#he understands exactly 0 spanish

[uselesssomebody]

Oooooo wondering if I request a miguel o'hara x platonic(maybe) shy reader who’s a popular superhero spider person who bonded with venom and has an infant son who’s a mommy boy with her boyfriend Miguel of her dimension. Miguel sees the reader reminded of his dead wife reader of his dimension. Pretty cute her infant son and Mayday Parker having play dates, she’s the godmother of Mayday and Peter is the godfather 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

'𝕓𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕜𝕚𝕕 𝕥𝕠 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕜' 𝕕𝕒𝕪 - dad!miguel o'hara x mom!reader

(or astv's spider society x platonic!reader)

complete masterlist | miguel o'hara masterlist

words || 𝟛𝕜

summary || in which the reader and peter b. have a 'bring your kid to work' day at the spider society

a/n || i have been frothing at the mouth to write dad!miguel so here

➵ anon i'm actually kneeling at your feet for this request; it's so *chef's kiss* unfortunately, i know 0 things about venom, and i forgot about the 'shy' aspect of reader, but otherwise, i tried to nail this request. if you want a shy reader x miguel specifically, just send me another req, and i will have it done.

➵ lemme talk about the spanish real quick: a lot of it in this one thanks to the lovely @spookyanamurdock. quite a bit of spanglish as well, translations are next to the spanish bits

➵ also miguel (both of him) is the only one to speak any spanish. reader is not coded as being able to speak spanish or necessarily being from a spanish-speaking country, but she can understand what miguel is saying.

➵ send me requests if you have ‘em. enjoy!

warnings || fluff

it'd been nine months since she'd had a full night's rest.

guess how old her infant was.

she was jolted awake to the sound of wails and cries and she quickly rubs her hands over her face as she sits up. she looks behind her to see her husband roll in his sleep at the sound, and she smiles, getting up more quickly so that she can handle their child before he wakes up.

she steps into the next room, where their son is rocking in his cradle, evidently upset. she pouts a little at the sight of his chubby cheeks pinched into a scowl, and his gummy mouth open and ignorant to how loud he was being.

"what's woken you up, baby?" she mumbles, quiet and rhetoric, as she immediately takes him in her arms, rocking him softly on one side while using her free arm to gently pat for where he was feeling discomfort. noticing none, and recognizing his cry wasn't that of hunger, she lifts him up gently, looking in his adorable, curious eyes.

she notices his cries have simmered, a more satisfied and sleepy expression on his features, and she smiles, "did you just want mama to hold you for a bit?" she muses, as she lovingly tucks his head back into her shoulder, quietly pacing the room with him. in another couple moments, he's out like a light once more, and she chuckles to herself as she lays him back down in his cradle, momentarily forgetting her annoyance at losing sleep as she traces a soft finger over his features, beaming at his adorableness, "goodnight, gabe." she murmurs softly, pressing a chaste kiss to his forehead, before she slips back out of the room, and into her bedroom. the clock by her bed reads 3:07, and she sighs, her exhaustion overtaking her once more. she smiles at the sight of her husband, still knocked out in the same position. she lays back down next to him, wrapping her arms tightly around him, as she revels in his large stature and radiating heat, falling asleep next to him almost immediately.

she was a little shocked when she'd gotten a call in for work the next morning. well 'work' is a better way of putting it, as you can't exactly put 'multiverse-hopping for the spider society' on a resume.

she'd worked with the gajillion other spiders in nueva york for a little over 3 years before she'd had to take maternity leave for the little baby she was currently heating up a bottle of milk for. on the other side of the kitchen, her husband was allowing gabe to sit on his shoulders and play with his hair as he tried to clean dishes, and she suppresses a laugh at the sight, plucking gabe off his shoulders. "enough of that, baby." she muses, "you'll mess up daddy's hair," she sets him into his high chair, gently sticking the bottle in his mouth, as her husband comes and sits next to her. she gently runs her hand through his hair, straightening it out where gabe messed it up.

"miguel?" she starts, and he nods, his eyes looking up at hers, "i've gotta go in today." he furrows his brow a little, before realizing what she was talking about.

"¿cuándo regresarías?” (when’ll you be back?) he mumbles, still a little sleepy from the hectic morning. she shakes her head.

"no clue yet. think we can get a sitter for him?" she cocks her head to gabe, who was happily enjoying his bottle himself. miguel sighs, rubbing his eyes a little.

"no creo, cariño" (i don't think so, sweetheart.) he looked stressed, and she looked at him sympathetically, so she shakes her head.

"that's okay, hun." she rubs his knuckles a little, "i'll just take him with me." miguel's eyes widen in worry, and she chuckles.

"it's just a consultation, don't worry." she smiles, "we'll not move an inch from the headquarters." his shoulders relax a little, and a smile finally falls over his tired face.

"uhm, claro. si, suena bien, sure." (right. yeah, that sounds good, sure.) he pauses for a moment, "uh, will the big guy be okay with it?" she looks at him confused, before she bursts out in laughter, making gabe jump a little, dropping his bottle. she winces a little, picking it up for him and mumbling a quick 'sorry' 

"are you talking about other-miguel?" she teases, and he groans with a smile.

other-miguel was her boss, the person in charge of the spider society. it'd been an... experience when she'd first met him.

originally, her recruitment was overseen by spiderwoman - jessica, her lovely friend who she was now coaching through her own pregnancy. because jessica brought her in, she'd not actually met other-miguel until nearly 2 months in.

the first time she'd seen him had been when jessica was at home - or her home universe - and she'd instead had to discuss her next mission with him. she'd gone up to his office, ready with a quip about how he had the same name as her long-term boyfriend - but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw her boyfriend's back in front of her. her eyes widen, and her greeting catches in her throat. other-miguel looks back at her, and he's got a similarly surprised look in his eyes.

"¿cariño?" (sweetheart?) he asks in his familiar, gruff voice. it was tinged in slightly more exhaustion.

"hon - honey?" she stutters out, finally able to clear her throat enough to talk, "what are you doing here?" he blinks in shock, before he sighs deeply, realizing what had happened.

"no - no, no soy…" (i'm not) he inhales, "you're seeing a miguel o'hara?" she blinks.

"honey, what are you-"

"no-" he cuts her off, "i'm not your miguel." her eyes narrow, before it dawns on her.

in the entirety of the spider society, there were countless versions of 'peter parker', a handful of 'miles morales's, and more than a few 'gwen stacy's and plenty of 'm.j.'s. it would be, in fact, more shocking that there wasn't more than one miguel o'hara in the multiverse.

"oh." she mumbles, "oh." a beat passes, "do you - you know someone like me too?"

his face is downcast. it's a touchy subject.

"si. así es." (yeah. that’s right.) there's a silence that passes over them, before his face becomes stern again, and he begins explaining the mission.

it took 3 more missions for other-miguel to open up about the woman she reminded him off, and she, in turn, would point out the differences between him and her boyfriend. they had a strange bond, something that was difficult to properly explain to anyone else, but they felt no obligation to.

she knows miguel found it hard to be around her at first. every time he'd look at her, his face would flash in a pain that she only came to know about later, and one she hoped to never understand. similarly, it made her feel weird to be seeing and hearing her boyfriend, yet having to adamantly remember that it wasn't him. it became better after a while, as it was easier to notice the differences between her miguel and other-miguel.

now, she was good friends with him - at least, as friendly as anyone could be with him.

"yeah, he won't mind," she continues, talking to her boyfriend, "besides, peter brings his little one in constantly. it'll be fine." she smiles, and her husband seems to calm a little.

"perfecto." he rises slowly, pressing a kiss to gabe's forehead, and then her lips, "¿te vere ésta noche?" (i'll see you tonight?) she nods with a small smile.

"yeah, honey." she waves him off as he heads to work, before she picks up gabe, "you ready for some misadventure, baby?" she teases, pressing a kiss to his nose. he coos in response, and she takes it as a yes, pulling out her watch.

after a couple minutes, a multicolored portal opens in her kitchen, and jessica walks in, waddling a little with the large weight in her stomach. she grins wide at the sight of the mother and son, cooing at the adorable child.

"i haven't seen you in ages!" jessica drawls, taking her into a hug, before plucking gabe up, and playing with his little baby hands, "have you grown, gabe? you're so big now!" he giggles in response, as though he's taken the compliment, and jessica laughs, handing him back to his mother.

"how've you been, jess? how's the tummy?" she asks, rocking gabe slowly. jess rubs her stomach, pouting a little.

"they're kickin' and screamin' to get out." they both laugh at the comment, before jessica pulls out a small, baby-sized watch, a visitor pass for baby gabe, "here." she slips it over his small wrist, "don't want you glitching out, do we?" jessica steps back, before looking back at her, "ready?"

she nods, clutching gabe a bit tighter.

"baby's first." jessica jokes, leading her forward. she adjusts gabe on her hip and the watch on my wrist, stepping in. gabe coos in interest at the colors of the portal, and he has to blink a few times when he realizes that the actual h.q. is significantly *less* interesting. he fidgets a little, brows furrowing in confusion, which causes her to soothe him with a hand running along his back.

"it's okay, baby." she whispers in his ear, glancing around at the familiar building and familiar spider-people milling about. a couple of them nod or wave in recognition, and she greets a few, before jessica pulls her along.

"c'mon, miguel and peter b. need us." she nods at jess's statement, tucking gabe's head in her shoulder and following the woman up to miguel's office.

as soon as they walk in, she see miguel and peter, stood on his suspended platform, look back at them, and 4 youngins on the floor look back too. they're a diverse group, teenagers and just older, and of course, she knew hobie and pav. immediately, the two of them come up to greet her, excited to see her after so long.

"you're back?" pav says excitably, and she laughs.

"no - no, not yet, sorry, guys." she clarifies, and gabe's head pops up at the noise. pav and hobie's eyes widen.

"you've go' a kid now?" hobie's accent, strong as ever, shines through. she rolls her eyes playfully.

"why'd you think i left? for fun?" peter's come down to join them at this point, and he engulfs her in a side hug, before taking gabe off her.

"and how is my little godson doing?" he coos, playing with the baby. she smiles at the interaction, before looking around him.

"where's my goddaughter, pete?" she asks curiously, wondering where may's head of vibrant red is. peter cocks his head in miguel's direction, making her look back up to see the infant crawling around on his giant, familiar shoulders. she laughs, and miguel finally comes down to join them. she sees the other two teenagers' faces scrunch in confusion, and it's suddenly evident to her that they're newbies, and they don't yet know that miguel's slow descent is nothing but a fear tactic and, more often than not, he'd use the faster setting to get to the floor in seconds. he comes up to her, a gruff expression on his face, and the teenagers' seem concerned. until, he dons the slightest hint of a smirk on his face. he nods his head in greeting, and she salutes him, and small grin on her face, as may practically slides down from his arm and into her chest, making her catch the baby with an exaggerated stumble and 'oomph!', "aw, you've grown, haven't you, may-be?" she smiles, having given her goddaughter an adjacent nickname to her own child, "what trouble have you been getting into?"

meanwhile, pav and hobie - uncharacteristically - were cooing over gabe in pete's arms. i turn to the teenagers, and jessica introduces me.

"gwen, and miles - visitor." jess clarifies, pointing at both respectively.

"nice to meet you guys." she nods back, looking between them and may, trying to crawl on her shoulders.

after a couple more moments of catch-up, miguel and pete pulled her up to the panel, along with may and gabe, and jessica pulls the other 4 out. miguel begins explaining the reasoning for the call-in.

"so, these 4 are being assigned to an anomaly. the girl's only been here a month - this is her first real mission - and the guy's here to prove himself." she quirks a brow.

"so he's been here less than a month and he's already on a mission?" it's not common - even she'd had to dredge through a month and a half of training sessions and simulations before going on her first mission - and even that was with jessica. miguel shrugs in response to her question, and peter interrupts.

"i vouch for him. he's a - he's a good kid. mentored him myself. we stopped a multiversal collapse together before." he says casually, so casually that she can't help but giggle. it'd been a year since she'd heard about things like 'multiversal collapses', and she still wasn't used to it.

"okay, where do i come in?" she asks, pulling gabe off of a monitor he wanted to play with.

"you can sit right here and just guide them. peter también va a estar aquí, solo, guialos ¿está bien?" (peter's gonna be here too. just... coach them, you know?) miguel explains, and she nods.

"right... sure. yeah, that works." peter smiles, and miguel points to a monitor.

