#crane mother of the bomb

[comicwaren]

From Ultimates Vol. 4 #006

Art by Juan Frigeri and Federico Blee

Written by Deniz Camp

[maevesheart]

tolerate it

CORIOLANUS SNOW X CAPITOL!READER

note: hiiiii… guess i’m back from a brief hiatus… coriolanus snow has done something to me so i must write about it. this is set before the mentorships, reader is from a very prominent capitol family—also, i changed some things around and made felix’s father the president instead of his uncle. // also.. should i write more with this oc (sort of) and corio? i like the dynamic

summary: your relationship with felix ravinstill is anything but satisfying. thus, when you find yourself intoxicated and in a room with the ever-charming coriolanus snow, tensions run high.

wc: 5.4k

tw: alcohol, reader being drunk, cheating… oh! and of course, smut ;))))

The President’s Palace was filled with only the most prestigious and wealthy people that occupied the capitol.

You entered with Felix, your arm, adorned with only the finest gems in all of Panem, was linked tightly through his, as he lead you through the ornate doors into the ballroom.

The two of you had been together for a little over 6 months now, and to say the relationship was running its course was an understatement, to say the least.

You hated him, to put it simply.

He was arrogant, and displayed you like a shining new toy that no one else could touch.

How dare he! You seethed with anger for him. Your mother was the heiress of the Cardew fortune, spanning back decades of successful bankers. Livia, your cousin, was wealthy as well, but when your mother’s inheritance collided with your fathers, there was no comparison.

Your father, Hyades Mars, was the wealthiest man in all of Panem. Serbo Plinth could not even compare.

The Mars fortune could be attributed to both a long history and incredible reputation in the Panem military, and the production of precious metals that the country needed so badly.

Your ancestors had begun Mars Manufacturing, the biggest ore manufacturers in all of Panem. When the rebellion occurred, they moved to gun and bomb production, leading President Ravinstill to forever be in the debt of your family.

After all, Mars bombs had won the war.

It was baffling to you how Felix treated you like a mere object, nothing more.

You were far more intelligent, the most beautiful girl in all of Panem, and the labeled “Panem Princess”. Felix was a fool.

However, for your family’s sake, you must play the part. Or your father would die of embarrassment.

You plastered the sweetest smile onto your lips, and let Felix parade you around the room. You greeted the Cranes and Flickermans, making small talk with them before you spotted your mother and father speaking with your uncle in the center of the room.

Ushering a quick goodbye to the guests, and assuring Felix you’d be right back, you rushed for your family.

“Daddy,” you placed a peck on your fathers cheek as he placed a hand on your back.

“Hello, shining star.” His nickname for you caused your cheeks to redden, the pounds of makeup on your face covering the blush.

The Mars were the brightest stars in the entirety of Panem. And your father would never let you or your siblings forget it.

You greeted your mother, and then your Uncle Heracles, your father’s only sibling.

A quick kiss and hug, and then two of you were deep in conversation. Heracles was always your favorite. He never married, so all his money was spent on you and your siblings.

Beautiful jewelry, bags, clothing, anything you could dream of. He loved you as his own.

You threw a quick glance behind your shoulder, meeting the similar eyes that bore the same color as your own.

Heracles and you parents gently smiled as they watched your face take over with recognition.

“Percy?” You questioned, a beaming smile now on your lips.

You rushed away from your family, and straight into the arms of your elder brother, Perseus Mars.

“I’ve missed you dearly, little star,” he chuckled as you slammed yourself into him.

You hadn’t seen Percy in over a year. He joined the military right when he graduated from the Academy, and quickly climbed the ranks. He now bore the responsibility of Major, touring around the country and serving the capitol.

Every male in your family before him had done his duty in the military, but never rose as quickly as Percy. You were filled with pride.

“Well you look just beautiful, shining star.” Percy compliments you, making you do a little twirl.

He was right, you looked marvelous.

Your mother had a custom ruby red dress made for this occasion. It was strapless, and showed your chest off perfectly. It was a thick yet flowing material, that fell to the floor. A long slit accompanied the left side, leaving little to the imagination.

You paired the gorgeous dress with black heels, and a low updo sat on the nape of your neck. Your makeup was simple and timeless, accentuating your striking eyes and full lips. You couldn’t look more beautiful if you tried.

“How has it been in the districts? I cant imagine it’s been nice,” you ask, leading him to dive into a long speech about how it’s brought him wisdom beyond his years.

“Let’s get a drink, yes?” Percy finishes, linking your arm through his. He leads you to the ornate bar, and the two of you each receive a China glass, filled with shining red liquid.

You bring the concoction to your lips, and swallow down the rich taste of cherries. As obnoxious as the Ravinstills were, they sure knew how to throw a party.

Suddenly, Persephone, your older sister and Percy’s twin, appeared in front of the both of you.

Her hair was now suddenly pink, a different shade than from the last time you saw her.

Persephone had a strange fixation with constantly changing her appearance; your mother blamed it on her eclectic boss and vibrant coworker: Fabricia Whatnot and Tigris Snow.

“Hello, Perse.” Persephone smiles, giving Percy a hug.

“Hello back, Perse.” He smiles, rubbing her back. The two of them called each other Perse, crediting their shared names of two famous Greek heroes.

Your father loved mythology, and found it only appropriate to have children named after his favorite hero and goddess.

As your siblings fell into animated conversation, you excused yourself and made your way back to Felix.

He was now with his father, his head thrown back in laughter.

You placed your hand delicately on his back, alerting him of your presence.

“Oh, hello, darling,” he smiled, wrapping an arm around your waist.

You smiled and curtsied to the President, before he took your small hand and brought it up to his mouth, leaving a haste kiss.

“Hello, Miss Mars. Pleasure to see you,”

“Pleasure is all mine, Mister President.” You smile.

The three of you fall into easy conversation. Felix and you soon break free, making your rounds to the many other guests, and friends from the Academy.

Soon the familiar sound of Panem’s Waltz began to play throughout the large room, and Felix lead you into the middle of the dance floor, taking your hand into his.

The two of you lead the waltz, other young couples joining in as the adults watching with pride blossoming onto their faces.

You wished the floor would swallow you whole.

Felix aggressively twirled you around the room, his hand rough and burning through your dress, and his other hand squeezing the life out of yours.

He spun you around and around, not delicately like Percy or even Festus Creed would’ve done.

Your eyes quickly met with Arachne’s, who gave you a solemn nod, knowing how much you hated him. You frowned back, and she mouthed “dance”, to encourage you to take lead and show him who was boss.

You quickly moved your feet in the motion of the foxtrot, causing Felix to follow your lead. The other couples soon followed, Arachne sending you a beaming smile.

Felix struggled to follow your lead, he never quite got the hang of any dance other than the waltz, and you knew this would cause an argument as his jaw tightened, and slightly stuck out his foot, sending you stumbling into his arms.

A smug smirk took over his features as you gave him a death stare, pulling yourself back into place and straightening your dress.

The other couples continues to dance while the two of you had a staring contest, before you shoved him slightly and went to leave the dance floor.

His hand harshly grabbed your arm, and pulled you back into his chest. Before you could comprehend it, you shoved his chest, and caught the attention of the entire room.

“Please excuse us, I’m afraid Miss Mars has had one too many drinks,” he laughed, causing the rest of the room to join in, soon making you into a joke.

You knew they weren’t truly laughing, having all drank a little too much themselves, but you refused to let Felix make you into a fool.

“I’ve just got to freshen up in the bathroom is all. I’ll be back momentarily. The foxtrot was never my best anyhow,” you smiled your sickly sweet grin, everyone believing the words falling from your tongue.

“Now, excuse you,” you shoved past Felix, letting your shoulder hit his as you passed him.

You were left with an awful taste in your mouth.

You grabbed a glass of something on your way out, tipping the glass back to empty all of the liquid into your throat.

What you failed to notice was the script Morphling enhanced written on the Avox’s tray.

You immediately felt calmer, the tension leaving your body.

After you finished the glass, you decided that was enough, and made your way through the crowds, needing some fresh air.

You found yourself in a deserted hall, and tears soon found themselves in your eyes. You told yourself to keep it in, but the mix of anger and morphling caused the hot salty tears to pour out of you.

You wailed, and slapped a hand across your mouth to stop the sound of more, eyes darting throughout the hall to make sure no one saw you.

The hall was empty, thank Heavensbee, and you leaned your head back against the portrait of some past Panem military leader, a string of tears passing down your cheeks.

Felix treated you like a fucking doll, and you weren’t some porcelain plaything that if he let go of would smash into millions of pieces.

You were a lady, a strong, beautiful, intelligent lady, who would not be defined by an ignorant, stupid, man-child who didn’t know his right foot from his left.

With that, you pushed off the wall, and headed towards the south end of the hall, which held two large doors that lead straight to the Royal Garden.

You exited to the garden, beautiful flowers lit by the light coming from the ball room. A small bench sat between the rows of colorful exotic plants.

A shadowed figure was hunched on this said bench, elbows on his knees and head in his palms.

You stumbled on your way over to him, picking up your flowing dark red dress to get to this figure quicker.

As you get closer, you notice the sharp black tuxedo and blonde hair. Immediate dread overtakes your body and you stop dead.

Coriolanus Snow.

Of fucking course. You scoff and let go of your dress. Coriolanus looks up, eyes widening as he takes in your distressed figure.

You and Coriolanus were once friends, but his ego got in the way and you found yourself parting ways from him. Sure, he used to be a sweet boy, but now his ego was as tall as he was, and his last name gave him power others could only dream of.

“Y/N Mars.” Coriolanus nodded, standing up and adjusting his cuff links.

“Coriolanus. Long time no see,” you rolled your eyes, morphling continuing to make your blood hot and coursing.

“Enjoying your party?” He asked, venom laced within his words.

You scowled. “My party? Funny.”

“Oh you don’t know? Felix plans on proposing. I supposed six months is the new six years,” a smirk adorned Coriolanus’s face as he watches yours twist with anger and confusion.

“Wha-… Why?” You spurt out. Suddenly you felt extremely sober.

“I couldn’t guess either. Who would want to marry you?” His words were bullets, hitting you right in the chest.

You couldn’t believe it. But as you thought into the night more, it all made perfect sense. Percy coming back from active duty, all of Panem’s most respectable being there, and Felix showing you off to everyone. He had never been that attached to your hip before.

Tears threatened to slip once more, the last thing you wished to do was marry Felix Ravinstill, but you knew once he was down on that knee, your father’s eyes would bore into yours. You wouldn’t have the heart to let him down.

Desperately wishing to change the subject, you placed your head up high and made eye contact once more with the mean boy in front of you.

“Why were you out here all alone, Coriolanus?”

Was that a hint of… of worry across your face? No, it couldn’t be, Coriolanus thought.

He found himself taken aback by your worried tone and soft eyes after he had repeatedly thrown insults your way.

“Some fresh air, that’s all,” he clears his throat, trying his best to suppress his feelings he had fought for so long.

Insulting you, hiding away. That was all he could do. He had be mean to you your entire life, teasing you, stealing your first kiss on a “dare”. He had never once been nice.

But you were Panem’s Princess, and he could not be in love with Panem’s Princess, so he shoved down his feelings and refused to admit them. After all, why would a rich girl like you be with a poor boy like him?

“I haven’t seen you once tonight. It’s freezing out here, come inside and get some warmth,” you take a step closer to him, causing him to sit up straighter on the bench.

Why were you acting like you cared? Did you know his secret? Or did you truly care? Were his feelings mutual?

“You must have been too preoccupied with Mister President Junior to notice my presence. Naturally, we don’t like each other.”

His statement caused you to take a step backwards. The cold radiated off his skin.

You had deep feelings for Coriolanus, and you assumed he knew. You had only given him your first kiss years ago, just to find out it was a dare from Clemensia.

It shattered your little heart, and you had sworn him off since that dreadful night.

So, to find him so cold and mean when you were so vulnerable, it felt like that night when you were 13 all over again.

It seemed Coriolanus had a specific talent for breaking your heart.

“Alright then. You can be miserable by yourself, Snow. All I’ve done is try to help.” You sniffled, turning brisk on your heel and marching back to the doors you had came out from.

Coriolanus leaned slightly back, wondering what he had just done.

The girl he had been pawning over for years came outside and was trying to comfort him, how could he have been so stupid as to turn you away?

On your solemn walk back through the hallway, you figured Felix could be a good husband. The future president of Panem, and not terribly unattractive.

But deep down, your heart yearned for a certain boy with blue eyes and pale hair, a certain boy who had crushed your heart countless times.

Instead of returning to the ballroom, you headed up the large marble staircase, and straight to the first bedroom.

You threw yourself onto the ornate golden bed, undoing your elaborate bun from the nape of your neck.

Your hair flowed down your back, and you stood in front of the mirror, wiping below your eyes. No one could see you like this.

An abrupt knock came from the other side of the door, and your head snapped.

Surely no one had seen you go upstairs. And there was absolutely no way Coriolanus had followed you.

Opening the door, the familiar face from the garden stood in front of you, eyebrows laced and fret covering his face.

“Coriolanus?” You whispered, the tears once more threatening to spill.

“Please, I am not in the mood.” He felt the crack in your voice deep in his core, and felt a pit begin to form in his stomach.

“Can I come in?” He whispered. You stepped aside and his broad frame crossed the floorboards onto the lush green carpet you stood atop.

“What is it now? Come to insult my dress as well? Tell me that my makeup has smeared?” You sat on the edge of the bed, and placed your face in your hands.

Coriolanus stood in silence for a few moments, then he got onto his knees before you and gently moved your hands from your face.

His fingertips gently traced the sides of your cheeks as they moved your delicate hands, and then he cupped your left cheek and you found yourself leaning in.

“I’m sorry. I’ve never been more sorry for something in my life.” His apology surprised you, and your eyes went wide.

“It’s alright, nothing I’m not used to with you,” you mustered a slight smile.

“No, it’s not alright. I’ve been a fool, Y/N.” Your eyes began to narrow, was this another aspect of his cruel games?

“I’ve been a fool for a long time. Trying to convince myself that I don’t love you. But the harder I try to fight my feelings, the harder they come back and burst into my heart. I love you more than a man could ever love a woman. And I’ve been terrible to you, utterly awful. And you deserve someone who treats you the right way, and I know that Felix cannot love you the way I can. Felix could never give you the things I could, he could never make you feel things I can make you feel.” Coriolanus is stroking your face, his eyes soft and glossy.

You want to believe him, you truly do, but he has never given you a reason to.

You brush his hand away from your face.

“Coriolanus Snow. You have tormented me for too long, knowing my feelings for you. You take, and take, and take, and I have nothing left. Felix, sure he’s not the brightest nor the most doting, but he makes a suitable choice at this point. I haven’t got anything left to give to you. So please, leave me alone.”

You go to stand up, but Coriolanus is pushing you back down.

“Cant you see, I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember!”

“You’ve never given me a reason to believe that, Coriolanus!”

The two of you were yelling at this point, and you were very thankful for the loud music down below.

“I know, I know. And I’m so deeply sorry. I should’ve been better, I know.”

“Yes, you should have. And you cannot have me just because you decided ten minutes ago that I was suddenly appealing.”

“You’ve always been beautiful, Y/N.”

You shake your head, looking down to the ground.

“Please, give me a chance. Just one. I won’t mess it up.”

You look up and meet his eyes. You debate his plea in your head.

You could give him a chance and dump Felix, a win-win. But what happens if he goes back to his old ways and hurts you again. He would make a fool of you and there’s no way you could ever beg Felix to take you back.

Before your mind can decide, your heart picks.

“Alright. But just one. No other chances.”

“No other chances. I love you, Y/N.”

You cant stop yourself from smiling, truly believing his words this time. “I love you, Coriolanus.”

A grin splays across his face and he places his hands on either side of your face, delicately tucking a stray piece of hair behind your ear.

“May I kiss you?” A small nod is all you offer before his lips come crashing down onto yours, feeling the exact way they did 5 years ago when the two of you sat in a dark closet.

His lips are cold, but they melt together with your warm ones. The kiss is passionate and slow, the both of you taking your time, cherishing the moment.

Soon, he is standing and pushing you back onto the bed, your head lightly hitting the pillow.

The kiss turns rushed and heated, the both of you breathing heavily. Your hand moves from his bicep to his hair, tugging, earning a groan from deep inside his throat.

He slots his legs between yours, and your thighs latch onto his sides.

You move your hands down to his shoulders, digging deep into his back, feeling the tough muscles contract beneath your perfectly polished red nails.

He pulls back briefly, with lust blown pupils. You assume yours look the same.

He takes your hand and examines the nails, the finest ruby ring around your middle finger, with diamonds forming a crown.

He brings your hand up to his mouth and sucks on your middle finger and ring finger, before pulling them back.

You watch with big eyes and a slightly open mouth, feeling your panties pool down below.

“I’ve only ever dreamt of having you like this.”

You don’t respond, just swallowing roughly.

He moves back to your lips, but only briefly, then moves down your neck, taking his time leaving marks. You’re sure you’ll need extra concealer and powder in the morning, but that is a worry for later.

The only thing you can focus on now is the way his lips feel against your sensitive skin.

He looks up while sucking your collarbone, his eyes dark and seductive. He had you exactly where he wanted, writhing beneath him.

His tongue finds its way down your cleavage, pecking the visible skin. “Such a pretty dress,” he whispers, you silently begging him to continue.

He’s soon shrugging off his tuxedo coat and undoing his bow tie.

You sit up and try to unzip the back of the dress, silently struggling.

He unbuttons his white collared shirt and throws it onto the ground before moving to help you, sliding down the zipper with ease.

