#if you want a little more detailed summary of the opera war you can go into my 'opera tag' and scroll back to last year..... enjoy! | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

a-edgar-allan-hoe · 4 years ago

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The Red Witch

Jasper Hale x Reader Part 5

A/N: Part 5 is here my lovelies! Bon apetit! Let me know if you want to be added to the tag list. 💕

Summary: Imagine being an immortal witch from the Middle Ages and being the previous love of Jasper before he was turned. You two were separated under certain circumstances and cross each other’s path once again, years later in the present era.

Warnings: Language

Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 , Part 4

It was the year 1862. You were sitting in the private carriage of the train that early morning, on the route to Houston. This was your first time in America and you couldn’t help the excitement in you as stared out the window at the vast lands before you. Unbeknownst to Charlotte and some others, you were a countess at the time, in courtesy of your father, Count Balthazar, who was long dead. But you tried to keep your family history as confidential as possible, considering your father was a sorcerer and your mother a witch. When you grew into a young woman, you left your family castle and went your own way, leaving behind everything that reminded you of your cruel father and donated all his wealth to charity. As for your mother, she was a beautiful sea witch. After the death of your father, she was able to gain her freedom and now lives happily in a humble cottage on the coast of Scotland, close to her beloved sea, and married to the local clocksmith who loves her more than your father ever could.

The reason you were traveling to Houston was because you were recently invited out here to preform at the local theatre for charity, to which which all the funds would go towards the families affected by the war. You were a known opera singer at the time and people fell in love with your clear and soft voice that held all the emotion and sadness behind it which was beautiful to their ears. You were also quite an exceptional pianist. It originally started out as a hobby, something you decided to test the waters with, but you didn’t know it would grow into something serious, eventually venturing you out into having a strong passion for the arts like singing, acting, and even painting. When your father was around, you were never able to pursue such things. He believed they were nonsense, a complete and utter waste of time. While these activities were useless to him, they were your whole heart and soul for you. You breathed for the arts. You guess you had your mother to thank for that, she used to sing you a lullaby every night when you were a child to calm your nerves because of the visions you would have. Thankfully, those visions ceased to happen as you got older.

The gentle rocking and sound of the train had lulled you to sleep as you currently had your head leaned against the window and your feet thrown up on the seat of the train. Your hair was tied up in a bun with a peridot green ribbon while a few loose pesky strands fell about your face. A leather bound Wuthering Heights book was tucked neatly in your hands on your lap. You were wearing a simple grey long sleeved gingham linen dress with delicate black lace trim at the sleeves and your collar. A peridot green velvet ribbon was tied around your waist, your neckline sat at the bottom of your neck and covered your collarbone, and a few black buttons ran down the front of your bodice.

Your dear friend at the time was sitting across from you with her fiancé. Her name was Charlotte Griffiths, the daughter of a governor. And though she was mortal, you absolutely adored her, for she took you in when you nearly did not have a home and cared for you as if you were her own sister. Then again, you always adored mortals. This was before you had known Melanie whom you had only met in the 60s. Charlotte’s fiancé was Lord Ernest Thompson, the owner of a estate and a businessman. He was a kind, charitable, and respectable young man, and you thought he was the perfect match for Charlotte. They both were kind and gentle souls.

“Isn’t this exciting (Y/N)?” Charlotte squealed, waking you from your nap.

“Hm?” You opened your sleepy eyes to look at a blur of what most likely was your friend. “Oh of course.” You yawned, giving yourself a minute to adjust your eyes and mind to reality. “Technically you’re the one who begged me to accept the invitation for performing here and practically dragged me along.” You smirked.

“Oh admit it. I saw your face light up when you received that invitation. Anyways, isn’t this a wonderful little adventure for us? You’ve told me how much you liked to travel.”

“Well I wouldn’t quite call a civil war a wonderful little adventure.” You snarked lightheartedly, letting out a scoff before starting to dwell upon what sort of mess you’ve just gotten into.

“My god woman.” Ernest chuckled playfully, lifting his eyes from the newspaper he was reading, his glasses sitting at the bridge of his nose as he glanced at Charlotte. “Can’t you see (Y/N) was asleep?”

“Well I....I’m merely excited my love.”

“Merely?” He raised a brow.

“Oh you’re being harsh on her Ernest.” You joked along, smiling to yourself as the lovers started to lightly quarrel.

You stared out the window again, watching the scenery blur past. You have seen many lands in your time, how they have changed over the course of years, how some have come and vanished to dust. You have seen kings rise and fall. But you haven’t been here, to America. This was all foreign to you.

The train finally came to a stop at the train station and you quickly grabbed your things, desperate to get out and stretch your legs. You hastily threw on your matching bonnet, not caring that it sat crooked on your head. You rushed towards the door and hitched up your skirt, struggling with the petticoat and making sure not to go past the ankles of your boots and expose your stockings or else Charlotte would have a heart attack. You grabbed the handle and stepped down from the train and onto the wooden platform as Charlotte and Ernest followed suit.

Right when you stepped out you could feel the hot and thick damp air surround you, and you couldn’t help but bring out your fan and fan yourself vicariously.

“My goodness it’s muggy. It’s like the devil’s bollocks out here.” You breathed out.

“(Y/N)!” Charlotte exclaimed, smacking you gently with her fan. “Mind your manners!”

“Sorry.”

“You forgot your parasol by the way.”

“Oh. Right.” You took your parasol from her hands and opened it up, putting your fan away. “Wouldn’t want to forget my complexion guardian.”

You were so used to London weather, now you had to get used to this, and your corset was not helping either.

“Would you look at that Charlotte. The sun.” You made a point to her, only making her shake her head.

Once you were all settled and had your things you all headed to the nearest bed and breakfast and checked into your rooms. You and Charlotte shared one while Ernest had his own. You had just set your belongings inside before Charlotte decided now would be a good time to go to the local tea house, despite your slight dismay as you would much rather be taking a nap. You were sitting out on the tables in front of the local tea house, your head propped up by your hand and a cup of tea in your other, while chatting with Charlotte as you watched the local people pass by.

“My goodness. This heat, it’s nearly disgusting.” Charlotte fanned herself as she wiped her forehead.

“I’m sweating in places I didn’t know I had. I might as well be stripping myself bare to the bone.” You added, fanning yourself with your hand.

“I told you to wear a crinoline.”

“What? Those ghastly looking cages for your legs? Never.”

You stared off into the distance in a sort of dazed state, thinking about your comfortable bed back home, and your collection of books you left behind. You were also starting to miss your mother, wishing you were in Scotland watching the waves with her, before noticing that Charlotte had gone awfully quiet.

“What’s gotten into you?” You asked her, seeing her stare at something behind you. “Charlotte?”

“My my, I think you have an admirer.” She giggled, her youthful face lit up with giddiness as she tried to contain her laughter.

“What on earth are you babbling about?” You turned to follow her gaze and saw a tall stranger wearing a military uniform staring in your direction. You straightened up in your chair, your face firm as you started to feel yourself get anxious. You were silently hoping he wouldn’t come over to your table to strike up a conversation.

“Oh! He’s a rather fine looking gentleman I must say. Annnd he’s an officer.” Charlotte was now leaning in to whisper noticeably in your ear. You can practically hear her next you, trying so hard to contain her giggles.

“You’ve gone daft Charlotte. He’s obviously fancying you. You’re the pretty one.” You turned back around, completely disinterested.

“I think not! You know I’m engaged!”

“And how would he know that detail? Hm? A man who sees a pretty woman without any knowledge as to who she is, is most likely to approach her, without any assumption as to whether she is engaged or not. To which he’ll find out sooner or later I must add.” You ran on before taking a sip of your tea.

“Oh come now (Y/N). You know I wouldn’t.”

“I don’t know, you seem to be a little too excited upon seeing other men. I don’t hear you speak of Ernest as such, as I might recall, a rather fine looking gentleman.”

“You know I love my dear Ernest more than anything. I’m just trying to find you a suitor.”

“I honestly wish you wouldn’t.” You sighed inaudibly. “What I’m trying to say is, that gentleman over there does not know that. So just.....oh bloody hell. I don’t know. Just be prepared to decline his advances towards you.”

“You lack faith my dear.” She gave you a pitiful look before looking behind you once more. “Oh look! He’s coming this way!”

“He’s what?! Charlotte!” You hiss as you lightly slap your hands down on the table as to not draw attention. “Don’t just invite him over.”

“Ladies.” You heard the man now standing beside you as he took off his hat and lowered his head in a polite greeting.

You had gotten so nervous in the mere matter of a minute that you couldn’t stop yourself from letting out the next word that slipped your tongue. “Fuck.”

There was a brief silence as Charlotte and the stranger stared at you in utter disbelief at what a proper lady like you had just uttered. A few others who sat at the other tables near you in earshot stared at you in displeasure before looking away.

Oh just wonderful. You wanted the world to eat you alive right there so you could escape their peers.

You locked eyes with the officer for a brief moment before turning away and fixing your gaze on something else, doing your best to seem preoccupied. You wished you brought your book with you so you could bury your face in it.

Charlotte let out an uneasy laugh befor turning to the man. “Well hello officer! I’m Charlotte Griffiths.” You caught your friend extending her gloved hand out to him, to which he kissed lightly.

“Pleasure to meet you.” You heard him say in this thick southern accent you were definitely not accustomed to.

