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cozage · 1 year ago

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The Daughter's Return: Month 5

The Road to Love

Part One | Next Chapter | Table of Contents | Read on AO3

This idea was sent to me by Anonymous! CW: kinda long but it's from Ace's perspective! Characters: female reader x Portgas D. Ace Word Count: 5.2k

From the moment Ace heard your name, he was intrigued.

“It’s a crazy story,” Thatch said as everyone sat down around him. “The Clandine Incident was one of the main reasons Y/N’s bounty skyrocketed. She’s got one of the highest bounties on the ship, especially for her age.”

Blamenco chortled. “She’s only got a big bounty cuz-”

“Though she’s always been a legend,” Marco said, cutting off Blamenco and ignoring his words. “The Navy has been trying to figure out who keeps ruining their plans for years. They just never expect it to be a teenage girl. It’d be higher if they knew everything she actually did.”

“Right,” Kingdew laughed. “They underestimate her because of her reckless appearance to them. They think she improvises everything she does.”

Ace raised his eyebrow. “How so?”

Izou hummed, knowing that the crew’s praise for you would have repercussions. This new crewmember seemed a little too interested in you. Still, Izou decided to indulge him. It’d be interesting to see where this all went.

“The Clandine Incident is the best example,” Izou said. “The Navy had captured about forty of our men. It was looking bad. However, they had captured non-devil fruit users, so they were all in metal cages for transport.”

Marco interrupted and took over the story. “Because so many of Whitebeard’s men had been captured, almost all of the Navy’s forces had been called back to escort the prisoners to ships to be hauled off to Impel Down. Which left their defenses low, and we could launch an assault on our actual target and free a royal member of an island we watched over. They didn’t even have time to call reinforcements before the prince was released.”

“She and Marco led the operation to free the prisoners.” Thatch grinned ear to ear, staring at the first division commander. “I heard things got quite messy, but they got in and out without any fatalities.”

“Messy?” Ace inquired, nudging his friend to tell him more. “How so?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Marco grumbled. “Just a few messes I had to clean up.”

Thatch cackled. “If I recall, it was Y/N who did the cleaning up, not the other way around!”

Marco rolled his eyes. “She’s always the one to make the sacrifice play, and she got mad when I wouldn’t let her do it. I swear she’s careful with everyone’s life but her own. ”

Ace could relate, which only made him even more interested in meeting you. “When’s she get back?” he asked, unable to hide the enthusiasm in his voice.

The whole table erupted into laughter at his question.

“She’s off limits, dude,” Vista said, giving Ace an empathetic pat on the shoulder. “If you try anything, Pops will kill you.”

“Pops wouldn’t get the chance,” Thatch said. “Marco would get you first.”

“Sorry man, they’re right. I know you’re my brother-” Marco smiled and shook his head. “But she’s outta your league anyway. Don’t even try it.”

“Look at him getting all protective!” Fossa bellowed, and the table erupted in laughter again.

Ace gave a confused smile, looking around the table. It was clear he was missing something. Something obvious that everyone else seemed to be aware of.

“Go check the bounty poster room,” Curiel whispered, giving him a little nudge. “You’ll figure it out.”

Newgate. You were a Newgate. There was no chance in hell you’d ever even look his way. And if you knew who his father was…No, Whitebeard would never allow the son of his rival to date his only daughter.

And yet, as he stared at your old bounty poster, he couldn’t help but think there was so much more to you than a name.

Months later, Whitebeard stood towering over Ace. He had been called in for a meeting with his captain, and Ace was worried that he had screwed up big this time.

“There’s something I should probably tell you, Ace.”

His voice didn’t sound upset, and Ace relaxed a bit. “What’s up Pops?”

“My daughter is returning home soon, which is quite a joyous occasion-”

Ace nodded. “I’m excited to meet her.”

Whitebeard watched the second division commander carefully. “There’s something I should warn you about.”

“Oh, Pops, don't even worry about that.” Ace’s cheeks were hot, embarrassed where this was going. Of course he knew about Ace’s flings and flirtations on the ship. Of course Whitebeard didn’t want him anywhere near you. “I’m not like that anymore. Besides, everyone has already told me.”

Whitebeard’s eyebrows knitted in confusion. “Told you what?”

“That Y/N is off limits. I shouldn’t interact with her or-”

Whitebeard laughed, his jolly expression returning at the absurdity of Ace’s comment. “Ace, son. I don’t care what you do in your free time. I don’t care what she does in her free time. My daughter is an adult. She can make her own decisions. I trust her with that ability. If I didn’t, she wouldn’t be my most valuable strategist.”

“Oh.” Ace suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable. He had never read a situation more incorrectly than he had in this moment. “Then what did you want to talk about?”

“My daughter,” Whitebeard said, still chuckling. “She can be…intense. And unfortunately, I believe she may take out some of that intensity on you.”

It was Ace’s turn to be confused. “Why?”

“Well…” Whitebeard’s eyes flicked towards the door nervously. “I promised her the second division commander spot before she left. But clearly, that’s been filled since she’s been gone.”

“Oh!” Ace said. “I can step do-”

“No.” Whitebeard's voice was firm and final. “You are the second division commander. But I am placing her under your command.”

Ace’s mouth dropped open. He hadn’t been expecting that. He had expected Whitebeard to keep you as far away from him as possible. “Are you sure?”

“I believe you are most equipped to handle her.”

Ace laughed nervously. “Surely Marco. Or Thatch. Or Izou-”

“Are you not comfortable with it? I’d prefer she stay in division two for a few days to try it out. Would you like me to move her now instead?”

“No!” Ace rushed to say. “I’m honored to take her in my division. She’ll be a major asset.”

Whitebeard chuckled. “And a major pain in the ass at first. Give her some time, as a favor to me.”

Ace gave a nervous smile, unsure what exactly he was signing up for. “Sure, Pops. Anything-”

Suddenly a young woman burst through the door, storming up to his captain. Ace tensed, unsure of who you were or what was about to go down.

“Y/N,” Whitebeard smiled, and Ace could feel himself start to sweat. He hadn’t expected this to all happen so soon. “You’re-”

“You bastard!” You screamed, pulling out a kunai. “You promised!”

Ace could hear the hurt in your voice, and he felt sorry for you. And then he started to feel sorry for himself. You couldn’t be the girl Marco had raved about, the cute girl in pigtails, who would do anything for a piece of chocolate. You couldn’t be the girl who had the skill set of a thousand men.

You were far too rude to be the girl he imagined. Nobody talked to his father like that, especially not some entitled girl who thought it was her birthright.

He threw a knife at your kunai, knocking it out of your hand. When you shot him a glare, he returned one back. He wasn’t going to let you intimidate him so easily.

“Stay out of this, newbie,” you snapped at him. If this was how mad you were about a kunai, he didn’t want to imagine how mad you’d be when you found out about the position.

You reached into your pouch and he lunged at you, grappling your wrists. He wouldn’t let you hurt or even attempt to intimidate his father, the person who saved him and called him his own. You had no idea how selfish you were being or how good you had it, and it made Ace’s blood boil.

“I don’t know who you are,” Ace said, trying his best to sound intimidating. “But you have no right attacking Pops the moment you get on our ship.”

“Stay out of my affairs,” you snarled back.

His grip on you started to feel hot, and for a moment he was afraid he had let his anger get the best of him. And then it began to heat up so much that he had to pull away. You were simply too hot to hold onto.

You gave him a wicked grin of satisfaction, as if you were boasting about your victory in the small battle you momentarily had. But Ace was confused. How had you burned him? Nobody had managed to do that in a long time. Marco and the other commanders had talked about your ability before, but he had assumed it was just another type of fire or heat ability.

And then he remembered something Marco had said. How you had gone up against the lava vice admiral once, and you burned hotter than even him. A volcano fruit, Ace remembered. Your heat far surpassed him.

Oh, the two of you would make an interesting dynamic indeed. He was beginning to see why Pops had placed you under his command now. Ace wanted to know everything about you, and wanted to use you and your ability to his full advantage. He couldn’t wait to see what you could do, and what he could learn from you. He just had to get you on his side.

Which was easier said than done. You weren’t exactly thrilled to meet him.

And then the welcome party happened, and you all were stargazing when you had fallen asleep. He wanted to lay there forever, but Marco had eventually found you all. The first division commander picked you up and began to walk away before he turned back for just a moment.

“You’re going to fall in love with her, aren’t you?” Marco asked.

Ace scoffed in return. “I don’t fall in love.”

“Good,” Marco said. “Because she’ll break your heart.”

“Who’s to say I wouldn’t break hers?”

Marco glared at him, clutching you tighter to his chest. “If you even think about it, I’ll carry you out to sea and drop you in the ocean.”

Ace gave a light laugh, but quickly realized Marco was very serious in his threat. “Noted.”

“I’m serious, Ace,” Marco whispered. “Leave her alone. It won’t end well.”

Of course, he hadn’t listened, he was too captivated by you. After the election of new subordinate captains were solidified, Marco began switching his tune from warnings to encouragement, and Ace grew hopeful that you were interested in him. Marco even encouraged Ace to invite you to a party. But Marco was still clear: just because you needed friends didn’t mean you needed Ace.

And then Ace understood. You were about to lose most of your childhood friends, and you would need a new support system. Still, Ace got his hopes up that maybe you would feel something eventually. But for now, Ace would be okay with friends, as long as you stuck around.

A few nights later, he had really fucked up. He had taken Marco's advice, invited you to the party, and even made a bet with you about going drink for drink. And now, you were curled up against his chest, your skin warm against his. Every time you shifted or stretched, he found himself alert. He couldn’t sleep with you so close to him, his mind racing at one hundred miles per hour. You had wanted to sleep with him. Even if you hadn’t actually wanted to sleep with him, you did feel comfortable enough to fall asleep with him next to you. He didn’t know what to do.

He wanted you. He wanted to be with you. He wanted to only belong to you. He had never felt this way about another person before, but he knew it was good and true and that he was yours. He would find a way to tell you and hope you felt the same way. You had fallen asleep in his arms, after all. That had to count for something.

But the next morning you woke up in an unfamiliar place, and you had made it clear that while you appreciated his gentlemanly actions, you wanted nothing more. And so he held his tongue and went to the meeting he was summoned for, sleeping through the entire thing, wishing he was still in bed. Wishing you were still in his arms.

And then you had been offered a job by your father, one that would take you away from division two. Take you away from him. It took Ace every ounce of self-restraint not to question his captain. Why would he hurt him like this? Why would he let you and Ace get so close, just to take you away?

Instead, he went to you, begging for you to stay in the most vulnerable way he knew how. He would’ve done anything, answered any question if it meant you would stay with him just a little bit longer. The two of you had become friends. That’s how he felt, at least. He wasn’t sure how you felt, but he had to hope. And you stayed. You chose him, and his heart continued to burn only for you.

The subordinate captains’ goodbye party was a testament to your planning skills. It had mostly been for Whitey, but it wouldn’t have been obvious if he didn’t know you. And maybe he didn’t. After all, he didn’t pin you as the kind of girl to make out with just anyone after a game of shots. Not that he cared anyway. You had made it clear you didn’t want more than a professional relationship with him.

And yet, he still felt rather irritated by it all. He found himself receding from the party, deciding to find a quiet place to lean against the railing and stare out to sea in thought. He tried not to think about you, but all he could see was that red-haired boy and your lips smashed together. It should’ve been him there doing 5 shots with you. It should’ve been him getting a victory kiss. Not that little red-haired punk.

“Berry for your thoughts?” Whitey said, leaning on the railing next to Ace.

Ace looked over at her, startled. Whitey hadn’t talked to him since their fallout. She hadn’t even acknowledged his presence. And yet here she was, talking to him. She had to be drunk. It was the only explanation.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Whitey griped, though she wasn’t looking at him. “I know I’ve been shitty. But I’m not here to talk about us. I’m here to talk about you.”

“I actually wanted to find you,” Ace admitted. “I’m sorry about everything I put you through. That wasn’t fair and-”

“I don’t want to hear it.” Whitey let out a deep sigh and then continued. “You’re only apologizing because you know you might never see me again. And while I appreciate the sentiment, I don’t want it.”

“It’s not because you’re leaving,” Ace corrected. “It’s because-”

Ace hesitated. He wasn’t sure he wanted to be this vulnerable with Whitey for multiple reasons. He didn’t want to open old wounds. He didn’t want her passing it on to you. He didn’t want her to laugh.

“Go on,” Whitey said, finally turning at looking at Ace. She didn’t look upset or angry. In fact, she looked like she knew exactly what he was going to say.

“It’s because I know how you feel now,” he confessed. “And it feels really shitty. And I’m sorry.”

“We both wanted different things in that moment,” Whitey said. “I’m sorry for the part I played too.”

Ace shook his head. “You don’t have to apologize.”

“Yeah, I do.” Whitey laughed and took a long drink of her ale. “Hold on to that person that’s making you feel that way, though. She’s really special.”

Ace froze, worried she was going to tease him. But Whitey just gave him a friendly wink and left him alone.

Marco found him a few minutes later. “Commanders and Strategists. Let’s roll.”

Ace frowned. He wasn’t ready to see you again. He was still upset about your public flirtation with someone else. Maybe you were his karma, but he still hated it.

“Come on, lover boy. It’ll be fine.” Marco chuckled, pulling Ace back to the party. He was going to have to face you sooner or later, he knew that.

Luckily, the evening only went up from there.

Less than 24 hours later, the two of you were off on an impromptu mission. It was just the two of you, really. Kala and Mihal were coming too, but you all wouldn’t be together for long.

He would get you all to himself. Away from your father’s watchful gaze, Marco’s interference, and any boy who might have a crush on you. It would just be the two of you.

It had been fun, until women began crowding him, asking for dances. His heart broke a little bit when you told him to dance with them, but he listened. He had come here to spend the night with you, not with these snobby women who were dressed in gowns that were worth more than all the money he ever had as a child. But every time he looked for you, you were there, looking as beautiful and radiant as he had ever seen you.

Then you disappeared, and his heart beat out of his chest as he broke off a dance to search for you. He found you being led away by some pompous asshole who had been staring at you all night, and his stomach churned at the thought of what that man would try to pull once you were alone with him.

He hadn’t meant to make a scene. He was just so upset. He should’ve never left you sitting alone at that table. To hell with all of those women. To hell with everyone here. You were the only one who mattered to him.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered, and the hairs on Ace’s neck stood up.

And then you slapped him. Hard. Like you really, truly meant it. And as you began screaming at him, he slowly realized he would now have to be the decoy.

Some Marines grabbed his arms and hauled him away, but he couldn’t take his eyes from you, burying your face in that horrible man’s coat as you sobbed fake tears.

They set him in a chair and an official sat across from him. Ace had no idea who it was. If you were here, you would’ve been able to tell him his rank, name, weakness, and everything else he needed to know. But you were tucked away somewhere upstairs. Safe, hopefully.

“Listen son,” the man said, and Ace gritted his teeth. The only person who could call him son was Whitebeard, but he kept his mouth shut. The man didn’t seem to notice Ace’s seething rage, thankfully, and he continued. “I’m sure there was just a miscommunication. Why don’t you give me your commanding officer and we’ll get it all sorted out.”

“Commanding officer?” Ace questioned. He didn’t know any names. How could he have forgotten to do this? He should’ve paid more attention as you were pointing people out.

“And your name and rank.”

Ace hadn’t thought of any of those things. He hadn’t expected you all to get caught. Or at least, he had expected you to do all the lying for him.

“Kaclin McGrought, Captain,” Ace said. It was the first thing that came to his mind. “My Commanding officer is…”

Shit. Why could he only think of Garp? That would give him away immediately. Plus, Garp was here. They could just go ask him, and his cover would immediately be blown.

“My commanding officer is Clemence,” Ace tried to sound confident, like he knew exactly what he was talking about.

“Clemence?”

“From the East Blue?” Ace asked, raising his eyebrow. “Sir Clemence the Second? Surely you know him?”

The man nodded at a pair of lieutenants by the door, and they swiftly exited the room. Ace didn’t have a good feeling about any of this. He could only hope they weren’t heading to find and capture you. He could only hope you had come up with a better cover story.

A few minutes later, one of the lieutenants came back and bent down to whisper something in his interrogator's ear.

“So McGrought…” The man stared at Ace long and hard, and he knew he had been caught. “You and your commander don’t seem to exist. Why don’t you tell us who you really are?”

Ace swallowed, trying to clear the lump in his throat. He wasn’t so nervous for himself, but he hated not knowing about your status. “Who I really am?”

One good thing would come out of this, at least. The Navy would know his name now. At least they would know his power, and his position. He wouldn’t be some “failed rookie” amongst their conversations.

“Son-”

“Portgas D. Ace, Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates.” Ace erupted into flames, and most of the people took a few steps back from the heat. “And don't call me son.”

With that, he threw off his shirt, turned, and jumped out the stained glass window. He wanted the last thing they saw to be his father’s symbol.

As he burst through the window, he only had one thought on his mind: he had to get to you. He had to make sure you were okay.

That was the first and last time Ace underestimated your strategy ability. Even as you all spoke to his grandfather, even as you raced through the woods and spent the night in a borrowed house, he couldn’t help but admire just how brilliant you were.

As the two of you walked through the town and snuck onto the beach, as you changed your plan on a dime and found a way to make it work, as you taunted a Vice Admiral, he couldn’t help but smile giddily, knowing you were his. And he was yours.

He would have to tell Whitebeard, of course. He should’ve been more concerned about his fate, but he felt invincible, watching you as you slept on the boat ride back to the ship. You were together. Nothing could stop him now.

Standing in front of Whitebeard was a much different feeling. But he needed to tell him. Not just because it was protocol, but because Whitebeard was one of the few men Ace respected in this world. He deserved to know.

“We’re dating.” He couldn’t bring himself to look at either of your faces when he spoke the words. He didn’t want to see his initial reaction, and he didn’t want to see your wrath.

Whitebeard sent you out immediately, which was probably the best outcome. Ace could probably handle one angry Newgate. But there was no way he’d survive two of you angry at him.

Ace could feel Whitebeard’s eyes on him, but he refused to look back. He was afraid of the disappointment he’d see if he looked.

He stared at his feet instead. “I like her quite a lot, Pops. I’ve never felt like this before.”

“Ace. Son. Look at me.”

Ace looked up, and was shocked to find Whitebeard staring at him with a glimmer in his eye. He looked…proud? No, that couldn’t be. Ace was so certain that he would only be met with pushback and disgrace.

“I told you when she first got here,” Whitebeard smiled. “My daughter makes her own decisions. She’s old enough to do that, and I’ll respect whatever decisions she makes.”

Ace couldn’t find the words he wanted to express. A part of him wanted to cry. A part of him wanted to ask a hundred questions.

“I’ll never hurt her,” Ace swore. “I’ll always protect her, I swear.”

Whitebeard chuckled. “You can’t promise both of those things in the same breath, son. So be careful with your words. Because she will hold you to them. She never forgets a promise. So don’t go making promises you can’t keep.”

“Yes sir,” Ace said, silently cursing himself for promising such grandiose things. “I will keep that in mind.”

“There’s one thing I’d like you to avoid mentioning to her, though. Just for the time being.”

“Of course, Pops! Anything!”

Whitebeard hummed and scratched at his mustache. It was clear he didn’t like what he was about to request, but it had to be done.

“Don’t tell her about the circumstances around your birth.”

Ace blinked. He was about to respond, but Whitebeard continued. “If it comes up naturally, you can tell her about it. But don’t tell her unless she asks.”

“Sure, Pops,” Ace said. A piece of him was relieved he had a reason to keep that information from you. He knew you didn’t like Roger much, and he didn’t want your opinion of him scarred by his father’s legacy. “Can I ask why?”

“It’s dangerous for anyone who knows of your heritage. And the more people who know, the more likely it is to get to the Navy. I trust my daughter of course, but I’d rather not put her at an unnecessary risk.”

“Of course,” Ace agreed. “That’s the last thing I want. I just want her safe. And I promise to do everything in my power to keep her from harm."

Whitebeard nodded. “Very well. Now, if we could go over the mission, I’d like a full report of last night.”

Ace’s brow knitted in confusion, and he glanced back at the door. “Is that really all? You don’t want to-”

“I told you, son. I trust my daughter. Whatever decisions she’s making, she’s thought of every possibility and every outcome. I’m not going to question my best strategist about her personal life.” Whitebeard let out a laugh. “But she does tend to fabricate awkward events, and she does it very well. Which is why she’s waiting on the deck and you’re in here. So, a full report of last night.”

Ace suddenly realized what a full report would mean. His cheeks began to burn, and Whitebeard let out a roaring laugh. “See, Ace? I knew you were the right man for the job. Let’s hear it.”

The only thing that got Ace through that report was the thought of you on the other side of the door, and the embrace he could finally give you once he got out.

Months went by, and you and Ace got closer every second you were together. You moved in with him in less than a month, having your own dresser and your own decorations sprinkled throughout the room soon after. He helped you hang up the flowers he had handcrafted for you, which felt like a lifetime ago, and he cleared off his desk so you had a place to work.

The two of you got a cat, and though Jinx didn’t take much of a liking to you, the three of you were your own little strange form of a family. The Whitebeard Pirates were still his family of course, but you and Jinx were the family he had chosen to be his. The family he cared for so deeply, the people he could never bear to lose. He hated being away from you, and he never got tired of you being around. Where others found you brash and intense, he found you endearing and confident.

You were in the crow’s nest, staring at the night sky when he realized it.

“I love you.”

You blinked, unsure if you had heard him correctly. You turned your head to face him, but he was still staring at the stars.

