#gideon oaks

[roxygenize]

Gideon and Pacifica in my Gravity Rises AU, which I’m calling The PNW Dichotomy!

Gideon and Pacifica are changed to: Gideon and Gwendolyn Oaks!

They’re upper middle class and have abusive parents; Gideon is the golden child and Gwen is the scapegoat.

It’s their first year in Gravity Falls! Will they survive?

More design info and tidbits under cut!

Gwen:

Because she was treated so awfully when she was with her parents, she grows an insane ego while being treated like a normal person in GF.

She is very smart, and also a stereotypical blonde, even tho it’s a bleach blonde; she had 2 be smart 2 get even an ounce of respect and recognition from her parents. The stereotypical blonde act is just that, an act. While some of it is true, she plays it up massively in a bid to be more liked.

She loves mini-golf, it’s the only hobby she ever developed that her parents approved of.

While in GF, she keeps a journal! This is by recommendation of her therapist; it’s GF, so she runs into the paranormal, and is vague abt it when talking with her therapist.

Her and Gideon are fraternal twins!

She is an aromantic lesbian, but she won’t be able 2 identify that for a long while.

I represented her symbol of the llama using her hair; I imagine it’s a choppy cut she did herself

Gideon:

Gideon is also very egotistical; however, this is caused by his parents constant doting and undeserving, overblown praise.

Gideon is very popular; he doesn’t have the best grades, but he has social influence, which matters more to his parents than anything.

He is very people oriented; he can read them like a book 90% of the time, which he uses to his advantage.

He likes debate club!

Gideon is albino!

Him and Gwen are mixed; white hispanic and black! I’m still fleshing that out :P

Gideon is gay! He will not realize this for forever!

I put Gideon’s star symbol as a patch on his jacket

[thericene]

Gideon the Ninth, Knight of Swords.

(process gif under the cut, please click on the image for better quality 🙏)

[jksnrabbit]

OOOOOH GIRLS DO WHAT WE LIKE OOOOOOOH WE'RE TAKING OVER TONIGHT

i still have gravity falls on the mind which means legally i have to combine it with my fixation of all time, dndads

so here's hero, glenn, and normal from that scene in ep Scary-oke

i put hero in a more tuxedo mask-inspired fit cause dipper's fit didnt give me hero vibes . idk why glenn and normal are just stan and mabel though. not my problem <3

[bbdoll]

Welcome to the Town

[spookymultimedia]

[perotovar]

spreading the love 💛

tag/send this to the people you are grateful for on this site. keep the game going, make someone’s day 🌈💖

love you love you, I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am to have you as my friend.

omg gideon 😭😭

i love you so much, the feeling is entirely mutual!!!! i'm so honored to call you my friend, you absolute sweetheart 🥹

(did i just make this gif because you deserve this level of dieter softness/affection?? yes i did and yes you do)

[emberfrostlovesloki]

Gideon + Poetry

All photo credits are at the end

"Romance #1" by Eunsong Kim

like some 14 year old girl waiting for her crush to glance back i

keep waiting for capitalism to end

but it won't end

my adult life lover states

on what will end:

Libraries Birds Retirement Recess Sprinting during recess Hispid Hares Starfish shaped like stars inconvenience Wrinkles Sunken cheeks Living Corals Protests Anti-Nuclear Proliferation Non-Aggression Pacts Dragonflies Mangosteen DMZs Trade Embargos Leopards, all kinds Sawfins Rewilding Infiltration Plot/Dreams Oak, Trees. Partulina Varisbilis Partulina Slendida (-------) Violence Prevention Programs News. News:

Might a few jellyfish survive—

counting till revelations becomes a part of—

I feel like Gideon isn't talked about very much, and I get it. He's in the show far less than Rossi, and his ending is unsatisfying. But in many ways, he built the team. He's Spencer's father figure and Aaron's friend. He sticks up for Elle, Emily, and Penelope and keeps Morgan in balance. I think he is sad for much of the show and is good at hiding it. I think this poem represents that dynamic well. He's waiting for the world to be good. He's waiting for something that will never come, and in the end, that's why he has to leave.

But I just want to remind you all there is good in the world. There is hope out there. You matter and if you feel sad or alone I am always here to talk. Please be kind to yourselves today. I hope the start to your weeks is amazing! Love Levi - ❤️

Text Break Banner by @cafekitsune

Photo credits

Top: Left (@h-f-k) Center (@ellie-makes-mbs) Right (@peacefulandcozy)

Middle: Left (@himekokosu) Center (@criminalmindsverse) Right (@grapeperfume)

Bottom: Left (@triflingthing) Center (@arnab-comel) Right (@flowersforfrancis)

Tag list: @geminitapestry

Want to be added to my tag list? Please check out this post (linked) 

Want to send in a request? Please check out this post, CM Request Post (linked)

[incorrect-avantris]

I like my whisky like I like my men.

Gideon: i like my men

Kremy: smoky, full bodied, and leaves you gasping a little

Frost: twice my age and from Scotland

Gricko: left in an oak barrel for at least 3 years, with very little oxygen

[sintowinemily]

17 Minutes - Spencer Reid

pairing: Spencer Reid x unnamed female!oc (can be reader if you so wish)

summary: Every Monday morning, Spencer is exactly seventeen minutes late to work. The team have no idea what is holding up the young genius.

warnings: third person, pining, one-sided pining, unknowing party, obsessive Spencer, (kind of) stalking (??), unhappy ending.

word count: 1145

Click here to be added to my taglist!

