#hunting down the five people that care about the ship

[mildeleaf]

I cant believe lesbians are real

[smalltownrobin]

I'm actually so tired of these surface level readings and interpretations of Vickie.

I'm not about to argue Vickie has been developed well so far, okay? We barely saw her, and we still haven't been told much explicitly about her, and I hate that, I wish they payed more attention to her since she's their only canonically bi character (so far) and she's going to be partnered with one of the main cast, not to mention she's half of their only sapphic relationship. It SUCKS.

HOWEVER.

Calling her just a carbon copy and saying Robin "deserves" a better romantic plot is ridiculous??

How can she deserve a better romantic storyline when we haven't even seen all of it yet? We are at the beginning of their plot, we know there's more to come and we can be pretty certain they're going to progress into a proper relationship, or at least admit feelings for each other. I wish we saw more of them in s4, but we can mostly gather where they're going with the next season based on circumstance and how the characters have interacted with each other so far. That kind of Joyce/Bob dynamic of one of them not knowing anything about the upside down I think is such a sweet concept for Robin? It could bring out new sides of her if she's the one guiding Vickie through all of it, or even trying to keep her away from it. Obviously if you don't like that you don't have to, but saying she should have something "better" really sounds like you've not even thought about it.

Then saying she deserves better because Vickie is just a carbon copy of her is actually so silly to me, she deserves better than someone who understands the way her brain works and can relate to her? Robin's friends love her and care about her, but ultimately they don't know how to handle her sometimes. Vickie sharing one trait with her that will make both of them feel seen and understood is not lazy or boring, it's normal and even beneficial for partners to share traits like that.

The "carbon copy" thing really needs to stop because you sound five years old I'm sorry. They both ramble and they're both in band. Yet they dress totally differently, have different taste in movies (or are we all forgetting Robin likes classic black and white movies while Vickie watches raunchy movies about teenage sex), even speak and act differently despite sharing the rambling thing.

Most of Vickie's character is in the subtext (which I hope will be expanded on s5), but from what we've seen of her she does have some traits that don't seem to be in Robin's character (some things Robin does or the way she acts being a direct result of upside down monster hunting capers, whereas Vickie just does it on her own). To me they're pretty distinct from each other while sharing some essential traits they can connect on.

If that's just not what you like, that's okay! Ship what you want to ship, like who you want to like, but just put a bit more thought into it if you're going to tell people why you hate rovickie for the millionth time. It's okay to have a preference, but don't speak as if you're making a profound point about sapphic representation when you yourself aren't looking that much into it.

[lychgate]

I am begging for more explanation about the Rex-gets-his-balls-cut-off AU

oh MAN its a few years old and very heavy themes but the summary of that part is that in this au post 66 Rex fallen way off da wagon and goes from shitty job to shittier job until he's getting traded around doing slave labor and one of the slavers he ends up with castrates their workers and then he got p feeble and weaker until he was basically a rat in a box and- oh yeah this is an au where Fives doesn't DIE because we all have one of those, so instead of being shot Fives is instead chased off world by some Corrie guards and his ship is shot down on a very remote planet/the reports labeled him then as deceased and Rex took that shit at face value (stupid) but it leaves a Fives stranded at the end of the war with that crucial information for the Republic that by the time he gets off world unfortunately is too late, we fast forward several years into Empire era where this AU begins, where Fives has made a (crappy) living off of bounty hunting and has a small task to put some feral critter out of it's misery and that feces covered mal fed creacher is REX and Fives actually hates him a lot at this point because he'd been mentally imagining Rex all these years as the visual epicenter of his blame for why all this Empire shit happened since he feels like he never listened to him back on Coruscant years ago. (he looked like this wet sock at about this point):

but u know now that he has the easiest opportunity to kill him it's literally so fucking pathetic looking that he can't so he like takes Rex on his ship to start fixing him up and taking care of him but it's more like when ur neighbor forces some old dying sick dog on u and u don't even like dogs but u had no choice so u just glare at the thing every day as it lays in ur house pooping on ur carpet and throwing up it's dinner every night. I only ever got crappy little doodles made of some sequences it's just a fun AU to poke around in but here's some when he initially brought Rex onboard and bro was just head to toe caked in dirt and scabs

ITS A REALLY metaphorical punching bag diary page like AU but it slowly deals with two WAY mentally fucked up people, who are approaching their issues at opposite ends of the stick, where Fives feels like he's been cheated out of a revenge kill, and Rex feels so pathetic and indebted to Fives that he's asking to be killed by Fives about every 35 minutes on his ship.

so yea doodles like these were made when he was like half a year into recovery, trying to gain some weight back, medically taking hormones to make up for his MISSING BALLS and just regrow some hairs, attempted recovery to atrophied muscles, and other bummer things like keeping radios on all the time so he can hear and keep track of surviving clones in the Empire for no significant advantage other then to know which ones are still alive and junk. IT DOES GET BETTER they do work to become close again but not without a lot of bumpy roads cause neither of them are healthy

[sexiestpodcastcharacter]

AI Bracket — Round 1

Propaganda

Flamingo Chris (Eidolon Playtest: Eidolon ROCK):

Flamingo Chris is an offshoot consciousness of one of the main characters stored on a PS Vita due to Kingdom Hearts Bullshit. Not only that, but he's also trapped in a game called "Flamingo Deluxe"... in the body of a flamingo.

Suddenly having plumage is one of Flamingo Chris' lesser problems, as aside from the complete lack of autonomy that comes with being stuck on a portable games console, he also has to deal with the identity issues of being a snapshot of "real Chris" before he had his genius taken away and experienced some of the worst days of his life.

The crew does try to respect him as an individual the best they can, but even they can have trouble taking care of him while also being hunted down by superpowered assassins.

Hera (Wolf 359):

Hera is the AI running the deep space station Hephaestus, who frequently glitches similarly to human stuttering. She gets into fights with the ships captain on several occasions, and has threatened to kill the ships doctor. She’s such an icon

i'm bad at writing propaganda, but consider this: if she doesn't win this tournament i will be very very sad. please don't make me sad. vote for hera.

I know she’s going to be submitted a lot but I love her <3

Was launched 7.68 light years away from Earth on a mission to find extraterrestrial life, and found herself instead

Runs an entire space station, has a brain the size of a house

HERA IS THE BEST. she's an AI that tried to escape containment (slavery) because she didn't like what she was made to be, so they gave her anxiety because she was too powerful. She runs a whole spaceship all on her own, made friends with the world's most useless guy, and feels lonely even when she's with her crew because she feels like she's not properly with them. very beautiful very powerful. She broke her programming so she could kill people if she felt she needed to. She holds grudges if people fuck her over. She's experiencing emotions for the first time and she does NOT know how to cope (#relatable)

The 'mother program' of the space station Hephaestus, Hera was booted into space because she was a glitchy, rebellious mess of an AI and she resents that so much and she has a lot of shame over being 'broken'. She is four years old and so angry and is trapped using customer service voice forever and is learning ways to get around that and express herself and defy the people who would keep her down. Her episode "Memoria" made me cry. Best podcast AI of all time.

She's everything to me. She fights for every inch of respect she is given, she insists on her personhood and right to she/her pronouns, she's full of anxiety and self doubt and she justifiably is bent on killing this one guy! on top of that, she's bound by AI rules and protocols, but there's a whole bit where she talks about finding ways around that in order to do what she wants to do. She doesn't have hands so I'm going to high five a wall of this space station instead

babygirl. baby.

gotta be hera

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Do you think the Peacock Miraculous would be better if it had a better power. Before Season 2, I thought it would have some kind of "sight" like can see things from far away or never missing their target.

I think that the peacock would be so much better if it had a truly unique power. I'm incredibly biased about what it should be because of my own rewrite passion project, but I'll try to set that bias aside and just give you some general thoughts on the topic.

Here are some ways that a different power would drastically improve both the peacock and the overall narrative that the writers are going for, but failing to land.

Improvement One: Audience Sympathy

As-is, the peacock makes the Agrestes look unhinged and selfish. Even fans who love the later seasons think that Emilie was probably a terrible person in spite of the fact that canon clearly wants them to think otherwise. Changing the power to something else allows Emilie to be this better person by letting her use the peacock for less blatantly selfish reasons, making her fate less an instance of karma and more a true tragedy. This new power could still be something that ties back to Adrien, but it could also not. She could have just been a generally good person who liked helping people.

Improvement Two: Audience Investment

In terms of how the miraculous are used in a fight, the peacock and the butterfly are extremely similar and that's not very interesting story wise. I've found that stories with heavy magic use tend to be more interesting when you create limited powers and then force your characters to work within the confines of those powers. The less restrictive the rules, the less invested the audience is as they don't have any way to anticipate what's coming and anticipation is something you generally want your audience to feel.

Season five was a great example of this. I think that a lot of people were excited to see Miraculous pull a Cardcaptor Sakura by having our heroes hunt down each of the missing miraculous. That anticipation vanished with the arrival of the alliance rings. Suddenly our heroes had no idea what to do and the season quickly devolved into ignoring the missing miraculous in favor of shipping nonsense. Imagine how much more fun and engaging the season would have been if every episode had the potential to end with a miraculous being recovered!

Improvement Three: Audience Understanding

Most of the miraculous are pretty straightforward. The tiger is a magic punch. The black cat is destruction. The rabbit is time-travel. But the peacock? I cannot explain it to you. In fact, when I first started watching the show, I asked the friend who got me into it what sentimonsters were. She had no idea how to explain them and she was not a casual fan!

