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normalbrothers · 3 months ago

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Omg my discord server has discussed that exact “facilitating sexual violence” thread with tommy. Our running theory (literally what we call “The Theory”) is that Arthur Sr facilitated Tommy’s abuse for money, and that’s created a lot of his views on people being investments. The “everyone’s a whore” line and his whole complex about Lizzie’s past (side note, also the way they look suspiciously similar… the mirrors are mirroring) are probably the most obvious examples, but the fears he has about being seen as useless to his family and his tendency to Literally “sell them out” for their continued success read like a monstrous combination of soldier mentality and childhood trauma. On top of that, the other people who (imo) conduct themselves the most like him in the criminal underworld, such as Polly, Michael, Grace, Jack (heavily implied), and Alfie (if you’ve listened to TGOAS) have also all been SA/SH victims. AND, in one way or another, those people betray Tommy— or a stand-in for Tommy —while playing the role of someone who was supposed to protect him/the stand-in. It is sooo!!!! Sorry that was a massive amount of word vomit but I had to yappppp 😫

´mh. the dangers of posting a take that doesn't get into the nuances. i kind of see your point(s), but i think i only agree with half of it, and even then with caveats. looking at a thematic thread is important, because it obviously Says Something, but i think getting into individual situations and what causes them, and the specific motivations that underline them is somewhat more important here, because it Says Something Even More.

this is rather long so i'm putting it under a read more (i hope it's not typo-riddled and that the sentences are legible, i find it awfully diffcult to actually make post on tumblr hdhd somehow the lay out doesn't appeal to my brain)

i haven't seen a lot of meta that actually argues for this, but arthur sr prostituting tommy (though, there are also fics that do the same thing with arthur) seems to be a relatively commonplace trope on ao3 - at least it's more prevalent than, say, arthur sr sexually abusing tommy himself. i can see where this comes from - sr appears like an opportunist who is mostly driven by wanting to make a quick buck for his own gain and who apparently has little emotional attachment to his children - and we have tommy's scathing line about children working for men "in their various ways", clearly implying sexual exploitation, but my personal theory when it comes to tommy and his relationship to his father doesn't exactly involve this (though, to be fair my take on their father is in general a little different than what fandom tends to go for - and, admittedly, i'm sentimental about this, but i don't think it's entirely unfounded either). but both are theories in the end, with an equal amount of "validity"; it's not like the concluding movie will confirm anything in that regard.

however, the problem with this theory, or rather making it the source of tommy's view of the world and the people around him, is that it precedes the war trauma, but the way we are introduced to tommy, how he operates and how we are meant to look at his initial ruthlessness (which is not a permanent state, it dissolves more and more as the show goes on) is the result of that specifically. the tommy before the war is someone that largely remains elusive to us. but we know that most of his family's grievances with him in the first season in particular are about how different (see: inaccessible and emotionally detached) he is since he came back - polly, arthur, their father point this out, all with varying degrees of judgment and condemnation, and much to tommy's dismay: he knows he's different, but unable to change that. it begets an odd feedback loop where he is rejected and simultaneously unable and often unwilling to talk about anything. thus the entire 'tommy doesn't talk to his family, his family (sometimes justifiedly) calls him out on it, but seemingly doesn't actually want to know anything, so tommy says even less' Complex becomes kind of a chicken and egg situation that causes most of their strife. but it's not necessarily a dynamic where one is categorically wrong and the other right. the troubling thing about this, of course, is that he often jumps things on them without briefing them beforehand and this may have the result that someone gets hurt - it's a nasty habit he has, but also something that lessens as the show goes on, but it's ... not exactly coming from nowhere. indeed, his family doesn't listen to or is dismissive of him; they are quite a few instances where they against his orders or don't heed his requests or warnings (a huge point of contention in season 3). important here is also that he doesn't retaliate or punish for this - if he's sometimes displeased and huffy that he isn't given a lot of respect by the people closest to him (as one would respect a traditional patriarch), he does little to and is unable to actually enforce it, nor is he feared by them.

nevertheless, he's still, in a way, regarded as the family's emotional center (next to polly), and despite everything, is still entrusted to look after his family members, my assumption is that he had a sort of caretaker function before the war without being considered the head of the family (it's important to point out that he takes over in s1, in his late twenties, instead arthur (early thirties) is introduced to us as the head of the family, the script itself goes as far as calling him a 'king': and he still tries to act with authority towards tommy in the beginning, which makes me think that this is something that *did* work once upon a time (actually, you can still see glimpses of this throughout the show), but doesn't anymore: tommy only starts to challenge him at this point, where both of them are well into adulthood) - and what tommy says of himself is that he believed they deserved better and that he used to be impatient and angry at 'slowness'. the notion that he was a romantic and idealist seems plausible to me; in that sense i don't think he was born a businessman, that he was always able to strategize, and use people, with aim for profit - and even then this is not exactly what motivates him in the first place.

so this is evidently not something his father taught him, but rather a trait (the compartmentalization, using people as tools as he himself is a tool) he developed over the course of the war where at some point he served as sergeant major, with men under him that he was responsible for, but also had to command (always in the extremely stressful context that any of them could die, and that any mismanagement or misstep on tommy's part could be the reason for this - *that* is the root of tommy's ruthlessness/emotional "coldness", he has to compartmentalize: his friends and brothers become soldiers he commands, with the traumatic knowledge that he might be sending them to their deaths - that arthur and john survive, also because of him, informs their dynamic once they return. they very much trust him as their leader, that tommy will take care of things and that he knows what he's doing, but without the circumstance of a literal war, they become brothers (human) again and these pre-war relationships and the traumatic distribution of their roles during the war are a source of conflict - it's not just a terrible thing for arthur and john, it also has a bad impact on tommy. something of a side note: while wealth and status and the trappings that come with it are things he enjoys - as does the rest of the family! - his attempts to achieve legitimacy and assimilation have more to do with safety for himself and his family (and he brutally learns that this is not really possible). for example john and arthur - as "bad" as him - enjoy the life, even as they admire tommy for what he seems capable of, they don't really see a point in tommy's plans to go legitimate. both of them would have, likely, been "content" to remain gangsters and rule over their small corner of the world (though, of course, we are privy to arthur's ongoing dilemma of wanting two opposing things and that he buckles under his own guilt, as tommy does) - that is not a safer way of living, however. sooner or later someone like campbell would have shown up anyway, and any of them could have still been gunned down in a turf war or have been arrested and eventually faced legal punishment for their crimes. this is not a position that tommy put them in, but of course, through tommy, they face problems on a larger scale - but the entire family wouldn't have been safer either way - this is an incredibly important point - poor and marginalized and criminalized and criminal as they are.

so, my very longwinded first point here is that tommy's behaviour, as it starts out in the show and how we see it transform over the course of it, is not something his father taught him. i also think it's a mistake framing tommy as acting like his father in any way (their motivations and ambitions and personalities are almost completely diametrically opposed) - this isn't really something that the show makes a point of, and he is certainly not replicating something, according to this theory, that his father subjected him to with his family members. mostly he structures the business militaristically, with him as a commanding officer - that business and family are the same thing, in a sense, and that it doesn't work as neatly as it should in theory is big ongoing problem for all of them.

okay, now coming to the actual point around the subject of 'facilitating sexual violence'.

for this i actually have to make another point that i haven't gotten into yet, but something that is important about tommy is that he starts out with a very rigid "them vs us" mindset (@deadendtracks pointed out that this also is a result of the shelbys being particularly marginalized as romani/travelling people, even among their equally poor working class peers) - he actually makes a sharp distinction between family and not-family. it's a fairly fascist rationale and it's not an accident that once he enters politics, and comes up against mosley, he starts to expand his scope (though it is incomplete as of yet), to care for more than just his family's safety and success. non-family people are those he tends to use or exploit, often with little consideration or guilt (or the guilt is compartmentalized: there is a reason he sees the pile of anonymous dead bodies in his bathroom when he has the seizure in s6), those are who he sees as investments and who he would "sell out" if it benefits him and the family. this is not true for his family members, actually. my guess is that fandom conflates these two things, because there seems to be a lasting misunderstanding of what happened in s3 with the arrests - which didn't happen, because tommy "sold them out", but as a consequence of things tommy had a limited amount of control over (i'm not at all suggesting that tommy is blameless here, but it's a little more complex than that). and this actually starts in s2, after his mock execution (a form of torture) he is told that churchill/the government will make use of him when the time comes, the events of s3 are predicated upon this (actually the entirety of s1 and s2 are the building blocks for the s3 arc and fallout (tommy being arguably hubristic in the beginning plays a minor, rather than a major, part)): under the threat of his family being executed, they are coerced into the russian plot - this is not something tommy chose to do. what he does is demand payment for it, however, but you can see a logic in this: if he gets fucked, they should at least compensate him. (this is an aspect of tommy's "everyone's a whore" thesis as well). tommy repeatedly warns and cautions is family over the season: it's absolutely not in his interest that any of them get arrested, or that he "sells them out" or that he sacrifices them (i could also get into the fact that even if one makes the point that he doesn't care for his family beyond seeing their utility, sacrificing them would be dumb, economically, because tommy knows he can't do things on his own, he has to delegate, and willingly sacrificing people profoundly loyal to him through familial and love relations for some middle-term goal, that might not work out at all, is ... a silly thing to do - who could he possibly replace them with?)

i somewhat understand that the initial perception would be that tommy is capable of this, tommy is possibly somewhat opaque in the beginning - but it never actually happens in the show, certainly not in the way people talk about it, and at some point i think the distinction (family and not-family) tommy makes should become clear to the audience - because it's a thematic element that underlines tommy's arc from s1 to s6. i also think you have to make a difference between arthur and john as soldiers/gangsters and polly and ada (and finn) who are "civilians". they are all part of a criminal organization, voluntarily as far as it goes (ada, of course, makes a point of distancing herself from the family at first, which tommy doesn't really fight her on). john and arthur are soldiers like tommy, and they make up the "illegal" musclework of their business efforts; beyond the moral injury around killing (sustained in the war), they are also aware that what they do could end badly for them: they are not blue-eyed about it, and they agreed to this. it's not forced upon them by tommy, setting aside that tommy himself gets his hands dirty; he does not treat them as disposable goons who do all the bloody work while tommy sits back and keeps his hands clean. (tommy does have goons he doesn't care about, though). he is not exploiting his brothers - which is another aspect of "selling them out", i guess. i think that is diminishing the agency they have, and the fact that they act on their own and why they do so and they certainly don't always follow tommy's orders. and then of course, ada and polly (and the wives) are kept out of the line of fire (which tragically doesn't always work), both as women, but also because they don't have the experience of killing/war. finn is an different can of worms, and probably deserves it's own separate meta.

okay! i'm getting to the part about sexual violence. now.

sexual violence - the allusions to past trauma, the constant threat of it and the actual acts we see happen on the show - permeates the narrative fabric of the show. as another smart person once pointed out, it's not a mistake that the show's (powerful) antagonists, simultaneously representatives of institutions (the police, the clergy, the aristocracy) that shape and order society, tend to be perpetrators of sexual violence as well: campbell is a rapist, hughes is an abuser of children and while mosley and mitford are not shown to be either of these things, their depraved sexual predatoriness still stands out.

of course, tommy here, as a "middleman" or medium is a subject worthy of discussion, then, but i also think we have to look at these instances where it happens separately (because they are not the same, despite the connecting thread).

grace and kimber: this might be a subjective impression, but i think what tommy does here is the most calculating (and in that sense the worst if just going by his motivations) out of all these examples. he takes note of kimber's obvious interest in grace and at this point likely already plans to make her part of his deal at the race. a big point here, in fact, is that grace is not only not-family, but she's a complete outsider to small heath/birmingham as well, and tommy very quickly clocks her as an upperclass woman on top. while he doesn't suspect her of being a spy (instead he manufactures his own explanation for her presence that grace cleverly adopts), she's still suspicious to him. initially, while also being attracted to and intrigued by her, tommy sees her as an intruder still at the point of episode 3 (where the race happens). in a way, she means nothing to him here, and given kimber's visible attraction to her, it seems like an easy quick way to let him proceed in his efforts. that he changes his mind - perhaps his conscience kicking in after all, perhaps because he already likes her more than he thought - is important conclusion to all this. he can't go through with it. and this is the beginning of the show where i think he's still reeling from the war, in that sense is the most ruthless/shut off (barring s4 where he's deeply cynical and depressed), and simultaneously on a high, because things are generally going well for him and the family (besides campbell's pesky presence).

lizzie and the marshall: it's somewhat important to note tommy genuinely didn't want to her to get hurt - that he needed her to lure the marshall away, but not to actually engage in sexual activity, is true. and tommy acts on short notice - he's desperate to get the assassination done while fearing that at the end of it he will be executed (he doesn't get out of the situation through any scheme of his, but rather is "spared", but of course, that he's spared only means is continued exploitation by the government). all of that is pretty worthless to lizzie, to be sure, who gets assaulted anyway, and none of that would have happened if tommy hadn't wasted time to brag to campbell that grace loves him. this disregard, though not exactly cruelty, towards lizzie (instead of ensuring her safety, he opts to talk about the woman he's in love with) constitutes a tragic element of their relationship. he doesn't hate her, nor do i really think he as a "complex" around her being a prostitute, but he tends to spare her little thought, and this is certainly influenced by her class (and sex) most of all. connected to this is also a mindset that "she can take it", and in that way tommy does relate to her, because he can as well, but of course, it's not the same either; their relationship doesn't start out as a very equal one, and on top of this, lizzie is not-family as well. here it's important to note that this is not a fixed, but something that changes: he very much starts to see her as part of the family and which brings me to another point that underscores tommy's family/not-family delineation. in s5, mosley basically asks him to hand lizzie over - given what tommy's trying to do, complying with mosley's request would actually make things easier for him, but he very brusquely (and remarkably so, because tommy is afraid of this man and never really finds himself capable of saying 'no' to other things) tells him off, and eventually gives lizzie room to reject him herself.

arthur and tatiana: while i included them in my post, i think it's a bit different than these other two situations - not because arthur's violation here isn't awful, or to suggest the sentiment that women can't sexually assault men, but this is the contemporary assumption and it would be anachronistic for any of these characters to actually think along these lines. tommy knows that his brothers are going to have to strip in front of izabella and tatiana, and characteristically only tells them of it last minute; arthur is unwilling, but "obeys" in the end. at first, tommy's visibly amused by it - part of this is petty revenge, because both john and arthur prior made fun of him for "working" with tatiana - but when she goes too far and starts to molest arthur, tommy's entire demeanor shifts; he grows horrified and dissociates. tommy couldn't have predicted that the situation would get out of hand, but he did wrong by arthur to not try and tell him earlier (then again, this is all under the big context that tommy doesn't actually want to be there either (and all this in the aftermath of his assault and hughes breathing down his neck) and arthur himself has shown to be somewhat fickle and unreliable throughout the season so far; he doesn't want to take any risks here, but of course, that doesn't entirely justify it either).

another sidenote: arthur and sacrifice is also an interesting subject, because i know the fandom has a tendency to assign a vast power imbalance between tommy and arthur, where tommy has all the leverage, and poor, loyal, traumatized arthur has no choice but to obey his brother. arthur is expendable to tommy, arthur is too good-natured and naive to see it. this is non-sense, of course, but it seems like no amount of meta or attempts to even the scales here will ever change this misconception. i won't get into it too much right now, but what i'm going to get at - and this is actual an important aspect when it comes to this sexual violence continuum and tommy as "middleman" theme in the show - is arthur and linda. arthur's behaviour towards linda escalates into abuse from season 4 onward and while not explicit, it seems to be that part of this abuse is also sexual in nature (linda tries to appease arthur with sex in s4, he kisses her against her will and to her palpable fear and disgust while grabbing her throat in s5, and in s6 linda makes "not sleeping with arthur" a part of her deal with tommy, it's an attempt to insure herself as she accepts tommy's request to help him) - tommy likely doesn't know this, but he does enable arthur's abuse of her. mind you, "enabling" doesn't make him the culprit or the instigator, that is all arthur. while linda is technically family as well, there is a hierarchy at play, and her imposed role is that of arthur's caretaker, if linda leaves, so tommy fears, arthur might spin out of control and self-destruct (or go destructive on others). it's not only that he worries arthur can't be of use to him anymore, he genuinely cares for and loves him, and if it means he has to stuff linda into the meatgrinder he'll do it. the decision tommy makes when relaying the information of linda's whereabouts is not one he makes gladly - he's fiddling with his cyanide capsule during the conversation - but it's triage between arthur and linda/her friend (it doesn't help that arthur insistently and aggressively threatens tommy over the phone while using textbook abuser talk concerning linda ("i just want to talk")). he makes the choice and gives arthur the information, knowing that arthur will likely do as arthur does. it's another instance that illustrates tommy's family vs not-family mindset (or more intricately, that there's also a hierarchy within his family). i'm also bringing this up, because through arthur's threats he also makes use of tommy - tommy tries to bargain with arthur and arthur steamrolls tommy (it's not an accident that this conversation is sandwiched between tommy and lizzie's deal and his attempts at making a deal with mosley, who similarly steamrolls him ("it's not going to be that kind of relationship"),

now having written all that down, my tentative conclusion is a) tommy has a habit of sacrificing people, but those are not his family members and b) the middleman theme is important, but a lot of this ruthlessness has to do with his experience in the war rather than something he strictly learned in his childhood (at the hands of his father) c) the aspect of sexual violence - and sexual violence as an ongoing theme in the show - factors into this and tommy, around whom this theme is constructed, is not free of guilt here, but that he is not the perpetrator is an important qualitative distinction. there are also other points i made, but my brain is about to explode lol

i'm trying to keep the last part short re: characters people who conduct themselves like tommy. using experience of sexual violence as the lowest common denominator doesn't actually translate into a lot of shared behaviour among these characters in my eyes. polly shares tommy's sense of familial responsibility and has vested interest in their success and safety, but she doesn't operate the way tommy (and arthur and john) does, because she's lacking the war experience. michael's big tragedy is that he never comes home - he remains alienated within the family, due to the traumatic events of his adoption, but another part of this is also that, despite this, he was afforded a relatively privileged middle class upbringing with access to a good formal education. he doesn't understand the criminal world the way tommy and the rest of the family do (he's also a little audacious about it all) grace is a true believer in her cause - she is an agent of the crown and therefore someone who furthers the interests of her class. the law is on her side, that makes her the opposite of a criminal (of course, the thesis of the show is the hypocrisy of legitimacy: what's the difference between an upperclass person/aristocrat who sits on generational wealth and power, achieved through the subjugation of an impoverished and marginalized majority and colonialism, and the shelbys who commit violence in a very direct way in order to move up in the world, but the effects of their violence are on a much smaller scale and in the beginning not structural (that the peaky blinders become a sort of institution by the end of the show is Another point)) nelson ... is tommy if tommy was completely amoral and apolitical: he's the perfect business man in that sense and they may have a shared understanding of where they come from, but the trajectory of these people is vastly differently (nelson is probably an amalgation of both arthur and tommy's worst potential, he could be tommy if tommy was, as i said, actually amoral and apolitical and he has perfected, with his lack of conscience and guilt, arthur's sadistic streak) alfie also doesn't really operate like tommy in my eyes, and i think this is mostly due to him possessing no familial ties (i mean, he seems to have a family, but there's in implication of closeness, the mother he mentions is dead, if i remember correctly). it's fascinating to me that he attaches himself to tommy the way he does, to the point of wanting tommy to euthanize him.

all these characters have somewhat different motivations, philosophies and experiences - it makes the commonalities they share interesting, but i think little of it is actually built on experience of sexual abuse, especially as it seems that this is, amongst other things, what makes their points of view so varying.

as i've said, i can see your points, but my feelings are that a lot of it is being conflated and that it requires more nuance when looking at these details. working out the themes of something - which a story is built on - doesn't quite make up for looking what this concretely means or how exactly it plays out/what actually happens

#x-wing #this is three million words long and i didn't cover all of it or as neatly as i could have #feel free to inquire hdhd #most of my points are reasoned but it's also too much of everything to tease it all out #ironically i'm not even talking about tommy being sexually abused here. rip

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albertavenator · 10 months ago

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You just know I gotta asked about "super weird long fic" (⁠ㆁ⁠ω⁠ㆁ⁠)

All I really have so far is an outline I'm poking at, but the premise is a gods as cities AU. These gods have a special class of citizen that becomes physically changed by them in some way once the god selects them. In ancient times they would have been the clergy, but now they find themselves running the criminal underworld and engaging in other seedy activities.

Arthur has moved to Arkham to try and start over and becomes friends with one of these Changed, Parker (speaking of Parker is alive...). And whoops, Arthur starts changing too...

It goes on from there. It'll have at least two parts if I can wrangle everything to my satisfaction, but what I have in my head feels very ambitious and a bit beyond my current skill level, so I don't know if it'll ever truly happen or what form it will mutate into.

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shelbydelrey · 2 years ago

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Hey Isa, I just saw your post about taking moodboard requests. I'm slowly working on your PB x Lana fic and I'd love to collaborate! Here's the summary: "Dark Games" - dark!Arthur x female OC x Finn- When power hungry Arthur is left to run the Eden Club unchecked, he forces his women into dangerous games with the characters of the London underworld. What happens when Finn interferes with his newest girl?

Lee, this one was quite tough 😅 I struggled to find pictures that captured the dark aspect of Arthur you're aiming for without getting too graphic ,and i also struggled to find soft pictures that encapsulated Finn's feelings. I'm not entirely satisfied with the result and for that i am sorry 😔 But here we go. I hope that this helps you ,at least, getting some writing done 😁

#dont ask me about the ducks #they just called out to me #😂#peaky blinders #peaky blinders moodboard #arthur shelby #dark! arthur shelby #finn shelby #finn shelby moodboard

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brummiereader · 1 year ago

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Shark I almost choked on my drink when I settled down to read this! I was blissfully reading the first part about how their union came to be, how he whisked her away to Paris then..."drinking champagne right from your husband’s mouth" 😂 I have to say I wasn't expecting that, but I love the idea of it, yes please 😍🥴! Although logistically I reckon I'd make a mess of it 😅.

"decided to turn your charming party into a nightmare you wouldn’t forget" 😈, I am ready and waiting Shark *rubs hands together. What do you have in store for us 😏. ( Tommy seems worried should I be? Probably not, i'm too sadistic to be 😂)

Ooh gosh, what a scene you have created! Arrow House in complete darkness only lit by hundreds of candles, eerie but delightfully enticing. It's giving me so many gothic/thriller vibes, my favourite type of vibe!

I adore how you described the ominous feelings shes getting. As the reader it really helps you feel her apprehension and worry about the whole night. She is right to feel on edge because I reckon a certain someone with a well known unpredictable personality might be lurking around.

ADA 😯! What a mean thing to do 😈! Poor Y/N, she's trying her best. Give me ghost's, spirits, scary houses and raging storms. But the one thing that will always make me nervous and on edge is people blatantly whispering something about me in my presence. God I feel Y/N's insecurities right now 😩.