He rips the dress down your body, throwing it to the floor. He sits up on his knees and assesses your whole body, suddenly bulging against his pants as he takes in your uncovered breasts.

“No bra? Naughty girl,” he tsks, placing his hands on either side of your waist.

The only part of your body covered is your genitals, a simple black floral lace thong sitting on your hips.

You start to wiggle, desperate for him to do something again.

“Use your words, pretty girl.” He taunts, running a finger across the band of your panties.

“Please,” you whisper, taking his hands into yours.

“Anything for you, my love, tell me what you want,” he leaves a quick kiss to your lips, pulling back to allow you to answer.

“Your mouth.” You’ve never given requests like this before. Ha! You’ve never even been listened to during your few times with Felix. He always had you go down on him or be on top. You had never been eaten out before, and you thought there was no better person than Coriolanus.

A smirk overtakes Coriolanus’s face as he realizes you’ve never had someone go down on you before. “Of course, love.” He shuffles down the bed, laying on his stomach.

You sit up on your elbows to get a better view of him, watching with your breath held as he pulls down your thong with his teeth.

You could melt on the spot.

He throws the panties somewhere over his shoulder, and begins to kiss the inside of each your thighs, taking his sweet time.

“Please, Coryo,” you pant, your chest rising quickly.

Before you even have a chance to close your mouth, he is on your skin, sucking on your clit. The feeling is unbelievable and you throw your head back in pleasure.

His tongue glides between your folds, exploring wildly as you try your hardest not to scream out in pleasure.

He continues to suck, and sticks a finger in while you’re mid-moan, leading to a loud, “Oh, Coryo,” falling from your parted lips.

He smirks against your swollen clit, adding a second finger, pumping at an almost impossible speed.

You feel the pit in your stomach start to come undone and once he feels you begin to wiggle he knows you’re close.

“C’mon, princess,” he urges in a hoarse whisper, adding a third finger.

You’re undone in seconds, biting your bottom lip to stop yourself from screaming his name for all of Panem to hear.

He laps up everything you give, and sticks his fingers into his mouth to ducks off your juices.

His legs are back in between yours, swollen lips quickly reattaching to yours.

He wipes the few stray tears that fell, a sense of pride blossoming in his chest, knowing he was the first man to make you feel that way.

“Coryo, let me please you,” you beg, hands fumbling as you undo his belt and begin to pull down his velvet dress pants.

“Next time. I want to focus on you,” he simply states and your heart soars, no man has ever said that to you, especially in these circumstances.

“I need to feel you, Y/N,” he simply states, hands on your hips.

You nod, ready to feel him inside you. You can only imagine how good it will feel.

“Use your words, baby. I need verbal confirmation,”

“Please, Coriolanus, I need you,” you grab his face, pulling it back down to meet yours. You then move your hands down to his boxers, the both of you pulling them down and flinging them off to join your panties.

His impressive length bounces back, standing straight up against his stomach. Your eyes widen with shock and your clit throbs imagining it inside of you.

Felix is nothing compared to Coryo.

“You’re so big,” you mumble, likely the alcohol from earlier speaking.

He chuckles at your comment, watching you size him up. “Don’t worry, pretty thing, I’ll fit,” he smirks, cupping your face once again.

He lines himself up with your slick folds, bringing your hands down to push himself in.

His large hands cover your small ones, and he watches your face as he slowly pushes in.

Your face first twists with pain and he immediately halts his movements, beginning to pull out before you urge him to continue.

“No, no, it feels good,” you whisper, lightly hissing.

“Just tell me if it hurts and I’ll stop immediately,” he reassures, pushing his full length in.

You gasp as he fills you up, your tight folds holding his cock so well, Coryo’s head falls back in pleasure, a light groan falling from his lips.

“You’re fucking perfect,” he whimpers, going down onto his elbows so he can be closer to you.

“I love you,” he kisses the corner of your mouth before pulling out and going right back in, your hands finding his back.

“Fuck, Coryo, I love—“ a moan interrupts your sentence as he roughly pushes his full length in at once, filling you up in ways you’d never imagined.

He continues to flick his hips into yours, your ankles crossing behind his back, pulling him even closer to your body. The both of you are panting and sweating, chests rising into each other.

Your body trembles in indescribable pleasure as he continues thrusting in at an incredible pace, your head thrown back against the pillow and your eyes closed.

You scream out, his hand slapping down over your mouth to keep you quiet. This turns you on even more, and you begin to move your hips with his, allowing him to push in even deeper.

The slapping of skin and your shared groans fill the air, and Coryo’s lips find your sweet spot against your neck, filling you with even more pleasure.

“Coryo,” you moan, fingernails scratching down his back.

Somehow, his thrusts get harder and faster, pounding into you like a fuck doll he couldn’t get enough of. Arousal drips out of you, and Coryo begins to pull all the out before slamming right back in.

You felt like you were going to explode from pure bliss, the feeling of Coryo’s lips on yours, his strong hands holding you in place, and the feeling of his cock deep inside your pulsing walls.

You feel the pit begin to form again, and Coryo knows you’re close when you begin to tighten around him, and you feel his thrusts get sloppier.

His cock twitches as you whimper underneath him, and he grunts, “I’m close, princess,”

“Me too, Coryo,” you moan, hands gripping his biceps.

With a final thrust, the both of you come undone together, Coryo collapsing onto your chest.

You kiss the side of his face, weakly smiling as his eyes meet yours.

He leaves a kiss to your lips before pushing himself off the bed and going into the en-suite bathroom, quickly running a wash cloth under water and coming back.

He wipes it down your legs and over your privates, kissing your knees as he does so.

He lays back down with you, stroking your face and examining the features he’s loved forever.

“You are beautiful,” he smiles, brushing your hair back.

You blush, shaking your head, “I’m probably a mess right now,”.

“Never.” He kisses your forehead and sits up, “but we do have to go back down there.”

You groan with the realization, quickly being snapped out of your bliss bubble with Coriolanus.

He helps you off the bed, steadying your hips. You assure him that you can walk, and he helps you slip into your dress and heels.

He pulls back on his clothing as you try your best to salvage whats left of your makeup in the bathroom.

“I’m ending it with him when we get down there.” You take Coryo’s hand, lacing it within yours.

“Don’t leave my side, please,” you beg.

“I would never.” He reassures you, wrapping his arm around your waist.

The two of you quietly exit the room, slowly descending the stairs.

You don’t even know how long you’ve been up there, or if the party is still going on.

The loud music assures you that it is, and Coryo stands directly behind you as you enter the ballroom, all eyes falling onto you two.

You catch Percy’s eye first, his face twisted with confusion. Persephone is behind him next to Tigris, the two of them size both of you up, worry evident in their features.

Felix makes his way up to you, and the Capitol citizens act as if they aren’t watching any more, despite the stolen glances and almost hushed conversations.

“Y/N. Where were you,” Felix grips your arm harshly, and you let out a whimper.

Coryo is between the two of you in seconds, his brooding frame easily towering over Felix’s cowering body.

“Don’t touch her.” He threatens, eyes narrowed.

He knows he is teetering in dangerous water. The Snow’s are almost nothing, and the Ravinstills rule all of Panem. Felix could have him dead with the snap of his fingers.

But all Felix does is laugh, brushing Coryo off.

“She is my girlfriend, Coriolanus, don’t overstep now,” Felix chuckles, shaking his head.

“Not anymore,” you say loudly from behind Coryo, who slightly shifts to let you have access to Felix.

Felix gives you a confused look, raising his eyebrow.

“Felix, I cannot be with you anymore. You treat me as if I am a porcelain doll who is only for you to show off. I am a woman, and I am no one’s to parade around.” You say, the large room dead silent.

Your father grins in the back, Uncle Heracles joining. Percy is as well, Pride swelling for his baby sister.

“What?” Felix chokes out, looking as if he’s seen a ghost.

“You heard me loud and clear. It’s done. And I will be leaving now.” You hold your chin up high, and march out, passing President Ravinstill.

You give him a small nod, thanking him once again for having you.

Coriolanus trails you, and you are sure everyone must suspect what happened upstairs. But that doesn’t matter to you at all in that moment.

As soon as the two of you are outside the Palace, and in one of the carriages, Coryo is holding your hand, and kissing it endlessly.

“I’m very proud of you, my love.” He says, and you tuck yourself into his side. “I’m happy it’s done. After all, I’ve got my Coriolanus Snow now, don’t I?” You ask, earning a chuckle from the man you love and a giggle from your own lips.

*

[mot-hesbian]

Marina Crane, Nuance, Human Decency, and Differing Opinions

Let's talk about things that might make people mad on the name of addressing important issues

Let's start with some facts

Facts:

The hate Ruby Barker got is inexcusable. She's a human being and deserves to be treated as such. She has no control over her character and her character's actions overall.

Marina is a nuanced character with an interesting and tragic story. You can hate her and acknowledge this.

Marina is a flawed character who does bad things. You can love her and acknowledge this.

You can love or hate her without taking it out on other people or being disgusting about it. Loving her doesn't give you some moral superiority OR justify her actions. Hating her doesn't give you some moral superiority OR edge.

Some of the hate directed her away is because she's black and if you're one of those people you need to do some introspection.

Now, let's get into the opinion portion of this

Personally, I hate Marina. I don't wish a horrible death on her because that's horrible. I wish her circumstances were better. In fact, had her actions been slightly to the left I'd probably like her. My hate towards her also has nothing to do with racism, unlike some people.

I hate her because I've been on the receiving end of her actions. She's emotionally abusive and does not feel the need to apologize for it. She uses actual abuse tactics, many of which I have been the target of.

I see my abusers in her in those moments, outside of those moments I enjoy her story and character. I would have loved to see her play some Lord looking for a match of convenience. Instead I got to see some scenes that are extremely triggering to me. Marina is a traumatized characters, that doesn't give her the right to add to Colin's trauma.

So many of his actions in s2 and s3 are direct results from this, she traumatized him. This pain and hurt doesn't go away easily, I've been trying for 7 years to move on and I'm still a work in progress.

I don't hate her because she got in the way of my ship (I'm a hardcore polin fan), I don't hate her for existing, or for her situation. I hate Marina because of her actions. She had other choices in gentlemen who were close to her age and might look the other way with regards to a child that wasn't their own. Let's not discuss that topic today, I only mention this in regards to her treatment of Colin and how that choice led to it.

Colin was a romantic and felt an attraction to her, she saw that and took advantage. She singled him out, she was desperate and thought the love of her life had deserted her. Part of her draw to him was his family, both connection wise and, likely, in terms of family dynamic.

She love bombed him. It's that simple. The compliments, laughing at jokes she clearly finds unamusing, and the constant attention.

She manipulated him and his feelings, she's good at playing his thoughts and feelings against him. He wants to be seen as a man and taken seriously. What better way than for him to take a wife? In her obviously. She lets him think it's all his idea. He has a hero-complex so she mentions how horrible the Featheringtons are to her. It's calculated. (Again, if she did this to someone who didn't have feelings for her, I'd be cheering for her to get that bag.)

She isolates him from his family. With a tinge of gaslighting regarding his mother's feelings as Violet wouldn't have opposed their marriage if it made Colin happy. She creates this “us against them" mentality to separate him from his family. The Featheringtons are cruel to her and his family does not approve, there is no way this could work.

Does any of this justify hating on people who love her character? No.

Does this justify hating on the actress who played her? Absolutely not, she's not her character.

Until next time 🫡

[ljh-writing-blog]

Batmom #1

     The first time you encountered the Batman, who you would later know as Bruce Wayne and your husband, is a day you would never forget.  Gotham’s Dark Knight had rescued you from a life of villainy and crime, your personal hero. It was the start of something beautiful you always said, although your relationship was anything but smooth in the beginning.

Past 

    You were a test subject of Jonathon Crane, he wanted to use fear toxin and psychological torture to awaken meta-genes in ordinary humans and you happened to be his most promising subject at the time. You remember volunteering for the program, they had framed it as test-trials for a new drug meant to strengthen immune systems and increase quality of life in exchange for a hefty payment dependent on how long you stayed in the program. After two years living in shitty motels and alleys you jumped on the offer. Anything was better than petty theft, eating from garbage cans, and sleeping in corrupt homeless shelters.

     Living in Gotham wasn’t kind, after your apartment and all your belongings had been destroyed when the Joker decided to go on a bombing spree you had no choice but to turn to the streets at 20 years old. Gotham’s Mayor and city officials had promised their citizens they would be rehomed and cared for, in reality the displaced apartment renters received a check for a hundred dollars worth of groceries and a two day stay at any hotel in the city. You gave your hotel and grocery voucher to your neighbor with two small children and an elderly mother to care for, she needed it more than you by far. Recuperating after that was nearly impossible. Anyone who said homeless people should just get a job was a damn fool, it wasn’t nearly as easy as it seemed when nice clothing and access to a shower was in scarce supply. The city had failed it’s people and it wouldn’t be the first time it failed Y/N. 

     In the beginning there was sixteen of you, an even split between the men and women. Some of them you recognized, like the two girls who worked the corner of your “street” night and day. There was a third usually with them but she had been murdered two weeks ago. The cops suspected an overdose but the streets knew, they talked and whispered in the night. She had been killed by a client, dumped in the alley that Y/N usually stayed in. That night had been awful, she had been the one to inform them of their friend’s death. She assumed her death had been a wake up call for the women, it had been for herself. She needed to get off the streets before she was just a girl in an alley, taken advantage of and left for dead. There was a few homeless men you recognize from nights spent around dumpster fires and sharing the days spoils. The rest were strangers and she found herself wondering what circumstances had brought them all together. 

     All the volunteers met at Gotham City Mall where you were given new clothes and bussed to a second location, halfway through your bus ride you were all instructed to put a blindfold on. A black cut of cloth had been given to each person, many of you were confused. Why couldn’t you see where you were going? You spoke up as several exchanged looks of fear, “Why can’t we see where we’re going? What’s going on?” You voiced the concerns easily felt throughout the bus, weary of the answer you would receive. What had you gotten yourself into? “The facility we’re going to is a top secret government owned building. This is standard precaution for any non personnel visiting the building.” A man towards the front answered, easing many fears. Not yours though, something felt wrong, you felt this man was lying. 

     Still, you led by example and put your blindfold on. When you had arrived and been shuffled into the building, your blindfolds being taken off, you were met with a stark white room. A scientist began speaking to you, explaining the trials you’d be going through and how you were to be separated. There would be one man and woman to a room, though when you were shown your “rooms” they looked much like a prison cell. They explained they wanted to study their, each man and woman’s, reactions to the opposite sex as they did their research. You started to  become suspicious as this was explained to you. Why would they need to study your reaction to other patients? You were supposed to be in trials for drugs related to strengthening the immune system, that should have nothing to do with other patients. In your head it made more sense for them to isolate all of you, what was going on? What was she about to be subjected to do? And worse, this had all been her doing. 

In the end, you were the only test subject to have survived the “trials” and torture. The trials, you had never been able to refer to your time in the facility as anything but torture and abuse. The scientists always else referred to them as trials, as if giving them any other name would make what they were doing even more sadistic and cruel. Subjecting you to different drugs like LSD, cocaine, Haloperidol, methamphetamines, and truth serum to expose your fears and use them against you. Sleep deprivation was one of their favorite forms of torture, it not only produced natural hallucinations but with the added fear toxin your hallucinations increased tenfold. After developing a dependency to certain drugs they forced you to consume they began to use withdrawal as a form of torture. 

     Your stay in the facility lasted three years, one year after your torture began your metagene that had previously lay dormant was activated. The scientists hypothesized that because of your mania and emotional displacement along with the fear toxin your metagene was influenced in a way that allowed you to manipulate the mind and the emotion fear. You felt all emotions but fear was much prominent, fear was the easiest to manipulate. Once your abilities manifested they began the brain washing. They knew you would never willingly submit to their commands with how much they had awakened your abilities so they began the brain washing. It was another year of  pharmacological torture before they were successful, you willingly began to do missions for Crane and his friends. You believed he had saved you from the streets and given you extraordinary powers, he had saved your life. Your third year stuck with Crane you commited crimes in the name of several villains, Jonathon gave you the alias the Scarlet Witch. Your powers manifested physically as a red energy, it behaved like a fog in a way: clouding the minds of your victims, manipulating their actions, and bringing their worst fears to the surface. 

     At 23 years old you were just a missing person’s report, a face lost to crime and a failing, corrupt police force. That was until Batman caught you, you were usually gone by the time he arrived to stop you. But this time you had faltered, you swore you recognized the faces you had been forced to mar with a bullet to the forehead. They had tried to speak to you before you killed them, to beg for their lives. But this was your mission, they were your mission. That had been the last mission you ever did for Jonathon Crane, the Batman took you into his custody that night. He delivered you to the Justice League. There you stayed while the League tried to find any information on how you had become this but all they had was a missing person’s report. 

     There they monitored your health and watched you go through withdrawal. It took Bruce three months to find the files that told the demise of Y/F/N Y/L/N. In that time you were diagnosed with a heart arrhythmia from the extended drug use you were subjected to. You gained weight, not so sickly looking anymore. You bonded with Diana, she was one of the few people who didn’t hide their faces from your. Somehow it made you feel more human, while you didn’t trust these people she trusted you enough to see the real her. You hadn’t been around someone so genuine in a long time. It took a year of physical and mental therapy for you to begin unlearning what had been brainwashed into you. In that time you grew closer to Batman. Somehow it seemed he understood what it was like to be unmade and made into something darker. That was the rough start to the beginning of your relationship. 