“This young lady here is my dear friend (Y/N) (Y/L/N).”

“Charlotte. Stop this instance.” You leaned closer to her only for her to hear.

You were starting to feel embarrassed more than anything.

“Ma’am.” He now turned to you, to which you gave a short reply without making any eye contact.

“Good day.”

“You know (Y/N) here has come to preform for the opera tomorrow night. You should come!”

Charlotte you did not just.

You sat there with your arms folded and glared at her. She loved getting you into these predicaments, innocently enough. If only she knew how much it bothered you.

“Really?” He turned to you now, smiling. “I thought I heard that name somewhere.”

“Oh, well she’s only one of the best sopranos in England.”

“Ehem. Charlotte that’s quite enough. Thank you.”

You almost felt ridiculed at the moment as you felt the stares of everyone around you weighing in on you. And then that sensation started to creep on you. The same one you felt when you were a child. You glanced around, seeing and hearing the blood flowing through everyone’s veins and their hearts beating in their chests, glowing like a red ruby. You squeezed your eyes shut and pinched the bridge of your nose, silently muttering to yourself and remembering the meditation your mother taught you. Earth, fire, water, air, and spirit. You glanced up from underneath your bonnet as the sensation died down and you could finally hear Charlotte calling out your name.

“(Y/N). Are you alright?” Charlotte was reaching out a hand to clasp your gloved one, gently shaking them.

“I’m fine.” You breathed out while rubbing your temple. “It’s just a migraine.”

“Do you need anything for it?” Charlotte questioned you.

“No. God no. I don’t need any of that poison.” You got up from your seat and dusted yourself off before grabbing your parasol. “I’m going to head back to the inn if you don’t mind Charlotte.”

“Do you want me to walk you back?” The officer asked you, his voice laced with concern as he took a step towards you.

You took a step back away from him in response, still avoiding his eyes. “No. I’m quite alright. I’m pretty sure I can walk back to the inn without any assistance thank you.”

“Good day.” You nodded your head at him before turning away and heading back to the inn.

The officer was the most surprised at this situation if anything. He never received this sort of reaction before. Growing up, he always appeared to have a way with words and an influence over people, they always seemed to like him. His father called it charisma. And yet here you were, this woman he had barely just met, and you didn’t have the slightest sway from him. He was a bit perplexed at this, since he was now the one that was drawn to you.

You on the other hand, you found him to be rather bold. This had happened plenty of times before. Charlotte would bring over someone to introduce to you and it always ended up with you turning them down since everyone of them had been a cocky arrogant arshehole. But the one thing you didn’t want to admit to yourself was you were scared of falling in love. The last time you did, it didn’t end well. Ever since then, you tried to keep your distance and your emotions locked up. After all those years of isolation, you eventually led yourself to believe your curse made you incapable of love.

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neverendingstories00 · 4 years ago

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Past The Point Of No Return (Ch.4)

Summary: Safin grows Impatient with you as you reject his romantic advances. Taking advice from his right-hand man, he whisks you off of the island for an intimate weekend getaway.

Word Count: 6.4K

Warnings: Minor mentions of PTSD, amputation, and drug use.

A/n: Ik I promised this yesterday, I’m so sorry if this is a day late. School got a little crazy. We’re starting our real work tomorrow but I promise ya’ll I’m going to make sure this keeps coming. Also, this chappie is going to talk about Safin’s origins (scarpin the surface btw). I have simply specluated about his orgins (thanks to reddit). But once again, Thank you for all of your support Hope y’all enjoy❣️😌

Previous Chapter | Masterlist

No matter how many times Safin told you were a guest that it was your lair now, you still felt like a prisoner. Safin claimed you were a bird trapped in a cage he had freed, but you still felt trapped. You were free to roam around the Submarine Pen as you pleased. Every corner there was a guard who would stare at like you were from another planet or Safin would find you and accompany you If he wasn’t busy trying to push Europe into a civil war. All you wanted to be was alone with your thoughts. No matter what, you always felt like you were being watched.

Your sanity was beginning to break as you had been on Safin’s island for a month. Some days went by fast while others had dragged on. Safin, seeing your boredom, understood you wanted something to keep you busy. His intention wasn’t to keep you only for marriage, but as someone, he could work by. You were useful in many ways, whether it be on the field or at a computer. So he had given you codes to encrypt for his new bases around Europe. As much as it made you feel guilty for helping Safin, you truly had no choice but to unfourenlty comply. One wrong move and the last bit of family you had left would be gone. Everyday you thought about M16. You had been there for four years and considered some of your co-workers to be family, even Bond (who could be irritating at times). When you encrypted codes, all you could think about was how you possibly let the double oh’s all die because of a foolish mistake. Safin had nerve giving you the job, but with your family being mentioned, all you could do was do what you were told. He had been generous enough to let you range shooting and even had let you teach some of his men how to properly shoot.

Every night, whether it was at dinner or when Safin would knock at your door to bid you good night, he would ask that same damn question you hated.

“Do you love me?”

Your response was always “no”. For as long as you could, you wanted to refrain from marrying Safin. The thought of being married to someone such as himself truly scared you. Having to lay in the same bed and consummate with Safin was haunting to any normal human. Yet the reason you were there was that Safin had an unhealthy obsession with you. Safin seemed like the type of man who would want to have his way with a woman, but he never forced himself upon you once. Sure he had touched your hair or (forcefully) made you hold his arm, but you rather would to deal with that.

One time, Safin had knocked on your bedroom door to say goodnight to you with a gift in hand. It was a beautiful gold necklace with a ring. Safin had placed it on your neck. You’d never forget the way he stood behind you, admiring your body and plush lips. “That necklace will look beautiful when we get married,” He whispered into your ear. You tried to take it off, but he had locked the clasp. The ring was a constant reminder that you were his even if you weren’t married.

Another time was when you were hiding in the gardens from Safin. He had found you and asked what you had been doing. You said you had been gardening since some of the plants had been dying. It seemed like a nice moment between you two as he asked about the type of flowers that resided in the garden. As you walked by blue Hydrangeas, he calmly stated, “Those would look good at our wedding, wouldn’t they y/n?”

Safin was delusional if you thought you were going to marry him right away. You had only known him a month, cringing at the fact that he loved you, but marriage? It all seemed like it was taken out of an overdramatic soap opera. Marriage would be a last resort if he truly threatened your family. You didn’t care about the gifts and attention he was showing you. Knowing that man was possibly responsible for your friends’ and families’ deaths disgusted you. All you wanted to be was alone, enjoying the small bit of freedom you had left. Away from a monster who considered you his bride.

-----

Serrano had noticed Safin’s obsession with y/n immetidly after Athens. Ever since she not only killed (but removed the expolsive lenses on an atomic bomb), Safin knew he needed her. Serrano had originally thought it was for business but soon learned Safin wanted her as his and his only. He would never say it to Safin’s face, but he pited the poor girl who was forced to love him. Y/n wasn’t some receptionist, but a markswoman with a kill count of over a hundred men. She was also the only person that ever talked back, even sassed, Safin. If one of his soldiers had done that, they would be dead within seconds since Safin had a short temper. But y/n had managed to live (somehow). The last romance Safin was involved in had endly so horribly that he ruined his career as an assassin and was forced to relocate. The last thing Serrano wanted to happen was to see a dead girl. He knew Safin better than anyone else did. Safin was a mysterious man that was unpredictable. But he was determined and would do anything to get what he wanted, whether it be bringing agencies to there knees or marrying a woman who didn’t love him back.

Walking through the hallways, Serrano towered over Safin. Just before there meeting, he saw Safin enter the gardens that he had made for the cyrptographer. He then walked up, seeming annoyed and pissier than usual. The anarchist was stressing over the fact that a woman he truly loved more than anything didn’t love him back. According to Safin, he was going to ask if y/n loved him every night until she said yes.

“Is everything alright, sir?” Serrano asks as he walks down the hallway.

Safin looks up at him, sighing. “Not quite. Y/n is beginning to get on my nerves. She doesn’t appreciate how much I have sacrificed for her. All I ask is for to be my wife and nothing more.”

Before losing his family, Serrano had been married to his university sweetheart. It took them three years to know and trust each other before they married. Safin wasn’t the best with emotions. He was impatient and demanded things to happen. But y/n’s being the woman she was, it didn’t seem like it was going to happen anytime soon.

“You were married,” Safin noted. “How did you get your wife to love you?”

“Patience, honesty, and respect,” Serrano replied. “It took us years before we married. You can’t rush love, it has to happen. You did take him from her home and threaten her family if you didn’t love her.”

“Yes, but it was the only way I could ever have y/n.” Safin tried to justify his actions. He had been hurt so many times over the years that he had become numb to other’s feelings and only thought of his own as important. “I give her gifts, clothing, a garden, and my heart yet all she ever does is scowl at me. I have tried everything I could with her. I was patient, and I’ve had enough.”

“If you want her to geniuenly love you then you cannot force it.” Serrano states. Safin huffed in response. He just wanted to skip past all of the difficulty and tell the world that you were his.

“I have an idea on how to get her to love you. It would be a start.”

Safin raises an eyebrow, nodding for Serrano to go on.

“I’m supposed to go with you to Mykonos this weekend for the shipment of weapons. But, what if y/n goes with you? I can set you up in a villa and even a private, romantic dinner. Take the girl shopping and get to know her better.” He proposes. Safin seemed to like the idea even if he was scared of the cyrotprgapher running off. Y/n had stated that she did need proper clothes that fit her.