"your station, m'lady." peter jokes, making her laugh. she sits down, gabe on her lap, slipping an earpiece in her ear and beginning to read the data file on the anomaly the 4 were looking to contain. after a couple minutes, she hears the crackle of a girl's voice - gwen - through the ear piece.

"hey! we've just arrived in the universe." she nods at the confirmation.

"perfect. you guys ready?"

the mission was relatively quick to finish, and she had celebrated with peter once hobie's voice had crackled through, saying the anomaly was captured. he stayed behind to monitor it while the three teens headed back, and she sighed in relief, finally picking gabe up from his place crawling on the floor with may.

while her and peter were tensely trying to ensure the kids were safe and everything went to plan, the two infants had been having the time of their life playing with each other. gabe would find it tremendously entertaining whenever may would begin climbing on walls, and he had tried a few times too, only getting as far as a meter up before his mother pulled him off out of her worry. nonetheless, he absolutely was determined to climb onto a monitor, which resulted in a slight hassle when peter lost audio for a moment.

by the time the mission was over and gabe was back in his mother's arms, he was out like a light, exhausted by his long day in the spider society.

after miles, pav and gwen had made it back, peter was sure celebrations would be in order, something that miguel seemed to be staunchly against, and something she had to reluctantly decline.

"sorry, guys, i should get back home. the little guy's already sleepy, and miguel should be back home by now." the sentence confused gwen and miles, as they looked between her and the intimidating boss of the spider society. she smiles at their confusion, but opts to let jessica explain, as she says her goodbyes and heads out. may, distraught at the thought of not being able to play with gabe anymore, makes a daring attempt to escape with him and his mom, only foiled at the last moment because of an attentive miguel. she smiles at the sight, petting her hair and letting may wave one final time at gabe's sleeping form - moving his hand to mimic a wave back - before heading to the portals.

when she tries to hand back gabe's visitor's pass to jessica, it's fruitless, as the other woman insists she keeps it, a certain knowing look in her eyes. she tries to ignore it, smiling in thanks, as the two head back.

correct to her belief, miguel - her miguel - was changing out of his work attire when they arrived and, upon hearing his greeting to her, gabe's eyes shoot open, excited at the thought of seeing his dad after the long day apart. it makes her laugh, and she sets the infant down on the couch to take off his wristband.

"¿qué tal todo?" (how was it?) comes miguel's - maybe perpetually - sleepy voice from behind her as she fiddles with the closing mechanism of the band.

"good. gabe tried climbing on a few walls, met his godsister - if that's a thing - met other-miguel and his godfather. got to meet the kids too." she lists off quickly, taking off the band and placing it to the side, not realizing that miguel is right behind her now.

he wraps his large arms around her, warmth encircling her body as she squeak in slight shock, making gabe laugh.

"and how was it for you, mi amor?" (my love) he asks, pressing a kiss to her cheek, making her smile.

"well, we saved the day. so it was very good." miguel nods, not letting her go.

"muy bien, muy bien," (good, good.) he whispers, seemingly now less interested in the answer to his question and more interested in the fact that he could hold her after his grueling day.

as soon as the hug lasts a little too long, though, they hear an indignant whine of disapproval, making them both laugh after a moment of shock. miguel detaches from her, and she reaches down to sit with gabe, before pulling him into her lap. his face immediately breaks into a smile, and miguel settles next to them.

"¿qué pasa, bebé? (what is this, baby?) you won't let me hug your mom anymore?" he says in playful upset. gabe frowns at his words, settling farther in his mom's arms.

"i think he's a little jealous." she teases, running her hands through gabe's thin head of hair.

"¡increible! (unbelievable!) i knew her first, amigo." the joking annoyance makes her laugh, as she places a big kiss to gabe's cheek and then to miguel.

"boys, boys. there's enough love for me to share." as if hearing her, gabe whines in annoyance again, making her and miguel look at each other with wide eyes.

"o - okay, it's all for you, gabe." she reassures, letting him rest his head on my shoulder. she looks up at miguel. "please don't start whining, now." she teases. he laughs quietly.

"no te prometo nada." (no promises.)

[myrmyrtheorca]

give me your favorite manga or anime of all time. NOW. like, the ones who changed you as a person. if you are okay with questions like that!

HELLO HI I RISE FROM THE GRAVE FOR THIS INCREDIBLE YAPPING OPPORTUNITY

fr tho thank you Lottie for asking me too despite my death apparent, this will be long, I'll put the honorable mentions first as to make it a little more interesting and KHR will be at the bottom for the same reason-

Honorable mentions!

Sailor Moon - love myself some female friendship and magical girls. And women who could kick my ass like Pluto.

Black Rock Shooter - as above, plus vague setting and cool transformations.

Fate series - ok hear me out. I haven't watched the anime and just started the VN, I mostly play the mobile game, but it's about history and there's cute girls in it. Peak.

The Vision of Escaflowne - COOL MECHAS (hasn't finished it)

Yuru Camp - CUTE GIRLS FRIENDHIP AND COZYNESS also relaxing music (hasn't finished it)

Serial Experiments Lain - what the fuck was that

Violet Evergarden - tears? tears in my eyes? stop???

Dungeon Food - I'd have put this above if I wasn't just at the second volume of it, holy shit this is so fun but I feel it will crush my soul soon

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Ah. Lord, NGE. The vagueness of its worldbuilding, the psychological aspects, the occult and religious simbology, and the GODDAMN MUSIC. If you like classical, epic and otherwordly music, I beg you to check out NGE's score even if you're not interested in the anime itself because Shiro Sagisu is a gift from the gods and one of the best composers of our time. The series is a masterpiece. People despise the movies but IMO they do exactly what a movie should do: entertain. Anno embraced the "I'll be cringe, but I'll be free" and went all out on them, as he should have. Also, there's Kaworu Nagisa. Look at him!

Steins;Gate

PLEASE. PLEASE DO AND DON'T DO THIS TO YOURSELF AT THE SAME TIME. I WAS NOT READY. This anime will take your heart, embrace it, warm it up, GRIP IT IN ITS HANDS, CHEW IT AND SPIT IT OUT. Admittedly I played the VN because I wanted to experience all endings and OH MY GOD. It's terrifying and emotionally damaging. I started playing the sequel (Steins;Gate 0) and I had to STOP because it's so gut-wrenching in all the good ways that I need to be in the right spot for it.

Bleach

talk about recent experiences. I live under a rock when it comes to popular anime most times, and I never had the occasion to watch Bleach until recently (still haven't technically finished it because I'm waiting for TYBW to finish releasing to watch it). I... don't know what it is about Bleach that I like so much, but it got me in a similar way to KHR, as in I think about it often against my will and I'm even considering creating an OC for it. I think it's the characters, because the story is pretty straightforward... yeah, yeah it's the fictional men again. Kubo makes handsome men who fight with swords and transformation and everyone has their own powerups and...hhhngh. Look at this batch of cookies.

Ah no, wait, there's Shiro Sagisu again as composer. Almost forgot. *dances aggessively to spanish guitars*

Dr. Stone

I'm not a science brain, totally the opposite. Math doesn't math, geometry is evil and chemistry is wizardry. BUT, I love things that TRY to teach me those things in a funny and accessible way. I still won't understand them, but it was fun trying! And Dr. Stone has that, it's the moment I realize I like it when things are explained to me in that way, especially through media. Plus, fun characters, emotional moments, and cool plot.

Katekyo Hitman Reborn

Fortunately or unfortunately depending on your opinion on the show, KHR was the first ever japanese piece of media (excluding videogames) I've ever consumed. Being a lonely and socially awkward human being, it soon became my personality. It was these fuckers who made me get into manga altogether, I started buying the volumes (but only up to Varia Arc because 1. I didn't have an allowance, everything was done with Christmas/Easter/birthday money and 2. I was so obsessed with the Varia that my goldfish brain lost interest mid Future Arc.) and from there I discovered the pleasure of physical copies. The show has never aired in Italy, so nobody knew what the fuck I was talking about. It was, as many others were for me, a very lonely experience. But it was also the first time I felt... unique? Like, "this is my special little treasure and nobody can take it from me" kinda thing. I was emotionally invested in this show and every small piece of merch I could find like my Varia character songs CD became some of my most prized possessions (UNTIL I STARTED GIFTING AWAY MY SET OF VONGOLA RINGS BECAUSE I WANTED TO BRIBE PEOPLE INTO LIKING THE SHOW) (YEAH THAT WAS. STUPID. BECAUSE IT OBVIOUSLY DIDN'T WORK. AND ONLY MADE ME FEEL MORE LONELY AND RINGLESS) Then, the falling off. I started playing an MMO that also shaped part of my personality and as you often do with things that remind you of lonelier times, I sold my volumes and stopped thinking of KHR... until recently, when I joined this fandom and the spark came back because fuck it I'll be cringe but I'll be free. I got my fair share of flack for hyperfixating on an old anime at 24 years old, but it's one of the best experiences I've ever had. So yeah. KHR was ultimately good for me.

[thedeal-if]

Ohh y además eres de habla hispana?? A D O R O! Automáticamente te has convertido en fav JAJA

I will continue in English just in case, but I didn't expect you to know Spanish! Lol I have a question, when you write, did you do it in Spanish and then you translated to English or you did the write in English from cero? I want to try to write something sometime but I don't really know what way better ngl (well that's only if your mother tongue is Spanish as I'm taking it for granted lol)

Now let's talk about business... What romances have/will have more angst? Just for research purposes 👀👀

And I don't really know if you answered this before (if that is the case, sorry!) But can you please tell us what kinda action/words can make the ROs meltdown? (But in a sweet romantic way, like RO.exe stop worked I forgot the word for that lol not a meltdown for anger, but if you think is more funny that way, works for me too)

Sisoy 🫂 JAJSJJAS (soy española 😶‍🌫️ a que quieres que te gane)

I write in English! I have for many years lol it helps internalize things better but I do remember translating things at first (I knew like... 0 English at the time lol). It takes some getting used to but I recommend you try and see how you handle it ^^ grammarly helps too when it comes to checking spelling mistakes and all that.

I made an angst top but tbh all romances are angsty to some degree ✨

Imo, the top 4 (Nathan/Aliyah/Lilith/Victor) have pretty... rough moments.

Words that would make them stop functioning below! (crushing stage)

RO.exe stopped working...

Dante isn't exactly shy but he does tend to get a little wordless when he's very embarrassed by MC. He recovers quickly enough so I wouldn't say it wrecks his mind to be flirted with. Instead, the way to probably turn his brain to mush is through art. Dedicating songs, sketches, aligning Dante's existence to that of a muse— worthy of that affection.

Lilith is very sweet and doting her route is pretty much full of repression and forbidden love (Inferno and Succubus lore spoilers, you'll understand when you meet her). Prior to establishing a romantic connection with her, Lilith's brain would melt if MC were to call her out on her attraction toward them.

Honestly, he's known MC since they were very young so it really depends, I think he'd be desensitized at this point lol. In the case that MC is normally very extra, Josh would be pretty much immune to anything they might say— if they're normally more guarded sincere words would break him. Surprises are something he can't handle well.

Villanelle is very sweet and naive, her initial reaction to most affective things MC says or does is to accept it wholeheartedly and return it eagerly. To really really break her would be easy tho lol, flirty MCs would completely shatter her expectations. Villanelle kind of doesn't know how to flirt.

Yeah, no words are getting through to him lol. Victor places no value in them, he needs MC to put their money where their mouth is. Taking care of Victor, small tasks and such, is the best way to startle him. MCs would need to be two steps ahead of Victor. He would be beyond lost, he wouldn't know how to respond to being taken care of.

Aliyah is very calculating and guarded with her true emotions. Even if she's surprised she's going to swallow it all down. I only see one and one thing only completely breaking through her walls and that is MC committing themselves to helping free Aliyah of her shackles.

Honestly, even she admits that would be a terrible decision. But who knows ^^?

Rather than shameless flirting or compliments, Nathan's mind would be blown by genuine and heartfelt words. No sugar-coating it either, just an admission from the heart. He doesn't know how to approach sincerity all that well. Just a very honest “I’m so glad to have met you” would make Nathan's mind get the blue screen of death lol

I don't really see her being all that impressed if MC tried to compliment her in any way lol and she would receive and reciprocate most affective actions naturally. Startling Eden would take effort— taking her by surprise, with her guard low enough that she entertains you. Subverting Eden's views and expectations of MC while she's distracted, for example.