Present

You never expected to live the life you live now, a life in a mansion with too many kids to count and a husband who loves you unconditionally. A life with friends who she could rely on, some superpowered and some not. A butler who may as well be her father, oh how her young self would scoff at the idea of her life now. Bruce Wayne had given you so much and you only hoped one day you would repay the debt you owed him.

A/N: This is probably absolute shit but this is my idea for Batmom.Rn I’m just setting up backstory. I’ve always loved the idea of Scarlet Witch in the DCU because there’s so much backstory you could put in there. She (you) are still from Sokovia, her immigrant background is going to help tie in with Dick/Damian identity struggles. I also really wanted to do something with fear toxin because I feel Scarecrow is such an underrated villain. So here we have it, enjoy or don’t. I’d really appreciate feedback whether that’s likes/comments/reblogs. Thank you <3 

[blackstarchanx3new]

What theme songs would suit the characters of Four Swords? This includes songs that reflect their personalities, relationships, and dynamics with each other. Because I'm curious what you think suits them.

Bro basically asked for my personal playlist lmfao. Link:

Haunted House - After School Surf Club Notion - The Rare Occasions Sugar Pills - IDKHOW Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand Double Life - Pharrell Williams still feel - half alive Ghost - Mystery Skulls Dead Inside - Younger Hunger Why Did I Say Okie Doki? · The Stupendium Ghost Town - Trickle Losing My Mind- Mystery Skulls Dr. Gaster - Shadrow

Green: the perfect pair - beabadoobee Mr. FEAR -SIAMES Vending Machine of Love · The Stupendium Blue: Cold Cold Cold - Cage The Elephant (lmfao) Wild Side - ALI My Way - SIAMES Dancin - Aaron Smith Red: Copycat - CircusP/VocaCircus (This song could also fit Dark haha) The Red Means I Love You - Madds Buckley Wonderful Nothing - Glass Animals I Only Paint in Red Now - Lydia the Bard / Tony Halliwell Don't Come Crying - TryHardNinja Vio: Out of My League - Fritz and The Tantrums Lone Digger - Caravan Palace A Tear in Space (Airlock) - Glass Animals I’m So Sorry - ImagineDragons Ghost Town - Veorra & The Tech Thieves

Shadow Link: Love Away - SIAMES 505 - Arctic Monkeys Do It All The Time - IDKHOW Rasputin · Majestic Freaking Out - Mystery Skulls GRRRLS · AViVA TERRIBLE THINGS · AXIE Wolf In Sheep's Clothing [REBORN] - Set It Off Alone In The Darkness - SIAMES

Dark Link: Gladiator - Jann Digital Silence - Peter McPoland My Love Mine All Mine - Mitski Christmas Kids - ROAR Loverboy - A-Wall 4:00 A.M. - Taeko Onuki ECHO - Crusher My Ordinary Life-The Living Tombstone Tongues and Teeth - The Crane Wives Villain Stella Jang Cover) · Umbratic Forest

Vaati: Lay all your love on me - ABBA The Wolf - SIAMES How I Learned To Love The Bomb - Glass Animals Enemy - imagine dragons

Ship/dynamic Specific songs:

Vidow: Pork Soda - Glass Animals Heat Waves - Glass Animals Hold Me Tight or Don't - Fall Out Boy The Bird Song - Noah Floersch Sex With A Ghost - Teddy Hyde Neovaii - Crash Snuff out the light - Eartha Kitt Stop The World I Wanna Get Off With You - Arctic Monkeys  (Greenvio and Darkblue also fit this) GreenVio: GIMMIE GIMMIE GIMMIE - Cover by Justine M. Vidoween: Jenny - Studio Killers GreenBlue: No lullaby - SIAMES (Not romantic but symbolic of them both dealing with Link's BS lmfao)

DarkBlue: Knee Socks - Arctic Monkeys (Arctic monkeys just IS their vibe tbh) Dissolve - Absofacto Horns - Bryce Fox This Is Hardcore - Pulp DarkVaati: Too Sweet - Hozier Take me to Church - Hozier Church - Fall Out Boy (IF YOU WERE CHURCH I'D GET ON MAH KNEEES- 😏) Soul on Fire - Mystery Skulls Paralyzed - Mystery Skulls Hide Away (feat. Holly) · Synapson · Holly (We damn well know who's hiding lmfao) Flowers - Dj Quads (Lmfao this one is sad as hell but I can't at all elaborate on why due to spoilers X'D) Toxic - Britney Spears rewrite by Lydia the Bard Me and the Devil · Soap&Skin (Could also be Vidow) DarkVio: I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend - Cameron Hayes (This just is THE DarkVio song as far as I'm concerned, the intense as hell almost manic pining specifically haha.) Mixed Messages - Tom C (The question is who's "Dad" is getting punched in the dick...)

DarkShadow: From the Start - GoodKid Cover (One Sided on Shadow's part.) Brothers -SIAMÉS

FSR In general coded songs:

The Walker - Fitz and The Tantrums Rhinestone Eyes - Gorillaz A Good Song Never Dies - Saint Motel The Future - Mystery Skulls Goya no Machiawase - Hello Sleepwalkers Kick back - Kenshi Yonezu Plastic Love - Mariya Takeuchi Blink Gone - BL8M, AKUGETSU Hammer Song To Itami No Tou · BUMP OF CHICKEN Tame Impala - Borderline Stay With Me · Miki Matsubara Curses · The Crane Wives The Rules - Hoosiers dumb dumb · mazie Coffee · Jack Stauber's Micropop Who Is She ? · I Monster Very Good Bad Thing - Mother Mother

This one's straight up Four Swords Returns Again coded but I'd be a fool not to include: The Fine Print · The Stupendium

Okay I'mma stop there for now haha. but I'm sure I'm missing stuff. XD

Hopfully I introduced some people to their new fave songs!!! I'd recommend all of these.

[rae-raewrites]

Hi! First off I love you're writing your very talented! And second how do you think the riddlers would react to finding out they have a teenage daughter they never knew about (how inherited there smarts and sass)and something happened to the mom so they have nowhere to go so they track him down.

Oh geez it’s dad angst time😂 this is just a bunch of boys dealing with the younger versions of themselves. Also sorry this took so long anon!

The riddlers finding out they have a teenage daughter

Warning:mentions of death

Arkham

It was out of pure annoyance when he actually answers the phone after 13 missed calls from Jonathan crane.

So when Jon casually invites him over saying he needs talk to him he’s even more miffed. And then he finds this kid having tea with the dr, who the hell was she-?

“Ah Edward so nice of you to join us,this wonderful young lady has been trying to find some way to reach you.”

The her in question was a rather well put together 16 year old girl who was like a mirror of his younger years. She certainly had his eyes. Eleanor,her name was Eleanor

He’s not stupid and he puts two together quite easily.

Mom gone to cancer,the youngster was left in Gotham to survive on her own with only the understanding that he was her father. Her mother had apparently kept his tie from the fateful evening.

Apart of him him tells himself to just not bother with her,the other stronger side tells him not to be his father

Things are tense at first with moving in. He’s never really shared a space before with anyone so he’s avoidant at first. Not thinking she’s going to be much help with his projects

He is completely surprised when he finds out she knows her way around electronics

But then he realizes the kid has his photographic memory. And his sass……

“When was the last time you took a shower?” “Please explain to me a how a shower will improve any of my plans.” “Simple: you’ll stop me from dying from gross sewer dad smell.”

It irritates the hell out of him but when she start’s jabbing at the other rouges he’s a proud man.

They bond over getting work done,so much time lost yet there making up for it real quick

She created a rather wacky Rubik’s cube that left Batman puzzled for at least two days

Of course he got a kick out of taunting the dork knight while also genuinely being proud of his daughter

It’s hard to get used to hearing the word “dad” in relation to him but it’s a title he “humbly” accepts in the end

BTAS

He received a knock on his door one extremely sunny morning

Gina found him after his “reformation” and partnership with wacko toys was announced to the public. It wasn’t hard tracking down a man in the spotlight

Edward is of course absolutely stunned by the realization.

To his understanding the girl from metropolis knew the basics of his criminal career. The off traps and puzzles were something well known outside of the city.

He feels out of obligation to take her in,I mean he’s a villain but not a monster. Kid gets say down with some hot coco

Of course when he is brought back to Arkham the poor kid is quick to go and visit him and calm him down as well as work on a way to get him out

He’s rather surprised when he get broken out by jervis and Jonathan and they have him a letter from his prodigy with little xoxo’s and detailed escape plans

When he does get home he pretty much is dead set on teaching her everything he possibly can,how he got the virtual reality set up to work,his more simple traps

Of course just like her dear old dad she’s quick to design some of her own.

“A nothing machine that actually does something……. Out of the box but I adore the ingenuity.” “At least it’s more safe than the vr incident”

BTAA

It was another day of Eddie not being able to figure something out using the box method,unfortunately sticking two nuclear bombs and a tricycle and an old Macintosh in the box just wasn’t cutting it that day.

Cue Tuesday getting a phone call from Miss autumn at the behest of scarecrow

“Hey Eddie do you have any kids you forgot to tell me about?? “No….why?” “Oh geez”

He’s basically the surprised pikachu face meme when he meets Tina,kid was smart enough to get the drug king pin of Gotham to listen to her.

She looks so much like him!!

Of course he’s still skeptical! I mean any kid can just say there his! (But still!)

That completely disappears when the kid creates her own gizmos that rival her fathers

Of course rivaling his intellect means also rivaling his ability sass and make fun of everyone else

“A toaster with a tv screen?” “I know,I know not my best work.” “Well duh coulda thrown it in Gotham harbor and it would be more useful.”

Of course him and her quickly put their collective mind brains together and craft some rather complex new plans

Tuesday is totally chill with her around especially considering she’s able to chill him out when he’s suffering from writers block

Really Edward just got another child on top of already having miss Tuesday. He loves his two daughters from their two different origins

Zero year

Moira visited his cell at Arkham shortly after his defeat at zero year

He was already not in the mood for visitors until the determined teen calls him an idiot in a lime colored pimp suit

Hey! He doesn’t need some red headed brat coming in to his cell like she owns the place!

Oh wait…….

Let’s just say that he smartens up real quick to what’s going on.

Initially wants to tell the kid to bug off,he’s got a criminal career to succeed in but she’s quick to point out he doesn’t have anything right now

So they come to an agreement: get him outta there and he’ll maybe let her crash with him for awhile

So color him surprised when she gets him out safe with minimal bruising

Hell she’s pretty damm smart he has to admit,she certainly didn’t get it from her mother

He does ask eventually what became of his ex,a car crash left the poor kid with barely much. He was kinda her best and only option go figure

He’s snarky with the kid for awhile,of course she’s very quick to throw it right back at him

But they quickly start to getting together quite well especially when they DO get into a fight and quickly realize how stupid it was to begin with

I mean c’mon,kid could probably rule Gotham in less than a week. She’s not someone he wants to scorn

She’s a pretty smart kid he guesses (he totally loves her he’s just got an ego)

[naluwalker]

Yes, I'm here again

Hey, hello, it's me again. Again with more ideas of something I'm not going to write. Again with more Zhongchi, and again with more child rearing. Only this time it's not Naruto.

I want you to understand that while I am neutral towards JK Rowling and all her controversies, the world of Harry Potter is totally different, and the love I have for that series is much more than I can explain.

So in pursuit of my love for Harry Potter and my love for Genshin and Zhongchi, I returned to release my brain bugs.

So, it's the spring of 1985 and a new family has moved into Privet Drive. All the housewives in the neighborhood gossip about the beautiful redhead who now lives at 8 Privet Drive and her mysterious husband.

The cheerful woman visits all her neighbors to greet them with a deep red soup casserole, which she claims is a recipe from her homeland, and introduces herself as Ajax.

Ajax happily tells all her gossipy neighbors about her move from Russia, her new job as an elementary school teacher, and her very handsome and charming husband, who is unfortunately stuck at work due to all the paperwork that was delayed due to the move and how a company will not go alone. The mysterious husband seems to be loaded.

Harry is indifferent until he discovers that his new neighbor is also his new math teacher, and that her children will be his classmate.

While Xiao is silent, surly, and has very scary golden eyes, his sister Tao is boisterous, talkative, and very, very creepy. Harry honestly doesn't know what to do with them, especially the girl who makes fun of him and "the woman who follows him everywhere."

One afternoon while escaping from Dudley and his friends he ends up bumping into Xiao and things don't turn out well... For Dudley. Apparently the older brother has no patience for bullies and idiots.

When Aunt Petunia invites her new teacher and her children over to discuss what happened, which is a subtle attempt to make Ajax look like a bad mother to her children while pushing an angry Uncle Vernon around, things don't go according to plan. what was planned. Because when Ajax accepts, Harry meets the most intimidating man he has ever seen in his short life.

Zhongli Huang, Ajax's husband, is tall, handsome and elegant, and together with his wife they form a beautiful picture that makes Petunia and Vernon fail in every way possible. He doesn't seem very impressed with the situation either and spends the evening subtly criticizing the Dursley couple while devoting all his attention to doting on his wife and children. In every stressful situation, Harry accidentally makes his presence known, and without realizing it, gives blackmail ammunition to the vicious redhead like a shark that smells blood.

With a few mild threats, silent blackmail, and a smile like a grave, Harry finds his life looking up when he finds himself moved across the street to a strange but loving family who treat him with more affection than he has received for as long as he can remember. Zhongli and Ajax are strange in every way possible, and Xiao and Tao are just as prone to acting outlandishly, but the way they sink into his life and heart makes things worth it.

The next few years are warm and happy, the Dursleys avoid them like the plague and Dudley can no longer get closer than six feet without some of his new brothers bristling and attacking like very violent cats. He has also discovered things about her new family, like how his parents treat gender more as a mood than as a real biological thing, or how reality seems to break down around his, but they are things that he has gotten used to and decides to do. That it really doesn't matter how strange they are, your family is your family and that's all that matters.

Then he receives a letter and discovers that he is a wizard, and he is not the only one. Xiao looks at the letter envelope as if there was a bomb inside and Tao waves his as he folds it into a pretty crane, mother and father share tea and ignore everything around them in favor of getting lost in each other's gaze while Harry suffers an existential crisis. The next day they are in Diagon Alley.

Harry ends up accepting magic as he has been accepting everything around him for the last few years, some disbelief, a lot of doubt, and what feels like an instinctive resignation that he can't escape his situation. His parents have given him many options, which include Oxford University in the future, so he just accepts the magic, since his parents seem to be on top of everything and don't mind that their three children are going to embark on what they are It is surely your new life in a magical world. Archons, he can't believe that's a real thought.

Thus, Harry embarks on a new journey away from the family home that has been taking care of him since he left the horrible Dursley home, with only the company of his beloved brothers. Or he was, until he finds out that mother, who is now dad, and father, who is now Miss Zhongli, are teachers at his new magical school.

Once again, he resigns himself to what his life has been like for six years and moves on. Meanwhile, neither Hogwarts, nor Vondermort, nor even Dumbledore know what has fallen into their laps: A very battlesexual former herald, his very permissive divine husband, they overly diligent and surly eldest son, and they mischievously chaotic and eccentric youngest daughter.

[justinewt]

The Two-Horned Beast - THE 100 REWRITE Chapter Twenty-Five

[THE 100 MASTERLIST]

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter

Summary: Raven was saved but the group wasn't out of the woods just yet. They still had to find a way to really put an end to Alie. Thanks to a book written by the hand of the woman that made the AI, they found a new lead, a Grounder named Luna, who might be the key to all this.

Words: 4.8k

Warnings: The 100 season 3 spoilers (episode 12 "Demons"), fluff, some romance, guns, knives, blood, stabbing, attempted & actual murder

The sun had risen in the sky as they drove full speed across a field. They drove all night really, with Bellamy at the wheels. Clarke was at the front with him, and Michelle was sitting at the back with the others as they all began to plan out their next moves to stop Alie and her army of zombies. They had saved Raven from her grip, but the latter was far from being the only one that was being mind controlled. Michelle looked through the windshield, listening to the conversation with one ear, leaning forward on her lap. She was wondering about the situation in Polis. Her father was there, and she hoped he was safe. For the time being, they were headed for Arkadia. It was probably fine to return since Alie and her minions were trying to find them and they were far from the trading post already. 

“Becca’s journal is amazing.” Raven exclaimed, carefully flipping the pages of the old notebook. “At 26, she found a pathway to access a human mind. That same year, she had to lock up Alie, because her answer for what was wrong with the world was “too many people”. She was 27 when it launched the bombs.”

“What did she write about the Flame?” Clarke twisted on her seat, turning towards them.

“Alie 2.0. She saw it as a way to atone for her sins. She designed it to not just access a human mind, but to merge with one. It could never wipe us out, because it would be one of us. She put it in herself first. Altered her genes so her body wouldn’t reject the implant.”

“Bekka Pramheda, the first Commander.” Michelle glanced at Clarke. She nodded to herself before looking at the others, crossing the gaze of her best friend before she focused back on Raven. “The gene therapy made her blood black, didn’t it?”

“Yeah.” She said quietly, surprised that she knew this detail without having read the diary. She wasn’t the only one that was surprised.

“How did you know that?” Octavia enquired.

“Nightblood. That’s where it came from. Somehow it became hereditary. Luna has it. That’s why we have to find her. If she can access Alie-2…”

“She can tell us how to stop Alie-1.” Octavia said, concluding Clarke’s statement.

“Get back to the mind pathway.” Monty spoke, taking a closer look at the Flame. “If Alie uses it to upload our minds to the City of Light, then there’s a chance my mo’s still alive.”