Holy crap! The image of Arthur sitting on the edge of the bath almost like he's waiting there ( Polly, did you set this up? 🤭) is as scary as him waiting at the door with rope in his hands for Bunny...another to add to my nightmares 😂!

"The more you looked at him, the more you felt the immunity Tommy’s protection granted you slip through your fingers" this line, I absolutely loved it. It just shows you how vulnurable she feels in the eldest Shelby brothers presence. I would honestly be so scared he would just snap. This Arthur is the perfect Arthur for a thriller movie!

HOLY SHIT I have chills!! Run Y/n run 😳. The tale of Madame LaLaurie is horrifying, and the fact that she was a real person who did commit horrific crimes is even more chilling. Heaven shouldn't tell Arthur stories, it gives him ideas 😳😂! But I love how you have intertwined those tales into this story, it adds an edge of realism to the whole fic and the potentional that this scenario could really play out in the real world. I also love how Arthur is doing all this because his wife is worried about turning 28 😂. It's such an average think to worry about but you have managed to turn it so incredibly dark and sinister, a true credit to your amazing writing.

The queen herself has arrived 😈. She may look delicate and meek but she is by far the most powerful. I can only imagine what Arthur told her, I have a feeling it might be about creating her very own beauty mask for her. The way Arthur just leaps at Heavens orders was perfect. She's like the queen of the underworld and he's her hellhound, waiting for her orders.

Why do i think they intended to have that romantic bath but instead filled with Y/N's blood 😳! Damn it she got away 😈😂...hmm now I must make a choice. This is a hard one, Heaven is generally a nice person to newcomers but then Y/N was alone with her husband in the bathroom 🤔. But then again I can't totally see them getting a thrill out of messing with someone 🤭. I'm going to go with the second 😬. Heaven is as obsessed with Arthur as he is with her. I do feel these two in the right setting could take things a little too far i.e murder to preserve Heavens youth 😂. I can't wait for the results! Amazing fic Shark, I loved every word of it, definitely feeling spooky season approaching after having read this ❤️.

Love Ritual

Summary: Among all the members of the Shelby clan who distrust Tommy's new wife, Y/N, Arthur is the one who suspects her the most. As the oldest brother, it is his mission to protect Tommy from his girl... Even if it means using the most awful methods.

Pairing: Arthur Shelby x Reader x fem!OC

Words: 3.5k

TW: horror theme, blood, allusions to murder, angst

Notes: This work was written for @zablife's 2k celebration "A Night at Arrow House". Congratulations honey, here to many more! Room chosen: Bathroom🖤

Y/N Shelby.

The first time you had heard someone call you so was the day of your marriage right after the infamous Thomas Shelby had put a golden wedding ring around your finger and the priest declared you wife and husband. You could still clearly remember the way his strong and calloused hands, damaged by years of excruciating work and one World War, rested proudly on your hips when his smooth lips crashed against yours. He had kissed you as if his life depended on it, the sensual press of his mouth sending shivers of pleasure through your body to the extent of weakening your legs. Admittedly, things had happened rather fast between you and him. Not that it bothered you though — you were more than satisfied about your love story, which had started the day you came in the Garrison asking for a job. The celebration of your wedding was barely over when Tommy asked you to pack your stuff for the magnificent and unforgettable honeymoon he had booked for the two of you. One thing no one could deny was when Thomas Shelby made a gift, it was always ridiculously expensive and sophisticated. After one full week of paradise in Paris, drinking champagne right from your husband’s mouth and only leaving the bedsheet to go shopping in the Champs Élysée, you came back between the mighty walls of Arrow House. In truth, your return to Small Heath had been inevitable and you already dreaded the absence of Tommy, swallowed by a shit ton of work that had piled up on his desk during his absence. Here was the price to pay to be Tommy’s wife, but that was fine with you. After all, you had it all: the money, the fame, the mansion, and even the heart of Birmingham’s most frightening gangster.

The last thing left was to conquer his family, which you thought would be easy. If the boss of the Peaky Blinders himself couldn’t resist your natural charm and your beaming smile, no one else could.

Never you could have imagined how wrong you were.

The idea to throw a party in Arrow House with all the Shelby clan seemed to be a wonderful way to meet the ones closest to your husband and start establishing cordial relationships. For the event, you hired the most talented cook in London, asked the servants to pamper the guests, and even wore the fanciest dress you found in Paris. Everything had to be perfect. What surprised you though was the worries in Tommy’s eyes when you had shared your plan with him, his turquoise iris turning one shade darker. Still, he agreed with you and let you organize the event as you wished. Honestly, it could have been, indeed, a wonderful idea if the family hadn’t decided that fate shouldn’t go easy on you. The cold and cruel truth, that you’d learn too late, was that no one in the family trusted you. Worst, they didn’t like you. Not at all. And because of their caustic hostility, they were more than decided to turn your charming party into a nightmare you wouldn’t forget.

The sound of your heel echoed in the dark hallways of the mansion, whose grandiloquent chandeliers remained turned off. Following a violent storm, all of Small Heath had been plunged into a blackout. What an awful way to start the evening, you had thought, unknowing of the fact the Shelby clan had planned to do everything in their power to make it worse. The only source of light that kept the mansion from total darkness were the flames of hundreds of candles Frances had lit all around.

An unpleasant feeling weighed on your shoulders and made the hairs of your neck raise as you walked through the silent corridors of Arrow House. What was usually a comforting haven had turned into a threatening place for reasons you could not explain. Call it instincts or sixth sense, but you were overtaken by an unexplainable dread now that you were all alone. Maybe the stress of the power cut and the roaring thunder outside was making you slightly paranoid? Or maybe it was the Shelby behavior towards you that had dulled your mood? No matter the source of your anxiety, the result was the same: you could not help but take quick glances above your shoulder, convinced that someone had been stalking you from the moment you had left the ballroom. Something was lurking in the shadow, closely monitoring your movements. At this very moment, you weren’t quite sure anymore about wandering in the vast mansion by yourself in almost complete blackness. However, the perspective of coming back to the ballroom stirred a feeling of utter anger within you. No, you definitely could not stay in the same room as Polly Gray anymore. From the moment you met her dark eyes to the one you left the room, the Romani queen had been nothing but a bane to you.

It had started with her shooting you some condescending glances and whispering things in Ada’s ear as you passed by them. By the end of the pre-dinner drink, the fearless Aunt had waited for Thomas to leave the room to bump into you on purpose and spill all the red wine of her glass on your overpriced dress. When the mischief was done and the fabric of your expensive garment saturated with the red and smelly alcohol, Polly only shrugged and said “Oh, sorry love.” You hadn’t been fooled by her apologies though, for the way her mouth stretched in a sadistic and disdainful grin had left no doubt of her intentions. To this, Ada and John snickered in the background.

For all these reasons you had run away from the ballroom, trying your best not to cry in front of her, and took the stairs two at times to lock yourself in the luxurious bathroom. You didn’t want them to see you weeping — you refused to give these hyenas the satisfaction of witnessing how deeply their behavior had hurt you. A little sigh escaped from your lips as you stood there with your eyes closed and your forehead leaning against the door you had just shut.

“Are you lost, love?” The hoarse voice that echoed in the silent bathroom made you jolt like a kitten caught in the midst of doing something stupid. You turned around in one vivid movement, your wide-open eyes falling on Arthur, who was sitting on the edge of the bathtub. His sharp face, sprinkled with freckles, was floodlit by the orange glow of the dancing candle flames scattered all around him. Such an unexpected encounter made you take a few steps on the right side in order to extend the distance between him and you. It was only when your back hit the cold wall that you realized you might have taken more than a few steps. “Thought no one would bother me here but look at ya.” He growled, the gravel of his voice making his chest vibrate and, by extension, your legs shake like leaves in a raging wind. Of all the Shelby clan and Tommy’s acquaintances, Arthur Shelby was surely the one who frightened you the most. Since the first day you met, he barely acknowledged your existence, rather ignoring you. The rare moments he noticed your being, he simply gave you a death stare with his frozen steel-blue eyes and carried on with Tommy's orders. While you didn’t understand the source of his hatred, you did understand that he, as well as the rest of the clan, would never welcome you in the family whether you bore the name of Shelby or not. Moreover, the oldest sibling was dangerous. All he needed was a little push to snap and transform into a rabid dog, ready to maim and murder anyone unlucky enough to cross his path. And here you were, trapped with him in a dimly lit bathroom. The more you looked at him, the more you felt the immunity Tommy’s protection granted you slip through your fingers. You weren’t Mrs. Shelby anymore, but a prey freshly caught by a starving wolf.

“I’m— I’m sorry. I just wanted to clean the stains on my dress.” Pointing your finger to the said stain, you managed to offer him a trembling and faint smile in the hope of alleviating the palpable tension that had settled between you. After all, this was the only weapon you had left. “Red wine’s stains are hard to clean.”

Your attempt to render the mood lighter failed miserably: Arthur didn’t even bother to answer. Instead, his sinister eyes fell on the dark red smudge on your stomach, and, as they did, his gaze almost scorched you to the bones. As the fire of the candles reflected in his void pupils, his iris shone with a threatening gleam. You ended up sniffing, his silence making you uncomfortable, “Why— Why don’t you join the party in the ballroom?” You felt obliged to talk, or else his frightening quietness would have driven you crazy. Arthur finally looked away and shifted his focus on the bathtub, his long and bony fingers brushing the warm water it contained. Now that your eyes had adjusted to the ambient darkness, you noticed the red petals that were lazily floating on the surface.

Confused by the whole situation, you frowned and tilted your head to the side: why did he run himself a bath in the midst of the party? Not only it was disrespectful, but it didn’t make any sense. It was your house, not his and this intrusion in the bathroom felt like he had violated a private space.

“‘Spose it ain’t yer fookin’ business, love.” Arthur finally spoke, punctuating his sentence with a grunt. He didn’t even look at you — instead, his eyes left the bathtub’s content and fell on the floor. Instinctively, your gaze followed his.

“Fuck.” You mouthed, unable to keep your calm. Your smile faded from your lips at the sight of a knife laid on the tiled floor, in the middle of a pentagram traced with an odd crimson paint. At the end of each branch was a small candle.

Your chest tightened at the way the dancing flames reflected on the blade. All of sudden, a cold breeze coming from nowhere rushed into the bathroom and made your blood freeze in your veins. The first thought that crossed your mind was to storm out of this place and yell at your husband that his brother was in the midst of a fucking ritual in your bathroom, but when you tried to do so your body stood still, unresponsive. Just like a doe caught in the blinding headlights of a car, you were petrified and your fight or flight reflex was broken. The only part of you that was still working was your tongue. “Arthur, your… Your hands…” You thought you shouted but in truth, your quivering voice was merely a frightened whisper. Arthur raised a brow: with his sleeves rolled up, you could see how his hands and forearms were stained with that same thick paint.

“Hmm.” He replied, bringing one of his blood-stained hands closer to his face to observe it attentively, “Oh, is this the blood that disturbs you eh?” Arthur slowly moved his fingers, enjoying the sensation of the drying crimson liquid on his skin and the beautiful patterns it drew in his hands, bringing his palm lines out, “That’s okay. D’ye know that blood is a magical substance? Me wife taught me that.” He started, his thin lips curling in a wicked grin, “She told me the tale of Madame LaLaurie. Want me to tell you, Y/N?”

You slowly shook your head in reply, barely daring to show your refusal, and swallowed the lump that had formed in your throat. It was enough for Arthur to stand up in a sudden movement and walk to you with the terrific gait of a predator. As he approached, your hand discreetly tried to reach the doorknob in your back but the slim gangster was too quick: he grabbed you by the wrist to keep you from opening the door and brought his face closer to yours. So close that his scorching whisky breath fanned over your cheeks.

“Well,” He started, allowing his free hand to graze your throat for the simple pleasure of feeling your erratic heartbeat against his palm. The blood from his fingers smeared your delicate flesh in the process, “I’ll still tell ya, love. Madame LaLaurie was obsessed with beauty. One of her deepest desires, besides torturing her slaves -because the crazy old lady owned poor slaves- was to find the secret of eternal youth. Hell, ain’t it every woman’s biggest dream ay?” His grin stretched in a Cheshire smile, which showcased all of his teeth and slightly lifted his mustache, “LaLaurie was a sick bitch hmm. But she had found a very interesting and efficient way to keep her skin fresh and young…” Arthur’s fingers suddenly left your throat to trap your chin. Then, he forced you to look at him right in the white of his eyes, “Can ye guess what it is, lass?”

“Arthur — Please I need to… To come back to the ballroom. Tommy’s gonna be worried.”

“Nah, yer going to stay with me a little longer alright? Going to keep company to your brother-in-law until he finishes his story, ay love?” His grip around your chin had become slightly painful by now, on top of his evil eyes roving over the details of your face, “So Madame LaLaurie found a way to plump the skin of her face. She slathered her misbehaving slaves and smeared their blood on her face. Ye heard me well, ah! She used their blood as a fookin’ beauty mask.” He let out a frightening chuckle as if the whole situation was amusing. It wasn’t. The gravel in his tone thickened the atmosphere, enhancing your fear so brutally that you almost suffocated. Silence fell in the room for what felt like an eternity as Arthur stared at your very own soul through his dark lashes, his round pupils reflecting nothing but a dizzying void. At this moment, you were convinced he was feeding on your fear, relishing the terror that animated your traits. He smelled it — how powerless you were. “Now, me wife felt tired today. Life’s been harsh with her lately, and the poor angel is slightly afraid of turning twenty-eight. See, I told her she was still young and beautiful, but the anguish is deep-rooted in her. So, I said “fuck this house party” and decided to run her a hot bath to soothe her soul,” The gangster tilted his head to the side — did he even blink during the whole conversation? You could not tell. “Before you came in that bathroom I was thinking about Madame LaLaurie… And was wondering if she would feel better if I’d bring her some fresh blood.”

“Arthur, I —“ You tried to say something after a few seconds of carefully thinking the next words that were about to come from your mouth, as if the slightest misinterpretation would lead you to an inevitable death, but you couldn’t finish your sentence: the bathroom door flung open at the moment you started speaking and it closed again in a loud bang.

“The hell you’re doing with my husband?” A chilling and enchanting voice, as mesmerizing and threatening as a siren’s chant in the midst of a foggy sea, echoed in the room. A voice you had only heard once but which was deeply engraved in your mind. Your heart missed a beat in your chest, first delighted at the perspective of someone walking in and saving you from the creepy conversation you had with the oldest Shelby brother. But when you turned around, your dawning smile withered as you caught sight of Arthur’s wife: the vitriol that was boiling in her eyes was so corrosive that you were pretty sure it could dissolve you right on the spot if you gawked at her for too long. The tiny hope you felt had already disappeared. Far too well you were aware that the young lass was probably more inclined towards breaking your nails one by one and maybe your bones too than she was towards saving you now that she saw you physically close to Arthur. Far too close to her liking. When you understood what was going on in her mind, you stepped back from him as if you had just been burned.

“No-Nothing! I swear we were just talking! I was about to leave.” You stuttered, trying your best to sound convincing but the weight of her accusing gaze made your confidence shrink — to the extent that you started to feel guilty even if you didn’t do anything. And if fear had already overtaken you because of the lanky gangster, it was an indescribable terror that was now coursing through your cold veins.

“Angel.” Arthur gruff voice said, softer as talked to her.

According to rumors, Heaven was nothing but an evil witch whose inhumane powers could kill someone without even touching them. The few times your husband talked about his sister-in-law, you had noticed faint tremors in his voice: he feared her. At first, it seemed exaggerated. Unreasonable. After all, Heaven was a short and frail woman, so petite that a gust of wind could have blown her away. Moreover, her facial features were incredibly soft. So soft and delicate that she looked like an innocent creature with her big aquamarine eyes and her plumped lips always adorned with gloss. But now that she was standing in front of you, dressed only in a long white silk robe, you realized that something uncanny was radiating off her. She looked too pure to be real and too pale to be alive with her snow-white mane and her iris made of frost. An unpleasant shiver ran down your spine: if Heaven Shelby looked like an angel fallen from the skies, her beauty could not hide the Devil that was hiding underneath. For sure, her physical appearance only compensated for the emptiness of her heart.

In this life, no one mattered to her except her husband and John.

“Talking.” She repeated with her strong French accent as she tilted her head to the side, her long white hair following the movement and hanging loosely. “Of course.” She scoffed. Each of her words made your stomach twisted.

With the elegance of a wildcat, Heaven walked to the pentagram traced on the floor and picked up the knife. As she did, your eyes followed her, fearing she would stab you at the tiniest opportunity. “And what were you talking about?” She inquired, looking at Arthur. The gangster was quick to come to her and, when he reached his young wife, he laid his blood-stained and possessive hands on her waist, not minding the red traces they left on her bathrobe. The way he looked at her, with mad and obsessive love, only added a layer of creepiness to the whole scene. Maybe Tommy wasn’t wrong when he told you she had probably bewitched his brother. At this point, Arthur would have probably thrown himself out of the window without any question if she'd asked him to do it.

When faced by your silence, Arthur’s mouth grazed her earlobe with utter desire before he whispered something in her ear. What the lanky man told his wife you could not tell. What you could tell though was how the sudden sparkle that ignited Heaven’s eyes had sent a surge of unreasonable panic in your being. The hellish couple was now staring at you, like two wolves waiting for the slightest sign of weakness to devour you. The oldest Shelby sibling’s face split with a threatening grin while Heaven’s full lips curled in a cold, sardonic smirk.

“Listen, I’ll let the two of you have a romantic bath and—“

“You’re not going anywhere, silly girl.” The evil angel retorted, pointing you with the blade of her knife, “Go get her.” She had barely given the order when Arthur, hopelessly devoted to her, bounced on you and seized your shoulders with a grip so strong that you would have collapsed on the floor if his hands had not kept you on your feet. With that being done, the frightful gangster sneaked behind you and locked you in his arms while the ethereal but malevolent creature broke the distance. She only stopped when the sharp and pointy tip of her knife painfully pressed against your throat. Then, she observed your fragile flesh with great attention, moistening her tantalizing lips with her tongue as she thought how easy it would be to kill you now. “The human body is an amazing thing you know? One small cut here and you’ll bleed to death on the floor of this bathroom.” She paused. Running out of courage, tears beaded in the corner of your eyes and rolled down your cheeks, leaving long wet trails behind them. “Come on Y/N. Light the candles and chant with us, I’m pretty sure I could use that blood of yours…”

A rush of adrenaline suddenly struck you as the image of Arthur and his angel-looking wife making love in the bathtub filled with your own blood flashed in your mind. It wasn’t a romantic bath they had planned, but a human sacrifice. Blessed with a sudden strength only the desperate ones are granted, you overcame your catatonia and broke free from Arthur’s grip, yelling like an agonizing prey, “Leave me alone!” You screamed, a scream so loud it woke all the ghosts of Arrow House up. Without asking further questions, you threw yourself at the door and ran from the devilish couple with tears flooding your vision and anxiety keeping you from breathing properly.

Disappearing in the corridor, you let the darkness swallow you, unknowing that you wouldn't be safe anywhere in Arrow House anymore.

🩸 Any comment, review, reblog, or constructive criticism is welcome. Your reactions really motivate me and keep me alive, so please don't be shy. English is not my first language.

🩸 Tag list: @adaydreamaway08 @theshelbyclan @jomarch-wannabe @esposadomd @zablife @woofgocows @anathemasworld @anastasia000 @kate654 @kxnnxy @babayaga67 @meowtastick @shelbyssins @sarai-ibn-la-ahad @bluevenus19 @raincoffeeandfandoms @kishie8 @zablife @brummiereader @alexandra-001 @dearshelby @alexizodd @shelbydelrey @peakyswritings @helen06dreamer

#Heavens hellhound❤️#Don't tell Arthur bedtime stories 🤭#get your votes in!#Arthur Shelby #Peaky blinders imagine #Arthur Shelby x reader #Arthur Shelby x you #Peaky Blinders x Reader #Heaven Shelby #peaky blinders x you #Peaky Blinders

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ograndebatata · 8 years ago

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Trials of the Underworld - Ch. 03

Well, it seems that this time around I managed to not take as long to update a new oneshot. I hope those of you who are reading this story enjoy it.

This oneshot finishes the prompts for the previous one (Stealthy moving on from Zee-Zee Magee of fanfiction dot net, and Arthur versus Cruella from Bookworm101234 from archiveofourown) and briefly delves into another prompt (Arthur finding people to help him, from Bookworm101234 from archiveofourown).

As always, if you have any prompts of your own, please feel free to send them.

Read on AO3

Read on ff.net

Unexpected Words

Of all the facts considered as prevalent truths across the realms, one of them was the inevitability of all humans facing some form of psychologically damaging event over the course of their lives.

However, it was also considered a prevalent fact that some people went through more such ordeals than others, as well as that no two people would cope with the same ordeal equally well or equally badly.

A particular display of an inability to cope was the loss of one's voice, even if the affected person had been speaking normally before the trauma that lead to such a thing. Although such instances were not as common as suggested by various forms of fiction, particularly in the Land Without Magic, they did exist.

And a boy in the Underworld had become known for not having spoken a word in the many centuries he had spent there, for all the attempts at coaxing it out of him. Some, like Emily Brown and Milah, did so through sympathetic words and moral support. Others, like Prince James and Cruella De Vil, did so through intimidation and even physical aggression. But any method used failed to make him speak. The boy would wimper in sadness at a supportive person, or sob in fear at an evil one, but in all the centuries since his death, he had yet to utter an actual word.

As a result, the boy became largely ignored by everyone in the Underworld, including Hades. Even Cruella De Vil lost interest in him after she failed to make him beg her to stop her torture.

But interest could be revived. And after Arthur's last stand against her, Cruella had found a new purpose for the terrified mute boy.

In the Underworld's Sorcerer's Mansion

Sitting at a desk in the house's study, Arthur screwed the lid back onto the fountain pen he had been using. The implement was unlike both the quills he had used in Camelot and the ballpoint pens prevalent in Storybrooke, but it was much more practical than the former and left much crisper lines than the latter.

As such, it had been easy to compose the list that lay before him. But as Arthur picked up the two written pages that lay on the desk, they seemed much heavier than ordinary sheets of paper, as if the responsibility inherent to fixing the problems written on them weighed them down.

Sadly, it was but a small portion of the problems that plagued the Underworld. While Arthur had initially planned to conduct a complete damage survey, he forewent the idea before long. While superficially similar to Storybrooke, this place was much vaster, and while Arthur had noticed that from his arrival, he had only realized how true that was when he started his damage survey. If he inspected the town with the amount of attention required to take notice of all the damage, he would take a couple of weeks in the best of scenarios. So, after three hours only, he had returned to the Sorcerer's Mansion and written down the problems he had noticed in that time.

He did not plan to ignore the problems he hadn't noticed yet, or the parts of the Underworld he hadn't seen yet, but it would be better to start fixing the Underworld one bit at a time, instead of trying to fix it all at once. He had already taken the first step by showing the two witches how he could fight back against them and prevent them from tormenting others; he could move on from there.

