#i go back and forth on a lot of things with orion. like his relationship with anders and his reactions to act 3 and if he can ever even-

[z0mbyez]

thinking about. the orion hawke eliel lavellan parallels. but also how theyre both so incredibly different. orion who was the eldest, had to lead and be a good example for his siblings, regardless of his own fears and anxieties. meeting eliel, who was the youngest, had to be led and protected, and shies away from power while orion fills the gaps with bluster and jokes.

I think a lot about them meeting and orion all at once seeing bits of himself from when he first got to kirkwall. He sees all his own fears plain as day when after meeting eliel just. "does it ever get easier?" and he just has to reply "no. it doesn't." because its been 10 years and still he thinks about how he could have done things better and how he should have looked out for carver more and how he should have told his mom he loved her and-

[gwainchain]

Underswap: Stardust Yellow explained:

Okay, so I think I have a relatively rough draft of how I want my AU to go.

In my Underswap Yellow AU, like I already explained, I want the characters to still be themselves, but with little changes. It's more of a what-if story than a full-fledged swap between characters and personalities. Of course, some parts of their swapped perspectives are going to fall in line with the original narrative, but how I want them to get to that point is completely up to me and from advice from you all, if you guys want to suggest anything.

Let's start off with my favorite character:

Starlo Sunnyside 🌟🌽:

Starlo, of course, is still into Western culture but is somewhat more mature about it than his original counterpart. Keyword on somewhat. He still fantasizes about being a sheriff and would often roleplay with his friends in sessions just to keep that reality alive. He's a dork about it and would still dress up as one, but it's mainly to have fun with his kid, Clover. (Yes, he would give them a gun, but Rosa will kill him if he tries to.) He's practically the dad who buys his child Legos and has more fun playing with them than his kid. He loves sowing and makes Rosa and Clover some new clothing whenever he feels like it. And while he isn't perfect and a bit careless, Rosa is there to help guide him, and so forth. Overall, he's a fun, energetic dad and kindhearted monster!

Rosa Sunnyside 🌹💐:

The first thing I want to address is that I chose Rosa as Starlo's partner solely due to her dialogue when you backtrack in Undertale Yellow. Saying that folks like Clover are the most fun she'd witnessed in a long time and would often visit the Wild East for the Saloon because she "likes the food there." I headcanon that she likes the Fiesty Five's tomfoolery and, therefore, Starlo. So, I put them together because I could :>

Clover Sunnyside 🍀🌟:

Rosa, while she is rather sassy and likes to joke a lot, is a caring, supportive, loving mother and spouse. She knows when to set boundaries and still be playful but is more self-aware of her surroundings. She loves to garden with Guardener (Flora), who Chujin gifted to her as they're canonically friends. She met Starlo when Solomon would sell corn East of Oasis Valley next to her sister's booth (AKA before the Wild East came to be in the original game). She found his awkwardness and hyper-fixation for Western culture adorable and charming. She stuck with him long enough to consider dating and marrying him, eventually starting a family with him. And though his antics give him a few chuckles and smirking eye rolls from her, she still finds his enthusiasm and love for things he enjoys cute.

Clover, the offspring of Starlo and Rosa, is a cheerful, friendly child who loves life and being around people. Clover is a gender-neutral monster and is a small ball of sunshine. They're hugely extroverted like their dad and love to meet and greet new people, wanting to befriend everyone they encounter. They love their mom's Lemon Bread, and oftentimes, Starlo sneakily gives some to Clover before Rosa finds out. Also, when given permission, Clover would visit their aunties, Pedla and Violetta, Uncle Orion, Grandpa Solomon, and Grandma Crestina from their parent's respective families. Mostly to have fun and hang out with them.

Ceroba Kinari (Kitsune + Inari) 🦊🌸:

Ceroba is Starlo’s childhood best friend. She still holds much of her personality from the original game, such as her stubbornness, brilliance, and supportive personality. She has a complicated relationship with her mother and refuses to visit her in Oasis Valley due to a falling out. Back when Starlo and Ceroba were teenagers, she exhibited feelings for Starlo as they were practically inseparable at the time. However, upon finding out he harbored feelings for Rosa, she had to accept that he fell in love with someone else, even locking herself in her room and grieving for days when she found out he got engaged. But, when Clover came around, she served as an aunt-like figure to them. And despite it all, she continues to support Starlo and his family, remaining one of his closest friends. 

Dalv 🦇 📖:

The newest member of the Royal Guards, and one of the Sunnyside’s usuals that come to the Dunes for their corn sales. Dalv is still as introverted as can be and kind of new to the Royal Guard Status. He thrives around silence and isolation, but unlike his original counterpart, his isolation doesn’t get in the way of wanting to share his knowledge and presence with the underground. He lives in Snowdin and loves to illustrate and write books for children, donating some of his own books to the local “Librarby” for kids to enjoy. He’s a gentle, patient, influential monster, especially around kids and the Honeydew Shopkeeper whenever he comes around for some coffee.

Martlet 🐦 🪚:

Clover's "older sister." Martlet would hang out with them whenever their family traverse to Snowdin to deliver Dalv's corn. Oftentimes, building puzzles for Clover to solve and spend time together. She's also a part-time carpenter, and with Chujin's mentorship, she got better at building things from scratch. She's still scatterbrained and struggles with making a schedule for herself, but gives everything her all. She was in charge of building bridges, tunnels, and signs for many locations in the underground and holds high regard for her craft. A gifted and talented gal, and she doesn't even have hands!

(More will be added soon!)

[no-1-rosalind-lang-apologist]

Taylor Swift Songs That Mention Cars That Are Totally About Phoebe and Silas - White Horse

say you're sorry, that face of an angel / comes out just when you need it to / as i paced back and forth all this time / 'cause i honestly believed in you

Because Phoebe and Silas are so close and have known each other for so long, Silas has likely picked up on the thing Phoebe does where she changes aspects of her personality based on who she's with, especially because I think she started to develop that a lot more during General Hong's trial, though it was definitely present while she was in London. Despite this, he probably still believes that he knows her, not just a facade that she's putting up. When Silas finds out about Phoebe being Priest, I think she's going to panic. Because I think a huge part of the reason that she changes her personality based on who she's with is her fear of losing people. And I think this is one of the bigger reasons she's trying so hard to keep her identity as Priest under wraps (I'm getting this from the end of the scene where Oliver and Celia break into Rosalind and Orion's apartment). Based on this, I think if Silas were to confront her about being Priest, she might panic and try to tell him what he wants to hear. And I think Silas would likely pick up on this if she were to do that and start to wonder how much she has been lying to him.

stupid girl, i should've known, i should've known

I think Silas will blame himself for not realizing that Phoebe is Priest quite a bit. I think he'll feel ridiculous for ever thinking that he ever really knew her beyond the front that she's putting up. He's going to feel really used. He let her know crucial details about his assignments all while likely picking up on a lot of stuff she was clearly hiding from him (ex: the gun in tpats). Not going to be a great time for him.

that i'm not a princess, this ain't a fairytale

In this song, Taylor Swift alludes to common fairytale characters and tropes to contrast the way she naively idolized her idea of a romantic relationship with the actuality of how one ended. This connects with the way that Silas has idolized Phoebe and ignored her faults, seeing her as more of an idea than a person and how that view of her will be shattered when he finds out that she's Priest.

now it's too late for you and your white horse / to come around

In the alternate reality dimension where Phoebe and Silas don't end up together, this is Silas saying that Phoebe has irreparably broken his trust, and it's too late for her to try and fix what she's done.

maybe i was naive, got lost in your eyes / and never really had a chance / well, my mistake, i didn't know to be in love you had to fight to have the upper hand

Again, Silas is likely going to naive and used when he realizes that Phoebe is Priest. I think he's going to doubt that their relationship was ever anything more than her manipulating him.

i had so many dreams about you and me / happy endings, now i know

Silas has loved Phoebe since they were very young. (I think that Phoebe has loved him since they were very young as well but has a harder time admitting it to herself for a number of reasons.) I think he could come to the conclusions that his dreams were unrealistic, ridiculous, and naive, at least for a little bit in FHH. We know they will get their happy ending, but I don't think it's going to be the ideal perfect relationship with zero problems that has been in Silas's head for years. I think he's going to start to see a more complete picture of Phoebe, including her faults, and love her more for it. And I think this is going to help him learn to stand on his own more. And be a more complete person, regardless of whether Phoebe is there or not. And I think their ending will be much happier for it.

and there you are on your knees / beggin' for forgiveness, beggin' for me / just like i always wanted / but i'm so sorry / 'cause i'm not your princess, this ain't our fairytale

Okay. So on the tiny chance that we are right about the potential "we have never been real" "we were to me" scene parallel, this would likely be the first time Phoebe has ever come anywhere close to directly admitting her feelings for Silas to him. And I think that if this scene were to happen and I am right about Silas's reaction to Phoebe being Priest and how that could potentially change his perception of her, I think that her finally admitting her feelings to him in this context could make him think that even if what she's saying is true, it means very little for her to be saying it to stop him from leaving. And he is no longer willing to blindly believe her and go along with whatever she's saying just for the hope of being included.

i'm gonna find someone someday / who might actually treat me well

Okay hear me out. It would be funny. Obviously painful to read. But funny. If Silas rebounded for 0.0000567896 seconds in FHH. And had a little bejeweled era. Because I support pettiness. And with the multiple povs the whiplash you would get from jumping from Alisa and Roma reuniting or something to Silas rebounding would be absolutely insane and very funny. I do not think this is actually going to happen at all. However, I don't have direct evidence that it won't happen, and I think it would be funny. But painful.

this is a big world, that was a small town / there in my rear-view mirror disappearing now

Obviously Shanghai is not a small town. But this is the obligatory car line. It is also representative of outgrowing childhood and experiencing the complexities of the real world, which often don't line up with the perfect idolized scenarios you come up with when you don't know better.

[godsofhumanity]

Can you make more headcannons about Artemis and Orion?

hmm. ok.

the Orion x Artemis myth is tricky because there are sooo many different versions about what really happened, who liked who, who killed who, etc. etc. so i'm taking a lot of creative license here and going with the story that i think makes the most sense.

the account where Eos falls in love with Orion and takes him away to Delos is a Roman account, i think, but it's the one i've always known so i like it.

i don't think it's out of character for Eos to kidnap young and handsome mortals.. she's done it before!!

so i think Orion's story begins with Eos catching sight of him.. probably as she rose to bring about the dawn, she saw him hunting and instantly loved him.

and i think she takes him to Delos so that other gods won't take him from her.

i hc that Eos takes Orion to Delos precisely because it is sacred to Artemis and Apollo, and Eos knows that Artemis has no interested in men or love, so she perceives that Orion will be safe with her ((i don't think Apollo spends much time at Delos because he's a pretty social guy and is always travelling anywhere and everywhere, as opposed to Artemis who keeps to herself and her hunters and wants as little to do with the other gods as possible)).

but strangely, Artemis does fall in love with Orion. i think it's because he's the only hunter who can keep up with her.

and as long as Orion stays on Delos, the pair become really close... very close.

i don't think Eos is ever bitter with Artemis because i've always thought of Eos as very kind and mild-mannered. so i think, more than anything, she'd have been impressed that Orion was actually able to melt the heart of cold Artemis.

so i think Eos would have blessed Artemis and agreed to let go of Orion. i say this also because Eos, being a second gen. titan, i hc to be many eons older than Artemis. she would have lived a very long life, and i don't think she'd get caught up on these kinds of things... a plenty-of-fish-in-the-sea-sort-of mentality.

but there is someone who doesn't like the relationship developing between Artemis and Orion... Apollo.

i think the reason he hates Orion is because Orion threatens Artemis' importance as a goddess.

i like the idea that vows and promises are very sacred to Apollo. he doesn't go back on his word, nor does he like others going back on their word- this makes sense to me if you consider the punishment of Cassandra (if we are to take the version where Cassandra goes back on her promise to Apollo after receiving his gift).

and Apollo understands how important it is that Artemis remain unwed and chaste, simply the leader of the hunt, and how vital she was as a patron of young girls.. if she married then, it would contradict her role.

so Apollo contrives to destroy the threat to his sister.

personally, i think the version where Apollo tricks Artemis into shooting Orion from a distance is too cruel. i don't think it fits Apollo.

but i do think it could be characteristic for Apollo to send call forth the Scorpion and have it kill Orion.

and thus ends the myth.

[bwbatta]

four - believable

Abstract: Draco and you are just friends so doing him a favour and pretending to be his girlfriend wouldn’t effect your friendship right?

Pairing: Draco Malfoy x reader

Warnings: this is super fluffy beware

Word count: 3944

A/N: well, I’m back and BOY do I have a good one for you! Christmasy vibes are at 100% as I’m struggling to believe Christmas has actually been and gone, hopefully this will fulfil your Christmas Draco cravings! 

Series Masterlist | Main Masterlist | Part 3

If you thought people gossiped too much about the rumour of Draco and you being in a relationship before it was even confirmed, the gossip that was instigated from your kiss in the middle of the Great Hall was on another level.

No one said it to your face but everyone thought the chemistry between the two of you surely couldn’t have been faked.

Little did they know though, right?!

Whispers died down after a couple weeks of seeing the two of you walk around holding hands or with Draco’s arm over your shoulder pulling you close in his grip.

In fact the two of you touching in some way became such a constant that it almost felt odd when his hand wasn’t resting on your leg while you were together.

The one thing that wasn’t so weird to come from the game you two had going on, was how Pansy had dialled down her desperate attempts to seduce the blonde Malfoy heir.

Sure she still tried when you weren’t around, but it was a lot less than before and all her attempts were rebuffed and ignored by Draco.

After about a month, her attempts had dwindled and come to a halt.

Not that the two of you noticed that much.

You both had to admit, you enjoyed how things were with each other right now, not that you’d tell the other.

“Hey Sweetheart”

Broken out of your thoughts you looked up to see the familiar blonde approaching you with a grin on his face.

The two of you saw each other earlier that day for breakfast and then later for Potions, but since you both chose different courses, you didn’t have the time to cross paths again until later that evening.

You had been flicking through an astronomy textbook, attempting to finally finish your essay in the Library. Christmas was fast approaching which meant so were final deadlines for the term. Mostly you were fine with the workload you had, thanks to a specific muggleborn Gryffindor who had kept you on track, yet astronomy was kicking your arse.

As hard as you tried, you couldn’t tell your constellations apart from your galaxies.

“Hi” you sighed in reply causing the boy to frown

“That doesn’t sound very happy”

“That’s because this Astronomy essay is making me want to knock myself out with a telescope” you rested your head on your arms dejectedly. “It would be less painful.”

Draco didn’t stop the snort escaping his lips as he rolled his eyes at your dramatics and grabbed your excuse of an essay. With a snicker he shot you an amused look at the last line you’d written on the parchment, aka when you’d really given up all hope.

“’The Sirius constellation looks like a dog but you can’t really tell which breed’?! You’re honestly going to give this in?!” he laughed 

“You can’t tell though!”

“Well first, Sirius is a star not a constellation and second the constellation it’s in is obviously a terrier.”

“How helpful” 

His grey eyes shot you an amused look before gathering up your books and papers and put them away in your bag. Grabbing your hand he pulled you up and out of the Library which you groaned at, complaining you needed to finish your essay.

“I know” he just responded, pulling you close to him by your hands before detaching them and dropping his arm around your shoulder, pressing a kiss to your forehead in the process as he saw a gaggle of Ravenclaws pass you on their way to the Library. “Let’s grab some dinner and then I’ll help you with your essay.”

The kitchens weren’t as busy as usual as dinner was already happening, but still busy enough to have three house elves approach the two of you asking what they could get you.

“Two plates of roast beef, one with extra roast potatoes, the other with extra yorkshire puddings.”

Immediately your stomach growled at the thought of the food to your embarrassment. You really hadn’t realised how hungry you’d gotten.

Almost in no time at all, two steaming hot plates of food were given to you and the two of you made your way to the astronomy tower, taking a seat on the floor so you could take in the view of the setting sun.

“Why are we here? I thought we’d go back to the Library or common room to finish the essay?”

“How else am I gonna teach you the constellations if you can’t see them?!”

You were taken aback a little.

“You’re teaching me by pointing them out? How do you know astronomy?”

“The entirety of my family are named after stars and constellations on my mother’s side. It was something I just knew growing up because she taught me from when I was young.”

“So there’s a star called Draco?”

“A constellation actually” he mused, “it’s suppose to look like a dragon.”

“Suppose to?”

“Looks more like a snake if I’m honest”

The subject changed over dinner to other things you’d each thought of or heard throughout the day, when you hadn’t seen each other. Apparently the head boy and head girl had been caught by McGonagall in a broom closet getting frisky.

There had also been a fight which had broken out in the Herbology greenhouses which resulted in a mandrake pot being shattered and everyone fainting because of the screams from the young plant.

The real highlight of the day however, was the rumour of the Ancient Runes professor showing an interest in one of the sixth year Hufflepuffs.

“Contrary to popular belief, those Hufflepuffs aren’t as innocent as everyone might be led to believe” Draco snickered as you slapped his arm jokingly.

“I can’t believe a professor here would do that thought!”

“We’ve had worse teachers, lets be honest” he laughed. “Lets recall our last five years shall we?!”

“First one was killed by Harry after having You-Know-Who on the back of his head, the second was a complete moron and obliviated himself- one was a werewolf! Then lets not forget the disguised death eater and then finally this year we’ve been delighted to have the pink toad as a teacher.” 

“I feel like we’ve really lucked out if I’m honest” Draco snorted as you snickered at the humoured sarcasm you shared.

