#i thought i'd write it down
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Lily, oh Lily I just loathe you lately...
microfic - jegulily/regulily - 1.7k
 It started with a kiss.Â
One Regulus wasnât even included in. He wasnât even there, he didnât see it, and yet he replays it in his head almost constantly. Itâs the first thought he has in the morning, he carries it with him through lunch. White knuckles braced against the table as he stares longing towards the other side of the hall, his ears ringing and he canât hear anything anyone is trying to say to him. His friends all make comments but he doesnât notice them. His mind is too loud, thinking of soft skin and eyes that bite. He forgets his notes, it doesnât matter, theyâre not even there. He lays awake at night unable to close his eyes without thinking, thinking, thinking.Â
He should be thinking about James. He should be obsessively counting his every step. Itâs how this whole thing started. James is everything, he hung the moon, and every single star in the night sky. He walks around the halls calling out to everyone by name, his smile hung wide across his face. And yes, Regulus thinks of him. He thinks of his sweat covered skin as he skips off to the locker rooms after practice. He thinks of him drunkenly coming up to him, leaning close to his ear to whisper nonsense. Even if he canât understand it Regulus clings onto every single word. He thinks of how he looks in the morning, a sight Regulus has only seen a handful of times and yet he cherishes it like itâs the world. He thinks of his hair all messed up, and his eyes wide and soft like an infant. He thinks of him stretching out his exhaustion and the little moment his shirt lifts up to reveal whatâs underneath. He thinks and he thinks and he thinks, but heâs not looking over at him. Heâs looking at her.Â
The rumors of James Potter and Lily Evans finally working it out spread like wildfire. Itâs embers branching out until there wasnât a single person who didnât know about it. Their kiss happened in the middle of the Gryffindor common room, apparently no one was there, but there are always sources. Always whispers. Regulus woke up to a burn to his cheek, and a crackling outside of his window. His friends looked over at him, pity drowning in their eyes, but none of them said anything. None of them knew how. It was Pandora who finally brought him over, holding his hands gently as she broke him the news. He canât remember his reaction. He just remembers the moment his face dropped, but he wasnât thinking of him, he was thinking about her.Â
He never minded Lily Evans before, he barely gave her a second glance. He saw her sometimes in the library, she always sat alone, pushed in the back. Even in the darkest parts of the castle the sunlight always tended to reach her. It covered her and highlighted every freckle on her face. Her eyes were always soft with contemplation, but Regulus didnât care for her much. He always heard about Jamesâ crush on her, of course he did, but he never cared. He didnât think it would go anywhere. He thought to himself Lily Evans was as blind as a person can be for rejecting James. He could never understand it. How could she get James to even so much as look at her and not truly understand what that meant. How much other people would die for him to look at them like that. Resentment climbed in his liver, it overwhelmed him. Before it was a scoff at any remark. It was an eye roll at the stupidity of Lily for thinking James would just be there when she realized how daft she was truly being.Â
Though the only stupid person truly was Regulus, for James was there waiting for when Lily finally opened her eyes. He was there to chase after her, like the tail-end of a shooting star. James ran circles around her, watching her like she was everything, like she was his entire world. He held open every single door for her. Heâd make himself bleed for an ounce of her attention, and she never never cared. She never cared before now, but Regulus has been here. Heâs been here and Lily just walked the epitome of angel dust to smile and beckon James over to her like heâs a dog on a leash sheâs holding.Â
âRegulus,â Pandoraâs voice catches him out of his retched mind.Â
âWhat?â Regulus snaps, not taking his eyes off her. Her with her perfect skin. Her with her perfect everything.Â
âYouâre going to drill a hole in her head, you know,â She comments.Â
Regulus finally releases his gaze, âWhat are you talking about?âÂ
Itâs just the two of them. Barty and Evan ran off somewhere, and Dorcas well sheâs always with Marlene now anyway. Pandora looks over at him softly, her eyes filled with pity, âYou donât have to pretend youâre looking at James when itâs just me.âÂ
Regulus furrows his eyebrows, shaking his head, âIâm not just looking at her.âÂ
âYouâre looking at both of them?â Pandora suggests.Â
âYeah,â Regulus answers, lies dripping from his mouth.Â
Pandora smiles, âJames walked away five minutes ago.âÂ
Regulus head whips aside to find her right. Itâs only Lily, laughing at something one of her friends are telling her. She throws her head back like sheâs a little kid. Coated in innocence in a kind of nostalgia not many people can reach towards. Sunlight nips at her face as her nose crinkles in a laugh. Her beauty endless, itâs like a knife to Regulusâ skin. Every perfection he finds in her is a scar on him.Â
âRegulus?â Pandora calls out again, as if sheâs talking to a child. âIs there something you need to tell me?âÂ
âLike what?â Regulus grumbles, looking back down at his plate, trying to fight the pull to look over at her. Itâs like heâs under a spell, heâs certain sheâs behind it. She wants him to look at her. She wants for all of this. Sheâs out to get him. He looks up again. Sheâs still sitting there. Why is she still there? Shouldnât she be off chasing after James? Shouldnât she be at his feet beck and call? Shouldnât she be giving him the world right now? Why is she still just sitting there?Â
Pandora hums, âNothing.âÂ
Regulus looks over at her, âWhatâs your problem?âÂ
âYouâre torturing yourself,â Pandora tells him.Â
Regulus hesitates, he opens his mouth to speak but no words come out. In any other world this would be torture. Heâs staring off at the girl whoâs got the one thing heâs been begging for his entire life. Heâs never wanted something as much as heâs wanted James. Looking over at Lily should be torture. It should kill him. It is. Itâs the sweetest kind of torture. Itâs a twisted lullaby. Itâs a stinging on his cheek.Â
âUnless,â Pandora starts, âYou want to be looking at her.âÂ
âI donât know what youâre talking about,â Regulus says quickly.Â
Pandora reaches out to grab his hand, âIâm gonna hold your hand while I tell you this.âÂ
âShut the fuck up,â Regulus tries to cut her off but when Pandora gets something in her mind itâs hard to resist it.Â
âI did it with James,â Pandora explains quickly. âIâll do the same now. Youâre in love with Lily Evans.âÂ
