#he'd probably offer/agree to help very easily/quickly

[sailingmakai]

(( Had a thought hit me last night as I was preparing for bed, that if my 'feral!Akiren' met Takaya, he'd probably agree to work with the guy in a heartbeat, on account of the fact he'd be very, very upset if he learned there was somebody trying to get rid of the cognitive world.

Like, he lives in there,most of the time, right? So all you'd need to do is be believable in your claim of 'they're trying to get rid of it and we're trying to stop them' and he'd just instantly offer his help.

And given that he is, technically, a wildcard, that's... probably quite dangerous. Takaya with a wildcard on his side would be.... scary.))

[stsgooo]

Clumsiness.

✩࿐ summary: maomao notices that the eunuch's behavior is odd recently. she's set on discovering the root of the cause.

warning(s): idiots in love, slight angst, mentions of bullying, fluffy, maomao pov. wc; 3.1k

pairing(s): jinshi/fem!reader

a/n: binge watched all of tad last night and wanted to write smth for jinshi just because i have my weaknesses. i don't know exactly what this is except random rambles. anywayyy, i haven't read the manga yet so please no spoilers :3

m.list ao3

THERE'S VARIOUS THINGS THAT MAOMAO SIMPLY DOESN'T CARE FOR. The uncomfortable mornings where it's too chilly, the work she catches after one of the servants loves her ideas, and idle chatter that comes with silence. However, the thing she doesn't care for the most is when Eunuch Jinshi decides to make his random and surprise appearances.

It usually brought trouble and a headache for her. His smiles and violet eyes staring into her very soul. She never looked forward to them as it always accompanied some random job in another part of the palace she simple didn't like. Or he would ask of her some impossible task that not even the gods could grant him. Maomao could do without Jinshi's behavior.

However, she could easily recognize when he wasn't acting himself. On this day particularly, she was especially aware of Jinshi's lack of excitement.

She was called and pulled aside from her duty's in the Jade Pavilion to report to Jinshi's quarters. She was quick and made little pause in her stride over. A simple routine that they both silently agreed to. He would call and she would make her way over as quickly as possible.

It was when she arrived, she realized things were not to routine.

Jinshi was laying face flat against his desk, unmoving except for his breathing. Usually, he'd be sat up, smirk on his lips, and his legs crossed as he regarded her smugly. But now, it was like she wasn't even in the room as he made small groaning sounds of disdain, his fingers tangled into his tresses as he gripped his scalp.

He was definitely not acting like himself from the bat.

"Xiaomao, thank you for coming on such short notice." Gaoshun greeted her with a small bow, offering her a sympathetic glance as he turned his attention to Jinshi. "Jinshi-sama had a matter he'd like you to take care of."

Maomao raised her eyebrows, eyes cutting back to Jinshi who remained unmoved. Is he going to present the matter himself? She thought, watching as Gaoshun inched closer, nudging the younger man's shoulder with his elbow. He seems quite the mess.

"Apothecary," Jinshi's voice was muffled as he spoke, his head still tucked into his arms. Maomao looked to Gaoshun who just sighed heavily, ducking his head. "A servant from the Garnet Pavilion has fallen ill, I'd like for you to help her feel better."

"What's her symptoms?" Maomao asked, eyes watching the pathetic man flatly.

He tensed, his head moving to peek at her from between his arms. "I fear this is more a matter of the mind."

She frowned. "I can't cure the mind, Jinshi-sama."

He finally pushed himself to sit up, an indignant pout on his lips. "I thought you could do anything." He retorted smartly.

"I never said that."

Honestly, this man asked too much of her too quickly. It was enough that he asked her to solve murders of high ranking military officials, but it felt a little much to ask her to cure some girl's mental ailments. A random girl who had probably contributed to the near death of Lady Lihua at that. Maomao already felt a vague frustration fill her at the thought. Maybe it was one of the girls she had the pleasure intimidating.

She was going to decline when she spotted the look in his eyes. Not the flirtatious or rather perverted glint it usually had, but a desperate one.

"Can you at least try?" He almost sounded defeated, his shoulders hunched and eye bags heavy.

Maomao still felt the overwhelming urge to give him a hard time. "Try what, exactly?"

He released a frustrated grumble, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. "Maybe lend an ear, or offer some type of comfort? Anything that will possibly ease her nerves." He waved a flippant hand around, eyebrows knitted together. "It's making me wo... it's making Lady Lihua unsettled."

Maomao couldn't help the interest that came with his unspoken words. He was worried? It wasn't uncommon, nor did it seem that he would hide his concern for others. But the mere fact that he had corrected himself and tried to cover it up, piqued her curiosity and interest.

Either way, she had no choice.

Maomao tucked her hands into her sleeves, bowing. "I can make an attempt. Now, if you'll excuse me." She turned away, barely missing Jinshi's hopeful and beaming expression. She was about to exit when she happened to glance towards the sitting area, where a tea set sat, broken and contents seeping into the floor. Her eyebrows raised. "You'll carpet is going to stain."

She paid no mind to the loud groan and thud of Jinshi's head as she exited.

It took Maomao a while to find the girl that had Jinshi worried and she had learned quite a bit about the worrisome girl while on her search.

She had been in the palace for a long time, since she was a young child. Her work had mostly consisted of cleaning clothes and mending. Until she had caught the attention of Lady Lihua a few months ago while she was in recovery. Supposedly, she had started to bring an arrangement of flowers whenever she brought clothes. The kindness hadn't gone unnoticed. She had supposedly been accepted into Lady Lihua's personal servants. Much to the chagrin of the other servants.

It didn't take a genius to detect the disdain and disgust in the servants voices when Maomao had inquired about her.

She talks to herself more than anyone else, stated one with an eyeroll.

Her routine is more important than Lady Lihua's wishes. Our poor lady. Mourned another.

She's so on edge, it's really easy to get her worked up. It's not our fault if she breaks something. Snapped another.

General consensus, this servant was a problem.

However, it was what Lady Lihua said herself that caught Maomao's attention.

She had stumbled across the concubine during her search, the woman flanked by two of her servants. She looked to enjoying a pleasant day and appeared slightly happy to see Maomao, going as far to inquire what she was doing over in her pavilion. When Maomao informed her of her task, she was interested to see the small pinch between her brow.

Ah, Y/N, I haven't seen her much today. I sent her to help with mending clothes. She's kind, just... I hope.... Well, I hope you can find her and bring her back. Lady Lihua offered little else to guide Maomao, but she could see the vague concern, the worry in the woman's eyes. She also saw that disgust in her companions eyes.

Who exactly was this servant?

Maomao found herself in the washing area. It was mostly silent, most of the girls either having dinner, or in bed. She made her way to the back where one of the few stragglers sat alone, sniffling as she scrubbed away at a stained robe...

A robe that looked oddly similar to Jinshi's.

In all honesty, she wasn't sure how to approach this. As she spotted the red shamed cheeks and the tears that silently and boldly made their way down the woman's cheeks, Maomao usually had something psychical to cure. An aliment that weighed heavily on their health, that was life or death. She could make a medicine for that. A drink, a food, a cream-- something that would satisfy the monster resting in someone's body.

The mind, though, the mind simply was a territory that Maomao never touched. Much too difficult, much too complicated, it was unknown territory. She couldn't see things from their point of view.

Just try lending an ear.

Maomao cleared her throat, feeling a speck of sympathy as she watched the girl tense, head snapping over to stare back with wide eyes. "Hi, are you the servant from the Garnet Pavilion?"

If possible, her eyes widened more, her hands clutching the robe to her chest. "Y-Yes..." she uttered, watching Maomao closely. "You're that apothecary everyone's been talking about..."

Not a question, but an observation.

Said apothecary nodded in return, "Yes."

The girl shook her head, "I'm not injured! I swear, I-I was foolish and if I was injured, then I would surely deserve it!" Her face was a deep crimson, her lips trembling, and eyes watering. It was obvious she was attempting desperately to push down the tears, but failing miserably. "I-I'm quite alright!"

"You don't look it." Maomao responded back flatly. "Jinshi-sama sent me."

The girl looked appalled, her back straightening and the tears falling freely now. "J-Jinshi?!" She exclaimed, clutching the stained robe against her chest, aghast and sickly looking as she panted. "O-Oh, I've done it now. I've humiliated myself! I'm going to be punished! Jinshi didn't deserve that! I'm so sorry."

Maomao blinked at her, eyebrows raised high at the reaction. She didn't entirely blame the girl for reacting so brashly at the mention of Jinshi. She would probably do the same if she was having a horrible day and he'd been brought up. Possibly the only person she wouldn't want to hear about as she's actively in the throes of a breakdown of some sort.

She walked forward, sitting down beside her as the girl seemed to continue her one sided conversation with herself. Her eyes wide and unrelenting as she stared at the ground below. Maomao watched her with a dent between her brow, vaguely fascinated by the panic and mostly disturbed by the anger towards herself. The mini glare not directed to anyone except herself.

She'd seen women be harsh on themselves. Seen what it could do to a person. Maomao could see it in the girl beside her now. The edge of a line that she wasn't sure if she should cross.

"I-I just...." The poor girl trailed off, her hands falling back to her lap as she stared at the robe. "I'm so clumsy.... and terribly embarrassing.... and I-I was just trying to pour some tea, then...oh, how pathetic."

"It was an accident, wasn't it?" Maomao asked softly, watching the girl's reaction closely.

She seemed to remember Maomao was with her, blinking, her face growing a shade darker. "What?"

"Whatever you did, it was an accident, wasn't it?" She repeated.

The girl clenched her jaw, looking away once again. "It's always an accident. I never do anything right. The Emperor is bound to notice and then I'll be punished because I'm so--"

"Jinshi-sama didn't send me to punish you or to check if you should be." The girl blinked, staring at her with wide eyes now. Maomao could see the barely concealed shock in her eyes, the way she seemed to relax slightly. The apothecary sighed heavily, turning her attention elsewhere. "He doesn't seem the type to punish anyone for a little mistake. Especially, when he's the same..."

The last part was uttered to herself and the girl didn't seem to pick it up as she pressed her lips together. A contemplative look on her expression. "I-I know, but.... still, I feel so guilty. I've put such a heavy burden onto Jinshi, convincing Lihua-sama to take me in... to not complain too harshly... I never wanted this..."

Maomao wouldn't even try to understand the broken speech, instead her mind was focused on that little slip. Jinshi convinced Lady Lihua to take this girl in? A extreme kindness. A extreme kindness that would allow this girl to make mistakes, to try her hardest and fail, and not suffer extreme consequences. Maomao couldn't help the suspicious kick in her chest. As she stared at the rambling girl. Why would Jinshi do that for her as an eunuch? How did he have that type of pull? Or, more correctly, what did he have over Lady Lihua to pull something like this off?

Her attention diverted to the robe and she huffed-- it's was Jinshi's. She was the cause of the tea mess. The cause of Jinshi's red face, his low mood, and the worry on his face.

Could he, perhaps..... Oh, what a development for a eunuch.

"Are they cruel to you?" Maomao cut into her rambles once again.

"Who?"

"The other servants. They can be cruel."

There was a prolonged silence. Maomao didn't dare interfere or break with the concentration. Her thoughts were wild and she was trying to grasp one that would benefit exactly what the apothecary was searching for. A string of thought that was sensical and helpful.

"Yes... so cruel," her lips wobbled again, she sniffled and tried to push the emotions away. "I didn't even do anything and they were so cruel. I tried telling Jinshi, but he's done... done so much for me, I can't throw that away. I can't take advantage of his kindness."

"Even if it was kindness now, how is feeling like this any type of comfort? Or kindness?" Maomao stood up, waving a hand. "You don't have to feel like this. Like you have to suffer for his feelings. If you're close, tell him that you liked your prior job, or ask for another."

The girl blinked slowly, lazily, a new exhaustion in her eyes as she regarded the other. "W-What's your name?"

She straightened. "Maomao." She bowed.

The girl stood, her hands tucked into her sleeves, she bowed in return. "Thank you, Maomao. It's been my pleasure to meet you."

Things seemed to return to normal, the routine was back in place, and Maomao hadn't been tasked with taking care of crying servants. Her conversation with Jinshi afterwards had been short and straight to the point.

Did you speak with her? Jinshi had been sitting at his desk pleasantly, ignoring the overwrought expression on Gaoshun's face.

Yes. Maomao had answered, eyeing Gaoshun oddly as he shook his head.

Jinshi perked up, And? What did she say?

I believe she's going to speak to you directly when she has the chance, Jinshi-sama. She informed him instantly.

Jinshi had beamed in a way that made Maomao weary, watching as he happily threw himself from his chair and up, already walking towards the door. Well, I'll just find her myself! Thank you, Apothecary!

She didn't get to say anything in return as he vanished around the door. Gaoshun offered his sympathies before running to follow the man out.

Maomao was just glad to have things back to normal. That's what she thought about as she approached Jinshi's quarters. Normalcy was welcomed and her heart was happy to return to things she knew. Medicine and the frolicking in the mini patches of growth she could take herbs from. Things were normal.

As Maomao approached, she was skeptical to enter as she heard a crash.

Okay, maybe not entirely normal.

She knocked on the door, hoping to hear that Jinshi was busy, but the door was opened and Gaoshun stood there with a thin smile.

"Xiaomao, thank you for coming." He bowed and stepped aside to let her inside.

When Maomao entered, she was half tempted to turn back around and leave.

Jinshi's face was stuck in a frozen state of shock, a crimson shade and his jaw dropped. He was sitting on the couch and his hands were up. In front of him, on her knees, was Y/N, frantically rubbing at his robe while apologizing profusely. She didn't sound like she was crying, but still sounded extremely embarrassed.

"I'm so sorry, Jinshi! My shoes are a tad big-- No, I'm not making an excuse!" She frantically tried to explain, pulling back to stare up at Jinshi with wide eyes. He remained unmoved, just making small noises of distress. "Jinshi, are you alright...?"

"I-I..I..." Jinshi just blinked at the wall across from him.

Maomao turned to Gaoshun, expression flat, "Can I come back later?"

Gaoshun looked ready to respond when Y/N spun around, her expression pulled up with delight and a beaming smile on her face. "Maomao!" She left Jinshi to his shock to wrap her arms around the younger girl (by one year). A tight hug that was unrelenting and conveying her exact emotions of pure elation. "My savior!"

Savior? Maomao thought as she blinked, arms stuck at her side. What is she even doing here?

She pulled back, placing her hands on her shoulder's, squeezing. "Thank you so much, Maomao! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be blessed!" She continued on with her delight.

"Blessed?" Maomao audibly questioned, eyebrows furrowed and raised.

She nodded in response, smiling happily as she clutched onto Maomao's hands. "Yes! You gave me the confidence to tell Jinshi about my unhappiness! He's allowing me to work at his attending maid." She informed gracefully, sounding more happy and carefree than she had in the washing area the weeks prior.

Maomao wouldn't admit it, but it made her lips twitch upwards.

Y/N suddenly paled, turning back around. "Oh, Jinshi, I'll get something to clean up with!" And she darted out the room before Jinshi could give any type of response.

Maomao turned her attention to Jinshi with a tilted head, finding great amusement in his embarrassment. "You must be really fond of her if you gave her a job here." She observed.

If possible, Jinshi's complexion darkened further, his posture straightening. "Pardon?" He squawked, eyes wide as they stared at the younger girl.

She didn't understand why he was acting like she had said something scandalous. It wasn't uncommon for someone to grow fond of another's presence. Even if they were stripped of their manhood and promised to the Emperor for life. Y/N was kind enough and Maomao assumed they were friends of some kind to have Jinshi calling in favors of some kind.

Still... his reaction...

"You two seem like good friends." Maomao clarified.

A weight seemed to lift of his shoulders as he leaned back into the couch. "Yes, I suppose we are." His voice was a mere utter, soft and distant. It appeared that he was contemplating something forgotten or something that he often thought about but pushed into the back of his mind.

Y/N reentered with a cloth and small basin of water. She returned to Jinshi's side who stared at her with a blush and wide eyes. The attention he gave her was close and unwavering. No type of falter and no distraction that could possibly take away his attention. She appeared completely oblivious as she scrubbed away at the stain on his robe resting on his thigh.

Maomao narrowed her eyes on the glitter in Jinshi's eye, ready to make a comment, when Gaoshun placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'll inform you of the favor, Xiaomao." And he tugged her away.

However, Maomao thought endlessly about the expression on Jinshi's face. The kindness he exhibited for the girl much too clumsy for her own good. The tenderness he regarded her with. It was almost as if... Well, that couldn't be right.

It was almost as if Jinshi liked Y/N. In a more than friendly way.

Maomao scoffed at the thought, laying down in her bed. Her pa always said she was too speculative. Much too whimsical.

The man was an eunuch after all.