[becauseplot]

I just finished Episode 0 of Ordem Paranormal: Calamidade! I've decided I'm going to do post-episode "journal entry" posts as I watch this season just like i did when I watched OSNF because it's fun and it's a nice record of my thoughts as I work my way through this series. Helps me process stuff too because the lore in this series can get fucking DENSE. I'm sad I didn't do this for OPD (partially because I was instead liveblogging to a discord, which I didn't do for OSNF), so we're changing that this time around.

Gonna preface the first of these journal entries with the fact that I speak little to no Portuguese. Thus, I have to rely on YouTube auto-translated subs (which suffered a lot in this episode, audio was lower quality) and a combo of some Portuguese I've picked up with a tangential understanding of Portuguese via my mediocre grasp on Spanish. This combined with the fact that I am very slow with the mystery and not a puzzle-doer by any means means I might get things horribly wrong or miss details entirely. Shoutout to the discord people for answering my fifty fuckmillion questions about the lore. Anyway journal entry time yippee!

IN-PERSON ORDEM SESSION LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOO

First of all, the fact that Cellbit opened this season saying that even he doesn't know how this season of Ordem is going to end is. Very concerning. But so interesting! Nothing is set in stone, which raises the stakes for this series---the fate of this story is truly in the hands of the players, as there's no longer the GM's guard rails. Or, as strong of guard rails. You get what I mean.

I'll go over story stuff first. My main goal is to at minimum follow the story. Again, I'm really not a mystery head, I'm not too good at theorizing, and the connections between the lore points and plot points tends to become a bowl of spaghetti in this series. If I can at least follow what's going on, I'll be happy.

So it's been a bit under a year since the events of OPD. Things are...strangely quiet. As Agatha points out, for all of Kian's promises for the bloody murder of thousands of innocents, there's been a distinct lack of blood, and murder, and dead innocents. All the better for the Order, which has steadily been growing its own forces in preparation for the oncoming war.

War. We're at war-levels of conflict now. Such an escalation from the days of AOP. It's interesting to see exactly how much more formidable both the Order and the paranormal threats have become. I remember the days of AOP where for a majority of the story, there was a singular gun with a singular magazine (we didn't even have bullet-counting mechanics yet!) and a blood zombie was still a genuine cause for alarm! Now we have Arthur with his giant sniper rifle that he carries around on his back in a guitar case, Dante with his Echo Dolor ritual that lets him bend time and "repeat" previous characters' attacks, and Carina's sick-ass nun chucks and throwing knives against whatever THIS thing is:

And yeah there was a blood zombie too, I guess. But the blood zombies are now just tutorial creatures, used to get players used to the fighting mechanics. (I mean.... I suppose AOP technically had a Degolified in its first session, but there was no way they were gonna kill it, you know? They barely even escaped it.)

The point is that we have come a long way from the days of AOP, and the scale of this world and its conflicts has been steadily ramping up and expanding since that fateful day in January, 2020. The "arms race" between the Order members and the paranormal continues to escalate, and escalate, and escalate.

I mean just look at their health!! Look at it!!! And Jesus Christ that blood zombie they fought at the beginning could've breathed on OSNF!Arthur and he would've died!!

ANYWAY. From what I understand: Veríssimo has found that Arnaldo Fritz's grimoire on the Relics is less promising that he initially thought it would be, and he's concluded that all of the relevant information has been lost. It's up to Arthur and Dante---with some new and returning recruits---to find as much lost information as possible. The video of the "devil" posted online seems to echo a case from over 20 years ago that Arnaldo was on, so it's as close to a lead as they're gonna get.

So they go and investigate! A woman named Elsa was harassed by a voice of a child ("mommy?"), sculpted a bunch of things to try to appease it, and died in the house. She turned into a blood zombie and her organs were gone, likely a result of the organ-sucking that the child-monster does. The gang has a peak around and find out there was some cursed shit with a devil child happening 20 something years ago which was likely terrorizing the more recent woman. Arnaldo had handled whatever came of it and locked it in the basement, and poor Eusábio was never the same, listening to static on TVs and radios believing they spoke "the truth," whatever that means. Could be an Energy thing? Not sure.

In any case, they head back to the house, basement has more blood and weird shit in it surrounding this "devil" and this mother and her child, things happen, and BAM big ol' monster in the house. And it's also the same child that Dante killed in that gone-wrong ritual where he unintentionally aided Kian (among other things)! And it has a weird dice effect to those who are "responsible for a pregnancy"! That one felt awfully targeted, by far the wildest fucked up thing to come out of pregnant Dante lore sorry dude.

Anyway onto the thing I really wanna ramble about CHARACTERS!! THE CHARACTERS!!! The energy in this session was off the charts, the group was so animated and into it and it was so much fun holy shit.

This is definitely in part thanks to Balu, who is the number one defender of the Sillies and Cellbit's number one enemy in regards to the atmosphere of his horrormurderdeath TTRPG. The captions especially hate it whenever people are being giggly so I don't think I caught more than 10% of Balu's shenanigans but the sheer energy of it crosses language barriers, man. This is such a 180 from reserved and socially-anxious Cesar/Kaiser, who was still silly and goofy, yes, but was much less loud about it. Also interesting to have him be a member returning upon Veríssimo's request! I wonder why he retired.....

Next, Rubens! Back from Episode 7 of OPD, letsgo!! (Head in hands. Where is Johnny. Please tell me he's okay.) Jumpy guy! I love how Felps clarifies at every opportunity that Rubens is doing what he's doing, scared. His under-socialized ass is walking around with nothing but a flashlight, a gun, a resting heartrate of 110BPM. And he might be scared literally every second he's alive, but he's not a coward. You never see him run from fights, he always runs into them, just like his friends. And he's not pathetic or blubbery either! He's extremely capable despite the fact that he looks like he's one loud sneeze away from fainting on the spot! When he uses his ghosting ritual to run away from the creature, it's specifically to drag Balu out of the way of a hit that likely could have killed him. Do it scared, or so they say, and by god, is my mans doing it scared!

Carina! Similar to Balu, not too many deep character thoughts about her yet, which sucks :( But her taking out the nun chucks in the middle of the fight had me oh so pleasantly surprised! (Look at her she's kicking ass.) One thing that sticks out to me is the scene where the group is handling Eusábio. That scene was such an incredible display of teamwork, everyone working together to assist each other in the infiltration: Balu and eventually Arthur serving as distraction as Rubens helps Dante slip into the bedroom. Meanwhile, Carina was smart enough to not make her presence known at all so she could freely explore the garage without arousing suspicion! So even if the guys' cover was blown in the house, she could've kept snooping around in the garage. She comes from a famous family of paranormal investigators and is highly praised by her father, the leader of this family business, so I'm very excited to see more of her shine. Also Gabi is just incredible at puzzles. Liz's lore notebook from OSNF beloved <3

Okay, onto the remaining OPD boys. Starting with Dante---what the FUCK is up with his vision. Sometimes mans can see the paranormal, and sometimes mans can straight up SEE things. He "opened his eyes" to read a document and to see the creature, which uh, rip dude bad timing to decide to have vision lol. Have a confronting-the-horrors Rakin/Dante moodboard:

Dante is his same non-plussed self. Still very mellow, not very silly-goofy like a lot of the others here, but not exactly opposed to the silly-goofy. Arthur definitely joke-flirts with him on at least one occasion. Very endeared to the fact that he just recognizes Arthur by his footsteps alone. I always imagine that whenever Cellbit is giving a new-location base description of the party's surroundings, Arthur is quietly relaying all of this information to Dante.

Another fun detail happens when Felipe gets downed by the creature. Dante practically throws himself at Felipe, doing everything he can to save him. And yeah, that's definitely a swirling combo of Felipe being an ally and Dante himself being fueled by guilt over this creature, but... Thiago and Gonzales, right? Rakin (and the other players) remembering Gonzales and letting that bleed into Dante's actions as he desperately tries to save him only furhter reinforces the fact that the Marcados are connected to their "other lives" via the players who played said characters. Love love love toying with the idea that OUR reality is the Other Side to Ordem's reality, like with the special 50% NEX transcending question Cellbit poses to the players. That deserves its own post, I think.

And finally, Arthur. Oh, Arthur, my boy. You've grown so much in the past, what, year and a half since your world got flipped upside down, turned inside out? There's just. A lot going on here. The first impression we get from Arthur is that he's a lot more...serious? He seems older (the white streaks definitely help in that regard), and more mature. He still has his charm and his goofiness, yes, his personality is still there, it's just... All of the people, family, he's lost compounding with his new duty to lead means that his personality has been damped a bit. The constant loss is taking a toll on him, and he's definitely feeling the pressure placed on him, considering he's basically Veríssimo's right hand and has now been explicitly appointed leader of a team.

And circling back to what I was talking about with the "war" theme going on here---Ordem teams have never had an explicit leader. The "leader" role, however, has slowly started to emerge. I think it's because OSNF had such a strong team-as-family dynamic going for it, and AOP was just a gaggle of fresh-faced, severely underqualified and inexperience individuals who were forced to either get your collective shit together or die and bonded into team-as-(dysfunctional)-family as a result. OPD was when the first murmurings of a "leader" came up: Dante encouraged Joui to take a stronger leadership role in order to hold the team together. This mantle was passed onto Kaiser, which was then passed onto Arthur, the last remaining Vulture, the last remaining member of Equipe E, and Veríssimo's right hand. And now Veríssimo has explicitly stated him leader of the team when before, that wasn't seen as necessary. The emergence of the leadership role within the teams no doubt coincides with the fact that they have been approaching and are now involved in a "war;" the situation is grave and the pressure is on, and we need to make sure that there is someone on the team holding everyone together and making sure they stay focused on the mission.

Though, thinking about it, I don't think team dynamics themselves will shift too much as a result. Just because Arthur is technically "leader" doesn't mean that he has to lord it over the group, and so far, he hasn't. He's barely even mentioned that Veríssimo has technically appointed him leader. It's brought up with the others like, maybe once? So far it hasn't played into the characters' dynamics at all, even if Arthur is clearly feeling the pressure. At the end of the day, I do believe in Ordem's strong power-of-friendship theme, and this session has given me hope that this team of characters will feel a little less disjointed than OPD's.

Running through a few extra details: Agatha is beloved and now has at least two (2) friends!! Ivete is still here and I love her, and Veríssimo needs at minimum a glass of water and to take a thirty minute nap in the infirmary. (The base is still sorely lacking in couches and beanbag chairs and overall crash-after-shitty-mission spots. Sad.) But man, the fact that Veríssimo is described as being "nervous" when Arthur n co. walk in for the meeting...

In any case, that's all I got for now. I'm very excited for what comes next :D

[leviallaire]

— BASICS

Name: Leviathan Allaire Age / D.O.B.: 32 12.28. 1991 Gender, Pronouns & Sexuality: Cis man, He/Him & Pansexual Hometown: Paris, France Affiliation: Law Enforcement (Corrupt) Job position: Sketch artist/ Fighter at The Arene. Education: Bachelor's degree in graphic arts Relationship status: Single Children: 0 Positive traits: (hardworking, compassionate, adventurous, friendly, passionate) Negative traits: (self-destructive, addictive, competitive, temperamental, fickle)

— BIOGRAPHY

addiction tw, murder tw, drug use tw, drugs mention tw

Leviathan Allaire is the eldest of the Allaire children. Born and (for the most part) raised in Paris, France. His parents moved to the United States when he was a kid still; to Chicago, Illinois to be exact. Up until the summer of his senior year of high school, they would travel to Paris often. These days, his French accent slips through from time to time. He also communicates through sign language, knows some Spanish, and is learning Japanese during his spare time.

He's been living on and off in NYC for six years now. One year was fully on but he disappeared after going on a bit of a drug bender. At the most he's around for maybe six-eight months before he slips back into his habits and disappears again. But like a stray dog to a familiar place, Levi always finds his way back to the streets of NYC.

He's an addict. He struggles between recovering and reverting ten steps. It wasn't like he knew that he'd be so dependent on the pills he takes, or the white powder he snorts, Levi would've never experimented if he had known the path he'd be down. Still, you wouldn't be able to tell because he puts up a good front.

He hasn't been close to his family since he turned twenty-three. He can't say he blames them for not really wanting to keep in touch, Levi knows he hasn't exactly made things easy for them.

He's a sketch artist, part time DJ, and a fighter on the side at The Arene. He fights to buy his equipment and drugs. Even though he's good at fighting, he doesn't really enjoy the sport. And his job as a sketch artist? It's not all it's cracked up to be. Ironically, he's extremely good at his job when he's higher than a kite, and the police department (for the most part) knows this, but they fuel it so long as it gets them what they need.