“Me?”

Ace gave a soft chuckle and then turned his head to look at you. His dark eyes reflected the stars shining above you, and you swore you could see the universe in his eyes.

“Who else would I be talking to?”

“You love me?”

A smile danced across his lips. “I love you.”

You scowled at him. “No you don’t.”

“I do.”

“Ace-“

“I know it’s love because I think about you all the time. Every time I see you, I smile and I swear my heart feels like it’s going to burst. The moment you leave I already start to miss you. When you wake up before me and slip out of bed to get coffee, I wake up in a panic, thinking you were just a dream. Because I swear you’re too good to be real. I love you because you’re the one person who I know I can always go to, no matter what, and I know you’ll help me in the way I need. Even if I don’t know how to help myself, you know how to because you know me.”

“Oh.” He had given a pretty solid argument, but you had felt all those things too. You had never felt them with anyone else, though. Just Ace.

Sometimes, you missed him so much your chest hurt. He was always the first person you searched for in a room. He was the person you looked to when you laughed, the person you wanted to always be near.

“I love you too, I think.”

Ace laughed. “You think?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never been in love before.” His confession had been so poetic. Yours felt embarrassingly weak as a follow-up.

“Me neither,” Ace admitted. “That’s how I know.”

If that was the case, his words made you certain now. Your heart quickened at the thought of confessing. You had already done it once, but the words held more weight now that you knew.

Your fingers found his, quickly interlacing with one another. You took a deep breath, still staring into his starry eyes.

“Then yeah, I love you. Because nobody has ever made me feel quite so happy with life as you do, Portgas D. Ace. Nobody has ever made me smile so early in the morning, or made me excited to go to bed. Nobody has ever made my life so infinitely better that I think I would probably die without them. Nobody has ever made me feel this way. Nobody but you.”

You would die for him. And you knew he would do the same. It wasn’t fair, but it was the way you were now. Every decision you made was to keep him alive. And every decision he made was to do the same for you.

But in a pirate world, death was always around the corner. It wasn’t a matter of if, but when. And every time you thought about the possibility of him being caught or killed, it made you physically nauseous.

Little did you know, that possibility would become a reality much sooner than either of you could have ever expected.

Tag list! @taeyoge @teiza @tojislawyer @trafalgardnami @bloopbopsblog @dancingnewcat @dxestyi @flooofity @nyxthedragon01 @deadsnothere @h-rhodes1598 @morgyyyyyyy @trafalgardvivi @fiestynatureweeb @frogpogjoghurt @beepboopcowboy @ms-portgas @luvyallbabes @aikochan4859 @zuchkaa @saybeyonce @stray-npc @kitsunechan707

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#one piece #one piece imagine #one piece scenario #one piece x reader #one piece x you #portgas ace x you #portgas ace x reader #portgas d ace x reader #ace x y/n #ace x reader #portgas d ace #portgas d. ace #cozage #✧˚ace✧˚

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rose-riot-johnson · 4 months ago

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Hi Tumblr Peeps😁 For those who have read the Head Cannon(?) fanfic with Shanks, Sanji, and Ace from One Piece and read a comment or so involving Luffy, I have decided to finally write something similar about Luffy as I did about Shanks, Sanji, and Ace, so I'm honestly up to working on that type of idea about Luffy🏴‍☠️😁👍

*Credits to @artzyfrog for the idea of Luffy and any other part of the fanfic ideas inside this fanfic✏️✍️📝👩‍💻

*This fanfic contains 1 or more long paragraphs😅

🏴‍☠️Monkey D. Luffy's Reaction To His Female S/O Captain, (Female Reader) Being Betrayed By Someone Who Was One Of Her Crewmates🏴‍☠️(Monkey D. Luffy x Female Reader)

Genres: Angst To Comfort and Head Cannon(?) (Warning⚠️: Trigger Warning (Mentions Of Murder) and Language)

*After you (and your remaining crewmates who are still alive) found Luffy and the rest of the members of the Strawhats, when you were crying on his right shoulder, as one (or more) of your surviving crewmates explained about the traitor turning out one of your crewmates who you truly thought was your friend, as the unexpected traitor killing most of your crew and what the traitor said to you while setting your pirate ship on fire, before the traitor left the ship (thinking there would be no survivor), Luffy was beyond pissed. Luffy would scream, "Are you fucken kidding me?! This jerk betrayed (Female Reader Name) and the rest of you like that! She thought (traitor name) was her friend, then he turns around to pull this crap on all of you, like this and to never care about her nor anyone else except himself! I'm going to make him wish that he never...", before the rest of the Strawhats, your surviving crewmates, and you convinced Luffy not to go after the traitor, until after you and the rest of your crew are healed. Not just physically, however in a well-being sense in your case.

*You and your surviving crewmates went on "The Sunny" with Luffy and the rest of the Strawhats, Luffy (and your surviving crewmates) gave Tony Tony Chopper strict orders to take care of your wounds first. It's not just because you're the captain of your crew members who survived and it's not just, because your Luffy's s/o, however the main reason why these strict orders were given to Chopper, because you needed immediate emergency treatment due to you being the survivor who has tooken the worse damage and your well-being has also been hurting, as well. After Chopper has tooken cared of your wounds, Luffy would immediately take you to his room, so he can help you with your well-being.

*Despite of you being Luffy's s/o, he's going to be a little strict with you, however he's only being a little strict with you, because he cares about you, especially about your well-being, so he's going to give you a push, so you can have a self-care routine. At times when you feel down, he will be honest with you and give you reasons to on why it's not your fault you and the rest of your crew were betrayed, tell you that it's not you and it's the ex traitor crewmate, and will say things, such as ,"There's no need to beat yourself over what that asshole did to you... You have been there for (traitor name) whenever he needed you the most, as his captain, then he decides to blindside you and the rest of your crew, when he wanted to be done, when he got an opportunity, and to convince you to think very low about yourself... You and your crew didn't deserve to go through what he put you through...", before he would wrap his right arm around your shoulders, as he would say, "Everything will be okay (Female Reader Name)...", as he then would sometimes kiss you on your left side of your facial cheeks. Not that he would care what anyone would think of him, if anyone did see Luffy kiss, however he's just not usually affectionate, even though he will give you a little affection, like this, occasionally.

*Once all of the wounds of the surviving members of your crew (especially your wounds) more than completey healed up and your well-being is beyond good, as new (thanks to Tony Tony Chopper with the wounds healing and thanks to Luffy pertaining your well-being), no one would talk him out of beating up the ex crewmate who betrayed the rest of your crew, since he only agreed to not go after (traitor name), until you and the rest of your crew were healed. After you and your who crew were tooken cared of the news pertaining (traitor name) has been spreading around, especially to the point the Marines are after him, just as well as other pirate crews are. Both you and Luffy would, then agree that this would be the perfect opportunity to hunt (traitor name) down, when you and Luffy see him in that possible location, considering that Luffy still wants to take his frustrations out on (traitor name), due to loosing his bananas over hearing about what the ex crew member did to you and the rest of your crew.

🏴‍☠️The End🏴‍☠️

I hope you had fun reading the fanfic my Tumblr Peeps😁👍As for you artzyfrog, I hope you enjoyed this Luffy fanfic, as well😃👍I will admit it did took me a while to start on the fanfic(😅), however I decided today would definitely be the day I complete this Luffy fanfic😁👍Honestly, I have been wanting to write about Luffy for a while, however I'm glad you've given me the idea, pertaining writing about Luffy, as the starring character for the 1st time ever, so it was nice to write about him and thank you for the ideas for a Luffy fanfic🏴‍☠️😃👍

#rose riot writings #rose riot johnson #fanfic written by rose riot johnson #credits for any ideas for this fanfic goes to artzyfrog✏️✍️📝👩‍💻#monkey d. luffy #monkey d. luffy x reader #luffy x you #luffy x reader #tw mentions of murder #angst to comfort #luffy imagine #one piece imagine

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blitheringmcgonagall · 1 year ago

Note

The most annoying part of the canon v fanon Sirius debate is that canon Sirius never had a romantic partner but people will insist that he does. I’ve seen bullying over this and that’s when the debate stops being a bit of fun y’know?

I think that we need to let people come up with their own ideas! Bullying is never okay. As I previously mentioned, while we get a reasonable amount of backstory regarding Sirius, he’s most definitely NOT the main character in the series.

Just because we don’t get information about his love life, or lack thereof, doesn’t prove or disprove what his sexual orientation was and whether or not he was interested in dating/sex etc?

JKR clearly says that canon Sirius is not gay for Remus. She more or less invented Remadora to prove this point as apparently lots of HP fans were convinced Wolfstar was canon (but it being the 1990s etc, they thought that she couldn’t say it openly) and she wasn’t happy about it.

I genuinely think all options can be defended:

Asexuality/ace spectrum/Grey-A (canon says he had no interest in girls/boys looking at him and no GF/BF is mentioned in the books)

Gay (for RJL - the whole “embraced like bros, Lie Low At Lupin’s, 40 line stare, buying presents together” etc)

Straight (he’s got posters of muggle women and motorbikes on his wall)

Bi/pan (both of the last two)

Personally I’ve read really excellent ace!Sirius and Blackinnon fics. And as you probably know, I personally think of Wolfstar as canon. @plecotusauritus explains it really well in a humerous post:

Plus, they are the star (brightest star Sirius) and moon (Moony) in canon. And JKR herself confirmed lycanthropy = equivalent of AIDS in 1980s etc (yeah I know, it’s not great and in fact terrible/horrible comparison when you add Greyback etc; but anyway the AIDS link unwittingly despite herself gave Remus a non-straight background, in fact the way she wrote Remus and Sirius had the director assume Wolfstar was canon!)

Having said all that, in canon, while the classmate was ogling Sirius, he was completely oblivious of her interest as he was too busy staring at James Potter. Ahem. Make of that what you will…!

I completely respect you thinking he never had a romantic partner. Who knows? JKR says that he was too busy playing hard/messing with his bros on his flying motorbike and fighting a war to want any serious relationship. She doesn’t confirm did he have one night stands or other types of encounters. And most people at this stage don’t really care what JKR thinks of Sirius.

The whole point of fandom and shipping and fanfics is to imagine/reimagine all the massive gaps in our knowledge of a character. It’s ok not to stick to the canon info, otherwise the fics we read would be extremely limited, short, and all very similar and boring after a while. I personally prefer when a character’s personality isn’t changed completely (ie when they retain the features that make them recognisable from the original story). But I am very happy to alter other aspects of them - like their race, colour, sexuality, religion etc. Also if you are writing a comedic piece, the characters will not be written the same way as when you write a more dramatic/in depth/ Angsty fic or a very fluffy one?

Everyone should feel free to use their imagination and also not worry about people bullying them for their alternative views. We should all be secure enough in our views that we don’t feel the need to bully others who disagree with us. I’m sorry if that’s happened to you or to people you know 💗💗💗💗💗💗

#janey mac #sirius black #the amount of asks I’m getting is bonkers but also love it!#ask away!#bullying will not be tolerated #I ship Wolfstar 🥰🥰🥰🥰#but ship and let ship #kindness is underrated

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femininetea · 4 years ago

Text

RWBY Parallels:

Qrow and Winter

Spoilers for RWBY Volume 8 Finale

Now with V8Ch14, I finally have most puzzle pieces to make a post about these two. This post is up to interpretation so whether you view this in a shipping way or from a character plot perspective is all up to you. Stay kind. <3

Some parallels are obvious and don't need further explanation, for others I will go more into depth. I'm not sure if RWBY is doing this on purpose but I do hope that these parallels will matter at some point for character growth.

Both are the right hand to their head masters, trusting their judgement with their life

They were trained and put into their positions by their head masters themselves. Qrow who was a student at Beacon and became part of Ozpins inner circle. And Winter who was a student at Atlas, has the 2nd highest rank in the military and is Ironwoods right hand

-> note that we met Lionheart and he did not have anyone close in that position who'd be his 'Qrow' or 'Winter'

Both grew up in emotionally unstable environments with no proper image of family and were expected to become independent early in their childhood. Qrow who grew up with the bandits and Winter who grew up in the abusive Schnee household

They're related to the main cast and are their mentors (Qrow - Ruby/Winter - Weiss)

Qrow is like a 2nd father figure to Ruby and Winter like a mother figure to Weiss

They take their roles as mentors, caretakers and family figures and apply it to people around them. Qrow who took care of the main cast from V4 - V6 and Winter who acts like a big sister to Penny and is overprotective of people who are younger than her (like Marrow)

They're both emotionally distant and only get warm around their younger family members but also hide their true personal feelings in order to protect them

Both dealt with alcoholism, Qrow who is a former alcoholic and Winter who grew up with an alcoholic mother

They're cut of from their team. STRQ fell apart and Winter was in a former team since it's the norm for the academy. Penny told us in V7 that' she's not part of a team anymore since she works for the military and that the general told her "that she doesn't have time for friends", the same probably applies to Winter

They both are connected to magic (Qrow-> can turn into a bird, Winter - > Winter Maiden)

Ozpin and Ironwood both manipulated them. Ozpin didn't trust Qrow enough and sent him off to deadly missions and kept him in the dark. While Ironwood didn't keep secrets from Winter, her position in the military and Ironwoods knowledge of her past family life put her into a state where she is selfless and doesn't care about her life or doesn't let her personal feelings get in the way. She gets shut up by Ironwood when speaking her mind in certain situations (V3 Ozpins office, V7 Jacques Dining Table, V8 before Emerald disguised as Penny arrives)

They got both sent to deadly missions (for Winter it was in Mistral from V4-v5 and the planned bomb for the whale)

They're almost emotionally dependent on their guardians. Qrow felt like Ozpin finally gave him a purpose and a place to be. Similar to Winter where she found a father figure and a place where she felt like she could do some real good for the world.

After Qrow building up walls to not open up to people because of his semblance and Winter who was taught to keep her emotions shut her whole life, they lost their first and only friend (not counting former team members) tragically

Both also carry something that reminds them of their friends. Qrow has Clovers Pin and Winter holds the Maiden Powers

Their friends "died" in their arms/saw them before they faded

They both left (abusive) family members behind (Qrow - Raven / Winter - Parents)

They were both pretty skilled for their age (Qrow who got into the academy without going to a school beforehand and Winter's high rank for her mid-20's age)

Qrow and Winter were lied to/betrayed/dissapointed by their guardians. Ozpin hiding everything from everyone and then leaving, Ironwood giving into his paranoia and becoming controlling and threatening towards Winter (shooting people in front of her, pressuring her into staying with him, shutting her off and not listening to her, leaving his morals behind that she admired him for aka attempting to blow up Mantle, basically V8)

Manipulated and groomed into getting power to carry out dangerous jobs for them (Qrow getting turned into a bird, Winter getting the Maiden Powers)

Seeing their former home fall (Fall of Atlas and Beacon Academy)

Breaking down upon realization of what was done to them

(Qrow getting deeper into his alcoholism, Winter having an emotional breakdown and yes I don't think that Weiss was the only trigger for her to cry out. Her father figure got pushed into destructive paranoia who attempted to kill her , her best and only friend got murdered and her sister pushed into the void by the same person who again is responsible for everything that happened to her by influencing her most important guardian - and all of that within a few moments "You are going to pay - for everything that you've done" )

losing their younger family members

blaming themselves for what happens to their surroundings (Qrow with his bad luck and Winter not being able to save Weiss/anyone in the void)

Almost died (while protecting people they care about)

They have a pretty low self image and don't see themselves as deserving of anything. Winter told Penny that she doesn't deserve the powers and was just a machine. Qrow often deflects compliments and Clover even called him out on that.

If I missed any, feel free to add! So what do I think about this? Well at first there is more to them that was established but not continued. It was shown in V3 that they knew each other personally (on a 1st name basis) and had some kind of history but it didn't get addressed again after that.

Them barely interacting in V7 made me question if their build up was forgotten but on the other hand I think a lot of character interactions got the short end in V7 especially with the story. But what V7 and V8 gave us was more insight on Winter and with the fall of Ironwood and Atlas, these parallels became even clearer.

Now with Weiss and Ruby gone, I think there is the chance for the character's, especially Winter who also lost Penny and Ironwood, to step out of their character box. Winter was shown to be more than just an older sister and soldier. Now with her destiny in her hand but, at a painful cost, where does that lead her?

I think everyone knows already that V9 is going to be a detour and I don't think that it's going to be a split up like V4 but I think it could be similar to V8. It could be that Winter takes over the caretaker role like Qrow did in V4-V6. I hope it doesn't take long for him, Robyn and the Ace Ops to arrive. They still don't know what happened and I think they should work together with the Happy Huntresses in Vacuo and could perfectly function as minor characters and somewhat ending their (Happy Huntresses and Ace Ops) arc for now.

Overall I hope that we get to see Qrow and Winter grieve. They deserve it and Winter who's never been this emotional within one episode deserves to not hide it anymore. She'll have to struggle with her family and I just want her to have somebody to talk to who can relate. And after seeing all these parallels I think Qrow would be perfect for that matter and that build up from V3 would go somewhere.

Thank you for reading 💞 what do you think?💞

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holykillercake · 4 years ago

Text

One Year

pairing: Zoro x Reader

word count: 2k

summary: No summary this time. I´ll just say this ¨Bartholomew Kuma and Sabaody¨. Read at your own risk. Seriously, ¨KUMA AND SABAODY¨, do you understand?

highlight: ¨Everyone did their best, but no one could have done better.¨

warnings: angst with happy ending; Sabaody Archipelago spoilers (?)

notes: Hey guys! This was a request from @roronoatrash in which ¨Zoro who has 0 sense of direction seemed to always find his way back to is s/o, and his s/o only.¨. I really hope you like it!💚 This is also the first time I write a Devil Fruit user, so I'm considering a sequel to develop the character and add more humor.

𝕷𝖊𝖆𝖛𝖊 𝖈𝖔𝖒𝖒𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖘, 𝖗𝖊𝖖𝖚𝖊𝖘𝖙𝖘, 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖑𝖔𝖛𝖊!

It was a cloudy and melancholic day in the New World. The men on board were leisurely enjoying their afternoon; some drinking, some napping, some eating. The air was humid and cold, and the tides were strangely calm. No one seemed to care. After all, that was the New World.

¨Boss!¨ the lookout shouted from the crow's nest ¨Something is falling from the sky! It´s going to land on deck!¨

All men tilted their heads to look at the sky, watching a tiny black spot become bigger and more recognizable.

¨Is that what I think it is?¨ the captain asked himself, not believing his eyes.

¨Boss, is that a girl?¨

¨Yep, I think so.¨

They stood still watching what they suspected was a girl fall from the skies. The red-haired took a quick glimpse at his first-mate and officers, and since no one moved, he felt safe to assume that that was not a threat. Mainly because whatever was falling towards the ship looked dead already.

The body fell through the main deck and went straight to the lower level of the ship. The captain and his officers stood around the hole on the wooden floor, observing the unconscious and injured body of a girl.

¨I´ve seen some crazy things rain around here... but this is new.¨ he spoke.

They were ready to have someone dispose of the dead body when the girl opened her eyes, putting herself on her shaky legs. Blood dripped from her eyebrows and nose, and she had bruises all over. Her eyes wandered around as if she was looking for something.

¨Z-Zoro...¨ she spoke when her teary eyes met the captain´s ¨I-I need to find Zoro.¨

That was all she said before falling on her knees and collapsing.

</>

Almost a year has passed since the tragedy in Sabaody Archipelago. A year passed since you were defeated in the fight against the marine force. Your gashes closed, and your bruises healed, but there was a wound that would not go away, even after one year.

So much had happened since that day. Luffy had broken into Impel Down, fought in the Paramount War, and lost his brother, Ace. A few days later you received the hidden message he had left you, saying that you were no longer going to meet in Sabaody in three days but in two years.

It took you a while to understand the situation you and the rest of the Strawhats were in, and it took you even more to let go of your selfishness and trust them. The guilt for not being strong enough to protect yourself and your comrades ate you alive during the first weeks, but then you considered how they must be feeling too. No one could have done better.

Everyone did their best, but no one could have done better.

For one year, whenever a News Coo flew by to deliver a newspaper, you would run and grab it before anyone did, hoping to see another message from your friends. But the status of your captain was the only one you knew so far. You knew he was training with Rayleigh-san, and this whole two years thing should have been his idea.

When Bartholomeu Kuma used his Devil Fruit powers on you, you ended up landing on the ship of the Red Hair Pirates. They would always tell you how you rained on their Red Force and broke the deck floor. They said you were looking for someone, and during your stay in the infirmary, you would always call for the same person.

For months nightmares had you waking up in the middle of the night panting and crying. The same one, torturing you in an infinite and merciless loop.

Every detail, color, and noise. Everything was so precise and clear in your head.

When he fought still injured from the last encounter with the Shichibukai; when he stood up and faced the Warlord fearlessly. Even with the damages caused by Kizaru and the Pacifistas, he stood up.

And maybe your eyes fooled you, maybe your exhausted body played a sick trick on you because he was there until he wasn´t.

Right in front of your eyes.

His cropped green hair and tanned skin, the vibrant red and white striped shirt, the scar across his chest, the haramaki, and the swords. Gone, simple as that.

But after all the training that you had with the Red Hair Pirates, you seemed more in peace with yourself. After one year, the nightmares would bother you only every once in a while. You were not prepared for the New World before, maybe still aren´t, but you will get there.

And they made everything easier. It was no mystery why Luffy liked them so much. Whenever you were not engaged in a fight or some other Emperor crap, those guys were incredibly light-spirited. And the moment they realized you were part of Luffy´s crew they treated your wounds and welcomed you onboard.