And thanks to the invitation he had issued by the clock tower, he already had another issue to tackle.

In the Underworld's forest…

"I hate tromping through the woods," Cruella De Vil whispered as her shoe sank into the rotten leaves on the ground. "Why couldn't that blasted boy huddle up someplace more sanitary?"

The Blind Witch smiled. "I'd say you could ask him, but given who we're talking about, I doubt you would get an answer."

"Ha ha," Cruella deadpanned. "That was so funny I forgot how to laugh."

Instead of replying, the Blind Witch froze on the spot. Cruella opened her mouth as if to speak, but the other woman raised her hand to silence her and then pointed with her other hand to a tree about forty feet away. The woman in furs looked at that spot, and saw a small figure huddled by the base of the tree.

Both women smiled at the sight.

Then, the Blind Witch snapped her fingers and the two of them vanished in a cloud of maroon smoke. An instant later, both reappeared by the base of the tree they had spotted.

The mute boy looked up at the sound of their teleportation. The two women towered over him, grinning like sadistic predators that played with their food before eating it.

"Come here, little one," the Blind Witch cooed. "We need your help."

The boy's already large and horrified eyes widened a fraction further. He twitched as if thinking about running away. But that was his only reaction before the Blind Witch raised her hand. The next instant, him and the two women had vanished from the spot in another cloud of maroon smoke.

In the Underworld's Sorcerer's Mansion

As the door to his study clicked shut, Arthur placed his hands on the desk and gazed at the polished surface to gather his thoughts. Perhaps he was wasting time that would be more useful elsewhere, but he needed to gather himself before calling in the next person in the queue, which he already knew was bigger than any he had ever handled in his days as ruler of Camelot. As Camelot had been seemingly perfect, with the Sands of Avalon deceiving everyone into thinking so, not many would request audiences with him, and those that did presented problems he would solve easily enough, when he wasn't too busy trying to find the tip of Excalibur. In the Underworld, it was the opposite.

Objectively, Arthur knew he was dealing with a very small percentage of the Underworld's population. For all the cheering that had followed his defeat of the two witches, most had not yet taken him up on his offer. Most probably felt that not having those women ruining their afterlives was good enough, or that even though he seemed genuinely kind and supportive, they weren't yet ready to take the risk. Also, he hadn't even been ruling the place for a day.

Still, there were at least twenty people outside, besides the six he had already seen. And if his early audiences were anything to go by, all of them had serious issues to present. Lack of knowledge of their unfinished business, questions on the whereabouts of the pages the Author had left behind, fears that certain nastier citizens would become bolder now that Hades was gone, questions about who would take over certain places that were left vacant after their owners or workers moved on… the issues seemed never ending.

Perhaps instead of simply welcoming people in as they arrived, he should start making appointments.

Cries of protest rose up from outside the instant the thought crossed his mind. Arthur sat up, his eyes snapped fully open. Was he somehow thinking audibly?

"Hey, I was here first!"

"Who do you think you are to barge through like that?"

"Didn't you learn any manners while you were alive?"

"Go to the end of the line, you moron!"

Whoever was causing the chaos made no reply. Moments later, the door burst open and a large, thuggish-looking man in a tan jacket and a dull woollen hat barged into the study. Arthur stood up and walked to the front of his desk.

"I have something for you," the man stated.

Arthur stepped toward the man. "I'm afraid that was not proper conduct, good sir. I will make time for everyone, but several people were here first. So, if you please, go to the end of the line and wait your turn like everyone else."

The man scrunched up his nose as if sniffing a particularly foul pile of manure. "I'm not here to pour out my heart or beg for help. I just have a message for you. An important one."

He reached an envelope out toward Arthur. Alarm flared within him.

"Who is it from?"

The thug smirked. "You'll figure it out soon enough."

Then he turned around and walked out of the study, at a quite brisker pace than he had walked in at for all his posturing.

Arthur opened the envelope and pulled out a piece of paper about as big as the postcards he'd seen in Storybrooke. His eyes ran over the few lines scrawled on the paper.

With each word he read, his features grew more rigid, a direct contrast to the magic roiling inside him. The lights on the wall blazed. The electric wires buzzed. His desk vibrated behind him. Scared whispers and murmurs rose up from the line forming at the still open door of his study.

Arthur willed his magic to settle down. The words in that letter could be infuriating, but if he handled the matter with a heated temper, he could do just as much harm as good. Besides, he didn't want to hurt any of the people waiting outside.

Willing his magic down further, Arthur looked at the crowd waiting outside and addressed them.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I need to ask you to leave for a moment. A rather pressing matter has come up. Please make yourselves comfortable in the garden while you wait, and try to keep to your places in the line."

A few displeased murmurs and scowls met his announcement, but those were the only signs of protest before all the people waiting to talk to him filed out of the house and into the garden.

Far away from there, the Blind Witch smiled as she kept the helpless mute boy floating at the right height and just above the right spot.

Every bit of the trap she and Cruella had lain out was in place. Once the bearded beefcake showed up, they could get rid of him, and show everyone in the Underworld why no one messed with them.

The instant after leading everyone outside and magically sealing all the entrances to the Sorcerer's Mansion, Arthur teleported to the spot indicated in the message: the Underworld's Harbor.

As it was written, the Blind Witch was there, grinning at him as she magically held someone fifty feet above the water - the same scared mute boy Arthur had briefly questioned upon his arrival.

Arthur clenched his fist, magic sparking around it. He might have stooped to many lows in his misguided days, but this was too much even for him.

"Hi there," the Blind Witch drawled in her usual screechy voice. "I see you got my message."

Arthur's mouth set in a grim line.

"Yes. I got your message." More sparks erupted around his fists as he recalled the words written on it.

"I take it you didn't like it," she deadpanned as if telling an unfunny joke. "I'd say I hope you didn't take it out on poor Claude, but I'm not really worried about what happens to him one way or the other."

A retort moved up Arthur's vocal chords, but it faded as a strange shiver crept through him. Something unusual, as if he was being watched by several pairs of eyes, even though the only people here besides him were the Blind Witch and the boy.

As far as he knew at least. There could be others here lying in wait around here. After all, there were several strange crates and boxes scattered around the harbor, behind which many people could be hiding. Any of them could have any kind of trap ready for him. And if so, it might be something he wasn't ready for.

Putting the thought aside for the time being, Arthur carried on with the conversation. "Then let me tell you I let him leave unharmed. After all, I'm not like you." Not anymore, at least.

"Figures," the Blind Witch deadpanned.

The boy shook in the Blind Witch's telekinetic grip. Even at such a distance, his eyes looked wide and terrified to the point he'd die from fear if he wasn't dead already.

"So now you've stooped to using a scared defenseless boy as bait. Have you no shame?"

"Of course not," the woman breathed. "I'm a villain. We have no shame about such things."

And hadn't he known it.

"But I didn't call you here for you to scold me," the woman carried on. "I called you here to get rid of you."

The same strange shiver from before crept through him again. But nevertheless, he smirked at the woman even though she couldn't see it.

"And do you really think you can defeat me? After all, last time did not exactly end well for you."

The woman smiled. "Of course I believe I can defeat you. I came prepared."

Arthur frowned. He had suspected that, but hearing that somehow made that reality seem even worse.

A sharp snarl tore him from his thoughts. Arthur turned around. A barrage of four-legged blurs materialized out of nowhere and sped toward him.

Cloaking spells!

Arthur's hand cut forward through the air. The outlines ran straight into his magic and collapsed unconscious on the ground.

A horrified scream cut through the air. Arthur turned to it. The mute boy dropped like a stone into the water.

The former king forced his magic through the air. The boy vanished in a silver cloud just as he was about to touch the water.

A strange drone rose behind him. The boy materialized in his arms in another silver cloud. Arthur stepped backwards from the force of the child landing in his grip.

"LOOK OUT!" a voice shouted from somewhere.

The drone shifted into a roar. Something huge and heavy barreled toward him. Arthur unleashed magic through his being. Air split apart behind him as the massive object got to a hairsbreadth of him.

The next instant, Arthur had vanished from where he stood, the boy still in his arms.

He reappeared about twenty feet farther from the water than he had been. A black and white horseless carriage sped along the harbor, straight toward the Blind Witch. Her lips parted in terror.

The vehicle slammed into her. The woman screamed as she flew like a tossed ragdoll, her arms and legs spread apart like a butterfly's wings. Arthur looked with unblinking eyes, transfixed by the sight.

The woman started to drop toward the water. Arthur clasped the boy to his chest with his left arm and reached forward with his free hand.

Too late.

The Blind Witch landed with a splash. Her scream ended. A strange hissing and haunting murmur followed her dive. He knew without having to look that the sorceress had just dissolved into one of the many green spectres that swam around in the river.

Arthur looked around for his rescuer. A brown-bearded dwarf peeked from behind a crate to his left.

And as an inarticulate snarl came from his right, Arthur turned and saw Cruella De Vil materializing five feet from him, as the cloaking spell covering her also vanished.

"I missed!" she growled.

Arthur blinked. Was this woman for real? Her supposed friend had just met a fate worse than death and she displayed nothing but anger at her failure?

He shook the thoughts from his head. There was no time for them now. He had to deal with them before she used any more dogs - which he now recognized the unconscious blurs as - against him.

"So you did," he replied.

Cruella's eyes flickered toward the car. Arthur snapped his fingers, and the vehicle fell apart in a cloud of glittering dust.

"And as you can see, you won't be trying anything like that in the near future."

The woman glared at him like an angry tiger.

"Aren't you the spoilsport, darling?" she groused.

Arthur's eyes narrowed. "Maybe, but I'll also be kind enough to tell you this. I heard about many things you did from several people, and it wouldn't take a quarter of them for me to have grounds to incarcerate you. And when one is dead, there's no need to be sparing with long sentences." He leaned a fraction toward her. "But fortunately for you, I would rather not start my running of the Underworld with an imprisonment. So I'm giving you your absolute very last chance. From this moment on, if I hear you're up to any kind of misdemeanor, even if it is something as harmless as deliberately sneezing at someone, I'll lock you up in an especially designed cell in the middle of the woods for the rest of eternity. Got it?"

Cruella glared at him again, but either the failure of her plan or the threat he had issued must have been very scared indeed, because she ran away as fast as she could on her towering heels. For a moment, Arthur entertained the notion of doing away with the last chance he had given her and just teleport her into one of the cells at the Sheriff Station. In Camelot, he'd imprisoned people for much less.

The thought of his old rule hit him like a bucket of ice water. He might have done that in Camelot, but now he was trying to be a better person. Granted, this woman might have tried to do something absolutely awful, but many other Underworld denizens were bound to be just as terrible, if not even worse. If Arthur started locking them all up without giving them a real chance at redemption, it might not be very long before he became the next Hades.

But then again, if he let her go now, she might just keep tormenting people.

No. He had already been aggressive enough in stopping them by the clock tower, as well as now in destroying the car. So this once, just this once, he would let her off with a mere warning and damaged properly.

The little boy shifted in his arms. Arthur put him down and then crouched a fraction to behold him at eye-level

"Are you alright?"

You dope! Arthur scolded himself the words left his mouth. Of course he's not! And he won't be answering you anyway!

But strangely, much to his surprise, the boy's throat started pulsing, as if he was trying to will it into forming words but no longer knew how to do it.

Arthur waited patiently, trying to look as encouraging as possible. The boy's mouth opened time and again, like a fish gasping out of water, but no sound would come forth.

It might be better not to expect too much of him now. The lad had been through quite an ordeal. He couldn't be expected to break centuries of silence because of a single event.

"Never you mind," Arthur replied as he straightened up. "Let's get you to a more pleasant place."

Arthur put his hand on the boy's back to nudge him forward, but the child froze like a statue, still looking up at him. He opened his mouth again.

And then, scratchy from a voice that had spent centuries unused, two single words crawled forth from the boy's lips.

"Thank you."

A muted gasp left Arthur's lips, as amazement beyond his comprehension filled him to the brim. Even in a world of strange carriages that moved alone, books that traveled across realms, and gods that could grant powers, somehow hearing those two scratchy words was the most incredible thing that had ever happened to him.

Then happiness broke through him.

"You're most welcome, young man," Arthur replied at the boy, as satisfaction filled him more than it ever had when he ruled Camelot.

Never in his wildest dreams would he have expected that the beginning of his running the Underworld would have gone so well. Granted, there had been a few mishaps, but compared to the difficulties potentially inherent to such a task, this seemed as easy as only having to pull a shovelful of dung from the stable every day.

The only way it could get better was if he managed to help at least one person to move on.

And perhaps he already knew just who would be first.

"And you know what?" Arthur told the boy. "I think there might be something else I can do for you."

For the first time since Arthur had met him, an emotion other than fear flickered in the boy's eyes. Hope.

Arthur raised his hand again. The last thing he saw before he teleported himself and the boy away from the harbor was the dwarf scurrying away from the water, presumably afraid of falling in by accident or being pushed in by a vengeful Cruella De Vil.

Later, after attending to the boy's other issue and listening to all those he had left waiting at the Sorcerer's Mansion, Arthur walked into the Blind Witch's diner. Although the owner had fallen into the river, the workers kept moving about serving meals and drinks, and the patrons kept consuming them. When he walked in, some gave him looks of both relief and nervousness, while others looked outright horrified, with the average gazing at hm with a strange mix of respect and fear, which left him uncomfortable on more than one level.

One of them, the same dwarf that had warned him about Cruella De Vil's plan, looked much calmer than the rest. But as Arthur walked up to him, even he frowned in nervousness.

"Something wrong?" the dwarf asked.

"Nothing at all. I would simply like to thank you, my friend. Without your warning, both the boy and me would have ended up in that infernal water."

The dwarf waved the words away. "It's alright. I was glad to help." He cracked a smile. "But let me tell you, it wasn't easy to track them down when they started teleporting."

Arthur chuckled. "I can imagine."

The dwarf chuckled also. Then he looked around as if trying to find something, or someone.

"What happened to the kid?" the dwarf asked.

Arthur raised an appeasing hand. "Do not fear..."

"Stealthy," the dwarf filled in.

"Do not fear, Stealthy. The boy has simply left for the better place."

"You mean…"

"Yes. He has moved on. Apparently, his unfinished business was overcoming his fear enough to recover his voice."

The dwarf smiled a bit, the expression slightly glazed over as if he was deep in thought. "Funny how unfinished business can be something so small and yet so difficult to figure out."

Arthur nodded. Sometimes, unfinished business could be complicated, but other times, it was surprisingly simple.

And on that matter…

"Do you have any idea what yours may be?" Arthur offered. "I'd be glad to help you figure it out."

Stealthy smiled. "No need. I already figured it out. In fact, I would have moved on already, but I wanted to make sure Cruella and the Blind Witch wouldn't just go back to wrecking the place before doing so."

Reading between the lines, Arthur guessed that Stealthty had loved ones who would die at some point and he'd rather they didn't deal with those two if they had unfinished business. And given that Stealthy had made it a point to follow Cruella and the Blind Witch, not to mention warn him when she unleashed the vehicle on him, maybe the dwarf had, in a sense, stayed to help him. And indeed, perhaps he could use some help. After all, there was a lot to do in the Underworld.

But it was a busy work, and eternity was far too long. He couldn't actually ask anyone to bear the burden with him.

So, instead of asking the dwarf for help, he offered, "Seeing as that is settled, would you like to move on now? I can escort you to the bridge if you would wish me to."

The dwarf's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Absolutely."

The dwarf sprang from his chair. "Let's go then."

Instead of teleporting, Arthur and Stealthy walked up to the place where he would make the crossing. Teleporting was quick, but it had its inconveniences. Not only did one miss the sights, but one also missed everything that was along the way, including opportunities for conversation.

And although Stealthy was not the chattiest of people, he did have some new bits of information to share with Arthur, of which he had gladly taken notice. Of those, the most important was likely the place where Cruella had hidden the phone booths that had once existed throughout the Underworld, which apparently were used by the deceased to send messages to their loved ones. Arthur had vowed to do his best to fix them as soon as possible.

He had also asked Arthur if he knew anything about what had happened to his brothers, but everything that the former king had been able to share was that, as far as he knew, the only one Hades had killed besides Arthur himself had been Robin Hood. Again, Arthur wondered when, and if, he would see the outlaw in the Underworld.

Between all their bits of conversation, Stealthy and Arthur arrived at the bridge almost before they knew it. And once that happened, the dwarf's eagerness at moving on gave way to very noticeable hesitation.

Arthur could understand. After all, a cave with jagged walls surrounding a pit brimming with fire and with two rocky ledges that looked like they had once formed a bridge was not exactly the most inviting picture.

"So… how does this work exactly?" Stealthy asked.

"From what I understand, you walk across it. Then once you get to the edge, the bridge will complete itself, a light will erupt in the tunnel on other side of the path, and your better place will be visible once it fades." He thought back to the only two occasions he had seen someone move on. "At least, that's what happened to the little boy."

Stealthy nodded, the look of nervousness ever present. His eyes shifted from Arthur to the bridge, as if thinking about asking him to come along on that part of the journey as well.

Arthur deliberately took a small step back. He understood the dwarf's fears, but this was something Stealthy had to do for himself. Arthur did not want to move on by accident and leave the Underworld without anyone after he had promised to restore it.

The dwarf's eyes widened a fraction.

Then, he rolled his shoulders, turned to the ledge, and started walking toward it.

The flames at the bottom of the pit flared when Stealthy put his right foot on the bridge, but they did not reach up to claim him.

With each step he gave, the flames would flicker and swish through the air. More than once, he would stop for several seconds as if afraid a fiery hand would reach up and pull him down.

And each time, he would keep moving on, regardless of the flames or his fear of falling.

He went in silence right up to the edge. Nothing happened.

Then, as he put his foot past the middle, the air above it shimmered, the two ledges on each side of the pit united to form a bridge, and a blinding light surged on the tunnel at the other end. Stealthy raised his forearm to shield his eyes, and in spite of himself, Arthur's brow creased a fraction.

After several seconds, the light faded, and the passage had been replaced with an exit that revealed a lush, peaceful-looking forest, with a cottage peeking from behind the trees.

Stealthy's better place.

Now confident, the dwarf turned around to Arthur. "One more thing. If you manage to fix those phones, could you try to let my brothers know I moved on?"

"I will."

"Thanks."

The dwarf raised his hand in farewell. Then, he turned back to the archway and resumed his walk. Once he got to the tunnel's exit, the light blazed again. The next instant, both Stealthy and the picture of his happy ending had vanished.

Arthur stayed behind for a few moments longer, reflecting on everything he still had to do. The key issues springing to his mind were keeping squabbles from growing into wars, finding new workers for the places that got vacant after people either moved on or fell into a worse place, repairing the phone booths, and, most importantly of all, finding a way to properly retrieve those who had fallen into the River of Lost Souls and put them in a state fit for them to deal with their unfinished business and move on.

He had his work cut out for him, but he also had a new set of skills to help him. Most of the tasks he had mentioned would be easy enough to handle, and while two of them posed a certain challenge, Arthur figured that with enough patience and hard work, he would be able to accomplish them as well.

This was actually meant to be part of the previous oneshot, but I came to the conclusion that it would have been unduly long if it had stayed there, so instead I made a separate oneshot out of it.

And now that Arthur is fully settled in the Underworld, the story can really begin. I do have a few ideas for where to go next, but nevertheless, feel free to keep sending your prompts.

#once upon a time #ouat #ouat fic #ouat king arthur #fic about arthur running the underworld

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finleycannotdraw · 4 years ago

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Guess what? I’m re-binge-reading Good Omens. And here are some Obervations that I forgot about and some things I might put in fics. Also things I found funny. Basically my dumb commentary on the book.

Crowley actually flees Sister Mary. He doesn’t saunter vaguely away. He flees.

Ligur is rather more thoughtful than he’s portrayed in the show

Anathema likes to read about herself, and her teachers are confused because she spells words like Agnes Nutter

Crowley apologizes

By page 41, it is mentioned at least twice that Aziraphale and Crowley Do Not choose each other’s company for any reason other than that they are constants, that they have an Arrangement, and that they are Friends because being Enemies got boring.

Aziraphale blushes!!!!!!

The Drunk Scene is fuckin hilarious and it’s actually a lot longer than it is in the show, and really you ought to read it. (Book pages 47-50)

My mom (who has a PhD in human development) would probably like to talk to Crowley about upbringing because they seem to agree on how important it is

War has always looked 25, and had a vulture that died of fatty degeneration

Pollution is very cleverly compared to actual pollution

Warlock has Kermit the frog overalls, and Nanny Ashtoreth is described as someone who “advertises unspecified but strangely explicit services in certain magazines”. The tutors are present for about four paragraphs. Warlock is good at math and likes banana flavored bubblegum.

Crowley has a slice of angel cake. Aziraphale eats it. Aziraphale also eats deviled eggs. Hm.

Crowley calls Aziraphale angel casually enough to suggest he’s been doing it for a long time

Some girl at Warlock’s party calls Aziraphale a f*ggot

Crowley glares suspiciously at a gerbil. It is suggested that Hell has, in the past, sent hell-gerbils in place of hellhounds.

“Oh dear,” muttered Aziraphale, not swearing with the practiced ease of one who has spent six thousand years not swearing, and who wasn’t going to start now.

Adam and his friends play in a place called The Pit, where shopping carts go to die, apparently

Crowley is the first one to mention sides in the book!??!? Also Crowley goes on about how humans are more evil than Hell (but he calls himself evil—is he calling himself human already?)

Aziraphale yells “get off the road, you clown!”

“What’s a velvet underground?” *love confession???* “you wouldn’t like it”

Aziraphale is a bit rude to Crowley in the “flashes of love” scene and Crowley is less panicked about it

Crowley glares at the Bentley and it fixes itself

Anathema’s bike is called Phaeton

COULD THEY ACT ANY MORE MARRIED OH MY GOD

Aziraphale speaks like. Like ugh. “FlOUndeR on tHe rOcKS of inEquiTY”

“Thirty seconds later someone shot both of them. With incredible accuracy.” *cuts to a random pleasant story about Mary Hodges* *cuts back to where Aziraphale has fallen into a rhododendron and Crowley licks the paint before he knows it’s paint* dumbasses

Crowley does not slam Aziraphale into the wall

Crowley is actually pretty impatient and doesn’t argue with Aziraphale when he’s worried

“Nothing but dust and fundamentalists” “that was nasty” “sorry, couldn’t help it”

When the radio sings “Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me,” Crowley sings “for me” and then screams

Crowley asks Aziraphale if he’ll keep in touch, and Aziraphale doesn’t say tickety-boo, and then Crowley says “right” and feels very alone

the international express man is small and has glasses, and wears green woolen socks

The sword, which turns out to be Aziraphale’s, is described as having an aura of hatred and menace, which makes me think of how it could’ve gotten that aura from Heaven or from humanity or from War...

