#having a completely normal one imagining how this thing moves in combat

[heron0000]

a garden of white triumphinator tulips for fun and profit

[goldenblu]

lrt (lrb?) but in regards to another idea i had about germa!sanji…

AU where the poison doesn’t work and he’s born without emotions like his brothers and becomes stealth black. he comes across the strawhats while he's on a mission and decides to work with them/use them because their goals happen to align at that point in time (or maybe they don’t align and he means to sabotage them).

he can’t tell the strawhats who he really is so he pretends to be someone else, someone with emotions and morals and a completely normal background, maybe he makes up some sob story so that they allow him to travel with them.

he chooses to play the long game because this is a delicate mission that can’t be solved with brute strength alone. unlike his brothers he can be patient, he can lie and pretend and manipulate, that’s his strong suit, isn’t it? he’s the spy, the infiltrator, the one who is always sent undercover—that’s what he was made for.

so he joins the strawhats under the guise of a cook, not because he likes cooking (he doesn’t, it’s beneath him), but because 1) the strawhats are in desperate need of a cook and 2) it’s so easy and formulaic, just follow a recipe and he’s good to go. he doesn’t get why the strawhats have been struggling so much with it before he came along, what’s so hard about that?

he thinks it’s weird that the strawhats accept him right away. they don’t ask too many questions. when luffy looks at him and decides “you’ll be my cook,” that’s that. it’s like he’s always been there, with the easy way that they make space for him on their crew.

it’s so stupidly naive of them, it almost makes sanji laugh. he reminds himself that he shouldn’t expect pirates to be particularly intelligent, and either way, he’s not gonna complain since it makes his job that much easier.

so he cooks for them, he sneaks away occasionally to meet with his various underworld contacts and maybe do a little light murdering here and there when the need arises, he fights alongside the strawhats whenever he can’t avoid it—not with the raid suit, of course, but he doesn’t need it, he’s got his combat knives and he’s very good at hand to hand.

it’s a bit difficult to explain away his inhuman durability; chopper is always worrying over him and accuses him of hiding his injuries. chopper seems baffled when sanji shows him his unharmed skin and says, look, really, there’s nothing there, you must have been imagining things. or, when he can’t pretend that he didn’t take a blow, he just shrugs and says that his opponent was a lot weaker than they looked.

it infuriates zoro to no end, because how is this random no-name cook so strong? how does he somehow come out of every battle untouched with hardly a single hair out of place? so zoro tries to start fights with sanji, to prove the superiority of his swords over sanji’s knives, and at first sanji mostly ignores him because what does he care about some stupid swordsman’s ego?

but zoro keeps trying and eventually sanji snaps and finally fights back, since this irritating mossball clearly needs to be taught a lesson. sanji wins, and he thinks that will be the end of it, but then zoro just keeps coming back, because how else will he get stronger if he can’t defeat a fucking cook?

(sanji allows it. he’s been getting bored, and at least the swordsman is one of few who can keep up with him. he hasn’t had a good fight like that in a while now.)

sanji doesn’t think particularly highly of usopp, who he labels as a coward. but then again, compared sanji and his siblings, most people are. so when usopp runs to hide behind him, sanji sighs in annoyance but grudgingly moves to protect him anyway because that’s what this person he’s pretending to be would do, isn’t it? he doesn’t actually care what happens to usopp or anything, no matter how much usopp seems to think otherwise.

the first time sanji saves usopp without prompting, he’s momentarily surprised with himself. he didn’t have to do that; no one would have noticed if he pretended he hadn’t seen usopp was in danger. he chalks it up to the fact that he’s protected usopp so many times that it must have become an automatic instinct, which irritates him to no end. but whatever, it’s not like he’s going to be here for much longer anyway.

he treats nami the same as everyone else. one day he walks by while nami is drawing her maps and he offhandedly mentions something about how maps of the grand line are usually terribly inaccurate in his experience which makes it a pain to sail anywhere without an eternal log pose, but nami’s maps seem to be pretty good. and that’s how nami finds out he’s already been all over the grand line.

sanji realizes that he might’ve dropped a bit too much information, but he covers it up by saying he used to work as a cook on a merchant ship, which nami accepts. but after that nami starts working on her maps in the galley a lot more so that she can get his opinion/ask him questions, especially about places that the strawhats don’t stop at, like do you remember if the landmass was shaped more like this or this or are there any islands i’m missing that we would’ve passed by already.

sanji answers as honestly as he can—not because he wants to help her in particular, but because better maps means that it’ll be easier for germa ships to navigate the grand line, so why not? so he doesn’t kick her out of the galley, not even when it really starts to distract him from cooking. nami doesn’t ever say it outright, but he suspects that this is why she gives him a slightly bigger allowance than the others when they go ashore, not that he needs it.

luffy drags sanji places and shows him new things and, most confusingly, asks him to play. sanji scoffs at the notion because he doesn’t play. he’s never played anything, not once in his entire life, he doesn’t even think he’s had fun before. when he lets that slip, though, luffy looks at him, smile falling for a moment in favor of something sad, before becoming even more determined.

(later, luffy asks him if he has a dream.

no, sanji says, without thinking. he pauses, unsure if that’s something that the persona he’s carefully crafted would say. but it’s too late—it’s already out there.

not at all? luffy asks. there has to be something. i don’t care about far away or impossible it seems.

sanji considers it for a moment and says, again, no. i don’t see the point of dreaming of things that aren’t possible.

whether it’s possible or not isn’t important. surely there’s something you want.

want. sanji isn’t even sure of the meaning of the word. he wants what his father wants, of course, but he gets the feeling that isn’t what luffy meant. something about his confusion must show on his face, because luffy lets it go.

after that, though, luffy won’t stop asking about what sanji wants to do. it drives sanji insane, because that’s a question he never knows how to answer.

it’s easy enough to make something up, obviously, but luffy seems to know every time, because he’ll send sanji this disappointed sort of look.

it makes sanji feel like he’s failed a test he didn’t know he was taking.

he fucking hates it.)

the strawhats keep sailing forward, saving various people and islands along the way (and that’s something else sanji can’t understand—luffy’s determination to fight for the freedom of others at no benefit to himself, this inherent kindness of his. well, sanji amends, the entire crew’s kindness, really. each of them shows it in their own way, but it’s apparent enough even in their daily interactions on the ship. these little things, above all else, keep throwing sanji off; he doesn’t know what to do with it, especially when it’s directed at him).

so for a long time, sanji pretends to be someone he’s not. and then he realizes, at some point, he’s not pretending anymore. he realizes that he’s actually starting to enjoy cooking, that he likes being here, on this ship with this crew who treat him as something more than a weapon or someone to fear. he realizes that he can’t remember the last time he thought about his mission, that it’s getting easier and easier to put on these fake emotions, that he barely even has to think about it anymore—so maybe they aren’t as fake he thought they were.

he realizes, with horror, that he’s learning how to feel. and, worst of all, there is something he wants, now.

so in the end, it turns out luffy was right. sanji does have an impossible dream, after all. because this thing he wants? he knows, as sure as anything, that it’s something he can’t ever, ever have.

[hulloitsdani]

What do u think Kiran is

How do u think the order sees kiran

*slowly sits up in my chair*

I think Kiran is a very normal person. This is someone you and I have met before. Be that from the other side of grocery store cashier, waiting in the same elevator, or walking by on a crosswalk. Kiran is a civilian from our world trying to roll with the punches of being warped somewhere completely alien. And you can see it in how they conduct themselves.

I always have a lot of fun writing Kiran’s dialogue because their casual modern speech almost feels like a dialect in comparison to the more formal fantasy tone everyone else speaks with. An “ain’t” will never exit Alfonse’s mouth, you know? And there’s a difference in “Do you have gold?” vs “You got gold?” To me, this gives Kiran an air of unfamiliarity to anyone they interact with. Let’s use Grima as an example, because it doesn’t sound like this grammatical change would make much of difference until Kiran has the audacity to hit Grima with a bro mid sentence. But that’s just how they talk. And as sweet and friendly as they are, there’s always moments like that to remind that no one has the cultural context to fully understand Kiran. Except for the audience, who can realize that Kiran let the customer service voice drop to talk to Grima like he’s an actual person.

And that’s just about how they talk! This view is only emphasized by every other thing about them! They’re a lovable goof, which is normal chill person behavior in the audience’s eyes but feels REALLY ODD to the characters of FE’s medieval fantasy war setting. There is this air of unknown about them that the more socially perceptive will pick up on and will try to come to a conclusion about. Example, I imagine Soren would interpret a lot of this as a dangerous and deeply annoying lack of intelligence from someone he has the displeasure of sharing a tactics table with. Or looping back to the Grima example, he would totally think Kiran has greedy ulterior motives behind that pleasant facade. It takes a lot of work for those types to realize that the discrepancy present isn’t really any of those things. But I also wouldn’t be too surprised if Kiran doesn’t try to directly prove any of those assumptions wrong unless they have to.

Why? Well now it’s time for the implications! Oh how we love the implications.

Because the Summoner is a different story. No one has any fucking clue what that is.

I can tell you what Kiran has pieced together so far. Summoning people from across time and space is apparently not easy. It’s not some school of magical study that some mage could pull off with enough time and research. Trust, Eitri tried. It’s a lot of complex moving parts. For example, the contracts. The contracts Kiran automatically binds their summoned to don’t even compare to the ones Veronica used in book 1. They are far more intense and infinitely harder to break. The only way out of them is if Kiran wills it so. Not even death is an option, because Kiran can come in for the revive. If they had to guess, it’s an older, more completed version of the art. Something lost to time. But no matter the case, Kiran has the ability to take full control of whoever they manage to summon. From a lowly farmer to the divine. And their power only grows.

In a similar vein, if there was any character to canonically see the hud, I think it would be Kiran. It’s genuinely part of their power set. I have previously described Kiran as the party mage until Veronica shows up to be the actual mage, but it would be way more accurate to call them a mystic/seer. They see the map, everyone’s stats, and is doing a fast amount of math to give the combat forecast. Then, upon processing all this information their enemies couldn’t dream of having at their disposal, Kiran can telepathically communicate any change in plans to anyone under contract. Kiran is not inherently some great tactician the moment they touch ground in Askr; they simply can do things no one else can. They’re learning the actual tactics part on the fly. This makes them simultaneously the largest ace up the Order’s sleeve and potentially its biggest liability. If they fall, it could cause a whole system cascade. By that same token, some of the biggest threats the Order has faced are the ones who do their research and rightfully target Kiran.

Now. Thinking critically about all that. That’s downright terrifying. A ridiculous amount of power has been dropped callously into Kiran’s lap and they have to work extremely hard to be moral with it. It’s terrifyingly easy not to be. It would actively take less effort to ‘take the reins’ as it were. But in order to be able to sleep at night ever again, they go the extra mile to not invalidate the will of their summoned. To take over like that. To make a colony of worker bees out of people. Because oh dear god they just summoned a child and the fact that they could easily force them to fight and die for them, only to be revived and do it all over again, is HAUNTING. No. No the Order has an in house orphanage now. This kid is getting adopted and cared for god damnit or Kiran might just pop a blood vessel. And sure that child is going to be a child and there will never be a world where they get along with everyone else, but that’s just going to need be a problem they address when they get there and not an excuse to use Hubris; the power set. Now replace the word child with everyone they ever summoned and you have the wider philosophy they apply to the entire Order.

They’re hyper aware of the power imbalance. They hate it with every bone in their body. They work really hard to correct it in whatever way they can.

So Kiran might not jump on the opportunity to correct those who think lesser of them. It’s… oddly comforting to know someone is keeping a critical eye on them. Holding them accountable. Especially since so much of the order just thinks of them as this quirky yet well meaning host. And, really, what can they even do about that? They have gone over the contract with every hero they summon and despite that they still choose to stay. So, what, do they try to inspire more mistrust? The problem with that they would have to actually do acts that intentionally inspire mistrust. And even if that was successful they can’t just waste the extra man power because every other month there’s some new divine asshole who wants them all dead. And if they fail that means they have to start their life from square one and god they can’t do that again so—

Just breathe Kiran.

It’s fine. You’re fine. Just breathe.

You have work to do.

[suethesocks]

Ascalon Redesigns!

Ive always bashed Ascalon alot (still do) but watching kuro's breakdowns i coudnt help but wonder about how cool it wouldve been if it was actually executed well

My main gripes with it is that it didnt look like technology, made no sense to look the way it does, and felt very poorly thought out overall like the lore for it was a complete afterthought

As you can see here (and in my george design) Ive made ascalon alot more technological-looking and like something azmuth would actually build

So whats the deal with this device? Ascalon is a weapon that uses the incomplete DNA of powerful beings (such as celestialsapiens) to harness their power and manifest it into a superpowerful suit of armor and weapon that, if used correctly, can be used to dissect and study the fabric of reality.

This way Ascalon contrasts alot more directly to the omnitrix, being both DNA devices of sorts. And both made for the purposes of knowledge, but one is alot more destructive and obviously made for offensive purposes than the other

I gave it those weird vertical circle thingies to sort of look like the star alignment we saw in the flashbacks with Zennith. Always found it weird how that never came up and the design didnt evoke it at all apart from simply.. being long?

The armor and weapon are based off of the user and what their mind sort of understands as "combat gear." This is why it looks like a knights armor for George and how it manifests into a sword (or rather one of those cartooonishly large claymores). I tried to give it white tubes and some green dots to evoke the omnitrix more. Also slapped on a cool big cape because every robot armor should have a cape tbh. I didnt intend for that at the time but this ended up being a motif throughout the designs, finding a way to incorprate cloth into them

Here we have a hypothetical design for azmuth if he were to wield it. For galvans i imagine they probably go into battle in giant mechs, so thats what his ascalon is. Gave ascalon that 1 zigzag that his staff in soto has, but tried to move away from the soto mechs design for this bc i never imagined that one was used for serious military combat

In the azmuth flashbacks we saw that he gave Ascalon to an incursean warrior which is what led to their homeworld's destruction. I think DJW later said that the warrior was not an Incursean but idc !!

