#i actually had a plan for 13 chapters from the beginning but ended up combining ch1 + ch2 (ch1 was too short on its own)
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looks like al:vc will end up as a 13-chapter story after all. i've updated the chapter count on ao3, and i'll have the unedited copy of ch13 finished by tonight.
#chapter 11 was becoming too long. so i split it in two to help with the pacing#i actually had a plan for 13 chapters from the beginning but ended up combining ch1 + ch2 (ch1 was too short on its own)#it all comes full circle...
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Half the reason the Tick-Tock chapters even exist in the way that they do was that I realized how messy the chronology was about to get.
Before writing chapter three, I started doing all the research on maps and distances and travel times. Very specifically, to begin with, in order to figure out how long it might take Angeal and Sephiroth to get to Genesis after that phone call. Or, more precisely, how long I wanted it to take, and what the distances between things would need to be in order to facilitate that. And once I'd figured out those distances, I had to go back and work out if Genesis' trip to Banora from Midgar was still plausibly able to be done within a day (it was, as long as I threw in Genesis hitching a ride on a cargo plane from Junon to Mideel.)
At this point I had no idea what I was going to do with Cloud and the kids. Their entire journey plan was a handwavy 'get them to Fort Tamblin for the confrontation, somehow.' While writing chapter 2 I had some vague idea of Cloud driving them to the far west coast of the Mideel islands and bribing a fisherman to take them to the Gongagan coast, but that was about as much specific thought as I'd put into that. By the end of writing chapter three, I started to need a much, much more specific plan.
I'd intended for each chapter to be chronological, which meant that chapter 4 originally was supposed to start the next day, and I was going to cover the events between leaving the Rhapsodo's estate and the next morning through a combination of Cloud's internal monologue and dialogue. But that idea sat less and less well with me, and my first attempt at writing that chapter went horribly because it fast became Tell, not Show, which sure, does serve a purpose here and there, but really isn't my favorite way of doing things. Having come to terms with the fact that I wanted to show the events of the rest of that day, also meant contending with the fact that I was about to fuck up the chronology. That I should have written chapter 4 first, with Cloud and the kid's continuing adventures that day, and then after that have the chapter with the Firsts and Genesis discovering Hollander. Of course it was already too late for that, Genesis had already had his dramatics, so instead: Timestamps! What better way to make it clear that we were now jumping around in time a little, going back to the previous afternoon instead of moving into the next day.
I got a lot better after this, at keeping things in (mostly) chronological order. There's only one other chapter which is significantly out of order:
Chapter 14 occurs in time before anything in chapter 13. And one place within a chapter where I messed up the order a bit:
I'm actually seriously considering going back and editing chapter 29 and swapping the last two bits, so that Cloud's attempt to emotionally recover after sending Angeal and Zack packing sits between Zack's POV getting Angeal the fuck out of there while calling for a retreat on Angeal's orders, and then ending the chapter on Zack's POV, meeting Sephiroth covered in soot and worried about Angeal's health. Not only would it then actually be chronological, I think it would work better structurally and narratively (plus also it would be another place where I get to do a fun little pattern with the POVs, making that chapter Cloud, Zack, Cloud, Zack.)
Hmmm. I might. Actually I think I will. I'll be sneaky about it and won't say anything except for here, ha. Especially since nothing about the text itself will change, it will just be the order.
Edit: Actually, no, being sneaky feels mean. Especially since that has the potential to make someone doubt their memory. So I edited chapter 29's order, and also included a note about having done so in the AN at the end. And I've made a note to mention it in the AN at the start of the next chapter.
But also, to the point, I super don't regret making that mistake with the planning and the chronology back in those early chapters, because figuring out how to fix it led to including the Turk investigation and using the timestamps to really amp up the tension of the chase, and ultimately made for a far, far better fic than what it would otherwise have been. I like applying the Bob Ross methodology to writing: There's only happy accidents. And besides, I love problem solving. Even when I'm the one making problems for myself, ha.
(Also, there's a period of about 50 minutes where Genesis is in Mideel at the same time as Cloud and the kids, which you can see in the first spreadsheet screencap, and it amuses me so much that he was so close, and had no idea.)
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Roar Towards The Future - Masterpost:
I decided that rather than constantly posting separate update fics, that I’d turn my fanfiction based on The Lion Guard into a masterpost. I’ll make it into a huge masterpost/master-chain so that people will properly be able to have better access to the fanfic and to keep my self-promo more organized as well as their synopsis to make it presentable as an “episode list” (even though this is more or less a separate continuation fic rather than a fan-Season 4 of The Lion Guard). So here we go for the chapters that I’ve currently uploaded. The next ones will be promoted through reblogs. If you’re yet to read the fanfic then this’ll be a good start for you.
Synopsis for Roar Towards the Future. - Rated PG-13 for mature themes (involving but not limited to death, violence, blood, profanity, implied suicide, and trauma/grief).
After a long journey outside of the Pridelands, the Lion Guard continue their life-long mission to defend the Circle of Life, now at the legendary Tree of Life. Fighting alongside them are the Night Pride, led by Rani. As the team of protectors journey into adulthood, new trials and challenges arise for them in the future; faces from the past begin to appear: Eyes are opened wider than ever before. The Circle of Life changes for them, and the heroes face their biggest challenges ever that will change their lives forever:
CHAPTER 1: LONG LIVE THE KING AND QUEEN:
A new dawn arises over the Tree of Life as Kion and Rani take the throne.
CHAPTER 2: OF MANES AND MJUZIS:
Two kingdom saving couples on a race, some puberty hints, and a medicine-mastering mandrill.
CHAPTER 3: BUNGA & BINGA:
A meerkat, a warthog, a honey badger, and a sloth bear walk into a termite mound. Sounds like a set-up for a bad joke. Is actually a love-story.
CHAPTER 4: CULTURE SHOCK:
A tour through the Tree of Life leads to some revelations, recollections, and riveting info.
CHAPTER 5: DOUBTS:
Not everyone is happy about the union of the Tree of Life’s new rulers. Are these objections paranoic or prophetic?
Chapter 6: Tutaonana Baadaye
The Pridelanders' visit to the Tree of Life comes to an end. The former Lion Guard of the Pridelands prepare their goodbyes as they officially begin their new chapter:
Chapter 7: Predators vs. Patrol
The Lion Guard begin their first patrol at the Tree of Life as the newest members of the Night Pride. Defending the Circle of Life had been their duty... their destiny, and despite their departure from the Pridelands, that would never change. Unfortunately, as an old enemy of theirs had once said, destiny can be full of surprises...
CHAPTER 8: PLANS AND PATIENCE:
The Night Pride, with the combined forces of half the Lion Guard launch their mission to save the injured animal in a race against time.
CHAPTER 9: RACE FOR THE MEDICINE:
Fuli and Makini rush to find plants that could serve as medicine for healing at the Tree of Life. It may take a new friend in order to save the day.
CHAPTER 10: LIFE OR DEATH:
To live or to die is the question: The Night Pride discovers the answer.
CHAPTER 11: THE FUNERAL
The three victim's of today's incident are buried, and two members of the Lion Guard have differing reactions:
CHAPTER 12: DANGERS AND DREAMS:
Whilst the Lion Guard patrols during the day, the Night Pride guards and protects animals of the night at any cost. Even if that cost is one of their own lives.
CHAPTER 13: A SCORE TO SETTLE:
The Night Pride and Lion Guard's failings are let slip to a land outside the Tree of Life, where a dangerous foe with a score to settle plans on using it for her own nefarious purposes.
Chapter 14: Speed, Sisters, and Sons
With Fuli still out of commission, a replacement is needed and one certain animal dares to step up to the plate: Meanwhile certain members of the Lion Guard and Night Pride embark on side-quests in the name of family.
#the lion king#the lion guard#the lion guard season 3#the lion guard kion#the lion guard bunga#the lion guard fuli#the lion guard beshte#the lion guard ono#the lion guard anga#the lion guard makini#the lion guard kiara#the lion king 2 simba's pride#lion king#ao3 link#ao3 fanfic#ao3 writer#idk if I can call this a fan Season 4 of Lion Guard#I choose to just call it a continuation rather than a “season” because it has somewhat of its own identity even when connected to the show#Masterpost#tlg#tlk fandom#tlk#tlk 2#tlk fanfic#Roar Towards the Future#TLG: Roar Towards the Future#The lion guard rani#canon compliant#canon divergent fic#canon divergent au
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CTL chapter 13 was crazy!!! I'm curious, what made you decide on the limited/unreliable narrator situation we have with Katsuki? Like were you considering other povs or switching povs, or was this what you always had planned? It was a really good way of writing, I'm just curious if the process to get there was complicated. Also, do you have plans to backtrack and show other povs in the next chapter, or forge ahead and let the questions be answered in the future. Also also, do you have any plans to show what the media is thinking directly, or just through the lenses of the main characters? Because either way could be very interesting. I'm inherently nosy and am very curious what people thought of Deku's less than coherent interview, but I also really like the ways you filter information like that through the experiences of our very traumatise characters. Seriously this chapter was so good! Exactly the high stakes action I was craving after all the tension and recovery!!
ahh thanks! the ending scene (from roughly izuku talking to the reporter on) is one of the first things i wrote actually bc i was so excited about it. i did not expect it to take this long to get there and i’m happy i finally did!!
i kinda made the decision about katsuki’s pov on the fly—i knew i wanted the villain to somehow frame him, but it was only once i was writing the opening that i had an epiphany. i wanted to dart him as kind of a mirror to the first chapter with deku to bring it even more full circle, and then it was pretty clear i had to make him go feral.
from there, i thought about how i wrote shouto back in, what, chapter 3 maybe? and i just kicked that up a notch. i really really love writing/reading that kind of disjointed, weird, unreliable narration, so whenever i see the opportunity i like to lean into it. and i just love the trope of a character being so distracted they dont realize they’ve been hurt until, whoops, that leg doesn’t work. it’s so fun.
also, i really hate writing fight scenes, so the more vague i can make a battle, the better!
small tangent, that kind of writing like i did with katsuki is actually something i mostly picked up from bnha fic—i have a headcanon about todoroki and dissociation that i’ve written about once or twice, and i read a lot of dissociation fics for research purposes (and bc it’s just a good brand of angst). so it’s just kind of a thing i have in my back pocket now.
about future plans—i’m not aiming to have any other povs besides katsuki and izuku, but i do want to show some more news reports and twitter posts like i did in the beginning! as well as have other characters explain what happened a bit. i am also toying with the idea of combining chapter 14 & 15, since rn i’m afraid they’re both going to be small, so rather than delaying both to scrape together enough material i may just do one longer ending? i’ll have to see what happens.
#asked and answered#jextra-ordinaire#cross the line#i always feel bad cutting a chapter lol but like its hard to estimate
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You Never Break ⚜ Part Ⅰ
⊰ ☘ ⊱ Cardan's POV: The Queen of Nothing, from the end of Chapter 13 through Chapter 17. ⊰ ☘ ⊱ A massive, pterodactyl-screeching thank you to my dearest punishment @euridce and the bombastic @figonas for dealing with my bullshit and allowing me to subject them to betaing this (and literally everything else), but especially for being my Hype Train Goblin Queens and not letting me lose to my perfectionism. ⊰ ☘ ⊱ { edit: the wordcount actually turned out to be 3,765 because I added more shit after I copypasta'd here but I literally cannot be arsed to change the graphic lol. }
≼ FIC MASTERLIST HERE≽
Contrary to erstwhile thinking, it is not quite as simple a task to travel at any expeditious speed whilst carrying a half-dead goblin through the biting nighttide—whilst also taking care to keep yourself and aforementioned half-dead goblin undiscovered by those who would very much like to lop your kingly head right off of your kingly shoulders.
And, if all of that is not enough of a juggling act, appending the minor detail that you’ve just taken flight on a steed conjured from the ragwort in your pocket, after leaving your wife below (at her behest and your protest) to fend for herself with naught but a magical cloak and her unspoken, mortal promise to do as you say...
Well. There are reasons you are not lauded for your prowess as a jester, just as your Queen is even less admired for her graces of verity.
Yet, surely by some feat of fortuitous magic, Cardan does manage it; the concealing mists part just enough to allow the flying mount and its travelers to slip through.
Braving a glance over his shoulder, he watches as the fog coils and swirls closed like a protective curtain behind them. It's disorienting—very like taking an overconfident step forward, only to find the ground is not quite as close as you first perceived. Even as one often besotted with wine and other such stupefacients, Cardan does not particularly enjoy that feeling.
Sea fret mingles with the haze of preternatural clouds as they begin a descent. It veils his lips, clings to his wool-spun clothing and weighs down his hair. He shakes the dampened curls from his eyes just as the four isles of Elfhame begin to take shape in the darkness beneath him, and lets out an unsteady breath; he wonders, absently, if he's exhaled at all since leaving Jude on the ground.
He cannot help the inglorious relief that the Roach, in his state, does not hear it.
It’s an odd sensation, to observe your kingdom from such a high vantage point. Perhaps, before now, he disallowed himself to feel the full measure of his obligation; the sobering comprehension that this vastness of soil and sapling and stone, along with all its inhabitants, will thrive, or decay, under his governance. Looking down at the land—his land—brings that realization crashing down upon him with as much force as one of Balekin’s punishments.
Cardan tightens his grip on the animal’s leafy mane against a bout of dizziness, abruptly wishing he had something a bit less insubstantial with which to steady himself.
The Crooked Forest rises to meet them, gnarled limbs twisting upward as if to embrace their sovereign. That seems illusionary, though Cardan does note at once the marked shift in the air; while still cool, no longer does each inhale carry an icy jab to his lungs or bite at the tips of his ears. It envelopes him and his company, gently carrying them above the mossy heads of slumbering root men and women. None of them stir, thankfully, but Cardan isn’t altogether sure his arrival goes unnoticed by them, either.
Welcome home, young King, the wind seems to whisper in his ear. Cardan shivers, and it has nothing to do with the weather.
Alighting just at the edge of the hollow hill, Cardan takes a half-breath to think—and reproaches himself for not doing more of that before they had landed; the Roach’s etiolated complexion, rattling breath, and stiffening limbs are not an entirely promising combination. Then, there is yet the matter of finding Liliver, who might not even be in the palace. And even then, there is the very real likelihood that he is already too late, that the deathsweet’s effects may have already reached its peak.
Cardan has to swallow against the bile creeping up his throat at that unsettling thought.
If only Jude had just come with him. Mistress of strategy and scheming, she would have drawn up a clever plan before they even took flight, as well as a surfeit of contingencies. Moreover, she would know better than he whether or not they held the favor of time; her province of poison is concerningly vast, as she had proven when Cardan himself very nearly shuffled off his immortal coil in dissolution.
Jude had known in an instant, merely by tasting the wraithberry that had stained his lips. How she knew its savour, to say nothing of how she knew it so intimately, Cardan knows not and she has yet to divulge. It is but another closely-clutched secret he must tack onto the growing list of queries for things a man really ought to know about his wife.
In the interim, the High King of Elfhame—and, more regrettably, the Roach—must rely entirely on himself.
Not much of a comfort, that.
Keeping a hand on the Roach to prevent his suffering an unnecessary fall from the horse, Cardan swings himself off of the thing’s back. With care, he lifts the inanimate body of his mentor into his arms. A low, distressed groan comes from the Roach at being jostled—the first sign of cognizance he’s shown since they left Grimsen’s forge. As pained as the sound is, it nonetheless gives Cardan a small hope that perhaps he hasn’t been too late after all.
Its magic spent, the ragwort pony dissolves in a puff of yellow perianths; an indolent breeze scatters some of the remnants across the dark hill, while others continue their aimless drifting to pollinate elsewhere on the isles. Cardan watches a lone petal catch in the wiry hair of the Roach’s brow and without thinking, he brushes it away. He justifies this allowance of rare gentleness with the fact that no one is around to bear witness to it.
As friendship goes, Cardan is all too aware he hasn’t known much in the way of loyalty or for reasons beyond selfish gain. His former companions had desired only what they could glean from him, the immunity his sway as a prince that had granted them the ability to carry out whatever deviant fancy they could dream up. Even Nicasia had had her own contrivances for being his lover, until she had ultimately found more excitement in the stories—and bed—of Locke.
He is not experienced in having a friend simply for the sake of it. In having someone—or a few someones, for that matter—enjoy his wit and cleverness and skills. That enjoy him, Cardan Greenbriar, rather than what advantages the crown atop his head can give.
Perhaps it is dangerous territory for a king to have bonds extending beyond those of mere allies. Perhaps the trust that comes with such friendships is a bit like handing over a blade to your enemy, freshly sharpened, and saying, Here you go, this holds all the ways with which to kill me. I’ll just turn my back.
Even so, when all you have known your entire life is the contempt and malignancy of those who ought to love you, it is not an entirely stunning realization that you would hand over that blade so willingly.
And he had done, in earnest; in his naivety with Nicasia. In his camaraderie with the Court of Shadows. In everything with Jude.
This is doubtless the reason Cardan’s feet begin to move now, carrying him and the Roach in his arms to the palace entrance with some new swell of confidence. Perhaps it is a detriment to believe that these new friends would not be so hastened and flippant as the last to betray him, but he believes it nevertheless. He also knows, albeit by way of unfortunate experience, that when the situation had been reversed, they had not wasted an idle moment in saving him.
So on he goes, through the wall and into the brugh, careful to keep the Roach’s pallid face hidden in the crook of his arm and denying any assistance his guards offer with a firm shake of his head. They move to follow, but halt at once and return to their posts when Cardan waves them off. Of the merits that come with being King, Cardan is especially grateful that denying explanations is one of them.
Even more fortuitously, his journey is not further hindered by any member of the Living Council—who have undoubtedly been tearing at their beards and skirts attempting to locate and descend upon their unruly monarch. Cardan imagines even now they are in the war room or assembled in his chambers, pacing and theorizing and crying out in panic. At the thought of the Minister of Keys pounding his fists on the table and cursing his luck for having such an impudent master to serve, the corner of Cardan’s mouth twitches. If only the wizened Randalin had the sense to make himself more difficult to nettle, perhaps Cardan would try to do so less.
Though the hill is yet alive, with lingering revelers still clutching the edges of twilight and servants clearing the remnants of food and drink, the many tricks of sly-footing he has been taught manages to keep him out of sight from any who might notice; it takes no time at all to slip through the hidden passage, into the wine cellar and emerge on the other side of the new Court of Shadows.
Cardan had hoped to show and consult Jude on the plans for these rooms, including the strategy chamber he had in mind for her—of which he was particularly proud: he had designed it himself—after she pardoned herself and returned to him. That hadn’t gone entirely the way he had imagined, and so they had gone on with the rebuilding without her. Cardan resolves that now, he can simply give her a full tour of them, should she come back posthaste. Should she decide to come back at all.
No, he rebuffs that line of thinking. Jude will return, just as she promised. When she comes home, Cardan will lead her through the rebuilt Court, and she will ooh and ahh and find him so ridiculously clever she’ll be too awed to do anything but kiss him for his prodigiousness.
She will forget she had ever been angry with him—or, at the very least, spare him the full measure of her wrath. She will forgive him for his trickery and assure him again that she had not fed his letters to the fire; she will tell him how desperately she missed him, that the mortal world is awful and terrible and nothing worth going back to. He will kiss her hair and tell her they need never be parted again. They will begin their reign as they should have done the moment their vows were made, and all will be just fine and well and as it should be.
These are all of the things Cardan tells himself as he steps into the main chamber.
He chuckles quietly to the darkness, a sudden incredulity sweeping over him; after all his prior distaste for mortals and those little hopeful deceits they allow, to wish away an awful thing or to make that awful thing seem less terrible, he has caught himself doing just that. He wonders what Jude might say, if he said her mortality was rubbing off on him?
Upon entering the main hall, Cardan is met with a collective gasp—either from the sudden, unannounced arrival of the High King or at the state of the Roach, he doesn’t know, nor does he have time to find out; before he can call for her, Liliver is already there, her dark face paled and taut. She does not seem to even notice Cardan, her frantic, wide-eyed gaze fixed on the Roach.
“What happened to him?” The Bomb demands, seeming to realize Cardan’s presence only as an afterthought, though he does nothing to reprimand her for her tone. The current circumstance, along with the raw fear on the rogue’s face, is enough to cast any necessity for formalities into shadow.
"Darts, poisoned with deathsweet," Cardan tells her, elaborating when Liliver's piercing glare flickers up to meet him. "We... misestimated the cleverness of the traps Grimsen set to protect his forge." The Bomb frowns at that, and Cardan is sure he’ll have much more explaining to do before the night is through and she is fully satisfied, but neither of them need reminding of the more important matter at hand. “Let’s—let’s get him to a bed,” Liliver says. Though her voice wavers, her eyes never leave the disturbingly still body of the Roach as she leads them into a small room carved out from the main one.
She steps aside to allow Cardan to enter and lower the Roach onto the single bed, before seating herself on the edge of it. A bundle of tinctures and salves rest in her lap, from where or how she procured them so quickly, Cardan doesn’t know and isn’t inclined to ask. By the deep-set furrow of her brow and the way she worries her bottom lip between her teeth, she is calculating the situation and he wagers any unnecessary queries might hinder—or annoy—her deliberation. So he simply stands there, silent and helpless, watching her work.
The light emitting from the small orbs hanging above their heads does little to illuminate much of the Roach’s features, but it’s bright enough to view the waxen sheen of his skin, the odd way his limbs lie rigid at his side. He looks as close to death as one could appear, and if not for the shallow rise and fall of his chest, one could easily believe he had already gone. Cardan swallows and looks away, as if staring instead at the rough stone floor will quash the disquiet he feels.
If the Roach succumbs to the poison, he knows with whom the fault will lie, and there will be none among them to scorn him as much as he will scorn himself.
As Liliver works, sifting through the assortment of small glass bottles in her lap until she picks one filled with a thick, amber solution, Cardan gives her as much detail of the night's emprises as he can in short order: their attempted (and rather unsuccessful) rescue of Jude, of the Roach’s poisoning; of why they had entered the smith’s forge in the first place.
Upon hearing the truth behind the Ghost’s betrayal, the vial slips from her hand and Cardan barely manages to snatch it from the air before it shatters on the ground. The Bomb’s eyes are wide as saucers as she takes back the bottle, but Cardan thinks he catches the smallest glint of hope in them, despite their current predicament.
“You mean, all this time... he was being commanded? Controlled by Locke and Madoc?”