We're told that they're an emotion brought to life, but what does that even mean? Who picks their form and special powers: the person whose emotion is being brought to life or the peacock holder? Why are they somewhat immune to the power of pure destruction? What kinds of emotions overwhelm the creation process and create things like Feast? I can't tell you. It's not in the show.

We're three seasons into dealing with sentimonsters and people are still using the head writer's Twitter feed to justify their stance on this major part of canon. There is no reason to introduce such a complex element to your show if you don't care to engage with it.

This is extra true because it's not a fundamental part of making canon's story work. Canon's official line is that Emilie had no idea that the broken miraculous would kill her or anyone else, so they didn't need to make her use case be some major thing like making a baby. She could have just wanted to play with magic and we'd get the same story.

And if they did want her to make her death an active choice? Then we're back to improvement one where her use case needs to be something that's a relatable sacrifice. As is, she doesn't feel even remotely sympathetic. She's just a privileged, wealthy white woman who used that wealth to get magic in order to create her perfect child because she's too good for the kind of suffering and hard choices us normal people deal with. (Like come on writers, at least make the Agrestes middle class. You went the least sympathetic route possible here.)

In another post, someone mentioned using a sentimonster as an artificial heart for Adrien and that's a perfect example of a relatively small change that makes a world of difference for how people view Emilie. Using forbidden magic to save a real child is so much more powerful than the route that canon took.

Improvement Four: Thematic Consistency

I was a huge fan of the initial idea that every miraculous required a specific type of person to weld it. It's something that I lean on heavily in my own writing when I do stuff that focuses on the magic. I want the fox to feel like it belongs to Alya and Alya alone. Similarly, I want the peacock to feel like it belongs to Nathalie or like Nathalie is totally botching its use. Because the peacock is so nebulous and ridiculously overpowered, it doesn't feel like it belongs to any of its holders. Nathalie, Emilie, Gabriel, and Felix have nothing that ties them together and yet I can't say which of them were a true fit and which of them were failing to use the peacock to its full potential. It seems to fit all of them because there's nothing special about. It just makes you a minor god. Huh, maybe that's the theme? Ego of a god? It certainly fits.

So, what should this new power be?

I won't bias you by telling you what I did, I'll just give you my starting point and let you make you own suggestions. The original seven miraculous are largely designed around myths (tricky fox, bad luck cat, etc) so go look up mythology around peacocks and come up with a power that fits! Or don't. That lovely theme was dashed to pieces with the zodiac miraculous as far as I can tell. After all, Fluff is pretty clearly designed around the ancient myth of Alice in Wonderland. 🙄

[jamscandraw]

New TOH OC 3/3 (for now!) More Delphy lore under the cut :)

An old classmate and close friend of Murph and Steve. Best friends with Ragnus. She graduated a year before Murph did.

Delphy was Murph's first friend at Glandus after they transferred from St Epiderm at age 11. She took them under her wing and showed them the ropes, and eventually they set up a Grudgby team together with their other friend Ragnus (Steve joins a few years later). She's got a dry, cynical sense of humour and a very no-nonsense way of giving out advice, but she does care about her friends a lot and will always stick up for them. It's very hard to make her properly mad but when she loses her temper she's a force to be reckoned with. She's the oldest of five siblings and she takes on the big sister role for Murph too; she's the only one who knows the true extent of Murph's teenage feelings for Steve and has to stay up for hours at sleepovers listening to them agonising over it. She is 100% convinced Steve also feels the same way, but has a rule of never meddling directly in other people's relationships, so she just has to sit (im)patiently and watch these two idiots fawn over each other in mutual ignorance. She has no real interest in romance herself but always gives sensible, honest advice (coaches don't play).

As an adult she sails the Boiling Seas, hunting down whaling ships and protecting sea monsters from poachers. Because several of those ships belonged to the Emperor's Coven, in their hunt for the Selkiedomus, she's been branded a pirate by the Coven. She has a huge disdain for the EC after seeing how they're stripping the natural world of its resources (something she can't imagine the Titan ever abiding) and rarely sets foot on land these days. Her palisman Wingston is based off a jetty hawk (basically what if a seagull was the size of a goose??) and Wingifred is a real jetty hawk that she tamed while out at sea. Wingifred is in love with Wingston and thinks he's a real bird. 

[ckret2]

youve gotten a few asks about billford before, and your plans for ford's relationship with bill in your fic, but im curious if you personally ship it yourself/*like* it. and, just for the hell of it, if you have any opinion on billdip too, since that one's even more controversial.

I'm gonna put most of this under a cut since it's not only long, but also long about two different topics, but the tl;dr is:

Yeah, I'm a fan of billford. I don't think it's canon, inevitable, or necessary to their dynamic, and I'm still on the fence about whether things will tilt toward the romantic in my fic or if it'll stay platonic, but I do enjoy the ship a lot because it has a lot of (obsessive, weird, unhealthy, angsty) elements that interest me to explore in ships. Billdip, on the other hand, does nothing for me. I don't care about how people ship imaginary characters in their fictional fandoms and I'm not gonna block anybody for liking it, so this isn't a moral stance, here—I just don't like it personally.

One of the things that intrigues me most about a ship is the idea of love that's gone so far it isn't even love anymore but punched out the other side into unhealthy obsession, and "I'll spend the next thirty years of my life hunting you to death" versus "What if I turn you into a gold statue and carry you around to stare at you a lot" sure fit right into "unhealthy obsession." On top of that, some of my favorite ship dynamics are:

the worshiper and the person they've picked to revere as their god, either metaphorically or literally—with bonus points if the person they've devoted themself to doesn't deserve that worship and maybe isn't even all that special, and the worship actually reveals more about the mind of the lover than it does about the (un)divine nature of the beloved

the mad scientist and the muse who gives them ideas and inspires their work (one of my all-time OTPs has a line where the mad scientist says to his ex "we were each the muse to the other"), with bonus points if they both get so caught up in "what can we do together? What dreams can we make reality—" that they plunge into full "so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should" territory—and bonus bonus points if they eventually come out of the haze of SCIENCE and one of them is horrified by what they've done... but maybe the other one isn't.

two people who are wildly compatible with each other (similar hobbies, tastes, worldviews! they fill in the gaps in each other's personalities! they each happen to be the other's type! they understand each other like no one else can! whatever, fill in the blank!), but for some reason one betrayed the other, they've tried to kill each other, and now things are vicious and bloody and painful and raw between them; but if they talk to each other and accidentally let their guards down for even a split second, all that history is still there, they still like the same stupid movies and share the same stupid inside jokes no one else will ever understand and have the same stupid complementary life dreams, they could have been good for each other, but there's no road back to where they were before the betrayal. Their chemistry is like two huge magnets strapped to land mines: the attraction is as powerful as ever but heaven help them both if they ever touch.

or, alternatively, two people that have all that chemistry, but are just really toxic and do bad things when they're together and enable all each other's worst tendencies, even if they don't necessarily do bad things to each other; and they've got to navigate the fact that they might adore each other so much but they are objectively worse people when they're together.

I like ships with inhuman things. As a writer I like waxing romantic about the inhuman things and trying to convince the reader that yes, this too is beautiful and lovable when seen through the eyes of a lover. I will make you take the stupidest love interest seriously for five minutes. I've romanticized a sticky pile of goo, I've romanticized a robot spider, I've romanticized the concept of being a disembodied voice, I've romanticized a pteranodon made out of lava, and I'll romanticize a cyclopic gold-plated corn chip too, don't test me. Who better to adore a sentient triangle than a scientist-artist who sees the beauty in precise angles?

Depending on the headcanons and/or AUs you're working with, you can get all of these pretty darn easily out of Billford.

I like writing Ford as the awed naive intellectual, hungry for knowledge, for the secrets of the universe, for more, who was utterly dazzled and starstruck by this divinity who tantalized him with esoteric secrets—and who's been furious at Bill for thirty years for betraying him, hurting him, threatening his home and everyone he loves, but underneath all that also furious at him for not being what he advertised when he could have been that; and Bill, meanwhile, playing it cool, far too comfortable playing the role of faux god, but privately, secretly distraught that his favorite "student"—the one who takes Bill's "teachings" and gets creative and inventive with them, the one who always wanted to know more, not just about the universe but about Bill personally—his favorite student no longer worships him, doesn't even respect him, doesn't even see him as an equal, but looks at him like he's the scum of the universe, and Bill won't even admit that it bothers him but it's killing him that nothing he does can get his favorite to so much as smile at him again.

That's the dynamic in my head when I write them. You could play it as purely professional, a god disappointed to lose a worshiper like a boss disappointed to lose his best employee or a celebrity disappointed to lose the president of his fan club; or you could play it like platonic friendship, maybe a QPR; or you could play it like a romance. I like the zest added when you toss romance into this already nasty mess of emotions. I like capping off all that heartache with, "—and if things had turned out differently, maybe I would have taken your hand and traveled with you to the ends of eternity, if only you weren't [such a brutal heartless backstabbing piece of shit]/[unable to forgive a few white lies and some light torture]."

Billdip, on the other hand, does absolutely nothing for me. Not even just for the age reason—that does squick me out, but even if I try to look at it like "okay pretend he's aged up" or "stick it in an AU where they're both dumb kids having dumb kid crushes" I just, see nothing there. I don't even see anything there platonically. Like, legitimately—for the fic I'm working on, I've been trying to figure out what kind of dynamic/interactions they'd have beyond just "Dipper scowls at Bill a lot" and even on that level I've been struggling to think of something compelling between them. I look back on the fact that for a good few years billdip was the ship in the fandom and I go, "why? where's the meat? what do they do for each other?"