I drew this in the same pose that the warrior had in the shot we saw him in. Gave him the classic incursean helmet as well as some more incursean-y elements to his armor. He has a normal sword that looks more like canon ascalon's than george's (i wish i could pretend it was because hes the technical original wielder of ascalon so he gets to have the design match the canon but no it was a coincidence)

We saw Vilgax wield Ascalon for a brief moment in the show so i had to! This ascalon was a very easy choice for me since i made up my mind ages before i even got the idea. Vilgax should never ever wield any sort of weapon, because hes simply strong enough on his own that he can pure muscle and brain his way out of any conflict. Brute force is his fortei, not becasue hes dumb but because he just doesnt need to do anything else. BUT if you were to give him a weapon, it shouldnt be a sword or a gun (both things UAF had lmao) it should be something like a hammer or a mace or gauntlets. Brute force sort of weapon

Vilgax is a already warlord so it was simple to work off of his canon OS design (the coolest one) and come up with an armor for him. I also took some inspirations from Eva Unit-02 for the helmet and the cape (specifically its debut where it was covered in cloth)

Of course, for ascalon i had to go with hammer. I mean his ship is called the Chimeran Hammer so you gotta! Also i think its the most fun visual with vilgax

Last but not least, the last person to wield ascalon in the show, Ben himself! I originally wasnt planning to do this, but then i got the idea of giving him these 2 designs to represent his change in mindset he has in the finale

In the beginning hes mostly influenced by how he saw george wield ascalon and stuff,and hes kinda losing it in the sauce a little. So he has an armor similar to that of goerge. Then as he remembers his friends and his humanity, he comes back down to earth (metaphorically?) and his armor itself shifts to represent this, being a mostly cartoonish armor based off ultra ben who i assume is like bens sona or something lol

The cloth is a menacing badass cape like George's, but then shifts into this sort of bubbly friendly skirt. His weapon also shifts from daggers wrapped around the omnitrix (representing using the omnitrix as a wepaon) to a shield wrapped around the omnitrix (representing using the omnitrix as a peacekeeping device)

These weapons dont actually interact with his omnitrix in anyway, theyre mostly just wrapped around it so he can still access it. The aliens would probably have george's armor but with slight changes to fit each alien better

Bonus!!

My own takes on Vilcubra and Dagax

Always really really really disliked both of these designs in the show, they felt like they went through zero drafts before the final design and they just kinda did whatever (which isnt far off from how the rest of this arc was handled lol)

I tried making vilcubra look more creepy and like his body was indeed transformed to be a servant, and also closer to how the lacubras actually look so i SLASHED off his toesies and took out his eyes and put them on his shoulders so they dont look like eyes (leaving room for the teeth to overtake the face) also gave him a tail

I think the idea behind having Dagax be a floating vilcubra head vilgax was because they thought a floating normal vilgax head would look goofy (theyre right) but i think they failed to realize that the floating vilcubra head is equally goofy even if indeed you give it red eyes. So i just tried to make my design be something of a mix between the actual Dagon and vilgax

I admit i ran into some trouble trying to do that as vilgax was the OG cthulu inspired design, so trying to mix him with other cthulu presented trouble. I tried to at least slant his eyes the same way they looked in OS and give him the OS yellow spots, as well as the 2 big tentacles he has in the back of his head in OS and OV

[vikugnavikugna]

A really rough sketch for the Worm/One Piece au I've been Ponderin' for a while now. Some random ideas for the main crew under the cut:

Let's start by making things clear: this is not for any kind of fanfic or anything of the sort. I have been known to write those when I was 14 and very into RWBY, but I still struggle to write anything too complex in english and I have since given up on the hobby anyway. I just like rotating Worm characters in my head and combining them with any other brainrot I am going through at any point of my life, y'know.

As for how the au actually works, I simply deleted all the characters from the One Piece universe from existance and then tried to apply every Worm character to the preexisting societal structures and dynamics of the Three Great Powers, whilst staying as close to the currently established canon and with making up as few new Devil Fruits as possible (currently on just 1, but I haven't gone through many side characters).

Now, as evidenced by the use of Haki and presence of Imp, this fanart portrays the crew at quite a later stage of their journey - I imagine the Underside Pirates (it is a butt joke, to be clear) started off somewhere in South Blue openly working for the mysterious Captain Coil, a man trying to make a name for himself before moving to the Grand Line. What the Underside Pirates didn't actually know is that they were slowly being set up for betrayal from the very start - Captain Coil is Thomas Calvert, a retired Marine, who works under a pseudonym solely so that he can build up the persona of Captain Coil as a threat to the World Government, fake arresting himself and gain the title of a Shichibukai (and with it, the entrance to the Holy Land Mary Geoise).

For the actual crew, let's go through them one by one:

Taylor D Hebert - newest recruit of the crew, starts off as quartermaster, before being promoted to the first mate and eventually captain further down the line. The user of Jou-Jou no Mi (shamefully, the only original Fruit I made up for this au so far - it possesses about the same capabilities as Taylor's powers do in canon). Not a lot to say here - take her Worm backstory, substitute being into heroes for being inspired to join the Marines and bosh, done. After the discovery of Haki I imagine she would start gathering bugs into shapes of objects and covering the entire swarm in armament Haki for some improvised weapons (she's doing that very thing and forming a katana in the art, coincidentally). Her attack name are references to english literature (I am polish so I cannot think of an example). Possibly gay for Rachel but, since Oda writes both romance and queer people weird, it's this very anime kind of crush where she acts normal 90% of the time, but then turns into a blushing mumbling idiot when Rachel is too close. Kind of like Kuroko from Railgun but with 100% less sexual assault, y'know.

Rachel Lindt - a dogfish fishman raised outside of Fishman Island, Rachel had a pretty tough life travelling the seas alone, always narrowly avoiding whichever slave hunting crew that confused her for a mermaid at any given moment. She has no fruit powers and minimal Fishman Karate skills due to never having a proper teacher. In combat she always relied mostly on various marine life companions she gathered throughout the years of travelling the sea - in many ways, her only family. Works as the crew's helmsman. Her attack names are hilariously simple and straightforward, often said after she delivers them, rather than during action (eg. she'll just calmly punch her opponent into the ground as they are mid screaming their attack name, dust herself off and calmly say 'Right Punch' before walking off). Mostly inspired by the fact, that it always annoyed me horribly how few female fishmen there were in the series. Completely unaware Taylor has a crush on her.

Alec Vasil - son of a Yonko and an ex-Celestial Dragon, Alec was one of the many children Nikos Vasil has produced with his various mistresses. There isn't much information about the Heartbreaker in Worm proper, but I imagine him as a Doflamingo kind of figure in this au - his connections and information about the Holy Land stops the Marines from ever attacking him directly and the powers of Ito Ito no Mi, whilst limited, let him marionette people around however he wishes to fulfill his various schemes. Alec himself is no Fruit user but, due to his mother being a Mink, can use Electro. Thanks to years of experimentation with the fighting style, he developed a technique which allows him a limited control over the electricity in his enemies' muscles, purposefully mimiquing the powers of his father - both to get his father's attention and to mock his abilities ('I can do everything you can and more without being a Celestial Dragon or a Fruit user' type deal). No one really knows what his job on the ship is supposed to be and, when asked, he just usually makes up whatever lie let's him laze off some more at any given moment (usually, 'Oh, yeah, I'm on permament Lookout duty, actually'). At first I thought his attack names should be in french, but nah, this dude is just screaming the most atrocious pun attack names known to mankind probably. Responsible for making up the crew's name.

Lisa Wilbourn - the crew's de facto unofficial captain in the early days, she also doubles as a navigator. A noble of a small kingdom in South Blue, her story plays out very similarly to the canon Lisa. At some point of it all she accidently gets her hands on Giro Giro no Mi and, when her family wants to exploit her mind reading abilities for business when she's still in mourning over her brother, she escapes her home island and gets scouted by Coil. I think that a lot of the time snipers are done real dirty in One Piece, so Lisa mainly uses long range weaponry (and later Observation Haki) during combat - she simply never puts any time into mastering Armament. Honestly not much to say here, I think she was one of the most obvious Devil Fruit fits in the entire crew. Out of every person in this drawing, I am the most disatissfied with her design and thus will probably do something about it shortly.

Brian Laborn - fills the role of a first mate, cook, quartermaster, doctor, canon master, shipwright and sometimes also a ship, if need be. My friend and I discussed whether to give him a Fruit power, as the only one that fits him - that being Yami Yami no Mi, which not only visually mimics Brian's power, but also makes the user literally suffer more in combat - is way too powerful for a small ass crew. So eventually I settled for just amking him the crew's boringman Haki user and martial artist. I mean, someone does need to fish out all these dumbasses from the ocean and Rachel isn't always around, I guess. A not zero chance he steals Yami Yami no Mi from Jack's crew later on or something of the like. He may use fullbody Armament at some point, purely because I think it gets REAL bad rep in One Piece and he would make it work, I bet. His attack names are all references to real life boxing history.

Aisha Laborn - there was much debate in my head whether Aisha should be the user of Memo Memo no Mi or Suke Suke no Mi - the latter eventually won out, because I believe Aisha going unnoticed by both foes and allies is more important than actually referencing the memory aspect of her powers. She got her hands on the Devil Fruit due to one of his mother's boyfriends, who was a pirate and robbed it off of someone on sea. Aisha ate the Fruit, angering her mother's boyfriend and, after being severly beaten up, managed to activate the Fruit's abilities to become invisible and call for Brian. The following sequence plays out similarly as in canon. Aisha would be on the ship from the very beginning, but Brian usually leaves her in some town when the Underside Pirates go on any kind of mission and it's not until later that she actually joins them as crew (or rather she sneaks onto their ship claiming to be their second permanent Lookout so many times that it just became easier letting her stay).

Ship - considering the crew's size, most likely a caravel. I'm firting with it being named Atlas, but are not sold on it. Jokingly referred to is as Shrugging Atlas in my head once. I think Atlas should be their second ship, something they gain after Taylor becomes a more prominent member of the crew, and they should start off with something else. No clue what tho.

[grailfinders]

Grailfinders Viewers' Choice: Beast IV L

if anything's getting my icon blurred out, it's this one. anyways!

it's that time of the month once again, and this time I feel like an absolute beast. well, to be more accurate, y'all felt like getting an absolute beast. a beast (fgo definition) that summons beasts (D&D definition). I'm sure this won't be confusing at all.

as usual I highly doubt this build is even remotely balanced for actual PvE play, but beasts are supposed to be world ending threats, so that shouldn't be a surprise.

the build itself will be under the cut, because hoo boy there's a lot to go over.

first up, beast IV can show up in her standard Koyanskaya form, which is the one primarily used when outside her lair. this is effectively a suped-up version of Koyanskaya of Dark, with access to unlimited weaponry and NFF-brand grenades, all of which work like standard "weapons of <x> slaying" do in D&D- they deal extra damage to humanoids, and can knock humanoids prone.

the big addition here aside from standard high-level-boss resistances is her Add to the Collection ability, where once per day she can try to forcibly plane shift a non-humanoid creature into a demiplane of her creation, basically putting them in suspended animation. this will be important for later.

form two is effectively Koyanskaya's big shadowy fox form. I didn't make any hard and fast rules about how these forms connect to one another, but I would probably say her masked form can turn into this combat form once a day, probably for a couple minutes at a time.

the gimmick for this fight is her Seasonal Cycle, which both reduces the number of legendary actions she gets to actually attack people each round, but also gives her buffs. I tried to keep this close to her lostbelt-based buffs in her final fight, but I also changed the names to be less FGO-centric if you want to use this build in a game. there's not a ton to say about this one that isn't regurgitating the seasonal cycle, it's just Masked Form with a bigger focus on kicking humanoid ass.

The big nipply form shown in the build picture has a lot of text, but I'll do what I can to break it down. This is Beast IV's final form, and it's the one that sets up the Tunguska Sanctuary in the first place, so there's a lot going on. Once again her humanoid-slaying effect grows larger, but she can only take this form in her lair, plus her speed is cranked wayyy down at this point. I just. cannot imagine that thing moving any faster than a crawl. if you need something done fast, that's what your lackeys are for.

speaking of lackeys, let's Reveal the Collection. this is a ten-minute ritual, which upon completion can summon copies of creatures that were stored by the Masked Form. The higher the CR of the creatures being made, the less you can make at a time, and the shorter your range is. there's also a lesser version of this you can do as a legendary action, and it's restricted to one creature at a time, of up to CR 10.

but of course, you need a place to put all those creatures! that's why she's got Regional Effects too! it's a whole lot of text, but it basically boils down to making a life zone and a death zone around her lair. half of your collection will tend towards the life zone, and half towards the other. in the life zone, the area is choked by plants, slowing down all humanoids in the area, and also healing effects targeting non-humanoids are more powerful. the death zone has extreme heat, and humanoids have disadvantage on saves against it. also, all summoned creatures in this region have double their normal perception distance when it comes to perceiving humanoids.

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

So overall, this build isn't a world-ending threat like Tiamat, or an orbital laser like Goetia, but she's not supposed to be a full-grown beast yet, so I'd cut her some slack. plus, if your party includes non-humanoid players you can make a dozen clones of them to fight the party which sounds like a really fun time. that being said, I do pity any DM who as to keep track of her seasonal buffs in a fight.

[cybernightart]

Genji head cannons number I already forgot

1.

Unless Genji is actively in ninja mode, in the mindset of controlling every single movement he does and being aware of everything happening around him, he can be incredibly clumsy.

Like accidentally dropping something, if he's not dodging then getting nailed on the side of the head with a snowball, tripping over himself, bumping his hip off the corner of a counter, falling off of things constantly (this one would happen a lot more considering the other head cannon of him unintentionally always just perching on things like a bird like the back of the couch), etc. With a prime example of this being the time kiriko retales about him tripping over his sword in training and just (how I imagine atleast) completely and totally faceplanting

So unless he is actively in the zone and the mindset, you would hardly know he has insane reaction time, to move really quickly, can dodging deflect like no one's business, or just move in general at incredible speed. If the adrenaline isn't pumping, you wouldn't be able to tell at first glance he was a ninja assassin trained from birth. He's just zoned out half of the time, or he's just so intently focusing on listening to someone that he's unaware of everything else around him.

Also on multiple occasions he would do the thing of accidentally dropping his phone and in the process of trying to catch it accidentally slaps it into a wall instead of the carpeted floor it would have landed on.

2.

Genji is really intelligent, if he had gone to normal school, like Angela he would have been considered a prodigy. He was the one who built his collapsible shurikens and original wearable shuriken deploying gauntlet, he couldn't use technically terms, or even really explain how he did it but he could show it / draw it out. Drawing detailed diagrams explaining his thought prosses, but not really able to put into words his explanation for each part or how he figured out how to get it to work.

He has a deep understanding of mechanics and some robotics even before becoming a cyborg. This knowledge only grew once he became a cyborg and drying his travels had to repair himself. And in his time during black watch and OverWatch before the fall, he learned even more from talking with Angela, torb and other members of the cybernetics team.

And even though he's incredibly smart and eventually incredibly wise. He can come off as somewhat dimwitted, with him not picking up on jokes/sarcasm, being amazed by the smallest things, or not understanding things others would think is obvious.

He comes off as a trained killer assassin who knows about fighting and combat, and other things nessessary for being a ninja. But outside of that specific area he wouldn't know much.