Cardan nods. “Doubtless by my brother as well, though Jude didn’t say one way or another.”
He wouldn’t have considered it debasing of Dain's character to control someone in such totality. In fact, he has no misgivings at all that there was anything, save perhaps a grubworm, that had been beneath his brother. He shakes his head and shrugs, more to his own thoughts than the Bomb's question. “I’ll let her tell us which it is, when she comes home.”
It is too afflictive to imagine she will not, that he has yet again voraciously lapped up a lie she has fed him. He cannot believe that as he waits, Jude is riding off through the air with her sisters back to the mortal world, laughing as she tells them how effortlessly she has fooled the desperate High King of Faerie.
He will have time enough to wallow in his own selfish, agonized reveries; Cardan wills his attention back to the present, back to the Bomb and the Roach, who appears even less on the fortunate side of time since they arrived.
“Will he…” Live, or die. Both words are there on his tongue, but he cannot bring himself to say either and the question lingers, thick and unfinished in the air between the three of them. Liliver doesn’t seem willing—or able to answer, only giving him a small shake of cloud-white curls as she keeps her back to him.
Watching how carefully she wipes the Roach’s forehead with a damp cloth, hearing the hushed, unintelligible things she tells him, the understanding that Cardan perhaps ought not intrude further becomes all too clear. He has completed his task, what he promised Jude he would do. There is nothing more required of him.
With Liliver’s promise that she will send word of any changes, good or ill, Cardan excuses himself from the Court of Shadows.
Cardan spends the remainder of the day in his chambers attempting sleep, because he has proved himself of little use elsewhere, there is nothing else to do, and because if Jude were here she would tell him a High King needs rest if he is to go delegating and answering petitions and doing whatever else there is that good, proper kings are supposed to do.
However, it is precisely because Jude isn’t here that he cannot rest.
Though he does give it an honest effort. He tries lying on his back, drawing forth tiny white blossoms to count as they bloom above his head, aiming to bore himself into a stupor. He counts and counts and counts. The mingling fragrance of several different flowers permeates the room and penetrates his nose. When he reaches six hundred forty-seven for the third time, he gives that up.
Exasperated, Cardan flops onto his side, stretching an arm across the sheets. He stares at the empty space beside him, where Jude had rested the first night they had spent together—the night he had convinced her that becoming Queen of Elfhame, his wife, was the better choice for both of them.
It had all been true, of course: everything Cardan had said to get her to agree. There had been no deception or scheming in his words; he had desired his freedom, as desperately as Jude craved power, and their union had the ability to grant both in absolution.
The Living Council had become insistent on the idea that their King should take a wife anyway, for their own overboring political reasons, and so Cardan had.
The only addendum to all of this, the only detail that he had surreptitiously kept from both the Council and Jude, was that he wanted to marry her. Not Nicasia, as the Council had wanted, as Cardan had once believed he should and could enjoy. Not the hag Mother Marrow’s daughter, who likely would have found some clever way to cause his demise so that she might live on as the sole ruler of Faerie. None of them would have been well-suited for him, nor he well-suited for them. None of them could give him what he wanted, because what he wanted was Jude.
That is all he wants now—to have her home and here in his bed, to fill the space that has been empty since she left. Since he made her leave.
Cardan pushes himself off the bed in a frustrated huff. Deciding he could do with a little less sober thinking, he calls for wine, and when the servant arrives with a fresh decanter and goblet, he fills it to the brim and drinks it to the dregs. After repeating this process a few more times, Cardan rounds the large desk—his father’s desk, he cannot help to remind himself, no matter how many times he sits at it—to continue the speech he’s been writing. He picks up the slip of paper between two fingers and holds it to the guttering candle flame to examine it. It’s already a rather lengthy speech, admittedly, but more important than any he has articulated yet. It is one explaining to Jude that her exile had not been methodically planned, that he thought she would work it out much more expeditiously. He would further explain he had not accounted for the fact she hadn’t worked it out at all, and that he had come to fully regret his own cleverness midway through his second letter.
Of course, Jude had told him she hadn’t received any of those letters.
He cannot help recalling how she looked at him then, the last time they were here in his rooms: skittish and trembling, desperate as a wild animal backed into a corner.
Hardly a fortnight has passed since Madoc had taken her, believing he had heroically rescued her twin from nigh execution. And yet it feels as distant as any half-remembered dream upon waking, blurred on the details and every attempt to grasp the memory only causes it to slip further away. Like a hand waving smoke.
Except a dream is something usually pleasant; smiling faces, a kiss one might yearn for in the waking world and only receive when they close their eyes. Dreams are things of wonderment. Pretty visions and heart’s desires.
No, it had not been like a dream at all—not the way she had looked at him.
That hatred, burning into him like white-hot iron, the fear she could lie away with words but could not conceal from her face, the venom in her voice when she spoke. It was more terrible than any of Cardan’s nightmares.
Everything you say to me, everything you promise, it’s all a trick. And I, stupid enough to believe you once.
He had wanted to reach out to her, to take her hand and tell her his trick had been only that, a hasty plan to keep her out of Orlagh’s grasp. He had wanted to pull her to him and breathe in the comforting scent of her hair, to feel her warmth against his chest. To beg her forgiveness and will away her anger with a kiss.
Then he had seen the glint of the blade in her hand.
Even after Vivi’s flustered explanation of her sister’s capture, after he and the Roach had set out from the mortal world to find her—even after their brief moment in Madoc’s camp just hours ago, when Jude swore she hadn’t thrown in her lot with her betrayer of a foster-father, Cardan cannot rend from his mind the image of her holding that knife.
He passes the paper through the flame and watches it burn until it is nothing but a stain of black ash on the desk.
Waving away the lingering smoke, he rises and goes to dress for the night ahead, without rest, and knowing that no amount of sleep or drink or honeyed words will erase what he has done—or may yet do.
⊰ ☘ ⊱ okAY so this first bit turned out a lot longer than I'd originally intended (legit this whole thing was supposed to just be a oneshot lmfao) but if you made it this far, I'm very sorry but thanks for taking the time to read. I hope you enjoyed it, and as usual—if you didn't, don't tell me about it.
If you want to be added to my tag list, just yeet a reply to this post and I'll add you.
⊰ ☘ ⊱ @euridce @figonas @jurdanhell
#felix's fuckin' fic list#; felix does a write#cardan greenbriar#jude duarte#jurdan#cardan x jude#jude x cardan#the folk of the air#the queen of nothing#tfota#qon#holly black#tfota fic#tfota fanfic
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Hi, I've got a bit of a weird request for MLQC. What would be different with an MC who was a player of the game before somehow getting pulled into the first chapter of it? They don't have to have played through everything, but definitely at least up to ch 13, after Lucien's reveal. Which of the guys would notice MC acting weird? Would MC ever tell them? How would they react? How does this mess with the plotline?
😳 wait when I tell you I used to think about this on a daily basis- I’ve never gone into much depth with it though, so I guess now is a better time than ever! let’s say that for drama’s sake, this person has played up to chapter 29, since I think that’s the last chapter she reunites with them after being gone for 6 months.
Lucien:
- In my eyes, this always starts with the MC waking up confused in her apartment. She recognises the area around her based now what she’s seen in the game and is familiar with though she obviously thinks it’s a dream. Until, that it is, there are texts from in game characters that come from the phone on the bedside table. She’s more unsure then.
- She explores the apartment briefly and is freaked out when she recognises the kitchen, but decides that she should try visiting some other places she remembers from the game to try and confirm what’s going on. On the way out, she runs into Lucien, who’s leaving his apartment at the same time.
- By chapter 29, the last we’ve seen of Lucien is when you’re reunited and he confesses those things to you while he thinks you’re asleep. Because of this, and also because of outside sources, this person understands his situation and his personality much more. There’s a lot less hesitancy, but she isn’t sure what Lucien knows at this point. At the very least, it’s comforting to her that she has the upper hand when he’s not quite smitten for her yet.
- I always end up confiding in Lucien because I’m biased, though normally, that’s obviously not a good idea T-T
- Though of course, early Lucien is very far from a threat, so he notices how bewildered she is to see him and is more concerned than anything. It’s hard to know what to say without completely revealing everything, but I can imagine she’d be struggling either way. She would probably slip up once, maybe referring to something personal between them that hasn’t happened yet out of nerves
- He’d be polite about it, not even a bit wary because I don’t even think the MC knew she had an evol yet, and he’d know that. It’d be better just to assume that she’s spewing nonsense than actually looking very deep into it.
- I have a feeling that this would end up messing with the plot pretty badly, actually. She knows a version of him that doesn’t exist yet, and this would be a singular issue imo. His personality is night and day when comparing to the beginning to how he is currently. It would get her into a lot of trouble either way, but could possibly also force Lucien go undergo development much much earlier
- I can imagine her trying to curve his betrayal. he tells her to meet him at the place he tells her his real motives (the news station?? that skinny and tall building idk ;-;) and she just flat out says no. you can’t leave me if I don’t let you >:)
Victor:
- this!!!!! I have such a soft spot for victor and it shows in how this plays out in my head. Without a doubt, the only person that I would trust with the information that I was pulled into the game is Victor. Throughout most of the game, mostly later chapters, Victor is kind of like her partner — she learns to trust him with almost everything, and they work through the situations they can together. They save each other’s lives countless times. This is a lot for one person to carry while the other is clueless of any of that ever happening.
- Next, I feel like it’s reasonable that she would try to seek out everyone else, and where better to find Victor at this point than LFG? Conveniently, once she gets in the office, Goldman hunts her down to tell her that Victor’s waiting for her in his office to discuss the final terms of investment. talk about nostalgia lol
- personally. I’d feel panicked going up to his office. Victor is a very intimidating guy when you aren’t close to him, and acting as you normally would around him will not only be possibly humiliating but also just not effective at all.
- she would devise a plan in her head and as they talk, would slip in small details that kind of further the plot without revealing too much. so for example, mention how the investment is so important to her because she was an orphan and wants to make a name and prove that anyone can do what they dream to. he’d probably try asking more about that, but if not, she could always go into further detail like how she was injured pretty badly trying to save someone else around that time, but doesn’t really remember why and wants to find this person to see if they’re doing okay. This would advance their relationship like 10 chapters, but it would be pretty hasty. This would just be to let him know who she is and what kind of things the future will contain
- Once he figures out what she’s doing, he’d ask what her purpose is — why did she seek him out? to this, she’d most likely reveal her dilemma, and how she was pulled into this world from hers, and knows what will happen for months in the future because of the circumstances
- whether or not he’d retain this affection that he has for the MC when knowing that she isn’t technically who he’s looking for is up for debate, but regardless, something like that is definitely too good to pass up. he’s always been connected to black swan, and knowing her and enlisting her help would most likely come in handy.
Gavin:
- I think I’ve implied that these events take place somewhere in the first few chapters rather than the first so :( I’ll just continue with that. that might even work better, because it gives them at least a bit of a connection to this person. I don’t really remember what happens in the first few chapters, ngl, but I think it’s pretty calm.
- Gavin!!!! whether he’s your favourite or not, you can’t deny that this man is a literal pilar of support. he’s the knight in their dynamic, whereas she’s the queen. she knows he’s not as intimidating as he seems, and her immediate friendliness might throw him off a bit, but I think it’d be a good thing.
- part of the reason he backs off so much in the earlier chapters is so he doesn’t overwhelm her with all of these sudden developments (like coming back to be her personal guard, about black swan, etc) In the original plot, Gavin knows much more than he lets on, always more than the mc does at the very least.
- this would probably change their relationship a lot. I mean, obviously, whoever this is that’s been pulled into the game is bound to have a different personality to the normal mc. she’s more joking and doesn’t hesitate so much, and obviously is a lot smarter and confident due to knowing the future. she doesn’t have to rely on Gavin for information like the original mc does. instead, she acts with him.
- this literally takes 27 chapters in the game. when she meets Gavin in that evol institution in ch27, that’s the first time they fight comfortably side by side.
- Gavin would definitely notice such a drastic change in personality from the shy and kind girl he knew in high school. he might comment on it a few times, but I feel like a personality change is a bit easier to justify, especially since it’d been a few years. she technically has the mc’s memories, so it’s not suspicious or anything. he’d probably eventually let it go.
- though, I think it’s pretty plausible that he’d find out you’re not actually the mc he knows later, maybe by mistake or by you telling him. but by then, he’s also grown attached to this new version of her and doesn’t mind as much.
Kiro:
- you wouldn’t have to tell him you were pulled into the game. he’d know.
- with his connections as Helios and also just his general memory of the mc, it wouldn’t take very long for him to figure out that she’s not the person he’s been chasing for years. and the mf would probably point it out too, scaring her half to death.
- of course, he doesn’t know how she appeared, just that she did, replacing the actual mc. but, despite how he’s very honest about knowing she isn’t who she says she are, he’s empathetic. it’s hard not to be when she has the mc’s face.
- she’d tell him what happened and how she appeared, partly because she wants to trust him and partly because he seems a bit threatening, but either way, I see him as an eventual ally. she knows the inner workings of everything and would be a great help to him in messing with black swan. they’d pretty much be an unstoppable duo with their combined knowledge.
- as they get closer, she feels it’s necessary to tell him that he doesn’t have to leave to protect her. she can handle herself, and him ever leaving would only cause more grief and make things complicated. he would probably tell her not to worry, that he wouldn’t just leave unprompted.
- when he ends up leaving anyway, it stings more than it did watching it on a screen.
- though, that also makes the reunion more memorable, and it would probably go differently as well. maybe kiro is this mc’s LI?? that would be cool asf
#I lowkey wanna write the kiro one hm#UHH#mr love queen’s choice#mlqc#mlqc victor#mlqc lucien#mlqc gavin#mlqc kiro#mlqc x reader#mr love queen’s choice x reader
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"Roads That Cross... on a Day Off"
You can read the previous chapters here: (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), (10), (11), (12), (13), (14), (15), (16), (17), (18), (19), (20), (21)
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Inspired by 'Call it what you want', which is honestly THE simbar song. The author regrets nothing.
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Simón’s left arm was asleep.
He noticed it the moment he woke up, but he refused to move. The prettiest head of blonde locks was using it as a pillow, and who was he to disturb her?
It was a rare occurrence that he woke up before Ámbar. She was a natural early riser while he liked to sleep as much as possible. He usually woke up from her movements as she started her day, or— and this was his favorite— with some caress or kisses from her part. He could start becoming a morning person if that was what awaited him.
So, uncommon as it was, he wanted to cherish this, just this, having her close in complete calmness. Ámbar’s back was to his chest, their legs close together, and his free arm was around her middle, holding her against him. He wanted to run his hand over her skin, or maybe take hers in his, but he didn’t want to risk anything putting an end to this moment.
He fleetingly wondered how long his arm could go without blood flow before it did some damage.
Oh well, who cared.
He couldn’t see her face spooning her like this, but he noticed when she started waking because the even rhythm of her breathing he had been following changed. She began to move, stretching slightly in a way that pressed her back more into him. Simón did hold her hand then and kissed her shoulder. She hummed softly and turned her head to look at him.
“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” he said with a smile.
“Good morning,” she murmured, her voice groggy from sleep. She rolled to rest her head on his chest, which his left arm appreciated. He laid on his back. “What time is it?” She asked after a moment of just relishing the closeness.
Simón extended his right arm over to the nightstand to check his phone. “Almost eleven.”
“Eleven?!” Ámbar jumped, as if he’d said four in the afternoon. “Wow, I hadn’t slept in this much in a long time…” She said, recovering from the surprise. She brought her gaze to his with a coquettish look. “You really wore me out.”
Simón smiled smugly and gave a small shrug. “Well, what can I say? I like to be very thorough,” he said playfully. “Or… maybe all of this was part of my evil plan to get you to let me sleep until a decent hour.”
She raised her brows. “Decent hour? By the time we go downstairs, we might as well have lunch.”
He gave her a look. “You’re totally exaggerating, it’s not that late.” He turned on his side and ran his knuckles softly over her right arm. “And anyway, I wasn’t planning on going to the dining room.” He smiled at her. “How does breakfast in bed sound?”
Her eyes sparkled. “Really?”
“Of course. It’s the least my queen deserves.”
She tilted her head to the side with the cutest melted smile.
“Aww.” She cupped his cheek and leaned in to kiss him. “I love you.”
He gave her another peck. “I love you more.”
She drew back with a gasp in fake outrage. “You do not want to start that discussion, mister.”
“Oh really?” He said, playing along.
“Yep, because you’re going to lose,” she said confidently. “So better give up now while you still can.”
He smirked. “Or what?”
Ámbar’s eyes narrowed with challenge just as he wanted. With the hint of a smile on her lips, she rose and sat astride him, keeping his gaze from above.
“Or I’ll have to show you just how wrong you are.”
Simón kept his mask of a straight face. “That remains to be seen.”
One beat later, he went and flipped her over, making her explode into giggles that he captured with kisses in between his own smiles.
Maybe breakfast could wait.
*****************
The instant that “Esta Noche No Paro” stopped playing, claps and cheers replaced the music. Gastón was fascinated with the final product. It was magical to see everything put together when he’d been right there, in front of the camera, not knowing the shots that would come out of it. He was happy to see that both his dance moves and the choreography’s synch had come out great, but even more than that, he was happy to see the twinkle on Matteo’s eyes and the huge grin that split his face in two. They’d watched the video at the Roller with Delfi, Jazmín, Pedro and Ramiro, and Gastón could honestly say that Matteo and Delfi deserved all the praises that came their way— The video was amazing.
Everyone was very excited, so much so that Pedro gave them all smoothies on the house. Gastón had missed hanging out with his friends like this, a lot. Just their cheery conversations were sweeter than any drink. It was good to be back, no matter how short the visit.
The group dispersed after a while, everyone continuing their daily routines. Gastón and Matteo stayed on a table, Matteo still stuck on the video.
“It’s just… I really think if there is one person that should be receiving praises right now, it’s Luna,” he said, half awed by her, half lamenting she wasn’t there. “I mean, she came up with the video, shemade it happen… I really don’t know how to thank her for all of this.”
Gastón looked at his friend and pretended to think for a second. “Mmm, I don’t know, maybe you could give her a bouquet of flowers,” he proposed, which Matteo seemed to like. “… And, while you’re at it, get back together with her.”
Matteo immediately became self-conscious. Gastón pushed forward. “Come on, dude, I’ve been here for a total of two days and it’s already obvious to me that you two still care about each other. Can you explain to me why you’re not together yet?”
Matteo averted his gaze, looking disheartened. “… A lot of things happened. Every time we get closer, we end up hurting each other and… Luna doesn’t feel the same way anymore.”
Gastón looked at him in disbelief. “Are you kidding me? Matteo, she organized a whole music video for you. To cheer you up, to make youhappy. What else do you want? For her to write it in the sky?”
Tentatively, Matteo brought his gaze to his. “You really think so?”
“Everyone thinks so,” he declared. “You just need to gather the courage and go for it.”
Hope and worry mixed in Matteo’s expression. He looked down, seeming deep in thought. Gastón wished he didn’t drown in those thoughts of his so much and listened to his heart.
Just then, Nina entered the Roller with Jim and Yam and his eyes followed her as she walked over to a table, settling with her laptop as they talked about one thing or another.
Gastón filled his lungs with a big, deep breath. Time to start following his own advice.
***********************
By the time they finally deigned to leave the bed it was like two in the afternoon, and only because Ámbar thought it’d be a bad idea to introduce herself to Simón’s mom while in bed with him. She wanted to make a good impression— The woman didn’t need to know how she was defiling her son.
They sat on one of the couches in the living room for a more neutral setting. Ámbar chose a white top with a white linen sweater over it for the occasion. It made her look harmless enough. She also liked how its black and cream pearl embellishments combined with her dark jeans, and the weather had been a bit cooler lately. Simón had also opted for wearing his jean shirt over his purple t-shirt instead of tying it around his hips for that same reason.
They settled in front of her laptop’s screen for the video chat. It had been Ámbar’s idea to have it through there so it was more comfortable, that way neither side had to be holding up a phone.
Just as Simón had told her, the call hadn’t been a serious affair at all. She’d been a little nervous at the beginning, but Simón’s mom’s wide smile and warm personality put her at ease quickly. The woman didn’t seem to hate her at all, and she seemed too genuine to be pretending to like her. She reminded her so much of Simón. She knew that he mostly looked like his dad from the photos she’d seen on his Instagram, but he had his mother’s eyes, and the more Ámbar talked to the woman, the more pieces of him she found in her. It warmed her heart.
It wasn’t a very long chat, but Simón’s mom found the time to tell her a fun story of when Simón was a kid, much to his embarrassment and her insurmountable enjoyment. She promised to show her the family photo albums when she visited Cancún. Ámbar loved the idea.
“You’ll have to show me your photos too then,” Simón told her, his eyes shining with excitement and curiosity.
Ámbar did her best to keep her smile in place. She didn’t have any photos from when she was a kid that she knew of. Sharon wasn’t one for sentimentalities like that. If she had any, they were probably taken by Amanda on specific dates like her first day at kindergarten and at the Blake. Maybe some from old birthdays. Ámbar had no idea where those could be though… if Sharon had kept them at all.
The only old photos she knew she had were from photoshoots. She’d first asked for one when she turned twelve, and had some more done after that. When all cellphones started having decent cameras, it became easier to have photos.
Ámbar chose not to say any of it, and tried not to let it darken her mood, but the bitter reminder stuck on the back of her mind. The contrast between Simón’s mom’s sweetness and the cold, scolding texts she’d been receiving from Sharon was too great. Ámbar was ignoring them. Her godmother had no right to reprimand her for anything when she was keeping her secret at the expense of jeopardizing her happiness.
The video call ended with Simón’s mom teasingly warning him to behave and giving Ámbar permission to put him in his place if he didn’t. The irony of Ámbar promising to keep him on the right track was not lost on her, but it was just playfulness in the end. She only hoped that the future plans they’d talked about did come to pass.
After that, Simón insisted on inviting her out for lunch. “When was the last time we had time for an actual date? We need to seize this opportunity!” He took her to a restaurant he’d visited before with Pedro and Nico. It was nothing fancy, completely unlike the restaurants Sharon took her to the times they ate outside, but it was nice, and the food was delicious. The company was the best part, of course. Ámbar felt like she could’ve eaten anything and anywhere as long as she was with Simón. She nursed her drink slowly just so they could stay there longer, smiling and conversing. She suspected he did the same.