[dairy-farmer]

Dick is tired of Slade thirsting for him and trying to get in his suit, but Deathstroke is too good of an asset to burn that bridge so he offers up Tim to him instead. Tim isn’t thrilled that Dick just like, pimped him out to an assassin like that, but forgives Dick pretty quickly after the first time Slade corners him on a roof and bends him over an air conditioner.

Because holy hell, if that’s how Slade fucks when he’s in a hurry, Tim can’t wait for the day Slade comes looking for a favor.

Dick has been forever branded the biggest idiot Tim will ever know for passing this up

!!!!!!! tim has no idea that dick never got that far with slade! he, like many others, had just drawn their own conclusions given the fact that slade was pretty solidly fixated on dick and of course he had to have put out or something because so many people have been in the room when slade would join their side or help them out and he'd look at dick with this smarmy look and say 'this'll cost ya'.

so of course people thought slade and dick were fucking. everyone thought that, except for...dick. for dick slade was just this trashy older guy who'd treat him like how all gross, past their prime, older guys treat waitresses at hooters. something to ogle, something to make comments at.

he'd try so hard to get into dick's good graces by cooperating, doing him favors, even helping him out. he tried so hard to get dick into the idea of fucking him and if dick were anyone else...it might've worked.

but old guys...they just didn't do it for him. dick honestly just did not have the psycho sexual daddy issues necessary to hop onto that horse. it's probably the one good thing he got out of being parented by bruce.

past a certain age...people just reminded him too much of bruce and slade was no exception.

however dick never told slade this. having slade around had its benefits. slade was a serious powerhouse, able to hold his own against metas, aliens, and other mercenaries. even bruce had some trouble against him sometimes. his connections as a result of being a well known mercenary and contract killer meant he had ins with essentially any government of his choosing.

slade was nice to have in his back pocket and the price of having him around more than paid for itself.

but...dick got tired. he'd been dancing around with slade since he was a teenager and slade still gave no signs of giving up but dick was just getting tired of it. any amusement he got out of it had long dried up.

but he couldn't just shut slade down forever. slade was just too talented and useful to wash his hands of.

maybe that was a douchey thing to do. but its not like slade was some angel.

still dick couldn't put up with him anymore. so...he needed a sacrificial lamb. somebody to draw slade's attention, someone that would agree if dick begged them to do it.

jason was an obvious 'no' because he'd rather saw his own arm off than help dick with anything. damian was also a 'no' because...well...damian was an acquired taste. dick doubted slade would be very taken with the constant insults, threats, and posturing.

which left the only viable option as tim. truly if dick had to pick a favorite with his brothers it was tim. he and tim had their ups and downs but if anyone would accept this burden it was tim.

at first tim had just stared at dick, expression blank and almost verging onto incredulous before asking if dick was 'fucking serious?'. which dick thought was a bit excessive.

but then he explained to tim about how much slade had helped him and by extension gotham out, that he wasn't an asset dick could just lose, and how it'd do more harm than good if he was in the wind.

plus it's not like tim would have a hard job. he just had to stand there and look pretty for slade, maybe snipe back with his clever banter.

tim's looks unsure but ultimately agrees.

of course slade won't so easily lose his fixation on dick. but dick has been playing mind games since he was a kid and so he has a few tricks up his sleeve.

he starts by messing with slade's intelligence network centered around him. the one he has so he can track dick down anytime he wants. then dick messes with his jobs, makes it so the client breaks their end of the bargain or are just irritating pieces of shit. slade always seeks him out when his professional life gets annoying.

so once that's done all he does is wait. wait until slade seeks him out but instead finds tim in his place.

slade will pass it off as a fluke at first.

then dick starts arranging tim's cases, going in and fixing his schedule of when he meets with informants in different cities and makes it so he and slade start crossing paths more and more often.

dick's final move is to arrange for slade to meet a client in a club that tim is undercover at as a dancer.

of course slade the horny old goat will pay for a lap dance and of course tim 'i've never backed down from a bet once in my life' drake will do it.

audacity always catches slade's interest. by the end of the night slade is sweeter on tim, more likely to be amused and curious about his presence.

it helps that tim just has one of THOSE faces. dick's under no illusions that slade was more persistent in trying to fuck him when dick was younger. dick was a pretty youthful looking guy despite the stress of his job but tim?

tim was often mistaken for being 3 to 5 years younger than he was. he'd once lamented to dick about how he'd gone to a fancy jewelry store to buy a watch for father's day when he was 16 and the saleswoman had thought he was 12 and pinched his cheek.

poor tim just suffered from chronic baby face. but that also meant that he was exactly slades type.

which was teenager.

so dick starts handing off meetings with slade to tim. if he needs a favor he calls tim to fulfill, if he needs information he gives tim slade's number.

it's good.

dick thought he was pretty straightforward and clear about everything so he never really thinks to check up with tim how everything is going with slade.

tim gives him no complaints.

dick does notice that slade seems to be coming into gotham more often lately but dismisses it as him just being very excited with his new plaything.

slade is also much more cooperative than he was before, prying information out of him doesn't feel like pulling teeth anymore.

whatever tim was doing was clearly working so dick was very happy to let it continue.

still, dick checks up on tim once in a while, cheking to make sure he was still okay with being slade's handler.

in tim's words it was more than okay.

he doesn't say that dick was a fucking idiot for not wanting to deal with slade but dick did get the impression that's what he wanted to say which...okay. maybe slade was nicer to be around when you didn't have the history with him that dick did?

the next time slade is helping all of them out dick expects to at least be given a once over and he breathes and prepares for it. but instead slade bee-lines to tim.

he's leaning down and clearly whispering obscenities into tim's ear given the heavy blush on clark's face and the way he avoids looking at them.

to dick's surprise tim gets on his tippy toes and leans up to begin whispering in slade's ears. something that, based on slade's grin, greatly pleases him.

so clearly things are working out.

dick still has slade on retainer and tim, dick's darling dare devil little brother, gets to metaphorically put his hand in a crocodile's mouth and then snatch it out before it can get bitten off.

seems everyone's happy.

especially tim given that he practically walks like his feet don't touch the ground after he's finished a meeting with slade.

what dick is not expecting is for one day slade to come knocking.

turns out he needs a favor and well....dick is not prepared for that.

he can't recall a single time slade has even come to him to ask for something mostly because it's always been dick paying the price for something. but also because the price dick would set for a favor from him would be unrealistically which slade would know and that's probably why he never asked but with tim...slade is rolling his one good eye and asking if dick's conniving little bitch of a brother is upstairs in his room.

dick just nods still too stunned to say anything as slade brushes past him.

dick watches him go, easily finding tim's bedroom door without it having to be pointed out and barging in before slamming the door closed.

dick had a packed schedule that day, mostly errands but rather than continue with his plans to go out...he just locates a couch in the parlor at the bottom of the stairs and keeps staring up at tim's bedroom door. it's soundproofed, all their rooms are so there's no point in listening in, plus tim is the best of them at debugging the room from when bruce wants to spy on them.

its hours before slade leaves.

he arrived at the manor in somewhat respectable clothes. some slacks, a white button up, and a sports coat.

he leaves around five hours later with his slacks and sports coat folded over one arm and a pair of loafers held swinging in his other. his button up shirt is only half buttoned and hanging out of his boxers. his hair is messy and he's clearly walking with as much dignity as he can muster, ignoring dick's eyes on him.

he says nothing and simply walks out the front door like he hasn't just done a walk of shame out of the manor.

dick has to blink several times after the door clicks closed just to make sure he's not hallucinating.

in no universe is dick able to resist going upstairs.

tim's door is partially cracked open and dick is certain slade did it on purpose just to be annoying.

he knocks just to be nice before stepping in and being greeted by the sight of tim...well there's no other way to put it- lounging.

tim is in the center of his messy bed, propped up by pillows, with bed sheets modestly draped over his waist. he's intently focused on some mobile game that has recently caught his interest so he isn't looking at dick when he comes in.

tim's hair is messier than slade's, there's handprint bruising dick can see on his hips, and there a ripped open packet of slade's favorite brand of cigarettes on tim's nightstand along with slade's lighter.

one of those cigarettes is lit and in tim's mouth as he continues playing his game.

somehow that's what has dick gasping in shock more than anything.

"tim!" he yells, aghast. "are you smoking?!"

tim's eyes flicker up at him and a somewhat guilty and caught look flashes across his face.

hastily, he plucks the half finished cigarette out of his mouth and drops it into the open bedside carafe. but dick also spies the matching cup with three extinguished cigarette butts at the bottom and narrows his eyes.

tim follows his gaze and hurries to defend himself.

"those are slade's!" he insists, "i just had the one!"

the fact that tim was smoking at all had some big brother part of dick's chest aching with a pain so sharp he wonders if this is what heart attacks felt like.

dick is focused on the cigarette, the words that come out are just lectures on top of lectures about the dangers of smoking all while tim looks cowed. when bruce gets home dick informs him as well and bruce follows up with his own lectures.

it's not until weeks later that dick considers that maybe that shouldn't have been the thing he focused on given all the other evidence in the room.

dick's little brother was extorting sex out of slade wilson in exchange for favors. that probably should've been something he dealt with with some amount of urgency.

but...dick felt like it was something that could be overlooked.

maybe it was because the idea that slade would get a taste of his own medicine for once pleased dick.

but this arrangement tim had with slade just seemed...right.

[itsjaywalkers]

hi my sweet lil buttercup laurie 💕 i have an odd question for you and i need to dig into ur brain and it is a lil nsfw but when it comes to jegulus, how would you see them if one of them worked as a phone sex operator? like who would be the person to make the call and who would be on the other end? like what are your headcanons on this and do you think they'd meet each other irl etc?

hi india my darling angel <333 sorry i didn't reply yesterday, i spent the morning getting tattooed with my sister AND THEN the afternoon and the evening at work.. but i'm finally here and ready to give u anything u want <3

i could see them both being the phone sex operator and viceversa, it all depends on the situation and how u decide to write/portray them!! however, i have a harder time picturing reg calling a sex line, unless it's like . for a bet . and i don't see him agreeing easily to a bet like that yk??

so to me, it'd be reg being a phone sex operator!! probably doing it either to earn some extra cash after he's been disinherited and doing odd jobs OR desperate for money and not wanting to rely on his brother/friends!! i think he was . very awkward at first and had no idea of how to do it, so he had to research/practise a lot and regrettably . ask barty for help, which would result on barty making fun of him until the end of times while also using it as an excuse for them to start hooking up again. but it's okay bc barty does give him really good advice in between it all

after he becomes more comfortable and gets the hang of it, i feel like reg would reply to calls while he's doing other shit around his flat or in his room yk?? he's sporting the most deadpan expression known to mankind while he fake moans in some stranger's ear and reorganises his books. he's unaffected and doesn't really care, this is just his job and he's only focused on doing it well enough to earn money

james would call at some point!! it can be either as a joke, bc of a bet, or even bc he's been broken up with recently and in a bit of a dry spell and just . trying something new bc he saw a leaflet for it or bc someone recommended it. i think he'd be nervous and be awkward during the first call but in a very charming way, and reg would find it endearing + he'd be quite into james' voice (which is the thing that would call his attention in the first place)

i doubt anything would actually happen during the first call!! they'd just talk and tease and banter, until reg realises their time's up and he hasn't given james the services he advertises for. he apologises profusely, offers another try, but james assures him it's completely fine and pays him anyway

next time james calls, it's with the attention to just . speak to reg again . bc he had a lot of fun and he's already a bit obsessed with his accent and how witty he turned out to be, but when reg realises who it is, he's on a Mission to do his fucking job and keep this man from getting him sidetracked

james is little confused about why reg's attitude changed all of a sudden, but after pushing slightly and getting no results, he supposes that he might as well get off to this yk?? it's the reason why he called in the first place, after all

reg starts doing what he always does, waiting for james to get all hot and bothered, except james realises quickly that what reg is saying is very . robotic and script-like and . generic . so it's not doing much for him. he mentions it, they start bickering, which turns into fighting, until reg snaps and retorts with something along the lines of . as if u could do it better etc etc

as u can imagine, james takes it personally

i won't get into a lot of detail, bc this ask is already ridiculously long, but they do end up having phone sex AND getting off. james kinda takes the reins and manages to coax reg out of his shell + finds out about what turns him on along the way. reg finally gets to let go and enjoy this whole phone sex thing and james gets what he was looking for (and more, bc he never expected it to be so into it or find it so hot)

the rest of their calls would go on a similar fashion, even if james is always the one calling and reg always begins their calls trying to . retain control and do his fucking job

and i like to think they'd meet irl at some point??? they move in similar circles, they have sirius in common etc etc. even in a situation in which reg and sirius are completely estranged, sirius could end up reaching during the story, or they find out they live in the same neighbourhood. or, well, as a bartylily stan, i could also see both friend groups coming together (sort of) bc barty and lily start seeing each other. i also think they'd recognise each other by voice alone and have a breakdown about it. i think reg would notice immediately bc of his kink with james' voice and i think james would take a bit longer and be so chill while reg is losing his mind (only on the inside tho). and then reg would say something, like an specific word or . turn of phrase and it'd click for james!! he'd be ecstatic and trying to get reg alone bc this is like . his dream scenario while reg runs away from him lmao

[skayafair]

John, Lies and Trust, and the Dark World

Okay, okaaaayyyyy I'm so normal about all this you have no idea *exhaaaale*

This is basically John's character study after all the s4 finale's revelations. The post ended up being too long, and I know how we're all here either ND or just hate long walls of text, so I broke it down into a series of about 4-5 posts I'll put here gradually. The last (?) part, the parallels between s3 and 4, is still in progress, but others are completed.

There's goint to be a general introduction, then the Dark World, the deal, John's personality after the Dark World, and S3 &4 parallels. Enjoy! I'll be glad to discuss.

Introduction

So, I've relistened to s3 and the finale once again. I'm not feeling well, fellas. The more I think about this whole deal, the worse it gets.

What initially tripped me off was how lifeless Arthur sounded after he learned about John's deal with Kayne and how easily he agreed to Kayne's offer, like he suddenly lost all the fight he used to have in him - because John betrayed him with his lies, in Arthur's pov (probably). Now, I've listened to the finale about 3 or 4 times and still can't determine if The Great Divorce is waiting for us or not. There wasn't that much time for any interactions or processing, so while Arthur sounded shocked initially, it's also Kayne they're dealing with, and, moreover, ecstatic Kayne, which is worse, and he's just blew up one person's head and yeeted another gods know where. AND he hears John, so not much room for talking things out. Maybe Arthur was just being smart and cautious. That's what I'm hoping for, anyway, because the boys were getting MUCH better at communication and established a remarkable level of trust between them. And Arthur had all the hints at what was going on in general, so. Is he an investigator or what.

So that's not what I want to talk about but needed to get this out of my system, and it leads to the actual topic.

Trust.

Trust between these two has been something like a cornerstone since the very beginning, has been tested and broken and mended a number of times, but it becomes one of the most important and prominent topics as early as in season 2. We all remember the pits, thank you very much, right.

This was an important lesson for John to learn. He... that's a bit of a projection but it seems to me like he's finding out the limits of what's what (the good and the bad, acceptable and not, hurtful and healing, etc.) a bit like I do - by hitting the extremes and gradually coming to the happy middle, like a pendulum. Once the extreme is found, he'd try his best not to go there again unless it's really necessary in his opinion. Before the pits he learned that saying and doing some things was a no-go, and lying to Arthur was one of them.

Frankly, it's almost funny how bad he was at it almost since the beginning. He's supposed to be a great manipulator, and seemed to be pretty sucessful at it at first, but lost his cool too quickly, being too annoyed by Arthur and just grumbling the orders. Even so, when he started getting attached even in the slightest, lying immediately became more difficult for him. So this is one thing we learn rather early: John actually hates lying. He's really, really BAD at it when it comes to Arthur whom he cares about, even when he's not very sure about it yet. He lies so reluctantly that it's pretty easy to spot when something's off and you don't even have to be an investigator for that.

Could it be partly because the original King in Yellow is supposed to whisper the truths any sane person cannot bear, and not just manipulate them?

Right before the pits, when they agreed to trust each other and John rolled back to lying, it wasn't just for funsies or a vicious manipulation. And he didn't like what he was doing. But, in his opinion, it was necessary, it was useful and helped him - and them - in a precarious situation. He lied about the depiction of the KiY on the wall and some other things which seemed objectively dangerous and could trip Arthur off if mentioned, but didn't take anything away if stayed hidden. And the wall carving thing was simply about John's fear. I'm not sure what exactly he was scared of, but to me it seemed as if it was of losing Arthur's trust just when they established it. They arrived to the KiY's place, what if Arthur suspects John was plotting something (when he wasn't, but how does he prove it?!), so better not to mention this. It's just a carving, who cares, they'll be fine. It probably sounds irrational, but that's how I saw the situation. And it was irrational, because John panicked.