But naturality when you get to know him, he's incredibly knowledgeable on a lot of things, and academically really gifted as well. (Maybe not as much in geometry as compared to Hanzo anyways lol) if it came down to it he could do really complicated equations with ease or understand a lot of science-based subjects, but this would mainly show through his knowledge on dinosaurs if he got to talk about it. Like if someone were to mess up a time period you would politely correct them and then quickly and efficiently inform them about all the intricacies and specific details about the differences between the time periods and what dinosaurs were in those periods and the climates during each period and more.

This also shows through the conversations getting Angela would have on base during the night, has Angela explained all of her medical research Genji would listen intently and ask relevant questions, and is genuinely very interested in learning more. This is helped person being a quick learner and can be able to pick up concepts he's interested in really quickly. Maybe even going as far to do his own research in between their conversations so he could come back with more topics for them to discuss and he could ask questions on. Similarly, he can be incredibly witty and sarcastic (even if he doesn't pick up on sarcasm himself sometimes), just overall be a totally smartass, which possibly played abit in the clan elders wanting him killed aside from the "liability" thing.

Long short Genji gives off himbo energy but is in fact very smart, dumbass yes, but also smart(ass) ...also his version of common sense it's incredibly different due to his up bringing which also causes half of his issues

[13eyond13]

sending you an unhinged ask but-- if somehow griffith and guts were magically transported and able to interact with light and L in the modern DN world, what do you think they'd think of them? and vice versa? especially curious about light and griffith lol

Hahaha hmmmm that's very hard to say 😅 They're from such completely different worlds that I don't even quite know how to slot the two universes together in a way that makes a lot of sense. Like would I be transporting L and Light to Midland, or Griffith and Guts to mid 2000s Tokyo whilst Kira is terrorizing everyone?

Well, either way. My best guess is that Guts probably wouldn't normally talk to either L or Light a whole lot without being forced to, lol. He is not much of social butterfly nor very big on making small talk. Maybe if Griffith like instructed him to hang out with them for a good reason he would, or if one of them got in his way somehow or challenged him in a fight? I think he'd find stuff like their intellectual bragging and sneaky underhanded egotistical mindgames either completely pretentious or irrelevant to him or just not his thing at all either. He tends to stick to what he knows and ignore most everything else, and most of what he knows is just physical combat and swinging his huge sword around and keeping to himself. I could see him being a pretty big buzzkill to either of them if they ever attempted to drag him into something mindgamey, either unintentionally or completely on purpose on his behalf, haha.

Light and Griffith in the same room is a pretty funny thought to me as well, though I can't say I know exactly what would go down? All I know for sure is I feel like if Griffith pulled the same kind of "I want you" move on Light as he did on Guts and came up and grabbed his face Light would probably just be repulsed and embarrassed by that instead of intrigued, hahaha, I just don't think he really likes people expressing their interest in him or desire for him or possessiveness over him too bluntly or too strong. Also I have no idea if their ambitiousness would lead to them understanding and respecting each other or just clashing with each other a lot?

Somebody else needs to help me decide, I just have too much trouble trying to combine their different worlds in my head for me to easily imagine how they'd behave and interact 😆

[pandacommander24a]

Bug Batchall

Sometimes you do silly things. @asksanguinius40k

Right so the story.

It should maybe end with a funny joke about what I bid, but at the same time... A voice came to me, and it asked a simple question...

And, like, I took that personally.

For those that don't think about 80s wargames lore all the time... The fuck are we even talking about?

A batchall is the Battle Challenge, get it, issued before a Trial in Clan "Culture."

The clans are a group of space weirdos who left Earth after pulling a Space Middle East, leading to a Galactic war that left hundreds of worlds burning and hundreds of trillions dead. After they almost killed themselves in the same way that the poor bastard they left behind had, the worst son of the greatest military leader mankind ever had, came up with the "perfect society" to never have that threat happen again to the human race... Except he created the very thing that would lead to happening four more times. Trail of Annihilation, which you know the Wolverines were right, the Clan Invasion, the War of Reaving, and the Conquest of the Republic. Not my Ilkhan.

A Trial is an honorable combat to settle a dispute between Clans and inner Clan disagreements. There are six, and they grow in severity, ending with Annihilation. You can't have a Trial without a Batchall.

In this case, the Trail of Possession to Call a bug looking mech a bug, https://www.tumblr.com/gort-grundlekin/739688789810823168/bug-type-mech

Normally, a Batchall would start with me issuing the challenge and declaring what I think this attack should cost; my opponent would then state what they are bidding in defense. If I was cool, and I am cool, I would counter-bid with a lower force than my opponent. Then my opponent, being a cool person, would counter-bid lower. Then, because, as stated, I'm cool, I would counter a lower force. And then... You get the idea...

The idea is to get to the lowest cost possible for the conflict, agreed to by both parties. Mind you, this is expected to cost human life; the question is, how good is my human life to be able to beat the other person's human cost.

Which brings us to the Bid;

One War Hawk, an 85-ton gun platform, smashed into the IS forces of the DCMS so hard they named it Masakari because it hit like an ax and split forces in two. There is not a bad variant of this; all of them hit like a MACK truck, and none of them are fun face down.

Three Horned Owl Light mechs. Relatively lightly armed, the Horned Owl makes up for it by having speed, dexterity, and staying power, unlike most clan designs. The Clan Weapons easily make this one able to punch into the Medium Tonnage, but this guy is sharing the tonnage ranking just before you get medium and is basically, in some ways, a clan Panther.

Fun fact; this mech was based on the Zaku from Gundam, and you can see it with its mono-eye cockpit.

Finally, a star of Elementals. Imagine Astates in a hard Sci-fi setting instead of a Space Opera one, and that's the Elementals. Genetically engineered super soldiers clad in advance power armor, allowing them to rip apart tanks and mechs while moving faster than

In a bit of humor, the two clans that have championed this fight, the Goliath Scorpions and the Coyotes, are more responsible for the Elementals than their credited creators, Clan Wolf. All they did was steal better ideas for themselves; it is almost as if that will be the trend for their narrative...

Thanks to the Goliath Scorpions' creation of underwater suits known as Water Elementals to complete complex tasks at incredible depth, the Elemental Suits have incredible armor and a flexible chassis.

However getting any weapon systems or the amount of options that are fielded by the Elementals would not be possible without the OMNITECH created by Clan Coyote. The "Hey man, if you keep changing your fucking work order every five minutes, I'll brain you, warrior caste or no warrior caste" clan. Coyote Tech Caste created the flexible slot system to allow a greater amount of customization in payloads which allowed for rapid force changes in battle and easier repairs to a degree.

Additionally Clan Hell's Horse created the genetic template that would become the Elemental people. The first drafts were so good without the elemental suits they almost won against normal Clan Wolf Dudes in the power armor.

That is a good Star, strong punch, movibility and a surprise waiting at your feet.

My Rebuttal Bid:

Savage Coyote is an 85 ton Assault Mech built to showcase two weapon systems; Omni-Tech Advance Tactical Missiles or the Clan ATM, all the fun of LRMs with SRM fun. Thanks to a XL engine this bad boy is stuff with armor and weapons. Built to bring the Coyotes in tho the post Golden Century Swinging.

An oldie but a classic, the Coyotl is the first Omnitech. However, built to prove the concept, it is a capable machine. All of its variants are built to have a solution to any problem.

The Rabid Coyote is a medium mech designed to serve as backup to slower mechs. It's moderately armored, but its pulse laser ensures its deadly accurate and carries a mixed tonnage of ATM ammunition. It is more than able to punch up from its modest 55 tons.

To round this out, I have also taken;

TWO ELEMENTAL STARS!

The total of my Bid is 180 Tons vs 195. Kids never play tonnage, however, since everyone was Clan... It was the only way to do this. However surprisingly?

Pretty close in BV.

Right, so let's get to the actual fight:

For the purpose of not knowing and also keeping things relatively interesting, I decided I would use late-era mechs, mostly Jihad mechs.

Also Clan Coyote stops being important in the Clan Invasion and suffers from the "Don't want to write a complex Clan narrative anymore" that CGL blessed us with in the War of the Reaving. There are a lot of reason people hate the Jihad, and besides its name, this is one of the reasons.

Lamba Galaxy is generally my go-to pick for Clanners. Coyotes and I like our mechs experimental and they have a neat paint scheme in the lambas. Seen here on a group of bois I need to touch up at some point:

Clan Coyote will also join the Society in a big way; Lamba Galaxy almost completely defects to them during the War of Reaving. The Society was a revolt from Clan Scientists Caste who was tired of Collage Jocks making all the big choices because dying young is a big clan ethos for Warriors. So they threw out a bunch of tech and advanced battle mechs to maybe save the clans from their ways. They lost, big shocker right?

Clan Coyote however gets to stay in the Tree house and disappear from the game's story. Possible forever... Fucking Jihad.

The Savage Coyote Variant was one such model built by the Society, with a HAG, targeting computers and Imporved ATM its a tough nut with a great punch.

The Coyotl, like wise was a bunch of tech from later than the Golden Century but felt right as a good addition to my bid.

Finally I brought a regural Rabid Coyote default, because 3 pulse laser should kill Elementals dead. It is why the Komodo has 9 fucking Medium lasers after all.

Clan Goliath Scorpion got kicked out of the tree house and is running around the Deep Periphery kicking ass and taking names. They, too, lost the War of Reaving, but they aren't bitches like Jade Falcon, Wolf, and Ghost Bear. Ultimately, it looks like they are going to pull a Clan Invasion 2.0. It's going to be more Revenge of the Periphery than Attack of the Clans though, I'm hyped for it. So the Scoripon Empire moves on closer and closer to the Inner Sphere.

For the Warhawk, I picked the mixed tech Alternate Configuration T to reflect this era. This does drop the long-range murder effect to a degree but it gives it two PPC that are also flamers, which for a clan mech is murder on the wheel, they run hot, and it also kind of better puts it in the timeline for a dust up of Clans in a late-era that aren't just Sucessor States that were once Clans... Fucking Wolf Empire.

For the Owls I pick two later eras ones and one default. The Default is murder; the other ones are just fun. I do this when I field a bunch of the same much, take variants, and they stacked up well enough to help each other out and make so I can't quite use the same tactic on all three.

But I made creative choices that might not be made if we did this for real.

BV and tonnage works out. Sadly I didn't have any friends online, so I had to resort to Princess, megamek's ai, and since this will be a quick game, brawler seemed good (maybe I shouldn't have had the Run Away so high in hindsight.)

Default victory I used with my friends is 40% BV lost, which is a good place for a friendly fight. Also so it doesn't last forever which can happen with bad dice.

For Pilots, I set all to the Clanner Default, 3/4 for everyone.

I picked the terrain.

A good mix of hills and vegitation. Flipping a coin, I was north, and my opponent south.

The fight was pretty fast. we moved quickly towards each other and started blasting, mostly missing. My Rabid Coyote got caught in the open and was knocked down, but the pilot managed to get her up and moving next round.

Then we slammed into each other, and the first blood went to the Scorpions.

The Coyatl has ECM, but it really didn't do much. It was funny. The Owls proved to be deadly, swarmed my Rabid Coyote and just sliced him to pieces. Managed to knock one of the Owls down.

The Toads jump in behind.

The next phase, I pulled back into the forest, and as my Coyotl pulled rapidly back trying to catch the Owls in a better firing line. The Owls that could jump far and wide, with one finding my rear armor of the Savage open to their pulse weapons. The owl, knocked prone, made an effort to go hull down, unable to get back up the next round.

The Warhawk fell back and opened fire on my Savage as well; with the high advantage and those long-ranged guns, it was the smart call.

In the firing phase saw my Savage tooke nearly 120 damage. Luckily no punches through the armor for the Warhawk and some how under the pulse lasers the back armor held.

Thanks to that barrage, my savage was knocked down, but the pilot pulled a hull down, allowing it to stay fighting.

Since this massive exchange happened in rapid order and heat was running red for both of us. I couldn't get the Savage moving too much heat, but to my dismay, the Warhawk bet heavily on that attack as well and was left unable to move and, worst, exposed on that hill.

Moving my elementals I forced them to get the Owls off the Savage while moving my Coyotl into minimum range bracket for all its weapons. This allowed me to pour fire from both the Savage and the Coyotle, scoring two engine hits despite not punching through the massive armor. The Warhawk had been cripple and couldn't likely survive another attack with that savaging, and with its engine compromised, so too were the heat sinks.

The Warhawk had to pull back and try and get off that hill.

Meanwhile, the Owl knocked prone manage to get up and turn on my Coatyl near it. However, thanks to the coyotes movement, I was able to win that fight and knock out that Owl.

In the moving away from the Toadies one of the other owls messed up a jump roll and was forced off the game, considering it retreated bummer...

Unable to get the Warhawk moving, the AI punched it out as well.

Finally with the toadies in range the real fight got started as the last owl jumped in to finish off my Savage, but my elementals were waiting and pounced on the light mech begingin to swarm as their elements closed distance and proceeded to bloody my other elemental unit.

And the game ended because a lot of BV was scraped off the board.

So I win.

And as my right to decide... It's a bug mech, the king of all bugs even. Realized now, after writing this 3 hours later, that the Trail was for our Gender... Does this make your pronouns my bond servants?

Thanks for Reading. I am now going to have to think about Clans created in the 80s by dudes who gave us a legacy of yellow scare to unpack and how they would have written gender.

[titanicfreija]

Short memories

"I have considered what it would be like to remember only the last ten years of my life. It is the closest to guardian experience I can imagine. It would not be a pleasant lifetime."

"..."

"Are they completely amnesiac when you find them?"

"Uhhh. Mostly? We get surprised now and then by the scraps retained from their previous lives, but that's all they ever are. As far as I know, there's never been an exception."

"Scraps?"

"Oh, things like... Well, the most common is a strong sense of having forgotten something. I've only seen Freija do it once; she lost her mind, walking in circles saying, "I know this place, I know this place, I know this place," in a cove in Rhea Silva. I think she died long enough ago that she never saw anyone familiar, but I've heard about the occasional face recognition, also a limited, "I knew you" kind of thing. That usually doesn't go well, because people don't like seeing the faces of their loved ones like that. Sometimes, they'll remember things like how to fly a ship or ride a sparrow, certain weapons, combat techniques, tactics; names of people or places, historical facts. Freija remembered the Reef and Earth, and she could even find her way around certain parts of the Dreaming City. She can only sort of read, but I think that's rare to forget, and I'm not sure she could read well in her first life, so that might be unchanged and I wouldn't know. I've had to guess a lot. She knew how to fly, though not well, and between those two, I've had to guess she was born on Earth and visiting the Reef, or moved from Earth to the Reef in her lifetime but didn't live there long enough to take in the culture before she died."

"You learn nothing about their previous lives?"

