#doing crossover stuff with my interests never fails to make me feel good

[esomaniac]

this is what happens in the cec store when he’s changing suits

+ extra doodle below

Stasis blast !!

[dr-docktor]

Local Docktor thinks its a fantastic idea to crossover his two biggest interests at the moment.

First for some context (don't worry, I'll keep it brief). One of my best friends has been working on a table-top RPG since like high school called Percentile. And its the main game that the group plays for our campaigns. Thus, it never leaves my head.

You know what else doesn't leave my head? Spies are Forever.

So here I am. Planning out what theoretical character sheets would look like for Owen and Curt. I'm so normal. I swear. Below the cut includes my insane ramblings on this topic.

I will also be playing a little fast and loose with some of the rules here because making character sheets in this game, while fun, is LENGTHY. And I'm insane but I'm not THAT insane

Ok so I want to start with Owen because I'm making him a mage and I LOVE building mages.

For the sake of simplicity I'm gonna keep 'em both human. (boring I know. but the list of ancestries is so long it almost overwhelms me for this)

To quickly explain the percentages: That is basically your rate of success on any given skill/action. So the higher the number, the more likely they are to succeed!

Owen's Stats

Power represents magic. POW is just another word for mana. And size mainly only impacts things like how easy you are to tackle/grapple and what spaces you can squeeze into.

So he's got 10 HP

14 POW

2 Soak (armor, it takes 2 points off of whatever damage they were hit with)

+28 initiative bonus (initiative dictates who goes first in combat. The higher your number, the more likely you are to go first)

and can move 5 squares per turn (turns last 6 seconds), or 6 if he runs.

All fairly standard for a human mage. The interesting stuff starts with choosing his spells.

In Percentile, the standard mage can have a few collections of spells called Spell Schools. They can only have one spell from each school prepared at once but can spend 6 hours a day switching them out safely (or do it within seconds if you wanna feel the consequences)

So here's the spell schools I think he'd have

BLAST -> its in the name, you get several spells that are just different types of blasts. So magical bullets, lasers, etc.

CHANGE -> He'd probably use this spell school mainly for his DMA disguise but instead of a mask he can physically change his appearance for several hours a day.

VISION -> Great for espionage and detective work. Spells include making you really good at looking for stuff, being able to see events that transpired previously within a room, and gathering information.

WOUNDING -> Gives him access to several magical bladed weapons. Good for Torture and homosexually sword fighting your ex lover.

really good... ouch.

Skills/knowledges are another story and are one of my least favorite parts of character building so I'll briefly go over it.

High intimidation, spot hidden (looking for stuff. almost every percentile character needs a decent spot hidden), move quietly, resist, and rapine (rapine is like sleight of hand, pickpocketing, handling small and/or delicate things)

Middling physical skills like jumping, climbing, etc. first aid, hide, and survival

Low grapple.

His knowledges would include

High performance (haha actor man), espionage, and literacy

Middling lore

Low cooking. and everything else. He can cook its just all post WWII British food which I think should qualify for being bad at it.

OK NOW FOR MY FAVORITE PART: Traits and Scars.

SCARS

his scars include more physical stuff like reduced hearing and chronic pain (player would roll a dice to see how bad the pain is that day to see if he needs to use a mobility device). But also include

Untrusting - CHAR INT based - compelled to roll an idea check to see if someone is lying every time he starts a new interaction with someone. On a fail he believes they are lying no matter what

POSSIBLE TRAITS

Magic Hair, for my long-haired Owen fans. Basically he has hair that's so cool it makes him more charismatic.

Strong Promises. Whenever the character makes a promise, they get a bonus to whatever stat that will help them achieve that promise.

Plotting. Whenever characters with this trait record or speak out a plan, it functions as if they practiced it for an additional day. Perfect for villain monologues.

Pull At Soul. Characters with this trait declare a goal during each level up. These goals can be something like “plan with everyone in the party about the mission & use that plan”, it can be “avenge my fathers killer” “seek out & find the sage” or more abstract things, “Die & be born anew in the eyes of my community” or “See the moon as it truly is”. They cannot tell any other characters about this goal. Once they achieve this goal as determined by them & the GM, anytime they are at 1 HP they can choose to level up.

Buddies! -> Select another character. Decide on a secret handshake, set of gestures, or exchange. It does not have to be uniform, but does have to be meaningful. Anytime you perform this with them, and one of you gains exhaustion, instantly both of you gain 1d3 to a stat. They do not have to be the same stat, select them when you take the maneuver. If the other dies, this trait is removed, granting the character back the trait points, and the character gains a -1d3 to that stat forever.  (THE FUCKING HANDSHAKE)

I think that's all for Owen!!

It's Curt's turn!

God I was SO tempted to make him a Ragamuffin for this. But I'm sticking with humans. I don't even know why. I just think it would be funny. Something fun about the 'brute' being made of fabric and fluff.

Anyway. Stats!!

12 HP

8 POW (not important given he's a fighter and not a mage)

3 soak

+27 Initiative bonus

and can move 4 squares per turn, 6 squares if he's running.

Instead of spells, fighters get weapon proficiencies and maneuvers! Maneuvers are basically fancy fighting styles and actions.

Possible weapon options: Short sword (what they fight with in the show), a gun, and fisticuffs. Mages also get a weapon or two and tbh these could all apply to Owen too.

Possible maneuvers:

Taunt -> It is what it says on the tin, mock your opponent to try and make them get sloppy and target you instead of your allies.

Reckless Strike Back -> When dodging an attack, you can take one extra damage to attempt to hit your opponent back. If you fail you take extra damage.

Induced Sloppiness -> Make yourself unpredictable! on a success you get bonuses to damage and to land hits. Those attacks are really difficult to parry and dodge. On a fail your opponent gets a bonus to parrying and dodging.

Dodging into My Blade -> you must have this maneuver readied. If you opponent dodges your or your allies attack while this is readied, you can basically say "Lmaoooo" and attack them again

Skills!

High physical stuff like jumping and climbing, resist, move quietly, hide

Middling intimidation, spot hidden, repine, and grapple

Low first aid (scared of own blood) and listen.

Knowledges!

High linguistics, cooking, and espionage

Middling riding arts (for cars and stuff)

Low almost everything else (doesn't mean he's dumb. Fighters just aren't built for having a ton of knowledges)

Possible Scars!

Alcoholic - CON based - Roll a withstand check upon the GM's orders to see if you feel the urge to take a drink. On a fail you either take a swig or suffer withdrawal

Bad With Magic - POW and CON based - Anytime characters with this scar roll a check involving power expenditure, the GM describes it as if they are deeply unsettled by it, that it seems strange, random and scary, and that they are somehow making a mistake, regardless of what the magic does, how it functions, or if they succeeded or not. 

Possible Traits!

Buddies! -> Select another character. Decide on a secret handshake, set of gestures, or exchange. It does not have to be uniform, but does have to be meaningful. Anytime you perform this with them, and one of you gains exhaustion, instantly both of you gain 1d3 to a stat. They do not have to be the same stat, select them when you take the maneuver. If the other dies, this trait is removed, granting the character back the trait points, and the character gains a -1d3 to that stat forever.  (THE FUCKING HANDSHAKE AGAIN)

Poison Blood -> Anyone eating characters with this trait takes 1d6 necrotic damage per SIZ consumed, and the character can take 1 HP from themselves to coat weapons in their blood, which deals 1d4 necrotic damage or stuns the enemy for 1d4-1 turns. It will add this effect to 1 attack until it dries in 3d6+CON turns. (something something alcohol-poisoned blood)

Sturdy ->  While at max HP characters with this trait cannot be reduced below 1 HP in one hit.

Natural Jester -> Anytime characters with this trait crit fail any check, anyone who witnesses it must roll a withstand check or be stunned for 1 turn. 

Fast to The Fight -> Add +3 to initiative rolls (can be taken more than once)

There's actually a TON of traits that could fit Curt but I'm capping it off here because I will go overboard.

Anyway thanks for reading! Sorry if any of this is incomprehensible.

[quensty]

hello all. as u can see ur assassins failed to kill me last night so i'm back to clogging ur dash w a tag game.

i was tagged by @moondal514 (hi bestie <3) to answer 20 questions tailored for fic writers. moondal my love u will regret giving me this opportunity <3

🪿 how many works do you have on ao3?

36! i've been existing in the mid-30-ish range for a good while now. it's starting to piss me off. i post things and then get scared they suck and delete and the cycle repeats.

🪿 what's your total ao3 word count?

153,155 *pops champagne*

🪿 what fandoms do u write for?

am i supposed to list all of them? i'm not doing that 😑🤚 if ur interested ya'll can check out the list here

🪿 what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

men abort mission is definitely my most popular fic (10,856 kudos, it's deeply embarrassing). then it's your crown of thorns holds roses (5,153 kudos, slightly less embarrassing); right hand on his rifle (522 kudos, still embarrassing but at least it's much better writing); kiss me like a snapped guitar string (480 kudos); and love, war, and other exit wounds (468 kudos, which is fucking news to me. i had no idea the kudos had climbed that high)

🪿 do you respond to comments? why or why not?

i do! i like it :D i like ppl to see that i saw their comment and appreciated it. i also do it cos, like, fandom is entirely abt fan-to-fan interaction. fanfic is no different. the point is that i want to engage w other fans and TALK abt stuff. i think it's fun! i've met a lot of friends this way.

🪿 what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

100% would be altschmerz. i don't fix anything in that fic. in fact i probably make everything worse. logan still dies and he never has a proper relationship w laura and the world still sucks. and i sprinkle in some complicated relationships with latinidad while i'm at it. but i love it <3

🪿 what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

this is a difficult thing to judge cos most of my fics have happy or at least hopeful endings, but i think the fic that has the most rewarding happy ending is keep on keeping on, dean winchester. the first couple of chapters are meant to be absolute hell. but i offset that by ending the story with everyone happy and alive and together :)

🪿 do you get hate on fics?

no i am perfect <3

🪿 do you write smut? if so, what kind?

throughout all my time in fandom the answer to this has been no. but then i did this thing where i watched iwtv 2022, and my whole world shifted on its axis. so YES, i do, in fact, now write smut. occasionally. i have no idea how to respond to "what kind." it is gay sex.

🪿 do you write crossovers? what's the craziest one you've written?

ok when i first answered this question i said lifeboat, a sense8 aftg fic in 2 (if u've read it ur eligible for financial compensation), but i change my mind. most unhinged thing i've ever written is 100% between the desire and the spasm, which, i kid you not, is an all the president's men fusion, which, in case u don't know, is a movie abt watergate. WATERGATE.

🪿 have you ever had a fic stolen?

i feel like the answer is yes, but this was in my quotev days, and that site was exactly what republicans imagine anarchists want for society: complete havoc. anyway! my point is that i think i did have a case of someone copying my work almost word for word during that era, but i was 13 and it was like 250 words worth of writing so i was like whatever.

🪿 have you ever had a fic translated?

YES, i'm very happy to say! many very kind people have translated my work. i'll list them below cos they always do a fantastic job and i'm always hoping they get more recognition for their hard work:

@ghostofair wrote a spanish translation of men abort mission!

@sadluna wrote a russian translation of men abort mission!

@bloodymelonteamua wrote a a ukrainian translation of men abort mission!

@kais_room has very kindly written a russian translation of your crown of thorns holds roses!

🪿 have you ever co-written a fic before!

yes! i actually co-wrote right hand on his rifle with my bff liv (@cabeswater). she gave me a lot of ideas while i was crafting it, so it's really just as much hers as it is mine. i'm very happy w it! i would love to write smthn properly w them someday bc they're a phenomenally good writer

🪿 what's your all-time favorite ship?

this is an evil question wtf. i don't know! amara/me.

🪿 what's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

my sense8 au LMAO. i try so hard every few months to get back into the groove of it but it's a doomed enterprise i think. at this point i would have to rewrite it completely, but i don't have the same passion for it that i once did. sigh

🪿 what are your writing strengths?

i don't know. should i know that? maybe dialogue. i can't say whether i excel at it but i can say with certainty that i enjoy it

🪿 what are your writing weaknesses?

i always get impatient near the end of a long project and end up rushing the ending, which is such a shame cos i'm so talented :(

🪿 thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

in huge favor of it! i love doing that. i tend to do it when i write characters that speak spanish, and when it's done well by other writers? UGH. it makes me want to eat my phone

🪿 first fandom you wrote for?

pjo on quotev writing reader inserts ✌️ that is not a joke i'm dead serious rn

🪿 favorite fic you've written?

FUCK OFF. the real answer to this question is a fic i deleted. i loved it so much i deleted it off my ao3 so i could rework it into an original piece and turn it in for my fiction class this semester LOL. trust me though this piece was already, like, 90% my own writing and less "based" on the source material rather than it was "inspired" by it. if u compare me to those writers who made their harry styles fanfiction into published novels i will fight u. if i have to pick a fic that's still up, i think i'd pick either keep on keeping on, dean winchester or a ghost is a memory

i'm tagging @keepoffthetardis, @enterprisery, @weather-mood, and anyone else who wants to do this! if any of u actually read thru this whole thing i'm so sorry

[shadowsong26fic]

Coming Attractions!

Yes, I'm aware it's Tuesday not Monday but shhhhh XD

Just a quick one this month. Not even going to split it up by fandom as I usually do, just kinda blitz through.

So I ended up...essentially taking January off from writing, apart from a scattered few sentences here and there. Which on the one hand was probably good for me but on the other hand I'm behind on projects lol. Ah well.

Priorities for this month: 1. SWBB I'm picking up the project I had to step away from last year. Anakin was not found at age nine and never became a Jedi; we're handwaving that TPM ended roughly the same way anyway because Padme and Obi-Wan are very good at what they do and one of the other pilots got lucky on the droid control ship. Fast-forward to like a year and a half/two years into the Clone Wars, Ahsoka ends up briefly stranded on a planet that's neutral mostly because it's a black market hub. They click pretty quickly, hang out for a while, stumble into a Separatist plot to test a chemical weapon and blame a limnic eruption for the deaths, and Deal With It. Hondo and Bo-Katan are briefly involved because I said so XD 2. P&J We're getting to the part where Ari actually finds stuff out, lol. Getting to Europe and talking with other researchers, etc. There's some interesting stuff in Marseille, and Calais is important. And Ari and Phil continue to be cute in the background. 3. The Other Battlestar Baltar ends up on Pegasus; there's a bunch of stuff built up around the two OCs who fill the plotholes he left behind...I need to get more text down in general, lol. And also figure out how I want to structure it? Like...I do need to establish the new people (including a few on Pegasus, like the senior medical officer, a marine officer, there will also be a Four who gets pulled from the civilian fleet...) and also clarify why Baltar ends up in a different position (and why Helo doesn't because he and Athena still need to meet). And it would probably make the most sense to just go linearly and handle all the miniseries exposition in order. But then again would that actually be Interesting; or would it be better to pick up later and jump back and forth in time...yeah, you see my problem lol. 4. Acheron Javert Groundhog Day fic; looping the last 36ish hours of his life. (from right before he heads to the barricade to his death). 5. Maybe get back into Precipice or write some origfic if I have time/brain.

Longer-range projects: 1. Percussive Maintenance is still hanging out in my head, so I'm tentatively planning on that for GBB (aka the one where the at least two concussions Sam gets during Downloaded unlock Enough of his memories) 2. Or maybe I'll jump back to The Blood of Angry Men, we'll see. (aka a Zarek character study; looking back on his life (and the allies/friends/tools that he's led to their deaths) from the night before his execution) 3. What I'm definitely not doing is any of the crossovers floating around in my head; either the Star Wars ones or the WoT ones. (the one I talked about the other night; and a fusion is actually sort of building in my head because of course it is. Mostly because of the Kara-as-Mat thing I pinged onto the other night; but also Baltar would be an interesting Logain; possibly Zarek as Taim? I think I'd leave Rand as Rand and just fill in the roles around him. Lee also lines up really well with Perrin...and since this would derail pretty early on I feel a little more Flexible about love interests/etc. lol. For reasons of Tuon, Moiraine, and Lan, mostly. Also Faile. Also I'd still want Caprica as a sul'dam, I think, but Logain doesn't have a canon love interest IIRC sooooo that's easier to sort out XD ...although now that I think about it, Athena as Nynaeve and Helo as Lan could work...) 4. Incinctus/other Castlevania things. 5. I'm doing pod_together again once signups open. I need to refine my fandoms list, haha. Not that I haven't had interesting times the last couple years, but it'd be nice to get matched based on something that Isn't a very secondary/tertiary fandom for me again. 6. AtLA may come floating back into my head enough to pick up some of the projects I wandered away from there, we'll see.

Not writing, strictly speaking, but there's some admin/modding stuff for this year's GBB that I should get a move on, especially since the event is moving to May-October, plus helping out with SWBB the way I do every year.

...yeah, that's pretty much where things stand. Hopefully I'll hit a nice groove this month!

What about you guys, what are you working on?

[jacksgreysays]

Always happy to meet a fellow multishipper! Sorry I read you wrong 😅

As I've been trying to write that fic we talked about (which is finally a priority now that I've reached stopping points with other stories), I think I've found it why I struggle to come up with and write DOS fics. I don't think I have an accurate gage of Shikako's character. Have you ever struggled with that?

Also, thank you for answering my asks about more Hail to the Queen iterations. I love that stuff!

No worries! Shipping to me kinda feels more like personality/sexuality/circumstances puzzles as opposed to, like, a hill I’m willing to die on type of thing. A lot of my most interesting fics are the ones where someone prompts a pairing I never considered which leads me to figure out how such a pairing would work and, again, under what circumstances. It’s very fun :D

Oof, there are some fic that live in my head—not even as plot bunnies but, proto-bunnies. They’re not even ambulatory yet, lol—that will never see the light of day. Most of them involve Naruto and Kakashi. Not because I don’t love them, but because ahhhhh their character voices are SO DIFFICULT FOR ME. Naruto is more difficult than Kakashi because at least with Kakashi I have an idea of how he feels/his main motivation (sad all the time and GOTTA MAKE SURE NO ONE ELSE I LOVES DIES BEFORE I DO) but Naruto is just… O_O I don’t know… what… how do you make decisions, bro?

And this is probably a personality failing on my end but Naruto is just so trusting so often even when there have been so many cases where he shouldn’t be and he pulls the weirdest lessons from certain experiences and he loves to fight and loves jutsu that don’t do anything but cause harm but doesn’t believe in killing even though he lives in a world of shinobi and he wants to be Hokage in order to protect his precious people and he hates war but also he hates the things that a Hokage has to do in peacetime so it’s like… WHAT.

It may also be that he suffers from shounen protagonist syndrome which is that he is more of a force/narrative than a person so any contradictions in his decision making process is because that’s just what Kishimoto needed him to do at any given point.

My struggle with Kakashi is more that while I understand him internally, he’s so good at deflecting and zagging that there’s a strange sort of… layering to his dialogue and behavior that I’ve never quite managed to finesse. Like he says one thing and does another thing but what he ACTUALLY means is neither. It’s very look underneath the underneath

I’d like to think I have a good handle on Shikako’s character although it might be a sort of cyclical me reading DoS (literally the first First Person POV fic I didn’t nope out of after a chapter) and projecting onto Shikako turned into me podficcing DoS and internalizing Shikako which lead to me writing recursive DoS fic and going back to projecting onto recursive Shikako, etc.

Also, unsurprisingly given my ever faithful writer’s block and how I’m no longer as prolific as I used to be, there are a lot of other things I struggle with. For me I don’t think it’s the ideas that are the problem—my brainstorm to actual fic ratio on this blog is out of hand—but it’s the execution of idea into fic that is the worst. Or having cool concepts but not necessarily the background/foundation to manifest them.

Like, speaking of current fic idea that just… won't... just refuse to let me wrangle them... absolutely slip through my fingers...

@loveelemental helped me brainstorm a DoS crossover (won’t say what fandom at the moment) and it would be so dope, but I don’t actually know that other fandom very well even though my brain insists this is the fic it should be writing. Another problem is that, it’s PRIMARILY set in that other fandom AND THEN it’s not even Shikako that is the DoS character!

And I’m just like… WHY IS THIS WHAT MY BRAIN WANTS TO WRITE. WE DON’T KNOW THIS. I ALSO CAN’T COME UP WITH STUFF. EVERYONE IS AN ESTABLISHED CHARACTER WITH A DISTINCT VOICE AND NONE OF THEM ARE SHIKAKO!