They had a brief fight over who would pay the bill. Ámbar argued that there was no need for him to spend money on her when she had more than she needed, but Simón insisted that he had invited her so it should be his treat. She proposed splitting it, but Simón wanted to pay for both. Sensing that it was important to him, she relented.
She grabbed his hand as they left and they walked down the street with their fingers interlocked. Ámbar would’ve been happy to just walk around with him for the rest of the afternoon until the sun went down, but he proposed they went back to the mansion.
When they got there though, she didn’t get to cross the front door before Simón stopped her.
“Wait for me right here, don’t move.”
Ámbar frowned but did as told while he disappeared inside, curious as to what idea he’d come up with.
He reappeared about five minutes later, with both hands behind his back, sign that he was hiding something.
“Okay, so, um, I want to make you a surprise,” he started.
She smiled with interest. “Okay…”
“But, in order to do that, I’m going to need you to be out of the mansion for a while.”
Ámbar raised a brow. Now this was unexpected, but she was too curious to say no. “Like for how long?”
“I don’t know, an hour?”
“And… what am I supposed to do in the meantime?”
Simón finally brought his hands forward, revealing one pair of her skates and her helmet. “You can rollerskate,” he said cheerily. “I’ve noticed that with so much work you haven’t found much time to do so lately. And, I mean, it’s a shame really, to deny the world the chance of seeing the queen of the rink in action.”
Her heart melted with the flattery, and especially for how thoughtful a gesture it was. “You’re so cute. But the idea of this day was to spend it together,” she argued, moving closer to place her hands on his shoulders. “I would rather skate with you. I miss it.”
He showed a sympathetic smile. “Me too. We can do that if we find some time at work one of these days. But now,” he handed her her things, “you can have some alone time and clear your head.”
Ámbar received them with an acquiescent smile. “Okay.”
“I’ll text you when you can come back.”
“Okay. Just try not to destroy my house with whatever you have planned.”
Simón chuckled. “I won’t. I may have to borrow a couple of things though, you don’t mind?”
She shrugged. “You live here, grab whatever you like.”
They shared a short parting kiss.
“Have fun,” he said with a smile.
Ámbar gave him one last peck just because she could and left.
**********************
“Thank you for agreeing to meet with me.”
Nina smoothed her hands down her skirt. They were sweating so hard, and she knew it had nothing to do with the mellow autumn sun shining over them in the quiet square.
It was all about the boy in front of her, who’d always had the ability to make her heart pound. And to whom, she realized, she still hadn’t said anything.
“Yeah, well, we’re still friends, right?” She somehow managed to articulate nervously, trying to show a smile. “I mean, if you need something, advice or anything like that, I can help. Although, I don’t know if I’d really be much help. Maybe you should talk about it with Matteo?”
Gastón looked at her in silence, in the eyes, in a way that did nothing to calm her heart.
“Matteo can’t help me with this,” he said, just the slightest hint of sadness in his voice showing he wished it were not so. “No one, really... It is about you and me.”
Yes, that was exactly what she’d feared. “…You wanna talk about us?”
Gastón nodded solemnly.
“Could we take a seat?” He invited her gently, signaling to the bench right next to them.
They both sat, keeping some small distance between them, but they were still very close. When had been the last time they’d been this close? Alone? Nina was having a hard time keeping his gaze. She was gripping the strap of her bag so hard her fingers would probably hurt later.
“Look, Nina,” Gastón started, his tense shoulders the only thing that betrayed he was nervous too, “I’ve been thinking a lot these past few weeks… and you have no idea how much I miss you.”
Her heart clenched painfully.
God, how many times had she dreamed with him saying those words? So many scenarios, so many things she’d wished to say. And now she was frozen.
“Every second I’m not studying I think of you,” Gastón continued, his emotion-filled voice hitting her with each word. “Hell, even when I’m studying I think of you— That I haven’t failed a class is a miracle.” He looked down, ashamed. “And I know that saying this now is unfair when it was me who wanted to end it but… I need to correct my mistake.” Gastón looked up. Honest, determined eyes bore into hers. “I want us to be together again, Nina. I want you to be my girlfriend.”
Nina felt herself tremble.
“I… I don’t understand,” she uttered, her brain registering the words but unable to process them. Or perhaps she was too scared to. “What happened with all you said? What happened with not making each other suffer and letting destiny bring us back together someday if it was meant to be?” She’d held on to that. To the belief that their names were being kept by the sea and maybe they’d find each other in the future. She’d accepted that, and now he…
“That was before my best friend fell off a fence,” Gastón said, somber, and his expression just quieted her once more. “He could’ve died, Nina. One bad hit in the head is all it takes. And I would’ve been a hemisphere away.” His hands clenched. His face reflected how much the idea tormented him. “I started thinking of possibilities. Matteo could’ve died or ended up in vegetative state or in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Accidents happen every day— And what if it had been you?” He said, his eyes dancing between hers in fear. “What if something had happened to you and I wouldn’t have been able to be there?” His jaw set. His head shook slightly. “I can’t trust a hypothetical future when I could die tomorrow.”
Nina’s throat tightened. “Don’t say things so horrible, please.”
“It’s true,” he dismissed her pleading, not harshly but with the calmness of someone who has complete certainty of what he’s saying. “That’s why I had to come. For Matteo, and for you. To ask you to give me another chance.”
He seemed to want to hold her hands but didn’t dare to do so. They fell back on the bench, right on the edge of the flounce of her skirt. Nina had no chance to be either disappointed or relieved by that because his eyes held her captive.
“I’m so sorry,” Gastón said, like from the bottom of his heart. “I gave up on us too soon. I was a coward; I see that now. I thought I was doing what was best for us, so we wouldn’t have to suffer from being so far apart. But maybe I was just thinking of myself and what I thought would hurt me less. Maybe I was just too afraid of you finding some other guy… And now, because of that, my greatest fear came true,” he said dejectedly, averting his gaze. “I’ve been told that you have a thing with Eric…”
“No!”
The word was pulled from her lips before she made a conscious decision. She was not surprised to see the surprise in Gastón’s eyes because she was caught off guard too. She began to backtrack rapidly.
“I mean… He’s a very sweet guy,” she said, because not saying it would be unfair. Just the fact that she’d denied him so adamantly made her feel mean. “We see each other every day and we talk. We’re kinda similar, we get along very well. And…” She doubted. She felt awkward telling him all this, but after everything Gastón had said to her, she had to be honest, she couldn’t act like there was nothing there. “…He likes me…”
She decided not to mention the kiss. It’d been a mistake and Eric had apologized. But by Gastón’s face, she might as well have.
He looked down, putting on a solemn mask. “…I understand.”
“No, you can’t understand,” Nina said immediately, and this time she meant the strength with which she spoke. She didn’t know where it came from but suddenly it was burning, and when he met her gaze this time, she looked at him straight on. “You can’t possibly understand because I don’t. Everyone’s telling me that I should give Eric a chance and, honestly, there are many reasons why I should, starting with the fact that he’s here and wants to be with me, but I can’t even think about being with Eric because I can’t stop thinking about you.”
Now it was him that was rendered speechless. His eyes searched hers, a new light in them, and she’d already taken the jump, so she let the words fall whenever they led her.
“You may have gone very far away physically, but you stayed in my heart,” she confessed. The most real, hardest truth she’d ever had to admit. “And with it stayed the sadness, and this horrible feeling that I’m missing something…”
Gastón didn’t doubt this time— He took her hands in his.
“I feel the same,” he said with both relief and desperation. “I’ve been feeling the same way all these weeks, Nina. I miss you like I didn’t even think I could miss someone. I’ve been so angry at myself for letting you go when it was the last thing I wanted.” His right thumb ran over her knuckles and he followed the caress with his eyes. Nina felt it like a spark. “I know I have no right to ask you anything… But I just can’t go back without at least trying to get you back.”
“…But then… we’d be together but apart again?” She said, discouraged by that bleak future. They’d already been through that— Did he really want to go back to it?
“You were the one who said that I was never really gone,” he noted. “As long as we still have each other here…” He brought their joined hands to his chest. “…Isn’t that all that matters?”
She didn’t know if she could feel his heart against her fingers or if it seemed so because she could see it through his eyes. She was too overwhelmed. “Gastón—”
“Say yes, Nina.” He squeezed her hands. “Please.”
She wanted to say yes. She wanted to jump into his arms and hug him tightly. She wanted to believe that love conquered all and they would be okay.
But she had thought that once. She’d believed it with all her heart, all through that summer, only for him to put an end to the story she’d been trying to write.
She couldn’t just forget about all the nights she’d spent crying over him since then. Names in the sea or not, it had been the death of something and she’d mourned it. Her heart was just starting to heal a little and he wanted her to rip all the carefully placed stitches and re-open the wound once more?
What if it just bled out again? What if their love wasn’t enough?
“… I need to think about it.”
Gastón looked disheartened but nodded and let go of her hands, lowering them slowly. “Yeah, of course. I understand.” He tucked his hands inside the pockets of his jacket, like stopping himself from reaching for her once more. “I leave in three days. If you could tell me by then…”
Nina nodded, utterly unsure of how she was even gonna make heads of what she felt to come to an answer, but knowing that it was the least Gastón deserved, and she as well.
She either chose to give themselves another chance… or she closed this chapter forever.
She knew it wouldn’t be easy no matter which she chose.
****************
Luna couldn’t understand what was happening.
She’d gone out for ice cream with Michel just like they’d promised. One second they were goofing around, laughing like always, and then the next, Michel was kissing her.
She froze, her brain scrambling to comprehend the situation. She hadn’t expected a kiss. She hadn’t given any sign for a kiss. He hadn’t just stumbled and fallen into her mouth, right? Nono, he was holding her face, and the way he was pressing against her lips was way too deliberate. Which meant it wasn’t a joke either, and even if it had been, it’d be a terrible one.
Finally, the repulsion she felt broke through the paralysis of confusion and she pulled away from Michel.
“What are you doing?” She asked, shaken up.
Michel was grinning. “I don’t know, I kissed you,” he said with a dreamy expression like something magical had just happened.
Meanwhile, it must have been one of the few times in her life Luna couldn’t see any good in a situation.
“Yeah, I realize that,” she replied, and she really couldn’t help the bite in her voice. “But, why? I mean, I didn’t— I never told you to kiss me!”
Michel’s shoulders deflated and his smile began to fade. “What are you saying? You didn’t like it?”
“Michel, how could I like it?” She honestly couldn’t believe he was even asking right now. Was he that detached from reality? In what world did he think this was okay? “We talked about this, didn’t we? Yesterday.”
“Yes, but,” he showed a tentative smile, “you said we are like birds of a feather and that you like hanging out with me…”
“Yeah, as friends,” she declared, keeping his gaze so he knew she was serious. A grimace wrinkled her face from all this situation. “God, Michel, you misunderstood everything, I thought we’d made things clear.”
Michel’s face finally lost all its light and became covered with remorse. “Luna, I’m sorry. Can we talk about this?”
“Why, I don’t know— Are we gonna talk and then you’ll try to kiss me tomorrow?!”
At seeing him wince in pain and regret, Luna’s outrage decreased somewhat; she didn’t want to be mean.
She closed her eyes, sighing heavily. “Look, Michel, I’m sorry, but this made me very uncomfortable and I need to go.”
She passed by his side and walked away, not looking back once, even when she heard him calling her name.
She wasn’t just shocked, she was hurting. She trusted Michel, she thought they were friends, she thought this outing had been as friends— Had he been just waiting for an opportunity to do this? Couldn’t he have at least leaned in slowly so she could move away instead of grabbing her face like that?
She rubbed her lips with the back of her hand as if that would somehow erase it. She knew it was just a kiss and she was probably exaggerating but… If she said she didn’t want something and then he just did it anyway, that was… that was just wrong.
She speed-walked to her house, wanting nothing more than to forget this happened.
A few meters away, a fresh bouquet of flowers laid discarded on the ground.
**********************
Ámbar felt the fresh air against her face. She closed her eyes for a moment, just taking in the feeling of her racing heart and the energy flowing through her muscles. She really had missed this.
She was standing by the lime green railing of the center of the park, her back and elbows resting on the metal as she took a break to refill her energy. She’d done pirouettes and jumps around this fenced circumference for a little over an hour, earning some appreciative stares from people passing by, which she enjoyed greatly. She loved feeling admired, especially because she loved what she did and knew how hard it’d been to reach this level. She remembered how her love for rollerskating had been born and wondered if any of the people who’d seen her today had left wanting to learn how to do the same. She hoped they tried it— It was a beautiful sport.
Eventually, she’d dropped the techniques and just skated around the park, looking at the scenery, at the sky, just letting her mind wander as the homely feeling of sliding on wheels lulled her accumulated stress away. When had been the last time she’d skated just for the sake of it, no choreographies or competitions in mind? It seemed like a lifetime ago.
A vibration on her jeans pocket made her open her eyes. Her heart jumped with excitement. She pulled out her phone and saw the contact she had been waiting for.
My love💙: All done, you can come back 👍
My love💙: Go directly to your room
Ámbar skated to a nearby bench to take off her helmet and change back into her boots. She wondered what Simón had planned. Maybe he’d cooked her something? She knew he and Pedro used to take care of cooking when they lived in the loft. Nico apparently couldn’t be trusted to make toasts without burning them. She wondered what kind of dishes Simón knew how to make. Maybe he could teach her some and she could make him pancakes. She was sure she could do it with some guidance from Mónica.
The idea made her smile as she made her way back to the mansion. She quickly wiped it off when she realized, showing a neutral face instead. Oh god, she’d just smiled to herself in the middle of the street. Was this what had become of her? Ámbar Smith, smiling in public like a love-struck fool. She blamed Simón.
She welcomed the heating system when she entered the mansion. She hadn’t realized how the early evening air had cooled her until she felt the contrast with indoors. Following Simón’s instruction, she rearranged her stuff in her hands and climbed up the staircase.
The minute she walked into her room, she stopped in her tracks.
“What the…”
Half her room had been invaded by bedsheets. From the foot of her bed to the back was some kind of tunnel made of different blankets, which didn’t reach higher than her waist. Some things from her shelves were on top of the ends of the blankets on each side; she gathered they worked as weights so the blankets didn’t fall off. The back of the tunnel opened into her closet. She could hardly see it— It was completely covered by bedsheets. It was like having a tent in her room.
At the front of the tunnel, she recognized the pink round ottoman she usually kept in her closet. It was standing on its side instead of the usual way, so it blocked the entrance to the archway of fabrics. Just then, she watched it slide to the right, leaned against her bedside. Behind it, crawling to fit under the blankets, appeared Simón, grinning from ear to ear.
“Surprise.”
Ámbar’s mouth was hanging open.
“I… What is all this?” She said with a stupefied smile.
“You said you’d never built blanket forts before, so I decided to make one for you,” he announced cheerily. “Come on in, check it out.” He crawled to the back. “Close in your way in!”
Still dumbfounded, Ámbar left her rollerskates and helmet on the floor next to her vanity. Usually, she’d put them back in their place first thing, but considering her closet was now a fort, that would have to wait.
She kicked off her boots and got on her knees to enter the tunnel. As she went inside, the construction became more evident: The blankets were hanging from her vanity’s chair, one of her sofa chairs and her desk on the left side, and from her bed, her second sofa chair and her pink bench on the right. She turned to put the ottoman back in its place and realized it basically worked as a sliding door. Wow, her boyfriend was so clever.
She crawled to the back, where Simón was waiting for her, sitting crossed-legged. The whole floor was covered in her dark grey carpet, and there were many pillows and blankets placed around. Bedsheet walls —there was no other way to describe it— flowed down at her right, left and in front of her closet’s shelves. Ámbar simply couldn’t believe her eyes.
“I asked Mónica to make us some snacks,” Simón said, still smiling, placing a small tray with food and drinks between them as she sat on his left. “I gathered you’d be hungry from skating. Oh! Wait, I forgot something.” He reached for an extension cord on his right and flicked the switch. Light shone all around them. “There you go.”
Ámbar looked around. Two garland lights had lit up, one on each side of them. She looked up, finding an arrangement of tiny golden lights illuminating the bedsheet ceiling. Were those Christmas lights? Where had he even gotten those?
The more she looked, the more details of his work she noticed. The bedsheet walls existed because he’d attached two parallel strings from the back of the closet to the front to hang them from. He’d taken care of hiding the cables of the lights so they wouldn’t disturb the space. There were at least three bedsheets, and she wasn’t even going to count the number of blankets he’d used in all of this.
She remembered his words that morning in the bathtub. “Don’t you feel like we’re in our own little world like this?”
It did feel like that. Like he had built a world just for her.
“Wow…”
“Do you like it?”
She could feel his eyes on her, but she couldn’t tear her own from the splendor around her.
“It’s… perfect,” she said with some difficulty. Her throat had gotten tight. No one had ever put this much effort into doing something for her.
“I mean…” Simón relativized, looking around with a little grimace. “I did have to tape a lot of things together because they kept falling off…”
“Do not mess with my fort; it’s perfect,” she countered him strongly, trying to hide the tremble in her voice.
Simón chuckled lightly. His eyes stared into hers, and he must have noticed the emotion in them because his expression softened. He didn’t comment on it, just handed her a snack from the tray with a gentle smile. “Let’s eat then.”
They shared the food in comfortable silence until conversation arose naturally. How had her skating gone, how he’d found Christmas lights. It didn’t go any deeper than that.
Once finished, Simón slid the tray outside of the bedsheet wall. “To make sure we don’t knock over anything. I’ll take it back later.”
Ámbar leaned on her hands to move closer to him and kissed him. She needed to do so for a while now. He tasted of the juice he’d just drunk. It stayed on her lips as she pulled away.
“So,” she said curiously, “what do we do now?”
“I’m not sure,” Simón replied, and began to pile some pillows behind them, against the closet’s doors. “Usually when I did this I was with a friend or a cousin.”
Ámbar settled against the pillows as he did the same. “And what did you do with them?”
“We talked about kid stuff, like videogames or cartoons we were watching…”
“Uh huh…”
“Or we imagined that this was our secret base and we were professional spies, and we had to crack some code to get into the bad guys’ files or infiltrate their base to beat them.”
She gave him an appreciative look. “You’re saying I’m dating an ex-CIA agent? That’s hot.”
“Who said I ever retired?” He replied with a flirty brow lift.
Both chuckled. They shared a soft peck and Ámbar snuggled closer to him, circling her arms around his middle and resting her head on his shoulder.
“What about you?” He asked, moving some strands of her hair back. She looked up at him. “What did you play with your friends?”
“We usually invented stories for the barbies.” She dug deep into her memories, bringing back those moments long past that she hadn’t thought of in years. “Like, there was Sofía, Nicole and Camila and they were best friends, and they did everything together, from shopping to saving the world…”
“That sounds very cool.”
“It was, until Camila found out that Nicole had hooked up with her boyfriend.”
His eyes widened. “Nooo.”
“Yes.”
“That bitch.”
“Right? How could she do that to her after she bought her tickets to Milan’s fashion week?”
“The audacity. I hope Camila put her in her place.”
“Hell yeah she did. We cut her hair and everything.”
Both laughed. The things one did as a kid.
“There was this other story,” she continued after a while, “in which the doll was in love with this guy that was about to fly to another country, so she had to run to the airport to catch him before he left to tell him she loved him, but the craziest things happened to her on the way there, making it suuuper difficult.”
“Did she ever catch him?”
Ámbar turned pensive.
“I wanna believe she did,” she responded. “That she told him she loved him, and he loved her too, and they lived happily ever after.” She looked up at Simón.
“Even with the distance?” He asked, caressing her arm softly.
“Well, no one says he could never come back,” she stated. “Or she could’ve gone to him. I’m sure they found a way.”
Simón smiled, looking into her eyes as he tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. “Yeah, I think so too.”
Their gazes stayed locked until the gravity pulled them in. Their mouths met for a long second, fitting perfectly against the other’s. The kiss turned into many— Soft, languid touches of their lips that felt better than even skating.
“Did you do this with your friends too?” She couldn’t help but quip.
Simón let out a laugh. “Definitely not.” And he went back to kissing her.
Ámbar felt light; lighter than she ever remembered being. Safe, calm, warm— Like wrapped in a blanket after having been cold. Simón was like that. Like the first sunny days after winter. Like a warm bath after a long day. Like sitting in front of the hearth after having been drenched in the rain. Little things that made everything better. He was made of them, and he took care of giving her each one.
He didn’t only help her find who she wanted to be, but he also allowed her to be the carefree little girl she never got to be. Simón gave her things she didn’t realize she needed until she lived them.
Ámbar pulled back slowly and looked into his eyes.
“My love?”
“Yes?”
She curled her fingers around his t-shirt, trying to find the words to express everything she felt.
“Really, thank you so much for this. It’s… the nicest thing someone has ever done for me and…” She swallowed. “I love you. So much. So much so that it kind of makes me wanna cry.” She chuckled weakly, a little strangled.
Simón’s eyes danced with hers, deep and soft and yet burning.
He smiled and held one of her hands. “Ámbar Smith… You are my heart. I swear if it beats it’s because of you. Why should you thank me for anything if thanks to you I’m alive?”
Ámbar’s throat got too tight to answer. Her heart was beating hard in her chest, like trying to go to him. All of her, from the tips of her fingers to the soles of her feet, yearned to cling to him.
She pulled his face to hers and joined their lips tightly.
Simón responded like he felt the same, with the same depth and intensity, but she doubted he could love her a third of how much she loved him.
They unclothed each other slowly, kissing reverently each extension of skin they uncovered. Under those sheets and golden lights, Ámbar felt like they were the only thing that existed. The universe started and ended with him— With each touch of his hands, each kiss from his lips.
The fur of the carpet was soft against her back as he slid inside of her. They gasped against each other’s mouths, a shared sound of rightness. Ámbar embraced him with her whole body and breathed in his scent as she followed the gentle rocking.
Simón left kisses on her cheek, her neck, her collarbone. Ámbar dug her fingers into the softness of his hair and she stared at their fort. The lights above looked like stars. Her eyes absorbed each wrinkle, each mix of color, each scotch tape attached to a fabric. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. She would’ve changed all her wealth for having this. For having Simón. Always.
He was pushing deep between her legs, as if he too wanted to live inside her and never leave her side. He panted her name and she held him tighter, feeling how the sensations flooded her and stole her breath.
