#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-

[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.

[vicelapse]

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-

[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).

[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.

[quartusbellum-blog]

ARCHIE for the role of SIRIUS BLACK, using the faceclaim BLAIR REDFORD.

Your application for Sirius is stunning, and incorporates lots of little details which flesh out the character wonderfully. You’ve portrayed the complexity of Sirius’ current situation so well, and there is some truly beautiful writing here. I am very excited to welcome you to Quartus Bellum!

ooc details

Name: Archie

Age: Twenty five

Pronouns: She/her

Activity Level: I’m a current PhD candidate, so my time is pretty strapped. I am also coming out of a writing hiatus, so I’m a little rusty, but this game was so alluring I just thought I’d be an idiot to pass up some world building and exploring. I can probably be online a few times a week, but I can promise lengthy replies in lieu of my absence. I hope that’s okay. I would definitely like to keep the mod team updated on things if I’m away for whatever reason, just so we’re on the same page and everything!

Other: No triggers! But thank you very much for asking. I’m just extremely motivated and intrigued by this plot, so I have to give major kudos to such an arresting idea. Please also note that I am applying from a mockblog I have created for the purpose of this application.

Acknowledgement: I acknowledge that the themes of this game may include triggering elements. I also acknowledge that my character may be harmed, coerced, or even killed (with player’s consent) during paras/events or may cause harm to or kill others during paras/events.

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general ic details

Name: Sirius Orion Black

Age: Twenty one (November 3rd, 1959)

Ships: Chemistry. Full disclosure, the biography given for Sirius gave me a lot of Sirius/James feelings (like, a lot), but I also really ship Sirius/Remus. I write Sirius as gay, but overall I’m pretty relaxed about writing relationships provided they’re realistically depicted and well-paced.

Gender/Pronouns: Genderfluid (he/him or they/them)

Face Claim: Blair Redford (x), Luke Pasqualino, Sean Teale * * I’ve gone back and forth between these three for ages... Ordinarily I write the Black family as POC, so after a Great Struggle™ in which I seriously admired Luke Pasqualino in “Snatch”, I decided to do something different and go with Blair Redford. Now, I do have a possible headcanon around Sirius and Regulus being half-brothers, so that can give the Regulus player some freedom around choosing a faceclaim, as I know matching ethnicities can be tricky (especially as Blair is half unspecified Native American). I will say, however, that I am open to discussing Sirius’ faceclaim, so if you’re unsure I’m happy to talk about it with you.

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biography:

Sirius wasn’t supposed to live past twenty one.

It’s a morbid, private thought, one best left for murmuring into the black velvet of late nights, supine with firewhiskey and muggle cigarettes. See, Sirius never expected to make it to sixteen, but then a certain shaggy-haired idiot named James F. Potter happened, and Sirius’ fears went out the window (literally – have you ever tried to pry open the latch of a very old semi-sentient house that doesn’t want its heir to escape? Harder than it looks). When the war started, Sirius accepted the likelihood of his imminent death with little fanfare. It was easier, anyway, to throw himself into missions and the gutsy bravado that gripped 1979 like a fever. The city was alive: subtropical clubs; the tongues of strangers; heady muggle music; the Order laughing, packed into some tiny apartment, drunk off their tits. And even before that haze dissipated, they all felt immortal. The war was real, of course, but so were they, and Sirius was young, and dumb, and he was one of the best duelers by far, so why shouldn’t he take to the streets, Doc Martens smacking the pavement, dodging after some Death Eater? The Black household was one shrouded in death, what with the dusty portraits of forgotten ancestors, their eyes following you in the gloom, and his own mother’s obsession with mortality, as if the Pox that claimed their father was a mere token of magic’s cruel whim to give and take away. The Marauders filled him with hope; the Order stoked those embers to flames. But there was always something within him, some stoic knowledge, that this was too good too last. He was a Black: his blood ran thick as oil.

If anyone asks (which they don’t, because despite his newfound control, Sirius can still be frightening), losing James was more than a sucker punch to the gut. The Order had lost so many brave witches and wizards at the height of the war, but those terrible deaths were nothing compared to James’ disappearance. No, not disappearance. Kidnapping. Theft. They stole Prongs from Sirius’ useless fingers, swept him away for good, and Sirius was powerless. Maybe that was what hurt most of all: knowing that no matter how deeply he felt for James, how fortifying and achingly tender their friendship was, it just wasn’t enough. Sirius thought he was incapable of love before he met James. But where did that get him? The yawning dark of an empty flat; shaking hands in the cold dawn light; the blood-pound of fear in his jugular, drumming hard enough to make his eyes spot black. Sirius didn’t give himself a chance to mourn, to wonder, to do anything other than drown himself in the rescue effort. The loss of Dumbledore was similarly shattering, but Dumbledore was more figurehead than individual: a manifestation of everything the Order wanted to be. James was real: he was blood and bone. He was laughter and the glossy gold of a snitch, he was private jokes and intense bravery. He was Sirius’ counterbalance. And then he was gone.

Sirius isn’t the same. None of them are. Everything they’d fought for was extinguished in twenty four hours. That might partly explain Sirius’ habitual visits to the muggle world. Disguised as Padfoot is as good as being invisible. He can slip through their ordered, ordinary world, and feel, at least for a few hours, that his pathetic excuse for an existence hasn’t been obliterated close beyond repair. Sirius tells himself they’ll claw it all back. Dumbledore, James, the Ministry. There is a terrible anger within him that is beyond anything he has ever felt. It is cavernous, infinite, far darker and bruised than any reservoir of loathing for his family. It is so intense that he cannot even speak about it. Sirius has always been a little frightened of how deeply he feels, but this redraws those boundaries. That feeling that his life is on a countdown has compounded. Sirius is willing to do anything to take back what is rightfully theirs. He spent his youth at war. It makes sense he’ll die at war too. He’s ready to throw open his arms and embrace the abyss, laughing in delirium, Is that all you’ve got? Well come on then!

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my character is:

HOW IS YOUR CHARACTER LYING TO THEMSELVES (AND HOW IS THIS SHOWN EXTERNALLY)?

Everything is fine. Everything is, of course, not fine, and is in fact irreparably fucked. But the alternative to Sirius’ externally calm demeanour is Sirius totally losing his bottle, and no one can have that, mainly because it would be the least useful thing he could do for the cause. Sirius is used to being someone people admire – there was no shortage of that in school, and even in the early period of the war: someone catching his eye hopefully, waiting for his go ahead; the mere recollection warms him with a rare, near-forgotten sense of purpose – but it’s quite another to have the final say in something. Sirius doubts himself so much. He’s not exactly a rational thinker. His vengeance is cold and cruel, that is certain, but even that type of behaviour is inherently emotional. Sirius revels in disorder: he enjoys feeling unmoored, likes not knowing. He’s not like Moony or Peter, who needed some semblance of routine to feel comfortable. Sirius quite likes feeling out of his depth; discomfort demands action. But he’s not good at communicating that, and he struggles with giving solace to someone who very badly needs to know that things are under control. Sirius hasn’t quite stooped to going, “There, there,” and patting someone awkwardly on the shoulder, but it’s close to it. He’s the first to loudly suggest a drink at some muggle pub after a disastrous mission, and he’s the last to leave, still nursing his beer long after everyone else has straggled home. Sirius isn’t eloquent like James; he isn’t calm like Moony. Hell, he doesn’t even have Wormtail’s pragmatism (before he betrayed them all, the absolute fucking bastard). Sirius is waiting for someone to catch him out. He’s not built to be a leader. The only thing he’s good for is a shag and a fun time. Right? He’s not… he’s not what they think he is. He’s useless. He’s a joke. It’s a joke. But it’s a fine joke. Ergo: everything is fine. It has to be. Otherwise he’ll drag everyone else into the flames with him, and if there’s anything Sirius is truly frightened of, it’s someone else recognizing just how deep the streak of darkness within him runs.

YOUR CHARACTER’S JOB (WHAT DO THEY DO AND HOW DO THEY FEEL ABOUT IT?)

Sirius is dedicated to the Ashen Phoenix. Even when the Order of the Phoenix still existed, when it was little more than a ragged group of idealistic Hogwarts graduates and wayward aurors, when Dumbledore’s vague effluence alternately inspired or infuriated them, back when the war seemed – well, not winnable, but certainly surmountable – even then, Sirius was too much. Too brash, too rough, too much of a muchness that made people like old Mad Eye growl under his breath about upstart sprogs. There was something to be admired in Sirius’ explosive determination, even as his reckless behaviour and breathless duels with Death Eaters was more exasperating than useful. “What?” he’d retort defensively, to a room of tired Order members. “They were asking for it.”

Sirius had always been too much. When everything – when James – when it all went to utter shite, it’s probably no wonder that Sirius lost whatever loose grip on sanity he’d ever had, and tossed it all in to band up with Mary and Lily. Lily, whom he could barely stand on a good day, who suddenly became one of the most important people standing stalwart against the uncertain scaffolding containing his so-called life. Was it really that surprising? Sirius has always privately regarded his grip on reality to be tenuous at best. Combine that with a deep, unwavering streak of hatred for blood purists, and you’ve got a terrible combination. Successful, sure; but dangerous. He can’t afford to be the rambunctious “upstart” that once semi-terrorized the Order of the Phoenix, nor can he sit about on his laurels, skulking in espionage or plotting elaborate shadowy schemes. Sirius’ patience runs thin at the best of times. No, instead he’s squashed himself into a rather uncomfortable box between “probably could be classified as a war crime” and “slightly morally questionable but still alright enough to make Evans begrudgingly admit that was a good idea”. It’s not a comfortable fit, and Sirius still isn’t sure how he ended up growing up so bloody fast, but he’ll do anything to turn back the tide of the darkness that now laps menacingly against their throats.