A cold breeze shifted through the open tower when the sun finally set, causing you to shiver involuntarily. Deciding to only wear a thin jumper, forgoing your robes whilst you studied earlier may not have been the smartest idea once the two of you decided to eat at that destination.

Draco noticed and immediately leaned back against the wall, holding his arms out to you.

“Come here”

With a shuffle, you were under his arm, pressed against him as you settled into his side, his body heat being a welcoming factor.

“Merlin, you’re freezing” he frowned pulling you closer before conjuring up an emerald green blanket.

“Winter doesn’t really agree with me,” you joked “now tell me about these bloody constellations.”

“Well you’ve got the northern constellations and the southern ones. The northern include some such as Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Lyra and Pegasus. The southern have ones like Ara, Orion, and Canis’ Major and Minor.”

“Which one is Draco in?”

“Northern” he grinned down at you as you reciprocated his smile. “You then also have the zodiac constellations which are the 12 most commonly known ones.”

“Like Sagittarius, Aquarius and all that?”

“Yep. Within all those constellations, you’ve then got your stars.” 

The blonde boy explained the basics of the stars to you almost effortlessly as your gaze flicked back and forth from him to the sky, when he pointed out which section he was talking about.

He talked non stop about the stars and you couldn’t help but admire the Slytherin as he spoke of the subject. Draco wasn’t arrogantly top of the class like Hermione was, but he was in no way lacking in knowledge when it came to subjects he knew about like it was second nature.

Time passed you both by like the cool breeze that surrounded you, and before you knew it, hours had passed just being in each others company as he easily gave you enough clarity to finish off your essay, without even having to resort to drastic measures.

You also learnt so much more than any astronomy professor had taught you in all your years at Hogwarts.

Maybe that was just because they weren’t as captivating as the blonde beside you.

You wouldn’t say it out loud, but you knew exactly what your favourite constellation was after that evening, and it just so happened to look like a dragon.

Christmas drew closer and Draco was adamant on sticking to his side of the deal, so with a sigh he set off to Hogsmeade in search of the extensive list of Christmas gifts he had promised to get you. 

He had to appear like the perfect boyfriend after all.

Something was nagging at him though and it was constantly circling his mind as he trudged down in the frost to the village. 

It had been that evening when the two of you were in the astronomy tower and he was teaching you about the stars, when it had happened.

In the midst of his talking, he pointed out the Orion constellation before glancing down at you and pausing a second to catch his breath, not because he was chatting too much, but because in the vivid light of the moon, you were ethereal. 

He had whole heartedly planned to carry on talking, but the sight of you, curled up against him, with the moonlight highlighting your features, his breath was stolen from him. 

Almost in a trance he brushed the back of his fingers against your cheekbone causing you to snap your gaze to him, eyes wide at the delicate gesture.

Your wide eyes shocked him out of his state and immediately he paused awkwardly, racking his brain for some kind of excuse.

“Um... eyelash” he murmured, grey eyes not breaking from your own.

“...thanks.”

His mind was screaming at him to just carry on talking, yet no words came out of his mouth. 

Instead, almost like his body had a mind of it’s own, his fingers continued to move to brush away the lock of hair which had fallen out of it’s place.

Finally gaining control of his actions again, he dropped his hand and pulled you closer to him, effectively breaking your line of sight. Draco began to talk about Orion again but his mind wasn’t 100% paying attention to the facts that came out his mouth.

What the hell was that?

Shaking those questions from his head, he pressed his lips to your temple and continued his rambling about stars.

It had been quick, fleeting, but Draco hadn’t missed it and he really hoped you had. The affection which was suppose to be scripted for everyone else’s belief had reared it’s head like it was second nature to the pair. 

You hadn’t said anything or brought it up so Draco definitely wasn’t going to. 

He agreed with himself it was probably best left unspoken about. It was a slip up, something which felt right to do at the time but it wouldn’t happen again.

Attempting to convince himself, he muttered about how you probably didn’t even notice. It was nothing. 

After all, whatever was happening affectionately between the two of you wasn’t real.

In short, you’d noticed. 

Draco showing you affection was nothing new, yet Draco showing it when no one else was around, okay, that was new.

The kiss he left on your temple could of course be in a friendly manner, right? The brush against your cheek? The way he looked at you?

Friends are affectionate to each other, it was probably nothing more than a friendly endearment. Like a hug.

So why did it feel like there was so much more unsaid?

With a groan of annoyance, you shut it from your mind. There was no use in overthinking something as small as a simple affection. You were smarter than that. 

The truth was, the two of you were so hellbent on making everyone around you believe you were in a relationship, you failed to noticed how neither of you denied how believable it was to each other.

Your stomach grumbled loudly, catching the attention of the witch opposite you who eyed you with annoyance.

“Are you just going to sit there, starve yourself and annoy me, or are you going to get some food and leave so I can work in peace?”

“Merlin, Hermione, it’s almost like you don’t want me around.”

“I don’t when you’re distracting me”

“Charming as ever, I see”

With a huff, the bookworm turned her attention back to her books.

Completely bored with your homework, you fidgeted with your quill between your fingers.

“Hey, Hermione? Are you going home for Christmas?”

“You couldn’t ask me this later?” she sighed as she paused in her writing and shot you an irritated look. At the shake of your head, she rolled her eyes. “Yes, My family and I are planning on going skiing again. Are you heading back?”

“Not this year, my parents are off visiting my cousins in America so I said I’d stay at Hogwarts.”

“You’re staying here for Christmas?”

A new voice entered your conversation from behind you and at the look of Hermione’s scowl, you knew immediately it was your blonde boyfriend.

Turning in your seat, you greeted him with a smile. Pecking a kiss to your lips, more for Hermione’s purpose than your own, he took the seat next to you, placing his own stack of books on the table next to you.

“Yeah, like I said, parents are going to America, it’s just easier if I stay.”

“Not many others are planning on staying though, not even the Weasleys” Draco frowned.

You shrugged at his insinuation, knowing exactly what he was getting at.

“I’ll be fine, might actually get some peace and quiet to be honest.”

He didn’t look convinced. 

“I’ll write to my parents and tell them I’m staying for Christmas”

“Draco-”

“Nope, I’m not going to let you spend Christmas alone,” he was adamant, “Can I borrow a piece of parchment, I’ll write to them now.”

“Go ahead, I’m not using it” you replied which earned you an exasperated look from the Gryffindor opposite you, which you ignored.

Hermione took the time to observe the two of you and how effortlessly you interacted around each other. It was like a cleverly choreographed piece.

You looked down at your work, Draco looked up at you. Draco looked down at the letter he was now writing, you looked up at Draco. You rested your hand on his arm when you were talking, he leans into your touch.

The Granger witch couldn’t help but almost admire the chemistry between the two of you and how easy it seemed it was to be with the other. Sure, she had doubts at the very start when you’d just begun dating, yet getting a front row seat to seeing the two of you bounce off each other, Hermione Granger believed wholeheartedly the two of you loved each other. 

Even if you didn’t know it yourselves yet.

Draco had followed through with his promise and as it seemed every other student had journeyed down to the train a couple days ago. The two of you were sat happily in the Astronomy tower, basking in the silence of the castle and embracing how relaxing it was. 

Since the first time the two of you had sat around the tower before, it seemed like this was the place you both chose to come every time when it was just the two of you. 

Neither of you had brought up the small affection from the previous time, but acting like it didn’t happen seemed like it was working for the two of you.

“What’s the best Christmas gift you’ve ever gotten?” Draco asked you after a few moments of silence.

You had to think for a moment before a grin rapidly grew across your face at the exact present you knew you loved. 

“Snitch socks,” you chuckled “I was given a pair by my grandma when I was like 10 or something and they were the fluffiest, comfiest pair of socks I ever owned where there was a little charm with made the snitches fly around the design. They must’ve cost a knut or something as they fell apart after I only wore them for a few days! Young me was so heartbroken about her socks, she cried for three days!”

“You cried over socks?!”

“The best socks! I don’t think I’ve even known real joy since”

Draco snorted out a laugh into your hair as he wrapped an arm round your shoulders.

“That’s so stupid”

“Don’t be such a jerk, I was 10” you scowled at him playfully “besides, my grandma passed away a couple years later and I have no idea where she got them, so I’ve made my peace with it.”

“Would you still wear them now if you got another pair?”

“Oh 100%, but either way, like I said, I’ve made my peace with it.” You shrugged nonchalantly before turning to the boy next to you, “go on then, what’s been your favourite Christmas present ever?!”

“A pocket watch” he grinned reaching into his pocket and pulling one out, passing it over to you to look at. “It’s a Black family heirloom - my Mother’s side of the family, and it’s suppose to keep you on time for everything. It used to belong to one of my great uncles or someone but I’ve never been late to anything when I have this on me.”

“Really?” you asked sceptically 

“Really”

“What about that time you were late to potions?!”

“Left it in my dorm accidentally. Actually that whole day was kind of a disaster. Bloody Pansy and her love potion.”

You snorted as you admired the watch and flipped it over in your palm to examine the back. Cursive words were engraved in the back in another language- probably latin, which had something to do with keeping the owner on time, all the time.  

It was silver and about the size of a large golf ball in diameter, yet surprisingly light as you played with it between your fingers. 

“It’s pretty”

Draco hummed in agreement as he watched you trace the intricate details with your fingers before smiling and handing it back to him. With a fond look at the watch, then you, he slipped it back into his pocket.

“I just pray I don’t lose it, wouldn’t hear the end of it from my Mother”

“For good reason probably” you snorted, “if it’s a family heirloom it probably means a lot to her.”

Draco hummed once again and pinned his warm gaze on you. He wouldn’t say it out loud but he rarely let the things that meant a lot to him out of his sight.

“God rest ye merry hippogriffs-”

“I’m begging you to stop”

“-ye are A BIRD OF PREY!”

“Y/N-”

“We come in all our splendour, to lead ye ast--”

A hand covered your mouth as you laughed heavily at Draco’s attempt to quieten your singing. You had purposefully tried to make it the worst edition of the Christmas carol possible to annoy the blonde that Christmas morning, yet you hadn’t planned on being tackled into the Slytherin sofa as an attempt to be shut up.

“Did you just lick my hand?!”

You shook your head innocently, not fooling Draco for a second. 

The two of you had gathered in the Slytherin common room, as most of the house had gone back for the holiday.

Only a couple of students remained, but after the wizard had glared at the couple of second years, they scattered somewhere else for the time being.

“Okay, presents!”

You almost dived under the tree as you caught sight of a carefully wrapped gift with your name on it. However, finding the label attached to a rather large bundle of Honeydukes chocolates, the smile you shot Draco was almost blinding.

“You did get me the chocolates!!”

“I promised, didn’t it?!”

Draco watched you with a fond grin as you rifled through the basket picking out a couple of chocolate frogs and chucked one to him. He caught the small packet quickly, thanking his seeker reflexes as he did, and looked at you questioningly.

“What, you didn’t think I’d be able to get through all these myself?! Plus I know chocolate frogs are your favourite.”

Draco felt his smile grow wider.

“I got something for you too” you matched his smile

“You did?”

“Of course!”

Pulling out a long rectangular box from under the tree, he kneeled down next to you as he pushed it along the floor so it wasn’t obstructed by anything.With a wary look towards you, he paused slightly.

“It’s not anything that will bite, right?”

“Oh shut up, of course not, now open it!”

With a roll of his eyes, the Malfoy ripped off the wrapping paper and pried open the cardboard box to see the broom he had been envying Harry Potter over for the last year.

“You got me a Firebolt?!”

“Couldn’t have you whining about Harry’s broom any longer, could I?!”

“Merlin, Y/N! This is fantastic, thank you!” He grinned at you before his eyes snapped to the tree and back. “There’s some other things for you still under the tree.” 

It was your turn to pin him with a questioning look, eyebrows pulled together in a frown. 

Turning back to the tree, you pulled up a few branches and spotted another large box at the back. With great effort, to which the Malfoy just found great entertainment in, you managed to retrieve the box. Pulling open the top flap, the boots and jacket he had also promised you, sat inside.

With a laugh you pulled the boots out first and then the jacket, before spotting a smaller bundle at the bottom. Reaching in, your fingers came in contact with something soft which you pulled out, only to gasp at what it was.

A pair of fluffy green socks sat in your hand as golden snitches whizzed round the design. Not being able to find your words, you looked up at Draco with the softest look you were sure you’d ever looked at him with. 

“Draco... you got me snitch socks?!”

“I may have mentioned about the socks to my Mother and she just so happened to know where they were sold. I picked the green ones because I couldn’t have you wearing red ones now, could I?”

“Merlin, they’re perfect! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Pretty much launching yourself at him, you pulled Draco into a warm hug, arms around his neck, as he instinctively wrapped his own arms around your waist in return. 

“You are the best boyfriend ever, oh Merlin!”

“If I knew it was this easy to please you, I would’ve bought you them ages ago” he snickered.

You pulled away, only to move to put the socks on as you chatted non stop about how great they were, and in turn, how great he was. Seeing your entire face light up because of a pair of socks made Draco smile even more. 

Again, he wouldn’t admit it out loud, but seeing that smile on your face, which he had 100% been responsible for, made his entire Christmas so much better.

[phantomato]

Heartbeat

Ch. 5, Tom and Harry and Orion [AO3]

“I am sentimental for my oldest toys, but I would hardly deny the allure of the new. So fresh; so young. I doubt you would understand—you always liked your things used,” Orion said.

“You say that as though I had a choice.” Tom exhaled the words through his teeth.

“Incorrect.” Orion took a performative sip of his drink and smiled, and he was so beautiful, so incredibly handsome, that he looked incapable of having the conversation he was currently having. Tom was doing a worse job of hiding his anger; pink creeped up his neck. “I say it to see you rile, darling.”

Tom frowned. “We’re not—”

“Not currently.”

“Not ever.”

“I have my doubts.”

Changelog:

Nearly all of this chapter is new, and it’s the first to fit that description. A few parts of the party, mostly the entrance and pleasantly-chatty bits, existed; the rest is June/July 2022 vintage. So though the idea to have a public confrontation (with the risk of an audience) has been around, the execution of it, the nature of the fight, hasn’t.

I believe the original version was going to be less overt. More in line with how Harry felt at the start, seeing Tom’s behavior as centered on Harry, but as I’ve said a few times: 2.0 is about cutting out the meandering dreck and getting to the point. Harry can be delusional, but Tom and Orion don’t carry those same delusions. They’re not really modifying their behavior much to keep up Harry’s misconceptions; why would they? They don’t… care. Harry’s the ball they bounce back and forth, not a person in his own right. So I cut the idea of forcing them to be subtle and instead let them be so familiar with one another that they don’t need full sentences or proper nouns to have a fight. They’ve had the same fight a dozen times. The patterns are known. They do it without thought or shame, and Harry, in observance, has rightly no clue what’s happening except that something obviously is.

Also, it lets Harry have a chance to feel neglected and lash out. He’s quite passive before this moment, secure in attention being on him. It’s not, anymore, and he gets petty and jealous, which is very funny to me. 

I promised that in this version, I would write a lot of sex scenes. One per chapter, actually; I’m proud of that. Part of what I wanted was not just more hot sex, but something that would gain meaning as we peel back the layers of the pre-existing Tom-Orion relationship. Someone in the comments remarked upon this, and I’ll reinforce, that this is a good point to go back and reread the threesome from chapter 3.

Well, I mean—maybe you’re reading this story having read my other takes on Tom/Orion and already know what to look for. I do like that pairing. But if not, this is one big milestone, where Harry is forced to face the idea that he isn’t the primary thing connecting those two men to one another. 

There’s only one more chapter to go. I’m looking forward to it, and the ways it will further complicate these three characters’ tangle of connections. That one is entirely new text, but contains the other scene that motivated this fic’s existence (the first being the threesome).

[lifeofkaze]

When Stars Ignite - Chapter 5

HPHM Rockstar AU

A/N:

General Warning: This whole fic has a general warning of being NSFW / 18+. We will give specific warnings for every chapter in itself, but several adult themes will be more or less present in every chapter, may it be explicitly or in mention. These include sexual topics, drug abuse, (ab)use of alcohol, smoking and a whole lot of cursing.

Specific Warning: Language, reference to smoking (cigarettes), allusions to NSFW topics

~~~

Find the masterpost here, the previous chapter here and the next one here. The songs featured before every chapter can be found on this pretty badass playlist here.

~~~

This work is a collaboration with @the-al-chemist

Taglist: @slytherindisaster @carewyncromwell @night-rhea

Gettin' sold, second hand

That's how it goes, playin' in a band

It's a long way to the top if you wanna rock 'n' roll

~ AC/DC - It’s A Long Way to the Top ~

Halfway through their first week back on tour, their time in London was slowly drawing to an end. Lizzie couldn’t quite believe how fast the days seemed to fly by, each one a blur of tiredness, boredom and the addictive rush of adrenaline when they were on stage. Every day and night was like the one before and totally different all at once.

It felt like only yesterday that she had stepped from the plane back from America; at the same time, being surrounded by all the familiar faces and living in long established routines, her break from the hustle and bustle already seemed like an eternity away. Lizzie could still feel the last traces of jetlag wearing her down sometimes, but at least her shifted rhythm helped her stay energised during the shows; not that she was getting much sleep afterwards either.

Wrecked from her chronic lack of sleep, Lizzie had missed her alarm this morning. When she arrived at the largest dressing room of the O2 Arena, she found the rest of the band already assembled.

