sun that he cooks that isn’t. Nic doesn’t mind. Sheand the kids get some quality mac and cheese out of the deal. 

6: Which one reads OTP prompts and says “Oh that’s us!” andwhich one goes “Eh, not really”? John because he’s trying to over-romantize them. Nic’s… a little more realistic than that unless the prompts are just as realistic. Or involve shit she can take and run with. Like puppies. “Who would buy the other an animal…? (gives him a pointed smile)” “Babe we have tHREE CHILDREN, A FAMILY OF BEARS, A REGULAR MOUNTAIN LION, A BLISSED MOUNTAIN LION, A ROGUE TURKEY, TWENTY DOGS (pulls prepped running list of animals they have at the ranch out of his pocket to continue)”

7: Which one constantly wears the other’s clothes? Answered here

8: Which one spends all day running errands and which one says“You remembered [thing], right?”  Over here 

9: Which one drives the car and which one gives them directions? Here 

10: Which one does the posing while the other one draws? Johnfor the sake of the Bed Wade/3:10 to Yuma parallel that’s been around since I’vedreamt their relationship up. John’s a surprisingly good artist and sketchesNic any chance that he can get when she’s unaware because he’s still in awethat after all the shit God put him through, He still dropped her into his lifeand he needs to record it in any way he can.

11: Ifthey were about to rob a museum, which one does backflips through lasers andwhich one is strolling behind with a bag of chips? Both would be doing the gracefulparkour shit and trying to one-up each other while getting ridiculously turnedon at the same time.

12: Whichone of your OTP overdoes it on the alcohol and which one makes the other stopdrinking? John’s got a lot of shit to work through, and has narrowed hisprimary vice down to alcohol. Nic isn’t happy, but she gets it. She doesn’texactly tell him to stop like she should, but she keeps an eye on it and steps inmore so as a “last call” type thing than anything.

13: Which one likes to surprise the other with a lot of smallrandom gifts? Goes along with the money thing. John’s all about showingaffection via materialistic means. Nic doesn’t need it but doesn’t exactly mindand tries to even things out as much as she can. Him, on the other hand, keepsreminding her that he owes her his life so they’re even no matter what.

14: Which one keeps accidentally using the other’s last nameinstead of their own? Gonna go straight with fic canon here where John full onstops using “Seed” and takes “Raylan” as his last name once they’re common law married so Joseph’s prophecy of himdying could completely come true/ the Seed name can die in the miserable past/Cal and the twins won’t live with that particular shadow following them/havingpeople judging them immediately for it.

15: Which one screams about the spider andwhich one brings the spider outside? Nic’s animal/insect/living creature lovingstops at spiders and mosquitos so very much her. She shrieks about it, Johngoes to kill it to be hero. Nic makes the mistake of making a joke about himbeing the primary torturer/murderer out of the pair of them so that’s why hegets the job. He barely talks to her for a day.

16: Which one gives the other their jacket?  This a way

17: Whokeeps getting threatened by the other’s overprotective older sibling? Jacob’sdead and Joseph’s still all “Nicolette you’re John’s salvation, everything youdo from here on out is acceptable in my book”, and Nic’s an only child, so doesn’t really apply. Theclosest thing is Whitehorse stepping in as the father figure to give John theshovel talk. And he gives the shovel launcher talk- and takes John with himwhen he’s doing innocent ‘target practice’ to drive the point home. John doesn’t  look at him for a week.

18: Who’s the first one to admit they have feelings for theother? In my own canon, John’s head over heels in love with her the second sheshows up on that other side of the blast door in the Confession scene but hedoesn’t really recognize it. He kind of admits he’s got feelings months lateronce they’re a team, but she doesn’t believe him because they’re still at the begrudgingallies stage. Fast forward months later, she almost dies in the Collapse, outcomes the ‘L’ word from his mouth. It takes her even more months to realizethat oh hey, she actually loves him too.