“That depends on your definition of “alive”.” Raven’s words must have shattered his hopes, but he shot his mother. The woman’s body wasn’t alive anymore and whatever was left of her in the City of Light, wasn’t her. Seeing him like this made Michelle quite sad and it made her think how if her father happened to take the chip, she wasn’t sure she would have the guts to shoot if he put someone in danger. She hoped she would never have to kill him to save someone else because if her father, her only remaining parent, died by her own hand, she would never survivre it. Losing her mother broke her and she didn’t even see her pass away, so it would be the last straw. She would never recover from it.

“Eyes sharp. Weapons hot. We’re almost home.” Bellamy spoke up as they approached Arkadia’s grounds. He called for Harper and Miller over the radio, telling them they were a couple minutes away from camp, but no one replied. It wasn’t a good sign. Michelle straightened up, stretching her, craning forward to look through the windshield. She couldn’t see Arkadia just yet. They were still too far but once they saw it in the distance, and noticed the gates were wide open and there was no one in sight, they stopped the vehicle. Some of them got out with their weapons, walking alongside the car, Jasper standing up at the back, sticking out through the roof opening and Bellamy had left the wheel to Michelle. She wouldn't have minded coming outside with him, Clarke, Octavia, and Sinclair; she was a pretty good shot, but he had insisted that she stay inside the Rover. Her assumption turned out to be correct though, Alie and her minions had deserted the place, probably since last night. From inside the car, she couldn’t really hear what the others were saying but she heard Jasper note that no one was there to fix the gate. It was like a ghost town as they slowly progressed inside the camp.

“Maybe they saw the open gate and went in for Lincoln’s book.” Jasper added, talking about Miller and Harper. Bellamy was still trying to get a hold of them, but no one was responding. When she looked in the mirrors and saw her peers stopping in their tracks, she slowed the car and turned her head to Raven, sitting in the front seat next to her. She met her gaze and she understood they had stopped by the pool of blood that must have soaked the grounds ever since Lincoln was shot by Pike. She gulped and they continued on their way to get the grounder’s book. It was supposed to guide them to other Grounders that could help them to stop Alie, with all that nightblood stuff. As they approached the hangar, the doors opened and she drove in, opening the window and popping her head through, to hear what Bellamy was saying. He looked at her after telling Jasper to close the roof.

“Turn the Rover around. We may need to get outta here quickly.” She nodded and sat back into the driver’s seat, waiting for the others to get out from around the vehicle to turn the car around. The doors of the hangar closed shut behind them with a thud. As the group looked around the large room, she did as Bellamy asked and then jumped out of the car. Climbing up the small flight of stairs, she, Raven, and Monty joined the others around the table where a bunch of stuff was scattered, decks of cards, half-empty plates and drinks, as if people just got up and walked away, leaving everything behind to rot, without a second thought. “We’re in and out. Pack as much gear as you can into the Rover.”

“I’ll get the map.” Octavia left almost as quickly as she spoke. Jasper went along with her. As she watched them walk away, Michelle was reminded of the fact that her precious jacket was still lying somewhere in Bellamy’s room, and she wanted to get it back before they left camp again. She was about to mention it to Bellamy, parting her lips, turned towards him, when Raven came from behind her and spoke up.

“What’s the rush? They won’t be coming back.”

“How do you know?” Clarke asked.

“Alie’s mission is to chip everyone. It wouldn’t make sense to return to a place she already took.”

“It might make sense if there was someone in that place, you, who could tell us stuff like that.” Raven agreed with Sinclair’s point, and they all went in different directions. Only Michelle went after Bellamy and he looked over his shoulder, hearing her footsteps. She still wanted her jacket, even if she was wearing her father’s ever since the group parted ways with him, Pike, and the Grounders. He nodded at her request, and they walked through the door towards the inside of the Ring, heading for Bellamy’s room. The two of them walked inside the room and Michelle kind of looked around while Bellamy opened a wardrobe next to his bed. He let his gun hang to his side as he took the jacket from a hanger. She took off the large, black guards’ jacket that her father gave her so she wouldn’t be cold and put it down on the desk while he handed her vest to her.

“Thank you.” She said as she took and put it on, one sleeve after the other. Then, she picked up her father’s and put it back on. She noticed Bellamy watching her as she got dressed and she looked at him with a chuckle, the corner of her lip stretching into a smirk. “What?”

“Nothing.” He shook his head, looking away, and she took a step towards him, taking his hand, intertwining their fingers as they locked eyes. His eyes went down to her mouth for half a second and he cupped her face in his free hand, pressing his lips against hers. Their kiss grew more passionate as time went on and he let go of her hand to slip his fingers in her hair, at the back of her head. Her whole body felt like it was lit on fire when they broke their embrace, resting his forehead against her cheekbone. She was catching her breath, as if she had forgotten how to breathe properly and she heard Bellamy chuckle. She smiled, telling him not to laugh, playfully pushing him away, shaking her head and he caught her arms, pulling her back towards him into a hug and she wrapped her arms around him, warm under his jacket. She could feel him breathing in her hair while she rested her chin on his shoulder, closing her eyes. It was the first, real intimate moment that they had shared in many months and damn, how she had missed it. The words I love you, would take a little longer to be spoken out loud though.

“All right let’s go look around. We don’t know know how much time we have right now.” She broke the embrace and he nodded. They left together, exiting the Ring through the front door. She didn’t have a gun, so she remained behind Bellamy as he kicked open the door to the armory, holding his gun up in case he came face-to-face with someone. It was empty. She stepped in after him as he opened a mesh cupboard inside which they could see a bunch of automatic shotguns lined up. He checked the content of the boxes stored underneath. They were filled to the brim with bullets. He grabbed the radio at his belt and contacted the rest of the group still inside the hangar. 

“Everyone finish what you’re doing and meet us at the armory.”

“Why? What’s going on?” Clarke was the one to respond.

“You’ll see when you get there. We just got lucky.” While she told them they were on their way, Bellamy picked up a gun, filled a charger with bullets and gave it to Michelle. The latter started walking back and forth outside the door, looking around the camp, alert, and turned to Bellamy while they waited for the others to join them. Her mind was really making her do comparisons between what she now had with Bellamy and what she once had with Murphy. She didn’t want to keep thinking about both the relationships she had ever had but her conclusion was that the two were diametrically opposed. Maybe it was because she had grown since they first landed on the ground, and because Bellamy was a few years older, but their relationship had a much more mature feeling to it. The nature of their feelings for each other was very different from when she was with Murphy. When he left, she realized, even if he did love and care for her, she most likely loved him more than he did. She mentally shrugged, thinking it would have ended at some point but the fact that he just got up and left, with Jaha, it still bothered her. She shook the thought away when Clarke’s voice reached their ears. She was calling out their names weakly, panting and Bellamy caught her before she fell, giving her support so she could stand. “What is it? What’s going on?”

“Emerson.” It was just one word, well a name really, but the three of them were very much aware of what it meant. The guy from Mount Weather, who they thought they had gotten rid of already, was back, harder to kill than a cockroach. The trio then walked into the ring, with Bellamy and Michelle walking in front of Clarke, their heads tilted, eyes glued to the viewfinder lens, guns up, flashlights on.

“Where’s Monty?” Bellamy enquired.

“Emerson took him. Why?” She frowned, trying to understand what Emerson’s motivation was. He grabbed his radio and tried to make contact with his sister, stopping in their tracks.

“Octavia, can you hear me? Come in.”

“Jasper was with her.”

“Jasper, are you there? Say something.” The only answer they got was a static sound crackling on the other end.

“Maybe Emerson got them too.” Michelle said quietly. Clarke looked down, frowning, shaking her head.

“Miller, Harper, Bryan… This is all my fault. I let Emerson live.”

“What are you talking about?” Bellamy looked at Clarke, blinking in confusion before exchanging a glance with Michelle. She had no idea what she was talking about either, but their friend seemed preoccupied. Her eyes went from one to the other.

“In Polis. I had a chance to kill him, but I let him go.”

“Bellamy, what’s wrong?” Raven’s voice came over the radio, interrupting their conversation.

“Raven, are you okay? Where are you?” He immidietaly asked.

“Still in engineering. We’re fine.”

“Raven, listen to me. Emerson is here. Are the others with you?” Clarke spoke up, taking the radio after Bellamy handed it to her. Raven replied in the negative. She was alone with Sinclair. Clarke then gave them instructions to lock down the hangar bay and to not let anybody in but the three of them. They had yet to find their other friends, who were probably held somewhere by Emerson. They ran there but when they came at the door, shouting out the mechanic’s name, banging on the door, no one answered, and the hangar was plunged in the dark. They left, running around the ring to get to the other door. When they reached the large door from the outside, it was just opened slightly, leaving a thin thread of light penetrate inside. Slipping through the opening one after the other, the two childhoos best friends kneeled next to the lifeless body of Sinclair, lying on the ground, a large stain of blood on his t-shirt, and blood running down his mouth. His dead eyes stared right back at them, frozen, and empty. Clarke still went to check his pulse, but it was obviously too late. He was already gone. She closed his eyes. Michelle sighed and got up, her hands on the gun hanging across her shoulders, glancing around the hangar. Raven was nowhere to be seen.

“He took Raven.”

“We’re too late.” Bellamy added, but Clarke somehow disagreed. She turned her head to them.

“He didn’t kill Monty or Raven. He would’ve left their bodies. Michelle is right, he took them somewhere.”

“If you’re right, Octavia and the others are there, too. Where would he be taking them? They could be anywhere. How does he even know his way around?”

“He was here. You were in Mount Weather.” As she talked, Clarke was already thinking, and she came to the conclusion that the man that had them running around the compound looking for their friends, had taken them to the very airlock in which he had been detained before. It only made sense that he would lock them up in there. She snatched the radio from Bellamy’s belt. “Emerson. I know you’re listening. We need to talk.”

“I don’t need to do anything.” They heard grunts in the background, confirming that he did have their friends with him. Clarke had their back to them, facing the hangar’s door and Michelle and Bellamy looked at each other. “You should have killed me when you had the chance.”

“And now you’re here to kill me, is that it?”

“Something like that.”

“Then let my friends go.” She tried to bargain with him, offering to give herself over if he did what she asked. Of course, neither Michelle nor Bellamy wanted this to happen. She turned to them. “I know what I’m doing.” Michelle gave her a firm nod, trusting her, though this whole ordeal worried her.

“Come to the airlock. No weapons. Right now.”

“What the hell are you doing?” Bellamy stopped her as she walked away with a determined step. She was set on saving their friends and they didn’t disagree with this but neither of them wanted her to sacrifice herself.

“Look, when it’s over, take this to Luna. Promise me.” She took the Flame out of her pocket and handed it over to him. Her eyes went to Michelle who didn’t like the way she was talking about all this, as if she was going to die going to the airlock and there was nothing to do about it. She didn’t the decisiveness of this moment. Bellamy slightly squinted his eyes, shaking his head.

“No. You’re outta your mind your mind if you think we’re letting you do this alone.” Though she stayed quiet, used to go along with the flow of whatever Clarke wanted to do, Bellamy didn’t even think about it and included her in his statement, knowing that she was as much against this as he was. And in other circumstances, she would have sketched a smile, because he was right. Clarke glanced at Michelle before putting her gaze back on him.

“This is my fault. I’m not letting anyone else die for my mistake, okay? So take it!” She didn’t raise her voice, but her tone and gesture were strong and direct, urging him to take the flame from her hand.

“Are you through? I don’t know what happened between you and Emerson in Polis. But I do know that letting him kill you here today is a stupid plan.”

“You got a better one?” He pinched his lips and shrugged; his smirk tinged with sadness.

“You distract him, we shoot him.” Clarke let go of her original plan to just surrender herself to the mountain man and nodded to Bellamy’s proposition. She looked down at the flame while Bellamy stepped away. Now, they had to put the plan into motion, and hope it would go smoothly but what Emerson would do, and his reactions were out of their control. Clarke walked a few feet ahead of them, with Bellamy and Michelle with their guns right behind. They stood behind the corner, hidden in the shadows while she held up her hands and approached the airlock.

“I held up my part of the deal. Your turn. Let my friends go.”

“Tell Bellamy to show themselves first.” He must have seen Bellamy’s shadow, or he simply knew the girl would never actually come alone but they were both reminded that even though Michelle knew the man’s name and who he was, he probably didn’t even remember her, other than being that one Asian girl who was Clarke’s friend. She wasn’t even sure he remembered that she was one of those who basically got her thigh drilled into and almost died, if it weren’t for Clarke opened all exits of Mount Weather. The two gunsmen glanced at each other.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about...” She tried to lie, and he knew it. He grunted and Octavia let out a scream, prompting Bellamy to come out of hiding, telling Michelle to stay back with his eyes. She gave him a nod, standing her back to the wall to conceal herself better. He kept his gun ready to fire as he stepped into the hallway.

“Good. Now, take out the clip, throw it down the hall, put the gun down and get inside.”

“Please, you wanted me.” She tried to talk with him, but he wasn’t here to listen to her pleading. Surrending herself in exchange for her friends’ lives being spared, but something was off. He really wanted Bellamy to come into the airlock. The latter gave in, telling him to stop. Michelle didn’t know what Emerson was doing but she guessed that he must have been holding Octavia at gunpoint or something like that, for the young man to be this nervous. He did as order, took out the clip and kneeled, putting down his gun, along with the rest of his weapons, which included the two knives he had. He threw them away, making them slide down the hall and their course stopped right in front of Michelle. If it came down to it and using her gun was too dangerous, she would pick up one of the blades and use it against Emerson. It was clear that Bellamy took advantage of the fact the man was clueless about a third person being there. He then put his hands up in the air and walked towards the airlock, disappearing from Michelle's sight. She heard Emerson’s voice addressing Bellamy followed by Octavia grunting. Michelle was practically glued to the wall, taking deep, quiet breath, ready to step in. She clenched her jaw, hating the fact that she was blind to what was now happening, right around the corner. She listened to Emerson giving orders to Clarke, telling her to get down on her knees and put her hand behind her head. There were footsteps, certainly Emerson, followed by a beeping sound and the airlock door closing.

“No- You can do anything you want with me. Okay? Just let them go.” Hearing him grunt, Michelle peeked. Emerson was his back to her, holding Clarke the collar of her coat and pushing her towards the closed space. He put his arm around her neck, his handgun against her head, pressing her against the glass. Michelle then thought, using her gun would put Clarke’s life at risk, while using a much sneakier weapon such as Bellamy’s knives, would give her a bigger chance of neutralizing Emerson. She let go of her shotgun, letting it hang to her side and picked up both blades to her feet, holding the handles tightly. And she waited for the right opportunity to come out. Not knowing if he had his finger on the trigger didn’t help her determine when to act either and she couldn’t risk Emerson seeing her, it would fuck the whole plan up as well.

“You murdered 381 people. You took the lives of my children, my brother, my friends. Did you really think that I would be happy with just one life in return?” When she heard him step back, dragging Clarke with him, she took another look. The gun was now aimed towards the ceiling. He put his arm back around Clarke, right across her chest and used his free hand to uncover a glowing red button. She came out of hiding as he pressed it. A voice over PA announced that the airlock was being emptied of its oxygen. He looked to asphyxiate their friends. She took advantage of the loud, dull noise covering her steps and she rushed towards him, driving the blades of the daggers right into his skull with a grunt. A gunshot went off as he collapsed, dragging Clarke with him. She broke free from his grip and rushed to the airlock control panel to open the door. Michelle just then processed what she did and though she didn’t feel bad about it, she couldn’t help but stare at Emerson’s face, his empty eyes staring back at her. She realized her fingers were trembling, so she closed her hands into fists. The two knives looking like horns that had grown on the sides of his head. Clarke got up, stretching out her arms to reopen the airlock. Their friends inside weren’t exactly passed out but a little lightheaded from the lack of oxygen, breathing heavily, while the two were getting rid of Emerson. Michelle stepped over the man’s body, helped Clarke up. As she freed one of them, they helped free each other. Michelle went to untie Bellamy from the wall and frowned in frustration since her hands were still a bit shaky. She felt his gaze upon her.

“Are you okay?” He asked quietly.

“You’re the one that’s restrained. I’m fine.” He grabbed her hand and glanced over his shoulder at Emerson. She huffed, following his eyes, and stared at the dead body. The knives sticking out of his heads, a pool of blood all over the floor and trickles having flowed across his face. His eyeballs were hidden, covered with a red layer. It wasn’t the first she had had a deadly weapon in her hands, but it was the very first time that she stabbed someone this violently, in the head, and not just with one knife, but two at that. She didn’t have such a hard time shooting at people with a gun but using bladed weapons did shake her up a little. She didn’t even think, she just did it to save Clarke. Seeing that she was staring at Emerson, he stepped aside, blocking her view, making her look at him.

“You did it to save Clarke.”

“Yes, I know why I did it.” She pinched her lips, not reacting the way she would have wanted to. She answered abruptly when he was only trying to help her. But he understood and only looked at her with concern for her on his face. She locked eyes with Clarke and Octavia, who noticed them holding hands and the latter were surprised to say the least. They obviously didn’t expect to see their siblings together. The group then eventually walked outside, dragging Emerson’s body away. At nightfall, while they were putting things away, they saw Bellamy walk through the gate, carrying a large body wrapped in a body bag, in his arms.  Because of the weight of the body, his gait was a bit slowed down, and his steps were heavy, sinking into the mud. He put it on the ground and took a step back while Octavia fell to her knees. She raised her hand to uncover the head and hesitated for a moment before finally doing so. It was Lincoln.