Click here to submit a request!

Spencer Reid is late to work every Monday, and has been for months. If he wasn’t so integral to the team, SSA Aaron Hotchner would have him disciplined by now, but knowing what he knows at twenty-four, there is no way Hotch would risk him being on disciplinary leave. 

Hotch doesn’t know why Spencer is late on the same day every week, neither does Derek or Elle, not even Jason Gideon knows why Spencer fumbles his way into the round-table room 17 minutes late every Monday clutching at a take-away cup of coffee, red in the face and satchel hanging around his elbow. Spencer would never tell them what could be so important. Gideon worries it’s his mother, Derek teases him that some girl is keeping him up late on a Sunday night – so unprofessional. 

What they don’t know is that it is a girl. But she isn’t keeping him up late on a Sunday night, she isn’t begging him not to leave their bed on a Monday morning. Although Spencer wishes, so desperately, more than anything that she did. 

Every Monday, on his way to the Metro stop, Spencer stops at his favourite coffee shop. It’s a quaint independent little place, with long leather couches and oak bookshelves mounted on the walls. It’s dark and the walls are painted olive green, it has old espresso machines that whine loudly and exposed lightbulbs hanging low from the ceiling. Spencer goes in every morning and orders a flat white and empties half of their glass sugar dispenser into it. But every Monday, he orders a large latte and takes a seat on one of the large couches, and watches. All he does is watch.

She has long dark hair, which falls down her lower back. Spencer observes that she has to pull it to the side to stop her from sitting on it. Her short nose, which curves up at the end scrunches whenever she turns a page of her book. She’s there every Monday, and every week she has a new book perched on her right knee, which is crossed over her left one. Every week she is wearing some variation of the same outfit, a long skirt and a knitted jumper which is too long in the sleeves. Her hair is occasionally tied back in a black ribbon, but Spencer prefers it when she lets it hang loose, free. 

The first week she approached the old 1970s vintage jukebox, which looks like it is an original but is loaded up with modern records as well. She chose Bella Donna by Stevie Nicks. This is what sparked Spencer’s interest, he would have expected someone of her [their] age to have chosen something more modern but as he watched her go to sit down and properly observed her floor-length dress (which surely had to be altered as she didn’t look over five foot four inches), he realised she was different. He continued watching as he stood at the counter and waited for his coffee, to-go. What he observed next made his heart skip a beat.

She pulled out a battered copy of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment.

Instead of leaving with his take-away cup, he sat at the couch on the opposite side of the room and watched her. He was 17 minutes late to work.

And so began the unprofessional habit he entered into, every Monday he was 17 minutes late to work because he was watching the beautiful girl read some piece of classical literature. Sometimes English, sometimes American, sometimes Russian, sometimes German. One week it was All Quiet on the Western Front. Another week it was Philip Roth’s alternative history. The next it was Kafka’s The Trial. Then for three consecutive weeks after that it was a different Ray Bradbury book every Monday. And so on, and so forth. (Of course, Spencer had already read all of these.)

Spencer wasn’t sure if she read one a week, or one a day. But he became as obsessed with finding out what the stranger was reading as to what she was wearing, or whether she had ordered an americano or an oolong tea. He would watch as she held the book in her right hand, her left hand balled into a fist, nestled into her hair, which she rested her head on as she read. She licked her lips every four minutes and twenty-seven seconds; she would crane her neck from side to side every six minutes and twelve seconds. Spencer had become so enamoured with this girl, this girl who was devouring all his favourite novels. He knew on the seventh week of watching her that he might well be in love with her, despite not even knowing her name. 

If Spencer was a different man, he would have approached her, he would have asked her thoughts on the tension between Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet, he would have asked her if she had read any of his favourite obscure Russian novels. But he wasn’t that man, he was too reserved, too nervous.

On the eleventh week Spencer walked into the coffee shop with his head held high. This would be the day he would be the man he wanted to be. He would at least introduce himself to her. 

It was a shock to him when she wasn’t sat at her usual spot, but instead was the only person in the queue in front of him, waiting to be served. (She ordered an oolong tea.) She stood to the side and gave him a small, nervous smile as he made his way to the counter to place his own order. He was too in his own head to even return the smile. He ordered his latte and stood behind her again to wait for his order. She was staring into space in front of them, tapping her foot on the ground. A to-go cup was placed on the counter to collect, and she stepped forward to collect it, Spencer is watching her in a fashion which he knows is creepy but as she is facing away from him, he knows she won’t notice. 

But as you can imagine, to Spencer’s surprise she spins around quickly and looks direct at him.

‘Sorry, I think this is yours.’ She says, the to-go cup in her outstretched hand, her left hand.

That’s when Spencer realises, he had never studied her left hand before. If he had he would have noticed the ring. The large diamond ring on the fourth finger of her left hand. He gives her his thanks and hurries out of the coffee shop and makes his way straight to the metro stop. He should have known that the girl destined to be his soulmate, destined to be the love of his life, would already be taken. 

And, Spencer Reid was never late to work again. 