Merula and Everett were sitting at the huge table in the middle of the room, Everett scrolling through his social media accounts while Merula was painting her nails in a dark violet colour. Skye was slumped onto one of the sofas at the back of the room, a magazine spread across her lap. She looked up from the colourful pages as she saw Lizzie enter.

“About time you’re showing Jameson; thought you’d gotten lost somewhere. Where’ve you been?”

Lizzie sat down on the arm of the sofa Orion was sitting on; he lifted his head briefly and smiled before bending over his notebook again. Lizzie tried catching a glimpse of the lyrics he was scribbling down but he covered them with his hand. With a shrug, Lizzie turned her attention to Skye.

“I overslept and then ran into Charlie. Murphy and KC are gone somewhere, ‘having a meeting’ apparently.”

“That’s what they’re calling it these days,” Merula muttered under her breath, making Skye snort with laughter.

“Anyway,” Lizzie chuckled, “they’re not here to show the new pyro girl around. They left the job to Charlie, but apparently she’s late and no one knows how to reach her. He’s a little grumpy about it.” She furrowed her brow in concern. “I hope that doesn’t make for a bad start. Charlie had better behave, from what KC told me the newbie is promising.”

“A female pyro tech, just when I thought I’d seen it all,” Everett scoffed. “I mean, how good can she even be?”

Merula arched an eyebrow at him, her eyes sparkling dangerously. “You have a problem with a woman on the job, or what?”

Everett blatantly ignored her, however. “Hopefully we’ll have something to look at this time, right Orion?”

Orion was trying not to roll his eyes. “What we portray on the outside pales in comparison to what we carry in our hearts; as long as she’s a good person who is sure of what she’s doing, nothing can go wrong.”

“Getting along with Charlie would help, too,” Lizzie added.

A grin tugged at Orion’s lips. “It would indeed.”

Everett looked at him sceptically and shook his head. “Listen to you, as if you didn’t care about looks as well.”

Now Orion finally looked up from his notebook for good and frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Stop acting all innocent, everyone knows you’re getting your fair share of groupies as well,” Everett laughed, obviously finding the thought of someone preferring Orion to him hilarious. “Hotel room walls aren’t the thickest, you know.”

Lizzie almost choked on the bottle of water she had helped herself to. She was trying her hardest not to blush as her eyes flickered to Orion. Their eyes met for the briefest of moments before she busied herself with the lid of her bottle, hopefully looking more innocent than she felt. She could tell by the way Orion was trying to keep a straight face that Everett’s remark came just as surprising to him as it did to her.

Clearing his throat, Orion replied levelly “I have no idea what you’re talking about. It’s a wonder you’re able to hear anything over the racket you’re making most nights.”

Everett shrugged. “At least I’m open about it.”

“As much as I hate to say it, but Ev has a point,” Skye chimed in all of a sudden. She was waving her magazine through the air. “According to the Daily Mail, you’ve had at least six affairs ever since we’ve been to Spain. They mark you down as quite the casanova.” Same as Everett before, the thought seemed to amuse her to no end.

Merula rolled her eyes at Skye. “Why are you even reading that shit?”

“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” Skye shrugged. “And it’s fucking hilarious.”

Meanwhile, Lizzie had regained her composure. “Well, don’t keep us on the rack. What’s the latest news?”

Skye cleared her throat before scanning the pages. “After things got frosty between us in Poland, Lizzie and I have apparently decided on an open relationship. Good for us,” she looked up and blew her friend a kiss, which made Lizzie giggle. “They’re still taking bets when Merula is going to come out of the closet -”

“What is this bullshit with me being gay all the time,” Merula snarled.

“You just give that vibe, I know what I’m talking about,” Skye shrugged indifferently before carrying on. “We already had Orion being a ladies’ man and Ev… “

Skye trailed off as she read the paragraph again and looked up after she had finished. “There are pictures of you with Rita Skeeter in here, what’s that about?”

“None of your business,” Everett answered brusquely.

Lizzie saw Skye’s face darken at his tone and quickly snatched the magazine out of Skye’s hands. Just as anticipated, Skye’s attention immediately went to her as she tried to get it back.

The potential fight being dissolved before it had begun, the mood was gradually calming down again. It was an almost relaxed atmosphere in the dressing room, when the door opened and Ethan walked in. He looked very tense and as the door fell shut behind him with a bang, the muscles around his mouth were tight. He exhaled slowly, his hands running over his lessening brown hair.

Skye was disconcerted to see her father looking so unusually stressed. “Dad, what’s wrong?”

He held up a hand to silence her before producing a crumpled package of cigarettes from his pocket. Flicking his silver lighter open, he held the flame to one of them. “I’ll explain in a minute.”

“You do realise that there’s smoke detectors in here?” Lizzie pointed out apprehensively. “I don’t know about you but I don’t care much about getting soaked.”

Ethan took the glowing cigarette out of his mouth again and put it out against the nearest table. “Fucking rules,” he muttered. “Nobody gave a shit back in my days.”

Orion looked up from his notebook, his dark eyes unreadable as they took in Ethan’s nervous demeanour. “It’s clear to see that you’re agitated, but a pain is shared is a pain halved. What’s the matter?”

Ethan sighed, wistfully closing the packet of cigarettes before stowing it away in his pocket. “I had a few calls back and forth with the label over the last few days.”

“So?” Skye urged him on.

“They’re not particularly impressed with what the press is writing about you at the moment. They’re considering cutting the budget for the next album by half.”

His words went down like a lead balloon in the silence spreading throughout the room; no one could believe what they were hearing.

“Why the fuck would they do that?” Skye finally managed to croak out. “The next album was going to be our biggest production so far.”

“Why are they even thinking about it?” Lizzie agreed. “We’re playing to a full house every night. We’re doing a great job, if I may say so, and the reviews have all been really positive so far. The press has been good.”

But Ethan shook his head. “No, Lizzie, the press hasn’t been good at all. People don’t care about professional reviews in respectable magazines anymore. Everything the public sees is what’s written in those goddamn tabloids.” He was eyeing Skye’s copy of the Daily Mail with a grim face. “And they’re having a field day with you; have been for a while now.”

His look darkened further as his gaze swept the round of musicians assembled in front of him, resting particularly long on Everett, who didn’t budge in the slightest.

“Some of you are taking this whole ‘rockstar’ lifestyle too seriously. What was fun and games in my time doesn’t work today anymore. I’ve been told that the label had to fork out a good amount of money to get some positive stories about you out, counter the negative attention you’ve been getting.”

His words were met with icy silence, none of them feeling personally addressed by Ehtan’s barely hidden accusation.

“Listen,” he continued more placatory, “I know sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll are all fun to do, I’ve been there myself. But these days, people aren’t as easy about diva behaviour and trashed hotel rooms.”

Again, he was giving Everett a hard stare. “Cleaning up behind you costs the label hard cash. Cash they’re now cutting from the production budget.”

“That is very unfortunate to hear,” Orion spoke into the ensuing silence. “Is there anything we can do to make them reconsider their actions?”

Ethan’s face lit up with enthusiasm. “Good that you’re asking! I already designed a battle plan for us, we won’t have them compromise our work that easily.”

He placed both of his hands on the table where Merula and Everett were sitting, tapping the smooth surface with his fingers. “I’m thinking about going all out on the charm offensive. We’re going to be doing more interviews, more meet ‘n’ greets, fan events, charity bullshit, more of everything. You name it, we’re going to do it. We have to show the public you’re not some off-hook dickheads but still the old friends with a fucking heart of gold like you were when Equinox started.”

Merula snorted derisively. “Nice thought, but I doubt that will impress the guys from the label. You said it yourself, they’re all about the money, they don’t care about this sentimental bullshit.”

“You’re right,” Ethan said, “that’s why I struck a deal with them.”

The way he was avoiding Orion’s eyes was boding ill on Lizzie. And sure enough, Orion’s shoulders were tense as he spoke, his voice noticeably cooler than before. “What kind of deal?”

“They want to know if your new material is worth the huge investment. We need to prove that we’re still the best horse in their stable and they should place their bets on us instead of the new blood they recently signed, like that Winger guy.”

He ran his hand over his dark goatee as he met Orion’s eyes. “Some representatives are going to come to one of the shows in Manchester, see whether what you’re doing is still good enough for their full support.”

He raised his chin in a commanding gesture as he continued. “And they want to see how the crowd reacts to the new songs.”

Lizzie involuntarily held her breath. Orion was particular about his music; Ethan could have just as well asked him to set down his guitar and never touch it again.

And sure enough, his answer to Ethan’s proposition was simple. “No.”

But Ethan wasn’t about to acknowledge defeat so easily. “Yes. If we give the crowd and accordingly the label a taste of what’s to come, they’re going to see that we only deserve the best of the best once we’re ready to hit the studio again.”

Orion, however, remained unimpressed. “No.”

Ethan blinked, clearly irritated at the refusal to cooperate. “Why not?”

“None of the songs are ready to be shared. You don’t serve your guests a half-cooked meal and neither do you hang a picture missing its colours on the wall.”

His eyes narrowed as he looked Ethan straight in the face, the look in his eyes unwavering. “I won’t have my unfinished work being sold for profit; that’s not what this is about.”

Ethan glared at Orion, but instead of a sharp remark from his side, Everett spoke up. “We could play my stuff.”

Clearly surprised at the unexpected offer, Ethan turned his attention to the singer of the band. “You got songs of your own?”

Everett shrugged nonchalantly. “Sure I do. Just promise me they’ll be featured on the album and they’re all yours.”

Hesitant about giving Everett the confirmation he was asking for, Ethan focused on Orion again. “‘No’ is your last word?”

Lizzie had heard some of Everett’s songs before. They weren’t bad by all means, but they were lacking the finesse Orion’s music brought with it. She knew Ethan would take whatever he was offered, but that wouldn’t be in the band’s best interests.

“I know you're protective of your work,” she told Orion quietly, giving him an encouraging smile, “but you showed me what you’ve written so far, and some of the songs are almost there. They’re the best you’ve ever done, believe me. Everyone’s going to love them.”

Orion held her gaze for a moment, searching for the affirmation he needed to agree to a deal he didn’t want to make, but knew he had to in the end.

When he finally tore his eyes away from hers, he looked at Ethan and sighed. “Fine, have my songs. Under one condition,” he added, nipping Ethan’s victorious grin in the bud. “Until I’m completely satisfied with them, I’m going to sing them.”

“Excuse me?” Everett bristled up, “Am I the singer of this band or you? Get out of my fucking spotlight.”

Orion shook his head. “You misunderstand; I’m not trying to fight you for your place in the sun, my friend. But I wouldn’t know how to explain to you what I want the songs to sound like until they’re really finished.”

Ethan snorted. “Stop being a diva, Orion.”

But Orion was adamant in his resolve. “I’m not. All I want is for the people caring about our music to get what they deserve; and they don’t deserve some unfinished songs that aren’t even played the way they’re supposed to be.”

Both Ethan and Orion were staring at each other for a moment longer, before Ethan threw his hands up in exasperation. “Fine, have it your way then.”

Not believing what he was hearing, Everett stood up from his seat. His aggressive energy seemed to fill the room, making it feel a lot smaller than it actually was.

“Are you for real?” he snarled at Ethan. “I’m the frontman of this band, not him! It’s bad enough that his songs are the only ones that get played when mine are easily as good.”

He turned to Orion, eyes sparkling with anger. Lizzie, who was still sitting next to him, tried not to shrink back before him, but Orion met his gaze as calmly as ever. However, this seemed to anger Everett even further.

“You always said you didn’t want to sing, you were perfectly happy with doing background vocals if you had to. Why now all of a sudden? Tell you why, you’re not happy there’s someone else who knows how to write a decent song in this band. Do you consider me a threat to you or what?”

Everett’s voice had risen considerably. Skye and Lizzie were sharing a worried glance as the two male members of their band were glaring at each other, Merula just looking to and fro between them with a bored expression.

Not wanting things to go south even more than they already were, Ethan stepped between Orion and Everett to break their eye contact. “Ev, calm down. There’s no need -”

He was interrupted by a sharp knock on the door. Taken by surprise, it took Ethan several attempts to make the strain disappear from his voice. He cleared his throat one more time before calling to whoever was waiting on the other side of the door.

“Come in.”

[lilana163]

Reunited: Chapter 3

Cygnus Black definitely had a favorite, he wasn't the best father but he was certainly better than Druella when it came to parenting, for the most part. Bellatrix was seen as a disappointment because all Cygnus ever wanted was a boy to call his own, even though the poor girl did everything to please her father and mother. Andromeda was always quiet and kept to herself, Cygnus never thought of his second as a disappointment or disgrace because quite frankly she never gave him a reason to. Narcissa was much like Andromeda, the blonde had a liking to being invisible so it was rare that the angel of the Black sisters would have to face the wrath of Cygnus or Druella. Aurora on the other hand always had a goofy and kind persona, she never felt the need to go invisible and not be herself or beg for the attention of either of her parents, which is why Cygnus Black adored the raven-haired girl the most.

So when he overheard Walburga speak to Orion about Druella almost torturing his daughter into insanity all he could see was red, he loved his wife and would sometimes agree to the punishments she gave their children, but the only person Cygnus loved more than Druella Black was Aurora his precious little star, or so he called.

The black-haired man furiously slammed the door to both his and Druella's bedroom open, his wife sat on the couch with a cigarette between her fingers as she stared into nothingness.

" You almost tortured her into insanity!" Cygnus screamed slamming the door behind him, a bitterness crept on Druellas face as she glanced at her husband.

" That girl needs to learn how to behave," Druella spoke letting a tear fall from her eye, Cygnus rushed up to the blonde lifting her up from where she sat, pinning her up aggressively on the dark green walls grasping onto her neck tightly making the blonde gasp for air.

" You don't torture her to an extent where she could be driven to insanity, if I lose Aurora because of you I'll kill do you hear me?!" Cygnus screamed into the blondes face tightening his grip around her neck, his grey eyes watery as they stared into Druellas green ones.

" You wouldn't d- dare," Druella managed to respond her words barely audible from the tight grip on her neck, Cygnus let on an amused laugh that disturbed the blonde who slowly started to let fear consume her.

" What makes you say that?" Cygnus asked his wife who stared into his cold watery eyes, she then figured out that the man who stood in front of her isn't the man she married but just someone who looked like the shy man who said I do many years ago.

" Because you love me," Druella muttered her words making Cygnus expression soften, he let her go dropping the blonde on the floor, Druella held onto her neck taking as much air she could, Cygnus walked over to the door opening it but before Cygnus left he glanced one last time at his wife.

" Don't count on love, it can get you killed," Cygnus last said leaving the blonde alone in the room. Druella curled up into a ball laying on the floor allowing her tears to fall, she looked at her reflection on the wall desperately crawling to the mirror. Druella winced as she touched the marking of her husband's hand on her neck, she stared into her eyes crying with uneven breathes Druella Black a protective mother, loving wife, a broken woman, she was slowly falling apart, her perfect picture life getting harder to maintain by the day. She was lost, the woman who stared back was unrecognizable she had no idea what her life was to become, and that fearless woman who wasn't afraid of no one was now fearing for her life in many ways.

Cygnus walked across the manor to find his daughter, he reached Aurora's room finding Walburga pacing back and forth in front of the closed white door. His loud footsteps caught the attention of his sister who looked back at him with worried eyes.

" Walburga?" Cygnus whispered loudly slowly approaching the black-haired woman, her grey eyes held concern and nothing more, she was a vile lady but that didn't stop her from caring which was an emotion all Blacks learned to hide, at moments like these maybe it was appropriate to show feelings, yet that's showing weakness, and Blacks are far from weak.

" I'm to assume that you're here to check on Aurora?" Walburga asked Cygnus not bothering to cover the worry which laced in her words.

" Yes," Cygnus replied not quite sure what to make of the situation, his sister never showed anything but coldness, so it would be an understatement to say that he was surprised.

" I would like to know of my niece's well-being, so if you could find me after you see Aurora, that would be much appreciated," Walburga quickly stated rushing off to the direction Cygnus came from with her long black dress flowing behind from the quick movement.

A gentle knock was heard behind the white door alerting all the young Blacks of someone wanting to enter, they all shifted their gaze to the young black-haired girl who put on her brightest smile in an attempt of easing the tension.

" Come in," Aurora announced watching as the door opened revealing her father, the man seemed tense but once he locked eyes with his daughter's green ones he felt his body relax letting out a loud breath he hadn't known he held.

" How's my little star?" Cygnus approached the young girl standing on her bedside, Bellatrix loudly scoffed at the nickname earning a hard glare from Andromeda.

" I'm doing just fine Papa, I could outrun you in a race if I really wanted to," Aurora teased her father nudging him lightly with her elbow, he let out a low laugh playfully shaking his head.

" Rubbish, I always win when we race!" Cygnus boasted puffing out his chest and fixing his posture, looking down at the girl who held amusement in her eyes.

" Because I'm nice enough to let you win old man," Aurora revealed laughing as his facial expression dropped at the word old, the group around them awkwardly stood around the pair feeling nothing but envy at the interaction, though a certain blonde smiled brightly at her father and sister she was certainly happy that they had the relationship they did.

" How about we go and paint, what do you think little star?" Cygnus asked Aurora who nodded excitedly jumping out of her bed, she stumbled a bit from the effects of the cruciatus curse but the little girl managed to hide her weakness and masked it with an energy she didn't have, at a young age Aurora Black learned how to mask and hide things away, not for her but the benefit of those around her, all she ever wants is for good energy to surround those around her which meant that she would have to learn how to hide her true self, but everyone always has that one person who could see through their fake happiness and Auroras person was Narcissa Black.