He touched her where they were joined, looked into her eyes, and then everything exploded, turning Ámbar into stardust.
She was barely corporeal as she felt Simón let go, dissolve in her with his breath against her neck.
A tear fell down her cheek.
Simón saw the wet trail when he straightened and, instantly, his face filled with worry. He opened his mouth and Ámbar could see the questions in his eyes. What happened? Are you okay? Did I do something wrong?
But he didn’t voice any of them. Because he looked into her eyes and he understood. Just like that, he understood. Ámbar loved him even more for it.
Simón gave her a soft smile, with just the slightest speck of sadness, and kissed the salt off her skin. That was what he always did— Accept the fragile and unsure her, not just the laughs and her best moments.
She used to think she had to be perfect to be loved. He showed her that wasn’t needed.
Simón grabbed a blanket to cover them both and brought her to his chest. Ámbar pressed her forehead to his warm skin and closed her eyes.
“I wish we never had to leave this fort,” she said softly. “We could just stay here forever. Freeze time, right on this moment.”
Then she wouldn’t have to worry anymore. She wouldn’t have to keep secrets. She wouldn’t get scared every time she felt happy. They’d never have the chance to break each other’s hearts.
She felt the vibrations on his chest as Simón hummed.
“That would be nice…” He agreed, weakly gracing her shoulder with movements of his thumb. “But I’m more excited about all the new things I can still share with you.”
Her breathing stopped for a second. Ámbar looked up and found Simón smiling at her, that smile that was the sweetest she had ever known and sometimes wondered how her life had been before she saw it. His eyes were shining, full of possibilities.
Ámbar looked at him, and against all odds, she began to laugh.
“What?” Simón asked, but she just shook her head, looking away in disbelief.
How was it that he could brighten everything with just one phrase? One second to the other, just like that? It wasn’t fair. It almost made it seem like everything she’d been worrying about were just silly things. So not fair.
Ámbar sighed, and after a beat, brought her gaze back to him.
“Do you like pancakes?”
Simón frowned, clearly confused by the change of topic. “Yeah, why?”
Ámbar smiled and settled back with her head against his chest.
“No reason.”
…
..
.
--------------------------------
(I had never written Gastina, so apology to the shippers if I didn’t get it right, but I believe it turned out pretty decent.)
Not a lot of plot advancement on this one, but I really wanted to give them, and you, this one sweet moment to hold onto. I've had the draft for this last scene since July 16th of *last year*, just so you get an idea of how long I have to wait to post the things I have in mind.
I really love this chapter, I hope you do too <3
I'll leave some reference pictures here. The first one is a drawing that I made. It was only meant for me to visualize the fort, so I apologize for the mess. If I had planned back then to share it with you guys, I would've made it prettier 😅
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Return the Flames - Chapter 13
All at Dead Bird Studios knew of Amos' (The Conductor's) ability. How the owl could suddenly erupt into flames if angered enough. When the studio first opened, Dominic (DJ Grooves) was told that Amos had his ability under control. Nothing to worry about. No possible loss of anything from an open flame.
A few years later however, and that control seems to have lessened to a dangerous degree.
It should have just been a simple, week long drive to fix the problem. It really should have been.
Dominic should have asked a lot more questions and should have been prepared for a twist ending.
_________________
Fandom: A Hat in Time Rating: General Audience Relationships/Pairings: The ConductorXDJ Grooves Warnings: Eventual depictions of violence, slow burn relationship, named characters, attempt of an accent, being hunted down, a race against time (sort of).
As the sun slowly descended over the horizon, Amos was slowly making his way up the mountain.
It was a painful process. Every part of him was screaming in agony. Attempting to fully put itself back together as Amos charged forward. As best he could. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been out since his fall. All he knew was he’d been away from Dominic for too long with the creeps breathing down his neck. So, even though all he wanted to do was sleep, Amos pushed forward. His mind focusing on getting back to Dominic.
The area was quiet. Sure, Amos was climbing up a mountain with wind roaring around him. But he was expecting to hear something. Or at least see something that counted as trouble. Anything. However, there was nothing. No noise, nothing showing that C.A.W. was still attempting their capture. It was unsettling. Because Amos wasn’t fully sure what to expect when he reached the top.
Had Dominic and those Nomads successfully block the way in? Or did they maybe chase off C.A.W. by some miracle. No, if that was true, he had a feeling Dominic would be hanging over the edge of the mountain, helping Amos up. So did that mean C.A.W. had captured them all? Were they going to be used as bait to better lure Amos out?
The owl let out a strangled cry as part of the mountain fell underfoot. Amos scrambled to find his footing again before falling too far down. Panting hard, pain flaring up again, a few minutes passed before Amos felt he could move again.
He was getting closer. The familiar cart was getting bigger. A carved out, leveled section of the mountain was what said cart was resting by. Still no signs that anything was amiss…
Amos really needed to keep his mental mouth shut.
He was only a few feet away when an explosion sounded. Not directly above him, but to the left. Amos assumed that was another entrance that Bakle had talked about. Rocks went flying away, Amos thankful he wasn’t under where that was happening. The relief was short lived when a rock seemed to shine in the dying light. Amos realized it was a large chunk of ice. Pure ice that looked like what Dominic had created back at the camp.
The owl’s attention snapped forward hearing desperate cries and shouts echoing from the temple. It seems as if the fight Amos had been fearful of was finally happening.
He was moving faster than he’d ever had before. Claws cracking the flat plateau as he finally reached the temple entrance. The doors were already open, showing a raised pillar in the center with a midnight blue feather resting on it. Amos paused, laying his eyes on it. His heart rate speeding up, feeling a pull deep in his soul. Which was instantly broken when he watched as a familiar C.A.W. agent slammed Dominic against said pillar.
Anger that Amos had never felt before filled him. Every part of him felt as if he was on fire. But it didn’t hurt. In fact, nothing hurt anymore. All he knew was anger and an overwhelming need to protect.
Amos knew he didn’t pass out. But all went black as his basic instincts took over.
__________________________
There was not much that could be done but wait for something to happen in the temple.
Dominic felt uncomfortable with how quiet it was. Sure he could hear the wind and the crackling of the ice he’d made as it settled. But no one was saying anything. Bakle and his father were resting by the pillar. The penguin sitting on the steps, facing the entrance they’d come through.
“Where are you Amos…” The penguin muttered weakly.
“I’m sure the Child is alright.” Bakle offered as an attempt to calm Dominic. The child faltered when he didn’t receive a reply. Instead of dwelling on it, Bakle’s attention turned to the wall of ice and stone. “Do you think they’re gone?”
“I doubt it,” Dominic replied, “If I had to take a guess, they’re trying to ‘solve’ this. Break the wall down somehow.”
“Oh…”
Dominic was pulled from his own thoughts hearing the quiet reply. He looked over, finding Papa attempting to comfort his child. Letting out a low sigh, the penguin made his way towards the other two. “I’m sorry. I really wish this wasn’t happening.”
“I… We don’t blame you or your partner sir.”
The penguin flushed, but made no comment. “Still...what an absolute nightmare this has become. A road trip turned into a life and death struggle. How ironic that a rather cliche movie plot has become reality. Wonder if Amos and I could profit off this somehow.”
“It certainly is an interesting story.”
Dominic laughed softly, going to make another response. Only to pause, hearing something strange. A sort of ‘ping’ sound that sounded from the ice/rock wall. Leaving the other two, Dominic approached said wall.
Hearing mumbles and harsh whispers as he neared it. A familiar hissing sound followed. A sound that Dominic had heard numerous times in Amos’ movie. Before an explosion went off…
Dominic wasn’t able to get a warning out before the wall was blasted away. He was stunned, unmoving as he was sprawled on the ground with his ears ringing. There were muffled shouts and panicked pleas. Dominic looked over to find Papa being held down by thick ropes. Struggling to get to Bakel, who was being held back by two agents.
Any thoughts of helping were immediately broken when Dominic was picked up and thrown. His back hitting the pillar and collapsing at the base of it. Getting no time to recover as he was picked up once more. Hands grabbing his collar and pushing him against the pillar.
“You think you’re so clever…” The head C.A.W. agent growled darkly. “You’re just prolonging your fall.”
“And you...really are...full of yourself…” Dominic choked out.
“You could have avoided all of this! If you just gave us the Phoenix at the beginning-”
“Why would I! You’re going to kill him!”
“Because nothing that dangerous should exist.”
“Amos is not dangerous! He’s scared and in pain. He would never intentionally hurt anyone. You and your agents are the dangerous ones.”
The crow’s feathers ruffled, beak opening to make one final comment. Only to release Dominic and step away when fire erupted between them. Stumbling away as well, Dominic collapsed once more. Leaning against the pillar as he looked up, mouth dropping as what he saw.
Amos stood between Dominic and the agent. Hunched over and breathing hard, his entire body was shaking. With rage or exhaustion, Dominic couldn’t tell. The most alarming feature were the flames. The tips of each feather turned to flames that combined with the rest of them, growing and in turn, making Amos appear larger. But the most outstanding part was the color. It wasn’t the typical yellow and orange, not the threatening burn that Dominic had been used to seeing. These flames were a merge of colors. Deep blues and purples, with the tips of the flames a bright pink, melding together with the natural orange of Amos’ feathers. It was as if day and night were competing to shine the brightest.
The penguin was in absolute awe. The agent, however, was less than impressed.
“There you are… I was wondering when you would stop hiding behind your accomplices.” The crow said calmly. Even with torn and tattered clothes, staring down an angry creature that was engulfed in flames, the agent seemed to act as if he was in control. “Now, do you plan on coming quietly? You’ve honestly caused enough trouble.”
“You absolute peck neck,” Amos growled dangerously, “You chased me down, threatened me, threatened the people I’m with, drugged me, and ya think I’m the problem?”
“Yes.”
“Ya absolute wretched person-” The owl stumbled slightly when a familiar dart entered his arm. The agent who fired it looked pleased...only for their smile to slip away when the dart actually melted away.
Dominic flinched when, in a flash, Amos was suddenly standing before said agent. Grabbing the gun and easily melting it before the shaking crow. “I would highly suggest ya run.”
That was all it took for the surrounding underlings to frantically rush towards the exits. Practically tripping over each other with small, terrified chirps. Now free, Bakle rushed over to his father as the larger Nomad sat up slowly. The lead crow watched on furiously as their team ran out.
“You idiots, we’re so close to ending this! Where do you think you’re going?” They let out small squawk when a clawed hand grabbed the front of their collar. Amos towering over them, glaring with a scowl.
“Ya should have run when ya had the chance.”
“I will bring you down.”
Dominic stood up, hand reaching out to pull Amos away. “Sweetheart-”
“Sir!” Bakle called out, him and his father hiding behind one of the large pillars. Getting Dominic’s attention, the young Nomad pointed towards the opening in the ceiling.
The sky was filled with stars, the inky black in such contrast towards the bright afternoon. The moon was in full view in the opening, almost touching the other side. Below it, the feather was giving off a gentle glow. Amos, who had also looked over hearing Bakle, had his attention drawn towards the feather.
Before he could move, Dominic let out a yelp of surprise as the larger Nomad lifted him up. Pulling both the penguin and his son behind the pillar again.
“What is happening?” Dominic frantically demanded, struggling to get out of the grasp.
“No sir, don’t go out!” Bakle gripped the penguin’s arm.
“What-”
“The Child needs to return the given power.”
“I don’t even know what that means!”
On the other side of the temple, the C.A.W. agent struggled to break free from Amos’ grip. The owl fully focused on the feather. Beginning to walk towards it when the moon filled the opening fully. Dragging the agent along with.
“What do you think you’re doing creature!” The crow spat.
Amos didn’t respond, keeping a tight grip on the agent as he reached the base of the pillar. Dominic was able to peak around just as Amos began to reach out. The penguin was pulled back gently and kept in place just as a clawed hand collected the feather.
To anyone outside of the temple, the peak of said mountain suddenly erupted into flames. Every available opening had a pillar of fire escaping from it. The tallest seen from the top. One could make the assumption that it touched the heavens.
The trio that were tucked behind the stone pillar cowered away from the flames. The heat unbearable as it quickly traveled past the group. Dominic screwed his eyes shut to protect from the blaring light. There had been a brief sound of a scream of pain and fear before it had been cut off by the roaring fire.
It all lasted for a few seconds. The deafening silence that followed seemed to cause more fear than the fire. Dominic let out a slow, shaky breath, pulling away from the rest to step around the pillar. He retched at the burnt husk of the C.A.W. agent. The blackened bones showing it’s beach open in a forever silent scream. The feather had returned to the top of the pillar. At the base of it, completely unmoving, the tips of his orange feathers burnt black, was Amos.
“Amos!” Dominic rushed over, rolling the owl over to cradle him close. Amos didn’t react, head rolling to the side to rest against Dominic’s shoulder. The fear only grew when he realized the owl felt cold. Frozen even.
“Amos… Amos, please, you need to wake up. You can’t...you can’t do this… We were going to make movies together, remember? Going to take the world by storm, right? ...Amos?” Dominic gave a small sob, pulling Amos closer. Hiding his face in the orange feathers.
“Please come back…”
#A Hat In Time#discotrain#the conductor#dj grooves#ahit conductor#ahit dj grooves#s-creations#fanfiction#Multi-Chapter
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Mecation: Day 1
Thursday
I once read social media described as an indulgence of the fantasy that others are interested in the details of our lives. I’m indulging in that fantasy this week by blogging about my Mecation under the guise of travel blogging ;)
If you follow me in even the most casual way, you know I’m a nurse. While I’ve enjoyed the vast majority of my 23 years as such, I don’t recommend it during a pandemic. The last 18 months have been the second-worst mental health period of my life, demoted to that position not because of the mildness of my symptoms but simply because at 15 I didn’t have the experience or perspective to realize my life was not, in fact, ruined forever.
COVID increased my personal vulnerability as a high-risk patient and made my job immensely more difficult in countless ways both small and large, but the worst part of the pandemic for me (so far) is it took away all my coping mechanisms precisely when I needed them most. Massage, pedicures, dinner out with friends, travel ... all gone practically overnight. Pre-COVID I travelled all the time--home to my parents’, long weekends by myself (Mecation!), annual visits to BFFs, conferences, tourism, the beach, my birthday, writing trips, international trips ... I always had at least one trip in the works, usually one booked and one (or more!) in the planning stages.
When COVID started, all my close friends and family except for two lived out of state. One of those two was out of town but close enough to get together, but the other was a few hours’ drive away. I’m single and live alone; it was the most isolated I’ve ever been in my whole life.
With my bestest friends over 500 miles away, I still feel that way sometimes. I haven’t seen them in a year. If it weren’t for COVID, it would only be 7 or 8 months (I’ve gone every January or February since ... forever). Then again, if it weren’t for COVID, I wouldn’t have been there last September; one had been hospitalized and I needed to see she was all right with my own two eyeballs. I expect it will be at least another 7 or 8 months before we get together again, bringing the total to about 20 months. One year we saw each other 5 times in 9 months, our personal best since college.
I was alone on Christmas. Oh, I’ve spent December 25th on my own before; I’m a nurse. I’ve worked the night of the 24th or the 25th (or both), or whatever combination that didn’t leave enough time off to drive home. But I’ve never spent the Christmas season without my parents. Sometimes the week before, sometimes the week after, sometimes at my place instead of home, but always together. But last Christmas COVID was raging, the vaccines had just come out but were only available to first responders (I got mine on the 23rd), and my elderly parents didn’t feel safe to travel. So I spent Christmas without family.
Travel was not just a break from my daily routine and the stress of nursing; in many ways, the biggest benefit travel made to my mental and emotional health was giving me something to look forward to. Proverbs 13:12 says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick,” and ohhh, I was so heartsick last year! Not being able to travel meant I couldn’t visit my best friends of almost 25 years (more than half my life!). Not being able to travel meant I couldn’t lean on my dad or be hugged by my mom. Not being able to travel--and not knowing when I could travel--left this gaping hole in my future, and I had nothing to fill it with.
I tell you this not to throw a pity party but to explain the significance of the trip I’m on right now. It is only my third this year: my dad and I spent a week in the mountains in February (my depression and anxiety was so bad then that was treatment, not vacation), I took a friend to the beach over my birthday, and now I’m a couple hours from home at a nice spa hotel. (I’m not counting my nephew’s graduation, which was emotionally challenging for multiple reasons, or helping a friend move from Florida. Moving is never fun.)
I started planning this trip in the spring ... May, maybe? You know, after the vaccine rolled out to everyone and case counts were dropping and it looked like we were gonna lick this thing and have a quasi-normal summer by the Fourth of July (yes, I’m American. That date is a proper noun here.). I had switched jobs in November (don’t ask) and gone on mental health leave December 29th, so I felt I owed it to my unit to put in about six months of work before taking any significant time off, especially since I came back at 24 hours instead of 36. That meant September.
I knew what I wanted to do: 4 or 5 days at an all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean. I’d been before and loved the freedom of not worrying about every little expenditure (what can I say, I’m cheap), and a few days of Vitamin Sea sounded perfect.
Then came Delta.
All right, maybe going out of the country isn’t the best idea, I thought. Don’t want to end up with expensive reservations and then your destination closes to Americans, or you make it to your chosen island but can’t get back home. But I didn’t want to fly (ugh, airports!), I didn’t want to drive (rest stops and restaurants and gas stations), and while I thought about taking the train, it didn’t seem much of an improvement (and maybe a downgrade) on flying.
Then a friend mentioned a sleeper car, and I thought yes! That could work! I’ve never been to New England, I want to go to Boston, that area of the country has low case rates and the highest vaccination rates, this has potential!
Then I looked at the CDC map. There were only four states that didn’t have high transmission at that time (early August, I think; I’d had to wait for confirmation that my time off had been approved): Michigan, Rhode Island, Maine, and New Hampshire. All four had substantial rates of transmission. Hardly ideal, but one thing I’ve learned this year is sometimes you have to make compromises to protect your mental health. It is true it doesn’t matter if you’re happy if you’re dead; it is also true it doesn’t matter if you’re safe if you want to kill yourself. (I’m not suicidal, I am receiving treatment, don’t anybody panic.)
So, now I’ve settled on Maine or New Hampshire by train via sleeper car (Michigan is too far for a 4-5 day trip and RI--meh). Well, as I got deeper into planning, turned out Maine or NH were awfully far too. Far enough I would have to overnight in a major city, which pretty much defeated the purpose of isolating in a sleeper car. Then I found out there were no sleeper cars on either train route.
So, now vacation is 5 weeks away and I’m back at square one. The Deep South, Texas, and Florida are imploding. Pediatric cases are rising--kids are sicker and make up a higher percentage of cases than they did last year. Scuttlebutt from my ICU colleagues is it’s bad--17/30 MICU beds are COVID and they’re all vented. SICU is being nicknamed “the ECMO unit.” The hospital has 18(!) ECMO machines and 12 are in use; the float nurse who tells us that didn’t even know we had 12 because she’s never seen that many in use at one time. Hospital-wide our numbers are equivalent to early February (we peaked in January). There were six--SIX--pediatric rapid responses in one day.
And I’m going to travel.
It’s a big deal ... a big accomplishment, really, because of what it says about how I’m successfully managing my anxiety. April 1 was the first time I’d been inside a grocery store in more than a year ... and that wasn’t my idea. It was late April or May before I was comfortable eating in restaurants, even with the falling case count at the time. I’m still not sure if I’m managing my anxiety or reacting to the pressure by going to the opposite extreme (I have a history of that), but I know I’m less stressed, less anxious, have fewer obsessive thoughts, fewer physical symptoms, and am learning to live with this disease.
So, here I sit at a marble-topped 5-foot-wide desk in my queen/queen hotel room at the end of a productive and enjoyable day. I slept in, completed the big goal of this weekend’s to-do list that I honestly thought would take several days, unpacked and organized my room (I arrived yesterday evening), reorganized my Favorites Bar and Bookmarks on my Mac, had an 80-minute aromatherapy massage, enjoyed a shower in the spa afterwards and even blow-dried my hair(!) before wandering around for a while to get the lay of the land and get some steps in (this place is huge!). Then I changed clothes and took myself out to dinner for my favorite food, Italian.
That’s me in the picture up top, all dressed up :) Actually, I probably look pretty normal to y’all; like most people with depression, my personal hygiene sunk to new lows in the last year and a half, and as a low-maintenance person to begin with, that’s saying a lot. I bought that necklace as a bridesmaid and am not sure I’ve worn it since; this spring was her 10th anniversary. Yesterday I took out the cat-shaped earrings Dad gave me for Christmas. (Yes, they were gross. Yes, I cleaned them. Yes, I’m wearing them again now.) Just wearing a nice top, fixing my hair (no ponytail or claw-clip bun, my staples), and adding jewelry was a big deal ... especially since “no one” was going to see me. I did it just for me, to make myself feel good. And I did. (That’s another small pleasure COVID took away from me--lip gloss. If I wore any makeup at all, it was lipstick or gloss. Utterly pointless when you’re masked whenever you’re in public.)
I took my laptop to dinner and edited a couple chapters of my new Charlie/Amy fic (previewed during #ktoo turns 10), ran a couple errands, and headed back to the hotel since I don’t like to be out late by myself in an unfamiliar city. Forgot I put my receipt envelope in the backseat pocket and reorganized the glove compartment looking for it, then gathered a bunch of returns into a bag in the trunk. Hung out writing in the lobby until my Mac threatened to die, came upstairs and tidied up, put on my jammies, and talked to you guys :)
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Third Act: Patience
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. - 1 Corinthians 13:4-5
guardian demon!jimin x reader
genre: fluff, angst, supernatural, romance, comedy, slice of life
word count: 5.1k
Related works: see Masterlist under guardian demon!jimin
Continuation of the events following Jamais Vu + Interlude: Second Best
A/N: SOOO this is surprisingly quite shorter than I had planned because i was actually gonna put together two acts in this chapter but then i thought against it by the end because it would ruin my aesthetic of the story LOL PLUS more to read for these trying times. On that note, i hope you guys enjoy this nevertheless and that you’re all doing well, stay healthy and safe!
Tags! @cherryjiminiee @kokobaekkie @breathebangtan @itsadoozie @thatshylatinagirl @chiminieboi @azulamakesmeblank @sectumsemptae @awkwardwookie @aduky @poisonseashell @shortannoyingginger @caramelmac-chiato @sana-b @jiminstinct @beautifulparisiangirl
The rest of the night was a blur in your memories. You vaguely remember exiting the arena in a daze, robotically moving with the flow of the crowd and ending up outside. The night air doesn’t shock you as much as it should from being in a stuffy place for so long, the reason being never really did leave your mind and it only makes you worry your bottom lip.