Aside from that, he spends quite a lot of time inadvertently posing as a muggle homeless person. Or a big shaggy dog. In comparison to being a magical fugitive, it’s almost like going on holiday.

ADDRESS THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WHAT YOUR CHARACTER IS CURRENTLY DOING AND WHAT THEY WOULD PREFER TO DO.

Sirius does not like responsibility. It smacks of adulthood, and Sirius never thought he’d live to see that, let alone become a ruddy pillar of virtue. It’s not that he intensely dislikes fussing over details for the Phoenixes, but it does not come naturally to him – he’s no James, put it that way (James, who was forever buzzing around them all in a manner simultaneously carefree and watchful, who’d jokingly suggest you get a jumper otherwise you’d get a cold, you bellend, so just go grab one, oh, and would you get him a chocolate frog on the way, thanks). Sirius actually doesn’t like people looking up to him. What does he know? He’s just some irresponsible dog who’d much, much rather zip away on his motorbike to blast You-Know-Who’s bits off, and sod the consequences. If he didn’t have Mary and Lily keeping him in check, Merlin knew where he’d be. Probably sharing a cell with Dumbledore. Knitting scarves and gossiping. Some lark like that. Instead he’s relegated to asking mundane questions like, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” and, “Wait, try this healing charm.” Sirius listens to his own blather and wants to be sick. He feels the words can no one see I don’t know what I’m doing! burning every inch of him, pounding against the underside of his skin, flaring across his pained expression. “I want James back,” he said (thoughtlessly) to Lily once; and she’d shot him a look and said, “We all do.” You don’t get it, Sirius thought. I want him back because I need him. I can’t do this on my own. I need him.

Sirius does not want to turn back the clock. Despite his irreverent mindset, Sirius isn’t a fantasist. He’s emotionally charged and often irrational, but he doesn’t indulge in make-believe. There is no way things are going back to normal. There’s not even a fragment of what they left behind: those few months after school ended and before the war began, when London was besieged by an oppressive summer humidity, and the Marauders tumbled in and out of parties, drinking and laughing, carefree and stupid; the sanctity of Hogwarts, and how innocent they’d been; even old Regulus, with his pinched, shrewd expression, but the way his eyes would loosen and warm whenever Sirius ruffled his hair and affectionately called him a tosspot. Sirius cherishes these slivers of the past, counting them out like his last coins, weighing their treasure in the palm of his hand. The memories he makes now are bleak. Undernourished effigies of a world devolved. Sirius might feel beset with fear about the future, but he is still… adaptable. He was at sixteen, when he left home on a wing and a prayer, and he is now, at twenty one. No more clever, and a great deal more out of control, but able to adapt, change, mold, mend. Sirius recognizes the strange surrounding landscape and has vowed, if silently, to learn its routes, to memorize its violent topography. Survival. That was what his parents had always taught him, right? That pure blood dominates. The Marauders taught him that too, albeit in compassionate terms of friendship and trust, things Sirius had to re-learn at eleven and still is, in a way. The Order drilled him in guerrilla warfare. Dumbledore’s capture stripped him of complacency. And James… Well, survival demands vigilance. Survival turned him into something else: someone sharper, more serious, blackened around the edges. Sirius doesn’t want to turn back the clock because that would mean leaving this new version of himself behind. And like it or not, this is the only version of Sirius sodding Black that could ever make it out the other end. So, tits up to you, Voldy. This bitch ain’t going nowhere.

OOC QUESTIONS

WRITING SAMPLE:

[ REDACTED ]

EXPLORATION:

A LONG-AWAITED REUNION — One of the major subplots for this group is, of course, the return or recapture of James. From Sirius’ perspective, I think James returning to his life would signal a number of critical things – it might even be a turning point in his characterization. I see Sirius at the moment as barely hanging on. Stress exacerbates his pre-existing feelings of insufficiency and vulnerability, so he is at a stage as a member of Ashen Phoenix where he’s strung out and exhausted, burning the midnight oil, hollow-eyed and discomfortingly stoic. The loss of James was an enormously heavy blow, and that’s no overstatement. If James was somehow returned, I think that would fill Sirius’ sails with the winds of renewal and hope. He and James were a double act; they were shadows of each other. Without him, Sirius feels like a fraud.

PLAYING NICE — Sirius has never been good at pretending. His emotions run close to the surface, flashing in his quicksilver eyes at the slightest provocation. It never used to take much for him to plunge from a euphoric high to a turbulent anger, his moodiness as tempestuous as a tide. But that’s not how you lead people. You can’t expect people to see past your thunderstorm behaviour to the reality of the situation: that Sirius has always felt a split second away from free-fall. Most people aren’t like James, or Moony, or even bloody Wormtail – they can’t see that it’s all an act; that Sirius’ vulnerabilities run swift and deep, and his bravado is just a reliable way to deflect unwanted probing. Since Mouldy Voldy started swinging his shriveled old cock around, Sirius has had an abrupt about-face. It’s never easy, and he often forgets that he’s supposed to be playing nice. In fact, one could make the argument that he hasn’t changed much at all: he’s still a moody bastard. But sometimes he takes a deep breath instead of bursting in rage; sometimes he clenches his fists instead of flying for his wand. I would like to explore Sirius working hard to keep a lid on his temper, particularly given the success of Ashen Phoenix relies, at least in part, on him keeping it together for a little while longer.

THE IMMORTALITY OF REGULUS ARCTURUS BLACK — Reuniting Sirius and Regulus is a massively important subplot for me, and I think it could have powerful consequences in this group. I’m not sure how Sirius will take Regulus’ vampirism – it’ll certainly be interesting to find out. In another context I could see him falling about in horrified laughter, because now Regulus will get to hang around with Walburga forever. But I wonder now if their prolonged absence from each other will stir within Sirius a long-buried sense of responsibility. He’ll probably start worrying about Regulus, terrified that the new Dark Ministry will hunt his brother down and exterminate him. He might even (gasp!) become horribly over-protective, hating himself all the while for needling Regulus about “feeding” and all that dosh (”Shut up!” Sirius snaps as Regulus raises a single eyebrow. “It’s not like there’s a manual about becoming a bleeding vampire, is there?” A pause. “No pun intended.”) No doubt there’s a degree of irony in an ex-Death Eater suddenly becoming the prey of his old buddies, but Sirius isn’t a masochist. As stupid as Regulus has behaved, they’re still brothers. Even before the war turned for the worst, Sirius still missed him. Yearned for him to be back. Regulus was the biggest idiot in Britain, but he was Sirius’ idiot, and if Sirius had heard more than a whisper about his brother he would have probably done something very stupid to rush to his side. Call Sirius a lot of things, but being disloyal could never be one of them.

EXTRAS:

I have created a mockblog for this group, which is the account I am submitting from. You can find it here. I have also written some general headcanons, which you can find below!

Sirius started getting muggle tattoos during the war. The first war, that is, back when they all thought it’d be over by Christmas. He’s got about seventeen, possibly a few more, all in black ink, most of them done in poky muggle tattoo parlours buried in the heart of London, but a couple of them are magical: the dragon across his left shoulder blade, for example, which sneezes fire when you tickle it just right. It’s an eclectic collection that illustrate Sirius’ natural whimsy: a series of ancient runes that Moony told him meant something cool (although Sirius has since suspected Moony was an absolute tosser, and the runes in fact spell “totally gullible gobshite”); an elaborate diagram of the planets in the middle of his back; a broom that zips around his arm (James’ fault, that one); an anatomically dubious pin-up girl (Sirius wanted a guy, but the tattoo artist looked frightening, and Sirius wasn’t in the mood to go toe-to-toe about his sexual preferences); and, for reasons best left alone, ancient constellations scattered most of his chest. There are some other tattoos squashed in here and there – a Gryffindor lion, a protection symbol that Moony literally laughed aloud at when Sirius showed it off – that are mainly impulse decisions. Sirius loves them all. The ink is so black against his brown skin, the magical designs flickering in the corner of his eye, and it all gives the illusion of him appearing alive, ever in motion, an intricate living illustration.

Sirius still owns his motorbike, although it’s too dangerous to ride it. Some arsehole (Bellatrix, probably) ratted him out, and now everyone and their mother is on the hunt for a sleek black motorbike. He isn’t stupid enough to ride it, no matter how burning the urge, although sometimes he does go out to Clapham, where he’d parked it in a muggle garage, just to linger over it for a few stolen moments. One day he’ll blaze it right over London, preferably in celebration of Balding Voldy’s bloody demise. One day. He will.

Sirius is gay. The revelation came unobtrusively. He’d always known there was… something awry. You’d have to be blind, deaf, and dumb not to be surrounded by all of those posh pureblood birds growing up and feel nothing more than resignation at their proximity (their brothers were far more intriguing). Sirius played along for a bit at school, going out with a few girls, making out with McKinnon at more than a few parties. It was all serviceable, except for the fact it was tremendously boring, and if there was anything Sirius resented, it was feeling confined. He came out (very loudly) in his sixth year (in the middle of the Great Hall; it was quite the gossip for a week or so), and has since been perfectly content with advertising his sexuality at the nearest opportunity. He’s no blushing violet, put it that way. While Wizarding society is more or less accepting of sexuality (his parents notwithstanding: Sirius was still expected to marry and produce an heir; and that thought, of dragging some brat into the world through duty alone, turned his stomach), the fragmentation in muggle society is something else. Sirius is still too enthusiastic about muggle life to ever really fit in – he’s been asked innumerable times if he’s a tourist, which absolutely delights him – but the gay and lesbian rights movements in recent years has captured his attention. He’s kept up with the news about protests, and once apparated into an alley adjacent to a march for queer liberation. We’re here, the muggles chanted, we’re queer! We won’t disappear! The feeling was incredible. Wixen didn’t have anything like this – it was all just taken for granted. But the fight of the muggles. Their determination; their spirit. Their strength in demanding what was theirs. It left him breathless, and for the first time in his life, proud.