19: Howgood would your OTP be at parenting? Heeerreee :3

20: Whichone types with perfect grammar and which one types using numbers as letters?Both are very proper about it. Aint nobody got time to look stupid when you’retrying to flirt with/impress/threaten your number one frenemy. (cough) New Phone Who Dis on AO3 (cough) 

21: Whogets attacked by a bully and who protects them? Accidental Judas or not, peopleand rogue turkeys are still constantly trying to kill John every so often.Thankfully much less so when the kids are around, but still. Nic’s the one thathas to go to everyone all “look at your life, look at your choices. And I knowI should take my own advice but I kind of love the idiot now and you all loveme so can you fucking not kill the father of my children, thanks”

22: Who makes the bad puns and who makes a pained smile everytime the other makes a pun? Nic takes after Sharky with the puns for a while.John absolutely hates it and tries to tell her until she reminds him about the  “if these walls could talk, or rather scream” line/joke/whateverthe fuck it was and that he’s got no right to talk.

23: Who comes home from work to see that the other one bought apuppy? Favorite answer so far is this way

24: Which one gives the other a piggyback ride when they’retired? Both.John’s both mortified and a little turned on that she can lift him as easily as he can her. 

25: Which one competes in some sort of activity and which onedoes the overzealous cheering? Both, though John takes the “overzealous” to a different level because he is John, after all. 

26: Who takes a selfie when the other onefalls asleep on their shoulder? John, again, same logic as the drawing thing.He needs to record as much of their time together as possible.

27: Which one would give the other amakeover if they asked? John tries to redo her wardrobe several times. Theclosest thing to a makeover Nic gets with John is talking him into letting hertrim his beard enough- mostly for maintenance than anything. She shaves off thesides of his beard a couple of times but they both kinda low key hate it.

28: Whichone owns a pet that the other is absolutely terrified of? This way

29: Which one holds the umbrella over both of them when itrains? John. Can’t have his literal savior getting sick from exposure toweather.

30: Ifyour OTP went on vacation, where would they go and what would they do? Whowould take the pictures? Last but not least

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Ranking Miss Marple Novels

Below is a note I did on Facebook a few years ago with some slight edits for Throwback Thursday.  I still largely agree with my rankings. A few years back, I completed an analysis of my favorite and least favorite Hercule Poirot novels.  Having just recently completed Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple works, I thought I might do something for this Mystery series where I rank all twelve novels.  Unlike her books with the Belgian detective, Ms. Christie was much more consistent with her elderly spinster.  I enjoyed each novel, but some naturally were better than others.  Remember, this is only my opinion and should you read these books for yourself you might find you have a different order. Rank:

12.  The Moving Finger (1943) – Jerry Burton from London is on a recuperating holiday with his sister in Lymstock after a recent plane crash injury.  Shortly after their arrival a rash of poison pen letters wind up appearing on doorsteps throughout the village.  Who wrote the letters?  Why was Mrs. Mona Symmington found dead after apparently receiving one of her own?  I ranked this one last not because I disliked it, but because it hardly had Miss Marple in it at all due to her late arrival.  The only thing I could outright complain about was who two characters were apparently just cast aside in the end conclusion, when the author had made it point to show how wrong it was for the same to be done to another character throughout the novel. 11.  At Bertram’s Hotel (1965) – Something is wrong at Betram’s Hotel.  Guests are too often mistaken for other people, and the nostalgic air for Jolly Old Victorian England is too perfect.  Why the Honorable Elvira Blake take a sudden, and very secret trip to Ireland?  Why did Canon Pennyfather suddenly disappear?  What does this all have to do with a robbery on the Irish Mail train?  Like the other novels, this one had several good and interesting twists, but the murder was completely secondary to the underlying plot due to this one deviating so far from the regular style, the ending was a bit farfetched, and Miss Marple played second fiddle in the denouement.  

10.  They Do It with Mirrors (1952) – A room full of witnesses to an argument behind a closed door between Edgar Lawson, who broght a gun, and Lewis Serrocold hear a gunshot.  Neither man is harmed, but Christian Gulbrandsen is shortly found shot to death in another part of the complex in front of an empty typewriter.  Who shot him and how?  Did anyone leave the room?  What was in the missing letter?  And what was Christian Gulbrandsen so concerned about that he had turned up unexpected? Like the other Marple books, I enjoyed this story.  I felt the solution to be a bit predictable and thin.