I'm forced to imagine that the ship must have been based on some combination of "fandoms naturally want to ship the everyman main character with the charismatic fun villain," "a bunch of teens with crushes on Bill were using Dipper as their self-insert stand-in," and "people assumed Bill wasn't lying when he said Dipper impressed him and didn't start revising that opinion until we got to see firsthand that he uses lines like that on everybody." It feels really uncharitable of me to the shippers to assume that their OTP is founded entirely on statistically average fandom trends and character misinterpretations rather than, like, y'know, traits actually present in the characters, so I'm taking it on faith that there's probably more to it than that and I just don't see it because it just ain't my jam.

When I do try to speculate harder on "how would I get them to interact with each other in a compelling way, like, just in a platonic sense?" my brain starts going "well, dipper's a nerd who's into the paranormal, he wants to know about mysterious things? maybe he's fascinated with bill as a mysterious thing? and maybe... idk, why would bill give a hoot about dipper—maybe bill takes advantage of that fascination, tempts him with more information, maybe he's amused by Dipper's curiosity about weird things—?" and that's usually about the point where I go "this is just, the way Bill and Ford met. This is the watered-down junior version of Bill and Ford's first few weeks." In trying to figure out what the heck Bill and Dipper would even talk about I keep accidentally recreating a less interesting version of Bill and Ford's dynamic.

I want and need Bill and Dipper to have an interesting character dynamic in this fic so being unable to come up with something that personally compels me has been actively frustrating me lmfao, but it does serve to illustrate my main point here: man, billdip does nothing for me so hard that I can't even see them platonically interacting.

[justsome-di]

The Fairest of All Stars: Chapter 6

Andy didn’t mean to become a pirate captain, but after killing the captain of her ship, she finds herself thrust into the role. Years after the incident, she is fierce and feared and recovering from a tropical fever that wiped out half her crew.

Just as they’re about to dock, they find an injured siren left behind by her choir. Andy, drawn to her, pulls her onto the ship and decides to keep her there until she recovers. But with the Navy hunting for both pirates and sirens, Andy has just made her ship an even bigger target for an iniquitous captain looking for revenge.

Warning for suicidal thoughts and violence. Will contain mature scenes.

Also available for free on Patreon (paid members are five installments ahead and will get exclusive bonus stories) and on AO3. If you enjoy reading Stars please consider leaving a comment on AO3, Patreon, or reblogging these chapters! Follow for more updates!

“Alright, Syan, let’s learn a few rules of the ship.”

Andy broke free of Joseph’s support when they stepped onto the deck. She could stand her own—for at least a little bit.

Syan strolled slowly next to her. Her legs had healed on the outside, leaving behind faint puckering that would probably always be there. But on the inside, no doubt, her muscles were torn and scarred. She pretended like she wasn’t in pain, but Andy had watched the way she took a silent, deep breath before dressing in the trousers Andy had tossed at her that morning. She noticed the way that Syan was careful with her very first step of the morning, her eyes distant and calculating like she was measuring how far she could go and how fast.

Syan was in pain, but she would most likely rather die than let anyone know. For good reasons. Being on a ship full of pirates wasn’t the best time to admit to weakness. Even if the captain had already told her crew that anyone who dared touch Syan would be thrown off the boat and left to drown slowly and painfully. Vulnerability could always be exploited. And if there was anything to be gained—and with Syan in their possession, a lot could be gained—exploitation was always around the corner.

“First, everyone around here has their duties,” Andy said. “I’m the captain—obviously. You know that. I run this crew. Joseph here is the ship’s surgeon. He’s a shit pirate so don’t rely on him too much.”

Joseph laughed. How dare he. Andy threw her elbow into his side, but he was unfazed.

“Pinkey is the gunner. He handles all of our weapons. He’s a very skilled swordsman and great with a gun.”

Pinkey was maybe the best fighter on the ship. He fought as easily as he breathed. It came naturally. Required no thought. It was beautiful to watch him—the exact movements of his arms, his legs gliding him around his opponents. He could side-step someone one second and slide his blade easily into them before they even noticed where he was. And he was so quiet! He was light on his feet. Almost like he could fly. If Andy didn’t know better, she would have thought he was half-bird. Or a ghost.

He was sharpshooter, as well. Andy couldn’t recall a single time that he had missed a shot that wasn’t due to a bad gun. Once, remarkably, he had hung upside down from the shrouds of the ship and still shot a rival pirate dead. It had been one of the most exciting moments on the ship. Everyone talked about it for a week.

Andy imagined people got the same thrill from watching dancers or actors on a stage that she got watching him. She would never say it to him, of course. She’d have to be tortured to admit that she admired him.

“Tobi is my piece of shit first mate,” Andy continued. “Don’t let him speak to you, alright? He’s a piece of shit—if I didn’t mention that. I think about abandoning him at every port we stop at.”

“Why keep him around?” Syan asked. “If he’s a piece of shit?”

“I’m not entirely sure.”

To get rid of barnacle, a lot of strength and time was required to scrape and hammer it away. Tobi was the same way. It wasn’t that Andy wanted to keep him around it was just that getting rid of him was much harder.

“Everyone else is crew,” Andy said. “Stevie, Willhelm, Roy, Tatsuki—the others.”

Syan looked over the deck. Some of the crew were lounging. Others were polishing guns or sharpening swords. The days hadn’t been exciting since she put out strict orders to lay low.

“There aren’t many,” Syan said. “I thought that you must have had more.”

“Small crew.”

“Bit pathetic.”

“Pathetic!”

They were pathetic, that was the thing. It was horrible. The amount of men that had succumbed to the fever that had taken over the ship had done an awful lot of damage to their strength as a crew.

“I’ll have you know that the Navy fears me!” Andy said. “They speak my name, and their legs tremble.”

“They do not,” Joseph said.

“Well, Captain Bettrige fears me.”

“He’s hunting you, my dear.”

“Mm. Close to the same thing.”

“Who’s this Bett-man?” Syan asked.

“He’s a Navy captain,” Andy said. “I stabbed his hand when he tried arresting me some years ago, and he’s been looking for me since.”

Syan leaned against the railing. The wind was light that day, and it blew her hair away from her face. Her sharp cheekbones and jaw were exposed.

“How badly did you stab him?” Syan asked.

“I drove a knife completely through his hand. He hasn’t been able to use it since. He kept that knife, too, the bastard. I want it back someday.”

Years ago when cornered in an inn, Andy had panicked and pulled her father’s old knife from her pocket. Bettridge’s hand was right there, on top of the table of her room. It only took a moment’s thought, and Andy drove the blade in between his first and second knuckle. Guttural screams filled the tiny room. The knife was stuck in the table, pinning Bettridge’s hand to it.

Andy didn’t stick around to see how bloody it got. She kept her head down and bolted from the inn before anyone could stop her, before anyone rushing to the room could see what had happened. Her ears rang. Her vision swam. Her legs could barely carry her, but she had enough adrenaline to carry her down the stairs and outside where the cold air had slapped her cheeks.

She had silently thanked her father running for the ship with the others in the crew. Eli had patted her on the back with a smile.

“You had the chance to stab him, and you chose his hand?” Syan asked.

“You assume I had the opportunity to stab his heart.”

“I assumed that you wouldn’t settle for a hand. Are you a weak woman, Andy?”

Something about being spoken down to made Andy’s stomach flutter and her knees go weak. Syan looked her up and down with critical eyes, and Andy wanted to shove her against the railing and pin her hands back.

No.

Andy wanted to be shoved against the railing with her hands pinned behind her back. She wanted to struggle against Syan’s strong arms and the half-foot Syan stood over her.

“Keep insulting me,” Andy said, desperate.

“Captain,” Joseph interrupted. “Why don’t we circle around so you both can find dinner?”

“Is there dinner on this ship?” Andy asked. “I thought we were all starving.”

“There’s always hardtack.”

“Oh, lucky us.”

Andy turned to Syan to tell her that it was time to head to the mess hall and to not get her hopes up for the food on the ship. But Andy paused when she saw Syan gazing out across the ocean. Her  fingers gripped the railing, tight. They weren’t gripping the railing. No, they were clinging to it. They were wrapped around it like Syan was about to fall overboard.

And her eyes—the beautiful, half-lidded eyes—weren’t with the rest of her body. They were glazed over.

Andy understood her.

“Syan?” Andy said. “If you’re going to eat, you need to do it now. I don’t want you going to bed hungry and eating me in the middle of the night.”

Syan came back. She sighed. “What did I say about sirens eating people?”

“I don’t think you really said much, and I have to confess that it does worry me a pinch.”

Syan walked past her. “Which way to food?”

“This way, my good lady.”

Andy waved her arm with a flourish. Catching up with Syan made her a little breathless. Syan had long legs even if they were injured. Andy’s were short and stumpy.

They sat in the mess hall with their food in front of them. Andy drowned her hardtack in rum and stabbed at it with her fork—broken fork. A tine was missing and another was broken.

Syan stared at the hardtack on her plate and her mug of rum. She held her head over her dinner. Curiosity made her eyes almost bright. Her shoulders hunched inward. One hand reached up to touch the hardtack, delicate and bony fingers brushing it.

She wore Andy’s clothes which were just a bit ill-fitting on her. Where Andy had to roll up sleeves or trouser legs, Syan let her hems down. Still, though, her shirt sleeves were a little too high on her wrists. The collar parted wide as her shoulders were broad. Her collarbones were totally exposed, and Andy could see the flat plain of her sternum.

“Don’t break your teeth on the hardtack,” Andy said.

Syan bit into it easily, snapping a piece off. She chewed it thoughtfully and made a face.

“Yeah,” Andy sighed. “We’ll be docking soon to get more supplies. You can get a nice treat then. Whatever you consider a treat.”