Sirius spends a lot of time as Padfoot these days. It’s just easier. He’s a dab hand at disguise charms – had to be, when the war started to turn truly dark and a Black blood traitor head on a spit was a coveted prize – but outside of a handful of people, Sirius’ animagus form is a secret. Lily knows, of course, as does Macdonald, but they have to. Slinking around London as a dog makes for surreptitious travel, even if he’s taken on some bad habits as a human. Fleas genuinely are the worst, alright? He can’t help scratching himself fiercely at the slightest itch.

The way Sirius dresses now is a diluted version of the summer of 1979. Back then, London was a heaving cesspool of cramped, humid clubs, gigs outfitted in leather and gelled spikes, tight chokers, and a casual, careless androgyny that made Sirius’ heart beat fast. Back then he didn’t give a toss. Now, of course, he’s no longer a naive graduate, and the world has grown dim. He usually wears a leather jacket over some band t-shirt, a pair of black ripped jeans, Doc Martens. That’s toned down, for him. While a lot of the jewellery has gone, Sirius’ fingers are still bejewelled with rows of heavy silver rings, and a dragon tooth earring swings from his left ear. His eyes, once glittering with flirtatious humour, are ringed dark with wariness; and his cutting bone structure has sharpened with one too many missed meals. Sirius is probably physically bulkier than he was at school, simply because sleeping rough and hauling arse after a dozen Death Eaters tends to fill you out, but his body is still lean, with an echo of that languid grace that whispered of pureblood ballrooms and charity galas. Sirius’ hair has grown long, and he usually ties it sloppily away from his face, but he stays clean shaven… most of the time. Lily once said he looked like a Lennon on a bad trip after Sirius reappeared after a rendezvous in Dublin for four weeks. He’s still trying to figure out if that was an insult.

[diveronarpg]

Congratulations, KASS! You’ve been accepted for the role of HORATION. Admin Kaitlin: Kass!!! I was so flippin stoked when I saw that you decided to reapply for my favorite resident of the soft squad, even if they’re not exactly full soft. There’s just something about your version of Horatio that I have always been in love with, and I think you do a fabulous job of really getting across all of those unabashed emotions that plague him. I cannot wait to see them back on the dash!! Please read over the checklist and send in your blog within 24 hours.

WELCOME TO THE MOB.

Out of Character

Alias | Kass

Age | 23

Preferred Pronouns | they/them

Activity Level | i’m currently in the process of moving so things are a little crazy right now, but i can usually be on a few times a week for replies !

Timezone | est

Current/Past RP Accounts | this one baybee

In Character

Character | Horatio, Hector Rivera

What drew you to this character? The way he loves and feels things so strongly, and is so unashamed of those feelings, is something that drew me in to the character. There was also a lot of things regarding his past I felt like I could play with in his present relationships, and is something I’m excited to write out. Also the way his loyalty in the mob would so easily falter were Hassan to switch sides, making him fundamentally unloyal to just about everyone else, I think would be an interesting dynamic in a group like this. Where loyalties are what comes at the forefront of most characters’ minds.

What is a future plot idea you have in mind for the character? |

I think while a part of him feels a closeness with Roman, I do think another part of him is jealous too. He isn’t as close to Hassan as he is, of course, but they have their own jokes, have their own relationship outside of him. He doesn’t feel on the outside often when he’s around Hassan, but when he does, it’s when all three of them are together. I want something between them to blow up.

His relationship with Orion I see exploding. Hector isn’t good at controlling his feelings, he has always followed his heart over his head. I think at one point, Orion will push him too far, and Hector will snap. But immediately after, he’ll regret it, and potentially some bond there could form.

I would like for him and Genevieve to get closer, for her to show him what it’s like to have a mother who can actually love, and, when things get bad, when it’s revealed what has happened to Hassan’s father, he has to choose between a love that runs deeper than his blood, or the love of the mother he never really had.

I think seeing Hassan get so lost in himself is going to eventually drive him a little mad. He gives so much of himself to other people, to Hassan specifically, and feels peoples pain as though it is his own. He’s always there to keep him grounded, and on occasion, the favor is returned, but what happens when he gets so lost in himself and his own impossible task that Hector has to take the burden for all that has happened? All that will happen? He feels things inwardly as to not let it bother other people, this is especially the case for Hassan, especially since his father died. I think slowly but surely, his emotions will start to eat him alive. I’m not sure what that looks like yet.

Are you comfortable with killing off your character? Yes

In Depth

In-Character Para Sample:

cw: alcoholism mention

Sitting by his bed, counting the bottles, watching him as he mumbled in his sleep, it was all he could do at times like this. His heart sunk to his stomach, his arms wrapped around it tightly as though it would help keep him together. As if taking his arms away from himself would mean he would completely unravel. He had to know what this did to him, he had to. The smell, the mumbles, the occasional groan, it was all too familiar, and it brought him back to a time he wished he could forget, his stomach once again twisting at the thought.

The countless days and nights he would watch his mother float through the house after the death of his father, walking around as if she had nowhere to go, no son to take care of. She would sit, and look out at nothing, then stand back up and continue walking, as if she had something else to do in the chair across the room. Hector would spend hours watching her moving back and forth, and back and forth, all while holding whatever her drink of choice was for the day. She would go hide in the bathroom whenever she did anything else.

He would sit by her bed at night, just like this, making sure that she didn’t go off too far, reaching over to see if he could still feel her breathing on the back of his palm. His father always said he felt as deeply as she did, loved as fiercely when things were still good between all of them, when they were still a family. It is still something his carries with pride, for this version of his mother was not the mother he knew. Was not the one he remembered now that she was gone. His mother was kind, and loving, and gave all of herself to people. That was who his mother was, and he had lost her long ago. So, when she died, when her body finally gave out on her, he didn’t go through the grieving process he should have. If anything, he felt relief. Relief that he could say goodbye to the pain that came with seeing a once great woman withering before him.

But that was not what he wanted for Hassan, that would not be Hassan’s fate.

He got into bed, when he was still fast asleep, and curled up in a ball beside him, leaning on the headboard and looking over at him, watching his chest move up, and down, and back up again, putting the back of his hand over his mouth, just to be sure, then rested it back on his knees. He knew, if he were to wake up, he would tell him he wouldn’t have to stay, that he could go home if he wanted, that all he had needed was someone to bring him home. But Hector wouldn’t ever dream of leaving him there on his own. And he imagined Hassan knew that about him by now. Knew that the oath they made when they were younger to always take care of each other was stronger now than it ever was before.

Every slight movement, even in his sleep, felt calculated. The way he would turn, but only when Hector looked away, or mumble something that made him worry, done with an indescribable grace and poise that Hector would recognize from miles away. It was what drew him to him in the first place. He reached down to run his fingers through his hair, something he could only do on certain occasions, most of them being when they were alone. It was moments like this, moments when he looked so small, that Hector wished he could take his pain away, give it to himself. And it was moments like this where he saw him as the broken man he hid from everyone else, that Hector wished he knew how to piece him back together again. But more so, that he felt an irreplaceable feeling of complete and total devotion, something that, for him, was more than love. He would do anything to ease his pain, his worry, his doubt. Anything. Even if it meant erasing himself completely.

Extras: Pinterest board here! (Blood tw) https://www.pinterest.com.mx/kassharoun/ch-hector/

HCs:

Hector’s always loved to draw, and usually would in the corner of his notebooks. Now, he’s taken to carrying a small, leather-bound notebook with him. Something to help him pass the time, and get out whatever emotion he’s been holding in.

He’s a particularly skilled fighter, but is much more talented when it comes to not leaving behind a trace. He’s learned to walk around people, to make himself invisible. He knows people and he knows what they want to hear. And he uses that to his advantage.

He has intense separation anxiety. Something about losing his parents the way he did makes him fear he’ll lose other people he cares for too. At night, it’s all he can think about. It completely encompasses him and stops him from being able to sleep.

When he was a kid, and he would have to spend nights alone, he would go out on his roof and look out at the stars, and pretend that he had a family like the ones he saw on TV. And that his mom would come in and yell at him, like a mom should, and his dad would tell him he needed to be more careful and listen to his mother, like a dad should. It never happened, of course, but those are some of his most cherished moments.

A lot of people like him, because it’s so easy for him to mold himself based on who he’s around. Sometimes, depending on the person, he feels like he completely loses himself. There are very few people in his life who he has ever felt like himself around.

[fallen029]

A Dragon’s Love.10: Denouement

Previous Chapter

There was once, when he was really young, that Orion could remember Mirajane telling him about her parents.

Not that she didn't after that. Because she did. But it was always in passing and hardly ever any real details.

No, most of his knowledge from that time came from a fuzzy memory of being five or six and waiting for her to tell him a bedtime story. Only, that night she was coming up with nothing. He'd heard about Edolas and Phantom. Knew everything about what preceded the seven-year lapse and the major events to follow. He'd heard everything.