"In the initial scans? I didn't, and if anyone told me they did, I wouldn't believe them because of how much I didn't. Picking up what you can by where you found them is pretty normal but we've all kind of agreed to keep speculation on who they were out of the guardians' ears unless they ask."

"Any particular reason?"

"Actually, kind of? There's been stories of insanity and obsession. Ana Bray was famously obsessed with who she was and her previous family's work. She died wearing a name badge in a facility she worked at, so she had whole catalogues of information. It's not a bad thing all the time, but sometimes it is, so it's just better to keep eyes forward."

"Hmph."

Caiatl's Questions

[j-graysonlibrary]

His Transgressions Built It: Chapter 13

Title: His Transgressions Built It

Author: Jay Grayson

Word Count: 51K

Genres: psychological horror, drama, LGBT+

Available on: my website and on Kobo

Synopsis: After living almost a decade estranged from his family because of his transition, Noah is called back to his hometown to take care of his young niece and nephew when their parents die suddenly. Because the children only know of their distant "aunt", Noah pretends to be his own husband in order to not explain himself or cause further issues. But, in doing so, he has to navigate the small town, filled to the brim with his childhood trauma, under the guise of a complete stranger.

Full chapter 13 under the cut

XIII:

The outside of the house really never did change. Old wood siding, painted with just new coats of the same color, decade after decade, a roof that, really, needed updated shingling, and window shutters that never quite matched. It was frozen there, memorialized, like some big, important historical site.

Kiki didn’t get that impression when she walked up to it, twenty years ago. In fact, the only feeling she got was dread.

She had to combat it with optimism or, at least, a sliver of hope.

It had taken all of her courage just to get there.

She’d been mulling the idea around for days. Days that had gone by painfully slow in the absence of her best friend. She’d become worried to the point of action as none of the teachers had any answers for her. At best, she was told to go to Mary’s house and ask for herself.

Not the best advice, considering the family.

Kiki didn’t think she’d be attacked on the spot or anything but she’d never had any pleasant interactions with Mary’s mother, Tracy, in the four years they’d known one another. While Tracy never said anything to her face, Kiki felt her distaste.

There was nothing in the world that would make Kiki go to that house, normally. That’s how bothered she was that day.

Her finger hit the bell and she waited. A car was in the driveway so she knew someone was home. Some adult. Her experience with the father was even more minimal than the mother. She wondered if he would answer instead. From what Mary had told her at school, Kiki couldn’t, honestly, wish for one over the other.

But then the door opened and Kiki had to face her fears.

Tracy. As expected.

She was shorter than Kiki remembered and even angrier. All of the muscles in her face tensed and she wrinkled because of it. “What do you want?”

Her hostile tone and expression almost scared Kiki away from the jump. She fidgeted and clenched her jaw, wanting to anchor to something. “Um…” She cleared her throat.

“Well?” The woman, impatient, threatened to close the door.

“Is Mary here?!” Kiki blurted out, dropping her hands to her sides. She took a step forward. She didn’t feel braver, only more frantic in her heart.

Tracy, somehow, scowled even harder. The lines in her face deepened and became cavernous. “’Course that’s why you’re here…look, girl, Mary isn’t here.”

“…Where is she?” It felt like the obvious follow-up but, of course, Tracy wasn’t having any of it.

“Not here! She’s gone!” The woman threw her hand out, beginning to shoo, as if Kiki were some stray dog. “Get out of here, I’ve got nothin’ for you.”

In some ways, the trip over there went about how Kiki imagined it would but she was left without any real answers. Gone meant a lot of things. But, as she was already frazzled, she focused on the worst possibilities. Mary might have been dead and Tracy’s reaction, while over the top and unnecessary, could have been a result of grief.

If she ever loved her child enough to grieve in the first place.

Kiki walked at a slow pace, watching her feet as she went. She kicked loose bits of concrete along the way and her head entertained every little possibility like Mary moving away to live with some relative Kiki’d never heard of or being transferred to a boarding school out of state. She couldn’t imagine her friend running away without telling her but she didn’t rule it out either.

A car, slowing to a crawl beside her, snapped her out of it.

She jolted when she saw it was a police cruiser. Two officers occupied the front and the one behind the wheel rolled down the window with a crooked grin on his face. “Hey there. Need a ride, miss?”

The cops in town were all related, in some way, to the mayor and he was in cahoots with the mayor in the bigger town up north. Those below certain financial thresholds or even those who just lived in particular parts of the town were told, growing up, to avoid the police whenever possible. Kiki had heard, all her life, to just do whatever they asked, if they ever asked anything of her.

Her gut clenched and she looked ahead, at the bus stop where she planned on waiting for the next half-hour. “No thank you,” she tried to sound as polite as possible, “I’m taking the bus.”

“The bus costs money,” the police on the passenger side said, “We can take you wherever for free.”

“It’s really okay. Thank you.” She smiled—or hoped she did. It was hard to tell when all of her senses were on alert and all she wanted to do was run.

But they were in a car. They had guns. And she was so, so small.

They ended up not taking no for an answer. Kiki was forced into the back of the cruiser. They took her for a drive. She made a few attempts to direct them to her house, despite the clear signs they had no intention, from the beginning, to take her home.

She’d never had a boyfriend at that point. No one in town seemed to have interest in her, unless they were flirting with her as a joke. They’d throw on a “black” accent and say things they’d heard off the TV…she never knew what kind of reaction those classmates were hoping for.

Kiki had kissed one boy, in early middle school. Nothing more ever came from it, once it had happened, and she barely ever spoke to him again. It was just a peck, nothing more, and she always worried over whether or not she did something wrong.

There had to be some reason she wasn’t being pursued. Something she did, some way she acted…how she looked. It was too depressing to consider the reason solely being that she had more melanin in her body than everyone else. So, she rejected the notion and figured it had to do with her, as a person.

The police officers couldn’t count. What they did, in that patch of woods for over two hours, wasn’t intimate or even fueled by passion. Lust was out of the equation. Kiki felt hated, more than ever, as if her humiliation was the only thing the two men were after.

She was a mouse and they were bored house cats.

Honestly, she didn’t even fully understand what had happened until days later, when the fog finally cleared. She didn’t tell her mother—didn’t dare to. If her mother knew, she’d probably try to do something about it. She’d never get anywhere. The police would only have it out for her more…

There was no reason to stay in the town, as far as Kiki was concerned. She went to school, physically, but she was mentally far away. Her grades dipped and she had no one to talk to anymore. She started to wonder if she could go to the same place Mary went…wherever that was.

During a visit to the bigger town up north, Kiki met a college guy at a flea market. He confused her for a woman he knew but, after the mix up, they got to talking. She’d never met someone so open back home and she wanted to stay.

So she did.

Really, she ran away with the man and left her mother a note, explaining why she wouldn’t be returning. It probably looked like the typical teenage tantrum but Kiki couldn’t yet express herself well. She just knew she needed out. She needed love. She needed Dan.

And Dan was a great boyfriend, as far as Kiki could tell. He had his own apartment, he was going to school to be a teacher, and he treated her well. She received more presents in the first year with Dan than she had, collectively, gotten from every Christmas over the years.

His apartment became her new home. He taught her how to love, really love, and she learned what being loved was supposed to feel like. Warm. Tingly. Like she could take on the world so long as Dan was there beside her.

When she found out she was pregnant, a month before her eighteenth birthday, she wasn’t even scared. Dan would make a great father and they’d already talked about kids in their future. Kiki’s mother wasn’t a fan of how quickly things were moving with them but she had no control, so far away.

Dan Junior, usually called Danny, was born in the winter and he was a big boy. Kiki had to undergo a cesarean, ruining the natural birth she planned for. The scars were huge, uneven, and ugly but she tried to focus on her baby more than her body.

But if Dan stopped finding her attractive, she already knew why.

Danny grew fast and he grew well. He took to talking quick and started babbling before he was a year old, picking up two or three key words. He had strong legs and took to dancing. Kiki loved having him bounce to some of her favorite songs in the living room and she cherished their shared laughing fits. Any time she started to snicker at Danny’s antics, he’d always start cackling along.

He was love incarnate and Kiki didn’t care about anything as much as she cared about him.

She was already imagining his life, far ahead. His school friends that would be invited over after soccer practice, his first date that he would be a nervous wreck over, fretting over which college to get into and the day he’d move away to be out on his own…

Sometimes she would imagine different paths for him, while they napped together on the couch with some children’s show droning on in the background.

Danny had an interest in everything Kiki did and everything she liked. He was a textbook mama’s boy and, while he clearly loved his father too, he would take Kiki over him, no contest.

He liked stepping into her shoes and asking for her makeup. He colored with pinks and purples—Kiki’s favorites—and he pointed to flowers with excitement, especially sunflowers.

Dan made small comments at first. “You should color with blue and red, buddy.”

“This is blue AND red,” Danny responded, holding up the purple marker in his little hand. Kiki taught him that. She couldn’t help but feel proud.

Weeks, maybe months later, Dan went to the store with them and they passed by a display of seeds. Danny pointed to the picture of the sunflower. “Can we have? This one’s my favorite!”

Planting sunflowers would be nice, Kiki remembered thinking, but they didn’t own the property so it was out of the question.

Dan, however, huffed. “Boys shouldn’t have favorite flowers.”

The last instance came when Dan saw Danny trying to walk in some of Kiki’s pumps. He flew off the handle, ripped his son out of the shoes, and screamed about how Kiki was trying to turn him into a girl. Or make him gay.

That night was tense with conversation but nothing Kiki said seemed to soothe the man she thought she was in love with. “He’s just interested in whatever I am. He doesn’t think about that stuff like you do.”

“People are going to think I have a gay son.” Dan crossed his arms, practically pouting. It was the most pathetic she’d ever seen him and it was practically like looking at a different person.

“…And what would be so wrong if he was gay?” Kiki was scared to ask but she had to. She had to see how Dan reacted.

His eyes narrowed. “I knew it. You are trying.”

It was all Kiki needed to hear to know she had to take Danny and leave.

She just wasn’t quick enough.

Before Kiki could get the finances and an escape plan together, she came home, to the apartment she’d spent the last seven years in, and she found Dan standing over a sheet. There was something under it, something small but most definitely human.

Kiki knew immediately. She felt it the second she pulled into the parking space, really.

She wailed, holding Danny’s lifeless body, no matter how much Dan tried to pry her off. “Let him go,” he said into her ear, “He didn’t come out right, we can make another one.”

The rest of that day was, forever, burned from her memory. She didn’t kill Dan, like she wanted, and she knew that for a fact because she could still find him on social media, if she wanted to. And, of course, there was the fact she was never arrested for murder.

Neither was he though.

She spent the next decade in a different state, in a big city surrounded by strangers. New things, new jobs, new friends, and the occasional boyfriend although she could never bring herself to get too close.

She never told anyone about her son.

Some nights, she could almost convince herself she never actually had Danny. That it was all just a very long, unnecessarily vivid nightmare.

Her life continued on, after all. It seemed like it would be impossible, when Danny was in her arms, to live a life without him in it but she just kept waking up every morning and moving. She ate meals, alone, and she went to work at increasingly worse jobs that just barely covered her rent.

That time period was longer than the last but, somehow, felt far shorter, as if it was on fast forward. Skipping all the boring parts.

Shaun called her, asking for help.

It was a return to her roots and she was soon to lose her lease anyway. The world was pushing her in that direction and she finally just let go, allowing the will of whatever higher power there might be to take control.

[thotsforvillainrights]

Can I request some domestic everyday life with Skeptic and fem reader? Thanks!

(Absolutely! I love that man so much! I tried not to go into too much detail with the reader I think since I want all Skeptic fans to insert themselves as well, so I hope that was okay!!!)

~Everyday life with Tomoyasu~

headcanon|scenario|imagine|match-up

-Simultaneously the best and worst person to date (in this case I’ll say be married to). Okay let’s take it back, he’s not the worst per se...but he’s got his little quirks and flaws here and there. 

-To be honest you had no clue this man had feelings for you when you first met him. You started working at Detnerat and one day a group came to meet with your boss Yotsubashi. They claimed it was a weekly thing so you’d just have to get used to it. In that group, far in the back there he was. You couldn’t see his eyes, just the frown he gave you when he saw you. There was something about him that scared you at first. To be honest it was justified considering he was an asshole to you when you’d first met each  other. After Yotsubashi introduced you to everyone (and evaluated whether or not you needed to be in on the loop) you had come to learn his name was Tomoyasu Chikazoku, also operating under the name Skeptic. These days Curious and the others joke about how shocking it is that the two of you were meant to be. The first few times you’d ever spoken to him was when he was insulting your work. “How could the grand leader ever have hired you for this company is beyond me. Look at all the mistakes on this report here alone. You’re certainly lacking in every department that matters and you’re a detriment to not only this company but the Liberation movement as well.”

-Those were a whole lot of mean words for a man that had a fast heartbeat and sweaty hands at the moment. 

-He was actually very frustrated with himself that he fell for you. To him it didn’t make a lick of sense. How could someone make him feel this way from simply a first look? It’s like one of those cheesy songs that come on the radio! Yet here he was digging up info about you instead of working. He tried not to dive so deep but it was hard when he was curious about what you did to him. He suspected it was some sort of alluring quirk but to his surprise (because I said so) you were completely quirkless. He wasn’t sure how to address these new feelings he had so he combated them with anger. That’s why every time you came near him he was rude to you. He was hoping maybe he could push you away so he could get back to feeling normal again...so he could focus on something other than you again. It didn’t work of course. You were persistent and he was nothing to you when it came to brutish behavior. You’d heard and been through worse. You combated him with a smile. ‘Kill em with kindness’ was your method and by God it was working. He knew it had gotten out of control when he bugged you with hidden microphone on your lunch date with Trumpet and Curious just so he could gather some intel as to whether or not you were single. He smiled from ear to ear when he heard what he needed to hear. Now he just had to figure out how to stop running and finally ask you to be his. You’d beaten him to punch since Curious gossiped to you that she suspected Tomoyasu as having feelings for you. 

-He had never been so annoyed but happy at the same time. 