In the book Pepper has red hair and freckles, which makes it a cool comparison to War’s appearance and the defeat of War

Adam is excellent at slouching, apparently

Occasionally, as Aziraphale reads the book, he would very nearly swear

“He wouldn’t have said ‘that’s weird’ if a flock of sheep had cycled past playing violins.”

“If you had told him there were children starving in Africa he would’ve been flattered that you’d noticed.”

“...that he was English, that he was intelligent, and that he was gayer than a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide.” (151)

Wensleydale watches David Attenborough programs

Shadwell’s voice is described as “the color of an old raincoat” and seems to fake smoking cigarettes

Aziraphales cocoa is moldy and solidified by the time he calls Arthur Young, and has a thin layer of dust on himself too

Newt says that the walls look like nicotine and the floor looks like cigarette ash, and he suspects both are, actually, coated with these substances

Newt looks a bit like Clark Kent, and people seem to like Shadwell for some reason, much to his annoyance.

Aziraphale calls Shadwell “dear boy” on the phone

Agnes Nutter called God a daft old fool #goals

Adam is wayyyy too good at video games

Smelling Anathema’s perfume makes Newt uncomfortable

Adam suggests that Pepper ought to have Russia cause of her red hair (huh)

Anathema and Newt actually have decent conversations?? Like?? Show??? C’mon, man. The show kinda butchered their relationship.

Trees, apparently, make a ‘vvrooooommm’ sound when they grow very fast

“He suspected that Crowley was from the Mafia, or the underworld, although he would have been surprised how right he nearly was.” Shadwell also thought Aziraphale was a Russian spy. Wow, Shadwell.

Aziraphale calls Crowley and actually says “shut up” to him, and then when the answering machine beeps, he tells Crowley to “stop making noises” and then he swears for the first time ever.

The fuckin’ footnote on page 227

“A sleek computer was the sort of thing Crowley felt that the sort of human he tried to be would have.” I like the word choice here. He’s not pretending to be a human, he’s trying to be one. That’s a really important distinction.

It never actually says what Crowley does to his plants.

Crowley’s flat is very white. Wow, Crowley. It just looks dark because of the lighting. Heaven imagery and symbolism out my ears, goddammit.

Why does Hell say Crowley’s name so much when talking to him?? Honestly, I think that’s an intentional dig at his chosen name, using it in their speech to scare him. Wow, Hell. (And wow, Finn, excellent sentence)

Whenever the book says something is shaped like something, it definitely isn’t that thing. “man-shaped” “dog-shaped” “car-shaped”... makes it pretty obvious they aren’t men, dogs, or cars, huh.

The code to Crowley’s safe is 4004. The year he “slithered onto this stupid, marvelous planet”... and the year he met Aziraphale, of course. Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt, Crowley, my dude.

Crowley consideres sticking Hastur into his car until he turns into Freddie Mercury but then decides even he isn’t that cruel

Actual text that I feel like nobody really agrees with: “Madame Tracy was by many yardsticks quite stupid”

“Do I look like I run a bookshop?” “...imagine me out of uniform, sir, and what kind of man would you see before you? Honestly?” “A prat.”

I’m crying. The fucking bookshop fire scene made me fucking cry. I’m literally crying.

“...on all fours in the blazing bookshop, Crowley cursed Aziraphale, and the ineffable plan, and Above, and Below.” “The police and firemen looked at him, saw the expression on his face, and stayed exactly where they were.” “...a crack of thunder so loud it hurt....” *the sound of Finley sobbing into their cat*

The shortest biker in the cafe thing is 6′2, what the fuck

War, Famine, Pollution, and Pop Trivia 1962-1979

“Pollution removed his helmet and shook out his long white hair. He had taken over when Pestilence, muttering about penicillin, had retired in 1936. If only the old boy had known what opportunities the future had held.” HMMMMMMMMMMM

“There were no bitches in Hell either.” I know it’s talking about female dogs, but I rather thought Hell was full of bitches.

“Why are you talking like a poofter?” “Ah. Australia.”

“gOsh, aM i on teLEviSiON?” (Basically Aziraphale gets passionate about stuff and likes to talk).

Crowley is actually an optimist and doesn’t dwell too much on how sucky the world is. He doesn’t go get smashed in a bar. He just finds Aziraphale’s notes in the book and heads to Tadfield. And also, his new pair of sunglasses just... materializes out of his eyes. And he likes to whistle.

“Death and Famine and War and Pollution continued biking to Tadfield. And Grievous Bodily Harm, Cruelty to Animals, Things Not Working Properly Even After You’ve Given Them A Good Thumping But Secretly No Alcohol Lager, and Really Cool People traveled with them.”

“on top of the pile a rather large octopus waved a languid tentacle at them. The sergeant resisted the temptation to wave back.” Honestly dude, if an octopus waved at me I’d wave back.

Wait Agnes was apparently talking to Shadwell and not God when she said yowe daft old foole. I dunno

Madame Tracy: You old silly. Shadwell:

Aziraphale does not know how to get rid of demons. Canonically. “Had never done other to get rid of demons than to hint to them very strongly that he, Aziraphale, had some work to be getting on with, and wasn’t it getting late? And Crowley always got the hint.”

The road to Hell is paved with frozen door to door salesmen, apparently. The question is where it is, because the demons always seem to just stem out of the ground.

“Heigh ho,” said Anthony Crowley, and just drove anyway. I love this sentence during that scene.

I bet Hastur gets really mad whenever he hears Aziraphale’s voice from now on

Crowley isn’t breathing the entire burning Bentley scene

ADAM. SAID. “But I reckon you can make your own side” AND WE FUCKIN IGNORED IT?

The temperature above the M25 was simultaneously 700ºC and -140ºC which makes me think of something I read about magenta not being real. The M25 is magenta.

I feel like “Agnes” is just going to become an inside joke between Anathema and Newt at this point, and it will drive Crowley insane because he knows who she is but somehow still doesn’t get the joke.

I’m six inches taller than R.P. Tyler, and apparently according to the back sleeve of the book jacket, I’m very similar in height to Neil Gaiman

R.P. Tyler thought Shadwell was a ventriloquist’s dummy, and then sees cows doing somersaults

“That’s terrific. Much obliged,” said Crowley. — “Funny weather we’re having, isn’t it?” “Is it? I hadn’t noticed.” “Probably because your car is on fire.” .... Also the fact that Crowley looks like a young man which I find interesting.

“The Four Button-Pressers of the Apocalypse”

“Where is Armageddon, anyway?” “I’ve always meant to look that up.” “There’s an Armageddon, Pennsylvania”

Famine is the one that says “that’s one big avocado”, and also, I find it interesting that War, more than once, talks about love. (All is fair in love and war much?)

Anathema threatens the guard with a stick, pretending it’s a gun

Aziraphale, of course, asks Crowley to sort it out because he, Aziraphale, is “the nice one” and then proceeds to sort it out himself. Because of course he does. Because what else could he possibly do.

I just ADORE THIS BOOK OKAY

I’M PROBABLY GOING TO READ IT AGAIN IN A MONTH

Aziraphale and Crowley are so fuckin married I can’t

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bktynes-writes · 4 years ago

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As per the fantastic advice of the wonderful and amazing Mallory, @valleydean, I made some graphics for my fic, The Blood Of The Covenant. It’s a long, slow burn, Mafia AU, and I have no idea where it’s gonna end up, but I hope you’ll all reblog and join me for the ride. Here is the summary, and the first chapter is under the cut. Read on Ao3.

The Blood Of The Covenant The Winchester Dynasty will never fall.

At least, that’s what John and Mary, heads of the most powerful crime family in the city believe. They have built their empire from nothing, and are willing to do whatever it takes to maintain their control.

When a new family, the Novaks, threaten the delicate balance of power they have maintained for years, the eldest son, Dean, is tasked with infiltrating the ranks of the Novak’s organization to destroy them from the inside.

Dean has always been a soldier in his parent’s wars, never questioning where his loyalties lie, but when he comes face to face with Castiel Novak, one of the sons of the family threatening to destroy his own, he wonders if maybe there could be more to life than he believed. Maybe this blue-eyed stranger can offer him the ticket out he never knew he wanted.

They say that the blood of the covenant runs thicker than the water of the womb, but how do you turn your back on family? Will Dean choose love over loyalty? Will he leave behind all he’s ever known? Or are he and Castiel destined to just be pawns in the war for power that rules the city’s underworld?

Chapter 1: Dinner

The city at night always had a certain charm about it that Dean couldn’t put his finger on. Maybe it was the way everything lit up a bit more or the fact that the darkness hid the grime that clung to every surface like a second skin, but the alleyways and culverts of the buildings seemed more inviting when they were filled with shadow.

He loved this city. Every dirty stairwell, every seedy bar, every doorway that led to nowhere, Dean knew them all. He had grown up on these streets, and he wouldn’t change it for the world.

The sound of a car horn brought him back to reality, pulling him out of his nostalgic reverie and into the moment. He looked down at his dress shoes, sparkling in the neon lights against the damp pavement, and smiled. If there was one thing Dean Winchester knew how to do, it was dress to impress. His father had instilled in him that first impressions were important at a very young age, and how a man looks could change the direction of any transaction.

Tonight was the first Sunday of the month, which meant dinner with the Family at Cain’s. Dean never looked forward to these dinners - he found them to be mundane - but as the eldest son of the most powerful crime family in the city, he knew his mother and father expected him to attend.

Thus, he found himself in his best suit, pulling open the restaurant’s glass door and striding past the host stand like he owned the place. The young woman there gave him a nervous look, and he shot her his most charming smile, causing her to duck her head as a deep red blush crept up her cheeks. He passed by the other tables and made his way to the back of the restaurant, pointedly ignoring the stares and whispers that followed him from the other patrons. He was used to this behaviour. Anyone who was anyone in the city recognized the Winchesters, and their reputation preceded them.

He made his way past the kitchen, stopping briefly to say hello to Cain, clapping him on the shoulder.

“Dean!” Cain exclaimed, turning around and pulling him into a rib-crushing hug. “I didn’t think you were gonna show! Everyone else is already here.”

Dean laughed. In another life, he would have called him a friend.

But Winchesters didn’t have friends.

“Yeah, I figured they would be.” He said. “What can I say? Fashionably late is kinda my style.” He shrugged and smiled.

“That’s my boy, always gotta make an entrance.” Cain beamed at him. “They’re in the back room. I’ll get your usual added to the order. Hurry up before your dad tears a strip off you!”

“Thanks, Cain,” Dean said. He ducked past him and headed to the very back of the dining room.

Dean could now see the usual suspects gathered around their regular table. He spotted Bobby gruffly speaking to Ellen Harvelle and her daughter Jo. The Harvelles were powerful associates who owned many of the bars and rest stops along the freeway into the city, and Dean’s father liked to keep them close because he had been friends with Ellen’s late husband, Bill.

Ellen was a good source of information for the family. People let information slip that they shouldn’t after a few rounds of shots at one of Ellen’s roadhouses, and she and Jo had ears like bats. Dean was pretty sure the main reason she was included in these clandestine meetings of the family, though, is that his parents, despite their vehement claims otherwise, were a little bit afraid of her. He couldn’t blame them. He had grown up with Jo and, despite being six years older, had had his ass handed to him more times than he could count by the feisty blonde.

Dean chuckled to himself at the memory as he slid quietly into the seat next to his younger brother, Sam.

“You’re late,” stated the younger of the Winchester brothers, his arm draped lazily across his girlfriend Jessica’s shoulders.

“Yeah, I was over at the mill. Gordon owes us and is being…difficult.” He reached for the bottle of wine that sat on the table and filled his glass. He wasn’t usually a fan of wine, but Cain always brought out the good bottles for these meetings, and when he didn’t have to pay, it would be rude to refuse.

“Dad is gonna be pissed.” Said Sam, finishing his own glass and holding it out for Dean to refill.

“No, he won’t,” Dean replied, pouring too much wine into his brother’s glass. “He knows how Gordon is. He’ll just be glad I didn’t break too many of his fingers to get him to agree to pay his dues.”

“Whatever you say, Dean,” Sam replied, rolling his eyes. He ran his fingers through his absurdly long hair, and Dean found himself itching to strap his brother into a barber’s chair and order a buzz cut.

A clink of cutlery against glass brought the assembly to silence and drew everyone’s attention to the man standing at the head of the table. John Winchester was an imposing figure at the best of times, and his broad shoulders, clad in the threads of his fine Italian suit, added to his commanding demeanour. His neatly trimmed beard was flecked with grey, as was the perfectly slicked hair on his head. He stood with pride and demanded the respect of those around him with ease.

“Now that my son has finally decided to grace us with his presence, we can call this meeting to order,” John spoke with an air of distaste directed solely at Dean.

“Ah, you know me pops, better late than never,” Dean said nonchalantly. Sam was right; John was pissed.

“Indeed,” said his father coolly.

Dean tuned out most of the ensuing conversations. It was the typical discussion of territory, who was responsible for handling the gang activity on the west side, who was collecting from which businesses for protection owed and whether or not they had paid (Dean received a small nod of approval from John when he informed the table that Gordon would no longer be causing issues).

When the food came, Dean was treated to the most delicious looking plate of carbonara he had ever seen. Cain truly did know the way to his heart. Before he had the chance to dig in, a noise from the opposite end of the table drew everyone’s attention.

A beautiful woman with wavy brown hair rose from the table, and Dean rolled his eyes, huffing dramatically into his chair. Bela Talbot was always trying to draw attention to herself at these meetings, and tonight would be no exception. She wasn’t, strictly speaking, part of the Family, but she was part of a necessary evil alliance that the Winchesters had forged years ago to have hands in the art trade, and Dean had found her to be nothing but a nuisance ever since.

Her words dripped with a caramel sweetness, and despite his intense dislike of the woman, Dean couldn’t help but stare at her as she spoke.

“John. Mary. Dear Winchester Family. It has come to my attention that there appears to be a new family on the North shore. They arrived from New Jersey about six weeks ago and have been a thorn in my side ever since.” She scowled.

“Why hasn’t it been dealt with, Bela?” Asked Sam. “The North shore is your territory, isn’t it?” Sam was flexing his powers a little bit, addressing Bela that way. Usually, it would be up to John to chastise her for not taking care of a threat to their operations, but Dean could see the look of pride in his father’s eyes at Sam stepping in so willingly.

Bela’s face tinged pink slightly at the admonishing tone in Sam’s voice, and she puffed her cheeks out before speaking out again. “Under regular circumstances, Samuel, I would, but it seems that these Novaks are a bit better at playing cat and mouse than I would have anticipated.”

“Novak?” Dean snorted. “What is that, Polish?”

Bela glared at him. “I believe it’s Serbian, actually.”

Dean shrugged and twisted his fork idly in his pasta, hoping she would get to the point before it got cold. Sam continued to address her. “What’s the problem, Bela?”

“They’ve taken out three of my warehouses since their arrival, and the attendance at both the craps game and the pool hall is down by thirty-two percent.” She sighed, and Dean perked up. He almost wanted to shake the hand of anyone who could cause Bela this much distress, but this was clearly an attack on the family’s assets. “Half the shops on Arthur Street aren’t paying their fees because the Novaks have started charging them, and when I sent Ruby over to persuade them, she came back bloody and threatening to skip town.”

Dean’s smile faded as quickly as it had appeared. Ruby was savage in the art of ‘persuasion,’ and he could hardly imagine anyone getting the better of her. He leaned forward, his brow furrowed. A new family trying to start a war with the Winchesters? The last time that had happened, Dean was a teenager, and, much to his dismay, his parents had insisted he not be involved. He had watched helplessly from inside the Catholic boy’s school his father had shipped him to, as his people were shot in the street.

But Dean was in his thirties now, and the prospect of war looming on the horizon made him giddy with anticipation.

Mary Winchester, who had been quietly observing her husband and sons until this point, suddenly cleared her throat, which made all the men at the table sit up a little straighter. She was a fierce-looking woman with high cheekbones, a square jaw, and deep eyes, all framed by locks of cascading blonde curls. It was easy to see where her sons had gotten their charming good looks from.

She sat forward and touched her husband’s forearm gently. “Bela. While I’m sure the loss of your warehouses is devastating, no one would be foolish enough to start a war with our family.” She smiled. “And if Ruby and the girls from Rowena’s can’t handle what is being asked of them, then perhaps it is time to remind them who it is they work for. I’m sure Sam and Dean would be happy to deal with the Novaks, right boys?”

Sam nodded at his mother, and Dean could feel his excitement bubbling. He looked to his brother and saw a dark glint in his eye. The two of them together were unstoppable.

“Anything for you, mother,” Dean said, and he basked in her pride.

“Wonderful,” John said, clapping his hands together, dispelling the tension surrounding the table, and causing Bela to sink back into her seat as her concerns were dismissed. “Now, let’s eat before the food goes cold.”

The rest of the evening dissolved into easy conversation amongst the members of the meeting. Sam laughed wildly at Bobby’s account of a man who he had once held over a woodchipper for his disrespect, even though he had told the story a hundred times. Mary and John spoke quietly with Jessica about her parents and how thrilled they were that her contacts on Broadway would benefit the Winchester dynasty. Dean occupied himself by kicking Jo under the table and watching her face go from mildly irritated to genuinely annoyed as she tried to maintain a discussion with her mother about liquor importing.

When the food and wine had been consumed, John stood again and waited patiently for the conversations to cease. “Thank you all for joining us this evening.” He spoke warmly to everyone. “I trust to see you all again next month.” A chorus of murmured agreement rippled through those assembled. John raised his glass, and everyone else followed suit. “To the family.” He toasted and drained the remaining wine from his glass.

The sound of chairs scraping back from the table filled the small dining room as the Winchesters and their associates made to leave. They passed the other patrons, enjoying their meals and trying obviously not to stare as the finely dressed men and women filed out the front door, thanking Cain with handshakes and smiles as they left.

Dean stepped into the street and stretched, breathing the exhaust soaked air deeply into his lungs and once again being reminded of just how much he loved this city. A large hand dropped heavily onto his shoulder, and he turned to find his gargantuan little brother towering next to him.

“You wanna come over for a beer?” Sam asked casually.

“Nah, man, I was thinking about heading over to Lee’s,” Dean said. His head was foggy from the wine, and he needed some real liquor to bring his senses back.

Sam scowled. “You know, Dad doesn’t like you going out without protection.”

“Always keep a condom in my wallet, Sammy.” Dean winked, and Sam rolled his eyes dramatically.

“That’s not what I mean.” He said. “If Bela is right and the Novaks are looking to start a war, none of us should be going anywhere alone.”

“Oh, is Sam freaking Winchester scared of a few Jersey boys?” Dean snarked at his brother, punching him in the arm playfully. “I’ll be fine. Besides, it’s Lee’s bar. I’m basically royalty there.”

Jessica appeared at Sam’s side and snaked her arm around his waist. She really was beautiful, far too good for his brother. Dean sometimes wished he had met her first, but he shook the thoughts from his mind. Sam was happy with Jess, and that’s what he deserved.

“Your parents invited us over to look over the blueprints of the new hotel, honey.” She said. “Dean, will you be joining us?”

“Not tonight, sweetheart, but hey, tell 'em to put one of those fancy water features in like they’ve got in Vegas,” Dean replied sarcastically.

Jess smiled at him. “You ready, Sam?”

“Uh, yeah, one second. Why don’t you go ahead with Mom and Dad? I’ll meet you at the car.” Sam said. He rubbed his hand across her shoulders and leaned down to kiss her sweetly. Jess cast one more smile at Dean before turning back down the sidewalk to where Mary and John stood waiting.

“What’s up, Sammy?” Dean asked. He knew there was a reason his brother was holding him back.

Sam stepped closer to Dean and quickly looked over his shoulder before shoving his hand into his pocket and producing a small black velvet box. “I was going to wait until tomorrow, but I can’t help myself.” He said, opening the box. Inside was a beautiful diamond engagement ring. The center stone was massive and cut into the shape of a teardrop. On each side were two smaller diamonds, surrounded by a cluster of sparkling rubies. “I’m gonna ask Jess to marry me.”

Dean laughed out loud. “Holy shit, Sam!” He blurted out loudly and pulled his brother into a hug.

“Shhh!” Sam warned. “Keep your voice down! I don’t even know if she’ll say yes.”

Dean scoffed. “Of course she’ll say yes! You two have been together, what, forever?” He grinned. “Although, if she does say no, you can tell her I’m available.”

Sam smacked him around the head, and Dean laughed. “Alright, have fun at Lee’s. Call Benny if there’s any trouble.”

Dean waved over Sam’s shoulder at John, Mary, and Jess, and gave his brother a nod before turning and heading down the dark sidewalk in the direction of Lee Webb’s bar.

Swayze’s was more than a few blocks from Cain’s place, but Dean didn’t mind the walk. He’d left his car at home after visiting Gordon this afternoon, and he enjoyed the refreshing night air against his face. The downtown lights glared into the sky through the ever-present smog rising from the city, and Dean hummed a little to himself as he walked. This was his city. The Winchesters owned these streets. He knew one day, the empire his mother and father had built would fall to him and Sam to manage, but that time was a long way off. John would never relinquish control of the family assets to his sons while he still drew breath, and without any heirs of their own to ensure the continuation of the dynasty, that was even less likely.

Dean smiled to himself, thinking of the ring currently sitting in Sam’s pocket. Jess would be an excellent addition to the family. Her parents were both high profile talent agents on Broadway with a lot of influence there and in Hollywood. There had never been a reason for the Winchesters to get into theatre, but he knew they wouldn’t turn down the opportunity if Jess said yes to Sam tonight. His smile faltered slightly. It had been a long time since Dean had been as happy as Sam was now. His last relationship had been with Lisa Braeden, and that had only lasted a few months. She had a young son, Ben, who Dean still saw on occasion, but he had left when things had started to get really serious. He wasn’t going to drag someone else’s kid into this mafioso life. It wasn’t his place.

The truth was, Dean didn’t even know if he wanted kids. He’d thought about it, sure, and his mother had been pressuring him since his mid-twenties to find a nice girl to make babies with, but Dean liked his hang-up free lifestyle. He was happy to carry out orders for his father, help the family, and maybe hustle a few out of town suckers at pool when the mood struck him. Sam was business-minded, and Dean was more than happy to allow his not-so-little little brother to take over for their father when the time came.

Dean had been so deep in his own head that he barely registered when he had arrived at Lee’s. He sat down on a barstool and scanned around the room. Dean sighed contentedly. As he had expected, the bar was devoid of anyone immediately recognizable save for Lee himself.

Dean rapped his knuckles on the bar top to get Lee’s attention. “Who do I gotta gank to get a drink around here, hey buddy?” He said as Lee tossed the towel he had been using to clean a pint glass over his shoulder and turned to Dean. His expression changed from annoyed to ecstatic when he registered who was speaking.

“Dean freaking Winchester.” Lee drawled. “It’s been a while. You too good to come see me anymore?”

Dean grinned. “Never too good for you, Lee.”

“What’ll it be? On the house.” Lee spread his arms, gesturing at the impressive selection of alcohol arranged along the wall behind him.