So Mira went further into her memory bank and told him about something completely different.

"You know," she said softly as they snuggled up on his tiny mattress. "When I was your age, I wasn't even in Magnolia yet. I lived in this tiny village with your Aunt Lisanna and Uncle Elfman. And, of course, my mother and father too."

"Really?"

"Mmmhmm." She smiled softly about then, but whether it was at him or just from the thought alone he couldn't recall. Just that it was nice, like always. Comforting. "We lived in this little hut. Even smaller than our house. Everyone was always in someone's way, but…I'd never been happier than when I was there. Until you."

Then she probably snuggled him or something else silly and just so like her then before she continued.

He couldn't remember everything that she said, but he did know that she went on and on about how much fun she and her brother and sister used to have, when they were kids. That her mother would a tad stricter than her father, but that was okay, because they loved her all the same. And even when she was scolding them for something, their father would be making just as strong a case for them as to why they shouldn't be punished. He never liked to get them in trouble. He never would either.

"He was just so happy, you know," his mother whispered. "To have a family. To have us. He loved us. He spoiled us, too, but out of love. He didn't know any better. He'd grown up all by himself, with no one. So when he met my mother, that's the first thing he wanted. Children. I think if it had been up to him, I would have had a thousand other siblings, but then, it wasn't all his choice, was it?"

She told him, that night, all about how she used to love spending time with her father and that it was her mother that taught her how to cook. Oh, and that she must have spent every day playing with Elfman and Lisanna. They'd do everything together. They had an even stronger bond back then, if it was possible.

"But then," she mumbled eventually. "Papa got sick. Very sick. And we didn't catch it, whatever it was, but only because we weren't the ones taking care of him. My mother was. And when she got it, she just couldn't fight it like he was. She died within weeks. And without her…Papa never had a chance."

Orion remembered just laying there, staring up at her as his own mother's similar deep blues filled with tears at the memory. The woman cried at everything. From when he first said a word to the time she was able to sense all his latent magic ability, Mirajane was just a sobber. So watching her do so was never too big a deal for him. That time though, it made him feel odd. He was so young, but he knew a thing or two about comforting someone. She did it for him enough.

So he only reached up to wipe at her eyes, like she would do for him if the roles were reversed.

"Don't cry," he whispered as she sniffled a little. "It's okay. We don't gotta talk about it. We can go to sleep."

"Awe, Ori. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get all sad." She snuggled him some more, probably. She liked to do that a lot when he was little. "I just…I was thinking about how my father would hate it."

"Hate what?" He was still just staring up at her then, about ready to fall asleep finally. "Mommy?"

"That I'm making you grow up all alone," she told him, her grin returning then. "He would probably scold me on it. That you deserve brothers and sisters and-"

"No."

"No?"

He'd seen the other kids in the guild, with their siblings and having to put up with them. Not to mention share their parents. He only had one at that! He couldn't risk something like that. Some other brat coming in, taking his toys, and his mother. It'd always just been him and Mira and he was fine with it staying that.

Other than, like, if his father suddenly came into the picture. Back then, he'd have been all for that. Of course, he probably didn't grasp that a man would only force him to share Mirajane as well, but the follies of youth and all.

"I don't want a brother or sister," he insisted as he stared at her, as if willing her to agree with him. "Okay?"

"Why not, Ori?"

Because she was his mother and his only. And what if she liked the new kid better than him? That wouldn't be any good. Not at all. He'd heard about parents having favorites and, while he couldn't see him not being Mira's, he also didn't want to take the risk.

Not that there weren't moments of weakness over his childhood where he wished that he had someone to play with, someone to gripe with, or even someone to fight with. He'd never really gotten along well with the other kids and never had a close friend. Though there was no guarantee that a sibling would provide such a thing for him, it was a haunting thought at times.

Then, at the age of eighteen, the worst happened.

Mira finally got that coveted second child.

There was a lot preceding it, of course, and none of it had been pleasant for Orion. Mira gave him an option, not soon after he returned from his first ever S-Class job. She and Laxus, apparently, were rekindling their relationship, but only at his discretion.

"I'm not putting pressure on you," she was quick to tell him. "Honest, Ori. If this makes you uncomfortable, that's fine. Believe me; this isn't really that big of a deal to me. I've been fine without Laxus. And I can tell that this bothers you, so, you know what? We just won't. Okay?"

And that was okay with him. He didn't want his mother having anything to do with Laxus, really. From that point forth, he figured that he would go ahead and make it his own personal mission to keep them apart. It went pretty well for a month or two.

Until his mother got sick.

At first, he didn't notice it much. He was taking jobs then and she was working so much up at the guild that they missed one another a lot and only got glimpses of each other. But the few down times he had at the house, he picked up on her fatigue. His mother was always tired, of course, but it seemed more and more like she couldn't get out of bed. And constantly she would mention her headaches and how none of the pills she was taking were helping anything.

His Aunt Lisanna suggested she go to the doctor, but Mira didn't seem to want to. He wondered later if it was because she knew. Or at least suspected and was fearful of finding out the truth. Of admitting the truth.

He was out of town on a job when she collapsed up at the guildhall. From what he heard, Laxus was there and, when she came too, he personally took her to see a doctor, claiming that he wouldn't allow her to work again until she went.

Orion arrived back in Magnolia to find him mother claiming that she was fine and the doctors were just being overly cautious and that he had nothing to worry about.

Everyone else didn't seem to have that same outlook.

It was the catalyst for him and Laxus finally speaking again, as it was. They'd both avoided one another since Orion had told Mirajane that he did not, under any circumstance, want her to date (or whatever they did) Laxus again. It had pissed Laxus off and try many times to get Orion alone, demanding to speak with him, but the boy had always kept his distance and, well, for Orion things had been going great on that side.

Laxus? Not so much.

It aggravated him that Mira was just going to let Orion decide their lives for them. Not that the boy's opinions didn't matter to him, but for him to just flat out decide to not give Laxus a chance ruined everything. He was ready to come and, not necessarily parent the boy as he was sure Orion would reject that, but definitely go back to that role model staple he'd been in his life for years. He wanted to show him that it hadn't been that he didn't want him, but rather that he did want him and Mira that kept him from revealing the truth to him.

But Mirajane shut that down. Told him not to speak with Orion about the curse or, really, anything until the boy was ready to forgive him. From Laxus point of view, that was lunacy. Orion was still just a teenager. Fine, he had the freedoms of an adult in some aspects, but that didn't mean that he was ready to make all the decisions in life. Laxus was certain that if Mira just forced him to accept them, then, eventually, he wouldn't know any better. He'd see Laxus as his father and everything would be great.

Only, they didn't get a chance to try that out. Because with Mirajane's sickness, Laxus decided it was time to supersede her and tell Orion the truth. Explain things to him. After all, if she did end up passing and it was just the two of them left, he wanted to have the boy back on his side and not lost forever.

When Orion arrived to find her sick though, the last thing he wanted to do was be away from his mother. So it wasn't easy for Laxus to corner him alone, but eventually, with the help of Ever, he managed.

Orion had shown up at his aunt and uncle's place planning on meeting with the woman. She'd requested he come over and help her move around some furniture or something. He wasn't sure why Elfman wouldn't be better suited for that and, when he got there, he found it was because there was no heavy lifting involved. Just a deadbeat that he wanted nothing to do with.

"Orion," Laxus tried when, upon entering through the backdoor, the teen found him there and tried to turn right back around. "Don't-"

"Hey." Ever was there too, standing near the backdoor, and moved to grab him by the arm and drag him in. He could have fought her, of course, but he was never one to openly be disobedient towards his aunts. "You two need to talk about this. Come here. Sit down."

"No. I-"

"Now."

She drug him over to the kitchen table then as he only called out for his uncle to help him.

"Elfman's at the hall," she said simply as she forced him into a chair. "Now stay. The two of you have a lot to discuss."

"Traitor," he hissed at her as she headed out of the room. That got her to freeze, if only for a moment, but not turn back to get him.

He was left alone with his father.

"You can leave," Laxus was quick to say as the boy glared over at the backdoor. "But I just want to tell you something first. And it won't fix anything and it won't absolve anything, but-"

"What?" Orion hissed. "You gonna tell me about some other bastard you have or something?"

"No," Laxus said slowly. "And you really shouldn't call yourself-"

"What?" he insisted. "What do you-"

"I know why your mother's sick," the man told him. "And I…I know why she won't get better."

That was the first Orion had heard of the curse and, of course, his first reaction was pure hatred. Of Laxus. That he would let something so stupid be the thing that separated them. He was right about one thing though. It didn't absolve him of anything.

For some reason though and, he couldn't quite understand it, Orion felt pretty dang upset with his mother too. Extremely upset. And it culminated as, after leaving Ever's house following him chewing Laxus out again (the man managed to just sit there and take it), he went home to where his mother was resting in her room, bypassing his Aunt Lisanna's request that he leave her be and went in there to yell at her a little too.

But he couldn't. When he got in there and found her looking less than well, he couldn't yell at her. Only fall into bed with her and let her stroke his hair.

"What's wrong?" she asked after a moment or two and he only sniffled. "Ori? Did someone say something? Was it Lisanna? I told her that I'm fine, but she keeps insisting-"

"You wouldn't tell me who my father was because of a curse?" He lifted his head from where it was resting on the mattress, just to say that. "Really?"

Her face then became contorted, just from his question alone. "Who told you about-"

"It's true then?" he asked. Though he was still a little ticked at Evergreen, he didn't want to get her in trouble.