[artandthebible]

The Angel and Gideon

Artist: Gerbrand van den Eeckhout (Dutch, 1621–1674)

Date: 1640

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Collection: Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden

The Angel of the Lord Visits Gideon | Judges 6:-11-16

The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”

[theletterstohogwarts]

THE DUELLING CLUB

— Summary: You and Fred stay back after a Dumbledore's Army meeting to practice, and things take an unexpected turn.

— Main Character: Fred Weasley

“Freddie,” you mewl, watching the wand tumble from your grasp.

A soft chuckle falls from his lips as he goes to retrieve it, evidently taking great pleasure in seeing you all flustered with such discontent. The boy strides back towards you, surrounded by an arrogant sense of superiority, before you catch a glimpse of mischief swirling deep within his dark mahogany eyes.

As you reach for the wand, the copper-haired boy pulls back and holds it just out of reach before you notice the hint of a playful smirk framing his freckled features. With a quirk of your brow, you yield to the unspoken dare by pushing yourself onto the tips of your toes, arm outstretched in a feeble attempt to retrieve the wand.

“Fred Gideon Weasley.” His name drips from your tongue, laced with bitter animosity. “Give me my wand.”

“Make me.”

With a quiet sigh, you cross your arms in a nonchalant manner before allowing your gaze to glide over his tall and slender torso. After a moment of contemplation, you dare a step closer before wrapping your delicate fingers around his lustrous tie, watching as his complacent smirk grows wider.

“Well, go on..." encourages Fred, eyes conflagrant with a sinful tenebrosity.

Before he has the chance to utter another word, you pull him towards you and place a soft kiss on his lips. After a moment of pure disbelief, your oak wand clatters onto the stone floor as he rests his hands against the back of your neck, allowing his tongue to glide over the soft, swollen flesh of your lips.

[alexlestar]

Jerk Rivals = Just young boys with bad/no family lives

I'll be covering the following "Jerk" Rivals -Blue Oak -Silver -Gideon -Bede -Arven (at first)

Secondly, why do you think they are jerks? What is the one thing all 5 have in common? Shitty or no families. Thirdly I am not covering Carmine since she's more of an "I don't want my home to become a tourist destination," kind of jerk

Let's get into this Blue: In the games (not counting let's go) Oak shows he likes Red more then Blue. When the Professor take you to the lab and Blue say he was sick of waiting, Oak makes it know he forgot Blue was even waiting for him and allowed Red to pick first.

In FR/LG if you lose to Blue, Oak says it's disappointing that Blue won. How much do you think it hurt to hear your own grandfather put you down for winning your first every battle?

When you become champion after beating Blue, Oak tells his grandson how disappointed he is in Blue and that he doesn't love his Pokémon which is why you win. It doesn't matter that Blue worked as hard as we did to reach the same point.

Silver: Having Giovanni abandon him when he was only 7/8 years old had to be hard on Silver. More so when he was raised to only see Pokémon as tools. Having to unlearn all of them while he's still a child might have been easy, but it could have could still have been a hard lesson to learn.

Gideon: His father went missing which sent his mother insane causing her to be obsessive of both him and his sister Lillie.

Bede: A orphan boy who was take on by Rose, only to be thrown away after one big mistake. Who knows how long he was orphaned for or if he saw his parents die.

Arven: Having one parent be a workaholic and the other get up and leave while he was still young basically left him with no family. Then to have the workaholic parent be killed (Arven most likely saw it) and having his best friend almost killed would make him hostile to anyone who has Maridon/Karidon

So all in all, I don't think they wanted to be jerks. They just had shit home lives and lashing out is all they knew till they could improve.

(I have missed something Gideon and Bede so if I have let me know)

[relatableblorbopoll]

Preliminaries

Here's how it will work:

The first round will consist of 18 polls of 6 participants each, the first two places get a place on the bracket

For the second round, there will be 12 polls of 6 participants each, the first two places get a place on the bracket

The third round will consist of 4 polls of 12 participants each where there will be a (metaphorical) knife battle to the death where only one character from each poll will get in the bracket

All pairings of groups are randomly generated

Check after the read more for the full list of participants and for the groups of the first round of preliminaries

Group 1 poll

Nimona (Nimona)

Twelfth Doctor (Doctor Who)

Blue/Green Oak (Pokémon Green/Blue/Red)

Jack Reacher (Reacher Series)

Tsubakura Enraku (Len'en Project)

Albedo (Genshin Impact)

Group 2 poll

Jessica Day (New Girl)

Daniel LaRusso (Karate Kid)

Omota Uramichi (Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan)

Jack Spicer (Xiaolin Showdown)

Hatsune Miku (Vocaloid)

Eichi Tenshouin (Ensemble Stars)

Group 3 poll

Conner Bailey (The Land of Stories)

Lucy Honeychurch (A Room With A View)

Greg Heffley (Diary of a Wimpy Kid)

Gideon Nav (The Locked Tomb)

Akaashi Keiji (Haikyuu!!)