âI am not in love with Lily Evans,â Regulus argues.Â
Pandora narrows her eyes, âYouâre not?âÂ
âNo.âÂ
âWhy are you staring at her?â Pandora asks.Â
âSheâs with James,â Regulus answers weakly.Â
âWhy arenât you watching him then?â Pandora questions. âDo you even know where he is? You used to always know, you used to have his schedule perfect.âÂ
Regulus shrugs, âIâve gotten busy.âÂ
âRight,â Pandora scoffs. âSo you wouldnât mind if I called her over here.âÂ
âPanââÂ
Before he can even finish Pandora is raising her hand. Shouting out across the hall, âHey, Evans!âÂ
Regulus scrambles for something to hold, to bring Pandoraâs hand down and stop her from this, but it doesnât do any good. Lilyâs already looking over, her eyes dazzling in the sun. The rest happens like a dream as she leans over to her friends explaining that sheâll be going. She walks over on clouds and then sheâs in front of him. His stomach ties itself together. His mouth opens but nothing comes out.Â
âHey,â Lily says, leaning across the bench to put her hands on the table. Her perfume reaches Regulusâ nose and itâs overwhelming, itâs making him slip back, like heâs in an ocean, drowning in all the waves.Â
âHi,â Pandora replies.Â
Both of their gazes go towards him, but Regulus is only looking at her.Â
Lily smiles with his silence, he wants to kill her. She looks away and he wants to kill her even more, âYou still working on that potion?âÂ
âYou know it,â Pandora tells her. âItâs close to being done now.âÂ
Regulus doesnât care what theyâre saying. He just watches Lily. He canât look away. Sheâs the greatest thing thatâs ever existed, and sheâs got James Potter wrapped around her finger. Its should be him.Â
She doesnât stay long. Before she leaves she looks back over at Regulus, âGoodbye, Regulus.âÂ
âBye,â he forces out, his tongue resting uncomfortably in his mouth.Â
She laughs, itâs as soft as fresh daisies and sheâs doing him in, âYouâre cute,â she says, like itâs nothing, like itâs not eating Regulus whole. âIâll see you two around.âÂ
Then sheâs gone again. Walking down the hall, her hair blowing behind her like a fucking magazine ad. There canât be someone that perfect. Sheâs just a person. Sheâs nobody. Sheâs the one James wants. She won his heart over. Sheâs the one lying beside him. And all Regulus wants is to lie when she lies. Lily Evans is poison and itâs slowly driving Regulus mad. Sheâs everywhere, like a call of the wind. Heâs nothing worshipping at her feet, it makes him uneasy.Â
âSo,â Pandora breaks the echoing silence. âNot in love.âÂ
Regulus swallows thickly, his eyes still stuck in the last place she was, even if sheâs moved on, âNot in love,â he forces out.Â
The ache is endless, and bullets line his skin. A scar for every beauty, for which Lily Evans has infinite.Â
#anyway while i'm logged in.... enjoy a draft#i was listening to lacy#and ive had this idea in my head for months#every time i listen to lacy i think of them#so idk#i thought i'd write it down#it's not long enough to go on ao3#it's really nothing#just an idea#so here you go#jegulily#regulily#tagging both because it's mainly just regulily#but#regulus wouldn't be in love with lily if it weren't for james#it only works when they're all together#anyway#yeah that's all#regulus black#lily evans#jegulily fic#regulily fic#microfic#alright#bye again#maybe#idk#in a weird mood :/
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I was talking with a friend the other day about how I was fascinated with American school life when I was a teen because it seemed so different from how things are in my country (I knew about US high schools thanks to Hollywood, an accurate and trustworthy source) and we talked about which aspects of US schools felt foreign or strange to us and one thing I brought up was, how American teens only seemed to have like 15min for lunch (I had 1h30 here in France), as evidenced by the cafeteria scenes (no one seemed to eat a proper four-course meal? I definitely never saw a separate cheese course), and I was like, I envied a lot of stuff about US schools but not this
... and I went looking in my old diaries to see if I ever wrote about this, and you know what? I was wrong. I did envy their school lunches which, like almost everything about US schools, felt intriguing and different and cool. The reason middle school-me thought American school lunches were superior to French ones is because, since American teens in TV shows only seemed to get like 4 chicken nuggets and a milk carton for lunch, their lunch tray was very light and they could hold it with one hand under it, the other hand in their pocket or holding their bag strap on their shoulder all casual-like. Sometimes there was no tray, even!
I envied these American teenagers for their lunchtime nonchalance. I would have liked to handle lunch in this cool-cat way but my French lunch tray being loaded with 4 different heavy and breakable plates, I had to hold it carefully with both hands. In my view this was unfair as the hindrance of governmental nutrition guidelines made French students look like uptight nerds, unable to strut around the cafeteria with one hand in our pocket like we didnât care. Same for the absence of lockers in our schools, we had to carry all our books on our back all day like studious turtles whilst the beautiful 25 year old American teens on my television casually leant against their lockers chatting with friends then strolled around school with just a couple of books tucked under their arm like they were in Dead Poets Society. Thank god there was an ocean between us, imagine a French kid entering a US school cafeteria carrying 3 binders and 5 textbooks in their big rucksack and holding their tray with two hands like a complete loser
Note that these comparisons are quite worthless since I don't know what US school life / food is like in the real world (I imagine it varies a lot!)âI just find it funny to re-read old diaries and discover what was important to kid-me. Discussing these little cultural differences gleaned from US TV series, adult!me is like "yeah I remember being intrigued & envious about a lot of things! Not their school lunches though, they didn't look balanced and nutritious"âmeanwhile middle school-me, focused on what mattered, was like, imagine what we could be... imagine being able to hold your lunch tray with 1 hand instead of 2 thus accessing a realm of coolness unfathomable to us in our backward country
#i'm glad i used to spend hours writing diaries... as a kid i never thought i'd enjoy re-reading them later i thought it'd be too mortifying#but no. i'm glad i wrote down for posterity the 4-page-long detailed account of how i embarrassed myself in front of my crush in 2005#crucial historical document. to me
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Levi: "I don't understand why you like someone as pathetic as me, I'm not that good at anything other then being a nasty useless otaku, (insert more self degrading here)."