"No. I mean, well, yes, but I don't believe in the curse. I just-"

"So something that you don't even believe in made you-"

"It didn't matter what I believed, Orion," she insisted as she frowned at him. "Laxus believes in it. And the Master did too. They-"

"So they made you not tell me? All the times that you had a chance to, but they made you-"

"No," she sighed. "But Laxus believes so completely in it that I… I decided that if he didn't want you to know, then he didn't have a right to you. I didn't want him around then. I-"

"Then why did you let him be around?"

"Orion, it's not-"

"And what about my rights? Or what I deserve? Or does that not matter to you?"

"Of course it does. Ori, listen to me. Do you think that if the option was available to have someone care for you with me, to not be alone all the time, to have someone that had to wake up in the middle of the night to care for you, I wouldn't have taken it? Because I would have. But if I told you that Laxus was your father, he'd have only denied it. He told me as much. He thought that the only way to keep me safe was to keep you from knowing. He honestly still believes that. If it wasn't for Makarov-"

"Is it?"

"Is what?"

"Is the reason you're sick…because of me?"

She was quick to sit up then. "Orion, of course not. Don't even say that."

"But it's true, isn't it? You're sick because I-"

"I am not." And even though she wasn't much up for anything that day, she moved to take his cheeks in her hands and press a few kisses to his head. "You," she added, "have nothing to do with that. Is that what they told you? Who was it? Was it Laxus?"

Slowly, he nodded as her eyes grew darker. "He said that he had to tell me. So I knew. So that-"

"It's complete and utter bull, Orion." And that was the closest his mother usually came to using profanity around him. "So don't believe it."

"But you're sick."

"I am not."

"Mom-"

"I'm not." And she sounded like she believed it. He, however, wasn't convinced. "I'm fine. And I'm going to keep being fine for a long time. So don't think otherwise."

"Where are you going?" he asked then as, after pressing one last kiss to his forehead, she moved to get out of bed. "Mom?"

"I have a certain guild master to go see."

He asked her not to, told her that she shouldn't be out of bed, but she ignored him and Lisanna when she heard of the plan. Mira was on a mission then and, honestly, Orion was just glad he wasn't on the receiving end of her rage.

His mother didn't get better though, despite her insistence otherwise. She had days where she was fine and even able to go into work, but then she had others where getting out of bed was impossible and there was no way she honestly still believed she was as fine as she claimed.

It was horrible. But not as horrible as swallowing his resentment and anger when he told her that he wanted her to be happy and, if Laxus was that happiness, then he was fine with that. He'd listened to the doctors, even though she refused to.

Mira didn't have long.

And, apparently, his mother and Laxus did love one another. He didn't understand it, didn't want to, really, but also didn't want her to be alone. She clearly didn't want to be alone and, well, it wasn't fair of him to force her to stay that way. He could, at times, justify in his own mind that it wasn't fair for the two of them to be together, not after wrecking his life so terribly. They didn't deserve to be happy. Not if he couldn't be.

But then he'd remember how much he loved his mother and, honestly, deep down still revered Laxus and there just wasn't any way that he could do that to them. Not just to her, but them. Laxus, though Orion hated to say it, hadn't been all that bad since thee revelation came out. He annoyed the hell out of him, trying to talk to him constantly, but mostly the man seemed more concerned with Mirajane. Making sure that she took breaks, if she ate, did she want someone to go with her to her doctor's visit, what about dinner? Was there someone to make her dinner? Because she wasn't well enough to do it. He'd make it if he had to. Did she want him to?

It was never-ending. The man was honestly worried about Mirajane. Orion couldn't hate him for it. He tried. Really, he did. Grumbled about how if he cared so much, he wouldn't have been so absentee in their lives for so long.

That was the thing though. The one hang up. He hadn't been. At all. He'd been around Orion since he could remember. And, if his words were true, been paying his mother jewels the entire time to help with bills and toys and whatever else the boy wanted. Imagine his surprise when his mother told him that, actually, that nice, shiny red bike he'd wanted when he was seven was bought with the jewels Laxus had given her purely for that reason.

Not to mention the fact that the man, apparently, was only out of his mother's life in tiny intervals. They were routinely together behind his back for years. So there was no way to say that the relationship was dead or even that Laxus had neglected it.

They were together. His parents were. He was pretty sure most people would be excited about that, but he just couldn't force himself to be. He was angry. He was upset. He was confused. He was hurt. But he wasn't happy. And he couldn't fake it. Not even for his mother.

She didn't want to take him up on his suggestion at first, that she and Laxus try dating. She only told him that she had much more important things on her mind then and that she knew that it still made him uncomfortable, regardless of his insistence otherwise.

So it took a lot more sucking up of pride when Orion went to Laxus personally one day at the guildhall and spoke to him.

The Master was filling out some forms at a table, off by himself, and didn't seem to be in too good a mood. It was usually rather easy to judge whether he was or not. If he was, then he'd have the Thunder Legion hanging off him or would sit up at the bar, where he could talk to Mirajane. That day, Mira was sick at home and, though Evergreen was around, Laxus sat alone.

Orion didn't know why, but he felt a tightness in his chest as he approached his master and it only grew as he came to a stop in front of the table, his heavy boots thudding loudly before they got there. There was no way that Laxus didn't know someone was coming over to him and, slowly, the man looked up.

They just stared at one another for a moment and Orion hated that tug he felt. The one he always felt. His idol was disgraced, fine, but for so long he'd been held in such a high esteem that it was hard to see him otherwise.

"Yes?" Laxus finally prompted when Orion only stared him. "Did you need something?"

He felt like a child again, addressing an unapproachable man. His hero. Needless to say, Orion's throat felt as if it was housing his stomach.

"You can date my mom."

That's not what he wanted to say. At all. But just talking to the man was unfeasible and, really, that would have been the gist of what he wanted to say. He just wished that it had been said in a much less childish way.

"What?" Laxus was understandably confused. "Orion-"

"You just can," he insisted before turning away. "But you better do it right if you're going to. Because I'm S-Class now too. And I could take your ass out if I wanted."

There. The end was a little better (not by much). Laxus didn't try and stop him either from walking off. Just let him go. And, not a week and a half later, Mira asked him if he was really okay with it before she went off on her first date with Laxus.

And man if he didn't have to bite his tongue. A lot. As the dates shifted from weekly to nearly every night, maybe with a day or so in between, it was like Orion couldn't escape his parents love. Laxus started buying her gifts not soon after that. And, of course, somehow figured it was a good idea to buy Orion things as well.

It was not.

If there was anything that Orion picked up from the man, it was his stubbornness. He refused to use, look at, or even ride (the guy bought a motorcycle, claiming it was for himself, but left it parked over at Mira's and hinted at Orion frequently he could borrow it) anything that came from his father. He couldn't be bought.

That didn't stop Laxus from giving him things. And, even though the teen wasn't around much, off on jobs or visiting his girlfriend, the influx of gifts never ceased. Laxus would just leave things in his bedroom. And, when Orion complained to Mirajane that that was an invasion of privacy and there was no way that Laxus should be allowed access to his room, the man just started leaving the gifts on the kitchen table, or in front of his bedroom door.

Laxus was nothing if not persistent. He seemed determined to at least make Orion acknowledge him, but he refused. He couldn't.

He wouldn't.

Time went on. Mirajane didn't seem to be getting any better and, after around seven moths of dating, Laxus went to Orion and told him that he wanted to ask Mirajane to marry him.

He about hit the man. Really, he did. What did he want him to do with that information? Huh? What could he do with it? He hated Laxus. He blamed Laxus for ruining everything. And his mother wasn't well enough for such a thing anyways.

But Laxus insisted that that last one was why he wanted to do it. She'd never made it clear to him, fine, but she did want to be married. She always had. It was one of the things that she'd dreamed about forever. And Laxus let it slip also that she wanted to have another child and was fearful of what Orion would think.

Which, by the way, Orion wouldn't care about. Not really. Had it been with anyone else. Some other guy who, maybe, he grew to respect or at least like and that treated her well (like Laxus was) and that there was no animosity towards. If that was what Mirajane wanted then how could he complain? She'd given up years raising him alone. All by herself. If she wanted to be married and happy and have another kid, he didn't take it as an insult at him. He knew that she loved him. It was just her going after what most people did. A happy family.

But Laxus? Seriously? The man that had shattered that chance before? Over a curse? A damn curse?

Orion didn't want to tell him okay. He could tell that's what Laxus wanted and, really, he didn't want to give anything to the man. But once again, taking away from his father would only result in hurting his mother. And, after holding out for awhile, he had no choice, but to cave.

It wasn't like a ring and a ceremony would make things any different. Laxus was already staying the night. Mira had run that by him first too. He knew, of course, that she and Laxus were sleeping together. She'd been staying over at his apartment before the first time she asked if it would bother him, Laxus coming around the house, and though it annoyed and disgusted him, he only shrugged at the question. What else could he do?

Mira was very courteous to him though. Of course. She never had Laxus over when he was around. Or at least tried not to. He would only spend the night if Orion was out on a job though, more than once, he'd come home to find the man's jacket or boots somewhere in the living room which made him gag before rushing to his own room to throw the covers over his head and hope that Laxus just left in the morning.

He never did. They almost always had some sort of run-in when daybreak came. Either Orion would be leaving the shower at the same time Laxus was coming out of Mira's room or they'd both somehow end up in the kitchen, looking for something to eat. It was horribly awkward, especially because Laxus was intent on making small talk with him during those times and just…ugh. It was hell. Torture. Unadulterated.