Burgerpants (Undertale)

Group 4 poll

Legosi (Beastars)

Stephen Stills (Scott Pilgrim comics)

Sunny (Omori)

Tony Stark (Marvel Avengers)

Rookie (Club Penguin)

Charlie Morningstar (Hazbin Hotel)

Grupo 5 poll

Melissa Chase (Milo Murphy’s Law)

Candace Flynn (Phineas and Ferb)

V-Flower (Vocaloid)

Ciaphas Cain (Warhammer 40k)

Percy Jackson (Percy Jackson series)

MK (Lego Monkie Kid)

Group 6 poll

Jesper Fahey (Six of Crows)

Crowley (Good Omens)

Dave Strider (Homestuck)

Junior (Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race)

Kim Dokja (Omnicient Reader's Viewpoint)

Donutella (Tokidoki)

Group 7 poll

Rigby (Regular Show)

Angua (Discworld)

Cao Weining (Word of Honor)

Aang (Avatar: The Last Air Bender)

Okuyasu Nijimura (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure)

Shin Tsukimi (Your Turn to Die)

Group 8 poll

Stanford Pines (Gravity Falls)

Miles "Tails" Prower (Sonic The Hedgehog Franchise)

Jonathan Sims (The Magnus Archives)

Ford Prefect (The Hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy)

Shaun Murphy (The Good Doctor)

Sonic (Sonic The Hedgehog Franchise)

Group 9 poll

Overlord (Bad End Theater)

Denji (Chainsaw Man)

Abed Nadir (NBC Community)

Entrapta (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power)

Gren (The Dragon Prince)

Ocean O'Connell Rosenberg (Ride The Cyclone)

Group 10 poll

Nagisa Ran (Ensemble Stars)

Waver Velvet (Fate series /The Case Files of Lord El-Melloi II)

Shuichi Saihara (Danganronpa V3)

Opossums (real life)

Midori Takamine (Ensemble Stars!! Music)

Seven of nine (Star Trek)

Group 11 poll

Mae Borowski (Night in the Woods)

Shigeo Kageyama / Mob (Mob Psycho 100)

Barry the Quokka (The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog)

Kaveh (Genshin Impact)

Yusuke Kitagawa (Persona 5)

Nanami Kento (Jujutsu Kaisen)

Group 12 poll

Rod (Avenue Q)

Missi (Vampair Series)

Lia (The Music Freaks)

Sand (Only Friends)

Pa Jindapat (Bad Buddy)

Sara Murphy (Milo Murphy’s Law)

Group 13 poll

Cecil Gershwin Palmer (Welcome to Night Vale)

Noah (Total Drama Series)

Basil (Omori)

Stanley Pines (Gravity Falls)

Wen Ning (Mo Dao Zu Shi/The Untamed)

Nick (Only Friends)

Group 14 poll

Oz Vessalius (Pandora Hearts)

Sound (My School President)

Luz Noceda (The Owl House)

Gundham Tanaka (Super Danganronpa 2)

Saiki Kusuo (Saiki Kusuo no Psi Nan/The Disastrous Life of Saiki K)

Drew (The Music Freaks)

Group 15 poll

Wen Kexing (Tian Ya Ke / Faraway Wanderers)

Homura Akemi (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

Nico di Angelo (Percy Jackson Series)

Heinz Doofenshmirtz (Phineas and Ferb)

Reki Kyan (Sk8 the Infinity)

q!Quackity (QSMP)

Group 16 poll

Parker (Leverage)

Gudetama (Sanrio)

Finn the Human (Adventure Time)

Rain O'Fire Frazier (Worm)

Piper Mclean (Heroes of the Olympus)

Norma Khan (Dead End Paranormal Park)

Group 17 poll

Berdly (Deltarune)

Hamlet (Hamlet)

Squidward Tentacles (Spongebob)

Hunter (The Owl House)

Szeth-son-son-Vallano (The Stormlight Archive)

Nami (One Piece)

Group 18 poll

Tobias (Animorphs)

Isaac O'Connor (Paranatural)

Trisana Chandler / Tris (Emelan book series)

Sokka (Avatar: The Last Air Bender)

Haruhi Fujioka (Ouran Highschool Hostclub)

Shinji Ikari (Evangelion)

[ceceliaahathaway]

@drrutherford Event: A Murder Mystery Party (with a special guest star: Cecelia's blackmailer) Dated: 20th of April, 2024 Location: The Van Duyn Estate (mutual friends)

You are cordially invited... The words danced elegantly across the cream-coloured card held delicately between Cece's fingers as she arrived at the imposing gates of the Van Duyn estate. The air was thick with anticipation, and a subtle breeze rustled the leaves of the towering oak trees that lined the winding driveway.

Cece took a moment to admire the grandeur of her surroundings before tucking the invitation and character card into her evening bag. Tonight, she would step into the shoes of Renee Holliday, once a dazzling star of the vaudeville stage and now a renowned American film actress. The role seemed like a perfect fit for her natural charm and theatrical flair. And she had researched it throughly.

Renee was precisely how Cece envisioned herself in the 1930s - successful, an artist, and married to a promising director. But why was she currently in London? She found herself there shooting a film, directed and written by her new husband. Of course, her marital ties weren't the reason why she'd secured the role. Renee had earned the gig due to her ability to steal a scene and perform a handstand on a moving elephant.

She was a star. So, naturally, both she and her husband had been extended invitations to one of London's most renowned annual parties. Speaking of her husband, she'd yet to meet the man who'd play her consort tonight. Would it be too much to ask that he wore black tie and knew how to make a good Marsala Martini? Cece had her fingers and toes crossed.