Shanks agreed to have his men training you, but he made very clear that no one would babysit you, so it was ¨keep up or keep out.¨. You spent most of your time with Yassop, Benn, or Roux, for they were the best in the abilities you exercised.

Inside the Strawhats you were a stealth agent, mostly because of your Devil Fruit, the Nagi Nagi no Mi, once possessed by a Marine Commander. Another Supernova, the Surgeon of Death Trafalgar Law had told you that before shit broke in Sabaody.

You used that combined with your fighting skills to breach the enemy´s first line of defense before they saw you coming. Usually, Usopp would assist you with the sniper training, trade he ¨learned from a friend¨, Sogeking.

His father was an extraordinary sniper, and he used the same kind of firearms as you, differently than Usopp´s slingshot. Benn´s combat skills were remarkable, and Roux was exceptionally fast for a man his size. You haven´t had a lot of opportunities to fight the Red Hair himself, though you had a strong will, his Haki was something you have never seen before.

¨We´re going to a bar, kid. You´re coming?¨ Benn asked you with his cigarette on his lips.

You pondered a little over his invitation but decided to decline it. ¨Thanks, Benn, but I´m keeping a low profile tonight.¨ He nodded and smiled, turning to follow his crewmates ¨Don´t drink too much, we have training tomorrow!¨

The first mate laughed shortly and spoke without looking at you ¨Roger that, kid.¨

You walked the opposite way, wandering between the vegetables and gimmicks tents, feeling the kind sunset kiss your skin. There was some music playing, kids running around with ice cream in their hands, laughing loudly and happily. Marketers were announcing their prices, housewives were thinking about delicious recipes to prepare for their families, and couples would sit together around the font, swearing love to each other.

Every day was like that. The citizens would wish their neighbors ¨good morning¨ from their windows; bakers would open the doors early, letting the delightful smell of fresh bread wake up those who slept in.

How could you, in the middle of all that happiness, feel so sad and lost?

You sighed and made a route change. Maybe you needed a little bit of booze.

The island where Shanks had decided to dock was in the Grand Line, a place where they were known and welcomed. So you knew where they were, and it would be a short walk to get there.

¨Y/N?¨

You turned automatically, thinking that a crew member had gotten lost and was looking for his captain - or boss, how he likes to be called.

But when you saw the man standing in front of you, everything stopped. The music, the kids, and the love promises.

At some point, you started to cry and hyperventilate, believing you were in another nightmare, and you would have to go through that day all over again. Your lover carried pain in his eyes as well, like his fears were the same as yours.

Those minutes you stared at each other felt like hours while you kept every detail of him in your memory. His hair was slightly longer, and his complexion was paler, even with the sunset painting his skin.

¨Z-Zoro...¨ you whispered shakily.

He gave a step forward ¨Y/N... it´s you...¨

You ran in his direction as soon as your name fell out of his mouth. Your arms embraced his neck, and your legs gave up when he held you tight against his body, whispering comforting words as you broke into tears.

¨I...¨ nothing but sobs came out.

¨I know... me too.¨ he fondled your hair and hid his face in the curve of your neck. And there stood the both of you, not wanting to let the other go.

</>

¨How did you know I was here?¨ you asked and he blushed a little.

¨I didn´t... I had to buy stuff for the castle, and I got lost.¨ a loud laugh came out of your mouth. It was so obvious, how didn´t you guess that?

¨They didn´t give you a log pose?¨

¨They did, but I took a nap and when I woke up, I was here.¨

You spent the rest of the day cuddling on the beach sand. Zoro was laying on his back, and you were resting on his chest. You had one year worth of conversation to catch up on, and neither of you rushed to do so. He told you about Mihawk, the creepy island in which the only native habitants were copycat human drills, the boat he destroyed, and even how he begged the Warlord to train him.

The sun had started to hide behind the sea, and the warm sand was cooling down. The sound of the waves crashing on the shore together with the salty breeze made you question if you had died at some point, and that was heaven.

¨You´re paler.¨ he chuckled.

¨It´s not very sunny where I´m living.¨

¨Hm...¨ you hummed ¨And how long did you take to figure out Luffy´s message?¨

¨Oh...¨ he thought for a second ¨ I knew right away.¨ you giggled and doodled on his chest with your finger.

You felt his chest go up and down as he let out a sigh.

¨I missed you, Y/N.¨ he hugged you tighter.

¨I missed you too.¨ you stayed in silence for a few minutes ¨Anyway, when are you setting sail again?¨ You asked him softly, and he tensed up. ¨I know... ¨ your lips began to tremble ¨ I don´t want to go either, but what happened in Sabaody... I don´t want that to happen ever again.¨ you bit your lip as tears started to roll on your cheeks.

He wiped the tears with his fingers and pulled you closer. None of you wanted to part ways again, but not only those were your captain´s order that was your future. If something like that happens again in the New World, a two-year separation would be the best scenario possible.

¨It won´t. I promise.¨

When the night came, you decided to stay on the beach and talked until you fell asleep under the stars. The best sleep you´ve had in a long time. No nightmares, no agony, and no pain. Just the warmth and peace you missed so much.

On the following morning, you helped him get the provisions for Mihawk´s castle. You toured around the city holding hands and joking, kinda like the couples sitting by the font, enjoying every second you had before he left.

If he didn´t get lost trying to go back to Kuraigana Island, it would be a quick trip. You assisted him with the bags and walked him to his boat. Your heart ached to say goodbye to him, but you had to. The circumstances were bigger than the two of you.

¨I love you, Zoro.¨ you hugged him and tried not to cry again.

¨I love you more, Y/N.¨

¨Careful with the naps, ok?¨ he chuckled and nodded ¨One year. We´ll meet again in one year.¨

¨Wait for me. I´ll go get you, and we´ll return to Sabaody together.¨

¨But how will you know where I will be?¨

¨It doesn´t matter where you´ll be. I´ll always find you.¨

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heartless-symphony · 4 years ago

Text

Ace Cream - Ace!Spencer x Ace!Fem!Reader

Hi ! I had this idea stuck in my head for a moment. I’m not ace, nor aro, so this might not be perfect but i really think Spencer would be really intersting (even more than he is, i mean) if he was ace. It would be nice to have a representation!!

Thanks to my two proof readers !!

MASTERLIST

~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~ ~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~

Ace Cream

Ship : Ace!Spencer Reid x Ace!Fem!Reader

Type : Some fluffy fluff

Warning : maybe some curse words, talk about sex and maybe murder ??

~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~ ~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~

Your eyes were wandering between the doors and the buttons of the elevator, your fingers tapping the side of your thighs in a fast rhythm. Your other hand anxiously played with the strap of your bag, lifting it closer to you. You took a shaky breath, trying to focus on something else. You remembered clearly how you had gotten here. Since you were young, you had been interested in police work and criminals, which kind of scared your family. As soon as you could, you joined the police unit of your city, using your free time to learn more and more, always more. You were never tired of learning. After spending days and nights working as a low-rank cop, you were finally promoted to detective, and you worked even harder, hoping to get captain one day. However, after a pretty hard murder case, you had received a letter. You were invited to pass the tests and training at the FBI after your “astounding” work. You had almost jumped in happiness. Since you had spent most of your life traveling, following your father in different countries, you had learned a lot of languages, a lot of different cultures, and it was one of the assets helping you to join the FBI. You were soon recommended to join the BAU, which you happily did. You had always admired the team and their work, using the little knowledge they shared about profiling for your own work. You had been waiting a long time to finally get where you were, and the day had finally arrived.

You tried to ignore your anxiety, closing your eyes to breathe. Your heart almost stopped as the doors opened, and you slowly walked out, looking around. Here you were, standing in front of the doors leading to the BAU bullpen. Through the glass door, you could see a whole lot of people working, and you bit your lip, trying to contain your excitation. Near the door were standing two men, and you shyly took a step forward. Agent Hotchner, in a simple black suit, was holding a file, reading through it, as a young man stood beside him, talking to him about what you guessed was a case. You recognized Agent Hotchner from the TV, but he was also the one you had talked to as soon as you got invited to the BAU. As for the other man, you could only remember him from all the interviews and press conferences they gave. The young man with curly hair and bright hazel eyes was no one else than the famous Dr Spencer Reid, who couldn’t be much older than you. You knew you were one of the youngest FBI agents, and you knew he was one of them too.

As you took another step forward, both agents glanced at you, stopping mid-conversation. Agent Hotchner sent you a little smile, before closing the case file.

“Agent Y/L/N, this is Dr. Spencer Reid. I’ll introduce you to the other. This is your first case, agent. Be prepared.”

You shyly waved at Spencer, before nodding. Hotch immediately started walking to the conference room, and the young boy gently gestured at you to follow him, letting you go first. You blushed a bit and thanked him with a nod, rushing behind Hotch, Spencer right on your tail. You walked in the room, all eyes falling on you, and you sent a shy waves toward everyone. You already knew them, obviously, but they didn’t know you. You hesitantly sat down next to Spencer, who seemed to have pulled the chair out just for you, but looked away very quickly.

“Team, meet Agent Y/N Y/L/N. She will be the new asset to the team from now on. You’ll have all the time to learn about her on the jet. Garcia, the case.”

Very quickly, the team accepted you as one of theirs. Emily, JJ and Penelope never forgot to invite you at one of their girl’s nights, you shared recipes with Rossi – he loved talking Italian with you –, Hotch treated you like a daughter and you always had fun with Morgan. The only one who seemed to avoid you was Spencer. When you did talk, you always had fun, sharing facts, teaching each other stuff. However, he often stopped talking and suddenly looked away, almost ignoring you for the rest of the day. You didn’t understand the way he acted with you.

Since the day he first saw you, Spencer knew he was doomed. He immediately liked you, your knowledge, the fact that you always carried a notebook full of quote and colorful pencils, the smiles you gave him, the attention you ported to the victims and their family, the way you knew all the Disney songs by heart and the fact that you were almost as badass as Emily. Everything about you made him smile. He even wanted to hug you, which usually didn’t happen after such a short time. Everything you did, everything you said, made him feel like a complete idiot, but in an awfully good way. It was pissing him off. Since he was a kid, he had refused to let himself fall for anyone. He had let his guard fall down for Maeve, and he ended up getting hurt. He didn’t want to make the same mistake once again. He knew how hard it was for people to deal with him on a daily basis, and he also knew that his asexuality wouldn’t help. Nobody knew, of course, because they wouldn’t understand, but sometimes, he just wished he wasn’t so different. When he saw you smile, he wanted to pull you close. When he saw you cry, he wanted to wipe away the tears and kiss your forehead. But he couldn’t. He obviously liked you, he clearly had feelings for you, he knew that. But he couldn’t act on it. Even if you liked him back, which seemed almost impossible to him, he knew that you would run away as soon as you knew about his secret. He knew it was hard for people to not have sex when they were in a relationship, and it was something he just couldn’t offer you. So he shielded himself, or at least tried. Every time you talked for too long, every time you smiled, every time your connection seemed to grow closer, his heartbeat would remind him of his feelings, and he knew he had to run away. It’s almost as if he wanted you to hate him. It would be less painful.

You had joined the team almost a year ago now, and it had become like a second family to you. You loved spending time with them, and they seemed to love spending time with you too. You were sitting at your desk, JJ sitting on it, a cup of coffee in hand. You were supposed to be doing paperwork, but the both of you had decided to take a little break. You glanced at Spencer, who was sitting on the other side of the alleyway. He seemed to be reading – no, devouring – a book, and you smiled softly. JJ glanced at the both of you, before letting an exaggerated sigh.

“So, Y/N. How’s that guy you told me about ?”

You looked down, blushing a bit. You didn’t see Spencer’s eyes shooting up, immediately falling on you, but JJ definitely did and she smiled. You let out a soft whine and leaned against your chair.

“Horrible ! He spent the whole date trying to feel me up. No matter what I said, he just wouldn’t stop. It’s like he didn’t know what being ace means. I was pretty clear about not wanting to have sex, though ! I’m giving up, I swear. I’m gonna die alone.”

Jennifer let out a soft laugh, throwing her head back, and you quickly joined her. At some point, you glanced at Spencer –you just wanted to see if you had bothered him, it was definitely not to secretly look at him. You immediately stopped laughing, blushing furiously. Spencer had put down the book, very obviously looking at you. JJ let out a soft laugh as she watched you both, before leaving. You didn’t even look at her. It had been a while since you had let yourself fall in his eyes, and you just realized how beautiful he was. You knew he was beautiful – how could you ignore it ? – but now, something seemed to have changed. He got up, slowly walking toward you. You ran a hand through your hair and cleared your throat, reaching for a case file.

“Hey.” His voice was so soft, so calm. You looked up at him and waved shyly. “Hi.” He smiled softly.

“I, uhm. I couldn’t help but hear you complaining about a guy to JJ.”

You blushed even more and it felt like you could die of shame. You weren’t hiding the fact that you were asexual, but something about him knowing made you feel incredibly anxious. You looked down and nodded slowly, trying to shrug it off. “It was nothing. Guy was a jerk anyway.”

He smiled and gently lifted your chin up. Your eyes met again and you shyly bit your lip. “I didn’t know you were ace.” You tilted your head and his hand left your face, almost making you whine at the loss. He had never touched you before, but it felt like home. You shrugged. “It’s not like I’m hiding it.” You hoped your voice didn’t quiver, or that it didn’t make him uncomfortable. It didn’t seem like it. He smiled widely and held out his hand, which you shyly took. He gently helped you up, and your faces were suddenly so close that you could see every little detail on his face. He smiled shyly and you did too, trying to calm your burning cheeks, in vain. You knew that you were most likely red as a tomato, but you didn’t care. He was close, so close. You almost took a step back, but his hand on yours pulled you even closer, and, almost too slowly, your lips connected. It only lasted a second or two, but it was enough to make your heart rate go up. He sent you a sad, sorry smile, almost letting go of your hand.

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have kissed you. I miscalculated the way you’d stand up and I didn’t know you’d be so close and- oh.” You shut him up, hesitantly connecting your lips again. After a second of shy, hesitant kissing, you both pulled away. “I thought you hated me.”

His eyes widened and he quickly shook his head. “What ? of course not ! Why would you say that ?” You shrugged and looked down, and he gently lifted your chin up again. “I could never hate you. I just thought that I had to stay away so my feelings would go away.”

You frowned and bit your lip, making him stare at them. “Why would you want to do that ?” He shrugged and mindlessly stroked your cheek. “Everyone I ever had feelings for either died or left me because of my asexuality. I didn’t want that to happen with you. But now that I know..”

You smiled widely. You couldn’t believe it. All this time, all you had to do was to tell him about your sexuality. You let out a soft laugh and he blushed, obviously embarrassed, so you gently pecked his lips. “I hope you won’t take this much time to take me out on a date.”

He smiled and shook his head and pulled you a bit closer, and you wrapped your arms around his neck. He gently stroked your back. “Of course I won’t. How about tonight ?” You nodded happily and leaned forward to kiss him again, smiling widely.

You heard a whistle and you suddenly remembered where you were, pulling away to see the whole team staring at you. You whined in shame, hiding your face against Spencer’s chest, making him smile.

Hotch smiled sadly. “As happy as I am to finally see you two together, the date will have to wait. We have a case.” Spencer let out a loud growl, obviously unhappy about it, and you all chuckled. You didn’t care that you had a case and would have to miss your date. You were just glad today happened.

#spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid x fem!reader #spencer x reader #spencer reid #ace spencer reid #ace reader #criminal minds #criminal minds reid #criminal mind x reader

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rwbyconversations · 4 years ago

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RWBY Volume 7 Review

Two weeks out from Volume 8 and I finally cared enough to write this. Go team I guess.

Part of it came down to my feelings on Volume 7. It’s a complicated season that’s made me realize a lot of my overall feelings on RWBY as a series, particularly a lot of the less flattering feelings. Volume 7 is just... frustrating in general, as for all the good that it does have, and it does have a lot of great elements to it, it’s let down by a frustrating script and writing choices that feel distinctly amateurish, especially as the series moves on and gets better and better looking each year. There’s elements and kernals here of great character writing, season-wide arcs that land in a really good way and get me emotionally invested in the characters. But on the other... Ren only has two hundred words the entire season and you can tell!

Volume 7 is a season of dizzying highs, some of the best moments of the entire franchise... and some of the series lows. It’s a season where there’s no production reason for its shortcomings... it just comes down to an awkward script that focuses on the wrong elements far too often. Let’s talk about that. In a very long and drawn out manner.

Thanks to @jamesbranwen, @h-e-m-o-goblin and @retro-riffraff for help with GIFs and consultation on this review.

1) The Good Stuff!

A) Atlas is very pretty!

I cannot stress enough how on a set level, Volume 7 is leaps and bounds above the other seasons in sheer environmental detail and setting dressing. Mantle has a great atmosphere with its New York influences, the smog covered backgrounds and oppressive streets and alleys. Ironwood’s office which is deliberately designed to evoke astronomy themes to represent James’ love for the stars. The cold oppressive atmosphere of the Schnee Manor and how Jacques has begun warping it to glorify him with only lip service paid to Nicholas in public. Penguins!

There’s a lot of great set design work that went into this season and the crew deserve props for it. Genuinely.

B) Ironwood’s arc is the best character arc in the entire franchise

Yeah just wearing my heart on my sleeve there, I fucking love Ironwood and his character arc here in Volume 7 is the best written arc of the show. I simp for the tin man who just wants to do the right thing. This one season of content is better than a lot of the series-wide material being honest. I went back to James’s big volumes in the last month to rewatch the show and it’s interesting to see the early seeds in retrospect for where his arc goes. His need to protect everyone he can and the brutish measures he considers necessary for such an act, his conflicting loyalties towards Ozpin that manifest in both frustration at Oz’s seeming apathy to the growing conflict, but also desperate desire for validation from Ozpin that what’s he doing is the right call. After the Mistral seasons set up James as going off the deep end following Volume 3, having him open the season with an earnest smile, an immediate apology for the team’s arrest and trusting them with his plans for Amity and Salem is a jarring but pleasant surprise. He’s not been slacking off, he’s been trying to keep the world together in the way he thinks is best. He lets his guard down around the heroes and we see the good man underneath, which makes the moments where he raises his walls hurt all the more. While Em and Merc are still probably my favorite characters period, James is absolutely my favorite character in Volume 7 and Top 5 favorite characters series-wide. I’m very eager to see where he goes from here. He also rocks the beard and fixed his T-Rex arms so James came out of the washing machine that is Volume 7′s costume design. He truly is the Best Boi, and I cannot give Jason Rose enough credit for his performance this year. He hit every note of Ironwood’s character perfectly and I wish the fandom would give him more credit for giving James as much life as he does.

Oh, and as the obligatory comment on mlm rep that I am known for getting obsessively weird anon hate over: IronQrow hug nearly had me crying on a convention floor from how goddamn soft it was. Remember conventions? Ah good times.

This just... hits me... ya know? Seeing him lower his guard so much to come in for a hug just shows how isolated he’s let himself become to let himself have this moment of contact... Godamnit James. Also this is the second time after Martial Arcs that two guys hug and I really liked their ship for the following hiatus.

C) Soft Qrow hours are nice

Qrow’s a good guy, he went through a lot of bad stuff in Volume 6 but now he’s on the other side and purged his voice of the demon within. I think Volume 7 was a very good year for Qrow overall. It was great to see him interacting with more characters his age and lowering his own guard. His moments of letting the facade drop around James and Clover especially are great expansion for his character. Jason Liebritch hit the ground running as Qrow and gave him a far more dynamic range than I think Vic could. While I wish Qrow going off alcohol had been given more of a focus as it’s kind of done off-handedly that he’s gone cold turkey and otherwise doesn’t get brought up barring his revulsion at the wine in the Schnee Manor, he overall had a great year. And trust me I’ll get to the fights later, I have a lot more I can say about the bird boi there.

D) I liked the Ace Ops!

I was ambivilent towards the Ace Ops on first watching. They’re kinda underdeveloped in the context of the season at large and most people immediately pegged them as a miniboss squad/fodder for Salem to kill. But in rewatch they do still get to shine, if not as brightly. They’re very enjoyable. Clover especially is just really fun in retrospect, I love cocky fighters in general, and he was infectiously enjoyable (I’ve already covered the FG stuff in the past, not doing it again). Marrow came a close second because... well it’s Marrow, he is The Best Boi. Harriet got points for being a punchgirl which is always cool, I liked how her Semblance was shown and being cocky while being able to back it up is always a win. Elm and Vine are tied for dead last, I like the body diversity Elm introduces with her muscles and Vine... existed... but overall I think with the time they had, they did get to establish themselves well. I wish I could say that about their relationship with Team RWBYORNJ but this is the Nice Section so we’ll leave it there for now.

This is one of the best shots of the entire season. I adore it. God I like the Teryx design.

E) God the villains rocked this year!

I am a villain whore. I own that. I will embrace that monkier. But when they’re as cool as this, I feel validated in this Chilli’s tonight. Watts and Tyrian really make the season shine and don’t have a dud scene all season. They have great chemistry together, shining bright in even the weakest or most mediocre episodes. Watts went from “Oh yeah you exist” tier to “Oh yeah you rule” tier. His vendetta against Ironwood feels so real and pre-established, even though this season is the first time it’s ever come up. Watts just ozzes style in everything he does. The animators bring him to life and make every step, every flick of his twist and even just how he moves his eyes all bleed contempt. He’s such a rat and I love him! Chris Sabat finally gets to stretch his wings after a few years playing Watts as just Evil Scientist Guy, and he makes the most of it.