Levi's other bad habit, or good, depending how you viewed it, is killing for the good of helping people out. If someone is being harassed in a dark alley, mugged, etc. He isn't scared to pull the trigger without a second thought, and he disappears even quicker. He's left a trail of bodies behind and sometimes he does wonder what ends up happening to those bodies. Do they get claimed? Do they go unnoticed? Does anyone even care?

Affection isn't something he's to, so he doesn't understand how to handle it, and he does tense if someone is too nice. The only affection he accepts is that of whoever is patching him up.

— WANTED CONNECTIONS / PLOTS

TO BE UPDATED SOON

[nysus-temple]

Can I just say I'm jealous that you have multiple translations of Homer in your tongue? My first language has only one translation (well, 2 but the other is prose). For example, they translated the word which English has as resourceful or complicated or man of twists and turns, as "clever" which I don't know how to feel about. None of my friends like ancient Greek literature so you're my go to blog for this 🙈

YEAH- as much as Spanish translations aren't perfect, I guess I can't complain, since at least they're trying kfndkfdfk but I agree, "clever" wouldn't be a very correct option... Because, yeah, sure, Odysseus is clever, the thing is... NOT in the way the translators probably want to put him to be. In other words: he would be the guy at school who fails all of his exams but somehow passed the subject.

In Spanish translations one of the most used epithets for him would be "equal to Zeus in prudence" which, well, I haven't seen English-speakers talk about much. I just think it's really cool when gods are used in epithets okay !!! Like iirc Nausicaa was said "comparable to Artemis" regarding her appearance, but maybe it wasn't Nausicaa, it was Penelope, idk I don't exactly remember right now. I think these epithets are really cool because, since they're comparing to gods, they aren't used with the gods !!! Look it's just really funny when Odysseus has fucked up a couple of times but this epithet describes him as prudent lmao

I'm glad to be your go to blog for this tho !! :'0 I understand the feeling, now my closest friends listen to me rambling about Greek stuff and just. vibe. with it. because they know that i won't shut up. but this exact obsession... I would call it that way, yeah. Is hard to find.

So I'm glad that I can help with that JDKSJDK it's true that I need to get past the Byzantine Era tho, i'm very lost there regarding Greece. Being a classical philology has that screwed up thing, that you have to pretend nothing but Ancient Greece exists so HNNN....nyways, tysm for your words !!

[running-with-kn1ves]

Photographer

Photographer! Male Yandere X Exchange Student! GN Reader

A/N: I am waiting to receive angry anons for botching the language;; perhaps I should have taken french rather than spanish classes :’0. But seriously if there are any mistakes let me know--!

Synopsis: You’re a foreign exchange student who’s been captured by one of your classmates as his ‘model.’

TW: possessive behavior, kidnapping, forceful touching, yandere themes.

"Just stay right there. Sit still." 

He danced on his feet with precision, evading fallen petals and the sheets on the floor. You strained to keep the upright pose he demanded you stay in. 

"Beautiful…Don’t move." 

You turned away as he came foward, taking a picture of your face that was far too close for comfort. 

"Don't look away..." He said softly. 

You turned back to look at him, the photographer snapping a picture as soon as you turned. 

You squinted your eyes at the bright flash. 

"Yves... I really am not... comfortable with this. I've been sitting here for 2 hours." You groaned. 

"I know I know. Just a few pictures." 

That's exactly what he said last time. 'A few more pictures.' 'just a little longer.' 

But things have changed since last time. For one, you were now bound with your hands behind you and your legs tied together. He had never tried to bind you up like this. It was… unsettling, to say the least. But you focused on thinking they were for the shoot.  

You hated and adored being in his photos. Yves always knew how to make you feel like the most beautiful thing in the world. But there was always something lurking under his compliments; a smile that was a bit more than friendly. 

You didn't want to be here in the first place. But Yves had... "invited" you. To call it kidnapping would be wrong. You could never call your best friend a kidnapper. Even if that was... technically what he was. But you were in another country! Maybe people "kidnap" each other all the time here... right? 

You weren't too knowledgeable on the country’s laws but you hoped maybe this was common. Perhaps you just had to tell him you needed to go…one more time? 

"Yves, I really need to go home; I've been here for days," you shifted uncomfortably under the sheets which hardly covered you. "And I don’t understand why the restraints are necessary." 

"It is to uhh," Yves looked for the rights words. "Keep in the shot you know?" 

"Keep in the shot?" 

"Yes, you know," Yves mumbled some words you couldn’t understand, repeating himself despite your confused expression. "keep in the shot. You know." 

"Yves..." you sighed. You still weren't very good at understanding the language yet, and Yves wasn’t the best at english.

Rubbing your hands back and forth you felt the duck tape on your wrists dig deeper. Your feet had already gone numb, and the makeup on your face was beginning to melt from the softbox’s light.

Yves continued to mumble to himself as he took shots from every angle, moving low and high in order to get the best pictures of you. You were just glad that the sticky red paint he covered you in was finally dry; it had made your skin itch. He had been subjecting you to photo sessions every day ever since he brought you back to his apartment. 

Yves was supposed to be watching over you as part of the international student committee. But instead of showing you around the campus or helping you tour the city, you were stuck in his apartment. You were stupid enough to let him "take care of you" after a night of too many drinks while exploring the area. That was several days ago, and soon it'd be weeks if you let him keep you like this. 

But he always knew how to get you; whether it was with his sweet accent and convincing words, or his evading answers in the language he knew you couldn’t understand, he always knew how to keep you for just a bit longer. Even though you were starting to miss classes, and he was starting to become too suffocating. 

At this point, you'd take being stranded on the street if it meant you'd be out of Yves' tiny studio apartment. He wouldn’t even let you open a window to get some air; there was always some excuse, and you believed him every time. After all, he was born here; you were just a foreigner trying not to get lost. 

"Hey hey," Yves noticed your solemn face. "Mon amour, what is the matter?"

You didn’t answer, still struggling with the tape on your limbs. It had loosened just a bit in the past several minutes as you continued to sweat under the light. 

"Why do you look so sad?" He grabbed your chin gently, setting the camera down. 

"I'm tired." You responded, refusing to make eye contact. Yves rubbed your back and mumbled words of sympathy. 

"When can I go home?" 

"Soon Mon chéri soon. But I have many shots to take. You are making it take longer." 

He kissed your cheek over and over again, pulling you close as you went limp against him. You've learned not to refuse his affections anymore. If you did, he'd make you partake in a nude photo session again, just like the last time you refused. The humiliation wasn't worth saving your pride. 

"Kiss me." He demanded, watching you through hooded eyes. 

You bit your tongue. He watched you scoot back unconsciously, nervous at his closeness still. 

"Ne sois pas difficile.... my love just do as I say ." He grabbed your hands from behind, squeezing the tender flesh making you wince. "I'm not mean... do not make me mean.." 

You closed the gap between your lips with his, giving a quick and chaste kiss. But from the touch of his hands, you knew he wanted more.

 As you tried to leave his lips Yves held the back of your head. The photographer only let an inch pass between your lips before he closed the gap once again. You were used to this; used to him doing as he pleased. But at least you weren’t treated entirely like an item. Sometimes he’d beg for you to reciprocate, often in his native tongue.  

"Ne t'arrête pas, amour… kiss me..." 

You did as he asked. Hesitantly, you opened your mouth to let Yves' tongue slide against yours. Your makeup began to smudge as he enveloped you with affection. He gripped the tape around your arms, seemingly trying to tear it off. You wiggled your hands to get them free. 

You even tried to kiss Yves a bit more, hoping it would mean he would continue to help remove your restraints.

"No… no.." Yves pulled back. His mouth separated from yours with a slick pop; a string of saliva still connected you with him.

You wiped your mouth on your shoulder as Yves readjusted your restrained hands. 

"We got off topic," Yves' accent got thicker with his labored breath. "Get back in place." 

Your face was hot as you fixed yourself. The numbing in your fingers helped distract from Yves' lips and his saliva in your mouth. He picked up his camera and stepped back from you, covering his face. You could see from under his hand he was red. 

Yves wiped his mouth and bent down to fix a bit of your smudged makeup with his finger. Standing back up, he readied his camera, calming his breath. 

You did the same, trying to look away. The red paint on your skin began to itch again-- but it felt better to focus on that than the way Yves was eyeing you. 

"Almost done…" Yves set the camera up to his eye, ready to snap another shot. "And after, we can go to bed."

You gulped at the sound of that.

[magicianpanache]

Edward Cullen’s Mad, Mad World

Part 1: The Origins

To understand Edward Cullen, it’s important to go back to his human life, which gives us a very interesting insight into his motivations and way of thinking.

First with the facts: Edward Cullen was born in Chicago in 1901 from a well off family, his father being a lawyer, and his mother taking care of him. In his adolescence, like many other teenagers his age, he dreams of going to war. He claims to have stayed for his mother, but he was only 17 (a minor) when the war ended. His dream ends when he catches the Spanish flu in 1918 and Carlisle changes him into a vampire while he’s on his dying bed.

This seems like little information, but it gives us a lot of information about what kind of person he would become.

While very close to his mother, he and his father are not. In fact, in Midnight Sun, while he mentions his mother a few times with fondness, he only spares a thought to his father when remembering he died of the influenza. The fact he jumps quickly to seeing Carlisle as a father (within the year of his transformation) is telling.

The fact he also mentions or thinks about exactly 0 friends or other family members suggests that Edward was also a lonely child, who, like Bella, took refuge in books. This explains his romanticism and why he took to the government’s wartime propaganda so well, despite being in America, a much more isolationist nation than those in Europe. We can deduce he read the newspaper and saw the adverts and short stories that were omnipresent, from the time he was 13 year old until he was 17, the years that really formed his way of thinking and his sexuality.

Those adverts often portrayed Britain and France as a maiden in need of defense, calling for the population (especially young men) to be part of the war effort. I believe this is the start of his separating people into three groups: protectors, predators and prey. Young Edward internalized those roles, and decided he must become a protector, and the best way to do that is, of course, to join the army to protect young women.

This propaganda also comes with a particular attitude toward women.

Contrary to what many people might guess, the attitude towards womanhood and marriage was not static across time, until the 20th century, after which feminism happened and we became the enlightened people we are today.

Without doing a whole dissertation about it, in the Victorian Era, women began to be seen as paragons of morality, as opposed to evil temptresses of earlier times. Marriages also started to shift from a strictly economic and social arrangement, to also include (gasp) love and respect. Passion and sexuality would follow in the late 1910s and twenties as something to include in a marriage, but were not yet a necessity. Edward grew up with the conflict of nature of women’s sexuality being disputed.

This brings us back to the propaganda Edward’s life must’ve been full of: America’s propaganda, in books just as much as adverts, often focused on women’s sexuality and moral purity.

This propaganda split women into two groups, being at the base of Edward’s madonna/whore complex. There are the moral women, virtuous and self-sacrificing in poverty while they wait for their man to come back, and the immoral shrews, selfish, ruined by wealth, materialism and often drunk (aka submitting to their base urges).

Remind you of anyone ?

Edward grew up high class in the city, where gender segregation had in great part broken down because of the influx of young people in the city in need of work, without their parent’s supervision. This means he would’ve mixed with the higher class “ruined by wealth”, just as much as the lower class “drunks”. As a teenager, he wouldn’t have found the complexity in their characters, assuming their desires or impulses were because they were “lesser” women. Of course, his mother is exempt from this judgment.

This is important because it means that Edward grew up in a time before women’s sexuality was not accepted as a natural part of things (an acceptance which really happened in the twenties).

What can we conclude ?

Human, he already lived in an imaginary world, surrounded by books (and his mother). He gets changed very young, young enough that his vision of people is still very one dimensional. This means that once he gets transformed, Edward already sees women through his madonna/whore prism, and offers himself up as their protector. His few friends and family are also probably dead, explaining why he latched on to Carlisle so hard.

Join me next time as I discuss Edward’s early days as a vampire.

[devilmayfamily]

hii !! i saw your prompts post && i was wondering if you could do #9 with V?? im having dmc5 brainrot again and he's a small comfort :0

Yes, of course I can! Also, sorry this took forever. School was intense for a little with a test almost everyday one week but now I finally have a breather to write!