The doors swung open to reveal a scene straight out of a Hollywood film set. Crystal chandeliers cast a warm glow over the opulent foyer, while the sound of laughter and lively conversation filled the air. Cece's heart fluttered with excitement as she stepped into the midst of the glamorous crowd, her eyes scanning the room for familiar faces. "Ah, Miss--" She raised an eyebrow, lifting her newly blinged out ring finger, "Ah Mrs Holiday, so glad you managed to find us. May I take your coat."

"You may." She was greeted with smiles and nods of recognition as she mingled with the other guests, each one a character in their own right. The atmosphere crackled with intrigue and excitement, and Cece couldn't shake the feeling that tonight would be one to remember.

"Oh, Mrs Holiday, I'm sure I don't have to introduce you to your husband." With a laugh already escaping her lips, she turned around eagerly, prepared to meet the man with whom she'd have the pleasure of solving a murder tonight. Oh, undoubtedly, she was determined to win, she wouldn't have dragged herself away from Happy and her pint of Ben and Jerry's otherwise. "I don't—" She stopped mid-sentence, her laughter fading as her eyes met his. It seemed almost too good to be true. Gideon Rutherford, dressed in a suit... for the second time... in less than thirty days. "Now, now, sweetheart, my glass is empty. You know I'd only trust you to get my Marsala just right."

Just then, as the lights flickered and a scream pierced the air, Cece instinctively grabbed Gideon's hand, squeezing it tightly—pure theatrics, of course. When the lights came back on, a collective gasp followed by another scream echoed through the room. There, in a heap on the floor, lay Mrs. Van Duyn, lifeless. Cece's knees wobbled, and she leaned against Gideon's chest, feigning a half-faint. "Oh, darling… How dreadful…" She managed to compose herself, knowing she had to. With the news that the police couldn't be reached due to the power outage and that this murder wouldn't be the last, it was up to them, the guests, to seek justice for Mrs. Van Duyn. Locking eyes with Gideon, Cece took charge as the room began to clear. "Darling shall we investigate the library for clues?"

[deadguydeathmatch]

The Dead Guy Death Match Bracket Is Here!

Round 1 will be split into 4 waves of 16 24 hour polls and each wave will be posted 24 hours after the previous. The first wave will start on Tuesday the 18th of April at 3pm BST

The matchups are listed under the readmore and will be hyperlinked to the polls when they go up.

The matchups were all randomised although I did make minor adjustments if I thought one was much too unfair.

Also tagging @tournamentdirectory as I haven't already

Wave 1:

Charles Foster Kane (Citizen Kane) Vs Gavroche Thenardier (Les Miserables)

Leif (Bug Fables) Vs Queen Serenity (Sailor Moon)

L (Death Note) Vs Jonny D'Ville (The Mechanisms)

Noah Czerny (The Raven Cycle) Vs Lee Everett (The Walking Dead)

Pat Butcher (BBC Ghosts) Vs Xerxes Break (Pandora Hearts)

Captain Orimar Vale (Skyjacks Campaign Podcast) Vs Laura Palmer (Twin Peaks)

Diallos Hoslow (Elden Ring) Vs Rachel Amber (Life Is Strange)

Andrei Grandier (Rose Of Versailles) Vs Constance Blackwood (Ride The Cyclone)

Spock (Star Trek) Vs Maria Robotnik (Sonic The Hedgehog)

Kravitz (The Adventure Zone) Vs Sal Fisher (Sally Face)

Mari (Omori) Vs Ianto Jones (Torchwood)

Nate (Leverage) Vs Max (Sam and Max)

Owen Carvour (Spies Are Forever) Vs Vylad Ro'Meave (Minecraft Diaries)

Neil Perry (Dead Poet's Society) Vs Sayaka Miki (Madoka Magica)

Flapjack (The Owl House) Vs Maes Hughes (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Loki (Marvel) Vs Adam Faulkner Stanheight (Saw)

Wave 2:

Obi Wan Kenobi (Star Wars) Vs Diggory Graves (Hello From The Hallowoods)

Hugo Oak (Kipo And The Age Of Wonderbeasts) Vs Leonardo Hamato (Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie)

Chara (Undertale) Vs Magnus Chase (Magnus Chase)

River Song (Doctor Who) Vs Micheal Afton (Five Nights At Freddy's)

Catherine Earnshaw (Wurthering Heights) Vs Tara Maclay (Buffy The Vampire Slayer)

Laudna (Critical Role) Vs Aerith Gainsborough (Final Fantasy)

Mia Fey (Ace Attorney) Vs Jay Gatsby (The Great Gatsby)

Meiko 'Menma' Honma (The Flower We Saw That Day) Vs Claire Foley (Professor Layton)

Grelle Sutcliff (Black Butler) Vs Skelly (Hades)

Ethan Winters (Resident Evil) Vs Portgas D Ace (One Piece)

Polly Geist (Monster Prom) Vs Hua Cheng (Heaven's Official Blessing)

Avatar Kyoshi (Avatar The Last Airbender) Vs Galivar Kholin (Stormlight Archive)

Pink/Orchid (Animation Vs Animator/Minecraft) Vs Lewis Pepper (Mystery Skulls Animated)

Gideon Nav (The Locked Tomb) Vs Stoick The Vast (How To Train Your Dragon)

Evelyn Hooper (Less is Morgue) Vs Manny Calavera (Grim Fandango)

Kokichi Oma (Danganronpa) Vs Silco (Arcane)

Wave 3:

Eurydice (Greek Mythology) Vs Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead)