“But I know everything I need to know about her.” He remarked.

“Well then tell her about yourself.”

“Y/n lacks interest in me.” The anarchist pointed. He didn’t want to talk about the past and let y/n know about his horrid past even if he had stalked every detail of her life.

“Safin, do you want her to love you or not?” Serrano reiterated. “It won’t happen immediately, but it’s a start. Don’t threaten her family and treat her as if she’s not a prisoner.”

“I have told her she is a guest! Once we marry, she will be the lady of this house.”

“You say that, yet don’t let her leave the island or have any contact with her family.” Serrano points out. Safin hated that he was right. He had a more stable romance than Safin had ever had in his life.

“What I am implying is make her feel like your a normal man taking your girlfriend on a romantic weekend trip.” He clarifies.

“She’s my fiance,” Safin corrects.

Serrano huffs in response. Stopping by the glass range door, the two men see Y/n shooting the pratice targets. Going through the packs of caliber, she had never missed the target once. He takes a glance at y/n before looking at Safin who is simply memroized by her.

“Just...offer it to her. Since you backed her into a corner, she’ll probably say this. But whatever you do, do not treat it like a deal. Treat it...like a normal date with your normal fiance.” With that. Serrano turned around the walked away to leave Safin and Y/n alone.

Safin walked into the empty range with the only occupant being y/n. She was dressed in a white shirt tucked into black cargo pants, aiming for the center of the target. Instead of standing, she curled down as if she were cuddling the weapon. Safin didn’t want to disturb her, watching her shift and fiddle with the trigger. Y/n hands were shaky and sweating, but with a deep breath, she released the trigger and let the bummer fly clean into the bullseye.

Resting the sniper rifle that was bigger then your body, you notice Safin’s eyes meet your form. Even with the noise-canceling headphones, you could tell it was him. Taking them off, you sighed as you wipe the sweat from your forehead. “Safin.”

“Y/n.” He responds, calm and cool. Offering his hand, you accepted it as he pulls up with no issue. Safin always wore bulky clothes that never revealed his form, but he was considerably strong. His hand wanted to hold yours, but you pulled away.

He looked over at the targets, seeing the bullet holes on the dummy. “It’s true. You truly do never miss.”

“That’s a lie.” You spat as you throw your kimono jacket back on. “Use to. Now I’m like a shaky camera.”

“You always doubt yourself, girl.” He grabbed your shoulders and turned you to the target. “My men could never do what you do. Your remarkable young women, truly.”

You shrugged his hands off and began walking towards the exit. “Thanks, I guess.”

“Wait, y/n,” He follows after you. Resiting an eyeroll, you spin on your heel and raise your eyebrows at him. You predicted that he was going to mention something about your appearance or the “wedding”.

“I have to leave the island this weekend for a small business trip. I was wondering if you would want to accompany me.” He offered. “It’s just for the weekend. I know you wanted to get some clothing, which I’m sure I could arrange for.”

“I thought you didn’t want me leaving this island.’ You replied, tying a belt around your jacket.

“You’re getting depressed. I thought you would enjoy a change of pace. But if not, that’s understandable.” Safin lamented as he walked past you. He had truly been looking forward to it. At that point, he had felt like giving up. There was no change y/n was going to fall in love with him, no matter what he did.

“Wait,” You reply, walking behind him. Gently tapping his shoulder, he turned to look into your [y/e/c] orbs. “I...would like to go with you.”

“You...would.”

“I mean, you offered it…” You awkwardly chuckled. If it was an escape off of the dreaded island, you would take it.

A smile appeared on his face as he grabs your hands, putting them to his chest. You looked surprised as your cheeks burn as you feel woozy looking into his milky orbs.

“I’m glad to hear it. We’ll leave first thing tomorrow morning,” Safin said as he lead you out of the shooting range and back to your chambers. He never let go of your hand and held it like you were a couple. In his eyes you were, in yours, you weren’t. But lately the thought had been haunting you. Safin didn’t seem he wanted to hurt you or keep you as a sex slave. As much as he knew about you, you knew little to nothing about him. He made sure you felt comfortable, even introducing you to his closest allies. If you had an issue, Safin was always on top of it. He had threatened to kill your friends and family if you didn’t love him back which still haunted you. But if you were to live your final days out, would it be the worse thing in the world. It wouldn’t be ideal, but it was better than being dead. “Shall I have the maids pack for you?”

“No, I’m fine. I can pack myself,” You nodded, a subtle smile your face. There wasn’t much for you to pack. You really wanted him to let go of your hand, but he still held on. His face looked like a boy with a schoolgirl crush (taken to the next level). “Thank you though.”

After he let go of your hand it moves up to the top of your head and gently pats it. “You’re ever so humble, my sweet.”

Seeing him walk off, you gently shut the door and look into the mirror. Your [y/s/c] skin is becoming grey, clothes careless, and overall look like you just came back from the dead. You were going on a weekend trip with an anarchist who created a romance in his head.

What the hell had gotten yourself into?

------

Like Safin had promised, the two of you left the next morning. None of his men, even Serrano, had come with him. You had no idea that you would be taking a luxurious sailing yacht to the mainland. Coming up from the cabin, you see Safin looking over the bright blue water and cloudless sky. Walking right beside him, he didn’t even bat an eye to your presence. Instead of his traditional kimono and lab outfit, he donned highwasted tan slacks, a long-sleeved navy button-down, sunglasses, and deck mules.

“What island are we going to?” You asked with your hands behind your back.

Safin didn’t look over at you. He was too distracted in his thoughts. Here he was, an infamous anarchist, worried about impressing a girl he’s keeping prisoner. Under his breath, he muttered, “None of your concern.”

“So you think I’m going to leave you?” You smirk, crossing your arms.

Safin couldn’t make eye contact with you. He wants to say something, but he can’t. Nobody ever talked back to him, except her. His fear was being alone and abandoned all over again. “Yes, you’re a smart girl. Remember your…”

As he turned to say something to y/n, she was already gone with her perfume leaving a lingering scent.

“Place...” He finishes. He’s not speaking to anyone but the air. They hadn’t even arrived at the villa and it seemed like the trip was going to be disastrous. Safin had to think of a plan.

-----

Your boredom was beginning to grow. You arrived at the villa in the early afternoon. It was far from any form of civilization, located in the middle of a hillside. It was luxurious and modern but still kept the Ancient Greek feel. Even if you didn’t know the islands, you were confident that you were in or near the Medterrian. Safin had given you a tour of the villa, showing you the pool and private beach. He had business to deal with and promised to be back by sunset. Patting your head, he was off into town with every door locked but the backyard.

Returning from a brief swim, you notice the sun is beginning to set. It leaves the sky orange and lavender, creating a beautiful hue. Drying your hair against a towel, you’d noticed Safin had been acting rather odd. He seemed more distant and even anxious about being around you. Like a young boy trying to pronounce his love for his crush. Except that you were Safin’s fiance and he was holding you against your will. You didn’t care about the expensive gifts that he used to win you over. Over the years, you refused to focus on anyone but yourself. But if you were to be in a relationship, all you wanted was true and raw love. To be adored and truly cared about. You saw that Safin loved you, but what was his true purpose of keeping you there? Out of all of the women, he could have had, he chooses you; a cyrptographer. Your not Bond or a double oh and would never be near that category. Safin had given you attention that no partner in your life could have ever given to you. But he threatened you and kept you in a Submarine pen as his forced bride.

No. You couldn’t love a monster. Marrying him didn’t mean you loved him.

It was for Bond, Nomi, Q, [y/m/n], [y/s/n], all of the people you had let die because of a catostrophic mistake.

Walking into your pristine bedroom, you notice an item on the bed you hadn’t seen before. It was a dress and a white note with rose petals spread on the bed. You roll your eyes, sighing at Safin’s dramatic attempt at romance. This man knew that you weren’t going to sleep him with anytime soon. Picking up the note it read,

“Follow the candles

Down the beach

A gift for you and only you

See you at seven my dear y/n,

Safin”

Oh god! He had left a heart by your name. It was cheesy and cringey. His attempts at romance were a hit or miss. Looking at the dress on the bed it looked like it cost more than your life. It was a navy blue satin dress that was lowcut and backless. It was long and had a confident slip. The dress reminded you of what the female double oh’s would wear out on missions. Classy and quite sexy. The most revealing outfit you had worn to work as a skirt an inch above your knee with tights. Both of your legs always stay covered since you found them embarrassing, but they would somewhat exposed tonight. Then again, Safin’s face was horribly disfigured. He thought you were one of the most beautiful women he had laid eyes on (which you found hard to believe).

Putting on the dress, you head towards the bathroom to do your hair and look somewhat presentable. You had been dressing like a man for the past month and needed something refreshing. A few minutes later you had pieced together a simple, yet elegant look. You left your hair loose and applied a bit of mascara and eyeliner. To match with the navy blue dress, you applied a daring red lipstick. Instead of looking like a young boy, you appeared more of a nervous teenage girl preparing for a dance. The dangling pearl earrings you wore matched with the ring necklace Safin had gifted you. You had a strong belief he had chosen this outfit for you. Of course Safin would do something like that for you.