So, yeah… the struggle is real.

I also very much enjoy brainstorming collaboratively with people. Often I don’t even think of things until I’m asked a question, so I also appreciate you sending in those Hail to the Queen asks. Legit, the She Who Has Divine Right in which Shikako takes over Haido’s failed invasion force because their literal god chose her over both him and the last of the royal bloodline is EXTREMELY entertaining to me and I don’t think I’d have ever come up with that by myself.

So thank you, too, aryaokayfriend! :D

[an-aura-about-you]

Hi @an-aura-about-you! For the emoji fanfic writer asks, I would like you to answer 😅 🥺 ✨ 💖 🤯 🥰

Thank you so much!! ❤️❤️

😅 What's a story or scene you've created that you're a smidge embarrassed exists?

Oh geez. All the stuff from my fanfiction.net era? Look, I've been writing fanfiction since high school. I'm gonna feel this way about my older stuff just because I can recognize better writing in myself later. (I still tend to make my stuff pretty brief, but at least I plan out my multichapter fics nowadays.) Not to mention I was writing on there since high school and not everything I wrote even survived that website. I am at peace with that.

🥺 Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels?

I gave an answer on this before, but I don't mind repeats. So I just love writing Soft Moments between the love interests while they're just friends and not officially a couple yet. One of my favorites that I reread recently was one helping to roll up the other's shirt sleeves because it's just neater looking if the one rolling the sleeves isn't currently wearing the shirt.

✨ Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it. 😉

Man, me, you really know how to bring some wild concepts to fanfic life! Not wild as in "this will scar me for the rest of my life" but wild as in "you wrote a fanfic with an outline structured from a playlist you made in which every song is by a one hit wonder and is tied in one way or another to the Fears in The Magnus Archives and then determined random details in the fic using dice rolls and coin flips" and "you inherited your father's weird taste in crossovers and made it work much in the same way peanut butter snickerdoodles work." Good job!

💖 What made you start writing?

Oh heck. I've been doing it for so long it's hard to really remember. We would have to do daily journals in English class, and I know I did a lot of writing in those. Got tons of extra credit there. And my teachers gave us prompts, but once we satisfied those, there was a lot of fanfic writing. And I was not immune to passing notes in class, but my friends and I actually passed around a notebook where we actually did some rp. I have no idea how that thing didn't get confiscated. I even preserved it back in the day on one of them free angelfire or geocities websites.

🤯 What's a genre you struggle with as a writer (ex. romance, action, etc.)?

Is it cheating to say all of them? idk, I've just been so busy lately that writing kind of feels like it's slipping through my fingers. But to be fair, it has been an eventful, what, six months? In that time, I took a road trip to West Virginia, had surgery on my bad leg, finally (unfortunately) caught covid, was basically trapped in my house for most of my recovery, bought a condo as a result of the being trapped thing, and only recently have I actually reached a state where I'd say I've finished moving in and things are almost back to normal. And that's only because I haven't gotten my new mattress I ordered to finally replace my old one, but even now I've got a bedframe sitting in its box in my living room waiting to be moved and assembled. @.@

But to give a better answer, I think the genre I struggle with the most would probably be zany comedy. I can write funny stuff, and I can write some pretty weird stuff, but apparently I have to have it grounded in something. I can write about weird fairy tale stuff happening in a world where what normally happens is weird horror stuff, but as unusual as that is it's still grounded in Jon's In A Fairy Tale Now. I can write about a skeleton getting his driver's license and talking about his new car as if the car is actually a new puppy, but that's Just How Papyrus Operates. I have to have some kind of source for it, apparently.

🥰 How do you feel about reader interaction? Are you open to receiving questions about your fics?

Absolutely love it! Would love to see more of it, especially on my crossover stuff. I know that's a tall ask since some of my fandoms don't appear to gel on the surface level.

(But they do. Oh buddy, they do. Hell, I've seen some Princess Tutu fans talking about how they're excited for the Fear Bracket polls for The Magnus Archives because they want to nominate Drosselmeyer as a Web avatar, and I wholeheartedly endorse that suggestion.)

But also just interacting with people who like my fic has led to some wonderful friendships, especially here. One of my best friends started out as a person I ended up meeting because they liked my fanfiction and I liked their fanart. And it's happened the other way around, too, where I'll meet people because I comment on their fics. I try to be the commenter I'd like to have on my own stuff.

Thank you for the ask! <3

[hephaestn]

sorry I sent 2 asks but I think the 1st was eaten by tumblr. I also saw the comments in the notes and basically I was asking about how you deal with annoying/mean/obnoxious people that treats you like shit because of a ship. Cause I was on a discord that is ironically pretty okay with problematic ships like incest and shit (Ig harringrove is just too much lol), I was talking with some other harringrove fans about fics and stuff and suddenly a bunch of steddies showed up and proceeded to talk shit about us and our tastes and ship and such. Just honestly fucking cruel and mean shit. And one of them started talking about steddie fics and how much better and original and just SO MUCH more creative than any harringrove could ever be. Like bitch, that ship made me read a 200k crossover fic with a video game that I never played, never was interested with and actually was kind of disgusted by some of the monsters. Anyway, they kept going until the one (in my biased opinion) good mod showed up and threatened to kick them out with they didn't knocked it off. I was still angry and your blog among a few other harringrove ones, never fails to make me feel better so yeah. sorry for coming out of nowhere LOL

first of all, anon... that discord??? RUN!!! 😭

i don't know how everyone else deals with the ship hate etc but i just?? don't deal with it period djfhjkd like i genuinely don't care at all what people think nor what they have to say to me over a fictional character or ship. at the end of the day this is fiction!! and everyone is free to explore and like whatever they want. i don't care what others do and i expect them to do the same (though sadly most times they do care and a lot)

i'm sorry you saw yourself in that position, that sucks sm!!! i'm glad my blog makes you feel better 🥺🤍 i try not to post too much discourse these days bc honestly... kinda over it at this point!!

also sorry but their fics being more creative and original has me cryinggggg i want whatever they're having!!

[idle-flower]

Dear Yuletide Author - 2023

Thank you for your time and attention, and I hope your wishes are granted this holiday season!

Likes:

I prefer plot and angst and adventure to fluff, though a nice warm fluffy scene can make a good dessert at the end of the pain and suffering. I lean more to f/f and m/f than m/m. I enjoy forbidden relationships and the agony of trying to keep one's heart secret. I love exploring the 'what if' spinoffs of a small change in a canon. I swoon for lovers who take dramatic risks to protect their loved ones. I sometimes use my blorbos as chew toys.

I also enjoy detailed description of clothing/furniture/jewelry/pretty things in general. Not just heaping up brand names, but sensory detail. Tell me what I'm looking at!

Dislikes:

Please avoid sweeping tropey AUs like 'what if noir' or 'what if everyone was in high school'. No excited rambling about pregnancy or babies. (Older kids are okay.) While I am okay with pretty dark stuff, please don't gorily torture characters to death on screen. If people gotta die, limit the icky details! I am generally not keen on crossovers. I dislike PWP unless it is exceedingly hot smut (see below). Please don't do gender swaps or secret trans characters unless I specifically mention it as an option.

Smut:

I don't require it, but I do read a good bit of filthy porn.

Kinks I find interesting: mild bdsm, pain mixed with pleasure, dubcon, sibling or cousin incest, strap-ons (for f/f not for f/m), futanari and other magical appendages (also generally for f/f, unless we're in a setting where 'man turns out to have tentacles' actually makes sense), teasing, teenagers, drugs/magic with interesting effects, people making terrible decisions due to being emotionally overwrought or really really horny, trying to stay quiet and failing, desperate urgency, pushing people up against walls

PLEASE NO: rape or painful sex that one party is not enjoying at all, inserting anything edible (licking off boobs is okay), aggressive face-fucking, choking, degradation, scat/watersports, bukkake, parental incest, anyone younger than teen, anyone being called "baby girl", emphasis on 'virgin blood' (some writers make it a huge deal with tearing pain and fountains of blood, please don't).

NOTE FOR TREATS:

Absolutely fine with people getting inspired by my ideas and doing whatever! I don't know if we have to actively say this this year but yeah if you want to have a go, sure.

Poison Ivy (1992 film)

Sylvie Cooper, Ivy

I was struggling through the confusions of puberty, Ivy was hot, this film left an impression on me. In a way trying to build any sort of happy ending for Ivy feels out of place, but on the other hand there's a lot of loose ends left after the story.

Throughout the film, there's a lot the audience never knows about Ivy, including her legal name. Did Coop know it? (Maybe, probably.) Did her father? (Quite possibly not). How do they handle all the legal responsibilities of her death? Were Ivy's stories about the aunt she was staying with true? How do they break the news? How does her funeral go?

What do Sylvie and her father have to say to each other about Ivy after the truth comes out? Does he admit everything that he did? (The movie seems to let him off way too easily by implying things are all Ivy's fault, when he ABSOLUTELY knew how wrong his actions were) How does he handle the guilt? How do they rebuild their relationship? Or, speaking of guilt, Sylvie kind-of-sort-of was responsible for Ivy's death, even if it wasn't 100% intended and she was not quite in her right mind at the time. She did push Ivy. How does she handle THAT?

What is school like, afterwards? What rumors escape? How does Coop handle them? Does this attract new weird friends? Does she adopt any of Ivy's traits as her own?

Or - what if Ivy survives the fall? Seriously injured, possibly paralysed, but alive? How do they deal with her, once the truth comes out? Do they cover up her crimes? Do they keep her in their home? What happens to their relationships?

Did Ivy ever care about Sylvie? Did she legitimately want to be friends before she started trying to seize hold of the world and the wealth that Coop lived in?

Sylvie ends up kind of pushed out of a lot of the middle of the movie so the film can spend more time perving over Ivy. More about her character and her thoughts in general would be great. We know she can be a troublemaker and a fantasist - who else has she been telling lies to? Or is the whole movie itself a lie she's telling us? And if so, what is the story behind the story?

For AUs, what would have happened if Ivy had met Coop when they were several years younger, so she couldn't get her hooks into Darryl as easily? What if they met at summer camp and Ivy was just as messed-up and needy but the situations were different? What if the movie plot is actually a fantasy younger-Ivy spins about her future to her fascinated-and-appalled friend, who then has a chance to react to it? Or what if Ivy tried to replace Sylvie rather than her mother? Or what if it's Darryl that she wants to kill, as revenge against the men who've mistreated her in her life? Or if it's Sylvie she really wants to be with, and we get some twisted bad-girls scenario where BOTH parents are conveniently disposed of so the girls can live together forever, lying to each other and the world and refusing to acknowledge the truth of what they've done?

IF YOU WANT TO WRITE SMUT: I'm on board with Sylvie/Ivy sex, I don't want to have to see Ivy/Darryl in too much detail. Brief reference if necessary is okay but not a focus.

DNW: Sylvie to die, Ivy to end up with Darryl

Roseanne

Darlene Conner, David Healy, Molly Tilden

I got some lovely happy romance stories for my classic couple last year - this year I want to explore the possibilities of the love triangle.

Molly had the hots for David. David thought she was cute but was devoted to Darlene. Molly badly wanted Darlene's attention and friendship, which eventually turned into rivalry when Darlene constantly rejected her. Darlene felt threatened (but did check out Molly's chest, if just for comparison). That much is canon; it doesn't take a whole lot extra to give Molly a crush on Darlene as well and make the whole mess more complicated. Is Darlene's rejection of Molly's need for attention really so different from the way she treats David sometimes?

I generally prefer drama and angst and sticking to a fairly serious character exploration but with these three I'm also up for some Wacky and/or Sexy Shenanigans. Obviously it doesn't have to end with a happy poly trio, but I'd be tickled if it did (especially if it takes some serious work to get there. suffer first, then happiness!). Or you can whump people around a bit if it makes the angsty longing more intense. Bittersweet is fine.

Some idea seeds:

Playing With Matches, Molly kisses Darlene rather than David, Darlene panics because she doesn't want to be either a lesbian or a homophobe, David panics because he thinks this means Darlene will never really want him, Jackie overhears the wrong things and panics more, chaos ensues.

Molly runs away from home and strikes a deal to hide out in Darlene's college apartment because no one would think to look for her there. David finds out.

Molly hooks up with David after Darlene dumps him for Jimmy, everyone's bitter and angsting about what they don't have.

David and Darlene are happily married stable adults living in Chicago and publishing a comic together. They are reunited with Molly at a comics convention and she confesses that when they were teenagers she was into both of them.

All three live together and raise kids, the perils of poly parenting. Especially if the rest of the extended Conner clan keeps sticking their noses in to complain about this weird situation.

Gen ideas: the three of them at a thrift store comparing their various fashion tastes as they pick through old clothes, working on a school project and battling over its direction and political messaging, or maybe the three of them doing roleplaying together (either tabletop or LARP, the 90s is peak White Wolf era after all, imagine them in a vampire game)

IF YOU WANT TO WRITE SMUT: Any combination of the three, teens or adults, is fine! No extra characters in bed though please. I have a weakness for outwardly soft and submissive boys who are much more dominant in bed, particularly if he's teased to the breaking point before pouncing and going absolutely wild (to everyone's enjoyment).

DNW: Anything from the revival/TheConners continuity. Please try not to have characters commenting on David being "emasculated" or Darlene only liking him because he's "practically a girl", the gender policing really bothers me. Don't make Jimmy actually appear because I don't want to have to think too much about that actor. Please don't make David gay even if Darlene leaves him for Molly. Don't make anyone 100% Evil.

Kushiel's Legacy

Phedre's Younger Sibling

Ever since someone mentioned it I've been intrigued by the idea of what happened to Phedre's little sister or brother, the one her mother was pregnant with when Phedre was sold to the Night Court. We know her parents probably died during the Bitterest Winter, of fever or of war, because they never tried to meet with Phedre once she was famous. But her sibling might never have even known Phedre's name or that she even existed, so they might have lived past that point without ever having a reason to contact her. What sort of life did that second child, four years younger than Phedre, have?

Phedre's coloring and defiant nature might read quite differently on a beautiful young man, a clever one with a knack for getting into trouble. Did he grow up bouncing along on slightly more successful caravans, learning scraps of Skaldi and Caerdicci as they traveled? Did he develop the business sense his father lacked? Did he beg caravan guards to teach him swordplay? Did a young love of travel combined with his parents tendency to bad fortune lead to him signing on as a sailor while he was still basically a child?

A boy might also be less likely to hear even a whisper of rumor of the lost older daughter. A boy might have been embraced as Firstborn and Heir by his father and never doubt.

A second daughter, however, one with a passing resemblance to Phedre but without Kushiel's dart and its mixed blessings, her existence might be more complicated. Looking at her might be a constant reminder of the shame of what happened with their first daughter. She might qualify for the canon of one of the Houses, but her parents might have felt themselves unable to return to the city of Elua to trade her, for fear of incurring the wrath of Cereus House. Might they have sold her somewhere else, even on the open market as a slave, as Phedre feared her fate might have been if her parents had been desperate enough? Or perhaps she was less pretty, less useful, and found herself abandoned at a temple of Naamah or Elua by her family? (We meet a Liliane at the temple where Imriel grew up and Phedre notes that was her mother's name. She seems a little bit young to be Phedre's sister but it's not impossible, and there's certainly a story in what happened to her if she is.)

But if a sister grew up looking a great deal like Phedre but without that divine spark, might she have been seized by someone precisely because of that resemblance? Someone who longed for the heroine but could not afford or entice the Comtesse de Montreve, so instead acquired their own little discount version? Or someone with a grudge against Phedre that they dared not act on, so kept a girl to punish in her place, never knowing it was actually her sister?

Or perhaps Phedre's wayward parents settled down a bit and matured and lived a respectable middle-class life outside the City of Elua, and this younger sister or brother lived a very ordinary d'Angeline life, until the Bitterest Winter. If they were sixteen and suddenly orphaned by fever, what did they do then? Take up arms to fight the Skaldi invasion? Go in search of more distant relatives? Philippe Cantrel had at least a father and two older brothers - we can assume Grandfather died and the inheriting elder brothers didn't remember Phedre's name or weren't paying enough attention to know she existed. But the child might have returned to the city seeking these uncles out of desperation. Or they might have been killed or enslaved by the Skaldi. Or all sorts of things.

I guess what I'm looking for here is a viewpoint on events within Terre d'Ange from a character who isn't important, isn't divinely touched, doesn't know exactly what all the great houses are up to, and never has any idea how closely connected they are to great events. Some dramatic irony and angst welcome. Possibly they live a short, unremarkable life and die alone. Possibly they make something of themselves, but without ever becoming rich and famous and royally connected. Whoever they are, Phedre never knows.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I have not yet read Cassiel's Servant! I may or may not have gotten to it by Christmas, and I was not taking anything in that book into account when making this request, this is a repeat from years before. I have no idea if any further light is shone on the subject, and I will likely not recognise any character from that book. If you haven't read it either, great! If you have, don't lean on it.

IF YOU WANT TO WRITE SMUT: go for it, just see my general smut-DNWs at the top.

DNW: Accidental incest between Phedre and her sibling. The sibling turning out to be a secret behind-the-scenes savior who was responsible for some major event in the plot. Either sibling ever figuring out that they're related.

Picnic at Hanging Rock

Hester Appleyard, Sara Waybourne

Note: I have not read the book or seen the 1975 movie, I've only seen the miniseries. You can draw ideas from other versions if you want but you'll have to explain what you're talking about or I may not get the reference.

First off, TV Sara is the cutest thing and I want to protect her (and, well, THAT obviously didn't work out). Second, I feel like the relationship between Hester and Sara is interestingly ambiguous (what isn't, in this show?). Hester seems both antagonistic and friendly to Sara in different ways, and it seems clearly suggested that she's reminded of her own orphan past. She sometimes wants to bond with her and othertimes wants to furiously reject her. She fears that Sara knows far too much, and she's tempted to tell her more.

The circumstances of Sara's death are very unclear, though we see that Hester knows something and is covering it up. What happened between them on that final night? Did Hester push Sara out in a rage? Did they struggle, up in the tower on a windy night, and a careless shove let Sara fall? Did Hester try to save her? Did Sara leap from the tower in despair? Did Sara try to climb out to escape and fall? How did Hester find out that Sara was dead, and why did she choose to deal with it in the way she did (pretending Sara had left but not disposing of the body)? What was she thinking? Or did she truly convince herself Sara had just 'disappeared' like the other girls?

So things that I'd be particularly interested in, storywise:

A depiction of the details and the drama of that final, fatal night

Any scene in which they really open up to each other and share secrets we didn't see in the series (which might or might not end with Hester threatening Sara to shut her up)

AU in which Hester adopts Sara herself and trains her to follow in her footsteps? Possibly where she uses Sara as a bridge to marry Mr Cosgrove? (Dark and mysterious things should still happen, just DIFFERENT ones)

AU in which it's Hester who falls to her death after their last confrontation in the tower. Sara lives! But she might be suspected of murder, especially if for some reason Hester named her in the will and left her the school. What happens to the school and Sara now?

Angst and drama are likely. Killing either or both characters is fine. Depictions of self-harm and child abuse consistent with the series are fine, but tag it. No sexual abuse depictions please.

Smutwise: Not with each other! In keeping with the style of the show, some light sexual scenes might work well for filling in character info (what IS hester's sexuality anyway? If Sara Lives, how does she eventually move on from Miranda?) but this is not a kink request.

DNW: Hester/Sara slash. A super-happy fix-it fic. This is a dark canon, so I'm okay with the threat of someone being pruriently interested in Sara or young Hester, but I absolutely don't want anyone to do anything sexual to Sara while she's underage. It's okay to imply that young Hester might have been molested or prostituted but I don't want to see it happen in detail.

21 Jump Street - Series

Harry Ioki

I always felt like Harry was shortchanged on the show in terms of how much screentime and attention he got. Maybe just because I thought he was gorgeous and wanted so much more. Because they showed less of him, I have fewer strong hooks to build off of for requests. I don’t really know what I want, other than an Ioki adventure during the first four seasons of the show. Some mystery, some drama, a chance for him to look cool, an excuse to dress him up nice? (Can you find an excuse to make him solve a mystery while wearing a snazzy dinner jacket, or some sort of lovingly-detailed punk getup?)