I can't remember which ficwriter said that John reverts to lying when he's scared (pls tell me I'll leave the credits here), but I think it's a very good observation that's never come across my mind before I read it.

So he was panicking and making things up as he went, and it backfired exactly with what he was trying to avoid.

Therefore:

John hates lying and isn't good at it

reverts to it when deeply scared

learned it was a very important point to never lie to Arthur, otherwise the trust will be lost (and John values this trust a lot)

It goes without saying that the no lying rule goes both ways as both boys hate being lied to.

And right after this newfound knowledge and determination to be better John promises to never forget Arthur (mutually), then promptly loses Arthur (not being sure if he's even alive) and gets pulled back to the King.

I was impressed to learn he stayed true to his word and fought the King tooth and nail every moment he could. Even Kayne confirmed that, so it's not just John's bravado.

He won. Actually this is a huge revelation in on itself, because it shows how just strong and big part of the King John is: he's beaten the King in a battle of wills in his own realm. Think about it, just think. No wonder he defeated Yellow, too.

I bet he thought he had nothing left to lose and was desperate not to lose himself. John actually wants to live really bad, I think, and not as a part of someone else, but as his own person. but definitely together with Arthur by the way he sounded in s3 and 4

And then he ended up in the Dark World, alone, just like he used to fear.

TBC

[antisatiric]

[ hand ]

Twain's been on plenty of dates with Alastor before, obviously, but this one feels like a different beast entirely. Only Alastor, he thinks, could get him to agree to something like this. He can't even imagine dressing up nice for anyone else, let alone going out to eat at a place where they switch out the silverware in between courses.

Alastor had picked out his outfit. Twain had thought about protesting, but Alastor actually had seemed to like the way he looked in it even if it had felt ridiculous. It still does feel a little ridiculous; the last time he'd worn something like this, he was somewhere around seven and his parents were still forcing him to go to church every Sunday.

All things considered, he's more than a little nervous waiting for Alastor. There's a part of him that's still convinced Alastor wants someone better at this whole thing than him, and that maybe this will prove to him that Twain really doesn't belong in nice clothes or nice restaurants. He really, really, hopes not. But there's always a chance.

The door swings open, and Alastor steps outside.

Despite his worrying, Twain can't help but grin; Alastor always looks good, but he's put in more than the usual effort tonight. This sort of thing suits him; Twain's always thought so, even before things got as personal as they have between the two of them. Alastor wears fine clothes as naturally as a person wears skin.

Twain even forgets to be insecure when he sees the way Alastor's eyes light up, looking over his outfit. He'd taken some extra time to put his hair up, and it's a little uncomfortable but he's starting to think it might have been pretty worth it, if it gets him that kind of look from Alastor.

In no time, there's very little distance between them at all. The night air between them is cool and pleasant, and for a second Twain wishes they could be outside for longer than the five minutes it's going to take to walk to the damn place. Just for a second, though, because he knows how much Alastor wants this.

Alastor offers a hand and he accepts, more quickly than he thinks would be appropriate if he were at all trying to come off as casual. Then he raises Twain's hand and—like he knows exactly the effect it's going to have on Twain—presses a quick kiss to the back of it.

"You look great," Twain says, trying unsuccessfully to pretend his heart didn't just flutter like it does in those overdramatic romantic scenes. "Really, I mean, you always look great, but—this is nice. Really nice."

And the thing is, he could have easily said no to Alastor about tonight's plans. It would have spared him a lot of worrying in the interim. But Alastor has a way of making Twain feel like he's worth something—like he's the kind of person who should be cherished, even if he doesn't believe it. So he'd thought, maybe it wouldn't be so bad with Alastor.

(He thinks he was probably right.)

kisses. / accepting.

[goblinkingdomsblog]

Take care of me: when Y/N is sick and needs some help - A Song Mingi one shot

Members: Mingi, from Ateez.

Genre: One Shot.

Premise: You and Mingi have been friends for a while now. When you fall ill, he readily offers to help you recover. The only thing he didn't expect, however, was to fall in love with you during the process.

Tw: (S) = Safe for reading, (F) = Fluff.

Hi, guys!! I just wanted to try a fluffy new thing. I hope you enjoy!😉

"You are so crazily stubborn! And please, please, stop looking so cute!"

You were not exactly the most docile type of person, much less the one who accepted help easily. It was only thanks to Mingi's exhausting insistence that you agreed with him coming to visit you. He acted like he was going to die if he couldn't be of assistance to a "sick" friend.

In reality, what you had was just a slightly stronger cold, which in a few days would pass. You'd even warned him about the risks that he might also get the disease, but the boy didn't care. He seemed to be eager to help, or so he said; you suspected he just wanted to enjoy a quiet day off in the middle of the week, but ended up accepting his presence anyway.

Now, you were both snuggled on your living room sofa, watching some boring TV show. Mingi had brought two bags of snacks and a few more things and had put it on the kitchen counter, which you were now staring at with curiosity. Before you could say anything, however, an irritating sneeze made your body shake, forcing you to pull a tissue from the box propped on the arm of the sofa.

As you blew your nose, Mingi turned his head in your direction:

- Everything okay there? - he asked, his voice muffled by the mask you had established as a condition for him to come to your house.

You threw the used tissue in the trash you placed beside the sofa and sanitized your hands with alcohol.

- Apart from the fact that I'm disgusting, with a stuffy nose and my whole body aching, it's okay. - you said, with a subtle tone of sarcasm, which made him laugh.

- I think the part that hurts the most in you right now is your pride. It can't accept the fact that you're sick. - he shook his head, hiding a small smile.

You just rolled your eyes, snorting in response.

More time passed, and suddenly it was dark outside the window. Colder than you should have felt, you pulled the blanket that covered you further up, trying to settle into your corner of the sofa.

- Are you sure you don't want to go to the doctor?

- I am. I've had several colds like this lately. It will pass soon. - grumbling to turn around, you shrugged - It must be because of my damn coworker who doesn't wash his hands. He's always got that snotty nose, walking everywhere.

Mingi couldn't help but laugh. You, grumpy like that, couldn't seem to help being funny. And cute, he had to admit. Your fluffy pajamas, covered in draws of little elephants playing, were something that simply brought out your big, bright (most likely due to the cold) eyes.

He noticed that you were shivering with cold in a few moments. Then he sighed, lifting an arm to tug on yours.

- Hey, what are you doing?! - you exclaimed, irritated.

- You're there freezing to death just out of stubbornness. Let me help you. - he muttered, pulling you to him gently but firmly.

Too sore to fight back, you just accepted your fate, leaning against his arm. Mingi was so warm that you couldn't help hugging him closer, resting your head on his shoulder.

- Don't come too close to my face, I don't want you to get sick too.

- I won't, Y/N. Rest assured. - he replied, and you finally returned to pay attention to the TV.

×××

It was 9 pm when you got a fever. Mingi was supposed to be going home, but he couldn't help but worry about you.

He asked you where the medicines were in the house and served you a heat-killer in the company of hot tea, which he quickly made with the items he brought in his bags. With rosy cheeks and barely open eyes, you just took it without protest, soon crumpling into yourself again. When you finished the tea, you fell back onto the couch, messing up your already tangled hair even more.

Mingi walked to the kitchen, intending to wash your mug and put away the medicines, when he heard your voice rise from the living room:

- Song Mingi.

He hurried to see what it was. After all, you only called him by his last name when the subject was serious. When he approached the sofa, however, you just lifted your arms and, like a snake in full swing, wrapped them around him.

- I want you to stay here with me. It's very cold. - you muttered, so low he wondered if you were awake or asleep.

He should have protested, but you used Mingi's weak point against him: his weakness for cuteness. He felt like he was about to melt, staring into your tired, heart-shaped face, with cheeks flushed. You would probably never ask for a hug from him again in your life, and he just couldn't miss the opportunity to see someone as tough as you behave like a funny kid.

He sat on the couch and, to his surprise, you laid your head on one of his legs, pulling the blanket over both of you. So you lifted one of your arms and felt around in the half light, without opening your eyes, until you found his hand. You pulled it to you and practically used it as a pillow. At that point, Mingi simply fell silent and watched, practically motionless.

Your hand was much smaller than his, and your feverish face against his palm was like the softest and most beautiful of the blankets. He couldn't deny that he felt like squeezing your cheeks until you got better. In fact, he probably couldn't deny anything you asked for right then.

When you opened your eyes slightly, the sudden appearance of your pupils startling him a little, and pulled his other hand to pat your head, his heart missed a beat. So, without saying a single word, you melted him until there was only a warm puddle of Mingi's heart left. He obeyed your silent order and ruffled your hair, which, though messy, was still as soft as ever. The little smile that crept across your face, which you tucked deeper into his hand, was the final attack.

The only reason he didn't scream out of emotion was because he was too focused and too surprised by the discovery he'd just had. He, Song Mingi, had fallen in love with you. And it ocurred long before you got sick, as he'd spent the entire day trying to contain the crooked-tooth little grins that popped up on his face every time you did something funny or approached him a little closer. He already liked you when he vehemently insisted on seeing you. Now he understood the urge that took over him when you said you were not feeling so well.

He liked you the moment he met you, in fact, with your falsely serious eyes that tried to hide a smile that insisted on dominating your lips. You acted cold just on the outside, because your heart was just the purest thing he had ever seen, as beautiful as you.

For an instant, he wished that moment in your living room would never end. Because worse than seeing you sick would be having to confess his feelings to you. If you didn't feel the same, everything would be lost! Maybe he was exaggerating, but he knew it was a risk to your friendship.

But if you did feel the same... he had to quiet down his thoughts in that moment, otherwise, he would wake you up with the agitation he felt.

Kisses from the Goblin Kingdom!!! ;)

[clairecrive]

“Small thing” - Alfie Solomons x reader

A/n: So, I failed to post this on saturday but here it is! Thanks again for requesting @fifty-shadesof-tommyshelby! I changed a few things however I hope you’ll like this!

Summary: Alfie can’t help but step in when he sees that the man you were talking to was about to hit you. Then, one thing leads to another and eventually it’s your shared love for animals that’s what brings you together.

Word count: 2.2K (roughly)

TW: violence on animal, abusive behavior but fluff overall

Tag list: @mollybegger-blog, @evelynshelby, @br0ck-eddie, @of-love-and-of-the-sea, @shadow-of-wonder, @fandom--0verdose, @innerpaperexpertcloud, @sopxhiea, @fuseburner, @ashesbelle (let me know if you wanna be added or removed)

(this beautiful piece of art was made by @fortunetellingnonesense. she has other amazing art so go check her out!)

“Hey, stop! What the hell are you doing?!" Your voice resounded in the streets, its echo jumping through the buildings amplified. You weren't one to shout, nor did you get into fights easily. But if there was one thing you hated, it was bullying. Especially when those pieces of shit always picked on people half their size or age. It wasn't fair and showed how insignificant they were. However true that might be, the cuts and bruises that their kicks and fists would leave on them weren't insignificant. Especially compared to a smaller body such as the one of this little kitty that piece of shit on the other side of the road had decided to kick. 

Unfortunately, it had taken the small kitten cries for you to notice what was happening. But now that you had, you couldn't turn a blind eye to it. Not even if you weren't a strong muscular person and there was no one in the streets could give you a hand. Given the hour, the street was deserted.

"This little shit has decided to pee all over my doorstep. That’ll show him." Not happy with the kick that had probably broken the kitten's ribs, the bloke spat on its trembling body and was about to keep going. 

"Don't you see that it's a little kitten? They don't even know what a doorstep is." You pointed out incredulously but wasn't it obvious? 

"You almost killed him", you added to show that it was totally unnecessary and simply a dick move. 

"I don't fucking care. He peed on my doorstep and I taught him a lesson." His voice became even harsher as he bragged what he thought was a grand gesture. But really, he only proved your point further.

"You're a piece of shit." Simply put.

"Oi, lady, I don't know who the hell you think you are but ain't no one gonna talk to me like that." You could see that he trying to make himself look bigger and threatening but you didn’t expect anything less from him and were set on not let him win.

"If only you cared about yourself just half as much as you cared for others than I wouldn't have to point out the obvious." Dismissing him, you turned towards the poor kitten that was pathetically laying on the floor. Their breath was uneven and you could tell they were having trouble doing so. 

Your words must have confused the man, who apparently wasn't accustomed to a more complex way of speaking. You hadn't apologized but he wasn't sure that you had offended him either. By your tone though, he figured out that it must have been the second. And of course, his ego was bruised. 

"Right, you sl*t, it seems that you need to be taught a lesson too." Too busy cooing over the small thing, his words didn't even register. It was probably going to be too late once they did but luckily for you, a guardian angel interceded for you. 

"It ain't very manly to hit a woman, mate, right." A loud husky voice spoke behind you and you looked up, cradling the kitten to your chest, ready to make a run for it if it came to it. A tall figure of a man leaning on his cane with a big hat that cast a shadow over his face was the newcomer. You had never seen this man before but one look at him was all it took to understand that you did not mess with him. If you didn't want to end up bloodied and broken, that is. 

The bully was about to shoot a retort but the burly man spoke again before he could, "Just like hitting small animals. What fucking beast would do that, hm." And then he spoke no more, only stared at the guy. You found amusing how big and mighty the guy was trying to be just a moment early when it had been only you, and how scared and spineless he was being now, under the stranger's unwavering stare. 

It only took a minute, maybe even less, for him to lower his head and retreat. 

"That's right, no more lesson teaching for you, bastard." You snickered, mocking him. When the man in question turned to send a death stare your way, you shivered and moved behind the stranger's back, just to be sure. 

"Keep on going, mate." The stranger said fully ridding you of that menace finally. 

"Asshole", you muttered under your breath as the man disappeared into his house. You must have been louder than you thought because that prompted the stranger to look at you. 

"What are you doing, lass, getting head to head with a guy bigger than you, eh. Got a death wish?" As you were standing close to him now, you were able to see his face clearly since he was looking down at you for the height difference. What a lovely face. A guardian angel had sent him for sure because there was no way that such a handsome and kind man would stumble into your life by coincidence.

"Look, he almost killed this kitten and was definitely going to if I hadn't stopped him." You didn’t move to put some space between you. His eyes were too mesmerizing to look anywhere but at them and the way his lips trembled before forming a small smirk, was too endearing to miss.

 The stranger’s name turned out to be Alfie, but that wasn't the only thing you ended up knowing about him. He was a fellow animal lover and the human of a sweet bullmastiff. He had a trusted vet and offered to take you to him. On the way, you got to know each other. Albeit, he did all the talking, only stopping to let you answer the many questions he asked you, it wasn't annoying as it may sound. His rumbling was… comforting, in a way. It gave your mind no room to think back about what happened or worry about what could have happened if Alfie hadn't shown up. It only allowed you to lightly caress the kitten's fur and hum now and then to what he was saying. 

———————————————————————————

And after months of knowing him, you could vouch that it was. 

He was an interesting fellow, this Alfie. Such a scaring looking guy, all burly and dishevelled. His cane angrily stomped the ground, his boisterous voice and confident stride successful kept away any wandering eye and unwanted attention despite how difficult it was to not notice them walking down the street.  Of course, since you had just met him, you couldn't know that this happened mainly because of his reputation. And you would have never guessed either because despite his rough exterior, there was an underlying tenderness in the way Alfie looked at the small thing in your arms and how quickly and unprompted he had offered to help. It was the recipe for a sweetheart, wasn't it? 

"Right, I reckon we should get him some help, don't we?" Alfie couldn’t help but find you amusing and was more than willing to spend a little more of his time with you. His day had been uneventful up until now. Besides, the small thing in your arms did need help.

After the kitten was entrusted to the vet's care and eventually saved, Alfie, moved by your love for animals, had asked you to take care of his boy, Cyril. Of course, you happily took the job. Yes, the money was good and certainly helped but you mainly agreed because of him. As naive as it sounds, Alfie had made a really good impression on you that day and always had been the portrait of the perfect gentleman around you. 

He would welcome you in and offer a cup of tea when you’d get to his home in the morning and another one when he'd come home in the afternoon before you'd leave. And whenever he needed to stay at the bakery until late at night, he'd phone and tell you either offering to have someone walk you home or when you'd refused to leave Cyril alone - that was your job after all- he had given you one of the spare rooms for you to crash in and get some sleep, always with the promise of a raise for the inconvenience. 

You were titubant at first, yes Alfie had always been nice to you but was it enough to trust him? Eventually, you caved and stayed the night. The door of your room locked and a route for a quick escape already in mind. You'd soon find out that you wouldn't need it though. Alfie had come home a little past midnight and despite the late hour, he didn't go to bed straight away. Instead, you heard some noises coming from the living room. 