9.  The Body in the Library (1942) – A body of an unidentified young, blond woman in a cheap evening gown is discovered one morning the home of Colonel and Mrs. Bantry.  Who is she and how did she get there?  What does her death have to do with the Majestic Hotel? And how is Basil Blake involved?  The plot and twists involved in this one were good as was the twist solution, but I felt the culprit had been done before.

8.  The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side (1962) – The film star Marina Gregg is seen with a “frozen” look on her face while looking over the shoulder of a Mrs. Heather Badcock at a fete being hosted by Marina at her own house.  Who or what did she see?  Why did Mrs. Badcock shortly drop dead from poison?  And was the poison meant for Marina Gregg?  This one was a good story.  I liked the focus on changes within the village versus an underlying nostalgia for the past, but I felt the demise of one character by a gunshot was not satisfactorily explained and the book relied too much on coincidence.

7.  A Murder at the Vicarage (1930) – Colonel Lucius Protheroe is found shot to death in the Vicar’s study with a partially completed letter.  Who killed the Colonel?  Why do two people with alibis feel the need to confess?  And what has all this to do with missing Church Funds?  Who is the mysterious Mrs. Lestrange?   The solution to this novel was entertaining and fairly original.  This was the first Miss Marple story, and is told from the perspective of the Vicar.

6.  A Pocket Full of Rye (1953) – “Sing a song of sixpence, A pocket full of rye.  Four and twenty blackbirds, Baked in a pie…”  Rex Fortescue is found dying from poison while drinking his morning tea in his office, and the police are called to investigate.  The story takes an unusual twist when rye for some unexplainable reason is found in the dead man’s coat pocket.  This was an interesting story to unravel and was filled with quite a few surprising twists.

5.  Nemesis (1971) – Miss Marple receives a postcard from a recently deceased old friend asking her to pay a visit to his lawyers in London.  While there she discovers the will asks her solve an unspecified crime in order to inherit £20,000 to dispose of as she chooses, and refers to her by her previously chosen identity of Nemesis.  This was an enjoyable read and would have ranked higher had I not disagreed with the motive being love as put forth by the author.  It was not love that drove this person, but obsession.

4.  A Caribbean Mystery (1964) – While on holiday in the Caribbean to recuperate from an illness, Miss Marple is drawn once again into murder when Major Palgrave is found dead in his room.  The man in question the day before had been about to show her the picture of a murderer, when he suddenly recognized the person in the photo standing nearby.   I’m much more generous than I probably should be with this one, but I appreciated the change in atmosphere.

3.  Sleeping Murder (1976) – “Cover her face; mine eyes dazzle; she died young.”  Eighteen years ago newlywed Gwenda Reed witness as a toddler her stepmother being murdered.  Now she has inadvertently purchased the same house in which the murder took place and is haunted by the memories long since buried.  This story was published posthumously, but takes place in the 1930’s.  It is a thrilling tale and supports the idea some truths should stay buried.

2.  A Murder is Announced (1950) – “A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, October 29th, at Little Paddocks, at 6:30 p.m.”  So runs the ad in local newspaper at Chipping Cleghorn to the surprise of everyone including the residents of the estate.  Often sighted by many as their own person favorite in the series, this one does not disappoint.  The list of suspects is entertaining to sort through, and the twists are thrilling.  It is easy to miss some of the subtleties leading to the solution, but it is still guessable all the same.   It was difficult not to keep this in first place as I had read the books in order.

1.  4:50 from Paddington (1957) – Mrs. McGillicuddy has witnessed a man strangling a woman in a train running parallel to her own.  Who was this woman?  Why was she murdered?  Why did no one report her death or disappearance?  And what has it all to do with Rutherford Hall, an estate completely surrounded by railways separating from the local community?  It was an enjoyable read from start to finish and I appreciated the solution to a love triangle being left open at the conclusion.  I ranked this one so high due to the underlying heart I found in the book.

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Just finalized some of the twists/story for A Pocket Full of Rye, and I think this is gonna be a very fun canon divergent fic