Cygnus and Aurora left the room not before saying one last goodbye to the others, the father and daughter duo walked across the dark corridor into an art studio, when Aurora was younger she found Cygnus painting and from there, Aurora took interest in her father's hobby which soon became hers.

The studio was surrounded by painted canvases all that belonged to both Aurora and Cygnus, the artwork around them always had a deeper meaning than what caught the naked eye. Cygnus taught his daughter that Art should always have a deeper meaning than just art drawings of an apple and so on, the black-haired man believed that art is one way to express feelings, thoughts, a story, and observations. He always made sure that his daughter's art held a bigger purpose and each canvas the little girl painted always did.

" I'm going to start a new painting Papa," Aurora hummed making her way over to a blank canvas taking it to her easel and paint.

" Fine by me little star, may I ask what you plan to paint this time?" Cygnus told his daughter while he prepared himself to finish his own painting he started two weeks ago.

" You'll find out," she glanced at her father with a small smile before sketching her face on the blank canvas occasionally looking into the mirror she set up beside her.

" Papa, do you love mum?" Aurora mumbled not moving her eyes from her work, Cygnus stared at the girl in shock she had always been so upfront with him on many occasions but this particular question set him off.

" Of course I love your mum Aurora, why wouldn't I?" Cygnus answered going back to his painting not without sparing a few glances at the girl who took a while to respond.

" You two argue a lot, are you sure you love, mum?"  Aurora stated glancing into the mirror analyzing her mouth and each detail that came with her plumped pink lips.

" Do you love mum?" Cygnus returned with a question watching how Auroras let out a genuine smile that reached her eyes.

" Of course I love mum," Aurora turned to met his gaze smiling lightly before turning back to the canvas which stood in front of her.

" But don't you two argue a lot?" Cygnus sent a cheeky grin to his daughter who playfully stuck her tongue out at the grey-eyed man.

" Touché, Mr. Black," Aurora said nodding her head in amusement, Cygnus chuckled at his daughter's reaction before resuming back to his half-done painting.

" I heard you singing to Sirius a few weeks ago, I must admit I'm oddly curious where you heard such a song," Cygnus let out changing the subject unknowingly triggering something inside the little girl.

" You heard that?" Aurora dropped her attention from her painting instead focusing on her father, he rose a brow at the girl her confidence no longer lingering in her tone.

" It was quite a beautiful song, I'd love to listen to it, who's it by again?" Cygnus questioned glancing at his green-eyed daughter who blushed by his comment.

" I actually wrote the song," she shyly whispered Cygnus looked at his daughter not knowing how to feel, he had only heard a few sentences as he passed the corridor though it was enough for him to realize the song was made because of dark thinking.

" I only ever wrote it for Sirius and me, it brings peace to us," Aurora added trying her best to hint that he wasn't meant to hear the song, Cygnus had a worried expression covering his face recalling each word he managed to hear.

" And you relate to the song?" the grey-eyed man queried hoping he was wrong, Aurora simply nodded moving her uncomfortable gaze to her canvas.

" The shadows in your head, they've got you down again, got you feeling low," Cygnus softly spoke staring deep into his daughter's side, Aurora felt his burning gaze but instead kept her focus on the canvas before her.

" It's just words," Aurora remarked fiddling with the hem of her white dress, Cygnus didn't know what to make of the idea of his daughter or nephew feeling such away, so he sat there on his stool letting the silence linger once more.

" Songs are considered art, and art is not meaningless it always tells a story," Cygnus responded under his breath loud enough for the black-haired girl who sat across the room to hear.

" I'm aware Papa," Aurora said with tears brewing in her eyes which she quickly blinked away before they could get noticed and attract unwanted attention.

[carewyncromwell]

OTP ask game 💕 14 and 15 for Carewyn/Orion and Ru/Estrid

Sorry if I wrote their names wrong 🙈

Are there any love rivals?

Carion -- not exactly, but there were exes.

Carewyn's first and only school relationship was with Andre Egwu, her friend from Ravenclaw who also served as substitute Seeker and eventually Keeper on the Ravenclaw team. They dated in fourth year and most of fifth year before breaking up after the All-Wizard Tournament. Carewyn and Andre at first glance looked to be a perfect power couple, as they are both fashionable, creative, confident people who love Quidditch, but as much as they enjoy each other's company, unfortunately they couldn't quite give the other what they ultimately needed. In Carewyn's case, she really needed someone who could show proper emotional support, and unfortunately Andre wasn't the most attuned at picking up Carewyn's feelings under the mask she wore to obfuscate them. As for Andre, he really needed someone who was both more sociable and more into physical affection than Carewyn -- Carewyn, unknown to her at the time, is asexual, and she had a lot of difficulty putting that into words, and combined with her tendency to put on a brave face and pretend nothing's wrong, it made it difficult for her to open up to Andre and admit how she felt. And given that she didn't understand asexuality was a thing, she felt like it was some sort of shortcoming in herself, that she "couldn't be what he wanted," rather than just a difference in sexual preference. Fortunately the two were able to stay friends despite breaking up, and that break-up ultimately ended up making them closer, since as friends they understand each other in a way no one else does. There were other people who had a crush on Carewyn at school and at the Ministry -- one Hogwarts student I see as having nurtured a tiny crush on Carewyn was Cedric, though he grew out of it before long -- but none of those went anywhere. Carewyn's friends -- especially Tulip, oddly enough -- were actually rather protective of Carewyn when it came to dealing with unreciprocated crushes around Valentine's Day, heading people off before they could send her Secret Admirer notes or ask her out, since they knew she hated hurting people's feelings by turning them down, but would have absolutely no interest in going out with a complete stranger. If Carewyn and Orion were in an AU where the Vaults didn't exist and Carewyn could've remained on the Slytherin team longer, I could very easily see a scenario where the entire Slytherin team not-so-secretly ships their Captain with his "second-in-command" Carewyn, calling them "Dad" and "Mum" and citing their irritation that their "Mum" is seeing somebody else (namely, Andre) and that their "Dad" is so lost in his own head that he won't even try to do anything about it. 😂

As for Orion, he had several relationships post-Hogwarts before reconnecting with Carewyn, most of which didn't last long. The one that lasted the longest was with Delilah Flint, who ultimately gave birth to Orion's daughter Eos. Orion and Delilah started dating largely because they were on the same page in one essential way -- they didn't want to get married. They liked having their own lives and only wanted the freedom to get together when they needed some stable, engaging company. Most of Orion's previous partners kept trying to coax him to "take the next step" with them -- i.e. getting married, having children, and settling down -- and seemed to assume that eventually he'd come around to it, but Orion truly never wanted a traditional family life. He loves playing Quidditch more than anything and, at the start, he didn't want a wife, 2.5 kids, and a house with a white-picket fence. It was only when Delilah got pregnant and gave birth in 1996 that their priorities changed. Orion jumped into fatherhood two feet first and never looked back, taking Eos into his heart and vowing to never let her grow up alone and unloved like he did -- Delilah, thanks to a terrible combination of post-partum depression, financial instability, and a fear of the Wizarding War to come, was ready to give Eos up to an orphanage. Needless to say, Orion was unable to accept that, and after a strained back-and-forth where Orion was even willing to propose marriage to Delilah to keep his daughter in his life, Delilah ultimately decided to just drop Eos in Orion's lap and leave. They have never spoken again. Orion has also had his fair share of people who had crushes on him both at school and especially after becoming the Magpies' Star Chaser. I actually headcanon that one student tried to give Orion a Love Potion, only for Orion to somehow be able to "sense" that his drink had been compromised because "its aura was off" or something, and for him to gently confront them and counsel them about finding love in the right place, rather than manufacturing it. Because Orion is precious sunshine man and his heart is big enough to hold the world. 🥰

For Ru and Estrid @thatravenpuffwitch, Ru had plenty of competition when it came to courting Estrid, at least in theory. Estrid is part-Veela, so she's always had her fair share of admirers for her beauty, but Estrid -- being both on the asexual spectrum and secretly having social anxiety -- has never particularly enjoyed the attention. There were actually times Estrid used Ru like a shield even before they got together, pressuring them to dance with her at social gatherings just to get away from a group of Victorian "bros" seeking her favor. And admittedly, since Estrid was Ru's "keeper" and thus they ended up being in the same space a lot, there were plenty who presumed they were a couple, or at least interested in each other. Once Ru became fond of Estrid themselves, Ru became her shield willingly, and once they got together, Ru was Estrid's own personal bodyguard and wouldn't let anyone within three feet of her if she wasn't okay with it.

Describe your favorite moment of that ship!

I admit, even after all this time, I will always nurture a soft spot for the very first scene I wrote for Carion where I could really see them becoming romantic someday -- the Quest for the Quidditch Cup finale scene where they sit up in the commentator box together, watching the sunrise.

For Ru/Estrid, I have a headcanon of how Ru confessed their feelings to Estrid, and I actually really love it because it's rather romantic, in its own weird way.

Ru had some trouble accepting it when they developed feelings for Estrid. Most of the school had seen them as a couple back before they even liked each other as individuals simply because they were in the same space, so both of them had spent years denying that they felt "that way" about each other. Fortunately BFF Galen @cursebreakerfarrier was able to give Ru a nice dose of reality and Papa-Bearing, which woke Ru up enough to acknowledge that their denials weren't fooling anyone anymore. When the kelpie finally came to grips with their feelings, Ru, true to form, disdained the courting process and ended up declaring their intentions bluntly to Estrid.

"Look -- I'm attracted to you, okay? I know it's stupid, but I like you. I don't need you to act any differently, and I'm not going to prance about like a show horse trying to make you like me too. If you don't like me as I am, I'm not going to change myself so you do. The only reason I'm telling you is...well, for once, everyone else isn’t being stupid when they talk about me being interested in you -- and I just thought you aughta know. Now you do."

Estrid, once she recovered from the surprise, actually found the upfront honesty of Ru's confession very endearing.

OTP Asks!

[matt0044]

Some say Jane’s still riding that bus to this very day...

Ladies and Gentlemen, our Bulk and Skull for the series. :P

Zayto is sporting his new civilian attire while reminiscing about his mother with the pendant she gave her once he received his Knighthood, telling Amelia about how he worries for his people after the first Sporix invasion. It’s basically a lot like Super Megaforce’s Orion except that they actually seem to be going somewhere with it. This is interrupt by Solon announcing a very strange signal.

The signal is traced back to Rafkon’s general quadrant with chances of survivors exciting Zayto until the communication module goes bust. Sixty-five million years without maintenance will do that. Hunter Deno does feel a bit stiff in some shots but it does feel like he’s not one to get too emotional rather than a socially awkward character trying to be passed off as a badass. Right, Troy?

Amelia and Ollie butt heads over seeing a psychic to have Zayto reach out spiritually as opposed to checking Dr. Akana’s observatory for any data on what they might’ve intercepted. Zayto agrees to try out both starting with Amelia’s before she realizes that she’s broke. Who says Power Rangers can’t be relatable? I’m honestly enjoying the comedic duo the team already has here.

On that note, the trio arrive at Madame Indigo’s tent where Jane and J-Borg are making a new video for their site. Needless to say, the madame has her put the scarf around her eyes because of its “strong psychic energy.” Jane buys it hook, line and sinker even as she walks out without any sight. J-Borg films the whole thing in what I assume will be a study on white people falling for anything.

Yep, our comic relief duo appears to be the head of a social media platform and her robotic assistant. There’s a YouTube algorithm joke in here somewhere but I’m sure it’ll come to me. Their bit isn’t too long as Jane ends up on a school bus in trying out her “psychic abilities” while J-Borg’s foot ends up in a bucket of quick drying cement. They’re not Victor and Monty but they’re no Burkes either.

Madame Indigo reads Zayto’s pendant and assesses accurately his general situation until Ollie decides to do an experiment. He actually claims that Amelia and him are in love with each other, even calling her “honey muffin” to sell the act. The madame reads them and claims that they’ll have a long relationship with many years ahead of them. Why do I get the sense that she’s not too off?

Before they can get to the observatory, Solon alerted the Rangers of Vipeera’s hatching and gets them to teleport onto the scene. Mucus beats them to it as Void Knight’s official second-in-command, observing from afar when she finds J-Borg’s camcorder. Vipeera doesn’t waste time right out the gate freezing Zayto with the eyes on her chest with Amelia and Ollie rushing in to cover him.

The two catch on that they can’t look directly at her which makes for a very hard battle. Luckily, Vipeera is more than honorable enough to allow Amelia and Ollie to take the time to morph. Seriously, she’s right there looking back and forth at them while they link to the grid. I know it’s joked about how the villains let the Rangers morph aside from when they don’t but this is ridiculous.

Amelia and Ollie manage to hang in there but can’t fight close-range with their eyes closed. Thankfully, Mucus cuts in to drag Vipeera off with her own evil plan and teleports out. I honestly like how Mucus is show to be left to her own devices without having to always bow to Void Knight. So long as he can get a powered up Sporix, she can just mess around and see what happens. Neato. :)

Zayto is unfrozen before Amelia and Ollie take him to the observatory. They sadly report that they couldn’t make out most of it, meaning they can’t relay a message to him. Zayto goes back to base for some time alone before Amelia gets a call from Buzzblast about their live feed going on the fritz. Vipeera takes ASMR to another level by broadcasting her eyes and freezing all of Pine Ridge.

I feel as though there was suppose to be a scene of Jane trying to navigate the city of petrified people with J-Borg trying to keep her from knocking over the living mannequins. It would help that Solon’s cybernetic eyes are unaffected by the stream and keeps Zayto from being frozen again. She then figures out that his pendent is exactly what they need to restore the interstellar communication.

Zayto takes a page from Daredevil and uses the Sonic Key to enhance his hearing while blindfolded, allowing him to even the playing field. Vipeera’s stream is taken offline while Mucus is, as she puts it, outsies. Seriously, I just love how she’s pretty much a far more adorable Scrozzle to Void Knight’s Evox.

Vipeera goes giant after taking plenty of damage just as Amelia and Ollie jump into the fray. Zayto zords up but doesn’t have a giant blindfold for his mech, leaving him back at square zero. Thankfully, the Tricera Blade and Ankylo Hammer Zord rush into the fray just in time with a damn good strategy in mind.

Amelia has her Zord smash up the street so she can levitate the debris with the Hover Dino Key before Ollie reconstructs the street with the Reverse Dino Key onto Vipeera’s eyes in a move straight out of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. Seriously, I hope that we don’t get less of Rangers fighting giant monsters outside their Zords. This is the kind of outside-the-box thinking I love in a fight.

Of course, Dino Fury delivers Megazord after two whole episodes with Amelia suggesting a victory selfie ala Levi Weston. Void Knight attempts to take the dormant Sporix after the damage it absorbed only for the Rangers to beat him to the punch this time. Once again, there’s a real unpredictability to who will snatch the real victory in the end. Something villain fetch-quests before lacked.

Solon restores the message but finds that it’s either encrypted or in a language too advanced after millions of years. She’s also bad at French. Okay. Zayto decides to put out his own message to whoever survived the war on his planet. I’m hoping that this comes into play in the first season finale or the next. A real cavalry moment straight out of Star Wars. Yes, that includes the Sequel Trilogy.

Next time, the trio becomes a five man band at last.

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

If you have sent me an Ask in the last thirty-six hours or so, This post is for you.

I was almost entirely done with answering all your beloved messages, when Tumblr decided to crash. Lost all the paragraphs of my rambling (which is why I’m no longer taking chances and am typing this on Google Docs) and even worse, the Asks seem to have been eaten by Tumblr’s great void. They’re gone, and nothing I’ve tried seems to work to get them back. Thankfully, I’m fresh off of responding, so I’ll try to summarize with one big epic post. Apologies for the inconvenience and unusual style, blame the Tumblr Overlords. 

WARNING: If you don’t read the data-mines and don’t want spoilers, do not go beyond this point. This mainly concerns The Quidditch Cup. 

There were a couple of Asks about Ismelda, someone talked about the head-canon that she’s secretly blonde and dyes her hair. Which I agree with, and really like. It would tie in to how Ismelda saw Penny as being no different from her sister. It would be a sign of her trying to spite her parents and distance herself from her family, to the point of even looking like them. I also think it would echo with Beatrice and how she changed her look to reinvent herself and be less of a “Mini Penny.” Another message was talking about her parents, wondering why they would ever visit her at Hogwarts given how they were portrayed. After all, they’re not about to be the next Ethan Parkin, are they? Not going to turn around and be well-meaning, but oblivious. I think it’s far more likely that they would visit her sister at Hogwarts, and it would be pure chance that Ismelda was there at the same time - if there was indeed any overlap where both sisters were at school. But that’s the real question of the hour - just what is the sister like? After all, it’s not her fault that she’s the favorite, right? Newt Scamander was estranged from his brother, who was engaged to his ex-girlfriend. From that description alone, we might think he was awful, but he wasn’t. Theseus was genuinely caring, he just didn’t know how to connect with Newt. We might have a similar situation on our hands here. Or, who knows, the sister might be the “Dudley” to Ismelda’s “Harry.” She was compared to both Emily and Penny, if memory serves. But until such a time that we meet her, we have no way of knowing who she’s really more like. Psst, Jam City, you getting this down? This would be a great TLSQ, to have Ismelda come face to face with her sister. Could perhaps end with, oh I dunno, befriending her? Just a thought…

I saw another Ask talking about how Beatrice would go back and forth between MC and Jae during their detention and how adorable it was to see her all flustered and excited, how it looked like she was gushing to MC “He’s so dreamy” and things of the like. It’s making me wish they would come back to this sub-plot because it’s funny as hell and a good way, again, to tie in Ismelda. She also fancied someone she had no chance with, she was also jealous of another person. (Chiara might not actually have a thing with Jae, but if memory serves, Beatrice is shown to be jealous of them talking anyway.) 