Curiosity got the best of you and you ventured downstairs. You had cooked a small dinner and left some for him in the oven. Alfie however, hadn't even noticed. The concept of a cooked meal was new and far away from him, his nightly routine mainly consisted of whiskey and the papers he'd brought from the office. 

Coming home to someone was also something out of the ordinary for Alfie, so when your silhouette appeared in the doorway he thought he was hallucinating. The whiskey made him a little slow but his mind still worked quickly enough that you didn't notice his moment of disorientation. 

That night turned out to be an interesting one for both of you. Looking back to it, it was also a kind of turning point in your relationship. Whiskey proved to be something that made Alfie even more prone to speaking and since the night is young, you two talked a lot, and you inevitably ended up feeling closer to him. 

After that night, Alfie made sure to come home a bit earlier so that you could talk a bit before you had to head home. And you ended up spending more nights at Alfie's too. 

Today was one of those days when Alfie said he would come home in time for tea. So, as usual, you had got everything ready, the cookies you had just taken out of the oven were nicely arranged on a plate beside the two steaming cups of tea. 

———————————————————————————

"We are restless today, aren't we? But we just came back from our afternoon walk, so what can I do for you, eh?" You were sure you sounded utterly ridiculous, using a baby voice with him but you loved doing so whenever you talked to him. And you’d swear that he could understand you. 

"A-ha, these are not for you sweet boy," you tutted at Cyril when he tried to help himself to the food.

It felt like a crescendo, your relationship getting out of the acquaintances’ stage and entering something blurry that you still couldn't figure out. All you knew was that it was warm and it felt a lot like home.

"Alright, alright, I'll give you some cuddles." Yeah, maybe you were a little soft on him but how could anyone be anything but when he looked so cute laying on his back with his little paws in the air?  

Exactly. 

The sound of the door closing caught your attention and you got up from the ground and walked in the hallway to meet Alfie who was taking his hat off. 

"Welcome back, Alfie. How was your day?" Walking to him, you helped him take his coat off. After hanging it on the coat rack, you turn back around to listen to his answer. You expected him to have moved away instead you found your faces extremely close after you had turned around. 

A gasp left your lips when your noses brushed whereas Alfie appeared unaffected. His eyes flickered between yours, his moustache tickled your upper lip as he spoke, "it's about to get a lot better, it seems pet. What do ya think?" He whispered on your mouth, referring to your previous question. 

The kiss was slow at first, your lips were cautious of each other, tentative and shy. Then Alfie’s hand reached the back of your head and it was like a flip had been switched. Only a  brief pause to get some air, your forehead touching, before your lips reconnected. This time with far more hunger, like you had been waiting for this moment. And in fact, you had been. 

"Look who's decided to join, cheeky bastard", Alfie commented, amused at his dog who was now panting on his leg. Cyril barked as if he had understood his human and you couldn't help but laugh. This dog was something else. 

Your hands trailed on his shoulders up to his neck while the kiss grew more desperate and Alfie pushed you to the wall behind the coat hanger. His hands began wandering trailing down on your body and his mouth was about to follow when something humid and wet interrupted them. 

Your eyes bore into his then flickered to his mouth, so close to yours, before you answered him. "I wholeheartedly agree." And that was all he needed to hear before his mouth was on yours. A shot of electricity ran through you when he did.

"I'm sorry mate, but this is a dance for two," Alfie gave him a loving pat on his head, "now where were we?" he turned back to you before connecting your mouths again. 

[www-artforoddballs]

Alright, so notice. Most of you probably know this, since you're following me for the Autistic Levi stuff (thank you, we're closing in on 100 followers!!!!), but people with autism can have "tantrums". I've kinda touched on this in a previous post (it's a full meltdown, but you can see that post here https://www-artforoddballs.tumblr.com/post/644803780958879744/autistic-levi-angstkinda-i-guess-this-is-him). For those of you who DON'T know, an autistic tantrum is not the same thing as what you'd think of in regards to a toddler or kid, it's just the word used for it. This is a mistake my mother and I made when getting the paperwork done while I was going through testing that later got cleared up lol

I had a tantrum yesterday, and so I figured that I could post about Leviathan having a tantrum, since it's still ready on my mind. I don't care if anyone else is proud of me for coping with it as well as I did, since it's a major improvement from last time I had one, but I am proud of myself!...with that in mind, here we go!!

There will be some angst in this post, like the last post in relation to this one, but like the last post, it turns out fine.

However.

Trigger warning for things such as self harm, both physical and verbal. If you or a loved one is self harming, either reach out to someone for help or reach out to that person to help, yeah?

OK on with the post.

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

First of all, Levi's autism is part of why his brothers always agree to help when there's a raffle for tickets or something like that on the DDD messages, because he can get overwhelmed if they don't at least help, even if he doesn't win in the end.

They figured out that his autism was the culprit for this shortly after his diagnosis.

Now when I'm writing for Levi, I like to think that his diagnosis was around the early 1990s since, while autism was a separate diagnosis in 1980, it didn't really start becoming fairly accepted and expanded upon until 1987. Hence why everyone is mostly used to it by now, but are still sometimes off put by his odd behavior; for them, as beings that have been around since...the beginning of the universe, pretty much as far as we know, but for at LEAST since humans were around (so at VERY least 2.5 million years now, but potentially up to around 7 million years (if they haven't been around since the beginning of creation)), this would be like...I dunno, give me a second.

Waiting

Waiting...

Okay, so from 1990(earliest year I have in mind) to 2019 (the year it was released) is 29 years. That's a minimum of 1/86,206.89th of their lifespan, and a maximum of 1/475,862,068.96th of their total lifetime.

So this is a VERY recent development for them on the grand scheme of things, but I digress.

So they're still figuring everything out, especially as the human race continues to learn about the condition itself.

So the first time Levi threw a tantrum and they recognized it for what it was...it was certainly interesting.

What had happened was exactly the situation described; Levi had wanted to go to a concert in the human world and they were raffling off free tickets. Except, unlike now, his brothers hadn't offered their support. They hadn't in the past, why would this time be any different?

Except now they viewed it through a different light. Leviathan had an image in his head that he desired so badly and had asked his brothers to support him, hopeful, only to be rejected at every turn. That he was used to, but it was still upsetting.

He put that to the side, though. He really wanted to see this band, and these were VIP tickets where you got to hang out with the band for a few hours after the concert! They'd cost a LOT of human money, and while they COULD afford it, he knew Lucifer would be bringing hell down upon him if he used that amount of family funds on a concert. And his anxiety was already somewhat raised, so he decided to enter the raffle on his own.

He sat there for hours, waiting for the results to come in. He'd hyped this up in his brain the entire time; He'd win, go to an amazing concert, have dinner with the band, maybe even make some friends....!...and then the results came back. He hadn't won.

As per usual, our snek boi went into one of his rants about how unfair it was, but instead of going on a rampage or something like that, locked himself up in his room and cried, hating himself for getting so excited over nothing.

As I mentioned before, I've made another post about a tantrum/getting too overwhelmed slipping into something even more dire, as that's almost always what happens to me. This would be in the 90s, so this would be their first real incident with one of these moments where they had the proper diagnosis, so bear with me, there will be some angst here, but like the other post, it'll be fine.

So Mammon ends up feeling bad for rejecting his little brother, and, not knowing it was too late, decided to go to his room and offer his support. It was almost Leviathan's birthday anyways, and Mammon knew how rejection felt and how much it sucked. So, he knocked on Leviathan's door.

No response. He knocked again...still no response, but a quiet sob.

Right away, Mammon switched from semi-carefree to worried. "Levi...?"

Again, no response. He decided to just go in and check on his brother...

The door was locked. And he smelled blood.

"Leviathan, I need you to open the door," Mammon said with a half hearted chuckle, his voice now becoming slightly strained. "Because if ya don't, I'm gonna have t' break the door down."

"Just go away!" Leviathan cried from inside his room. "Just leave me alone, you jerk!"

"I ain't goin' anywhere. Either open the door or I'm gonna break it down. Those are your two choices."

A moment of silence, before Mammon sighs, stretching, as he transforms into his demon form.

"Alright, option two it is."

He rammed into the door repeatedly, before the wood finally splintered and fell to the ground with a loud thud. Mammon quickly looked around, eyes widening as he saw Leviathan digging his own sharpened nails into his arms, multiple raked wounds, made by the same culprit, carved into his skin.

"Levi...look at ya..." Mammon said, voice faltering, tears welling up in his eyes. "I...how long has..."

"Just shut up! Don't act like you care about me, I'm the freak of our family, remember?! I'm the one whose brain isn't right, I'm just a shut-in, good for nothing, re-!"

He was quickly cut off by Mammon going to him and hugging him.

"I don't care who you are. You talk about my brother like that again and I'll kill you. Alright? You're a little off, but you ain't a freak, and your brain works just fine as is. You're perfect just the way you are, and if anybody else says any different, I'm gonna beat them the fuck up. Including you. Got that? So what if you've got that fancy lable on ya now...? Labels like that matter, but it didn't change ya. You're still my cringe, annoying as hell little weirdo of a brother...and I wouldn't have ya any other way."

Leviathan fully listened to Mammon talk, before clinging to him, breaking down sobbing again, and trying to explain what happened through his tears, the older demon gently rubbing his back and allowing him to cry it out, making sure no more harm was done.

A while later, once Levi had calmed down, Mammon ruffled his hair.

"Let's get you cleaned up, yeah? Lucifer is already gonna kill me for breaking your door, but he'd be even more pissed if I just left you here with those wounds."

So they did. And Mammon, after telling a VERY angry Lucifer what had happened hours later, had surprisingly NOT gotten chewed out by the eldest brother. Instead, that day, the entire family had a long discussion, and they all agreed that if it was something as small as entering a raffle, or even if it was bigger but not an inconvenience to anyone in the slightest, they'd all help out from then on. It's not like it was hard, and it would save Levi from hours of stress and negativity toward himself and others around him.

They also made a plan for if a tantrum were to happen while someone was around, or if he became too overwhelmed and started to spiral...because, as annoying as he could be, Leviathan was still family. And they loved him, oddities and all.

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

Alright, so...that was the post! I hope it was okay. I know I've written about this type of thing before a little, but different situations can end up with the same negative outcome, like being in an overwhelming situation, or not being able to change your thinking and not easily being able to get over your expectations. I've personally suffered with both, and it's a regular thing for me, so I like writing about it, because maybe, just maybe, it'll help someone out, or help someone that isn't autistic understand a friend or relative or classmate or employee better. And I love these characters, I really do. The only ironic thing is that I see so much of myself in Leviathan, but I adore him and despise myself. Go figure 😂

Regardless, I hope you enjoyed, and if there's anything you guys have questions about (in regards to me and my experience), or any specific writing requests, asks are fully open!

Thanks so much for being here to support me, you have no idea how much it means to a little oddball such as myself.

[holdingforgeneralhugs]

Bitter Pill to Swallow

Chapter 3 (Ch.2, Ch.1)

Thank you again to the lovely @tvserie-s-world for letting me use her screencaps💕

"Curahee!"

Valarie grinned as she cheered along with her fellow paratroopers. Liebgott managed to slosh some of his drink onto her boots but she couldn't bring herself to get mad about it. After the thrill of completing the five qualifying jumps and managing not to vomit during any of them, Valerie and the rest of Easy felt like they were on top of the world.

She spotted Gene getting a drink at the bar and wandered over to him. He jumped when she clapped him on the shoulder, whacking her in the arm good naturedly for frightening him. Valerie grinned before turning to George who had just popped up with a drink for Gene.

"Hey Georgie, you got another one of those beers under there for me?" She asked.

"That depends," George responded cheekily, "you gonna tell me the magic word of the night?"

"The magic word of the night," Valerie teased, "is kiss my ass and gimme a beer Luz."

George smirked and reached under the counter, pulling out a full glass and planting it firmly on the counter in front of her. He got a mischievous twinkle in his eye then and reached under to grab a glass for himself.

"Now in response to your cheek," stated Luz, in a scarily accurate impersonation of Sink, "I'll have to challenge you to a contest. Whoever downs their drink the quickest gets a full pack of lucky strikes."

"Well how could I back down from a challenge like that," smirked Valerie. "You wanna get in on the fun Gene?" She asked, laughing when Gene vehemently shook his head.

"Oh no, I'm quite happy to drink my beer and watch you two act the fool," he retorted, sipping his drink and leaning against the counter. George and Valerie shared a look, and with a nod they raced to down their drinks. Clearly they'd drawn a crowd, because she could hear the guys shouting out a countdown around her. With a gasp she slammed her glass on the counter, and cried out in dismay when she realised George had just beat her.

"C'mon Val, hand em over," he teased, holding out his hand and fluttering his fingers. She grumbled something about him obviously cheating before pressing her precious box of lucky strikes into his palm. He opened them gleefully and plucked one out for himself before holding out the box to her.

"Aw c'mon Val, you didn't think I'd take em and not offer you one as a peace offering did ya?"

She rolled her eyes but took one gratefully, nodding her thanks to him when he lit it for her. He placed another drink on the counter for her and she took a sip, content to enjoy this glass.

Toye and the mortar gang had decided to stick around at the bar, and she laughed with them as they challenged each other to drinking games. She almost choked on her drink when Skip spilled beer all down his shirt in his eagerness to beat Penk, who was surprisingly good at downing drinks.

"Hate to interrupt your fun fellas, but I was wondering if I could have a word with Lieutenant Landry."

She went stiff in her seat, cigarette in hand suspended right in front of her lips. She glanced to her right and met Gene's eyes, and he was giving her a very pointed look. She glared back at him before turning around and facing her fellow Lieutenant. He gestured towards a quieter corner and she nodded, following him without a word. She smoked her cigarette harshly, wondering what he could possibly want with her tonight of all nights.

"So," he started cautiously, "The batallion officers are drinking in another room to let the enlisted men enjoy themselves here. Nix, Welsh and I were wondering if you'd like to join us?"

She stared back at him sceptically. Outside of the necessary consultations on exercises they hadn't spoken since their argument, and she wasn't quite sure what to say now that he was.

He could sense her hesitation and sighed softly. "Look Landry, I know we haven't exactly gotten off on the right foot but we're celebrating tonight, so how about we put all that aside and enjoy a well deserved night off?"

She contemplated that for a moment, but she agreed that a night off was well deserved, and the men would probably have more fun without any officers breathing down their necks.

"Alright then," she sighed, "lead the way."

He seemed almost surprised that she'd agreed so easily, but he recovered quickly and led her out of the room and down the hall to a smaller room.

"Hell Landry, what a delightful surprise," grinned Lewis when he spotted her walking in behind his friend. He was standing behind the bar and pouring a very generous helping of VAT 69 for himself.

"Don't get used to it Nixon," she shot back.

"Oh don't worry," he replied nonchalantly as she took a seat at the bar, "we're all very aware that you prefer the enlisted men to us 'stuffy' officers."

Ah, so he'd overheard her talking to Bill that day he'd asked her why she was hardly ever with the other officers. "Yeah well, ain't my fault you all wouldn't know fun if it slapped ya," she retorted. Lewis and Harry exchanged a glanced and then burst out laughing.

"You know what Landry," Lewis chuckled, "you're not half bad. What's your poison then? Or are you on the soda water with Dick here?"

"Why am I not surprised Saint Winters doesn't drink?" She snarked, rolling her eyes, "I'll have some of that VAT 69 if you please."

He looked sideways to Dick at her comment, and if he didn't know him so well he would have missed the slight tick in his jaw. Lewis decided to note that down to ask him about it later.  He poured Valerie a generous glass, and whistled in surprise when she downed it in one and put the glass back down in front of him expectantly.

"Hell Nix," chuckled Harry, "I think you may have met your match on the drinking front." Lewis smirked as he poured her another and topped up his own glass. He picked up his and tilted it towards her expectantly.

"I think Harry here may be on to something there," he grinned, "what d'ya say Landry, why don't we start anew and be drinking buddies?"

Valerie sized him up for a moment, contemplating. She'd tended to avoid spending much time with her fellow Easy officers, preferring the company of the enlisted men. She still maintained they were stuffy as hell, but maybe they weren't all bad. Sure, Nixon was another rich jerk from another posh college, but he did seem like the kind of guy who knew how to have a good time. As for Welsh, he was a late addition to the crew and she hadn't exactly taken too much troubles to talk to him. Maybe if she gave them a chance she might grow to like them.

"Hell Landry, you sure know how to keep a guy hanging," quipped Lewis, shaking his glass in front of hers. She rolled her eyes at his impatience but smiled slightly as she clinked her glass against his and they downed their drinks in unison.

"Well I wouldn't want to seem too eager, now would I?" She smirked, sliding her glass across the counter for another. He raised an eyebrow at her sceptically and she narrowed her eyes at him as if to say 'are you doubting I can handle it?' He poured again and watched with fascination as she downed it.