Romance-wise, I don’t want him in a full relationship with any of the main cast but I wouldn’t mind him flirting with ANY of them. I’m cool with writing an OFC for him to romance during the story, but I would prefer a reset button on that for the ending. Maybe she dies, maybe she’s the bad guy and he has to arrest her, maybe she doesn’t like it when she finds out who he really is, maybe it was just a fling, whatever. A nice poignant note to wrap up on. Given the time period and his personality, I feel like if Harry were bi, he'd be keeping it quiet, and I don't want a story that's all about the struggles of being closeted in the 80s, so if you really want to give him a boyfriend, that shouldn't be the main focus. Romance isn’t necessary either, but it’s nice to have someone to admire the boy. Even if it’s just Tom and Doug complaining that he looks better in that outfit than they would. (Background Tom/Doug bromance is fine too.)

Angst and bittersweet endings are very acceptable and common for the canon. I'd prefer at least a tiny spark of hope (for him personally even if not for the characters of the week) rather than total despair.

Please do not reference anything having to do with the movies, not even as a joke.

I'd actually prefer to skip the smut on this one and keep it in tone with what you'd see on television.

DNW: Harry sleeping with anyone in the main cast. Any main character dying. Gross-out jokes or otherwise not taking the premise of the show seriously. AIDS storylines. Any reference to the movies.

[tribow]

So I watched Blood-C: The Last Dark

This whole review is going to have spoilers for Blood-C and other Blood media so if you care move along now. I'm not even gonna hide it.

The first half of this movie was honestly fire. Good stuff until the second half where that hill starts to decline real fast. The Last Dark starts out with a pretty solid follow-up to the ending of the anime. The world outside tbe events of Blood-C is actually interesting.

Unfortunately, this movie doesn't escape from some of Blood-C's original problems. There are too many scenes where I ask, "What was the point of that?" and I don't get a good answer. Not to mention that it still fails to explain important parts of the story.

Blood-C is already so weird. It's COMPLETELY different from the original Blood movie and Blood+. Saya hasn't made it her mission to destroy all Chiropterans in Blood-C. In fact, Chiropterans don't exist here. Instead the monsters she faces are called The Elder Bairns. These monsters are a lot more youkai-like more than anything else. There's never an explanation of what they really are and that's a huge shame.

In the plot twist for Blood-C's anime, it's revealed that Saya drinks the blood of The Elder Bairns and does not kill humans. This is completely different from original Blood's lore as she would still need human blood in the original, but is still hunting her own kind. Who knows why it's inconsistent, but whatever.

The whole fiasco that goes down in Blood-C was an experiment to test whether she would stay herself if her memories are completely changed. This whole plan seemed stupid to me though. Like why would you have her still fight The Elder Bairns if you you ultimately need her to kill a human? Why not raise her to hate humans or some shit?

The man behind the plan; Fumito, is also able to make paper fakes of himself? he does it in the movie, which slightly makes sense as he comes from a clan that works closely with The Elder Bairn and considering they're like youkai, he could be a Kannushi or some shit. Even so, it just comes out of nowhere and I just have to accept he could randomly pull anything out his ass. I already suspended my disbelief for controlling The Elder Bairn with Saya's blood through means never explained why you gotta make it worse? Everything Fumito does sucks except for confidently shooting part of Saya's face off in the anime.

Blood-C fails for most of its characters. One of the ones that died in the anime was actually redeemed in the movie and the hacker group in the movie was alright. Everyone else sucks though. The villains are handled REALLY bad and the Saya herself doesn't fair much better. Again, the first half of the movie was great. It redeems much of her character now that she's able to be proactive but then she just gets sidelined again by Fumito's bullshit.

Speaking of bullshit, did you know Blood-C is a CLAMP story? You know what that means! Blood-C actually crosses over with xxxHolic! (Not Tsubasa thankfully). The shopkeeper (forgot his name) actually plays a pretty vital role for Saya, but he makes NO SENSE if you're not aware of xxxHolic already. His existance feels so out of place and somewhat undermines Saya's own resolve by being there. Cringe. I'm okay with CLAMP doing crossovers like this, but it frequently amounts to having the audience go "Oh I know that guy!" followed by weakening the plot.

Speaking of out of place. The big CG monster at the end is so bad. I'm not even upset at the animation for it. Yeah, it clashes with the wonderful 2D animation for the movie, but who cares? There was no need for the giant monster! It just gets one-shotted anyway because it had a weak point. Gone as quickly as it came. Fades away leaving little lasting damage despite towering over the city. Why was it there? There's so much of that in Blood-C.

Why was there nudity? I was actually ready to praise a bit of the nudity. At first I thought they were doing a fan-service bit for no reason, but it was actually there to prepare viewers for the PTSD nightmare Saya has in her sleep. That's cool! Except the nightmare amounts to nothing! We already know she's traumatized. You could remove that nightmare and nothing changes.

I hate having these problems. Blood-C genuinely has some really cool shit in it. It may be worth a watch but like...I can't honestly say that. Truly a shame. If you're a fan of some good looking animation I would give it a look at least. Production IG whipped up something good with these visuals.

If you want a hyper violent anime with an actually good plot, I'd watch the 2019 adaption for Blade of the Immortal. Way better.

[weallpartyatybcpatricksfuneral]

I'll be making this into a long fic, but for now I chose to keep it short. Hermitcraft x Dream SMP crossover

Title: button

Grian sat down at the oak wood table, brow furrowed. Another day, another failed attempt to reconnect to Hermitcraft. The strange glitch that had caused the border to fall in the first place must have been repaired, for the world border was back up and running. His communicator didn’t work outside of his home server, and Phil’s crows (who insisted on following the man everywhere, and who Phil had put up to the task of flying between the severs, trying to gather intel on the border glitch and if people were trying to find him) haven’t delivered any news. 

 ��  The builder glanced out the window as the sun set over the horizon. Past that was Hermitcraft. His home. What was Mumbo doing? Scar? Iskall? Xisuma? How was the war progressing without him? Did anyone notice his absence? No, Grian, don’t get sad. Happy thoughts only...Happy thoughts. 

    “Grain!” 

    Torn away from his thoughts, Grian looked up to see Philza, his dark grey wings fluffed up in distress. “Wil’s sent a letter.” The avian said, holding up a piece of paper. 

    “Well, that’s good!” Phil had been under extreme stress these past couple of days since Wilbur hadn’t sent a letter in weeks and the past few he had sent were...concerning, to say the least. “What’s it say?” 

    Another letter should have been a relief, but from the look on Phil’s face, Grian concluded that this letter was everything except relief.

    “It’s just a date, time, and coordinates. November 16th, noon, with a set of coords in L’Manberg…” Phil’s voice trailed off as his dark emerald eyes scanned the page, over and over, as if he were looking for more writing than just a simple date. 

    “That’s tomorrow, innit?” Grian questioned, trying to distract the man from his distress. That’s how Grian ignored his. Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts. “I mean, you’ll be able to see your sons, check up on Wil?” 

    “Something doesn’t feel right about this, Grain.” Even after all this time together, Phil still called him Grain. Grian stifled a laugh, as it wasn’t the appropriate time to giggle. “His last few letters concerned me. He mentioned something in his last one about 11 and a half stacks of TNT.” Phil looked Grian dead in the eye and whispered, “Grain, I think Wilbur is going to blow L’Manberg!” 

    “But why?” Grian attempted to rationalize with the distraught Phil, who was now pacing across the room making stressed-out bird noises. “He won the election, shouldn’t he be content with that?” This type of stuff never happened on Hermitcraft. There were never serious talks of blowing up anyone’s builds, much less an entire country! The only time TNT is used is in pranks, and they always helped clean up after. 

    “You clearly don’t know Wilbur...He’s a force of chaos, I’ll tell you that. A creative little shit who always comes up with new ways to get what he wants. If he wants L’Manberg gone, then he’ll go to crazy lengths to achieve that goal.”

    Silence fell. 

    “We need to get to L’Manberg. Now. It’s about a day’s flight from here, and we need to leave now if we want to get there as fast as fucking possible.” Phil tucked the letter into the pocket of his dark green kimono and flexed his wings. Unlike Grian, who used the sleek and slim elytra to fly about, Philza had a pair of actual feathery wings. Upon arrival, Phil explained that he was a bird hybrid, also known as an avian. He had feathers on the sides of his face and neck with elfish ears. Back on Hermitcraft, every member of the server was human. 

Grian and Phil started out on their journey north, towards the world border of Dream SMP. The sun had risen, and the world border was in sight. Phil stated that Dream, the apparent Admin of the server, had agreed to let up the border for a few seconds to let Phil and Grian inside. Phil took a rest on a tree, breathing heavily after hours of non-stop flight.  

“You alright, Big P?” If Phil could nickname him Grain, Grian would nickname him as well. A smile twinged across Phil’s face. 

“Ahh...You sound so much like my youngest, Tommy. He says that to people too. You remind me of him so much. Right down to your red shirt and the aura of pure, unbridled chaos you emit.” 

Both men laughed. Grian really enjoyed Phil’s laugh, and despite how giggly and giddy the avian usually was, it had been a few days since he had last heard him laugh. Wilbur’s lack of letters had really spooked him. 

“Will you stay?” 

“Hmm?” 

“In L’Manberg. I mean, it’s closer to your sons.” 

Phil shrugged and drank a potion of strength, and stood. 

“I might, depending on what happens. If my theory is correct, and Wilbur is going to blow the place up, then I’ll probably stay. Just to help him out and help clean up y’know? Maybe I’ll be able to convince him to come home. Before you got here, I was...really lonely.” 

“Well, you won’t be lonely anymore! Since I can’t return home yet, I’ll be your friend so you don’t have to be lonely!” 

“Thanks, Grain.” 

“You’re welcome, Big P!” 

The two rose and started to fly towards the world border. Maybe Grian could make a new home on Dream SMP. The builder already started making plans for an epic build, having a vague idea in his head. However, he would have to inspect the landscapes available to see what his block palette would be and what style his build would be. Grian thought of his mansion back home and wanted to build something similar to remember it. 

“Oi! Grain! You there mate?” 

Grian shook his head as he was, again, dragged from his daydreams by Phil. They had arrived at the world border. “I’ve sent word to Dream, he should be letting us in soon.” 

“Alrighty! What kind of base do you want to build if you stay?”

    Phil just shrugged. “Eh. Don’t know just yet. Don’t want to start anything too ambitious, like a Hardcore project.” 

Grian kept forgetting that this man held the world record for the longest Hardcore run. Phil was only 5”4 and didn’t look that intimidating. He looked loving and fatherly, and Grian considered Phil to be like a father to him. But the man was a dedicated Hardcore player, and could easily take Grian down in a fight. It scared him, sometimes, about how little he actually knew about Phil. 

“Alright, mate, let’s go.” The blue striped border had been removed by the mysterious admin, and the two flew into Dream SMP. Grian felt a buzz from his communicator and pulled it from his pocket. 

<Grian joined the game>  

<Ph1LzA joined the game> 

Unlike in Hermitcraft, when a member joins the server (especially a new member), the entire chat would be flooded with ‘hello!’ messages. However, on the Dream SMP, there were one or two directed at Phil. How peculiar. Phil went silent as they flew over the woods and forest. In the distance, Grian could see what appeared to be a city. That must be L’Manberg. It wasn’t as big or as grand as some builds on Hermitcraft, heck his own base would have taken up over half of the area if he lived there. On a tall pole lay what Grian assumed was the flag of L’Manberg, inky black, with a fiery red arch and X. Interesting design. Phil didn’t go into the city, however, he flew towards the coordinates that Wilbur had written in his letter, his brow furrowed. Fireworks crackled and popped throughout L’Manberg. 

Grian landed with Phil, in front of a small tunnel that bore deep into a hill that was just outside the country. 

“It’s now or never. Grain, stay behind me.” Phil tucked the letter away and led Grian through the tunnel, and into a compact stone room. Carved into the wall were words. No, not just words. Lyrics. 

I heard there was a special place, 

where men could go and emancipate. 

From the brutality and tyranny of their rulers. 

Well, this place was real, you needn’t fret, 

With Wilbur, Tommy, Tubbo, fuck Eret. 

It’s a very big place, not blown up L’Manberg. 

MY L’MANBERG

MY L’MANBERG

MY L’MANBERG…

Those lyrics were carved all over the stone walls, and in the middle, was a stone button. In front of that button, was Philza’s eldest son, Wilbur. 

Grian had never actually seen Wilbur before, only in an old picture of when Phil, Wilbur, and Phil’s other two sons, Tommy and Technoblade, won MCC 4. In that picture, Wilbur wore a cute yellow sweater with a brown beanie, with a shimmering smile on his face. 

The man that stood before them now was not that person. It couldn’t be. Wilbur stood, hunched over a stone button, whispering to himself. He donned a brown trenchcoat and ditched the beanie. 

“What are you doing?” Phil asked.

Wilbur turned to face them. His eyes had no emotion in them, his smile no longer shimmered. Standing before them was an insane man. 

“I will admit,” Wilbur said. His voice sent a chill down Grian’s spine, “Do you know what this is? What this button is?” Phil’s speculations appeared to be true. Wilbur was trying to destroy L’Manberg. 

“Uh huh. I do.” How, how could Phil be so calm? 

“Have you heard the song? The song on the walls?” Wilbur’s fingers gently ran over the words ‘MY L’MANBERG’. His eye twitched, “I was just making a big point you know? About how there was a special place, it was a special place. But that's not there anymore.” Wil’s voice lowered to a hush. 

“It is there, Wil, it's out there.” 

“PHIL I’M ALWAYS SO CLOSE TO PRESSING THIS BUTTON! I’VE BEEN HERE LIKE SEVEN OR EIGHT TIMES--” Voices from above cut Wilbur off. Grian could hear footsteps above them. Wilbur turned his eyes to the stone ceiling and lowered his voice. “Oh they're going to come…I need to block this off.” Wilbur hastily piled blackstone bricks in the doorway, which not only sealed whoever “they” were out, but also sealed Grian, Phil, and Wilbur in.

“Oh Phil...I’ve been here so many times.” 

Numerous fireworks exploded outside. 

<Tubbo_ went off with a bang due to a firework fired from [Rocket Launcher] by Technoblade> 

“Oh they’re fighting, they’re fighting…” WIlbur whispered, sounding tired. 

“And you just want to...to blow it all up? You fought so hard for this land, Wilbur, and you just want to...destroy it all?” Phil tried to reason.

“I don’t even know if the button works anymore, Phil, I could press it, and it might--”

“Do you want to risk it? There is a lot of TNT potentially connected to that button.” 

Wilbur seemed to hear him. His breathing got heavier as he returned to that hunched over position over the stone button. What was this place? Nothing serious ever happened on Hermitcraft. There were no seriously high stakes, there were no serious threats, no serious danger. It was all in good fun. 

“There...there was a saying, Phil...by, uh, by a traitor. Once part of L’Manberg, don’t know if you ever heard of Eret, but he had a saying.” 

Wilbur looked up at Phil. Grian could see the familiar resemblance between the two, they shared emerald green eyes. 

“It was never meant to be.” Wilbur whispered that phrase, and pressed the stone button. 

[pi-cat000]

BNHA: Kakashi dimension hops crossover (5)

Summary: Kakashi gets dumbed into the My Hero Academia universe through random plot devise.

Characters:  Kakashi Hatake

Fandoms: My Hero Academia and Naruto

WARNINGS: Mentions of violence/injury

START  / RREV / NEXT

Ms Iroi always tries to engage him in conversation whenever she comes in, asking questions and chatting to herself in a fruitless attempt at helping him recover his 'lost' memories. Most of the time, Kakashi is indifferent to her presence and always has a magazine handy as an excuse not to talk.

Today, Iroi is in a particularly good mood, humming to herself, greeting him with an energetic, “How are you doing today!”

Kakashi grunts a noncommittal response which doesn’t do much to discourage the woman’s good mood as she runs through a check-up routine.  

“You should try watching U.A’s sports festival tomorrow. I hear it’s going to be particularly spectacular this year,” she says as she pulls the blinds on Kakashi's window, blocking out the distant city lights. 

U.A? he recognises the name. Kakashi glances up over the pages of HERO!! MONTHLY BREAKDOWN. It is the third time he has read this issue.

“You know, since you like reading those hero magazines, I figured you would be interested in watching the ‘next generation of heroes’ debut,” she continues, noting his attention, “U.A always puts on a good show.”

Kakashi frowns. The problem with his amnesia cover story is that he is still trying to figure out what he can get away with not remembering. So far the doctor’s seem content to chalk up the disappearance of his long term memories to a ‘quirk’ accident but were always more concerned when he failed to recall basic factual information. Something to do with different parts of the brain being responsible for different types of information.

 “Watch how?” He settles on asking. U.A. was supposed to be a hero-training academy so whatever this ‘sports festival’ was was worth checking out. 

“Oh,” Iori pauses to think, “I, ah, think channel 2 with be covering it?” she hesitates, “You know what. I’ll look it up and let you know later. Sorry, I can’t carry my phone around with me while on shift.”

“Thank you.” He smiles and makes a show of returning to his magazine to dissuade further conversation.

Later the same evening, just before the end of the evening shift, Iori pokes her head into his room again. She is out of uniform, long hair untired, waving to catch his attention.

“The coverage is on channel 2 and starts at 11am,” She holds up her portable communication devise like it means something.  It probably did mean something. The frequency by which people checked them suggested it had a function beyond basic communication. He has held off attempting to steal one because, unlike pens, people would notice and care if one went missing.  

“Have fun watching! Oh… also, I forgot to ask…”

Kakashi raises a brow.

“I have a bunch of old gossip magazines. Mum used to read them all the time and there are a few hero-themed ones in the mix. I can bring them in if you want more stuff to read.” 

“If you want.” Iori must have noticed him re-reading the magazines. 

"I'll bring them on Friday!"

Iori had been unsubtly hinting that Kakashi might have had a history in heroics. It definitely wasn’t because reading information on a page just made sense when compared to the barrage of conflicting reports the television gave him. A few weeks with only the television as his information source has him writing off most of its information as useless or propaganda.  

…

...

“HEELLLOOOOO, LISTENERS!”

Kakashi stares dully as the video footage, which had been giving him a bird’s eye view of a positively massive stadium, changes to a sweeping shot of what must be thousands of people crammed into seats. It almost makes him claustrophobic just watching it.

“WELLCOME TO OUR ANNUAL U.A. SPORTS FESTIVAL! THE HIGH SCHOOL ADOLESCENT RODEO YOU ALL LOVE TO WATCH. CAN A GET A ‘OH YEAH!’”

As if of one mind, thousands of people leap to their feet screaming. The camera angle changes again to show a grinning blond-haired man, seated at a desk and pointing enthusiastically at the camera. All these shot changes are going to give him a headache. Kakashi is already having reservations watching this and its only10 minutes.

“Thank you! You’re an AMAZING audience!”

 It almost reminds him of the final Chunin Exam stages -if the Chunin exams had had three times the audience - which always involved some sort of combat display.  There hadn’t been any public Chunin Exams recently for reasons such as a large portion of Konoha being flattened by Pein.

“FIRST UP ARE OUR FIRST-YEAR EVENTS! And what an exciting round of events they are, perfect for debuting our newest students! Give us a shout so they can feel your support!”

Another loud shot as thousands of people yelled in unison.

“Come on! Louder than that! These are your future Heroes I’m talking about! SHOW THEM SOME LOVE!”

More yelling. Kakashi turns down the volume.

“But! Wait just a minute!! We're not only here for our Hero students! As I'm sure you all know, behind every great hero is a hardworking support team! GIVE IT UP FOR our Support, Management and General departments who are also competing for a chance to face off in the finals!”

Kakashi sighs. He is getting the sense that this might be more for entertainment than utility purposes, conforming to the general trend of Hero-related stuff being flashy. Different from the Chunin exam which had deadly consequences if not taken seriously.

“Hey. Hey! HERE THEY COME NOW! OUR STUDENTS PARTICIPATING IN THE FIRST YEAR STAGE!”

What follows is an overly dramatized race where the only thing of interest to him are the obstacle types, including robots, - mobile mechanical weapons of some sort that produced a lot of environmental damage but were taken down fairly easily- and explosive devices that acted a lot like explosive tags. Then there was a team elimination round and one-on-one tournament fights after which the coverage shifts to the second year and third year stages.