Octavia's sobbing turned into hearbreaking wailing. The rest of them were all silently standing there. Michelle felt her pain, though it was not over the death of the same type of love, she had cried just as hard over her mother. It made her want to cry and she felt a tear had run down her cheek. She swiftly wiped it away. They built a pyre and put both Sinclair and Lincoln’s bodies on it. Raven went forth, saying her goodbyes to her former mentor and stepped back while Octavia lit the pyre, pronouncing words in trigedasleng. Your fight is over. They all repeated those words in unison. While Michelle said it for their two peers, her eyes rose to the starry night sky and her thoughts went to her mother and she stared at the fire, losing her gaze in the dance of flames until Octavia's voice rises above the loud crackling.

“It’s time to go. I’ll get the map.” Bellamy watched her walk away, swallowing harshly. As he turned back towards the fire, he felt a hand hold his and his eyes went down to his hand and then up to Michelle’s face before they both observed the fire for a moment. After a while, they all went to the hangar to put their things into the rover and get ready to leave. Clarke was putting the flame back in its box and Bellamy was carrying boxes of weapons into the back of the car. Michelle was next to her childhood friend. The three exchanged a nod as he walked past them.

“Hey, we’re leaving. Why aren’t you ready?” Bellamy asked Raven and Monty as the two approached.

“We’re not going with you.” She then said, being helped down by Monty. “I can barely walk, and my shoulder is killing me. But my brain’s all kinds of awesome.”

“She remembered that Alie downloaded herself into the Ark mainframe. If the code is still there, we might be able to find a back door.” Monty added.

“I’m guessing once you connect Alie-2 to Luna, we’ll need to access Alie-1 to take her down.”

“Miller.” Bellamy called to the young man in the background, with his boyfriend and Harper. He motioned towards the other two.

“I’ll keep ‘em safe.”

“I’ll keep them safe.” Harper said, repeating his words with a smile.

“How about you? It’s gonna be dangerous.” Bellamy turned his head to Jasper.

“You know me well. I’m in.” On his words, Bellamy walked off while Clarke and Michelle said goodbye to their friends. Octavia went directly inside the car. Clarke went to the front with Bellamy and Michelle joined Octavia, followed by Jasper. The humming noise of the engine starting sounded in the hangar as Raven shut the backdoor and they drove away. Next step was finding this Luna and find a way to get rid of Alie once and for all.

[To be continued…]  

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter

Published (02/24/2023) by Andrea

Taglist: @cathrin2405​ @kika64 @mirellef2001

[nelapanela94]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY @yakaaamoz this one is for you!!!

EVERYONE SEND BIRTHDAY WISHES TO MIA!!

WC: 2k

TW: fluff, domestic fluff, post war, a smidge of smut (nothing explicit)

You and Levi celebrating your first Valentine's Day after the war.

Dot, dot.

“Levi, you’re too slow!” you chrip and wedge between him and the railing, making the five-story building rumble with your zing and agitation.

He’s left alone, amid the flight of stairs between the first and second floor, with the lingering clatter of your boots. Grumbling, he rolls the eyes, fixes his hat and hobbles after, his hand tightening around the handle of the walking aid. He meets the startled neighbor from the 201 and nods apologetically. “Sorry, but it’s the last episode.” Levi shrugs.

“It’s ok.” The man chortles. “My mother loves that play too.” A cigarette dangles from his lips. He shoves his hand into his pockets and climbs down the stairs. “Good evening, Mr. Ackerman.”

You stumble into your apartment, scuff off your shoes, tripping and clinging to the wall. A gush of pain blows up in your toe, and you curse at the coffee table for happening to be in the middle of the living room. You don’t have time to cry, anyway; the pendulum keeps swaying; the seconds tick. You plunge on your knees before the intricately carved wooden box, and static crackles as you turn the dial, the tiny red line moving back and forth between the numbers, the scratchy noise vexing and probing your patience.

Finally, the sultry voice that gives life to Werner Fischer hones in the last scene of yesterday’s episode and, splaying a hand on your chest, you heave a sigh of relief. You huddle on the couch and stretch your wool sweater over your knees, expectant. Tonight, Sarah will choose between her fiancé Werner, the wealthy, extremely good-looking and perfect future son-in-law, or Thomas Meyer, her family’s gamekeeper, and the love of her life since they were fifteen.

The notes of the Wedding March purl in, and Sarah’s journey to the altar commences.

“No, Sarah, don’t.” You mumble, clenching the hem of your sweater and biting your lips. Meanwhile, Thomas is waiting at the train station. Steam hoots, people blather, iron wheels hurtle by and screech. A letter rumples in his hand.

The door thuds and the foyer lights flicker to life. Levi takes his time. He hooks the cane on the nail, then shimmies off his trench, his jacket and slips them on the branches of the tree-like hanger. Then his hat and runs his fingers through his hair. His spine cracks as he groans down onto the bench.

Maybe he is getting old.

But aren’t the forties supposed to be the new thirties? That’s what the guy in the hair dye add says.

Deliberately, he takes off his shoes, fishes yours with his toes and pushes both pairs under the seat where they belong.

That goddamn play has become your new vice and sometimes he regrets buying the damn radio for your last birthday. Nah. He loves seeing you smile. He’ll never forget the spark in your eyes when music blared into the house for the first time, and you beckon him to the dance floor even though he was still doomed to the wheelchair. The candid and carefree way you react to the small things in life fascinates him.

He limps to the kitchen, ties the apron on and rummages through the scanty content in the fridge, diving into the drawer of forgotten veggies where your attempts for a healthy lifestyle lie.

The box of chocolate bars rests in plain sight.

He unwraps one, furtive enough to go unnoticed by the acute ears of a telegraphist. Even though you’re too absorbed in the play, he cranes his head over his shoulder, squinting. Nothing. You’re rocking with apprehension, riveted to the radio.

The bomb of textures and flavors explodes in his mouth, the chewiness of the caramel mates immaculately with the crunchiness of the wafer.

The foil falls into the bin, and he wipes his fingers clean.

The heater hums; the windows rattle with the sharp and crispy wind.

Onions, tomatoes, garlic; mouth-watering sizzling. Through the chop chop chop, he strains his ears to catch the final scenes. Though predictable, like your romance novels, he’s engaged in the plot too, listening in secrecy while making dinner. Now Sarah runs across the town in her hefty wedding gown, crossing her fingers for Thomas not to hop in that train. He leans over the countertop, scrapes the cutting board into the pan, his hand threatening to solder to the knife handle.

The trains whistles to depart, and Sarah’s harrowing pleads stop the machine.

You’re clapping and sniffling and wiping your tears; your nails most likely reduced to the roots.

And they lived happy ever after.

“Did you like it, Levi?” You chime from the living room, stoking the coals in the fireplace.

Shit.

 You turn off the radio and pad on your kitty socks to the kitchen, your eyes red and swollen and the hem of your sleeves tinted in a darker shade of taupe. “Next week starts a new one, we should listen together,” you say, flitting like a hummingbird from pantry to pantry to spoil dinner.

“I’m not into that crap.”

You raise a brow, hands hooked at your hips.

“I wasn’t.” he grunts, and your peck on his cheek softens him.

You stride around him, filching a chunk of carrot, sniffing the sauté, and turn toward the fridge, while Levi rakes an excuse in his head he’ll need for when war drops the question mark.

“Levi! That was the last one!” you pout.

But he shrugs and sighs, bullet-resistant to your whining. “You said you wanted to lose some pounds; I was helping.”

“You’re saying I’m fat.” Your jaw drops to the floor.

He opens his mouth to concoct his defense and closes it immediately, sewing his lips into a thin line before he, involuntarily, wreaks havoc in your kitchen. He knows that whatever he says, you’ll twist his words against him, transmute them into a dagger. One doesn’t fight battles that are already lost.

Levi surrenders, turns around, and you trap him in your arms, pressed between your body and the granite edge. No time to hunker down in the trench. You kiss him, slipping your tongue in his mouth, unannounced, cajoling sweet sounds and little grunts, savoring him; his not so shy hands teasing with the hem of your sweater.

You pull apart, holding down his hands, his lips dewy and pink, his eyes glazed with endearment. “You taste good,” you purr against his lips, running your fingers through his hair, some strands dusted with the white of age.

Dot, dash, dot, dot. Dash, dash, dash. Dot, dot, dot, dash. Dot.

In the pot, water burbles to a boil, the ring of blue fire fizzing. You prattle about your day, tangling and combing out his soul with your sweet voice.

☺

He lids the leftovers of the stew, and you help him to the couch. He snuggles in your arms, in his safe place, his ear pressed on your heartbeats. His solace and reassurance. His purpose. His beacon.

You caress his hair, fondly, with the adoration of a devotee raising their palms in hallelujah.

“Levi.” You whisper.

“uh?”

“Do you want to be my Valentine?”

“You’re what?”

“Valentine.”

He raises his head, scanning your face. “What is a Valentine?”

“I’m not so sure.” You tap a finger on your chin, gazing up and blushing. “I heard the girls in the office blathering about chocolates and roses, but I was too embarrassed to ask. It seems they celebrate love, the fourteenth.”

Levi ponders. Now it makes sense why so many lovey-dovey mawkish couples have been swarming the tea shop since the beginning of the month. Does he look that dumb when he’s staring at you?

He jots in his head to have Gabi and Falco garland the shop with red and white.

He smiles. “I’ll be your Valentine. Whatever that means.”

Your eyes glint, and you plant kisses on his head. Rosemary sheds from his hair.

☺

You tear off the 13th from the calendar; but the elation soon dwindles.

The restaurants are bursting at the seams. At Montolivo, the line snakes around the block, and Levi’s gammy leg is giving up. The wind blows slashing your cheeks, and people’s breaths amass in a cloud.

“I’m sorry, Levi.” You mutter halfheartedly and disappointed, “I should’ve made a reservation.”

He winds an arm over your shoulders for support, “and I should’ve brought the damn chair.”

After the war time rolls by leisurely. You take your time, shamble down the street festooned in red hearts, the throngs splitting to give you way. Matching coats and scarves. There’s nothing else to worry about other than what you’re going to eat for lunch.

A little boy, around eight with his hair slick-parted to the side, stops before you and hands you a rose. You know him. Every Friday, he and his mother place a message for his father who works at a mine two hundred miles to the west.

“You’re pretty,” he mumbles. His plump cheeks flush, his hands tethered behind his back. He scuffs a foot on the pavement as you pat his head. “You’re so sweet, Matty. Thank you. Happy Valentine for you too.” You bend and drop a kiss on his head, and all his face heats with red.

“Who is that?” He points at Levi, both glowering at each other.

Her official Valentine. Brat. But Levi bites his tongue before he screws up and ends up sleeping in the couch tonight. Thankfully, Mrs. Russo saves the day. She calls Matty and he waves goodbye to you, before slithering through the crowd.

Jewelry stores gleam; marbled chocolate truffles are dusted with gold. The air is dense with the perfume of roses, and beams of sun pierce the mantle of clouds like search lights.

“Let’s grab a large pepperoni. There’s a Malbec waiting for a special occasion at home.” You come up with a quick plan as your stomach grumbles in reproach.

Why do we wait for special dates to use the good stuff? Life slips through our fingers as we wait for the right moment, and then it is too late.

You eat the cheap greasy pizza on the finest china that had never seen the daylight, sloshing a glass of wine back and forth, laughing between hiccups. The gramophone’s flower spills the chords of Debussy and fills every corner of your home.

Home.

You and him.

You eat in silence, with the notes climbing and swirling down in the comfortable kind of silence lovers share.

“Some fresh moon flesh, my sweet valentine?” He opens his mouth, and you stick a wedge of soft   camembert. The runny interior, smooth and silky against the pleasantly bitter rind. There’s always a wheel around; you just cannot have enough cheese. “Wine burns fat.” You always say and pour to the last drop. Levi’s cheeks flush, his dimple at full display, crow feet wrinkling the corners of his eyes. He’s mellowed with time.

The cardboard box is blotted with cheese, bestrewn with dried oregano and dough crumbs. In the middle you place a can, the expiration date says it’s fine, but the label has been ripped. It could be anything: beans, sweet corn or spaghetti o’s. You cross your fingers for it to be something sweet.

You find out together. With the tip of a knife, you flick the lid open, and Levi smiles. “Peaches?”

“Peaches.”  

You dip two fingers in, tow one slippery half, and nab it, humming with delight, the sugary juice dripping on your hand. Levi laughs, shaking his head and follows you. Sunrise sliding down his throat.

Sweet shops and pastry shops were overflowing with lovers you couldn’t wrest out a slice of pie.

“I’ll do the dishes later,” you say as your pile up the plates in the sink. But you’ll forget and Levi will do the washing up.

You give him a hand and haul him to his feet, then turn around, and he wraps his arms around you, his chest against your back. “Ready?” You clasp your hands on his, holding tight.

“Yes.”

The fireplace crackles, sputtering fire flakes, the flickering glow lapping your naked bodies in bronze. Intertwined like Sinding’s lovers.  He presses down into you, your belly flat on the carpet, your name falling in whispers onto your hair.

Writhing and panting. He kisses the spot under your ear, his fingers stroking the knobs of your spine. The rose feels shy and jealous, and her petals unfurl toward the window.

Dash, dot, dash, dash. Dash, dash, dash. Dot, dot, dash.

He taps a sequence of dots and dashes on your shoulder. And you smile. All week you’ve been encoding, sending, and decoding the same array for strangers. Three words, eight letters. Twelve short beeps, twelve long beeps, strung in a pattern that’s already carved in your head.

“I love you too, Levi,” you breathe, your body quivering with pure bliss.

His hand finds yours, wedding bands glinting, and he gives you a squeeze.

You are his safe place, his quiet corner, his sweet surrender. You two are the best love story. Better than any cheesy radio play.

And he mutters, “I want to be your valentine forever.”

Tag list: @stygianoir @lamees004 @lovolee3 @notgoodforlife

If you want to be part of the tag list, fill out this form.

[ejzah]

The Agent and the Fireman, Part 14

***

“Oh, look who graced us with his presence,” Jerry called out as he walked into the office where Deeks was completing the monthly duty schedule. “You’ve been spending so much time with your Fed friends, I thought you might have jumped ship.”

“Yeah, because there’s an ongoing case where they need my expertise,” Deeks said with a smirk that had gotten him out of any number of minor scuffles in his younger days.

“Doesn’t hurt that there’s your lady agent friend there. What’s her name again?”

“Nice try.”

“It was worth a shot. So, is it safe to say you’re smitten?” Jerry continued, not all dissuaded from his purpose. Deeks paused, debating if he say anything. As much time as he and Deeks had spent together recently, they hadn’t exactly discussed any parameters for their fledgling relationship.

Glancing over his shoulder to make sure there weren’t any listening ears around, and lowered his voice.

“I’ve never met anyone like her before. She’s fearless, says what’s on her mind, has this insane laugh. It’s actually more of a cackle than a laugh. The day she got trapped in that building, I swear she was ready to punch me out when I picked her up and carried her out of there.”

“But then she got a good feel of those muscles, and she was a goner,” Jerry teased. “She actually sounds a little like Monica.”

“Hey, we do not go there,” Deeks reminded Jerry with a jab of his finger. “She’s nothing like Monica.”

Jerry shook his head, looking fondly irritated. “Only you would stumble upon a hot federal agent, and actually start dating her.”

“Speaking of said “hot” agent,” Deeks said, picking up his phone as it started ringing. Jerry craned his neck to look over Deeks’ shoulder, but he’d entered Kensi’s contact information under KB. “Looks like they’re in need of my expertise again.” With a grin, Deeks put his phone to his ear.

“You know, you’re really annoying when you’re in love,” Jerry said under his breath.

***

Kensi had given Deeks the address they thought Jason McHenry might be holed up in, but apparently needed his advice on some device they’d found.

She met him as soon as he pulled across the street from a small industrial building. She wore a vest and hand a rifle strapped to her right thigh.

“Kensi, what’s going on?”

“We tracked McHenry here from his mother. You were right, she dropped a payment at a P.O. box yesterday. We took her in, and she eventually gave us this address,” she explained. “We have people watching both exits.”

“That sounds promising,” Deeks said.

“It is. Except for the device rigged to the front door.” Kensi lead him to a small barricade set up nearby where he could see Agents Hanna and Callen standing. “Given his tendency to burn evidence, we used a camera to check and found this.”

They’d reached the barricade by now, and Sam wordlessly handed him a small tablet. He and Callen both wore protective vests and were armed as well.

Tilting the screen away from the sun, Deeks peered at the captured image. There were a multitude of wires and other electrical pieces that made defining the device’s purpose difficult.

“There’s components similar to the last incendiary device you found, but this one does look like it’s rigged to trigger when the door is opened,” Deeks said slowly, enlarging the picture and working his way from one side to the other. “Yeah, there’s a trigger of sorts connected to this wire.”

“Can we disarm it?” Callen asked.

“Possibly. Though I’d need better imaging and possibly a live camera to be safe.” Deeks looked up briefly to find all three agents watching him closely.

“You tell me where to cut and I’ll do it,” Sam told him confidently.

“Sam’s our resident unofficial bomb defuser,” Kensi explained.

“Mm, should I be worried that you have the need for a designated bomb defuser on the team?” he asked, focused on the picture once again.

“Ok, enough chitchat,” Sam interrupted. “Let’s get some more pictures and—”

“Wait!” Deeks pressed a hand to Sam’s chest, physically holding him back. “There’s a secondary fuse on a time control,” he said, gesturing to the picture. “It’s already been triggered. Everybody needs to move now.”

“How long we got?” Sam asked.

“I have no idea,” Deeks said, nodding towards the building. “It could be any second, especially with how long ago he must have triggered it.”