-Some time passed, dates and wedding and whatnot, and here you were. Living with this man was truly something else. He was neat yet clean at the same time. It was like an organized chaos if you will. His office was the absolute worse in the entire house. The wires and various monitors, papers scattered everywhere, oh my God! But every time you try to pick one of them up he stops you. “It’s where I need it to be. If you move it then you’ll mess everything up.” He grumbles while you roll your eyes. “Everything is already messed up, you nitwit.” You tease him with a yank to his hair. He turns around and glares at you for a moment before getting back to work. (He’ll never admit how crazy it makes him feel when you pull his hair. We won’t go into detail unless requested but I’m sure you can imagine it ;) 

-Finally you get him to agree to organizing his life somewhat. You get him shelves and cabinets to file away his papers and some wire clamps to organize the mess of electrical spaghetti snaking its way throughout the room. He doesn’t admit he needed this help, but he does thank you silently with a soft kiss. Without you lets be honest, his office would flow out into the rest of the house and he’d be living in a digital nightmare. Speaking of that, he never admits how much he needs you when it comes to his work either. Tomoyasu will work his fingers to the bone if he needed to. Being a board member at Feel Good really takes a toll on most. He’s seen a lot of people get promoted and step right back down after about a month or two of being at the top. It’s a difficult job if you don’t know what you’re doing and sometimes it can be like drowning. He refuses to drown and stays on the top of all of his projects no matter what. The cost of this is him losing his normal sleep schedule. There have been times when he’s stayed up for 2 days straight, only surviving on coffee and crackers as he typed until his fingers cramped up. Now that you were here, you made sure he didn’t do this to himself again. You made sure to force him to take a break even if that meant you needed to grab him by the ear and drag him out of that damned room. 

-He was a stubborn man but give it a few minutes of a scalp massage and he’s all yours. You had some sort of magic over him he swears, but right now he’s far too comfy to try and break away from your touches. In fact, it seemed like your touch was the key to basically everything. Your really had the key to his heart honestly. You were like different sides of the same coin. You also tended to keep him in line when his anger ate away at him. It was difficult when he had a public appearance to keep up. No one should be attacked by a member of one of the biggest tech companies there was. That could cost him his reputation AND his job...although he wasn’t too worried considering he had back-up plans at his comrades’ companies. Still, the man had his own demons to battle when it came to his anger. You could always tell when he was slipping away whenever those veins starting popping up on his face and he started gritting his teeth. Once of the things you do to prevent it from escalating to this point is basically never letting him drive when the roads are busy. He has the most road rage between the both of you. Despite him having those little flaws, he never lets his anger get out of control around you. He couldn’t forgive himself if he ever did.

-How lucky for you that he knows how to cook. In fact (unless you’re a certified chef) he cooks better than you. You should take the time to relax while he takes over dinner. When he’s not busy with work then he’s in the kitchen actually cooking something for the both of you to eat. That being said, do not think he can bake just because he can cook. He avoids recipes that require baking things since he somehow manages to always mess them up no matter what. 

-He prefers staying in for dates rather than going out. It’s not like he’s allergic to sunlight or anything, he just prefers being in the house with you. This might be annoying if you’re the type of person that likes to go out more than stay indoors. His favorite thing to do is put you in his lap while he runs code for the company. If it begins to bother you that he’s working on date night then he’ll shut it down for you. Sometimes if he’s in the mood, you two dance together in the living room while a speaker plays softly in the background. Times like that feel like the world around you doesn’t exist. It’s just you two in that moment. He can’t help but to close in for a long and passionate kiss on those plump lips of yours that he loves so much. It quickly progresses to the bedroom (if you’re into that).

-During the week you two share chore day and split the chores up around the house based on what the other person wants or doesn’t want to do. For example: You make sure one of his chores is de-clogging the shower and bathroom sink. His hair is a fucking nightmare! Its every damn where in the house and you decided you would rather be on sweep/vacuum duty rather than fighting a drain monster like that. In exchange, one of the things he lets you do is laundry. He hates doing his own laundry so that’s the one thing you HAVE to do. He doesn’t go into detail as to why but you’ll just have to trust him with it.

-Something pretty intimate you do is lounging after a shower with each other. Its maybe an odd thing but who knows. You both sit semi-dry and wrapped in bath towels on the bed with each other. You get behind him and detangle his hair, running the brush through his long locks while he rubs your feet for you. It’s maybe a little strange but it’s just something you two love doing with each other. Another thing is getting him into a face mask with you (which he may or may not deny depending on his mood). 

-There are post office trips together, sometimes walks around your neighborhood, or maybe watching the sunset from your back patio. There are the moments when you get in the car and have no real destination, just riding around and belting out your favorite songs together before stopping at a fast food place and pigging out in the back seat together at some random parking lot. No matter what you two do, doing it together seems a hell of a lot better than doing it alone he figures.

He loves you so very much💗

[wannabe-fic-writer]

WandaNat x Reader : Falling For You

Summary: You finally get everything you ever could’ve wanted.

Covers the “Campfire/Fireplace” square for fall bingo. 

Genre: Fluff

Word Count: 2,169

* * * * * * 

This was a terrible idea. One you knew you would come to regret agreeing to, but at the moment you were asked to participate, you couldn’t possibly say no.

With the two pairs of gorgeous green eyes staring at you coupled with an annoyingly knowing smirk and an adorable pout, there was no way you could deny their request. 

That’s how you find yourself hiking a trail over fallen leaves, shivers rolling over your body as your two best friends chat away at your side. 

They keep their voices at a low whisper, not allowing you to hear or be a part of their conversation. While you would normally feel some kind of way about it, you’re far too cold to sulk about it.

You furiously run your uncovered hands up and down your arms, hoping the friction of your jacket would warm you up and combat the cold surrounding you. 

Apparently neither of them remembered to check the weather for the day. When you asked Natasha said it was fall and shrugged. 

So you dressed accordingly, jeans, boots, a sweater and a jacket. It isn’t enough. It’s much colder than a normal fall day, instead it feels like the beginning of winter. 

You look down at your feet. The crunch of the leaves beneath your boots is a little louder than usual since the morning dew had frozen, adding a small layer of ice over the dead foliage. 

A huff falls from your lips and you drop your hands, shoving them into your pockets instead. It’s not like your rubbing was doing anything. 

“How much further is this secret destination?” You ask.

Both women look over at you, small frowns on their faces at your tone of voice. You hadn’t meant to snap at them but cold was starting to affect your mood. 

You smile apologetically and Natasha rolls her eyes and chuckles. Wanda knocks her elbow against Natasha’s arm, then moves to your other side.

She wraps her arm around your waist and pulls you close,“ it won’t be much longer detka.” 

“Yeah,” Natasha pulls your hand from your pocket and laces your fingers with hers,“ we’re almost there dorogoy.” 

Detka, dorogoy, lyubov. You have no idea what those words mean but she and Natasha were always calling you them. Sly little smiles would form on their lips when they did and you’d wish you knew why. All they would tell you is that it’s Russian and not a bad thing.

When Natasha squeezes your hand, Wanda lays her head on your shoulder, and you sigh. 

It was things like this that made your friendship with them hard. 

The two of them have been dating since before you even met. You first ran into them at the coffee shop you worked at. They came in and took a seat at a table in the corner and you approached them, almost instantly commenting on how cute they were together. 

Your one comment led to a friendship you couldn’t imagine you’d find with anyone else. Which also led to feelings developing that you fought tooth and nail to reject. 

They first came for Wanda, the younger woman being the first to hangout with you one on one. Her sweet and empathetic behavior and words drew you in like a moth to a flame. 

Then you started spending time with Natasha. Your first hangout was awkward to say the least. You aren’t the most outgoing and Natasha was closed off, it caused very little conversation and very long silences. 

Both of you were tempted to not hangout again without Wanda, but decided to give it one more go. Which is exactly what you needed. You can’t recall how the day started but it ended with you two having a blast at a cat cafe. Your mutual love for the soft purring animal made you close. 

Every second you spent with them made you fall faster. Rejecting your feelings stopped being an option once they’d gotten so strong. Now you try your best to ignore it, though that doesn’t work much either.

Especially not when they’re so affectionate with you like this. 

“Look look, we’re here.” Wanda says, squeezing you excitedly. 

Natasha smiles and shakes her head at her girlfriend’s excitement and as you all turn the curve, your destination now in sight, she looks at you. 

Her smile widens as she watches your eyes brighten. 

To anyone else, a cabin in the woods might not mean much but both women know that to you it's much more than that. A tradition to put it quite plainly.

Your parents made it a point to take you to a cabin when the season changed, wanting you to experience nature and such. 

You hated it at first but it grew to mean so much to you. Not just growing to appreciate nature but also loving every moment spent with your parents, loving the memories you made with them. 

“Wait,” your eyes move from the cabin to Wanda then Nat,“ are we staying here?” 

Pink lips form into the perfect smile and she nods.“ We know you haven’t been in a long time.”

The passing of your parents was rough, without them you never found the will to come to a cabin again even though you’d considered it. When you were finally ready, you didn’t have the time.

Of course you’d shared these thoughts with your best friends and you knew they were listening, but you didn’t think they’d do something about what you told them.

While you were lost in thought, the women were worried. You weren’t saying anything and they couldn’t help but wonder if they’d overstepped. 

Their plan would completely go up in flames if you were uncomfortable with this. 

Swallowing, Wanda unhooks her arm from yours and steps in front of you.“ Y/n, detka, we don’t want you to be uncomfortable so if you don’t want to stay we won’t.”

Her words pull you from your thoughts and you register what she said, which makes you immediately protest. 

“No, no,” you gently grab her hand, squeezing hers and Natasha’s.“ I want to stay I just, was thinking. This is really sweet of you two, thank you.” 

They share a smile, then Wanda excitedly tugs on your hand.“ You haven’t seen the inside yet, come on.” 

With more excitement than you and Natasha combined, Wanda pulls you both to the cabin. She shows you around as if this isn’t her first time being here. You notice she doesn’t mention the bedroom situation but you chalk that up to her excitement and figure there are two bedrooms. 

“This place is beautiful,” you all stop in the living room where you plop down on one of the cozy chairs.“ but I can’t stay. I don’t even have clothes.”

“Oh we took care of that.” Natasha waves you off as she moves off to the side in search of something. 

Wanda answers your confusion.“ What did you think I was doing when I went to your bedroom?”

You nod in understanding, recalling how she stayed behind you and Natasha the whole way down to the car and dipped away to the trunk before you pulled off. 

“Always thinkin of everything huh?” You joke, slouching in your seat. 

Frowning, Wanda comes over to you and reaches down to grab your hands,“ don’t get comfortable here, we’re gonna go sit by the lake and watch the sunset.” She adds a pout and pulls on your hands.

“But it’s so cold out.” You whine, dropping your weight back to make it harder for her to pull you up. 

She doesn’t give up though, continuing and struggling to pull you up. 

A sudden presence appears behind you, the redhead whom you love lowers herself, her mouth right beside your ear.“ Come on dorogoy, we’ll start a fire. Keep you nice and toasty.” Her hand gently rubs your arm and all you can do is nod, seemingly put in a trance by her sultry voice flowing straight into your ear.

Letting up, you allow Wanda to pull you up and you follow the two outside. 

The younger woman laces her fingers with yours as you walk down to the lake. It’s across the trail through a small stretch of trees. 

It’s a welcome sight, seeing the expanse of trees on the other side of the lake and the rocks and logs surrounding a makeshift fire pit. 

You and Wanda sit on a log, taking in the scenery while Natasha set up the fire. The instant you shiver Wanda wraps her arm around you, pulling you into her side and rubbing your arm. You resist the urge to sigh this time, especially when you look over and see the happy smile on her lips. 

The second the fire is lit you feel its warmth added to the body heat coming from Wanda. It knocks the initial chills away, but it’s not until Natasha comes to sit at your other side, that you start to warm up internally. 

She takes your hand, squeezing it as she speaks,“ Y/n there’s another reason we brought you out here.” With a small frown of curiosity you look over at her. Taking a deep breath, she meets your eyes and continues,“ f-for a while now, myself and Wanda have been wondering um,” she stops to collect her words and you’re left utterly shocked.

In the year of you knowing her, not once had you ever seen the redhead look so nervous and be at a loss for words. She is the most badass person you’d ever met and right now a red blush is rising on her cheeks.

“Wondering what?” You decide to turn your attention to Wanda, figuring that Nat could calm down if she weren’t the only center of attention, only to find the brunette is also blushing.“ What is it Wan?” 

Her soft green eyes rise to look into yours and she swallows.“ Well, we figured out that um, we started to feel differently towards you. Like, the feelings we had for each other became feelings that we both had for you.” 

It takes everything in you not to freeze up at her confession. A number of emotions swirl through you and you open your mouth to say something, only to register one particular word.

“Had?”

Wanda’s eyes widen but Natasha answers.“ Have. We currently feel this way about you and we were wondering if you would be interested in being with us?” 

Your face suddenly splits into a grin, one that both women immediately adore seeing.“ Are you being serious?” You ask and they both nod.

All this time you’d been falling for them and it turns out they’d fallen for you too. 

A quiet snicker escapes your lips and you shake your head, earning slightly confused looks from the women.“ You know, if I didn’t have feelings for you two this would’ve been a terrible plan.” 

While you can’t possibly imagine not loving them, you could picture and laugh at the awkwardness that would’ve ensued had you said no and the three of you were stuck up here together. 

“Well I don’t think it would’ve been that bad. We’re still best friends so a little awkwardness maybe but-”

“Nat,” Wanda cuts the redhead off, gaining her attention.“ You’re focusing on the wrong things lyubov.”

It’s then that Natasha addresses the beginning of your statement.“ Wait so you’ll go out with us?” 

Smiling, you nod.“ Yes I will. I’ve never done the whole poly thing but, I’m more than willing to try for you.” You turn your smile to Wanda,“ both of you.” 

They look past you to look at each other, bright smiles exchanged between them. Suddenly Wanda lunges towards you, wrapping you up in a big hug and peppering kiss over your face. 

A snort of a laugh leaves you as she kisses you and you hug her back with one arm, your other still occupied with your hand in Natasha’s. 

“Okay okay Maximoff. I love you too.” You say with another soft laugh.

She pulls back, smiling even brighter. Then a finger curls under your chin and your head is gently turned, eyes meeting another pair of gorgeous green eyes. 

“We love you too detka.” 

Ever so slowly she leans in and kisses you softly. You melt into the kiss, a quiet sigh of content at finally finally being able to do this. And when she pulls away, quickly pecking your lips again, you’re pulled into a kiss with Wanda. 

Her lips are a little softer than Natasha’s and she kisses you with a little more restraint.  

A quiet smack parts your lips and you lean back against Natasha.“ I think I could definitely get used to that.” 

Both women chuckle softly, Wanda leaning back against you and Natasha wrapping both arms around you and the brunette. 

Right there, sandwiched between the two women you love as the heat of the campfire warms you, you’re happy. 

* * * * * *

Taglist: @natasha-danvers @owloftheshadows @yumusak-yastik @blackxwidowsxwife @b-5by5 @fayhar @lostandsearching @iliketozoneout @ecruzsalez 

[lovelycleon]

So I decided to make an analysis about the last scene of Infinite Darkness

But before I start with the fun part, I just want to tell you that my history with “angst ships”

I had a bad experience with another ship, soul mates full of angst tropes and true love, beautiful... and a really bad ending because the showrunner fought with the actors (I wasted years watching and I regret it).

Anyway, after suffering that kind of pain, no other ships and angst scenes can hit me hard enough. I'm numb or just got used to it. You choose.