After you finished getting ready, you leave behind the villa and notice a trail of white candles leading you down to the beach. The beach is dark, but the candles guide you to the only visible light. You saw Safin as he paced around a candlelit table. He wore a short-sleeved olive button up and black dress pants.

Hearing the clicks of your sandals, Safin turned around to lay his eyes on y/n. All of his worries had suddenly gone away, breath taken by her sheer appearance. She was already beautiful in his eyes, but there was something that was different about her specifically tonight. The dress complimented her fit body well, showing a sliver of her thigh and cleavage. Your lips were a nice shade of red as it gave a pop of color to your outfit.

Safin snapped out of his thoughts and pulled himself together. He walked up to y/n to get a closer look and greet her. “Good evening Y/n,” Safin greeted. He grabbed her hand, leaving a kiss mark on her soft skin. “You look lovely, as always.”

“Thank you, Safin,” Y/n thanked, her voice low. She had never experienced such a romantic gesture before. “You look..nice.”

Nice. Nice. Nice.

Those words rung through his head. He nearly froze and almost mentally broke down. Y/n had complimented him. Not a sassy remark, but admired his appearance. Not once in his previous relationship did his ex-lover compliment the way he looked. He thought his face was too repellent to be complimented, let alone loved. But here was his fiance, shining like a bright star, boosting his ego.

Safin smiled in response, leading the cartographer to her chair and pushing her in. His hand tenderly finessed your bare shoulder. “Says the woman speaking.”

The two of you sat at the candlelit table on the beach. A waiter came over and poured the two of a class of red wine.

“So I’m assuming you weren’t doing business..” You remarked, taking a sip of the wine. It had been months since you’d had been drunk, which had let Q forcing you to enroll in therapy once again.

“I was. I’m bringing military smuggled weapons for the recruits. You are allowed to experiment with them if you please,” Safin said, “But I had planned this for the two of us. I wanted to give you the best since you deserve the best.”

You wouldn’t lie, the dinner was quite nice and romantic. What girl didn’t dream of being spoiled on the beach? Did Safin spoil you to slide away from the fact that you were his prisoner? It didn’t make any sense.

You huffed, looking down as you spun the wine in your glass around. “Why did you even bring me out here in the first place? To have your way with me?”

The anarchist furrowed an eyebrow, “Force me upon you? Y/n, I’m not as brutish as you believe me to be. I brought you here because I saw you...become dispirited. I know my island can void of all life. It pained me to see you in such a pained state. I thought a break from isolation and so called “retail therapy” would raise your spirits.”

“I wanted to bring you here since it was more intimate than the Submarine pen. I want you to feel...comfortable around me. You can deny as much as you want, but I know I unnerve you with my appearance.”

“The hell?” You puzzled, a little confused. There was no denying his scars were obvious. Seeing his arms and neck, they decorated his whole body. Upon first seeing them, you were taken aback. Nobody had ever seen his face except for you and his men. Was he truly insecure?

Safin looked into your sighs and sighed, “What I’m saying is that I know I make you uncomfortable. Here you are, a gorgeous young woman. What am I? A misshapen and hideous animal. If that’s the reason wh-”

“Ok, back it up,” You interrupted. “I never said those things about your appearance. Your face doesn’t bother me at all…”

“What do you mean?” Safin perplexed. His ex-lover hated his appearance and was afraid if they convevinced then the child would be just like this.

“Your face is fine the way it is. When I look you…” You’re at a loss for words, but gather yourself. “I see a..man. Not an animal, a man. Here..”

Getting up, you walk over to Safin and pull the slit of your scandalous slit to reveal your prosthetic. You had forgotten the skin slip, so it was more exposed than usual. Hating your leg, you always wore pants and socks to conceal a memory you wanted to lock away. Most of your leg had been spared except for everything below your knee.

Safin’s green eyes looked at your prosthetic, surprised. Your record never mentioned a prosthetic, nor did you. He knew about your time in the military but never knew why you had left for a desk job. “Your leg...I’m sorry. I never knew.” He apologized.

You shrugged before returning to your seat. “It’s not the worst. I could had lost my ability to walk, but I didn’t. I choose not to tell people. I rather have lost a limb than die.”

“If you mind me asking, Did you loose in it the battle?’

You nodded. “I was twenty-three, so around six years ago. Me and my team were on a sting operation in Iraq. It turned out to be a damn trap. Most of us had been caught off guard. A suicide bomber ran up to our captain and...everything went dark. I was stuck under the rubble for three days, I couldn’t feel anything below my waist. The only person who survived on my team was me and another man.”

“It was too traumatizing. I refused to be on the field. They discharged me and let me and my family with medical bills and a broken girl. After therapy, I went to study in Edinburgh and try to live somewhat of a normal life. I majored in Language and My don informed me about an opening proposition in London for M16. They needed a cyrtoprgapher, someone who could speak the military language. I knew a tad bit of coding, so I packed everything, and well, the rest is history. Now I’m here.” You casually explained. Over the years, losing your leg had become numb to you. You hated showing your emotions in front of other.

“You never told me. I’m sorry, I truly never knew about your leg.” He sounded sympathetic, not condescending. The only person at M16 that knew about your leg was Q, your closest friend.

Your shoulders loose there tension as your expression softens. Did Safin...truly not know about your leg. “It’s not a big deal…” There was a silence between you, before you reverted back to your typical self. “I thought you knew everything about me.”

“I want to know everything about you, y/n.” Safin responded. His hand laid on the side of the table, itching to lay on top of yours. “When I first saw you, I was intrigued. You don’t see a woman of your stature, jumping rooftops with a gun bigger than your whole body.”

“You know everything about me. My flat address, military background, fuck...even my clothing size. But enough about me..” You looked at Safin, staring into his eyes. “Tell me about yourself.”

“I would bore you with it.” He refused. “I’m sure the last thing you want to hear is me talk about myself.”

“If I’m going to be stuck with you forever, then I expect to know a little about my....fiance.” You said. You held back the vomit that was coming up from your throat. All you spoke was the truth. Safin was truly a man of mystery. His scars, lair, past, everything truly intrigued you.

“I suppose it’s only fair, my betrothed.” He smirks as he grabbed your hand giving it a small sqeeuze Flirting was definitely not your strong suit (nor was acting). Holding back a fight, you reluctantly agree. Everything came at a price.

“I was born in Egypt and brought over a ship to Switzerland. I never had any parents, or family. Me and some other young men were the test subjects of Hans Heinrich …”

“ Dr.Heinrich? The Nazi human experimenter?” You asked. Heinrich had embedded his name in the world of espionage. After World War Two ended, he had fled to Switzerland to continue his sick experiments. His men smuggled young children that weren’t part of the Aryan race and perfomed all kinds of experiments on their bodies for “science” and other horrifying facts.

Safin nodded in response, squeezing your hand for comfort. “Unfournealty. He believed in genetic cloning, wanting to carry on the Aryan race. He smuggled young children from all over the world. As long as they weren’t white, they qualified to be tested upon. He burned, amputated, drugged, posioned whoever he had to for science. Many of the test subjects had died. It was like a concentration camp. I was a scrawny, young boy who couldn’t even squeeze a lemon. I was weak and naive. I was Heinrich’s favorite lab rat. Whenever I didn’t comply with his orders, he would burn me. The injections he put in my skin irritated and scared them. All I wanted was death’s sweet release.”

“So When I turned twenty, I killed him and set the place ablaze. I escaped into the Swiss Alps and learned to survive on my own. Before I joined Spectre, I took on the job as an assassin for personal gain. I had met Blofield and he supplied me well for four decades. After I left Spectre, I returned to Switzerland to find that Heinrich’s work was still alive. I thought he had been crazy and just a sadist, but he...had cloned me. The reason I didn’t die and my skin wrinkled as a teenager was because I was rapidly aging. The blood he had kept of some of the lab rats was still somehow useable. On my island, we experimented and had made our first clones. The maids, the recruits, they’re all clones of Heinrich’s lab rats. When I die..my body and skills will forever live on. I appear as If I’m in my thirties, but...I’m in my sixties.”

You raised your eyebrows, intrigued with the story. It was definitely not what you had been expecting. Safin was so unpredictable, so he could have had any backstory. You couldn’t believe Safin was abused as a child, permenatly scaring him and drove him to kill his abuser. As much as he hated his abuser, he proceeded to carry on his genetic cloning work.

“Are you a Nazi?” You asked.

He shook his head. “No. But Heinrich’s work...it was full of possibilities. I wanted to turn an ugly creature into a beautiful butterfly. Genetic cloning is the future. When I eradicate the world of people such as Heinrich and clone people such as myself, the world be will tidy once again. We can live together, in harmony.” He brings your hand close to face, leaning into your palm to feel your satiny, floral smelling skin.

“Your tidying a world that has always been corrupt. No matter what, there will be corruption.” You implied.

Safin responded. “Y/n, you know so much, yet so little. That is why I saved you. You are a woman the world needs. Intelligent, strong, powerful, and beautiful. With you by my side, we can dominate the people who have wronged us. There is no going back now, my dear. We are far past the point of no return.”

Was Safin going to clone you? The man was insane. You tried to sympathize with him, but your head and heart screamed all red flags. Broken, all Safin ever wanted was to show the world that he could make them feel the pain he had felt as a child. Safin was an anarchist who wanted the world to be in his imagine, full of people such as yourself and him for a “perfect” future. All Safin would most likely get is a dystopian, war-torn globe. But he had taken down countless of organizations and govermtnets in post-soviet countries, especially the one you had worked for. Maybe he truly was one step away from world domination.