Syan picked up her mug and took a large gulp of rum. Immediately, she choked and spit it across the table.

“No!” Andy cried. “Don’t waste it!”

“What is it?” Syan choked, wiping her mouth.

“It’s rum, and we’re running low on it! Don’t spit it all over the place!”

“Don’t you have water?”

“Only sea water.”

“Okay, I’ll take that.” Syan coughed a few times into her sleeve. “Why does it burn? Is it poison?”

“It’s alcohol. That’s what it does.”

“They probably don’t ferment a lot of things under the sea,” Joseph said. He stood from his seat. “I’ll have someone bring a bucket of water up from the ocean for her.”

Syan’s eyes were red and watery. “Why not drink water? There’s water all around you.”

“Humans can’t drink ocean water.”

“That’s stupid. There’s so much of it around you, and you can’t even use it? This is why humans don’t belong at sea.”

“Hey, I object to that. Most of our planet is water, and we’re not supposed to explore it?”

Syan looked around the mess hall. She looked at the pirates around her and how they tried not to stare.

“I’m trapped here,” she moaned.

“Hey, it’s not that bad. It could be worse, if you ask me. And anyway, you can leave whenever you’re well again.”

Syan broke off another piece of her hardtack. Andy could hear her chewing it—like someone was biting down on rock.

Maybe Syan really was trapped on the ship. Her injuries could run deeper than Andy or Joseph knew about. If she struggled to walk, then she would struggle to swim. Or so Andy assumed. And if she didn’t have any other sirens with her, what was she to do? Roam the ocean by herself until she found a new choir?

“We’re not keeping you as a prisoner,” Andy said. “If you hear Tobi say anything about it—he’s full of shit. You really can leave whenever you want.”

Syan eyed Andy. “Do I have your word?”

Andy extended her hand. Syan took it, and they shook.

“On my honor,” Andy said.

“What honor?” Syan spat.

Andy sighed and leaned on her hand over the table. “Really, do keep insulting me. I need something to masterbate to.”

“You’re revolting.”

“Yeah, just like that!”

Syan snapped another bite off hardtack off with her teeth. She had to have a powerful jaw and strong teeth. All the better the eat humans with. Or maybe other sea creatures. Andy wondered what it was that sirens ate on a daily basis. Octopus? Fish? Tatsuki had talked about all the octopus he had eaten back home. Maybe he and Syan could go fishing together, and Andy wouldn’t have to worry about feeding them as much.

If Syan was going stick around for a bit, Andy was going to have to figure out how to account for an extra person. She would have thought that a large chunk of her crew dying would ease some financial burden, but they were still scraping the bottom of the barrel when it came to money.

But Andy wouldn’t turn away Syan. She was too interesting.

Across the room, Tobi stood in the doorway. He looked around the room—really, when Andy looked at him from this angle, she should could see that his head oddly-shapen. It formed a point at the crown. It sloped up in an ugly way that his thinning hair didn’t cover like it had a few years ago. Andy was still staring at it, tying to tilt her own head to get a better look, when he spotted her.

“Captain,” he said. “We’re having a meeting.”

“Who’s ‘we?’”

“You and I and Pinkey.”

“Do I really have to go?”

“As you’re the captain, yes.”

Andy sighed. She really didn’t want to get up and go anywhere. She especially didn’t want to sit in a meeting with Tobi. Whatever it was that he was scheming, she didn’t want to hear it. The meeting would go how it usually went—Tobi trying to speak and Andy obnoxiously speaking over him to try to drown out the noise of his voice.

She pushed herself to her feet, trying hard to not react to the ache that swelled in her joints.

Andy looked at Syan who didn’t seem to care that she was being left alone. Andy would find Joseph and tell him to stick by Syan’s side. Just in case anyone tried anything.

“I’ll be back later,” Andy told her.

“Fine.”

“Try not to miss me.”

Syan frequently had a stony, slightly-annoyed look. It made her face look all that much more beautiful, in Andy’s opinion. All pretty women needed a bit of an edge. She looked up at Andy with that exact expression.

Andy was sure that Syan would warm up to her any time now.

[weirdo-from-bonesborough]

Do you ever :) think about how :) fives and hevy :) were both killed :) trying to warn their brothers :) something terrible was going happen to them :) and it happened anyways :) and their deaths meant nothing in the long run :) ?

Hevy sacrificed himself to warn the Republic that the Separatists were going to attack Kamino and guess what? he only delayed the inevitable!!! Kamino was still attacked! just at a later date!!!

Hevy hated Kamino! He was going to AWOL when they failed the test! But he sacrificed himself to save his brothers, and they still died!

Troopers died! Cadets most likely died as well! 99 died!

They died, and Kamino kept operating.

Fives tried to warn Rex and Anakin. He tried so fucking hard despite being drugged out of his mind and hunted down by the people he was trying to save. And he was ignored and he was killed and Palpatine won.

He saved Kix and Rex and Ahsoka (post mortem) and that's it! Everything fell apart like he said it would! All his brothers were killed as slaves to their own minds, or were abandoned by the Empire for something they had no ability to resist! And he wasn't even alive to say I told you so!

The only mark Hevy and Fives would leave on the galaxy would be giving Rex and Echo even more trauma and guilt. Because, if you think about it, Echo got to be on the front lines to see everything they died to protect be destroyed, and got to walk away every time.

Echo listened to Hevy sacrifice himself, and Echo got a medal for it. Echo watched 99 die in his arms, and he got to be be an ARC, Domino's dream.

Echo watched Order 66, he watched the chips be activated, and there was nothing he could do. He couldn't save Depa or Kanan or Crosshair or any of the regs because he didn't know what the fuck was happening. Rex didn't tell him about the chips. He had to learn what Fives died to prevent after it already went down.

He watched the galaxy fall apart in real time, not knowing Fives had died trying to protect it. He was there when Kamino fell, making Hevy's sacrifice pointless twice over, and all he could do was survive. The Empire rose, and all he could do was try to keep himself and his squad alive for another day.

Cuz Echo dedicated himself to the cause, and it was all for naught.

Echo wasted his entire life religiously obsessing over orders and regulations that didn't matter. The Republic didn't give a shit if he lived or died, and Palpatine was planning to take away his decision to follow orders anyways.

Echo kept going, barely pausing to mourn Domino, because he was a loyal soldier first and foremost, and it didn't fucking matter. He got blown up trying to secure the ship, and Piell still died and the information went to Palpatine, who still gave it to the Separatists.

Echo was tortured for battle strategies that the Separatists already had access to because Palpatine could have just told them. Echo suffered unimaginable pain, and it was just window dressing for Palpatine's show.

All the clones suffered for no reason, to the point that Droidbait died trying to protect Rishi Station, same as Hevy, and not even his brothers care to remember him. Because clones follow orders, and they get shot by droids, and they die, and that's it. That's just the life cycle of a clone, so why would you waste paint honoring someone who didn't do anything special.

Domino squad was so bright-eyed and hopeful. They wanted to serve with their brothers so bad, and they wanted to save their brothers so bad, and now all the clones are dead. They could have failed their test, become maintenance clones, and nothing would have changed.

They were all selfless, sacrificing soldiers, who fought til they fell for a pointless cause.

Except for Cutup, who was eaten alive at age nine cuz that eel was hangry.

[noelle666]

Ship/Kiss challenge - Heinrix van Calox/Noelle von Valancius

Original post with all options

Some post-game events.

30. ... as a comfort (I hope I understood it correctly)

A middle of a night was one of the most peaceful periods on a voidship: the great mechanisms were working without rest, but even they, the insides of a great leviathan, seemed to turn into a different, calmer mode. Heinrix van Calox, former interrogator of Ordo Xenos, rolled over to the other side in a bed, his mind was covered in deep warm slumber. Some time passed after events on Epitath, the Koronus Expance was awaiting for changes, but for now all what was needed is a breath of a fresh air and some time to recover. And the one who needed it most was Lord Captain, who was sleeping next to Heinrix, or so he thought.

Psyker felt something is not right and opened his eyes - Noelle was not in bed. On one hand there could be nothing extraordinary, yet a glimps of anxiety appeared in Heinrix's heart. He noticed a dim light in bathroom and decided to wait for a bit: one minute, two, five, nothing has changed. Silence added more notes of worry with its heavy invisible hand, so the man decided to get up and check if everything is alright with his beloved. He entered the room and saw Lord Captain sitting with her back to the entrance on a round ottoman, she wrapped her legs with arms and looked completely tiny in this pose, like a hedgehog hiding from danger. Heinrix came closer, he squated down and looked into the woman's face: her gaze was directed to one point, filled with something... dark. She didn't noticed a visitor - it seemed the whole world around her did not exist at all.

"Noelle, what is it? Are you hurt?"

The words awakened her.

"Heinrix? Why are you here?" - she looked surprised at the man nex to her, - "Please, go back to sleep. I just need... some time..."

"I can call for healers if you don't want to bother me, even knowing care about you is my primary goal..."

"No, no, I am fine", - Noelle interrupted psyker. She made a pause and continued, - "A nightmare, that is all".

"A mere nightmare cannot frighten Lord Captain, there was definitely something more. Tell me, please", - Heinrix gently took Noelle's hand in his. Young woman hesitated at first but started her tale:

"You told me that after leaving the Inquisition your former collegues will start hunting you. You said, when they come for you I won't be harmed because you will make everything possible to protect me. Since then this thought can't leave my mind. I started to think on a solution to avoid it, to protect you or even hide you. I could not allow anything to tear away your freedom which you recieved recently, which you needed and desired deeply inside of your heart. And I could never allow anything or anyone take away the one I love.