He uncovers the sharingun only to discover that, while its memorisation function worked fine, the part that translated the movements into muscle memory felt off. Perhaps, the replication and copying component of the eye didn’t work when viewing a technique through a screen rather than in person. Interesting. As there wasn't anything particularly impressive technique-wise during the events he counts the new information as a net gain. 

The student-heroes – he is not sure if there is an official term for a hero in training – barely match Konoha’s academy standard in their taijutsu and physical conditioning though there was marked improvement between first, second and third-year groups. These students were what...between 14-18 years old...and yet most had the skill level of an academy  students and fresh genuin with only a few notable exceptions?

Sure, there were - honestly ridiculous- versatile and powerful bloodline abilities being thrown around like nothing, but ninjutsu techniques only took a shinobi so far without a strong base to work from. He shakes his head, reminding himself that these kids - because what else did you call combatants who hadn’t graduated yet- weren’t shinobi in training and would be policing civilians and engaging ‘Villains’ of similar skill levels. It was obvious that the students favoured non-lethal takedown methods and put little to no thought into stealth and misdirection during fights. 

Different words…different priorities. 

As Kakashi has yet to see any evidence that the country, Japan, was at war with another he thinks the skill level displayed might be serviceable. There were also no major conflicts between the country’s large cities over farmland, water sources and the like. Obviously, this place had sorted out the resource and distribution issues usually encountered when supporting such large populations. Or, who knows, maybe everything on the television was a carefully constructed lie to lull people into complacency.

Now he has seen an example of hero-students, he better understands the low combat ability demonstrated by the police. It also gives incite into the blurry recordings of Hero/Villain confrontations which played on repeat across the various ‘news’ reports. They all tended to hover around Chunin or maybe Special Jounin in terms of skill. He knows generalisations are dangerous so, until he saw the combat in person, he would exercise his usual level of caution. There were bound to be outliers after all-the impressive brute strength of the number one hero comes to mind- and there was no telling what advantages a bloodline ability might provide. Absently, he makes testing the susceptibly of people without chakra to genjustu as something to figure out sooner rather than later.

He sighs. This is why he hated the television. Whenever he watched it, he came away increasingly confused, with more questions than he had answers. Not to mention anything useful being constantly interrupted with information detailing one of the many products that he could apparently buy here. It irritated him to no end. 

...

...

The chakra collecting seal is ready before the week is out. Mostly ready...it was ready enough.

Kakashi returns to the roof. Sitting cross-legged, back against the stairway entrance, he works his way through the 100 or so pens, cracking them open and tapping out ink into a large bowl, stolen -like the pens -from hospital staff.

The mix of black, blue and red ink is gluggy, forcing him to add water to thin the solution out. Once satisfied he pulls out an appropriated scalpel – one of a growing collection hidden alongside his pens because having a stash of weapons is never a bad thing- pricking his middle finger, watching the blood drip and curdle with the mixture. The blood would be absorbed into the ink, allowing it to conduct chakra. He mixes everything with pair of disposable chopsticks, taking care not to spill it on the ground or stain his hands.

The whole process reminds him of other insistences where he had improvised fuinjutsu ink in the field. The last time being during his final Anbu missions where he had created a body storage scroll from scratch after unexpectedly losing a squad mate on what should have been a simple intel retrieval mission. Not a particularly fond memory but a memory he was stuck with.

Since his demotion to Jonin-sensei there had been fewer of those sorts of missions. Not that being a Jonin-sensei had been easy – considering all his students had gone off to find other teachers he didn't even think he had been particularly good at it - bringing with it its own special brand of stress, culminating in a stint as Hokage, a fourth war and him stuck here. He is pretty sure his experiences aren't universal. Team 7 was just cursed to fail in increasingly spectacular ways.

He lets out a heavy sigh, leaving his airways open to a sudden gust of cold wind which carries the scent of cleaning chemicals from the hospital and oil from the road straight up his nose. He exhales forcefully and mentally bumps finding a face mask up his list of priorities. It would be good for hiding his features and dulling the artificial smells of a city housing over a million people.

The sound of wind whistling around the building almost blocks out the echo of feet in the stairway, approaching his location. In one smooth motion, Kakashi stands pushing the remaining broken pen back into the vent, nudging the cover back in place with his foot. Carefully he holds the bowl of ink in his injured arm and a scalpel in the other. Kakashi steps back against the entrance so the outward opening door would hide him from whoever came out.

A crying kid comes barrelling through the door.

Well, not completely crying, more like sniffing loudly, eyes all shiny. He even recognises the kid from the U.A combat demonstration, as improbable as that was. It is the first year hero student with the speed-enhancing ability which, seeing him up close, probably had something to do with the strange growths coming out of his caff muscles. High speed movement put enormous strain on the body so he could reasonably conclude that the kid was physically resilient to acceleration stress and similar forces. Not resilient to stabbing though....

Kakashi forces himself to relax, his scalpel lowering ever so slightly. Lucky he had heard the kid coming or he might have accidentally hurt him. A few weeks of reduced sleep coupled with a lot of time to ruminate on past missions and failures has put him on edge. This was exactly why he disliked taking extended breaks. 

Maybe, Kakashi should start relocking the stairway if he was planning to make regular trips up here because the young male probably hadn’t had the roof in mind as a destination. Kakashi knows from experience that, unless you were injured or a member of staff, there were few good reasons to wander around a hospital at odd hours.

With the hero-student distracted sniffling into his arm, Kakashi slips around the door and back down the stairs. He hadn’t planned on applying the seal on the roof anyway. Too exposed to the elements and the concrete was too rough for the delicate line work.

He continues mixing while he walks, having mentally mapped the hospital well enough to know which hallways to use and which to avoid. There is a surgeon with some sort of heat-sensing vision who works late most nights that he must be careful around and a nurse with a weak proximity based empathic ability working in paediatrics. Both obstacles force him to take a meandering detour on his way to the ground floor and  the larger shower blocks which housed  cubicles the size of small rooms. Enough smooth floorspace for the expanded seal design and easy to clean afterwards. He supposes he is lucky, some complicated fuinjutsu required several meters worth of floor space. The containment on Saskue’s cursed seal comes to mind and he is glad that this seal is infinity smaller.

Not one to waste time knowing that nurses and patients regularly used the space even this late in the evening, he immediately slips into a cubicle upon arrival. Flopping onto the floor he pulls out the paintbrush he had had scour the hospital for and eventually to steal from the children’s ward. Carefully, he begins the slow process of application.

…

…

The final seal design is circular, about the size of his splayed hand, positioned on his uninjured shoulder just above where his Anbu seal had previously sat. The sleepwear provided by the hospital had sleeves that extend just past his bicep. It hid the design, for the most part. The final visible seal is a bit bigger than he had predicted or planned for. If this were a proper infiltration mission, where blowing his cover came at the price of death, he would be in big trouble. If this were a proper mission, he would have waited before applying this. An unnecessary risk. He itches the back of his head, turning from where he is craning his neck to see the seal, gathering up his supplies to be thrown in one of the hospital’s many rubbish bins. Kakashi lets out a breath. Maybe, this whole ‘trapped in a different world’ thing is affecting him more than he was willing to admit and making him sloppy.

He pulls down the sleeve so it mostly hides the design. Not like the doctors here would recognise the significance of fuinjutsu, he reminds himself, even if their questions would be annoying to deflect.

He pumps chakra into the seal and a jolt akin to lightning runs down his limb. It activates without issue and Kakashi grimaces as his chakra is slowly drained and collected. The rate of the drain is pathetically slow. Three years too slow. But, between this and his sharingan - which was always active and draining chakra- he can’t risk making it quicker. Despite the relatively low-level threats around him, Kakashi is, first and foremost, a Jonin in an unknown territory who is already taking risks simply making and applying the seal. He can’t afford to impair himself with poor chakra management on top of everything else.

Kakashi pops his head out of the cubical, scanning the shower block. Nothing of note has changed and he darts out, intent on returning to his room. He is tired and it would be a long, tiresome week as his body adjusted to the strain as well.

NEXT  

[night-fallz]

Jason Todd x Avengers Crossover

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

Ao3 // Wattpad

previous II next

Unexpected (part 2)

Two days have passed since Clint was saved by Jason. And for some reason, he still can't get the vigilante out of his mind.

Natasha teased him about it but he knows that if she sees Jason in action, she would be intrigued as well.

The way he fought was mesmerizing. Every bullet that was shot was so precisely aimed that the wounds weren't deadly.

Sure it knocked them out, but they weren't gonna die.

That form of marksmanship was only earned through years of hard work. And Clint's worked with Bucky enough times to know that Jason somehow predicted the next move of the attackers, aiming at the non-lethal body parts.

He has a feeling that Bucky and Jason would make an incredible duo.

Which is why he needs them to meet.

Clint doesn't usually do this but the more he thought about the bucket-wearing vigilante, the higher his list of questions got.

He took out his phone, leaning against the couch as he searched for the man that saved him.

vigilante wearing red bucket

He scrolled through google trying to find a decent article on the guy.

After thirty whole minutes of barely finding information, Clint wanted to throw his phone across the room. So far, all he's figured out was that Jason's territory was in Gotham and that his vigilante name is 'Red Hood'.

Which was... creative in a way?

At least it wasn't 'Red Bucket' or 'Bucket Head' or anything like that. It was definitely better than 'Green Arrow'.

After another failed search, he decided to finally give up. There was nothing about Red Hood. All the articles were mainly about Batman, Nightwing, a restaurant place, and a Robin!

He groaned and put his face in his hands. He doesn't care about those overrated heroes, he wants to find out more about Red Hood.

The guy was so cool... he wonders why there were barely any pieces written about him. The few sentences that he's read about the vigilante almost always depicted him in a bad light.

Which was honestly unfair.

He stared at his phone, contemplating on whether or not he should ask Natasha.

On the positive side, he knows that the assassin would have information on Red Hood. Natasha has information on everyone.

But...

Clint didn't want Natasha to tease him even more! If she keeps up with the sarcastic comments then the other Avengers would be curious. And curious Avengers meant nosy people.

He felt himself shiver, really nosy people.

He swears that if he had a sister— older or younger, they would act exactly like how Natasha was acting right now.

He could practically imagine the smirk she was wearing on her face when she picked up.

"Hey, Clint." she casually greeted, "How are you?"

He refrained from gritting his teeth, "I'm doing good." he paused, eyes closing as he took a breath in, this hurt to admit. "I need your help."

"I know."

"What do you know about the Red Hood?"

"The Red Hood?" she hummed under her breath, "Let's see."

Clint heard her moving things around, then he could distinctly hear the noise of paper being flipped. "Do you just have documents of random vigilantes lying around your room?" he couldn't help but ask. "Is this an assassin thing?"

Does Bucky do this too?

"I'm getting you the information you need." she reminded, "How I keep track of the data I have is none of your business."

"Okay, okay." he surrendered, a smile making its way onto his face. "But why don't you just keep it on a computer? Wouldn't that make things easier for you?"

She ignored his question, "Red Hood is an excellent marksman," she stated. "He made his debut as a crime lord by showing a bunch of people a duffel bag filled with the heads of notorious criminals."

Clint let out a whistle, "That is an intense introduction. He's even better than I thought he would be."

"Yeah," Natasha agreed. "He's easily one of the most dangerous and capable vigilantes in Gotham. In a matter of months, he's managed to bring crime down Crime Alley by at least fifty percent. Something that Batman himself, couldn't do. His methods were vicious, but they worked. Extremely well. He's killed a lot of child molesters, human traffickers, and rapists."

Even though Natasha couldn't see him, he tilted his head to the side, biting the inside of his cheek. Clint could care less about what methods Jason used. If they worked, they worked. And it's not like those criminals didn't deserve it. It's just-

Killing takes a lot out of you. Especially when you're young. Clint would know.

He had no doubt in his head that Jason was an incredible fighter. Not to mention that he was also huge— in both height and muscle.

He can see why he has a majority of Gotham fooled.

But, for about a minute, after they won against the ninjas, Jason removed his helmet in order to get a breath of fresh air.

A mask might've been covering his eyes, but Clint's been in the vigilante business for years now. He remembers clear as day, just how young the vigilante looked under the sun.

When Clint first started, he was thankful that he had Natasha to talk to whenever things got hard. Whenever he felt guilty for taking someone's life. No matter how much they deserved it.

Hell, he's still thankful for Natasha now. Without her, Clint would probably be dead. His body found bleeding out in an abandoned area, a neat row of scars on his thighs and arms.

He hopes that Jason has a friend like Natasha. Someone who'd be there for him no matter what. Someone who'd remind him that he was worth it. That he was loved.

Cause if not, then there is no way that the kid is okay.

Natasha's sharp voice interrupted his thoughts, "That was a few years ago. As far as I know, he doesn't kill anymore. The farthest that Hood would go now would be to permanently cripple someone. And even then, he would only do that when the person did something unforgivable."

After a few seconds of silence, Clint opened his mouth. "Is that it?" he couldn't help but question.

"Nope," Natasha admitted. "But it's all I'm willing to tell you."

"Fine then," he smirked. "Keep your assassiny secrets. I got more than I expected anyways."

"What did you get yourself into, Clint? Why all the sudden interest in him? Why all the sudden interest in a vigilante in Gotham?"

He knows that Natasha was just looking out for him. She was worried. "Do you remember a few days ago when I was saved by this Jason guy?" he asked.

"Yeah? You've been talking about him nonstop. He saved your ass and you gave him your number." she paused before adding, "Your private one."

He nodded, "Yeah. Well, he's the Red Hood."

"You're kidding."

"Nope. I searched him up and he had the same costume and everything."

"And he actually said that his name was Jason?"

"Yep." he tried to casually say, "It's probably cause Jason's a popular name and stuff."

"Maybe." Natasha hesitantly agreed, "But anyway, since you gave him your number, I think you should know that I've always wanted to meet him so if he texts you soon..."

Her voice trailed off and Clint couldn't hold in his sigh, "Yeah, yeah. I'll arrange a meet-up or whatever."

Her voice automatically brightened, "Actually?"

The corner of his mouth lifted, "Sure. But I wanted to introduce him to Bucky first."

Natasha made a shocked sound of betrayal, "Wha- but Clint!" she whined, "I'm the one who's asking. Not him."

"I know."

It took everything in him to stop the laugh from escaping his mouth.

Complaints about how unfair Clint was being made their way onto his ears and he relished each and every one of them. It wasn't often that he had something Natasha wanted.

Revenge was sweet.

After a few minutes, he let out an incredibly fake gasp. "Sorry, Natasha. I gotta go. I have a kitchen emergency."

"What the fuck, Clint." she demanded, "You don't even know how to cook. Remember the omelet incident? What emerg-"

He hung up.

Clint's definitely going to regret ending the call later. He knows it.

But right now, he could care less.

He has something Natasha wants, so she won't murder him.

... hopefully.

He hopes that he runs into the vigilante soon. Jason was cool and pretty fun to talk to. Clint definitely won't mind fighting at Red Hood's side once more.

They worked really well together.

While they were fighting, he knew that Jason was gonna have his back. He knew that Jason wasn't gonna let him get hurt. It was weird, considering that was the first encounter he's ever had with him.

He doesn't know when Jason is gonna decide to use his number, but he hopes that it'll be soon.

He has questions. And whenever Jason was ready, Clint hopes that he can answer.

Starting with the one that's been clouding his head; why did the Red Hood stop killing?

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

notes:

okay, I didn’t expect to write a chapter this soon. but reading all the comments you guys left on the previous chapter motivated me. to be honest, I didn’t expect this fanfic to get as many hits as it did.

I don’t know when I’m planning on posting this chapter but right now, my goal is to write as much as I can.

I also don’t know exactly how busy my sophomore year of high school will be, but I feel like it’s better to be safe than sorry. Especially if I make the school volleyball team.

I finished writing this chapter on August 8th, and I have tryouts on the 9th through the 11th from 4-6 pm. (wish me luck!)

like always, please, please, please, leave a comment. i love reading them and they just motivate me so much! Whenever I get author’s block, I just re-read them and they help so, so much. If you don’t wanna leave a comment, that’s fine. If you liked this fanfic, please hit that kudos button though.

and if you just wanna chat or if you want to request any ideas or prompts, just message me here.

ooh, and if there’s anything specific you want to read in this series, please tell me. It never hurts to have any extra ideas. plus, I really want to make this fic more enjoyable for everyone.

[lilydalexf]

Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted every Tuesday.

Interview with Circe Invidiosa

Circe Invidiosa has 11 stories at Gossamer, but there are even more X-Files stories at her website. Some of my favs I’ve recced here before, like Make It Worse and Slap a Goatee On Me and Call Me Evil. She also made a bunch of X-Files collage art, including some cover art for fics (hers and others), which you probably saw if you were reading fic back when authors posted fics on their own websites where art could be shared. Big thanks to Circe Invidiosa for doing this interview.

Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)?

Well, it would surprise me if people did read my fic. As it happens, I don't hear much feedback from my fic these days. Probably because the bulk of it is on Gossamer and my own site rather than AO3. Also, I was never a BNA. I worked a lot behind the scenes – hosting other authors' sites and making fanart and dustjackets. I think that's what I'd be remembered for, if anything.

What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience?

I miss the collective excitement and discussions we had as groups. When you got in with a group in the XF fandom, you felt like you knew everybody there. Now the fandom feels a little faceless except for the people I still follow from my old groups.

Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)?

Most of my experience was on Yahoo Groups. I joined Scullyfic while it was still there and then E-muse when it became an e-mail list, which I'm still a part of. I was part of several Yahoo Groups (can't remember all of them now), where I'd post my fic, RealPlayer slideshows (remember those?!), and collages. I never really took part in discourse because I'm shy and don't think anyone cares about my opinions (still don't!). The e-mail address I used for those groups was purged a couple of years ago, so I've lost all those messages.

What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general?

My take away is that fanfic made me a better writer, thanks to having some great betas, and it made me a better professional writer for it (my real-life work is writing but not fun writing) because I learned to take criticism.

I also used to make a lot of fanart, collages and dustjackets for fic mostly. My big take away from that was that I really got into graphics and I got super proficient at Photoshop, which helped my own artistic endeavours and photography. I didn't realize how much skill I had developed until I've had to help someone with their graphics or photo editing.

What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show?

My mother was watching X-Files before I was and she was raving about it. I don't have a great relationship with my mom, but one thing she was usually right about was TV shows. It's where I got my love of Sci-Fi.

I think the first episode I watched was Ice, which definitely hooked me. As for when the shipping started, I remember we were watching Lazarus, and when Mulder was yelling at Lula (I had to look that up) about hurting the hostage Scully, my mom said, "Oh, he's so in love with her." And I was all, "What?! Pfff." But then I could not stop thinking about it. And then I thought about it way, way too much.

What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?

I was in my late 20s, and it was around the end of S7 and I kept thinking about what if these two dumb idiots actually talked one day. And I kept thinking about dialogue in my head about what they'd actually say. The internet was still in its infancy back then, but I'd seen fan sites here and there. So I decided to search around to see if other people were talking about it and thinking about it like I was. I was such a noob I'd never even heard of fanfic. Imagine my delight when I discovered it. I found a few stories and thought, 'Well, I can do that.' And I wrote up my first story, found a place to post it (wasn't Ephemeral the best?), got some kind feedback, found a really nice person (not sure she wants to be named since she used her real name in the fandom back in the day) who encouraged me a lot and directed me to all the e-mail lists and Yahoo Groups that I needed to be on, and then, Bob's your uncle, I wrote more and more.

What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom?

Periphery. Most of my experience in any fandom is now on Tumblr because that's where my attention span is. Show me pretty pictures and funny stuff. I am old now and don't want to think hard.

Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files?

Veronica Mars was my next fandom experience. A number of my XF friends got me hooked on VM. The VM fandom was a LOT younger compared to the XF fandom. When I joined the XF fandom, I was the kid compared to most of the other fans who were all goddesses and royalty in my eyes. But in the VM fandom, I was in my 30s and the rest of the fandom were all in their early 20s if not younger. It often showed, so I stayed out of discussions and just posted my fic once I started writing it. I took a new handle (invida) when I started writing VM fic. Just in case these kids felt like my writing sucked, I didn't want it getting back to the XF fandom that I’d branched out and failed spectacularly.