“It’s getting late. We should retire.” Safin announced. You snapped out of your thoughts and nodded, sliding your hand away from his. The Seabreeze was strong during the night. In your revealing slip dress, to say you were freezing was an understatement. While feeling confident, you were freezing your ass off. Safin had given you his coat, which you proceeded to take off.

You remember his whispered into your ear as his calloused, cold hands massaged your bare shoulders. “Don’t resist, my sweet y/n.”

When you arrived at your room, you sighed in relief to be back in your villa. It was warm, and you didn’t feel so exposed. The dinner was wonderful in many ways. Learning about Safin, your finance, plans for world domination through cloning was bone-chilling. Thousands of people to choose, and he chose you, the unlucky one.

But with the life he had given you, were you truly unlucky?

“Safin, dinner was wonderful. Thank you.” You thanked, a small smile on your face. Your expecting him to ask the dreaded question he knows you hate. But now that you were both alone, he wasn’t going to hold himself back.

He bows his head, before looking back up. “No, thank you. I have a simple request to ask of you. Will you kiss me?”

Raising your eyebrows, it takes you a second to process the request he has asked of you. You don’t respond since your in shock. He wasn’t afraid to grab your hand or play with your hair, but kiss you? That was a huge step.

“Just once, and I won’t ask again.” Safin said as you snapped out of your little daydream. “You looked so lovely tonight. I bet your [y/m/n] would think so as well…”

Your mother. You hadn’t through about her in a while, too distracted with Safin. The reason you didn’t want to think about her was that the poor woman was probably dying each day, worried about your safety. Knowing that you would never see her again depressed you. Safin was sadly your new life. If he didn’t get his way then you would have to suffer. You suffered for the sake of your family.

“I suppose if it only happens once.” You replied, looking down.

Safin hadn’t kissed a woman in years but knew how to properly woo a woman. He knew you were doing it for your mother and sister. But tonight you were irresistible in your dress. Seeing the ring necklace and red lipstick would make any man mad, he had someone so beautiful as you all to himself. Pushing your hair behind your ear, he grabbed your chin as your red lips met with his.

Safin was not a kisser you were expecting. Seeing him as a brute, you expected him to have his way. But instead, he was tender and even loving. He hadn’t grabbed you in any vulgar way. In the first few seconds, your mind told you to not enjoy the kiss. But you began to ignore your mind and listened to your heart. Safin was a cruel man but a toxic lover. He knew you as well as you knew yourself. To stabilize yourself, you wrapped an arm around his neck. In response, Safin’s hand snaked to your exposed lower back. His hands began to travel dangerously close to your bottom. The more his hands traveled down, the hungrier he got into the kiss. You backed up against a wall, feeling his surprisingly soft lips. A part of you enjoyed the kiss but remembered that Safin was a monster. You shouldn’t have been doing this. A small kiss was turning into a full-on make-out session.

As your hands traveled to your chest, Safin’s lips moved away from your lips as he held onto your hips. Small pieces of hair fell from his neatly gelled hair. His breathing pattern was heavier, right up against your body.

His eyes looked down at your frame, seeing your cheeks burn up. A smile curves onto his face as his hand caresses your cheek. You don’t feel yourself, like your in a sick dream. You lean into his hand, feeling exhausted.

“Oh y/n, y/n, my love..” He purred into your ear in his husky, accented voice. “I cannot wait for the day I see you in your wedding dress.”

His hand moves away from your face as he walks down the hallway to retire his chambers. Safin had disappeared into the night after your very intimate moment. That was the first time in years you had truly felt adrenaline rush through your body. But it wasn’t just adrenaline. It was a sick, twisted form of warmth. You felt like a young woman in love with a teacher. Your romance was forbidden. Safin was a monster who wanted to wipe the world and leave it in his name. He had turned your life upside down, forcing you to be his bride. Safin was a greedy and evil man, someone you would never be attracted to. A part of you hated him and wanted to do nothing more than watch him pay for his actions. You couldn’t believe that your thoughts you even come to this, but a small part of believed you were falling for Safin. A beauty falling for the evil beast.

#rami malek x reader #safin x reader #rami malek #safin #no time to die #james bond #my writing

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erzherzog-von-edelstein · 4 years ago

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Palaces of Gold

Characters: Bavaria and Ludwig II of Bavaria

Summary: Bavaria discusses the possibility of a German war with his king.

Word Count: 1.3K

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The king told him to close his eyes, and Bavaria obliged somewhat hesitantly. While he loved his king, he had a feeling that if this was garnering this much excitement and fanfare from him, then it must have been expensive.

Ludwig II had the tastes of a spoiled romantic who did not seem to understand that gold was not infinite. Bavaria was a rich kingdom, but even his natural resources could only do so much. There had to be a breaking point.

He felt his king’s hand take his own and start to lead him. Ludwig’s hands were so soft, save for some of the roughness from dabbling in musical instruments. A martial man might have had callouses on his palms from a fencing sword, but not Ludwig. He had never been that kind of man. He had always been softer, and sweeter than other boys.

Bavaria felt himself being led forward, then eased gently over the threshold of a door. He heard the sound of his own shoes and the king’s on what sounded like wood floor. He could already guess that it was a complicated parquet. Ludwig would not want anything less. But, that would mean even more expense.

They stopped, and Bavaria wondered if he was supposed to open his eyes yet. But, he waited patiently until his king said, “You can look now.”

Bavaria opened his eyes to a beautiful hall. There were golden vines carved into the walls and filigree crowning the pillars. In the space between the pillars, there were textiles in the richest blue. In the middle of the room, there was a massive gilded sculpture of a swan.

His eyes caught the glitter of gemstones inlaid in the gold. The room was gloriously decorated, and he could see that there were niches set into the wall, undoubtedly for treasures or porcelain that was not yet there. There wasn’t any furniture yet either, but he already knew what to expect.

It seemed that with each palace he planned, his king got more ambitious and lavish. He already knew that this was the newest project, but he had not expected it to be this far yet.

His king turned an excited face to him, and said, “Isn’t it glorious? It’s exactly how I imagined it. It took time to import the wall coverings, but the colors look enchanting.”

Usually Bavaria enjoyed these long talks about palaces and rooms, and all the little details of what made them beautiful. He had certainly never looked at rooms as closely before.

But, there was another concern working at the corner of his mind as he watched his king walk to different parts of the room and gesture at parts of the decor. Ludwig circled back to the center of the room, and said as he put one hand right above the swan like he was afraid to touch such an exquisite treasure, “This is my most majestic piece. It truly is the most handsome creature. I am going to put this in a mirrored naive, so that it-“

Bavaria could feel his concern growing, and he finally said, “How much did this all cost?”

He saw the look of enthusiasm fall from his king’s face and felt a surge of guilt. He didn’t want to hurt him, but he could not have held the thought back any longer. Ludwig said, “I can’t be sure, since it isn’t done yet. I wanted to show you this room since I finally finished it. You can’t put a price on beauty.”

He said the last statement with a kind of defensive sting in his voice. Bavaria did not mean for him to sound so hurt. He sighed and said, “I wish that I could tell you that you could build to your heart’s content. But, I cannot. I need to ask you to be aware of how much our treasury can take. How many more palaces are you planning to build?”

He felt like he was asking a painful question, since it would have to bring his young king back to Earth. He felt a little more guilt each time that he insisted that Ludwig leave his world of romance and fantasy for the cruel pragmatism of the present. He knew that he shouldn’t. A king had to deal with the problems of the real world, and Ludwig was a king. Bavaria had sheltered him longer than he should have out of affection for the man.

Ludwig said back, sounding even more defensive, “I would rather spend money on this. I want to build things that will be admired for centuries to come. I will leave a beautiful mark on the world.”

He laid his hand on the swan and rubbed a thumb on it agitatedly. Bavaria wanted to take him into his arms and tell him that there was nothing to worry about. But, he knew that was not the truth.

He said, “And what do you think Prussia is spending his money on?” Bavaria could feel that Prussia was plotting something in his seeming silence. He was as tricky as a fox, and would surely strike soon. Prussia was a tyrant and a bully, and it was certain that he would find a reason to fight Austria. Bavaria was certain of it.

The king scoffed and said, “Now you sound like my brother. He keeps chattering in my ear about needle guns. Prussia has them, so we must.” Bavaria replied, taking a step forward towards his king, “Is Otto wrong to want to be prepared?”

Ludwig let out a sharp breath of air through his nose. Then he said, “Prepared for what? Is Prussia standing at your door demanding you fight?” Bavaria shook his head stiffly. It was true that he was not quite yet. But with the tensions between Prussia and Austria, it would only be a matter of time.

Ludwig continued, “War is an ugly thing, Leo. I will not take part in it. We have taken too much time fighting when we could be creating culture and beauty.” Bavaria said, hearing his own frustration in his voice, “The world is not an opera, Ludwig. War will come whether you want it or not.”

The king scoffed again, “And now you sound like Sissi.” If he wanted to, Bavaria could have corrected Ludwig that her name was Empress Elizabeth of Austria, but it was futile. Among her family she would always be Sissi.