Mc: *blank faced, moving sneakily close to Levi and picks him up bridal style*
Mc: "Snake <3."
Levi: *Stunned silent, he doesn't move for a few moments, then his tail curls around Mc's leg, and leans into their touch.*
Levi: "Y-yeah...."
#late night thoughts#obey me#obey me shall we date#obey me nightbringer#obey me!#obey me leviathan#obey me levi x mc#obey me levi x reader#obey me levi x you#obey me fluff#obey me x reader#Idk this scenario popped into my head#But it did#And I thought it was to cute to not not write down#so enjoy#Poor Levi needs some cuddles#Idk why but I like the idea that Levi curls his tail around Mc to ground himself#I'd let him do that anytime#idk what else to tag#obey me random#obey me rambles#Is this a ramble#i'm not sure#Mc is snake demon comfort item confirmed
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hobie brown!!!! the man that you are!!!!
#across the spider verse#atsv#hobie brown#my art#fanart#but genuinely from the moment I first saw fanart of this man I have not known peace. I'm obsessed w him#I thought I'd calm down after watching the movie but lmaooo#the way he's animated??? the way he's textured??? the way he's been designed???? his voice????#like he's SOOOOOOO handsome and funny and don't get me STARTED on his writing and character or we'll be here all night#also friends will know I'm a sucker for a rock band man so like I never stood a chance hskdglsjdfdklshg#spiderverse
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Due to recent experiences, I am feeling an urge to make an anti-drug-style PSA except it's warning impressionable machine-learning-curious teens to never, ever try a thing called "Huggingface transformers Trainer"
Not. Even. Once.
#and don't even get me started on âunslothâ#this week i learned what âunslothâ actually does when you import it and... man.#i thought i'd seen the worst of âhacky brittle 'it-just-works' (by doing the most cursed shit imaginable) ML python codeâ but no.#no. unsloth was Worse#and huggingface Trainer is bad enough by itself#did you know it has 131 (one hundred and thirty one!) config arguments and yet it cannot log *more than one loss number at once*#(for like multitask training or whatever)#i don't just mean it's hard to do - i mean its logging mechanism is built from the ground up on the assumption you would never do this.#you'd have to rewrite a bunch of internals to get it working - i.e. basically write a new nontrivial feature on HF's behalf#and just writing your own damn training loop is easier than that lol#it's not that hard kids. take it from me. dataset + dataloader + model(*args) + loss.backward() + opt.step() + opt.zero_grad(). that's it#it'll take you 30 minutes and save you a billion hours down the road#i do not understand computers#(is a category tag)
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"It's been quite a while since I got to see our counterparts like this, dearest," Anti-Cosmo remarked to Anti-Wanda. He grinned down at the three fairies in the cage beneath them. "Miserable."
"Shoot, it must've been at least twenty years!" Anti-Wanda remarked. "Longer for you two, though, huh?"
Cosmo cradled Peri's head in his lap, keeping him on his side so that he didn't choke if he vomited. Wanda sat next to her boys, rubbing a hand soothingly between Peri's wings, like she used to when he was a baby.
She felt close to tears. Her baby was so sick that she feared he wouldn't make it... And they had their anti-fairy counterparts to mock them through the whole awful ordeal.
"Don't you two have anything better to do?" Wanda snapped at them. "Terrorize someone else for a change! We're plenty miserable without you here."
"Oh, please don't think that we're trying to make you feel worse." Anti-Cosmo shook his head. "It's more like we're here to enjoy the show."
"I even made popcorn!" Saying that, Anti-Wanda procured a bag of popcorn. She held it out for Anti-Cosmo to help himself to a handful.
Wanda clenched her jaw in frustration. The smell of food just made Peri's convulsions worse. She shushed him, trying her best to be comforting as her son dry-heaved.
With shaky fingers, Cosmo brushed Peri's curly hair away from his sweaty forehead. He met Wanda's stare, his eyes tight with concern. "Wanda..." He started, but said nothing more.
What was there to say? What was there to do? They were trapped, and the situation was getting worse by the minute.
As a last, desperate bid for her son, Wanda cast her voice up to the anti-fairies. "Please, can't you at least ask Dev to make a wish? Something small! Peri has magical build-up, and he..." Wanda swallowed, unable to say it. "You don't want the same thing to happen to Irep, do you?"
Anti-Wanda hummed as she pretended to think about it. "Now, correct me if'n I'm wrong, darlin', but that ain't how anti-fairies work, innit?"
Anti-Cosmo adopted a similar look of faux thoughtfulness. "No, you're right, strumpet. I believe that anti-fairies aren't affected by their counterparts deaths, merely by any action which might undo their creation. So our precious child is going to be perfectly fine."
Something inside of Wanda shattered. All she could think was that this wasn't fair; she hadn't had enough time.
"Please..." She tried again anyway, because it was all that she could do. "Please don't let my son die."
Anti-Cosmo laughed. "Enough with the melodrama. I don't understand why you're making such a big deal out of this. You ought to be used to it. After all..." He adjusted his monocle, lips curling into a vicious smirk. "This isn't the first time you two have lost a son."