By then fandom experiences had moved over to LiveJournal. I never really got involved in the discourse or the fandom fights. I knew what people were saying and where the schisms were, but I was all about the fanfic and the pretty pictures. Most of my LJ friends just discussed the episodes and posted their fic and that was good with me.

What got me writing fic for VM was Anjou's brilliant VM fic Into the Blue. Seriously, if you love VM S1, read her fic. Just so beautiful.

VM was also where started writing a WIP, which was a wild trip. I wrote a much-loved WIP called Damn, Damn the Circumstance which people still ask me about finishing to this day. Someday…*wistful sighs*

Who are some of your favorite fictional characters? Why?

Scully. She was everything! Lapsed Catholic, degrees in science, skeptic, always trying to work within the rules but still not taking crap. Yeah, she was the best.

Veronica Mars was great until she wasn't. I have a lot of issues with her beyond S2. And don't even talk to me about S4. For me, S1 was the best, I enjoyed the movie, the books were okay, but nothing else happened after that. NOTHING.

And the first character I ever loved was Princess Leia. She was also everything to me growing up. I wanted to be her. I still do.

Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully?

Now and then. Not as much as I used to. I sometimes have it on in the background when I'm doing other things. Back before the pandemic, my BFF and I would have get togethers where we would play Scrabble, eat a lot of candy, and binge several XF episodes. I miss doing that. Hopefully, we will get back to that soon.

Do you ever still read X-Files fic? Fic in another fandom?

I am not an active XF fanfic reader right now. I will read any stories my friends put out. Otherwise, I only occasionally read some I come across on Tumblr in my feed, but I am not seeking them out. I will beta for any XF author who asks me as well.

I am reading fic in other fandoms though – Endeavour, Broadchurch, Sherlock…huh, I'm just realizing that's a lot of British stuff. I have been really into British detective series for the last few years.

Do you have any favorite X-Files fanfic stories or authors?

I used to run an XF fic recommendation site called How Will It End usually with at least one other person (I went through at least 4 partners on that project because I'm a control freak). We'd compile our recs and then I'd post them on my site. We'd also feature authors we really liked and interview them. Not unlike these interviews!

I'm terrible at giving feedback/comments. So I solved that problem by making a rec site. That way I could tell authors I loved their fics by recommending them. I didn't have to comment, I'd just say, 'I'd like to rec your fic'. And then they'd get promotion. Win-win. Back in those days, the fandom would absolutely roast you for promoting your own fic, so to get on a rec site was a big deal. Not that I had a popular rec site or anything. But I think authors really enjoyed being asked.

All that to say I've liked a lot of fics. I can pull up the archives of HWIE and show you all the faves I liked. :)

What is your favorite of your own fics, X-Files and/or otherwise?

Back in the day, E-muse would hold Improv Challenges, where other members would give you a prompt that you had to include in your fic. I was always really proud of the stories I created from those challenges (No Earthly Means and Elephant in the Room if you want to read them).

I enjoyed writing Dead to Rights which is an XF/Dead Like Me crossover because I loved the challenge of writing a crossover. It was the first crossover I ever tried writing even though I only recently published it.

Otherwise, I like re-reading In a Graveyard, Importuning Life for Life, and Some By Virtue Fall. Of my more recent fic, I like Slap a Goatee on Me and Call Me Evil because the premise was ridiculous and I think it's funny as all get out.

Probably my favourite of my VM fic was Stay Outta Riverdale. Because: 1. The title is a Simpsons reference who doesn't love a Simpsons reference? And 2. I think I was hilarious throughout it.

Do you think you'll ever write another X-Files story? Or dust off and post an oldie that for whatever reason never made it online?

I'm always open to writing more fic (and, of course, I don't mean my WIPs…don't look at me like that). Lately, my only motivation has been from writing prompts on Tumblr. I haven't had anyone give me a prompt in over a year, so here we are. I have snippets of dialogue in journals and word documents that have never found their way into stories. I'd be happy to dust off any of those and shoehorn them into a new story.

Do you still write fic now? Or other creative work?

The last fanfic I wrote was a mini-fic over a year ago (with a prompt from Lilydale!). I've written a bit of original fiction but I haven't been able to finish it. Otherwise, I do have a number of real life hobbies which are where my creative outlets lie now.

Where do you get ideas for stories?

Lately, challenges and prompts. It used to be from wanting to see more from a scene. I really had a thing for fill-in-the-blanks or scene continuations. And sometimes my motivation is just plain old spite. :)

What's the story behind your pen name?

Circe Invidiosa is the title of a painting by John William Waterhouse. Love the colours and the absolute malice on the face of the subject. It felt like a good pen name – the envious witch. That's me!

I chose it when I posted my first XF fic (which I cringe to read now, ugh so terrible) without knowing there was already a Circe in the fandom. Whoops. I tried to go by the full Circe Invidiosa or Invidiosa as much as possible after realizing that (invidiosa is my url and my username on a lot of sites, etc.). Now I think that I've been around long enough that it doesn't matter as much but I still like it.

As I said, I took the name Invida for the VM fandom which is just a shortening of Invidiosa.

Do your friends and family know about your fic and, if so, what have been their reactions?

My significant other knows and that was quite a reveal (oh how awkward). However, the SO has been very supportive and has read all my stories since the reveal and sometimes betas them. The SO also wants us to collaborate on writing some original fiction but we haven't found a project that works for both of us creatively or timewise.

My BFF knows because I dragged her into the online fandom. We've known each other since we were 14, but our love of XF really solidified our bond in our 20s. She wrote some short but sweet fics under the penname Helen Quilley which I bullied her into posting, and we wrote Of Ladies Most Deject and Wretched together. She is mostly embarrassed that she wrote fanfic now but we still fangirl together.

No one else really knows other than fandom folks I've met in real life. And some friends know I've written 'short stories' but I don't elaborate. I work in a stodgy, uptight industry where anything fun or actually having a life is frowned upon.

Is there a place online (tumblr, twitter, AO3, etc.) where people can find you and/or your stories now?

Over the first lockdown, I got my shit together and got my fic site, invidiosa.com, up and running again. My site houses fic by Rain (now @doctorhelena on Tumblr and AO3), Helen Quilley, ML (who I miss so much), Folieadeux, Shelba, TLynn, Oracle, Piper Sargasso, Diehard, and me. And I made all their dustjackets (except Folie's). The site got hacked a few years back and it was so much work to get running again that I put it off for years and years. I still feel terrible that I did not get the site back up before ML passed away, especially when ML had asked me about it a few months before she passed.

Anyway, all my XF fic is here: circe.invidiosa.com. I have 3 of my newer XF stories on AO3. And my fic-LJ also has some of my stories. Some of the newer stories are on Tumblr but the tagging is so erratic that I'd have to list several tags before you'd find them all. I don't know why I haven't moved everything over to AO3. Probably laziness.

I'm @invidiosa on Tumblr. I'm still on E-muse. I'm still on LJ. I'm always reachable by e-mail (invidiosa at gmail).

Is there anything else you'd like to share with fans of X-Files fic?

Thanks for reading, writing, and commenting. It is always appreciated.

(Posted by Lilydale on January 5, 2021)

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Trevor Moore, co-founder of the sketch comedy group The Whitest Kids U’ Know, died the other day at age 41. It made me sad, and weirdly surprised. On the list of famous people who might die in the next while, Trevor Moore was not someone I’d considered. He was too young to die of old age, and not the kind of celebrity whom you’d expect to go out early due to the showbiz lifestyle. He wasn’t known to be sick or to have any other reason to die young. The only explanation given publicly for the cause of his death is “an accident”; the nature of that accident has not been revealed and is none of my business. But I want to ask whatever architects of this word may or may not exist… which of your writers decided the next plot twist should be killing off Trevor Moore? How did you even come up with that?

My brother’s been doing stand-up comedy since he was sixteen, just over ten years ago now. He and I are both into comedy, but we generally have very different tastes. My dad raised us both on old school British comedy, but I’m still into it and my brother doesn’t like any of that stuff any more. Most of my brother’s favourite comedy makes me roll my eyes. Most of my favourite comedy makes him roll his eyes.

He and I have a few comedians whom we both really like. John Mulaney’s the most famous of the people we both like; I think he’s still my brother’s favourite comedian ever, and he’s way up there for me. Trevor Moore is another of those rare crossover comedians who has something to appeal to the very different tastes of my brother and I.

Years ago, maybe ten years ago now, my brother started trying to get me to watch The Whitest Kids U’ Know sketches on YouTube. I wasn’t interested at first, because he’d tried to get me to watch lots of his favourite comedy, and most of it wasn’t for me. But he finally forced me to watch a few of their songs and sketches, and had to admit they were actually quite good, and then I decided to check out more of their stuff, and then I spent a few days watching all 60 episodes of The Whitest Kids U’ Know. I put a few of the best Trevor Moore songs on my iPod. To this day, when I have a night of “drink beer and watch funny things on YouTube”, Trevor Moore’s songs and sketches are alongside Chris Flemming and Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal as some of my go-tos.

I know Trevor Moore was part of what inspired my brother to get into stand-up in the first place, and I’m willing to bet he’s also influenced plenty of other kids getting into comedy. But unlike most comedians who influence a lot of suburban white boys who start stand-up comedy, I find Trevor Moore extremely funny.

I feel like it’s only appropriate to put a Trevor Moore song on this blog, in honour of his passing. There’s this great song, which I used to sing when I worked overnights as a PSW, and 1-2 hours before my shift ended the morning shift would arrive and we’d all leave the office together to go off to the different rooms of the different clients to get them out of bed. It genuinely used to motivated me to rally for the last little bit of work after staying up all night.

Trevor Moore also has a few songs with some deeper meaning to them, like anti-religious ones, or this song that perfectly captures the absurdity of the thought processes behind OCD. Trevor Moore had OCD, because of course he did. All the cool people do.

But I think if I’m going to actually post one Trevor Moore song on here, it has to be the first thing I ever saw him do. My brother sat me down in 2010-ish and made me watch this video, and though I went into it telling him I wouldn’t like it, I had to admit that it was fucking hilarious. This song is still on my iPod, and I still listen to it sometimes because it’s incredibly catchy and never fails to make me laugh.

If there’s a deeper meaning to this song, I have failed to find it in over a decade. I’m pretty sure it’s just a song about smoking weed with dinosaurs. And it’s fucking excellent. 

[themonotonysyndrome]

The Holy Quintet in Twisted Wonderland! (all 7 dorms - Part 4)

We now have reach Mami’s reaction to the other dorms! I’m still trying to juggle with work and all of my TW’s writings so apologies that updates for this crossover series are a bit slow. But after we’re done with Madoka’s part, future instalments are going to be a bit easier to manage (I hope. The Witches & Kyuubey scenes as well as the girls’ personal stories definitely require properly outline. But we’ll cross that bridge when we get there!)  Also, I have a Discord for all my TW’s stuff! Come and brainstorm with me for more ideas for this series or just chill and talk shit about stuff. https://discord.gg/JeYwU2

That’s it frome me, let’s get to it! 

-

Tomoe Mami & the other dorms (except Pomefiore) 

HEARTSLABYUL!

True to her word, when Riddle told Sayaka that she could invite one of the girls to their Unbirthday Party, she immediately rush to find Mami. Telling about the party that Heartslabyul often throw.

Sayaka promises that there would be plenty of sweets, teas, cute animals and fun games. So would she like to attend? 

Never one to turn down the opportunity to hang out with her friends and enjoy some teas at the same time, Mami didn’t hesitate to accept the offer. Sincerely thanking of Sayaka for thinking of her. 

The day before the party, Mami made sure she would look nothing but her absolute best. She had a couple of dresses sketched out that she could easily use her ribbons to transform into for the party and now she’s sitting in front of the vanity table with her hair down. Carefully planning how she would do her hair and make up for tomorrow. 

As you can probably tell, she’s both nervous and excited to attend a formal tea party since this is her first time ever. She even falls asleep, smiling to herself, dreaming of all the fun things she and Sayaka would have. 

The day of the Unbirthday Party arrives. Coincidentally, Vil was there at the dorm lounge, tutoring a group of second-year students, when Mami descend the stairs. When the Dorm Leader turn to the stairs, his frown transform into a brilliant smirk. He wasted no time to appraise Mami of her dress, hair-do and simple yet elegant makeup. His eyes never stop to critically scan her from the hair pin artfully on her twin tails to her cute little high-heels. Even the second-year students who were wilting under Vil’s strict tutelage brighten when they see their Golden Princess. They smile and offer their compliments as well.  

Mami’s cheeks redden slightly but she made sure to curtsey and thanked Vil and her second-year seniors for their kind and thorough compliments. When the Beauty Queen asked where Mami is heading looking so dolled up, she replies that Sayaka had invited her to Riddle’s Unbirthday Party. Vil took a moment to silently pondered before warning her of the many rules that reigned over Heartslabyul. But after Riddle’s Overblot episode, Vil assured Mami that all she needs to do is behave herself, mind her manners and the rules shouldn’t be a problem. Mami thanked her Dorm Leader once more and head off.  

The moment she steps out of Pomefiore, all eyes are on her and every heads turn to Mami’s direction. This powerful Magical Girl feel a little self-conscious at the attention she’s receiving since she’s still a very much young girl at heart but kept her head high. Vil’s words instantly echoed in her mind; as a Pomefiore student, she must always hold herself proud. Their beauties are hard-earned and rightfully deserved.   

The few Heartslabyul students that were tasked to greet guests gape when Mami arrives. It took a moment for the boys to pick their jaws up from the ground to usher Mami to the garden, as gentlemanly as possible. They blunder as they escort her, but their sincere efforts is very much appreciated by Mami. So she sweetly thanked them when they brought her to Riddle.  

Riddle, who already took his seat at the head of the table, is pleased when Mami introduces herself to him, with all the grace of a noble lady. Internally, he believes that Vil and his dorm deserved to claim this Magical Girl as their Golden Princess. Because behind her beauty and gentle smile, her words are steady and calm. That shows the strength behind it.  

Mami’s smile turn fond and a lot more open when Sayaka happily jogged towards them, eagerly chatted their ears off of all the fun things they can do and oh, oh, won’t Mami sit next to her? There’s just so many things that she wants to talk to her about! Like that time when Sebek and Kyouko caused an accident during Alchemy lesson and switched their classmates’ voices. Needless to say that Mami basked in Sayaka’s company, even giggle when Riddle’s interject with a sigh and a shake of his head at the whole fiasco. 

So caught up in the conversation, Mami didn’t notice the Vice Dorm Leader of Heartslabyul smoothly saddled up beside Riddle to announce that the party is ready to begin. Riddle clap his hands once and the Heartslabyul students kicked into gear. Mami however, stood frozen. Her heart began to race. She stares hard at Trey Clover. 

Decked in his dorm uniform, Trey actually didn’t realise how unbelievably handsome he presented himself to our Magical Girl. As Riddle instruct everyone to take their seat and somewhere in the background Sayaka is waving her arm madly, trying to catch Mami’s attention, Trey introduces himself as the Vice Dorm Leader of Heartslabyul. His friendly smile and deep voice captivated Mami. And when Trey pull out the vacant chair beside Sayaka for her, her heart skips a beat. 

“Mami-san? Are you alright? Heellloo??”

“Ah! Y-Yes, I’m alright!” Cue Mami hurrying to raise her teacup to hide her blush. 

The Unbirthday Party was truly amazing. Mami immensely enjoyed the tea, sweets and company of not just Sayaka but the Heartslabyul students as well. 

However, despite how lively her surrounding is, Mami’s eyes couldn’t help but subtly trailed after Trey who’s making rounds, ensuring that everyone has plenty to eat, Riddle’s teacup is always full and Ace and Deuce aren’t getting too rowdy. When Trey noticed that Mami is staring at him, he smiles and give her a wink before focusing on the party. 

Mami blushes harder and tried not to squirm in her seat. She has never felt anything like this before! There was no boy back at home that she ever gave a second thought. Her life as a Magical Girl is busy as it is dangerous. Back then, romance and her love life was the farthest thing in her mind. 

But here’s Mami experiencing her first crush ever and on none other than Trey Clover.

And for first time ever, her tongue is tied when Trey finally sat down across from her. When Trey asks questions, wanting to know her better (after all, Sayaka sing nothing but praises about the girl who teaches her how to be strong, how could Trey not be interested?), Mami low-key struggle not to stammer her words and not shyly gaze away. Fortunately, Sayaka didn’t notice anything off about her nor how hard Mami’s hands fisted on her dress underneath the table.

Cater appear, being her unintentional saviour. He’s been meaning to take a pic of Pomefiore’s Princess and Mami jumps on the opportunity to just breathe without having to look at Trey. However, when Cater ushered them for a group picture, Mami thought she would faint when she felt her back was pressed against Trey’s chest. 

(Someone save this poor girl.) 

Riddle approved of Mami. She’s a good student, a good teacher to Sayaka and despite not knowing all the rules of his dorm, she’s very mindful of them. Though her reluctance to actually look at his Vice Dorm Leader when they talk is a little rude. Did... did Trey do something to offend Vil’s prized student? 

Cater adores Mami! She looks so photogenic in all the pics he took! He adores her little laugh, sweet smiles and thoughtfulness. He internally laments on why couldn’t his sisters be like her!? 

Even before meeting her, Mami already earned Trey’s respect. With the way how Sayaka and even Kyouko talk about Mami, it seems that she’s the girls’ leader and would often try her best to look after them. So he wants to know more about her! How is she adjusting to their world? Are the foods and drinks to her liking? Please don’t hold back, eat as much as she wants.

Though he’s confused as to why Mami is acting differently with him. She shrinks in on herself when they talk and refuse to meet his eyes. Whereas with Cater, Ace, Deuce and even Riddle, she’s comfortable interacting with them. Perhaps he’s coming off too strongly? Oh well. Trey is certain that she just needed time to warmed up to him. 

Ace and Deuce at first don’t really know how to talk or interact with Mami. Bless their hearts, they tried to be a gentleman for her only to hilariously failed at pouring tea for her. Mami rushed to help them clean up the spilled drink and patted their arms, thanking them for trying their best to accommodate her. Please don’t treat her differently. She’s more than happy if Ace and Deuce treats her like how they treat Sayaka and Kyouko. She can take a little roughing, don’t worry.  

As for Mami, she hopes that Ace and Deuce won’t hold themselves back with her. She wants to join them and have fun too! It’d be nice to let loose once in a while. 

Cater is a whirlwind of camera’s flashing, teasing and good humour. Mami is very charmed by him (thought his smiles are not as captivating as Trey’s) throughout the party. She likes his easy-going attitude, how well he eases the tension between Ace, Deuce and Sayaka during the game of croquet. She definitely looks up to him as her senior from another dorm. 

Riddle is also another senior that Mami looks up to. She takes in how compose and how well he manages the other students, his magic quick to prevent any accidents to happened and his hard-working nature is admirable. There’s a lot she can learn from Riddle and Mami hopes the two of them would be able to study together in the near future. 

Trey... well, even when the party’s over and Mami well on her way back to her dorm, Trey is still running in her mind. Among the boys, Trey is the most prince-like to her. You can bet this girl already falls hard for him when Sayaka informed her that Trey’s the one who baked all the sweets for the Unbirthday Party. 

By the time she reaches Pomefiore, Rook who was nearby noted the slight dazed expression on Mami’s face when he asked if she had fun at the party. His interest is definitely piqued when Mami then blushed and run to her room. 

Rook is familiar with the expression of infatuation. Though he never expect that Mami would be among the girls to wear such an expression! Perhaps one of the students here finally tug on their Princess’ heartstrings. Now, which boys from the Heartslabyil dorm is Mami enamoured with?  

Vil needs to know about this.   

SAVANACLAW!

Lately, Mami notice that she hasn’t seen Kyouko in classes. And when she asked Madoka and Sayaka whether Kyouko is busy, the two girls sheepishly explain that she’s just skipping. 

Seeing Mami’s disappointed frown, Sayaka gave in and explain that Kyouko likes nap at the green house. And so Mami left for the green house after requesting Sayaka not to warned Kyouko that she’s coming. They had 30 minutes before their next class and Mami is confident that she can drag the redhead girl with her to their History class. 