And Tyrian remains an absolute treat. He didn’t get much in V6 but here he takes center stage with Watts and also gets so much impact because of it. All the little twitches, and tilting of his heads, and dramatic gestures, he’s still just so goddamn cool to watch and we even get a little backstory of him. I know he’s irredeemable. But I just want to watch Tyrian kill people and scream. Like hot damn his line “THE GRIMM SHOULD HAVE DESTROYED OUR ENEMIES, NOT MADE THEM FRIENDS!” is so fucking raw. He’s having fun destablizing a nation with his boyfriend!

“You want more chaos than a Grimm invasion?” “If anyone on Remannt can do it, wouldn’t it be you?” There is no heterosexual explanation for how these two look at each other and yes this is me outing myself as a Nuts and Volts fan.

Watts and Tyrian really do become the absolute highlights of the season alongside James. They have a great dynamic and even during their more slower moments there’s so much care and thought put into their every mannerism. Animators, seriously, great job, I love what you did. And their fights... we’ll get there. But they’re so goddamn good.

Look they even run the same! They’re soulmates!

Honorary mention to Salem by the way. She’s only in two scenes but her presence is felt throughout Ironwood’s arc and his growing fear of her and she damn well delivers when she shows up. That shot of her arriving in person is a killer shot to end on as well.

Oh and I guess Cinder and Neo exist don’t they? Eh, we’ll come back to them.

F) Oscar got a character arc!

Finally! He did it! He got an arc that began, continued and ended all onscreen! It only took four tries!

But yeah Oscar had a really good set of scenes in Volume 7. I like him being the first to confront Ruby on the Ironwood lie, bringing up the hypocrisy after their condemning of Ozpin just last season. I like him having a more forward role (outside of not getting to be part of the celebration in episode 4 what the hell guys), and that he’s the big link between RWBY and Ironwood was a great call. Having Ozpin shelved for one more season so Oscar can take center-stage was an inspired choice. I love his dynamic with Ironwood, and how James closing himself off emotionally gets reflected in how he begins slipping in how he refers to Oscar, starting off as treating him and Oz as separate, ending with him gunning Oscar down as he doesn’t care anymore to differentiate the two.

My big issues with Oscar’s arc are that I’m first of all annoyed at the lack of followup on the Oscar stuff from V6, I’m still waiting for Qrow to apologize for punching Oscar guys! I also really wish Neo’s first attack wasn’t offscreen. CRWBY’s cliffhanger fetish meant I got to break out the Offscreen Pine jokes again. And of course, the Neo hallway punch was a bit bullshit.

G) (Most of) The fights are amazing

There’s no punchline. These fights are great, two of them are in my Top 10 Series Wide fights list and at least the duds aren’t Volume 5 bad.

If you’d told me before Volume 7 that Watts would get an extended firefight with James, I’d have felt that a bit cheap as Watts to me doesn’t feel like a fighter, more a planner who hides behind armies of mechanical soldiers. But damn if they didn’t sell me on Watts “You’ve yeed your last haw” Watts whipping out a Glock just to spite James.

This is another one of my favorite shots in the entire series.

Ironwood vs Watts is potentially my favorite fight in the entire series, and if it’s not, it’s easy Top 3 alongside Yang vs Mercury and Pyrrha vs CRDL/Mercury. It makes great use of Amity in the abandoned gravity biome meant for SSSN vs JNPR, with Ironwood and Watts deftly moving around in a manner that very easily could have been difficult to track with the constantly shifting gravity, but the crew do their best to keep it coherent as to who’s where. The credits showed their dedication also stretched into visual continuity, as James and Arthur’s route throughout the Arena was carefully considered so they’d loop around organically.

This is what I mean when I say the crew went above and beyond to keep things clean.

Ironwood vs Watts could have easily failed to impress, given its lack of choreography on the level the series usually does, but the team’s efforts went instead into showing a situation that lets Watts get a dragged out battle: James wins whenever he closes the distance here, so Arthur’s constantly on the run and being forced to tamper with the arena. Great camerawork, a GOD TIER song from Caleb Hyles that I’m still listening to today, and two characters with a fantastic history coming to blows makes for easily the best fight of the season and a series-wide highlight. Watching it develop from storyboards, to mocap, to animations and the full version is a delight to see. This is what CRWBY can do when everything comes togehter. The orchestra’s all tuned. It’s a goddamn symphony.

THIS is my favorite shot of the season.

Tyrian also gets to shine with his two battles this year. His alley fight with Qrow, Robyn and Clover is short but sweet, the corvid and the scorpion especially trading brutal blows in the cramped space. Qrow goes full Devil May Cry with his style-switching here, Harbinger being swapped between sword, tonfa and gun forms freely alongside Qrow applying The Power of Punching. His 1v1v1 with Clover and Qrow though is the true highlight of the season in terms of choreography. It’s lighting-fast, and has some impeccable shot work. Qrow gets to use his scythe with deliberate nods to the Red Trailer, Clover gets to shut up everyone who doubted his weapon, and Tyrian is just along for the ride and he makes the most of it. It’s frentic, it’s heart-pounding, it’s everything a fight should be.

Honorary mentions as well go to Ace Ops vs the Geist, which is just really fun and has a great backing music choice, the opening battle with Sabre having Ruby’s obligatory ten seconds of fighting that come at the start of every new era of the series, and the Ace Ops vs RWBY fight which has some good choreo in places.

H) Winter and Penny have good chemistry

I don’t have a ton to add here, I just like their dynamic and how they advance each other’s arcs. It’s nice writing. I also like Winter apologizing to Penny when she’s angry at Jacques and takes it out on Penny by accident with the “You wouldn’t understand” line.

Penny as a Maiden is a nice idea, I think her new design is cute. Penny says trans rights.

Those are a lot of my favorite things about Volume 7. It’s a killer season when it’s firing on all cylinders but unfortunately... it often misfires in frustrating ways, many of which are unfortunately due to core emblematic problems with the series that won’t go away.

2) The Bad Stuff

A) The costumes

It’s been a over year. It’s low hanging fruit. I don’t care. Most of them are still not good and they’re ludicrously over-designed.

Blake’s in a fetish suit and I wonder how she even goes to the bathroom. Weiss just looks like an abino Sabre alt, Yang is what a Halloween costume site would describe as “Sexy UPS Driver,” (why does she have a thigh window) Ruby... looks fine, it’s one of her better costumes. Jaune’s hair is silly, Ren’s model has lost some muscle definition and he looks like an e-boy, Nora’s costume really doesn’t fit the Atlas visual design and looks like a rejected Kingdom Hearts costume. Cinder’s is too black and I actually can’t track her in darker scenes because of it (which is kinda bad during... a fight scene... where I need to know where she is...), Neo looks like a Ren Fair cosplayer doing a bit for her OnlyFans, Winter’s is anatomically weird with super skinny arms and legs, and Blake’s hair is a fucking hate crime.

Qrow’s is one I liked at first but in retrospect it does feel like a downgrade. To quote @h-e-m-o-goblin from a Discord chat:

in a show like rwby, where color is such a vital defining aspect of every character, a cohesive colorscheme goes a long way. qrow's original outfit works great in this regard. neutral tones. greys, whites, and blacks, with red accents that pop against the otherwise sparse color. it's good! it's distinctive! it doesn't feel cluttered and it doesn't look like a clown vomited on him! the subdued colors really lend themselves to the grey, cynical energy qrow seems to carry with him. a literal lack of color in his life. the outfit itself feels like something he would wear; a combination of "clearly trying to look cool" and "a little disheveled and laid back." the design breathes, it isn't cluttered. let's contrast this with his vol 7 outfit. a lot of outfits in vol 7 suffer from this problem, but first and foremost it doesn't look like something he would wear. where his old outfit had a casual feel to it, his new look feels like someone dressed him up for a family christmas dinner. it's too... tidy. now of course you could argue this is him "cleaning up his life," but i dont feel like you have to sacrifice his own personal style in order to convey that. if that's really what they were going for, they easily could have just, oh i dont know, given him a cape that isn't tattered???

remember how i said qrow's original outfit really made his colors pop? how less is more when it comes to having a character with a specific color theme? vol 7 butchered that. we suddenly have articles of clothes that are tinted with greenish blue tones, browns, and with gold trim? on TOP of the old colors he already had in his design. it's muddy. it's ugly. the burgundy vest is fine, if they wanted to work more color into his outfit they should have done it that way throughout, shades of grey and different tones of RED. his COLOR. it just feels like they tacked so much on there without a second thought and i really think he deserves better. its just. such a mess.

The ones I did like were Watts’ new coat (I like the puffy hood), Penny’s is fine, the Ace Ops look great, Ironwood’s new outfit is stellar (those last six are great examples of how to do a lot with just primary colors of white and red), Neon’s Jolyne cosplay is cute and Flynt is slick. Otherwise, Volume 7 feels like it’s taken a lot of the wrong lessons from the costume design of the earlier seasons. Less is often more but now it feels like they have a pathological aversion to empty space on the costumes, leading them to feel like... costume vomit for lack of a better word. I didn’t love the Mistral outfits, but their modifications at least were carried by how many of them called back to the Fall of Beacon and emphasized the themes of loss in Volume 4. The new Atlas outfits... don’t have that shared theme. It feels like a hodgepodge of different design influences without trying to find a way to unify them. It’s like putting Baki the Grappler beside My Little Pony, they just fail to mesh.

Also for fuck’s sake already CRWBY just give the girls muscles already.

2) JNR suck and Ren’s arc is glorified character assassination

I don’t love JNR. They’re fine, but the show has arguably not needed them for a while and while I’ve liked them all at different points, it’s never been adoration outside of Ren in Volume 4. I was cool with the idea of them staying in Argus to help cover Mistral after its Huntsmen were wiped out, and Volume 7 has... made me wish they did that.

Jaune is just comic relief, and it kinda blows for later reasons but the big one is that he’s just not very funny. His big role in Volume 7 is basically to crosswalk some kids so we can have a joke scene during the Mantle Battle where Jaune uses his tactical genius to teach people to walk in single file. I feel like at this point Miles is just actively trying to kill Jaune’s fandom out of spite for how badly Jaundice was received. He’s never allowed to be cool or try and redeem himself. His hatedom aren’t going to stop hating Jaune because he gets more comedy guys. They’re going to stop when you write Jaune well. It’s a bummer he got some genuinely great upgrades for his sword and shield and never gets to use them outside of the opening.

Nora exists. She got a surprising amount of focus this season in that she got focus of any kind. I liked her confronting Ironwood over his choking of Mantle because we know she was once the kind of person Ironwood would have been stifling. I like her being the one to realize the loophole in Jinn’s “You can’t” line. I don’t like much else about Nora this year, or at least the Nora the writing team are pushing. She’s not funny like Jaune but Nora just absorbs so much screentime in the first half with her constant shrieking. Sam Ireland has good range but making Nora into Discount Harley Quinn is pushing her out of it. She sounds shrill, making Nora sound like she has no heart outside of the election rally. A shrill voice is one thing. A shrill voice that never lands a single joke? Yeah that character is tainted by association.

And Ren... oh God Ren what happened to you.

The Volume 7 commentary confirmed a suspicion of mine that Ren’s arc was heavily cut down from what was planned. Even watching V7 I could tell his arc was bare-bones at best, and it’s downright character assassination in places. Why is he suddenly so cold to Nora? Why is he now so obsessed with training? Why does he side with Ironwood for all of... one line which is this last between episodes 7 and 11. Ren only has two hundred words of dialoge in Volume 7 and they feel so weird in places. Ren goes from seemingly disliking Nora, to kissing her, to never referencing the kiss, to partaking in the Worst Scene Of The Season, all with no consistency. It’s not even threadbare. Ren’s arc just has no connecting tissue for so much of it! It’s insane how badly Ren was hurt by this, and I shudder to wonder how bad his Volume 8 arc will be because you know that was one of the first plotlines they cut down on when they inevitably overreached again.

I don’t know how they made Renora kissing feel unearned? But by God they found a way with how much of a trainwreck Ren’s writing is in regards to tainting this.

If Ironwood is an example of RWBY doing character writing well, Ren is the mirror image of how badly they can do. JNR really suffered from Volume 7 (also fun fact, Ren has about 200 words of dialogue? Ironwood has 4400). Maybe not to the level of irredeemable dislike? But very close to being on the same tier as Cinder of “Just go away already.” I’m not looking forward to their content in Volume 8.

3) RWBY themselves are poorly handled in Volume 7

It’s unfortunate that the actual title characters of the series are also some of this season’s weaker links. RWBY feel... superfluous to this season in a way they’ve never felt before. It’s baffling how much of the season doesn’t change if you just don’t include them, and apparently Volume 7′s first draft? Was even worse.

The commentary says that many of the RWBY moments were added later in production. Stuff like Ruby and Renora at the rally, Blake and Yang’s talk with Robyn and Ruby and Qrow’s chat were all either added in near the end of the writing or were “low priority” enough that they could have been cut which is... veyr alarming that’s stuff even the main protags have to worry about!

Ruby feels half-baked. I was looking forward to her in V7 after how V6 gave her a more dynamic personality and the focus she got in Brunswick, and having Penny’s return had me interested in seeing Ruby grapple with her emotions about it. She watched Penny die, how would it influence her to see Penny back and OK? Good question, we never get to see it. Ruby’s just OK with Penny’s return, the one time they touch on it Penny immediately glosses over it. Ruby just goes back to her old happy go lucky persona where any and all negative emotions are immediately forced down instead of confronting them and growing from them. I’m getting a little tired of Ruby bottling her grief and being teased about finally getting her snapping like a Twix Bar. We finally got her crying and it lasted all of ten seconds. And it doesn’t help that Ruby’s still getting shafted for fights. Her scythe choreography has no excuse being as flacid as it is now after Qrow vs Clover showed they can do scythe fighting! Why is Ruby being upstaged by (let’s be real) a supporting character! Why is she being limited to ten seconds of good combat then nothing for the rest of the season outside of flimsily swinging it or shooting. It’s disappointing, especially after how good V6 Ruby was.

I swear, Gravity’s not just my favorite episode of the season just because Ruby finally cries in it.

Weiss was kinda just done dirty though. At least Ruby has a good outfit. Weiss confronting her father has been a long standing plot thread for the series, it’s been Weiss’s Big Thing since the White Trailer. And when Jacques finally appears, he’s very... bland. He’s just evil corporate dude who exists less as an obstacle for Weiss and more just a roadblock for the plot through the election. Weiss finally gets a chance to take her father down and work to redeem her family name... but instead of earning said victory and it being treated with the same gravitas and emotional weight as Blake defeating Adam... Weiss has her victory handed to her. And it’s played for comedy by her abusrdly attractive mother.

Listen, I like I Willow Schnee. I think she’s a fascinating character and I like the idea of a person who is aware of the harm they’ve done by accident but is too broken to fix the issues she accidentally left. I love her calling Weiss out on her treatment of Whitley. But she is absolutely a Deus Ex Machina that exists to get Jacques out of the plot as fast as possible. You mean to tell me Hackerman Watts never once made sure Jacques had hidden cameras? Or that none of the staff found Willow’s cameras and reported them under the assumption they were White Fang spies? It’s so... convenient. It’s handing Weiss her victory on an unearned platter. Which sucks. I was really looking forward to Weiss beating Jacques. Instead she just gets given the plot device while JNR engage in the Worst Scene of The Season in that Whitley food stunt.

Me whenever I’m asked to rewatch Cordially Invited

Blake and Yang have much the same problems, in they never separate. I know they’re going to be together. I know CRWBY are making it canon (get it over with already). I still would like Yang and Blake to have individual character scenes. I’d like Blake and Marrow to talk about being a Faunus Huntsman in Atlas (another thing that got cut thanks to Robyn Hill). I want Yang and Ironwood to discuss their PTSD and have Yang thank Ironwood for his trust in her that he commissioned the arm despite Yang attacking Mercury. I want Blake to be well animated in fight scenes so she’s doing more than just jobbing so Yang looks better. I want Yang to stop hogging all the good Team RWBY choeography. I want them to interact with other characters and continue to grow instead of feeling like two halves of one character. And no, making a meta joke of how Blake and Yang don’t talk to other people doesn’t make it OK. It just means you’re self aware about your own faults.

(Also give Yang better merch or quit the favoritism. If you’re gonna milk her, put effort into it beyond crapply overpriced flannel. RT’s merch store is actively making me hate Yang.)

Team RWBY’s biggest contribution to the season is the Ironwood Lie which is... a can of worms. They certainly had a point in withholding some of the bigger truths from James but I feel by Pomp and Cirumstance he’d proven himself truthwrothy enough to warrant being told the truth about Salem. But then when he’s finally told the truth, it’s offscreen’d and the consequence isn’t “Why didn’t you tell me earlier” but “Fucking Ozpin man.” Gravity has it bite them in the ass, but it’s more an accessory to Yang and Blake telling Robyn about the Amity tower. I wish more had been done with the team disagreeing on whether the lie was a good choice or not, maybe have Yang be hardline against it due to her own “No more lies and half truths” policy instead of... having Yang tell more lies and half truths (Commentary confirms she never told Ruby and Weiss about the Robyn stuff BTW). But that’s a wider problem where RWBY aren’t allowed to disagree beyond surface level “I don’t know if this is the right call” dialogue. There’s never a threat of one of them cracking and just spilling the beans to James, everyone just blindly trusts Ruby and Qrow tells the audience “No this is different from when Ozpin lied. Trust us.”

This is the most RWBY get for content in the season finale: Ruby just nuking Cinder with no difficulty after having trouble with the eyes three episodes ago. Kinda lame tbh.

Team RWBY are just disappointing in Volume 7. They’re not given good animation, their story roles are largely insignificant, the impact of their roles on the story is threadbare and... well most of their costumes suck don’t @ me even CRWBY have admitted Blake and Weiss’s haircuts looked bad. It’s a whole barrage of a letdown for the main girls. And it’s really sad that the best scenes of the season... are usually the ones where RWBY are nowhere in sight.

Why the hell didn’t Yang get to keep the sunglasses come on guys. One job.

4) Robyn, the election plot, and the Happy Huntresses

Oh God, Robyn Hill is... not great. I could and likely will write a full meta on her character and how they bungled it but I’ll just be blunt here: I don’t like her design, the colors don’t mesh well, he head’s too small, Christina Vee is sleeping through the role and her weapon’s lame. Introducing her in a scene where she threatens to attack our heroes, and her agents are actively sneaking up on them to do it, is not a great first impression for a hometown hero. And that the commentary thinks she’s meant to be the hero in that scene is... staggering.

RWBY’s greatest threat yet is a wine mom Karen and her Home Owners Association army.

The election plot is less a misfire and more the engine just exploding. There’s so little good content between when it’s introduced and concluded, with it usually being individual scenes that are more good in spite of their connection to the plot (such as Tyrian’s massacre). It drags in pacing, going on for nearly half the season between episodes 5 and 10, and it purely exists as a roadblock to keep RWBY spinning their wheels while Watts and Tyrian keep going with the main plot. I don’t know why CRWBY went for this plot. They could have easily had something else fill the gap that also allowed for a lot of the character beats (such as Marrow and Blake’s talk and Ren’s entire arc) to shine, or at least condensed it to the important elements instead of letting it become bloated. It ends in such an unsatisfying way where Willow just shows up and goes “We have four episode left, here’s the plot device to beat Jacques, get back ot the main plot.” If they wanted to do the election plot, the best route would have been to give Volume 7 more episodes or stretch out its events to two seasons, but neither is realistically possible while RWBY lives off the teat of AT&T.

Jacques and Robyn are just boring. Evil corporate man and a lame adaptation of Robyn Hood who only has fans because of thirst who also like downplaying Robyn making a racist remark at Marrow (to say nothing of that weird subsection of Robyn fans who make her a Fox Faunus who cut her tail off to join Atlas Academy which is... certainly a creative choice especially when Marrow and Neon are punching holes in that angsty BS backstory). They can’t carry this plot and the artifical attempts to make it seem more exciting with the two cliffhaners ending on Mantle under riot or Grimm attack are laughably cut short by the next episode in each case opening the morning after. On binge watch it becomes weirdly funny more than anything and that’s not a good reaction. The dual cliffhangers being cheaply resolved is a short but succint example of V7′s pacing issues, and they almost always loop around to the election plot being too bloated, slow and just boring.

Also the Happy Huntresses are just... lame. I like their Semblances but that’s it. Fiona’s OK because she gets some screentime but May’s just “the surly one” and Joanna doesn’t even get her Semblance or much dialogue (oh wow she really is just a female Sage Ayana isn’t she). Robyn should not have been leading the HH and running for Council. That’s really stupid. And kind of wrong. Having May or Fiona be running instead while Robyn leads the team in relief efforts would have been better and could have split the focus more effeciently instead of leaving May and especially Joanna feelng like roster padding. There’s also some delicious irony in the show trying to frame the HH as the resistance fighting for the people and representing individuality, only for them all to have the same boring outfit and weapons (I think even the exact same model just with different sizes) while the Ace Ops are meant to be the military drones who are “Just following orders,” only for them to be more racially diverse, more diverse body-type-wise, and have more unique weapons. It’s another one of those odd creative dissconnects between what the writers wanted and what the artists/animation teams chose to do.

The election plot is overall toxin for Volume 7, and Robyn in my opinion, has one of the worst introductory scenes of any character in the franchise (and CRWBY have tacitly admitted that V7 had a character they were surprised at how controversial they were, which has to be Robyn). In a year where they were already juggling so much content and characters, adding in this bloated subplot was something I don’t think anyone wanted, especially now that we know we lost so much content on the sacrificial altar for this. It’s a black mark on the season and I don’t really care for the return of the Happy Huntresses or Robyn in Volume 8. None of them are interesting enough to care for outside of meta reasons like “cute.”