“Whiskey. Neat.” Dean replied. Lee nodded approvingly, selecting a bottle from the top shelf and pouring a heavy-handed three ounces into a glass. He slid it across the bar to Dean, and he took a sip, letting the liquid burn deliciously in his throat and warm him from the inside out.

“That’s good stuff.” Dean smiled as a low rasp crept into his voice.

“Only the best for you.” Lee matched his tone. “So, what brings you out tonight?”

“Dinner with the family,” Dean replied noncommittally.

“Yeah, you always did hate those.” Lee whipped the towel off his shoulder and picked up another glass, wiping the water from around the rim. “Anything exciting?”

“No, just business as usual. Bela is being a bitch, Bobby’s still telling the same stories he has for the past 20 years…” He paused before taking another sip of his drink. “Oh, and uh, Sammy’s gonna ask Jess to marry him.”

“No shit!” Lee said, his eyebrows rising in mild surprise. “I’d say that’s pretty exciting.”

“Yeah, it’s been a long time coming.” Dean chuckled into his glass. “Never seen anybody as happy as those two. Kind of a miracle she hasn’t killed him yet with what a pain in the ass he can be.”

“Ah, you’re only saying that cuz he’s your brother.” Lee laughed.

“Yeah, well, brother or not, he’s still a giant pain.” Dean downed the rest of his drink and tapped the rim for a refill. Lee shook his head but complied.

“You feeling a little jealous there, buddy?” Lee smiled devilishly at him as he set the bottle down on the bar top.

Dean chuckled darkly. “Nothing to be jealous of. I’ve got my life, my health, my family,” he grinned at Lee over the rim of his glass. “And a buddy with a bar. What more could a guy need?”

Lee shook his head but said nothing. Dean appreciated the silence that fell immensely.

The sudden clatter of a barstool hitting the floor drew Dean’s attention to the opposite end of the bar. Two men stood chest to chest, shoving each other back and forth.

“What the fuck is your problem, man?!” One of them exclaimed.

“What’s my problem? What the hell is your problem?!” The other responded, punctuating his words with a shove to the man’s shoulders.

“Hey!” Lee shouted. “Take it outside, boys.”

“Yeah, some of us just wanna drink in peace,” Dean said.

“What the fuck did you just say?” One of the men said to Dean. Having found a common enemy in him, the two men turned towards Dean’s seat and advanced. He drew in a breath, immediately regretting his decision to speak up. They were both much larger than him by a wide margin, and Dean couldn’t help but think to himself ruefully that maybe Sam was right about needing protection.

As he balled his fists, ready to start swinging, he felt someone step into the space at his side.

“I believe both of these fine gentlemen just politely told you inbred walnuts to get lost.” The voice that spoke was low and gravelly, and Dean felt his stomach flip a little at the sound of it. He turned his head to identify the stranger and was met by a tan trenchcoat.

His eyes travelled upwards to the man’s face, and Dean felt his stomach do another small flip. A strong jawline covered in light stubble, slightly chapped pink lips, and tousled black hair were Dean’s first indications that the man suddenly standing next to him was unfamiliar. When the man cocked his head slightly, Dean caught his eye and felt his breath hitch in his chest. Framed by thick, dark eyelashes were a pair of icy blue eyes that Dean very quickly found himself staring at. He looked away as soon as he realized because, as much as he would have loved to stare, the two aggressively drunk men in front of him posed a much more immediate problem.

Returning his attention to them, Dean rose from his seat and drained the remaining liquid from his glass, vaguely registering that Lee had also rounded the bar and was standing behind him.

“Well, fellas. Looks like it’s two against three.” Dean said, gesturing at Lee and the stranger. “Not that I don’t like those odds being in my favour and all, but I’ll give you a chance to walk away before this gets too outta hand.” He heard Lee crack his knuckles and grinned. There was no one in this world Dean would rather have in his corner for a fight than Lee Webb, except maybe Sam.

The two men in front of him hesitated slightly before one of them let out a yell and charged towards Dean.

He reacted in an instant, ducking below the man’s outstretched arms and coming up under his knees to flip him over his back towards Lee. He heard the man hit the ground with a thud as Lee reached down and heaved him back up into the edge of the bar. Dean turned just in time to see the other man following his partner towards him, arms reaching out like some great ape. He didn’t have the forewarning or space to execute the same move, and so he simply ducked out of reach. As the man’s arms closed above his head, he heard the unmistakable sound of a fist colliding with a nose as the cartilage and bone crunched under the force. Glancing to his right, he saw the trenchcoated stranger land a blow directly into the second assailant’s face and smiled to himself. Not bad, he thought.

As the ape staggered back, clutching his now broken nose, blood streaming down between his fingers, Dean stood up and grabbed the man by his shirt. Together, he and Lee shoved the two towards the bar’s door and unceremoniously tossed them into the street.

“Don’t let me catch you goons in here again,” Lee shouted as they took off quickly down the alley.

Dean watched them go and shook his head ruefully. Even at Lee’s, trouble managed to find him. He looked to his friend and put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing lightly. “You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” Lee said, brushing him off. “Guys like that aren’t a problem. You and I both know I’ve fought worse.”

Dean laughed. “Ain’t that the truth.” They turned to go back inside, and Dean spied the mysterious stranger as he picked up a stool that had fallen over in the scuffle, cradling his right hand against his chest.

“Hey,” Dean called out to him. The man looked up at Dean, and he was pierced by the full intensity of his stare. Those blue eyes, which before had been icy and cold with adrenaline, were now pools of deep ocean blue, and Dean once again felt himself beginning to drown in them. He cleared his throat, trying to get rid of the lump that was quickly forming there. “Um, thanks. For that. You, uh, you didn’t have to get involved. Lee and I could have handled it.”

Way to sound ungrateful, Winchester, he kicked himself internally.

The stranger cocked his head to the side as he stared at Dean, his eyebrows knitted together in the most perplexing stare Dean had ever seen. Lee walked up next to him. “Lemme get you some ice for your hand. If that dude’s skull is as thick as it looked, you’re probably hurting pretty bad.” He walked behind the bar and began filling a small bag with ice. “Oh, and your next drink is on me. Dean may not know how to actually say thank you but, we aren’t all as uncivilized.”

Dean felt the heat rising in his cheeks as he sat back in his seat, and Lee refilled his glass, adding a second one for their new friend. “Thank you.” The man said, taking the bag of ice and placing it over his knuckles. He took a small sip of his drink and set it back on the bar top.

Dean shook himself and realized the man was still staring at him, and being under his scrutinizing eyes made Dean fidget uncomfortably. He cleared his throat again. “So, uh, you got a name?” He asked. Then, because Dean was not one to relinquish the upper hand, he plastered on his charming Winchester smile and said, “Or am I just supposed to call you handsome?”

A small smile lifted the corners of the man’s lips as he extended his uninjured hand for Dean to shake.

“Novak.” He said, and Dean felt the colour immediately drain from his face.

“My name is Castiel Novak.”

#supernatural au #supernatural fic #destiel #deancas #dean x castiel #mafia au #deancas fic #supernatural #spn fic #tag: tbotc #tw: blood #tw: alcohol #tw: violence

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egelantier · 4 years ago

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Yuletide Recs

Having had two days of more or less nothing but reading fics, I come bearing recs!

First of all, my amazing gifts:

The Goblin Emperor

For Thy Principles

The nohecharei of Edrehasivar VII were unparalleled in their defense of his person, but there were limits to even their prowess. When Maia first developed the fever, Cala quickly determined that it was not the end result of a magically-based assassination attempt – and from there it had to be left to the court physicians.

Maia falls ill, and Csethiro protects him as best she can.

Beautifully gentle Maia sickfic, with Csethiro holding him together. For me all for meeee.

Benjamin January Mysteries

Dry as a Bone

“Oh. Well, I’ve been better, maestro, been a hell of a lot better to tell truth.” Shaw stared at him for a long moment, and he was stunned to see honest to God grief in his eyes. Even when Shaw had just lost his brother he had been so much more himself than this lost man currently standing before him. “Not that I mean to put anything extra on your shoulders, I’m sure you’ve got enough of your own shit going on at present moment, but it seems like I’ve just lost my job.”

Shaw loses his job, and finally confronts Ben about trust (and lack thereof) between them. It’s GREAT.

The Tarot Sequence - K.D. Edwards

A Distraction Worth Losing

They may never be together, but the gods would have to move heaven and earth to split Rune and Brand apart.

Brand, Rune and The Kiss incident. (Poor messed up babies, somebody save them.)

And fics of the collection:

17776, Astreiant, Raksura, Frederica, The Gentlemen, The Goblin Emperor, Hades, Innkeeper Chronicles, Jeeves, Kate Daniels, King Arthur the movie, My Next Life as a Villainess, Nirvana in Fire, No. 6, Psmith, The Secret Garden, The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty, Swordspoint, The Tarot Sequence, Teixcalaan Series, The Temple of the White Rat verse

17776: What Football Will Look Like in the Future

so far, so fast

When Manny gets a craving for some fancy meal he had once, over ten thousand years ago, Nick decides he’s gonna fulfill that craving, no matter how hard it is. Because real romance is about making the impossible happen for his husband.

Goddamn transcendental.

Go Get It

Sometimes you start out just planning to get some groceries with your husband, and next thing you know, you’re committing to join the most hopeless team in college football.

Nick and Manny decide to play. It’s perfect.

Afterlife

A young man dies six months before the end of human death; his loss saves five lives, which end up much longer than anyone expects. (A series of worldbuilding vignettes about original characters in the 17776 setting.)

Made me cry, in a very cathartic way.

Astreiant Series - Melissa Scott & Lisa A. Barnett

April dressed in all his trim

A quiet evening in spring.

Sweet little slice-of-life with lovely sensory details.

Books of the Raksura

The Second Consort

“When Glow arrives, be friendly and welcoming,” Ember said. “Not scary.”

“Why does everyone think I’m going to scare him?”

Chime said, “They can see your face when you look at him.” He paused, glancing over at Moon. “That face, that’s the one.”

Ember sighed. “I remember being in his position. It’s pretty nerve-wracking coming to a new court and not knowing what’s going to happen to you there - whether they’re going to welcome you or shun you, whether you’ll make new friends, whether a queen is going to claim you…” He came and put a sympathetic hand on Moon’s shoulder. “Glow is probably worried about all of those things, and missing his home and clutchmates, and it’s our job to try and help him relax.” For a moment Moon thought he was just being soft-hearted, until Ember added, “He won’t open up and tell us what’s really going on unless he’s relaxed.”

Jade takes in a new consort, on Moon’s permission, and everybody is delightfully adult about it.

Frederica

Lady Alverstoke

Frederica commences her first Season as a married woman by planning a ball, promising most straitly that her husband will have nothing whatsoever to do …

Sweet and funny slice-of-life post-happy-ending for canon.

**The Gentlemen (2019) **

Even

The week after he intercepts Fletcher, that squirrelly little cunt, outside the London Miramax office, Raymond reluctantly ventures down to Brixton.

Under normal circumstances, Raymond tends to give this part of Brixton a wide berth, but he has unfinished business that needs attending to. Of course, that doesn’t mean he has to like being accosted by the overwhelming smell of greasy fish and chips when he pushes the car door open, doesn’t mean he has to be pleased about stepping into a piece of chewed-up gum the moment he sets a foot on the kerb.

But then, he can always take a shower after an errand in Brixton. The deep-seated discomfort of unfinished business doesn’t wash off that easily.

Raymond tries to pay Coach back for saving his life, and it doesn’t quite go as planned :D

The Goblin Emperor

The Archduke’s Discovery

Prince Nemolis goes on a journey, and learns a bit more than he wanted to know.

Really great point of canon divergence, and true and precise character voices.

Hades

all the spaces between us

For a place full of the dead, crammed with ghostly shades and nothing but the endless lull of eternity unchanging, gossip sure travelled fast in the Underworld.

Or, Zagreus mulls over his relationship with Thanatos while the rest of the Underworld get overly invested.

Slow, slow, slowest of burns.

Innkeeper Chronicles - Ilona Andrews

A Quick Trip

“It’ll be a quick trip,” Maud said, more to herself than to Arland. “No one will even notice we’re gone.”

Pirates are plaguing an ally, just outside of vampire space. Maud and Arland don some aesthetically beat-up armor and try to get more information from the pirates themselves. Of course, plans only last until you meet your enemy. Or your enemy’s giant alien attack boar.

Excellent canon voice, action/adventure sprinkled with badassery and hilarity.

Jeeves & Wooster

August Thirteenth

Discovering that this is not the first August thirteenth that he’s lived through, that certainly was a head scratcher. Luckily Bertie has the stalwart presence of his man’s man, Jeeves.

Very, very great and satisfying use of the time loop.

Kate Daniels - Ilona Andrews

lookin’ like a snack (cake)

It took Barabas a while to figure it out, because he wasn’t used to not being taken seriously.

Barabas considered several ways to phrase it, and finally settled upon, “Do you have a thing for twinks?” Christopher knocked his head back against the headrest: once, then again. “Is that a yes?”

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)

When Goosefat Bill finds himself in a difficult situation, the last thing he wants is the King to show up and “help”, in his own unique and unexpected way.

Goosefat Bill does not need to be rescued by his King. But he might just enjoy it a little.

My Next Life as a Villainess (Anime)

All I Have To Bring Today

Catarina and Sophia had been discussing the latest in the Devilish Count series, and Sophia had mentioned how romantic the surprise picnic the count had planned for his lover was and how she wished for someone to surprise her like that.

“What about you, Catarina? Have you ever wished for someone to sweep you off your feet?” Sophia had asked.

Catarina makes a choice! As sweet and as hilarious as the canon.

Nirvana in Fire

Adverse Event

What a pitiful man must he have become, if the only thing he could provoke in bed was a monologue on his character flaws.

: or, the famous strategist mei changsu plays xanatos speed chess against truth serum: the fic.

Mei Changsu gets hit with an accidental truth serum; it doesn’t stop him from lying to himself, but it does buy Jingyan a clue.

Records of the Land of Xiang

There was something of Xiao Jingyan there, in the firmness of his jaw, the unforgiving slash of his brows, and most clearly in the eyes that neither saw nor conveyed deception. But Long Zhan was not Jingyan, could never be, no matter how much Changsu might wish otherwise, because Jingyan was dead.

In service to a very-much-alive Prince Qi, Jingyan dons a Jianghu-typical disguise and infiltrates the Jiangzuo Alliance to suss out this Mei Changsu fellow and see if he might be useful in helping them re-open the Chiyan conspiracy case. Basically, a slightly ridiculous premise where everyone is running around the Jianghu with masks, multiple identities, and secret agendas.

Fascinating and fun AU scenario that delves, among other things, into Mei Changsu the jianghu chef, not Sir Su the court schemer.

suffering as I suffer you

The first time Jingyan stays the night at Su Manor, he discovers an uncomfortable truth about Mei Changsu.

Excellent extrapolation of Mei Changsu’s illness into his nightly routine - with Jingyan watching…

Here, In Our Arms

With the world put to rights, however briefly, Xiao Jingyan and Mu Nihuang take the opportunity to make a fuss over their beloved Lin Shu, and will not take no for an answer.

Sweet moment of comfort.

Find the Coals Amid the Ashes

Despite Changsu’s assertions, Lin Chen is a well brought up person. He would never violate his host’s privacy during a social call. It would be inexcusable, for example, to break into a marquis’s private alchemy lab in the middle of said marquis’s birthday party, in order to search said alchemy lab for certain hard to find medicinal herbs, which one has reason to believe can be found therein. These would be the actions of a man without honour, of a man who has only desperation to his name.

Lin Chen crashes a party and makes a new friend.

The best team up ever :D

Dead Letters

Mei Changsu isn’t the only schemer in Da Liang.

Fei Liu fixes things, in the most Fei Liu way imaginable, and it’s great.

No. 6

All Good Things

In the midst of a crisis for No. 6, Nezumi returns to Shion’s side.

A reunion! And cuddling.

Psmith

The Psky Is The Limit

“As this ship’s Orator, my mission is still as it was in the beginning and shall ever be, world without end. It is to hail any message sent by comrades from outer space and pass it on to you verbatim. Well! The hour, I say, has come. The Word has come into being. Here comes Psmith, bearing news of great mirth: the intercom has spoken.”

(A Mike and Psmith Space AU)

Psmith in space! Hysterically funny Psmith in Pspace, at that.

Psmith Pops In

Psmith reached over and solicitously loosened Mike’s scarf, his fingers brushing the skin of Mike’s neck, and that young man, to his horror, felt heat creeping up from where gloved fingers brushed his bare skin. Really, this blushing nonsense was getting out of hand. Ever since Psmith had tried to take the blame in the case of the painted dog, Mike had developed an inexplicable habit of turning hot and cold around him, and these odd responses had become more and more frequent.

Very funny! And then very tragique! And then jussssst right.

The Secret Garden

The Space Garden

When Meri La Nix was sent from the Mars colony to live with her aunt at Missiles Wait Manor, nobody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen. But some of them thought it.

Beautifully inventive space retelling - with gardens, still.

The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty

The sky spinning above him

In which there’s a jewellery thief on the loose, Tang Fan plays dress up, gets a mild concussion and also a boyfriend.

Frothy, sweet, well-grounded and hot. Also hilarious (check the end note!)

truth in fiction

Three days after Wang Zhi leaves the capital, bits and pieces of his extensive library begin arriving at Sui Zhou’s house.

Sui Zhou is really committed to research and accuracy in Tang Fan’s porn. It’s delightful.

Time don’t fool me no more

“The electrician is a Tang dynasty spy,” he says, dumping some of his eggs in Tang Fan’s bowl.

Tang Fan nods, shovels more food in his mouth, and starts talking again.

Past or future, Tang Fan has Priorities. And Sui Zhou is weak.

Meeting at the End

Sui Zhou knew he never should have let Tang Fan go alone. He knew he should have gone with him.

Really, really great and desperate whump. Super satisfying.

clever boy

Tang Fan never spares a smile for any of the girls at Wang Zhi’s establishment, he’s noticed. That’s alright, though. It means Wang Zhi gets his attention for himself.

Wang Zhi falling, falling hard; it’s delightful.

a bold and brilliant sun

“You’re sure you didn’t do something to it? They don’t usually stall out,” Sui Zhou says. He looks away from Tang Fan, out the windshield at the endless rust-red of the planet.

Tang Fan pouts at this, and slumps down on the edge of the console, feet propped up at an absurd angle against the pilot’s seat. “You think I’d fake a mechanical issue just so that they’d send a sexy Fleet crewman out here to rescue me?” As soon as the words are out of his mouth, he giggles. “Okay, I would do that, but I promise that this time the problem is real.”

Space AU! Most excellent space AU condensing all there is to love about the canon in one perfect package.

Blind Taste Test

Wang Zhi invites Tang Fan to evaluate Joyous Brothel’s chefs — but it’s Tang Fan and Sui Zhou who are really being tested.

Wang Zhi, ever helpful :)

Authorial Intent

Sui Zhou and Tang Fan end up in hot water yet again. Kinky sex ensues.

Hilarious, kinky, heartfelt, and in character.

Swordspoint Series - Ellen Kushner

Chrysopoeia

It struck Alec that this would have been much easier if their positions were reversed. Richard would have known what to do if he’d been dragged back here with a hole in his gut. He was quite simply not supposed to be the one on this end of the equation. In fact, it was possible he had done something very bad to deserve this.

Richard is wounded, and Alex is coping. Excellent h/c and excellent bloodplay and sharp, painful slice of Alex’ POV, excellently rendered.

At first — this was just like him — he thought he was hearing god. But it was only the man in the bed, whose face had turned toward him on the ragged pillow.

The Tarot Sequence - K.D. Edwards

Third’s a Charm

Addam asks a favor of Brand.

Addam asks Brand for help, which ends up being exactly what Brand and Rune need.

Pretty good

Five times Brand crawls into Rune’s bed and one time Rune crawls into Brand’s.

Brand and Rune, through the years.

Teixcalaan Series - Arkady Martine

Also in the Act of Reaching

When Three Seagrass arrived at Lsel Station, she was, officially at least, traveling as a private personage. She had missed Mahit and the possibilities they’d both chosen to turn away from. She also had– would always have– a gaping hole in her life where Petal had once stood.

It was simply that, left on her own, Three Seagrass wouldn’t have let either absence drag her to the ass-end of beyond.

Reunion, metaphors and realigment. Subtle and clever and just right.

The (concept of the) World Was Wide Enough

Yskandr Aghavn comes to the world like a drowning man comes to shore, but he is living on borrowed time. Teixcalaan has so many wonderful things to choke on.

Teixcalaan has had his heart for all of his life, has elevated him, corrupted him, and discarded him.

It is Lsel that he thinks of as he dies.

Temple of the White Rat Universe - T. Kingfisher

If Grace Is Too Much

Zale is given a case by Bishop Beartongue which turns out to be more complicated and personal than a holy advocate-priest would prefer.

Clever and sweet and carefully shocking, but in a very right way.

Outreach

“We don’t generally assess the… cursédness… of objects, trees or otherwise,” Beartongue said.

Utterly delightful.

#17776 #astreiant #books of the raksura #sleuth of the ming dynasty #nirvana in fire #white rat universe #telxcalaan series #the tarot sequence #swordspoint #the goblin emperor #psmith #the secret garden #benjamin january mysteries #yuletide recs

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intothewickedwood · 4 years ago

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Once Upon A Time Rewatch: 5x21 Last Rites

I can’t even remember the flashback for this episode, if there even was one. It probably should have been a Robin Hood flashback for his death to have made more of an impact. Because he’s literally just been pointing out really obvious things and nothing else for pretty much the whole season. 

Zelena worrying for her sister! I live for this!

How’d Arthur escape?

Yes, Hades much threatening holding a baby. Very scare. 

Oh dear.

When will they learn not to stop letting Sleepy guard things?! 

Sleepy: “Sleepy. I told you, it’s Walter.” That’s interesting that Sleepy doesn’t like to be called Sleepy and prefers Walter. The Dwarfs seemed so desperate to get back to their EF lives in season 2.

Snowing reunited! God, I missed those 2 together!

Finally, a grandma Snow hug! Haven’t had one of those in ages! 

Zelena’s like “and f**k you Regina! My boyfriend’s a God. How’s that for a happy thought?!”

Oh yeah. Forgot Arthur killed Hook the first time. Well, technically the second time? 

Arthur looks more like Hook’s brother than Liam or Liam II. Not to mention a closer accent. I feel like I read a fic or something where they were brothers somehow. Don’t get me wrong though, I prefer Liam. 

Okay, Hades was definitely manipulating Zelena here. He knew she wouldn't let him turn himself in, he just wanted to pretend he was willing to.

“The olympian crystal. Very powerful, very dangerous and I’ve waited a long time to use it.”

I’m sorry but that olympian crystal looks like a big old, jagged freaking- anyway back to the rewatch! 

Where was he keeping that giant dildo of death anyway? Do I even want to know??

Zelena does not look like she’s into it.