There was an Ask that talked about punching Barnaby’s father in the face. Or at least, the idea of doing so. But regrettably, he is in Azkaban and it cannot be done. Well, maybe not by MC, but someone who was already there could do it. New head-canon, Sirius decked him on his way out. It happened, I don’t make the rules.

@guppygirl I read the first chapter of your fic! Do you know what you’ve done to me, do you know how many feelz it gave me to see Rowan alive and well and acting so sweet? You nailed their character and I love the inclusion of their parents! Maya’s reactions make just want to give her a hug. Everyone should check out the fanfic on her page, seriously!

I believe there was an Ask lamenting that the Festival TLSQ didn’t come out this week, and believe me friend, I’m right there clowning with you. It seems like every week now, we think, “Okay, this time it will come out, they can’t delay it anymore.” And we’re always wrong. Here I am just starting to worry that my far-fetched theory about them shelving it until next year because it’s no longer “seasonal” isn’t so far-fetched after all…

But the vast majority of messages that were lost were, as I’m sure you can guess, about the data-mined House Cup for Season 2. I wrote a lot about it and I do indeed have some thoughts and feelings. 

Before I get into anything else, can I just say...that first scene with Ethan where he meets MC. I don’t think it’s possible for me to ever dislike Skye. All it ever takes is one vulnerable moment to erase any doubts and have me back in her corner. And you cannot tell me that Ethan knowing everything about MC because “Isn’t this the best mate you always talk about?” Didn’t melt your heart or at least give you feelz. Think back to how hurt Skye was when MC befriended Rath - to the point of snapping a broomstick in half. This is just proof of what I’ve been saying. She has no social skills and hardly any friends. Of course she sees MC as her bestie. The poor thing, oh my god, it’s adorable...

Ethan Parkin….I’m not a fan, even now. As I heard, he’s not as bad as we all feared he would be. He definitely has his moments. Still...he’s still pretty annoying. Ethan is basically a less obnoxious version of Lockhart, who actually has the talent to back it up. But I didn’t like how he involved himself in the practice and took over deciding who should be leader. Seriously, if he knows the game this well then he should know we already have a leader assigned. That’s what a Captain is. He was quite rude to Orion and while his pressuring Skye might have been inadvertent, it was still his fault. He’s also an extremely violent Quidditch player, which I’m not a fan of (Although apparently Penny is? The fuck?) I get that he would never cross the line into cheating, but I’m not impressed by how he lied. Didn’t give his team credit. And seriously...is cheating morally inferior to harming another player in a “legal” way? I guess it’s just a Quidditch culture thing, but I’m not here for it. 

Orion’s reaction to Ethan, though? God I loved it. He took everything completely in stride, had the maturity to say that no, he was happy to learn from a Quidditch master. His concern wasn’t about his ego, it was about Skye’s feelings. Because once again, he’s the only one with the empathy to realize what she might be going through. Orion’s response was measured and thoughtful and god, I love him so much. Side note: Were they seriously debating whether or not keeping Ethan around to learn his mystery move was worth it, even if it was stressing Skye out? My dudes, this is the exact same mistake you made during the Rath TLSQ. Involving someone who doesn’t need to be involved, just for the sake of a potential advantage in a meaningless sports game, regardless of how much it will hurt someone who is supposed to be our friend. Screw that. 

Folks were talking about Erika Rath. Someone brought up how hilarious it was in a previous chapter to see Andre actually tell her to be quiet, and for her to do so. And yeah, I agree. It’s a testament to how close their friendship must really be (Sorry, Depressed Erika Anon) I mean, most people wouldn’t dare say that to her. And I don’t think she’d have such a calm and passive reaction to just anyone. It’s unconventional, but their relationship is a sweet one. Overall, they’re involving Rath more and I’m quite glad of it. Seeing her proud of MC is heartwarming. Seeing her become more of a main character is great - I mean, she is one of the main four, after all. Face Paint Kid is a background character, as much as I love him. Penny is only here to develop Skye, and Andre is only here to develop Rath. There was also an interesting comparison made between her and Ethan, about how they both play pretty violently. Still not a fan of this. Maybe that’s one of the reasons that I’m mostly indifferent to Rath. But I’m coming around on her. 

This was a lovely place to cap off Skye’s character arc. Seeing MC stand up to Ethan (although I wish you could be firm without having to say that stupid “You’re off the team, Parkin!” line) was especially cathartic, and it’s clear that Skye appreciates it. She’s happier by the end, and has actually communicated with her father. I would sincerely like it if Season 3 focused on, say, Murphy a little more. He hasn’t gotten any development since the first half of Season 1. Even Orion got some development in this TLSQ. But...make no mistake, we’re not done hearing about Skye. I know that no one wants to hear this, but...they slipped in that line about her wishing she could play Rath. She still hates her. That hasn’t been resolved. Oh well, at least it’s an opportunity to further flesh out Rath. There’s also the possibility that, if they do give focus to Orion, it might be that Season 3 is his last hurrah. I hope he stays for the entire story, but even if they don’t want to confirm character ages...he could very well graduate. If he does, there’s going to be a story-line about choosing his successor. And again, I know that nobody wants to see this happen, but...the only candidates who matter in the story are MC and Skye. So they could be pitted against each other again. But I hope that won’t happen.

Curse you, Tumblr. Oh well, it should be safe to send in Asks again because I’m quite literally going to copy them onto a Google Doc from now on just to be safe. If I missed out on one that you sent in, please feel free to let me know or re-send it. I’ve also seen people taking screenshots of their Asks and then responding to the picture instead of just responding outright. Might do that too...thank you for your patience, this has been a doozy. 

[danetobelieve]

A Couple’s Home Is Their Castle || Rio and Winston

When: 24/08/2020 Who: @3starsquinn & @danetobelieve Where: Rio and Winston’s home. Summary: Winston and Rio keep working on the defenses that they’re slowly building up around their house.  Warnings: n/a

Winston looked at the large spotlights that they had just finished attaching to the roof of their home. Ricky was down in his workshop grafting away at a new set of fastenings for the next set of defenses that they were affixing to their house which left Rio and Winston the job of actually installing the stuff to the house. A job that was more difficult for normies. But when you could use magic and your boyfriend had a serious degree of supernatural strength then everything was honestly a little bit easier. As Rio held the large frame of the bank of UV spotlights in place, Winston finished fastening it to the roof, made sure that it was secure and then gave it a slight rattle to see if it was done. “You know, I don’t think i could move this even if it was going to fall off,” Winston admitted, “do you wanna test it?” The bank of spotlights was something that they had been working on for a while. The idea was that they were basically security lights. Except they would shine out UV light (they were technomagically enchanted with a variety of runes and high powered LED bulbs). In theory they would stop vampires from getting too close to their home. In theory. The truth was Winston wouldn’t know until they tried it out. Which they hoped they’d never have to do. But better safe then sorry, especially when Miriam might be involved. 

Orion liked watching Winston work. Considering all of the other thoughts that were constantly running through his head, this was a more than welcome distraction. And considering the whole love potion fiasco, Rio considered himself lucky that Winston was being as cool about it as they were. Even if it wasn’t Rio’s fault and Winston had insisted that the two forgot it ever happened. Rio’s body was still sore from the spawns, but he happily stood out and held the light into place as Winston worked on it. After it was completely fastened, Rio switched just group and began pulling at it, feeding only a small bit of his hunter strength into the motion. He didn’t want to accidentally rip it free, though he wasn’t sure he was necessarily in the best shape to do that anyways. Afterwards, Rio scratched at the wounds of his arms over his sleeves and winced at the pain. “This is incredible. It’s too bad we don’t know any vampires to test this with. I mean, not that I’d want to burn them or anything.” He studied the mechanism and glanced back and forth between it and Winston. God, they were so cool. “What can we do next? Please don’t make me go back into my room again. There’s only so many video games I can play.” 

Somehow the sweetest and kindest person who had ever existed had managed to get themselves hurt again. Winston had all but forgotten everything to do with the love potion, although it had been tough to accept, Winston had worked through it and they’d been able to put the whole thing behind them. That was the way it had to be. Rio had hardly been consenting and Winston hadn’t admitted it yet but they really cared deeply about Rio, maybe to the point of loving him. But this was their first relationship and they didn’t want to knee jerk anything until they were completely sure. “You really think?” Winston asked curiously, “Honestly, you remember when we had that month of perpetual night and there was a shit load of vampires out there just snapping at everyone’s heels all the time, well that was when me and Ricky decided that it was time to start taking the safety of this place a lot more seriously.” With their developments in technomancy, well automating everything was only easier. “Oh, I know we’ve installed everything up here but don’t get excited about being with it yet.” Winston couldn’t help but tease Rio, he looked so cute when he was teased. “I still need to hook this up to our AI in the house so that we can literally go like defenses on or whatever and the house will become a safe zone, or as safe a zone as you can have in White Crest.” 

“Of course I do! You’re like a tech genius. Anything you do is incredible.” Orion shrugged, as if this was the most natural thing to say in the world. Rio remembered back when they had first met. Rio had troubles giving anyone an abundance of compliments, afraid he was going to come across as weird or desperate. Now, Rio practically told anyone that he could about how great Winston was. It was a welcome change, one of many positive changes that Rio had begun noticing after moving in with Winston and Ricky. “Yeah I remember. It didn’t make doing things at the Scribrary easy. I mean, for people without night vision I mean. Well, I’m glad this place will be safe.” Luckily, Rio didn’t have much of an issue seeing at night. But it had certainly been creepy. He wished there were defenses against hunters they could do. “Oh. Great. So we’re staying on the roof then?” Rio crosses his arms and poured, “Guess it’s good I’m not scared of heights or anything.” He laughed sarcastically and readjusted his hold on the machine, holding onto it in case he slipped. “But that sounds super cool. So do your thing.” Rio couldn’t offer much in terms of technology and was here based solely on his muscle, by some weird sense of irony. But he supposed he could offer some suggestions. “You know, and I hate even suggesting this, but my family replaced all the doorknobs on the house with silver and pure iron.” He made a face at the idea of following something his family did, but depending on the threat, maybe it wasn’t the worst idea. “Not silver, obviously. We know too many werewolves. But maybe we can do something with the iron?”

“You’ve tasted my cooking right?” Winston replied with a chuckle, “Because not even your sweet sweet lips,” Winston winked in the most exaggerated way they possibly could to show that they were joking, “cannot convince me that my cooking is incredible.” The scribrary was going to be a perpetual work in progress for Winston, they weren’t sure if they would ever complete everything that they wanted to do with it, but the fact that they didn’t have to carry a flashlight with them at all times was refreshing enough. “We got all the lights fixed though,” Winston replied with a smirk, “so we’re definitely making progress.” Looking around, Winston shook their head. “Don’t worry, we won’t be up here for too much longer, we’ve just got to thread the wires down through the roof and then Ricky has said it’s cool if we set everything up for the connection in his room, he’s going to be in his workshop for a few more hours anyway so if we’re quick we shouldn’t even take up too much time or space.” Winston quickly and expertly began threading thick spools of wires through the hole in the roof. “Can you just like slowly give me slack on the wire until we’ve got it all through, and then we’ll go in through Ricky’s skylight because I’m way too lazy to climb all the way down and go in through the front door.” Heights bothered Winston too, they didn’t want to be up here any longer then they had to be. But it was easier to not seem bothered by stuff when Rio was around. He made it easier to be confident. “Uh, well we’ve got some fairly crude salt traps for ghosts, we could definitely include like iron and silver traps too, but I’d rather not have them in the doorknobs, it makes it difficult to bring anyone who’s fae or like you said a werewolf over without warning them not to touch the doors.”

Orion considered Winston’s statement. Sure, Winston’s cooking still probably beat Rio’s own. More due to the fact that Rio never actually tried to cook. The little that he knew he knew from cooking with Ricky. Who frequently took over jobs when Rio proved hopeless. “Not everyone can cook like Ricky.” Rio stayed neutrally, blushing at the comment about his lips and scratching nervously at his neck. Okay, so not all the butterflies were gone. But could Rio be blamed when Winston said stuff like that? “The Scribrary has come farther than I ever thought it would. So even if we never do anything else to it I’m going to count it as a win.” Of course, neither of them had any intentions of stopping their progress. The Scribe HQ was really important to Rio. Outside of being filled top to bottom with knowledge and a source of escape from Rio’s old life, the Scribe building attributed to how close Rio and Winston were now. If they hadn’t run into each other that night or started working on the place together, who knew if they would be as close as they were now. Rio would probably still be awkwardly crushing on them in secret. “You got it, boss.” Rio gave Winston a thumbs up and then moved over to hold onto the wire to help out. He loved the skylight idea, mostly so he didn’t have to stare at the ground and try to get down. “I completely agree. The last thing I’d want is for someone like Ariana to burn her hand try to come visit us. I want this place to be safe against threats. So I also want it to be safe for any of our friends that aren’t human.” It was strange, acknowledging that some people weren’t human. For as long as Rio could remember, he had considered everyone human. Undead, werewolf, Fae. But he remembered his conversation with Morgan and the one with Athena about Ariana. Not everyone wanted to be referred to as human. He was still getting used to that. 

“Honestly, for someone who only eats meat or fish, I find it almost a little bit disconcerting that he is so good at cooking things that he can’t eat without getting sick. It’s like some kind of unfair super power.” Winston was honestly still glad that they were living with both Rio and Ricky. The two of them made their life so much easier then they had previously imagined that it could be. Grinning gently at Rio, Winston nodded. “I know we’ve still got tonnes of work to do, but with every step we make and everything that we do to make things like a bit more accessible it all seems a bit easier you know.” Winston shrugged to themself and Rio before continuing. “I was actually thinking that we should back up both of the databases, cause I know we back up the Scribrary here and vice versa but it’s probably not a bad idea to back both of them up just in case there is a truly cataclysmic event or something that could damage both locations, which although it sounds unlikely when it comes to White Crest I guess that you can’t be sure.” Laughing at Rio once more, Winston finished threading the wires through the hole in the roof before turning to Rio and pulling open the skylight. “After you dude, and yeah, exactly. I would ideally like to be able to turn everything on or off so that depending on who comes here we can make sure that nothing we have in the house hurts them. Just because someone is fae or something doesn’t mean they’re definitely bad but I also think it’s a good idea to have different things in place that can work with both, I don’t know, it’s just an idea and obviously all the houses defenses are still a work in progress. I’ve not got the autoturret prototypes anywhere near working yet, they don’t aim for shit and the firing mechanism doesn’t work properly either but we’re starting to really make progress on everything else.” 

“Right? He has an unfair advantage.” Not to mention his human body was sculpted like some sort of Greek god. It had made talking to him very hard that first night the two had met. The infatuation didn’t last very long though, just until the two actually became close friends. It had been a common trait with most of Orion’s crushes. That star-eyed butterfly feeling mostly disappeared after getting to know them. Winston has been the exact opposite, that feeling only getting stronger and stronger the more time they spent together. “It’s a good idea. I was thinking it wouldn’t be bad to find someone else to keep hold of the information. Y’know, someone trustworthy obviously. If we start building this like we want to, we’re going to need to add in some more people eventually.” It was something Rio had thought about a lot recently. He had ideas of people he could ask, but he wanted to be really careful not to just pull in friends or people he liked. He needed to be smart about this. He wasn’t trying to create some fraternity or book club. He wanted to make a difference. “I’m not trying to hurt anyone. Just keep us safe.” Rio was slowly starting to realize that sometimes the two had to go hand in hand. It wasn’t a fun realization. Lots of existential crisis involved in that inner monologue. With the skylight open, Rio climbed down into it and then jumped, hitting the floor of Ricky’s room and rolling. It wasn’t graceful by any means, but Rio wasn’t injured. “I can’t believe we’re actually casually talking about turrets right now. With anyone else, that would scare me.”

“He’s also just a competent adult which isn’t something that I feel like I’ve ever been able to achieve,” Winston replied with a laugh. Winston raised an eyebrow and bit their lip. “Well there are options, someone like Nell or Bea or Luce could work but I don’t know if they’re impartial enough with their coven involvement, there’s also someone like Leah who’s already got her own library of information and I think that she would understand just the sort of discretion that this needed,” Winston honestly wasn’t sure if they were really the right person to be deciding who  should or shouldn’t be involved in all of this, they were still so new to everything that they didn’t think that they could be impartial. “I just worry that if I have to pick someone then the obvious temptation is going to be to just pick my friends and you know that isn’t exactly a good idea.” Biting their lip, Winston slipped into through the skylight after Rio, landing far less gracefully and not managing to roll at all. “You make that look so easy, but yeah I get you. I just know that there’s a bunch of people that have either threatened me or would threaten me with death if they knew the actual truth about me -- also known as a witch hunter -- and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have a relative safe haven in which we could offer people in need a place to go should everything go terribly terribly wrong.” 