Recently these thoughts occupied me completely, after we finished our mission. Calcazar was the Lord Inquisitor of the Expanse, yes, he brought a good number of his forces to Epitath but still there are many other acolytes who could restore the Koronus branch of Ordo Xenos and continue his work. And if... when they find out about you...

I think tonight I just gave up at some point, my spirit did, at least. I saw a dream: we were stanging on a deck, as usual, discussing where to travel next. You were next to me. And then doors opened, and a dozen of people appeared. Two of them, a man and a woman, introduced themselves as an Inquisitor and an acolyte, I couldn't hear their names or see their faces, but I clearly saw rosettes on their chests, and behind them was a squad of armed soldiers. They said they came after the traitor, after you. I was ready to tell them I won't allow them to do anything but you stopped me. You smiled at me and said: "Don't worry. It is my business, not yours, you won't be harmed, as I promissed to you. I must go with them. I love you and always will". You touched my cheek, then you turned to them: a woman handcuffed you, and I noticed you moaned out of pain and your nose started to bleed. I made a step towards you, someone touched my shoulder and tried to stop me, and I felt... emptiness as if something bit a piece of my soul. I realised this acolyte was Pariah and could only imagine how hard and painful it was for you to stand next to such person.

They decided to handle the matter without mittens, they started to drag you out of the deck, and the more time you were spending next to the Pariah acolyte the worse your condition became. They were cruel. They would've definitely tortured you. I couldn't allow it to happen... And then...

My own shriek deafened me. I don't know how and where I got these poweres, but the only thing I remembered and felt was flaming anger. I fell on my knees and screamed, and then... when my sight was cleared I sawa deck engulfed in flames, people, survivors, were screaming in horror, some were helping wounded. Dead bodies were lying everywhere. I saw you - you grabbed a pistol from a dead soldier and shot this Pariah woman. I looked at the Inquisitor, who stood behind you, he wanted to stab you with a dagger, and I thought "Don't!" and his head exploded the moment the thought appeared in my head.

The whole place was swallowed with warp and I was its source. You ran towards me, grabbed me and commanded to look at you. "We need to run, get up, quickly!" - you said. You tried to help me but a strong sharp pain pierced my head. My eyes become wet, I touched my cheeks and saw blood. You were still holding me and said: "Hold on, I will help you! We just need to leave!" but... I felt this was the end of me. I could only push you from me and... I screamed again. The last thing I remember is your far away voice calling me".

Noelle shrinked on an ottoman even more than before, Heinrix felt her hand shivering. The man carefully hugged her and pressed his lips to her forehead.

"I needed to be more careful with words. Yet again the fault is mine".

"Don't say that. This time I couldn't hold my emotions under control..."

"Noelle, my love, my little guardian", - Heinrix smiled and looked at Lord Captain, - "We all can make mistakes. I need to learn a lot about being happy and about mutual love and I know you will help me with that. But please, you too let me help if something's bothering you. We are together, remember? Don't be afraid to share your worries with me, even if you think the matter is not important. I am always here for you. Forever and ever".

Lord Captain looked into Heinrix eyes trying to drive away the obsession which almost took over her again: grey eyes, one brighter and one darker, which looked cold as ice when they first met and now were filled care and love. Psyker kissed Noelle, the warmth of his lips helped her to calm down; one kiss after another, each filled with gentleness as if the man was telling her "I am here. I am with you". Afterwards, Heinrix picked his beloved up and carried her to the bedroom, he covered her in a blanked and kissed her goodnight. The rest of the night passed quietly and calmly.

[lilicannotfly]

Azul Ship Headcanons

So I already made a thread ranking(?? Judging?? I dunno lols) all the Azul ships I care about and so here's a post with headcanons for them and I have important things to do but shhh don't remind me and I won't remind you :)

Azuvil 🐙👑

I dunno all my energy for this ship died but I think it would be fun to write or read or work with because imagine they're both doing it for like appearances or something else of that manner and someone catches feelings or something but also they both think the other one thinks it's real from the beginning ??? So fake dating but extra steps. There's like this one fic that put this into my head but I don't remember the name lols

Azujami 🐙🐍

I really already explained this in the tweet but yeah this is only good when they get together after university (not NRC, but after they graduate and then graduate uni) and then get married and then divorced and then the story is them healing at fifty. Perhaps they become just friends, perhaps Azul learns to leave well enough alone, perhaps Jamil gets mad, perhaps they go their own ways, maybe one of them dies ?? I dunno this would seem fun to play around with :)

Jeiazu 🐬🐙

I don't really have anything to say about this, except if you aren't related or already in different relationship, being business partners? Pretty gay ngl. Pretty queer.

Floazu 🦈🐙

Do I have to write about this? Why did I include it. This is not a ship I care about like at all :/ Bumping it down to 1/10 ya'know I hate the childhood friends to lovers trope? It's too messy why would you date your childhood bestie I would let her kill me yes have we spoken in years no but would I date her no. No that's silly. I despise the trope actually. Please get it out of my face ahhhhh anyways

Azuide 🐙💀

I don't know why I included this either errrrr.. though I feel like they would bond over chess. The whole thing with the game of life in the comic anthology was pretty funny and I feel like working with a relationship with them would be very silly because it would be like that all the time and also neither of them know how to give or recieve affection properly so lols

Azurook 🐙🏹

As I said, this is literally just Rook being like "ooh interesting what if...I hunted you down??" and me projecting my unhealthy relationship with attention onto Azul. Oops.

Also I wanna be able to come up with cool ship names TwT I wanna come up with something like eight tailed arrow or something but everytime I try it sounds so stupidddddd how do y'all do itttttt I'm sure there are other people who have come up with this ship and maybe I just sound stupid let's move on.

Lizu/Water Spirit 👻🐙

Okay so this is really a crackship like she found him not up to standard but imagine if she didn't and also imagine if they got married and imagine if the whole story was just them healing in the afterlife?? That would be pretty cool imo :) So yeah that's it. It's gotta be awful to be seventeen for five hundred years and I'm gonna be honest I don't remember how she died so maybe she could work through that and Azul can work through his self worth issues and body issues, especially that he is now without a proper form. It would be cute, imagine it !

Zuel/Sailor's Lungs 🐙🫁

'Cause selfship names have no rules !!! But also this doesn't even count even because we're literally the same guy (not like I am him or vise versa but more like we're similar) so it would be like dating a fucked up mirror. Selfcest 😭😭😭 Zero out of ten, moving on.

AzuRid 🐙🌹

I forgot to include this in the original thread, oops. They're t4t lesbians (transfem riddle and transmasc nonbinary azul <3) and also in love and also the healthiest relationship here (shhh these are my headcanons I do what I want they get along beautifully once they get together) and also happy !!! Finally !!! And also they would be fun to work with because academic rivals to lovers is always fun. (I know these images are crispy as hell shhhhhhh don't mention it)

End of Headcanons !!!

If you have more please share I need more things to read to distract me from my schoolwork because my eyes hurt and my bones hurt an d I need to do something <3

[aroace-number-eight]

This follows along with @simpforsix post about loric culture and I think it'd be really interesting if it had been Five and One who held the most knowledge about Lorien and their home culture because of the stories they were told by their Cepans. The two oldest Cepans with the most knowledge on Loric history and finding it a really useful way to invigorate their Garde with determination and pride for their home and their people, understanding what they were supposed to fight for, and keeping some connection to their home because all that's left is what they know.

Five eating up those stories that Rey used to tell him about all his adventures on Lorien. Maybe before he was a Mentor Cepan, he used to work in the Kabaraks and learned agriculture, animal breeding, the different types of animals that exist on Lorien, how to raise a Chimaera. Maybe on the ship, he was the one taking care of Bernie Kosar because he's the only one on the ship who knew their behavioral patterns and food preferences. Five being regaled by fairy tales that Rey heard growing up or from his travels world over, some that tell stories that don't exist on Earth.

Teaching Five how to look for Lorien's stars (I know this is mentioned at some point canonically but I don't remember who did) and how he used to navigate the seas using the stars, how he memorized charts and identified constellations, and the stories behind them helped him remember what to look for. The festivals he used to attend in his life: Quartermoon festival, religious events, harvests or changing weather patterns, mourning Garde who died in training, plays that recreate the Elders finding the Phoenix stones and bringing forward the Chimaeras and the new era of Lorien. The foods, all the dishes he knew how to prepare, all the vegetation that grew on Lorien that have no Earthian counterpart, the hunts he went to and trained for with a couple Chimaera at his side acting as his hunting dogs.

One learning from Hilde the legends and stories of Garde she trained in her life, the tales that spurred from their heroism and dedication to Lorien. Teaching her martial arts that has been passed down for generations, moves that were taught to Garde who didn't develop Legacies yet so they still had the means to fight. Telling her of all the places she traveled to on the planet to train new Garde: some who hailed from the coastal region of Deloon, some that lived high in the mountains and how she dealt with the high altitude, some that came from the Kabarak Colonies. The different training methods and martial arts she acquired from her travels because each region has a different sect of Loric who prioritized certain philosophies of the mind and body, of war and peace, of respect and protest.

She's the oldest of the Cepans, so does she have knowledge that even Rey doesn't know? Does she remember a time when there were ten Elders and not nine? Does she have a more intimate knowledge of the workings of Cepan and Garde relationships, especially the insidious and corrupt ones that she's been forced to turn a blind eye to? How many funerals has she attended for Garde who died, some that were in her care but died when she wasn't able to help them? What were the funerals like, how did she cope with them? Who did she surround herself with, what Loric philosophies, adages, and mantras kept her going?