Ludwig continued, “Last time she was here she told me, ‘it is time to grow up. Leopold has let you live in your fantasy kingdoms too long.’”

He paused for a moment, and Bavaria could see the real hurt from this chiding. The cousins were close, and surely Sissi’s words had cut deeply.

Ludwig’s voice sounded smaller when he spoke again, “Is that how you see me too? As a child who does not know how the world is? I do know how it is, and how ugly it is. But, I believe that I can change it by not engaging in brutality.”

Bavaria felt the sudden urge to take him into his arms. He loved Ludwig dearly, and believed that his idealism was a gift. But, this was a moment for harsh truths.

He stepped even closer and reached out like he was going to hug him as he said, “I believe you are a singular man with a vision of the world that few share. But, I think the world will not be as you wish it.”

Ludwig came gladly into his arms and looked up at his face. Then, to Bavaria’s surprise, Ludwig put his hand on his face, and said, “There are a great many things I wish for, but cannot have.” The hand trembled, and Ludwig pulled it away as he repeated, in a tone of mourning, “A great many.”

#hws bavaria

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boundlesshart · 5 years ago

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how royal succession works in Almyra + Other Things about almyra that’s been rattling in my head since that nintendo dream interview laid waste on my crops

hi, so after reading M’s @ladamedepique drabble about a concubine war kid getting kmarted, i realized that what i actually want to write is the Everything i’ve been thinking about since this nintendo dream interview came out back in march. so i did. it’s 2am and im hungry.

i realize that it’s been a while, so the summary of that interview’s impact on my claude headcanons is “my handcrafted claude backstory that i had to write myself bc intsys decided fuck claude is now irreversibly fucked by the introduction of a bunch of half-siblings he had to be rivals with.” if you ever catch yourself wondering why this is such a mess, well because that’s exactly what this is! this is all subject to change, it’s same kind of “haphazard and bizarrely long half-baked headcanon report” that my dlc thought train was. i’ve changed my mind at least 20 times during this process i will change it again

i’d like to thank zotero for holding all of my journal articles and pdfs on the ottomans and their succession system, and also magnificent century og and kosem, while not being totally historically accurate, for being a fun soap opera to give me some visuals to work with in my head. i now have a positive understanding of what claude’s shitty little beard could realistically look like, which is a gift that i never thought i would have.

Almyran Succession

All of the king’s children, regardless of if they were born in or out of wedlock, is considered a legitimate prince or princess. This is pretty much the only title that they can expect to have, as they and their mothers cannot inherit any lands, titles or wealth that would have been passed to them from their own families. Almyran property law aims to avoid partitioning property between multiple heirs for the sake of maintaining the family’s financial stability. The throne of Almyra works under the same principle, which had led to the introduction, legalization, and practice of open succession.

Open succession, despite its potential to be cruel, is viewed as a necessary step to ensure that the throne would only be held by strong leaders chosen by the people (”people” ending up being the higher-ranking officials that would benefit from a specific child’s ascension). If they proved to be lacking, they would simply be deposed of and replaced.

What determines who becomes the next ruler of Almyra is not whether a child is the oldest of all the children, but if they and their allies have the political acumen to not only claim kingship but keep it, fighting off their rival brothers and sisters.

All sons and unmarried daughters are eligible to rule Almyra. By law is not only the next ruler’s right but duty to remove other potential heirs to secure their right to rule and the stability of their reign. Generally upon a ruler’s ascension to the throne, their brothers will be killed and their sisters married off or killed if they threaten their siblings’ rule. Exceptions have been made in the past, but they are few and far in between and have led to succession crises down the road.

The previous ruler’s choice for an heir is usually accepted after their death, and ideal for minimizing the interregnum period. Even so, it doesn’t guarantee that the heir will be able to keep the throne.

Ok, but where do the kids come from?

Rulers of Almyra are allowed to have multiple spouses, but they usually only marry for political purposes.

The vast majority of children are mothered or fathered by concubines with no background of political power, which is preferred. Princes and princesses are allowed to have children once they leave the palace (to prove that they can have them), but if they have too many they may be considered a threat to the king and dealt with appropriately.

I think the one mother-one child rule would have been in place here, not necessarily as a law but as a rule enforced by other spouses and concubines, as well as the ruler’s mother or father.

Princes and princesses aren’t dropping like flies, and murdering them without having the law on your side is considered treason of the highest order. They’re still aware of their competition and fear being murdered when one of their siblings takes the thrones, so few end up becoming friends.

Children are ultimately their mother’s or father’s responsibility. They are expected to guide them through their education and follow them to their provincial post when they are old enough, setting them up for success and paving their path to the throne. King and Queen Dowagers have been incredibly influential in Almyran history and support their children by representing them politically and managing their spouses and concubines.

Ok, whatever, just tell me what’s relevant to Claude:

Ibrahim, Claude’s father, became the king of Almyra only after 5 year civil war between himself and his two remaining brothers. He got to the throne first and is still feared for the ruthless execution of even his youngest brothers and sisters.

In all, Ibrahim has had 2 wives and 12 concubines, and he has fathered 10 sons and 6 daughters. A few died to childhood illnesses but most made it to at least 13 years old. He’s a doting father and cares for their well-being, though only when he happens to see them. Though he was a constant presence in Claude’s life, his half-siblings usually only saw him during holidays.

No one in Almyra knows that Tiana is the daughter of Duke Riegan, for all they know she’s a Fódlaner that King Ibrahim brought back with him after a short border strife with the Leicester Alliance. Obviously she goes by another name in Almyra, and here is where I think I’m going to bring back the first name I had for her, Desdemona. Suck it, intsys. She wasn’t liked when she first came due to being from Fódlan, and was accused of witchcraft when Ibrahim married her and devoted himself to her at the expense of his other wives as concubines. As the herd of children and concubines thinned, Tiana’s strong personality and battle prowess garnered her respect among the top officials of the Almyran court and even her enemies.

In Fódlan Year 1175, rebels infiltrate the palace walls and kill over a dozen people, from palace servants to princes and princesses. In the moment it was believed to be part of a revolt that was ongoing in the capital at the time and carried out by rebels storming the palace walls and stealing and killing whatever came in their way. After an investigation, it was discovered that that was just a cover up for.... a noble Almyran house trying to make a power grab through either an older son or with their own heir? I’ve been working out the details on this for months and I still don’t have them ironed out don’t look at me. It ends with a couple of older half-sibs dying but more importantly Claude’s older and younger brother dying and Claude nearly dying himself, only to survive with the Crest of Riegan. I imagine that there have been instances before hinted at him having the Crest of Riegan, but it was this incident that confirmed it for Tiana.

These are the notable royal family members, or the ones I’ve spent at least one second thinking of:

King Ibrahim II of Almyra: Claude’s dad, born Fódlan year 1131 so 19 when he ascends the throne. He is feared but respected, brutal to his enemies, firm with his allies... but you’d be surprised by how easygoing he actually is with friends and family. He’s young at heart and energetic, even laughing at jokes made at his expense, but only in very close company. He loves writing poetry, especially to Tiana, and he frequently sends her love letters so that one can be read out to her every morning and evening when her mail is given to her. Relishes the thrill of battle. Nader introduced him to kumis back when they were boys and to this day Ibrahim regularly drinks a glass each night, claiming it makes him stronger.

There’s a tradition in the royal family that all princes and princesses must learn a trade in case that they fall into misfortune. Ibrahim enjoys goldsmithing when he is alone, a good distraction from his thoughts. Claude’s earring is part of a set given to his mother, crafted by his father as a gift.

Tiana von Riegan/Desdemona: Claude’s mom, born Fódlan year 1135. Claude calls her a warrior goddess and a demon queen that would laugh at his expense, I imagine that she’s in that “dead serious but good humored about it” boat like Claudedad, but less sappy about it. A tough but loving mother, she was very involved in her children’s upbringing and did her best to secure their place in the royal family. She doesn’t teach any of her kids the Fódlanguage because she was distancing herself from That, but Claude is able to convince her to help him learn (though she was reluctant about it and limited their lessons greatly, forcing him to teach himself mostly). She has firmly decided to never return to Fódlan, but a cup of Leicester Cortania is her guilty pleasure. These days Tiana spends her time at her husband’s side in Maragheh, keeping up with her training.

Two older half-brothers: So Claude’s endings have him as heir to the throne without a mention of rivals, but part of me feels like that’s too simple for Claude considering he just up and walked out of there 7 years ago so here we are, two rivals. They’re probably early to mid 30s at this point and have one or two small children of their own. I don’t know their names yet, but my initial ideas are a “nice” brother cool calculated pushing up glasses kind of dude that is actually a huge dick and a chad dudebro who’s just trying to distance himself from these bad vibes.

If I had to give them trades, nice brother likes to fish and sails for pleasure (he governs a coastal province) and chad brother carves wooden thumbrings.

Orhan: Claude’s older brother, born Fódlan Year 1160. He was conceived months before Tiana went to Almyra (born 5 months after she arrived), so his parentage has been in doubt from day 1. I imagine him as having low self-esteem since he was believed to be a full-blooded Fódlaner, discriminated against in a similar way or worse than what the rest of his siblings went through. Historians would later debate whether or not he was actually Ibrahim’s son.... but we’re not historians, and Orhan was definitely his son. Died in the FY1175 uprising at the age of 15.