“Y’know? Valid. I wish I was half as competent as he was at adulting. I only got book smarts.” Orion laughed, though it hadn’t entirely been a joke. He often felt like the only thing he could actually contribute was an uncommon amount of storage he kept in his memory for historical facts. He was starting to learn that maybe he could bring more to the table. Just like many had told him, maybe this strength of his wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. “Leah? I know her name. Nell is supposed to introduce us.” A library? That was certainly interesting and something Rio would have to remember when they met. “I know what you mean. My first thought was Blanche. And I think she’d be great but I didn’t know if I only thought it because she was my best friend. Maybe we should make a pros and cons list!” It was one of his nerdier ideas, only made nerdier by the fact that it genuinely excited him. Winston followed after Rio, dropping onto the floor and wobbling against it. “You okay? I have uh- lots of practice falling from things. You didn’t hurt your legs did you?” He studied Winston’s legs for a minute before swiftly averting his eyes and trying to focus on what they were saying. “No. Yeah. Totally. I agree, safe haven is good.” Rio had heard about the witch hunter. He didn’t like the knowledge before, but now knowing about Winston and Nell and others he really didn’t like it. He crossed his arms and his sleeves rubbed against the wounds, a pain shooting through them. Rio was ready to ignore it before he realized that he didn’t have to wear it at all. “Hey uh- this is probably a dumb question, but…” Rio paused, not sure how to ask without sounding weird. Why did he feel so awkward about taking his hoodie off? Probably because he had never gone without it around anyone that wasn’t his family. “Do you mind if I take this thing off? It’s hurting my arms.” He had pulled his arm through the first sleeve but didn’t want to do anything without Winston’s approval. He had the short sleeved shirt under his hoodie, but his arms weren’t always easy to look at.

“Everyone has different abilities and different skills, unfortunately I think that Ricky got all of the practical and useful skills and the two of us got all the useless ones that are only good at Trivia nights.” Winston grinned. Spending anytime with Rio was always a pleasure but he was so similar to Winston in so many ways that sometimes it was night just to spend time with someone who had such similar views to them. “Leah is cool, she was one of Bea’s friends when they were younger and so I kind of know her through Nell and Bea, but she’s really cool and really nice and really really helpful. When I was struggling after Bea’s resurrection she was the one who really helped me work out how I could get rid of all that excess energy.” Chewing their lip, Winston nodded. “I think that Blanche would probably do great at it, but the truth is that she’s also my friend so I don’t know for sure if I can objectively say that, I guess my only concern is that she has lots of people constantly coming to her for help all the time when they probably shouldn’t and I don’t want to give her more tools to make things worse for herself and put more pressure on herself. I think that the scribrary is also a tool and not one that should be used lightly.” Dusting themselves off, Winston stretched a little as they got to their feet. “Nah, I’m okay, just not nearly as graceful as you.” Winston didn’t really realise what Rio had meant at first and frowned a little as they looked at them confused. It took them a minute to work out exactly what Rio was asking. “Oh, please of course, you don’t have to check with me if you don’t want to be wearing that sort of thing.” Winston quickly crossed the room and pressed a kiss to Orion’s lips. “I don’t care and it’s none of my business what you wear, you always look cute with or without the long sleeves and if you’re comfortable then so am I.” 

“At least together we’re always going to win first prize?” Orion questioned, shrugging and hoping to find the silver lining in it, but he was giggling the whole time. Clearly, Rio and Winston had found a way to put their talents to use. Even if Rio’s only real contribution was an impressive memory for weird historical facts. The Scribrary was the perfect place to hone that talent. Rio nodded along as Winston explained Leah’s connections to the Vural’s and Blanche’s connection to… well everything. Rio was certainly intrigued by Leah, the girl who Nell said could help him learn more about Phoenix’s. From the sounds of it, she had more knowledge than just that. As for Blanche, Rio didn’t want to overwhelm her. And he didn’t want to ruin his only chance to get things with the Scribes kicked off again. He was positive she would make a good addition, but he didn’t want to rush anything. Not yet. “Good points. We will think on it more. We don’t have to rush anything. Especially since right now we don’t even really know what we’re doing.” That was the truth, at least for Rio. He knew they were going to continue archiving the Scribe information, but he still needed to figure out exactly what he wanted to do with it. All he knew was that he wanted to help people. They needed to figure out the how. But for now- Did Winston just say that Rio was graceful. He started snickering to himself, “Wow. I didn’t think anyone would ever call me graceful. That’s really sad for you.” With Winston’s approval, and a bonus kiss, Rio pulled the rest of the hoodie over his head and tied it around his waist. The sudden exposure in front of someone still felt incredibly weird. Weirdly enough, Rio didn’t even feel that awkward in the short sleeves around Winston. Rio supposed it was a testament to how much he cared about and felt comfortable around them. “Thanks. Seriously uh- I’ve never really walked around with a hoodie on so… it’s weird. But not with you. It’s just- god it’s so much less hot without that thing on.” He sighed into a laugh and gave a quick thumbs up to Winston, his way of thanking them for offering their support to Rio, “Okay, let’s get back to work.”

“I certainly hope that we’d always win first prize.” Winston had only ever been able to rely on their intellect in life. The rest of them hadn’t been exceptional in anyway, but being smart and having magic were really starting to get them places. “Plus with the amount of time you’re in college and the amount of time that I’m working, and the amount of time that we both seem to spend getting caught up in supernatural messes, well it is all something that is a bit much too plan to actively restart the Scribe chapter straight away, we definitely need other people to help and we could probably do with more resources then the two of us have at our disposal.” In that moment Winston wished that they had more money. Sometimes it felt like money fixed everything. Especially when it came to starting a supernatural organisation dedicated to recording supernatural phenomena. Laughing with Rio, Winston shrugged. “Sometimes I guess you have to just accept that your shortcomings are your shortcomings and move on with your life, grace isn’t something that I’ve ever possessed in any real quantity.” Pleased that Rio didn’t feel the need to keep from taking off the hoodie, Winston returned to their work, carefully and neatly winding the wires through the rafters with magic before taking them in their hands and continuing the work when they were at a level that Winston could actually reach. “Rio, you don’t need to say thank you for not wearing a hoodie, if you feel comfortable enough doing it then you know you’re totally fine doing it right, I don’t care as long as you don’t care y’know. It’s like, the people that matter don’t mind and the people that mind don’t matter.” 

What Winston said made a lot of sense. The two would need more help, and they would need people that specialized in things that the two of them didn’t. Orion tapped his finger against his chin as he considered all of this. “I’ll start putting together a list. Try to figure out exactly what we are going to need and who may be able to help us, but-” Rio knew the thing that they were really lacking. Funding. “Well, I know we said we don’t want to pull in friends, but what we don’t have is money. Right now anyone that could offer to help us would be more volunteering their time like we are.” He shrugged it off, realizing that wasting time stressing over it now was useless when Rio was here to try to help Winston arm the house. “But that doesn’t matter right now. I’m going to start a list of what we need and then we will start thinking about it.” Rio settled in with Winston, what they were working on now wasn’t something that Rio could provide much help in, but he enjoyed watching them work regardless. “Yeah, yeah. I know. I get what you’re saying but all I’m hearing is ‘I’m Winston and I’m adorable and amazing and support my boyfriend no matter what’” He put on his best Winston impersonation but giggled the entire sentence through. Not that Winston would accept the thanks, because that was the amazing kind of person they were, but Rio couldn’t find a way to describe his gratitude that Winston didn’t act bothered by his appearance. It was only because of them that Rio felt comfortable right now. “So what are you doing right now? With the wiring?” 

“Definitely, I can do the same thing and maybe once we’ve actually got some more time to look into this we can compare our notes and see what the other was able to come up with.” Winston knew that money was going to be an issue for a little while and they weren’t sure how they were going to solve that specific issue, but for now it was an issue that wasn’t pressing or urgent and it was certainly one that Winston could live with. “We can work all of this out soon, ideally we would be able to find some sort of donor or someone who could fund this for us but this isn’t like a university grant system and they were already hard enough to get in the first place.” Winston quirked an eyebrow thoughtfully as they pressed on with their work. Letting out a slight chuckle, Winston shrugged at Rio and gave them a quick smile. “Yeah, that’s pretty much it, ignoring all the compliments which thanks for those by the way, but yeah, I will support you no matter what because what’s the point of going out with someone if you’re not going to be there for them all the way, all the time, no matter what.” They didn’t even need to ask Rio about whether they’d do the same for them because they knew without hesitation that they they would. Focussing on their work, Winston grinned. “So, we’ve got power cables because this is going to take up a lot of power,” Winston indicated a bunch of the cables, “then we’ve got these, I’ve installed solar panels on the back of the lights and those feed down into a generator and battery set up that I’ve got in the basement of the house so that our power bill isn’t monstrous when or if we ever have to use these things, plus we should all invest in renewable resources anyway if we can…” Winston pulled a final wire out of the bunch and wiggled it for Rio to see, “this is an ethernet cable, it connects everything up there to the internet and to our computer and AI system so that everything works on voice command, at least that’s the theory.” Making magical tech work was an entirely different story.

“Deal!” Orion agreed, happy that he had Winston here to work through this with. Everything seemed easier with Winston’s help and support. “It’s sort of crazy to say, but honestly I’m not even stressed about it. And I’m usually stressed about… well, everything.” That wasn’t even an exaggeration, “I think I owe that to you. I mean, I also owe it to Ricky and Blanche and Ariana and everyone else. But with the Scribes stuff, you keep me grounded.” As Winston explained what they were doing, Rio peaked from behind Winston and rested his chin on their shoulder. His hands were flat against the ground, supporting him on either side. He pressed a quick kiss against Winston’s cheek from behind and turned his attention back to wires that Winston was fiddling with. “Have I mentioned that I love watching you work?” Rio was trying to get more comfortable with banter like this. Being able to openly compliment and flirt with Winston because the two were dating. It was still an odd feeling. “But in all seriousness, I love the idea of it being voice command. As long as I can’t accidentally voice command it to activate the turrets or something. But this is like the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“You know that we’ll get there in the end, just like with the scribrary and the house defenses, I think these things naturally take time.” Winston pursed their lips thoughtfully before bobbing their head in agreement with Rio. “Maybe it’s just a sign that you’re getting more and more mature then you already were and you’re getting better and better at handling all the stuff that the world throws at you, sure we’ve helped, but you were the one who has done all of the hard work. We’ll all obviously keep helping you, but you’re the one who’s doing the lifting you know, you can’t forget that. You shouldn’t either.” Winston gave them a reassuring smile. “But you know, you really keep me grounded too.” Running a hand over Rio’s cheek affectionately, Winston returned to their work as Rio watched, explaining everything that they did as they worked. “I’ve noticed that you love watching me work, I always just assumed that everyone thought it was boring, but I guess you not being bored by me is why we make such a good couple.” Winston returned the kiss before laughing. “I’ll make sure that the voice command to set off the turrets requires double verification or something so that you don’t have to worry about that, but considering that on some scale the house is going to be powered by a magic spell that I’ll be weaving as it goes, you’ve kind of got to bear in mind that once this all goes off it’ll feed off of my energy a bit, I know you won’t fuck around with it, but yeah, don’t fuck around with it … lol.” Winston was right back to being awkward. Great.

“Bleh. Ew. My one greatest weakness.” Orion feigned coughing and grabbed at his heart for dramatic effect. The joke was meant mostly to distract from the compliments and avoid having to agree with Winston that Rio had anything to do with his own growth and development since moving in with them. He’d rather give all the credit to his friends and the others that had helped him stand up to his family and leave. “But that’s good. I want you to be able to feel as comfortable as I’m able to feel around you.” Rio had that thought about it a lot recently, especially after the love potion. Once it began wearing off, it was so easy for Rio to say that he never loved Blanche. Because that wasn’t what love felt like. Rio was pretty sure he knew what love felt like now. It all seemed so obvious. “I don’t know how people couldn’t find this stuff fascinating. Technology is so rapidly evolving so watching someone work with it and learning how to wire things and-” Rio stopped himself, realizing that it actually did sound pretty boring just talking about it, “Y’know what? Now that I’m thinking about it I think it’s just you. I just like watching you specifically work.” Rio nodded and crossed his heart as a promise, but found himself smiling by how Winston’s voice trailed off awkwardly. Since the two had spent so much time together, the two didn’t sound nearly as awkward as they had when they first became friends or first started getting feels for each other. “Ooh. I can’t believe I’m the one not super awkward right now. It’s really cute.” Rio pokes at Winston’s cheek playfully, “No worries about me accidentally using the AI for evil. I don’t even like asking Siri to do too much for me.” 

Winston knew that Rio was not very good at giving themselves compliments and they also knew that they were worse at taking them, so they would just continue giving them compliments until it was so normalised for them that they had no other choice but to accept them. That was the plan. “Of course, I do, like, you wouldn’t believe how comfortable I feel around you, you … I guess I just trust you without any hesitation.” Raising an eyebrow, Winston secured cable ties and plugged things in, making sure that everything was neat and tidy as it did run up through Ricky’s roof. “I’m glad that you admitted that you’ve just got a bit of a thing for watching me work because honestly sometimes when I do the stuff you love to watch even I am bored, there are definitely things that you’ve obviously just got to get done you know, but I appreciate you keeping me company, it makes everything a bit better and less boring then before.” Laughing gently, Winston shrugged. “I can believe that i’m the super awkward one, I know you think I’m not as awkward as you, but social situations don’t always come easy to me, people are less easy then computers.” Probably because they didn’t just think in ones and zeroes. “I don’t worry about you accidentally using the AI for evil, I worry that someone will upset Ricky and he’ll set the autoturrets on them for not being polite or something.” Winston joked, they were pretty sure Ricky wouldn’t do that … right? 

Knowing how comfortable Winston was with Orion was probably the greatest compliment that Rio could receive, and certainly one that he was willing to accept. The trust between the two of them was something Rio had always wished he could have with someone but figured he never would. “Same to you. It’s good to have someone that I know I can come to with anything. And i’m glad you know that you can do the same with me.” Sure, not everything could be the most exciting thing on Earth. But one of the greatest things about the mutual comfort Rio held with Winston was that the two had the ability to work around each other and be completely comfortable and entertained. The two could probably just lie on the floor across from one another and Rio would be content. So maybe all of the actual work itself wasn’t the most riveting, but Rio loved watching the way Winston’s hands fiddled with the project. Or the way their nose scrunched as they processed something in their head and the switch in facial expression once they finally worked it out. Watching Winston’s break work through their passion was sort of incredible. “I’m here to hang out whenever you want company. And I can also dip whenever you need time to focus.” It wouldn’t hurt Rio’s feelings. “Yeah, you’re right. I mean, we can’t all be like Ricky. Or Nell. Or any of the other social butterflies. But I think you have a certain charm with people. Even if you don’t think you do.” A lot of people in town seemed to know them and like them, so Winston must have been doing something right. Rio chuckled at the thought of Ricky messing with the turrets, mostly because he knew that Winston was joking and probably wasn’t serious. At least mostly. “Yeah well, let’s just keep an ear out for that to be sure. Otherwise, I think you’ve got a really good start. I feel safer already.”

[all1e23]

Astrophile [Pt.3]

Chapter: Supernova

Summary: Bucky goes on a date. 

Warnings:  Fluffy fluff. Nat being the best. 

A/N: This chapter would not have happened without my beta @lokissoul That’s not a joke. She’s a saint for putting up with my crap. Please don’t hate me, okay? This was important to understanding where Bucky is at in his life. 

***My fics are not to be saved or posted on any other sites without my written permission. Reblogs are welcomed! Thanks!**

Orion takes off towards the swing set curls bouncing in the breeze as she runs through the open grassy field. She dodges other kids, toys and a few dogs on leashes, but it’s a path she’s perfected. She knows every rock and bump and hole that tries to keep her from getting to the playset. 

“Stay where I can see you and if anyone tries talking to you what do you do?” Nat shouts after her. Orion turns back to her aunt and holds up both fists, grinning. Nat laughs and waves her permission allowing the little girl to get back to top speed.

“Her daddy know you taught her to punch strangers?” Y/n asks, grinning.

“No,” Natasha admits as she leans back on the blanket they brought for their girls’ picnic, eyes glued on Orion as she started to swing herself back and forth on the lower set of monkey bars. 

“And I’m trusting you to keep it that way.”

Y/n laughs and props herself back against the tree behind them setting down her near-empty basket of fries. “Is Bucky working again tonight?”

“No, he’s got a date. It’s some girl he met through Sam. They go to the same gym or something? Sam is Steve’s husband by the way.” Nat shakes her head and sighs, “They are not going to make it.”

“Steve and Sam?” Y/n asks, sounding surprised even to her own ears. “You always talk about how gross it is that Steve loves his husband so much. Why do you say that?”

She laughs and looks over at Y/n. “Buck and the girl he’s taking out tonight, Zoe I think? Steve was born to follow Sam around like a puppy. Trust me on that.”

Ori yells for Y/n to look at her as she jumps off the swing. Y/n sits up right away and beams as brightly as she can for the little girl, shouting about how amazing her jump was. As if a little kid jumping off a swing was the most exciting thing Y/n has ever seen in her life.

“So,” Y/n begins to prod as Orion goes back to playing. “Why are Bucky and Zoe not going to make it?”

Nat sighs heavily. She was getting nowhere with these two. Y/n wasn’t even jealous that tall, dark and adorable was going on a date. Neither one seemed interested in the other. Nat was starting to think she was wasting her time. “Well for starters I don’t think Bucky will let himself fall for her and he didn’t seem overly excited about the date when I picked up Ori. He’s not going to let it go beyond tonight. Mark my words. It’s like he won’t let himself be happy.”

“I doubt he needs to find someone to be happy,” Y/n argues. “They seem to be doing just fine on their own. Ori is happy and healthy, and from what I saw he seemed happy, clearly healthy from the size of those biceps. They are their own cute little family. I think it’s nice. They just need each other to be happy, and that’s sweet.”

Natasha tosses her fry at her friend pelting her on the forehead, making Y/n winces. She rubs the spot on her forehead making Natasha roll her eyes at the gesture. 