*sigh* why didn’t they just make Hades Robin Jr.’s father? I remember thinking and hoping he somehow was. 

Belle’s father refusing to wake Belle from the sleeping curse just to keep her away from Rumple. What the hell?! He’d just let her stay like that forever? Because we know people don’t age during sleeping curses and Rumple is immortal. Jeeeez! He does not respect her agency at all!

Oh my God! Hades was whipping Hook?!........ Dat’s kinky.

Cruella: “Oh, back up!....Seriously, back up.” The number of times I’ve referenced this xD! 

Oh my God guys, how can anyone get through that many books?! And its too many damn pages for any man to understand.

Your brother stopped your heart for a sparkly strap on? Wow, what a family.

I wonder how old Hades and the God’s are. Are they older/the same age as Gothel? According to Hades he’s been around for at least a few 1thousand years. Also, is Poseidon his brother too? Is Ursula his niece? That’s cool. I like that headcanon.

So according to one of Ouat’s wikis: ‘Kronos was originally the ruler of Mount Olympus, as well as the father of Zeus and Hades. Zeus was poised to become the next ruler after Kronos' reign ended, but this enraged Hades, who stole the olympian crystal and used it to obliterate Kronos. Zeus, however, defeated Hades and banished him to the Underworld.’ I must have missed that bit. And Poseidon is listed as Kronos’ son and Ursula his granddaughter.

Robin Hood: “Regina, you are my future.” Oh dear.

Do y’all think that lost soul dragging Arthur is Milah though? Like, “get off my man! He’s mine, bitch!”

Emma’s like, “omg my dead bf’s posting me sexy dildo pics from hell. He’s so sweet.”

Guys, don’t leave the baby alone.

He definitely knows Regina and Robin are there. They’re talking so loudly!

Sorry, Emma but I love Zelena effortlessly throwing people about. I still think she’s more powerful than Emma and Regina. No one could dispel her protection spell. Definitely the most powerful telekinetic possibly out of any other character. Did you see her move that tree as a baby?!

Hades, please don’t kill Zelena’s sister! 

Oh no! The jagged sparkly dildo of death has an electric shock feature! Very kinky.

Lmao!!! I’m sorry but Robin’s death scene looks so funny! It’s shot so weirdly!

Well, Robin byeeeeee. Remember all those times he stood in the background and said nothing except the occasional “you were the evil queen” and “look there are trees here!” or of course, the already established “this place is deserted”. Fun times.

Regina be like, “show me those hands! Show me those jazz hands!” A very appropriate reaction if I do say so myself.

Okay but seriously. Did Robin not think about his 2 kids? Why didn’t he just push her out the way and run? Why didn’t Regina use her magic at all? This could have been so easily avoided but I think it was necessary for Regina’s character development and the plot. I think they ran out of things to do with Robin, and it was becoming more and more unrealistic that a character like Regina was in love with a character like him, in my opinion. She became a completely different character around him. Not all happy endings involve romantic love. I like that she remained single. Also, Robin never really made connections with the other heroes. He barely spoke to them. Literally, I think he only spoke to Hook twice and Emma once! I think Charming once too and I’m not sure he ever spoke to Snow. Maybe once in early 3b. I think that’s why, to me, he felt so disconnected from them. It would have worked a lot better if he was a villain all along, seeking vengeance on Regina for his wife’s death.

God, Hades! Zelena just wants to live in her little farmhouse, watching her daughter play on the swings and bunnies hop around while drinking tea in their magical enchanted garden!

Oh my God, if I was Zelena I would scream. Too many people in her head! Tbf if I was Zelena, I’d throw that giant dildo through the window and let Emma have it for herself as Hook intended.

Get lost Hades! Honestly, this is when I stopped being a serious Zades shipper. Before this I was a hardcore fan! But he tried to force her to kill her sister! He even says, “If you won’t, I will.” That’s going too far!

All Zelena ever wanted was love! I’m glad she finally recognizes that. She thought she wanted the material things her sister had but it was familial love that she never got from her adoptive father and only got a short taste of from her adoptive mother that she truly craved.

She chose her sister!

I hate that they made her kill Hades! Why couldn’t someone else do it?

Omg look at the sisters hold each other! I am going to die!!

Well, it’s nice that Arthur and Killian are getting along now, considering this is literally all Arthur’s fault. Somehow, after this episode, I can’t bring myself to hate Arthur as much as I did before. 

I guess the prophecy could still come true. He could repair the broken kingdom that is the Underworld.

I feel like this was addressed in a DVD extra, but does Arthur or Cruella end up ruling the underworld? I feel like it was Arthur, but my heart wants it to be and says it is Cruella and her lover the Blind Witch. 

Wow, Dumbledore and Harry look so different at King’s Cross in the afterlife. Is the horcrux in Harry destroyed??

Zeus, you horny bastard, we all know you probably slept with every character in ouat at some point. And we also know you’re a hardcore CS shipper!

Zeus looks so young lol. Why?

Hook: “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?" Zeus: “Of course it is happening inside your head, Hooky, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”

Sorry. I had to.

Poor Roly :(. He’s an orphan now. I hope someone adopted him. I’m surprised Regina didn’t.

Zelena what kinda drugs are you smoking to call the baby Robin?! Dear God. Pistachio would have been better! I’ve probably said this before, but I inadvertently called her name would be Robin. In my group rp, my Zelena kept referring to the baby as “baby Robin.” if you can gaze into the future (Future, future) You might think life would be a breeze (Life is a breeze) Seeing trouble from a distance (Yeah, go Bec) But it's not that easy xD. I’ve been rewatching That’s so Raven with my mama and thus far I’ve been having more precognitive dreams than my already bananas amount.

Why do villains always crumble to dust/vanish, especially in this show: Maleficent (twice, I think), Pan (twice), Zelena, The Snow Queen, Hades, Split Queen, The Black Fairy. I don’t get why they do that.

Thank God that flipping red filter is gone! Good riddance! 

The Underworld arc wasn’t anywhere near as bad as the Dark Swan arc. It was actually much better than I remembered. I enjoyed it, even! How did I not pay attention to all the Zelena gold in this arc?! 

Anyway, excited next week for Davis Bloome- I mean Hyde! 

#ouat #once upon a time #regina mills #killian jones #emma swan #the evil queen #captain hook #zelena #zelena mills #ouat rewatch #ouat rewatch 2019

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bigskydreaming · 5 years ago

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You like Riordanverse? Have you ever considered Batkids demigod au? Or just headcanons? Like each of them having one godly parent? I think Athena could probably claim all of them if she wanted to..

Ironically, my fondness for the Riordanverse is precisely why I’ve never been that tempted to write fic for it and likely never will be. Whether with original fic or fanfic, I pretty much just write the things I want to read….but that don’t exist outside me writing them.

With fanfic, the end result of that is I basically am just inspired to write content where I see like….wasted potential, IMO. Books or comics or shows where there’s enough in the source material to capture my imagination and draw me to particular characters…..but beyond that, the source material is leaving a ton of stuff untouched or making a bunch of narrative choices that I’m just not engaged by.

So the thing about the Riordan books, is I like what’s actually on the page and don’t have any real specific…’gaps’ in the narrative that I feel a need to fill in or change or alter with different takes. They give me what I’m looking for from them so I just enjoy them as a reader rather than being inspired as a content creator. And similarly, like, if I want to read or follow in my head a story using the Riordanverse or its premise…there’s more books to come in the already existing series, so I just don’t really feel that itch with that particular universe. I love mythology stuff in general, so I’d be more likely to write or imagine a fanfic that comes up with my own spin on mixing mythological elements with the Batfam, that I haven’t seen yet (something I actually did a lot of with Teen Wolf content I wrote)….rather than apply an existing mythological premise like Riordan’s to them.

So I just haven’t put much thought into even headcanons along those lines, and am not super likely to, because one other thing is one of the little angles about the Riordan books that I really really liked, was that like…..Percy isn’t the son of who you’d expect the main character of a series of Greek mythology books to be, y’know? Like, if you had to guess at the start who Percy’s dad would turn out to be, having no clues as to which specific god it might be…..most people would be likely to assume Zeus, or maybe Apollo. Poseidon seems like a fairly random choice….and that’s what made it work so well for me. Because it made Percy feel just that much more like a real character who just happened to be the main character of these books, rather than a character who’d been basically engineered to be the ideal protagonist of these books.

My point there being for me personally, it just wouldn’t work to try and make headcanons about which godly parent matches each Batkid most ideally, based on their divine attributes and the Batkid’s characterization. Its counter-intuitive to one of the things that really sucked me in most……so I could totally headcanon that Dick makes sense as a son of Zeus or Apollo or Helios or Hermes, because of his love of all things flying….but that wouldn’t really feel like a Riordan premise to me, y’know?

So if I were to do that ever, it would be more likely that I’d just pick totally random gods to be each Batkid’s divine parent, and then from there headcanon how that affects the Batkid in question and how that ends up working into their existing characterization. Make the character and how this affected them grow out of the choice, rather than make the choice grow out of the character and who would be best/most affected by which god.

*Shrugs* But of course, once I do that, I’m kinda likely to just end up growing a whole story anyway, only it wouldn’t be one I’d ever feel a ton of motivation towards because like….its not really a story I NEED to see play out. Even just thinking about it, I end up diverted by stray thoughts like……okay, just as an example, totally spitballing here, but like, I just randomly tried picking a god to be Dick’s divine parent that would be somewhat different and not the most obvious or preferred choice, and thought okay what if Hephaestus were Dick’s biological father.

Except then my brain does this thing where before I can even START thinking about how that would weave into Dick’s existing characterization or lead to new stories, I’m like okay, but Riordan already did ‘character finds out they’re the son of a god’, what ELSE could I do with a story about Dick and also Hephaestus.

And then I’m off and running with like, okay, so because the Greek gods exist in the DC universe and the Titans because of Donna have even interacted with them a fair amount, what if Hephaestus is murdered and nobody knows by whom, so the Greek gods call upon Donna to recruit her friend, a detective even they respect, to solve the mystery. And so Dick is brought to Olympus to investigate, but in the process of searching through Hephaestus’ forge for clues, he ends up finding this mysterious trinket he feels drawn to and pockets, and in doing so, ends up with Hephaestus’ like, essence kinda imprinting on him….because the Divine Artificer had been the one to craft weapons that could kill even gods like him, so he of all the gods would most certainly be aware of the fact that there are things that could kill even them….making him the most likely to also craft a solution to even that particular problem, and thus design something that could help him cheat death, even if killed by a god-killing weapon. Hence the seemingly innocuous trinket that actually acted as kinda a godly flash drive to download his divinity and memories and self into a new vessel should his old one end up destroyed.

WHICH THEN, instead of exploring how Dick might be affected by having Hephaestus for a biological father or how having some of his divine attributes might explain certain traits or skills of Dick’s or complement them……which is still a story I’ve seen versions of already with Percy and Jason and the other main characters of the Riordan books….this premise lets me explore what if those divine attributes or whatever are instead kinda imposed upon Dick as he already is? What kind of internal struggle would result from that, given Dick’s fierce independence, and what kind of balance could be struck from Hephaestus’ divine nature as a craftsman and artificer like….possibly finding an outlet through Dick’s natural problem-solving instincts and existing detective/investigative talents….and so rather than ending up changing Dick, Dick’s own nature acts as a kind of filter that changes how Hephaestus’ vast array of attributes are focused, and in what ways.

And then plus you also get to have the whole “Dick drawing upon Hephaestus’ memories to try and solve what’s now weirdly in a way his own murder” thing, and that’s always just fun, y’know? LOL.

But yeah, that’s how my brain works and so even though its not what you were looking for, hopefully it was still of interest to you.

Also, just as a throwaway, another reason I’d probably always have trouble headcanoning any of the Batkids as having a godly parent based just on archetypes, is that like….they kinda already do. LOL. Given that Bruce has at many times over the decades been paralleled with Hades, and occupying the same place in the JLA pantheon as Hades occupies within the Olympian pantheon. Much like Clark is kind of Zeus, king of the heavens, and Arthur of course is Poseidon, and the Flashes have always been modeled after Hermes, and the Green Lanterns are Hephaestus and so on. So my mind kinda already flashes to ‘well, Dick’s dad is already like, the dark, brooding god of the Underworld, Judge of Souls and ultimate arbiter of justice, god of wealth and riches, with a helm that lets him vanish into shadows and pass unseen, and also not as dour as the hype would have you believe because he’s all of those things while also still being the kind of dork who would have a dog named Spot Ace the Bathound.

(The joke there is because Cerberus is just the Latinized form of the Greek word Kerberos, one translation of which is believed to possibly be ‘spotted.’ Aka Hades had a monstrous three-headed dog of legend, that actually the giant dork named Spot. Remind you of anyone?)

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pahrak-the-sinnoh-slizer · 4 years ago

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Been kicking around ideas for a Sonic and the Black Knight-based fic but I don’t think it’s actually gonna happen, so here’s what I had thought up for an expanded Sonic Arthurian AU:

-For what I had in mind I wanted to have Sonic just be King Arthur, not isekai’d in like in the game. It just simplifies things, makes it easier to tell a more complete Arthurian legend, so henceforth Arthur = Sonic.

-After his birth, Arthur is sent to be raised by Sir Ector, who has another son who goes on to become one a knight, Sir Kay. I liked the idea of Vector being Ector (not just for the obvious reason), and to go with that I cast Espio as Kay. Since Arthur isn’t the type to stay still, Ector probably does a lot of the actual running of Camelot.

-Arthur uses the Sword in the Stone for a while but eventually it breaks, and he hears about the Lady of the Lake (Amy) who supposedly has the power to forge magic swords. He finds Lancelot (Shadow) guarding it (apparently Lancelot was raised by Nimue), and has difficulty defeating him since Lancelot already possesses a Sacred Sword. Eventually, Arthur’s able to outwit Lancelot, and Nimue grants him Caliburn; Lancelot might still need some convincing before becoming a knight, but eventually he comes back to Camelot. (After this, the various knights can travel to the lake and undergo trials to be gifted their own Sacred Swords.)

-Tails is still a blacksmith, though he’d probably need a proper name…not sure what it would be, though. I was thinking that Charmy and Cream might be his apprentices. Also, since the fairies used in Black Knight to replace rings and springs and whatnot are that world’s version of Chao, I thought maybe this version of Cream is able to communicate with them to keep that part of her intact. (Also I wanted to do more with the fairies. I was thinking maybe they have the ability to “bless” individuals and that’s where they get special powers? Arthur is blessed by the blue fairies that act as dash panels, Gawain is blessed by the red fairies that charge the Soul Gauge, etc.)

-Knuckles is still Gawain, and Blaze is still Percival. Also might as well keep Merlina in.

-The multiplayer casts Silver as Galahad, so I want to stick with that. Apparently Percival and Galahad are both associated with the Grail, so that’s a potential plot line for those two to work as a team.

-Similarly, Jet shows up in multiplayer as Sir Lamorak. I then wanted to bring in the whole Babylon team, so I was thinking Lamorak starts out as leader of a band of mercenaries who clash with Arthur at some point before eventually deciding to become knights. Storm would be Galehaut, a half-giant, and Wave would be Dinadan, a knight with a cynical sense of humor.

-Apparently one of the Knights of the Round was Sir Dagonet, a jester who was knighted as a joke. So now we have a role for Big.

-Rouge would definitely be Morgan le Fay, fearsome magical lady ambivalent to good and evil who just shows up and does what she wants every now and then. She was born for this role.

-For old time’s sake I wanted to keep Eggman around as the main villain. What I think would work best would be making him a sorcerer who conjures and modifies the Knights of the Underworld seen in the game—swap his science skill for magic. Not sure if he would just be called Eggman or have a different name, though.

-Miscellaneous related characters I gave some thought to: I liked the idea of Gamma as the Fisher King, Chaos could probably be included as some sort of Underworld creature, the Hard-Boiled Heavies could be Knights of the Underworld, and Omega could be either a Knight of the Underworld who turns to the good side, someone who is corrupted with Underworld energy as a brainwashing scheme by Eggman but eventually comes to, or something like the Green Knight who just shows up as part of a test for one of the Knights of the Round.

-In the end, Wizard Eggman concocts a new spell that allows him to fuse some of Arthur’s essence with power from the Underworld, spawning Mordred (Metal Sonic). I think this would be a bit more interesting than trying to incorporate Mordred’s canon origin, and is probably the best way to bring Metal in. And hey, Mordred is already prophesied to kill Arthur, so Metal finally gets a win!

-As part of refining the spell that leads to Mordred, Eggman might test it out on Lancelot so we can bring in Mephiles, but I’m not sure how exactly that would play out.

-I toyed with the idea of having the Forces avatar as a wizard who uses “Wispells”, but I wasn’t entirely sold.

-Also thinking someone should be cast as Sir Bedivere, the one who returns Excalibur to the lake, just not sure who. Maybe Ray or Mighty?

#Sonic the Hedgehog

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a-writing-bear · 5 years ago

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[AmeriPan] Chapter 2: The ‘Hell on Earth’ Task Agency

Ao3 Link:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/13286367/chapters/31876020

This Has been cross-posted onto FF & Ao3 under Aliases: BearBooper

You can read this Fic on Tumblr under ‘Keep Reading’ But it is not formatted as well as the AO3 version.

Previous Chapter Next Chapter

Fandom: Hetalia Axis Powers

Main Pairing: Alfred F. Jones & Kiku Honda (America & Japan)

AU: Demon AU/HellTaskAgency!AU - Demon!America & Businessman!Japan

Age Rating/Mature: Teen And Up Audiences (12+ due to mentions of mature themes as well as swearing)

Trigger Warnings: None in this chapter (Future addiction and other themes such as crime, murder, corruption etc.) A bit more PruCan in here

Organised as ever, Alfred should have expected this kind of planning from his handler. They knew that HETA had placed Matthew and him close to their targets, although the jean cladded boy didn’t assume he would be residing this close to his goal. The man in question was quite...adorable to say the least. Coffee-brown eyes paired with a 5’5ft stature was the least intimidating figure, his suit didn’t make the guy look any scarier either. To say the least, it was strange to believe that a cute being like that would be capable of the destruction of an entire company. Then again, Kiku had this weird aura that came off as unnerving and as Alfred had focused in on his soul (or as much as he could within the 30 seconds of the meeting) he recognised a bitterness within him. Slightly stunned and already geared in the mood to pester his new client he strode into the apartment whistling. The sibling glared at him suspiciously,

“Al. You have your fangs out and you smile looks like the time you started a riot.”Matthew noted with peculiar intrigue, eyes going wide as the tanner man explained that his client lived right next door. Alfred tucked his fangs away distractedly, realising that he needed to get used to the unfamiliar blunter teeth.

“But I thought you had to go for that fake job interview thing on Monday?” Nodding, Alfred was slightly puzzled too. His new alias already gave him an excuse to be near this Kiku guy as a personal assistant, somewhere he would be able to meet the man every day. Arthur was probably tryna make it easier for him. Fuck that guy. He didn’t need help adjusting to a human life! He could manipulate that soul easier than a kid using a finger puppet. First order of business, he had concluded, would be to get certain of their surroundings. They decided to get out into the streets and explore the cityscape of New York City. fumbling with his hands they walked out into the streets looking quite clueless to the world, however, they could sense all the different souls whizzing past them, locked within humans who knew nothing of how bright and blinding their souls could be. Noting with interest he recalled that Kiki’s soul had been a cool blue that greyed out ever so slightly, while the woman who had walked past was a dazzling bright red (Too kind-hearted for his liking).

His partner had already started moving down the street in the cold air, clearly in search of something interesting to find. The street lights marked their pathway as they strolled through the cool breeze, every now and again enamoured with any particularly bright soul that puttered nearby. A dainty bell dinged as they entered a quaint cafe a few minutes away. As his Mattie fumbled with a wallet and order on behalf of the two, Alfred occupied a vacant table before hearing a very loud voice which seemed to override any chatter from the other customers. He turned ready to give the stink-eye to the ruder patron but as he came to view a body whole obviously carried no human soul he was left speechless. The culprit in question had looked up sensing Alfred’s aura strongly- pale skin and red eyes all in return with a heavy amused laugh following. Could this be..? The figure partially revealed his wings using his cloaking (which was against HETA guidelines!) and winked before murmuring to whatever company this obvious demon had attracted.

Making his way the man was drabbed in a black zip-up hoodie, left unzipped showing off the thin white t-shirt and his tight black ripped jeans. The demon strolled towards Alfred pleasantly as if making a way to an old friend,

“Hey, there kiddo! New to town- Although I think I know you?” His hands dug further into his pocket as this mysterious thing stuck out his human hand to shake.

The figure tutted as Al failed to respond, “Jeez, at least pretend you’re a real human ma-”

“Are you Gilbert?” Blurting out, Alfred felt embarrassed as there was a pause- worried that he had gotten mixed up - heck for all he knew this wasn’t a demon he even knew! Yeah, those black wings looked quite similar to the description Arthur had given….

“I’m not surprised you recognise me...but uh.I don’t think we’ve ever met in the underworld...you remind me of someone... Am I still talked about?” The American noted that Gilbert’s human form had been given a very distinct German accent and judging from the appearance was residing under the cover of a recent art graduate, his silver-white hair matched with a young face seemed weird but somehow exaggerated the rough and rowdy aesthetic the man held. Recalling the tales and exploits that his former mentor, Francis, bragged about he already could imagine meeting the so-called prodigy demon Gil- the one that had set off many huge chaos points that he had to be put on suspension. If anything, Alfred was jealous that this demon was so highly skilled….and yet he was amazed.

“Yes! Oh but I don’t think we have actually met-I’m Arthur’s mentee. Formerly Francis’...” He had not noticed a sudden peak in Gilbert’s interest, those red eyes flickered with some sort of curiosity and familiarity. “I didn’t think we’d run into another employee this soon...we just got stationed to HETA literally yesterday.” the white-haired man eyes grew wide before bellowing even louder attracting the attention of Matthew who had just arrived with their drinks and those red eyes trailed Matthew’s human form. Did he know Matthew?

“‘We? Are you relate-’”

Suddenly as he came to introduce his partner to Gilbert, his brother stopped before the older demon, lowering his hands- seemingly nervous and suspicious. Gilbert took very little time to appreciate Matthew, that was clear as day as those blood red eyes grew vivid and his smirk faltered into a slight gasp. The two exchanged glances that even Alfred could not decipher, it was just like when he asked about Francis and Arthur’s gave would morph into a mixture of so many emotions that seem to override many others. Okay, he must have met Mattie befor-

“You’re not supposed to cloak your wings. Not even have them out, that’s breaking article 7.” Matthew hissed disapprovingly at the cocky looking demon, disregarding the clear as day brilliance of the veteran demon in front of them. Smooth. His brother obviously was not a seducer, so much for a demon right?