Eventually, Rosa finds you after blowing your phone up with all of her messages that weren’t able to get through from the weak signal; first crushing you into a hug and asking if you were okay, apologizing for having lost you when really, it was your fault and once you assured her that you were, proceeded to squeal with unbridled emotions while shaking you, still crushed against her.
It pulls a small smile out of you, wheezing a laugh before she finally puts you down. You’re happy to hear Rosa chat away so excitedly about the concert, the high of it all has yet to subside. You wish you could share the same enthusiasm as her, but you’re feeling more like you skipped straight into the post-concert depression stage, even though you literally just stepped out of the arena. Or at least, you tell Rosa that when she notices how strained your responses were.
It takes some time, but you make it back to your hotel. You remember trying to push yourself to keep up conversations with Rosa, guilty for raining on her parade a little and at times, you think it works as you two look over the footage she managed to get on her phone. However, unsurprisingly, it was short-lived; whenever you catch sight of Jimin despite knowing that it’s not your guardian, your mind automatically drifts to the fight you had in the back alley and your guilt takes on a completely different form — one much more stifling and overwhelming.
It continues to gnaw at you through the night and to the moment you step on the plane, ready to fly back home. It’s made you develop a habit of checking your phone every other minute, a small part of you hoping to see something, anything that might be from him.
By the time you’re back in your room late in the afternoon, you still hear nothing.
You discard your luggage and bags in a corner without much care before sagging onto your bed. Jaehee wasn’t home when you got in, but the note she’s stuck on your bedroom door told you that she was out doing a grocery run and would be back shortly to welcome you home properly with a home-cooked meal. You smile softly at the thought but it doesn’t stay for long as your attention drifts back to the phone clutched in your hand. You click to unlock it, finding no new messages or calls yet again, the sight further eating away at you.
A heavy sigh leaves you, eyes slipping shut and your head slumps down as you bring the phone up to your temple, hitting against it gently.
Why did you have to be so stubborn? Your mind recalls the memory with clarity; a movie scene being replayed before you and you cringe at how you acted, every word and action reminded you of a spoiled child. Looking back now, you knew he was only trying to look out for you, keep your best health in mind but you were too caught up in your emotions at the time, tunnel visioned so hard you didn’t see the bigger picture until you’ve already walked away.
Now you’re reaping what you sowed.
As if the weight on your shoulders became too much, you allow yourself to fall back onto your bed. Your arm automatically reaches out to the giant plush cat, dragging it until you have it flushed against you, the malleable toy bringing a little sense of comfort. You pull your phone up to your face again, unlocking it once more and unsurprisingly, not finding any new messages. You stare a little longer before almost unconsciously your finger taps onto the text thread and then they hover over the call icon — hesitating.
What would you say? Would he even want to hear from you?
The thought makes your chest ache, but what’s worse than that is never hearing from him again at all and this would be your last memories of each other. No, you don’t want that. So you take a fortifying breath, pushing away all of your self-doubting thoughts and finally —
The phone comes alive in your hand, the vibration and the ringtone combined making you jolt for a second with your hands fumbling the device. Once you get a grip, your eyes scan the screen and your eyes nearly bulge out of their sockets. Without a second thought, you slide to accept the call.
“Hello?” It comes out in a gasp, breathless from how fast you bolt up from your position, ramrod straight and the poor plush cat clutched against you like a lifeline.
“Y/N?”
“Y-Yeah, hey…” Your heart is racing like you’ve ran a marathon, so loud in your ears that you hope by some miracle he doesn’t pick it up through the line because lord knows you’re not doing a good job at hiding how nervous you are.
“…Hey…”
And the sound of his voice is not helping; husky and low, like rich velvet chocolate that has your heart stuttering and melting all at once. He’s so easily emptied your head of all the things you had wanted to say and he’s only said one word.
Wow, you’re really losing it huh?
“Y/N?”
“H-Huh?”
“I asked if you got home okay.”
Your cheeks heat, picking up on the breathy edge of his tone and already imagining the amused quirk of his full lips. “Yeah! I — Yeah, I just got in…. In my room, just… resting for now…”
“That’s good to hear….” You hear him trailing off, trying to keep the conversation light and casual as if there wasn’t a giant pink elephant between you. It does nothing but make you more aware of it, antsy in needing to come forward and own up to your mistake because he, of all people, deserves an apology for how poorly you acted. Swallowing, you take in a breath and just go for it before you can regret it.
“Jimin—“
“Y/N—“
You both pause, an awkward silence filling the space at not anticipating the other speaking the same time. Hurriedly, you try to cover up your social blunder, embarrassed.
“God, sorry you can—“
“Sorry, what were you—“
Again, you speak over each other, which ensues another awkward beat. It’s only broken when you can’t help but let out a short huff of a laugh, completely at a lost. Through the line however, you’re greeted with the pleasant sounds of his own chuckle joining your own and like a spell, you are at ease, the nerves dissipating slowly.
“Now I remember why I can’t do phone calls…” You groan, half-jokingly but also already burying your face halfway into the large toy you have that’s now acting as an emotional support. If only it could swallow you whole…
“It’s okay, I don’t mind — not like I’m doing any better.” He replies and you smile softly, the warmth of his voice so soothing to your ears. Any other time you probably would be satisfied in listening to him talk for hours through the phone, social awkwardness be damn but this is neither here nor there, so you shake yourself before you get too lost into the tempting idea, getting back on the matter at hand.
“How about you go first?”
“No, you go ahead.”
“Seriously, Jimin—“
“I insist, Y/N.” Jimin’s voice is still gentle yet firm, enough for you to sense that there’s no room for argument. “Please.”
So you sigh, giving in. “Okay….” You say that, but it takes you a moment to gather yourself, not knowing where to begin or how to put into words what you feel properly.
But he waits patiently, and the quiet assurance allows for you to take that first step, even if you might stumble.
“I’m sorry,” You blurt out before you catch yourself and think maybe you need a little bit more context. “The concert… When you saved me from passing out by taking me outside, I— I’m really grateful you did that. I think it would’ve been bad if you hadn’t so…. What I said afterwards, and how I acted afterwards, that was really shitty of me…. You were right; I was so careless —“
“Y/N....”
“No! I really wasn’t thinking! And it’s so unfair of me because you helped me and I just—!” You stop abruptly, your voice rising dangerously in pitch with frustration and take in a shaky breath, trying to reign in your emotions. There’s no way you’re going to turn this already mess of an apology into an even bigger mess by actually crying. He might not be able to see you but you still felt the need to walk away with some dignity; composed so that he won’t think you’re some pathetic wreck. After swallowing away the growing lump in your throat, you continue on quietly, “I was just….so mad at myself. Like, after everything I couldn’t even stay for the entire concert — like I completely wasted it all and I took it out on you. So if you’re mad at me, then I get it; just know that I’m really sorry, Jimin.”
You don’t know what to say after that, not sure if there’s anything else left that isn’t ‘I’m sorry’. So you wait with bated breath for him to say something. Forgiveness was a selfish want from you but you would understand if he chooses not to despite the thought of it alone leaves your chest aching. The mere minutes of silence drags on like an eternity for you until finally, you hear him sigh.
“Y/N, I’m not mad at you, I promise.” He says, sincerely. “And I should be the one apologizing; for…freaking out at you like that, it just made things worse. I know….I know how much they mean to you,” There’s a short pause, like there was suddenly something holding him back but he shakes it off just as quickly as it had came, “how much he means to you.”
The statement has you momentarily taken aback, not expecting it at all. For some reason, you didn’t like the way he said that, even when everything about it was true. Before you can think too much on it however, Jimin quickly switches the tone in conversation, redirecting your attention elsewhere. “I’m sorry that things didn’t work out but you know your safety is my priority, right?”
“Y-Yeah, I know….” You reply, a little flustered from having your thoughts derailed but pouting at being reminded of your deplorable behaviour, feeling much like a reprimanded child. “I promise I’ll be more careful from now on.”
“That’s my girl.” You grunt in acknowledgement, heated face sinking back into the soft confines of the bean-shaped cat still in your arms. “Listen, I have to go soon, so take care of yourself for me alright? Get something to eat and, please unpack and do your laundry.”
His playful gibe draws out an affronted gasp from you, “Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?”
You only get a peal of laughter in response, making you further pout indignantly.
“I’ll talk to you later okay? Stay safe, cherub.”
“M-Mm, yeah okay. I’ll talk to you later then.”
When you hang up, you’re in a bit of daze. On one hand, you feel relieved that you both managed to resolve the fight that was weighing so heavily on your chest, honestly just glad to hear from your guardian again too but on the other hand, you can’t help also feeling like you’d been bulldozed a little. You want to say you’re simply over analyzing things, but your mind is constantly wandering back to what he said about how much BTS meant to you — more specifically, how much he, BTS’ Jimin, meant to you.
It almost sounded as if….
As if he believed you thought less about him in comparison.
You swear your heart drops to your stomach, frozen in a stunned silence like you can’t process this information, the idea preposterous and so close to outright denying it until you realize that… you never gave any indication otherwise. It really has always been BTS and their Jimin with you but now…
Now there’s Jimin….Your Jimin.
BTS are still important to you but your guardian has become someone irreplaceable to you, and through all the fond memories you can recall, he's there.
He's always been there.
The revelation triggers everything all at once; sweaty palms, palpitating heart, butterflies in the stomach — the whole shebang along with a whole Pandora’s box of emotions: elation, relief, disbelief, giddiness, uncertainty….
And crippling anxiety.
Oh boy, you think as a nervous laugh escapes you, I’m in danger.
-
Fuck.
He curses to himself for the umpteenth time as a particularly harsh wave of pain rolls over him, eyes squeezing shut to try and block it out but he thinks all he’s done successfully is make himself dizzy. It lasts for a second longer before finally it ebbs away and a long exhale escapes past his lips, relieved. The demon remains where he is slouched against the concrete ledge lining the rooftop he’s on a while longer, simply catching his breath and letting the gentle breeze cool his skin. Only once he feels the throbbing against his head die down does he let his eyes slip open again.
He’s greeted with the brilliant sight of the sunset sky, so vibrant it almost seems like he’s looking at a painting. The rich shades of orange bleed like wildfire, lighting the streaks of wispy clouds almost red before blending in to softer pinks and hints of lilacs, the blues deepening into a more indigo shade with the coming of night. The sun sits just a little above the horizon, its glow no more than a haze as it continues to make its descent and he watches on with an almost mocking indifference to the splendour of it all.
Jimin instead, idly thinks he’s gotten a good handle at dealing with the shockwave of pain that comes with completing a deed. He doesn’t feel as winded or sore from the muscle aches it usually leave behind — he wonders if he’ll eventually become numb to it or simply be too tired to care. Dark eyes wander down to his phone still clutched in his hand and the conversation he had not too long ago rushes back.
It went… surprisingly smoother than he had expected, despite the awkward start. When he had decided to call you, Jimin had finally swallowed his pride in that he owes you at least an apology for shouting at you the way he did. It was unnecessary and did more harm than good, evident when he had watched you withdraw in on yourself soon afterwards. He should’ve known better, but in that moment his emotions got in the way; those dark desires he's trying to keep locked away, only for them to become harder and harder to contain the longer time passes. And that’s what Jimin’s afraid of — that despite knowing how much the band and the singer means to you, he’ll disregard it all for petty, selfish reasons. Hell, he couldn’t even acknowledge the fact out loud just now without having to practically force it through his teeth and even then, the bitter aftertaste the words leave behind still lingers.
Like a reminder that all Jimin will ever have with you are fleeting moments, nothing more.
Jimin’s afraid that sooner or later, he’ll end up hurting you because he got too greedy.
A deep sigh leaves him and he runs a hand through his dark tresses out of stress, thoughts racing through his troubled mind until one sticks out above the rest. From the way things are going, Jimin thinks his best course of action would be to distance himself from you a bit more; see you less in person and maybe perhaps get your roommate Jaehee to check in on you every once in a while for him.
It’s not something he wants to do, but with it, it’s killing two birds with one stone — you won’t find out about his weakening condition and he won’t do anything that he’ll regret.
-
Before you know it, the week is nearly over with days passing by with you back on your routine again of going to work and occasionally hanging out with your friends. The world moves on as if nothing were amiss even though for you, it was anything but.
Sure, in the grand scheme of things (i.e. the universe), your problem is pretty minuscule and there’s no doubt that if your friends were clued in on everything, they would probably smack you, call you a dumb-dumb and tell you to quote, ‘get that ass!’ but it just had to be so much more complicated than that.
First and foremost, you were four days old when you found out that you’ve caught feelings for a demon who also happens to be your supernatural entity guardian.
That sentence alone is already chock full of all sorts of sacrilegious implications (not that you really cared but you can only imagine how it would sound like to an outsider).
Secondly, you don’t know if he feels the same way or if he just sees you as something else; a tolerable human being that’s entertaining? A friend you would hope at least. Or…. Simply an obligation.
That last one stung a little.
Worse is you haven’t forgotten that your guardian was only meant to stay temporarily, something that had already been troubling you in the back of your mind and though you had pushed it away continuously, you learn that all it did was grow until it began manifesting itself in ways you hadn’t realized. Both a good and a bad thing because in doing so, some things make much more sense now. But with you being aware of your feelings, the question of how or should you even let them be known becomes the cherry on top of this rapidly melting sundae.
You think you’ve worked through every possible scenario, dissecting them every way you can like a mad scientist, but the results all end up the same either way — things wouldn’t work out and you’ll just end up being heart broken.
An exasperated groan leaves you and your forehead nearly connects with the table below you before you caught yourself midway, thinking better because you don’t know what’s been on it. You don’t get time to continue your brooding however as a radio static voice cuts through the lunchroom.
“Hey Y/N, you back from your break yet?”
Glancing down at your phone, you note the time and inwardly curse, reaching up to press down on the mic reluctantly, “Yeah, I’m on my way out.”
“Okay, cool. Once you’re back up on cash, Stephanie can take her break then.”
You slouch back on your seat, intent on taking your time to get up (not like there was anyone here to clock you on your punctuality). You have two hours left on your shift but already you feel drained, both physically and mentally. Eventually, you muster the strength and willpower to finally get up and begin making your way back to the store floor, despite your mind being far from keeping the queue line clean and customers happy.
You sigh, hoping weakly that by some miracle, the remaining work would be enough to distract you from your troubling thoughts, if only for a short while.
When the two hours were done, it felt like you had been holding your breath the entire time and when you finally clocked out did you let yourself breathe. The weight of your thoughts stayed, but at least now you’re finally free to wallow in it once again without any interruptions. Probably not the greatest thing since it nearly made you miss your stop. You get through the door, catching Jaehee just as she’s making her way to the kitchen, changed in her lounge wear, fresh from a shower with her hair still damp and a towel draped around her shoulders.
“Jaehee, you’re home… kinda early?” You remark, taking a glance down at your phone to confirm that usually she wouldn’t be home for another hour and a half.
“Oh yeah, I asked to clock out early; wasn’t feeling too well.” She answers wryly with a half-hearted shrug. You blink at that, brows pinching a little in worry.
“Coming down with something?”
“Nah, nothing serious. Promise.” Jaehee smiles, assuring. “I’m gonna make lasagna tonight, sounds good?”
You nod, feeling your stomach rumble with anticipation. After washing up, you head out of your room, comfy in your pjs and already smelling the cheesy goodness of the lasagna baking. Peering into the kitchen, you see Jaehee busy with cutting up lettuce, most likely for a salad on the side for you to share.
“So how was your day?” Jaehee asks as you step in to take out some plates and utensils.
You respond with a noise; a straining, drawn out groan that borderlines on a mental breakdown but never quite reaches. It’s a response your roommate is familiar with, so much that any further context isn’t necessary for her to understand that work has been same old, same old; irritating but you do it for the money.
“Any dumb customers?” She laughs.
You pause to think but then answer, “Thankfully, no. Like, God decided to take pity on me for once. What about you? Has your manager been acting up lately, Ethan?”
At the mention, Jaehee lets out her own groan, shoulders dropping for a second as if the very thought’s weight had suddenly pushed down on her. You offer a sympathetic pat before slipping on oven mits to grab the now ready lasagna. Jaehee worked at an office in a junior position as a recruiter of sorts, a job she managed to get a little bit before graduating and thus, quitting her old retail job. What the company does specifically you’re still a little unsure of to this day but from what you’ve been hearing through Jaehee, you think that’s not the biggest issue to worry about.
Most of the stories Jaehee chooses to share with you were more or less what you would call ‘office horror stories’ — two-faced co-workers, that one guy who doesn’t know what personal space is, after work get togethers that, although is a nice idea, were often times far too forced to feel anything remotely ‘team bonding’, some handful shady department practices and of course, the unstable manager. Needless to say, it’s left you feeling concerned over the environment Jaehee has chosen to work in and although she expresses the same opinions as you whenever she vents, she’s always left feeling uncertain on what to do and then just brushes it off.
You don’t push on it further after that, only offering suggestions she could possibly consider but ultimately, leave it for her to decide whether she would actually take them or not. This is Jaehee’s job, not yours and you respect and trust Jaehee as a person who can make the right choices about her life.
And so dinner passes by in that same manner, the subject shifting quickly onto more casual things. Once or twice Jaehee would sneakily ask how things are going on with Jimin (or Julien as she knows him) of which like talks about her workplace, you skitter around on — as if you can explain your dilemma to her when you don’t even know where to begin yourself!
By the time you wash up and crash land onto your bed, you’re back to square one, caught up in your internal whirlwind of emotions with no hopes of trying to sort any of the mess out. Like Dorothy trapped in her little house that’s been sucked into the tornado, except you don’t even have a little dog to be your emotional support. You toss and you turn for a while, kept up by those thoughts until your self-promises of trying to go to sleep early is abandoned in favour of scrolling endlessly through your social media feeds. So much for trying to fix your awful sleep schedule.
You swear you blink once and it’s well past two in the morning already. You put your phone down with a sigh, bringing up a hand to rub your eyes and relieve them momentarily from the harsh glare of the screen. The thought that maybe you should give it a rest and attempt to sleep, even if it means just closing your eyes and hoping you lull off at some point crosses your mind but right when you’re about to part with your phone, a low buzz erupts from it along with a small chime. The vibration sends a shock from your chest before you lift up the device, the screen lit with a new incoming notification. When your eyes adjust to the brightness once more, you freeze.
Speak of the demon.
“Hey cherub,
I know it’s pretty late (though something tells me you’re still awake anyways)
But I just wanted to check up on you and see how you’re doing.”
You inwardly groan to yourself; it’s like the Lord is testing you right now. All the mixed feelings you’ve been having has you seeing things through new lenses. It’s annoying on every aspect — you hate how it has made you second guess yourself on everything that you’ll do or say, like you’re walking on eggshells while being smothered at the same time. But you can’t deny that your caution isn’t without reason. When it comes to matters of the heart, your approach is comparatively much more skeptical than to most people you know. Hence, you suppose, it would explain your sparse and short-lived dating history.
You weren’t a big risk taker or trusting enough to leave your heart in someone else’s hands; you feel like you have so much more to lose than to gain and you’d rather save the heartache for something a little bit more worthwhile. So to even think about shooting your shot with someone when the odds are so against you like this….
You chew on your lip, heart pounding and fingers hovering over the keyboard in limbo, caught between listening to your head or your heart. But Jimin…. Your dear guardian Jimin, always had this inexplicable effect on you. You don’t know whether it’s from his nature as a demon or something else, but it has only grown stronger over the time you’ve spent with him that you think no matter how hard you try to stay away, you’ll find yourself unconsciously searching for him again, like a moth drawn to a flame.
And so you find yourself tentatively typing out your response, backspacing when the doubt creeps in but ultimately, you reason, as long as you don’t give anything away, he can’t see through you… yet.
You hit send before you think too deeply on that.
“I don’t appreciate being called out like that >:(
But if you must know, I’m well (despite, you know, possibly losing out on precious sleep right now due to a certain demon).”
The bated breath you let out could be mistaken for accomplishing something excruciatingly nerve wracking, like skydiving for the first time. It’s comical really, if you weren’t the one going through it. Your head flops to the side momentarily in a defeated manner; why did you have to get smacked in the face with feelings when you can barely get a handle of what you want for dinner the following day? Maybe you shouldn’t have replied, but then you’d feel bad because Jimin hasn’t done anything to get ghosted. Oh god, maybe you should’ve just replied in the morning instead, why did you have to be so — ! A rumble pulls you out of your mental panicking and with jittery hands you bring up your phone again, hastily reading the reply.
“Don’t pout cherub, I’m just messing with you ~
I actually didn’t think you would reply but anyways, I’m glad to hear you’re doing okay at least so you should try to get some of that sleep.
I won’t keep you then.”
But you do pout regardless. In spite of sounding like you wanted to desperately hide away from ever talking to Jimin again in fear of acting like a fool, you can’t help feeling a little disappointed at how short the conversation was. Your fingers move on their own, typing out the first thoughts that comes to mind, only to erase them. It goes on like that until you finally stop on the sixth try, deflating as if all the night’s tumultuous emotions have finally worn you out to a sullen calm. What are you even trying to do? You feel like for the past minutes, you’ve done nothing but be so indecisive with yourself that you fear you don’t know what you want anymore. Perhaps this is your divine intervention that you should sleep on this, at least for tonight.
With a resigned sigh, you send off a short and simple message, not really expecting a reply as you finally place your phone down on your nightstand.
“I’ll go to sleep soon.
I hope you’re doing well too, staying out of trouble and such.
I can’t exactly guarantee you that I’ll be of much help if you do, so….don’t do it!
And thanks… for checking up on me.”
You go to settle down into your sheets when the familiar chime and rumble once again snags your attention and you can’t resist, reaching over. You read over his words, a smile tugging at your lips.
“I’m fine, don’t worry your pretty little head over me.
I won’t do anything that’ll stress you out….too much ;)
(the prick, always gotta keep you on your toes somehow but you suppose that’s why there’s never a dull moment with him)
It’s not a problem darling, so rest easy and …. sweet dreams.”
The smile lingers on your lips long after you drift off to a surprisingly peaceful slumber, mind put more at ease. You’ll figure this out, one way or another.