So maybe the scene of Leon and Claire's argument wasn't that impactful for me because of that. But for all the fans who felt hurt, I understand and it's okay to feel that way, because the scene was meant to hurt. The scene exists because of that. And your feelings are valid.

So let's get to the fun part.

spoiler alert, it's not that fun, it actually hurts 😅

The scene starts with Leon going to meet Claire at the gates of the White House.

I don't think anyone denies the fact that, whatever Leon is doing, he just wants to protect Claire. And he doesn't want her involved because of it.

But this dialogue makes this even more evident if we analyze how it begins.

Nothing in a show or movie is by accident. Everything is handpicked for one reason or another. The meaning is not always that deep, but there is still a meaning behind it all.

So when – of all the ways a conversation can be started – they decide to make Claire joke that she sneaked out of the hospital, Leon takes it seriously and she has to clarify that it's a joke, there's a reason:

Show that Leon is taking what happened to her too serious, and Claire not that much.

When Claire makes a comment about when he's going to stop treating her like a kid and he says probably never. There's a reason:

Show that Leon wants to protect her (or being overprotective) and Claire doesn't like it.

Of course, some might argue that this specific line is capcom trying to show that their feelings aren't romantic and sink the ship completely. And, ok, people are free to think that.

But if they really wanted to sink cleon forever, they shouldn't have done the scene of Leon saving Claire the way they did. They did it because they knew it would tease a certain part of the fans... They knew exactly what they were doing...

And there's simply no reason to tease a ship you want to sink.

So no, I don't think that's it...

For me the scene means the classic and simple: "stop being worried about me🙄" "noooo🗣️"

Another way to intensify Leon being overprotective is Claire's broken arm. A reminder that she was injured following his plan. Just as she was hurt the last time they saw each other in Harvardville.

And yes, I know Degeneration made Claire hurt to take her out of the action. It is undeniable. But somehow I don't think the same situation and reason applies to Infinite darkness.

Because Claire was already out of combat, following Leon's plan and showing no intention of doing anything different. It's not like she's going to attack the monster that is several platforms higher than where she is. She couldn't fly around and there were no guns where she was anyway.

So why hurt her to get her out of combat if the story itself has already done that?

Again, you are free to think differently. Capcom made Claire dirty, she was underestimated and they wasted her potential. I won't argue with that, I'm also on the team Claire deserves better.

I just don't think it fits this specific situation.

The injured arm is there and a awkward conversation about Leon being overprotective starts because of it. I think it makes sense.

So moving on.

Claire mentions the chip and Leon looks disappointed for a moment and says he thought they were going to dinner.

This is to indicate that he didn't come to see her with the intention of breaking their friendship. Leon just wanted to spend a good time with her and nothing more. Some place a little more normal, maybe?👀

But Claire wants the chip and tells Leon her plan. The same plan that Shen May was killed trying to convince her partner to follow. Is there a parallel here?

The only difference is that Jason broke her neck while Leon decided to break Claire's heart.

Okay now I could show more parallels between them, but I won't because this is already too long and I know maybe I'm reading too much into this. Resident Evil isn't that deep most of the time 😂

Anyway, Claire asked for the chip and Leon said no.

And that's the point, right.

The climax of the conversation and the turning point in their relationship.

Note that Leon took a few seconds to say he couldn't. That was the moment when he made his decision...

He went to meet her for dinner, remember? He didn't expect to have this conversation or make a decision like that. But he had to.

Now, I'm not from the US and I don't trust politicians in general, fiction or not. But I admit this sounds realistic.

Just imagine if the president makes a speech about peace and prosperity and whatever and the next day the media reveals that members of the government are involved in BOW and planning an attack on another country.

At the very least, it won't look good.

In the worst case, it will be a catastrophe 😂

So... I don't agree with Leon, but I understand why he chose this.

It's an important decision, however. And how long it takes him to say something and how he's quiet after saying it shows he knows what's on the line. Not just the security of the country and “peace”, but also his relationship with Claire.

And despite everything... He didn't lie to her.

It would be much easier for Leon to simply say "the chip was destroyed in the fight" when she asked. Claire would never know about it and probably never doubt him. And they would still be fine with each other and having dinner.

But he didn't lie. Why?

Because their relationship is not based on lies. And it's not based on betrayals.

And while it may be hard to believe right now and it hurts to think about it, this relationship is still based on truth and trust in each other. And now their relationship is being tested.

It's easy to trust someone you're on good terms. How hard it must be to trust someone who has let you down.

There is a lot of room for development here.

Obviously Claire felt hurt in this moment. Maybe even betrayed. Heartbroken. I think we all feel that same way.

But Leon played fair there. He said he had the chip, showed it to her, and then said he wouldn't give it to her.

He was honest with her. And this act also shows respect.

They are two people with different points of view and that truth hurts.

There is silence as they look at each other. She never asked his reasons and he obviously never told them. The exchange of glances is enough for them to understand what was happening.

When Claire says “you do things your way and I do mine” it's almost like “do you know what that means? ”

Then Leon nods and another moment of silence. The time they need to accept that the relationship is broken.

Now that's angst

Interesting choice of camera angle. Showing her broken arm as a visual reminder of why he was pushing her away like that.

Claire leaves, but looks back and says again that his outfit doesn't suit him.

What's interesting here is that the director has done a few interviews over the past few weeks and he always said that the suit is a representation of Leon's position in government.

Claire commenting that it doesn't suit him is basically the writers/producers/directors admitting that this position doesn't look good.

And while all the characters praising Leon for his success, Claire is the one who sees this reality and who he truly is out of the suit (position)

And that's good angst.

Claire walks away and Leon with a sad look watching her leave and he has to say to himself "I will stop this".

Could it be just one of his one-lines? Yes.

Could it be a way for him to remind himself why he's doing this, even if it means sacrificing his relationship with Claire?

It's already done, now he has to make it worth it.

Whatever happens after that is a mystery.

I don't think Claire believes that Leon is going to cover up the government's involvement in things (their discussion would be much more intense if that were the case), she probably thinks he's going to resolve it internally without taking anything public, which is precisely what she wants to do.

I also don't think Leon believes Claire is going to give up on the investigation, he probably thinks it's going to take some time to her to get real evidence and he has time to carry out his plans.

But this is capcom... They are masters of forgetting plot points. So who knows.

Angst is only good if it has a good closure. I hope they keep that in mind.

In any other tv show that used this kind of angst trope and drama I would be completely fine...

I would expect a sequel to this plot. The characters find each other unexpectedly, having to work together and acting awkwardly because they don't know how to stick around each other after the argument. Then the story would develop and they would gradually mend their relationship.

That's the trope.

So that's all I can hope for.

[proxyoddo]

The Right Approach

One-shot: Tech x gn!reader

Words: 2K

Summary: Tech hasn't slept for a few days, and you're worried about him. No one has been able to convince him to a bunk, but Hunter thinks you might be able to get through to the goggled trooper.

AN: This week has been kicking my ass, and I've not had much time to focus on Derecho. Part 4 is almost done and will come soon, but I felt bad because I haven't posted in a while. So, have this kinda cute fluff with Tech that I wrote trying to get my mind into writing.

(I am also shite at titling things 😅 )

Warnings: None, only fluff and snuggles.

It had been four days, and Tech had not slept. With the repairs needed for the console in the cockpit, he had been working endlessly to be sure that the Havoc Marauder would be at 100% working capacity before they next took off from Kamino. The rest of the Batch did what they could to help, but much of it was intricate - more than one hand would not help.

Currently you were standing outside the ship, staring up the steps ready to stomp inside and give Tech a piece of your mind. How did he think he would get you all off the ground if he ran headlong into it himself?

You heard a clunk and a curse from inside, coming from Tech. You frowned, and were about to take the first step into the Marauder when a hand firmly grasped your shoulder.

“Y/N,” came Hunter's voice, and you sighed heavily before turning your head to face him. “You know he won’t stop. Especially if you’re just going to just tell him outright ‘get your ass to bed’.”

“Well what the kriff are we supposed to do then?” you asked with a slight hiss, frustration getting the best of you.

Hunter fixed you with a sympathetic gaze, and shrugged sadly. “Eventually he’ll just pass out in there-”

“And break something while he’s at it? Hurt himself?”

“There was a 'but' in that sentence, Y/N,” Hunter said, smiling a little and giving you a push towards the steps. “You might be able to get through to him.”

You looked at him incredulously, causing him to actually chuckle.

“Tech likes having you around. He’d probably listen to you if you approach it the right way. And based on how much you also seem to care about him, I figure you’re stubborn enough to get him to a bunk,” he said, as if he were just talking about the clouds passing through the sky. You could feel heat rising up your cheeks. “And yes, before you ask, I’ve known for a bit. Heightened senses, remember?”

You cursed internally. When you had joined the squad as their combat medic, you had taken an immediate liking to Tech. And with time, it just grew. Certainly he could talk for hours, and sometimes it was difficult to keep up with his excited chatter, but he was an amazing man. Strong, insatiably curious - and even with his oftentimes hard, matter-of-fact tone - incredibly caring. You had flirted with him from time to time, sometimes not even recognizing it yourself until afterwards. But the trooper seemed to be none the wiser to your actions. Never stopped your heart from racing whenever your hands accidentally touched though, or if he gave you one of those rare Tech smiles. That must be how Hunter knew; he could literally hear the thunder of your heart when the two of you were together.

“You really think I can get through to him?” you asked quietly.

“Worth a try,” Hunter said. “Besides, the rest of the squad are also getting antsy. If I have to listen to Crosshair go on about knocking Tech out with Gonky anymore, I might have to hide the droid.”

“He wouldn’t.”

“Crosshair likes to sleep in his bunk,” Hunter replied. “At this point he’d go to whatever lengths, I would imagine.”

You laughed, and nodded to the sergeant. He waved you on before turning away, likely to head back to the others. Turning and looking into the ship, you steeled yourself before going up the steps and stopping outside the cockpit.

“Tech?” you called.

“Yes, Y/N?” came his voice, seemingly bright as if he was actually still getting a regular amount of sleep.

“How… How’s it going in there?”

Another loud clunking sound and dropping equipment had you stepping inside, looking to find Tech on the ground under the console. The plastoid that normally covered his chest and back was gone, propped up against the wall next to the console.

“It’s going fine!” Tech growled, tossing something out of the compartment he was in giving you just enough time to skirt out of the way before it clanged against the wall opposite of him.

“Hmm, sounds it…” you muttered, before squatting down. He continued on whatever he was working with while you thought for a moment. “Hey Tech-”

“Y/N, please, I am attempting to get the comm frequencies on this damnedable thing working in proper order,” he said, and you could see him turn to look at you for a moment with a reflection of his goggles. “While the Marauder still has functional comm capabilities, the extensive damage from our last encounter with the Separatists has weakened the signal strength, which poses a threat to us while in the field which as you can understand-”

“I have a question,” you interrupted. He stuttered to a halt, and there was silence for a few moments before his hands appeared at the lip of the console and he pulled himself out. The words “sleep deprivation” practically screamed at you from the features of his face.

“Yes?” He seemed intent to answer whatever it was that you were going to ask, even if he had been frustrated a moment ago. Maybe Hunter had been right, and you could get through to him.

You swallowed a little, his tired face filling you with resolve. “What happens to someone when they do not sleep for 4 or more days?”

Tech frowned a little, before going into his answer. “Typically after 3 days of no rest, a person’s urge to sleep will get worse and they will begin to experience microsleeps. Perception is also significantly impaired, and reaching 4 days without adequate rest will continue to distort it. In some, the urge to sleep will become unbearable. It can result in sleep deprivation psychosis.”

You nodded along throughout his entire explanation without saying anything. When he finished, the two of you stared at one another for a few moments of silence.

“Oh,” Tech said with quiet understanding.

“C’mon,” you said warmly, standing up and holding a hand out to him.

Tech shook his head, and you briefly considered going to find Gonky. “I understand your concern, and though it is appreciated, I just need to complete one last thing with the comms before I believe they will be properly functional,” he said. Tech began looking around before his eyes fell on his datapad behind you on one of the seats, and pointed to it. “Could you pass that to me?”

You took the datapad in your hand, but didn’t hand it to Tech. He looked at you with confusion as you began to step away.

“If you want the datapad, Tech,” you began, stepping out of the cockpit, “you’re going to need to come and get it.”

You smiled a little when you heard him getting up from the cockpit floor behind you. “Please, Y/N, I need to calibrate it.” You ignored him, continuing to the bunks before crawling up into the one you usually slept in. You sat back on the bunk, back leaning against the wall, holding the datapad up next to your head.

Tech entered the room, looking even more tired as he stared up at you. “I’m unsure what you are attempting to accomplish here other than getting on my nerves.” You just smiled in response, waving the datapad at him. With a big sigh from him, you watched as Tech pulled himself slowly up to the bunk, and then knelt in front of you between your feet.

“Give it,” he said, losing any formality. You shook your head, waving the datapad again.

In any other circumstance, Tech literally crawling into your lap with a determined expression like he currently had, would have left you breathless. But your intent to get him exactly where he was now, reaching for the datapad and face so very close to your own, helped you keep focus. When Tech’s fingers firmly grasped around the datapad, you let go and leaned forward. Your arms wrapped around his torso and your legs around his, pulling him directly into your embrace, his chin hitting your shoulder.

“Y/N?” Tech tentatively asked, a bit breathless against you.

“You need to sleep, Tech,” you whispered against his ear, arms squeezing just a little tighter as he tried to move. You felt his sharp intake of breath and he completely stilled in your arms, tensely holding himself up. “Relax.”

“I… I need to-” he began, but his sentence was broken by a soft groan as one of your hands began to run up and down his back. A soothing motion, fingertips ghosting over his side as your palm ran along his spine. Your other arm moved under his, your hand reaching up to the back of his neck and gently running through the short hair found at the base of his skull.

You leaned your head gently to the side, pressing against his. “Please, Tech,” you pleaded, and you felt him begin to relax in your arms.

“Cyar’ika...” he sighed, and his voice was thick with sleep. His resolve gone due to your ministrations, he finally let his whole body slump against you, and he turned his face into your neck. You could feel his warm breath and cool goggles against your skin and you couldn’t help the small shiver that spread through your body.

“That’s it, Tech,” you cooed, loosening the grip of your legs so he could settle more between them. In doing so he slid down your chest a little, making you glad that at some point he had decided to discard his chest plate. You heard the datapad hit the bunk’s thin mattress as Tech's arms wrapped around you, pressing his face more firmly into your chest with a deep breath.

You felt a gentle warmth spread through you as you both embraced one another. You couldn’t help but smile down at Tech, and you gently reached up to carefully slide the goggles from his face before setting them down on the bunk near the datapad. It was mere moments before you could tell Tech was asleep against you. Moving carefully, you pressed your lips against the top of his head and leaned back again.