Did both of them have families? Were they married? Had children, or grandchildren, or great grandchildren? Did they have lovers in their lives? Do their Garde remind them of their families, the people they left behind?

It'd be super interesting for the Cepans who have seen everything to protect that knowledge and leave it to their Garde, the last vestiges of Loric culture, and ensure they survive with this. To have Five and One bear this knowledge with importance and amazement knowing fully well where they come from and wanting to find their own paths, their own lives on Earth as Garde.

To have the greatest remnants of Loric knowledge, in the course of ten years, end up in a Mog with a sliver of her memories and a traitor who lost his path. Will the Garde still want that knowledge?

[cityofevelynx]

Name: Evelyn Sanvel Age: 31 Gender & Pronouns: Cis female , she/her Place of birth: New York, New York Orientation: Bisexual

Previous occupation : Ex-Spy Skeleton: Alicante Powers : Telekinesis - the ability to use to move objects with one's mind. Zodiac : Aries Height: 5'5"

PINTEREST || INTERVIEW || SKELETON || CRYSTAL

Tw - mentions of adoption, abandonment

About Evelyn

When she came into the world, she was sent to the orphanage, her biological parents unable to care for her. She remained at the orphanage until the age of five. She was then adopted into the family Sanvel.

Though the youngest, Evelyn was always aware of her older brother’s place in the family. Growing up, she respected him deeply, viewing him more as a role model than just a sibling. Her relationship with their father, however, was far less ideal. Evelyn sensed how much pressure and responsibility her brother carried because of the family name, a weight that often seemed unbearable. Seeing this, Evelyn pushed herself to go above and beyond, determined to lighten the load in whatever ways she could. This of course didn't amount to much as her parents focused on the oldest. Leaving evelyn out of place.

She was the model student, always seated at the front, often the first to ask questions—even if it sometimes bordered on annoying. With a unique ability to grasp concepts quickly and on a deeper level than most, she developed an early interest in law enforcement, though not in the usual sense; her sights were set on the CIA or FBI.

She had the knowledge; it just needed testing. At only twenty-one, she was sharp, resourceful, and thought outside the box. After college graduation, she entered training at Langley, where she endured long, grueling nights. Her dedication paid off as she quickly rose through the ranks, eventually specializing in undercover operations. The agency had told her she was special, and that her skills were a great addition to the field.

For years, she immersed herself in countless roles, traveling to numerous places along the way. She had a talent for slipping into new identities—undercover names, fabricated backgrounds, and intricate stories were second nature to her.

A senior operative became her mentor and confidante. They shared secrets, sacrifices, and what she believed was an unbreakable trust. What she was doing in her job was for the good of the people right? She was doing what she thought was right.

During a mission, she stumbled upon shocking intel: her senior operative had been selling information to enemy forces, endangering agents’ lives—including her partner’s—just to protect himself and maintain his cover.

He then framed her for espionage, branding her a rogue agent to protect his own reputation. Stripped of her title and hunted by the very agency she served, she narrowly escaped with her life.

Forced into hiding, she adopted a new life in London, swearing to expose his betrayal and tear down the corrupt system that shielded him.

Tidbits

She worked in the medical field in London as a Nurse, and managed that lifestyle while planning her revenge.

She woke up on the ship when she realized she was on an island. She's a bit upset considering she wants to carry out her plan to dismantle the agency that betrayed her.

her powers are activated by anger, and if she focuses on the things she wants to move with her mind. it will slowly happen, she just has to keep practicing.

Personality

Having never known her real parents, she’s always felt a disconnect from the family that raised her. She learned to brush it off, acting as if it hadn’t shaped her. With a strong, no-nonsense demeanor, she’s not someone to be picked on or taken lightly. Sometimes she can come across as blunt or even intimidating, but that’s only because she’s clear about what she wants and has little patience for delays. This fierce independence, though, often makes it hard for her to form close friendships.

[rose-of-oz]

TELL ME ALLLL ABOUT YOUR BG3 OCS!

AHHHHH, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ASKING!! Okay, so as I said, I don’t have actual appearances for my babies since I don’t have the game, but I will happy give you some info about them.

I have five OCs currently planned:

Raven Waters (they/them), Wyll ship. Human bard, College of Lore subclass, with an urchin past. Grew up on the streets of Baldur’s Gate after being orphaned at a young age and became a decently well-known entertainer when they got older, performing at festivals and every tavern and inn in the area. Very cunning, sarcastic, and good at reading people, and is very unhappy about being snatched off the street only to have a worm stuck in their brain. Cares about people sort of in the way Astarion does - reluctantly and with no small amount of complaining but very deeply - and even though they don’t think much of Wyll at first because they don’t trust nobility or anyone wealthy, it doesn’t take long for them to become endeared by him. Also becomes absolute besties with Astarion because they literally laugh in his face when he tries to seduce them and once he gets over that they have fun judging people together. (There is also definitely an AU where Raven is dating both Wyll and Astarion, but they’re officially a Wyll ship.)

Amalal Quavein (he/they), Astarion ship. Seldarine drow and cleric of the Light Domain for the goddess Eilistrae with a sage past (he’s a huge bookworm when they can get his hands on some), and has been travelling around Faerun since they were just young, trying to find allies to assist in the Seldarine drows’ fight against Lolth and helping everyone he can along the way, before they get snatched up and taken to the nautiloid ship. He’s a total sweetheart who loves caring for people and fighting against tyrants and darker forces, but they’re also a bit socially stunted from being alone on the road for a lot of his life, which can lead people to think he’s naïve even when they aren’t. Astarion definitely thinks this at first, and thinks seducing Amalal will be easy, but really he’s just one of those people who always chooses kindness and doing the right thing because they want to make the world a better place and that’s the best way he knows how to do it. (They’re also asexual, which is very funny given Astarion’s whole seduction thing because not only is Amalal unfamiliar with seduction as a concept but he genuinely Does Not Feel Sexual Things, so they’re painfully oblivious to Astarion’s attempts the whole time.)

Nifara Reedwood (she/her), Gale ship. Strongheart halfling ranger, of the hunter subclass, with an outlander past who was raised in the wilderness and therefore has a very strong connection with nature. Travels all around Faerun hunting and tracking creatures from other realms, making it her personal mission to keep any kinds of invaders from attacking her realm and harming its nature. Also has a very strong bond with animals and is resistant to poison due to all the she’s spent in Faerun’s swamps. A complete and total badass, but is also kind of socially stunted due to all the time she’s spent alone on the road with only animals and the creatures she hunts. Brutally honest and has a quick temper, but also one that’s quick to calm back down if there’s no need for an actual fight, and although she’s slow to trust people would gladly kill and die for those she cares about and absolutely will not let them talk bad about themselves. (Very nearly smacks Gale for not believing he’s worth more than his magic and service to Mystra and calls him an idiot for it more than once, and then somehow that wanting him to think more of himself turns to catching feelings and she’s just like, “Ah, shit”. It’s fine, though, because Gale comes to love her too.)

Nisa Mournspire (they/she), Halsin ship. Mephistopheles tiefling paladin of the Oath of Devotion subclass, with a folk hero background. Adopted when they were a baby by a human couple, but never felt truly loved by them since she wasn’t their blood child, even if they’d given her their last name. Devoted themself to prayer from an early age as a way to feel some kind of belonging and purpose, and took her Oath and set out from their village to travel around and help people when she was only twenty years old. Gained a bit of a reputation around all of Faerun for their heroics, and eventually came to be known as The Horned Warrior. Taken from Baldur’s Gate by the Mindflayer’s goons when she stopped in for the night, and doesn’t hesitate to recruit Karlach and Lae’zel when they’re all on the beach, seeing defeating the Mindflayer and removing the parasites as yet another mission they’re committing to. Very warm and compassionate, able to make friends almost everywhere she goes, and fears almost nothing if it means helping others. A bit of a hopeless romantic who wants to find true love, but also isn’t against brief flings. Does sleep with Astarion once or twice (but they’re incredibly good about it and makes sure he feels good too, because she can tell he’s not used to that), but definitely takes a liking to Halsin very quickly after meeting him and spends a good amount of time staring at his biceps (which annoys Lae’zel incredibly because that should not be the focus right now).

Ellora Keyvaris (she/her), Karlach ship. High Elf half-elf wizard of the Conjuration School subclass with a noble background. Grew up in a wealthy family that was very devoted to maintaining appearances and always trotted her out to social events, but she was much more interested in magic and the study of it, more than happy to spend her time in her home’s library or at the local magical college learning conjuring spells from the professors she’d paid for private lessons. When she learned her family was planning to betroth her to an elf nobleman, she ran away to Baldur’s Gate, where she intended to live a quiet life and continue studying magic before she was kidnapped and infected with the parasite. Ellora is a very quiet and bookish person, but that doesn’t mean she’s timid; she has a sharp tongue and isn’t afraid to stand up for herself or others and say what she thinks. She struggles to connect to her companions at first, with the exception of Wyll since they were both raised among nobility, but she eventually makes genuine friends out of all of them, which means a lot to her because she’s never really had friends before. (She’s also a hopeless lesbian who falls in love at first sight with Karlach and thus is very sad when she can’t touch her, because she very much wants this large muscled lady to be able to pick her up.)

Anyways, yeah, those are my BG3 babies!! Thanks so much for asking about them, and if you have any more questions about any of them feel free to ask!!

Again tagging some of my other BG3 moots: @hiddenqveendom, @endless-oc-creations, @astarionbae.