#jimin x reader#park jimin x reader#jimin fanfic#jimin fic#demon!jimin x reader#jimin insert reader#jimin insert reader fic#bts supernatural au#park jimin insert reader#park jimin fic#park jimin fanfic#park jimin fluff#jimin fluff#park jimin imagines#jimin imagines#guardiandemon!jimin#jimin x you#park jimin x you
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Eidolon 13 | (T)
ff.net | AO3
Fandom: Danny Phantom (DP)
Summary: AU: What started off as the result of a simple act of rebellion ends up causing his life to spin out of control. How will young Danny cope with the results as well as a past that has a strange habit of coming back to haunt him.
Warnings: rated T for violence, mentions of death, kidnapping, and various other things
Chapter warnings: implied adult taking advantage of a child
Parings: hints of Danny/Sam much later on
Notes: originally uploaded to Ff.net. Cross-posted to AO3 and tumblr
Chapter 13: Perceptions
The pain was like nothing Danny had ever experienced. With each flare, his body became rigid in a desperate attempt to withstand it. He tried, desperately, to relax as the tension just added to the pain, but it was to no avail. The flares were coming in increasing intervals, and his body could not help but brace for them. It was made worse by the lingering burning sensation left from the previous attacks.
A scream escaped him as another flare, more intense than the last, forced him into an unnatural arch. He collapsed almost as soon as it was over. Gripping at the pristine carpet, he bit his lip to hold back another cry as an echo of the pain washed over him. It was difficult to tell how many of the painful flares had coursed through his body or how much time had passed since Vlad forced the unknown substance down his throat. All he understood was the pain was getting more intense, lasting longer, and affecting more of his body each time. Though he was not sure exactly how he knew, the pain he was experiencing had started on or in his skin and was progressively creeping inward, like a small camp fire slowly growing to its full potential.
He wanted to move, to run, to escape from the torture, but it was no use. The pain had left him feeling extremely fragile as if he would shatter if he attempted to move. There was no telling if the strange liquid along with the flares was actually doing damage to his body, or if his current predicament was benign. But it didn't matter anyways. Even if he did manage to move, he would just be struck down by another spasm.
Even if it did kill him, he was going to fight to the very end. He needed to know if Winston was okay, to apologize to his friends for being kidnapped, and to find out what exactly happened to his parents. He absolutely had to accomplish those before he died. There was no way he could ever face his friends and family again if he didn't.
…
Damn, it looked like he wouldn't be able to accomplish his goals after all. His body was beyond exhausted, so much so he could barely muster the strength to open his eyes. The linger burn still coursing through his abused body indicated he was still among the living. The slow and steady thumping of his heart and the rasps of his shallow breaths were the only sounds within the barren room. Each sound seemed to getting weaker as the moments crawled by, but it was difficult to tell just how much more his body could take before it just gave out.
His breath hitched as another flare engulfed his body, but it was different from all the previous ones. It was far more intense and showed no signs of stopping. His body was too overwhelmed by the sensation to even make a sound, and he briefly wondered if this was what dying felt like as the fiery pain seemed to be burning away what was left of his short life. Flashes of regret began to blend into his reality as a small part of his mind registered it was truly the end.
A strange tingling in his finger tips interrupted the pain and alerted him to a new sensation. An icy cold was beginning to seep into his hands. Did that mean the pain spasms were coming to an end? Relief washed through him but was almost immediately replaced by fear as he realized the cold wasn't a blessing. It had begun to snake its way into his body at an alarming rate, freezing the burning flesh and replacing the previously living tissue with frozen death.
The flaring pain did not dissipate as the coldness spread. Instead, it seemed to fight back against the cold to reclaim control. His body became a battle ground between fire and ice, living and dead, as the two forces warred back and forth. Cold tendrils grasped his heart and lungs momentarily halting them bringing more intense pain.
He grabbed at his chest and neck wishing there was something he could do as the fire intensified and tried to burn away the cold. His breathing quickened as he tried to keep himself from falling into the darkness which was gathering at the edges of his vision. The fire was back in control of his lungs, but it was losing ground. Within moments, the cold tendrils had wrapped themselves completely around them. As he took his last painful breaths before his lungs seized completely, he vaguely registered that the door to the room was opening as the blackness finally overtook him.
…..
Consciousness came back to him gradually. Better phrased, his concept of awareness returned. He knew he was curled into a ball while laying on something soft… a bed perhaps? He was stiff and wanted to move, but refrained due to a lingering notion… What was it…? Pain. He had been in pain before waking, but from what?
Slowly, he opened his eyes to find himself on a pure white bed with dark wooden posts. The room it was sitting in had little in terms of furniture and was also an unremarkable white color. Sitting up, his eyes caught sight of a stain on the carpet. An image stirred in his mind of a strange green substance spilling on it. Blood perhaps? No… his wasn't purely green; it was mixed with a human's red.
But wait… wasn't he human? He shook his head of the thought. It didn't seem completely right, but it wasn't entirely wrong either. He glanced at his hands in the hopes they held some sort of clue to his jumbled thoughts, but they were unremarkable: tanner than average will giving off a faint whitish glow.
Sitting up, he rested his face in his hands as he tried to piece together his jumbled thoughts. Most of his memories were blurs, flashing with momentary clarity before speeding away. Why wouldn't anything come to him? He knew someone who he didn't really like placed him in the room, but the reason behind it remained gone. Maybe some food would help him think better.
How had he not noticed how hungry he was until now? The feeling of emptiness in his stomach was enough to make him woozy. The feeling combined with a general weakness throughout his body made him feel hesitant to move lest he pass out again. Yet, he knew if he could make it to the center of the room there was something which would at least hold him over until he could find something more substantial.
Instinct eventually won out over his reason, and he forced himself to look for it. He tried to stand but nearly collapsed as soon as he started to put weight on his feet; whatever he had gone through before waking had really taken a toll on his body. Frustrated, he called upon the small reserve of energy held within his core to help take him to his destination.
Thinking it would be alright, he allowed himself to drop down to the floor, only to fall to his knees when gravity reasserted itself. Wow, he was weaker than he thought. Good thing the energy source was directly below him. He hesitantly placed a hand on the carpet above what he thought might be a large battery. He could feel it pumping out energy throughout the room under the floor and through the walls. Though it was difficult to tell exactly what the energy was, he knew it was somewhat dangerous to him. Perhaps it was designed to keep him in the room? Or maybe it was there to help prevent him from falling through the floor.
He could worry about the implications later. Right now, he needed to feed. Carefully, he pushed his hand through the carpet and wood underneath and allowed it to rest on the top of the machine beneath him. He could feel the energy start being directed from the machine and into his hand. He smiled in delight as the energy, which he now knew was electrical with some ectoplasmic properties, filled his body with power and lessened the hunger.
Vaguely, he wondered if it would be a problem if he continued to take the energy from the machine. Whoever had placed the machine there would probably be upset if it stopped working... So, he would only take a little bit more and then try to find another more viable source for later. It was a good plan, but a strange notion broke through his satisfaction. It wasn't normal for someone to put their hand through a solid object.
Panicked, Danny pulled his hand out of the floor and stared at it. He… he had just purposely put his hand through the floor! How did he…? Why did he…? He glanced down at the spot in question, hoping for some sort of answer. Nothing seemed out of place. Heck, if it wasn't for what had happened and the strange sensation telling him something was there, he wouldn't have even known the machine was just under the floor.
Confusion took over his thoughts as he rationally tried to understand how he knew it was there let alone take energy from it. He barely made any progress as he was suddenly hit with a wave of nausea. A groan escaped him as he could feel the sheen of sweat starting to form on his skin. Going from experience, he knew he was not going to be able to accomplish anything substantial until it passed. Danny took slow deep breaths as he propped himself against the bed as he attempted to wait it out.
Was this really going to continue to happen every time something weird happened to him? If so, he was really going to have to consider investing in Pepto-Bismol.
…
"Ah, I see you're awake," a cultured voice said in an offhanded way after the door to the room opened. There was a momentary pause before it spoke again, "Feeling under the weather? I can't say I blame you. Not only is your body adjusting to its new constitution, but ectoplasm isn't the friendliest of substances to ingest."
Danny could feel his eyes widen as he turned around to look at his captor. "Y-You knew about this…? W-what did you do to me?"
Vlad just smiled as he walked over and crouched down in front of him. "Of course I knew! We're the same breed after all." He then gently grabbed Danny by the jaw to prevent the boy from looking away. "I knew the concentrated ectoplasm would be enough to trigger a proper transformation. You should thank me; it would have taken you months to get this far."
"Transformation…? I don't…. What are you talking about?" He stammered as he tried to make sense of what the older man was saying as he slapped the man's hand away from him. Though he was feeling much better than he was previously, he didn't want to get too aggravated. There was no telling when his stomach was going to rebel against him again.
"You haven't realized it yet? …Or perhaps you've been too… occupied to even consider the differences in your body." Without a warning, Vlad then grabbed him by the arm and yanked him into a standing position before pulling him out of the room and down the hall. Danny barely had time to register the yellow and green décor of the hallway before he was shoved into what appeared to be an exceptionally large powder room complete with a full sized mirror. "Perhaps this will help make things clear, though I have to admit, I believed you were going to look much more impressive. Ah well, that will teach me to take complete stock in old legends."
Taking a few moments to make sure he was mostly fine before he gave the billionaire a puzzled glance. The man's response was to smirk and wave him towards the mirror and the reflection within it. Hesitantly, Danny complied though a few confused moments passed before he understood what he was truly seeing.
The boy in the mirror had a slightly tanned complexion combined with incredibly bleached (but was it truly bleached…?) snowy white hair with silvery highlights. The boy's eyes were an unnatural color; the same green of the drink Vlad had forced into him. The clothes were rather plain: straight legged black jeans with a couple accent chains and a black t-shirt with white trimming along the neck and sleeve edges. A white studded belt and black half-gloves with white cuffs completed the look.
It took him even longer to realize the image in front of him actually belonged to him. His immediate reaction was to look over his body to see if he wasn't hallucinating. How in the world did he manage to get into his current get up? While he didn't mind the overall effect (it was actually somewhat cool), he was a little more than creeped out by the implications. Glancing at the billionaire who was leaning against the door looking rather smug, Danny had to repress a shudder. No about of therapy would ever fix this.
"So… What do you think of the new you, Daniel?" Vlad asked him once he realized Danny was done taking in his new appearance.
"What do you mean 'what do I think'? How did you…? When did you….?" Danny's hands flailed as he tried to piece together a coherent question. Several more half-formed phrases were sputtered as slowly backed away from Vlad until he bumped into the sink.
The older man chuckled darkly as he watched Danny's frantic movements. "I assure you that the only thing I've done after giving you that drink was to place you on the bed. Nothing more, nothing less. Your current appearance is a product of your transformation."
"Transformation…? Is that what you're calling it?" Danny spat at Vlad as his suspicions began turning into horror. "Ugh!" Another wave of nausea overcame him causing him to stumble. Vaguely he understood his body still hadn't recovered properly which was being amplified by his panic. But, the majority of his mind just wanted to know 'why now'?
As he tried to recompose himself, his hand which was resting on the sink suddenly slipped. He was able to catch himself before he fell on his face, but quickly realized he hadn't actually slipped. Instead, his hand had decided it was a great time to become insubstantial and pass through it and part of the dark mahogany cabinet underneath. Panicking both from the event and the knowledge someone who was not a friend had witnessed the strange event, he tried to pull his arm free only to realize it had become effectively stuck.
"Panicking is only going to make the situation worse." Vlad's tone was rather matter of fact as he surveyed the scene. Danny couldn't understand how he wasn't disturbed by the sight in front of him, until he remembered Vlad wasn't just a man, he was a literal monster as well. The older man moved forward slightly with an outstretched hand. "Here, let me help you. There are several pressing matters awaiting both of us, and it saddens me to see you struggling with the most basic of your powers."
"Stay away from me! You're nothing more than a seriously crazed up fruitloop!" he shouted as he frantically tried to free his arm. Vlad paid him no mind as came over, gently grabbed his arm, and phased it out of the sink.
Under normal circumstances, Danny would have thanked the man for helping him out of such a situation. However, getting an arm stuck in a sink could never be considered 'normal.' "Get off me!" he shouted as he shoved Vlad, startling the older man. Knowing he had a chance, Danny made a break for the now unguarded door and ran down the hall in the opposite direction from where he originally came.
…
After turning yet another corner, Danny came to the conclusion he was hopelessly loss in a gigantic house belonging to a madman who was currently chasing after him. He wasn't even exactly sure how he knew the billionaire was in pursuit, but something in the back of his mind kept whispering that he needed to keep moving as Vlad wasn't too far away. It wasn't quite a flight or fight instinct as that wouldn't give him knowledge of which general direction Vlad was in, but he wasn't too sure what else to call it. Whatever it was, it was certainly useful. Even if he couldn't find the exit, he would at least be able to stay one step ahead of his pursuer.
… Well, as long as his energy held up he could stay ahead. He was still rather stiff from the pain and convulsions from prior to passing out. It also didn't help he was still nauseous, but it was starting to pass. He was pleasantly surprised. Usually, he wasn't very athletic, but he had covered an impressive amount of ground in the time he had escaped from Vlad. It was probably adrenaline, but he didn't care. Any little edge which could help him get away was very welcome.
He shook his head as he rested against a nearby wall as he gave himself a moment to relax and try to get all the images out of his head. Not knowing exactly what happened to him while he was unconscious was serious starting to freak him out, but he needed to keep his wits about him if he was going to have any chance of escaping.
A cold sensation interrupted his thoughts causing him to look to his right. Vlad was starting to get close to where he was again, but how was the man coming from that particular direction? Wasn't he coming from behind him a few minutes before hand? He shook his head again as he started sprinting down the hall. Fear was starting to eat at him as he ran. Vlad's presence seemed to get closer every time he came to another bend. It was almost as if he was moving through the walls…. It took Danny a moment to realize that was a very real possibility. If Vlad could pass through solid objects such as people, wouldn't he be able to do the same with the walls?
Danny skidded to a stop as he came to another crossway in the green and yellow decorated corridors. He was getting nowhere fast, and he only had moments before Vlad found him. Taking another quick break, he took the left hallway and started moving even faster than he had been previously. At the end of the hall was an open area, which appeared to lead to a large staircase. If he could get there, he would probably be somewhere near an exit!
There was only a few feet left until he would be able to see the new area clearly, meaning it would only take a few seconds, but his luck refused to hold out. He stumbled which caused him to fall face first to the floor.
….
Danny was incredibly disoriented as his vision cleared. He must have hit his head when he fell. Damn it! He had been so close! Wait, how long had it been since he fell? Had Vlad found him? Standing up, he found himself in a rather large room with the ceiling being exceptionally high. More than a little unsure where he was, he started looking around for an exit.
The walls of this room were even more unremarkable than the ones in the room he had been trapped in for a few days. Theses ones were a dull gray; no different than a slab of concrete. In fact, that maybe exactly what they were made of. There were no windows or apparent doors which made it feel more like a prison. Vlad must have found him and thrown him in to teach him a lesson. Damn it! How was he going to be able to escape now?
While he continued to look around, something hard stabbed him in the back. He was about to swat it away when a strange and unpleasant energy spread from the object's tip into his body. A scream escaped him as the energy burned and shocked him, creating a feeling almost equaling the pain of the spasms from earlier. Just as suddenly as they started, they stopped. Relief washed through him as he tried to recover, but it was short lived. Something hard hit his face and sent him flying into the closest wall about three feet off the floor.
Sliding down the wall was almost as bad as being hit. The wall had originally been a smooth texture, but his impact created several spider web cracks. To say the least, it was a very unpleasant feeling to slide over them as he fell to the floor. As he tied to sit up and figure out what hit him, something with that same pulsing energy as before came very close to his neck. He looked up to see a glowing green bo staff being wielded by what he assumed was a person. It appeared to have a woman's shape, but it was dressed in a protective suit… What were they called…? Hazmat…? Yes, hazmat… that sounded right.
The suit was a strange blue – gray color and skin tight. It had a hood which was pulled up over the unknown person's head, hiding the hair. Redish goggles completed the outfit and made the person's eyes seem inhuman and angry.
"Don't move!" the person hissed, moving the end of the bo staff a little closer to Danny's neck. "I don't know why Vlad sent you, but I am not going to let a ghost harm either me or my daughter!" The voice was harsh, protective, and unfamiliar, but it was female.
"Woah! Hold on a second!" Danny stammered as he eyed the glowing weapon in front of him. "I'm not going to hurt you! I didn't even realize you were here!"
The woman's eyes narrowed from within her goggles as she connected her staff with his skin once again. His screams only ended when the staff's strange energy was no longer coursing through his body. "Nice try ghost," she told him as she stabbed him with it again. "But I'm not going to fall for it! All of you are the same!"
"Wh-what are you talking about…?" Danny asked weakly as the weapon was removed. Not only were the shocks painful, but they seemed to be zapping his strength. "What ghost? I'm… I'm not a ghost!"
"Oh, and I suppose normal people have unnaturally white hair and glow?"
"Hey, that was something Vlad did to me…! Wait a minute… I'm glowing?" A memory from when he first woke up in the white room flashed though his mind. He glanced down at his hands and examined them closely. It was hard to see in the light, but there did appear to be a faint white glow around his hands. "Why the hell am I glowing? What was in that drink he gave me?"
"You didn't even realize…" the woman muttered faintly as she continued to stare at him. Her expression wasn't completely devoid of malice, but at least some curiosity had made its way into it. "You're either newly formed or a really good actor… Hmm… I've never gotten to study a newly formed ghost before…"
Danny tried to scoot away from her. He didn't like how this conversation was starting to go. However, he would probably still choose dealing with the woman with the weapon and questionable sanity instead of the creepiness that was Vlad any day. "Look, I really didn't mean to bother you!" he told be quickly as once again looked around for an exit, but it was difficult due to the woman's proximity to him. "I really want to leave as much as you seem to want me to, so if you could please just show me where the door is, I'll be out of your hair!"
The woman frowned at his words as if she was making sure she had heard him correctly. She once again put her staff underneath his chin. He flinched at the touch as he prepared for another shock, but none came. He opened his eyes to see that the woman was using the staff to help her get a clearer view of his face. What was it with people doing that to him? Was there something wrong with the way he looked? Well… that was a ridiculous question to ask with his current appearance, but at least the woman wasn't shocking him this time.
"Fascinating! Your form is incredibly similar to that of a human's, and you clearly still think like one."
"'Think'? What's with this think business? I am human!"
The woman seemed like she was about to say something else, but was gently pushed aside by a smaller form with long red hair. "Mom!" the figure warned as she glanced back and forth between him and the woman. "You're scaring him!" She then turned towards Danny, smiled, and extended her hand. "Here, I'll help you up. By the way, my name is Jazz."
============================================
Um, I'm just going to point this out now. I don't support Pompous Pep, at all, or adults taking 'advantage of children'. But with the way Vlad's acting and being very vague about the entire event, combined with Danny having no clue how he got the change of clothes adds up to Danny's suspicions. Honestly, I wasn't even expecting to add that bit in there until I started writing it and realized, "wow, this situation just suggests pedophile…. Vlad, you are a creepy man!"
Oh, and to explain the part where Danny woke up… I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with the different aspects of ghosts, but it is not unusual to see electronic equipment act up or lose power when a ghost is present. Current belief is that the ghost will somehow barrow power from a device and use it manifest itself. Some can also draw on emotions (like Spectra), but those tend to be negative entities.
#Eidolon#my writing#fanfic#fanfiction#danny phantom#danny phantom au#dp#dp au#danny fenton#sam manson#vlad plasmius#tucker foley#maddie fenton#jazz fenton#fantasy#paranormal#supernatural
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SPOILERS: DUN READ ANIME ONLY
......
THE ENDING: possible theory
......
I've been reading those Falco theories and I had to add my own two cents.
So, we all all that the entire reason Eren got the co ordinate was because he doesn't have royal blood, so he wouldn't fall under the first Kings curse. Which is true, but it also meant that he couldn't utilise the Co ordinate power without zeke or historia. Which means he isn't the perfect vessel, like we initially thought.
Falco was turned into a titan using Zeke's Royal blood, which gave him a degree of control over his titan that the previous jaw titan shifters didn't have. Like the flying upgrade. So if he eats Eren, THEN HE'LL BE THE PERFECT VESSEL.
Because Falco technically has unlimited access to royal blood, in his spine. But he's not actually a member of royal blood. So the curse of renouncing war won't affect him. It's Isayama way of finally creating a loophole in the curse. Falco can use the power of the co ordinate the way a member of royal blood could have before the curse (before the walls were built) just like how he used the jaw titan to make it fly!!
Oh and why falco in particular? The episode we saw today, it mentioned falco saying he dreamt of flying with swords. And maybe it was ymirs memories? Except no. The jaw titan doesn't have that ability. However, the attack titan is shown to send memories back to its shifter, even before they become shifter. Attack on titan episode 1, Eren wakes up crying from a dream. A series of flashes show him seeing his mothers death. Except it hasn't happened yet. Its the future. Falco likely saw Erens past memories in a haze.
OKAY SO COMING TO YMIR. I promise I'm trying to make sense.
We all know she's calling the shots right now. My own theory is, Eren bargained with ymir. She wanted to kill everyone by forcefully taking control of eren in his titan form.
Remember Mikasa nearly getting punched the first time he transformed? That was probs ymir being too excited and ready to just kill everyone using Erens titan form.
However, she got overwhelmed by Armin talking to Eren, causing him to regain control. Which is why she shut Armin up just now. If he talks to Eren, Eren might waver and force Ymir into making a mistake. One that could make Eren vulnerable to being attacked. Or eaten. Something she's clearly trying to avoid, as evidenced by the army of titans protecting him.
Okay so basically, Eren promised to lay the ground work for the rumbling, getting to zeke and all, if Ymir spared paradise Island. Eren is by no means innocent, because ymir killing everyone else off is beneficial for his people and he's okay with billions of people being sacrificed. But his hand has also been forced.
Because people, Eren isn't the perfect vessel to use the coordinate power. He's the perfect vessel for ymir to extract her revenge. For her to use the founding titans power. All these years, why didn't she just take control of the coordinate shifter and release the rumbling? Simple, becuase every single one had royal blood. Ymir is helpless against Royal blood, she can be controlled and contained as long as the co ordinate shifter has royal blood. Eren is the one she's been waiting for, for all the following reasons:
(a) he doesn't have royal blood, so she can use the co ordinate power through him. Forcefully if she wants to and he can't do shit about it because he has no way of controlling her.