His words hit like a slap to the face. Wanda was too stunned to reply â torn between the urge to sob and the burning desire to kill someone.
Not a day went by in the last ten thousand years that Wanda hadn't thought about him. And now she was going to lose her youngest son, too. What had she done to deserve this? Why was fate so cruel?
Why did love always have to end in "goodbye"?
When he didn't receive a response, Anti-Cosmo huffed and turned away. "Look on the bright side â perhaps the loss of a child to bond over will be enough to keep your fragile relationship hanging on for another thousand years or so."
Anti-Wanda giggled, looping her arm through Anti-Cosmo's and leaning on his shoulder. "Give a holler when he's ready to pop, y'all! I love me a good confetti shower."
The two anti-fairies drifted away, cackling together. Wanda felt numb. She was so angry that she had looped right back around to feeling nothing. She was completely calm.
Cosmo reached over and took her hand, entwining their fingers. "What are we going to do?" He asked.
Wanda took a deep breath. She squeezed his hand back, placing her other hand on Peri's head. "Whatever we have to do to protect our son," she promised.
She had failed once already, and once was too much. Not again. Never again.
As long as Wanda still had the strength to flutter her wings, she was going to do everything in her power to defend her family.
AO3 link.
#fairly oddparents#anti cosmo#anti wanda#wanda fairywinkle cosma#cosmo cosma#poof cosma#timmy mention!!#my writing#this is set during the anw finale#idk it just came to me suddenly so i thought I'd jot it down#i think that the anti fairies should get to be smug and gloat about cosmo and wanda losing timmy idk
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Did you really think I wasn't going to inflict a dreadful colour scheme on him?
#what a frat boy#like Dino AU is so Peak#I'd hunt him down if I were Shivs too#no lies#I cannot wait to write about their adolescent shenanigans#this was so NOT the match Hammond had in mind for his nephew#I am so sorry Muldoon#you're the only sane man in this#one piece#one piece crossover#sir crocodile#buggy thoughts#crocaine#crocodile one piece#one piece crocodile#crocodile#imperial art farts#one piece x jurassic park#jurassic park crossover#fanart#traditional artist#coloured pencils#portrait drawing#op crocodile#crocodile op#sir crocodile one piece#crocodile fanart#one piece fanart
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So the Entity had its favorites on both sides. Dwight, the first proper Survivor, and then Kenneth for a while. At least until Danny came along and started showing off his creative methods of fucking with the Survivors during Trials. Seasoning that fear and despair with that extra helping of good stuff, ya know?
Anyway the main point.
You know on the flip side of that, the Entity had to have a least favorite. Someone it looked at and silently questioned, 'Why the fuck did I pick you up again?' Not outright hate, mind you. Just, like, a mild disinterest. Boredom. A kind of 'ooh shiny new toy annnnnnd I'm over it. Into the back of the closet to collect dust with you' kind of dislike.
Anyway, in this essay I'll go into absolutely no detail or depth on my thought process as to why I think it was Freddy and Quentin.
#my headcanons#dead by daylight#writing thoughts#the entity out there playing favorites like a kid with barbie dolls#I adore Quentin btw#this is not a hate post#he's baby leave him alone#I'd push Freddy down the stairs for a klondike bar tho#jk jk I have a special place in my heart for him too#quentin smith#the nightmare dbd#freddy krueger#dwight fairfield#dbd ghostface#danny johnson#the clown dbd#kenneth chase#the entity
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Something something Gideon always inevitably wakes up with Kremy on or curled up next to him because being cold-blooded he seeks out the literal furnace sleeping next to him every night.
Frost is usually nearby too, but only if they're sleeping outside and not in beds, he's not cold-blooded but he is a cat, of course he likes to be near a heater too.
And now that I think about it, Torbek would be there too, having gone through what he has and severly underweight, his circulation is terrible and despite having his own layer of fur, he just can't stay warm on his own, so he sleeps sandwiched between Gideon and Hootsie
Just. A whole cuddle puddle of all of them, Gricko curls up next to Hootsie, Twig sleeps under Gideons arm, and when Pigtunias around she acts as a pillow for him
I love cuddle puddles and I love characters who naturally make everyone more comfortable to sleep around them đđ
#tk speaks#legends of avantris#once upon a witchlight#ouaw#i have a migraine but this morning I'd started listening to episode 44 where they woke up after 'camping' in the woods#and i got on the thought of Kremy being cold-blooded and he's got a husband right there who's a natural source of a lot of heat#and i cant get it out of my head#and when writing it down i realized pretty much everyone else would benefit from him too#im so late to the fandom so im sure someone has already thought of this#but im still avoiding the tags for the most part so im staying out of spoilers#i want to finish this episode tonight but i also want to jam my head in the freezer cause it feels terrible
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there's a moment in lesson 45 of nightbringer where mc falls off a thing (again?? is this foreshadowing?? i'm going to rule-of-three this and wait to see if it happens again) and satan tries and fails to grab their hand to catch them, but now i'm imagining the same thing happening with satan and ik except he does succeed, but it's her right hand and the prosthetic just POP comes straight off
#nightbringer spoilers#ik is fine but satan is mildly traumatised#misc thoughts#obey me satan#couldn't sleep so i decided on a whim to do the lesson#i really wasn't planning to for a while after 44 and tbh that was the right decision#it feels like they just completely dumbed beel down?? and i can't tell if they're trying to telegraph that Something Is Wrong#or if they just totally forgot how to write him. which has been happening to him consistently since like s3#we did get more confirmation that simeon's going through smth... but this feels like it's shaping up to be another og s4#where the entire main-plot-that-should-probably-be-focused-on-simeon is just happening in the background while mc does side quests#and then they're gonna spring the twist on us right at the end or immediately before the climax without proper foreshadowing/building it up#i realise i'm being pessimistic here but i'm losing hope in this season with each lesson they release. and we're only 5 in#i'd be delighted to be proven wrong though
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And thus, with the passing of 24 hours, Caeru's ambition truly comes to an end. Major Nemesis spoilers below the cut- we're talking endgame ambition business here. Mostly on a character RP front.