"Jesus Landry you really are somethin' else aren't you?" He laughed.

"I'm here all week folks," she grinned, spreading her arms and doing a mock bow, with Harry and Lewis joining in with a round of applause. It was fun, they were fun, and she thought that maybe, just maybe giving them a chance wouldn't be so bad after all.

She felt a pair of eyes on her and when she looked beyond Harry she was unsurprised to find two blue eyes watching her intently.

"Something you'd like to say Winters?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at him. He sat up a little straighter then and cleared his throat, clearly not expecting she'd pay him any mind.

"Well, I...was just thinking to myself that I'd never met a lady that could drink like that," he replied honestly. Valerie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"Well then it's lucky I ain't no lady, as I've already told you," she replied dismissively, "and there's a whole lotta things you don't know about me."

"Well it'd be hard to know anything about you since you hardly ever talk to us."

Lewis eyed his friend in surprise, and he shared a look with an equally shocked Harry. He subtly poured himself and Harry another drink and sat back to see how it would all play out.

"Well maybe I would talk to you more if you weren't so godamn stiff. You got the rule book stuck up your ass or something?" Valerie snapped. Dick gazed back at her, his jaw clenching and his eyebrows furrowed.

"And maybe if you weren't so argumentative, or didn't act like you were so much better than us, you wouldn't be such a chore to be around."

His eyes widened the minute he realised what he'd said, and she could see that he was about to try and apologise for it, not that she would give him the chance. He'd meant every word of what he said, and they all knew it.

"Well I'll be sure not to impose on your time any longer," she hissed, pushing her glass across the counter and standing abruptly. "Lewis, Harry, it's been fun. We should do it again sometime."

Without waiting for a response she marched from the room.  Lewis and Harry watched her walk out the door before turning to Dick with barely smothered smirks.

"Wow Dick," Lewis said, "I've never seen you get so animated. What's going on with there?"

"Yeah," chimed Harry, "I didn't think anyone could get under your skin."

Dick finished off his own drink and placed the glass on the counter, unwilling to meet their eyes. "There's nothing going on," he stated as he pulled on his coat, "Now if you don't mind I'm gonna hit the hay. I'll see you two in the morning."

"Aw c'mon Dick don't be like that," pleaded Lewis, "there's clearly something going on."

Dick shook his head and bid them both goodnight as he walked out the door.

"I'll get it out of him yet, don't you worry," promised Lewis, pouring himself and Harry another drink. There was clearly something with those two and he'd be dammed if he was left out of the loop.

Taglist: @tvserie-s-world @generousdreamlanddestiny @sunsetmando @geniedocroe

[beautifulterriblequeen]

The Thief and the Tinker, Part 3: I See Fire

part 2

Part 3

Viren: Well how do you suggest we get him out?

Claudia: *grins, brandishes marshmallow on toasting fork* Unharmed is just another kind of harmed

Viren: Claudia no

Claudia: Claudia YES

I See Fire

Angst rating: 9/10

Viren is clever enough not to take the Silvergrove on alone, no matter how badly he wants Ethari to make him a magic key. Aaravos could be cooking in that pod for a while longer, but Viren still has a trustworthy and badass ally at his side.

Oh yeah, it's Claudia Time again!

Claudia is a powerful and imaginative dark mage, and she has the tainted Sun staff. So, you're the magefam, and you've made it to Xadia, to the edges of the Moonshadow Forest. And all you need to do to get the power of your dreams is to threaten one soft craftsman. But how do you find one specific Moonshadow elf in a hidden Moonshadow village somewhere in the middle of a giant spooky magical forest?

You burn him out.

Credit once again to@random-fandom-ramble for reminding me of this forest fire headcanon, because it fits so well. and so I don't get all the blame for this one, lol

Because see, that's not ordinary fire. Oh, no. That's dark magic fire. We've seen that before. It leaves permanent scars. Remember Sol Regem's eyes?

That's going to be the landscape when Claudia's fire gets through with the Moonshadow elves' home. Where I live on the US West Coast, they name forest fires, and if they combine, they get called complexes. So maybe we can name this fire the Dark Tragedy Complex? Because I do have to wonder... you could start a dark magic forest fire easily with a tainted Sun staff, but how do you put it out?

Two things are going to happen if these events should unfold. One is angsty. The other is also angsty but then amazing.

Firstly, Viren is going to get what he wants. He'll find Ethari, whose tree burned down :(. He'll show him the coins, and he'll offer a trade. Build what he wants and make it work, and Ethari can have his family back, uncoined and free.

And Ethari will say yes.

He'll say yes no matter what anyone else tries to persuade him to do, and I hope they do try, because see: Ethari has to make it look good. He has to make it look like he's all in on Viren's plan, to Viren. Even if that means turning his back on his people in their time of greatest need.

Secondly, the Moonshadow elves are going to be collectively homeless and bereft, hungry, injured, terrified, angry. They will have nowhere to go. They will be a people without a home. And no one else in Xadia will help them. Maybe they're too terrified to hide Ethari's people in case doing so brings Viren down on them, too. We've seen how ordinary elves flee in terror from dark magic. Maybe they're all fighting other issues, too. Viren knows all about stretching resources too far during times of crisis. Whatever the case, there will be no welcome anywhere in Xadia for the Moonshadow elves of the Moonshadow Forest.

But here's where it gets amazing. Because one hand will reach out. One small hand, from across the border. Good King Ezran will stand up on the seat of his throne and say, "You can stay here. I have forests. You're tired, you're hungry. You need medicine. Let me help."

And I'm gonna cry like a little baby.

How many cycles does this break, how many circles does it complete? Moonshadow elves used to live in Katolis before the border was created. When humans were under threat of total annihilation, the Moonshadow leader's daughter spoke up and asked for mercy. That mercy came in the form of land reassignment, and the Moonshadow elves had to give up their ancestral home, their Nexus, and travel east across the new Border. But that mercy got paired with justice, and the life-loving Moon Druids probably had to swear some kind of blood promise to keep an eye on the humans forevermore, and to kill any individuals who got out of hand, as if their sins were the Moonshadows' responsibility now.

That's got to breed a little resentment, a little superiority. "Look what we sacrificed for you, and this is how you act. Ungrateful." And maybe that was partially Luna Tenebris's goal: to hold to her vision of justice, she had to make the elves who shared her arcanum feel a little resentment. Moonshadows love life, but we can't have them being too soft to keep Xadia safe from dark mages, now, can we? I will never stop cackling over dragon politics okay, never

But the Moonshadow elves never figured on King Ezran. A soft boy who refused to let his father's assassination harden his heart, because every life is genuinely important to him. I've seen headcanons for Ezran getting the Sun, Earth, Ocean, and Stars arcanum. How about Moon, too? Because this is very Ethari of him, and if these stories of Viren's plan and the Moonshadow elves' displacement were actually to happen in tandem, the contrast between Ezran's soft choice and Ethari's hard one would be mindblowing.

Ezran completes the circle by inviting the Moonshadow elves to return to Katolis, to their ancestral home. They left long ago, paying the price for an act of mercy, but they were welcomed back by the mercy of humans, repaid after a thousand years, repaid in the face of tragedy. Tragedy on all sides. Tragedy Ezran wants to stop from happening, by being brave and caring and soft, and by being the first to break this thousand-year cycle between Katolis and the Moonshadow elves.

Rayla is his friend. And these are her people. It won't matter what they've done, only that they need help in a time of great desperation. And of course he'll help them. He's Ezran, and he's Katolis's greatest treasure.

Oh, what's that you say? Inviting the Moonshadow elves to settle in Katolis again would make it easier for Rayla to live with Callum in the future? Oh gosh, how about that? What a deal. *smug matchmaker noises*

And once the Moonshadow elves understand that they're safe and begin to trust Ezran--which could happen very quickly, because saving a Moonshadow elf's life when you didn't need to is a really fast way to prove you're trustworthy--maybe Ezran will be encouraged to take the next step toward peace, and eventually other elves and dragons will come to meet together to talk it over. And Ez will offer them jelly tarts, which they will love.

Back to Ethari, because we're not done with him yet. Ethari is soft, but he isn't weak. He won't be a willing pawn for Viren. He loves Runaan to the point of invention, and his devotion is more constant than the moon itself. He'll agree to do what Viren says, and he'll be Very Sad. But his spirit is in no way broken. Viren bribing him with the coins containing his family will only have the opposite effect. It'll give Ethari something to fight for.

We could get Focused Chaos Ethari. We could get Angery Trickster Ethari. We could get Rules, What Rules? Ethari. Let him try to steal the coins, try to break them, try to kill Viren, and be stymied at every turn, until he settles and seems cowed. And then all he does is craft his way out of the problem. What if we are gifted with Iron Man Ethari, who pretends to build a fake Key for Viren, but meanwhile he's really building a coinbuster with whatever he can get his hands on - primal stones, magically imbued gemstones, stolen artifacts, his own arcanum, his own reputation as the Master Craftsman of the Silvergrove. He'll use almost- almost - anything, to stop Viren and free his family.

Ethari may have to choose between those two things, though. And he's a hero, deep down, just like his family, just like his daughter. If he has to choose, he'll choose to stop Viren and save Xadia. He'll pay the same price as his family has if he must.

He'd let Viren think he was motivated purely by wanting his family back, but Ethari is far too steeped in the illusion and sacrifice for that to be all there is to his motives. It's a so-close-and-yet-so-far thing, how he and Viren almost embody the same ideals. Almost. Ethari would take one look at Viren, who just burnt down his whole Forest, he'd see the biggest threat in Xadia, and he'd say anything to get a chance to stop this juggernaut of destruction from getting his hands on whatever that ultimate power really is, locked behind that missing key. If he has to abandon his people and bawl his eyes out to convince Viren he's in, then he will.

And Viren wouldn't make it easy for him. He knows clever when he sees it. He went through all this trouble to persuade Ethari to work with him. He would need to keep Ethari as off-balance as possible to ensure that he keeps working as he should.

Angsty jewelry, anyone: Viren giving Ethari his husband in pendant form to remind him what he's working for, when Viren and Ethari both know full well that only dark magic can open the hellcoins. Ethari wearing another pendant of his love, except it's not a metaphor this time. It's literally his love, in a coin around his neck.

Viren would know that Ethari would have to stay close to Viren of his own free will if he ever hoped to free Runaan. And making people bind themselves to you is a big power flex. Remember that TDP stream future-season teaser note about Bait being in a creepy restraint in a future season?

This card is written on in all-caps, so that really could be "Bait" or "bait," or--knowing this show--both. Viren's been using Runaan as bait for Ethari all along. Putting his coin in a dark magic pendant casing for Ethari to wear would be a great parallel for that. Oh god. Oh man.

Maybe he'll stab the coin's scary casing right through that circle on Ethari's chest, right over his heart, make that Iron Man reference really obvious. Ethari also losing his shirt at some point, for angsty Viren-related reasons? It's more likely than you think. I mean... Ethari is literally involved in both forms of forging at this point. Shirt's gotta come off for uhhhh work reasons. And because he's hot. Because of all the forging. I mean how else are we finally going to discover what his markings look like

I mentioned that I liked god-tier villains, right? Yeah, this is amazing. I haven't wanted to die and ascend over an idea for quite a while, but Ethari vs Viren in a drawn-out battle of wills would kill me in the best way. Especially since, while it looks like they're essentially fighting for who gets Runaan, they're truly fighting a much larger battle with much higher stakes. They're fighting for the future itself. It's an epic struggle between the Narrative of Strength and the Narrative of Love. And we've seen what happens, over and over, when the Narrative of Strength gets to call the shots.

On a meta note: If Runaan and Ethari's story arc isn't a love letter from one trauma survivor to another, and on a broader scope to all survivors who see it, I don't know what is. Sometimes life just chews us up and spits us out and we can't stop it and it breaks us. But sometimes we can reach out and grasp the chance to help each other, even after that, even when it hurts a lot, because we know what it means to be loved, and to love, and to want a safer future for each other and for people we'll never meet. The future is worth standing together for, helping each other back up for, fighting side by side for, even if you can't see how it'll end, or even how to begin. We are stronger together, and sometimes we need to fight for our "together" before we can fight for anything else. And that's worth it, every time.

This is glorious, it's beautiful, it's tragic, it's amazing, it makes me want to dance, it makes me want to scream into the void, it makes me want to slap someone with a semi truck. No, someone specific, don't worry, and he super deserves it.

Because Ethari is going to win. He was always going to win. He's soft, and he's clever, and he hasn't forgotten what love means. It's what he's fighting for. Not power, not control. Love. He doesn't want to dictate Runaan's future, or anyone else's. He just wants his husband--and everyone else--to have one at all.

So he's going to win.

What beating Viren looks like, I can't guess yet. TDP is no stranger to angst, so there will probably be a high cost involved in thwarting the dark mage. Maybe not everyone can be rescued from the coins. Maybe Ethari will lose his life, or his soul, or his vision, or something else really angsty. Viren could even kill him and resurrect him as a smoky craftsman, or a zombie craftsman, or something equally biddable but horrible. The only thing I'm sure of is that Ethari would never willingly make a working Key of Aaravos Ethari as long as there's a chance Viren could possess it. But I do believe that if he gets the right opportunity while he's busy saving the world from Viren's dark intentions, he'll break his husband's hellcoin open somehow and set him free, even if he has to smile at the devil to do it.

part 4

[cultofstan]

My love for Bane!!

Before you read, I want to make it clear that there are some nsfw parts to this posts. If you are under 18, please don't read!

This post will go over various details and reasons why my heart belongs to the big green giant know as Bane from Batman and Robin (1997). Get ready for a long read, because I've got a lot to say.

(If you haven't check out my Bane Wallpapers, go do check them out! They bring me so much joy, I hope they do the same for you ppl too!)

His mask is very cool and unique, because if you look closer you see they used Bane's comic book mask as a base and then just changed the mouth area and added black eye pieces on top of the red piece he normally sees out of. Imo, it is the best movie Bane mask we have ever had! A lot of people hate the multiple tubes coming out of his head, but I think it makes things extra spicy! A constant reminder that your not just dealing with any normal super human, you dealing with a venom infused one that can fight you like it's nothing! The bulging veins that can be seen in certain lighting is a detail I feel deserves more love. It adds to his big and tough demeanor. You can really tell the venom is working wonders on him! The zipper on the top of the head and the fact that his mask is most likely made of tight leather or latex brings thr entire thing together and is truly a marvel to look at! I absolute love it!💚Imagining him slick that smooth, stretchy, husky mask on while the venom starts to pump into his brain and muscles just does things to me. If Bane offered me a chance to wear it, venom or not, I would do it in a heart beat! It would probably reek of sweat, his bad breath, and of old leather, but I wouldn't care. Just the thought of inhale all those smells brings me a joy I can't describe! 😍

When I was a kid, in addition to his lovely mask, his clothing choice was another thing I loved about him. It looks like Bane is just wearing a black cotton tank top with some black sturdy pants, but I've always the headcannon that it's actually very flexible black latex one piece! It makes a lot more sense when you notice his collar, chest harness, wrist bands, crotch diaper, and boots are also make out of a harder leather with spikes and studs! I swear, half of my clothing choices/dreams come from this man! His boots, for the most part, are very frankenstein/gothic inspired with thick sole and it going all the way to his knees. The copper rivets are the only things that make them stand out, imo. I've had thoughts were in order to prove my love to him I have to lick or kiss his boots while he judges. I'd hate it for the most part, because they probably taste like dirty and dust, but I want him to know that I do love him, so I'd do small smooches starting from his toes and work my way up his leg until I'm straight up licking his boots. I'd get so carried away he'd probably make me stop pretty quickly so I don't get sick 😂. His spiked collar and wrist bands are easily the clothing items I want the most! Any time I see someone on the street with spikes in their clothing I immediately think about him. Because he's worn them for so long, they're probably not that tight or rough but still firm enough to not sag. Maybe even a little flaky in certain parts. I don't think I'm comfortable with myself enough to wear a collar in public but I've come so close to buying spiky wrist bands or gauntlets it's crazy I don't actually own a pair yet. One day, I'm sure. His crotch diaper, for lack of a better name for it, is the one thing I'm 50/50 on. Some days I think it really adds to his look, especially with the spikes that go out. Plus, to a certain extent, it makes practical sense because that way heroes cant go from behind his and try to restrain him, or can't throw too many kicks, without getting poked/cut by the spikes. But other days I think it just doesnt look that great, because it ultimatly looks like a big metal diaper, it takes away from his intimidation. Plus, I won't be able to give him proper hugs! (I want to give daddy all the hugs he deserves! 💚) His chest piece is what brings everything together. The little Bane symbol is so cute, I've always looked for a pin or something to buy but no luck. I actually used to have this Bane cape that I won at Six Flags when I was little. I cut the symbol of his face out of it and tried multiple times to attach it to my jean jackets but I suck at sowing. 🥲 The leather straps that hold the chest piece compliment the other leather pieces of his outfit. The metal looking chest piece looks wonderful and adds a layer to his character that I both love and hate. In this movie he's a drone, a mindless agent that is only allowed to follow orders. I'll will discuss this in a bit. But for the record, I hate the fact that Bane is written as big dumb idiot in this movie. It's the one big problem I have with him, which sucks because I literally love everything else about him!