(b) Erens personality and goals line up with hers. He actually allows her to use him, making it easier for her to carry out her plans, as we see in the new chapters.
(c) this goes with (b). Remember all those times eren struggled to use his powers when he needed to most? Like hannes dying? Countless cormades dying for him? I think it was ymir messing with him on purpose. A way of showing him who the real boss is by cutting his power off at will. Reminding him how helpless he is. Eren didn't notice it at the time, but once he started accessing memories, he realized what she had been doing and recognised her power over him. Hence, why he bargains with her for paradise. He can't win against her.
Why didn't ymir immediately take control of eren when he became a shifter? I think the attack titan and its drive for freedom impacted her efforts back then. The attack titan might have kept her at bay for a while, rendering her unable to fully control eren from the very start. Maybe thats why she could never fully cut off erens access to his powers, instead ymir ended up rendering eren powerless during specific, imapctful moments that would haunt him. The attack titan probs gave eren an urge to fight that overwhelmed her ability to control eren completely back then. Also, she needed a member of royal blood for the rumbling, so she probs wanted eren to find that person.
OKAY SO BACK TO FALCO NOW
Falco, however, does have some royal blood, because he was turned into a titan through royal blood, meaning ymir can't take control of him like with Eren. This is the loophole. Falco will be the only Co ordinate titan shifter, since the conception of titans, in 2000 years, who technically doesn't have royal blood. But also does have royal blood. He has immunity to Ymir controlling him because he techncially has some royal blood and won't be held back by the vow of renouncing war becuase he technically doesn't have royal blood. Unlike the shifters who existed before the vow, with full access to the co ordinate powers, he genuinely wants to end the war.
The war could have ended before the walls were built, if the greedy royal fuckers who had the founding titan actually wanted to end it. To them, it was a way of clinging to power and earning riches. No one who had the power to end the war, ever wanted to actually end the eldian war. Until Falco.
Eren bumping into a Falco was no accident. Falco witnessing the brutality of the war firsthand, watching everyone die in all these chapters was no co incidence. His young age. Combined with his genuine intent to fight and protect, he'll make the deicison that someone should have made hundreds of years ago. To end all titans.
It's likely he'll end the 13 year curse with that too. Just ending titans themselves will technically set ymir free to just die. Her own access to power stems from the paths I think, so Falco might chose to just destroy that dimension. Thus ending titans from being created by ymir. She finally just dies, no longer a slave who has to build and heal titans and titan shifters. She will truly be free from her suffering.
In the anime opening, we see erens titan and some colossal titans in hardened form. I think all the colossal titans will harden, then turn to dust. The walls on paradise Island will cease to exist. The titan shifters left alive will lose their powers and will no longer deal with the curse. Maybe Mikasa and levi would lose their strength because titans not existing anymore could mean that the by products of titan science, much like shifters, will just be normal human beings again. No eldian can ever turn into a titan again, including Falco himself. The titan war will come to an end.
But this is no happy ending. Because the equivalent to a world war would start. People will seek revenge on paradise Island. Eren, who committed henious crimes to protect his people, damned them for eternity. No one will believe that the people had no hand in a erens crime (Well, mostly) and they'll blame all the inhabitants equally. I can see war being waged on the island, but there aren't any titans to fight with. Just sub par military forces having it out. Just like in our human history, senseless human violence will take place. Its likely the island the entire story had been about, the island that just wanted to exist in peace, will perish in brutal wars. Other countries, weakened by the rumbling, will be attacked by those who weren't harmed by the rumbling. A destructive world war, that'll cast the world into a dark age, will begin.
Eldians will be free from being turned into titans, but the freedom came at the cost of a war they could never win.
....
#Snk#Aot#Falco#My AOT ending theory#Attack on titan#Attackontitan#Shingekinokoiyojin#Couldn't get this out of my head#Fjcnfjfjdj#Snk135#Snk135 spoilers#NOT FOR ANIME ONLY#MANGA SPOILERS
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The Arachnoids: ROCK BAND AU [Starker] - Chapter 3: “WORLD TOUR WISHES”
READ “CHAPTER 3: WORLD TOUR WISHES” ON AO3
Other Chapters: Prologue Chapter 1: Soundcheck Setback Chapter 2: Roadie Rush (To be continued)
Taglist: @crystallinecrimsonmoth & @staticwhispersinthedark
Find the fic’s Masterpost here ^^
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Chapter 3: World Tour Wishes
The show is on fire. Not literally, of course, but Peter can’t stop smiling and jumping around the stage. The audience is super enthusiastic and responsive, much better than most of the crowds they played for so far. It’s the blessing and the curse of being an opening band when people don’t know your songs yet. It’s a great shot at promoting your music, but sometimes it results in an audience that sells you off as background music while they keep chatting to their friends. Peter doesn’t blame them, before he was in a band himself, he did the same thing.
Not this crowd. Some of the teens squeezed together in the front even wear some of their merch. Peter is 99% sure that all of this is a dream. That he’ll wake up any second now and sigh when reality comes crashes down on him. But then, he also knows that all of this is in fact very much a real thing and it has his mind blown.
“This is our last song for tonight,” MJ breathes into her mic. She gracefully accepts one of the other roadies handing her her bass guitar for the final piece of their set. Quickly, she puts the strap over her head. “But that doesn’t mean the party is over! Who… Is ready for The Avengers?!”
The crowd cheers and whistles and it’s a sign for MJ to continue while the energy is at its high. She nods, Ned brings his drum sticks together four times to count down to the beginning of the song. Peter’s fingers easily travel their way across his guitar and he stalks over to Ned, playing towards him. Ned laughs and adds a little more energy and the crowd breaks into yet another wave of cheers.
“We were The Arachnoids, you’ve been amazing for us. Thank you so much and enjoy the rest of the show!”
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The second they set foot backstage, the three of them break into a series of squeals and a very uncoordinated, jumpy group hug. “Holy fuck, that was-” Peter rushes out and shakes his head in disbelief. MJ squeezes both boys into her sides and chuckles, just as amazed as the others. “This, this is what I want for the rest of my life,” Ned states and Peter bumps into him a little more. “Yes, please, I don’t want this to ever end.” “Crazy, it was absolutely-”
MJ never gets to finish her sentence when suddenly there’s a scoff coming up from behind them. Peter turns around. “So,” none other than Tony Stark mumbles as he stares them up and down. “I didn’t know you’d be this young. You legally drinking yet?” Peter frowns, unsure what to respond. “We’re young enough to not crash after one shot, unlike you,” MJ retorts. Tony huffs dismissively and shakes his head. “You must be… Venus.” “Pleasure to meet you.” “Mmmh,” is all the famous guitarist responds. He sniffs and looks around, clearly trying to find something he can use as an excuse to get away from them. Peter feels his heart sink. During the show, he’d somehow forgotten about the mood-killing presence that was Tony, and now it hits him right in the face.
“Alright, we’ll get going. Wouldn’t want to mess up your precious extra time to set up the stage.” The man raises an eyebrow, clearly not expecting that. He laughs. “Go on then, little spiders,” he sneers at the boys. “Follow your Queen.”
MJ keeps her head up proudly when she walks past him. Peter and Ned quickly follow. Peter can hear how Tony diverts his attention to someone else and he lets out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. “Fucker,” MJ mutters under her breath. “God, I didn’t know I could hate someone this bad. Seriously, what’s his issue?” She takes off her bass and sighs, carefully placing it in the designated standard. Peter does the same with his guitar.
“I should go help the roadies with my drum kit” Ned whispers apologetically. “I’ll meet you back here to watch the show?” “Yeah!” Peter confirms. He feels a tad bit conflicted about having to watch The Avengers now. He still likes the music, obviously. He should just enjoy it as much as he can “I saw a bottle of champagne in the trailer by the way. We should celebrate after their set ends!” “Oh my god yes,” Ned piques up with newfound interest. “Well, they better hurry up then!” “Ha, gotta wait till midnight, honey,” MJ teases and she waves as Ned walks over to the stage again to help with the drum kit. Peter finds the cases of his guitar and MJ’s bass, and together they put them in there.
“Guys!” Harley comes rushing past and he gives them a double thumbs up. “I don’t have much time right now, but you were absolutely amazing out there. I fucking loved it! I’ll talk to you after the main set, ‘kay?” With that, he’s gone again. MJ stares after him and Peter grins. “Harley’s nice, isn’t he, MJ?” “Oh, fuck you,” MJ snorts and shakes her head, her eyes sparkling playfully. “I’ll take back what I said earlier.” “Which part exactly?” Peter teases. MJ nudges him and wraps her arm around his shoulders. “That, little spider, is anyone’s guess.”
Peter smiles and presses a quick kiss onto her cheeks and then grabs his guitar case. “Let’s get these back to our trailer and then we watch the show?” “Solid plan.” Together, they walk back to the trailer. Peter’s mind is still buzzing with a post-concert haze and he loves it. Tony Stark may not like ‘em, but everyone else seems to have a different opinion and that’s all that matters.
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The Avengers’ show is amazing. It’s very different, watching them play from the sides rather than the crowd. Peter never imagined his first time actually seeing the band live would be from this angle. He enjoys every single second of it. Ned found his way back to them easily and the three of them are vibing, singing along, and having lots of fun overall. At one point, some of the roadies and crew join their little party and Peter loves it. Loves this; meeting new people within the industry. He finally feels like maybe, maybe, this is what his future might look like.
Just as with the soundcheck, as soon as Tony sets foot on the stage and starts singing or playing every trace of his appalling behavior has vanished. He looks like a true rock star out there. He is a true rock star. He owns the stage fully; pacing around with big strides, playfully cracking a joke here and there between songs. Even Natasha and Steve seem to loosen up slowly but surely. The redhead smiles wide when Tony walks over to her for a little guitar vs. bass play-off, and Steve’s motions become grander with every single hit on the drums.
The stage lights, the smoke, the gravely warm voice coming from Tony’s throat combined with the audience singing along every single word… It’s magical. Marvelous.
“Aaaahhh, thank you so much, everyone! Woah, what a way to end this beautiful year!” Tony breathes into the microphone, slightly out of breath after ending a particularly fast-paced song. He raises his hands and bathes in the cheers from the crowd. “Now!” He continues and looks behind him where there is now a projected timer, indicating it’s no more than one minute until the new year starts. “I want us all to count down from ten to one together! Anyone got any good resolutions… Nat? Steve?” Natasha laughs and she leans in a little closer to her mic. “What about a world tour, Tony?” “Ah!” Tony exclaims and bounces on his toes. “What a good idea! We’re definitely doing that! Should we drop the tour list after our show? Steve?” “Why not!” “Alright, that’s settled then!” Tony stops moving and cocks his head, glancing at the timer quickly. It’s at 00:00:13. He rubs his hands together and raises his mic towards the audience this time. “Ten!” Everyone screams. “Nine!” “Eight!” “Seven!” “Six!” “Five!” “Four!” “Three!” “Two!” “ONE!”
“HAPPY NEW YEAR!” Everyone fucking loses it at this point. The pyrotechnics detonate the stage gerbs and it sets off in fountains of sparks. Peter grabs Ned and MJ and pulls them in for a tight hug. “Happy new year, and may it bring a series of life-changing events for our band!”
Harley stalks over towards the band and the other roadies with a large plate filled with long champagne glasses. He hands them out to everyone, wishing them a happy new year too. After he’s handed them to the backstage crew, he makes his way onto the stage to give the last three glasses to The Avengers. Tony raises his glass.
“Who’s ready to mosh?!”
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It feels so utterly surreal now that everything’s over. Peter can’t quite understand the feeling. Happiness flutters inside him, but a hint of sadness clouds his brain as well. He wishes the night would never end, but it already had. The band had their little after-party in the small trailer with some random people from the tech crew and now they were packed up and ready to go home. It was only a short ride. They could’ve stayed here and slept in the trailer, but honestly, they were all longing for their own beds to crash in. “I’ll go get the van,” Peter says with a smile and grabs the keys. He’d only had one glass of champagne at midnight, and that’d been two hours ago so the alcohol has left his system already. He’s good to drive.
The van is parked not far from the stage terrain, but he makes sure to dress up warmly to face the outside world. It’s not freezing at all, but cold enough to want the comfort of a good winter coat. He jumps out of the van and starts walking. He passes the stage and shakes his head. It looks so massive from down here, and he can’t believe he was on it.
“Howdy, space boy?”
Peter freezes, startled. He immediately realizes who spoke to him, though. Peter grits his teeth together and slowly turns to face The Avengers’ guitarist. He’s so done, so utterly done with the man’s cocky behavior. And you know what? Peter’s got nothing to lose anymore. They played, they had their fun out there, it’s time he stands up for him and his band. They might be young, and new to the industry- but he’s proud of what they’ve built so far.
“Seriously, what’s your problem with us?” Peter clamps his teeth together right after he’s said it. The surprise sparking in Tony’s eyes is worth it, though. “I beg your pardon?” “Everything we do, say, or even look at is reason enough for you to humiliate us over. I looked up to you, big, big time. Guess I was wrong about you.” Somehow, that’s enough to silence the other man. He simply stares back at Peter, clear astonishment written over his face. It confuses Peter.
“You got some nerve, kid,” Tony says, finally. His voice wavers. Peter shrugs, unsure what else to do. He expected Tony to fight back instantly, but the man looks truly thrown off-guard. Tony sniffs. “I gotta admit, I admire that.” “You what?” “I’m serious. People don’t talk back to me unless they know me. Until you and your band came hopping along apparently.” “Still doesn’t explain a thing.”
“Look, Bambi-” “Bambi?” “Spiderling, then. See, it’s nothin’ against you- or your little band. On the contrary, I think you kiddos got something unique going on out there.” Tony pauses for good measure. “The thing is, I’m just having an incredibly shitty day.” For the first time, Peter believes he can see through the cracks of Tony’s persona. He doesn’t look annoyed. No, it’s definitely no annoyance. It’s fear. “Oh?” Peter asks quietly, not sure how to handle the different turn of this conversation. Not sure which boundaries he might be overstepping.
As soon as the cracks showed, they’re gone again. Tony straightens his shoulders and presses his lips together into a thin line. “Right.” The man sniffs once. “I forgot how clueless I was when I was your age.” Peter snorts. “You got issues man, I hope you sort them out soon. People are fed up with you.” “You don’t know me. Or them.” “No, that’s true. But I do know that simple annoyance can turn into resentment real fast. Don’t be a dick.” “Oh, fuck off. You’re too young to be wise like that.” “And you’re too young to be so cranky.” Peter says and he sighs. He shrugs, feeling a little bit helpless. It’s actually rather pathetic how Tony behaves. It’s not Peter’s problem to solve.
“My band’s waiting for me. I gotta go.” Peter starts to turn around again but Tony stops him. “Wait, kid, what’s your name?”
“Peter. Peter Parker.”
And with that, he walks off.
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Read The Next Chapter: 4 - Coffee Confusion
#the arachnoids#starker#starker fic#starker fanfiction#starker fanfic#peter parker#tony stark x peter parker#tony stark/peter parker#peter parker x tony stark#Peter Parker/Tony Stark#tony stark#tony x peter#ironspider#ironman#Iron Man#spiderman#spider man#fanfiction#fandom#fan fiction#fanfic#fan fic#marvel fanfiction#AO3 fanfic#marvel#kimwrites
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Celestial Forecast
Week June 22 - 28
Highlights: where to begin!
Today, June 22nd, Neptune will go retrograde!
Jupiter rx and Pluto rx in Capricorn are conjunct all week starting today.
On Thursday the 25th, Venus goes direct in Gemini!
On Saturday the 27th, the moon has beneficial trines with Jupiter rx and Pluto rx in Capricorn then Saturn rx in Aquarius giving us a boost towards our inner goals and aspirations.
On Sunday the 28th, Mars enters Aries! Also the final quarter moon in Libra has beneficial trines to Venus in Gemini and is conjunct Juno and Sappho making it a fantastic day for friendship and love attraction magic.
Oh my GOODNESS! Before I begin: I do apologize for posting this late (last week's end of the week was very eventful with the Summer Solstice and eclipse and everything so though I charted everything earlier I did run out of time), BUT this week's transits are going to be INCREDIBLE! A ride! It will be a look at your soul, your inner philosophy, spiritualities and faith, and what truths and beliefs you hold dear and what mentalities that may no longer serve you in order for you to work towards your best potential, your genuine authenticity, your realest goals and deepest aspirations. Today Neptune goes retrograde AND today Pluto rx and Jupiter rx are conjunct for the ENTIRE WEEK. This energy makes you driven to succeed. Since the energy is retrograde you will focus on what obstacles or mental blocks within that could be keeping you from your inner expansion or connection to your inner sources of power. With Neptune retrograde our usual veils or self delusions will be ripped away so we can not really lie to ourselves anymore of how we are holding ourselves back. It's all about honesty and the truth of what keeps your spirituality together. This week is a great beginning (especially after the Solar eclipse!) of how you can make a huge positive difference in your life, beginning internally. (And no worries, as Pluto and Jupiter go direct they will conjunct each other again! So this energy will be revisited and we will want to move forward with our plans!) It is really important this week to consider what you want to do during this phase of life. You should focus on your inner philosophy, your spirituality and sources of your magic. It's great for spiritual self-development. Additionally it's fantastic to focus on business, sources of wealth and abundance or a promotion on your career. At the end of this week we have Mars moving into Aries giving us a fresh boost in this energy!! Following the solar eclipse the themes here really are for us to make ways to reinvent ourselves to our highest potentials!
Note: times are set to UTC
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22nd
Neptune retrogrades in Pisces Jupiter rx and Pluto rx are conjunct all week in Capricorn Neptune rx in Pisces sextiles Psyche in Taurus ☾♋ Moon Conjunct Mercury rx in Cancer ☾♋ Moon Trines Ceres and Neptune rx in Pisces ☾♋ Moon Sextiles Psyche in Taurus
Energy: Y'ALL!!!! Day one starts off with a lot of intense soul-reckoning energy after the solar eclipse plunging us into the murky emotional depths of Cancer season on the solstice. Aside from the most important transit of Jupiter rx and Pluto rx that will be conjunct all week long beginning today, the next most important astrological event is Neptune going into retrograde. Within it's shadow as a user of magic you may have started to notice less of an inspiration to do lighter whimsical magical activities. It can strip away the rose-tinted glasses in our life and take away the whimsy and fantasies. This can impact our spiritual paths if we were not being honest about it's intent. This retrograde wants us to be honest with our own sense of power and connection to our spirituality. If the intent of your practice and connection to your inner magic was to improve yourself or find a real connection to your energy and energy around you, this retrograde could help you fortify that bond. However, if the intent of your spiritual practice is actually a form of 'love and light' only feel-good escapism, this retrograde which loves to strip away illusions can leave you stuck in the harsh reality of our world. It can feel a bit hard channeling our creative muse, our whimsical sense of spiritual exploration under this transit, but the retrograde wants you to understand WHY you've had those connections to the first place and if they had any relationships to anything substantial. Ideals and spirituality are rooted in something real and not just beliefs and fantasy. Neptune RX wants you to figure out what's the roots of your practice. How we connect with our soul's path and handle karmic obstacles additionally gets brought to the surface with Neptune's retrograde sextiling Psyche in Taurus. On top of that the moon will sextile Psyche as well creating an emotional need to work with this asteroid's energy of inner soul reckoning on day 1 this week. (The moon will also tie this energy back to Neptune rx with a beneficial trine). The fusion of these transits energy between the Moon, Neptune rx and Psyche will possibly bring up themes on how you handle adversity, how you feel connected to your soul and karmic lessons you have to overcome, even in situations where you might have lost faith. Previous memories may be brought up as the Moon in Cancer will conjunct Mercury rx in Cancer bringing up deep emotional memories from the past that could bring understanding and highlight current emotions tying in with these themes. Lastly the moon will trine Ceres in Pisces making it a good day to nurture yourself and those closest to you. It's a lot of energy to take in on day one so it's good to take time for yourself.
Recommendations: Reflect on your spirituality and journal. Maybe have a free writing session. You may feel blocked during this time, but it's a period of cleansing and often what you need to cleanse or the internal obstacles may take time to reveal themselves (don't worry they will with Neptune retrograde haha). Take time alone to go on a walk and reflect by a body of water.
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23rd
Sun in Cancer squares Sappho in Libra Neptune rx in Pisces sextiles Eros in Taurus ☾♋ Moon Trines Mars in Pisces ☾ VOC 8:20 - 13:33 ☾♌ Moon enters Leo ☾♌ Moon Sextiles Venus rx in Gemini and Sappho in Libra
Energy: Today has a lot of fiery energy to focus on our inner interests, values and philosophies that could help us on our early journey of Neptune's retrograde and the conjunct between Pluto rx and Jupiter rx's transit. The transits today can help us to illuminate our causes, what gives us purpose and inspiration.
All day the Sun in Cancer will be squaring Sappho in Libra, the asteroid of our true interests and what makes us feel authentic. This square will create pressure to want to reflect on these themes and focus on our most genuine interests and attractions. This transit can help us to find answers during Neptune's RX. Neptune rx will also be sextiling Eros in Taurus giving us the desire to work or explore our inner ideals or find the internal connection to our spirituality. There will also be an energetic burst from the Moon trining Mars in Pisces that will give us a window of time with increased energy that can help us be direct and strive towards our goals. After a reflective void of course period (a great time to rest and reflect with the other transits happening), the moon will enter dramatic and creative Leo. The moon will sextile Venus rx in Gemini and Sappho in Libra creating a chapter where we will want to work on or resolve situations revolving around our values, genuine interests, our authenticity or relationships. With a lot of things that could have a chance to reveal themselves with the previous transits this could help us to take stock and make arrangements for things to be better aligned with what we value.
Recommendations: Take time to dive into your genuine interests. Carve time for yourself to do this. Especially as the moon waxes in it's early stages, it's a good time to learn and take in new information. Especially with the Jupiter rx and Pluto rx conjunction try to focus on things that interest you that can help you expand on your inner truth, authenticity, source of power or connect you to yourself on a soul level.