The Doomed Scientist made quite a few... choice decisions, in the end. Killing Cups once and for all, recording his story as one of grief-
And sparing what little remained of Mr Mirrors, leaving it free to roam Parabola as it sees fit.
Some of them, he can explain. Others, he's still left to feel... discontent.
Cups needed to die. That much was certain from the start. It was a tyrant, as all Masters are, and complicit in the bargaining and eventual destruction of four (potentially five) cities, as all Masters are. It was an obstacle. A murderer. A petty monster that felt no remorse even on its deathbed, and it went out of its way to ruin multiple lives just because it felt owed its own sick and twisted idea of revenge.
It killed his first love. It looked him in the eyes and he knew what it had done and he knew from the start it was going to die.
Perhaps, in the end, it knew too. And yet it still pleaded, and wanted to live, and-
It made a bargain.
A bargain Caeru didn't take.
Not because he didn't want to. Gods, he wanted to. He wanted it. He wanted it more than anything else in the world. To have Greylu back, to give him the gift of life, of love, to show him the wonders of the Neath and the beauty of the correspondence and all of the people Caeru has met and loved and found home with along the way-
But. He couldn't.
Because Cups was a monster. And no matter what, it deserved to die. And he could not, in good conscience, allow it to live.
Even if sparing it meant everything he's ever wanted.
So he's left here, now. With a bloodied traveling coat, and a bloodsoaked knife, and a favor finally fulfilled.
And nothing to live for. No resurrected lover, no charming visits to Helicon, no slow dances in the living room, no memories to rebuild and lives to live and he won't live again-
Nothing. All he has is a coat born of obligation, not to his love, but to people he's never even met. To lives he's never even touched. To a paramour, still alive, with hair of rose-pink, who doesn't even remember her own brother's existence.
Cups didn't die for Caeru's sake. Cups died for the sake of all who wanted it dead. For the revenger's court, and the ghost screaming in his ear, and the reckoning that will not be postponed indefinitely.
And Caeru, who acted as a tool to carry out their wills? Who all but betrayed his own lover, just to satisfy a cause he never knew existed?
All Caeru is left with, is regret. Regret-
-And grief.
#yin-thoughts#fallen london#fallen london spoilers#nemesis spoilers#so! nemesis huh!#i have. a lot of thoughts#overall i think heart's desire remains closest to my heart#but that's almost certainly bc of the obvious ''you always remember your first'' bias#there's a lot of problems with nemesis that have been talked to death by other people way more eloquently than i could ever express#(the big notable stopgates littered throughout. the weird pacing at the end. the fact you never meet your actual nemesis til the finale)#but overall i still liked it a lot!! i loved it actually!!! it singlehandedly made me like cups as a master!!!!#not because of anything nemesis actually DID mind you. i just really liked making up things about it#in place of nemesis. actually featuring it.#which could either be a plus or a minus against the ambition depending on what angle you look at it from#but. yeah. i'd say i enjoyed it. i enjoyed it a whole bunch#and now that ive played 2 out of the 4 ambitions and my FL hyperfixation evidently isnt letting up#it's safe to say we're all here for the long haul#tune in (insert miscellaneous time in the future) for when i finally after like a year and a quarter#get to find out what the fuck truly goes down in light fingers#and also keep an eye out for that caeru-centric fic ive been unsubtly alluding to and still need to write.#ive got a whole outline for it and it's. well#you'll all see when (if?) i finish it#i have some ideas abt how i wanna play around with the nemesis endings + what they mean to caeru#(and i do mean endings as in both of them)#and it all may seem. insane. when we get there#but i swear i have a direction plotted in my head#i swear#scoundrelventures#<- the scoundrel isnt mentioned At All in this post but that works as a general FL oc lore tag
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Finished the Umbara arc tonight and...
I rewatched this specific shot, like, twelve times đđđ
Nice to have moments like this when, you know, other scenes come up...
"Live to fight another day, boys." đ
"Everyone, stop firing! We're shooting at our own men! Look, we're clones! WE'RE ALL CLONES!" đđđ
Thank heavens for Rex being as observant as he is, noticing the tiny bit of chin showing under the fallen clone's helmet, and going to investigate đ
So now that I'm sufficiently sad, next up is the slavery story...
#the clone wars#star wars#captain rex#clone trooper hardcase#i always have SO MANY THOUGHTS after watching this story#one of these days i'll write them all down#in the meantime just look at rex's gorgeous face#i'd include all the other clones' gorgeous faces but then we'd be here all day#rip hardcase#rip waxer#rip all the other clones that fell because of krell's treachery
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Hey uuuuuuuuuuuh what character organization tools do people use these days? As in, somewhere to store information about them, but also somewhere that I can easily link and share that info? Is toyhouse one of those? What's the deal with toyhouse?
#ragsycon exclusive#I'd thought for a very long time i was gonna make a wysiwyg website for all my ocs but that's. far too much work lol#campfire? is campfire another one?#my brain is full of leaks. i need to be writing down my character details in an easily updateable format
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Thinking about them again and realising that I don't like the idea that Greylock was practically a bully to Cedric in their schooldays or that Cedric hated him. To each their own, but I think they're just two dorks with a bit of rivalry who get super competitive at times. They get along quite well together when they're not competing! Well, and when Greylock's not pranking him. He's just the annoying friend, I guess. I don't want Greylock to ever stop being annoying, and I want Cedric to be seriously concerned if he does stop.