I've probably watch the Bane transformation scene in Batman and Robin, like, a thousand times. No joke. I didn't realize it then, but seeing a short, thin, twink become a tall, hulking, king really hit my desires in the right way. Like, now, I know for sure that's one of my kinks and it makes me so damn happy! Granted, I've never been skinny in my life, but I've always wanted to be a musclar and strong man, so it makes sense why I love this scene so much. It's a literally fantasy of mine brought to life! More specifically, I've always wanted to be a type of strong that allows me to run miles like it's nothing, throw punches that instantly knock someone out, and lift so much weight that I borderline have a superhero body. Don't get me wrong, this is seriously mentally unhealthy because I know it's kind of impossible considering my personality and the actuality of gaining so much muscle, but I believe as long as I realize it's a dream and not beat myself up over it, it's not too bad of a thought to have. Actually, if you think about it, this Bane is kind of a plus size body representation. Sure he's got giant arms that can crush my bones like tooth pics, but he's pretty bulky with a big belly. That might be too much of a stretch to say, and I totally understand if people don't agree with. That being said, I have to say it, this man probably gives the best hugs in all of Gotham! He's so big that you don't even need a jacket in the house! Just let him embrace you and you'll never feel alone or cold again! His thick hands holding you in really tight, his muscles locking you in and warming your arms, while his gut pushes you back a little of your feet, like he wants to swoop you into his arms and carry you! 🥰 He'd be careful with his spikes of course, don't worry. A detail that sends me over the moon about Bane in this movie is his green skin. I can't put my finger on it, but it really adds to the whole transformation and therefore my thirst for him grows even bigger! Especially because it's completely unique to the movie. It looks so good that I wonder why the comics haven't adopted something similar.

I could go for hours about how I think the writers butchered Bane's character in this movie, but I want this post to mainly act as a positive appreciation post/background for head cannons that I might post about him one day. So to end, and give a taste, I'll finally talk about Bane being a drone in this movie. In weird way, because he's played as a mindless servent, it makes this version of Bane one of the easier Bane's for me to fantasies about. This is because in the movie, it's implied Bane only follows Poison Ivy because she was the first person he didn't see as a threat. Plus, I wouldn't be surprised if she used some of her suductive powers on him. (I would too, just saying) So, with that established, I like that he's a mindless drone because it means that, in my head, he's not exactly my "servant" but he will basically do whatever I say. Why? Because I will prove to him I not a threat either, and only want to love him!! He'll have a concuious and his own goals, and I'll follow along and help because I trust him and want to support him, but, for the most part, he will do what I say and love me in return. I could explain this more, but I want to save the juicy parts for the follow up post I have planned for this. 😏

If you've read this far, thank you. From the bottom of my hear. I've never wrote something this personal or long. I hope I can continue to do more of these, if I'm passionate enough.

[echo-three-one]

Chapter 24

I should really put effort on summaries, right? Anyways... Enjoy! ❤️

Table of Contents

Going Dark - Part 3

Gary "Roach" Sanderson

MacTavish Residence, Glasgow, Scotland

Roach never would have guessed that MacTavish was a big time. Their 'old' house was already a mansion, complete with guest rooms, extravagant furniture and even an outdoor pool. Roach could stay here forever.

He was laying on a queen sized bed relaxing after a tiring chase earlier when Ghost knocked on his door and let himself in.

"What's wrong mate?" he asked, lifting only his head. Ghost leaned by the door and crossed his arms.

"You know how I got into a little argument with France back in Brazil right? Well, I still regret it ever happening…" he frowned, as shown by the way the fabric of his mask twitched.

"You regret which part? The fighting or the telling her what you feel?" Gary asked, cornering the ever vague Simon. He always does that when it comes to asking for advice.

Ghost ran a hand across his face and groaned.

"Bloody Hell, mate. Why do you have to ask those kinds of things?" he complained.

"So I could be clear as to which one I should recommend you to do." He replied quickly. He was very willing to help, but if Simon refuses to cooperate, then maybe he could handle it on his own.

"There's still one thing… I've been meeting with Alexandra not just for intel… " the tone of his voice was hesitant but he took a sharp inhale and continued.

"... we've also been sleeping together. No strings attached. For her it eases her tension from all the work while I try to forget about my feelings for Francine."

Gary didn't know what to say. Simon wasn't the kind of person to give up easily, and he fully understood the reasons for his latest actions.

"Well, it looks like Francine already made her choice, right?" Gary asked, trying to confirm from Simon that he already lost the battle.

"I'm not quite sure. Everytime I see her, she's physically distancing herself from Soap but later that night, they actually slept beside each other. She's making me confused and it still makes my heart beat for her…" Ghost admitted. As tough as he is on the battlefield, so was his admiration toward Francine. Gary pondered on how to help out his friend in this love triangle situation he caught himself in, but every direction he thought of would result in Ghost actually ending up sad.

The discussion was interrupted when a plane was heard from the distance, as it approached the nearby open area. It looked like the girls made it home.

"Looks like they're here." Roach sounded excited while Ghost looked worried.

~

It was impressive how they managed to bring most of their stuff from Brazil here in Scotland. It wasn't that much but the idea of packing things for six people in a hurry made Roach impressed.

"How did you bring most of this stuff?" Roach curiously asked Maxine as he helped her carry her stuff.

"Well, Samantha asked for help from his Dad and they immediately flew to Brazil." Maxine replied cheerfully, Roach loved how she managed to see the bright side of everything amidst the panic.

"So will Samantha-"

"No. They had a long talk with his Dad and she felt much safer back here with us. Her Dad wanted to offer help now that the New York Attack was over, but Samantha insisted, especially now that they're out hiding."

"Doesn't he have the power to like, pardon us for being wanted? That would make life much more easier for us."

"I thought of that too… but they're seeing Shepherd differently now. He's gone mad. And they want to corner him. Any action involving him may result in a global cripple. And I just heard all this on the plane ride here." Maxine frowned.

"Then that makes our job of locating him all worth it." Roach smiled giving hope to Maxine.

Maxine just nodded, her face was full of fear and doubt. She just wished all of this was over.

With Soap probably asleep, Roach had the liberty of touring the girls around the house, it was huge and spacious that each of them could occupy a room with about two more rooms to spare.

"Man, I could stay here forever." Roach mused as they walked the halls of the second floor. These four rooms are already occupied, most of the empty rooms are over there…" Gary pointed to the other end of the hall. Maxine looked at France and nodded as they both agreed to stay in one room.

"What about you, Miss Samantha?" Gary asked with sophistication, imitating a butler. Samantha giggled and blushed.

"I'll actually be sleeping with Alex, thanks Mr. Sanderson." she replied, playing along with Roach's role play. For a short moment, Roach felt relaxed. He hasn't felt like this for a while and it was too overwhelming. But while the enemies hid in the shadows, he was sure the team would be up for a tough fight anytime soon.

Despite being tired, Roach couldn't sleep. He felt that there was something or someone else he needed to consult. So, he decided to get up and get himself a glass of water down the kitchen. While he could hear himself gulping down a glass of water, he could also hear faint thumping from the basement. With high alert, he began descending down the stairs to investigate the source of the sound.

It was Simon. He was still up and doing sparring rounds with a red punching bag, each of his punches sent the bag swinging violently.

"You okay?" Gary finally asked, alerting Simon of his presence.

"Can't sleep." he said nonchalantly, giving the punching bag another mighty punch. Roach took a minute to admire the huge gym Soap had, each piece of equipment probably spent a fortune. He slowly paced to the small area filled with equipment and grabbed himself some boxing mitts and a protective helmet.

"So, why don't we resume our little talk?" Gary called as he presented himself to Simon on full boxing coach gear. Simon immediately positioned himself and Gary did the same as they began training with the intention of talking it out.

Simon's punches were heavy, Roach could feel a little emotion on each hit he made and it was starting to make him unstable.

"So, anything you'd want to discuss?" Roach initiated, his hands carefully met his punches as they circled around the area.

"I've been trying to ignore her, Gary. You see me try right? But the more I don't think of her, the more excited I get when I accidentally see her. It's frustrating." He explained in between his punches. There it was, the thing bothering him the most.

"What did she say back in Brazil? She probably said something that kept you from moving on. I can't think of anything else that might cause you to feel this way, unless you're lying." Roach tilted his head so he could see Simon's reaction. His punches stopped coming and he just stood there, his hands dropped to his sides.

"She… she didn't say anything… but she distances herself to John while I'm around."

"John MacTavish or John Price?" Gary interrupted, in an attempt to brighten up the mood, but instead all he got was Simon's 'are-you-kidding-me-right-now?' look.

"But when I'm not around, she finds time to see him…" Simon continued. Gary took off his gloves and tapped his shoulder.

"She… she was being considerate." Simon concluded. It looked like Gary did his job. He could feel Simon's shoulders relax upon realizing what was actually going on.

"Despite all that… she sacrificed a little just to not hurt you." Gary added, he had no intention of making Simon guilty but now that he realized it, he was making an impact toward the relationship that was blooming between Soap and France.

"Thanks, Gary. For being a great friend…" Ghost took off his gloves and walked out of the gym.

"... and the worst therapist." He joked with a grin as he walked up the stairs and left Gary in the gym.

"I hope you find your peace, Simon." Gary muttered.

The following morning, the team was already busy walking around the house. Soap was on the phone with a long list of things the girls ordered for their restock. It was planned that for the time being, the team was to stay in the MacTavish residence while Nero and Shepherd were off the grid.

Price and Jack started their own little command center inside Soap's father's office just by the living room. They began creating connections to their closest contacts to track activity from their enemies. Ghost seemed to be not around at the moment and Gary guessed he's still asleep.

Soap nodded a greeting to Roach as he walked by him on his way to the kitchen. Maxine and France were out opening drawers and anything in the pantry to clear up space for supplies. From the kitchen window, Gary spotted Samantha, Alex and Nikolai in front of a truck. Gary overheard that Nikolai wanted to go back home and he guessed today was the day he'd do so.

"I didn't know what kind of sugar you needed so I kinda ordered a bunch of em." Soap announced to the sisters and they laughed.

"The clerk kept asking me of brown, white, confectioners and some other and honestly I don't know which." he shrugged and scratched his head.

"Hey man, I was just wondering… why did you choose the risky life? When you had everything you ever needed here?" Gary asked the question that has been bothering him since he got here.

"I dunno Roach. It's just that I knew it was calling out to me… You also sound like my Mum when I told her I'm joining the force." he chuckled. Gary just nodded but still didn't understand his logic. But he dismissed the thought as soon as Maxine and France asked for his help reaching something by the cabinets.

The rest of the day was busy. Once supplies arrived, everyone else was preoccupied. Lifting boxes, arranging items, looking for intel. It was like they made their own 141 base inside the house.

By the time they're almost free, Roach and Maxine were already in the kitchen preparing for dinner.

"So, any new dreams lately?" Roach initiated as he sliced through the vegetables they're cooking.

"Piece by piece. Last night I remembered having gum stuck on my hair on picture day. I cried a lot." she giggled. Roach smiled, he was glad she's getting her memories back which made him remember of Samantha's case.

"Ow!" Gary winced as he accidentally cut a short scrape on his thumb. He was so busy staring at Maxine that he forgot he was chopping.

"Don't worry. It's just a small wound." Gary assured as Maxine pulled his thumb close to her mouth and blew air through it, just like when you're a kid and you do that to ease the pain.

Gary couldn't help but smile at her immediate action. She also looked concerned and worried about his welfare.

"Hey Max." he whispered, making the girl turn to him, her face was so beautiful in Gary's eyes.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Nothing… It's just that…"

"What is it? You're making me worried"

"I really really like you, Maxine Winters."

Maxine looked at him in the eye, the eye contact they were doing was starting to make the world fade behind them.

"Guys! I have bad news." Soap interrupted, causing everyone to form a small circle by the living room.

"Ghost left. With a note saying he'll try to gather more information on Shadow Company with Alexandra's help. He says thanks and that he'll see us all soon." Soap summarized the note. The room fell silent.

Next Chapter : Off the Grid

Notification Squad my Beloved

@samatedeansbroccoli @enderio @smokeywhalee @whimsywispsblog @beemybee @ricinbach

[lady-snavely]

Sands of Time: Part Three

Blossomed Feelings

Pairing: Kuroo Tetsuro x Fem!OC

Warnings: mentions of death, swearing, mutual pining, all the fluff

A/N: as always, reblogs are super appreciated!

Like every other day when they came in, she was on her break. Today, she was perched in a window in the children's area with her legs drawn up loosely. There was a book in her hand, presumably the same one from a couple of days ago. Hidden safely beneath the tent of her knees was a steaming mug.

Jade's ears perked, her attention momentarily divided when she heard Bokuto, obnoxious as ever, greet her coworkers across the building. She was sure he included an exaggerated wave as well. Her advanced hearing, one of the few bonuses of being Fae, even allowed her to hear Daichi silence Bokuto with a low warning.

"There's a big enough table over there that's free." He was telling the group. She knew exactly which table he was referring to as she'd made sure it was clear before she went on break twenty minutes ago.

With a sigh, she closed her book and stood gingerly so as not to disturb her drink. The study group was her queue that her break was over soon. Still, finishing the chapter sounded real nice.

Nonetheless Jade found herself smiling as she glided through the aisles that were as familiar to her now as her own apartment. Her thoughts were with the oddball company of heroes and heroines from her book. Even preoccupied she nodded politely at the group of boys taking their places at the table.

"Fancy seeing you here again."

"Good afternoon to you too, Kuroo," she replied without stopping. "You all know where to find me if you need help with anything."

Yaku snickered and jabbed his elbow into Kuroo's ribs. "She didn't even bother to look at you."

"Her break's about over," Akaashi defended. "Iwaizumi messaged me a few moments ago, he and Oikawa won't be joining us tonight."

"Good, they can keep that stomach bug away from us then," Daichi grumbled.

"Please, they're probably having their own fun." Kuroo wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"I wouldn't put it past them," Akaashi murmured. He turned to Bokuto and gave him a warning glare. "Make sure you actually work on your Maths today. You nearly failed your last test."

For well over an hour Kuroo was able to focus on his studying despite his loudmouth of a friend sitting across from him. Bokuto came along more for the social aspect than anything else. Not that any of them really cared the way Akaashi did, study group was the only chance they had during the week to get together anyway.

With a small groan Kuroo stood. He needed a break to stretch his legs. He wandered the shelves aimlessly, stopping on occasion to read a synopsis or two before continuing on. He really didn't have much free time at the moment, what with midterms starting to ramp up. Still, Kuroo made a mental note of books to read once the workload began to die down.

"-depends on what you're interested in, honestly." He overheard Jade saying. "Let's start off with something simple to help narrow it down. Are you looking for a stand alone story or a series?"

Kuroo, for reasons unknown even to himself, hid two aisles over and listened in on the exchange. Since starting at the nearby university last year he'd learned quickly that Jade was good at her job. Great even. Any time he'd needed help with research or simply pointed in the right direction, she'd been prompt with answers. Sometimes she even went above the call to suggest further material that always seemed to have more information than he'd ever need.

Still it amazed him that in a matter of a few questions Jade was excitedly showing the younger guest a section that would entertain her. "I'm a little older than the intended audience but this series here in incredible. But if you're interested in something a little more magickal - and I don't mean witches and wizards - then I suggest this series just here."

With a faint smile Kuroo turned from the duo to head back to his studying. "Fuck," he hissed when he ran into and nearly knocked over Yaku. "Creepy little shit. What are you doing?"

Yaku glared up at his taller friend with a wicked grin. "If I'm creepy what do you call what you were just doing?" He countered. A quick peek around Kuroo gave Yaku the answer he needed. "Admiring the view?"

Kuroo looked over his shoulder and saw the girl from before already devouring the suggested book. Jade was nowhere to be seen. "She's a bit young for me, don't you think?"

Yaku rolled his eyes. Sometimes he really wondered if Kuroo was, in fact, a total moron. Kuroo's infatuation with the Human girl had become more and more evident over the last year. There were some not so obvious clues, like how he just happened to run into her when he was wandering around, or how he had started zoning out in classes. Then there was the blindingly obvious: watching her like creep from the other aisle while she helped other guests, for example. "Come back to the table," he finally sighed. "I need help with the Biology assignment."