Also fuck you Fiona, can’t believe you got a shirt before Ironwood.

5) Cinder and Neo sure exist

To be fair, this is one of Cinder’s best years, easily her best since Volume 3 but that’s more because Cinder in the Mistral era was crap. (And if I wanna be cruel, because Cinder wasn’t in two thirds of the season)Her fans were finally vindicated after years of telling anyone who dunked on Cinder that “nooooo she has a super covert backstory that’s gonna be amazing when it’s revealed! You’ll see!” And well they finally got it. All of one line during a fight about how Cinder “refuses to starve.”

It’s still something so I guess we have to take it. Seriously... how do we still not have Cinder’s backstory.

There’s just not a ton to say about Cinder and Neo in V7 barring I that don’t think they needed to be here. They feel very superfluous and just here to have a big boss fight in Cinder’s case alongside continuing her streak of ending the odd numbered seasons fighting a female side character... which for me became an exercise in tyring to find during Cinder during the damn fight.

And this is why when most people saw Cinder’s V6 outfit they went “It’s gonna be hard to see her in darker environments,” then were vindicated when it became legit difficult to see Cinder in this scene. God if they at least just made the inside of the cape red it’d be easier.

Neo is Neo, which means she makes funny faces and mocks Cinder (I like that), but she doesn’t get a super good fight which uh... we’ll get to. I’m interested to see her finally exploding at Cinder and going for a backstab, but really Neo in V7 was kinda hit hard by the double whammy of the Oscar Hallway Punch and how humiliating ORNJ vs Neo was for ORNJ. Cinder’s definitely had far worse years and after how aimless she was in Mistral this feels like a sep in the right direction, but at this point CRWBY just need to shut up and tell us her deal. It’s been seven years guys. Come on. At least make her interesting if she’s gonna say around. They’ve had worse years, but unfortunately Cinder and Neo’s role in the finale leads into...

6) Some of the fights weren’t good

I wanna be clear, I like most of Volume 7′s fights. It’s just a bummer the worst ones are back and back and make up a chunk of the finale. ORNJ vs Neo is just crap. It’s the worst fight since the Battle of Haven. There’s nothing else I can say, it’s poorly animated, paced, choreographed and written. JNR especially are made to look like complete jokes after they spent all season training, to the point where it looks like V2 Yang could solo V7 JNR after this. Oscar I expect this from because he’s not allowed to have fun stuff onscreen after accidentally stealing the Haven budget for his fight with Hazel, but JNR were just done dirty. There were ways to make the fight work in a way where Neo still won but JNR looked good. They went for the worst possible outcome that just leaves Neo looking like she got fan-wanked and JNR looking like they’re just not allowed to be cool due to Miles’ spite at the Jaune-Self Insert stuff (and that’s not even getting into JNR being forced to run from lame rent a cops who can’t even handle a single Grimm). Cinder vs Winter and Penny isn’t much better, with her dark outfit making it very hard to track the fight because she blends into the background too well. It’s not a great showing for Winter or Penny given their earlier feats but, hey, some random female character had to fight Cinder in this odd numbered volume, carrying on Glynda, Pyrrha and Raven’s tradition. It’s at least better than ORNJ vs Neo, but that’s really not saying anything. At least Cinder’s VA work isn’t too bad this time but this fight commits the cardinal sin of a finale fight: It’s just not super interesting because we know Cinder can’t kill both Winter and Penny and she’s not becoming a Maiden, while Winter’s been too blatantly set up so it has to be Penny.

RWBY vs the Ace Ops also gets a dishonorable mention due to the choreography on display here... and the lack of it for Weiss, Blake and Ruby. Ruby never once swings Crescent Rose the entire fight and is just reduced to getting the tar kicked out of her by Harriet. Weiss barely gets to use her sword and largely just sticks to her summoning and glyphs which makes for a very visually uninteresting fighting style at the best of times. Blake just swings around and gets caught by the bad guys so Yang is motivated to fight stronger. She never dual wields (again) and her best moves are just setting up Yang to do all the hard work while Yang gets to personally KO two of the Ace Ops. There’s a lot that can be said about whether or nor RWBY earn the win, but while the animation team try to sell the Ace Ops landing heavy hits, having only Blake’s Aura even flicker really undercuts the idea from the commentary that this wasn’t meant to be a stomp for RWBY and they had to work together and be in synch to win.

Which is why Yang solos two of the Ace Ops whle Blake plays support, Weiss beats Marrow alone and then kill steals Harriet from Ruby, all while the song playing is an extended diss track from RWBY to the Ace Ops about how badass they are now, and the commentary itself says the Ace Ops are hard carried by Clover’s Semblance (because you gotta love basically saying four POC were only competent because a white guy led them, and then have them lose because said white guy wasn’t around to carry them!). Great job guys, you really sold it.

And talking of Clover, I feel it worth mentioning Qrow vs Clover vs Tyrian. It’s animation wise near perfect, but unfortunately I do feel it would be remiss to not mention that I feel the writing really has to bend over backwards to justify this fight. A lot of it is stuff I would say in that hypothetical Robyn essay, but I feel Robyn, Qrow and Clover all have to become massive idiots for this specific sequence of events to occur, and for Clover especially every retroactive attempt to explain why he prioritized Qrow over Tyrian just sounds more and more desperate. Between the references to MCU Captain America (a person whose entire arc is about learning when it’s OK to defy bad orders) or the attempt in the commentary to say “Oh Clover thought it would be easier to take out Tyrian alone instead of Qrow,” none of them land and just further drive home how much the plot had to stretch and reach to get that moment of Tyrian killing Clover. I like the fight. But I hate the road the show took to get there.

Some of the misc fights are also weak like ORNJ vs FNKI and elements of the Mantle Grimm battle, but those are the big offenders. Otherwise, again, the fights are largely good.

7) The soundtrack wasn’t... great

I mean the vocal songs only, don’t crucify me. Trust Love is just lamer Let’s Just Live/Triumph, Celebrate and Let’s Get Real are so boring I thought they were the same song until the OST dropped, Brand New Day is boringly peppy and Jeff’s vocals are dreadful. I completely forgot Touch the Sky until I was checking the tracklist to make sure I didn’t forget any songs. War has good singers but tries to sell the RWBY-Ace Ops bond as way deeper than it was. The lack of a villain song did really sting though, those are always the highlights.

There are good songs. I really like Fear, I feel it encapsulates the themes of the volume well and serves as a good condemnation of Ironwod’s mentality. Until The End is finally the Ruby song I’ve waited for since Red Like Roses 2 and I enjoy that she got a melancholic song, and Hero is easily, hands down, best track of the record and probably best RWBY track, full stop. Caleb killed it, I loved the second verse, opening opera was strong, guitar riffs were a plenty. Stellar work all around for that one.

The OST has great work from Jeff and Alex as usual, but the Jeff and Casey songs are really starting to lose their appeal. Going for a peppy feel this year didn’t help cover the cracks that are beginning to show with RWBY’s vocal songs (especially Jeff’s vocal range), and while a few standouts remain such as Fear and Hero, they are the slim minority in an otherwise very boring vocal tracklist that barely scrapes above Volume 5 for weakest set yet.

8) It wasn’t as funny as it thought it was

Comedy is subjective but man a lot of these jokes didn’t land. RWBY really needs to realize that does work in traditional 2D does not translate into 3D and just comes off as making official reaction GIFs for your Twitter account. Making characters SUDDENY SCREAM LOUDLY is not good banter. Please stop making Nora into Harley Quinn. Marrow was probably the most consistently funny character but that was it. Also I dunno why CRWBY thought Forrest was funny or what the deal was with that FRWBY crap.

“Honorary” mention to the JNR food scene in Cordially Invited which is genuinely one of the worst scenes in the entire show and I hope whoever animated it has their save files deleted for a game where they were about to beat the final boss. Nothing sums up JNR’s pointlessness in the series more perfectly than this.

C) Conclusion

See what I mean about Volume 7 being frustrating?

It’s weird that I overal think of Volume 7 as a mid-tier volume. There’s so much here I genuinely adore, with some of the best stuff to do with the show coming out of this season (barring lame, overpriced merch that feels like clothing gacha), but simultaneously the whole thing is let down by outside circumstances that unfortunately are ones the show can’t ever really recover from. Put bluntly, Volume 7 is the most technically proficient season of the show with the best lighting, backdrops, (some of the) character models, etc. CRWBY definitely didn’t slack off this year, but the problem isn't with them. It’s with the writing. A wider reaching problem is just that Miles and Kerry can’t really improve to the level that the series now requires. Eddy and Kiersei’s first season could have gone far worse, but it definitely was notable whenever they took over. Volume 7’s core problems are fourfold: The comedy is terrible and none of the jokes really land, the season focuses on the wrong plots and gives them too much effort, too many episodes are spent building up to new plots only for them to be weakly resolved (especially the Mantle Riot/Grimm attacks that are shoved off-screen), and the character bloat strikes hard here and leaves a lot of the cast feeling like dead weight. CRWBY don’t need more writers. They need more editors willing to tell the team what has to go instead of them hemming and hawing themselves on if they if they can include a plotline. The election never should have gotten past its first draft, there was too much already in this season before adding that.

When this is an unironic shot in your series... you’ve got character bloat issues.

At this point, I think JNR need to go. The show had no idea what to do with them throughout the season, leading to Jaune just being comic relief while Ren and Nora became characters I actively dislike. Renora was the easiest ship in the show to land, and they still managed to blow the engines and ram at least three icebergs just to prove that RWBY can’t romance to save its life. Team RWBY themselves are little better, with Ruby’s feelings about Penny’s return being shelved, Weiss’s victory against Jacques feeling un-earned and undercut by comedy, while Yang and Blake are benched for the volume and become a singular entity with how tied at the hip they are. Maria basically yeeted herself out of the show and I didn’t notice, Pietro is just a death flag, and while the Ace Ops had a good intro, it was undercooked by how they had to play the villain role to give RWBY something to do in the final hours. Cinder and Neo didn’t need to be here. Robyn had one of the worst introductions for a character I’ve ever seen, I never enjoyed her moments and it genuinely feels like she only has a fandom because RWBY’s community are in fact that desperate.

On the brighter side, Ironwood’s arc is fucking perfect and Jason Rose deserves all the love. Great fight, great song, great design, love the beard, it was a perfect downfall for Volume 7’s true protagonist. Qrow had a fun volume and I loved his dynamic with Clover (I don’t see the ship stuff but that’s more because I’m an IronQrow main so my blinders were on). Clover was also way cooler than I remembered. His fights stood out but the guy’s just really cool at the end of the day, with Chris doing great work as a VA. Oscar even managed to do stuff this year which was a shock and a half, but a welcome shock and a half. I didn’t mention it, but the Ozpin fear monologue is one of my favorite scenes in the entire show and it and the Ironwood/Oscar confrontation in the vault save the finale. And of course, Watts and Tyrian were the MVPs. I don’t have a bad word about either of them, they fucking nailed their roles and I can’t wait to see them again.

And that’s kind of what I mean when I say Volume 7 flummoxes me. It’s frustrating at times with how it handles seemingly easy tasks and drops the ball. Renora went from “everyone liked that” to wondering how badly Ren’s stuff got butchered for him to be the way he is. RWBY themselves could be almost entirely cut and so little would change, and the fact that the finale basically hinges its entire emotional stakes on Winter, Penny and Oscar is a staggering call. And it really feels like the season was compressed beyond necessity because they decided going in that Volume 7 had to end on Salem’s arrival. There’s two volumes worth of material here, and maybe it would have been best to have broken up these events. Volume 7 does too much in too little time, and RWBY especially suffered from it. But when it works… it’s good. Never close to the highs of Volumes 6 or 3, but there’s genuinely good material here. The fights are mostly getting better with far less missteps than previously, the acting (mostly) continues to improve and it’s obvious that RWBY is a very good looking show at this point. Ironwood’s arc is franchise-wide highs, I loved Clover, and Marrow remains the best boi. But it’s frustrating that despite all the tech advances Volume 7 has made, it still makes such threadbare, rookie writing mistakes in cast management, comedy and character arcs. I’m glad Miles and Kerry finally realized that they needed more writers, but it won’t mean anything if the show just continues to circle the drain on the core mistakes it’s been making since 2013. Volume 7 has good in it. But I can see where it could have been great.

Thanks for reading, stan IronQrow and please get Whitley a therapist.

And for the love of God already make an Ironwood vs Watts shirt!

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smegdwarf · 4 years ago

Text

But Who Could Love Me? (Rimmer x Reader) - Chapter 5

A/N: Chapter 6 should be up soon! :)

Warnings: none really just the usual fluff!

Summary: Basically giving Rimmer the love he deserves :P

“I know you’re not particularly fond of him but we should say hello?” You spoke softly as Rimmer slowly looked up at you.

“That’s one way of putting it” Rimmer groaned, refusing to move.

“Come on, the quicker we go, the quicker it’s over with” You smiled sweetly as you held out your hands for him, gently pulling him up as he held them in his.

“Why are you making me do this?” Rimmer asked as you reached the lift.

“Because it’s the polite thing to do!” You smiled as you hit the buttons on the inside before saying where you were going “Landing bay please!”

“You know who you’re talking to right?” A small smirk appeared on Rimmers face as he spoke.

“Oh I know, the smegger that is Arnold Judas Rimmer! ...but lucky for him I love him!” You replied as you turned to face him.

“You love me?” Rimmer looked at you stunned, despite the sneaking around and kissing each other at every given opportunity he’d never actually heard you say those words, he’d never heard anyone say those words to him ...not even his parents.

“Well I thought it was obvious” You laughed softly, gently cupping his face in your hands.

“No one has ever told me they love me” Rimmer’s eyes dropped to the floor.

“I love you Arnie” You smiled sweetly, standing on your tiptoes to place a gentle kiss to his lips feeling him smile beneath.

You didn’t expect him to respond, you definitely didn’t expect him to say the words back, not yet anyway but you knew eventually when he was ready he would. As he stood in front you fidgeting and unable to stay still you knew he was worrying about it.

“Hey, you don’t have to say it back if you’re not ready too” You spoke softly, placing one last kiss to his lips as the lift doors opened “Lets get this over with”

As you walked down the corridor towards the landing bay you couldn’t help but notice Rimmer’s hand brushing against yours, his fingers subtly trying to entwine with yours, making your heart flutter as you surrendered hopelessly to the smile forming on your face. Rimmer knew that even if he couldn’t say the words, there were other ways he could show you until then, just like when he protected you earlier when the dwarf was under attack.

Just as you reached the last turn for the landing bay you felt Rimmer’s hand slowly yet reluctantly fall from yours, running his thumb across the back of your hand before letting go. Upon entering the landing bay you were almost blinded by the glare bouncing off the shiny spacesuit that was being worn by the one and only Ace Rimmer.

“There he is, how you doing Arn?” Ace grinned as Rimmer practically shut down next you.

“I’ve been better” Rimmer groaned as you nudged him gently.

“Cheer up” You whispered as Rimmer’s lips started to curl slightly.

“And who’s the lovely lady?” Ace picked up your hand as he spoke, leaning down to place a kiss but changing his mind as Rimmer scowled at him “What’s your name?”

“Y/N! I’ve heard a lot about you” You smiled, trying to be polite to Ace and keep Rimmer calm at the same time was going to be a struggle.

“Well depending on who you heard it from, all good I hope” Ace chuckled as you heard a low grumble from Rimmer who was purposely trying to keep Ace away from you.

“Rimmer, you ok man?” Lister asked.

“I’m fine” Rimmer mumbled, he was far from fine and his mind was in overdrive.

“So Arnie, been up to anything?” Ace asked, trying to fill the awkward silence that was starting to brew.

“Of course not” Rimmer refused to look at Ace:

“Hey you saved Cat and Lister from that Gelf ship?” You smiled giving him another nudge.

“No he didn’t” Lister sniggered.

“Lister shut up!” You spoke sternly.

“Alright I’m sorry” Lister threw his hands up.

“You’ve kept this rust bucket going somehow” You smiled at Rimmer who’s eyes were glued to floor and who’s mind was on another planet.

“Yeah after he fried the crew” Lister mumbled.

“LISTER!” You shouted as Rimmer walked out.

“I think that’s enough skipper” Ace looked at Lister as he spoke before turning to you “Shall we go for a walk?”

“Erm sure” You replied confused as you made your way back down the corridor you had just walked down hand in hand with Rimmer.

Once you had got far enough away from the others Ace looked back behind him before talking to you.

“I see Arnie finally got a break” Ace smirked as you raised an eyebrow at him.

“What do you mean?” You didn’t not like Ace but you could understand why Rimmer wasn’t fond of him.

“You and Arn have something going on” Ace spoke quietly incase of any eavesdroppers.

“How did you know?” You stared at him in panic.

“I could tell as soon as you walked in and what with the way Arnie was almost standing between us” Ace explained “I’m surprised the others haven’t figured it out”

“Well Kryten’s a mech and I don’t think his Mech Dev has covered that yet and as for Lister and Cat, they share a brain cell between them” You laughed a little “Well a brain cell they probably borrowed from Krytes”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that” Ace chuckled.

“I better go find Rimmer and make sure he’s ok” You sighed.

“You really do care about him” Ace grinned as your cheeks blushed and your eyes fell to the floor “He’s lucky!”

“I think I’m the lucky one Ace” You smiled as Ace gave you a ‘don’t be daft�� look.

Assuming Rimmer would be at his normal spot on the observation dome, you were completely startled as you walked past your quarters hearing rustling from inside.

“Holly can you open the door please?” You asked as the door opened swiftly “Hey what are you doing in here?”

There he was, sitting in your bunk reading one of your books and you couldn’t help but smile.

“Sorry I just wanted to go somewhere quiet where I wouldn’t be bothered” Rimmer panicked slightly.

“Arnie it’s fine, don’t worry” You smiled as you walked in with Ace following behind you.

“What do you want?” And with that Rimmer’s sour mood had returned.

“He just wanted to make sure you’re ok” You explained as you sat down next to Rimmer “Ace knows by the way”

“Knows about what?” Rimmer’s nostrils flared as he spoke.

“About us” You tried to remain calm but you could feel the tension radiating from him sitting next to you.

“You told Ace?” Rimmer almost looked heartbroken as if you had broken a promise.

“Hey don’t take your anger out on Y/N? It’s me you’ve got a problem with” Ace replied firmly and calmly, not that it was in Rimmer’s nature to fist fight.

“He figured it out” You sighed “and he’s not going to tell anyone ...right Ace?”

“If that’s what you want?” Ace kept his distance “Y/N do you mind if I have word alone with Arnie?”

“Sure” You smiled as you got up to leave, a look of worry in Rimmer’s eyes as he thought about the prospect of being left alone with Ace.

“So how did you figure it out?” Rimmer groaned as he put the book his was reading down.

“Arnie?” Ace could tell Rimmer was trying to start an argument.

“You’re probably going to sweep her away anyway” Rimmer spat as Ace shook his head, technically they were the same person just from different universes but they couldn’t have been anymore different from each other, almost two completely different beings.

“Why would I do that?” Ace leaned against the wall beside the bunks.

“You always do, you have a way with people” Rimmer screwed up his nose, sitting on the edge of your bunk with his elbows on his knees and his face in his palms.

“Well Arn, I don’t think you have much to worry about” Ace smiled as he looked down at Rimmer.

“It’ll happen it always does” Rimmer grumbled, adamant that you were going to be stolen away from him by Ace, the ‘superior’ version of himself.

“The only person Y/N is interested in is you” Ace spoke softly.

“Why do you even care?” Rimmer looked up at Ace with a scowl.

“Because you’ve got something good, something that I’ve never had” Ace kept his focus across the room as he spoke.

“What?” Rimmer asked almost speechless.

“I know in your eyes I’m the one that got all the breaks, all the good things but you’ve got love” Ace explained “But I guess thats what happens when you devote all your time to your career”

“You’re telling me?” Rimmer muttered.

“You’ve got something great there Arnie, don’t mess it up!” Ace’s voice dropped lower.

“She told me she loved me earlier and I froze up” Rimmer confessed, in disbelief that he was actually about to ask his alter ego for relationship advice “I couldn’t even say it back”

“You don’t have to Arnie, she already knows” Ace smiled “I saw the way she looked at you earlier and the way you watched her as she left”

“Really?” Rimmer was struggling to believe anything Ace was saying.

“As they say actions speak louder than words” Ace grinned before looking at his watch “At 1900 I’ll take the boys out for a trip ...give you two some time alone”

“Why are you being nice to me?” Rimmer scoffed.

“Take her on a date, show Y/N how much she means to you?” Ace completely ignored Rimmer’s reaction.

“And how do you suppose I do that?” Rimmer rolled his eyes “This rust bucket isn’t exactly the ideal date scene”

“You’ll think of something, she’ll love it regardless” Ace replied, clearly only you could really get through to Rimmer.

“Why am I taking relationship advice from you?” Rimmer sighed.

“What have you got to lose Arn?” Aces voice was low as he spoke.

Ace’s last sentence rang riot in Rimmer’s ears. What did he really have to lose? Ace was right, that no matter what Rimmer did you’d love him and therefore was nothing, he had nothing to lose.

#arnold rimmer #red dwarf #arnold j rimmer #arnold judas rimmer #rimmer #dave lister #hologram #kryten #the cat #ace rimmer #red dwarf fanfic #fanfiction #fanfic #fluff fic #rimmer x reader #arnold rimmer x reader

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dragonrajafanfiction · 4 years ago

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Trade Secrets

While Mr. Baldwin and Captain Foli had their little chat, Dofi, made his way back the way he came, hands in his pockets a smile on his face. His soft footsteps were made softer by his gleaming black patent leather shoes.