Prompt #9: "Te amo mi amor" "Whoa, that was hot"

Pronouns: they/them; gender neutral

V is such comfort, we love V in this house. I hope you enjoy!!

________________________________

V had always been a very mysterious one. No one seemed to be able to crack down exactly what made the guy tick or how he worked. V would just smile and site a William Blake quote whenever he was asked. He was like this with everyone. Everyone but you.

He'd recite the most beautiful parts of even the saddest sonnets and play the loveliest classical music on the violin for you. He'd speak to you in all the love languages possible, showering you praises even if you didn't understand a word of it.

Griffon being the bird he is, was a constant thorn in V's side, teasing his master over his 'obsession over you that was clearer than any glass pane'. V ignored him however, pretending he doesn't hear the bird half the time he opens his beak.

It was no secret however, that you didn't appose his form of affection. For you it was actually quite endearing. Some might even say your obsession for him was just as clear.

"Just tell them already!", Griffon whined, having heard his master complement you in Spanish for the third time today.

"No puedo estropear tal belleza", V replied. ("I can't spoil such a beauty")

Griffon rolled his eyes, fading into ink and disappearing into V's skin.

"What did you say to make your bird so angry?", you ask him as you walked over, having seen the two argue.

"His tail feathers are just tied", V replied.

"What is it you're always telling him in Spanish?", you ask.

"It's not that important", V tried deflecting the question.

"Well it must be if he's getting so upset by it", you push.

"Te amo mi amor pero no te preocupes por eso", V says, brushing a strand of your hair away from your face. ("I love you my love but dont worry about it")

"Whoa, that was hot", you whisper.

V smirks, having heard the comment you hoped he wouldn't.

"I said that out loud didn't I?", you ask.

V nodded, chuckling as he watched your face heat up in embarrassment. You covered your face, turning away from the poet, desperately trying not to make eye contact with him.

"T-te quiero también", you whisper. ("I love you too")

V looks a little taken back, not expecting you to have been able to speak Spanish, let alone understand. It was his turn to become embarrassed, realizing you may have understood all the compliments he sent your way in the language. He smiled and relaxed however, knowing this meant you felt the same way for him.

You slowly looked up, daring to look at the man before you. He was keeping his calm even if his own face was now adorned with a light dusting of pink.

"You never told me you could speak Spanish", V says feigning a bit of hurt.

"You never asked", you replied, smiling.

"It would seem there is much I don't know about you", V says.

"Maybe you should take me out then, so you can know more about me", you offer.

V smiles. "I think I might"

[darkfire359]

Thank you for the examples! They are good ones that I had not considered initially.

Example 1 is an interesting one, because *Izzy* is the one who offers *Stede* multiple chances to yield in their duel later. After giving a free "warning" sword to Stede's throat, he knocks Stede down to the ground and puts a sword to him, saying “yield or die.” Stede stalls an answer for before getting out pocket sand. Then he disarms Stede and puts a sword to his throat for a third time, once again offering Stede the opportunity to surrender. Only after Stede clearly refuses via “Let’s call it a draw” does Izzy actually stab him. 

I don't think this any kind of thankfulness for Stede being merciful in e2—if anything it seems outright spiteful, because Izzy seems to view Stede tricking him there as basically "unprofessional cheating", and he sees himself as above that (which is pretty weird and outright detrimental for a pirate, but I digress). But regardless, mercy if nothing else is something that Izzy seems to be able to return in spades, even when he's absolutely furious.

Example 2 is wild because I think you're right that Stede's "perhaps I misjudged you" there is genuine—and yet it's also something I've seen on someone's tumblr list of "times they definitely would have stabbed someone if they were in Izzy's position," which had a lot of people reblogging in agreement. I don't know exactly how to explain it because it doesn't quite hit me the same way, but I suspect it's kind of like what Mary felt when Stede told her "I forgive you for cheating on me with Doug." Or when Stede is like "You couldn't have sidestepped?" after Lucius gets uncomfortably covered in blood, having been dragged by Stede to a bar in clothes Lucius already said were inappropriately nice. Something along the lines of Stede being oblivious about his own role in upsetting other people.

Izzy doesn't care if Stede is willing to "let bygones be bygones"—he's comparatively fine with people retaliating against him for being a dick (e.g. "that's fair" when Ed punched him in the face). I think what he really wants during the show is someone who can give him basic empathy/understanding about the things he's upset about—like losing crewmen while saving Stede from the Spanish, having no one acknowledge the chain of command, no one doing regular ship duties, Ed constantly changing plans on him with 0 communication, and Ed wanting other people to call him "Edward" now (when it clearly used to be Izzy's super special thing). Getting an "Oh, if you're complimenting me, then maybe you're okay," in the middle of that is practically patronizing.

It's kind of tragic, because Stede does really *try* to be kind (sometimes more effectively that other times, e.g. when he actively disregarded Swede's scurvy in favor of his treasure hunt). He's just often ineffective at getting the message to land properly.

So part of Izzy’s problem is that he has this harsh, piratical attitude that treats vulnerability as weakness, right? And it’s this tragic character flaw of his that he can’t just embrace love and kindness and affection like the rest of the Revenge, yeah?

… But is Izzy even wrong? Did he ever have a chance to do anything otherwise?

Like, Izzy peacefully passes by the Revenge, has a perfectly civil business transaction with the tribe, and then Stede comes by to steal the hostages from him. Then he goes to ask Stede to meet his boss, and Stede is immediately nasty to him, even calling him the wrong name (something that, when done to Stede, is an immediate sign that the person doing it is a bully).

Then he treats the crew like prisoners—because that’s the usual procedure that Ed has him do, with no indication otherwise. He wants Stede dead—because Ed told him he was going to kill him, and never said otherwise. Izzy literally quits his job and civilly apologizes to Ed for his anger issues, and then Ed drags him right back into everything. It’s no surprise that Izzy tries to duel Stede, knowing that Ed has issues with killing (he’s probably the person Ed has mostly been “outsourcing the big job” to), and with an unbiased judged, he probably would have been declared the winner—but instead he gets mocked and jeered at.

Then when he arranges the deal with the British, he clearly goes out of his way to keep Ed safe—but also relatively out of his way to keep the crew safe (even though they all hate him). He really is trying to just focus on Stede, and admits that it’s totally fair when Ed punches him. Then he acts kind of dickish as captain—and immediately everyone tries to murder him for it. First time around when he said “What can I do better? I’m open to suggestions!” it seemed ungenuine, but on later watches, I wonder. Buttons warned Stede of his own impending mutiny, but Izzy had no such ally. What would have happened if he did?

His rant to Ed in e10 is particularly assholish, yeah (though Ed’s speech to the crew subtly happens to be about as heartbreaking for Izzy as possible). But Ed also gives him permission to speak freely immediately beforehand, and proceeds to premeditately torture him shortly afterwards.

Even on the Revenge (which is theoretically this complete outlier among the many ships Izzy has been on), did Izzy EVER actually have an opportunity to feel safe and comfortable? Or was he always either stuck around people his boss said he’d have to murder, stuck around people who’d tried to murder him, stuck around people who actively mock him (Frenchie, Lucius, Stede, and Wee John are all seen making fun of his name), or all of the above?

[kindness-ricochets]

I’ve been seeing a lot of thoughts and hc of autistic wylan lately and you seem to also be a fan of the concept. May I ask why? Exactly? I could definitely kinda see it but wanna hear you thoughts you’re always so eloquent

Hey there anon! Sorry for the delay—I’m guessing you already found an answer to this elsewhere while I was off Tumblr for a bit, but just in case, here are my thoughts. This will be heavily personal, but… well, you can’t very well ask an autistic person about autism and expect neutrality!

Autism is different for everyone and can be difficult to pin down, so while Wylan is arguably autistic, he misses several beats that for me would have made him definitively and undeniably autistic. For example, when the bells start to ring, triggering black protocol—I work in a place with a lot of bells and am frequently caught too close to one and normally press my hands over my ears until it’s over because that sound is like shrapnel raking across my insides. All of them. Not just the ear and brain parts. Wylan doesn’t have that sort of visceral reaction, but that may just mean he doesn’t have the same sensitivities that I do, or to the same level. He also never, that I recall, eats meat—as weird as that might sound, eating meat is incredibly complicated with heightened sensitivities to taste and texture. I’m not sure how old I was when I realized it was strange to get up from the table to spit out my food because it viscerally repulsed me. So it might be that Wylan is autistic and has different experiences than I do. Those are things I would include in a story as major indicators of a character being autistic. This might also mean that his father’s way of raising him taught him to hide unusual reactions and stimming behaviors. It’s not that much of a reach to assume a man who tried to abuse the dyslexia out of his son would take the same approach to autism. (More on autism and abuse later.)

So while I’m going to lay out why I read Wylan as autistic, that’s why I think it’s valid to read him as not being autistic as well. Both are valid.

A final caveat, I am well overdue for a reread of the books, so I likely left something out or could have found better examples. Take this as a few of my reasons for a personal headcanon. Anyone who feels differently, that's fine! We can each read things our own way :)

1 - Hyperfixation: The way Wylan loves music

Most of the Crows’ backgrounds color how they see the world: Kaz’s shrewdness, Matthias’s tactical thinking and superstition, Inej’s faith and Suli wisdom, etc. That’s a sign of good character writing. But very little of Wylan’s upbringing seems to have influenced how he sees the world. It comes closest when he thinks about how his father would scorn his new friends, but we never see that scorn from Wylan.

The way a hyperfixation feels, it’s like you’ve always lived in a close parallel world, never fully been a part of the other one where it seems like everyone else lives, but suddenly there’s this bright shining piece of your soul laced through the other world. It lets you connect, it lets you exist in their realm, and you can’t help but filter everything new through that lens because it’s the brightest, most wonderful thing. (I had been between hyperfixations for a while when I started a new job; six months into that work, I read Crooked Kingdom. One of my coworkers thought I had fallen in love, it was that marked a difference.)

So, combining these: Wylan never really acts like he was part of his father’s world, and indeed is in some ways separate from the other Crows, but he parses everything through music, his hyperfixation. He sets words to music to remember them, like he does with the contract. Even his own anxiety is made sense of through music, when in his first narrated chapter, he sets it to music: what am I doing here what am I doing here…. When he’s overwhelmed, his thoughts are “a jangle of misplayed chords”. The Crows have backgrounds that influence how they react to the world, but Wylan’s hyperfixation is his means of experiencing and understanding the world.

2 - Literal thinking: Wylan responds to exact words

In this post, I went into detail on the line where Wylan suggested waking up men to kill them. Wylan is generally unsupportive of killing people—Oomen, Smeet’s clerk, his father… he advocates not-murder in each of these situations. Accepting his aversion to murder, his suggestion to wake men up and kill them seems like a genuine reaction to Jesper saying he doesn’t want to kill unconscious men. Wylan takes things literally.

This happens the most with Jesper, probably because Jesper talks to Wylan the most. Nina and Matthias don’t really register him past how he might be useful, Inej is usually quite direct, and Kaz is very deliberate when he speaks with Wylan. This really interests me because Kaz tends to vary his speech more than the others do, he adapts more to being around other people. He jokes a little with Jesper, spars with Nina, speaks more openly and more sharply with Inej, and he’s precise with Wylan. Kaz may not know what autism is, but he recognizes what’s effective with Wylan.

Another example is when Wylan is sketching the Ice Court plans and Jesper says it looks like a cake. There are plenty of valid responses here: pointing out that concentric circles look like lots of things, that it’s just a sketch, telling Jesper to stop looking over his shoulder. Instead, Wylan says that the Ice Court is sort of like a cake. That… doesn’t sound like something Wylan would normally say. He’s not addressing the whole situation, he’s addressing the specific words Jesper said.

One of the most heartbreaking examples of this (to me, anyway) is with Marya. Wylan does the same thing with his mother, when she asks if he’s there for her money and says she hasn’t got any, and his response is, “I don’t either.” We understand as readers that what Marya is communicating here is that she is so accustomed to being utterly ignored unless she is being used, and if she told Wylan that no one visited but to take advantage and she assumed he was here for the same reason, he would say it wasn’t the case. But he just responds to the immediate statement.

There are a lot of examples of this.