No idea what he looked like, he just happened to not look like his parents. His favorite food was salted cod, but he was rarely able to get it. Orhan enjoyed playing the violin.

Claude/Khalid: You know him, you love him, born Fódlan Year 1162 under another name. He’s the only kid that ended up getting the Crest of Riegan, and after one too many accidents where that crest ended up proccing, he’s been accused of practicing witchcraft like his mother. I think this would be a better like, concrete thing for the Almyrans to fixate on rather than a general “you’re half-Fódlan rahhh” and I think it would definitely go with Claude talking about how he was constantly fighting and explaining himself to get out of trouble.

If I’m going with the “kids can only inherit from the ruler of Almyra”, then I’m gonna have to figure out how Claude fits into this. His first move is to probably bullshit a loophole about how actually the Dukedom of Riegan doesn’t exist anymore and I may have destroyed Failnaught after the final battle so technically I didn’t really inherit anything that would give me an edge in Almyran politics. :). Ibrahim is pissed at Claude for going to Fódlan in the first place and getting caught up in a war and he definitely did not sign off on Nader bringing Almyran troops into a war that they have no business being involved in. The first thing Ibrahim does when Claude returns to Maragheh is shout at him and ground him to his apartment in the palace. And then proceed to assign Claude to a governmental post so that he’s out of his sight.

As an aside, I imagine that when Ibrahim dies and Claude rises to the throne, he deliberately delays his coronation so that it coincides with the Almyran New Year. It;s that kind of inconvenient dick move that he would delight in making bc symbolism.

You know what he looks like, in terms of food he strays away from sugary sweet stuff and towards meat and cheese. I’d like to think that he gains a genuine interest in gardening (like, beyond just cultivating poisonous plants as a cover for “gardening”) during his time in Fódlan and brings back different seedlings and scions for grafting back to Almyra.

Mehmet and Rahimah: Twins, born Fódlan Year 1164. Ok so basically I kind of wanted a dead sibling that was around Cyril and Lysithea’s age for the Drama of it (bc I thought of Claude looking at Cyril and thinking of his brother and immediately went “That hurts. Let’s do it”). But I ALSO thought what if Claude had a little sister, and then I ALSO thought what if Claude has a new full-blooded sibling that got conceived during the five year war, like the shittiest surprise. I’ve combined all those ideas into the twins.

First of all, they have more function than personality. Mehmet only exists to die during the uprising, but I’m starting to like Rahimah bc like... she literally loses most of her brothers including her twin, and then Claude up and leaves her for Fódlan (a place she has little connection to, regardless of her mother). Her only remaining sibling is gone for years, misses seven birthdays, her wedding with an Almyran general, the birth of her first child and the announcement of her second... like, by the time Claude comes back to Almyra she hates his guts and you know what? She’s right! I imagine Rahimah angry, but also grasping for literally any kind of deep and long-lasting relationship at this point. She loves her kids fiercely, she loves her husband, and even though they have their struggles she's still very close to her mom. Fuck her no-show brother Khalid, and fuck Fódlan for taking him away from her.

No idea what Mehmet looks like, like I said he only exists to die. Rahimah is shorter than Claude at maybe 5′4, round-faced and carrying herself gracefully. She’s lactose intolerant but she bears the pain for the sake of eating ice cream, and her husband goes to great lengths to get the ice for her. Likes to sing and dance with her son Ömer.

#headcanon #to sleep

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littlelonghairedoutlawllho · 5 years ago

Note

Re: make our sun stand still -- honestly at this point, these stories are so far removed from POTO how is it even fanfiction anymore? You should write original fiction. Also, your "historically detailed author's note": "sorelli's own TB is left intentionally vague" -- if you can't put that across as a writer, go back and re-work it. "FFN character limit should be abolished for my summary" -- a summary has to be tight. If you can't do it in like 3 sentences, it isn't a summary, is it?

I had a few initial responses to this, ranging from bleary-eyed comprehension at half six in the morning to intense anxiety, something that resembled a bitter laugh, and a brief flare of anger that was mercifully short.

Also, oddly, relief.

Anon, I’ve been expecting this message for some time. I expected it last week, with my Philippe/Sorelli stories, I expected it with the Tinder ‘verse, and with love-light, and the Delta stories, and Digging Up Bones, and a host of other times that it never came. That it has come now has caused me to step back and wonder, why? I’ve been expecting it for so long that I expected it with Soft Place to Fall almost through second-nature. I did get one very like this, last year, with Running Through the Rain, and it contributed to a night of alcohol poisoning that I have no desire to remember.

Anon, what is the definition of fanfiction? It is fan generated content about a set of characters created by somebody else. Anon, what is the definition of an alternate universe? The taking of those characters and placing them in a world different to their own.

Every act of fic writing creates an AU, no matter how closely the writer adheres to canon, because every act of fic writing creates a story already fundamentally different to canon.

Anon, what is the definition of PotO fanfiction?

A fan-generated piece of content about characters originating in Phantom of the Opera. Last I checked those were the origins of Sorelli. I simply imagined how she might be in a different set of circumstances. Admittedly a very different set of circumstances, but she is Sorelli nonetheless.

The prompt I received, that led to the creation of this fic, called simply for something featuring Christine, Sorelli, time travel, and mutual pining. There was no compunction on me to set the fic in the canon era. I freely admit canon-era France is something I know a very limited amount about. I am a historian, but that setting is not my area of research.

I do write original fiction. I’ve had a story broadcast nationally and it is available online and I have spoken about it here in the past. I’ve had scraps of poetry published. I am working on the third draft of a novel. None of that means that I can’t also write fic. None of that means that I can’t take someone else’s characters and set them in a wildly different world.

I can, and I will, and I have.

If you don’t like it you don’t have to read it. The evidence is that you have read it because you quote from my own author’s note. That particular line, about the source of Sorelli’s own tuberculosis, exists because I know some readers would like a clear-cut answer on it. The body of the fic itself provides no less than three potential sources of infection. Tuberculosis was endemic in the Ireland of the 1920s, and the 1930s, and the 1940s, and before. 60,000 people died of the disease in the approximate period of 1932-1947, a period when the total population barely reached 3 million, and those fatality figures likely are only a partial picture, due the stigma around the disease, the reluctance to put it down as cause of death on a death certificate, and the multiplicity of atypical presentations of it. Even the three sources of infection I provide may not be the one that caused it in this one (fictional) case.

The fic itself has all of the historical details and explanations it needs. The author’s note simply provides some additional context, because I for one like when a historically-based fic does that. I am a historian, a historian of medicine as well as of politics and agriculture, and this is my failing. I can delete the note if you want, but I don’t think it would make you happy.

You also grossly overstate my comment on the FFN summary character limit. The actual comment was “summarising something like this is a bitch and frankly the FFN character limit should be abolished.” It was written in response to circumstance — I wrote the summary for the fic on AO3, attempted to copy and paste it into the box on FFN, and had to cut it down to make it fit. That does not inherently change the content of either the fic or the summary, it purely impacted the flow and readability of the summary. Personally, I prefer when cross-posted fics have the same summary on multiple sites and when it somewhat reflects the tone of the story. It is a simple matter of taste and prevents so much confusion. I frequently find FFN an unwieldy site — and have mentioned this on a number of occasions in the past — and for a fic like this the tagging system on AO3 works so much better than a mere summary and two restrictive genre tags. But again, that is a matter of taste.

And when was the last time you read a novel — or a historical text — summarized in less than three sentences? Three very short sentences at that.

But to return to the matter of fanfiction, and what defines it. PotO is, quite frankly, the most conservative fandom I’ve ever been in, AU-wise. In fact in most regards. Have you ever searched through the multiplicity of AUs available for things like Sherlock or Wynonna Earp or Harry Potter on AO3? In the case of Harry Potter, a huge amount of them don’t even involve magic. There are historical AUs of every shape and form, including westerns, including war stories. They are all as entitled to being called fanfiction as something that strictly adheres to the most obvious senses of the word.

‘make our sun stand still’ would not work at all as a piece of original fiction. That is one extremely obvious fact about it, even setting aside details. The very means of the time travel in the story — to be explored further through Christine’s perspective — are derived from The Time Traveler’s Wife, and I will be citing that. There are a number of other things that I would not have felt comfortable including if it had been an original piece. All of those changes would result in a wildly different story, and frankly I believe something would be lost by implementing those changes, and not merely my own self-indulgent enjoyment of it.

Just because it doesn’t look like your typical piece of PotO fic does not mean it cannot exist as PotO fic. I freely admit my stories are not for everyone. I have not adhered to the most common principles of PotO fic in more than two years. Possibly I’ve only adhered to it a handful of times in the last four years. I have posted 197 PotO fics (a total of 641,241 words, 77.4% of my entire fic output), and that is not fully reflective of the 48 one-shots contained in the Fragmentations collection, or the host of one-shots and snippets posted here that never made it to fic sites. If we were limited to the most doctrinaire conception of PotO fic, a good 90% of my fics would not exist. Possibly only 10 would exist, possibly only 5. Possibly none and would that make you happy? And if so, perhaps you ought to wonder why.

But it’s not just me. Should every fic writer adhere to the most doctrinaire conception of it, all originality in fic would be lost. Fic is an incredibly innovative and fertile literary field. It feeds into itself in a self-sustaining loop. The fic read for one fandom influences the fic written and enjoyed in another fandom. The backgrounds of the fic writers themselves inform the fics they write — not just setting and speech and sexuality, but a variety of other things too. If I were not a historian, most of my fics would not exist. If I were not a farmer, they would not exist either. If I were not Irish, there are at least 70,000 words of fic that would not exist. If I were not a queer woman, I likely would never have started writing fic at all.