Jack Twist (Brokeback Mountain) Vs Charles Vane (Black Sails)

Howard Hamlin (Better Call Saul) Vs Jason Grace (Riordanverse)

Nora Hildegard (The Vampire Diaries) Vs Gerard Keay (The Magnus Archives)

Manny (Swiss Army Man) Vs Matoro (Bionicle)

Wen Ning (Mo Dao Zu Shi) Vs Kikyo (Inuyasha)

Yuri Nakamura (Angel Beats) Vs Simon Kain (Pathologic)

Deep Throat (The X Files) Vs La Signora (Genshin Impact)

Esmeralda (The Hunchback Of Notre Dame Novel) Vs Ursula Zandt/Silhouette (Watchmen Comics)

Nageki Fujishiro (Hatoful Boyfriend) Vs Tuba (Infinity Train)

Beetlejuice (Beetlejuice) Vs Arthur Morgan (Red Dead Redemption)

Oda Sakunoske (Bungou Stray Dogs) Vs Rose Quartz (Steven Universe)

Duncan (Dragon Age) Vs Junpei Yoshino (Jujitsu Kaisen)

Quincey Morris (Dracula) Vs Connor Murphy (Dear Evan Hansen)

Deadman (DC Comics) Vs Breakdown (Transformers)

Draal The Deadly (Troll Hunters) Vs Castiel (Supernatural)

Wave 4:

Matsuri Kanroji (Demon Slayer) Vs Midori (Your Turn To Die)

Kelsier (Mistborn) Vs Peter 'Parker' Yang (Malevolent Podcast)

Tadashi Hamada (Big Hero 6) Vs Noriaki Kakyoin (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure)

Erik (The Phantom Of The Opera) Vs Matthias Helvar (Six Of Crows)

Tigerstar (Warrior Cats) Vs Boromir (The Lord Of The Rings)

Joel Miller (The Last Of Us) Vs Pedro Madrigal (Encanto)

Rufus Emeterio (They Both Die At The End) Vs King Arthur (King Arthur)

Bunny Corcoran (The Secret History) Vs Lenore (Nevermore Webtoon)

Sliver Of Straw (Rain World) Vs Bow (Inanimate Insanity)

Chidi Anagonye (The Good Place) Vs Nicholas D Wolfwood (Trigun)

Tiso (Hollow Knight) Vs Okudera (Yakuza 5)

Koki Kariya (The World Ends With You) Vs Horst Cabal (Johannes Cabal)

Mr Boddy (Clue) Vs Garret Jacob Hobbs (Hannibal)

Eddie Kaspbrak (IT) Vs Emily (Corpse Bride)

Ash Lynx (Banana Fish) Vs Ophelia (Hamlet)

Eddie Munson (Stranger Things) Vs Kili (The Hobbit)

[lasatfat]

In the Oak, I Found the Arrow

read on AO3 | for @samseabxrn

The Herald had returned from his first visit to Redcliffe with an entire entourage in tow. The Grey Warden, Blackwall, was expected – Leliana had asked Lavellan to seek him out, after all – but Gideon had also collected a childhood friend from his clan, with an accompanying wolf-dog, a tranquil alchemist, a smuggler in a Chantry sister’s robe, and the first born son of an obscure Fereldan house retrieved from some cult in the hills.

Then, there are the Adaar siblings. Four of them, none related by blood. The two sons are mages. The eldest, Farid, was rescued from the Qun before his mouth was stitched shut, his arms bound with chains, and his face forever masked. The younger son was not so fortunate; Basvaarad’s mouth is encircled by pinprick scars. He rarely speaks, but the elder daughter, Nanna, never speaks at all. Judging from her stature, she must have dwarven blood, though of course, she never says. Torunn is the youngest of them, red-headed and slender, and often trailed by an orange-and-white cat she called Purrlock.

Cullen hadn’t thought much about her, at first, beyond what she brought to the Inquisition. She was a skilled archer, and an equally capable midwife, and she had the accompanying confidence of one who knew her talents. Even better, she was a good teacher. She would often join him on the training ground, talking aspiring archers through corrections to their form or technique. Other days would be spent in the infirmary – there were no babies to be delivered, which was probably for the best, but there were plenty of minor injuries to be treated.

On her fourth day in Haven, she approached him once again, but not to offer help training the recruits. They stood side-by-side, looking out over the frozen lake. “You’re in pain,” she said. It was a statement, not a question. When Cullen looked confused, she rolled her eyes, but chuckled. “Come on, commander. I’m a midwife; pain is my bread and butter.” She paused. “Well, and the parents. And the babies. Oh, you know what I mean. Are you hurt?”

“No. It’s…an ongoing condition,” he replied. It wasn’t technically a lie.

“Is it the lyrium withdrawal?”

She might as well have punched him in the face. Cassandra and Leliana were the only others aware of his situation, and they wouldn’t have told anyone, least of all a stranger. He must have given himself away, somehow, and if Torunn had worked it out, who else?

“How did you…?”

“Are you joking me? That stuff stinks,” she replied. She twirled her hand in the air, as if conjuring up the right comparison. “You know when you leave old metal out in the sun, and it gets hot?”

He knew it well enough, and he nodded.

“Anyway, you just smell like oakmoss and elderflower,” she continued. “I’d know it a mile off. All the rookies get archer’s elbow.”

“Have you told anyone else?” he asked.