The hall was quiet and empty. The crew was in the middle of a shift change. There were four shifts. Morning, starting at 8 am and lasting until 2 pm. Then 2 pm to 8 pm then 8 pm to 2 am and 2 am to 8 am, called the Red Eye shift..

The midnight shifts were the smallest in the crew, and the Red Eye shift was often the slowest to wrest themselves from their beds so for a precious few minutes, Aido-Hwedo fell quiet. There was no one to hear when those leather shoes seemed to shimmer, as if losing focus and converting into stunning heels. The well pressed leather pants turned into a mesh of fishnet stocks wrapped around curving calves and topped with an A-line skirt.

HIs jacket and shirt changed shape as his body converted into an hourglass figure, his facial features softened and his eyelashes lengthened. The only thing that didn’t grow was his short cropped wiry curls. It wasn’t unusual for both men and women on the ship to keep hair clipped short.

Such a disguise couldn’t have been performed even by the most veteran spy, because it was more than just a trick of make up or acting.

Soul Skill: Mirage!

When he approached the women’s dorm area, the cameras fixed on him. Even the cameras couldn’t decode his ability. It was a trick of the light. Light entered the field of his dragon speech and returned to the eye of the beholder and the lens of the camera, bent and distorted by his will.

He walked through the halls until he came to the area where the mystery woman was staying. Two guards were posted outside her door armed with two rifles but he didn’t mind it. They were both accomplices to this mission. They opened the door for him without a word and he walked inside.

Two other women were there, seated on the top bunk beds, facing one another. On the left, a woman with bright golden eyes quietly whispered to herself in an endless stream of words. She stared eyes empty towards the other woman, not seeing her. Her whispering intensified and a bead of sweat rolled down her face. She gripped the mattress next to her legs. Her breathing accelerated.

Dofi paused, watching her carefully. This was Maria, and Maria was capable of putting anyone within five hundred feet of her into a coma without breaking a sweat like this. Yet, here she was visibly struggling. Dofi’s brow knitted and he looked down at the woman who was under her spell, sleeping quietly in her pajamas. This was no ordinary Cassell Student.

Captain Foli was warned by the Council of Elders of the likelihood that Cassell would bring in a secret weapon from the College. They never forgot their encounter with Anjou. They said that he was sniffing around like a hyena, smelling blood, but not finding the carcass. The West Africans had a vast bounty and he had picked up on it. He was looking for it. His arrival sent a shiver up all their spines and they couldn’t come out of their covert hiding places for years. Only after the breath of life left that man, could he finally move.

Now Dofi would see this secret.

He held out his hand and the unoccupied woman gave him a pair of latex gloves. Working quickly, he picked up her hand, found a vein and inserted a needle. Bright red blood jetted into a small glass tube, which he handed to the woman.

He looked down at this strange young girl with her delicate features, smooth skin and almond eyes. Her face was ringed by those shiny dark curls. His fingers traced her hand where a ring should be, but was conspicuously absent.

The woman on the upper bunk topped the vial with a small eye dropper and held it over what appeared to be a copper plate, swirled with gold and green and etched with a five sided symbol. At each of the five sides was an aspect of the draconic elemental wheel. The droplets of blood fell and moved about the plate as though pulled by magnetism. The woman watched the drops of blood wander aimlessly before finally settling in a pool at the center.

“There is no resonance.”

Dofi lifted his head and looked straight at her. Growling low like a lion, despite his female appearance, he said. “Test it again.”

The woman didn’t change expression, but gently tapped the bottom of the plate. The drops of blood wandered a bit before settling again in the center.

“No resonance.”

“Are they accepting humans at Cassell College? Maria, make her talk. Who are her parents?”

Maria gasped, staring at the far wall. “Ch-... Chu… Zihang. Chu… Meixiu.”

The woman on the bunk put the plate aside and picked up a less esoteric piece of technology, a small laptop. She typed away and while she did, no one spoke or moved.

Dofi sat still as a stone, glowering at this mystery girl. He’d lived too long and fought too hard for Cassell to stab them in the back at the last second. They were a mystery and unknown to the world of Hybrids. Did Mr. Baldwin think he could eliminate them in the middle of the sea with no one to take revenge?

“Chu Zihang was an Ace Commissioner in Cassell College, President of Lionheart, until his retirement. Chu Meixiu was Ace Commissioner in Cassell College, President of Club-S until her retirement. Her name is Chu Ru'Yi, a first year student. Born at Cassell College. There are no state records of her existence. There are no state records of her mother’s birth. She was a found child. Her mother was officially adopted at Cassell at age 16. Her father’s state records are thin. Only listing a mother and an adopted son. His father’s information has no state records.”

“Is Cassell a nursery now? Do they have a breeding program? What more can you find out?”

“I will need to take more time.” She looked down at him. “If you’re asking me to hack Norma.”

“How can the daughter of two Ace Commissioners be sterile of Dragonblood? Maria, ask her about her spiritual speech.”

The golden eyed girl gripped the mattress and stared. She panted as though drowning, gasping for air. She grit her teeth and grunted. “Can’t.”

“Can’t what?” He asked slowly, his eyes widening in barely contained fury.

“I can’t… I can’t tell you. I can’t …” The woman’s eyes moved to him. “I can’t push it. If she resists, she might break free of me.”

The amount of power needed to break free from Maria had to have been insane. Dofi began to feel real fear. They had to have a counter to a weapon as dangerous as this, but how could they counter something they had no information on? “Push it!”

Just as he spoke, the phone rang. It wasn’t a cell phone but the room phone. Dofi got up and walked to the phone and picked up. He didn’t have to ask who it was. He knew who was calling this room. “Brother, she has to be an extremely high level hybrid. Maria can hardly keep her down.”

Foli’s voice came over the phone. “Stop the inquiry.”

Dofi was so shocked that his illusory disguise wavered. “Why?” He snarled.

“I’ve changed my mind. I’ve decided to trust Mr. Baldwin.”

Dofi was speechless for a moment. “You don’t understand. This woman is powerful.” He hissed into the phone. “We don’t know what she’s capable of! She might kill us all here!”

“I don’t believe that will happen any more.” His brother said. His voice was calm. Unwavering. “Stop the inquiry.”

Dofi’s hand trembled as he hung up the phone. “Pack it up. We’re stopping the inquiry.”

The two women quickly gathered their things and hid them in spaces in the wall. They were supposed to just be her roommates for the night. No one else on the ship knew they would be interrogating her.

Dofi stood a few more moments, staring at the phone. Was his brother brainwashed? Mr. Baldwin went in alone. That man did not have the Soul Skill for brainwashing. This couldn’t be right. He strode quickly out of the room and down the hall, his heels clicking rhythmically against the tile. He slammed his hand against the button to open the door and walked through when it was just barely wide enough for him to fit through. As soon as he was out of the range of the cameras his disguise dropped and he was just Dofi.

The hall was occupied now with the shift workers and they pressed themselves to the wall upon seeing such a fierce expression on the normally jovial man’s face.

He picked up his own phone. “Where are you. We need to talk about this.”

“I’ll meet you in Ra’s Chamber.”

“Don’t deactivate him until you listen to me brother!” Dofi turned and opened a door to another staircase. This was dark and lined with only emergency lighting, but Dofi didn’t stumble in the dark. The hum and roar of the ship's mechanics drowned out everything here. This should have been only a cramped maintenance area, where piping carried water, waste and air where it needed to go. There wasn’t much room for anything on this ship, not even its own people. But after moving past two fortified bulkhead doors, Dofi entered space, which spanned half the length of the ship itself.

Foli and Dofi stood dwarfed by a gigantic scaly muzzle. The steam from the hot breath that exited its nostrils was vented up through the ceiling while fresh air was piped in. Its black scales were damp with dew from it. It’s body was tightly bound by what appeared to be metal cuffs that pinned its limbs to its body. It lay on its stomach much like a slumbering crocodile, it’s ribs expanding and then contracting every several seconds.

Foli laid one hand on the tip of the creature’s nose.

Dofi approached him and pulled his hand away. “Brother, I need an explanation.”

“I know.” Foli looked at him. “You know I’m your brother, we shared the same womb. So you know how much I care for you. I wouldn’t make a decision like this lightly. What Mr. Baldwin did today, not only showed his care for me, but his respect for our ways, for our secrets. To ignore that, would be a sign of stubbornness on my part, not of wisdom.”

“Is the inquiry into the woman really ignoring whatever good it is he’s done? We can reward his actions some other way.” He took a step closer to him and whispered. “I know what I saw. If you want to trust him, fine. But I do not.”

“Every organization is entitled to their secrets. He respected ours.” He picked up the medallion from his pocket and held it up.

Dofi’s eyes went wide again, experiencing yet another shock. “The Ashanti Medal! Where … where did you find it?”

“He found it. He found it and showed it to no one until he returned it to me.” Foli looked his brother in the face. “Do you understand now?”

Dofi was visibly paler, despite his dark complexion. When he didn’t answer Foli grinned.

“You’re speechless as well? It took my breath away. All the hand wringing and late night shouting in the Council… when it was all just a misunderstanding.” He returned the medallion to his pocket.”

Dofi sobered and looked over the bound sleeping dragon. “Some wanted to go to war over that thing.”

“It’s back in our possession.” He clapped Dofi on the shoulder. “Get some sleep. Don’t bother keeping one eye open this time.”

“Then are you deactivating Ra?”

They both looked over the bound creature. “I don’t believe that’s wise. We are facing a Dragon King, we may yet need his support should the Cassell Agents fall in battle.”

#Class of 2032 #Dragon Raja #Fanfiction

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novannna · 4 years ago

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Same Sea, Same Soul, Same Heart

Chapter 2

Danna is the daughter of a noble in Gatlon city. Gatlon is ruled by King Hugh and King Simon, members of the Renegades, the gruop that saved it from the anarchists and Ace Anarchy. Nova is the niece of Ace Anarchy and is the worlds most feared and dangerous pirate. She kidnaps Danna as ransom, and while they travel back to Danna’s father the two girls begin to realize they weren’t so different after all…

link to masterlist

Link to Chapter 1

Danna woke up in a cramped room, her hands still tied behind her. She spotted a glass bottle behind her, just inches away. She stretched her hands out, and grabbed onto the smooth surface. She brought the bottle down hard on the wooden floor, cringing when it shattered loudly. Danna let out a relieved breath when no one came running. Her hands searched for the biggest shard. Her fingers latched onto a large, jagged piece of glass.

Danna angled it upwards, and began sawing at the rope. Finally, after an eternity of sawing, the rope broke. Danna dropped the glass and rubbed her raw wrists, They were covered with small cuts from where the glass had slipped, and a few layers of skin were rubbed off from the tough rope.

She pushed herself up and looked around the room. It didn’t have any furniture, but there were a number of barrels pushed against the back wall, as well as a few bottles scattered across the floor. Danna felt around her skirt, searching for her two daggers. She exhaled gratefully when she felt the hard metal lumps. She reached into her full skirt, and grabbed the two blades. She gave them a quick twirl, the familiar weight comfortable in her hands.

Danna stalked over to the door, and cracked it open. A man was standing outside, guarding it. She threw the door open, and held her knife to the man’s throat.

“One word, and I cut,” she snarled. “I’m not afraid to get blood on my dress.”

The man raised his hands.

“Good. Now take me to your captain.”

The man breathed in suddenly. “Captain don’t like to be disturbed.”

“Disturb him anyway. It's that or get your throat slit. Seems like there’s only one good option,” she hissed. Danna dug the knife in a little deeper.

“Alright, alright,” the man surrendered. “But they won’t be happy. And don’t think you can beat em. You don’t know what you’re walking into.”

“My problem, not yours. No take me to him.” When the man didn’t budge, Danna slammed her body into him. “Now!”

“Okay, okay.” He led her through wherever they were, walking as quickly as he could with a blade to his throat. Finally, they stopped in front of a wooden door.

“Captain’s in here,” the man said nervously.

Danna raised her eyebrows. “Doesn’t look like much.” It really didn’t. The door was just a plain, unfinished door, with a small peephole near the top.

“Trust me, this is the captain's office. You really don’t wanna make them mad. I would just go back to your room, and wait for them to come to you.”

“Doesn’t he know? It's rude not to meet your guests.” Danna paused. “He really scares you, doesn’t he.”

“Captain’s powerful. It’d be stupid not to be afraid. You should be too.”

Danna ignored him, and opened the door. She dragged the man in, and glared at the figure waiting for her.

“Well that certainly took longer than expected,” they said. He was sitting in a large chair, facing them. A large set of glass doors was opened behind him to a small balcony. The view of the sea was all she could see.

The sea. They were on a boat. It all clicked.

“You’re pirates!” Danna exclaimed.

The captain sighed. “I thought you said she was smart,” he said to Danna’s captive. “You can let’m go, Miss Bell.”

“No. I know you must care about your men, so he’s my insurance. I go, he goes.”

To her surprise, the captain burst into laughter. “Men are replaceable,” he said, flippantly waving his hand. “It’d be a terrible shame to get blood on the floor again though.”

“If that’s how you think about them, then why would they be loyal to you?”

“My dear, we’re pirates. We have no honor. They all know I don’t give a damn about their lives. But at least they’re well paid.” He chuckled again. “Let the man go.”

“No.” Danna glared defiantly.

“Darling, if I wanted to hurt you, I would’ve already.” He drew an elegant dueling pistol out of his coat, and trained it on Danna. “Now, let the man go.”

“Fine,” Danna spat out. She lowered her knife, and the man backed away from her quickly.

“You’re dismissed,” The captain said. The man nodded, and quickly retreated, the door swinging shut behind him.

The captain tucked his pistol back into his coat and rose. He was a long red coat, with gold brocade, and a hat pulled low over his face. A sword was strapped to his hips, and a pair of pistols were strapped to his chest.

“So,” he said. “You escaped your room. Took you long enough.”

Danna stared at him quizzically. Was he amused? “What do you mean? What are you talking about?”

He chuckled. “It was obvious you were going to escape. Do you think I would be stupid enough to leave you with your weapons? And bottles lying on the floor? And only one guard, and an unlocked door?”

“Oh.” Realization dawned on her. “It was a test.” He nodded slightly. “Why bother? Why do you even want me?”

“I was curious to see who put up so much of a fight. And I want you, because your father will pay a handsome ransom for you.” He grinned.

Danna cocked her head, and stared at his face. Something about it seemed off. As well as his voice. It was higher than would be expected. And softer. She shook herself. She was losing focus on the real issues.

“You’re wrong. He will send the Renegade’s navy after me, and he will find me. And you’ll hang for your crimes.”

He raised his eyebrows. “That so?”

“Yes! It is,” she said boldly. “He will never pay a pirate a ransom for me. And I think I will enjoy watching you hang.”

“You wouldn’t be the only one. But unfortunately for you, I won’t get caught. Do you know what ship you’re on?”

“It doesn’t matter. Once the Renegades are onto you, you’ll never get away.”

“Oh, but my dear, the Renegades are always looking for me.” He smiled, and spread his arms wide. “Welcome to The Nightmare.”

---

Danna backed up, her eyes wide with shock. “Thats…”

“Impossible? It isn’t.” Nova was grinning on the inside. She loved seeing the look on peoples faces when they learned who they were talking to. Her ship, The Nightmare was one of the most infamous vessels in the sea. The Renegade Navy had been trying to catch it for years to no avail. It struck, wreaking havoc, then disappeared. In and out, barely seen, but leaving its memory lingering behind.

“That means you’re…”

Nova finished for her. “Captain Noah Artino, at your service.” She took a small bow. She liked pretending to be a boy. No one but her crew and the Anarchists knew who she was. It made it easier to infiltrate places. As well as not be underestimated. She was Noah Artino to the world. And it worked out for everyone that way.

Fear flashed across Danna’s face. “I thought Nightmare didn’t take prisoners.”

“They do if it’s in their best interest. What would your death get me? Absolutely nothing. But your life… I know your father will pay any sum for you. Even if he sends Renegades after me first.”

“You have to bring me back,” Danna tried again. “Without me-”

“What,” Nova interrupted. “Without you he’ll what?”

Danna’s silence was answer enough.

“He’ll be fine on his own. He doesn’t value your opinion, and for the record, neither do I. Now, can I trust you to go back to your quarters without threatening the life of another member of my crew, or do I have to take you myself.”

“My quarters? That’s what you call them? The closet you shoved me into? It doesn’t even have a bed!”

Nova shrugged. “Not my problem. If you really want, I can get you a hammock so you can sleep with the crew. Or you can stay in my chambers. It’s up to you.”

“The closet is fine,” Danna grumbled.

“Good. Now, shoo. I actually have work to do. I wouldn’t expect you to understand what that is though. I doubt you’ve done a single day's worth of it.” Nova was trying to goad her into a fight. And Danna fell right into her trap.

She whipped out her dagger, and ran at Nova. Nova neatly side stepped her wild swings.

“You’ll find that I’m a more difficult opponent to beat than my crew,” she called out cheerfully.

Danna screamed with rage. “You don’t know anything about me!”

“On the contrary, I know everything about you. I spend time getting to know my victims. I’ve got you completely figured out.” Nova grabbed Danna by the arms, and bent her wrist backwards, forcing her to drop the dagger. She shoved her into a chair on the opposite side of Nova’s desk. “Sit, and let me explain something to you. Or should I strap you down?” Danna fumed, but didn’t move. “Excellent.” Nova took a moment to collect herself. “You are an open book. From the minute you were born you have been pampered. You haven’t spent nights hungry, or almost died because you had to risk your life to survive. The hardest thing you’ve ever done is train to learn how to fight. Which paid off. You're not a terrible fighter. But you don’t know the pain I’ve felt. You can go to bed sleeping peacefully each night.” Nova was beginning to get angry. “You fight with your parents about who you’ll marry, or what you want to do with your life. And you have infinite options.” Nova paused, and glared at the girl. “Me, on the other hand. I was brought up with two choices. Fight and steal, or die. I’ve never known the comfort of peace and safety. I’m safe now, but any minute some cocky pirate can come barging through that door, ready to fight me for command of that ship. One day, I won’t be lucky. I trust my crew, but they’re pirates. We have no honor. If they think they can win against me, then they’ll try and kill me. When I’m on land, I have to steal if I want a meal or a place to sleep. I risk Renegades finding me, and stringing me up, just because I don’t want to starve.”

“You’d deserve it,” Danna muttered.

“I would. But you’re not getting my point! I know you. I know every single one of your kind. So trust me when I say this. I don’t give a damn about what you want or what you have done. You’re only worth is the money your father will pay me for your safe return.” Nova slammed her dagger between Danna’s fingers. She yelped, and jerked backwards.

“Now go. Keep your daggers. But if you even think about leaving your quarters without explicit permission from me, I’ll throw you overboard without a second thought.”

---

Danna was absolutely furious. Noah Artino, the infamous pirate was telling her she had known no struggle in life. He was completely wrong. But at the same time, part of her mind was really wondering if she should rethink everything. Her heart was still racing from the knife he had stabbed between her fingers, and her dark skin felt warm.

“Now go,” he said. “Keep your daggers. But if you even think about leaving your quarters without explicit permission from me, I’ll throw you overboard without a second thought.” The nerve. That he was the one ordering her around. And her quarters. She barely had enough space to turn around. Not that she wouldn’t be able to handle that though.

She should not be here. She should not be in the middle of the ocean, because some criminal wanted to use her. Use her to make her father pay some of their rapidly fading money. Danna had heard the rumors. She knew Nightmare and his crew were rich with the profits of innocent people, trying to go about their lives.

And she was another pawn on his board, moving around by forces beyond her control. Danna refused to be used.

As Noah Artino turned around, facing the sea, she yanked the dagger out of the wood, and hurled it at his head. For a second, she thought it would really work.

But he ducked at the last minute. The blade pierced his hat, ripping it off his head, and pinning it to the wall behind him. He ripped around, anger, and a little bit of fear in his eyes. He morphed his expression back to its completely emotionless facade.

Wait. No. Not him.

Without the hat hiding her face, it was obvious that it wasn’t a man's face. And hair that had been hidden, tucked up inside the pirates hat now flowed loosely around her head.

“You- you’re a girl,” Danna stuttered in shock.

“Very astute,” the pirate captain said. Her voice was lighter now, as if she had been making a conscious effort to make it sound more masculine.

Danna laughed. “You’re kidding me. The infamous Nightmare, the one Renegades have been looking for ever since they emerged is a girl?”

“No need to sound so surprised. The Renegades have many female soldiers in their ranks.”

“Yes, but… you’re a pirate! Pirates are rough men. Criminals, and murderers. Not women.”

Noah Artino burst out laughing. “Oh darling, you’ve obviously never met a real pirate before then. Almost half my crew is female. We just don’t get caught. That's why you never knew.”

“Why bother? Why let the world think you’re a man?”

The pirate shrugged. “No one underestimates me. It makes life easier. Tales of the dreaded Nightmare, sneaking in to slit your throat and steal you daughters. No one would guess that it’s a girl.”

“Do you? Steal people’s daughters I mean.”

“Besides you? No. They come willingly.” She winked, and Danna bit back a laugh. “Nice throw, by the way. Pity about the wall though. Just fixed it.” She sighed while she yanked out the dagger. “Now, don’t think knowing the truth changes anything in your situation. You can go.” The pirate pointed at the door.