As for why Cedric wouldn't consider him a friend: this is Season 2 Cedric. Literally his whole arc is about friendship.
#dude if i wasn't using the neighbour's awful wi-fi right now i'd rewatch the episode#i already have most of the clips of them saved to my phone#but i missed the one when they're in the castle#ALSO I DO NOT CARE IF I AM READING THEIR INTERACTIONS WRONG LET ME STAY BLISSFULLY IGNORANT#just kidding do tell me#also one reason i think they were never actually on bad terms is because them working together is not exactly made a huge deal by them#posting this because the more i actively think about them and write down my thoughts#the better ideas i get for my wip#and i just now got one that will definitely ease along the plot a lot better#and will also make cedric a bigger part of the plot#because currently his role is very tiny#anyways i'm open to criticism (not hate)#i love a good enemies to friends/lovers or whatever but they don't exactly seem like that to me#something much milder than enemies#greylock the grand#sofia the first#cedric the sorcerer
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From the second Brainy had turned up to the DEO that morning, heâd been in one hell of a bad mood. Confrontational didnât even cut it â to Alex, it was like he was on a goddamn war path.
It had started out tame enough, maybe that was why sheâd let it get as far as it had, but as well trained as her agents were against interrogation scenarios or an alien threat, no one was invulnerable to the inescapable pain of workplace microaggressions. Brainy had been subject to them himself in the past, but today he was the all-out perpetrator. It seemed he had something negative to say about everyone; mostly degrading remarks on their various intellects, going as far in some cases to mark them out on a scale from one to one-point-three. That was hardly news to Alex, although she hadnât seen this kind of behaviour out of him in a very long time.
It had all come to a head not even a couple hours into Brainyâs shift. All it had taken was one too many poorly veiled insults targeted at one of her newer agents. By then, Alex could tell the difference between Brainyâs unintentional habit of being improperly blunt and whatever the hell he was seeking to achieve here.
It wasnât like Brainy to act so purposely cruel, even on some of his darker days. Heâd often experienced difficulties navigating his own intellect against his regular-minded co-workers, especially since the inhibitors had come off, but heâd never been openly hostile to them. Not like this. This was something else, like he was itching for a fight.
He got his wish when his goading finally hit the mark and the new hire stood from his chair. Alex knew the signs, but when their bickering exploded into a full-on argument, her voice was lost beyond the commotion.
Things escalated far too quickly, and she was much too late to stop the first punch from being thrown. Expectedly, Brainy dodged expertly out of the way, but the fire in his eyes was unmistakeably one of challenge, enough that Alex realised he had absolutely no intention of sticking to his usual evasive manoeuvres.
Shit. He wasnât on the defence at all. And, when Brainy stepped into the agentâs space, ring-hand closed into a tight fist, she knew she couldnât let it get any further.
Before Brainy could make his move, Alex shot into the fray, grabbing for his shoulder. The second she touched him, he tensed all over. Alex could feel the muscles in Brainyâs arm grow taut beneath her fingers, a strength building inside of him that scared her more than she would have ever admitted.
Karaâs powers had been a part of her life for so long that Alex often believed herself immune to the kind of fear seeing that sort of raw ability might inspire. Brainy wasnât on a Kryptonianâs level by any means, but there was something unnerving about his strength that didnât hit quite like Karaâs. It was a quiet sort of power, one he mostly kept hidden. A formidable ability that crept like a sleeper cell inside his implants and every shred of data that he had stored within his AI core.
She could feel all that and more brewing inside of him now, and when Alex tried to pull him back, he didnât budge. She might as well have been trying to move a ten-ton statue.
Despite the panic pounding in her chest, Alex kept her cool. She waited a beat, measuring her movements, before trying again. This time, thankfully, Brainy relented. Although his body was still coiled tight, he let himself move with her momentum, stumbling a half step towards her.
Alex disguised her relief with anger, hissing into Brainyâs ear, âWhat the hell has gotten into you today?â
Brainy rolled his shoulder easily from her grip, righting himself in the process. âIâm fine,â he muttered tersely, his voice so rigid that she could barely see his jaw move.
Alex eyed him sharply. âIâll be the judge of that,â she said, before raising her voice so that everyone could hear, âAgent Dox, with me!â
Any agent caught gawking at the scene quickly turned back to their work. Alex dismissed the string of apologies coming from her new hire, instead instructing him to cool off before returning to duty.
A senior agent like Brainy wouldnât be getting off quite as lightly.
As Alex marched Brainy down the corridors of the new DEO building, she could feel him crackling at her heel like a storm cloud ready to strike. She bristled, preparing herself for the worst at every turn.
âWhere are we going?â Brainy asked instead, his tone indifferent. As though he hadnât tried to incite a war at 9 in the freaking morning.
âSomewhere private,â Alex returned, pushing open the door to one of the medical science labs. Today was her lucky day, it seemed, because the room was totally deserted.
She ushered Brainy in behind her before he could argue, directing him to the closest chair. He followed her instructions begrudgingly, taking the chair and swivelling it backwards before collapsing into it, folding his arms across the backrest with a scowl.
Now they were alone, Alex allowed herself to relax just a little, shedding some of the status that came with her rank. Her team had always been like a family to her, but Brainy was family, and now that she had him in a controlled environment, she could see his anger for what it really was. A tumultuous cover-up that was starting to crumble from the moment heâd sat down.
His frustration was plain in his body language, the way he wrung out his ring finger with his other hand like it was his only lifeline. Sheâd seen this behaviour before; it wasnât hard to guess where it had come from. The why, though? That was a lot harder to pinpoint.