“Nah. None of my business,” she answered, genially. “My lot might figure it out, but they won’t say anything about it. Nanna doesn’t say anything anyway.” She turned to him properly, fixed him with a sober look. “Seriously, though, can I do anything to help?”

“I just have a headache,” he said, in a tone he hoped was reassuring. “I can endure it.”

“Sure you can, but you don’t have to,” she countered. She then launched into a long list of pain remedies, some of which he knew, some he’d never heard of.

The more he worked with her, the more he saw of the open heart she carried through everything she did. She laughed loud and often, but never unkindly. She was lewd at times, but not aggressively so. The same strength that forced a sparring partner to the ground would pull them back to their feet with a clap on the shoulder and a “good one. Go again another day?” The hands that pulled back a bowstring or threw a knife with such deadly accuracy would clean and bandage a fletching cut with the utmost gentleness.

It wasn’t until the fall of Haven that Cullen realised how he’d fallen.

They were dying. Everyone in Haven could see the writing on the wall. The Red Templars were too many, even without the dragon (Archdemon?) this “Elder One” had at his command. Torunn was nothing if not strong-willed. He expected her to make for the front lines, to spend her last hours, minutes, seconds battling the army that end her so prematurely, holding them to account. A life ending in violent defiance.

She didn’t do that. Instead, she gathered the Tranquil. She and her siblings escorted them to the Chantry, guarding them as a knight may guard their lord. She bandaged wounds as best she could, kept people on their feet, and carried Chancellor Roderick when he grew too weak to stand, even with help. When the Herald was missing in the mountains, the Adaars searched longer and further than any of their other parties. She defied death in her own way. She denied the enemy her despair.

They staggered back into camp long after the Herald had been found, and hymns had been sung, and hope had been built anew. Cullen brought her food. It felt like too small a gesture, a bowl of stew and a chunk of bread, but from her reaction, you’d have thought the wooden plate was loaded with spice cake and strawberries.

“Oh, now you’re talking!” she said, heartily, but she hesitated. “Is anyone else hungry?”

There was no doubt many were, but their supplies had to last. “Everyone else has eaten,” he decided on. She understood, and cleared her plate.

He decided, he would tell her, once they were safe. The Herald was leading them somewhere. As soon as they reached their destination, as soon as they no longer had the burden of survival, Cullen would lay open his own heart, and let her take it as she will.

x x x

Of course, as the saying goes, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

To say the first week in Skyhold is hectic would be a grave understatement. The guard rotations are quickly established, but urgent repairs must be conducted, supply lines established, accommodation assigned. Cullen works from before dawn to well after the sun has set and the moons have risen, and he has little doubt that his colleagues are doing the same. He can barely find the time to eat and sleep, let alone seek out a specific person for a conversation, however desperate he is to talk to them.

With all those injured and sickened on the journey to Skyhold, he imagines Torunn is working flat-out as well. In the end, however, she finds him first. She strolls into his office one afternoon as if she, not Gideon Lavellan, had just been named Inquisitor. She smiles at him, warmly, and Cullen tries to ignore the riot of butterflies in his stomach. He hadn’t realised just how much he’d missed seeing her almost every day.

“O, Commander, my commander,” she greets him, jovially. “Long time no see.”

“Quite,” he agrees. “Are you well?”

“Yeah, I’m good. Busy,” she replies. “How about you?”

The stress of the attack on Haven and the journey to Skyhold weigh heavy on his mind, though not so heavy as the guilt of so many lives lost. Logically, he knows that he made the best decisions he could at the time, but that knowledge does little to curb the self-blame. Or, indeed, the anger. He doesn’t want to worry her, however, so he replies, “well enough.”

She looks at him like she knows he’s holding back, but doesn’t press the issue. “I brought you something,” she says, instead.

“Oh?”

Torunn pulls a small glass vial from a pouch on her belt. Inside it is a liquid slightly more viscous than water, clear and tinged yellow-green. Cullen takes it, carefully, turns it over in his fingers.

“What is it?” he asks.

“Peppermint oil,” she says. “It always helps me when I have a headache. Don’t get it on your face, though. I learned that one the hard way. It makes your eyes sting like fuck.”

Sure enough, he recognises the smell when he uncorks the vial. Some of the few good memories he has of Kinloch Hold are of watching over the herbalists as they went about their work (one particular herbalist more than others, if he’s honest with himself). The cooking fires warmed the normally chilly tower, and filled it with the heady perfume of hundreds of plants chopped and boiled. They had been using peppermint leaves for potions, but whatever was left of it went into tea or sweet cakes. As much as it shames him to think of it now, he always secretly hoped that at least some of the mint in his food had been prepared by Eireann Surana.

All this to say, he knows it’s edible, but not much else.

“Do I drink it?” he asks.

Torunn snorts. “Only if you feel like blowing your breakfast across the room,” she says. The smile quickly fades, however, replaced with mild concern. “You’ve got a headache right now?”

“Yes.” Since he stopped taking lyrium, he has had one more often than not.

She holds out her hand, gestures with the outstretched fingers. “Give it here and I’ll show you.”

He obediently hands it back to her. She pours a couple of drops into her palm, and sets the vial down with her free hand. He watches her gather it on her fingertips.

“Here, look at me.”