Surprisingly, Gilbert only smiled with gritted teeth, a low growl in his throat as he barked out a reply with feigned hurt: “Ouch, I’m so hurt, although you little thing... aren’t you aware I’m exempt from nearly all commandments and articles?” Alfred got anxious...had he just found himself stuck in a quarrel though Matthew’s aura of awkward annoyance died down and melted easily in the atmosphere as they continued. Alright. they knew each other, he concluded. No One would be caught dead calling Matthew ‘Little thing’ - they would be drop-kicked all the way to Heaven and down to hell in a fury of pain.

“Fuck off man, What ARE you doing here Gilbert?”

“Last time you were happy to find me, Not so excited to see me anymore Little birdie? I think you forget this is my turf this time.” Alfred cringed, God how DID these 2 know each other and why the fuck did Matthew never introduce the legend to him before???

“I meant this cafe! Not the district Gil, I’m not that unprofessional..”

Alfred kept staring at the squabble, The two look back at him embarrassed as they recognised he was still present watching them. Matthew flushed before sitting down at a nearby table, tugging on Alfred to join him- attempting to avoid the gaze of the older being. He huffed dignified, obviously trying not to be pleased that Gilbert had sneaked and sat beside the two twins. Alfred sent Matthew a questioning glare and his brother wavered for a minute before sighing as Gilbert leant closer next to him.

“We met at a directors meeting, Francis brought me to intern that morning-” the pale man had already started fumbling with a lock of Matthew’s hair absentmindedly as if it was a normal thing to do.

Alfred was even more confused “How come I wasn’t invited?!” Again Matthew huffed but this time more peeved than ever but replied firmly and calmly- this interested Gilbert obviously and the older demon grinned focusing on Matthew’s voice.

“Arthur invited you, but you forgot you fuck. I had to take notes for you remember? Too busy seducing some harlets…” His brother’s voice trailed off and an awkward silence fell upon the table. Their drinks were left untouched as Gilbert decided to ask about their missions and who stationed them here. He snickered as they hung their heads in shame when they told him it was because Alfred screwed them both.Gilbert had been in this section of town since the project started, and in fact was the district’s advisor (Matthew proceeded to tell him off considering all of these facts were given in their job file).

*Ding*

A jingle sounded through the small cafe and suddenly Matthew turned to look at his watch before turning to Alfred whispering about how their targets were about to enter simultaneously. Punctual and precise, Matthew was correct as a trio entered through the door, 2 short men dressed in fancy business suits, one was undoubtedly Kiku- Alfred Narrowed his eyes taking close attention to the man’s change in soul aura: It had been bluish gray this morning but now it had morphed to a dull rather very pitiful dark gray, there was a tinge of deep blue but it seemed much more complex than just the first tone from before. Besides him, a slightly taller and more...Germanic(?) Looking lad had a grumpy look on his face and fiddled with a briefcase in hand- to this person’s side was a young girl, her face too gleeful and innocent to be garbed in such professional pencil skirts and a jacket that fit her a bit too snuggly. The rounds of her face and her tiny nose mirrored that of the blonde man- obviously they were siblings or some sort of relatives and she seemed to follow the man closely like a doe infatuated by its mother dear. Hold no doubt though this little lady was not as innocent as she came closer. Her cheery bright yellow soul had a very deep red core- not the dazzling passionate kindness he would have expected. it was the exact shade as the blonde man’s: an almost wine red, too close to blood and the black fog between the two connected souls obviously hinted to something sinister. The only difference between the assumed brother and siblings was that the man had a green tint instead of amber- this man was greedy. At that moment Alfred once again cursed the fact his brother got a double case, so unfair, these siblings looked like a fun case. They watched carefully as the tallest of the 3 told the girl something and pointed towards the Cafe cashier, they parted as she went to take an order and the 2 men moved for some seats.

Alfred knew Kiku would be naturally drawn to him, so it wasn’t peculiar to see Kiku suddenly perk up confused and look around before spotting him. The perks of being a hell-giver hah. Selfishly he mouthed a ‘hey there’ trying to seem casual and welcoming- yikes he really wasn’t used to his new body but at least he knew his smile was good since Kiku was actually quick to bring his guest towards their table. Thank the devil he didn’t accidentally use his fangs, he still hated these blunt biters. Kiku looked unsure but it was too late as his swiss accented partner had already ask who got him in such a rush and to “Not leave Lili confused as to where we are!”

“I must apologize to my new neighbours, please hold on Mr Zwingli.” That Asian meek voice still seemed so devoid of any evil. Mr Zwingli’s eyes twitched and his brow furrowed, he had seen the Japanese man apologize before but never quite so eager for supposedly the young men that were sitting near this table.

“Yo, Mysterious no-name neighbour! This is Matthew, he’s also in our apartment like I said before and that’s just a friend of ours”He pointed to Gilbert before jutting out a friendly handshake and Kiku obliged before giving his name (Alfred laughed internally, he knew more about Kiku than the man could ever assume, he didn't need an introduction- silly humans) Matthew nodded but took more interest in the man with the Swiss flag lapel pin.

“Pardon me, but are you the Mr Zwingli of Germanian Banking?” The man flinched before looking suspicious but Matthew’s smile was so disarming and seemingly too precious was able to be stop any detection of malice from the blonde man, he coughed before answering shyly.

“Formerly of Germanian Banking, I’ve gone independent now- working in finance with multiple new companies and clients on contracts, Mr Honda’s company is one of them in fact. Excuse my bluntness but...How do you know me? no offence but you look some college kid who woke up without coffee before a midterm…” Alfred could tell Matthew wanted to go hostile but his ass knew it would ruin the job, besides he was a professional even if it meant biting his tongue after insults.

“Finance and Econ.Grad,” his brother spoke, Alfred could only laugh, in the underworld, Matthew was the equivalent to a high ranking lawyer- not some shitty recent grad, what an awful cover-up they were given on earth.

Matthew’s voice carried on, ignoring Alfred’s scoff “In fact I’m looking for some internship work..got any space?” wolfishly Matthew smiled knowing full well his request was undeniable- charms always worked well on the less-socially inclined, and he had studied his case file well enough to know Vash Zwingli was not a social man at heart. In a way Alfred pitied him as he watched Matthew strategically manipulate, humans were too easy he supposed and he hope he was never cursed to be reincarnated as one- Devil have mercy if he was ever stuck with Matthew as one. Alfred’s own target had left quickly to assist the girl who had been stumbling and meekly making her way with 3 coffees on a tray, a balancing act as she navigated the closely knit tables. Her soul was so wild and strange but lightened even more as she arrived next to the banker, she felt more comfortable around him and only as Kiku stood behind her did her light aura flicker once more.

“Grüezi mitenand….” Her voice trailed off after looking at the rest of the crowd.

// (From Lili) [Swiss German] - Hello (to a group, formal) //

Vash huffed before quickly mumbling to his sister “Setzen Sie es auf einen anderen Tisch, wir werden nicht mit diesen ... Zeitverschwendern sitzen. Lassen Sie Herrn Honda einige persönliche Dinge tun. Hämmer kafi?”

// (From Vash) [German] - “Put it on another table, we will not sit with these ... time wasters. Let Mr. Honda do some personal things.” (From Vash) [Swiss German] - ‘“Do we have Coffee?”//

As the two shuffled to another table Kiku continued to stare at the twins, Alfred noted his calculating eyes and how his soul was tinting to an intrigued purple the longer he stared. This was going to be great.

For the first time ever his new human voice came out with an almost southern drawl- one that even the demon himself was surprised to hear come out of his mouth; none the less the new accent definitely caused the Japanese man to snap out of his long stare

“You ‘kay there Mr Kiku?”

God again those bright red cheeks, Al was pleased to know for the next few years he will be able to be the source of those blushes.

#hetalia #ameripan #hws america #hws japan #hetalia axis powers #hetalia world stars #hws #Hetalia Fanfiction #alternate universe #demon!au #heta #multichapter #hetalia fandom #fanfic

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galadrieljones · 6 years ago

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Fandom: Red Dead Redemption? 💕

Thanks, @dreadhobo!! Also for @bearly-tolerable

the first character i ever fell in love with:

Arthur, of course. OH my god. I love him so much?

a character that i used to love/like, but now do not:

I didn’t quite dislike Mary as much on my first playthrough as I did on my second. I think I had more faith in her BEFORE I knew what was going to happen to Arthur. Now I’m like, wow he deserved better.

a ship that i used to love/like, but now do not:

Arthur x Mary. I think I thought they could have had a shot? But gosh. After reading her final letter, esp during my second playthrough, when Arthur legit told her he would NOT help her with her father in St. Denis, and then TOLD HER they needed to move on, and yet she still feels like it’s her right and responsibility to break up with him like for the fourth time via letter…I was like, who does this woman legitimately thing she is? Like he TOLD her he was done with her. Then she still writes him a letter like, “Well, I thought maybe you’d change your mind, but apparently you’re still trash, so here’s the ring back that I stole from you many years ago. I miss you, but it’s time to have a nice life without each other. xoxo, Mary.” >:(

my ultimate favorite character™:

Arthur.

prettiest character:

Arthur? I mean…

my most hated character:

I want to say Dutch, but from a craft standpoint, he’s actually incredibly interesting. A lot of really good writing has gone into making Dutch the bastard that he is. So I have to say…Micah. Fuckin rat.

my OTP:

Well, I have a fix-it fic called The Lily Farm which is Arthur x Mary Beth. I like them together, obviously, but they are not canon. I have no romantic OTPs, per canon. But Arthur x Charles BroTP is certainly my heart and soul. I also really love Arthur x John as a BroTP, and I wish their relationship had been developed a little bit more in-game.

my NOTP:

I’m not a fan of Dutch x Arthur, but ship and let ship.

favorite episode mission:

oh dear, but there are so many? I love the train robbery mission with Arthur, Sean, Charles, and John. I feel we get a LOT of good characterization in that mission, for all four of them. I LOVE John’s “Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a robbery!” because it reminds me SO MUCH of Dutch, and that’s just good writing. I also love the Hamish Sinclair missions in Chapter 6. I feel they offer respite to Arthur. They give him joy at the end of his life, and that is their sole purpose. I also really love the mission up at Hanging Dog Ranch with Sadie. It’s sad and violent as hell, but that interaction with the two of them in the end–”They made me a monster, Arthur,” and when she tells him he’s the best man she’s known since her dead husband. Like, fuck.

saddest death:

Okay, but Arthur? ;_; Granted, I was spoiled and not shocked by his death, as the writing pretty much gets you there. In terms of sheer shock and sadness, I would have to say that Lenny’s death really confused me. At first, they give you the option in-mission to “Help Lenny.” So you run there, but he’s shot good, and he dies immediately. There’s no way to help. So instead, Arthur just…kneels there sadly for a moment, amidst the ensuing massacre of St. Denis, frozen in his despair, just to mourn him in the moment. It’s…devastating?

Um, Arthur’s horse in the end is also another…death that I really can’t even talk about anymore. flskjdf;alskjfa;slkjdfas;lk

favorite season chapter:

This is tough. I love Chapter 2 for its innocence, and how we get to spend all this time getting to know everyone when they’re happy and carefree. But Chapter 6 is really where the wealth of the story is. It’s the comeuppance, the apotheosis, the final confrontation. It’s all of Arthur’s redemption arc in a single punch. It’s Sadie Adler’s chapter to shine. It’s Arthur’s relationship with John. It’s small moments in which Arthur takes small actions to make big differences in the lives of strangers. So while it’s the saddest chapter, it’s also the most beautiful to me, in terms of the story.

least favorite season chapter:

Chapter 1. I honestly think the tutorial is a little overbearing. I get its function now, as it does a lot to establish the sort of desperation of their new circumstances, but it is QUITE long. Also i know everyone loves to hate Chapter 5, and while I agree it’s quite grueling and very violent and scary for Arthur, it is like, a fantastic underworld chapter. It is necessary to complete the narrative. Arthur has to survive such a tremendous trial in such pressurized circumstances. Without it, he doesn’t fully come to terms with Dutch’s madness, and he never acknowledges the lengths to which he must go to make a full transformation and achieve his redemption.

character that everyone else in the fandom loves, but i hate:

???? I think the fandom is unanimous in lots of ways? Of course there are people who love Dutch, love Micah. But I think on the whole, my opinions align with the general opinions of “fandom,” whatever that means.

my ‘you’re piece of trash, but you’re still a fave’ fave:

Sean. Sweet garbage Irishman little brother. I love him.

my ‘beautiful cinnamon roll who deserves better than this’ fave:

Um, are there any cinnamon rolls in this story? I don’t think so. Even Jack is kind of a little shit sometimes. Maybe Kieran? ;_;

my ‘this ship is wrong, nasty, and makes me want to cleanse my soul, but i still love it’ ship:

Nothing comes to mind.

my ‘they’re kind of cute, and i lowkey ship them, but i’m not too invested’ ship:

Arthur x Albert Mason. Um, I don’t really ship it, but there is some CUUUUTE content out there for these two lol

Send me a fandom!

#dreadhobo #fandom ask meme #read dead redemption 2 spoilers #rdr2 spoilers #red dead redemption 2

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ariabauer · 7 years ago

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100 Carmilla Stories - RunWithWolves Masterpost

Missing Hollstein? Already re-watched the series dozens of times? Need some Carmilla in your life? Then I have the fics for you. Seriously. I’ve written 100 Carmilla stories and categorized them here for your convenience (some stories fit into multiple but i did my best)

If you want...

Fake Dating/Marriage - i just really love this trope

Politician Carmilla has to get engaged to someone for her campaign and ends up with her long time best friend Laura. Marriage of Convenience

When Laura hears that actress Carmilla is fake dating her ex, she has some words for her best friend. A Rational Irrationality

Princesses Laura and Carmilla told the world they were dating to get out of arranged marriages. It’s easy til they fall in love. Not Really a Royal Romance

Laura wakes up in the hospital to find ex Carmilla at her side after they apparently got married a decade before. The Girl Who Got Away

As far as anyone knows, pHd candidates Laura and Carmilla hate each other. Lab Manager Laf is onto them. Worst Lab Partner Ever

General Fantasy - Supernatural beyond just vampires

Hollstein are dragon riders and Carmilla is not taking the responsibility seriously enough for Laura. Just A Girl and Her Dragon

Vampire Carmilla never expected to find old roomate Laura working a magical flower store in Diagon Ally. Lophii’s Blooms

Carmilla never wanted magic and Laura can’t unlock her own, they’re stuck together until they figure it out. circle of magic au Magic of My Own

Movies at Silas come to life and drag Carmilla into the role of Prince Charming while Laura gets sleeping beauty. Silas Movie Night

Werewolf Laura and Vampire Carmilla don’t get along and Carmilla doesn’t understand why Laura doesn’t turn her over tot he hunters. Like Cats and Dogs

Carmilla’s the best surgeon in the hospital but she swallows her pride and asks Dr Hollis for help when she gets an unusual sickness. Paging Doctor’s Hollis and Karnstein

Laura is angry because Carmilla thinks her blood tastes gross and spits it out instead of killing her. False Advertising

Clockwork Au: Laura and Carmilla to each have creatures made of clockwork (dragon and cat respectively) that represent their souls. Silver and Gold

Myths and Fairytales - sometimes you need a Hollstein happily ever after

Sassy Laura barges into Carmilla’s castle with a rose and demands a curse be lifted from her father. Beauty in A Beast ft Catmilla

Cupid Laura is determined to find vampire Carmilla’s soulmate even if Carmilla doesn’t want her too. Stalked By Cupid

Totally-in-love Laura and a tiny kitten Catmilla. Princess and the Frog twist, The Princess and the Kitten

Goddess of Spring Laura is accidentally kidnapped by Lord of the Dead Carmilla. Hades/Persephone AU. Queen of the Underworld

Carmilla goes overboard into the ocean during a storm and never expected a mermaid to pluck her from the sea. Kissed a Mermaid

War is over and shepherd god Carmilla can’t wait to go home to her wife. Sumerian god au. The Shepherd God

Orphan Laura falls in love with witch!Carmilla and chases after Carmilla when she runs. King Arthur au. Sword In My Stone Heart

The gods disappeared and Greek demigod Laura demands Sumerian demigod Carmilla help her save them. Daughter of Love and War

Science Fiction Fun - time travel and space and oh my!

Carmilla’s time machine keeps taking her to a small human child. When Carmilla stops coming back, grown up Laura stows away. Time Travel Malfunction

After graduation, bffs Carmilla and Laura take their spaceship on a roadtrip with definitely no pining. Roadtrip To the Stars

Captain Hollis is forced to let cocky co-pilot Carmilla join her starship crew as she tries to stop black holes from devouring the universe. Star Filled Memories

Cops or Superheroes Au - nothing like a good bout of crime fighting and a mystery to get flirty Hollstein roaring to life

Laura as a detective and Carmilla as the flirty annoying writer following her around as they try to solve murders. Write Me A Murder

Laura who doesn’t have superpowers trying to navigate a school for the superpowered featuring asshat with superstrength Carmilla. Powerless

FBI agent Carmilla trapped in a bank/bomb heist and sending flirty notes to the hostage negotiator Laura. Don’t Let Go

Supervillain Carmilla and superhero Laura being arch-enemies and yet their alter egos are roommates. Beneath the Boots and Leather

Special Agent Hollis would have an easier time getting through the laser field if her annoying partners wasn’t so flirty. Mission Flirtable

Vampires know there’s no such thing as superheros. Laura didn’t get the memo and she’s now Carmilla’s problem. Not a Superhero

Fire Princess Carmilla has flames at her fingertips and still isn’t ready for her air-powered roommate. atla au Fire In My Veins and Air in My Lungs

Star Reporter Laura is determined to get an interview with Superwoman if only her incompetent partner Carmilla stopped getting in the way. At The Daily Planet

Batwoman doesn’t have time for dating even if Wonder Woman ‘call me Laura' makes her heart flutter. No Dating For Batwoman

Could Be During Canon? - Trying to fit stories inside the world we love

Reincarnation AU where Carmilla's vampirism allows her to die and then come back to life 9 times. Nine Lives to Die

Carmilla plans a date after Laura asked her to the Zeta party. s1 Date Like it’s 1698

Each episode written in an extremely snarky tone in Carmilla’s diary. Dear Creampuff

Countess Karnstein is looking for the partner who dances in step with her. The Right Partner

Laura is the girl who cares and Carmilla doesn’t know what to do when she stops. s2 story. A Question of Caring

8 times Laura uses a Bandaid and 2 times she doesn’t. Stick an Apatosaurus to My Heart

Even though Laura’s dead, alt-Carm keeps hearing her heartbeat everywhere she goes. Floating Through A Stone Wall

Laura breathes until she doesn’t. Carmilla doesn’t breathe until she does. With Human Breath

Hollstein gets trapped in the s2 cellar with a magical snowstorm raging upstairs. Cuddling for warmth. Colder Than Our Hearts

Hollstein says hey a lot. It’s kind of their thing. A look at all seasons and the movie and what that word means. Hey

Canon Alternatives - twists on the way it went

Carmilla dies from the Dean’s sword and Laura brings her back, binding them together forever. The Golden Heart of Paris

Laura gets her heart back but doesn’t wake up so Mattie comes to her with a deal. Hold Her Hand

Danny is dead and the the campus is gone and Laura Hollis has had enough of people dying in her name. An Explanation for Deification

Laura saved them all from Vordenberg but paid a price Carmilla wish she hadn’t to channel a god’s power. Behind Your Ancient Eyes

Laura had meant to do romantic things for Carmilla, she’d just thought they’d have more time. I Meant To Do That

LaFerry fic where Laf is a ghost and keeps stealing substance from Carmilla so that Perry can touch them. Define Death

Saving Laura to be the only reason Carmilla would ever willingly get back inside the coffin. Coffin of Starlight

Barely friends Carmilla and Laura literally glued together including obligatory shower scene. The Sticking Incident

Mircalla’s doesn’t remember her past but her next client looks familar and, instead of taking her ‘services’, just wants to talk. Find You In the Dark

One Carmilla was bad, Laura has no idea how to handle 2 version of her ex girlfriend when they’re stuck in the library. Split Personality, Literally

Laura has amnesia but is thrilled to find out the hot vampire by her bed is her wife. Absolute jackpot Wake Up With a Hot Wife

Carmilla’s soul is trapped in the pit and Laura and the scooby gang have to figure out how to put her back together. Colours of A Soul

After Canon Ends - what could happen next

Post Movie Hollstein and their daughter go looking for the fountain of youth. Retcon the retcon. Family Trip to the Fountain

Papa Hollis gives a speech at a Hollstein wedding that gives all the feels as he tells Laura’s life story. That’s My Daughter

Vamp Laura going through a photo album and telling stories about her adventures with Carmilla. A Live Well Lived

Laura, her father, and eventually Carmilla leave letters on Laura’s mother’s tombstone. Until We Meet Again

Mortal Laura and immortal Carmilla trying to figure out their lives and how to handle forever. Dandelion Promises

Vampires can’t go inside churches but Carmilla still likes to listen to the bells. Laura follows her. post movie. Monstrous Grace

Laura leaves a letter for Carmilla to give to all of Laura’s reincarnations over the centuries. The One Who Loves Her Next

Pregnant Laura has weird 2am cravings for Carmilla to try and fill. 9 Months of Mustard

Musical Hollstein - Trying to write melody with words

Tired world class musician Carmilla gives beginner Laura lessons and falls a little bit in love with her and the music. Teach Me to Play

Carmilla’s sent to interview her ex, pop star Laura. It’s been years and Carmilla can still see the brokenness her mother put on Laura’s face. To Hope Beyond an Unfinished Melody

Coffee Shop and Cooking Hollstein

Laura moves in with the hot coffee barista she has a crush on it’s both the best and the worst. Coffee Cupcake Crush

Laura can’t make coffee but she can set up all her customers with each other, the only person she can’t find a match for is fellow barista and ‘cupid-in-crime’ Carmilla. The Ultimate Coffee Shop Au

Angsty chefs Hollstein run a cooking show but when things get hot in the kitchen, they become secret exes with benefits. Cooking With Hollstein

Human Hollstein - Nothing supernatural. Just our girls being cute.

Billionaire playgirl Carmilla can’t bring herself to be a playboy when it’s Laura she’s taking as her date. Read The Carmilla Karnstein Special

Laura sees a girl on the subway but couldn’t speak to her so writes a ‘missing person’ ad instead. Missed Connections

Aggressive salesman Laura sells girl scout cookies with tiny Laf and knocks on Carmilla’s door. Just Buy the Cookies

Adorable sticky note conversations between broody Carmilla and the girl on the day shift who stole her mug. The Mug Thief

Drunk Carmilla comes into Laura’s tattoo shop and demands a tattoo on her butt. Tattoos and Bikinis

Laura literally falls into Carmilla’s lap on the bus and a spunky older gentleman gives love advice. Strangers on a Bus

Laura’s not very good a camping and the night’s cold when your tent collapses, might have to share sleeping bags. To Build A Tent

Librarian Karnstein enjoys annoying Professor Hollis by rearranging the books to see her scrunched nose. Librarian Hottie

Laura signs up to be a toymaking Christmas elf but gets a grumpy partner who hates making toys. Christmas Trains

Hockey player Laura is determined to get concessions booth worker Carmilla to love the skating rink. Cookies Cupcakes and Hockey Captains.