3 — 0% perception, 100% creativity

Wylan can identify things that don’t make sense or that he doesn’t understand, but at the beginning of the series he can’t make leaps, only ask questions. On the Ferolind, he wonders about the source of water at the Ice Court; though Kaz doesn’t say as much, he was clearly wondering, too, because he eventually figured out the underground river. There’s an interesting parallel here where, in the beginning of Crooked Kingdom, Wylan asks a question about how they’ll break into Smeet’s and Kaz tells him to use his eyes instead of running his mouth—at which point Wylan is able to figure it out. I don’t think this is because he never tried before, though, but because no one ever bothered to teach him. Kaz can be harsh but he gives harsh corrections rather than harsh rejections and Wylan learns from him.

It’s hard to understand the world for people with autism. The world is designed and run by and for people whose minds are fundamentally different from ours, whose thoughts and experiences are unlike ours. Imagine trying to learn English or Spanish or Mandarin or any other spoken language if your first language was olfactory. That’s sort of what it’s like for someone with autism to just get dropped into the world and expected to figure this out.

This can be attributed to Wylan’s upbringing, but I disagree with that because none of the others were brought up in the Barrel, either, and Wylan doesn’t understand trade or politics with any special skill. Kaz wasn’t born in the Barrel, but he managed to go from “stealing is wrong” to “wrong isn’t my concern” real quick; Colm Fahey didn’t raise his son on gambling and firefights; the Ghafas never expected their daughter to be away from the family. Only Nina has relevant training—and even that’s precious little, she left school way too early. The others figured it out; Wylan needed a bit more help. He also seems surprised by the way his father conducts business. Wylan takes things on face value—like the time he’s surprised someone would do something, simply because it’s unlawful. This is something he expresses to a group of gangsters. He’s never been taught the way of any world and these things are not intuitive to him.

But Wylan isn’t stupid.

He doesn’t know how to understand the world, but he does understand how things go together. Given a pointy diamond, a handle, and a screw, he cut through Grisha glass. He carries flashbangs and magic napalm, he recreates military hardware—Wylan understands how to make things interact for a specific result. But to me the most telling thing isn’t just that he puts together chemical pieces, it’s that he figured out Jesper controlled bullets. He saw the pieces and put them together.

Wylan can understand when things don’t make sense, but he can’t make sense of them—yet when he understands things at their basic level, he understands them without preconception, for what they are. This is a very autistic way of thinking about things, it goes back to the literalism. He can’t make the leaps of logic other people can, but he also doesn’t make the assumptions they do—“I’ve never heard of a bullet Grisha, so that’s not a thing” vs “Well Jesper’s an almost impossibly good shot and he controls metal and bullets are metal, so why not?”

4 - Broken brain/body connection

Wylan’s great at chemistry and drawing and playing flute or piano—but he’s something of a disaster other times. This is in particular contrast to the other characters, all of whom are physically adept. Meanwhile it’s a challenge for Wylan to climb a rope ladder and he spends a full paragraph trying to figure out what to do with his hands. It’s easy to say, well, he’s used to a sedentary lifestyle, but at this point he’s not. He’s worked in the tannery for months. He’s just physically awkward.

I have less to say on this point only because it’s about something I don’t fully understand myself. I don’t really understand what it would be like to have a body that just… does things? Like normal stuff? Without tics and stims. No idea. Only that Wylan’s discomfort in and seeming lack of mastery of his own body feels very relatable to me.

5 - Abuse

One of the most familiar things about Wylan is how he has been so thoroughly abused and broken down that he’s afraid to do or say much of anything. Again, this is a place his background can be an obscuring factor. Of course Wylan didn’t think to blow up the walls when the first met the parem-juiced jurda and got trapped, he’s a spoiled rich kid! Except, he also startled when Jesper said his name later. Wylan didn’t hesitate because he was spoiled, he hesitated because he had no confidence.

He also thinks Kaz would laugh at him for playing music at his mother’s grave. Now, personally, I can’t see Kaz laughing at Wylan—being indifferent, thinking it’s pointless sentimentality, shaking his head, maybe commenting sharply that they need to go if they don’t have the time. But not laughing. Kaz is a snarky, sharp-edged jerk sometimes, but he doesn’t go out of his way to criticize, he just lets people know when they inconvenience him.

Wylan has been trained to identify attention as negative by an overbearing abusive father who literally saw him as less favorable than a demon. Now, that may have been hyperbole, but Jan criticized everything he could about Wylan—art, music, emotion—and made clear that he was worthless and competent to nothing. (Jan Van Eck can suck a rotten donkey dick but that’s neither here nor there.)

A lot of people with autism experience levels of bullying that have similar impacts. Or as the kids these days are calling it: we go to school. We go to school where we are weird. Where we look weird and move weird and talk about weird things and there’s a whole little bevy of asswipes to makes sure we know it. I got teased more for playing Pokemon and sitting alone reading than the kid who pissed himself onstage at assembly. (This was before Pokemon was cool. I’m old.) And that is not unusual for autistic kids. It’s also not unusual for this to be compounded by relatives or even parents who may be trying to help but don’t understand and can make things even harder.

So we can’t read social cues and we’re taught at a vicious age that everything that comes naturally to us is wrong. Imagine trying to interact in society with that background. There is no guide and most advice from neurotypical people isn’t actually what they mean. It breaks you down.

Wylan’s anxiety isn’t definitive of autism, but isn’t something that was incredibly familiar as someone whose neurodivergent experiences created a strong level of anxiety.

6 — High Compassion, Low Social Competence

Wylan isn’t very good at making friends. In fact, none of the Crows likes him much in the beginning, and only some of them soften toward him by the end. (Matthias and Nina come to respect his skills as a chemist but neither seems to particularly like him.) But you can see throughout the books that Wylan wants to connect with them and be one of them, he just… isn’t. He’s off-beat. He’s weird. He asks questions and mimics behaviors (trying to be cool and tough like Jesper, saying “mission” like Matthias does, imitating Kaz’s scheming face) but he doesn’t quite get how to adapt.

But he still cares about people. Not just them. Everyone. He cares about the people they leave in the ditch outside the prison wagon, he cares about Hanna Smeet, he cares about Alys. He cares about the people who’ll take a hit from Kaz’s sugar caper.

Wylan’s awkward social skills have undeniable big autism energy. I posit his compassion does as well. This is simply who Wylan is, and that means being someone who cares about everyone. I have nothing to back up that this is related to autism. I can say that it’s like me. (Not to brag.) I can’t turn off the part of my brain that says everyone matters. Individuals can opt out of that compassion, but they have it by default. There’s a certain agony in feeling a pull toward and love for just about everyone and yet an inability to develop meaningful connections with them, and that keen loneliness… it just burns.

Again, it’s not definitive of autism, but it’s very similar to an autistic experience.

I said in the beginning that I didn’t think Wylan certainly had autism and I stand by that, but he is a powerfully honest reflection of many people who do. So he can be understood to have autism, and that’s part of the reason some people have that headcanon.

[tourdion]

what do you like about leonard cohen? basically all i know about him is that he is (was?) a singer-songwriter who wrote for example famous blue raincoat. had dark eyes. think he was a jew but could be wrong. anyway, what's special about him to you? really wanna hear:)

well well well well... you definitely came to the right spot... or maybe the wrong spot if its too overwhelming to properly describe & it is 2am but well.... first essential key context is there was a time in my life where with absolutely 0 exaggeration at least 90% of the music i was listening to (often actually a lot higher then this) was leonard cohen like my question every day wasnt hmmm who do i want to listen to 🤔 but specifically which leonard cohen albums do i feel like listening to & with every single one of his albums i had some extended phase where i was completely obsessed with it for a while & i do deeply love every single one & listened to 1000 hours of leonard cohen one year... actually i even have a screenshot of one of those timewhizzs websites with a bar chart for that year demonstrating the extent of my insanity ill try to find it.....

so this is just the preface..... also i just realised im literally wearing a leonard cohen t shirt rn 😇

i think i have to say the one thing that i find really special about him is his depth.. sounds like such a generic way to describe poetry and music but i mean it in a lot of ways... first that in every single line has been created with so much intention and contains so much meaning.. one example of this is in the song take this waltz (which may be my favourite song ever) which is a translation & adaption of a lorca poem which includes a line leonard cohen added himself "theres a bar where the boys have stopped talking theyve been sentenced to death by the blues" which refers to a time that lorca met up with hart crane with a mutual friend translating for them who eventually left as they came to a gay bar bc he was straight so they could no longer communicate & eventually lorca was killed by spanish fascists who wore blue uniforms & hart crane killed himself like there is a whole story in just these two lines and multiple meanings within this as well

i remember when i first got extremely intensely insanely obsessed with him after you know only being casually obsessed for a few years it was via this song and i didnt even know the story behind this line yet but actually even then it already was my favourite.. but i remember thinking how there was so much intricacy in each of the worlds in these songs i specifically remember thinking that i wished i could just live in his music for a while (then proceeded to do exactly that for the next year 🤓)

another thing is there have been so many cases with so many of his songs that i have just listened to that one song on repeat for days and unlike so many other people his music never ever gets boring after this and actually just gets better as you gain a deeper understanding

another song that i find really fascinating is obviously famous blue raincoat but the thing that really fascinates me is it is really actually so vague but the story it creates for people is often very vivid or at least obvious seeming... so many articles/reviews/quiz answers/people ive interrogated over the years have had so many insanely different interpretations & while sometimes people maybe less secure in their answers like oh i havent listened that much i might be wrong etc the basic premise of the song is mostly just assumed to be as they think & its the details that are less clear but these "basic premises" are always so different & this is what i love!!!!

lets end with a tale from my childhood... so i was a very out of touch child who hadnt watched shrek or the x factor so the first time i heard hallelujah was in my school choir & to make sure we remembered songs properly we werent allowed to read words to songs and i remember being so stunned by the beauty of the words when the choir teacher read those lines to us...

also realising i havent really touched upon my deepest love for him even at all yet but i was frantically drawing diagrams between his songs and constantly having to add more details because there is always just so much there in all his writing.. so my main obsession is his religious/romantic ambiguity & from his very first novel to his last albums he released in his 80s there are still common themes & its just all so insane

so this is a picture of my diagrams i could find quickly on my phone but its very likely that more couldve been added since......

[mcdannoangelwolf]

immortal and non-immortal AU (Feel free to ignore this and do whatever you want. Ship McDanno with Danny being the immortal one. Something maybe involving Steve's research on Danny, which is canon, but when cross referencing facial recognition[maybe testing out an upgrade Jerry added?idk xD] and popping up through old archived history photographs and paintings and articles are people who look EXACTLY like Danny, and Steve falls through his rabbit hole before confronting Danny?)

@space-ace-ravenclaw-demigod

Thank you so much for this prompt! I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to get it out. Work has been hectic and this prompt got away from me. This will likely be re-written and expanded later on.

I twisted it a bit from the "traditional" Immortal. I took some of the premise, (what I could get from the previews as I haven't seen it lol), from Infinite. I hope you enjoy it!

The Story is almost 3k words and 6 Microsoft word pages long so I'm adding a read more.

Steve had always noticed that Danny was…different. There was a soulfulness in his eyes that contrasted with his long-suffering attitude toward people. He could be the sweetest and most kind man in existence but, with the flip of a coin, have an almost murderous contempt for idiots, criminals, and just bad people in general.

He had a wide breadth of knowledge but seemed to enjoy, if not playing the fool, then at least downplaying his own intelligence. Steve never called him out on it. After all, why would he? People were allowed to be who they were. To behave how they wanted. Steve was well aware that he had his own set of quirks. There was a reason Danny called him a Neanderthal.

So Steve didn’t push, didn’t pry. When Danny spouted some obscure fact or knowledge Steve accepted it and moved on. He took the excuses Danny gave for knowing “limited” amounts of Russian and Spanish at face value, even though he could tell they were bullshit.

No matter how close they got, (closer than Steve had been to anyone in a long time but not as close as Steve was wanting; yet at least), Steve let it go. It was frustrating, sure, but even the batshit frustrating stuff about him Steve loved.

Steve may have had more quirks than he was aware of.

It wasn’t until 5-0 got involved with beta-testing a next-gen facial rec program that Steve’s curiosity got the better of him. The program was meant to crawl the web for matches to any person's picture it was given. It was supposed to pull from any publically available image, archive, or website. Jerry had tried to explain the exact methods but the only one who seemed to really understand was Chin.

Out of curiosity, the team had taken turns putting their pics in to see what the program would bring up. Everyone but Danny and Jerry. Jerry had spouted off something about Big Brother and some other conspiracy theories that Steve hadn’t paid much attention to. Danny though, Danny had just said no. A vehement, stern no that brooked no argument.