“I’m not saying he has to be with someone to be happy. I’m saying, I’m starting to worry he’s not even open to giving love a chance. For example, he met this woman a week or so ago and I know they are perfect for each other. Same interests. She loves Ori. When I asked what he thought about her, he acted as if I asked him what he thought about dating Steve.”

Y/n snorts but shakes her head. Why was it so hard to believe that not everyone wanted to force love? Sometimes it simply needed to happen naturally. 

“Just because he didn’t fall in love at first sight doesn’t mean he’s closed off to love.”

Y/n tosses the fry she was smacked in the face with back into the basket in front of her and sighs, “Not every love story starts with some dramatic moment where they fall for one another. Falling in love can be simple and still be beautiful. In fact, some of the best love stories are full of hundreds of small sweet moments that lead to love. Those are real. Not some big grand meeting full of sparks that probably won’t exist beyond the first night.”

Nat sits up on the blanket and crosses her arms over her chest smirking at Y/n. The twinkle in her eye made Y/n’s stomach churn from her nerves. 

“What?” She asks, slightly embarrassed by her rambling. “What are you thinking?”

“Nothing really. Just how perfect that woman is for him and how utterly stupid they both are.”

-------

Bucky had been nervous the entire night for a reason he couldn’t place. He’s been dating regularly since Orion was born. It’s not as if he stopped liking women the moment he became a dad. Most of the dates Bucky went on Steve called them hookups, not dates. He’s probably right, but Bucky doesn’t like to tell him that. It goes right to his head and then they all have to listen to him going on and on for weeks. It’s just not worth it most days.

This was what Steve called a ‘real grown-up date with potential.’ Bucky doesn’t know how Sam deals with him most days. He had met Zoe a few days before when he went to the gym with Sam. She was beautiful, big brown eyes and dark brown hair she had in braided pigtails for her class. He was going to have to ask her how to do that for Ori if their date went well. She even laughed at his dumb joke about how slow Sam was on the treadmill. Then for some reason unknown to him, it just spilled out of his mouth before he could stop it:

I’m off this Wednesday. You wanna grab dinner?

Much to his surprise, she agreed. They didn’t get a chance to talk much so she didn’t know anything about Orion. That was pretty typical for him though. He didn’t usually bring Orion up unless he felt like it was going to go beyond a first date and it was too early on to tell if they would. He’s learned to just live in the moment and not put too much pressure on one moment or one person. The little girl snuggled up with her aunt is the only thing he needs to be whole. 

Anyone else added to their duo would just be a cherry on top.

Bucky rests his hand on her lower back as he guides her out of the restaurant and holds the door open for her on the way out. Zoe leans into his side unexpectedly, and he wraps his arm around her shoulders as they stroll towards his car. He dips his head down by her ear and whispers, “I know I said it already but you look beautiful.”

Zoe tries and fails miserably to hide her smile. “You don’t look too bad yourself. Much better than the ballcap and sweaty gym shorts.”

Bucky chuckles and nods in agreement. He wasn’t looking his best when he asked her out, that was for sure. “I’m not sure why you said yes when I looked like that. You do know you are wildly out of my league right?”

“Oh, I know,” She teases. 

“I just had a good feeling about you I guess,” She murmurs as they reach his car and presses herself against his chest. Bucky’s hands fall to her hips as she leans up on her tiptoes pressing her lips against his in a slow, gentle kiss. It wasn’t the kind of kiss that left him seeing stars or took his breath away, but it was enough to leave him wanting more the second her lips left his.

“I wouldn’t mind… going back to your place.” She says, smiling up at him. “I don’t really want the night to end just yet.”

Bucky grins and presses a chaste kiss to her lips as he pulls the passenger door open. “You read my mind darlin’.”

--------

It was a little past eight, and the smell of coffee was filling the kitchen. Undoubtedly it had reached his bedroom waking the beautiful woman who was sound asleep when he had crept downstairs to start their breakfast. All in all the night had gone better than Bucky had thought it was going to go, but he was still on the fence if this was going to go past today. 

Yeah, he had fun but nights like last night are few and far between for him.

His life was a lot for anyone to take on and he doesn’t just mean the fact that dating him means you are dating more than just him, his job is too much for most. Most people can’t handle spending every day wondering if their spouse will make it back home to them and that’s okay. He knows he’s a lot to take on and it’s one of the reasons he hasn’t been in a real relationship in nearly a decade.

The soft sound of small feet padding along the hardwood floor behind him made him smile. It was nice to wake up next to her though. He slowly turns around and smiles the second he lays eyes on her coming down the backstairs.

“I see you found the kitchen.”

She laughs and walks over to where he’s leaning against the counter. “Yes, helps that the stairs lead directly into the kitchen.” Bucky grins and rests his elbows on the countertop pushing a cup of coffee towards Zoe.

“Thank you,” She chirps, she was a little too happy after a night of drinking if you ask Bucky, but he was going to keep that to himself.

Zoe glances around his house, and her heart sinks as she begins to take in everything that was around her. How did she not notice all this last night? Tequila and a gorgeous half-naked man can blur your vision, and there was a lot of both last night.  Everywhere she looked there were stuffed animals and toys. They were all over the couch and in a big box in front of the seat in the bay window, a mini easel that held several colorful paintings was in the corner by the long wall bookshelves that held more than just books  and a bright teal and pink raincoat was hanging on the hook by the front door. Her eyes fell on the fridge where photos of Bucky and a little girl were displayed proudly. She was so wrapped up in everything around them; she didn’t even realize he had been talking the entire time.

“–I can whip up pancakes if you want, but I don’t have eggs. I was told eggs for breakfast make for an awful day, so I haven’t been buying them as often.”

“Um,” She forces a smile and nods towards the photos on the fridge. “You have a daughter?”

He looks at the pictures and finger paintings on the fridge. There’s one that was full of stars and planets and comets, she made that with Y/n and it’s probably his favorite. He takes in his fridge and a deep breath before looking back at Zoe. Here goes nothing.

“Yeah, I have a little girl.  She’s almost five. Her name is Orion.” He watches as she sets the mug down on the counter and the relaxed atmosphere quickly changes to something much harsher. It’s suddenly cold despite the furnace working over time and while it’s been warmer this winter, you wouldn’t know it from frost forming inside.

“So you get her every other weekend or something?”

“No,” Bucky huffs out a sarcastic laugh. Why does everyone assume he isn’t a full time parent? As if he couldn't handle taking care of her full-time because he’s the dad and therefore not as fit to be a single parent? 

“She’s at her aunt’s for the night. I have full custody.”

She nods her head and starts to nervously chew her bottom lip. It didn’t take much to weed out the ones that weren’t going to work that was for sure. She pats the counter and looks at the clock over the stove, “Listen, I should go. I have a class in a few hours, and I need to get a shower and grab clean clothes…”

This isn’t the first time it has happened, and it wouldn’t be the last. Bucky catches her hand as she tries to slip past him and places a light kiss to her cheek. Just because she didn’t want to be involved in his life more than she already was, didn’t mean he had to hate her or push her out the door. 

“I meant what I said last night. I had a good time. It doesn’t have to mean more than what it was. Let me call you an Uber. I don’t want you trying to hitch a ride or paying for one yourself.”

He had his phone out, and the app open before she could argue. He wasn’t going to let her figure out her own way home when he was the one that picked her up. If he thought she wouldn’t be completely uncomfortable, he would have offered to drive her home, but by the awkward smile she’s giving him he doubts she would want that.

Zoe returns the kiss to his cheek and whispers a quick thank you before disappearing upstairs to gather her things.

A text message pops up right as he finishes calling for a car and he grins at the sight. His baby girl was begging to come home (with help typing from Aunt Nattie he was sure), and that could not come at a better time.

[N]: Can I come home daddy? I missed you!

[B]: You’ve got no idea how much I missed you, comet. Aunt Nattie I am at home and waiting on you two.

Zoe’s car left a few hours before Natasha had pulled up with Orion, so it gave Bucky enough time to hop in the shower and clean up from the night before. Turns out he reverts back to his college days when he has too much tequila and orders a pizza in the middle of the night. He does not remember that happening but judging by the half-eaten box on the floor of his bedroom he was the only one that partook in that late night snack. 

“Daddy!” Orion squeals as she runs into the house and slams into his legs making him stumble back a few steps. An overly excited four-year-old and a hangover do not mix well. 

“I missed you! I missed you! I missed you!”

He grins and bends down to place a kiss on the top of her head.“I missed you, comet. Why don’t you go get your things unpacked and make sure everything is ready for class tomorrow.” 

Class. Not Pre-K. He’s learned the hard way. She’s a big girl and Pre-K doesn’t sound grown-up enough. Orion tightens her arms around his neck and juts her bottom lip out as far as it will go, looking up at him through her lashes. Bucky shakes his head and kisses her nose. 

“Oh, I don’t think so. No pouting. Get moving. I’m gonna talk to Aunt Nattie for a second and then we can go get lunch?”

“Tacos?” She asks, practically bouncing from excitement.

“Whatever you want baby doll.”

Orion let go of his legs and was scrambling up the stairs without another word leaving Bucky chuckling. He leans back against the counter avoiding the glare he was getting from Natasha. For whatever reason, he felt like she was disappointed in him and no one wants to see a disappointed Natasha glaring at them.

“So,” Natasha prods. “How did last night go with what’s her name?”

Bucky rolls his eyes and crosses his arms over his chest. “You know her name, and it went fine. She booked it this morning when she realized I’m a full-time dad though. Can’t really blame her. I probably would have done the same before Ori was born.”

“Shame that didn’t work,” Natasha deadpans. “Why don’t you try online dating?”

He winces and shakes his head, “Not interested in doing that whole scene.”

Natasha sighs and peeks up the stairs for any sign of Orion before asking the question that’s been weighing on her mind, “Are you ever going to let someone in those high walls?”

“Tasha–”

“No, I’m serious James. You’ve been alone since Ori was born. Just one night stand after one night stand. Are you going to ever open yourself up and let someone else in your heart besides Orion?”

Bucky knows Natasha means well. He really does, but her worries are not built on anything substantial. He’s not closed off to love or women. In fact, he’s had more dates than he can count over the last five years, but none led to more than one night. Not one of those women were the one, and he’s not going to waste his time on someone who isn’t right for him and isn’t right for Ori.

When she finds him, he will be more than ready to let her in, but he won’t settle just to keep everyone around him from worrying.

“Look, if the right woman comes along, we will be here waiting. I’m not gonna force something because everyone thinks we are missing somethin’ that we aren’t. It has to be the right woman at the right time.” 

Bucky leans over and kisses her cheek and whispers with a cheeky grin, “Besides the only women, I need in my life are you and Ori.”

Nat rolls her eyes and pushes him away from her. 

“I’m married, Barnes. You should have made your move years ago. Don’t forget family dinner is on you this week and no pizza or anything else that comes out of a takeout container. You know the rules. Homecooked meals only.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Make that chicken pasta thing you do that’s really good. It always impresses everyone that you can make something that doesn’t taste awful.”

“Fine. Fine. Don’t you got a husband to take care of? I’m tryin’ to spend time with my best girl, and you’re yelling at me.”

“Zip it. I’ll leave when I’m good and ready,” She tells him with a grin. “Oh, and don’t forget. Y/n is coming to dinner. That’s not a problem is it?”

Bucky clears his throat and tries his best to look as casual as he can when he shrugs his shoulders. He looks around the house at the stuffed animal and toy tornado that destroyed his living room. “I should probably get all this cleaned up before she shows up is what you’re saying?”

Nat smiles and shakes her head, assuring him with complete confidence, “No. She won’t mind the mess. She likes Orion more than she likes you. Now if you’ll excuse me. I have to go say goodbye to my niece.”

Bucky watches as Natasha walks up the stairs graceful as always, his eyes land on the stack of books on the table that sits on the wall behind the couch. Nat wasn’t wrong. Y/n loved Orion enough to send him home with his own stack of books just to ensure they were both happy. If Natasha liked Y/n, she couldn’t be too bad, and they hadn’t added an outsider to the group since before Orion was born. One more friend wouldn’t hurt, would it? 

They were all due for a little change, and Y/n could be just what they all needed.

Previous // Next

[imogenorion]

(SAM, 27, CST, SHE/THEY, SELF HARM)Have you seen (IMOGEN ST.JAMES) Around New York? They look a lot like (JODIE COMER) but I don’t think they’ve ever realised it! Some people say they are (OPEN MINDED AND VIBRANT) and (BOSSY AND MYSTERIOUS) But all we know for sure is that they are (26), (FEMALE, BISEXUAL) and work as a (ARTIST). I guess only time will tell but for now we’ll call them the (THE SIREN)

tw depression tw sex mention

hello sweet peas, apples of my eyes, its me, ya gxrl sam with this idiot again.

Imogen Orion St. James, Born on March 23rd, 1993 in Liverpool.

Called Imogen, or Genny. Or mum/mama if you’re Sarah.

Started doing art as therapy after her parents divorced and she got depressed.  She was 9 when they separated, and 14 when she moved to the states with her dad so he could open a branch of his company here. Her mother stayed home to do her own thing, which wound up with her teaching in English in different countries, but she was flown back and forth for a good portion of her life. She was placed with her dad because he had a stable job that gave her a consistent home to come home to. She and her mother are close, and she has an okay relationship with her dad, despite living with him for the better half of the year. He did not approve of her marriage, and was happy to see her leave Vinny.

Her dad owns one of the biggest publishing companies in the US/UK.

She comes from money, so she’s used to getting what she wants/why she had the privilege to pursue her art full time, and she recognizes what a privilege that is.

Has depression and spent a lot of her years compensating for her feelings by having sex with older men, which is basically how she ended up married and with a kid by 19. She met Vinny, thought he was cute and thought it would be fun to hook up.  They had a bit of a whirlwind, fell head over heals quickly and decided getting married after such a short time was a good idea.

It was not. She ended up pregnant, which she didn’t regret, but she did begin to feel stuck. A year after having Sarah she decided that she needed more than to be a wife and mother, and ended things with Vinny, not so nicely, so she could figure herself out.

That’s how she became a divorcee and single mother at 20. Sarah lives with her but spends time with her dad whenever possible. The two might have split not so amicably, but they do co parent well.

With her dads help, he set them up with a two bedroom in Greenwich Village, and with his help, she was able to pursue her art career by taking classes.

That’s when she had her first art show, she met someone who owned a gallery and wanted to feature her work with some other students. When people began to buy her art she realized she could really go somewhere with this.

Five years later she currently works on commission to make money, makes good money off of her work, has made a name for herself in the rt world, and is working on a 20 piece collection for an upcoming solo show in Brooklyn.

Her daughter is her best friend, and her favorite person.

Not exactly a PTA mom but definitely involves herself for her daughters sake.

Is generally friendly, but has no hesitation to throw hands if need be. Free spirit, goes with the flow and very liberal.

She fully embraces that she can be a bit mad sometimes, and puts that forth into her personality and her art.

[annathewitch]

Like Air

Summary: Jim Kirk x Reader. You’re trying to forget about your relationship problems by drowning your sorrows, when a Starfleet Captain appears.

Word Count: 2000

Warnings: Swearing; a bit of relationship angst; teen rating.

A/N: This was a request from @yallneedtrek ages ago for my 100 follower challenge! Prompt: “I’m only here to establish an alibi”. I’ve not written for anyone other than Bones before so I hope this is okay!

Thanks to @outside-the-government for organising Trek Fest 2018 and to @starshiphufflebadger for the banner!

...

Coming to the bar tonight was a mistake, you think.

You’d assumed that dressing up to the nines, drinking and dancing would help you forget how ridiculously, unbelievably furious you are with your boyfriend. That somehow flirting outrageously would smooth over the raw, jagged hurt that he so casually disregarded your mere existence.

But you're about a half a bottle of tequila down, all the guys seems to be handsy morons, and your anger doesn't seem to have diminished one iota.

You toy with the shot glass in front of you at the bar, lamenting the criminal waste of what is, frankly, a fucking spectacular outfit. Knocking back the drink, it occurs to you that you haven't yet considered the possibilities of any of the other genders… or species. Interesting...

With a sense of renewed possibility and adventure enhanced by the gentle buzz of alcohol, you lean back against the bar on your elbows and survey the crowd. Maybe you might get lucky and find a cute Orion who can show you a thing or two about losing your inhibitions.

Absorbed as you are in watching the crowd pulsing and heaving on the dance floor, you fail to notice the guy in the ‘Fleet dress greys, with the messy blond hair and broad shoulders adorned with Captain’s insignia, squeeze into the space beside you at the bar. That is until he turns around to mimic your pose and dips his head to breathe softly into your ear, “with a dress like that you’re looking for trouble in a place like this.”

Suppressing a snort, you turn to him with a roll of your eyes. You would tell him where to go, except that just maybe there’s a flash of something in his earnest startlingly blue eyes that you’ve not seen before, certainly not in any of the guys that have tried it on with you tonight.

Uncertainty.

Despite the line, and the practiced charm that oozes out of his pores, you just know he’s a tiny bit doubtful that he’ll be taking you home tonight. It’s by no means a given: he’s going to have to work for it.

“Are you gonna be trouble?” you ask bluntly, eyebrow cocked.

“I guess it depends on why you came here.” He’s passing his drink from hand to hand, trying to look nonchalant, you think. Pretending there’s nothing at stake.

“I’m only here to establish an alibi.” You look him dead in the eyes as you say this, liberate the glass out of his hand and take a long, slow sip. It’s some kind of whiskey, and you enjoy the pleasant burn down your throat and the satisfaction that his eyes have widened just a fraction.

“An alibi?”