Arriving at the green house, it wasn’t hard for her Soul Gem to pick up Kyouko’s brash and flame-like magic hidden somewhere behind thick shubberies and greeneries. However, Mami was not expecting Leona to be there with Kyouko; napping on the soft grass beside his junior dorm mate. His tail lightly entertwine around Kyouko’s arm. 

Mami almost didn’t want to disturb the two but as students, they have responsibilities to attend classes so she crouch down beside Kyouko to light shake her awake. 

Kyouko groan and stir. She cracks one eye open and groan louder when Mami is smilling down at her. Kyouko try to shoo the veteran Magical Girl away but Mami is having none of it. 

At first, Mami tries to gently persuade and even bribe Kyouko to follow her to their class but when Kyouko rolls away, Mami decide to use her ribbons. 

Before Kyouko could summon her spear, Mami already create a tall armoured knight and scoop the redhead girl up in its arms and hug her before Kyouko could escape. 

“What the - seriously, Mami? Lemme go!”

“We have History class soon, Kyouko. Shall we go now?” 

 “Are you even listening to me!?” 

Mami’s giggle and Kyouko’s whining rouse Leona up.  

Leona would think he’s dreaming at first. There’s his junior in the arms of a really tall knight that just came out of nowhere, squirming and trying to break free. That itself is a cause for alarm because if something can pinned Kyouko down, then that means it can’t be good and they must be crazy strong. But when he saw Mami smiling gently, his brain would froze. Ah shit, it’s that prissy Pomefiore’s Dorm Leader’s junior. And the girl that Kyouko once told him is the strongest out of all of them. 

So Kyouko is on her own. No matter how much Kyouko shriek for him to help her. He grumble and told the girls to quiet down because someone is trying to nap here, hello!

However, just as Leona close his eyes, Mami sweetly said, “Senpai, don’t you have class too?”

Leona’s eyes flew open again and he immediately found himself in the arm of another armoured knight. Like a surprised, indignant cat, Leona narrowed his eyes at the blonde hair girl who is totally unfazed at his ire. 

“Shall we go to class together?” Without waiting for a reply, Mami begin walking out of the green house with Kyouko and Leona behind her; both trying to escape. 

“Herbivore! If you don’t let me go right now - ”

“I think Bucchi-senpai should be around. Don’t worry, Kingscholar-senpai. I’ll get you to your class.”

Leona groan when Kyouko told him to just give up. He would need to actually make an effort to fight Mami if he wants to get away. It’s a sight to behold for the passing students to see the Dorm Leader of Savanaclaw and the Savanaclaw Brawler being carried off by huge knights. 

That was Mami’s first proper interaction with Leona. After that day, the lion is a bit wary whenever Mami drop by Savanaclaw to visit Kyouko. He had tried to use his spells and even break apart Mami’s knight that was carrying him with his claws but it seems that her magic was a lot stronger than he anticipated. It was a slight bruise to his ego. But as long as Mami doesn’t develop a habit of stalking him and the rest of his dorm mates like Rook, Leona doesn’t have a problem with her as long as Mami doesn’t step out of line with him. 

When Mami came to Ruggie and Jack to drop off Leona as if he was a package, Ruggie couldn’t help but cackle seeing the distraught expression on Leona’s face. And the fact that no matter how much Leona struggle, he couldn’t break free from Mami’s magic (she explains how she uses her ribbons to carried him and Kyouko) and that impress the hyena. The women back home are known for their strength and power and Ruggie was right that Mami has them in spades beneath her Pomefiore’s grace. 

Jack is silently appraising Mami’s magic when she releases Leona to their care. After explaining that she possess magical ribbons, he tries to understand how she could make those huge knights from them. He wonders if Mami has mastered her magic. After that day, if Mami drops by to visit Kyouko at their dorm, Jack would shyly ask Mami for tips on how to improve on his magic. A fresh, new perspective would make a good progress for him. After all, Vil always give excellent criticism to his work out regiment from time to time. 

For Mami, despite the difference between their dorms, she’s actually quite accepting of Leona’s irritableness, Ruggie’s mischeviousness and Jack’s gruff yet thoughtful demeanour. She’s a little hurt whenever Leona would glance at her suspiciously but whenever she tries to approach him, Leona would hightail his way out of there.

(Keep that up Leona and Rook would hunt you down, tied you up and bring you to Pomefiore so you and Mami could properly talk things out). 

Mami admire Ruggie immensely. He’s hard-working, already planning ahead for his future and despite coming from a poor background, he kept his spirits up and strive to improve his and his grandmother’s life. You best believe that Ruggie would blush and shyly scratch his ears when Mami told him this. Especially if Mami informed him that she wants to be as strong him too. These two would then talk about their perception of strength and power. 

Since Mami already gotten along quite well with Epel, she soon will get to know Jack when Epel brought her along to their workout session. Whenever Mami is with them, their workout sessions focused on magic instead of physical trainings. The 3 of them would sit down and talk about the nuances of their magic and toss ideas around on how improve them and Mami would coach them to think outside of the box when it comes to their Unique Magic. After all, her magic come in the form ribbons and she could construct nearly anything using them. 

From that day onwards, Mami and Jack can usually be found either in the library or training field, studying and training together. Both of them are good friends because of their view on justice and being the sole voice of reason for their respective group of friends. As for Jack, he regards Mami highly as he do for Vil. Whenever she fights with her ribbons and guns out, it never fail to steal his breath away.        

OCTAVINELLE!

Mami’s first encounter with the Octavinelle dorm is through Jade Leech. During Summonning class, the teacher gave the students an assignment and he paired Mami up with the Vice Dorm Leader of Octavinelle. 

On the surface level and to the other students, these two are nothing but polite, professional and kind to one another. Upon being partners for the assignment, Jade offer Monstro Lounge as their study location and even promises that drinks would be on him while Mami suggest to leave the reference books and information gathering to her. They appear to be a perfect academic team, right?  

However, Mami is well aware of Floyd and Kyouko’s scuffle and the gossips floating around Pomefiore regarding those that rule over Octavinelle. A pair of twins and their boss. Since Kyouko could handle herself against the twin named Floyd Leech, Mami actually did a little investigation regarding him, his twin brother and their Dorm Leader prior before properly introducing herself to Jade Leech. 

So the moment the teacher had paired her up with him, she made sure to firmly keep her mask up, her smile never falters in front of this devious and charming student. While Mami might not be as confrontational as Kyouko, that doesn’t mean she’s meek against threats that disguise themselves underneath a sweet facade. After all, that’s how Witches lures innocent bystanders into their Labyrinth. 

So yes, Mami is very much aware about the Leech Twins, Azul and their shady dealings. That’s why she remain on her very best behaviour around Jade and held herself back from showing any weaknesses. 

But Mami being Mami, she believes that Jade deserve the benefit of a doubt. So despite how guarded she is, her offer is sincere and as long as Jade doesn’t do anything nefarious blatantly in front of her, Mami would not confront him. 

Throughout the time of their partnership, Jade is nothing but a perfect gentleman to her. It’s know by everyone by now in NRC that among all the girls, Mami is the strongest of them all so he’s very, very mindful on how he interacts with her. Azul still wanted to learn more about the girls’ magic so if he slips up, it’s game over for them. 

When Mami finally came to Mostro Lounge, Azul made sure to give her the best table available and personally attend to her and Jade while they studied. Floyd is well and occupied with kitchen duties. When Jade informed him that Mami is his partner, Azul strictly forbid him from using his Unique Magic on her. They still don’t know enough about her and the risks are still not within his comfortable range. 

Mami accept Azul’s hospitality and treatment with grace. Since Azul is working hard to be the perfect host, Mami recipocrate by humouring a few innocent questions; just enough to satiate his curiosity. But not enough to hand him leverage over her or her friends. Yes, her magic is simply ribbons but she kept her mastery over them to herself. Oh, Madoka? She’s a sweetheart isn’t she? But I’d stay away from her shooting range if I were you. 

It comes as a surprise to both Mami and Azul at how well they could read one another; almost transparent really. The longer she stayed at Mostro Lounge and talk to Azul, the more she sees herself in him. A lost, insecure girl that she worked hard to hide from everyone. Including herself. 

As for Azul, Mami’s polite veneer and gentle smile are eerily similar to his. Unlike with the rest of the girls, Mami understands him more than he’d like and a small part of him wonders if the two of them are more alike than anyone think. Both indivisual has a strong wall/front to protect themselves against the world. 

Jade, being the observer that he is, notice the walls that Mami has around her from their daily interactions. How could he not when Azul has the same walls around him as well? He wonders just what could shatter these two until their vulnerable selves are bare for the world to judge. He had been waiting for some time with Azul, but now he’s keeping an eye on Mami as well. It would be quite a show for sure. 

Even after submitting their assignment, Mami still couldn’t get a read on what Jade really think most of the time. He sounds amused at every little thing and his endless patience when it comes to his erratic twin brother is admirable. Mami has an inkling that Jade enjoys toying with people but without evidence, she can’t call him out on it. 

Floyd finds Mami pretty but so boring. No matter how much he tried to tease or antagonised her, she didn’t react like Kyouko at all. She wants to squeeze her like how he’s trying to do to Kyouko but her ribbons are always fast to seperate them or bind him so she could make a quick get away. Floyd wants to fight her too! Floyd wants to see just how strong Mami really is. 

As for Mami, Floyd is a headache to deal with. He’s like a sadistic child who enjoys tearing the wings of insects. The moment he burst out of the kitchen, trying to squeeze the breath out of Mami just as she was about to leave Mostro Lounge, Mami already plan to stay away from him. Kyouko might humoured him, but she’s not. 

SCARABIA! 

Despite how strict Vil is on his dorm mates, he’s known to reward their hard work from time to time. And recently? For scoring well in her Alchemy test, Vil gifted Mami a flower hairpin in a reminiscent of the one that she wears with her Soul Gem in her Magicl Girl outfit. It’s pretty, light and Rook praise how it enhance her beauty even more. 

So Mami has been wearing the flower hairpin every day. She loves it because it also symbolises as a token of her achievement. Even Kyouko think that it looks good on her.

One day while she’s walking through the hallways of the college’s main building, Mami didn’t realised that the hairpin fell off. She only realised when she return to Pomefiore to retire for the day. Needless to say that Mami was upset when she found her hairpin missing. She texted her friends if they had seen it but they all reply back that they haven’t but they promised to keep an eye out for it. So Mami went to bed distraught that day. 

The next day arrive and Mami is a little distracted. She’s looking for her hairpin in between her classes and she would absentmindedly play with her hair where the hairpin should be. 

It’s during the afternoon when lunchtime is nearly over that someone suddenly ambush her with a loud and happy shout. 

“Tomeo-san! Tomeo-san! Over here!” 

Swooshing through the air on his magic carpet, Mami watch with wide eyes as Kalim jump off, rolled onto the ground and presented her flower hairpin to her with a wide grin. “I think this is yours, Tomoe-san!” 

Mami broke into a delightful laugh and then shyly smile. This senior made quite an entrance and an unforgettable first impression on her! She thanked him for finding her hairpin after she clips it back on her hair. That’s when Mami and Kalim introduces themselves to one another. 

Unlike with Jade, Mami immediately hit it off with Kalim. She doesn’t have to watch her words and genuinely enjoy his company whenever she visit Scarabia for hers and Homura’s research time. Although he tends to go over the top (trying to ply the girls with sweets, snacks, drinks, comfy pillows and etc), Mami is aware that he genuinely wants her to feel welcome at his dorm.

In the rare occasion that Homura has to leave Mami and Kalim for a brief moment, Mami would curiously ask the Dorm Leader how Homura is faring in Scarabia. To which Kalim would not hesitant divulging about Homura’s well-being. 

Kalim’s answers astound Mami. Mami honestly didn’t expect anyone could become close enough with Homura to melt her icy exterior! Kalim must be special to her, Mami guessed. Throughout her brief stay at Scarabia, she studied how the two of them interact. It amaze her that Kalim could eeked out a small smile from the aloof girl. So when Kalim saw her off and Homura went to help her Vice Dorm Leader in the storeroom, Mami quietly apologise for asking Kalim to take on her request, but won’t he please keep an eye on Homura and continue to be her friend? She explains that the girls struggle to connect with Homura; no matter how hard they tried. Kalim happily accept Mami’s request and tells her not to worry. Homura is a dear friend to everyone here in Scarabia. 

As for Kalim, the only thing he initally know about Mami is that she’s super strong (courtsey from Homura), super pretty and that the Pomefiore dorm claimed her as their princess in all but blood. So already he thinks her as an awesome girl. After getting to know her a little more, Kalim feels that Mami has the same vibe as Jamil. She’s very hard working, resposible and look out for her friends - so he couldn’t help but make the comparison.

Jamil and Mami merely regard each other as acquaintances. Among the girls that visited Homura, Mami is the easiest to attend to. She’s happy enough with a simple cup of tea and a slice of cake as she studied with Homura. Her manners are also impaccable so Jamil usually leave the girls to themselves without any worries while he runs the dorm. As an individual, Jamil can respect Mami as the leader of the girls. She seem as someone who has her life together despite being transported to TW. 

Mami sees so many similarities Jamil has with Homura that it’s uncanny. Both have trouble smiling, both are dedicated to someone who is the exact opposite of them and both are... secretive. They kept their emotions hidden from the world that it’s hard to understand what they’re thinking. Mami wonder between him and Jade, which of them is the most dangerous and decide that she hopes she would never have to find out. 

IGNIHYDE!         

Mami has heard that Kyouko would babysit her Dorm Leader’s nephew from time to time and she just so happend to caught her following a small lion cub and an also a small... robot boy? 

“Oh, Mami. What’s up?”

“Waaaa~ What a pretty lady. Here! a pretty flower for a pretty lady!”

Mami beams, deeply touched, when the small lion cub thrust a crudely picked flower to Mami. Dirt clung on his hand and flower, but Mami happily accept it. 

“Thank you, little one. I’ll keep it safe with me.” She thanked the boy and pressed the flower inside one of the textbook Mami is carrying. 

That was when the lion cub introduces himself as Cheka and that Leona is his beloved uncle! 

The robot boy then introdues himself as Ortho Shroud. He asked if Mami would like to play with them to which she unhesitatingly accept. She was supposed to join a study session, but the two boys are just so adorable that she couldn’t possible reject! So Mami brought them to the gardens of Pomefiore when Cheka mentioned that he wants to pick a bunch of flowers for his uncle, papa and mama. The boys immediately dash off for the many flowers Pomefiore offers while Mami and Kyouko sat near the well. As they talked, Mami notice that Kyouko is actually attentive to the kids whereabous; her eyes would glance over at the patch of flowers and Mami could sense her magic wraps protectively around Cheka and Ortho. Mami didn’t need to ask to know that they remind Kyouko of her lost little sister. She will spare her from the pain. 

Ortho then ran up to them, asking for some blue flowers that he wanted to give to his older brothers. He flash a couple of holograms of the types of flowers he’s looking for. Since the flowers that he wanted are at the gardens on the otherside of the dorm, Mami offer to bring him there while Kyouko entertained Cheka with making some flower crowns for Jack and Ruggie. 

Mami help Ortho gather a bunch of cornflowers, irises, periwinkles, gentians until the two have a huge bouquet. She uses her yellow ribbon to tied the flowers beautifully. The two of them cheer at their hard work. 

Mami adores Ortho and Cheka. She loves listening to Ortho talk and praise endllessly about his cool, awesome older brother and how friendly the Ignihyde students to him. 

(Now that Ortho mentioned it, Mami couldn’t recall when the last time she spot a student wearing a blue coloured school uniform.)

Ortho’s magic also react strangly with hers. Nothing malicious; it just feel like a film of oil above a clear pool of water. 

Later that day, when Ortho burst into Idia’s bedroom to present the bouquet of flowers to him, he would regale his day to the Dorm Leader. The flowers look a bit out place amongst his gadgets, mini workshop, gaming consoles and many monitors, but the brothers managed to quickly create a mechanical vase and Idia put the flowers beside his bed. When he was untangling Mami’s ribbon, Ortho suddenly recalled her words. He told Idia that it’s a magic ribbon - one that can shrink and lengthen its size according to Idia’s wishes - and that he can use it to bind things and that almost nothing can cut it. 

You can bet that Idia would have a lot of fun testing it out, trying to unravel the principals behind Mami’s magic. 

Among all the girls, he and Idia would only meet face to face when the situation calls for it. While the other girls would stumble upon him or Ortho push them to visit Ignihyde, these two would need an event (Ghost Marriage and etc) to meet up. It’s nothing insidous, just one of those things that happen. 

Although she had never met Ignihyde’s Dorm Leader face to face, judging how much Ortho talks to her about him, Mami readily believes that he’s kind to his little brother and a brilliant introvert. It’s alright; Mami trust that one day she would meet him. 

As for Idia, he knows he’s going to faint once he meets Mami. It was bad enough having to deal with the fact that Homura and Kyouko would sometimes drop by his dorm for a visit, to have the most beautiful girl in NRC physically in front of him? Idia’s certain that Vil would try to murder him if he so as much breath incorrectly around Mami. No, he doesn’t need the stress, thanks!

DIASOMNIA!     

How Mami was introduced to the Diasomnia gang is actually through Malleus, of all people. 

Mami was requested by Vil to find Rook when the Vice Dorm Leader refused to answered his phone or reply his texts. This displeased him (and Mami saw the worry behind his cold eyes) since Rook is not known to ignore Vil’s calls. Since Mami had no plans for the day, she accepts and went out to search for the hunter. 

She had gifted the hunter her ribbon during their recent shooting practise and Rook made a grand show of tying it around his bow. So she only need to follow the trail from her magic ribbon. Sensing that Rook is somewhere deep in the forest, she waste no time fetching him. The longer they keep Vil waiting, the angrier he gets. 

The forest is quiet, safe for the chirpings birds and rustling leaves when the breeze pass through. 

However, when she sense that Rook is close by, she also sense a really powerful magic. The sheer power of it reminds Mami of Madoka’s. Yet unlike Madoka’s, it’s dark and a beneath it’s calm surface there’s a maelstrom ready to be unleash should the user so wishes. This had Mami immediately summoning her muskets out of caution when she finally come across the owner of such magic. 

Her eyes widen and her muskets are lowered slightly. She knows this senior. She often seen him around Madoka after all. 

“Oh? What interesting weapons. It’s been so long since someone dare to point their weapons at me.” 

It’s Madoka’s Dorm Leader! Mami hastily puts away her muskets and apologise. She didn’t mean to attack him; she sensed something unfamiliar and dangerous and her Magical Girl training kicks in. 

Malleus hums and ponders to himself. Usually people flinch away when they sense him, but it’s truly rare that someone would be brave enough to challenge him. And so he introduces himself because this human girl deserve it and it delight him that her heartbeat is calm and her words sincere when Mami introduces herself and said that it’s a pleasure to meet Madoka’s senior. 

Strength comes in many form, Lilia once told him. And after observing Vil and those that under him, Malleus understood the strength behind all that are beautiful and glittered. And while Mami does share the same strength, she also possess something else. Something dark and terrible should she falters. Malleus wonders if her friends realised this. But apart from her magic, Mami is a good conversationalist and company during every tea time. Both of them prefer quiet and simple activities and Malleus appreciate that despite his dark magic, Mami continue to be a good friend. They don’t actively seek each other’s company, but whenever they crossed path, they would take the opportunity to catch up. 

Mami look up to Malleus the same way she looks up to her seniors; polite, respectful and friendly. Mami had never really met someone who fits the ‘tall, dark and handsome’ trope but really, it fits Malleus so well. Although he’s not Trey, Mami finds his little musing and odd jokes to be charming. It’s clear that this senior is not that good at socialising so whenever they talk, Mami would do her best to make him feel comfortable. 

Because of their friendship and Madoka as their connection, Malleus announce that he would like to invite Mami to their next midnight picnic. This intrigue Lilia, Silver and Sebek since Malleus had never invite someone before to their gathering! (That and Malleus smugly keep his friendship with Mami a secret up until now because a tiny part of him wanted to show off to his family that he can make friends all on his own).

(Someone please give Malleus a cookie for doing a good job at socialising). 

Madoka is very excited to have Mami join them for their picnic. Everyone is very welcoming to Mami. Well, in their odd ways. Mami quickly pull the plate of scones away before Silver could face-planted on his food and promptly conked out and she readily cover her ears with her palms and smile widely when Sebek gets loud whenever he’s excited. Mami is always ready to roll with it and she’s enjoy every seconds she spend with her new friends. 