“Comms will still be there when you get up,” you said to his sleeping form, before closing your eyes and feeling a bit drowsy yourself.

It was a while later that you woke to the sound of someone entering the Marauder. You had no idea how long you had been asleep, and you opened your eyes slowly, looking about the compartment to find Crosshair standing there. His arms were crossed over his chest, and he was looking at you with a smirk. He just nodded when he saw your attention was on him, and climbed into the bunk below the one you currently occupied with Tech.

Speaking of, the usually goggled clone was still sleeping soundly against you. You smiled before gently running your fingers through his hair, feeling him sigh and snuggle more into your body.

“Hey Cross?” you called out, careful not to be too loud.

A grunt of acknowledgement was the sniper’s response.

“...what does ‘cyar’ika’ mean?” you asked after a moment’s pause. Tech had said it earlier, but you didn’t know what it was.

You were met with silence, and you were beginning to wonder if Crosshair was actually going to answer you. You resigned yourself to mystery when he finally spoke:

“It’s Mando’an. It means ‘darling,’ ‘beloved,’ or ‘sweetheart’.”

You froze. Tech had called you that? A blush creeped up your skin, and you knew if Crosshair had been looking at you he’d see just how red you were in the semi-darkness of the Marauder.

“Th-thanks,” you said back, before looking down at Tech. You didn’t think you had ever seen the trooper look as relaxed as peaceful as you did right now, and you couldn’t help but smile. Leaning down just a little, you hugged him a little tighter.

“Cyar’ika,” you soothed, and smiled more as Tech’s arms squeezed you tighter as well in response.

[helloalycia]

secret relationship // wanda maximoff

summary: you're the daughter of the famous Black Widow, which comes with its own set of hurdles such as revealing to her that you're dating the newest Avenger that she also happens to be mentoring – Wanda Maximoff. What could go wrong?

warning/s: minor (implied) violence and injury

author's note: okay so the request was the reader is Natasha's daughter and is struggling to tell Natasha that she's dating Wanda. All I know is I got excited (as usual) and this happened so yeah, enjoy! Also, Wanda’s age is always a mystery to me since it’s interpreted differently with everyone, so I tried my best to explain the age gap between you and natasha so things made sense.

masterlist | wattpad

"Did you know red onion and red cabbage is called 'red' instead of 'purple' because back in the old days, they didn't have enough words for colours so anything purple was defined as red?"

"The mission, Y/N," my mum, Natasha Romanoff, AKA Black Widow, scolded.

I sighed, my attention still focused on my surroundings and my gun directed ahead. "I know, I know. But did you know that the most common internet password is '123456'?"

"Y/N," Wanda, my girlfriend and teammate said with a laugh. "Stop it."

"Yeah, please, quit it," my mum added with an eye roll.

I smiled at Wanda, admiring how beautiful she looked when she hid her laugh. My mum wasn't aware we were dating, so I settled for sending her a playful wink before looking ahead.

I knew I had to focus on the mission – scouting out this abandoned HYDRA den – but it was boring. And it was obviously empty of any threats, so talking was my only pastime.

"Did you know the inventor of Pringles is buried in a Pringles can?" I said after a moment of silence, making my mum stop walking abruptly.

"Okay, you know what? New plan," she said, looking between Wanda and I. "Everyone split up. Take a look around. Stay alert. Keep in contact. Sound good?"

I quirked a brow. "You trying to get rid of me?"

She narrowed her eyes my way. "Yes."

I frowned, making Wanda crack a smile and nudge me in the shoulder.

"You need to learn to have an off button sometimes," she joked, her Sokovian accent shining through despite the voice lessons my mum was giving her. Honestly, I preferred her Sokovian accent to her American one.

"You love it," I teased, giving her a knowing smile, my mother completely unaware of the double meaning.

"Just do as I said," my mum said, already shooing me away. "Wanda, you know what to do. If you see or hear anything suspicious, use your comms."

"Yes, Miss Romanoff," Wanda said obediently, and I tried so hard to hold in laughter at her seriousness. I mean, it was great that she was respectful of my mother and her mentor, but God it was funny to witness.

"Once again, Wanda, you can just call me Nat," my mum said with a wince, trying to be polite. "Go on."

Wanda nodded and walked off, her gun raised as she'd practiced. I grinned at my mum, noticing the way she massaged her temple with mild agitation before her gaze fell to mine.

"Go. Now." She pointed behind me, and I stifled a laugh.

"Bet you love babysitting duty," I joked.

"It's not babysitting if I'm your mother," she pointed out. "Though sometimes, you make me regret not picking the baby instead of you."

"That baby would have been six years old now," I informed her. "If anything, I spared you the whole diaper thing and the outgrowing clothes thing and the– oh yeah! Not being able to speak thing!"

"At least they wouldn't be annoying me with stupid facts," she retorted, hand on her hip. "Now be a good agent and do your job."

I rolled my eyes playfully, knowing she was kidding. Whenever I annoyed her, she'd bring up the story of how it was between twelve year old me and a six-month old baby at the adoption centre. She was worried I'd view her as an older sister or something, hence her choice of adopting the baby instead. But I never did, as she was always way more mature than any twenty-seven year old I'd met or seen at the time. And maybe, I guess, I was really desperate to have a motherly figure, and she just happened to fit the bill.

"Aye, aye, Miss Romanoff," I saluted, making her raise an eyebrow threateningly. "Okay, geez, I'm going."

I wandered off, exploring the dishevelled HYDRA den with full focus. The brief clearly stated it was an abandoned site, but I stayed on alert anyway in case there were stragglers. As usual, I only got given half the facts because of my clearance level, so I knew we were looking for a hard drive, but I had no idea what was on it.

Being a seventeen year old working in S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't exactly how I saw my life going when I grew up in an orphanage. I honestly never thought I'd get adopted, as rumours spread quite quickly through the orphanage that once you hit double digits, nobody wanted you. So, when the beautiful, red-headed Natasha Romanoff came in, looking for an addition to her family, I felt like the luckiest kid in the world because she chose me of all the kids there.

I definitely didn't expect her to be the Black Widow, nor to teach me everything she knew about espionage, stealth, hand-to-hand combat and much more. She ensured I was multi-lingual like her, preparing me for the many S.H.I.E.L.D. missions I would have to go on. There were times when I absolutely despised her, particularly when she overtrained me or stopped me from seeing my friends. And there were times when I wished she'd never adopted me, hating that I couldn't have a normal teenage experience.

But when it came down to it, I knew I couldn't have asked for a more caring, considerate and compassionate mother. I learnt early on into our relationship that she was unable to have kids of her own, hence her interest in adoption. And honestly speaking? That was probably the worst thing in the world because if anybody deserved a child of their own, it was Natasha Romanoff. I guess, in that sense, I was lucky to have all of her love to myself.

Now that I was older, I came to appreciate how awesome she was, especially when we got to go on missions together and I saw her awesomeness upfront. The only thing was, she was extremely overprotective, so it was difficult to get sent on the dangerous missions. Though, I guess, whenever I did, she was always there to have my back and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

Her overprotectiveness was also a reason why she didn't know about Wanda and I's relationship. Wanda had joined the Avengers a year ago after losing her brother in the battle against Ultron. She was a year older than me, so naturally we were drawn to each other, and before I knew it, our friendship became more. But of course, my mother could never know that. At least not yet.

"Empty here," I mumbled, rounding a corner into an empty room. As I looked through the rubbish on the desk, I continued, "Empty here... and here... and oh, look, here, too. What a surprise!"

"Y/N, I love you, but God help me I will kill you if you don't turn your damn mic off," my mother's voice came through my comms piece in my ear.

For once, I wasn't trying to piss her off, so I smiled sheepishly to myself and replied, "Sorry. Love you."

I could imagine the eye roll she was giving me in response, so continued to look around for the hard drive I saw on the brief. Still, there was nothing here.

My searching was interrupted when I heard a loud crash from a nearby room, like the sound of bricks tumbling against one another. I spun around, eyes widening with concern.

"Y/N? Wanda? What happened?" my mum's voice came through my ear, slightly reassuring me as it wasn't her who was caught up in anything. But then that meant–

"Wanda! What happened?" I replied worriedly, already rushing out of the room and to the source of the sound.

"I'm okay," Wanda's shaky voice came through my ear, which did nothing to ease my concern.

I found the room Wanda was in quite quickly, seeing her sat on the floor as if she'd been pushed. She had a deep cut on her forehead and looked visibly distressed. Running to her side, I kneeled down beside her and cupped her face, studying her head.

"Oh my God, are you okay?" The words tumbled from my mouth so quickly I wasn't sure if it was understandable.

She nodded slowly, accepting my hand and holding it for reassurance. I followed her gaze, seeing a hole in the wall ahead, bricks crumbling and dust beginning to settle. Laying on the floor through the hole and into the next room was a HYDRA soldier, clearly dead from the impact of hitting the bricks.

Wanda's power was magnificent, but hard to control. A year later and she was still learning its limits, but sometimes slip-ups like this happened. I was, admittedly, in awe of her actions.

"I'm sorry, I should have kept him alive like Miss Ro– Nat said," Wanda apologised suddenly, and I looked back at her to see her shaking her head. "He just– he startled me and I didn't know what I was doing until it happened. I thought–"

"Don't apologise," I cut her off, squeezing her hand gently, before looking back to the cut on her forehead. "I'm just glad you're okay. You did good."

Despite my words, I bit my lower lip to contain a frown, worried about her cut.

"Damn."

Wanda and I both turned to the doorway to see my mum, who stopped and took in the sight of the hole in the wall with partial surprise and partial amazement.

"Mum, we need to get her back to the quinjet," I said, pulling her attention away from the wall. She approached me as I said, "She needs medical assistance."

I didn't let go of Wanda's hand as I moved to the side for my mum to take a look. Gently guiding Wanda's chin to the side, she took a closer look at the gash on her forehead, expression showing nothing as usual.

"You'll be okay, honey," she reassured, letting go. Her eyes drifted to our connected hands briefly, but I figured she wouldn't piece anything together, so I didn't let go. She continued, "Let's get out of here. There's no hard drive anyway."

Wanda nodded and my mum and I helped her to stand up, me still not letting go of her hand.

"The hard drive is on him," Wanda spoke suddenly, nodding to the dead HYDRA agent. "I heard his thoughts before I– yeah."

My mum raised her brows with surprise. "Oh. Perfect. Y/N get the drive and let's go."

I pursed my lips, glancing at Wanda with concerned eyes. She gave me a small, reassuring smile, squeezing my hand subtly before letting go.

"Right, yeah," I said, swallowing hard.

I looked back to my mum, who seemed to be studying my expression, so I cleared my throat and left to get the drive. When I retrieved it, I jogged after Wanda and my mum, checking in on her with a small smile, before leading the way to the quinjet.

When we boarded the plane, I hung around Wanda and my mum as she helped the brunette to take a seat in the back. I noticed Wanda's momentary dizziness as she sat down and felt my chest tighten.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked, kneeling before her as my mum got the first aid kit.

Wanda gave me an endearing smile as I swiped at the blood dripping down her forehead.

"I'll be alright," she said, holding my gaze with comforting green eyes before they flickered to behind me.

"Okay, Y/N, stop hanging about and start the plane whilst I stitch Wanda up," my mum said, appearing from behind me and kneeling beside me.

I nodded, glancing between the needle, thread and disinfectant in her hands and Wanda's head. Reluctantly, I got up and left them both to it as I started up the plane and got us in the air. Once we were in the clear, I flicked on autopilot before heading back to Wanda and my mum to see how things were going.

"We'll have someone look at it properly when we get back to the tower," my mum was saying to Wanda, who was now stitched up and wearing a small bandage, "but it'll hold up for now." With a playful smile, she added, "You're not dying on me just yet."

Wanda cracked a smile and whilst I appreciated how lovely it was to see their closeness in a way I never usually saw, I was still troubled by her injury. Logically, I knew she'd be okay, but it never felt good to see her injured.

"Plane is on autopilot," I announced, making my presence known. My eyes never left Wanda's bandage as I asked, "Everything okay here?"

"You need to calm down," my mum joked, making me look her way. "It's not that serious. Just some stitches."

I smiled awkwardly, but I knew it was much more than that.

"Yeah, relax, it's not a big deal," Wanda added playfully.

Her eyes met mine and I knew she was communicating the same thing through her gaze, holding a seriousness that wasn't able to be shared verbally because of my mum's presence. I tilted my head, giving her a knowing look; she knew I was aware of how big a deal it was. All I wanted to do was give her a hug and kiss and not leave her side until she felt better. And she knew that.

"I'm gonna go fly the plane," my mum said suddenly, and I almost forgot she was standing there until she spoke up. "We'll get back to base quicker..."

I glanced at her, mildly confused at her sudden change of expression. She headed to the front of the quinjet, leaving Wanda and I alone.

"Seriously though, you should relax," Wanda said, sounding like she did when it was just her and I and nobody else. She had an amused smile on her lips as she watched me worry. "I'm fine. All stitched up."

I licked my lips, sulking, as I dragged myself over to the seat beside her. She laced our fingers together, pressing a kiss to the top of my hand before facing me with an easygoing smile.

"I'm fine," she repeated gently, lovingly, sweetly.

I offered her a small smile, before leaning forward to press a kiss to her bandage. "I know. Just don't worry me like that. Especially in front of my mum. I can't take it."

"It's cute," she noted, amusement returning. "It means a lot to know someone cares."

My shoulders relaxed. "I care too much. So, please don't test that."

She laughed and I felt my heart flutter in my chest, never getting used to the sound.

"I promise not to," she said, looking up at me through her lashes.

I leaned my head on her shoulder and kept ahold of her hand, staying with her until we arrived back at base. My mum flew us the whole way back, only coming to get us once we landed. I knew I should have left Wanda's side as to not raise suspicion with my mum, but I couldn't find it in myself to do so. I just hoped she would interpret it as two concerned friends rather than her daughter having a secret girlfriend.

"You should head to the medical wing to get checked out properly," my mum said once we were back at the tower, looking to Wanda.

"Yeah," I agreed a little too eagerly. "I'll go with you."

My mum gave me a curious look. "I mean, that's not necessary."

Wanda must have sensed my eagerness, as she said, "I'd appreciate the company, actually. I don't mind."

She shot me a subtle smile, eyes bright with reassurance.

"I'm happy to accompany you, Wanda," my mum offered, and I felt my mouth go dry.

"It's okay, mum," I said suddenly, making her look to me with pursed lips. "You can go debrief and I'll make sure Wanda is cool with everything."

Glancing between us, my mum finally nodded. "I see. I guess I'll see you both later then." She paused, looking between us once more, before adding, "You did good today. Both of you."