“Yeah. My soon to be ex-boyfriend is an asshole. I’m considering putting him out of his misery.”

“Ex-boyfriend huh?” He looks you up and down thoughtfully, carefully, before pinning you with his piercing gaze. “The idiot will be crying himself to sleep tonight at the thought of losing you.”

“You’d think, but somehow I doubt it.” You tear your gaze away from him and stare resolutely at the stolen drink in your hand. “He didn’t care enough to consult me before accepting another five-year deep space posting. I doubt he’s losing any sleep,” you spit out bitterly. Your voice trembles a little as you voice your grievance out loud, and you try desperately to ignore the stinging sensation of threatening tears.

All at once you’ve had enough of the twist of anger in your chest, you’re done feeling sorry for yourself. It’s pointless. You came out to get smashed and forget, to replace the hollowness of complete and utter rejection with the feeling of being desired. Breaking down into a blubbering mess is not part of the plan, not infront of him.

“I’m going to dance,” you say, pushing yourself upright and taking a couple of decisive, if wobbly, steps towards the floor. You toss what you hope is a cool glance back over your shoulder at the officer, who’s staring at you like he doesn’t quite know what to make of you. “You going to join me?”

He doesn’t need asking twice, and quickly catches up with you weaving your way into the centre of the press of bodies. As you stumble a little, heels catching on moving feet, you feel him slip a steadying arm around your waist and his chest presses to your back as he steers you to a tiny space.

The music - some kind of alien song that feels a bit Latin - pounds so loud you can barely hear yourself think. The beat reverberates up from the floor through your legs and spine and you throw your arms up in carefree abandon. Your dance partner spins you around so you’re face to face and pulls you close, hands snaking their way down to your ass so that your hips are moving together, twisting and winding.

This. This is what you’ve been looking for all night. So why do you feel so conflicted?

You drape your arms around his neck, playing with the hair at the nape of his neck, and your partner sighs, pressing his forehead to yours. You’d expected him to be wearing a cocky grin at his success, but those beautiful eyes like a summer sky are staring at you seriously, drinking you in like they belong to a man dying of thirst.

A hand skates up your back, grazing hot skin through the cutouts in your dress and you feel sparks shoot to your core. It comes to rest cupping the base of your skull, fingers woven into your hair, and then he’s tilting your face up to his. Warm breath brushes over your lips for just a second of hesitation, before he’s kissing you hungrily.

The music is still washing over you and you’re still both moving with it instinctively as you kiss. It’s hot and open mouthed, his tongue tangled with yours and its not sweet and tender, just pure, needy, desire.

When you break away, the music has slowed and he turns you again to hold you with your back to his chest. You can feel it heaving as he tries to regain his breath, sure that in return he must feel your pounding heart crashing against your rib cage.

“Sweetheart,” he murmurs into your ear, swaying you back and forth. You tip your head to the side and he kisses gently the sweet spot behind your ear, making you shiver. “Are you sure it’s over?”

The question makes you freeze. He can clearly feel the stiffening of your posture, and he relaxes his hold. You face him, meeting his uncertain gaze. “How can it not be?”

There’s a sharp intake of breath. You’ve stopped moving, a lone still point in the sea of people. You wonder how they all manage to be so... carefree.

“People make mistakes. Maybe he’s already realised what an asshole he’s been. Maybe he wants to put it right?”

“But why would someone do that? When they said they loved you, how could they decide something so fucking huge without even a word, a second thought even?” The stream of tears you thought you had dammed, rise up and spill over as you speak. He goes to brush them away and you bat his hand back, pummelling his chest with clenched fists. “It makes me feel like I’m nothing, Jim” you gasp.

“Y/N, baby. You are everything. Everything.” Jim tips your chin up with two shaking fingers, forcing you to look at him, as if he can make you feel his earnestness if he holds your gaze long enough. “I’m sorry, okay. So sorry baby.”

Pressing the heels of your hands to your hot cheeks, you swipe the tears away, hands stained with black streaks of smokey eye makeup. “I found out from Len, Jim! I felt so stupid that I didn’t know what he was talking about. What were you thinking?”

“I don’t know! The call came out of the blue, I thought we’d have more time. It’s the Enterprise, Y/N. I thought I could be rational, logical...”

You bark a laugh. “But she’s always been the other woman.” Jim grasps both your hands and you can’t quite bring yourself to pull away again. “Did you think about me at all?” you ask, half afraid to hear the answer.

“Yes! I thought about how amazing it would be to be back in the black, back on my ship, but this time with you. I was going to ask you to come with me.”

“We’re supposed to be a team, Jim. Decisions this big, we’re supposed to make together. Fuck it! I know how important this is to you.” You shake your head, suddenly feeling a little too sober. “The worst of it is, if you’d only asked I would have said yes.”

“I’m good at fucking up relationships, but I want to put this right. I love you Y/N, I need you sweetheart, like I need air.” You let him pull you into a tight embrace and as you breathe in his familiar scent, you feel grounded. He presses kisses into your hair, before pushing you back a little so he can see your face. “I told the Admiralty that I won’t go unless you decide to come with me. If I can’t be with you, I don’t want it.”

You stare mutely in shock. Jim Kirk, Starfleet hero and confirmed commitment-phobe is standing infront of you, telling you he is willing to give it all up for you. It’s a lot to take in.

The lack of an answer seems to make Jim nervous and he grabs your hands again, rubbing circles with his thumbs over your knuckles. “You don’t have to decide straight away, but tell me you’ll consider forgiving your asshole of a boyfriend, and come home with me.”

You’ve known the answer to this question since he appeared next to you at the bar. Despite everything, the anger, the hurt, you never stopped loving this man. You could have looked in every bar on the planet, and still not found a single person worth even half of Jim Kirk.

“Dammit Jim, you’re still an asshole, but I don’t go around kissing guys like I did before unless I plan on going home with them.”

Jim’s intense look softens into an uncertain smile, and you can’t help but stretch up to brush your lips against his. The smile stretches into a grin, and suddenly he’s dipped you over backwards and is kissing you deeply, until your knees weaken and you start to feel a little more tipsy again.

“M’dizzy,” you mumble against his lips, and he stands you upright again with a laugh.

The cocky grin fades suddenly. “Y/N, were you really planning on going home with some random guy?”

“Or maybe a girl. There was a cute Orion I saw earlier, and it would have been a shame to waste this dress,” you tease.

“It would have killed me if you had,” he replies seriously and you feel a flash of guilt for being so reckless in your anger. If you were honest you had wanted him to hurt. You reach up to stroke down his beautiful face.

“I was hurting, and not thinking straight. But in the end, none of them were you. It turns out you’re like air to me as well, and I’m going home with you Jim. We can talk about the rest tomorrow. I still have, like, a million questions.”

“Its a deal. I get to take the most beautiful and forgiving woman in the galaxy home with me tonight, and in the morning I’ll make us breakfast and you can ask me anything you want. Whatever we do, we do together.”

He takes your hand and turns it over bringing it to his mouth to kiss the inside of your wrist, where your pulse is fluttering wildly. Then he starts leading you off the dance floor.

“Good. And then I’m gonna have to call Len, because I’m gonna need to know how I’m supposed to live on a fucking starship with you and manage not to kill you for the next five years.”

...

Tagging some people who might be interested: @musikat18 @yallneedtrek @bookcaseninja @bkwrm523 @fearofdeathkeepsusalive @queenmismatched @goingknowherewastaken @thefanficfaerie @outside-the-government @janeykath318 @space-helen @bsotstory

[avengers-nextgen]

All Things Grow XII

Scout shuffled some of the dusty boxes about to create a clear place on the floor. He wasn’t exactly pleased by the dirtiness of the situation, but he didn’t mind too much. It was time he could spend with his mother. “Where do I start?”

“Anywhere,” Wanda laughed, rolling up the sleeves to her shirt.

“Okay, do I need to ask before I toss it?” Scout asked skeptically.

“Chances are, if you think it’s garbage it probably is.” Wanda sighed, sitting crossed legged on the floor with a trash bag settled to her right. “Honestly, I don’t remember most of this anyways.”

Scout nodded, and pulled the closest box into his lap tearing open the tape. Folding the flaps back he peered curiously inside. “Uhm, this is all old clothing. Are we donating it?”

“Yeah, that’s probably the best thing to do.” Wanda agreed pulling the cap of a sharpie off with her teeth to write ‘Donation pile’ on a sticky note. Then, with an excessive flourish, she smacked it onto the floor. “Dump site established.”

“Okay.” Scout snorted, taking time to folding everything neatly anyways. Once the clothes were settled he kicked the empty box over into the corner.

“Is that an empty box I hear?” Piper’s head poked into the room with her eyes alight in excitement.

“Yes, you can take it, and the other empty ones too,” Wanda laughed.

“Yes!” Snatching up the empty cardboard Piper ran down the hallway. “ALEX! WE CAN MAKE CARBOARD RACE CARS!”

“How’d she hear that?” Scout asked, glancing down the hallway trying to catch a glimpse of Piper.

“I’ve learned over the years that the Starks have impeccable hearing only when it’s something that interests them. Like boxes.” Wanda explained, adding to the clothing pile.

“Huh,” Nodding Scout turned back to the work at hand.

He uncovered an old set of plastic drums that his mother had bought so he would quit stealing Tupperware. Giving it a good pat for old times sake, Scout moved it to the garbage pile. He then moved on to the old books about animals and shapes and colors. Almost all of them were worn thin.

“You could barely read most of the time, but you’d sit in your dad’s lap and make up stories like you were reading the words,” Wanda smiled, taking the books from her son and adding them to the recycling section.

“Guess some things don’t change,” Scout laughed. “Oh, what’s this? Awe, these are Dad’s big sunglasses he got as a crappy Christmas gift! He looked like he had bug eyes when wearing them!”

“Yep, and then you insisted on having a pair. Unfortunately, your uncle Clint decided to indulge you. But I got a good picture out of it.” Wanna mused watching Scout put the oversized glasses on. He really did look like a bug. Snorting, she took them off of his face and tossed them aside. “Dork.”

“Oh oh oh! The puzzles we used to play on vacation!” Scout practically dove into the box to retrieve them. “Star Wars, NASCAR, dolphins, cats, and your favorite being the one of a rabbit.”

“You called it the Bun-Bun puzzle when you were little. Tell you what, we’ll keep those. We can do them together sometime,” Wanda promised. Scout liked the idea and put them back into the box gently.

“I’m done with this set.” Scout huffed, standing and dusting off his hands. “I’m going in again.”

Scout headed over to the cluttered closet which had accumulated most of the tower’s residents’ junk. Standing on his tip toes he managed to tug a box from the upper portion of the stack.

Hours ticked by as the duo gradually made sense of the mess. Occasionally, Vision would pop by to help taking a pause in his work. He also managed to convince the two to go out with him to lunch. One thing about the Maximoff family was their ability to hyper focus.

Once their hunger was effectively satiated, Scout and Wanda set to work again. They were in the final stretch of the clutter having reached the worn, dented, and warped bottom boxes.

Carefully tugging off the lid to a particularly fragile one Scout shuffled through the objects inside. It seemed to be a lot of scrap books and little picture folders. Glancing through them he paused only when he saw something labeled with his name. Scooping it out of the bottom and wiping off the dust, Scout opened the tiny folder to see grey and black film like pictures inside.

At first he was confused. It was nearly impossible to make out what the picture was of, until he shifted into better light. After another moment of contemplation he realized what they were. Ultrasound pictures. Curiosity getting the best of him he studied the murky images as best he could. The bottom ones were clearer than the top having been shielded by the upper images.

He was astonished to find the last four-which he could actually make out- not of one small baby but two. “Hey, uh Mom? Is this ours?”

Scout scooted closer to his mother and passed over the pictures to her outstretched hand. After tossing old and damaged CDs into the garbage, Wanda turned her attention to what her son had handed over. She visibly paled. “Where’d you find these?”

“Over here,” Scout grunted, stretching out onto his side and pulling the box over to them. “I was thinking it might have gotten mixed up with Chloe and Arthur’s stuff when they moved in.”

“Well, uhm...it- it’s not there’s.” Scout looked at his mother in absolute confusion, both by the sudden shift in demeanor, and the waver in her voice.

“I don’t understand.” He frowned taking the images back to inspect them further. He checked the ghost colored date on the bottom and the name printed on the front of the folder once more. Slowly, he began to decipher what exactly was happening. “I’m a twin.”

“Yeah.” Wanda nodded, swallowing hard.

“I’m a twin.” Scout repeated. “How-what...?”

“You had a sister.”

“You’re joking.” Scout felt like he couldn’t breath. “Where-is she...she didn’t make it? I don’t understand.”

Scout studied his mother closely. He wanted an answer but she seemed too upset to say anything for some time. Part of him knew he should feel bad, sorry, and sad even, but all he could feel was angry.

“She was stillborn.”

“And you didn’t tell me?” He asked, unable to keep his voice from rising. “It just never occurred to you to say anything?”

“It was a mutual decision.-“ Wanda started.

“So dad’s in on this too?” Scout cried, clambering to his feet. “Are you serious? I can’t believe you! Were you ever going to mention anything about this?”

He waited impatiently for an answer but none came. He wasn’t going to get one.

“I’m literally so angry right now you have absolutely no idea. I-I need to go before I do something.” Scout fumbled for words. Tugging lightly at his hair he left the room hurriedly behind. His mind was going a million miles a minute.

He had a sister. A sister he hadn’t known about for years. A sister he may not have known about for more than decades. There was a big chance he’d have gone on clueless to this major fact until he died. What was worse, none of his aunts or uncles bothered to tell him. Then again they’d probably sworn not to.

“Hey, Scout! Come check out the carboard race cars.” Orion beamed, jogging up to the other boy. “Oh no. What’s wrong? Did a character die?”

“No.” Scout snapped.

“Wow.” Orion blinked. “Okay, hey, uhm come on.”

Scout allowed Orion to tow him into his room and ease the door shut.

“I need a minute before we talk.” Scout huffed, pacing back and forth at an impeccable rate. But no matter how hard he tried, the anger wouldn’t dissipate. Then, with a burst of anger, he spilled everything in a frenzy that left him gasping for air at the end. “I’m so angry.”

“You have a right to be.” Orion agreed.

“I’m not talking to her ever again. I can’t.” Scout shook his head. Orion noticed the way the other boy’s hands twitched with faint red energy. “Or my dad.”

“Scout, you have to calm down.” Orion frowned. “Think about this. Think about what you’re saying.”

“I am.”

“No you’re not.” Orion spoke firmly. It was so out of the norm that Scout actually paused to stare at him. He’d never seen Orion so authoritative. “You’re going to listen to me for one minute mister. Then, you can talk as much as you want but I think this is important for you to hear.”

“But-“

Orion held up a hand silencing his boyfriend. “Have you thought about your mother’s perspective? Don’t answer- that was rhetorical. You always tell me and the others to think things through. See both sides to the same story. Right now you’re being very hypocritical in not doing that. So, I’m going to help you out. I’m laying this down from her point of view.”

“Fine.”

“Don’t you think that if anyone knows what it’s like to lose a twin it’s her? That maybe she knows the pain about it more than anyone? What if, even if it was done with good intentions but not the best action, she was trying to protect you from that? To keep you from growing up and longing for someone you weren’t ever going to have? To spend a life wondering perpetually about this sibling and who or what they’d be like? What your relationships would be like? Spending years with fantasies that would only hurt you?”

“Orion, most of my life I felt like something was missing. I couldn’t understand why I didn’t fit anywhere.” Scout’s voice trembled. He stared with teary eyes at the ground. “It might have made things easier to know.”

“Yeah, It might have. But don’t you see? Maybe she was trying to do what’s best for you?” Orion asked.

“Yeah,” Scout nodded. Logistically, Orion was right. “But it’s like my mom was trying to forget about it. Like she was hiding that away so she could pretend it never happened. How does someone want or try to forget about their kid?”

“I guarantee you Scout, there’s not a day that goes by where she doesn’t think about your sister.” Orion felt a lump form in his throat. “My uncle Drax? I can’t tell you how many times he’s cried over his family and kids. He’d give anything to have just one of them back.”

Silence settled between the two of them for some time until Orion pulled Scout into a hug. “I feel like an ass Orion.”

“You should, but you should also feel angry. It’s natural. But now you have to go back and talk about it. You can’t ignore it now, and it’s best to understand and attempt to clear the air than let things be left alone.” Orion consoled him, running a hand through Scout’s hair.

— — —

“Mom?” Scout asked hesitantly, knocking on his parent’s door. “Can we talk?”

Seconds later Scout was perched on the end of his parent’s bed listening intently to what they had to say. In turn he explained himself. He learned that Orion’s presumptions were mostly correct and that his sister was supposed to have the name Janice (Jane for short) after a variation of JARVIS, with the middle name Pietra (they had planned on Scout having a middle name after Pietro’s middle name).

It hurt to see his mother cry but he also wondered how long she’d been hiding that burden and how much it wore on her. What struck him the most was seeing his dad cry too. He was normally so stoic that it nearly startled Scout. But at the end of it, after Scout had cried some too, he fell asleep tucked snuggly between the two of them. Both of his parents held onto him like he was the most precious thing in the entire world.

And though he wouldn’t say it, Scout felt a shift in the room. A sense of peace. Something that he hadn’t realized was oddly missing for some time. Maybe he’d needed this, but most of all maybe his parents had. He by no means approved of the secrecy, but he at least understood. And sometimes the best thing you can do for someone is to understand. He’d have to thank Orion later for knocking some sense into him. For now though, he would enjoy the company and the embraces.