To make matters worse, after the engagement, Laxus and Mira decided it was time to tackle living together. As he understood it, the two of them never had and, though Mira asked him first, again, it was impossible to make a complaint. How could he? He was trying more and more to just not be at the house, but that also was keeping him further and further away from his mother. It was impossible to balance.

Add on top of that that Laxus had, at some point, told Mirajane that Orion was seeing some girl in some other town and, well, there was just no way to be around the house. Mira was always asking about her and wanting to meet her and getting on his nerves with her extremely personal and gauche questions that, sure, as his parent she probably had a right to know, but that she couldn't bring herself to ask directly and he didn't ever feel much up for answering.

Not that things were easy on that front either. It wasn't long after Mirajane and Laxus' wedding that Orion just got so hard to deal with (he was never in a good mood, hardly came around, and when he did, he just wanted to rant about his father), that he finally got broken up with. As if he needed another problem in his life.

He got to a point where he didn't even want to go home. He just took jobs constantly, only staying in Magnolia long enough to check in with Mirajane and, maybe, Erza or one of his aunts. He didn't care about much else.

Mirajane only got worse, it seemed, as time progressed. There was no cure for her ailments and, eventually, she'd only manage to go down to the hall once or twice a week. She mostly just stayed home, miserable and alone. Orion was gone on jobs and Laxus had to go to the hall. He was the Master.

She finally had both her boys, but she couldn't ever find time to be with either of them. It was maddening.

Orion figured that was why she was so excited when she got pregnant some months later. And it was. Partially. Of course a big part of it was that she'd always wanted to have another child, but the idea of having something to do during the day was great. Laxus didn't seem to think the same way though.

They'd argued over even trying for another child, before he proposed. He claimed that the curse was already in effect (bleh) and that having another baby might speed things along. She only told him that if what he was saying was true and she was cursed, it wouldn't be getting any better. And she wanted another baby. She always had. If he couldn't' give that to her, then what was the point of toying around with one another?

She got her way, of course, in the end, but did hate to admit that he had been right about something. The pregnancy weakened her. A lot. Not that she would say it had anything to do with the curse, but really the cause didn't matter. Being pregnant on top of having her energy drained constantly to begin with wasn't easy. And those final months had been unbearable. Mira just had to keep reminding herself of the end result that she desired so much to keep her spirits high.

Laxus tried to gather enthusiasm as well. It wasn't easy. Orion's resistance to him was still bothering the man deeply. He wasn't sure how he could deal with another child, a baby at that, when he couldn't even get his other one to talk to him. Look at him. Acknowledge his presence. How could he possibly keep a baby under control with that on his plate?

Not to mention, he hated seeing Mira the way she was. She was clearly sick and the pregnancy hadn't helped anything. There was nothing he could do, of course, but hope for the best. He tried a thousand things, spells, chants, whatever to get rid of the curse. But to no avail.

Mira was leaving him. He just knew it. All he could hope for was that he had her for another year or so and that his baby was healthy. With Mirajane refusing the validity of the curse and calling it poor coincidence that she was sick at the same time Orion found out, there wasn't much else Laxus could do for her. He felt helpless. And hopeless.

And then his daughter was born. Not that it brought any of the attention off the fact that Mirajane was only continuing to get worse or that Orion was even more distant, but it was definitely a silver lining in all of it. She was so perfect. She exhausted him, honestly, as Mirajane was frequently too tired or sickly to deal with her, and though Lisanna and the Thunder Legion were over frequently, late nights were left for him.

Mirajane tried hard to help out though. She wanted to do everything she could. After all, she knew for certain that it would be her last child and, well, that made everything that much more special.

And, in the back of her mind, though she was stark against the idea of a curse being the cause of her ailment, she knew that her time was short. It had been for awhile. She didn't know how much longer she had and every moment she did she wanted spent with her baby. And Orion, when he was around.

The weaker she got, the more he was. Mirajane could tell though that that wasn't any fun for him. He was young. It wasn't fair to waste his youth on sitting around the house with her, recanting old stories and memories, forcing him to help her tend to his younger sister. She didn't want him to resent any missed opportunities because of her.

He felt the exact opposite. He could tell, even though he didn't like to think about it, that the time was short. Orion loved his mother and the worst part of it all was watching her deteriorate. Maybe even worse than knowing that he caused it.

Not that he liked the idea of a curse, but it wasn't like he could escape it either. Since Laxus planted it in his brain, it had only festered. Of course, he could never be for certain, but what in life was?

It had been such an insurmountable loss, losing the Master the way he had, but his mother… He couldn't even fathom it. She was all he had. She'd always been all he had.

But she was insistent that that wasn't true. He had his aunts and uncle and all of Fairy Tail, really. And, she was always quick to say, he'd always have Laxus. He might not want him, he might never again, but he was always there.

"One day, Ori," she'd whisper to him when they were alone. "You'll wish that you gave him a second chance. He never did any of this to hurt you. He couldn't even stay away from you. Even now he can't. Please, the only thing I want now is for the two of you to come together. To be together. Please."

"Don't talk like that," he'd grumbled back. "The only thing you want. You have a thousand wants. And you have years to get them all done. So don't say otherwise."

But she didn't. And, when Mirajane reached the pinnacle of her sickness, Orion could hardly stand to see her. At the same time, however, he couldn't stand to leave her. He was certain that most everyone felt that way. All of her friends visited frequently and her siblings hardly ever left the house. Laxus, well, he was just as stoic as ever, but Mira told Orion that was because he was hurt. Crushed. He felt like he'd caused it all.

"He did," Orion hissed under his breath once. "He- Hey!"

He was sitting at her bedside as his younger sister sat in their mother's lap, but that didn't stop Mirajane from reaching over and slapping his cheek, if only slightly.

"Don't say that," she told him harshly with a frown. It was hard to even stare her in the eyes anymore. If she'd been pale her entire life, she was almost ghastly then. And she couldn't keep any weight on. She hadn't been eating right in months. He couldn't fight with her at that point. He hadn't been able to in a long time. "Don't ever say that."

"But it's true," he insisted. "If he didn't then, well, I did."

"You've never done anything," she told him then. "I promise you. You've only ever made my life better. I love you."

And he hated it, every time she told him that because all he could do was worry that it would be the last time. Every time they talked he worried that it would be the last time. He didn't want any last times. He wanted forever.

But no one was granted that.

It finally came, not soon after that. His mother's passing. He hadn't cried that openly over something in years. It wasn't fair. How could you only ever have one person there for you your entire life and then lose them? What was he supposed to do?

What were any of them supposed to do?

He couldn't be in the house after that. Even though it had been his home since he was born, he couldn't stand the thought of staying in it. After all, with his mother gone, it didn't belong to the Strauss family anymore. It belonged to the Dreyars. Laxus and his sister. He wasn't one of them. And he refused to ever be associated with them.

He went to stay with Erza. She was nice enough. She'd let him stay there since the funeral and then afterwards. In her own weird, straight-forward way, she was very comforting. He could tell that all she wanted was for him to feel better, but he didn't think he ever would again.

It had been so horrible. Her funeral. He was supposed to stand with Laxus, but he couldn't. He couldn't be with any of them. He was mad at everyone. And it was worse than when Makarov had died because his mom wasn't there to explain it all away. Make it all better.

He'd been wrong before. He wasn't alone when the Master left him. But he was then. He figured he'd better just get used to it. Solitude. He'd be stuck in it for the rest of his life.

Not that Laxus felt any better. For something that he'd been avoiding, something he'd known was coming for years, Mira's death blindsided him. As if something had been taken from him and all he could do was watch it happen from behind glass.

There was the guild, for one, that he still had to run. And then there was Orion who, no matter how much he wasn't, felt orphaned and alone. Then, of course, there was his one-year-old daughter who just…cried constantly. He couldn't get away from it. Had she always been that loud? Or had he just not been listening before?

It felt selfish then. All of it did. Having Orion for starters, but then going back and having another child that he'd known would just be motherless in the end. It felt like he and Mira had only been thinking of themselves. And hadn't they? What was Laxus supposed to do with a child, all by himself? When he felt broken to begin with?

Lisanna kept the baby that first week as Laxus just laid around the house, not doing much. All those years of watching Mirajane raise Orion alone, he'd felt…cold. Alienated. But he hadn't been at all. He'd gotten the demon and the boy and everything had been perfect.

Why had he ever tried to have more? Now he really was alone. He didn't know the boy at all anymore and his daughter, well, what was he supposed to do? Mira had cut and run, but he was still there, with an unwinnable situation. How could he handle it all alone?

But then he reminded himself that that was exactly how Mira had felt, all those years. She'd been alone. Sidelined. But she'd figured it all out. He just had to figure it out. That was all.

Orion, however, was figuring a way out. He didn't want to be in Fairy Tail anymore. He didn't want Magnolia or his aunts or his uncle or anyone else. What had they done for him? Huh? Or his mother? He hated them all. More than he ever had before. They'd seen where everything was heading and had never stopped it.

Worst of all, it entered his mind at times that his mother was just as guilty. And wasn't she? Had she not ever pictured where things with Laxus would get them? Curse or no curse, she'd been the one to bring Orion into the world only to completely fuck his life up. And for what? Some stupid guy?

He hated her. He really did. Sometimes. When it was dark and he wanted her to sing to him or tell him a story or just that it would be okay. That's what everyone kept saying. That it would be okay.

But it wouldn't be. How could it be? When your entire life was shattered for, really, no reason at all?

By the third week, Erza told him that he should take a job.