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24th
☾♌ Moon Squares Uranus and Eros in Taurus ☾♌ Moon Trines Chiron in Aries ☾♌ Moon Sextiles Juno in Libra
Energy: With the moon in creative and dynamic Leo, some of that fiery energy can create bursts of intensity and exciting spontaneity. It will be a day of self-exploration along with opportunities for healing. First the moon sextile Juno in Libra which will help us focus towards our commitments or where we like to devote our energy towards. These themes will be brought to the surface of our emotions for us to review. After the moon will square Uranus in Taurus and trine Chiron in Aries creating sudden changes, intense need for spontaneity and potential for healing. This combination of energy can make us act out in new eccentric ways, act on impulse yet with the combination of Chiron it can be in a way where we may feel the need to suddenly act out on a situation we have been stagnant on for a long time in order to bring about a sudden solution or to heal ourselves. After the moon in Leo will square Eros in Taurus giving us pressure to act out on our desires. You may be channeling this energy in focusing on a strategy to get what you currently need. This window of time can create a burst of productive energy to go after what you truly want!
Recommendations: The energy today seems very active and fiery along with self-focused with the moon transiting Leo. A great way to work with this energy is by focusing on yourself with a meditation and bringing awareness to what you want to change and heal. Having a quiet moment to reflect before getting swayed by the intensity of the day can help you make better decisions in bringing about a better reality.
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25th
Venus direct in Gemini ☾♌ Moon Squares Psyche in Taurus ☾♌ Moon Opposite Saturn rx in Aquarius ☾ VOC 6:34 - 18:04 ☾♍ Moon enters Virgo ☾♍ Moon Opposite Mars in Pisces
Energy: The lovely Venus awakens from her slumber finally! With Venus finally direct it's time to put your reviewed values to the test with new relationships and partnerships. Especially with all of the previous transits like Juno retrograde, we may have a fresher outlook on our needs and boundaries in partnerships and what kind of people and values we would like to surround ourselves with. However this day will not be so lighthearted with the intense lunar transits. First the moon will be opposite Saturn rx in Aquarius bringing about restrictions or obstacles that could manifest from emotional blocks within due to Saturn's retrograde nature that could be triggered by external events. This may put pressure on how we feel we handle adversity and inner growth with the moon squaring Psyche in Taurus. After a reflective void of course, the moon will enter calculating Virgo and will bring it opposite Mars in Pisces. External events could bring about challenges, irritations and aggression. However this energy can bring positive opportunities of challenges that ask you to fight for what you want or fight for a cause that will help loved ones. This energy following the moon's opposition with Saturn rx can potentially help us to confront our inner mental blocks and challenge it through external obstacles.
Recommendations: With the unharmonious transits of the moon opposing Saturn rx and Mars, we may be confronted with blockages and obstacles, yet today would be good to put energy towards barrier-breaking magic or opening crossroads. However with Neptune retrograde there may be a possibility where we feel the need to tackle issues on a mundane level then energetically. It's a good day to address your obstacles and issues head on especially with the beneficial conjunction of Jupiter rx and Pluto rx which can help you expand on your inner source of power.
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26th
☾♍ Moon Squares Venus in Gemini ☾♍ Moon Opposite Neptune rx and Ceres in Pisces ☾♍ Moon Trines Uranus in Taurus ☾♍ Moon Sextiles Sun, Vesta and Mercury rx in Cancer
Energy: Today is a great day to start experimenting with new creations and crafting with the Sun sextiling the Moon in Virgo. With all of the retrograde energy this experimental energy is just to experiment and not to create any new projects. If you have a current project you need to wrap up or an old project that may come back into your life during the retrogrades that needs completing but you've hit a creative block, this period of experimentation and innovation can help. (More on the innovative energy shortly!) The moon will also be squaring Venus during this time putting pressure on us to act out on our values and resolve issues or create connections with our partnerships. We will have a strong desire to connect with others today. Especially after the Venus retrograde, this is where we can put what we've learned to the task. The moon will trine Uranus in Taurus and at the same time sextile Vesta in Cancer. With the moon trining Uranus we have beneficial opportunity for new insights and helpful perspectives that can help with our experimentation. With the beneficial sextile with Vesta it can give us the push to work towards our aspirations and focus on our goals. If you might have felt blocked before this energy can help you find new solutions around your obstacles. The moon will eventually be opposite Neptune rx in pisces which can create a reality check through an external event. Maybe a spiritual belief you once held, a sugar coated lie that could have held other mentalities in place or a delusion will be stripped away due to an encounter or external situation. This can cause you to reflect and wonder how you may have held on to that belief before and if that belief still benefits you. Since the energy today does want you to progress forward this can be beneficial for shedding what you no longer need. The moon will then sextile Mercury rx in Cancer and be opposite Ceres in Pisces. Moon sextile Mercury rx can help bring up previous memories that could help illuminate our current mentalities and what ideas we should let go or implement in order to progress in our paths. It's a great time to share feelings either internally through journaling or by confiding in a close friend. If someone close to you comes to confide some emotional struggles they've been dealing with, the moon opposite Ceres may help you be extra nurturing and caring towards them or other loved ones in need. This transit could amplify the feelings the moon squaring Venus could have bought up since the pressure of that square will create a strong need to connect to others. Additionally you may feel a sense of nurturing through an external sense whether that may be from a friend or partner or an environment. If these transits have been a lot for you, today may be a day to treat yourself with an at home spa time or anything you find nurturing or relaxing.
Recommendations: It's a good time to reflect on any current obstacles and work towards your goals. Taking the time to do so today will create a powerful opportunity for tomorrow. If the obstacles are due to mental blocks or certain things not being in the right place, channeling Uranus's energy can help to bring new perspectives to help you solve your current issues.
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27th
☾♍ Moon Trines Psyche and Eros in Taurus and Jupiter rx and Pluto rx in Capricorn ☾ VOC 21:01 - 21:16 ☾♎ Moon enters Libra ☾♎ Moon Trines Saturn rx in Aquarius
Energy: Today is going to be a powerful and beneficial day so it's a good day to mark on your weekly calendar. Today will have lucky trines with the lunar transit and some powerful planets. The energy of Pluto rx and Jupiter rx's conjunction may feel heightened today as the moon will trine with their energy as well bringing a boost of potential if you choose to use that window of time to focus on inner expansion, inner source of power and aspiring towards your long term goals that aligns with your deepest needs. Before that trine the moon will trine with Psyche giving a beneficial boost where we can connect with ourselves on a deep soul level and review our karmic paths. Clarity could come from this moment on what you need to do in order to progress from your current position. After the moon will trine with Eros in Taurus which can give you extra luck and opportunities to dive towards your desires. This energy before the trine with both Pluto rx and Jupiter rx in Capricorn can create a foundation for you to make huge progress towards your goals whether it be internally or with tasks you need to complete. After a short void of course, the moon will enter Libra and trine Saturn rx in Aquarius giving us a beneficial boost in responsibility and the energy to take on any tasks or work we need to focus on, especially projects in the past or work we really need to prioritize to help our own foundation (or the foundation of our community with Saturn's current theme in Aquarius). Trines are wonderful aspects yet since trines are so harmonious, lucky and beneficial we may take the energy for granted and not use it to it's full potential which is why I urge everyone to mark the date!
Recommendations: tackling really important tasks to help yourself progress in your goals today! Have a moment to meditate and reflect on what you need to focus on. The moon finishing it's transit in virgo can help you analyze and prioritize. Then after making a list of goals and such, try to tackle whatever you need to get done! Also today just making a vision board of what you seek to achieve one day could help with all of the trines energy. With the retrogrades these planets still want you to be reflective (in the future, Pluto and Jupiter will conjunct again for another week but at that time direct!) so if you may be unclear of what you need now, it's a good time to reflect and experiment. If you do know, then it's a good time to tackle any tasks you may have been putting off in order to ensure it's future!
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28th
Mars enters Aries Mars in Aries sextiles Saturn rx in Aquarius Eros trines Jupiter rx and Pluto rx in Capricorn ☾♎ First Quarter Moon in Libra ☾♎ Moon Conjunct Juno and Sappho in Libra ☾♎ Moon Trines Venus in Gemini
Energy: We started off this week with me going like: Y'ALL!! And you know how we are ending it? With me going like: HELL YEAH BITCH!!
This week is no doubt a RIDE! But this sunday is starting us off fresh with a BANG especially after yesterday's reflective yet lucky and beneficial transits. This one wants us to shoot for the stars!!
The most NOTABLE transit today without a doubt is Mars shifting itself from sleepy Pisces into it's home sign of fiery, new beginnings, passionate, excitable ARIES and wanting us to TAKE ACTION!!! (I mean at least with strategizing and ironing out plans cause we are still deep in retrogrades and eclipse season). But Still!! Additionally Mars in Aries will sextile Saturn rx in Aquarius giving us a huge motivational push to get any work done, blaze through our task lists and lay down any foundations we need for future projects to thrive from. Also helping fuel fiery Mars's power is it's lil' companion Eros, the asteroid of our desires and will to achieve them, trining Jupiter rx and Pluto rx in Capricorn which will give us beneficial energy and extra luck with pursuing our aspirations and expanding on our inner growth and inner source of power. Additionally the moon will want to help out as it will conjunct Juno and Sappho in Libra asking us to commit to our passions and our inner values and philosophy. What attracts you, inspires you and makes you feel alive should be your priority today and the moon will ensure that with this conjunction as it will be at the surface of your emotional body. Additionally the moon will trine Venus in Gemini bringing a lucky day for partnerships which can show that teamwork can help make your dream work! Also to note, the moon is in it's first quarter phase in Libra and it's conjunct with Juno and trining Venus in Gemini, which makes this an EXCELLENT day for love magic!! If you were thinking of attracting someone special today, even if it's non-romantic and you want a business partner, someone who reflects your values, friends that will uplift you and share your interests, Venus and the Moon are both in such good placements for you to do magic in. (Especially for friendship as Venus is in Gemini). The moon in it's first quarter phase makes this an energetic day of strategizing and planning on taking action. With fiery Mars giving us a boost, no doubt we will get something done! What an exciting day to the end of this week!
Recommendations: I feel like this day is going to tell you what YOU should do with it especially with Mars's entry into Aries. It's a great day to review the goals you want to achieve and tackle them. Magic wise it's a great day for attraction magic for people you want in your life to uplift you. If you did make a vision board yesterday, today is a great day to ask for opportunities to bring those wishes your way as well as working towards them on a mundane level.
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#astrology#transits#celestial forecast#neptune retrograde#mars in aries#venus direct#magic#witchcraft#jupiter conjunct pluto
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Part 2 of the Hide and Seek meta
There’s a bunch I didn’t say in the first meta post because it would have been spoilers, but now the fic is done, so here you go, more random behind-the-scenes that no one asked for but you’re getting it anyway
every writer knows there’s at least one part of writing the story where you hate the story, and for this story, that was chapter 11, which very nearly got away from me. In the first go around, when MJ and Snatcher have their conversation, Snatcher had too explosive of a depressive breakdown and revealed too early that Hat Kid had died in one of the Death Wishes. MJ was pretty furious, considering how big of an asshole Snatcher had been to them like 2 days ago in chapter 9, it led to a big argument and I had to walk away for a few days and figure out whether I was taking the story in the right direction.
on that note, the second half of the story was easily twice as hard to write as the first, my increasingly busy schedule notwithstanding. In the first half, the characters are all pre-turning point, but after chapter 10, I had to work to keep them true to their personalities but this time With Character Development
certain events were planned from the beginning, while other things came up on the fly either as I wrote or in response to reader comments
for example: the lullaby was not in the original plan. A reader commented they wanted Snatcher to sing, and my brain didn’t let it go.
another example: while Snatcher’s anxiety attacks were planned, how it intertwined with his expended magic and lack of souls was spontaneous. I realized when writing his breakdown in ch 9 that as a ghost, his stress couldn’t express itself in almost any of the classic physical symptoms, so he ended up getting phantom pain, dissociative episodes, and extreme fatigue
the legal arguments in ch 17 were mostly planned, but the actual details of the argument, in terms of actual debate points, I came up with largely on the fly, and it is a lot of good fortune that everything worked out so well
part of why I wrote this story in the first place was because I wanted to explore the progression of character change especially in Snatcher, because in other fics I read, he either starts off nicer than I expect or stays meaner than I expect for way longer than I think Hat Kid really deserves to put up with. Moonjumper probably overtly changes the least, mostly because I needed one character who was neither a literal child nor an emotional basket case.
since a lot of people have commented that they like the characterization, I will attempt to elaborate on the methodology
o shit there are sub bullets hell yah
for each of the characters, there was always an underlying feeling that I kept in mind that would act as my compass for how I wrote them
it helps that they all have very strong pre-existing voices in my head, and I play all the dialogue through their vocal lines to make sure it sounds feasible
again, echoing the previous meta, Snatcher’s underlying waypoint feeling is shame. In the first half, he reacts with defensiveness or awkwardness and denial when confronted with that feeling. In the second half after his turning point, he acknowledges that his love for Hat Kid is stronger than the fear of vulnerability he has in expressing it and in fact he becomes kind of clingy and hovery toward her. Instead he channels his bad feelings into repression by hiding his struggles from her instead. It takes him a while to feel like he is allowed to be happy, but eventually love overcomes that too.
HK’s underlying feeling is loneliness. In the same turn, she both craves and distrusts affection. This is discussed in ch 5. Once she decides Snatcher has earned her trust, the loneliness translates into feelings of responsibility. Her choice to go after Vanessa in ch 13 was motivated by the fact that she felt like a burden because Snatcher was caught between her and protecting the forest and she assumed it was her job to go and fix it. It takes a lot of convincing for her to realize she doesn’t have to take charge of a situation, and ch 17 was a culmination of her arc in that she basically played no active role in saving her ship, and that was intentional. It was important for her arc to end in being saved by her parents in a situation where she felt helpless.
MJ’s underlying feeling is basically straight up just love. They’re motivated even early on by the fact that they care about HK and initially it fuels their frustration with Snatcher because they thought he was bound to hurt HK if he kept being such an ass and it allows them to stand up to him to some degree. Even after that though, they would frequently bow out initially to keep the peace, unless HK meddled to convince Snatcher to be nicer to them. However, they also fundamentally still cared about Snatcher too, and realizing he had an opportunity for happiness in front of him, was determined not to let him crush it. Eventually, their sense of love translated to their own existence, which they had always been kind of ambivalent about. MJ wasn’t sure how much ownership they had over their identity, but taking on a role as HK’s parent gave them a good enough sense of self that they were able to better embrace the idea of Themself as a concept. MJ was the hardest to write at all times because I needed to make sure they were getting enough chances to have their own struggles and anxieties as well as their own fulfillment. I put a lot of work into them, but if I were ever to revise this story, I would put even more work into them.
Of the 3 mains, I personally think MJ is actually the funniest. They have a very dry sense of humor.
I see everyone noticed the pet names, so yes, MJ prefers “my dear” and “little one” while Snatcher sticks with “kiddo” most of the time but will occasionally go for the one hit KO with “sweetie” when he’s feeling real mushy
the hardest part of writing ch 17 was balancing how I wanted to portray the Captain. While I very much didn’t want to give the sense that her caretakers were good people, I didn’t want to portray them as cruel evil monsters, to the point that they would have crushed any sense of joy HK could have. A lot of the backstory was excluded from the actual text, simply informing how I wrote her character, but basically her caretakers were largely just a combination of selfish, neglectful, and resentful of having to look after a child when they were more interested in their work. The Captain himself does recognize through the discussion that HK is genuinely really happy and well cared for on Earth, something he’s aware she could never be in his and the others’ care, and so that one bit in the end is a hint that he does genuinely acknowledge on some level that they were shitty caretakers, that he did fail her as a guardian and that she deserves better.
Okay that’s plenty long, so I’ll stop.
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RWBY Volume 6 Crew Commentary Notes!
I just got the Volume 6 Blu Ray and I'm going to be watching the crew's commentary! Kerry was talking with a few others as well as Miles after chapter 1. I wrote what I found interesting or important:
Chapter 1:
They took out the blood at the White Fang Headquarters but had to add it back in later
The train station was the first new set of the season
They used Houdini for crowd shots this season
Showing what's in the bag RWBY got for Yang is planned for next season
On each boba cup lid (from the food in the background of the train station scene) has the RWBY chibi characters
Originally they planned Ilia to wear a kimono. Also a hint to seeing her again!
Kerry's mom wants him (Neptune) to be in the show more
The whole train set is a circle track
The Grimm manticore design was from an artist from the RWBY subreddit! Kerry saw it and he loved it and he contacted her to hire her.
There was an inside joke for the audio team where Dee dies it sounds like the track says "Oh Dee..."
Dee and Dudley barely graduated from their academy
There was originally going to be a closer shot of Salem in the OP but they wanted to keep the mystery about who she was
Chapter 2:
They put in some lines from the house (what Nora says) that were a response to the criticism from Volume 5 about them staying there too long
Nora was originally going to tell Blake everything she needed to know with some whiteboards on the train, but they decided to just show the house where things are explained
The footsteps in the snow were made using nulls in After Effects. They explain the process which is pretty interesting.
Oscar struggling was done in mocap
Lil Miss Malachite is an allusion for Little Miss Muffett (duh) and turns out she is the mother of the Malachite Twins
The Malachite Twins went to live in Vale and be bad guys
Jinn's hair is separated/split more than a normal character's. Same with Summer Rose
Chapter 3:
Salem's story one of the first things ever written for RWBY
They really wanted a character's story to revolve around 'happily ever after' then a few steps after that, so Salem was the perfect character for that
Originally the Lost Fable was chapter 3 and 4, but they combined them into one
The whole episode was mocapped in a single weekend
The crew has a Ruby body pillow prototype that's used during mocap
The Gods are inspired from the Gods of Greek Mythology
They want to show more natural wildlife in RWBY, but due to budget constraints it's hard
The video game Brutal Legend inspired the scene where Salem throws herself into the pool of Grimm
Originally the Gods were closer to human size but were scaled up
The story structure for the episode took inspiration from Harry Potter and Game of Thrones
Originally there was going to be more dialogue from the main cast, but they decided against it
They were originally had Salem look like her current form (well coloring wise), but decided to remove the red veins she has so she looked less spooky
The toy dog one of the children has is a Wizard of Oz reference
Jinn was meant to be an objective outside observer but also a storyteller
The children for one of Oz's reincarnations have silver eyes (confirmed)
Chapter 4:
They were excited to explore Qrow's alcoholism past it just being a joke
Hazel is the most compassionate of the villains
Salem knows how to manipulate people and has different methods for motivations for each of her lieutenants
For example she doesn't have to say that many mean things for Tyrian to take it to heart because he is so loyal
She also knows just how fearful Emerald is of her
Chapter 5:
Neo has begun to evolve her semblance, as shown in the fight
Neo wasn't originally planned to be in this Volume, but was decided when they thought of what they could do better to make Cinder's storyline better and for when Cinder gets to Atlas they thought her having a partner was cool
Brunswick Farm was another idea they had since the very beginning
The Apathy fit so well in this volume because the characters are at a low point
Blake doesn't always get the nuances of relationships and makes a misstep (when Yang and Blake talked and she told Yang she would protect her)
Chapter 6:
The Apathy came from an image of a horrifying scarecrow and they came up with the idea of a grimm that wasn't physically formidable. As well as a planet from the movie Serenity where everyone fell to sleep and died, and a short story about depression and not wanting to do anything
The Apathy work through proximity but if they see you their effect gets even worse. But you can get it jolted out of the apathy for a little while if you are startled
The artist that made the Apathy was the same one that made the Manticore
Maria is colorblind, which was evident in the episode when we learn she couldn't tell Ruby's eye color immediately
Seeing the burning Apathy, Qrow realizes that he almost let everyone get killed and now starts to hate himself (his depression changes)
Chapter 7:
Them having a restriction for how long fights could be (because fights are expensive) led to Miles thinking of a fight that had to last 60 seconds (and Tock)
Maria's weapon and use of dust was inspired from the God of War reboot as well as Marvel's Thor
Maria was originally from Volume 5 but they had to take her out because it was hard to balance out all the storylines
Originally Maria was going to have a cat, and Qrow was supposed to find her in his search for Hunstman
The Arc siblings are all a color of the rainbow, with one set of twins. Saphron is orange.
The toy Adrien is playing with is foreshadowing to the plane and the Leviathan
Chapter 8:
Only Cordovin's guards are so goofy (compared to the rest of Atlas guards), and Cordo is considered a nuisance. This was a job they thought she could do well without bothering anyone
Kerry wanted an old lady fight in the show, so he got one
The Old Lady in the Show was something Monty thought of. The boot is the foot of a giant mech. And the giant mech was originally going to be at the end of V2
Butterflies are normally not out in the winter but this is Remnant ;)
Chapter 9:
Miles likes to think of Tyrian as one of the most insightful villains. He is really good at observing people and knows how to take them apart mentally and physically
This is where they said this is the first time we see Mercury and Emerald being vulnerable to each other (I didn’t include this earlier, sorry!)
They say they’ll never confirm who the Red Haired Woman is, but they said use your brains lol
Looking up at Pyrrha and seeing the airship fly by made Jaune think of the idea to steal one
Chapter 10:
Adrian's crying is not a semblance, that's just comedy
They pitched Jaune's voice down when he says "Roger" so he can sound more serious
Originally there was going to be another episode (episode 14t) where we would see Atlas and Mantle. But they didn't want to end on that because it would require a ton of new assets because of the buildings and the people wearing different clothes
The next season will start with a bang
The Iron Giant was a reference for the mech
Chapter 11:
The mech fight was the most effects-heavy of the fights this season
Blake has always had the scar on her body since the new outfit, but it has been hard to see until her jacket comes off
Yang hitting Adam with her bike was thought of early on in the scripting process
Chapter 12:
A lot of talk about how the animations were made and such
This season had a core fight team that animated all the fights
The way Adam dies is apparently similar to how something in Nier: Automata plays out. Kerry has only played an hour of the game so he did not know that was a thing
But Nier: Automata was actually referenced for the mech fight (the mechanics of how the fight would work) since a robot was involved in the first boss fight.
Shots from the Adam and Yang fight were similar to those from Naurto, but that was also a coincidence
They called the Leviathan Levi in the script because it was easier to type
Chapter 13:
They considered Adrian being a very young baby, but later changed him to be a toddler
Gurren Laggan was another reference used for this part (haven't seen that anime but it was referenced when the mech drills the Leviathan)
They really wanted to make sure we could hear liquid in Qrow's flask
Salem is no longer willing to confine herself to a room, and is going to start being more active by creating her army of minions
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