"My time to shine," Kuroo smirked.

"Don't go getting an ego."

"I would never."

Both girls were seemingly non the wiser to what had transpired only two aisles away.

Daichi, Akaashi and Yaku continued to study dutifully while Bokuto successfully managed to distract Kuroo. Jade had only one other guest after the younger girl had left with two new books in hand.

Even with that one person closing time seemed to come a little too soon for Jade. They always did on days the study group came in. She enjoyed listening to their friendly banter and teasing, they were good company and often pulled her into their conversations on slower nights.

Tonight was no different than any other night the group came in. It was closing time and they were still there, sitting at the same table they'd procured from the moment they walked in hours before. However, studying had been thrown out the window some time ago she recalled as she made her way over. Currently they were chatting, all but Bokuto and Yaku, who had fallen asleep.

Propping a hand on the back of Akaashi's chair she sighed, forcing disappointment into her words. "Time for me to lock up guys."

"Is it that time already?" Daichi glanced at his phone before sighing himself and rubbing at his eyes. "Sorry to be a bother again, Jade."

"I tell you every time: you aren't a bother, Daichi," Jade shrugged. "Libraries have always been around for a reason. Apparently a good location for a power nap is one of them." She roused Yaku gently, giving him a warm smile when he blinked up at her. "Closing time sleepy head."

"We'll get out of your hair as soon as we wake Bokuto," Akaashi assured her.

"Take your time, I've got some cleaning to finish up anyway."

Jade turned away but not before catching the mischievous grin on Kuroo's face. Just as she expected, the indistinguishable thud of a dropped stack of books met her ears. "Wake up!"

"Bro!" Bokuto whined. Jade's nose wrinkled at the shout. No matter how much she heard it she would never get used to that term.

"Time to go, Bokuto," Kuroo said without a hint of apology in his voice.

Kuroo waited by the checkout counter for Jade to come out of the back office. Over the past year it had become a sort of habit for him to wait for her while she clocked out and locked the building up for the night. In more than one hundred attempts she had yet to agree to, at the very least, allowing him to walk her to the bus stop. Maybe tonight would be different? There was only one way to know for sure.

"Ready to go, Kuroo?"

"Only if you are!" He replied. A triumphant smile adorned his face when a soft chuckle met his ears. Kuroo clasped his hands, fingers knit together tightly before asking, "Would you like some company on your way home tonight?"

It came as no surprise to Kuroo that she didn't reply right away. She emerged from the back office with the satisfied smile that came from finally being off the clock. "Thank you, but I'll be okay on my own tonight."

Kuroo cocked his head to the side for a moment before nodding. "One of these days you'll say yes."

"You're so sure of yourself, Kuroo." She snickered and ducked her head to hunt for her keys in her bag. "I appreciate the offer as always."

They left the building in comfortable silence. Jade tugged at the building doors, testing the locks before heaving a content sigh. "I saw you looking at some books early," she mentioned casually when they reached the sidewalk. "I can put them on hold for you. If you want, that is."

"Not with midterms in a couple weeks." Kuroo shook his head but smiled down at Jade. "That's very kind of you though."

Jade smirked. "I try my best."

Kuroo fought the urge to wrap his arm around her shoulders. He didn't know it, but she caught the twitch in his fingers. "Get home safe, okay Jade?"

"Don't worry, you'll see me all safe and in one piece on Friday, Kuroo." Jade's smile, highlighted by nearby street lights, brought an unwelcomed heat crawling up his neck.

"Right, well, good night, Jade." He retreated into the shadows quickly before she could see the blush spreading up across his cheeks.

"May sleep find you easily tonight, Kuroo." Jade dipped her head slightly before she herself hurried off in the direction of her bus stop.

Kuroo stared after her until she was out of sight before he sighed and began his journey home. When he stepped into his dorm room he wasn't surprised to see Kenma poking feverishly at the buttons of his video game. They had intrigued him from the moment he'd laid eyes on them.

Kenma's elf ears were poking through his hair, the only sign that he was no longer holding his Humanoid form. Kuroo received a murmured greeting from his long time friend as he removed his shoes.

"You missed out," he told Kenma.

"Unlikely."

Kuroo chuckled at that as he made his way into their shared room to change. As he did, he shifted with a sigh of satisfaction. It was only in their shared dorm room or when they were home visiting their folks that he and Kenma could safely shift back to their Fae forms.

"The Solstice Festival is coming up," Kuroo reminded his friend.

"Oh." Came the reply. Kenma's attention was barely pulled from his video game. Kuroo said no more on the subject, knowing full well that when the time came Kenma would leave the Human entertainment behind and return home for the Festival.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Jade's heart was racing and not only because she was running. Had it been a trick of the light or had he been blushing just before she left? She supposed either were possible, even with the street lights the lighting wasn't favorable, and she was nearly a foot shorter than him so the angle was weird too. She tried not to dwell on it too much.

She didn't want to get too close to him this time around. She brushed off his advances, his attempts at getting closer, as best as she could but her job didn't allow for blatant ignoring of guests, so it was difficult. But she didn't want her heart broken. Not again.

Tears glistened in her eyes as she stood beneath the light of the bus stop. She dried them before they could fall; before they could be seen. In all her years on Earth, why was it a Human that had to come along and capture her heart?

When the bus arrived it only had a handful of occupants. Given the time of night this was to be expected and allowed Jade her pick of the crop as far as where to sit for her journey home. She hugged her knees tight to her chest when she sat, her temple leaning against the cool glass of the window at her side. Normally she would read, but she knew if she opened her book the pages would remain unturned, for try as she might, her mind raced with memories of the past. Of the wild laugh that sent the butterflies in her stomach soaring. That almost there smile that had found her time and time again over the centuries.

As much as she wanted to, Jade suppressed the desire to shift back into her Fae form as soon as her door was locked behind her. Showers were much easier without the wings getting in the way. So it wasn't until she stepped from her bathroom half an hour later that she released the invisible thread of thought that kept her Humanoid form in place.

M.List | Next

[sage-nebula]

If Alan had to assemble a new Alolan team (he'd keep Lizardon of course!)who do you think he'd pick?

Hmm, do you mean like if he did what Ash does at the start of each new saga and only brings Pikachu with him to new regions, thus filling the rest of his team with ‘mon exclusive to that region? Okay, I can do that … but to make it interesting, let’s make him a team from every region, and then I’ll assemble a final team of six out of those. =) Putting this beneath a cut, because it’s going to get long:

I’ll put the species name first, and then the nickname he’d use for them second. And of course, the first ‘mon for every single region is always going to be the same. ♥

Kanto:

Charizard — Lizardon (Fire/Flying; Fire/Dragon)

Lapras — Lace (Water/Ice)

Raichu — Rai (Electric)

Nidoking — King (Poison/Ground)

Gengar — Gar (Ghost/Poison)

Aerodactyl — Ptera (Rock/Flying)

Lizardon is self-explanatory. He goes with Alan to every single region and they’ll never, ever part.

Lace is a callback to my Immortality AU, where I think I ended up giving Alan a lapras (or maybe reunited Ash with his?) because I imagine that lapras are a species that live a very, very long time—that even they’re not technically dragons, the lifespan of the Loch Ness Monster in our own world lends to the idea that lapras would be long lasting. In any case, I could see a lapras on Alan’s team. Lapras are very strong and very durable, and we know that Alan does like pokémon that can be both tanks and very heavy hitters, which lapras are. In addition, though, lapras are known for having very gentle temperaments, and since Alan is so calm and gentle himself (when he isn’t given reason not to be), I feel that would fit well with a lapras. Lapras are very rare (they’re more easily captured in Johto on Fridays), but there could possibly be a situation where someone working in the Safari Zone gives him one to raise and take care of once they learn that he comes from the Kalosian Pokémon Lab, because they need someone to look after this particular lapras and raise her, and they know he’ll do a good job.

Rai, I figure, could have been inspired by Ash, in the sense that knowing Ash and his Pikachu made Alan take interest in the pikachu line and thus decide to raise one himself. Rai would be captured in Viridian Forest as a pikachu, raised up, and then eventually evolved with a Thunder Stone (not against his will, of course), because although Alan would be inspired by Pikachu, again, he does value reaching for one’s max potential in his team, and as we’ve seen in canon he does tend to evolve his pokémon all the way.

King, I feel, would be a little male nidoran who saw Alan in the Viridian area and decided, for some reason, that Alan was an Opponent and a Rival and an Enemy and that he would take him down. Unfortunately, nidoran are not very big or intimidating ‘mon, so this … did not go as planned for King … but Alan recognized and appreciated that fighting spirit and so offered King a place on his team. King originally accepted with the idea that once he gained enough strength he would defeat Alan once and for all, but ultimately he came to really love him as a trainer and became a very faithful member of the team. So, you know. Maybe he’ll eat someone else instead. (Spoiler: He’s not going to eat anyone, Alan won’t let that happen.)

Gar would be a temporary member of Alan’s team; he’d be released back to the Lavender Tower once Alan was ready to leave Kanto. I don’t really have a story behind this one, but gengar seems like the type of pokémon that Alan would find an interesting challenge to train, and the gengar that we meet in Lavender Tower in the anime is friendly enough so that he probably wouldn’t want to drain Alan of his life. (Probably.) So I think it’d probably be more of Alan offering to show Gar interesting things around Kanto, Gar agreeing, and then the two parting ways at the end of the journey.

Ptera is another callback to the Immortality AU, because I’m almost positive I gave Alan an aerodactyl there, because again, they’re basically immortal themselves, very long lasting. (And for Alan and Ash in the Immortality AU, that’s very important.) This wouldn’t necessarily be the same aerodactyl that tried to eat Ash—rather, maybe this one was revived from Old Amber, flipped out because it was fossilized and now it’s suddenly alive again, Alan helped calm it down, and so the scientists were like, “Please take this before it eats us.” Nonetheless, aerodactyl again seems like the type of pokémon Alan would train, so I could see him with one.

Those who know that Alan is my valiant dragon son are probably surprised that dragonite wasn’t included, but while I considered dragonite, in honesty I … have never been very fond of dragonite. Its design has never appealed to me, and while it is strong, I just kind of … eh. There are better dragons out there, in later gens.

(Also, I know you’re probably thinking, “Well, I’m still surprised you didn’t give him an arcanine!” but listen … the temptation was there … I do think Alan would be very good at training an arcanine and that he’d like it, but when thinking about his Future Permanent Team, I couldn’t bear to have him leave the arcanine behind, and I don’t want his team to be too similar to mine, so … a call had to be made. I had to restrain myself, despite how very real that temptation was.)

Johto:

Charizard — Lizardon (Fire/Flying; Fire/Dragon)

Noctowl — Yoru (Normal/Flying)

Tyranitar — Bangiras (Rock/Dark)

Houndoom — Soot (Dark/Fire)

Donphan — Don (Ground)

Mantine — Tine (Water/Flying)

Lizardon is self-explanatory, as always.

Yoru comes from my Fix-It of the team we see him with in the League, because it kills me that they gave him unfezant, of all pokémon, when you can’t even catch that in Kalos (but you can catch noctowl), and noctowl is far more fitting thematically. I think that Yoru (short for “Yorunozuku”) would bond with Alan very quickly as a hoothoot, and would evolve into a beautiful noctowl in short order.

Bangiras is that very same tyranitar we see him with in the League. I didn’t have any real issues with him having a tyranitar in canon, so there’s no reason not to stick with that choice now. Bangiras would be captured as a larvitar and would start out feeling a rivalry toward Lizardon (that is not reciprocated) because he would want to be Alan’s strongest and favorite, but that attitude would settle down over time. Whenever he’s in Kalos and/or otherwise around Bonnie, Bonnie likes to sing “Getta Ban Ban” because of his name.

Soot is … okay, listen. For those of you who have read Genesis, you’ll know that technically the first pokémon Alan ever had was a houndour puppy that he, at the tender age of five, named “Soot.” Alan didn’t actually catch this houndour, nor was he able to raise it, but he tried and he gave it a name and it remains a very important part of his past, because if he’d never tried to keep that houndour puppy, he never would have met (and been unofficially adopted by) Sycamore. So I’ve always entertained the idea that one day, Alan and Soot would be reunited. How Soot would get all the way to Johto from Kalos is anyone’s guess, but maybe Soot was actually captured by another trainer at some point, who then traded him away to someone in Johto, who then released him. It’s possible! In any case, Soot and Alan meet by “chance” (read: destiny) at one point in Johto, Soot recognizes Alan instantly, Alan realizes that Soot is Soot, and so he’s captured and raised up (probably captured as a houndour, still, just a fully grown one at this point, close to evolving but not quite there yet). The naming convention is off from the rest, but Alan named him Soot so long ago … he’s not going to change that now. Soot is very playful and, even as a full grown adult, likes to act like a baby and get belly rubs with his tongue lolling out of his mouth. Sometimes Alan still calls him “Sootie.” It’s hard not to.

Don doesn’t have a story behind her; I think a donphan just seems like the kind of pokémon that Alan would train, particularly since donphan can be tanks, can be fast (ROLLOUT), and are hard hitters (again, ROLLOUT). Also, I have a real soft spot for phanpy, so I like the idea of Alan raising one up to be a mighty donphan (albeit a mighty donphan that still thinks she’s the size of a phanpy).

Tine is partial bias to sea rays that I gained during my Japan vacation, and partial “I do think this would fit.” Again, no real story to this one; I just think it’d be interesting for Alan to raise a mantine and I think he’d enjoy and be good at it. Everyone was mantine surfing~

Again, the big surprise here might be that I left off kingdra, particularly since he has dragon clan heritage in Blackthron City (though if this is a canon compliant timeline, he might not know about that yet). But I didn’t want to give him two water-types, since water’s not really his thing so much, and I personally prefer mantine over kingdra. But don’t worry, there will be dragons to come in the future regions.

Hoenn:

Charizard — Lizardon (Fire/Flying; Fire/Dragon)

Flygon — Lye (Ground/Dragon)

Milotic — Milo (Water)

Absol — Sol (Dark)

Salamence — Bohmander (Dragon/Flying)

Metagross — Meta (Steel/Psychic)

Lizardon remains self-explanatory.

Lye would be captured as a trapinch, and perhaps got its name both because of its future final evolution, and also because it was very hot to the touch (due to being out in the desert) when Alan first met it, thus it burned him and made him think of how lye burns when it comes in contact with skin. In any case, even as a trapinch Lye always wanted to be off the ground, which makes Alan wonder sometimes if he should have named it Fly instead.

Milo is another call to the immortality AU, though it’s Ash that has a milotic in that one, rather than Alan. Nonetheless, milotic is a big pokémon that looks like a sea dragon, is very strong, and very much a tank as well, so it’s the type that he’d have on his team. Plus, I like the idea of him catching a feebas, and knowing that no matter how weak it is at the time, he can help it become stronger. And with time, he does. 

Sol would be a healing, reclamation type pokémon for him. For those of who you have read Genesis (linked above), you’ll remember that the mayor of Isolé Village compared Alan to an absol in a derogatory way:

The mayor looked back at [Augustine], and her furious scowl was instantly replaced by an apologetic smile. “Oh, Professor Sycamore! I’m so sorry about all of this. I should have warned you to watch out for this one, but I didn’t think even he would … well.” She chuckled, but Augustine could hear an undercurrent of anger in it as she placed her hand on the boy’s head and shook him a little, her fingers gripping his hair far more roughly than Augustine had ruffled it back in the houndour den. “I should have known better! Alan here is like our own little absol—brings disaster wherever he goes!” She laughed again, the sound loud and aggressive.

That was years and years ago, but Alan has an eidetic memory and so he remembers everything that happened to him in that village: every punishment, every name he was ever called, and so forth. And as a result, given that he was always compared to absol and that it was meant to be a bad thing, seeing absol has always filled him with a very uncomfortable, anxious feeling. It’s not something he ever takes out on them, obviously, but seeing absol (or hearing the word “absol”) reminds him of those days back in Isolé, and he doesn’t like it. (Buneary sort of do as well, come to that, since they were always allowed to run around the village at will, but it doesn’t have the same tie to him as absol does.)

So in that sense, if he came across an absol in Hoenn, he wouldn’t want to capture it at first, but perhaps the absol would keep following him around because she knew that something bad was going to happen to him and wanted to prevent it. And after she helped save him from whatever disaster, it’d help him come to terms with things. Sycamore himself taught Alan that absol never bring disaster, and Alan knew that … and he also knows that he never really brought disaster, that the things he was blamed for weren’t really his fault … but sometimes it takes a while for the heart to catch up. And so he’d capture the absol, and name her Sol (meaning “sun” as well as being a play on her name), as a sort of healing / reclamation thing.