Danna felt a surge of annoyance rise up. The pirate was still just as irritating and brash as a girl. “Is Noah your real name?” She asked.

“No. And I don’t see how that is any of your business.” She stood, and opened the door. “I’ll see you when I feel like it. Step a single toe out of line, and you’ll be swimming with the sharks. Now go.” She pointed out the door and tapped her food impatiently.

“You trust me to go back on my own?” Danna asked. She was confused by the pirate’s trusting behavior.

“Not at all,” she responded. “Moxie!” She screamed. Someone came running down the corridor.

A woman wearing long trousers, a man's button up shirt arrived. “Yes, Cap?” She asked breathlessly.

“Take Miss Bell to her room. Bring her a meal, then post two guards at the door, and lock it tight. She’s prone to escaping.”

“Yes ma’am.” Moxie saluted. She yanked Danna forward by the arms. “Come on, Captain’s orders.” Danna stared at the woman in surprise. She was a lot stronger than she looked. Danna glared at the captain.

“You have to take me back to my father!”

She smiled, and placed her hat back on her head, this time keeping her short black hair down. “That’s the plan. In the end we’ll all be happy. You’ll be with daddy dearest, and I’ll be a fair bit richer.”

“You’re a terrible person!” Danna screamed while Moxie pulled her down the hallway.

The captain tipped her hat. “Of course I am. I am a pirate after all.”

Tag list: @novissa @thepurpledragon4444 @phobidawg @janisarkisian @rvbell @lavenderbloo @redassassin (let me know if you want to be added/taken off!!!)

#Same Sea Same Soul Same Heart #nobell #nova artino #danna bell #wlwrenegades #Renegades #archenemies #supernova #renegades trilogy #renegades au #my writing #renegades fic #renegades fanfic

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sabraeal · 5 years ago

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In Plain Sight, Chapter 3

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

Obiyuki AU Bingo Any AU of Your Choice (Witness Protection AU)

The thing about lying is: Shirayuki is terrible at it.

“So, Claire.” There’s no way her neighbor can know it’s a fake name, there’s no way she can be stressing it, not this perfect-picture Texan housewife who probably hasn’t thought about Witness Protection since the last time she watched Witness. “What is it you do?”

Shirayuki stares dumbly, mouth dry. She has a-- a brief or whatever, sitting somewhere in her luggage since it seemed silly to just whip it out during the flight, letting everyone seated in row eight see her new identity, but she--

She has no idea who she is. Who Claire Roos is.

“Um,” she manages, scuffing the edge of her sandal on the curb. “I, ah--”

Don’t have a job yet seems like a terrible way to start a conversation, especially right in front of a dream house that is too big for one single academic and definitely cost quite a bit of cash, so thankfully she’s saved the indignity by the unmarked white van that skids straight up to where they stand.

Oh, good. Now would actually be a great time to be kidnapped. Anything to save her from this.

“Excuse me, young man,” Mrs Kino calls out stridently as a man twice the size of them struts out of the driver’s side, her mouth pulled into a disapproving frown. “This is a neighborhood with children!”

Shirayuki stares at her. So does her kidnapper, popping one of his earbuds out. “Come again?”

If anything, this only makes Mrs Kino’s countenance more forbidding. “We have children here, sir.” When he continues to stare blankly, she clarifies, impatient, “Please drive with more care!”

“Oh.” He shrugs a shoulder. “Yeah, sure, whatever. Roos?”

His gaze swings between them in question, but his slouched posture gave the impression he wasn’t all too concerned with the answer.

“Not me,” Mrs Kino says, sending her an expectant look, and--

Oh. Roos. That’s her. She’s Roos.

“That’s me. Roos!” she blurts out smoothly. “Claire Roos.”

“Okay. Great.” He slides open the side of the van, and she braces herself--

For him to drop a half dozen boxes at her feet. White boxes, with the word WALMART emblazoned on the side.

“What?” she murmurs, toes shying back. “I didn’t--”

“Have a nice day,” he says, slamming the door. “Make sure you give the delivery five stars, okay?”

“O-okay.” She stares down at the siege of low-quality home goods around her. “But I really didn’t--”

He’s already got his earbud back in, strutting around to the driver’s side and-- and she’s stuck with whatever is in these boxes. Probably pin-up girl shower curtains and whatever the doormat version of The Kiss poster is, if her handler had a hand in this.

She glances up at her house, dread squeezing her chest. He might have decorated the whole place. He might have even picked this house out for her. There might even be a galley kitchen in there.

“Well now, looks like you planned ahead!” Mrs Kino remarked, surveying her sea of boxes. “Wouldn’t have even thought to get a delivery on moving day.”

“Oh, I didn’t--” she bites down on the words-- “even remember it was coming.”

“Ain’t that just the way.” Mrs Kino shakes her head, giving a wry laugh. “Moving just gets everyone all turned around, doesn’t it? Anyway, you best get those inside. Don’t want anything to go bad right out here on the lawn, do we?”

Shirayuki just stares, wondering how cheap home goods could expire any more than they already have. “Ah...right. Of course.”

“You need help carrying these up?” her neighbor nods at the winding steps up to the door. “Might save you a trip.”

Oh gosh, the stairs. They’re nothing now, just a lovely little accent built into her yard’s natural hill, but in the winter, she’ll have to--

Her whole body jerks to a stop. She’s not in New England anymore, she’s in-- in Texas. The South. She won’t have to shovel them.

“Claire?”

She wipes the grin from her face. “Um, yes! If you don’t mind.”

Mrs Kino smiles up at her brightly. “Why, not at all. It’s the neighborly thing to do! Around here, we’re all as close as family.”

“Oh.” Her lips pulls tight against her teeth. “Just perfect.”

“That looks like all of it,” Mrs Kino pants, dropping the last box up at the door.

It takes every last ounce of willpower for Shirayuki to not just collapse on the stairs. She knew it would be warmer here-- after all, going south mean getting closer to the equator, and the equator means hot, so it made sense that the further south she went the more heat there would be, but--

Garack once had to do a timed experiment for four hours in the warm room, and sometime around hour two, when Shirayuki thought that if she dared to move she would collapse like melted ice cream held together by the magic shell of her skin, Garack announced that this was as miserable as Satan’s asscrack, and well--

This place is worse than that. By at least an order of magnitude.

Mrs Kino casts a pointed look to where she clenches the wrought-iron rail and asks, “You sure you don’t want help bringing them in?”

“Oh, no!” Shirayuki waves her hands, keys jingling against her palm. Even the sound is strange, like how room keys jangle when on vacation, hollow and far too few. “The house, it’s really--”

She doesn’t know what it’s really, because she’s never seen a single piece of it. Which is part of the problem, since presumably people look at the houses they’re going to buy, even if they’re clear across the country.

“Messy,” she settles on. That’s safe, at least. “I’ll need a few days to get it into ship-shape.”

“Oh, of course!” Kino gives her a wide smile, more earnest than she deserves. “I know just how it is. But you just holler if you need anything. Me and Harold are just a hedge away!”

“Ah, yes! Right!” She edges back toward her door, fishing for the keyhole. Holding this smile is starting to hurt. It’ll be the last thing left of her if she melts, just a pearly white set of teeth on top of a pile of vaguely Shirayuki-ish goo. “I’ll...holler.”

“Good.” Kino makes it nearly two stairs down before turning back. “Oh, I clear forgot to mention. I always have the ladies of the neighborhood by Thursday afternoon. Just a small little get-together. You’ll have to come.”

Oh no. No.

“Of course.” The reasonable part of her watches in horror as instinct takes over and her body nods. “I’d love to, Mrs Kino.”

“It’s Martha, please,” she laughs, waving her off. “I’ll have to let all the girls know you’re coming by. They’ll be pleased as punch, I can tell you.”

Shirayuki watches her walk away with a pit of dread growing in her gut. “Great. I...can’t wait.”

With a grunt, Shirayuki hauls the last box into the foyer. She’s half tempted to just crawl the last step in rather than walk. As it is, she barely stumbles over that hurdle, hauling herself up the last half foot before she collapses against the door. Its cool surface is a godsend; she slides down it with a long, loud squeak, leaving a trail of sweat behind her. She’d be horrified, if it didn’t feel so good.

The AC is blasting, and the vent hits her where she sits, cold air cooling the slick surface of her skin, turning it blissfully sticky instead.

Well, those are words she never quite thought she’d use in that order.

The sweat she’s been dripping onto the beautiful natural wood floor beneath her slows to a stop. With a sigh, she leans her head against the door, grimacing as her hair sticks to her neck. She needs a shower.

But first the boxes. Then she can think of a way to thank Mrs—Martha for her help, and next Thurday when she goes to—

Oh no. Lunch. A ladies’ lunch. What was she thinking?

She needs an adult. Ridiculously, she wonders if Agent Jiang would pick up.

No, not him. Agent Jiang-- Obi was probably the one who thought ordering home décor from Walmart was the pinnacle of adulthood. He’s the sort of man who has one kitchen towel, and it has chili peppers on it.

A sweaty palm claps to her cheek. A ladies’ lunch. Oh gosh, she’s going to have to make something.

She doesn’t even have groceries. She’ll have to-- to go out and find a store and buy them. The produce might not even be local. They might have a bad organic section. There may not even be a Whole Foods for miles. The World Food’s aisle might only have pasta in it.

Shirayuki isn’t cut out for this-- this whole moving thing. She likes knowing that the Roche Brothers on the corner buys their produce local, but that the Market Basket has the better selection of spices. Or that the Whole Foods is cheaper but the Trader Joe’s two towns over has a better freezer section. Now she doesn’t even know if there is more than one store, and she--

She breathes. In. Out. She’ll just have to live with it. One step at a time.

Step one: open up these boxes. Better to find out now what inappropriate shot glasses her handler got her to christen the kitchen.

Slipping her key between her knuckles, she slices the first box open, flipping the lid to find--

Shirayuki blinks. Tilting the box, she reads Walmart, right on the side, big star in the middle. That...can’t be right.

She peers back inside, but the contents haven’t changed: fresh produce, still leafy and green. Carrots, spinach, a couple of cheerful looking eggplants, and even a clamshell of strawberries is tucked underneath.

“Well,” she murmurs, stymied. “That’s...unexpected.”

She turns to the next box, a heavier one, and it’s packed to the top with spices. Cinnamon, coriander, garlic, oregano, basil, thyme, curry, cumin-- big bottles she would have had to buy out of the Goya section back home. And now they’re all sitting in this box from Walmart.

Settling back on her heels, Shirayuki surveys the last four boxes, just as big as the first two. One of them is cold to the touch.

She blinks. “Walmart sells groceries?”

The only answer is her echo, but that-- that’s fine, because every box she opens is packed to the gills with foodstuffs-- chicken and beef and shrimp in one; flour, sugar, a dozen other baking needs, including two bags of chocolate chips; another filled with butter and eggs and milk. By the last box, she has a fully stocked kitchen, plus or minus a few personal needs.

“Well,” she breathes, “looks like he might know his way around the kitchen after all.”

That, or he has a very helpful coworker. Either way, she has food, and a--

“Kitchen!” She peers down the hall, curious. “I need to find the kitchen.”

Hauling herself to her feet, she lifts the box of dairy and detours past the stairs, leading into--

Oh, well. That’s a surprise.

Shirayuki can admit it: Marshal Jiang has outdone himself. Or at least, whichever agent vetted this house for purchase.

The kitchen could be straight out of one of those home and garden magazines Oma liked to have laying out around the B&B: track lighting hung right over the kitchen island, granite countertops, a double oven with separate range. It’s every improvement Opa had vetoed to their own, saying it was all a pipe dream when they still had repairs to do to the bathrooms, and the roof would need to be redone in the summer--

A summer that never came. And never would, now.

Her hands tighten around the box. There’s no time to dwell, not now when she has perishables to rescue and a kitchen to organize.

Start with what you can fix, Opa would say, the content of his tool box littered around him, and forget about what you can’t.

“Right,” she murmurs, setting the box on the counter. “Dairy first.”

The entire house, once she’s showered the sweat off and is finally able to explore, is as impressive as the kitchen. The whole first floor is open concept, kitchen flowing into the living room on one side and the dining area on the other, bathroom and home office tucked down a small hallway-- and every inch of it is homey, done up on soft fabrics and warm woods, looking both lived-in and clean.

But the pièce de résistance is the master bedroom, because--

“Oh gosh.” The words are muffled through the world’s fluffiest duvet. “It’s memory foam.”

Shirayuki flips onto her back with a sigh. It’s definitely not home-- nothing could be-- but it’s something. Something she can try to make into one.

“Hot in!” someone yells, muted, and Shirayuki bolts upright, heart pounding in her chest.

“So hot in here!” they continue, a siren blaring behind the words, and she realizes-- it’s her phone. Her phone is...singing to her.

She frowns, reaching across the bed to snatch it up from the nightstand. There’s no picture on the caller ID, just the words Sugar Daddy.

She definitely does not know anyone named that.

“Hello?” she squeaks, dragging herself further onto the bed. “Who is this?”

“It’s me,” says the man on the other end, and the quick jolt in her belly identifies him better than a name could: Marshal Jiang. Obi.

Anxious butterflies beat against her rib cage. He must have some-- some reason for calling. Official reasons. Marshals don’t call their charges just to chat.

Probably. “Is something wrong?”

“No.” He sounds amused through the speaker; she can almost imagine the smug grin he has on his face. “I just wanted to check in. Make sure you’ve settled in all right. Hear any complaints.”

“Oh, right.” She rolls upright; they might be on the phone, but lounging on a bed while talking to Obi seems...weird. “I’m...good?”

He hums, amused. “No trouble?”

Besides him abandoning her to her fate on her front lawn, and her inability to lie for more than three minutes at a time?

“Well, I don’t think I said anything strange in front of my neighbor,” she says instead, stomach clenching as she rifles through her memory. “She invited me to meet the other neighbors at lunch, or, um, tea? Something like that. I’ll have to make something, I think.”

“Oh,” he murmurs. “That’s something.”

“It’s the neighborly thing to do,” she informs him. “I think I might go with cookies. That’s simple, and everyone likes cookies.”

“I know I do,” he agrees, and she has no idea why it sounds like he’s on the verge of a laugh. “But I mean: no signs of Umihebi or her people? No one lingering outside your house? No unmarked vans? You feel safe?”

“Oh!” Right, because that’s what he’s worried about: her getting shot. Or kidnapped. Or whatever it is that mob bosses do to girls like her. “Yes. I mean, no. No one hanging around. Though the Walmart van was unmarked, but-- groceries.” She lets out a laugh. “Did you know they deliver groceries?”

He’s definitely smothering a laugh. “I sure did, miss.”

Right, because he’s probably the one that ordered it. Or had a PA order it, or whatever. “I didn’t realize they had, um, food.”

“Yeah,” he hums. “It’s popular around here.”

She goggles. “For groceries?”

“Sure is.” There’s a pause, and she can just feel his shrug, even if she can’t see it. “There’s Kroger’s too, and I think a Stop and Shop a few towns over, if you look real hard, and a Wegman’s that just opened in the strip mall--”

“Do you live here?” She cringes. She could really do to sound less interested. “I mean, close by? Nearby?”

“Close enough.”

She raises a brow. That was more than a little cagey. “Close enough to know all the grocery stores.”

“Close enough for you to tell my boss I’m a very helpful handler when review time comes around.” He lets out an amused huff. “I can tell you who has the best pizza too.”

“Oh, um.” She’s half-tempted to ask, but that seems-- personal. He might like that greasy Mediterranean style, and she just-- she doesn’t need to know that about him. “Well, you can give my compliments to the person who decorated the house. It’s lovely.”

“O-oh?” He’s suddenly removed, almost shy. “You think so?”

She runs a hand along the duvet, floral and yet somehow not grandmother-y. “Very. She did a great job.”

“Right. Yes. She did.” He hesitates, clearing his throat. “Anything in particular you like? For, uh, feedback reasons. She loves to hear specifics.”

“Well, the kitchen is--” Shirayuki sighs, content-- “heaven.”

“The kitchen is the heart of the home.” He coughs. “I mean, that’s what she says. A lot.”

Shirayuki smiles. “Well, she’s right.”

“Mm,” he hums, absent. “And the couch is okay?”

“It’s the perfect softness,” she enthuses. “I don’t disappear into it, but it still hugs you, you know?”

“Good, great.” His fingers drum in the background. “That’s the hardest part.”

“Oh?”

“I mean--” he hesitates, so long she can hear him breathe-- “so she says.”

“It’s perfect.” Shirayuki settles back onto the pillows-- there’s a thousand of them, just like she likes, all different sizes and shapes, a veritable army of throw pillows like any self-respecting bedroom should have. “And I haven’t slept on it, but the bed--”

Shirayuki stops herself. He isn’t-- Obi probably isn’t the best person to be talking about beds to, not when her lips still tingle from touching his. That’s not...safe.

“It’s fine,” she finishes lamely. “Is there anything else she’d like me to compliment? I’d be happy to get her into heaven, if she wanted.”

“I think she’d be happier with a raise.”

She cocks her head, pressing the phone between her ear and shoulder. “Something to mention around review time?”

He sniffs. “Only as an addendum to how handled you feel under me.”

He doesn’t mean it as-- as anything, just trying to be funny, but something sweeps through her, not heat but-- but something like a shiver, like the tingle of a limb waking up, and she’s not sure if she likes it.

“Well,” she manages, mouth utterly dry, “I don’t know how they’ll feel about the nickname Sugar Daddy...”

“Ah, well.” He at least has the grace to sound contrite, even if it’s in no way sincere. “You’re welcome to change it. You’ll be paying for all this yourself anyway, soon.”

It’s good they’re on the phone; he can’t see her grimace. All this on what will probably be an adjunct’s salary. She feels faint just thinking about it.

“Which reminds me,” he continues, “I’ll send over your new resume tomorrow. You’ll probably want that when you apply for jobs.”

Shirayuki bites back a groan. It’s a herculean effort not to ask why the government could pay for all this upfront, but somehow not arrange for a tenured position. Or at least an interview. “Great.”

“Is there anything else you need?” he asks. “I’m here to serve.”

“Aren’t you here to handle?” The words just fall out of her before she can stop herself. “I mean, ah...”

This is terrible, how much she wants to impress him. Shirayuki’s known him for less than twelve hours, and her palms are sweaty just talking to him. Every time his voice drops, she thinks about how he laughed as her mouth chased his, how he’d said I’ve missed you too--

Ugh, if this is what middle school was like for everyone else, they can have it back. This is torture.

“Handling you is already the most fun I’ve had in years,” he remarks, so casual, like he doesn’t even know how that’s going to make her heart misbehave in her chest. “But nothing else.?”

She doesn’t want to end on this, on her just blurting out an innuendo and letting him think she means things, so she grabs at the first thing she can think of. “Can I change the landscaping?”

“Wha--?” he replies, eloquent.

“It’s just…” She clears her throat. “Lawns consume a lot of water, and just are for show. If I put in a garden, or natural grasses, I could—“

“Sure,” he chokes out. He’s laughing. “I think you can do whatever you want.”

“Great.” Now he thinks she’s--weird. That’s fine. That’s...probably accurate. “Good. So, um, good night?”

“Yeah.” It’s quiet when he says it, a little more than a breath. “Good night.”

Shirayuki thumbs the End Call button, watching as Sugar Daddy flashes before disappearing from the screen. That went...well. As well as could be expected, considering how all she can think about is his hand threading through her hair and his hand at her back and--

Things. Professional things. Professional things she can totally handle. Because she is not thinking about how her handler could definitely handle her, and--

She takes another breath. In. Out. It’s fine. She may be experiencing this whole-- attraction, but it will pass. Hopefully. And if it doesn’t, well... she only has to deal with this for the rest of her life.

Shirayuki drops the phone like it burns, claps her hands over her face, and screams.

#obiyukibingo2020 #obiyuki #akagami no shirayukihime #snow white with the red hair #witness protection au #my fic #ans #this whole fic is just shirayuki being an awkward turtle in every situation #i'm sure she'll find her footing #at some point #but it won't be any time soon #and obi just thinks it's adorable #and also a problem #his own personal problem

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yunohawkeye · 4 years ago

Text

Okay so... this is not betaread. I’ve never done this before and yeah. Here’s my OC. It might be a little messy but hopefully you’ll like her :)

This is all also pretty vague because I just wrote my thoughts down, so if you have any more questions about her, my askbox is always open ^^

Name: Anika

Gender: female

Species: Dragonkin-human hybrid

Origin: hidden village on a little island

Age: 18/20 pre/post timeskip

Powers:

dragonskin - hardening the skin with scales; similar to Armor-haki

fire dragon - vivify the dragon markings on her skin; gaining control of her dragon

haki - all forms

Physical:

Most Common Outfit: black tank top, jeans-colored hot pants, black and white sneakers and bandages covering up her whole right arm

Accessoires/Items: her Tantō

Personal:

Family: father - unknown, mother - deceased, sister - deceased

Friends: The Strawhats

Best Friend: Luffy

Love interest: None (yet) (I kinda wanna see who you ship her with)

Personality:

Likes/Dislikes:

Favorite…

Food: Bread

Flower: Dragon’s Breath

Color: Black/Red

Place: On top of a mountain/high places in general

Least Favorite:

Food: Porridge

Flower: Dandelion

Color: Grey

Place: The Dungeons

History:

(I’m gonna keep this one short, otherwise this would be a whole-ass story. If you wanna know more you can always ask me though.)

Her village was attacked by masked men at the age of 5. She saw her mother got murdered and ran away with her baby sister in her arms. One of the men stopped her but let her run, not being able to kill children.