She bends slightly, and then she’s looking directly into his face, eyes the colour of amber. Maker, she is so close. He could count the freckles on her nose, if he had a mind to. As it is, Cullen is preoccupied with keeping his breathing steady, as her gentle fingers trace circles against his temples. Her hands span the entire length of his head. Her touch burns and cools at the same time. It’s no magic – he can’t sense all of it now, but against his skin, he would know. He can’t decide if it’s the oil, or if it’s just her, the effect she has on him.

“Better?” she asks.

“Much.”

He acts before he can think better of it. A mistake. He leans forward, but meets empty air. Opening his eyes again, he finds that she has stepped back, hands pulled in against her chest.

“Wh…?” She laughs, nervously. “What are we doing here?”

Cullen’s stomach clenches like a fist. The rejection barely registers in the moment, overshadowed by the realisation that his advances are not only unwanted, but apparently frightening. It’s a fear he is intimately familiar with. Andraste preserve him, he has inflicted it on somebody else.

“Forgive me,” he blurts, rubbing at the back of his neck. “I never meant…”

“You tried to kiss me.”

All he can really say to that is, “yes.”

“You want to kiss me.”

Only, the closer he looks at her, the clearer it becomes that she isn’t frightened. Her expression is guarded, yes, but underneath it is not fear, or even anger, but doubt.

“Is that so hard to believe?” he asks.

“For me, yeah.”

Cullen’s first assumption is that he misjudged her. The questions about his life, the stories of her own, the feigned interest in his aspirations for the Inquisition…they’d been friendly gestures, not attempts at courtship. But, there was always an edge to it. He thinks of a lop-sided smile as they looked out over the training ground, the emerald light of the Breach glittering on the bone of her broken horns. Tawny eyes meeting his, with a wink or a raised brow. When they discussed the vows he took as a Templar, she’d given him a wicked grin and asked if they included a vow of celibacy. It went beyond camaraderie. He is sure of it.

“You’ve made advances before,” he says, eventually.

Torunn’s mouth falls open. She looks up, left, right, as if the right words are flying around her head and she’s trying to read them for guidance, though her mouth only forms the shape of the word ‘what.’ “I never thought you’d take that seriously!” she protests, finally.

It was nothing but a joke. She’d been toying with him all along. She hadn’t meant to hurt him, he knows her enough to realise that, but he can’t hide the bitter note in his voice when he speaks again.

“I take it this means you don’t want to…”

“No!” she blurts. “No, it’s not that. It’s just…look at me.”

She falls quiet. Folds her arms. Though she has asked him to look at her, she cannot meet his eye, instead fixating on one corner of his desk with a scowl. Something shifts into place. An understanding. He had misjudged her, but not in the way he thought. She moves through a battlefield or an infirmary with such easy confidence, enough to put everyone else at ease too. He had assumed that her certainty would extend to every facet of her life. He could not have imagined she would consider herself unworthy of anything, least of all a simple kiss. She has defied his expectations yet again.

Torunn clears her throat, jolting him out of that particular thought. “I’m sorry. I’ve made a right pig’s ear of this.” She shakes her head, and looks back at him, with a guarded half-smile. “Let’s start again. Hello, I’m Torunn Adaar. I hear you want to…kiss me.”

The way she hesitates on the word, it’s clear that she still doesn’t quite believe him.

He must prove it to her, then.

Cullen steps closer to her, turns his face up. He could stand on tiptoe and barely reach her chin, not that the weight of his armour would allow for it. “I have often wondered what it would be like,” he admits.

Torunn half-shrugs. “Only one way to find out, I suppose,” she says.

She leans down to meet him, her eyes drifting shut. He closes his own, but again, nothing but empty air.

“If you’re having me on, I’m…”

Cullen takes her face in his hands, and closes the gap between them.

She tenses, makes a muffled sound of surprise against his mouth. His eyes are shut, but he suspects hers are open, wide and stunned. Sure enough, when he parts from her, hands shifting to her shoulders, Torunn is looking over every part of his face. Waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Then she smiles. Not a smirk of amusement, or a devilish grin. Not the reassuring smile of a healer comforting a patient. A real, exultant smile, which lights up her entire face, and easily spreads onto his own.

“You weren’t kidding,” she says.

He brushes his fingers along her jaw. “Of course not.”

Torunn laughs, once, and looks at him as if he’s lost his mind. Her hands rest on his face, gentle as a whisper, and she kisses him. He can savour it now, the taste of her, the scrape of her stubble, the curve of her nose pressing against his cheek. Breath hot and lips impossibly soft. He presses back, just slightly, just enough, and he feels her smile.

Torunn pulls away first. Instantly, absurdly, Cullen misses her.

“That was…” he begins, but as he opens his eyes, he finds hers are wet and reddening. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah. Just the peppermint on your head is making my eyes hurt.” She squeezes them shut, even as she bursts out laughing.

“I’m sorry,” he says.

“Don’t be daft,” she retorts, playfully shoving his shoulder. “It was worth it.”

It was worth it.

“Anyway, I’ve gotta go. I need to go wash my hands, and my face. In that order,” she chuckles. She opens the door, but stops, face turned halfway towards him. “We could do that again some time.”

Cullen smiles. “If you would like.”

Torunn grins back. Her eyes linger on him as she leaves the room, gaze only broken when she closes the door behind her.

Thirty-seven, he muses. There are thirty-seven freckles on her nose.