“Alright, everybody evacuate,” Callen ordered, gesturing for Kensi and Deeks to move ahead of him. Deeks heard Sam contacting someone over his radio and giving similar directions as they ran across the street.

They’d just crossed onto the opposite side when a massive explosion rocked the earth around them. Deeks heard Kensi shout his name as he was knocked to the ground, someone crashing into him as he fell.

***

A/N: Bet you weren’t expecting that!

Once again, yes I know that this is not how things work. Just accept the modicum of procedurally stuff and pretend that it all makes sense.

[hankwritten]

The Woeful Tale of Tavish 2

Day 2: FREE DAY (Boots N Bombs)

A plume of water shoots into the air like the great mushroom cloud of a hydrogen bomb. The thing is probably releasing hydrogen into the air, tearing water molecules to bits and doing all sorts of other mini reactions, but Demo doesn’t have the brain space he usually reserves for keeping track of chemical combustion; he is too full of overwhelming relief for that.

“And tell Davy Jones I’m coming for him next!” he bellows across the loch.

The corpse of the great plesiosaur is already mostly below the waterline. The day is warm and sunny. A group of tourists are screaming in horror. Or maybe they’re screaming because the resounding shockwaves are threatening to tip their boat over, Demo doesn’t care much, not when satisfaction blooms in his chest with each small wave that reaches his shoes.

“I did it,” he says with pride. “I finally did it.”

“That you did private!” Soldier says. “A job well done. Isn’t it great that all your childhood trauma could be tied up neatly with one explosive act of violence?”

“It is! So glad it’s that easy, and with no lingering complications.”

“And people always say to go to therapy.”

“Load of bollox that.”

“Mwuuaag.”

“…Mwuaag?” Demo asks. “What does mwuaag mean?”

“What?” Soldier scratches his helmet. “I didn’t say that.”

“Mwuuaag…” the mournful lament comes again.

The pair of men glance around, noticing nothing out of place but themselves, washed up chunks of dinosaur, and the several crates of spare explosives they’d brought along for the job. But the damp air contains crying still, and the pair of mercenaries follow it around the bend to find the source.

An amphibious creature about the size of a punch buggy lifts its head at their approach. It blinks for a second with large, cow-like eyes. Then cheered by their appearance, it says, “Oooaaan!” and slaps its flippers excitedly in the (slightly pinkish) shallows.

“…Fuck,” Demo says.

“Tavish look!” Soldier says. “It’s a baby nessie.”

“I can see it’s a baby nessie Jane.”

“You probably just blew up her mother,” Soldier hums thoughtfully.

“Aye. I gathered. And don’t go calling it ‘she’!” Demo warns. “I know you, and that’s always your first step in getting attached. We’re not taking on responsibility for this thing.”

Soldier, in a bout of speed he only exhibits when rockets or pathetic animals are involved, is already up and snuggling the monster.

“Tavish,” Soldier says, aghast. “We killed her mother! We are now duty-bound to take her in. Just like in Bambi!”

“They didn’t- ach,” Demo says. “No, no way. Don’t want that thing anywhere near me.”

“Mwuuaag?” The baby plesiosaur loops its long neck over the Soldier, craning so it can properly tilt its head at Demo.

“You heard me!”

“But why?” Soldier asks.

“I tell you why, because that-” Demo points to the several-ton infant, “-is the spawn of that-” he points to the origin of the explosion, where there is now only a capsized tourist dinghy. “My mortal enemy! The creature that caused me years of torment!”

“I thought Merasmus was your mortal enemy.”

“Well,” Demo says. “He is now. But only because he’s immortal and hard to get rid of. But before him it was that thing, the one who killed my bloody parents!”

The creature, noting Demo’s finger, scoots closer to him and noses his hand for treats. Demo scoffs, and folds his arms.

Soldier thinks long and hard about this, looking at the little nessie, then the big, dead Nessie out in the loch.

Slowly, he says, “Okay. I respect your wishes, and will make sure you absolutely do not come in contact with her for the foreseeable future.”

“…Why did you say it like that.”

“No reason, let’s go, I love you.”

🦕

Demo knows there’s something amiss as soon as he hears cooing coming from the cargo hold. It’s a decent sized plane, but that doesn’t mean it's big enough to keep secrets from each other. He walks in to find Soldier murmuring to himself and slipping bananas under a large, conspicuously shaped sheet.

“Jane!” Demo barks. “I told you to leave that bloody thing back in Scotland.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Soldier yelps, whipping the bunch of bananas behind his back.

The effect is somewhat spoiled as a green, scaly muzzle pokes itself from beneath the sheet and nibbles at them.

“What about no more infant predators don’t you understand?” Demo demanded. “A puma was bad enough but this? Not to mention it’s a deadly beast with a personal grudge against me.”

“She doesn’t have anything personal against you, you just have something personal against her. It’s not her fault her mother…um. Was so nefarious she tricked you into killing your adoptive parents?”

Demo is not in the mood to go over this again. He glares.

“I mean just look at her Tavish.” Soldier rips off the sheet. The plesiosaur flaps its flippers in delight, impressed by the magic trick of suddenly making everything not-dark anymore. “How can you say no to that face?”

“No,” Demo tells the pair of beaming expressions.

“Mwuuaag?”

But the puppy-eyes looks so damn heartbroken on its canine face that Demo can’t help but feel his heartstrings twist like a puppet. He dismisses the notion immediately, reminding himself of reality.

“Yes, mwuuag,” he says. “I mean, Christ Jane, look at the size of it! What were you even planning on doing with it once we touched down?”

“Well, I found out she likes bananas, so that’s food settled.” Soldier scratches his chin. “And uh, she could live in the pool. I promise I’ll clean it every day!”

“This isn’t a debate, Jane. That…that thing…I don’t want to be near it. This is supposed to be over, don’t you understand?” Demo feels his throat clench. “This trip was…was supposed to fix everything.”

“…Tav. I don’t think everything is going to be fixed even if she does go back.”

Demo clenches his hands, unclenches them. Does that a few times. There are no windows in the cargo hold, but he glances to the side and feels the rickety hum of the plane around.

“She’s also,” Soldier says, poignantly, “a newly made orphan due to an explosion related event. Do you really want to send her back to that ridiculous, un-American island.”

Demo drops his arms to his sides. “…Ach….no, I guess I don’t really.”

“Oooaaan!”

“That doesn’t mean I’m going to be happy about this!” He points an accusing finger at the creature. “I’m just going along with this until we can find a good spot to release you. Because that’s where wild animals go, aye?”

This last part he directs to Soldier, who deflates somewhat but doesn’t protest.

“Okay,” he says. “As long as we find some place close enough to visit every now and then…”

Demo sighs, already feeling like he’s given an inch and is about to be shoved back a whole mile off a cliff.

🦕

“Don’t worry Tavish 2, we’ll find you a nice lake soon enough.”

“What?” Demo says, glancing over his shoulder.

“Not you!” Soldier replies. “I was talking to Tavish 2.”

Soldier is scratching the monster under the chin. They’ve forcefully commandeered one of the motel’s food trolleys in order to cart her around, but even still her size is squashing the axles to a near standstill, and the view of her takes up the entire hall. The sight fills Demo with irritation.

“You named the nessie Tavish?” he grouses.

“It’s a good name! Besides, I thought it might help you warm up to her. One of those, uh, positive association things.”

“Right,” Demo huffs under his breath. “Because the one thing I’m famous for is liking myself.” Louder, he adds, “Let’s just get a move on, aye?”

They’ve been trying to get down to the pool for ten minutes now, Tavish 2’s trolley not making that any easier. Tavish had wanted to leave her in the hotel room, but Jane wasn’t having any of it.

“…Why don’t I just go on ahead, eh?” he says after watching Soldier bang into the same jutting radiator for the eleventh time. “Save us some good spots.”

In reality, Demo just wants to escape. When he finally makes it down to the motel’s ground floor, he doesn’t even head to the pool. He instead slips into the hot tub, throwing his towel on a random folding chair to hide his trail, and tries to let the stresses of the past few days melt away.

The hot chlorine smell alights his sinuses, but it's cleansing in its own way. The bubbles tickle up beneath him, and he leans his neck back over the side, trying to forget everything. The stupid dinosaur, the bloody loch, everything that led him up to this point.

It’s over. He can relax.

He’s almost dozed off in the comforting embrace of the hot tub when a voice next to his ear asks, “Oooaaan?”

“Fuck!” he yelps, splashing away from the scaly snout now inches from his face.

Tavish 2 brays and slaps her flippers against the concrete. It feels like she’s laughing at him.

“Yeah yeah, yuck it up,” Tavish growls. “Where’s Jane? You didn’t eat him did you?”

The nessie only moos again. Soldier doesn’t make an appearance.

Demo is deciding whether to try and get the thing to go away on his own or to locate Soldier and make him do it for him, when the decision is taken out of his hands. The creature begins slipping into the hot tub with him, easing in like a Great Dane if a Great Dane was the size of a subcompact.

“Oi! No you bloody don’t!”

Demo tries to leap out of the way, but it’s no use. Within seconds, the nessie is partially on his lap, causing hot tub water to slosh over the sides. (He’s lucky it’s only partially; if she were any more on him he’d probably be crushed to death.)

“I mean it! …You!” He frowns. “I’m not calling you that ridiculous name.”

She cocks her head for a moment, then submerges it completely.

“I know you can still hear me down there.”

One second. Then two. Then, suddenly she begins to blow bubbles out of her nose.

Demo can’t help it. He laughs. He laughs and he laughs and suddenly this horrible, stressful week seems so funny he might just cry. So he does.

That’s how Soldier finds him several minutes later, weeping openly and holding the head of Tavish 2 in his arms. She’s wiggling, but although she could probably rip her beachball-sized noggin away with ease, she doesn’t—instead she keeps it there, mooing consolingly, and letting Demo cry.

“Are you okay?” Soldier asks, crouching down by the hot tub’s edge. “Is she bothering you again?”

“No she’s…” Demo sniffs. “She’s fine. I’m fine.”

“Oooaaan,” Tavish 2 agrees.

Soldier scratches his helmet, still worn with his swim trunks. “Alright. If you say so.”

With that, he manages to find the last few inches of unoccupied hot tub and squeeze in, and the three begin to properly enjoy their vacation for the first time.

🦕

They spend the last few days of furlough driving around various tourist traps in New Mexico. Soldier buys a Polaroid camera. They take photos of the three of them in Roswell, at Fox Cave, in front of the World’s Largest Pistachio Nut. Soldier sifts through them fondly whenever he’s not driving.

“Guess we’re nearing the end of the road, huh?” Soldier says wistfully. “It was a good trip! We did our nation proud! But I should pick out someplace we can re-home Tavish 2.”

“…Right,” Demo says, not taking his eye off the road.

“Don’t worry!” Soldier assures. “I promise not to make it a whole production. You were right. She belongs in the wild.”

“Right. I’m right. ‘Bout that.” Demo says it all with a straight face, gripping the steering wheel tightly.

However, when they finally pull over the gravel lake Soldier has selected and begin un-bungeeing Tavish 2 from the roof of the car, Demo breaks down.

“We- we can’t send her away now, can we?” he asks. “Not after we brought her all this way! It’s not fair…”

“There there private,” Soldier says, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. “We can still come and visit any time.”

Tavish 2, now landbound, noses Demo’s ear.

“It won’t be the same,” he admits.

“It has to be this way, private,” Soldier says. “She will be much happier here, and she’ll become the apex predator of the gravel sea. Plus, I ran out of bananas a few days ago and I think she’s going to resort to human flesh if we’re not careful.”

“…I know,” Demo finally admits. He turns. “It’s been. Good knowing you lass. But Jane’s right. Time for you to head for grey-er pastures.”

Tavish 2 doesn’t move.

“Oi! I said it’s time to get a move on! Don’t roll over my emotional revelation by jes’ standing there!”

Tavish 2 bays, and sniffs them both for treats.

“I’ve seen this in movies,” Soldier says. “You have to toss things at her until she goes away.”

Frustrated, Demo digs out a novelty bag of pistachios from the trunk, and hurls it at the plesiosaur. It lands pathetically a foot away with a dusty thump.

Demo falls to his knees and wails, “I can’t toss, Jane! You know I’m shite at tossing! That’s while I’m always holding the bloody caber.”

Soldier sits next to him.

“It’s okay Tavish. You can be embarrassingly bad at tossing. I love you anyway.”

“It’s just,” Demo cries into his hands. “She’s such a noble and majestic creature and I’ve never bonded with anything like this before and-”

He lifts his head out of his hands.

“Where the bloody hell did she go?”

“Hm? Oh, she saw something yellow in the gravel pit and went to go check it out. But if you want to keep with your emotional catharsis, I’ll be here, listening.”

“Ach, no, it’s not the same.” Demo stands, and dusts off his pants. “S’pose we should be heading back to our bases then. But you know the one thing about this trip?”

“What?” Soldier asks as they head back to the car.

“No one’s going to believe a word of it.”

[maevesheart]

FOOLS - PART I

CORIOLANUS SNOW X CAPITOL!READER

note: continuing to use the mars family for reader, but different storyline than tolerate it.

PART I // PART II // PART III

summary: only fools would fall for coriolanus snow, and you’re the biggest fool of them all.

wc: 5.1k

tw: fingering, pet names, curse words

The sound of your blinds being torn apart pulls you from your peaceful slumber, and the now streaming sunlight causes you to rub your eyes and yawn.

Today was the announcement of the Plinth Prize, all of your fellow classmates would be seething when your name fell from the lips of Dean Highbottom.

The thought made you grin.

You had never once missed classed, and your grades were the very highest they could possibly be. The only thing standing in your way is Coriolanus Snow.

The boy who is just as intelligent and cunning as you are.

Rumors had been spreading for weeks as to who was going to win the lavish prize money, the most common names falling from lips were yours and Coriolanus.

It infuriated you.

The Mars family was the highest esteemed in all of the Capitol. Who deserved the prize more than you, of course, Y/N Mars?

Your Avox quickly left the room as you stood up from your massive ornate bed, feet lightly padding on the cold marble floors.

You made your way into your closet, where your long plum-purple colored dress hang. It was to your mid-thigh, a large bow sat on the back that draped to the floor. It was beautiful, made custom for you.

You slipped on a pair of thin tights and some black heels, allowing your Avox to meticulously curl your hair and do subtle yet elegant makeup upon your face.

You made your way down the marvelous marble staircase outside your bedroom, meeting your father and mother at the bottom.

“Here darling,” your mother smiled, placing her string of pearls around your neck, and delicately sliding in matching Pearl studs to your ears.

“Oh, mother, your pearls?” You smiled, your mother wore the pearls throughout the war and claimed they were what kept you all afloat.

In reality, it was your fathers expansive fortune and manufacturing company that produced the capitol’s guns and bombs, but the pearls were touching.

“Thank you,” you smiled, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

The ride to the Academy was short, and soon you waltzed into the building followed by your doting parents.

When you three entered the gathering room, where all of the Capitol’s brightest and richest stood, you father dispersed to speak to Serbo Plinth, and your mother found Mrs. Crane.

You quickly found Clemensia, your closest friend, and the two of you eased into simple conversation, discussing who you thought would win.

Clemmie assured you that the prize would soon be yours as the both of you made your way to fellow classmates Felix, Festus, and Arachne.

Arachne and you offered each other a quick hug before Felix and Festus were complimenting your dress and how marvelous it was.

“Thank you, boys,” you smile, loving the attention.

As you continue to indulge in their compliments, you feel a light touch on the back of your elbow, Coriolanus Snow now by your side.

“Finally, the Star pupil.” Arachne snottily says, looking down at Coryo’s shirt.

“Arachne,” he nods, smirking as he feels the annoyance radiating off your body.

“We were just talking about how lovely Y/N’s dress is, Coryo, don’t you agree?” Clemmie sets the bait. She has this feeling that Coriolanus and you have some deep set feelings for each other that have yet to reach the surface. You think it’s all just her imagination running wild.

But Clemmie doesn’t know about the few nights the two of you have spent together, in the back of your car, in your bed, anytime the two of you had been alone.

No one knows. And you plan on keeping it that way.

You feel Coryo’s eyes take over your figure, pausing briefly as he sets his sight on your cleavage peaking out.

“Yes, you look quite nice, Y/N.” He smiles, hand secretly toying with the end of your curls down the middle of your back.

Before you have a chance to react, Sejanus has found his way to your other side, offering you a slight peck on the cheek as greeting.

“Sejanus,” you smile, patting his arm.

The two of you were close, as you found Festus and Felix’s distaste for him to be rather childish and ignorant.

He was a nice, respectable boy. And your father and Serbo Plinth had worked closely during the war, your families were allied. Something that was especially so important now.

Coriolanus felt a tinge of jealousy as you leaned in to peck Sejanus’ cheek back. Everyone knew the two of you were close, yet it was still anger-provoking whenever he truly saw how close you two were.

Before Sejanus could fully join in the conversation, the familiar sound of Panem’s anthem began to play, signaling for you all to take your seats.

You sat between Clemmie and Coriolanus, eyes focused in front before you heard Sejanus offer a quick apology to Coryo, about something you failed to decipher.

Dr. Gaul’s sinister laugh boomed throughout the hall, and your eyes widened with shock.

She spoke of her responsibilities and how you all before her were the leaders of the new generation. You looked over to Coryo with confusion splayed on your face, his eyes wide and frantic.

Dr. Gaul stepped down from the podium and moved away for Dean Highbottom, who was once again drunk off morphling and slurring his words.

“I cannot believe they continue to let him speak in public,” Clemmie whispers, shaking her head.