Bohmander would either be captured as a bagon, inspired by Zinnia and her salamence, particularly in my preferred scenario where a version of the Delta Episode is carried out post-XY(&Z), and Alan and Zinnia become quite acquainted with one another as a result. Boh is a bit smaller than the average salamence and is quite gentle, but he’s no less fierce in battle and everyone would do well to remember it.

Meta is the same metagross that Alan has in the League in canon, inspired by Steven and his metagross. If I remember correctly, the personality that I gave to Meta is that they are very young but also very desperate to prove themselves and be strong to make Alan proud. They struggle with self-esteem, but Alan always reminds them that he’s proud of their progress, and that helps a lot.

See? I told you there’d be more dragons.

Sinnoh:

Charizard — Lizardon (Fire/Flying; Fire/Dragon)

Mismagius — Mumargi (Ghost)

Lucario — Cario (Fighting/Steel)

Weavile — Manyula (Dark/Ice)

Mamoswine — Mammoo (Ice/Ground)

Gallade — Rei (Fighting/Psychic)

Lizardon is self-explanatory, as always.

I don’t really have a story for Mumargi, except that maybe Mumargi kept “accidentally” crossing paths with him as a misdreavous before he finally caught her. After he caught her she tried to wander off at every given opportunity, because she’s contrary like that.

Way back when the Flare Crisis was airing, and Alan did that amazing back handspring to avoid the spikes in the megalith, I came up with a headcanon that perhaps he studied martial arts under Maylene for a time while traveling through Sinnoh. Perhaps that headcanon could still come to light and that’s how he ends up with Cario, who was his sparring partner while studying with Maylene and who decided to travel with him when he left. (And now whenever he and Maylene encounter each other in public they have to spar immediately, as soon as they make eye contact, without explaining anything to anyone in the nearby vicinity. Those are the rules between martial arts sensei and student.) 

Manyula is the same weavile we see him with in the League. Again, he chose a weavile there, I had no real issues with it, so why not keep it up? (Also, the Sinnoh ‘dex is hard enough to choose from without eliminating canon choices orz.) If I remember the characterization I gave her, she’s very mischievous and prideful and somewhat tsun in that she doesn’t like to play well with others … or at least, that’s what she pretends. 

There’s no real story behind Mammoo other than I thought it’s the type of pokémon that would fit Alan’s battling style, and same for Rei. 

Honestly, this one was really hard because I don’t like the majority of the Sinnoh ‘dex, and those I do like are already taken by members of Alan’s family (Sycamore has garchomp, Clemont has luxray), or just wouldn’t really fit his battling style (glaceon, leafeon, floatzel). So I struggled a lot with this one, I won’t lie.

Unova:

Charizard — Lizardon (Fire/Flying; Fire/Dragon)

Krookodile — Rook (Ground/Dark)

Zebstrika — Strike (Electric)

Beartic — Bear (Ice)

Chandelure — Lure (Ghost/Fire)

Bisharp — Sharp (Dark/Steel)

Lizardon is self-explanatory.

Rook seems like the type of pokémon Alan would train (fast, strong, tanky), and so there’s no real story behind this choice. That said, I like to imagine that if Rook met some of Alan’s more mischievous ‘mon from the past (such as, oh, Manyula or Mumaragi), he’s the type they’d try to scapegoat for their own wrongdoings even though he’s super honest and sincere and would never do anything wrong ever in his life if he could help it. Don’t worry, Alan never falls for the lies.

Strike might seem like kind of an odd choice, but I think that zebstrika can be pretty strong and fast and Alan would appreciate that, especially in an electric type. Strike is proud and hates losing, and is prone to tantrums and sulking fits when things don’t go his way. This is something he and Alan work on together.

Bear would have been captured as a cubchoo and not intentionally named Bear, but when Alan first encountered the curious little cubchoo trying to raid his bag for snacks, he said, “Hey there, little bear,” and from there on out the cubchoo would not respond to anything else. So now he’s a bear(tic) … named Bear. So it goes.

Lure tried to, well, lure Alan off a cliff at some point, back when she was still a litwick. That didn’t work, and when it didn’t, Lure tried again and again until finally Alan got exasperated and captured her. She still likes to try to lead him off places, this time in earnest, but she has a bad sense of direction and so she can’t be trusted as navigator even when she’s doing her best. She is a solid member of the team, though.

Sharp is the same bisharp that we see in canon. I had no problems with this one, so why change it? I can’t remember the personality I gave him, except maybe he was another that hated to lose? God, I wish I could find that post. Anyway, Sharp is bisharp, you know how it is.

I hated that canon gave Alan a random unfezant, as mentioned above, so that one got axed. I was also really strongly tempted to give him a haxorus, but I feel that’s Iris’ territory since she has that iconic axew, so I left that be.

Kalos:

Charizard — Lizardon (Fire/Flying; Fire/Dragon)

Pangoro — Pandar (Fighting/Dark)

Aegislash — Exagide (Steel/Ghost)

Tyrantrum — Rexillus (Rock/Dragon)

Noivern — Bruyverne (Flying/Dragon)

Meowstic — Mistigrix (Psychic)

Lizardon is self-explanatory.

For some reason I imagine Pandar as a little pancham at Sycamore’s lab that becomes utterly fixated on Alan because he (Pandar) wants to grow up to become very strong and knows that Alan could train him to do so. Thus, Alan ends up taking him along on a journey. Lo and behold, Pandar ends up achieving his dreams, so it’s a happy ending for everyone.

I don’t have much of a story for Exagide, but I think that Alan would be very interested in training an aegislash because of how much strategy goes into battling with one. I think he’d find the challenge exciting, and that Exagide would be happy to have someone who appreciated their talents.

Rexillus just seems like the type of pokémon Alan would like, as with so many others on this list. I’d like to flip the script a little and imagine Rexillus as a very lazy pokémon that Alan really has to work with to get motivated, and that even though Rexillus will at least battle reliably now, his favorite activities are still eating, sleeping, and watching cartoons. (He knows what’s up.)

Bruyverne is, I will admit, a personal bias of mine because I really like noivern, so even though Ash had one, well … it’s not an iconic pokémon of Ash’s, so it’s fine. Hell, maybe Alan was even inspired by Ash’s, I don’t know. Either way, I do think noivern would suit Alan’s battling style, and thus Bruyverne would be a good fit.

Mistigrix might seem weird, but I decided to give one to Alan as a call to the game character Emma, who I feel at least partially inspired Alan’s inclusion in the anime. Emma has an espurr named Mimi, and so I feel that giving Alan an espurr (and then meowstic) works. This works even better if we go with an idea I had once where Emma was Alan’s childhood friend in Lumiose, and she still has Mimi; she has her girl, Mimi, and Alan has his boy, Mistigrix, inspired by Emma and her Mimi. They make a pretty good team.

Alola: 

Charizard — Lizardon (Fire/Flying; Fire/Dragon)

Mimikyu — Kyu (Ghost/Fairy)

Mudsdale — Dale (Ground)

(Midday) Lycanroc — Lycan (Rock)

Kommo-o — Kommo (Dragon/Fighting)

Toxapex — Tox (Poison/Water)

Lizardon is self-explanatory.

Kyu is a carry over from my fic To Devour the Sun, although I guess saying that is spoilers a little bit. Regardless, one of the ideas I have for near the end of the fic is for Alan to go off to the abandoned Thrifty Megamart to get some space and time alone (with Lizardon, of course), and while he’s there enjoying the quiet, a very lonely but curious mimikyu ends up coming up to him. The mimikyu means no harm, and she seems to be hurting in some way that he can’t quite identify, but that he empathizes with … so he takes her with him. He names her “Kyu” both because it’s a play on her name, and because she’s curious; “Kyu” sounds like “Q,” like question. (Also, I’ll fully admit that I love mimikyu with all my heart, so. This is a bit of personal bias, too, but I still think it’d be interesting to see Alan with a mimikyu that rides around on his shoulder because she, like Ash’s Pikachu, doesn’t like pokéballs.)

Dale doesn’t have a story behind him, but he seems to fit Alan’s battling style. Also, tbh, Alan is a hero, so we might as well give him a gallant steed to ride on in at least one region.

Lycan is a result of my third eye opening and finally allowing me to see sense. For the longest time I planned on giving Midday Lycanroc to Sycamore in To Devour the Sun, as a play on the whole “papa wolf” theme. As a result I was going to give Alan a drampa here, particularly because I feel that a drampa would gravitate to this boy. However, I have that so backwards. Sycamore should get the drama, as the caretaker of children who can get fiercely protective over them (were it not for the laws of Kalosian land Sycamore may well have burned Isolé Village down for how they treated Alan), and a regal wolf suits Alan far more. Plus, this also works in the sense that Ash has dusk lycanroc, while two of his rivals have the other two forms (Gladion with Midnight, and Alan with Midday). It works out.

Anyway, Lycan still has a very protective personally when it comes to his pack, which is Alan and the rest of the team. So he still acts like a papa wolf, at least.

(Also, don’t tell Sycamore’s drampa about Isolé or it very well might still get burned down after all.)

Kommo is another that I imagine would try to challenge Alan to fights, ultimately see that he can’t win, and then want to come along to train and get stronger. So not a very original story, I guess, but Alan attracts these types because he has that type of warrior spirit.

Tox is kind of a random choice to most, I imagine, but of the remaining pokémon in Alola I figure that toxapex is a good fit. It’s a bit outside of Alan’s normal training style, perhaps, but I think he’d like that challenge.

Final Team:

Charizard — Lizardon (Fire/Flying; Fire/Dragon)

Absol — Sol (Dark)

Mimikyu — Kyu (Ghost/Fairy)

Salamence — Bohmander (Dragon/Flying)  

Tyranitar — Bangiras (Rock/Dark)

Aerodactyl — Ptera (Rock/Flying)

a.k.a. The team one would be likely to face if battling him when he’s the Champion.

I spent about three hours putting this all together, and this final team was probably the hardest one. I honestly have a notepad open that I’ve been using to do a base rundown of weaknesses and type coverage and, honestly, I feel like I should be going even deeper by selecting natures and movesets and all that, but … it’s 3am. I’m tired. So I’m not going to do that right now, even though Alan deserves it.

Anyway, my reasoning:

As an overview, I was torn between two different themes. Part of me wanted to give Alan’s final team the theme of mega evolution, in that every single pokémon on it would be capable of mega evolution. The other part of me felt that it was more important to give him pokémon that had more emotional value to him and his story, particularly since the only ‘mon on his team that would be mega evolving during battle would be Lizardon. In the end I did a bit of both; five out of six pokémon on the team above are capable of mega evolution, but I also did my best to choose at least most of them due to emotional weight with regards to him and his story.

So with that said:

Lizardon, as I’ve said a billion times by now, is self-explanatory. He’s Alan’s partner, his platonic soulmate—these two are never going to be separated. Their partnership is so iconic, so legendary, that anyone who even knows of Alan in a passing fashion (“oh yeah, he’s the Kalos Champion”) knows that Lizardon will show up if one challenges Alan to a battle. They’re like Ash and Pikachu. There’s no separation here. And of course, Lizardon is the one who mega evolves as well, meaning that it’s not even that easy to plan against him since his type could change to Fire/Dragon mid-battle. (So, you brought a water-type to deal with him? Too bad for you, he’s not weak to water anymore, suckaaa.)

Sol is included because of everything said above about Alan’s reclamation / healing with absol. Absol don’t cause disasters, and neither did Alan himself. He and Sol would grow really close throughout this process and I feel that Sol would be a very strong member of the team, even though she only has that one singular typing. Sol is also capable of mega evolution, though she would not mega evolve since, no matter how close they are, she and Alan don’t have that level of bond. That’s reserved for Lizardon.

Kyu is also a healing pokémon in Alan’s story, in the sense that when Alan first finds her, her actual Jolly nature has been pretty worn down and smothered by her isolation and other past traumas, the nature of which Alan is never able to learn (but figures it’s not his business anyway). But as they travel and train together, she’s able to heal and her true nature is able to come through. I think that, when looking at the rest of Alan’s team, a mimikyu seems rather unexpected—but that actually works in their favor, particularly given how wicked strong mimikyu can be (and how strong Alan’s in particular would be, given that he would absolutely utilize that Swords Dance + Play Rough / Shadow Claw combo). Kyu would be a smart choice to trip people up.

Bohmander, more often called Boh and inspired by Zinnia, is an important emotional choice for Alan because of that association. I don’t want to spoil too many of my ideas for this adaptation of the Delta Episode (though whether I’ll ever get it written and posted is another matter altogether), but Alan and Zinnia have a platonic, spiritual kinship of sorts that that they feel on a level they can’t entirely explain. They go through a lot together, and come out better because of it. Boh would, in a way, be a reminder of all that, on top of Alan caring for him as a pokémon. Plus, he’s a dragon and he can mega evolve (though he wouldn’t), so that also earns him a place on the team.

Bangiras doesn’t really have emotional significance, but despite being weak to practically everything, type-wise, tyranitar is still an extremely strong pokémon, and is capable of mega evolution (though again, he wouldn’t) to boot. I feel like Bangiras wouldn’t exactly be comfortable hanging out at the lab, and if Alan raised him up from a larvitar, releasing him into the wild would also be a pretty painful choice since it takes so long for larvitar to reach the tyranitar stage. So I feel like keeping Bangiras on the Champion team is worthwhile, even if Bonnie starts singing “Getta Ban Ban” every time she sees him.

Lastly, Ptera is a choice I’m still waffling about, but ultimately decided upon because, while Ptera is technically not a dragon, aerodactyl is dragon-like enough to the point where Lance had one back in Gens I and II. Additionally, aerodactyl is capable of mega evolution (though she wouldn’t), so thematically she also fits in that sense as well. I think in the real world competitive scene aerodactyl isn’t valued so much (unlike tyranitar), but the anime operates by different rules and aerodactyl are shown to be pretty fierce there, so I think that Ptera would still be a smart choice. (Plus, aerodactyl can learn Aqua Tail via move tutor … that would come in handy for any pesky ground-types.) 

All that said, I’m still waffling about Ptera because part of me feels like Meta would also be a very good choice. Meta tries very hard and wants to be strong to make Alan happy, so it makes me feel bad to leave them off the type, and Steel/Psychic adds a bit more variety to the above type set. However, the reason why I’m waffling is because even though Meta was inspired by Steven’s metagross, metagross just doesn’t feel like a very Alan pokémon in the same way that an aerodactyl does. Aerodactyl are dragon-esque, and metagross are … robot-esque, I guess? I think I read once they were inspired by UFOs? Metagross stands out in a way that doesn’t feel very true to him, and while it could be argued the same for mimikyu, I think the backstory that I created for Kyu (which honest to god did develop naturally as I was outlining To Devour the Sun) feels like it makes up for it, versus “Steven had a metagross and that seemed inspiring so I caught a beldum to raise up myself.” I love Meta, but ultimately this is why they didn’t make the cut. Though that said, this could easily be a situation where Alan’s sixth pokémon is up for debate, and you see either Ptera or Meta and you’re never sure which one it will be before the battle … that could be the case, too. (Although honestly, that could go for any of his pokémon, because in a universe where he honest to god did catch all these, he could call upon any of them at any time. I imagine the same is true for Ash when Ash is Champion, even if Ash has a more “regular” team that he has on him when traveling and such.)

Anyway, a few more notes:

I really debated adding Soot to the team, since Soot has a VERY strong emotional tie to Alan, second only to Lizardon. However, I think that Soot would prefer belly rubs over battles, so while he can battle, he prefers to spend his time at home being a house dog instead. Alan respects that, and thus doesn’t have him on the active roster. (There’s also the fact that Soot is the only pokémon that Lizardon … it’s nothing personal. Soot hasn’t done anything wrong. But on some level that Lizardon doesn’t like to talk about, he’s jealous of the fact that Soot knew Alan before he did and has a kind of special bond with him because of what happened in Isolé. Lizardon knows that what he has with Alan could never be replaced, but … that sort of unreasonable jealousy is still there. So honestly, Lizardon wouldn’t want Soot on the permanent roster, so it’s good that Soot doesn’t like battling much anyway.)

I did briefly consider Rexillus, particularly since that’s another dragon, but then I remembered that Rex is a lazybones that doesn’t like battling either, so it’d make more sense for Alan to use someone like Bangiras who does enjoy battling instead.

I really, really, really wanted Yoru on the team because, thematically, noctowl suits Alan so well—but ultimately there are stronger choices, so as much as I love Yoru, he’s not a regular battler. (Except for in canon when he was totally in the League instead of that ridiculous fanon unfezant, am I right?) 

Anyway, it’s about 3:30am now and I really need to get some sleep, so I’m going to leave this here for now. (I’ll also probably schedule it for a daytime reblog since I’m posting this at an ungodly hour.) Sorry I decided to be so extra about this instead of just answering the question more simply, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless! Thanks for asking!