âWhatâs going on, Brainy?â Alex asked gently, folding her arms. When he glanced at the floor, twisting his ring even harder, she sighed. âYou know you canât just explode on your co-workers like that. I really thought we were past this.â
Brainy ruffled in affront, his mood souring even further. He glared up at her. âPast this?â
âYou know what I mean,â Alex snapped, rubbing the bridge of her nose in frustration. âThe point is, I havenât seen you this riled up sinceâwell, since ever. Somethingâs going on with you.â She narrowed her eyes, pressing her hip against the workbench at her side. âHow have your talks with Kelly been going?â
Brainy leaned back in his chair, folding his hands across one another with a definitively neutral expression. âConfidentially.â
Alex could already feel her jaw begin to tense. It was times like these she really wished Kelly wasnât so damn good at her job. She took her clientsâ privacy incredibly seriously, even when it came to her friends. Especially when it came to her friends. Even as her wife, Alex was none the wiser on what she and Brainy discussed behind closed doors, other than the few small updates like he did well this session or I think we went back more steps than we took forward today.
âAlright,â Alex decided, lifting her chin. âWeâll do this the hard way, then. Stand up. I need to perform a full body scan.â
Brainyâs mouth fell open in outrage. He scoffed indignantly. âIâm fine,â he repeated through clenched teeth, an air of superiority creeping into his voice. He held his shoulders high. âDo you really think I wouldnât be aware if something was impairing me?â
âStand up,â Alex repeated. âNow.â
Brainy rolled his eyes but stood on her instruction. He remained still while Alex ran her equipment over him; too still, she thought. Whatever he was trying to hide from her was starting to surface, they both knew it. Â Â
Alexâs worry only grew stronger for him.
Once the tests were done, Alex watched the results roll through on her tablet. His temperature was fine â his implants checked out, too. In fact, according to her equipment, nothing was running abnormally where the techno aspect of his physiology was concerned at all.
When her focus shifted to organic functions, however, Alexâs eyes widened in surprise.
Brainyâs heart rate wasnât just through the roof, it might as well have been hanging out in another galaxy.
Alex hefted the tablet in her arm, throwing it out for Brainy to see. âYou call this fine?â
Brainy scanned the results, shying in on himself defensively as he absorbed their meaning. He shrugged, folding his arms. âKelly tells me that fluctuations in heart rate are normal for the emotional stressors I have experienced.â
âWell, yeah,â Alex nearly laughed, âbut not all the time, Brainy! Something triggered this.â
When he refused to meet her eye, Alex bit her lip, carefully placing the tablet back on the counter. âBrainy,â she tried again, hesitating before taking a step closer. âPaired with what I know about your biology, this has all the tells of an anxiety attack.â She smiled sadly. âI donât need to be a therapist to know thatâs why you lashed out today.â
Brainy scoffed again, but his fingers tightened around his biceps. Alex had a feeling that if heâd been squeezing anything else in the room, it mightâve just snapped in half.
She scanned his face again. He didnât wear his image inducer as often since the installation of the new DEO, but Alex wondered if he sometimes used it covertly to alter certain smaller features. Like the tell-tale bruising of someone whoâd been avoiding their bed one too many nights in a row.
She frowned. âHave you been sleeping?â
Brainy froze. âO-of course.â
For a twelfth-level intellect, his lying game was about on par with Karaâs. Alex tried not to smile at his expense. Instead, she not-so innocently tugged at her jacket pocket. âSo, if I texted Nia right now, sheâd tell me the same thing?â
âItâs not that,â Brainy hastened, straightening his back. âMy functions are running within normal parameters; my sleep is⌠is fine. Nia would corroborate.â
âRight,â Alex said slowly, raising a brow. âSo, just today, then?â
âWhy is this so important to you?â Brainy muttered. He was clearly tiring of their little back and forth. Maybe that was her way in.
Alex took another step forward. âBecause youâre important to me,â she said, before glancing at the ceiling, âand because youâve kind of pissed everyone on the day shift off so far. And itâs not even ten oâclock. That might be a new record.â She took his arm again, smiling when he reluctantly met her eye. âThis matters, Brainy. I canât put you back on duty like this. In fact, I think I have enough justification from these readings alone to put you on a mental health day. Even if your sleep is fine, it might be a good idea to take it easy.â
Brainy practically baulked at the suggestion, staggering out from under her hand. He shook his head vigorously, turning away. âAlex, that isnât necessary. I donât need to take it easy. I-I canât.â
His voice nearly broke on that last word, enough to make Alexâs heart twist. âWhy not?â
Brainy ducked away from her, and though she could only see half of his face, she knew he was trying to shut her out. She reached for him again, catching his elbow. âBrainyâhey, please.â
Maybe sheâd broken through, or maybe heâd run the calculations on the likelihood of being let out of this room without telling her something. Either way, he finally relented.
âI canât take it easy,â he told her through his teeth, his voice dangerously low. âBecause⌠because, today is difficult for me.â
Alexâs brows knitted together worriedly. She squeezed his arm without thinking, trying instead to remember what day it was today. Had she missed some kind of anniversary? Naturally, she thought of the first day Brainy had arrived in this century, but that date had been and gone with nothing close to this sort of an emotional upheaval. Â
Worse, then.
Then, Alex caught it. Brainyâs free arm shifted as his hand passed across his forehead, knocking a few blond strands away from his eyes. His fingers lingered for just a second, agitating across invisible surface scars.
Alexâs heart plummeted into her stomach. She felt nauseous. âBrainy,â she asked slowly. âIsâis today the day your fatherâŚ?â
Brainyâs eyes were far away, reviewing the labâs floor tile by tile. He didnât say anything for a while; his chest was locked tight, as though heâd forgone the need for oxygen at all. Alex held her breath along with him, long enough that her lungs started to burn.