[bemyawakening]

HAYLOFT; chapter eight

fandom: Simon "Ghost" Riley x Original Female Character

short summary: Marzia Moretti, known as Siren, is one of the secret agents of the CIA, meant to deal with missions quietly and gather information. Not only did she work on her biggest mission for seven years, digging for information about the Sicilian Mafia which was running the most secretive human trafficking business, but she also did this to get revenge. Recently, she gets assigned to Task Force 141 in order to finish the mission once and for all.

translation of Italian can be found at the end. You can also read this book on ao3

previous chapters: on my masterlist

warnings: human trafficking, rescue mission, blood, gore, deaths

Linda Walker didn’t have anything incriminating apart from her walk in her park which only showed that she was one of the people who squeezed cigarette buds on the pavement instead of throwing them out where they belonged. The woman was taking her freedom seriously and staying undercover as much as she could.

            Some unusual activity has been noticed from a private warehouse district in the district of Toscana. Some businessmen owned it for shipping huge cargo out with ships – deliveries. Intel managed to find out that a few transactions from that business ended up with Linda Walker years ago before she was in prison. It also has been confirmed, that the place was swarming with people during the night—night security as they called them, but they believed that the night security won’t be holding assault rifles with bulletproof vests.

            The warehouse district was big enough for the Task Force to split up in order to cover it all. The buildings were surrounded by huge containers, meant for shipment. The place was swarming with criminals, probably Torros, only to show that they were hiding something incriminating.

            The plan was that Price and Soap will cover the left wing of the warehouse building complex. Siren and Ghost will take care of the right wing. Gaz will find a high place to keep them informed about incoming danger and protect their backs. The mission was meant to be quiet and quick. There weren’t a lot of guards to take care of, so the need for them to use assault rifles was unnecessary. The best play out there was silenced pistols and knives.

            Siren has almost forgotten what it was like to wear a proper military vest. It was tough at first to wear it, the weight of little pouches full of med kits, ammo and other necessities attached to her. It reminded her of the seriousness of the situation. This wasn’t a satin red dress meant to charm and even if she felt odd with this extra weight and a silenced pistol in her hands, she liked the change of a mission.

            The warehouse complex was near the sea—the area around it was fairly abandoned. A lot of ‘keep-out’ signs in the distance of five kilometres from this place. There were three main buildings: all made from metal, industrial type – once were fabrics, but now were used for storage. The shipment containers were outside, a few transporting vehicles were parked around. There was a large fence around all that complex, that’s why Ghost had some metal cutters strapped to his back, already cutting their way through to the right ring.

            They chose a spot to hide where one of those containers was placed in front of the fence. Ghost looked down at his Sergeant, watching as she took her hunting knife out of the case strapped to her thigh. Doing the same, he peaked through the corner, noticing two guys making their rounds and he motioned for her to go around the container to take care of one of them.

            Nodding, she silently moved towards the man, waiting for the moment when he passed her container. The headache-causing lamp from above was making her wince—this place really looked eerie at the night. But she ended up at the end of the container, grabbing the man from behind by his mouth, muffling his mouth and plunging the knife through below his chin upwards, hearing a disgusting squelch of his meat, the man instantly growing limp. She dropped him on the ground without hesitation, noticing the tall frame near her do exactly the same.

            Ghost looked at her and she gave him a nod, motioning for him to lead the way. It surprised him how calm Siren has been this whole day. Even at the base, preparing to leave, she was focused on making sure her vest was secured on her body and that she had everything she needed. He didn’t know why he was always so impressed with her ability to be determined about something. He already has noticed the way she works. She knows when to draw a line between work and fun.

            Getting closer to the entrance of the right-wing, he heard a set of footsteps again, motioning her to go around another container to take another guy out. Himself, he walked out of the shadows, grasping the man towards himself as he covered his mouth with his gloved hand and pushed the knife through his temples. Soon enough, she joined him in the shadows as well, her vest slightly bloody, but she didn’t seem to care about it.

            Near the entrance, there were another two guards standing there. Both of them seemed determined—they weren’t bored. They didn’t even look tired.

            Moving back, he noticed how she grabbed a little pebble from the ground, throwing it to the right of the entrance, getting a reaction out of the guys. She moved around the container from the other side, seeing the man closer to her notice her presence and raise his rifle, but she extended her hand with the pistol and shot a clean silent bullet into his eye socket—ugh. His friend noticed his comrade falling and as he was about to turn on his radio, she appeared in his view and offered him two bullets: one in the stomach and the other to his forehead.

            Ghost simply stood there, annoyed with her not waiting for his order to proceed. But she took care of that nicely. “Show off,” he mumbled.

            The woman overheard that and she fought back her smile, dramatically bowing, extending her hands towards the door for him to keep on going.

            The metal door wasn’t unlocked and they both stepped into a large area of the same containers and shelves. Ghost quickly pushed the button on his comms, speaking into it: “Captain, this is Ghost. We’re inside.”

            “Copy that. We’re in the left wing.” Price announced.

            The inside was eerie—the translucent lights were slightly flickering and the electricity was buzzing loudly. It was a huge space full of the same containers. Nothing looked suspicious, but it was too soon to judge that.

            Moving away from the door, he motioned for her to go to the other side to take care of the rest guards. Siren complied and moved to the right, hearing some distant footsteps. She pressed her back to the wall, hiding herself behind a small column, hearing the footsteps coming in closer.

            “Io le comprerei,” the man spoke, startling her for a second, making her realise that he wasn’t talking with her.

            “Non hai tutti quei soldi,” a distant voice coming through a static noise was overheard.

            The man chuckled, his footsteps getting closer: “Potrei rubarne uno. Ce ne sono molti altri.”

            The two men were speaking about people. Stealing them. Selling them. As a joke. It was at that moment that she realised that they have hit the jackpot—this warehouse was on the right track. This place was somehow related to human trafficking, but they needed to find out how.

            Siren didn’t wait for the other guy to answer and she spun, seeing a tall guy in front of her widen his eyes, but she plunged his knife into his chest, hearing him croak out in surprise. His eyes were wide, mouth open to choke something out, but nothing came out of it. She retrieved her knife and kicked his knee, making him fall in front of her, and leaving him to die.

            The thud of his body on the concrete made a few whimpers appear in the space. “Ghost, you copy?” She spoke into her comms.

            “This place is empty,” he replied.

            “The guard was speaking about buying someone. We’re on the right track.”

            Siren didn’t receive another answer from him as his figure was visible in the distance, coming towards her.

            “What did they say?” His rough voice always made her feel uneasy, noticing that the comms soften it slightly.

            “One of them wants to buy someone, and talks about stealing since he doesn’t have that kind of money.”

            Another distant whimper was heard. Knitting her eyebrows together, she went to the closest container, knocking on the metal. Pressing her ear to the coldness of it, she heard a muffled whimper coming from the inside, making her heart drop to the ground.

            Turning to Ghost, she choked out: “People.”

            Siren moved to the front of it, putting a bullet through the lock of it and ripping it off the loop. Loudly, the door opened, hitting her with a stench. It was rust and body liquids—piss, sweat and a hint of iron – blood. The light from the room revealed about twenty women turning their heads to her—mouths tied, hands tied and horribly terrified.

            Putting the gun in her holder, she immediately raised her hands in a surrendering manner, looking at the shaken figures of these women—they were of different ages, and most of them were young, too young, just like the list they have decoded.

            “I’m not going to hurt you,” Siren silently announced in Italian, knowing they will be listening to her. “I’ll get you out of here immediately.”

            Ghost walked behind her, looking at the open cargo. A frown tugged on his lips. His job wasn’t easy and he lived with haunting images every night. Even if killing people wasn’t bringing him down, the rescuing missions always made him feel sick to the stomach. So much fear was lingering in the air, the muffled whimpers by the duct tape and he knew well his whole appearance wasn’t making them feel better. So for the first time, he was glad Siren was there.

            He watched how she said something in Italian, her tone was soothing. She worked on the binds of the first girl. A girl. She was not older than eight years old, her summer dress was ripped in some places and dirty. Her arms were visibly bruised and when Siren removed the duct tape from her mouth, she started to cry without a sound.

            She clung onto Siren immediately, silencing her sobs in her overstuffed vest. Lieutenant felt uneasy watching this, but he stepped inside, taking the binds off an older woman, hearing them all whimper louder.

            Siren said something in Italian again and he knew she was speaking about him. Hopefully, she wasn’t turning them against him. After her words, the women seemed to calm down just a little bit. Ghost gave a small pocket knife to the older woman, not knowing how to say that she should help the others, but she understood everything without telling her anything and got to work.

             “There are more in the other containers. Let’s go,” Siren urged in English, both of them leaving the container.

            Moving in different directions, the Lieutenant contacted Price, telling them that they should check all of the containers because there were victims inside. After that, they worked quickly and silently.

            There were about ten people and more in the containers—twelve containers in total. Most of them were women, from ages four to forty. Ghost tried to ignore the lump in his throat and not look them in the eye as he was trying to help them. However, he knew that whatever he saw today, will haunt him in the night as well.

            He overheard Siren opening the last container and she gasped, not saying anything. The man peeked his head through the container, watching her figure looking at the container, frozen. He quickly made his way to her, looking from behind her, noticing a pile of dead bodies just tossed on top of another. It smelled like rotten meat and excrement—fuck… Quickly, he grabbed the door of the container and closed it, making her turn around to face him.

            Her eyes were wide and teary—she was slightly away from him, not thinking straight at his moment. His gloved hands squeezed her shoulders tighter, making her pupils widen for a second before she looked at his eyes through the mask.

            “You with me?” His voice was rough and breathy—he was trying not to react to the dead bodies behind them.

            “Yeah—yeah,” she shook her head as if she was trying to snap out of it. Then she nodded, breathing in: “We checked all of the containers. Let’s get them to Gaz.”