"Not a hard one," she said as he sat at the kitchen table, head rested on it while he stared blankly at the plate of eggs she'd sat in front of him. "Just something to take your mind off things."

There wasn't a job big enough to take his mind off what he was going through. He had no friends, he had no mother, he didn't want the family he did have.

What was left? He'd accomplished his dream early, of being S-Class. He had no other aspirations. Though killing Laxus sounded nice, he'd never see that coming to fruition.

The only thing left for him in Magnolia, really, was his mother. Or at least a promise he'd made to her. He said that he'd always take care of his sister. She'd about cried to him that that was all she wanted from him. That and to be happy. Those two things. That even if it didn't work out with him and Laxus, even if they couldn't at least become friends, then she wanted him to at least love his sister. To take care of her.

And what could he say? Huh? Other than yes? Swear to it. He couldn't break the final promise he made with his mother, could he?

It wasn't fair. None of it was, of course, but that in particular. That she just got to leave all those expectations on him. He hadn't asked for a sister. He didn't want one. He didn't want a family. Not without her. How could he? She'd been his world for years. Forever. Now he was supposed to just forget her and move on? Stay in the same damn place that he'd seen her everyday, so that he could be haunted by her memory constantly?

The whole thing felt cruel. Like a sick, cruel joke. Everything he ever asked for, a father, Laxus, S-Class, all coming on him at once only for the most important thing in the world be taken from him as retribution. Equal carnage for the bitter rewards he'd reaped.

What had he ever done then? Huh? To life? That it would treat him that way? That it hated him so much? What?

He couldn't take it anymore. By the middle of the third week, he decided to just go. He didn't want to be there anymore. He didn't want to be anywhere near Magnolia. His mother's wishes be damned. He couldn't stand Laxus, he didn't want a sister, and hell, if she wasn't there, he didn't want any his family. It was an all or nothing deal.

Facing Erza though was a no go. He couldn't imagine telling her that he was leaving Fairy Tail. That she'd spent all that time training him so that he could just run for the hills when it got hard. That the thing that she loved more than anything was just a caustic sore in his mind that had caused him nothing, but pain.

That she'd failed. That they'd all failed. He couldn't handle other people. He wasn't any good at it. He wasn't his mother. And that he couldn't stand to think about her anymore.

So he left in the middle of the night. Packed up the few things he'd taken over to her place and set out. He never wanted to see that town again. And he never planned to. He'd go far. Maybe a whole other country. Never look back. The past was dead. He could survive on his own.

What other choice did he have?

But he couldn't just leave without seeing her one more time. Or, rather, going to her grave. His mother's. And the Master's. He had to see them. Just one more time. Tell them goodbye.

They were the only ones that deserved it.

The graveyard, understandably, was empty when he got there. It felt eerie too, though he was nearly certain that it had less to do with the dead and more to do with the church looming in the background.

Master's grave was where he went first. He wasn't sure what to say. A few years had passed since the man's death and he'd come to grips in with it along the way. Still, he only rested a hand over the stone and mumbled a prayer for his soul before moving onto his mother's.

He hated it too. Seeing it. Just the sight of the name Dreyar on the end of her name pissed him off. Because she wasn't one. She wasn't! She was a Strauss and so was he and they always had been and why would she ever let them think differently?

What had Laxus given them? Other than turmoil? Nothing! He was just a jerk. A pompous, idiotic jerk who bought his own rhetoric about how great he was. He was one of those damn slayers. Those stupid, cocky slayers with their damn kids that were never nice to Orion, why? What was so wrong with him, huh? What was so bad about him that no one ever wanted him? That no one ever wanted to be around him? Was he that horrible? That even his father didn't want him? And his mother would choose the man over him?

Was he?

Orion hadn't realized it until he felt the soft grass beneath his knees that he'd fallen to them. That he was sobbing. Again. He should have been out of tears by then. Why wasn't he out of tears? He felt so foolish, out there in the open, in the middle of the night, crying over his mother's grave.

He felt weak. And alone. But hadn't he always been? Weak? And alone? Why should then feel any different?

Somehow he lost hours out there. Just sobbing and mourning and feeling sorry for himself. It was pathetic. Something he'd look down on someone else for. Pity someone else for. But there he was doing it. Living it. He was worthless. He was utterly worthless.

No wonder Laxus had never wanted him.

And that was how he found himself, sitting there in the desolate place, not even with his mother's spirit it felt like, just completely isolated from the rest of the world, recalling a thousand memories as they flashed before his eyes. From his mother's smile to what she'd looked like in her casket, all intermingled with thoughts about Laxus and how, no matter what he said, it still hurt, it would always hurt, or that he wanted his aunts to know that even though he was leaving, even though he thought he'd hated them, he couldn't. He never would. Or his Uncle Elf. And Bickslow'd taught him a lot. Did he remember all he'd passed on to him? Because Orion did. He remembered it all. What about Erza? Did she get that she'd been put on the same shelf as his mother? That he loved her just as much? That she meant just as much? And what about the way that his sister would never know him, but what did Orion care? Huh? What difference did it make? What was she to him, but just another way that Laxus had taken his mother from him?

It was a shock to him, when the sun came up. He'd watched it, of course, the sky turn from it's darkness to light blues and then reds.

That, however, wasn't what disturbed him.

"What are you doing out here?"

It was Radic, actually. The older teen was out there, arms full of what looked like gardening supplies, standing over Orion. He only blinked up at him, eyes still filled with tears.

He hadn't seen the other teen recently other than at the funeral. Since the Master's, they'd both steered clear of one another. Radic was around less even than Orion. Honestly, as he was sitting there on his knees, it hit Orion that Radic probably wasn't even a teen anymore. He'd probably finally hit twenty. At least.

And they only stared at one another for a few minutes. Radic's red eyes dead as they stared at the overly emotional blues that Orion was sporting. Time seemed just as frozen for the younger of the two as it had the whole night.

"It's honestly sorry," Radic said after awhile. "That you're still out here crying over her."

Orion couldn't breathe. He didn't know what to do. He wanted to kill him. Murder him. And what better place? But he could only sit and stare.

"She's dead, dumbass." And then he was dropping those gardening supplies. "You think that she'd want you to sit out here for the rest of forever? Huh?"

The most astounding thing he did though was hold a hand out to Orion then. It had to be for the first time in their entire lives. For a moment, Orion wasn't going to take it. Then something crossed his mind, if only for a moment.

It's just a hand.

Slowly, he reached out. And, when he did, Radic only held him in a vice like grip before pulling him stumbling to his feet.

"You should go home," the older of the two said after they stood there for a moment or so, awkwardly. "You-"

"I can't." And he hated it, the way his voice broke. But Orion couldn't help it. Hell, if he could, there's no way he wouldn't have. "I just can't."

"Of course you can," Radic grumbled then, still just staring him in the eyes. They hadn't had that much eye contact in, really, ever. "If you can sit around in a dank cemetery, I'm sure you can brave your own house."

When Orion shook his head, Radic only looked off and sighed. It was clear that he just didn't know what to do with the other guy. That was all. Radic didn't care about him. Of course not. Orion wasn't foolish enough to think that. But it was just like it'd been that day when he was sitting on the cot and Orion had the upper hand. No matter how cutthroat they were with one another, how ruthless, when it was over, it was over.

And it was over.

"Look," the dark headed one tried once more. "Your old man ain't doin' so well. And I get that you hate him. I hate mine. But if he was in as bad a shape as yours was, I'd at least go be around him some. I mean, what do you have left?"

Orion just stared for a moment before saying, "What difference does it make to you?"

"Well, for one, I ain't exactly his favorite person over at the hall," he pointed out. "And I don't think I'll be yours. He starts gettin' these crazy ideas in his head about havin' you like him and kicks me out to help that along, I don't think my pops'll be too happy with me."

"He's an asshole."

"Yeah." Radic even nodded. "But it don't stop you none from wanting to please him, does it? Least it never has me."

And, with that, Radic held out his hand again. That time though, it was just to reach over and punch the other boy in the arm. It stung. He hadn't held back. Then again, he never had.

"Come on," he said as he turned then to walk off. "I gotta head down that way anyways."

That was a lie. There was no way that it wasn't. Radic had clearly been heading to the cemetery to do maintenance or something. He'd have no reason to leave.

But he walked with Orion across town anyways. And it made no sense. Any of it. Did the other guy feel…pity? Or had he changed? Granted, they'd never been close and even less so over the past few years, but change just didn't seem to be something he went for so easily.

And it wasn't. As they went along, Radic grumbled out over the silence what exactly he was doing out in the cemetery.

It was community service of sorts. He'd had a rough couple of two years as well, it seemed. His temperament out on jobs had not been appreciated by local villages and they'd written to the guild. That on top of some property damage he'd done around Magnolia left the Master with a very stern warning. Shape up or ship out.

For some reason, Radic didn't seem to like the latter.

Orion always figured he'd do better with another guild, perhaps even a dark one, where his violent tendencies would be appreciated, but Radic didn't seem to see it that way.

"I've only ever lived here," he admitted quietly at one point, as they walked along in the early morning streets. "I don't have anywhere else to go. All I have is my mother and father."

The words sounded so cowardly, but Orion returned the same sentiment. They were brought up in the guild. And even though he'd been ready to leave before, many times actually, the thought was petrifying. The unknown was, well, unknown. And what happened to you out there held the same name.