âTime,â Brainy muttered eventually, âdates⌠theyâre all different on this planet, in this century.â He bared his teeth into a pained smile, his arm winding around his centre. âAnd yet, no matter what changes, I always know that day. I can feel it.â He shrugged, biting the inside of his cheek. âCall it a burden of a Coluanâs physiology.â
Alex squeezed him again. âOhâBrainyâŚâ
âDonât,â he said tersely, wrenching his arm from hers. His eyes were wide, his expression open. âDonât treat me like Iâm⌠wounded. IâI only wish to keep my mind busy. And-and ever since my inhibitors came off I-I find that thereâs never enough to occupy it. There are always spaces that are left empty, where-where those memories, those emotions resurface.â
Alex sighed. âI know you donât want to hear this, but thatâs exactly why I canât let you work today. You understand that, right?â
Brainy gritted his teeth, lowering his head into a tight nod.
âHave you told Nia about this?â
âShe knows,â Brainy croaked, looking sheepish. âI told her I-I needed space.â
âAnd then you came here.â Alexâs smile felt strained. âShe doesnât know you went to work today, does she?â
âI thought it would be easier.â Brainy sniffed, swiping at his face. âTo be somewhere that no one knew. But that doesnât matter if I canât control thisââ
âHey,â Alex said gently, taking his hand. âAnniversaries can be tough. You know, when we were kids, Kara could never stomach her Earth birthday, either.â
Brainyâs breath stuttered past his lips, and he looked at her in confusion, his eyes glistening with unshed tears. His hand clenched uneasily around hers, willing her to continue.
Alex smiled. âShe hated it, actually â her words, not mine - because it reminded her of everything sheâd lost. My mom⌠she tried to turn it into a sort of celebration, to make it a happy day, but focusing on it in any way just sent her over the edge.â She winced. âYou shouldâve heard the screaming matches.â
Brainy huffed out a surprised laugh.
Alex grinned. âSo, one day, I told Kara, suck it up for a second, youâre coming with me. AndâŚâ she chuckled, the memory flooding back all too easily, âI made her walk. For hours. Through the woods. No flying allowed. And we kept going and going until eventually, we came across this little creek. I told her to listen to the water. Justâ put every one of her senses into that one thing. The bubbling of the water, the fish whipping their little tails, the smell. It wasnât a magic cure-all, but for that moment, it helped.â Alex wound her hand tighter around Brainyâs, drawing them closer together. âYou donât have to put your focus into work, Brainy, you can pick something simpler. One sound, or one thing that makes you feel at peace.â
Brainy narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. âYesâŚâ he considered slowly, âthat does sound pleasant.â He cleared his throat, shifting his tone. âRunning water is one of numerous nature-specific sounds that are utilised for relaxation of the human mind. Nia has several of the oceanâs waves on her white noise app, although, I had never considered using it myself.â The furrow to his brow deepened. âBut if I were to draw all of my processing power into one singular stimulus, it may be⌠beneficial.â
âWhat were you thinking?â Alex prompted.
Brainy glanced at her quickly before looking away again, a private smile twitching the corners of his mouth. âFlying⌠often clears my head. Perhaps I should try to find something up there. Above the noise, as Kara once put it.â
Alex nodded her encouragement. âThat sounds like a really good place to start.â
Brainy returned her nod confidently, letting go of her hand as he made to leave. No hesitation, no debate. Just one direct thought leading onto the next action. Alex couldnât help but smile.
Before he could make it out the door, she called out to him: âAnd, Brainy?â
Brainy paused, turning back to look at her.
âThank you for sharing this with me.â
Something passed through Brainyâs expression before he lowered his head into a dutiful nod.
Fondly, Alex watched him go. He was certainly less tightly wound than heâd been before, though she knew he still had a way to go yet. At least this was a step in the right direction.
She supposed, in quite the literal sense, it was only up from here.
#supergirl#supergirl fanfiction#brainiac 5#alex danvers#brainy#querl dox#my writing#this cute (and angsty) little scene just struck me the other day so i thought i'd write it down#didn't think it would get past the 'rough dialogue' stage but here we are! đ
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Weeks after learning of the Commodore's death--when he could no longer lie in bed consumed by grief, after he was forced to get up, to feed himself, to keep going--Roberts had visited the Dark-Spectacled Admiral. There was no love lost between the Admiral and the Commodore over the years. Roberts had heard plenty of the stories of the Commodore's frustrations upon return from his many trips to London. He hadn't seen the Admiral himself since he was barely more than a child. Yet he had to try.
As the years had gone by, the old guard had slowly faded out of the picture, until there were so very few people left who remembered the olden days. Remembered the Commodore as Roberts knows--knew him. The man who was full of jokes and life, whose charisma captured a room. One who cared. A man who'd spent hours yelling encouraging words through a layer of crumpled steel, trying to grant some level of comfort to a trapped and terrified child, to at the very least abate some of that terror in what could've likely been his final moments. The man who had slowly faded into placidity and smiles and bright nothingness as the years had gone on.
The Admiral was no friend to either of them, not since the schism, but perhaps he might remember the friendship the two had once had. Perhaps he might care that he died. Perhaps there is someone else who remembers the man, the same one Roberts does, and feels something at his passing. He has to try.
He adjusts his spectacles, hiding the puffiness of his eyes from view, and knocks on the door.
#roberts/nite#my writing#dawnlight dementia arc has me unwell#i don't recall if i'd ever talked much about the commodore being roberts' first captain#who was on shore during the Fall when the ship went down#and amidst all the chaos made his only priority locating his ship#making sure the men on it--the ones under his care--were ok#it took him several hours to do#and by the time he found the wreck of it any survivors had gotten out#or so they thought#as soon as he'd heard the screaming all bets were off#london may have been in shambles and there were hundreds of pressing things to do#but he'd spent the night and most of the next day talking to that scared child inside that wreck of a ship#telling him it would be ok#that they would get him out#he just needed to hold on and be brave#there was never a force that could separate roberts from the commodore after that#and the commodore knew it#he was the only person who could get him off of that rock#willingly or not#roberts
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