Silver likes Mami well enough. He’d seen Kyouko and Sayaka fight before (spar with them even) and all the girls had mentioned more than once before how strong she is. It’s not every day that there’s a Pomefiore student with strong magical ability. And since she’s docile and Malleus treasure their talks, Silver doesn’t mind her quiet company. 

For a human, Mami reminds Sebek of one of the noble’s ladies back at the Valley of Thorns, beautiful but you know she’s just as magically strong. He’s slightly envious at how compose and pragmatic at everything Mami does; be it in classes or fighting. He’s looking forward to see just why the other girls readily admits that Mami is the strongest out of them all. 

Like Malleus, Mami finds Silver and Sebek to be delightful companies. Honestly, nowadays she’s very happy to have lots of wonderful friends. Really, what more could a lonely girl ask for? 

To know that these two are knights and that Malleus is their prince and future king, it feels like Mami had stepped into a fairytale. When she admits it, Lilia suddenly thought of an idea. To help Malleus, Silver and Sebeke ease into their future roles, they should role play as his court during tea time! Always down to play dressed up, Mami let herself be swept away by him. 

Now, Mami sees Lilia as a wise senior (he always have some word of advice or just know what to say to cheer Madoka up) but strangely, his mischeviousness and playful smiles makes it so easy for Mami to talk about anything with him. From the most mundane things like the new hairstyle that Rook taught her to her quietly admitting that sometimes it’s difficult for her to make decisions that could potentially harm her friends. She finds immense comfort at Lilia’s assurance and patience. So she treasures every advices that Lilia give her; yes, even if it ended up pranking her in the end. 

As for Lilia, he couldn’t help but take Mami under his wings. This reserved girl who is force to carry the burden of leadership for someone so young. Her mastery over her own magic and impressive fighting prowess both impressed and saddened this ancient Fae. So Mami better get ready to not only being look after by him, but watch out for his pranks because Lilia whole heartedly believe that kids should be kids. Mami should not have to worry about being a good leader to her friends or worry over their well being all the time; she should just be a student and have fun!    

 - 

I was rushing to edit this part, tbh. Wanted to post it on Monday originally, but I had plans with the family on Sunday for the whole day and since today (Wednesday) is a public holiday. I thought to try and make it this week.             

[greekgeek21]

A Percabeth Holiday AU

Hello, readers! I decided to write something last minute before xmas and it wasn't finished being edited until now, so I'm sorry about that. This might have a Part 2, Idk. It depends on the response to this. This is mostly just to give to my followers to hold them over until my Avengers/PJO fanfic is ready (early march?). It's kinda a Goodgirl!Annabeth and Punk/Badboy!Percy fanfic. Mortal au. And a special thanks to my amazing beta reader, JJ (nightskywithrainbows on Ao3). You are a really great person if you can sit through my unedited stuff, trust me. *shudders* Go check out their stuff on Ao3!

I hope you like this! Comment, like, and follow me pls! 

– your author

DISCLAIMER: Sadly, only rick has the pleasure of owning pjo.

Ω❖Ω

Annabeth wasn't sure who she offended, but it had to be somebody. There was no way her luck was just THIS BAD.

First, she found out that she's required to go to her family's Christmas dinner. You know, the one with the whole extended family as well. Then, her stupid pride got in the way again. Her evil stepmother was interrogating her on her nonexistent love life, and Annabeth, being stupid, said that she was bringing a date to dinner, even though she hadn't been planning on it. Now, Annabeth had one week to find someone willing to go to Hell with her.

Unfortunately, Annabeth wasn't exactly what one might call "popular." She had a group of friends at school, but they were all like her. They were smart and tended to act like know-it-alls. For that reason, she was having trouble finding someone good enough to go with. There was no way Annabeth was going to show up with anyone ordinary. If she was going to go through with this, it had to be spectacular. She had to show it to her judgemental extended family that she didn't care what they thought of her (even if she definitely did).

Her only option so far was the one boy at her table, Octavian and that was NOT an option she was willing to take. Nobody knew why he even sat with them, but they were too afraid to even ask him. He always just sat there staring at people. He was a real creep.

So that was a no.

Annabeth was stuck. She was desperate, and she would probably ask the next person who walked into their shitty school quad.

Just her luck that it was the school's resident bad boy, Percy Jackson.

Ω❖Ω

Annabeth decided to corner him after school, where there would hopefully less students around. Percy tended to hang around the more forgotten parts of the campus, so it shouldn't be too hard.

Not that Annabeth had been watching him, or anything. She just liked to observe the people around her. In her opinion, you can learn a lot about a person when they don't know you're looking.

As soon as the last bell rang, she was up and out of her seat, speed-walking out the classroom door and into the hallways. She didn't run, though. Even if what she was doing was the most stupid idea she'd ever had, it was the best option in the short amount of time before the dinner.

Her only worry was that he would say no. Of course, Annabeth was the best at manipulation, but she'd rather not use that. It made her feel sick inside.

So, her plan was to just ask first and MAYBE use some manipulation if necessary to get him to agree.

Percy ended up being right where she suspected: the roof. She had seen him and his friends heading up that way multiple times, so she thought she should start there. As always, her deduction was correct.

He was up there with his group of friends, so Annabeth figured she would need a way to separate him from them. It was already embarrassing enough to be asking this of him, let alone three others as well.

They hadn't heard her open the door, so Annabeth took a second to compose herself before approaching them. She evened out her expression and stood up tall, exuding an air of confidence. She was about to approach the "most dangerous" kids in school, so she had to be strong.

With a deep, calming breath, Annabeth strode over to the group. They noticed her when she was about half-way there. They were all either sitting on the ledge, or they were leaning up against the small wall. The group had just laughed at something one of them said, but their laughter died out at the sight of Annabeth.

Percy's friends were Nico di Angelo, Thalia Grace, and Grover Underwood. Grover wasn't like the other three in his fashion sense or personality, but he had been friends with them for longer than anyone knew, so nobody really questioned it. Annabeth suspected something, but she didn't want to delve too deep into the inner-workings of the clique.

They all stood up in a sort of defensive stance. None of them knew what to do with someone like Annabeth Chase walking up to them. They were ALL in undocumented territory here.

She walked right up to Percy, standing with her arms crossover in front of her. He raised his eyebrows and looked down at her, amused and confused at the same time. What would ANNABETH CHASE want with him. He didn't remember doing anything to piss her off.

"Yes?" he asked with his signature troublemaker smirk.

"Come with me," Annabeth ordered, turning around and starting to walk away.

When he didn't follow, she looked back at him and spoke again, this time with a more icy tone, "If you want to talk here, that's fine with me, but I'm not so sure you want your friends to hear what I have to say. Unless you want them to know how you're failing–"

"Stop! I'm coming," he interrupted, briskly following her through the roof-access door.

Sure, he trusted his friends, but he was still capable of embarrassment. It wasn't his fault that his Math teacher didn't care that he had dyslexia. So what if he was failing, anyway? He was barely passing in his other classes, and that was mostly because the teachers thought he would fight them or something if they failed him.

Percy didn't know how Annabeth knew he was failing, and he wasn't planning on keeping it that way. He knew her reputation. She had probably manipulated it out of the front office lady or something. She was known to be cold and ruthless. He wasn't afraid of her, but others were. That's part of the reason she was never asked out by any sane guys.

He didn't think she knew that, though. She had always acted indifferent when others whispered crude names about her, so he believed she had no idea what others thought about her. How she managed to miss that, he wasn't sure.

She just kept walking ahead of him, expecting him to follow. She never said a word the entire time. It was really getting on Percy's nerves.

"Hey, Blondie! Where are we going?" he asked, grabbing her arm to stop them as they were passing through one of the hallways.

Annabeth ripped her arm free of his grasp, a murderous look on her face. She didn't answer, but instead looked around their surroundings before her gaze sharpened on a door leading into a janitor's closet. Percy got even more confused when she grabbed his arm and pulled him into the closet with her.

This girl was so confusing.

"What are we doing here?" Percy asked, noting how close they were forced to be in the small space.

Annabeth had noticed, too, but she was determined to not let it bother her. She had already sacrificed all pride even walking up to the group, let alone shoving Percy Jackson into a closet with her. There was no turning back now.

"I have a proposition for you," she said.

Percy raised his eyebrows in amusement, "And what do you think you have that I would want?"

This was Annabeth's secret bargaining chip. She would never go into a confrontation without one.

"I'll tutor you," she stated simply.

She knew that Percy was failing Math. Annabeth was one of the students who offered to tutor others in lower classes. She was in Honors Calculus, and Percy was in Pre-Calculus. It would be easy to tutor him in a class she had taken last year.

Percy was still skeptical, though. Nobody did things like this without some serious reciprocation. Besides, he had long since given up on doing better in school. It was better to just make other think you weren't trying than to let them know you were stupid.

Still, he was interested. "And what do you want in return...?"

"A date." If Percy had been drinking something, he would have done a spit-take.

"I'm sorry, WHAT?!" he exclaimed.

Annabeth sighed. This is going to be harder than I thought.

"I want you to be my date to a family dinner," she over-pronounced every word to make sure he heard it all.

Percy was gaping like a fish out of water. He couldn't believe this! Why would someone like ANNABETH CHASE want HIM of all people to be her date, to a family dinner no less!

"You're joking, right? This was some sort of prank?" he said.

Annabeth wished that were true.

"No, this is not a prank. I really need you to be my date. I'm desperate," she sighed. "Why do you think I'm asking you?"

It was still pretty hard to believe, but Percy was trying to warm up to the idea. He really didn't want to see that same disappointed look on his mother's face the next time he came home with another failing grade.

"Alright, I'll consider it. I need more information first," he said.

Honestly, Percy was even surprising himself. How he was managing to not make a fool out of himself right now was a mystery and a miracle.

"We can't do that here," Annabeth pointed out, glancing around the tight space they were in.

"You're right," Then an idea came to Percy, "What if we go to your house. I'm gonna have to get to know you better, anyway."

Plus, Percy had a feeling that it would get under her skin to have him around her things, and annoying people was apparently what he did best. Even if this little deal did go well, he still had a reputation to uphold. He was the bad boy, the kid who you don't want dating your daughter, or whatever. For that reason, he wanted to make sure he knew what he was getting into first.

"Fine," Annabeth ground out through clenched teeth.

She was already regretting this decision.

Ω❖Ω

"Oh, no. I'm not getting on that thing," Annabeth planted her feet onto the ground.

After Percy had texted his friends saying he was heading home, him and Annabeth had gone out to the parking lot, and since Annabeth had missed her ride, their only options were walking or taking Percy's motorcycle. She would rather walk.

"Come on, blondie! Let's just get out of here!" Percy was getting agitated.

He did not want to be seen letting Annabeth onto his bike. He was known for not letting anyone touch it, let alone ride it.

"Do you know what the fatality rate for motorcyclists is?" she exclaimed.

Percy sighed, "No, and I really don't care. You can wear the helmet. We'll be fine. It's only, like, three miles, right?"

She had told Percy her address when he asked, and he had known the neighborhood. However, she was still refusing to get on that death trap.

Percy let out an almost animalistic growl, "Chase, get on the damn bike before someone sees you doing it and thinks we're going to hook up, or something."

Her eyes widened in fear. From him or the idea of hooking up with him, Percy didn't know, but it got the job done. She grabbed the helmet from his hands and slid onto the bike seat behind him.

He kicked the bike into gear and the engine roared to life, "Hold on!"

Tentatively, Annabeth wrapped her arms around his torso. Once she was secured, he hit the gas and they drove off campus.

Annabeth didn't want to admit it, but Percy was really warm and comforting. It was intoxicating just to be this close to him. His scent reminded her of a warm day at the beach, and she had to hold herself back from hugging him close when he sped up. She did not like Percy Jackson, and that was the end of it. This was just a business deal.

Percy was going through a similar problem. He thought that having Annabeth Chase's arms wrapped around him would make him flinch away, but he found himself leaning back into her embrace. It was so confusing. They had barely talked. The last time he had held something resembling a conversation with her was in Freshman Orientation four years ago.

He was lost in his thoughts, but he was still able to navigate his way to her house. He had lived in New York his whole life, and it was almost muscle memory getting everywhere by now.

"We're here," he told her as he turned the bike off in front of her apartment building.

She had subconsciously tucked her face into his back as the wind whipped against it on the trip. As soon as she realized, she jumped up from the bike and started taking the helmet off.

"Well...let's get inside," she said, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet.

Percy cleared his throat, "Right."

He climbed off, grabbed his bag, and followed Annabeth into her building and up the stairs. She hadn't spoken again, so he just followed her lead.

Stopping on the third floor platform, she silently walked into the hallway. She led them to apartment 3E before taking out a set of house-keys from her pocket and unlocking the door.

Before they could get farther than the entryway, she rounded back around at him, "Stay quiet. I don't want anyone knowing you're here."

"Got it," he nodded, resisting the urge to make a sarcastic remark. For some reason, he felt that it wasn't the right time to.

They tiptoed their way to the third door down before Annabeth once again shoved him into a room with her. Except this one was larger, cleaner, and brighter. Annabeth's room was nothing like he would expect. It was clean in the sense that there were no clothes sitting around in random places, but it was cluttered like nobody's business. Her desk was overflowing with blueprints and pencils and pens, and her large bookcase was bulging with more books than Percy had even heard of. She had an old fashioned, white dresser on the right covered in lotions and perfumes and other girl products. And then her bed: a white frame with a fluffy grey comforter and two marshmallow-like pillows. Even looking at it made him want to pass out. Upon further inspection, Percy saw that there were already three books sitting on the mattress, and two more on the nightstand. He knew she was smart, but not that she was a bookworm, though he supposed that came with being smart. You enjoyed doing things that others struggled with.

That just made him bitter towards her again. People like her used to patronize him all the time for his dyslexia and ADHD, and it pushed him to become who he was today. What right did they have to act all high-and-mighty just because they were a part of the few who did well in school?

Annabeth's voice broke through his thoughts, "Sorry for the mess. I didn't expect company today."

"It's whatever," he grumbled, crawling back into his rock-hard, badboy shell.

"Oh. Alright," Annabeth muttered, confused by his sudden change in demeanor, "Why don't we sit down and get started?"

She plopped herself down on her fluffy rug and learned back against her bed, staring up at him in wait. With another grumble, Percy sat down next to her, pulling out an old pen from his pocket. Annabeth didn't want to question it, but it was so tempting, and she's never been the best at curving her curiosity.

"Why do you have that?" she pointed at the ballpoint pen.

"It was a gift from my dad. I guess I just keep it around now," he shrugged, trying to downplay the actual enormity of the meaning it held.

It was the last thing his father had given him before he died, and he cherished it. Only his close friends knew why he kept it with him, and that was because most of them were his cousins.

"Oh. That's cool, I guess," Annabeth tried to get back on topic, "What do you want to know?"

"Um...I guess who's going to be there, stuff about them, and stuff about you. I feel like I should know more about you if I'm meeting your family. That usually means you're important," Percy answered, surprising himself and Annabeth with the unusually strategic answer.

"Well, it's going to be this immediate family, two of my dad's sibling's families, and my dad's parents," Annabeth said, and Percy noted how she never said her family.

"I have my dad, step-mom, and two half-brothers, respectively Fredrick Chase, Helen Chase, and Bobby and Matthew Chase. Dad is a US history-buff, so just ask him about his model-planes and he'll talk your ear off for the rest of the night. Helen is kinda a prude, but if you compliment the food or decor, she'll probably love you. Bobby and Matt are pretty simple. They're thirteen-year-old twin boys, and they're not that hard to impress. Just talk about your motorcycle or video games or something, and they'll never stop asking questions," she took a big breath of air, "That's the immediate family."

"Now for my aunt and uncle's families. My Aunt Darcy is divorced with one son in college, Malcolm. He's great, but he might be a little overprotective, so just be prepared for that. And my Uncle Casey has a wife and two daughters. His wife is named Carol, and she's a lot like Helen, but much worse, so avoid her at all costs. Their kids are alright, if not a little spoiled. Their names are Alexandra and Cassandra, and their 14 and 16 respectively. Alexandra goes by Lexi, and Cassandra goes by Cass," Annabeth said.

She could tell that everything she was saying was overwhelming Percy, but they were almost done, so she kept explaining the inner workings of her messed-up family.

"My grandparents hate me, so that will automatically transfer to you. Their names are Mary and John Chase, though they'll probably tell you what they want to be called," she informed, "And that's it! The dinner is in 7 days, so the third day of winter break."

It was the Wednesday before break as they were talking, so they had a while to prepare. Some might think Annabeth was overinforming Percy, but she wasn't exaggerating on anything. She was the mistake her father made in college, and nobody wanted her, not even her own mother. Annabeth hadn't even seen her mother in two years. The most she got were impersonal birthday cards and two hundred dollars into her college savings account. She was not winning in the motherly-love department, that's for sure.

"What about you? Or us? We need a reason for why you're bringing ME to a family dinner," Percy said.

"I've planned for that. You're a friend from school named Percy. We'll figure more stuff out at the dinner as we come up with stuff. And what do you want to know about me?" she said.

"Basic stuff, I guess. Like your favorite color, animal, what you want to be, middle name, favorite song..." he started listing off.

"Grey, owl, architect, I don't have a middle name, and I guess Immortals or The Run and Go," Annabeth answered.

That shocked Percy. Annabeth didn't seem like the kind of girl to listen to Fall Out Boy.

"You listen to Fall Out Boy?" Percy questioned.

"Sure, they're great," Annabeth shrugged, getting up and grabbing her backpack before sitting back down again, "But I feel like we should get a grasp on your studying situation now."

Percy really didn't feel like studying, but he knew he had to, "Fine."

"Great! Let's get started. Now what unit are you guys on right now?" she exclaimed, feigning excitement.

Honestly Annabeth didn't know what to expect going in besides a struggle. She had a pretty good idea of Percy's grades at the moment, and it would be a journey getting them to rise. However, she never backs down from a challenge, so she grabbed an old textbook, some scratch paper, and a couple pencils before sitting next to the mysterious bad boy of Goode High.

Little did she know, Annabeth was in for a lot more than she bargained for...

Ω❖Ω

"Annabeth!" Percy called out, running up to her in the hallways.

Annabeth's friends all turned to look at her in various degrees of shock. She just gave them a sheepish look in return. So what if she had conveniently forgot to tell them about her deal with Percy? It's not like it was that important, anyway.

It was the last day before break, Friday, and Percy was stressing about the test he had next period. It was in Math, and he knew that him and Annabeth had worked really hard getting him prepared the days before, but he was still convinced he was going to fail.

"I'm so screwed," he said as he reached her, not even paying a mind to her friends watching this interaction in confusion, "I'm so gonna fail!"

"Percy, you are going to do fine. You are prepared for this," Annabeth assured.

"No, I'm not! Everything you taught me is gone! It ran away in fear!" he protested.

Annabeth tried not to laugh, but a small smile graced her lips, "Just take a breath and relax. You're going to do great."

Personally, Percy thought that was a load of crap, but at that precise moment, he realized that almost everyone around them was staring at the baddest boy in school talking to the nerdiest girl, so he shut up. He turned and gave everyone his best wolf glare before walking away.

Annabeth watched him go with a fond sigh.

Then, she mentally slapped herself. Get a hold of yourself! You do NOT like Percy Jackson, she thought. There was no way.

It was hard not to, though. Annabeth didn't like lying to herself, so she admitted that she thought Percy was pretty hot. But they would never work. For starters, there was their respective social statuses. And then there's also the tiny part about how they even started becoming "friends" or whatever else you call their relationship.

So, she took a deep breath before walking to her first class, ignoring her friend's threats about interrogations later.

At lunch, before Annabeth could even make it to the cafeteria, a hand latched onto her arm and pulled her up to the roof. Of course, she realized it was Percy pretty fast, but she was still confused on what was going on.

When they got up there, he pulled up to the same spot from Wednesday and took a piece of paper out of his bag. He held it up proudly in front of her face without a word, displaying the large red B- on the paper.

Her face broke out into a grin and before she could realize what she was doing, Annabeth jumped up into his arms.

"Oh my god! You did it! Congrats!" she exclaimed.

He chuckled, and put her down before saying, "Thanks! The teacher graded it for me right after. I don't think I've gotten this good of a grade ever!"