High School Hollstein Stories

Nerd Laura becomes the quarterback and only reluctant cheerleader Carmilla doesn’t change around her. A Classic High School Love Story

Laura is desperate for cookies and Carmilla ate them all after high school home ec. How to Avoid Kale

Hollstein neighbours shoot nerf guns and marshmallow guns and water guns at each other. War of the Windows

Hollstein becoming friend in kindergarten and then grow up together while getting into all kinds of trouble. Loving Trouble

Hollstein with Animals - Fluffier than fluff because animals are fluffy

Reluctant dog walker Carmilla can’t say no to vet Laura’s requests to walk various animals so they get exercise. Puppy Dog Eyes

Pet Store worker Carmilla saves Laura after she kills Laf’s fish. Again and again. One Fish Two Fish

Carmilla’s cat to keep bringing home some mysterious girl’s underwear. Drawer of Lingerie

Carmilla’s cat gets Laura’s cat pregnant and Laura demands Carmilla co-parent the kittens. Bonus unexpected canoe. Kitten Kisses

Carmilla rescuing Laura from evil spiders in the laundry room. For Fear of Spiders

Playing With Words - Hollstein examined in a story

The story on campus before Carmilla reached room 307 told like Welcome to the Nightvale. Welcome To Silas

Writing the movie plot before the movie came out with Hollstein engagement and Ell closure. It’s Not About the Plot

Laura’s a baker, Carmilla’s a firefighter. An examination of what a Hollstein story really is. A Generic Carmilla Story

Detailing the 100 little ways Hollstein fell in love over the seasons. 100 Ways They Fell in Love

Soulmates - because who doesn’t love some soulmate Aus. Usually twisted from the typical soulmate version or an original idea

Tiny literal hearts to pop up every time Carmilla looks at Laura and all Carmilla wants is for Laura to NEVER SEE THEM.Love is Orange

The scars from one person to show up only on the body of their soulmate featuring a Carmilla who is scarless for centuries and a Laura who will only wear long sleeves. Scars Inside

Timer soulmate au where Carmilla meets a tiny five year old Laura on her first day of school and suddenly finds her timer has started counting down to the moment they fall in love. A Broken Pocketwatch

A mirror will let you see your soulmate every year on your birthday but everyone is convinced there’s been a mistake when 21th century Laura sees 17th century Carmilla in the mirror. The Mirror Between Us

Fairy Laura follows her soulmate compass through a jungle only to find a panther. Carmilla’s not interested in soulmates. Follow Your Arrow

Everyone is born with a soulmate marker to write the name of their chosen soulmate on their skin. Vampires don’t have ink. s1-3 We Chose Each Other

Child countess Carmilla wished on stars for a best friend and got an imaginary lion. Centuries later, child Laura makes the same wish and finds a panther on her doorstep. Wishing On Imaginary Stars

Carmilla has never seen color until the world starts flickering when a kid can’t find their mom. A Hint of Colour

You can hear the music of your own soul and your soulmate but vampire Carmilla can’t hear the music. After Ell separates them, can Laura find her again and again? In Every Universe You Are My Symphony

This has been a 3 year labour of love. The stories vary in length from about 2k to over 100,000k for a total of more than half a million words. Have suggested stories? Let people know! It’s a big list!

Hope you enjoy them and thank you for all of your support creampuffs! <3 Aria

#carmilla #hollstein #laura hollis #carmilla karnstein #runwithwolves #aria bauer #long post #masterpost

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ograndebatata · 8 years ago

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Trials Of The Underworld - Ch. 02

Well, it seems responsiveness to this idea wasn't quite as great as my expectations envisioned.

All the same, thank you very much for the early response to my story, in terms of reviews and readership alike. I hope you're all enjoying this.

This oneshot introduces the prompts from Zee-Zee Magee of fanfiction dot net (Stealthy moving on) and Bookworm101234 from archiveofourown (Arthur versus Cruella), though they don't get fully borne out yet. I hope you enjoy.

As always, if you want to send a prompt of your own, feel free to.

Read on ff.net.

Read on AO3.

By The Clock Tower

He had come into existence as one of eight, born from an egg and deep under ground as his kind did. The first thing he did after being welcomed by the eggs' guard was collect the pickaxe that would name him. It had named him Stealthy; as with all dwarfs, the name fit.

For his first year, his life had consisted essentially of mining for fairy dust and going to the pubs in his downtime, like every other dwarf's. Then, it took a turn when one of his brothers, Dreamy, fell in love with a fairy. Stealthy could no more understand that than his six other brothers could, but nevertheless all of them supported their brother's decision to run away with her. Later, they supported Dreamy also when he broke said fairy's heart for her own sake. And when Dreamy, after he was renamed to Grumpy, ended up in King George's dungeon after changing his mind and trying to win back the fairy, Stealthy went to save him.

He succeeded, but met his end by doing so, and spent over thirty years in the Underworld struggling with unfinished business he didn't know. Even after he found out, he became unable to move on after learning that the former ruler of the Underworld intended to wreak havoc in Storybrooke.

Mere hours later, Stealthy learned of Captain Hook's and King Arthur's plan to help the Savior, in the world of the living. The moment he did, he settled down in the diner to wait for news.

He had guessed from the beginning it could be a long wait, but he wasn't ready for just how so. Nor was he ready for the bits of information he overheard while he waited.

In the Blind Witch's Diner…

This might not be Hell, but as far as Stealthy was concerned, it was close enough. King Arthur and Captain Hook still hadn't returned from their quest, knowing his unfinished business did not magically poof him out of the Underworld, and the Blind Witch and Cruella De Vil had spent the last hours talking so loudly about the changes they planned to make that maybe even the living could hear them even without the phone booth.

Worse, news had arrived about the doomed people in the River Of Lost Souls rising out of the water and dragging others in. So far they couldn't get too far from the river, but that could change. And as Cruella had taken the care to point out to him specifically, 'the stubble sandwich' was bound to have run into them on their way out, which meant they were just 'two more swirls for that glorified spinach soup'.

If that was true, then Hades must be up to no good in the world of the living. There had been no new arrivals since Arthur, but just because no one had died it didn't mean no one was suffering.

All kinds of thoughts about his brothers being enslaved by the God of Death traveled across his head like a herd of deer running in circles, even as he tried to steer them away from his worst ideas. And the Blind Witch and Cruella coming over to enjoy the terror he made no effort to hide was no help.

But Stealthy's hope had endured over thirty years in the Underworld. What was left of it could survive for a few hours longer.

Even if those two hags were doing a pretty good job of stamping it out.

In the Underworld's Sorcerer's Mansion...

He had struggled with the idea of taking up residence in Merlin's home. He hadn't made the Sorcerer proud, and either the man himself or the Apprentice might show up at any time and have the dead man's equivalent of a heart attack at seeing him. But the mansion fit far too many requirements. It was seemingly vacant, it was out of the way, and it was inherently powerful enough that the worst of evildoers stayed away; from what Captain Jones had told him, Hades hadn't even been able to approach it.

So he had moved in. Now he stood before a full length mirror in the largest sleeping room, surveying his new look for one last time, still not sure it fit him.

As the clothes he had died in stood out too much, he had changed into a suit like those he had seen in Storybrooke, with a silver vest, jacket, and trousers, a white dress shirt, a purple necktie and pocket square, and black dress shoes. None of those had been his color when he was alive, but Arthur wanted some distance from the person he had died as, and the color scheme seemed decent from his limited knowledge of that kind of attire.

He had more important issues to take care of anyway, and between his preliminary self-training in using his new powers, his brief familiarization with the Underworld, and his change of look, he had already lost too much time. He might not be getting any deader, but after what he had learned of the two witches ruling in Hades' stead, he didn't want to leave them in charge any longer.

More nervous than he had been when he deceived his subjects with the broken Excalibur, Arthur smoothed down his jacket, nodded at his reflection, and vanished from the Sorcerer's Mansion in a cloud of silver smoke.

In the Blind Witch's Diner...

"Attention."

Stealthy jumped in his seat at the sound: half of the beer in the mug jumped out and exploded across the table's surface, several stray globs splattering his chest. All sorts of reactions ensued at other spots; Cruella dropped a glass of alcohol into the ground, the Blind Witch gasped, and even the kid who had stopped talking centuries ago looked up.

That voice had come out of nowhere, and while conversational in tone, it seemed to be heard through the whole place as if the speaker was right beside each person at the same time. It did not sound aggressive - in fact, it even had a touch of hesitation - but everyone knew it took some powerful magic to make that.

"What was that?" Cruella snarked.

"It sounded like that armored beefcake's voice," the Blind Witch replied, all the usual breathiness of her voice gone.

The armored beefcake. She must mean King Arthur. And indeed, it had sounded like him. But he didn't have magic when Stealthy last saw him. How could he have done that?

"Attention. Attention to everyone in the Underworld. Please gather by the clocktower. There are important news for you to hear."

That was Arthur's voice. There was no doubt now. But how was he doing that? And what did he want?

"Please do not be afraid. I will not hurt you. I merely have an important message to give you, and would like to give it in person to as many of you as possible."

Chattering rose up amongst the diner like the buzzing of a whole beehive. Cruella glared all across the room, but no one even seemed to notice her; the excited and hopeful murmurs were too prevalent.

Stealthy kept quiet, but he shared the sentiment. For Arthur to be giving a message, he hadn't fallen into the river. And if he hadn't fallen into the river, he had somehow sent the pages to the Savior, and Hades had been defeated. It did not answer the question of how he was sending this message, but Stealthy didn't really need to know that. He'd take someone like Arthur a thousand times before settling for Cruella and the Blind Witch.

"I shall be giving my message in twenty minutes, by the now restored clock tower," Arthur finished. "I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible. Farewell."

The moment Arthur finished speaking, all the people in the diner stampeded out of the door like a pack of ravenous dogs racing for the same bone. The degraded panel had no chance against them - it crumbled to pieces as if either no one bothered to open it or whoever did was unable to do so before being pushed by those behind him. Startled exclamations rose up from Cruella's and the Blind Witch's throats as they looked at the fleeing crowd. Meanwhile, Stealthy let go of his mug and hid under the table and chairs he had been sitting at.

Would it do any good? That breathy-voiced hag had a nose sharper than a bloodhound's, and though Stealthy had started masking his scent years ago, maybe it wouldn't be enough.

"What do we do?" Stealthy heard the Blind Witch asking, all hints from her usual breathiness gone.

The other woman scoffed in reply. "What do you think, darling? We march up to that conceited poser and show him he can't come around and steal our playpen."

A few seconds of silence followed.

"Should we really do that? There's something weird about Arthur suddenly being able to talk to us like this. It's almost as if he gained magic."

Cruella burst into laughter.

"You must have eaten something that's even more rotten than usual, darling! That's not magic; the stud must simply be using some kind of hidden radio to talk to us! It's just a trick to throw us off!"

"But he said the clock tower was repaired…"

For the first time, Cruella took a while to answer, the only sound from her a hum from thought. Then she said, "Maybe he's learned a few tricks now, but do you really think he can do anything that can best the stuff Hades gave you?"

Even without looking at her, Stealthy could almost sense the witch grinning again.

"That's the spirit, darling!" he heard Cruella cheering. "Now stop being pessimistic and come with me to crush the hopes of everyone in the Underworld, beginning with that delusional oaf!"

A pleased hum from the witch followed Cruella's response.

"Before or after his speech?"

Cruella's answering laugh made icy needles jab Stealthy's spine.

"After, darling. Much more hope to crush that way." Another moment of silence followed. "Let's go. It'll be nice to see just how much hope we'll be crushing."

Stealthy heard the Blind Witch snort in annoyance, presumably at Cruella's use of the word 'see'. Then he heard both women's heels clicking on the diner's floor, and then thudding on the stone floor outside thanks to the broken door.

They were in for a nasty surprise, in Stealthy's opinion. Whatever had happened to Arthur, the tricks he had learned were impressive. The fact he had spoken of a restored clock tower proved it. Stealthy had lost count of how many times groups of prisoners had tried to restore it as a punishment from Hades, but he knew that whenever that happened, the thing never held up for more than a minute before crumbling back down with a thunderous boom. If Arthur had managed to repair it and there had been no mighty crash yet, things looked good.

But those two witches had a few tricks up their own sleeves, and Arthur might not be ready for them. Someone had to warn him. And with them not having noticed him, Stealthy could do that.

Relieved that he hadn't lost his touch, the dwarf crept out from under the table and followed the witches at a distance, determined to see what they were planning so he knew what he should warn Arthur about.

By the Underworld's clock tower...

Thanks to his magic, he had repaired the clock tower with a single wave from his hand, and cleared the debris from the floor with an equally simple gesture. Accomplishing both feats had made him stare at the results of his job like an awed fish, at least until people started arriving, by which time he composed his expression.

The turnout was not particularly big, as far as Arthur could tell. Still, there were enough people to fill a reasonable amount of space on every direction he could look at, although any late arrivals still had enough room to make it to the front if they wished. If Arthur had to guess, most people in the Underworld had stayed away, afraid he would just turn out to be the next Hades.

It made sense. Although he had tried to sound as friendly and reassuring in his speech as possible, the idea of a new magical overlord must not be appealing to many.

Regardless of the low turnout, most of the people he could see looked either cautiously hopeful or downright eager to hear what he had to say. Not one face he could spot looked angry at him or eager to have him removed.

Perhaps it should be reassuring, but it only made his nervousness soar. When he had proved himself to be the rightful ruler of Camelot (or so he thought) by displaying Excalibur to his people, they at least had evidence, and even in the face of it, many questioned how an orphan who mucked out stalls could be the ruler who would repair their broken kingdom. Now, even though he had no true evidence that he was the one meant to repair this broken kingdom, (being chosen by Zeus wasn't something he could easily prove) there were no questioning or reproachful faces, and almost everyone he saw seemed at least hopeful about his takeover, with a few even looking at him as if he was the Savior.

Either Hades had been an even worse king that Arthur thought, or the witches had somehow managed to outdo even the God of Death in rottenness.

Arthur had no problem believing in either, but knowing he had such a mess to repair did not soothe him in the least.

The twenty minutes he had announced drained by faster than water from a stabbed goatskin. Most people that he figured would come were already here, muttering amongst themselves, but a few late arrivals still swerved through the crowds to get at what they deemed a nice spot to listen to him.

Arthur enabled the late arrivals to settle into the spot they chose, and then raised his hand to request for silence. The sounds around him faded like snuffed flames, save for a few scattered whispers. With silence back, Arthur reactivated the spell he had used to inform the Underworld's citizens of his speech, one that enabled him to speak with everyone in the Underworld at the same time, and yet making it so that no one would hear more than a conversational tone.

With the spell in place, he smoothed down his jacket once more, and began speaking.

"Greetings, inhabitants of the Underworld. I am King Arthur of Camelot, and I have important news to give all of you."

He paused to see if his introduction would trigger any angry comments or physical violence. No one reacted particularly differently. If any people harmed by his rule were here, they were keeping quiet for one reason or another.

"As those who haven't seen me may have guessed, I am new to this place. And as you may have noticed from my recent accomplishments…" saying so, he gestured to the restored clock-tower behind him "... I have been, how shall I put it, blessed with certain gifts recently."

It should be a good way to put it, but it probably hadn't been the best thing to say; a few nervous faces were appearing here and there.

"Please don't get scared, I won't use them to hurt any of you. I know you have been through three very detestable leaders, and I do not wish to follow in their steps. I do not profess to have been the best leader myself when I was alive, but I will strive to be the best I can."

A few of the nervous faces started to perk up, but several remained uneasy. Arthur went on with his speech.

"Above all, I ask you to look at me not as a new king, but as a restorer. I am aware the Underworld has not served its proper purpose for a long time. That this place, meant to help people deal with their unfinished business so they can move on, has been distorted into a site of suffering whose rulers only mean to cause pain. I promise you, I will not be like that. And I invite all who need help to tell me about your problems, so that I can assist you in dealing with them. This is by no means a conscription or a summons, and I promise not to take offense to any who would rather I had nothing to do with them. But to those who need a helping hand, know that both of mine are available."

It was hardly the best joke ever told in all the realms, but chuckles and even a few barked laughs rippled through the crowd. It must have been long since anyone in charge had told a joke unrelated to suffering.

Arthur let them enjoy the humor, and then assumed the most serious expression he possibly could. He was about to say something he would rather not have to say, but which he felt was best spoken than left unsaid.

"And while I wish it did not have to be this way, I do have one warning to issue." Seeing all eyes back on him, now with general apprehension, he finished, "What any of you did in life does not matter. Even now, you can change. I know that from experience, and will help anyone who wants to be helped, regardless of what they did in life." He turned his expression as serious as it possibly could, and dropped his voice to a firm tone. "However, I request that no one tries to make afterlife miserable for anyone else. If you do, I will have to intervene."

A few disappointed murmurs rose up here and there, but each one fell silent when Arthur turned a stern gaze in the sound's direction. Even with them, the general reception to his speech still seemed much better than the one he had gotten after proclaiming himself King of Camelot. No disbelieving scoffs, no actual angry faces, and no challenges for the crown… just a sea of hopeful gazes so intense it almost made him dizzy.

"I shall be available whenever you need me," he went on, speaking in his calmer tone again. "Anyone interested in doing so can talk to me right now, and for those who aren't ready to do so yet, I am residing in the Sorcerer's Mansion for the time being."

A few people took a step forward on the spot, but froze there, as if thinking he had more to say.

"That is all for now. Thank you for listening."

Saying so, he disengaged the spell he had cast, in case anyone wanted to talk to him right now. An old lady with her face covered in wrinkles and a heavyset middle-aged man with a hairless head leaned slightly forward as if they were ready to do just that.

But then, everyone but himself shook in fright as another voice blared through the area without the assistance of any spell.

"Is that all, darling? Well then, now you're going to hear my piece."

As the voice spoke up, the crowd on the street to his left parted faster than a block of butter cut with a hot knife, and two women he was already familiar with made their way toward him. The only difference was that now, he could see the magic clinging to them in unpleasant bitter-looking clouds that had him fighting back the urge to grimace.

"Clear the path, worms!" the one with white and black hair snarled. "Your true rulers are coming through!"

More than clearing a path, most of them fled like rabbits. Some stray brave souls stayed relatively near to see what would ensue, but to Arthur's relief, even the closest ones he could see were over sixty feet away. Unless either of these witches could unleash something really strong, they wouldn't be hurt.

"How can I help you, ladies?" Arthur asked in his best polite voice.

The blind witch made a noise of mock-consideration, and then replied, "I would say 'By dropping dead.', but seeing as we're all dead here, I'll say instead 'By jumping into the River of Lost Souls.'."

Arthur gave her a thin smile, even though he knew she couldn't see it.

"Duly noted, but I'm afraid I can't do that. I intend to repair the Underworld, and I can't do it under that water."

The blind woman shrugged her shapely shoulders.

"Worth a shot," she somehow both breathed and screeched.

The other woman snorted, her heavily made up eyes like two black patches on her face.

"Do you really think we'll just let you stroll in here and ruin a nice eternity of causing pain to anyone that isn't us?" she asked, a playful smirk on her face.

Arthur took a step forward, his own eyes narrowed. "No, I didn't think that. But I'm afraid I don't need your permission."

The white-haired woman's eyes narrowed even further.

"You don't need it, you say? Think again. You need it. And we're not giving it to you."

Arthur braced himself for anything she might throw at him. Instead of attacking him however, she turned to the blind one and said, "Darling, paste him."

The woman grinned like a well-fed cat and threw a wave of magic at him. Arthur raised his hand, wreathed in protective magic of its own, and the spell the witch had thrown at him bounced back where it came from and knocked the blind woman onto her rear with a loud thud and a surprised gasp.

"What are you doing?" the other woman protested. "I told you to paste him!"

"I tried!" the blind woman whimpered as she stood up, her face contorted in pain. "He just threw my magic back at me!"

The other woman's eyes briefly widened. Then her face melted into a snarl.

"Then forget pasting him. Just drop him in that blasted green drink!"

Still as wobbly as a reed under a storm, the woman reached forward with her magic.

Alarm flared up within him.

He shot his hand out again and dispelled the magic like a sledgehammer shattering glass. The witch's spell exploded with such force that she fell forward with a startled gasp like a circus artist doing a pratfall.

"What?" her fur-clad companion snapped. "You can't do that either?"

"He doesn't let me! He just crushed my spell like a bug!"

The woman with black and white hair looked back at him, her already large eyes suddenly twice bigger, and especially unsettling in her gaunt face.

"You couldn't do that when you arrived…" she murmured.

Arthur blinked in surprise. Given the woman's nature, he hadn't thought she would be even capable of doing such a thing.

"I couldn't," he replied. "As I said during my speech, I was blessed with certain gifts recently." He made it a point to pause and give them a stern glare. "And I see now more than ever that they were needed."

The blind woman's usually empty expression twisted into a scowl. The one in the fur coat bared her teeth like an angry dog and growled. "Speak for yourself!"

"That's exactly what I'm doing." Arthur replied with a pleasant nod. But his stern glare only intensified as he added, "And in case you also missed that part of my speech, let me remind you of something else: I will not mind you either coming to me for help in moving on or you simply staying out of my way. But I will not allow you to make other people miserable."

Both women bared their teeth at him like furious bears, but his display must have startled them a great deal, because they didn't utter a peep.

"I've said my peace. Now if you'll excuse me I have a damage survey to undertake."

Before they could tell him whether they excused him or not, he turned left and walked away, making it a point to not look back toward them as he began a more detailed tour of the Underworld, to see how much damage he had to repair.

He didn't even take ten steps before the cheering began.

"ALL HAIL KING ARTHUR! ALL HAIL KING ARTHUR!"

Both Cruella and the Blind Witch kept grimacing like they were about to throw up as the screams continued. They were no longer as loud as before, simply because those uttering them were already farther away, but they could still be heard, and Cruella kept clenching her teeth as they continued.

"There goes your plan," the Blind Witch said once the cheers had finally faded, her high-pitched voice even more grating in its disappointed tone.

Cruella snorted in reply. "I didn't exactly hear you coming up with anything better, darling. Or dealing with him while he was here."

"Don't you have hands and feet?" the Blind Witch complained. "Next time, lend some help rather than complain."

"Instead of arguing, let's come up with some other way to deal with this interloping peacock, alright, darling?"

The Blind Witch narrowed her eyes, but at least this time she didn't complain.

"Alright then," she at last said. "Any Plan B?"

Cruella gave no verbal reply, but the slow sinister grin spreading across her face spoke for herself, even if the Blind Witch could not see it.

Stealthy, however, could. And as he saw it, he realized how good an idea it had been to follow them.

He only hoped he could actually help once they put their plan into action.

This is what I meant regarding the prompts not being fully borne out yet. The next oneshot will see their conclusion.

I hope you enjoyed thie oneshot, and once more, I welcome any prompts you might have.

#once upon a time #ouat #ouat fic #ouat king arthur #fic about arthur running the underworld

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