Steve hadn’t pushed. Hadn’t thought to, to be honest. They were having too much fun. Steve’s pic brought up a bunch of news stories about 5-0. As well as news articles about his wrongful arrest for Jameson’s murder.

Chin’s picture brought up bittersweet kinds of memories. Old wedding announcements for him and Malia.

Kono’s pic brought up all kind of old news articles about her former surfing career.

The program’s reach was interesting but they all agreed that it felt a bit invasive. Since they basically had free-run of it though they were able to delete their searches and it’s results. Shortly after the team testing,were they caught a case and Steve forgot all about Danny’s reticence to play around with the program with them.

Once the case was solved, the bad guys caught, and justice was served; Steve was alone in the office, catching up on paperwork. Everyone else had gone home hours ago and Steve himself was about to call it night. He would have left sooner but it was Thursday night and, if he got it all finished, the team could have a three-day weekend. So once all the I’s were dotted and the T’s were crossed Steve packed up and headed for the door.

As he was locking up his office though he glanced over at Danny’s office and once more remembered Danny’s reluctance to experiment with the program.

In the back of his mind, Steve knew was a bad idea. Potentially crossing the line, but he couldn’t help but be curious. Knowing If Danny found out there would be hell to pay Steve booted up the tech table and brought up the program. Using a photo from his phone, (one taken of Danny and Grace on his beach a few weeks back), Steve ran the program.

It took longer to come back with results than it had for the others and when it was done Steve still didn’t expect much. Some articles about 5-0, maybe some stuff from back in Jersey.

Steve was so, so wrong.

*** Steve sat outside Danny’s apartment, drumming his fingers on the wheel nervously. He kept looking at the thick folder on the seat next to him, then back at Danny’s door. Debating.

It was crazy. Absolutely crazy. The folder contained the results of the facial rec program Steve had run on Danny. It had turned up a lot of results. A lot of them. Dozens upon dozens more than it had for everyone else. Combined.

But the results… couldn’t be possible. Couldn’t be real. But they were. Steve had checked. Had looked up every single result individually. Just to make sure. Even having done that though Steve was still having a hard time believing what he had found. Surely there was some sort of explanation for it.

They said everyone in the world had a twin, that there were only so many faces in existence, but a single face; across hundreds of years. Near perfect matches. It was insane. Impossible.

Wasn’t it?

Steve didn’t know. He had seen some weird things in his time as a SEAL. Things he couldn’t explain, even to this day. But nothing like this. Steve had tried to ignore it. To bury it along with all the other weird shit he had seen in his life.

But this wasn’t weird shadows or unexplained sightings in some backwater country overseas. This was Danny. His partner and best friend. It had to be some sort of massive coincidence but Steve couldn’t seem to ignore it. So even though he was sure Danny would light his ass up for running his picture he put together everything he had and now sat in front of Danny’s apartment.

Before he could try and talk himself out of it Steve grabbed the folder and headed for the door. He had barely finished his third knock when the door swung open to reveal Danny in a black tank-top and shorts, holding two beers between his fingers.

“I was wondering how long you were gonna sit out there.” Danny smirked, stepping aside to let Steve in before holding out the beers. Steve took one of them and downed half of it as he walked across the matchbox of Danny’s living room to the lone chair.

Steve dropped into the chair and dropped the folder on the coffee table.

“What’s up with the file, we got a case?” Danny questioned. Moving to sit on the sofa.

Steve, not knowing how to start the conversation just pushed the folder across the table to him. Danny quirked his eyebrows at him but took a swig from his own bottle and flicked the folder open.

The curiosity immediately fell off Danny’s face as he flipped through the contents of the folder. Printouts of the pictures Steve had found on the net. The normal stuff he had expected to find. Pictures of Danny from back in Jersey, from the papers where he had received commendations, a group photo of his police academy graduation, his wedding announcement to Rachel. All the normal stuff.

But then it got weirder. Older pictures.

A shaggy-haired hippy at war protest from an old 60s newspaper.

A black and white pic of a group of men in high waited trousers, suspenders, and white shirts. A short man with slicked-back blond hair, smoking in the middle of the group.

Sepia-toned pictures of different old cowboys. Long hair scraggly under their hats with drawings ,broad mustaches.

Still older. Oil paintings and charcoal drawing. Carved and clay busts. Pictures of forgotten frescos and tile art.

The man in every picture had, objectively, the same face. A minor difference in pic. Skin tone, hair, or eye color. But it WAS the same man. It was Danny.

“Where did you get these?” Danny’s voice was hoarse as closed the folder.

“I got bored. I know you didn’t want to but I ran your pic. I figured you didn’t want to cause there was something embarrassing.” Steve murmured, stomach in knots. Danny wasn’t reacting how he thought he would. With dismissiveness of the program as a glitch or some sort of coincidence. Instead he was neutral. Almost calculating.

“Does anyone else know?” Danny questioned without looking up.

“What? Danny, what’s going on?” Steve barely got the words out before Danny was up and looming over him. Steve instinctively shrank back further in the chair; eyes locked with Danny’s as he gazed up at him.

Danny’s expression was a hurricane on a midnight sea, sharp lightening across the midnight sky, and raging forest fire all at once. Angry, wrathful, and lethal. For the first time in their relationship, Steve was actually afraid of the man before him.

“Did you show anyone else, does anyone else know?!” Danny growled, low and sinister.

The tone was ice in his gut and a splash of cold water on his face.

“No. No one else. I transferred the results to a thumb drive, erased the search, the results and even uninstalled the program. I used my laptop at home to get all these…with a VPN. I erased the drive and the results there too.” The words tumbled out of Steve in a frenzied rush. It was all true. He hadn’t known what he had, still didn’t but he hadn’t wanted to take any kind of chance and had made sure that his actions couldn’t be traced.

Danny stared at him for a moment before his face softened into a tired expression. Steve’s breath caught in his throat as Danny rested a hand over his cheek for a moment before turning to drop onto the couch.

Steve wrangled himself back into composure as watched Danny drain his beer before resting his head in his hands.

“It’s not some kind of glitch in the program or weird coincidence is it?” Steve asked, voice hushed.

Danny let out an inelegant snort and fell back against the sofa before replying.

“If I told you it was, would you leave it alone? Would you walk out and forget you ever saw these, that this conversation ever happened?” Danny asked, eyes on the ceiling.

Before Steve could answer though Danny went on.

“Of course you wouldn’t. You might for a day or a week; maybe even a month. But eventually, we’d be right back here.” Again before Steve could make any reply Danny was up and moving past him.

Steve craned around and tracked him into the kitchen where he pulled a bottle of booze and two tumblers from the cabinet.

“Sip it slow,” Danny told him, handing three fingers of amber booze, “It's older than both of us.”

“You sure about that?” Steve asked without thought, eyes on the closed folder.

Danny dropped heavily onto the couch and sipped at his drink. Following his lead, Steve took a cautious sip of what turned out to be an amazing scotch. It flowed over his tongue, dark and smooth, tasting faintly of tart cherry and citrus.

“Good right,” Danny asked quietly, “it should be. It's fifty years old.”

Steve choked a bit on his second sip at the revelation. A fifty-year-old bottle of scotch this good would cost thousands.

“It was a gift to me, from my last lifetime.” Danny spoke quietly, staring into his glass.

“So those are you….how…what are you?” Steve hated how hoarse his voice was and the way he squeezed the tumbler.

Danny downed the last of his booze and put the glass on the table.

“I’m a human. Just like you. Not a vampire or a highlander or whatever else you might be thinking of. I’m Daniel Williams, born 1976 to Clara and Edward Williams in Newark, New Jersey.” Danny spoke without looking at him, instead, his gaze was locked on the wall opposite the couch.

Steve’s heart clenched at Danny’s quiet, defeated tone, his wretched expression. Without thinking about it he tabled his glass and moved to sit next to his friend.

“Danny…you don’t…” Steve started, intending to tell him he didn’t have to go on to, to tell him. Before he could though Danny went on.

“I’m an Infinite. It’s what we call ourselves. When we die, we come back. Sometimes instantly. Sometimes it takes a bit. But never more than a week or two. We get eighteen years of normal life. The day we turn eighteen memories from our past lives start to trickle back in. Within a year we can recall our last life in perfect detail. If we push we can usually recall a few dozen. Some Infinites dedicate their entire lives to remembering their past lives.” The words fell out of Danny in a rush and with every sentence, Steve developed more questions.

Steve was still processing when Danny spoke again.

“I know you’ve got a thousand questions. Since we’re doing this I will do my best to answer them all. Eventually. But, for now, can we please leave the heavy stuff for later? No God, Devil, Heaven, or Hell stuff? Please?” There was a desperation in Danny’s voice that Had Steve agreeing without thought and locking his more existential questions up for later.

“To be clear,” Steve asked after a moment, “You’re talking about Past Lives, Reincarnation?” It was a stupid question, that was obviously what they were talking about. But Steve needed a moment.

“Yea, Reincarnation,” Danny nodded at the folder as he spoke, “Those are just a few. Honestly, I’ve come one-upmore times than I can recall. I don’t often try to get the details, but stuff trickles in whether you want it or not. Old memories, skills or knowledge; languages. You can build on stuff from lifetime to lifetime. A lot of Infinites make it into a contest. Trying to one up each other, they’ll spend lifetimes practicing and training. Just thinking about it is exhausting.” Danny actually chuckled a bit and Steve felt himself relax a bit.

“How many are there?” Steve questioned after a moment.

“Only around two hundred. Sometimes it’s hard to keep track. Sometimes Infinites stop coming back and new ones show up. It’s a real bitch when that happens transferring wealth and property from a Finished Infinite to a new one. Lots of paperwork and bureaucracy. You think Congress is bad, you should see a group of semi-Immortals trying to get things done.”

Over the next few hours, Steve asked several questions and Danny answered every one.

“Do you look the same every time?” “Pretty much. Hair color and eye color will vary sometimes. Height and build too. But always the same face.”

“Does your family know?” “If they do they’ve never mentioned. When you start to remember, another Infinite shows up to explain it all. We can recognize each other and when we start to remember another Infinite is drawn to us. I dunno how, we dunno how. It just happens.”

“You mentioned, wealth.” “Yea, that’s complicated. We accrue wealth from lifetime to lifetime. Stashed in banks across the world. I usually don’t bother with it. I’ll arrange for mom and dad to get some for their retirement, Grace will get a scholarship to whatever school she wants. Other than that, It’ll sit there.”

Eventually,, Steve asked the question that had been burning in his mind.

“So what does this mean for me, for…us?” Steve was afraid of the answer. He was SEAL, he knew about Black Ops, about classified. This wasn’t the kind of information that just anyone could have.

Danny turned and sat cross-legged on the couch to face him and poked and prodded at him until he did the same.

“Unless you plan to go around, running your mouth about immortals walking around nothing is gonna happen to you Steve. One person a lifetime is allowed to know. I don’t usually bother telling anyone. It…it’s a lot to take in,” Danny told him quietly before reaching out to take his hands, “As for us…that’s up to you. I can’t leave Hawaii, leave Grace. And I can’t suddenly come up with the money to fight for custody without red flags. But…I can put distance between us. I can leave 5-0, go back to HPD or something.”

Danny didn’t look at him as he spoke, instead, he kept his eyes on their linked hands. Steve’s heart clenched at the words, at the thought. Not seeing Danny, not working with him, not spending time with him and Grace. Danny had become such an integral part of his life. Just picturing that life made Steve sick.

Before his higher brain functions could kick in and stop him Steve loosened one of his hands from Danny’s and used it to tilt his face up and press their lips together.

As kisses went it was…pretty crappy. The angle was off and, Steve was a bit strained from his sitting position but once Danny’s hand rested on his cheek, it felt like heaven.

“You’re Danny Williams,” Steve said once they broke apart; still close enough to share breathes, “Born 1976 to Clara and Edward Williams in Newark, New Jersey. That’s who you are, and all that matters. Everything else, everyone else can wait.” Steve nodded sideways at the folder without taking his eyes off Danny.

With teary eyes Danny leaned in and kisses him again.

[thefinalwitness]

3, 8, and 15 for miss l’aiha please 😌💕

thank u!!!!! 🥺🥺💞💞💞💞💞

3. What does their voice sound like, in a couple of words?

(How about a LOT of words sorry that's how we roll here.) L'aiha has always been well spoken, even when she's incredibly emotional or otherwise hindered. L'khilo thinks it's a clue as to the environment she might've grown up in prior to her amnesia—a scholarly, educated place. He's right, too!