"So they told me, the city, that if I couldn't pay to fix the shit I've wrecked, then I owed them," Radic finished. "Big. Now I'm stuck with stupid duties like trash clean up after parades and other shit like that. The worst is tending to the local graveyards. I hate it. It's too damn creepy. And I'm supposed to go out there early in the morning, around dawn. You know, when no one else is around. So no one sees me or whatever." Then he snickered. It sounded so much like the man that he hated that it was almost creepy to Orion. Gihi. Gihi. Did he sound like Laxus when he laughed? He hoped not. "'cept now I guess I gotta go earlier. Huh? Beat out people like you."

Orion didn't know why he walked all that way with Radic. Maybe it was his exhaustion. His mind was mush and he had no choice anyhow. It was either that or be the loser in the graveyard with tearstained cheeks, mumbling to himself incoherently.

He felt odd, too, when they finally got to his house. He and Radic just stood there for a moment or two, staring up at it. The place looked the same. But it sure didn't feel the same.

Had he not cried so much before, Orion might have started tearing up again.

"Well," Radic grumbled finally. "I got some graves and flowers to tend to, yeah?"

Slowly, Orion swallowed before nodding. And even though he didn't speak, Radic still glanced at him.

"It ain't the same without her," he said softly then as he turned to walk off. "And it never will be again. So you just gotta find a new same to look forward to. Even if it sucks ass."

And he knew that was the closest to a condolence he'd ever get from the other guy, so he left it at that. The next time they saw one another, Orion knew it would be different. They'd be back to either avoidance or pure hatred. Even though he reviled the other guy immensely, he hoped that the situation was never reversed.

He truly didn't wish what he was feeling on anyone.

Not even Radic.

The door was unlocked when he got to it. And, pushing in, Orion wasn't ready for what he saw.

He'd never seen Laxus cry before. Honest, he hadn't. Not at Makarov's funeral or his mother's. Never. But there he was, lying on the living room floor, openly doing so.

It wasn't sobs. It hadn't been for the past few days. In fact, the night before, he'd gotten through it without a single tear.

But something hit him that morning, as he lay on the living room floor, trying to play with his daughter, but failing miserably. She was just happily sitting there, next to her father, enjoying her blocks in the oblivious way that only someone so young could possess.

If staring at Radic had been hard, looking Laxus in the eyes then was worse. They were bloodshot and he looked miserable. Orion hated that he looked that miserable. It completely destroyed the desperate opinion that he wanted to keep of the man. As some sort of villain that had not only taken his mother from him, but been the direct cause of her death.

Laxus looked just as devastated as Orion. Just in different ways. He hadn't shaved, didn't look like he'd showered, and, honestly, didn't smell all that great. The past few weeks had been just as hellish for him, after all. As much as Orion didn't like to admit it, he'd lost someone too.

They all had. Not just him.

The first thing that the man took notice of, Orion was sure, was that he had his bag with him. He had to think that he was coming home. Not realizing that he'd been planning on skipping town without a word. He must have thought that he'd come back to him. That he wanted him.

But he didn't. No way did he. Because he didn't need Laxus. He didn't want Laxus. He wanted his mother. All he'd ever wanted was his mother. Why hadn't he only just wanted his mother? Huh? Why had he ever longed for a father? When all having one did was burn him?

Laxus just lay there too, on his stomach, as he watched the front door. Orion was still half out it, as if the sight of his father had shocked him. And it kind of had, honestly.

The biggest surprise, though, was that it was still there. Underneath it all, it was still tugging. All of it. He just wanted his hero back. His idol.

Why couldn't he have that?

Because it had been obliterated. His entire opinion of the man had been so darkened that there was no way to rectify it. None.

Laxus knew that. He knew that he could never make it up to him. Any of it. No matter how much he wanted to. And it just wasn't for Mira's sake. It never had been. He just wanted his boy back.

Why couldn't he have that?

It took a bit for Orion to slowly come into the house, the door closing behind him. And Laxus could only stare as, slowly, he came closer.

"I was gonna leave."

The man blinked before, slowly, nodding. He didn't speak though.

"But I can't." And, slowly, he dropped his bag as well as took off his quiver, leaving his bow down on the ground as well. "I just can't."

If Radic was confusing that day, Orion felt completely disconcerting. What was he doing? He didn't even know. His words were just as much new to him as they were to Laxus.

"I told Mom that I wouldn't. And I won't break a promise to her just because she's not here." He moved then to lay down on the ground with his sister as well then. The baby grinned at him and made a noise of recognition before going right back what she was doing. "I won't leave Makaria just because you're here. I don't care that you're here. She's mine too."

The child made no glance at her name. She didn't usually. It was more for meaning and the connections that it held that it was chosen. Laxus and Mira had always called her by her nickname, Snow. That was what his mother said that she reminded her of, when she came out with that white tuff of hair and it just stuck. It used to make Laxus and Mira giggle to call her that.

Orion usually didn't call her much of anything.

"I know," Laxus whispered as he lay there, staring over at his son. He wasn't sure what else to do.

"I love her."

And Laxus took a breath then, glancing at the baby before back at the teen.

"Yeah," he whispered. "I do too."

Orion refused to look at him then, as he just kept staring at his younger sister. She looked happy. He wanted to be happy.

"I loved my mother."

And that was whispered. As it was hard for him to make that past tense. Was it supposed to be? Because he still loved her. He always would. Whether she was there or not.

"I loved her too, Orion. So much."

He thought that he was done crying. He should have been done crying. But the teen felt his body heave and, though no tears came out, Laxus saw it and knew what he was feeling. Swallowing then, the slayer paused, before adding softly,

"I love you."

It wasn't immediate, but then again, nothing would be from that point. There was years of mistrust and misplaced anger to be dealt with. Many more truth and confessions to come out. It would take years.

But Laxus had years. And he hoped that Orion was willing to hand over some of his as well.

He was still heaving, Orion was. It all felt like too much. And it was. There was just so much. How was he supposed to deal with all that? It all swirled around inside of him constantly. It had been his mother that always figured it out for him. Took all the muddled thoughts and put them in their proper places, separated and restored them. He couldn't do it alone. He didn't know how.

The baby glanced over at him then, the sounds he was making catching her attention. And it killed him, looking at her. Thinking about her. Thinking about anything, really. All of it was just so messed up.

Turning his head down, Orion shut his eyes tightly as it slipped out. His whole life was in shambles and he couldn't contain it anymore. Because hidden behind all the resentment, tumult, and strife the man had caused him, it still remained true. He didn't think it ever wouldn't be.

"I love you too."

And it sounded so pained, the way that he said it, that Laxus could only sit there for a moment, unsure of what to do. He wasn't a comforter. He didn't deal with crying. Maybe for his baby, but not for someone else. What was he supposed to do with Orion, as he laid there heaving, his voice strained as if he were dying?

He did the only thing that crossed his mind. He sat up on his knees and crossed the tiny space. And, when Orion lifted up, he moved to wrap his arms around him for the first time possibly ever.

Maybe it was what he should have been doing from the beginning. Holding him. Because it worked, if only for that moment. Orion clung to him and Laxus felt warm in a way he didn't think he would again.

"I know," he sighed as the boy continued to sob. "I've always known."

Orion would never get his hero back. But, if he wanted, and if they both worked at it, he could get Laxus back. Maybe not how he had him, not the way he wanted him, but it was the same on the slayer's side. The relationship they'd had before was fragmented. It would never be whole again. But they could piece what they could back together and, really, that was all Laxus wanted.

It was what Mira would have wanted. And, though neither would be doing it for her, both would admit that the thought alone made them at least somewhat happy.

But it wouldn't happen that day. Or the next. The whole month was shot. Maybe the year. Orion wasn't even sure if he could really live there with them, Snow and Laxus.

He could visit though. It'd always be his house. And Laxus promised that his room would always be his. It was his home. Above all else.

And it wasn't like the indignation was gone. Because it wasn't. He still hated Laxus. A big part of him did. Blamed him. Still though, he'd admitted it, not only to himself, but to the man in question, that he loved him. That floated to the top. It always would.

How could it not?

Laxus would wait for it to pass. As long as it took. Orion was just one of the tiny pieces of Mira that he still had. And, more than that, he was his son. He'd always been his son. Curse or no curse, he'd always loved the boy. With or without Mirajane.

It didn't make the crying jags stop. Didn't put Orion's mind at ease. Didn't stop keeping Laxus up at night, worrying about it. But, in that moment and many more to come later, it mended that moment. Because Orion was his boy. And Laxus was all he'd ever wanted for so long.

He had him then. Whether he liked it or not.

When they pulled back then though, from that awkward hug they were locked in, they both only stared at one another. Laxus was waiting for the boy to blow up at him again, but it didn't come. And Orion was waiting for the pain to wash away, but it never would.

So they just sat there on their knees, watching the other.

"P'ay?"

It was the sound of Snow talking though that made them both glance over at her, staring at her for a moment in shock, as if they'd forgotten she was there. Maybe they had.

Things weren't just about them though. Mira had left them both with the one thing that would bind them forever. A part of her that wouldn't be going away.

And, though it was more of with a grimace than a smile, Orion moved to lie back down and pick up one of her dolls for her, shaking it in the baby's face. She loved this, of course, and giggled loudly. Laxus sat there, watching, as his chest panged and he worried that he'd gone too far. Hugging him.

Had he just wrecked everything?

But then Orion was looking up at him and his eyes weren't full of hatred. Just normal, bloodshot eyes.

Voice hoarse, he whispered, "Aren't you going to play?"

It was his own turn to lie back down. Nodding all the while, he promised them both, "Always. I mean it, Orion. Always."

Even though he didn't want to and only hours before he wouldn't have, Orion believed him.

They loved one another. Always.

FF

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