I looked down to my shoes as Wanda shot her a grateful smile. She walked away, leaving us be, and I immediately intertwined my fingers with Wanda's as the two of us headed to the medical wing.

"You may as well write desperate on your forehead," she teased with a beautiful smile.

"So funny," I said sarcastically, though a smile of my own was present. "Let's just get you checked out."

"If it means you'll stop pouting, then sure."

"Real jokester you are. Hilarious, honestly."

Her laughter surrounded me like a warm hug and I could have listened to it forever.

—

Since our mission together, I noticed the distance my mum was putting between her and I, and I had no idea why. I thought I was overthinking it and seeing things that weren't there, so I didn't follow up with it until one evening.

It was a rare occurrence for all of the Avengers to be at the tower at once, so when they were, we'd all have a 'family' dinner for some normalcy. Only, this time, I noticed how strange my mum was acting whenever I spoke to her. She'd either act super dismissive or give one word answers to my questions – once again, I wasn't sure if I was seeing things.

After dinner, everyone went their separate ways and Wanda and I stayed in the living-area to watch some TV. Though it was playing, the volume was lowered and neither of us were watching it. We were just talking about random stuff and enjoying each other's company.

"Okay, how about this one?" I said to Wanda, turning so I was facing her, a grin on my lips. "What did the clock do when it was hungry?"

As with all of my other attempts at making Wanda laugh, she stared at me with an amused smile and a quirked brow.

"Say it...," I encouraged, motioning for her to speak with my hand.

She sighed. "Okay, what did the clock do when it was hungry?" Mumbling, she added, "Even though clocks don't eat..."

I slapped her leg playfully. "Sshhh, you'll ruin the joke. And the answer is, they go back four seconds!"

Wanda didn't laugh, but she seemed entertained as she hid a smile. "Seriously?"

"Because of the number 'four' and the word 'for'," I explained. "C'mon, that's a good one!"

"D'you think you're funny?" she asked, eyeing me playfully. "Because you're not."

I shrugged, playing it off like I wasn't fussed. "I mean, I don't know about that... how about now?"

Before she could question me, I moved forward and began to tickle her sides, watching as she squirmed with laughter.

"Stop it!" she shouted, but her smile was as wide as ever as she was unable to stifle her laughter. "P-please! Y/N!"

"But you said I wasn't funny!" I retorted with a grin, practically straddling her as she attempted to push me off her. "I'm just checking if you still think that!"

Wanda was crying now, tears escaping the corners of her eyes as she continued to laugh. "I'm s-sorry! Y/N, stop!"

Before I could think how to respond, the doors to the living-area opened and in walked Steve Rogers AKA Captain America, a confused expression on his face as he saw me sat on Wanda.

"Hey, ladies," he greeted, raising an eyebrow. "You both good?"

I pulled my hands away from Wanda and breathed out, still smiling as I glanced down at her. She blew a strand of hair from her eyes and glared at me playfully.

"Yeah, just talking," I answered Steve, before being thrown off Wanda and to the floor with a thud.

"Just Y/N harassing me as usual," Wanda corrected, and I sat up to see her sitting up, too, fixing her hair.

Steve chuckled as he headed to the fridge in the connected kitchen. Wanda helped me back onto the couch, nudging me in the side as a response to the tickle fest, before leaning on me and stretching her legs across the couch.

"So, hey, what's up with you and your mum?" Steve asked as I continued to annoy Wanda by flicking her face.

"What do you mean?" I asked, not looking up as I grinned down at Wanda, watching as her eyes glowed red threateningly.

"Don't make me hurt you," she said teasingly, lifting a hand and summoning her powers, red wisps of energy becoming present.

I stopped flicking her and intertwined her hand in mine, watching as her eyes faded to its usual colour.

"She just seemed distant at dinner," Steve continued.

I looked up and saw he was leaning against the counter with a water bottle in his hand. Wanda continued to stretch, practically on top of me, probably to annoy me as I had been doing with her. I moved her hands out of my face as I nodded to Steve.

"So, you saw it too? She was being off, right?" I asked him, glad I wasn't just imagining things.

He nodded, gulping his water, before saying casually, "Definitely. What did you do? Finally tell her about you and Wanda?"

It took me a second to realise what he'd said, but when I did, my eyes widened and I spluttered out a terrible response. "What– what about Wanda and I?"

I glanced at Wanda as she began to sit up properly. She looked more confused than panicked.

"You know, that you're together," Steve said like it was obvious.

I cleared my throat. "What? Why would you think that?"

Steve smiled with confusion. "Wait, so you're not? But I thought–" He paused, pulling a face. "No, you are! Everybody thinks you are!"

I shrugged it off, though inside I was panicking. "I mean, even if that was the case, why do you think my mum knows?"

Steve nodded knowingly. "She's been off with you all night. And then I caught up with her after dinner and she wasn't in a very talkative mood. Just mumbled something like 'new girl, her age, pretty, nice, should have seen it coming'. I assumed she was talking about Wanda."

Heat crept up my neck with embarrassment and when I looked to Wanda, I saw her cheeks dusting a red colour, similar to the energy she could summon. She looked as flustered as I felt.

"Has your mum been okay with you before today?" Steve asked, trying to be helpful.

I chewed on my lower lip and shook my head. "Not since we got back from our last mission..."

Steve scrunched his face with sympathy. "Oof. You should probably talk to her then. You know how much she hates secrets."

I groaned internally. "Thanks for the reminder."

He saluted playfully, his stupid smile on his stupid face, before leaving Wanda and I alone again.

"Well, looks like she knows," I said to Wanda, sinking into the couch with hopes it would swallow me forever.

"She might not," Wanda tried to make me feel better, resting a hand on my leg. "It could be something else."

I gave her a knowing look. "She has to know. It's the only thing that makes sense. You heard Steve."

Wanda sighed, sinking into the couch beside me. "Yeah..." She glanced at me and I looked at her as she said, "I did tell you to tell her."

I forced a smile. "Gee, Wanda, that was helpful. Thanks."

Wanda rolled her eyes before leaning her head on my shoulder. "Sorry..."

I rested my hand on hers. "It's okay, sorry. I just– she's gonna be really mad that I kept this from her."

"Yeah, why did you do that again?" Wanda asked questioningly.

I massaged the tension between my eyebrows. "Because she's too overprotective. It gets too much to handle sometimes... Take my last boyfriend for example. He was some tool that cheated on me and, oh boy, my mum wanted to kill him. I had to physically restrain her from doing so."

"I don't blame her," Wanda quipped, a hint of bitterness in her voice.

I smiled a little, squeezing her hand. "I know... she ended up slashing his tyres and egging his car without telling me. But instead of egging the outside, she broke into it and egged the inside. A thoughtful take on a classic, I must admit."

Wanda laughed, her whole body shaking with pure amusement as she listened to the story. I couldn't help but smile myself, remembering it like it was yesterday. Definitely a fun time.

"I appreciated it, don't get me wrong," I added, smile fading. "I just didn't want that to happen again. I wanted to enjoy our relationship without anyone spying on us, y'know? But now she's gonna be super angry."

Wanda let go of my hand and rolled on top of me, leaning down on my chest so she could look me in the eyes. I wrapped my arms loosely around her to keep her steady.

"She only wants the best for you," Wanda told me gently. "You have to tell her you're sorry. Explain why you did what you did, but hear her out, too. She's your mum. Caring too much isn't a bad thing."

I groaned, knowing she was right. She smiled reassuringly, patting my chest.

"You get the caring too much thing from her by the way," she added, before leaning forward and pressing a haste kiss to my lips. "It's okay though because I love it."

I smiled, never really seeing it like that. Raising my hand, I brushed my thumb over the small bandage on her head; her injury was still healing, but she didn't let it bother her. Very Wanda-like.

"Thanks," I mumbled, meeting her gaze. "You always say the right thing."

"Which is why I'm going to tell you to get up and go to your mum," she ordered playfully, pushing herself off me and holding out her hand.

I let her pull me up before straightening up and taking a deep breath. Wanda was right. I just needed to be open and explain my piece. It would be fine.

—

So, it wasn't fine.

When I entered my mum's living quarters, she wasn't the happiest to see me. In fact, she actively turned her body to face her TV when I came through the door.

"Hey," I started with a small smile, fighting the nerves in my stomach. "Can we, er, can we talk?"

She grabbed the cushion on the couch next to her, hugging it to her chest. Her eyes didn't leave the TV, but the space next to her was free, so I took that as an opportunity to close the door and sit beside her.

The news was playing on the TV – headlines, I think – and they were talking about a new elected congressman in New York.

"Seriously? The news? Even in your free time?" I asked playfully, hoping it would lighten the mood.

She didn't even glance my way as she muttered, "I like to know what's happening in the world."

Losing my smile, I straightened up and cleared my throat. "Right, right..."

It went quiet as the TV played in the background and my mum said absolutely nothing. I grabbed the other cushion on the couch and hugged it to my chest, similar to her. It was a nervous habit that I picked up from, well, from her.

"You said you wanted to talk?" she reminded me. "So, talk."

Having the Black Widow as your mother wasn't something anyone could get used to. She could be the most caring, loving, protective person in the world, but she could also appear quiet, intimidating and ruthless like the trained assassin she was. Not the greatest combination when trying to open up to her.

"I think I know what you're thinking," I started, pinching my hand to distract from my growing anxiety.

Without hesitation, she bent forward to grab the TV remote and turned it off before turning to me with sad eyes.

"That's where you're wrong," she said calmly, and it was way worse than her yelling. I would have preferred her yelling to be honest. The disappointment in her voice was much worse. "You always assume you know what I'm thinking. What I'm going to say or do."

I avoided her eyes guiltily. "Mum, look, I know that I should have told you the truth. And I know how angry you are, but–"

"I'm not angry, Y/N!" she shouted, finally, standing up off the couch and creating space between us.

I winced. "You sound angry."

She put her hands on her hips, looking down to her feet and taking a breath. Her voice at normal volume, she said, "I'm upset. You– you didn't trust me enough to tell me the truth. Instead, I had to put it together when you acted how you did with Wanda after that mission and..." She paused, sighing. "Forget it."

"No, keep going," I pleaded, the guilt piercing through me sharply. "You're right."

She swallowed hard, glancing at me with glassy eyes. "I wouldn't have done anything. I know I have in the past, but this is Wanda we're talking about. I've been her mentor for a year. I care about her and– and– she's good. And she's good for you."

Okay, I definitely misread this whole thing because now my mum was upset, on the verge of tears, and I was the arsehole responsible for it.

"I'm so sorry," I said, standing up and moving forward to hold her arms. "I should have trusted you. I mean, it wasn't even about trust. I was just scared you'd react badly. But it wrong of me to assume that."

She frowned, looking down to her shoes. "I know I can be tough sometimes, but it's only because I care."

I thought back to Wanda's words and gave her a small smile. "I know. I get it from you."

"I am happy for you, you know," she said, glancing at me petulantly.

My expression softened. "Thank you. That means a lot coming from you."

Without another word, she pulled me in for a motherly hug, making me close my eyes and relax in her arms. I still felt horrible for making her feel like I couldn't trust her when it was anything but that.

"I'm sorry," I repeated quietly into her shoulder.

"I forgive you," she said, before pulling away and giving me a small smile. "Now tell me. You're happy?"

The thought of being with Wanda gave me butterflies and I couldn't help but smile in response. With a nod, I said, "I am."

She nodded, squeezing my shoulders gently before fully letting go. "Good. I'm glad you've got her... I know you can take care of yourself, but she's strong, too. She can look out for you when I'm not around anymore."

I shoved her in the shoulder. "Don't joke about that. She isn't replacing you and you're not going anywhere, you hear me?"

She laughed, nodding. "Not yet anyway. But sure, okay."

I relaxed and gave her a nervous smile. "So, you wanna meet Wanda? Like, as my girlfriend and not your student?"

She rolled her eyes playfully. "If I must."

I smiled widely, grabbing her hand and leading her to the door. "She loves you a lot, y'know. She wanted me to tell you about us as soon as we got together. She hated lying to you."

"Yeah because she knows that lying is wrong," she teased me, making me groan loudly. With a chuckle, she added, "I love her, too. She's definitely something."

"Hell yeah she is," I said in agreement, grinning to my mum as I dragged her to the living-area where I last left Wanda.

On the way, we passed Steve in the hall, who took notice of the smiles on our faces and nodded knowingly.

"Glad to see you worked it out," he said supportively.

"Thanks for the heads up," I told him gratefully as we passed him.

When we reached the living-area, I saw Wanda sat on the couch watching TV. When she saw who entered, she straightened up instantly, moving to stand and unsure what else to say or do. It was cute, the respect she had for my mum.

"Did you– I– She told you?" she stumbled over her words, starting to speak to me but eventually looking to my mum.

My mum glanced at me before meeting Wanda's nervous eyes. "She did."

Wanda licked her lips anxiously. "And you're okay with it...? Angry...? Wanna kill me...?"

I watched my mum, nodding encouragingly to her. She sighed before giving Wanda a small smile.

"No killing will be necessary," she reassured my girlfriend. "Unless, of course, you break my daughter's heart. Then in which case, I may have to find you when you're sleeping."

"Mum!" I complained, face falling into my hands with embarrassment.

"I'm just being truthful," my mum said with seriousness, before looking to Wanda expectantly.

Wanda surprisingly took it well, probably used to my mum's personality after training with her for a year. "I understand completely, Nat and I'll hold you to that. I have no intention of breaking Y/N's heart."

A rare, genuine smile appeared on my mother's lips. "I know you don't. Just–" She paused, glancing at me. "Keep her safe, yeah? She's a bit stupid sometimes."

Wanda laughed as my mum smiled with amusement, like it was an inside joke.

"Right here, you know," I reminded them with a wave of my hand.

They only rolled their eyes.

"I will," Wanda promised my mum. "Thank you for being okay with this."

My mum nodded, giving us both a final smile and once over, before saying, "I'll leave you to it. Goodnight."

Wanda and I bid our goodnights, watching her leave before a giant sigh of relief escaped our lips.

"You feel better?" Wanda asked me, grabbing my hand and tugging me to the couch.

She let me fall on her chest easily, snuggling up to her as she wrapped an arm around me and held me close. I inhaled her perfume, a familiar and comforting scent, as my head rested in the crook of her neck.

"I feel better," I answered, closing my eyes and letting her intertwine our fingers.

"I believe this is the part where you say I was right," she prompted, a hint of amusement in her words.

"Don't make me hurt you," I mumbled, making her laugh quietly beneath me.

"You're lucky I love you," she said, kissing the top of my head. "I guess opposites do attract. You're the stupid one and I'm the clever one."

"Wanda?"

"Yeah?"

"Fuck off."

She laughed again, and even though it was at me, I couldn't help the content smile from spreading on my lips.