Generally L'aiha is very soft-spoken, polite, and with a hint of 'elegance' or 'properness' in her tone. Obviously FFXIV is afflicted with the same disease as every fantasy media ever, where smart characters are always Fantasy British Accented, but ignoring that for a minute, I think her accent would still be notably miqo'te, especially on H sounds where that 'hiss' comes through. She was raised around very educated miqo'te, so they definitely sound DIFFERENT to your average Seeker or Keeper, but they simultaneously sound Less Different than, say, an educated hyur or elezen would.

I'm not great at putting 'mental voice' into a given accent, but based on L'aiha's upbringing, i'd say she possesses something most like a Spanish accent? (I can't tell EXACTLY what Gyr Abania's coded culture is, but it SEEMS in that ball park) Her maternal family are very recent immigrants from Ala Mhigo, and her paternal family, while generations-old Sharlayans now, still has a strong sense of culture and language predating their own migration.

So uh... Really Smart Spanish Woman Voice, I Guess. Even though her current voiceclaim isn't that, because I was trying to match the Fantasy British Accent. >_> Still would like to change that! But you can imagine how hard it is to find 'smart fantasy voice that ISN'T BRITISH FUCK' lmao.

8. What is their coping mechanism?

ISOLATION. ISOLATION. ISOLATION.

L'aiha has an admittedly bad habit of running away when things get REALLY hard. Tragedy, fights with friends, overwhelming news... Her impulse is to run and hide, and it's one she's still struggling with—her very hair color is evidence of a current episode, where she's trying to run back to a version of herself she doesn't even KNOW beyond second-hand accounts.

It's strange, actually, how often 'isolation' means she'll go somewhere NEW, UNKNOWN. she rarely runs back to what she knows, instead setting out on someplace she's never seen or barely knows anything about. (In truth, it's the bizarre clash of 'running away' and 'exploration'. She's always been a traveller. More so than I'm about to explain to a friend I don't want to overly spoil on FFXIV things. ;D)

15. Has their personality changed at all since they were a child? Why?

DEFINITELY. Ages 0-28, L'aiha was a hopeful and proactive sort. She was to some degree under the effects of the 'gifted child' phenomenon; she'd always been well designed for the difficult schooling and education of Sharlayan, rising to the occasion time and again, leaving little in the way of failures or disappointments in her wake. Life bordered on 'too easy' for her, and she ached for more.

After she left Sharlayan, she definitely FOUND more. She found a crisis on an apocalyptic scale; a problem she could not solve with wit or resolve. A problem that killed her and some of her dearest friends.

And though she doesn't remember any of it after she wakens in the Gyr Abanian wilderness, the failure fundamentally changed her. She became cautious, sometimes overly so, and though she still possesses a LOT of ambition and compassion, she struggles more to act on it. Something forgotten in her dreads to fail again.

She's very much the embodiment of 'once bitten and twice shy' these days, and she's learning how to overcome AND accept it, ESPECIALLY now that she knows who she WAS before. Brave and bold and unstoppable J'nhala Eiha, now the tentative and uncertain L'aiha Kh. Slowly, she's learning there's good in the change—she's more careful, more considerate, and most of all she UNDERSTANDS why someone else would falter for fear alone. But it's not the way of a gifted student or venerated hero. It's not what she was. And she's learning that that's okay.

[peanutbuttervibxs]

~I dug my grave with honest lies~

-Overview.

FACECLAIM: Dan Stevens

NAME: Ezekiel “E.” Ellis

MEANING: He doesn’t like his birth name. Means “God’s strength” 

NICKNAME: E.

GENDER: Cis Male

HEIGHT: 6’ 0"

AGE: 37 - July, 28th

ZODIAC: Leo

SPOKEN LANGUAGES: English, basic Spanish and Russian

-PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS.

HAIR COLOUR: Dirty blonde

EYE COLOUR: Bright blue

SKIN TONE: Fairly pale white

BODY TYPE: Lanky, but toned and wiry

ACCENT: American

VOICE: Dan Stevens

DOMINANT HAND: Right

POSTURE: Slight slouch

SCARS: Knife wound left forearm, many around torso and back from fighting

TATTOOS: None

MOST NOTICEABLE FEATURE(S): Probably his eyes as they take in every detail, followed by the disapproving scowl.

-CHILDHOOD.

PLACE OF BIRTH: Fall City, WA

HOMETOWN: Fall City, WA

FIRST WORDS: No

SIBLINGS: None

PARENT INVOLVEMENT: Sweet mom and a dad that put him in underground fights for extra money for the family. He would bet on him when he really needed money, but a lost fight cost his parents their lives from an unforgiving bookie.   

-ADULT LIFE.

OCCUPATION: Detective

CURRENT RESIDENCE: Babylon, TX

CLOSE FRIENDS: His dealer-buddy

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Voluntarily Single

FINANCIAL STATUS: Scraping by

DRIVER’S LICENSE: Yes

CRIMINAL RECORD: From underground fighting

VICES: Indeed. Drink, drug, fight, fuck, etc

-SEX AND ROMANCE.

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: A hole is a hole

ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: See above

PREFERRED EMOTIONAL ROLE: None involved

PREFERRED SEXUAL ROLE: Top

LIBIDO: Lots

TURN ON’S:

TURN OFF’S:

LOVE LANGUAGE: Words of Affirmation

RELATIONSHIP TENDENCIES: Intense flings

-MISCELLANEOUS.

CHARACTER THEME SONG:“Mr. Self-Destruct” - Nine Inch Nails

HOBBIES TO PASS TIME: He’s either working too much, or partying too much

MENTAL ILLNESSES: Probably ADHD if he ever got diagnosed

PHYSICAL ILLNESSES: None

PHOBIAS: Being alone

SELF CONFIDENCE LEVEL: In capabilities, high. In self worth, questionable

VULNERABILITIES: Maybe doesn’t think things through before taking action as much as he should, and is maybe too influenced by affection.

-ABILITIES: 

Werewolf, recently started transforming into a large wolf with dark gray fur when confronted with survival situations of high adrenaline or stress. He currently is unaware of what is happening and does not remember his time as a wolf, or refuses to remember. A full moon, this is a time of unavoidable transformation where the wolf is strongest. The wolf then searches the forest for prey, for those unwise enough to tempt fate under the dark twisting branches as the light of the full moon sends splinters of light onto the blood soaked mossy ground at its paws.  When he transforms the wolf eats its way out of his insides as it shreds the muscles and skin of his body away from the inside to free itself from the human prison. The wolf is larger than most men, stronger and faster than most wolves, and possesses an intelligence more cunning than both.

-LIMITATIONS: 

No control over changing or what he does while in that form as he is still newly changed since moving to Babylon. Under great stress leads to the wolf taking over. No memory of what happens when in this form leaving him with no explanation for the blood on him or the strange places he wakes up in. Has emotional problems and deals with them by working too much or partying too much. Meaning waking up in strange places isn’t exactly unheard of. Impulsive decision making and a little easily manipulated by affection.

-PERSONALITY: He’s smart, he‘s jaded, and he’s a bit beaten down by both. He tries to do good and help people when he can, to a fault. While acting like he doesn’t give a damn and kinda being a dick. Tries to not let people get close because he’s not worth it. Very haunted by his parents death and the things he saw in the police departments. 

-BACKGROUND: 

- Even as a child you understand that you’re living in poverty. You hear your parents fighting about money. You see that your things are cheap and broken. You see that you don’t get a lot and when you ask for something you get told no so many times you stop asking for things. 

- As you get older you grow  into a man's body, you go to school and they call your parents in to say you have anger issues. Your dad has an idea to help you channel that anger with fights. So what if he pushes you hard, he has money riding on it after all.

- Your dad wants you to be a cop so you can do some good with your life. Unlike him. You’re an adult now so you have adult responsibility helping your family make ends meet and he still needs you in those fights sometimes. So much money for this fight, and you just can’t win it this time. Apparently your dad made a big bet with people who don’t have a lot of patience if you can’t pay up. You come back home to find a mess of your parents' bodies. A message left in pools of blood to anyone considering not paying up on their lost bets. Message received.

- Years spent trudging through the ranks and jumping through hoops to make your way to being a detective. Following your dad’s hopes for you to make something of yourself. All to just see that you can’t make a  real difference when you’re pushing through corruption. You decide to transfer out of the city filled with crooked cops and go to a small town to do actual help. Or maybe you’re told you’ve been transferred for making a big scene about corruption.

- It’s a small town with small crime typically, but also where a cop can do good for someone in need. It’s been five years of actually helping people and making a small difference. It gets boring sometimes, but you try hard to stay busy. It’s on a case that you're looking into when you find yourself in strange situations you can’t quite explain. A wolf acting unusual, seeming to try to get you to leave an area you're investigating and attacks you as a last resort and you have to go get medical attention. You get real sick from this but you eventually heal up and get back to work, wondering the whole time about what that wolf was keeping you from. You eventually go back to see but there’s nothing there anymore. So that’s another case without a satisfying answer.

[neon-junkie]

is this how you request??? i’ve never done this before i’m sorry lmfao. if you’re comfortable, can i get micah, javier, john and *possibly* charles’ reaction to the reader being jewish?? i know you struggle to write for charles so you don’t have to include him if you don’t want to. and also, i won’t take offence if you don’t do this request! it can be hard to write stuff like this, especially if you aren’t jewish (idk if you’re jewish or not!)

I hope these are alright!! A big thank you to @junvsde as they helped me out with all this as I didn’t know anything about the religion beforehand. Please let me know if there's any mistakes :0  Gender-neutral reader as well :) 

----

Micah

This man is going to get sooooo confused when you start to explain everything to him. He won't exactly zone out, but he'll be like "You know I ain't gonna remember all this straight away, don'tcha, sweetheart?"

He does try his hardest to understand though. Despite what people think, Micah puts all his focus on his s/o, especially when it comes to somewhat personal things like religion.

Micah is the kinda guy to tease you with food during Yom Kippur. If you slap his hand away and tell him to knock it off then he will, and he'll apologise eventually with a sulk on his face.

He may not be the best at being aware of the rules you choose to follow, but he has the utmost respect for it. And he'll jump straight onto your defensive if anybody even attempts to mock you for it.

Micah sometimes zones out and watches you whilst you pray. Don't be surprised if you peek your eyes open to catch Micah gorming at you. He's just curious.

Javier

Javier finds everything so interesting. He's fascinated at the way everybody has such a different aspect of life, and will probably keep you up all night asking you questions about it.

If you are the kind of person to cover your body up, Javier will jump straight to the rescue if anything ever happens. Say your top gets ripped during a fight, Javier will wrap you up in his coat to ensure you're covered.

Javier apologises over and over for what's happened to you, even though it's not his fault at all. He'll even drag you into town to buy a new top, his treat.

If you know a couple of words in Hebrew or Yiddish, or fully speak the language, then Javier will ask you for a few phrases. He likes exchanging languages, telling you whatever you want to know in Spanish if you'll do the same for him in Hebrew or Yiddish.

Overall, Javier is really engulfed in your culture. He might even attempt Yom Kippur with you, and gets very excited when Sukkot arrives so he can try some of your native dishes.

John

Oh boy. Everything goes in one ear and out the other.

John just... doesn't quite understand everything. The most he'll try and remember is important dates for celebrations and such, but that's as good as you're getting with him.

Even then, John will totally get the dates wrong but at least he's trying.

The one thing he DOES remember is that Friday/Saturday is Shabbat, or "Sha-Shaabb...at," as John attempts to pronounce it. He forgets how to say it every single week.

John asks why you're not eating one day and you explain to him that it's Yom Kippur, and after telling him about fasting and what it is, he bets he can go all day without eating before you.

Of course, John loses the bet by the afternoon as you catch him having a snack when he thinks you're not looking.

Charles

Charles understands everything straight away. He may not remember specific names and dates, but he'll have a rough knowledge of your religion.

Within time, he picks up on everything. He surprises you one Friday afternoon by saying "It's Shabbat today, isn't it?" though he's a little underconfident when he asks, but he quickly relaxes when you nod in agreement.

You catch Charles whittling some wood one afternoon but he hides it from you, refusing to tell you what it is. Eventually, when he's finished whittling it, he presents to you a little dreidel that he's carved himself.

"It doesn't spin very well, but it's the thought that counts, huh?" he says as he watches you look over it.

Charles will fast with you during Yom Kippur, not complaining at all, and asks you to show him how to make a few native dishes when Sukkot arrives.