“And here sit our own 24 top prospects, all waiting to hear the results of hard study in this prestigious institution.”

Your heart races as he continues to ramble on, “eager to learn who’s won that Plinth Prize, no doubt. And a golden future. However, I am here to tell you that there has been a change this year. One final assignment to prove your worth.”

Clemmie slumps back into her seat, you hear Festus behind you suck in his breath. This was it.

“…the prize will now be determined by who is the best mentor in the Hunger Games.”

The silence that follows is deafening. Against your better judgement, you are reaching for Coriolanus’s hand, and intertwine your fingers.

You knew how bad he needed this prize. You were one of the only people who knew.

His eyes flicker down to your hands twisted together, and he offers you a slight smile, but you know he is freaking out to his core.

Dean Highbottom announces how he will assign the tributes, and soon comes to sit in front of you all when the anthem once again plays out.

“Coryo..” you whisper, he looks over to you and you shake your head, a silent apology. He nods, accepting it, and shrugs. What is he supposed to do but pray he gets a good tribute from One or Two?

You and Sejanus secure the tributes from District Two, most likely his fathers doing.

You untangle your fingers from Coriolanus and reach across to grab Sejanus. You give his arm a squeez, assuring him that you are there.

He continues to look straight, obviously torn by this revelation.

Coriolanus finds himself even more annoyed, watching you fawn over the boy next to him. You were holding him first…

He immediately snaps himself out of it. He was showing weakness. He reminds himself that weakness is a curse, and there is no room for that in success.

Finally, the runt girl from District 12, belongs to Coriolanus.

He looks to the floor, shaking his head. You refrain from taking his hand again, knowing he would most likely shoo it away.

You and Arachne giggle as the girl floods the screen, wearing a rainbow dress. One quick glare from Coriolanus shuts you up and forces your eyes back on the screen.

Soon, the girl is shoving a snake down another girls back, and Coriolanus is quick to his feet, watching with rapt attention.

She starts to sing, a somber tune that you had never heard before.

“Singing?” You question, Arachne quickly adding in, “is she out of her mind?”

Coriolanus ignores you this time, eyes straight ahead.

Her singing is enchanting, and you focus in, laughing when she screams profanities into the microphone.

“Well, she’s obviously mentally ill.” Arachne claims, Sejanus still staring straight ahead, and your eyes trained on Coriolanus.

All of you quickly disperse out of the hall, your fathers hands are on your shoulders, shielding you from the press as you make your way to the car.

Once safely inside, he is stern and stoic, unwavering in his stance, “no. You will not do it.”

“Daddy, it’s just one games. We meet with the tributes maybe once, never let them get too close.”

You were fighting a battle already lost, you knew.

“Absolutely not Y/N. I will not have you frolicking around with district.”

He is seething, obviously feeling deeply betrayed and upset with Serbo, how could he not have told him?

“Please? I know I won’t win the prize, but it’s good experience.”

Your father can’t argue there. If you are to one day rule his empire with your siblings, then he must allow you to get some experience under your wing.

“Alright. But as soon as something goes wrong, which it will, you are out of the contest. Understood?”

“Understood.”

You’re laid in bed, a book propped up on your chest, trying your hardest to distract yourself from the confusing day you’ve had.

A light rap on the door shakes you from your focus.

“Come in,” you say, body slightly turning to see who would come this late in the night.

The gold handle of your massive white door turns, and to your great contentment it’s Coriolanus who silently walks in, shutting the door tightly behind him.

It wasn’t unlikely for Coriolanus to come to your home, usually you two worked on homework or studied together, but he never came at night.

The sight of his deep eye bags made your chest sink. You knew how he must be feeling.

“The Avoxes let me in,” he murmurs, making his way over to your bed.

He sits down on the edge next to you, and you feel the mattress lightly dip to support his weight.

You sit up, leaning your back against the headboard, and place your hand on his shoulder, soothing it up and down his back.

His back was to you, lightly hunched over.

“I talked to Tigris,” he speaks after moments of silence.

You hum, “what did she say?”

You lightly crawl over to him, wrapping yourself around his back, hands snaking around his waist and pulling him closer to you.

His body was warm, but you could feel his spine lightly stick out his back and the thought made you want to cry.

You place your cheek against his shoulder blade, and close your eyes, his presence easing you.

“She told me I should get the girl to trust me. Saying she’s probably so scared and feels alone right now.”

“I would be too,” you hummed back, eyes flitting up to get a better view of his face.

From your position, you can make out the trace of his nose and his light eyelashes, the moonlight coming in through your large windows accentuating his features.

He places one of his hands over yours, entwined across his lap.

“You will win, Coryo,” you assure him, a small whisper falling from your lips.

You weren’t confident, but he needed reassurance, and who were you to deprive him of what he needs most?

He doesn’t say anything, the two of you sitting in silence for a few moments.

He then turns around, glossy eyes staring straight into yours.

“Oh, love,” you coo, taking his cheek in your palm, and pulling him into you, wrapping your arms tightly around his body, one hand on the back of his head.

Coryo didn’t cry. That was weakness, and Coriolanus Snow did not show weakness.

“I need this scholarship, Y/N,” he quietly peeps, head buried in your shoulder.

You say nothing, hand massaging his scalp, and the other lightly rubbing his back.

You let him compose himself before he pulls back, and you lightly tug his arm, scooting over and giving him room to slip under the covers next to you.

You curl around his body, him only wearing a white t-shirt and loose lounge pants.

You place a small kiss to the back of his neck, assuring him you’re there as you begin to hear his light snoring fill the room.

You wake up to an empty bed. The only sign of Coriolanus even being there is the lingering scent of his cologne on your bedsheets and the light indentation in your mattress.

You want to cry. Of all the times you had consoled him, held him, given him the most sacred parts of you, he up and leaves, like you mean nothing.

Obviously you had to mean something if he kept coming back, right?

You care for him, deeply, and despite your agreement to keep your sexual relationship hushed, you cannot help but to want to care for him.

You hastily get dressed and ready, and throw a few books into your pack, rushing down to the kitchen. You have Cook pack a blueberry muffin into your pack, knowing Coryo won’t have the means for breakfast.

You have the driver take you straight to school instead of your usual stop for coffee.

Entering the classroom, Coryo’s usual seat next to you is bare. He’s never once skipped class. Why would he start now?

The screen in your classroom brights up, showing Luvky Flickerman outside the monkey cage at the zoo, where the tributes fall into.

A bright red uniform sticks out, and you’re on your feet, prying for a better look.

Dean Highbottom is watching unimpressed, Sejanus on your other side shaking his head in disbelief.

You realize it is Coriolanus and a gasp falls from your lips, he is standing with Lucy Gray, his tribute, and watch as he places his Grandma’am’s precious rose in her hair.

You couldn’t believe him. He left your bed to go be with that… that district slut!

Distaste brews in your mouth as he takes her hand and parades her around to all the young children. Clemmie watches as a scowl takes over your features.

He smugly looks into the camera, and you feel as if he’s directly looking to you, as he gives his cunning responses to every question Lucky throws his way. You know Dean will be far from pleased.

Before you know it, Coriolanus is entering the classroom, and you give him the meanest stare you can conjure.

Sejanus starts to stick up for him as Coryo takes his seat next to you. You side-eye him as he sits down, wanting him to know how stupid he is for putting his life at risk.

“Have you lost your mind?” You whisper through gritted teeth.

He doesn’t answer you, giving you a snide look before turning to the sound of Dr. Gaul entering the room.

She waltzes in, congratulating Coryo for his initiative. You scoff, and he looks down on you, eyes narrowing.

Dr. Gaul promptly leaves, and a silence engulfs the room.

Soon, your fellow peers are whispering to each other, trying to figure out how Coryo ended up in that cage.

Sejanus is silent, eyes on his shoes.

You stick your hand deep into your pack and pull out the muffin from earlier, not wanting it to go to waste.

Without another word, you shove the muffin into Coryo’s hands under the desk, and catch his eyes softening as he looks over to you.

“Dean? May I be excused?” You keep your composure, quietly slipping out of the classroom.

Clemmie watches Coryo, how he lightly shakes his head before shoving the muffin into his pack and jumping to his feet, rushing to follow you out the classroom.

He finds you in the library, your pack sitting at a mahogany table which gives you away.

He sets his down on the same table, and sets off between the rows of hardback books to find you.

This library was sprawling, three-stories of endless books, it could take hours to find you.

“Y/N?” He quietly calls out, hoping you’re nearby.

He hears a scoff a row over, quickly darting down the isle to find the one that the noise comes from.

As he rounds the corner, there you are, leaning against the wall at the end, arms crossed against your chest.

He thinks he sees a tear stain down your normally perfect makeup and complexion, and crosses over, hands falling on your face.

He turns your head in his hands, checking for signs of pain.

“What’s wrong?” He sounds worried, and you laugh, pushing him off of you.

His face twists in a mix of confusion and anger, hands falling to his sides.

You shake your head, biting your lip as you look up. You’re no longer upset, just majorly pissed off.

“You left my bed, to go greet your bitch from the districts.” You spit out at him, eyes narrowing as you watch him comprehend your words.

He knew you could get jealous sometimes, but didn’t realize it went quite this deep.

“Y/N/N—“

“Nope. I don’t want to hear it.” You hold your hand up, silencing him. You close your eyes, sighing.

But before you can open them back up, you feel Coriolanus’ lips on yours, molding together like they do so perfectly.

His hands grip your face, pulling you into him, your hands gripping onto his biceps.

The kiss is passionate, the air being sucked out of your lungs.

He only kisses you like this when he’s hungry for you, absolutely starving. When he needs you like a feral animal.

He knows what it does to you.

You use all your strength to pull back, hands resting on his chest to keep him from lunging back in.

“I’m sorry,” is all he says, “you know I would never touch another girl. Especially one from the districts.”

You nod, knowing that while your jealousy was just, it was also a little exaggerated.

The familiar sound of lunch time’s bell rings out, and Coryo backs off of you, and the two of you head for the cafeteria.

You walk with him until you spot Clemmie, excusing yourself from Coryo’s side.

You follow Clemmie to your usual table, parting with Coryo, you two girls sitting with Arachne and Livia, who both have lots to say about their chances in the games.

You ignore them, peeking over to where Coryo sits, across the cafeteria. Sejanus is sat across from him, the two of them deep in conversation.

You watch as they pack up their lunches, and stand from their spots, rushing to the nearest exit.

You stand to follow, and Arachne trails after you.

You follow them all the way to the zoo, and you once again brew anger in your core.

Arachne kneels before her tribute and begins to tease her with the food, and you watch with the audience as Coryo gives his full lunch to Lucy Gray and Jessup.

You come up to his side and snake your arm around his, plastering the most sickly-sweet smile on your face that you can muster.

“And who might this beautiful girl be, Coriolanus?” Lucy Gray asks, a slight smile pulling at her lips as she eats.

Coriolanus is taken aback by your display of affection and sudden appearance at the zoo. You’re the last person he would have expected to show up.

“This is my classmate, Y/N Mars.”

The words my classmate falling from his lips when describing you does not settle right in your stomach. But you two haven’t established what you are… just that you want each other all to yourselves.

“Splendid to meet you, Lucy Gray. That dress is just gorgeous!” You claim, talking with your hands.

Coriolanus holds back from rolling his eyes, remembering the snide comments you made at the reaping about her dress and how she must be mentally unhinged.

“Thank you, Miss Y/N.” You watch like a hawk as Lucy Gray scarfs down her sandwich and then eyes your spectacular ruby ring upon your middle finger.

“Beautiful ring,” she compliments, Coryo’s eyes flickering down to the present you received for your 17th birthday.

“Oh! This old thing, it’s quite small, I believe. I think I’ll ask for a bigger one next year,” you smile, watching Jessup and Lucy Gray’s faces twist with slight envy.

“Right,” Lucy Gray slightly smiles, sitting down.

You and Coriolanus look over to Arachne, who is waving food in front of her tribute’s face, obviously taunting her.

You purse your lips, undoing yourself from Coryo’s side. “I’m going to tell her to stop it, she might get killed over there.”

Coryo nods and watches as you make your way down to Arachne’s side.

He doesn’t want you to get too close, knowing that Arachne and her tribute are a seam ready to burst at any moment.

Just as he’s looking back to Lucy Gray, he hears your shriek and spins around, immediately at your side.

Arachne is on the ground, choking on the loss of air, a glass bottle sticking out from her neck.

“Y/N!” He screams, next to you in seconds, trying to pull you away from the monkey cage.

“Help!” You screech, using your red Academy coat to try to stop the blood.

Coriolanus falls on top of you to shield you from the gun shots that ring out, heading straight past your head to the tribute behind bars.

“Oh, Arachne,” you smooth her hair down, your eyes teary and glossy, watching as she lays limp, no longer struggling.

Peacekeepers and Sejanus reach you two at the same time, Sejanus pulling you up off the ground, and into his chest, Coriolanus watching as the Peacekeepers escort all of you away.

Coryo seethes with envy, watching you tuck your head into Sejanus’ chest as he hauls you away, loud sobs falling from your lips.

He shouldn’t be jealous, Sejanus is just comforting you. You had just watched your close friend die, how could Coriolanus be jealous while you grieve.

As the three of you renter the Academy, Sejanus stops walking, halting your movements as well, coming face-to-face with your father.

“Mr. Mars,” Sejanus nods, and your father is quick to lift you into his arms, silent whimpers coming from your lips.

“Thank you, boys,” he nods to Coryo and Sejanus, and the two reluctantly continue their movement back to the cafeteria.

“C’mon darling, let’s go home,”

Coriolanus had gone back that night to visit Lucy Gray, to make sure she was alright.

“You must love her, Coriolanus,” Lucy Gray spoke, lightly smiling while shaking her head.

“What?” He cocked an eyebrow.

“Your friend, Y/N. You shielded her body with your own. I saw the way you watched to make sure she wouldn’t get too close to Arachne.”

The wheels in Coriolanus’s head were turning, reenacting the events of earlier that day.

“And I gather she likes you just as much,” Lucy Gray finishes, “she sure doesn’t like you spending so much time with me,”

“Nonsense, Y/N is a close friend, that’s all.” He dismissed the topic like it wasn’t anything at all.

“Alright then, but I’d imagine she won’t wait these entire games for you to admit your feelings. That other boy, the one who held her, he seems quite keen as well.”

With that, Coriolanus felt his jaw tighten, angered by the idea of anyone touching you other than him. Especially Sejanus Plinth touching you.

With a quick nod, Coriolanus turned on his heel, and began his venture to your penthouse.

It was pitch black out, yet Coriolanus found himself scaling the outside of your building, finally rapping his knuckles against the pristine glass covering your window.

He sees straight in, you curled up under your silk sheets, hair around you like a halo.

He had snuck in through your window countless times now, and he lightly pressed on the bottom, and the window gave way, allowing him just enough room to crawl through and lightly pad to your bed.

He slipped off his shoes and opened the covers, sliding in and curling around you.

His finger traced shapes onto your skin, trying his hardest to calm both himself and you.

You lightly started to stir, and finally turned to face Coryo, he gave you a small tight-lipped smile, propping himself up on one elbow.

“Hi, Y/N/N.”

“Hi, Coryo,” you smile, nuzzling in closer to him.

The two of you sit in comfortable silence, your head on his chest, listening to the beat of his heart.

“I was so scared,” you murmur out, Coriolanus sensing the vulnerability in your voice, something you normally only let him see.

He pulled you closer into him, softly smoothing your hair.

“I won’t let anything ever touch you, Y/N.” He states like it’s the simplest thing in the world.

Coriolanus had declared his feelings for you vaguely a few other times, usually only when he was buried inside of you.

This was different. You were barring your soul, showing him weakness.

“Do you mean it?” You whisper out, lightly pushing off his chest to look him in the eyes.

“More than I’ve ever meant anything else.” His eyes are stern, his face unwavering.

A smile starts to overtake your lips, and Coriolanus places his hand on your cheek, lightly bringing you down to his level.

You lightly move his curls out of his face, and the two of you lean into each other, lips meeting halfway.

This kiss is different than your others, it’s slower, not as heated. It’s a kiss that two people who love each other would share.

“It could’ve been you, Y/N. How could I have lived with myself,” he lightly huffs out, in between quiet kisses.

“But it wasn’t me, Coriolanus. It wouldn’t have been your fault,” you reassure him, hand finding his under the covers.

“My father is removing me from the mentorship. Highbottom is finding another student to take my place. Nothing can touch me now,” you smile, despite being deeply upset by your father removing you from the possible achievement of a lifetime. 

“I’m sorry,” he coos, genuine feeling in his words.

You fall back into him, lips connecting once more, his hands roaming, pulling you into his lap, legs going to either side of his hips.

The kiss is still the same, but now his tongue finds its way into your mouth, somehow bringing your lips even closer together.

His hands are all over you, groping your ass from over your silk pink pajama shorts, another hand gathering a fist full of your hair and wrapping it throughout his fingers, pulling you as close to your body as possible.

He had never been so vulnerably affectionate before, but the thought of losing you to someone else wrung his heart dry. He wanted you all to himself.

Soon he was pushing your shorts down, helping you quickly discard of them.

You weren’t wearing any panties, and Coryo felt himself getting hard at the sight of your bare mound.

“Fuck,” he curses, eyes dark and filled with lust. He watches as your tongue darts out over your bottom lip, and he pulls you back into him, sticking two of his fingers into you at the same time.

His lips on yours stifles your moan, and the sound of his fingers pumping in and out of your slick folds is the only thing to be heard in your large bedroom.

You start to squirm above him, the feeling of his fingers inside of you being immensely pleasurable.