It was winter season and the snow was knee-high for her, but she kept on going, trying to bring her sister to safety.

Days later she arrived at a marine base and asked soldiers for help. Her sister was cold. They did take her in, gave her food and warm clothes. Although her little sister was dead, not able to withstand the freezing atmosphere at that age but the soldiers told Anika they brought her sister to a doctor. Then she was taken to the captain in charge of the island who immediately noticed the tattoo on her arm.

She was told to be taken to a foster home, to be taken care of, but instead found herself in another facility and her room was a cell deep down in the dungeons.

Her race, the dragonkin, were supposed to be eradicated a long time ago, together with the history of the void century, her village has been the last remnant of it. Now, she was the only dragonkin left and the world government decided not to execute her but to experiment on her.

Until the age of 10 she was tortured every day, trying to get information out of her. How did her reaction differ to one of a normal human or fishman? How long could she survive without food or water without showing symptoms of weakness? What was the trigger to unlock their powers? All those experiments had taken a toll on her and the light in her eyes was gone. While doing them, she often hoped they would make a mistake and she’d die.

But then, one day one of the guards didn’t pay enough attention, not seeing the little 10 year old girl as threat and for a moment, she felt the spark of life again, adrenaline shooting through her veins and releasing an unconscious pulse of Emperor’s Haki. She was able to run away from the guards and the facility, some kind of power taking over her body. She doesn’t remember much from that day, it were too many impressions at once. Nothing more than shreds come to mind. She only knew that she woke up in a little fishing boat, stranded on an island. A man above her, obviously worried before she fell unconscious again.

Later on that man turned out to be Garp. He saw the markings on her arm and could piece together what happened, the scars and wounds on her skin being indicator enough. He brought her to Dadan, where she got to know Luffy and Ace. Sabo was already considered dead.

In the beginning she was very shy and jumped at every fast movement, not letting anyone touch her. Her beaten and honestly miserable appearance even struck a soft nerve in Ace. He and Luffy tried to coax her out of her shell more and more.

She started trusting them and let herself heal, even telling them her past. As they heard what happened to Anika’s sister, they both felt a connection to her. It didn’t take long until they decided they’d accept her as sister.

At the age of 17, one year before Luffy, she set to sail, but keeping her promise in mind. As soon as he’d have his first bounty she’d come to him and join his crew.

She met a lot of people, made some friends along the way but in the end kept to herself, relishing in the freedom she finally had. Not only physically but also mentally. And while she wasn’t fully healed yet, she felt free. And nothing else mattered to her at the moment.

At the age of 18 she joined the Strawhat crew while they were in Enies Lobby. At first they were a little sceptical but after they got told that Anika was Luffy’s big sister, their worries flew out the window.

As the crew was scattered around the world by Kuma, she landed on a secluded island. She roamed through the forests alone for some days, hunting and searching for berries and other food to survive. It didn’t take long for the news of Ace’s death to reach even her and she was devastated as she read it, breaking down and leaving a wake of destruction in her way.

Later on, she met an old man who seemed to live alone. This old man turned out to be another dragonkin. He said he’d teach her the hidden art of their power and sent her into the cave in the massive mountain in the middle of the island with the words: “Don’t lose.”

Anika went into the cave, swallowing hard. These cold grey walls and the echo of her footsteps brought back bad memories. Low grumbles shook her surroundings as she swallowed her fear and kept on going. The path was spiked with loose stones which would make her fall to certain death if she wasn’t careful. But she needed to do this.

She took a deep breath before continuing her steady pace, the sounds echoing from the walls sending shivers down her spine. The farther she went, the louder they got.

After some time she saw a little opening, leading to another, rather spacious part of the cave. She walked through it and was immediately met with a massive gust of wind, making her stumble backwards lightly. As she opened her eyes she couldn’t believe her eyes.

There was a massive dragon like the one depicted with the markings on her arm flying around in circles. But her moment of awe was short-lived as it prepared a dive attack.

Anika sprinted to the middle of the room, where a Tantō, a short sword, was on display. She grabbed onto the hilt but before she was able to fully unsheath it she paused, sheathed it again and turned around, the dragon coming at her at what seemed like full speed.

Without breaking eye contact, she let the Tantō fall and just a few inches before her the dragon came to a halt, the only thing touching her the wind. She held out her hand and the dragon leaned into her touch as she started to smile. Nobody said she had to win, she was only supposed not to lose.

Without warning the dragon disintegrated before her and the ashes that remained set itself onto her markings, bringing it to life as it started to move around her arm.

After unlocking her powers she went back to the old man, only to see a pile of still glowing ashes where he once sat, next to a new pile of newspaper with the photo of Luffy on it. She buried the ashes and planted local flowers, Dragon’s Breath on the grave before starting her training.

She taught herself how to control the dragon inside her and also haki usage with the help of scrolls in a weird language she found in the old man’s hut. She didn’t know why but she was able to decipher it without problems. It also contained knowledge about her kin and what happened to them during the void century. (not the whole thing, only about her people)

Anika is still dealing with a lot of emotional baggage but gained a lot more confidence and meets up with the crew 2 years later.

#one piece #one piece oc #oc

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unholyhelbig · 5 years ago

Note

The super squad has to go on a mission and Hizzie are 'forced' to share a room/bed.

Read on Ao3 | Send me More Legacies Prompts

Title: Motel Florida

Ship: Hope Mikaelson/ Lizzie Saltzman

The room smelled like stale cigarettes. It’s the first thing that Hope noticed after the dull click of an automatic lock. The second thing she noticed was the seeped carpet that must have been a brilliant yellow at some point but had darkened into a dull orange. The third thing Hope Mikaelson noticed was the lack of two separate beds.

Instead, there was one situated right in the middle of the room with a puke green quilt and a dark faux wood headboard that had been nailed to the wall. The lights buzzed the second Alaric flipped them on and part of Hope wanted to rush to shut them right back off again.

Lizzie was a little less subtle about her disdain. “You have got to be kidding me.”

They had pulled off the interstate in the middle of Kansas at the first sight of civilization. For miles, it had been nothing but stretching green fields and a few staggered wind turbines that barely turned in the stale summer heat.

Hope had seen a billboard for a Wizard of Oz museum complete with sparkling red shoes and an animated version of a lion waving his broken paw. She wondered why a state like this would spend money on a sign that less than ten people a day would see, but it seemed like the only thing Kansas had going for it.

The old motel had a beach theme despite being so far away from the open body of water. There was a pink neon sign bent into the shape of a palm tree, and a smaller one underneath that read “Vacancy”. Motel Florida.

She saw no effort of the carried theme in the rooms, though the keycards were a sandy color with wispy blue writing against the grain. She could feel the soft plastic bend under her tightening grip. Lizzie’s father didn’t’ pick up on her detrimental tone.

“Alright then, Landon and I will take room 207, and you girls can have this one.” He beamed.

Hope lifted a careful brow “does 207 have two beds?”

“Because if it does we should trade,” Lizzie’s voice dripped like sweet honey. She had quickly realized that the edge of attitude wouldn’t coax Alaric into a switch, but maybe the doting daughter act would.

“Honey that’s illegal, even in Kansas.”

He leaned in and gave her a kiss on the forehead before bidding Hope goodnight and walking along the hot crosswalk towards his own room. Hope and Lizzie stared blankly at the bed, hovering in the doorframe for way too long. It was bad enough being trapped in a sweltering car with Lizzie Saltzman, but now she would have to share a room with her.

Hope finally sighed and entered the room, lugging her backpack with her. It had a few changes of clothes and a phone charger, nothing more. “I would sleep on the floor but I don’t think I would make it through the night.”

“Fine by me.”

Lizzie followed after her and closed the door to the noise of the rest of the world. No longer could they hear the buzz of the welcome sign or the hum of a television from the only other guests besides them in the building. She set her own bag on the floor by the covered window and ac unit. It chugged along.

“I’m going to shower. I want the left side of the bed.” Lizzie was rooting through her clothes before pulling out a pair of pajama shorts and a graphic t-shirt that was a blinding shade of pink before vanishing into the bathroom.

This was fine by Hope, she didn’t’ mind sleeping by a wall, especially when the wall had a plug. While Lizzie was occupied she pulled her own sleepwear out of her bag, shedding her jeans and tying a pair of gray sweatpants against her waist instead. She had unfastened the buttons on her shirt, feeling the cool air against her bare skin before the bathroom door burst open.

“I thought you were taking a shower?” Hope had turned her attention to finding a good t-shirt, pulling the button-down off entirely. Lizzie didn’t answer right away and looked more than green.

“yeah, I changed my mind.”

“Something wrong with the bathroom?”

“No,” Lizzie turned a fiery shade of blush before awkwardly crossing her arms over her chest. “Okay, there’s a bug the size of my fist on the wall and I’m okay with using body spray if you are.”

Hope struggled to stifle a smile and shrugged her shoulders before peeling back the quilt and surveying the eggshell sheets for any sign of wings or creatures with more than two legs. She saw none and settled in- finally shooting a glance at Lizzie who hadn’t budged.

“What’s that look for?” The blonde spit out.

“Nothing! I just think it’s funny that we’re chasing down a rotten scarecrow reanimated by an ancient demon but a little bug scares you.”

“What about the sentence the size of my fist tells you that that thing is little?”

Lizzie groaned at Hope’s dejection and padded across the room to her side of the bed. She carefully crawled under the blankets and reached over to flick off the lights. It plunged them into a blue hue of darkness, the sign outside the window creating neon designs on the orange carpet. Neither of them spoke and Hope turned towards the wall.

“Lizzie?”

“hmm,”

“Can you get your cold ass feet away from me?”

Lizzie shifted entirely in the bed and made somewhat of a grunting noise. Somehow the girl had gotten closer in the darkness and it didn’t’ exactly bother Hope; instead, it was something of comfort in a foreign environment. But the icy sensation on the back of her ankles wasn’t anything she was interested in.

Moments later, Lizzie’s groggy voice filled the room again. “I want you to know that I have poor circulation and that’s a big insecurity.”

“Is your fear of bugs a big insecurity too?”

Hope knew that was a low blow and felt Lizzie’s foot push into her back a second later. She let out a small growl and turned away from the wall until she was face to face with Lizzie Saltzman. Her breath carried the edge of mint and even in the bluish glow of the room, she could tell that the taller girl was smirking.

“No, actually that’s just a preference, but the nightly leg spasms count.”

Hope was considering grabbing a pillow and moving to the car, but after two days on the road she couldn’t’ stand it anymore. She’d rather sit here glaring at the Saltzman twin like she could control the force without the will of some Latin and a kick of magic.

“If I go kill the bug, will you please stop kicking me?” She tried barter over force this time.

Lizzie thought about it for a moment before huffing and giving Hope a nod. Even though it pained her, she pulled herself from the bed and walked into the small bathroom. It smelled too much like lemon and the light burned her senses.

Hope took one look at the giant creature under the faucet and blinked. She could have sworn that it blinked back and there was no way in hell she was taking on the furry spider that started to creep towards the drain. Carry on- Hope thought bitterly before backing out of the bathroom.

She wordlessly flicked off the light and fell back onto her side of the bed.

“Something wrong with the bathroom?” Lizzie mocked.

“Shut up, Saltzman.”

#lizzie saltzman #hope mikaelson #lizzie x hope #hope x lizzie #hizzie #Hizzie fanfic #Legacies #legacies fanfic #legacies fanfiction #request

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kbstories · 5 years ago

Text

Bricolage

bri·co·lage (n.) The process of making do with what one has.

A talk about a captain's heart and acceptable consequences.

(Or: On Luffy’s Gears and the damage they cause.)

Tags: Aftermath of Violence, Hurt/Comfort, Recovery, Medical Inaccuracies, Nakamaship

Set between Whole Cake and Wano. No additional warnings apply.

***

Beyond the maelstrom and the currents raging in-between Jinbei disappears from view, and Luffy’s legs finally give.

It’s Sanji who catches him, at his side in an instant and taking his weight with a low grunt of effort, arm gentle around Luffy’s bandaged waist. Sanji’s gaze searches, falls on him; he calls, “Chopper!”

And Chopper forces his body to move, Rumble Ball and injuries and exhaustion be damned.

They’re still in Big Mom’s territory, the thrum of battle still pounding away in their chests; Carrot settles into the Crow’s Nest while Brook remains steadfast at the helm and Nami steps between Luffy and the world to command their retreat. With big, careful hands, Chopper carries their captain to the part of Sunny’s grass deck least affected by the scars left behind and gets to work under the open sky.

Just in case Luffy wakes. Just in case they don’t get a word in before he fades again. You made it. We’re safe. You’re free–

This is the thing Chopper does best.

Luffy’s out for two days and Chopper is with him.

He’s there when the wound won’t stop bleeding in a flurry of cotton candy snow; when night falls around them and fever hits; when Luffy mumbles – not yet, not yet – caught between unconsciousness and delirium and all there is left to do is hold his hand and hope.

Yet Luffy’s body is as much a miracle as the soul it contains: Luffy pulls through as he always does, and Sanji looks near-faint with relief when he’s finally, finally allowed to Luffy’s bedside.

Chopper drifts, then, one ear turned towards the quiet admonishments and even quieter apologies spoken in the safety of the infirmary. After that it’s the barely-there sound of Nami’s fingers running through unruly hair, hitching against invisible knots that she untangles with patience. Brook brings along a chipper tune hummed under his breath and the lingering scent of his favorite tea.

Underneath it all, a strong heart falters and recovers and continues to beat. That, only that, finally guides Chopper into sleep.

The New World decides to have mercy with them, for now. The cerulean horizon is only interrupted by the occasional cloud – made of nothing but water and air – and for once Chopper is glad there is no candy in sight. Ever faithful, the Thousand Sunny doesn’t mind their inexperienced hands as they try to fix the damage done to her, from the holes in her hull to the tear in the main sail that Chopper sews together like he would any other wound. Sanji descends on the sorry state of his galley like he’s possessed by the devil himself and emerges hours later, lunchboxes in hand and looking as close to calm as Chopper has seen him in weeks.

Luffy is there for parts of it, awake if droopy-eyed and pale under all that gauze. He’s immediately banned to the sidelines and doesn’t put up more than a token protest, chuckling at the unanimous veto from his crew.

“Yeesh! Okay, okay. You guys got this!”

It’s quickly forgotten as Sanji gives him his lunch to drool over before settling right next to him with his own. Without another word the rest of the crew joins them on Sunny’s lawn to eat and it’s healing, Chopper finds, to sit among friends and listen to them talk and laugh over a shared meal.

One made by Sanji, that is, and even if Luffy’s too worn out to steal anything out of their boxes he still tries. It just so happens that he gets a bite of every portion regardless.

And it’s Luffy’s pleased smile and the fond eye-roll it provokes from Sanji that melts the constant stress and worry of the past few days off Chopper’s bones entirely. Soon, they will reach Wano Country and they will be united once more – Chopper sighs happily, thinking of the stories Robin will read to him and the nice, long nap he will share with Zoro.

And if Sunny goes a little slower than usual, well, Franky will know what to do and Usopp will help mend their ship as he always has. In the grand scheme of things, this will soon be just another step on the path of her becoming a ship of legend, and of them becoming the crew of the Pirate King.

Carrot beams at Chopper from where she sits with her lunchbox propped on her knees and her cheeks full. Chances are, somewhere out there, Jinbei is wounded but alive and celebrating the past to embrace a future to come all the more freely.

Munching on another forkful, Chopper decides to have faith. Luffy gave Jinbei an order, after all.

“Oi, Chopper?”

Hooves pause on the clasps of the doctor’s bag; Chopper glances up and into brown eyes, surprisingly serious. “Luffy?”

Sitting cross-legged and relaxed against Sunny’s mast, Luffy says: “I gotta tell you something.”

Chopper blinks, follows the wordless pat on wood to Luffy’s side. The man smiles and reaches over, rubbing a knuckle across Chopper’s fluffy cheek and it helps, the gesture inherently comforting and so familiar.

“Um. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah.” No hesitation, no doubts, and Luffy’s gaze is fond now, solid like little else is on an ocean as capricious as this. Yet it’s rare, for him to linger after one of his check-ups when there’s a dozen more fun things to be done.

“Remember what we said, when we met again? About this.”

Luffy places a hand on his chest then, fingers splayed from the middle of his scar like he’s holding it – himself – together. Concern races across Chopper’s mind and he nods, mouth drawn with determination.

(Tell me, Luffy, please. If–

–anything changes or hurts, I’ll let you know. That’s a promise, okay? Don’t worry about it now.)

Luffy nods, too. “It hurts. Not the scar, I don’t think but– Below? Right here.”

Gently, Chopper’s hoof is taken and held just off-center. Calm and steady, Luffy’s heart beats against his palm. Chopper starts counting out of habit.

“Not always. Right now, it’s fine ‘cause it comes and goes. Like–”

Thump. Chopper is close enough to see the subtle wince of Luffy’s mouth before it eases again and he murmurs, “Yeah. Like that.”

Closing his eyes, Chopper puts both hooves on Luffy’s chest and he waits, feels the warmth of his skin and listens to the soft breathing that hitches with every beat Luffy’s heart skips– No, every beat it adds, fluttering in-between.

And still, Luffy’s pulse marches on, strong as ever.

Chopper squints for a moment against the day’s brightness and the swirl of theories and half-formed treatment plans in his brain. “Since when?”, he asks, keeping his voice light because there is worry in Luffy’s expression. It’s just well-hidden.

Luffy thinks then, head tilted and a thumb on his chin. “Dunno exactly but, um. Definitely when I was fighting Katakuri. My chest kept hurting and I thought it was… y’know. Everything else going on.”

Everything else being Luffy getting beaten blue and bloody by a man three times his size for hours on end, and out of all the things Chopper has been able to get through his thick skull, the details of his fights have always remained out of reach. Yet Luffy looks a little nervous, shifting with another beat that goes awry under Chopper’s touch.

“Luffy… Has this happened before?”

It’s not like Luffy’s made a habit of lying – not when his tells are so obvious even Chopper knows, sometimes – just that there are things he simply doesn’t talk about, not unless directly asked. Luffy glances at Chopper and there’s something there, not exactly guilt but close enough to make him worry, too.

“I think? A long time ago. When I went after Ace, everything hurt too. Don’t know if like this, though. It’s kinda hard to tell.”

And Chopper doesn’t know what to say to that because it’s Ace, and because he wasn’t there. All the information Chopper has about the war and its aftermath exists as a bundle of handwritten notes in his locker, neatly tied and given to him without further comment by the man who was.

But… There was nothing about Luffy’s heart in there, and Traffy wouldn’t have left anything out just to spare Chopper’s feelings. There is no room for that where life and death hang in such delicate balance.

“Chopper?”

Luffy’s voice is quiet now, like Chopper’s the one whose heart is struggling. Chopper looks at him, at the uncertainty on Luffy’s face that’s so rare it’s practically unheard of, and he knows his captain needs a doctor more than he needs a friend right now.

“It’s your heart, Luffy. It’s doing okay overall but it keeps beating out of rhythm– Feel that? It’s probably been that way for a while and only got painful because you pushed yourself beyond your limits.”

Again, Chopper wants to add but it's not needed, not when Luffy is listening with an intensity Chopper isn’t used to and it makes sense, what he did. It’s unlikely they’d be sitting here to talk about this at all if Luffy hadn’t kept Katakuri away from his crew for as long as he did – Chopper can’t argue with results like that.

But–

“This… This is a warning sign, Luffy. We have to take it seriously or your heart will give sooner rather than later.”

Luffy’s brows draw together – then he nods. Chopper exhales, finally easing off Luffy’s chest to sit on his knee instead.

“It’s my Gears, isn’t it?”

It’s worded as a question even though the answer is obvious to both of them. Luffy smiles at the tired look Chopper gives him. “I know. You warned me a million times about how tough they are on my body. I’m still figuring out a way around that… Can I still use them?”

Chopper sighs. There’s no point in sugarcoating this, either.

“You really, really shouldn’t. Just… hold back on them for now? I’ll come up with some medicine to help your heart heal. It’s important for it to recover while it still can.”

Out of all the things to be put off by in that statement, Luffy grimaces at the word ‘medicine’. “… ‘kay. But I can still fight. Right? I’ll be careful. No Gears.”

Chopper hears the implied if I can help it loud and clear. He lets him have it, patting his hand comfortingly. “Yeah. Ah, and another thing… Captain?”

“Hm?”

“Can I talk to Traffy about this? I want to ask him some questions about, um. About the war.”

There’s surprise on Luffy’s face, quick to melt away. “Oh. Sure thing. Although–”

It’s Chopper’s turn to tilt his head at him. For a moment, Luffy chews on what he wants to say.

“Maybe don’t tell the others? Traffy’s okay, he’ll fuss no matter what. But… Let’s keep all this heart stuff between us for now, yeah?”

Chopper is not one for secrets but this is Luffy’s decision to make and he trusts Luffy. And while it’s technically not an order it’s still important. Especially with the faraway look Luffy gives the galley, and the way he tends to sit a little straighter and smile a little brighter every time Sanji is close-by.

“Of course”, Chopper promises him with a smile, because some wounds need longer to mend than others and some scars ache even years later.

Only a few days more and the crew will be complete; together, Chopper knows, they’ve always been strongest. Perhaps then, Luffy will be able to set aside some of the weight on his shoulders.

Soon, they will have time again. And if there’s anything that can’t heal, well – that’s what Chopper is for. It’s the thing he’s best at.

#one piece #monkey d. luffy #tony tony chopper #fanfiction #one piece fanfiction #here have some wholesome chopper content 💞#this fic is also on AO3!#my stuff

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