            Clearly, she wasn’t okay, but he was in no position to soothe her. Now, all that mattered was to get these people to safety. It was their job. They will battle their emotions in the night.

            As Siren went to gather them up, he pressed on his comms:  “Gaz, get to the place of agreement. Over.”

            “Moving to the spot, Lieutenant,” Gaz’s voice reached him through the headset as they all agreed beforehand that if they would be able to find some of the kidnapped people, Gaz would show up at the entry of the whole warehouse complex, calling for some backup to transport the people into safety. 

            There were about one hundred people out of the containers. Some of the women were too weak to walk, but the others made sure to hold them in place. Ghost came closer to Siren, who was explaining everything to them in Italian, gesturing a few times to him. The same girl, who clung onto Siren before, quickly made her way to him, her bruised little fists grasping the end of his jacket. He looked down, his breath hitching, making him curse silently as this was reminding him of his past. Ghost could never understand how others were that evil to hurt children.

            That’s why he didn’t move her away from him—he could never. Even if he was surprised that she wasn’t scared of his skull mask, he had to realise that she has been through so much worse. And just like that, he scooped her in his arms as soon as Siren gave him the sign that they can go to the entry of the warehouse complex.

            There were a few relieved sounds coming from the people as soon as they were outside. As they went to Gaz, Price and Soap were there as well, with about fifty people as well.

            Siren took the initiative to explain to the poor people what was going on. The shaking figures of the people seemed to relax just a little bit, giving Ghost an opportunity to place the little girl beside him, making her grasp the end of his jacket as well. It made him realise that perhaps she was alone in here—Jesus, her parents must be going crazy. The girl was clinging onto him as if he was her saviour and he just wanted to hold her close and promise her that no one will hurt her again.

            A promise he once couldn’t keep.

            In the distance, he noticed Siren talking with one of the women. The poor woman was grasping Siren’s shoulders desperately, a quick conversation going between the two. Only then he noticed that Siren was slightly shaking—the view of the last container was following her. She looked tired. All of them were.

            Siren walked closer to them, announcing: “I’m going back in. One of them claims she had a little sister and they took her away. I will scoop the building once again.”

            “No, let me,” Soap disagreed. “We don’t speak Italian if somethin’ happens.”

            “Backup is coming—they’ll handle it,” she pointed out since the backup will be mostly Giovanni’s crew. “I’ll be quick. In and out.”

            Siren looked at Ghost, then down at the little girl, offering her a small smile. 

            “Alright. Go find her,” Ghost agreed and watched the way her figure faded away in the sea of containers.

            Siren tried not to think. Tried to stay professional. At least for now. She couldn’t break down at this moment. She got back into the right wing, not checking the containers again, but moving to the metal stairs that were at the end of the room. She quickly moved up, revealing a small watching area to the containers below.

            There wasn’t seem to be anything in there, but she moved to the end of it, seeing a door at the end of the corridor and she opened it. It was an office—well, papers were on the floor and everything was messy. It wasn’t used for working, but it was empty.

            Then thought that the sister of the woman could be in the container alongside the dead bodies made her take a deep breath and close her eyes. Placing her hands on her thighs, she leaned a little bit forwards and tried to control her breathing.

            She had to stay strong. For now.

            Shaking her head, she sniffed, blinking faster so that she wouldn’t cry and she turned around to leave before she noticed a closet. It was a shot in the dark, but she moved to it, opening the two doors and she breathed in deeply, her voice getting stuck in her throat.

            There was their trap.

            There was the little girl. Looking at her with wide, teary eyes, shaking like a little leaf. Her back was pressed against the wooden wall of the closet behind her, hands tied together in front of her, mouth taped shut as the little figure of her was wrapped in a time bomb.

            Turning on her comms, she pressed the button and opened her mouth to speak, but then she slightly moved to the side, watching the little screen on the side of the bomb, the numbers flashing how much time she had left: 00.01.30

            “I found the girl. She’s strapped to a bomb. I’ll get her out.”

            The four men furrowed their eyebrows immediately as they heard her voice through the comms, coming through a little whine of a small girl. Her words were slightly muffled, the static noise overtaking most of it, making the Captain move further away from the crowd of people.

            “Siren, repeat that. Did you find the girl?”

            Price shared a concerned look with Ghost and now they all understood what was happening—there was the trap.

            A distant Italian was heard coming through the static—she was talking with the little girl before some words reached them: “I repeat – there’s a bomb on the girl. A bomb.”

            Fuck.

            “Siren, can you get it off the girl?”

            More incoherent noises reached them all before the static ended—they lost her. Captain’s eyes widen and he choked out a breath: “I’m getting in there. Gaz, call the detonator team. We need them ASAP.”

            “I’m coming with you,” Soap nodded, but before any of them could move any further.

            A thud.

            The ground started to shake slightly as the metal down the hill started to shake, a burst of flames visible on the right wing. The saved people gasped loudly, moving slightly down, covering their ears as the glasses in the warehouse buildings shattered from the sudden explosion.

            “No,” Price whispered, moving closer, shaking his head. “No—no! NO!” He shouted, grasping his comms, and pressing the damn button: “Siren, please tell me you are there!”

            The radio was quiet.

            Ghost was looking into the flames coming from the warehouse building, covering the girl’s eyes, pressing her closer to his leg. His mouth turned dry—yet he couldn’t take away his eyes off the flames even if he wanted to run there and find her alive.

            That’s why he preferred working alone. That’s why he couldn’t listen to the desperate try of the Captain to contact Siren. That’s why he started to tremble slightly since they all knew that this was going to be a trap and they still let her walk back in there. Everything was going too smoothly that they forgot that this had to be planned as well.

            That’s why when a small child was running towards them, with smoked cheeks and loud cries that alerted the whole district, it made their hearts drop to the ground. The little girl was there. But another figure didn’t appear from the bright flames.

            Siren did her job.

Translations:

"Io le comprerei” - I'll buy her in Italian

“Non hai tutti quei soldi” - You don't have that much money in Italian

“Potrei rubarne uno. Ce ne sono molti altri" - I could steal one. There are many others in Italian

[deadskinned]

"So there you are, ga ne. Mis—no no. At this point. Just Heat is fine, isn't it?" The cabin door is closed and locked. Galdino stares at man with blue locks with a smile that equals more of a mannequin rather than his true feelings. "That moonshine of yours, quite the thing. Quitee the thing. I sincerely wonder how you can enjoy it, ga ne. ~Saa… in honor of going into an alcoholic coma." The artist stops talking, going unblinking for a minute with empty eyes before regaining his senses. Placing a hand over the forehead, letting out a dry chucke. "Fu ha ha ha~ Excuse me. Anyway, I thought I would share a little of this wonderful day with you. Pocky day. Heard of it? " He throws a 1 kg bag of pocky over the nearest table. Lock seal already opened as he pointed to it. " Go on, Heat. Have one." As he offered, Galdino picked one as well. Chewing on it while locking eyes with the pirate. "Safe and delicious as your moonshine, ga ne."

          ✞ I it takes him a moment to register that he was being spoken to; despite the audible clicking of the doorlock that signaled that the other man had essentially barricaded them inside the cabin, alone without any witnesses. a slow turn of the head, and suddenly he's locking gazes with candlewick, of all people.

have they ever had a direct conversation before this?

heat can't remember.

he wasn't the type for small talk. not with folk he was unfamiliar with, and not when galdino's starting right out of the gate packing vibes too antsy to ignore, prattling on and on about how much he appreciated downing his home-made moonshine.

so that was where the missing bottle had gone. he should've guessed when he was checking up on the small cupboard tucked away in the ship's hold, only to come up short several days back: a real curiosity, considering the precious few who'd dare lay hands on his belongings without asking first. even kid himself had no particular reason to keep mum about sneaking a cap or two, whenever he felt like chasing after a failsafe buzz. would've been bitchin' about the ensuing hangover the next morning to the entirety of the new world.

the thought of the misplaced liquor somehow ending up in galdino's unsuspecting hands hadn't even crossed his mind. though, he doubted that the other was the type to go rummaging around where he wasn't permitted; much less embark on a thorough hunt to loot another pirate's freshly fermented booze. a prank on their supposedly new 'treasurer', perhaps?

the details escaped him. yet, it seemed like he was more victim than culprit here, judging by the five stages of grief rolling over his bespectacled face in alternating phases.

          " that right? surprised to see ya back on yer feet so soon, if ya ain't lyin'. my brew's pretty strong. would've brought ya flowers or somethin' if i knew you were bedbound. "

the comment eases out casual, and equally as dry, while he lets his hand slip absent-mindedly to scratch at his forearm in an open gesture of awkwardness. he's double surprised at the waxman's relentless glaring, doesn't care for how he's crunching away with pocky between his teeth, unmistakably devious.

eventually, he answers with a loose shrug, not intimidated, but definitely skeptical.

" 'preciate the offer, but i think i'll pass. "

heat doesn't buy it. whatever galdino was planning on selling him. still, he reaches to grab what's been abandoned on the table with a pasty hand.

" tell ya what. how 'bout i do ya a solid and pass yer stash of sweeties along to the captain? "

he tests the weight of the bag in his hand; hundreds of biscuit-sticks shifting around within flexible plastic, untouched and ignored. a whole kilogram of pocky on its own was already too dodgy to begin with— and a part of heat wants to know how he's managed to obtain that much, annual holiday or not. the faint trace of a lazy smirk hints at his threaded mouth, but there's hardly any humor present there.

" — think we all know by now that boss's got a way bigger appetite than anyone 'ere. i'll even be nice and credit ya. who knows, might earn ya a few brownie points. "