He then uses his thumb to start massaging your clit, a pit beginning to form deep in your core, threatening to soon burst.

“Fuck, Coryo,” you moan, your head finding place in the crook of his shoulder.

He kisses up your bare shoulder, entwining his free hand with one of yours, “say you’re mine,” he groans, feeling you start to grind down on his fingers and slightly on his bulge.

“I-I’m yours, Coryo—“ you mewl, lightly biting his shoulder to stop from waking your parents.

“You’re mine only,” he quietly tells you, fingers picking up a faster pace as you become undone.

“I’m gonna come,” you pant, and with one last circling of his thumb, you come undone on his lap, spilling all over his fingers still deep inside of you.

He tenderly pulls them out, as you sink down into his chest, and bring the two fingers up to his mouth, sucking off all the juices that he could never get enough of.

You watch with blown pupils, he quickly reconnects your lips, and you taste yourself all over his mouth.

“I love you,” he says, pulling back, tucking your hair behind your ears.

Of all the times you’d been intimate with Coriolanus, he had never been this gentle and caring.

“Do you really?” You ask, refusing to believe his confession. You had only been waiting for those three words to leave his mouth for what felt like eternity.

“I do, really, how could I not?” he grinned as you smiled, pecking your lips. “I love you, Coriolanus. I’m yours,”

He grins at your confession, a sense of pride overcoming his being knowing that he’s won, no other man will touch you for as long as he lives.

“You’ll stay this time, right?” You ask, all walls down, barring the most vulnerable corners of your soul.

“I wouldn’t dream of leaving,” he assured you, kissing your shoulder.

Only fools would ever fall for Coriolanus Snow and his cunning love spells. But you were the biggest fool of them all, weren’t you?

**

[another-corpo-rat]

Shot by the dear @halsin💕

Victoria Crane Netrunner | Affiliation: Arasaka

“You know something I don’t? I doubt that but go on; I’m curious how you’ll waste my time.”

A snake in the rat’s nest, between her natural ease in lying and quiet brutality there was little doubt that Victoria Crane would flourish in the corporate life. Climbing high off of her mother’s shoulders and then higher still off the backs of beaten down peers, making sure to dig her heel into their spines, Victoria has managed to create her own niche within Arasaka. One she defends with tooth and claw.

She has had a hand in several company projects and missions throughout the years, garnering her own reputation as an individual best avoided in cyberspace. Her name gained extra polish due to her ongoing association with Adam Smasher.

Once deftly subtle in her approach, working with the cyborg for so long has taught her the effectiveness of tossing a grenade now and then.

Relationships

Partners: Adam Smasher (Current, Mainline) Unnamed wife†

Relatives: Marion Victoria-Diane Crane (mother) Joseph Benjamin Morris-Crane (father)† Angelo Victor Morris (half-brother)†

Biography

1990s-2020

Born in England in the mid-90s, Victoria was primarily raised by her mother while her father worked in the NUSA. Throughout her youth she would be repeatedly called her mother’s ‘mini’ due to their similarities in both appearance and temperament.

This temperament would be sharpened against the whetstone of her peers during her school years, aimed pointedly at those she felt didn’t belong anywhere near her social circles. She was notably unmoved following an announcement that a classmate had committed suicide, and hardly bothered when a friend of that classmate laid the blame for their death at her feet. This individual would later have to drop out due to their parents losing their jobs and standing within Arasaka.

Upon completing her education, Victoria immediately moved into a corporate job – working for Arasaka’s London Counter-Intel department. Her quick ascension through the pay brackets was accelerated by an unquestionable skill in netrunning and nepotism.

2021-2023

In 2021 Victoria was transferred to the Night City offices. Reunited with her father, she simultaneously learned of his affair and second family. Their relationship promptly crumbled.

She was kept busy during the Fourth Corporate War, assigned as the company netrunner for a hired merc, she worked with them until their attempted defection to Militech. Sloppy in covering their tracks, Victoria became quickly aware of what they were planning and alerted her superiors – she had the pleasure of zeroing them herself and did so with a brutality unique to netrunners.

Following this, Victoria was assigned to work with Adam Smasher. Throughout 2022 they would work several missions together, but Victoria would not meet the cyborg in person due to deeming it unnecessary. It was late in 2022 and through sheer luck that she happened to step into the same elevator as him on her way to a mission briefing. Their first words exchanged in person were allegedly insults.

Still, the duo would develop something of a camaraderie. One of their recorded mission communications included Smasher encouraging a less bloodless approach in how Crane should deal with her familial issues. While she agreed, Crane also claimed she didn’t want their suffering to end ‘too quickly.’

Present in Night City on the night of the nuking, Victoria was not operating within the tower as Smasher felt it stupid to have his netrunner present where the action was going to take place. This decision kept Victoria alive. She would jack out of her chair following comm disruption and repeated failure to re-establish contact with Smasher, only to look out in horror as she witnessed the sky turn red.

2023-2050s

Victoria would return to the London offices after the bomb, certain that Smasher had been lost in the attack. She would claim the contrary but it was clear to any who knew her that she was not herself for some time afterwards. Her fury at learning her father and his second family had survived was uncharacteristic as she had destroyed personal property and outright threatened the life of his mistress.

It wasn’t until 2026 that Victoria learned of Smasher’s survival. A notable relief gave way to her usual coldness in a matter of minutes. 

She would operate primarily from the Arasaka tower in London, assigned once again to be the netrunner for an Arasaka-hired merc. Enthralled with the familiar brand of violence, Victoria and the merc would marry in the late ‘30s. Neither of them were particularly loyal or loving.

Following her marriage and due to his ailing health, Joseph would reach out and try to repair their shattered relationship. While his attempts would amount to naught and achieve little else than further agitating Victoria, she made copies of his neurological research knowing they would prove useful for her own project idea that had taken root.

Joseph died in 2039 and perhaps in a last-ditch effort to make amends, had left a majority of his wealth and belongings to his daughter. Victoria would dispose of most of it and sell anything of value, but she kept a painting he had purchased specifically for her (the original of Landseer’s Man Proposes, God Disposes.)

In 2042 Victoria returned to Night City when her wife was on an operation. While she waited for her to return in the AV Hangar, she was instead reunited with Smasher who was also involved in the op. He greeted her with the news she was a widow, her wife having “gotten herself killed.”

The two would leave the hangar together to ‘catch up.’ Within a matter of days, she was reassigned as Smasher’s personal netrunner.

2053-2076

In 2053 following Smasher’s assignment as Yorinobu Arasaka’s bodyguard, the Arasaka heir attempted to replace Victoria, removing her from the position and assigning another that he personally selected. Smasher would burn through a number of these replacements in a matter of months, with the longest surviving only forty-six days.

In this interim, Victoria had dedicated her time to a personal project called OIZYS.

She returned to the role of Smasher’s netrunner within the year and would continue to work on OIZYS during lulls between work Arasaka assigned to Smasher and any personal gigs he took on.

In 2056, the project would see a successful test that confirmed its viability. Victoria pitched the project to Arasaka, successfully gaining funding and permissions for further tests on company-provided subjects.

In the same week as this successful run, her father’s former mistress would vanish following a public spectacle at a celebratory dinner for her half-brother. Angelo, placing the blame on Victoria for her treatment of his mother through the years and demanding that their father chose while simultaneously rejecting his attempts to amends, hired a fixer to plant a bomb under Victoria’s car.

The attempted murder failed, instead killing her building’s valet. In the days that followed and with the gossip mills churning, a number of Angelo’s illicit activities from the 2020s onward became public. This included videos of him in the midst of orgies, drunken slander of the Arasaka family and NUSA government officials, recordings of his calls concerning the attempted car-bombing, and his involvement in recording the torture and murder of a NCPD’s officer’s son.

He would commit suicide by the end of the week. With no family to arrange a funeral and his friends in hiding, his body was dumped in the municipal landfill.

In 2061, OIZYS had changed as Victoria was ‘highly encouraged’ to incorporate an experimental nanite technology into its operations. While the nanites solved a trigger-delay issue, they were also more aggressive than anticipated and would not stop in their assault after the amygdala had been overwhelmed.

The project was deemed a success and Arasaka has used it successfully against a handful of international targets, however Victoria and a small team are still working to iron out the kinks. These efforts have been slow-going both because of the experimental status of the nanites themselves and the uptick in work Smasher performed for the company at the direct behest of Yorinobu.

2077

Following the sudden death of Saburo Arasaka and the aggressive actions of Yorinobu in the wake of becoming CEO, Victoria became suspicious of the man’s intentions. Like many, she saw through the inconsistencies with his poisoning story but would bite her tongue to see what direction he would steer the company.

Unhappy with said direction, she acts as if her hands are tied due to the influx of work that has landed in her lap with Smasher’s promotion to Head of Security. However, some have noted her free time spent in the company of Michiko Arasaka.

Cyberware

NetWatch Netdriver Mk.5 Self-ICE | Ex-Disk | Visual Cortex Support Favoured Quickhacks: Ping | Short Circuit | Contagion | Cyberware Malfunction | Reboot Optics | Suicide

Cyberoptics, EMP Threading, Chromed cyberarms with claw mods, Chromed collar, Optical Camo, Syn-Lungs, Titanium Bones, Lynx Paws, and a Midnight Lady

Weapons

“Charon” A personalised M2038 Tactician that deals electrical damage. Rarely used but always on-hand.

“Lancehead” A gold and black balisong tipped with neurotoxin. Victoria’s preferred method for dispatching anyone who gets too close. This weapon was a gift from Smasher, she claims that holds no bearing on her favouring it.

Notes

Victoria has modified her Contagion hack to attack aggressively, causing death more often than naught in its onslaught. Even those who survive the initial upload may die days later from the prolonged assault on their organs.

Smasher is the cause for her cyberarms – having deliberately crushed her right arm in early 2023 following a flare-up of carpal tunnel. She opted to get both replaced.

Her titanium bones and syn-lungs were not wanted modifications but were necessary after Smasher’s AV was shot down by juiced-up Animals. Her lungs were punctured by her ribs when he was tossed on top of her by gravity.  

Divider by Saradika

[margindoodles2407]

Margin's Zelda Playlists

I am reposting this because I've added like. 50 new songs and deleted at least 10. Call this the ship of theseus i guess

Anyway, these are each their own separate playlist but I have them all on one playlist to save room. :) Enjoy! And if you have any songs that remind YOU of a specific game let me know- I'd love to listen to them, especially if they're related to one of the games with only a few songs on the playlist! All of these songs can be found on Youtube; not sure if you can find them all on Spotify or Apple Music though :(

The Legend of Zelda (the series; also my Pre-Skord Playlist)

Gate of Time/Zelda's Lullaby by HyruleOrchestra

Ballad of the Lonely by trashyinferno

Rule #15: Four Aces by Fish in a Birdcage [EXPLICIT]

This Tragedy of Mine by Knight of Endale

They're Only Human from Death Note: the Musical

Nothing Changes from Hadestown: the Musical

I Lived by OneRepublic

The Call by Regina Spektor

No One Lives Forever by Oingo Boingo

Skyward Sword

Washing Machine Heart by Mitski

When You're Evil by Voltaire (it's a ghirahim mood)

Bruno is Orange by Hop Along

Curses by The Crane Wives

Anchorage by Marian Call

It's Alright by Mother Mother

Ophelia by The Lumineers

Icarus by Bastille

Something I Need by OneRepublic

Minish Cap

Dandelions covered by Bet

All the Small Things by Blink 182 (don't ask me why)

Flowers in my Hair by Wes Reeves

Four Swords

Open Up Your Eyes covered by Daniel Ingram

The Friend You Need from My Little Pony: the Movie (please ignore that these are both from mlp the movie okay. first of all i unironically enjoy mlp and secondly they remind me of shadow)

Ocarina of Time

The Boxer by Simon and Garfunkel

Treehouse covered by Eric D

Little Lion Man by Mumford and Sons [EXPLICIT]

Small Hands by Keaton Henson

King by Lauren Aquilina

You Don't Get to Know Her Anymore by Pedals on Our Pirate Ships

Achilles Come Down by Gang of Youths [EXPLICIT]

Emperor's New Clothes by Panic! at the Disco

Providence by Poor Man's Poison

You Turn the Screws by CAKE

Good Night, Demon Slayer by Voltaire

Go the Distance covered by BYU Vocal Point

River from the Sky by The Weepies

Time/Space by Alex G

Keep You Safe by The Crane Wives

Majora's Mask

Turn the Lights Off by Tally Hall

Twin-Sized Mattress by The Front Bottoms [EXPLICIT]

Home by Cavetown

Best Friend by AJJ

Rule #9: Child of the Stars by Fish in a Birdcage

Slow Down by Poor Man's Poison

Listen When You Miss Me by Naethan Apollo

Twilight Princess

Be Nice to Me by The Front Bottoms (the lyrics aren't EXPLICIT but someone does drop an f-bomb in a spoken background track)

Wagon Wheel by Old Crow Medicine Show

Hell's Coming With Me by Poor Man's Poison

Arsonist's Lullaby by Hozier

Sundown and Sorrow by Hank Williams

Hermit the Frog by MARINA [EXPLICIT]

Shadows and Regrets by Yellowcard

When the Wolf Meets the Moon by Confused Crow

Drinking Song by Haley Heyndrickx

Wind Waker

Rule #23: Birds of a Feather by Fish in a Birdcage

Joli Rouge by The Dreadnoughts

Kokomo by the Beach Boys

"That's got to be the best pirate I've ever seen" from Pirates of the Caribbean (yes. the meme. not "He's a Pirate" the song, i specifically mean the meme.)

Rule #28: Sand by Fish in a Birdcage

Stand By You by Rachel Platten

If We Have Each Other by Alec Benjamin

Abandon Ship by Fin Argus

Welly Boots by The Amazing Devil [EXPLICIT]

Captain's Call by Derivakat

Leave Her Johnny by The Longest Johns

Phantom Hourglass

The Flying Dutchman by The Jolly Rogers (i am sorry that the playlist is only 1 song long :'{ )

Spirit Tracks

Stickshifts and Safety Belts by CAKE

Opening Up from Waitress: The Musical [EXPLICIT]

Ghost Grinder by Steam Powered Giraffe

A Link to the Past

Ghosting by Mother Mother

Welcome Home Son by Radical Face (PLEASE give me recommendations i need more songs for my beloved :'{ )

Link's Awakening

Dream Sweet in Sea Major by Miracle Musical

Hidden in the Sand by Tally Hall

Mary by Alex G (there is a clean version please look it up)

Dream a Little Dream of Me by The Mamas and the Papas

Bones in the Ocean by The Longest Johns

Oracle of Ages/Seasons

Shadow Stalker by Mercedes Lackey (again PLEASE i need song recs)

A Link Between Worlds

Mona Lisa by Mxmtoon

Banana Bread by Sarah Maddack

Tri Force Heroes

Fashion by Lady Gaga

Puttin' On the Ritz by Taco

The Hyrule Fantasy

Rule #33: Pyre by Fish in a Birdcage

Fairytale by Alexander Ryback

Parables and Primes by Danny Schmidt

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Snow by Ricky Montgomery

Seven by Sleeping at Last

Hyrule Warriors

Villains Aren't Born (They're Made) by PEGGY

The Red Means I Love You by Madds Buckley

OKAY THAT'S ENOUGH CIA MOVING ON

I'll Make a Man Out of You from Disney's Mulan

She's Kerosene by The Interrupters

Ain't No Crying by Derivakat

Burned Out by Dodie (@unclemoriarty I blame you for this one :] )

That Unwanted Animal by The Amazing Devil [EXPLICIT]

Inkpot Gods by The Amazing Devil

Battle Cries by The Amazing Devil

The Fall by Half Alive

Choke by I Don't Know How But They Found Me

Blossoms by The Amazing Devil

Breath of the Wild

House of Memories by Panic! at the Disco

Amnesia Was Her Name by Lemon Demon

The Distance by CAKE

The Cost of the Crown by Mercedes Lackey

The Mute by Radical Face

A Moment Forever Ago from Central Park

Waiting on a Miracle from Disney's Encanto

Rule #31: Calamity by Fish in a Birdcage

Frank Sinatra by CAKE

Seventeen by MARINA [EXPLICIT]

The Family Jewels by MARINA

Expert in a Dying Field by The Beths

Everglow covered by Remedy A Capella

Stella by Cereus Bright

She covered by Rob Wilson

The Horror and the Wild

Tears of the Kingdom

Rule #29: Throne Room by Fish in a Birdcage

Rule #15: Waterfall by Fish in a Birdcage

Pompeii MMXXIII by Bastille

@whyoneartheven

[schuylerpeck]

Prompt: that thing when you look at a geographical feature or natural phenomenon for a little too long and it suddenly hits you all at one that the world is Really Big and Really Old

I walk out my front door, thirteen hours from the fires burning up north, and can taste a forest falling to its knees. even when this earth feels too massive to measure, it's connective in its distance; its biggest sorrows carried in the same breeze. one history lesson still sticks with me: in 1883, Krakatoa, a volcano in the Sunda Strait, erupted. the force of the explosion was 13,000 times that of an atomic bomb, loud enough to be heard over steam trains or street corner arguments 3,000 miles away; later covering the earth's entire atmosphere in ash. one minute, we are countries separated by waterways and passport stamps. the next, we are one neighborhood craning to look up the street.

smoke scratches the back of my throat and I think of the windows that have stayed locked all summer; mothers washing the smell from their clothes. no matter how mammoth the earth, how tremendous the distance between us, I want to believe our history is one that can reach across to say, "I'm here. what do you need? how can I help?"