"Well, now you have," Annabeth couldn't help it, she gave him one more, sweeter, hug.

"I couldn't have done it without you," Percy said, placing a calloused hand on her cheek.

Annabeth blushed and shook her head, "No, you did this all by yourself. I just helped push you along a little."

And, GOD, she smiled that cute smile and Percy really wanted to kiss her. Then he realized what he had just thought and quickly pulled his hand down. No, Percy was impulsive, but he wasn't that stupid.

Inside, Annabeth was a little disappointed, but she didn't show it on the outside. She just smiled at him once more before taking a step away.

Percy cleared his throat, "Well, I've gotta get going...somewhere. I'll see you Wednesday."

"Oh! Right. Yeah. See you Wednesday," Annabeth responded before remembering, "Oh! I almost forgot, dress nicely."

Percy grimaced, but he figured he owed her for helping him get this grade, so he nodded while opening the roof access door.

Both of them had a lot to think about. There was no way they were developing feelings for each other. It was impossible. Percy was Percy, and Annabeth was Annabeth. There was no Percy and Annabeth or Annabeth and Percy. They were two separate people in two completely different parts of the high school caste system.

Ω❖Ω

Annabeth was freaking out. It was a stupid idea to begin with, but she still did it. She let her emotions control her, and it led her to that morning; the morning of the dinner.

She was pacing back and forth, running a path along her carpet in her bedroom. She had two outfits laid out on her bed, but she wasn't too worried about those yet. What she was worried about was Percy. Annabeth had started to somewhat trust him, but as soon as she had woken up that morning, every possible way he could let her down popped into her head.

Sure, she kinda wanted him to surprise her father by his appearance, but that was only as a small act of rebellion. Her father had mentioned that he hadn't seen any boys around ever, and that he was concerned about her social life. Therefore, she decided to give him the opposite of what boy you bring home to your parents. She was giving him Percy Jackson.

Oh, she was such an idiot!! There was no way Percy was going to follow through with his side of the deal, he had already gotten what he wanted. She helped him pass his math test, and now she wasn't needed anymore. He could cut her loose, just like her mother.

Annabeth felt her chest constrict in anticipation of an anxiety attack. She knew what was going on, and how to handle it. These weren't uncommon with her. So, she sat herself down on her bed and started counting her breathing. Inhale two three four, hold two three four, exhale two three four, repeat. Soon enough, she was calming down, and then her mind realized how irrational she had been acting. There was no reason to doubt Percy until he gave her one. She had to put her trust in him, something she had done to hardly anyone.

But she had already committed, and Annabeth Chase does not back down from challenges. She could do this.

Ω❖Ω

Percy was also freaking out.

Okay, so not as badly as Annabeth, but it was bad in its own right. He had admitted days ago that he felt something more than friendship towards Annabeth, but he still refused to believe it was a crush. Percy Jackson didn't get crushes. Or at least, that's what everyone in school believed, and in high school, your reputation is hard to get rid of (mostly because nobody wants to). So what if he let everyone believe he was a womanizer? It's not like it was true, and he and his friends knew that. He respected women more than probably every boy in Goode. Being raised by Sally Jackson tends to do that to you.

So there he was, freaking out over not having anything to wear. Don't get him wrong, Percy had plenty of clothes, but not one of them was appropriate for a "formal dinner." And if he had any chance of furthering his relationship with Annabeth, he had to be perfect. This night had to be perfect, for her.

Oh god, he sounded like a lovesick puppy!

He took one last look at his closet before falling back onto his bed in defeat. That was when an idea struck him. Thalia, his cousin, had a brother (who could also be classified as a cousin), and he was dating Piper, a total fashionista. They had only really interacted a couple of times, but he knew that she was a nice person. If anyone could pull him out of the ditch he had dug himself, it would be her. The only problem with his plan was how he was going to convince her. He hadn't even told his mom about the deal with Annabeth, let alone his little cousin's girlfriend!

In his typical Percy way, he decided to just wing it.

He grabbed his phone off his bedside table and pulled up Jason's contact, which was labeled "Sparky." Percy quickly sent a text asking for Piper's number, and it took a while to convince Jason that he wasn't trying to make a move on her, but he eventually got it.

With speed his dyslexic brain didn't know it was capable of, he texted Piper, letting her know who he was and telling her it was urgent for her to get to his apartment. She responded with a question mark, and he let out a groan of frustration.

Didn't she understand that this was a life or death situation?!

Finally, he just decided to call Piper. His tone of voice would hopefully sway her.

"What do you want, Jackson?" she answered on the first ring.

"I need your help," he answered.

"Too bad. I don't feel like committing any felonies today, sorry," she said.

"No, nothing like that! I need you to come to my apartment," he responded.

She scoffed, "I'm definitely not doing that. What's this about?"

With a sigh, Percy relented in a whisper, "I need your fashion advice."

"Sorry, what was that? You need to speak up," she said.

"I said, I need your fashion advice. Actually, I need your help dressing for a formal dinner," he answered.

She actually burst out laughing.

"This isn't funny, Piper," he grumbled.

"No no, you're right. This is hilarious! Percy Jackson, asking for fashion advice for a formal dinner!" she broke out into another bout of laughter.

"McLean! Are you gonna help me or not?" Percy snapped.

The girl in question took a deep, calming breath before answering, "Sure. I'll be there in 20."

Without waiting for his response, she hung up.

Percy had the strange feeling that he had just made a huge mistake as he settled onto his living room couch, waiting to open the door for Piper.

Ω❖Ω

"Annabeth! Come down here! I need your help!" Helen called from downstairs.

Annabeth had managed to distract herself for another couple of hours with homework and reading, but now her step mother wanted her to help with preparations, which would only remind her that the dinner was coming up. She didn't want to be reminded, but she also wasn't in the mood for a fight with Helen. So, she pulled herself up from her desk chair and went downstairs.

What she found was not the downstairs of her home. It was completely different. Decorations were set up everywhere, and the living room had been stripped clean of any of Bobby and Matthew's toys. The dining room was where she found Helen, who was hurriedly setting the table.

Annabeth was a little confused. Last she checked, they still had an hour before anyone would be showing up, so why was Helen acting like they had five minutes?

"Helen?" she asked, "You do know we have another hour, right?"

Her step mother's head snapped up, "Yes, I do know that. That's why I'm rushing. I still have to finish making the food, and put more presents under the tree, and finish setting the table, and get your brothers to clean up upstairs. We're running out of time!"

Annabeth really didn't want to comfort Helen, but she seemed like she really needed it.

"I'll help you. We'll get it all done, okay? It's gonna be okay," she said, "Why don't you go finish dinner while I finish setting the table? Then we can get ready while the boys clean up upstairs. We'll figure out the rest after."

"O-okay. Just make sure it all matches! Lord knows I have enough issues with your grandparents already," Helen agreed with a deep breath.

"Bye," Annabeth nudged when Helen didn't move.

"Right! Bye," she walked into the kitchen.

With a sigh, Annabeth continued her stepmother's work. She knew that this dinner had to be perfect for more than just her now.

Ω❖Ω

"Thank god you're here!" Percy pulled Piper through the front door and to his bedroom, ignoring her sounds of shock and protest.

"What are you doing?!" she exclaimed.

"I told you. I need your help," Percy answered.

He pointed towards his closet, which was disappointing him more with every passing minute. Why couldn't he just be a good closet and produce some nice clothes to wear? Was that so much to ask?

"Okay, I know that, but can I have some background info? Like who you're doing this for?" Piper said.

"No," he answered on instinct.

No way was he telling her that it was for a sorta-date with Annabeth Chase. He knew her reputation of being a total matchmaker, and he was not in the mood for her canoodling. It was just part of a deal. He had to keep that mindset if he had any chance of getting through the night.

Okay, so he wasn't being completely honest with himself! So what?

"Percy, I need to know what kind of event I'm dressing you for," Piper said in a gentle, but urgent tone, "I promise I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to."

She seemed to be serious, so Percy relented, "I'm going to a formal dinner with Annabeth Chase's family."

Whatever she had been thinking, his answer clearly wasn't it. Her face split into one of shock and then giddiness.

"I knew it! Jason said I was crazy, but I knew it! You like her! Oh, you guys are such a cute couple!" she exclaimed, practically jumping up and down in excitement.

Percy rushed to correct her, "No no no! We're not dating! We made a deal. I would go to this dinner with her if she became my tutor."

Piper's face fell.

"Oh. Well, I guess I can still help you," she muttered, "But I still think you guys would make the cutest couple!"

Percy let out a sigh of relief. He had started to get really worried there.

Some might think it was odd for him to put this much effort into a date, but this was just the real him; the one he hid from the world. He refused to let anyone take away his power now; to hurt him. No more Gabes.

But that was all in the past.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he yelled.

"No problem," Piper responded before walking up to his closet and starting to file through his clothes.

Every so often, she would make a click of disapprovement, or she would sigh in exasperation, but she never looked up at him. For the longest time, Percy had to hold in his comments. He figured that it was best to be silent while she worked.

This was her specialty, after all.

Piper pulled out a couple of random clothes and tossed them onto his bed.

"This is the best I could do. You seriously need some new clothes, by the way," she said.

By the way she was gazing at his clothes, it almost seemed like Piper was physically hurting for his lack of style. He wasn't sure whether to laugh or be offended.

She had pulled out a black button-up that he never remembered buying, and a pair of new, dark jeans. He would've never worn any of the items, so he concluded that his mother must have bought them for him when she still thought his choice of clothing was just a phase he was going through.

"Put them on!" Piper ordered when she saw him just staring at the outfit.

"Alright, alright. Can you turn around please?" he said, going to lift his shirt off.

She scoffed but complied.

Once he had finished, he told her she could look, and then they just stood in silence for a second. It worried Percy that Piper hadn't said a single word, and was just staring at him.

"Well...?" he prodded.

"Damn! You clean up good, Jackson," she exclaimed, finally.

He let out a laugh, but a slight blush was dusting his cheeks. So what if he wasn't actually a punky badboy? That was for him to know, and for nobody at school to find out.

The only reason he let Piper see this side of him is because it was obvious that Jason was going to marry her eventually. It was kinda sickening how cute they could be sometimes.

"Alright, how long until you need to be there?" Piper asked.

He checked his phone and let out a noise of panic once he saw the time: 4:30 PM. He had to be there at five, which meant he had to leave, like, now.

"Crap, I'm late!" he yelled, rushing around his room gathering his phone, wallet, shoes, and keys.

All he recognized was Piper's muffled laughter as he hurriedly left and told her to lock up on her way out. He didn't even care that he was walking in socks on the New York City sidewalks, just that he got into the car as soon as possible.

The car he was driving was an old, beat-up, blue Prius that his step-dad, Paul, owned. Percy had asked to borrow it for the night so that he would look more meet the parents-like.

It seemed he was starting to come to the conclusion that he really wanted something real with Annabeth. Maybe even accepting it, screw his reputation!

Ω❖Ω

He was late. That's all Annabeth's mind could focus on as she tugged on her nude, strappy heels for the night. She had decided to go with a lacy, burgundy, off-the-shoulder dress that ends at just above the knees. She was, of course, wearing her lotus flower necklace (a gift from her mother years ago), and her ears had some simple diamond studs. She had given herself a slight grey smokey-eye and a nude lip. Annabeth wanted to go with her natural curls, so all she did was make them slightly more organized.

To some families, this might seem like a bit much, but to the Chase's it was normal. They prided themselves on regalty and opulence. Annabeth had never liked that, but it was easier to comply with her father's wishes rather than fight them.

But back to Percy's tardiness.

He wasn't actually late, but he wasn't there when she told him to be. She told him to be there at five, rather than 5:30, because she wanted to get the immediate family introductions over with first. Plus, Annabeth liked to plan for things. Planning meant no possibilities of mistakes, and Percy was messing-up her plans.

Just as she was ready to call him and chew him out for being late, there was a ring from the doorbell, and Annabeth was dashing downstairs. She had hoped to beat Bobby and Matthew, but apparently, luck wasn't on her side that night because when she got there, she saw the twins standing in the doorway looking up at Percy in confusion.

Her half-brothers hadn't yet learned how to not be blunt, and it was showing in that moment.

"Who are you?"

"You're not supposed to be here."

"I'm Percy, Annabeth's date," Percy replied in his perfectly smooth voice.

"Bobby! Matthew! Go away!" she ordered before they could ask more questions.

Percy's head shot up at her voice, and his mouth literally fell open. His eyes tracked up and down her body slowly, growing wider by every inch while Annabeth just stood that with a light blush coating her cheeks.

"You're drooling," she joked.

"You look beautiful," he said.

She gave him a big smile and grabbed his hand, "Come on, let's meet the 'rents."

"Yay..." he cheered half-heartedly.

She pulled him over to the kitchen, where her father and step-mother were finishing up dinner preparations. She cleared her throat to get their attention and they both looked up, shocked at what they found.

Clearly, they hadn't believed Annabeth when she told them she was bringing a date.

"Dad, Helen, this is Percy Jackson. Percy, this is my dad and step-mom," she introduced, awkwardly waving her hand between the two groups.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Chase," Percy shook both their hands.

Annabeth, internally, was shocked, but she just beamed proudly on the outside. Who knew Percy Jackson had manners?

"Nice to meet you too, Percy," Helen said.

Mr. Chase just nodded, skeptic eyes analyzing every bit of Percy. His eyes locked onto something peeking up from under his shirt collar.

"What's that?" he asked, pointing to the blemish on the boy's skin.

That was the last thing Percy wanted to answer. He had tried to hide his tattoos, but the one on the back of his neck was hard to hide. It was trident.

"Oh," he glanced at Annabeth before answering, "It's a tattoo."

He might as well just get straight to the point, right?

Fredrick Chase raised his eyebrows at his daughter, who chose to not be phased. She had known Percy had tattoos going into this, and it just added to the appeal of rebellion against her parents.

"Any special meaning?" he asked.

"Um...it's a trident. It's for my father, who died in the Navy," Percy answered, shocking even Annabeth.

She hadn't known his father had died, or that he had been in the Navy. She had just figured he was one of those teens who got tattoos with no meaning. Guess even she could be wrong sometimes, and a lot of that was happening around Percy.

She guessed it just proved the "don't judge a book by its cover" thing.

"Interesting," Mr. Chase mused, but didn't comment any further.

He instead chose to continue cooking, so Annabeth grabbed Percy again and pulled him into the living room, where her brothers were playing.

"Boys, this is Percy," she said, getting their attention.

Their heads snapped up in almost-perfect sync.

"We know," Matthew answered, "We met him at the door."

"Right," she said, unsure of what else to say after that.

"Are you guys dating?" Bobby asked.

"No, we're not," Annabeth answered.

"Cuz Percy said that he was your date," Bobby continued.

"Well that's not the same as dating," Annabeth clarified.

"You guys seem like you're dating," Matthew said.

Annabeth and Percy looked at each other, noticing that they had gravitated to sit right next to each other on the couch, with Percy's arm resting behind her. It felt so natural, that they hadn't noticed their bodies doing it.

Neither of them knew what else to say to that statement, but they didn't have to because there was another ring of the doorbell soon after. Annabeth hopped up to go answer it, and she found that it was actually the entire rest of the family, punctual as always. The funny thing was, she didn't even bat an eyelash at it; just welcomed them in and took her grandparents' coats.

As they were walking further into the house, Malcolm walked up to her and whispered, "And so it begins."

She let out a snort, but tried to hide it with a cough.

Unfortunately, he wasn't so far off. Family gatherings were one of two things in her household: loud and full of anger, or silent and awkward. There was no in- between.

As they got into the living room, she noticed that everyone was staring at Percy, who hadn't even noticed it yet. He had gotten down onto the floor and was playing cars with Bobby and Matt. That sight brought a smile to her face for a moment, before she realized that she had to explain why there was a "stranger" in the house, playing with her little brothers.

She walked up to Percy and pulled him up, "Guys, this is Percy. Percy, this is my Aunt Darcy, Malcolm, Uncle Casey, Aunt Carol, and Lexi and Cass."

He waved awkwardly, making Annabeth do an internal face-palm. He had done so well up until that point!

Nobody really introduced themselves, and that was fine by Annabeth. The less confrontation, the better.

The group dissipated and spread throughout the house, with only Malcom staying in the living room. He had a major scowl going on, and he was staring down Percy, who seemed pretty intimidated by it for some reason.

Honestly, he was intimidated by Malcom. He wanted to impress Annabeth's family because he kinda wanted to date the girl! It was crucial that at least some of them enjoy his presence, or at least tolerate it.

"Hey, I'm Percy," he held out a hand for Malcom to shake.

He ignored it and just continued to analyze every inch of the teenager who was "dating" his little cousin.

"I'm Malcom, Annabeth's cousin. What are your intentions with her?" he got straight to the point.

"Um," Percy swallowed, "I would like to continue hanging out with her. She's really nice."

He wanted to punch himself. 'She's really nice'?! Stupid, Percy! Stupid, Percy!

Malcom still still didn't seem happy with Percy being there, but he decided to not continue any interrogations, so that was a plus.

Annabeth let out a sigh of relief, and pulled Percy down onto the couch with her. Not even caring about the implications of it, she rested her head against his shoulder and intertwined her fingers with his. It was all very coupley, but she didn't care. That was what she wanted this to lead to, right? And it seemed like Percy was the kind of guy who needed clear signals, and this was about as clear as she could get without straight-up kissing him.

Percy didn't end up commenting on it, but he did let a small, discrete smile slip onto his face. He had gotten the signals, and now he had a plan.

Ω❖Ω

Dinner ended up going relatively smoothly, for a Chase dinner at least. The adults held a sorta-steady conversation, while the kids occasionally talked. The most-common topic amongst the teens was Percy. Cassandra and Alexandra were extremely happy to learn more about the boy, as they so-obviously were attracted to him. Annabeth wasn't sure whether to be jealous or amused that Percy played along with them.

When the night was drawing to a close, and the extended family members had finished saying their goodbyes, Annabeth led Percy to his car. She wanted some privacy for this conversation.

But it was a little distracting that Percy Jackson, badboy, owned a blue Prius. Sure, it was his step-dad's but still!

"This is too great! Leo's gonna love this!" she exclaimed, laughing.

"Haha, so funny. Are you done?" Percy deadpanned.

"Sure, sure," she gasped, and then moved to a more serious tone, "But I do want to talk to you about something else."

"What is it?" Percy asked, leaning back against the car door.

He didn't want to worry, but his mind jumped to conclusions he didn't even know it could. What if she didn't want to talk to him ever again? What if she needed him to commit a murder? What if she was pregnant?! Okay, that last one's a little far-fetched, but his mind is a little odd, okay? Leave it be.

"I was wondering..." she started.

"Yes?" he nudged her with his foot..

"Would you maybe want to go on a real date?" she sped out.

Percy grinned, "Are you sure you wanna go out with rebellious teen Percy Jackson? Won't I be a bad influence?"

Annabeth smirked, "That's what I'm counting on."

And oh god, that was not the right thing to say to him unless she wanted to be kissed. Absolutely not.

Percy said in a very serious voice, "I'm going to kiss you now."

Annabeth smiled, "Okay."

Then his lips were on her, and the metaphorical fireworks were going off, and confetti was being thrown, and everything around them was blocked out, and it was perfect. Their lips fit perfectly with each other, one slightly-chapped and the other plump and moist.

Percy could kiss Annabeth all day, and it felt like they did when they pulled away, breathing heavily and trying to catch their breaths. They had basically just started making out eventually, but people (unfortunately) have to breathe at some point.

"Wow," is all Percy could come up with.

Annabeth giggled, and it was the best thing Percy had ever heard, "Very intelligent, Seaweed Brain."

"Seaweed Brain, huh?"

"It just slipped out, but I think it kinda fits," she answered.

"Fine, then I get to call you...Wise Girl," he declared, settling his hands lightly on her hips.

"You know that's a compliment, right?" Annabeth said.

"Whatever, it fits," he said.

And that was such a Percy statement that Annabeth had to give him one more peck on the lips. Then, she pulled away and started to walk backwards towards her house.

"I'll text you!" Percy called.

"I'll be waiting for it!" she called back.

And, okay, so maybe the dinner wasn't how they planned, but it was better.

Ω❖Ω

Part 2? This can also be found on FF, Ao3, Inkitt, Wattpad, and Webnovel.