We cannot wholly divorce a fic from the person writing it, and nor should we, just as we cannot wholly divorce it from its canon. And no matter how full a fic is of original elements, it remains a fic, because some if not all of the characters will have been sourced from somebody else’s work. They may have a different accent and a different background and a different skin colour and a different taste in romantic and sexual partners, but there will always be that seed of them that came from canon. So if it’s called fic and it’s posted to a fic site, chances are it works better as fic than as an original work.

So perhaps, Anon, you ought to take a step back, and reflect a little, and look around you, before you wander into my inbox. Chances are I’ve already asked myself the questions you’re posing, and formed a conclusion, and with the information I have access to about myself and my work those conclusions are not going to change just because you couldn’t allow yourself to think outside the box.

#shauna replies #apologies for the mini essay but i had both time and thoughts

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tentendeservedbetter · 5 years ago

Text

double the trouble

Summary: Two-Shot // What was supposed to be short trip to the Yamanaka Flower Shop to get his girlfriend something to remind her of home ends with Shikamaru agreeing to go on a double date with Ino and Sai to help his friend have a successful relationship.

And Temari, not seeing the big deal of double dates, agrees.

Pairing: ShikaTema, InoSai

Also read here: AO3

***

"C'mon Shikamaru! Don't you want to help me?"

"Not really," the man admitted with a low groan, balancing his chin on top of his hand, glancing away from his blonde friend that stood directly across from him over the counter.

"Ughhhh!" The blonde crossed her arms over her chest. Her piercing blue eyes quickly shifted towards their third companion that stood beside him, and her pout deepened, and she pleaded, "How about you Choji? Why don't you come with us?"

"And risk being the fifth wheel?" Choji scoffed, taking another potato chip from the bowl that stood between the three on the counter. "No thanks."

"You can bring someone else!" She replied, a sly smirk growing on her face. "What about that Karui girl, hm? I thought you were already making the moves on her-"

"N-no way, Ino!" Choji nearly choked out, with his mouth being full, and took a moment to properly swallow the food in his mouth. Shikamaru smirked slightly as red started spreading on his friend's ear, threatening to leak to his face. "We haven't been on a proper date yet, there's no way I'd take her to have a date with you two!"

"What?!" Ino exclaimed, her eyebrows pulling into a frown. "You've known her for years dude! How long is it going to take for you to ask her out!"

"Leave him alone, Ino," Shikamaru interjected, slipping his hand to the bowl. "Unlike you, Choji likes to take his time when it comes to relationships."

"Please, I don't want him to be like you and have a decade long slow burn," Ino retorted, waving her hand to dismiss him. "I'm surprised you and Temari never dated sooner, you two were always together before the war. I should have swept her up from you when I had the chance."

"That was because-" Shikamaru started, ready to ignore whatever nonsense she might say next, but Ino beat him to it.

"I had to escort her through the village," Ino mocked, deepening her voice to mimic his, and Choji grinned, holding back his laughter. "And we ran the Chunin Exams. It was such a drag."

"Fuck off," Shikamaru grumbled, cringing internally at how familiar those words sounded. "And you better be nicer to me if you want me to do this favour."

What a drag, he thought mindlessly as Ino stuck her tongue out childishly, attempting to coax a reaction out of him. What was supposed to be a quick professional trip to the Yamanaka Flower Shop to pick up a gift quickly dissolved into a hangout with his close friends and old teammates. Ino was manning the store, idly arranging a flower basket for a client at the front counter, while Choji had been passing by from the convenience store and decided to say hi to them.

It hasn’t been that long since they last hung out with one another- but as they grew older and older, it became more and more seldom, to the point that when they do manage to be in the same vicinity, they spent hours and hours discussing nonsense. Ino would often times bring up the past a lot more, especially in comparison to how they live now, and as of late, the conversations have been turning to relationship therapy - particularly for Ino, who had finally asked Sai out on a date and has been restless about the relationship since.

If this were the old Shikamaru, he wouldn’t have given her the time of day, blaming her dilemmas on her being, well, a stereotypical annoying girl- but time has worn out his mind where he was much more understanding, and now, he found himself seeking out Ino’s company and thoughts, finding that out of all of his friends, she was the one who changed the least. War and death haven’t deterred her from being honest and kind; and the optimism she and Choji held were good for his cynical heart.

Currently, Ino talking about her love affairs was no different from the last. Except this time, Ino was begging them for a favour she never asked of them before.

"Why do you even want to do a double date with us anyways?" Choji perused between bites. “Can’t you ask Hinata or someone?”

"Can't I have a double- or triple- date with my two best boy friends?" Ino asked, flashing that sweet little smile when she was trying to sway someone her way. Shikamaru and Choji, who were completely immune to the girl’s charms, simply glanced at each with an eyebrow raised, always suspicious of her intentions.

She let out a low, withdrawn sigh at their silent exchange.

"Alright, alright," Ino mumbled, leaning on her arms slightly, the tips of her lips slightly turned upside down. “I feel like I haven’t really been connecting with Sai.”

He stared at her, expecting her to continue, but she just started fidgeting with a single potato chip between her fingertips. “What does that mean?”

“Like,” she slurred, glancing around slightly, as if conflicted on what to say. Her eyes flitted around the room, no other customers in sight, and she turned towards the door leading into the rest of her home, listening for a second. Once she was satisfied with the drone of the soap opera that played on the TV deeper in the living room, a sign her mother was far enough to not eavesdrop, she lean closer over the counter towards them.

Oh boy, Shikamaru groaned, knowing that she must have done something to warrant this type of secrecy.

“Well, we’re not technically boyfriend-girlfriend, right,” Ino started, her voice low, glancing between the men.

“Yeah…”

“Like, we’ve been on a few dates here and there, but it’s just casual, nothing serious-”

“Yeah, we get it,” Shikamaru cut through, not wanting her to ramble on. “What’s your point?”

“It still feels like we’re not connecting emotionally or on the same level,” Ino huffed, annoyed at her friend’s lack of indulging in details. Temari is exactly like that- no wonder the two get along so well. They were on the same spectrum but on opposite sides. “Like, Sai is very nice to be around and he’s really nice to me and he’s interesting and I love I can say anything I want when I’m around him. But it just feels like something is off? Like, I feel comfortable, but it feels like there’s a wall between us whenever we talk?”

“Well, it hasn’t even been that long since you two started going out,” Shikamaru replied, shaking his head. “It sounds pretty normal for a new relationship.”

“Besides, Sai isn’t really an open guy, remember?” Choji added a bit more softly than their friend, almost sage-like. “It took him a long time to even get around hanging out with us without feeling the need to keep his guard up; he just might need time warming up to dating you. You’re kind of a handful for guys like him.”

Shikamaru smiled at the little jab, and Ino shook her head intensely, while saying, “Well, I didn’t want to wait around! So a few days ago, we had sex so I could figure out whether we had that emotional connection-”

“Wait, you guys did what!” Choji exclaimed, and Ino quickly shushed him.

“Not so loud dumbass,” Ino hissed, glancing towards the doorway to her home. “And it’s not like I haven’t done it before- it’s not a big deal.”

“I don’t think that’s the issue,” Shikamaru replied, starting to feel his pant pockets for a lighter. After what Ino is going to indulge them with, he’s going to need a smoke, he could feel it. “I’m surprised you guys didn’t do it on the first date.”

“We could’ve, but waiting makes it better,” Ino replied with a smirk. “How’s it like being a fucking maiden, huh Shikamaru?”

“But if you feel like you weren’t connecting with the guy before, why’d you sleep with him?” Choji finally asked. “Wouldn’t it be better if you had gotten to know him a bit more. Like...wouldn’t it be better?”

He started to gesture with his hands, a sort of weird back and forth movement to emphasise the better part, and Shikamaru just put his hand on his forehead, massaging one side with his thumb.

Oh yeah. He definitely needs a smoke after this.

“Oh please, you could sleep with a stranger and have a good time,” Ino shook her head, dismissing his insinuation. “And I technically connected with him...well, I would say we connected really well-”

“I don’t want to know how sleeping with Sai is like,” Shikamaru interrupted, gritting his teeth. He already has to see Sai naked one too many times at the onsen, he doesn’t need to know what he does with his dick whenever he’s trying to relax in the same vicinity as the man.

“I’m pretty sure he’s better than you,” Ino snapped, annoyed with the commentary. “At least I know he’s better kisser than you. Temari told me all about your first kiss and how you-”

“Ino, just keep going,” Choji sighed, physically placing an arm between them so as to stop the beginning of endless bickering.

Curse Ino and her sharp nose. No wonder she was Konoha’s go-to shinobi for gathering intelligence; her personality is well suited for the field-work. Not even Temari, who had trained under Suna’s harsh disciplinary training, who would be ready to bite her tongue off before she gave away any secrets, could escape the copious amounts of drinks Ino would bring to one of the many nights out with the girls.

“Alright, jeez,” Ino sighed. “I slept with him to figure out if there was any other chemistry between us. And I feel like there is some sort of emotional chemistry, but it’s hard to tell when you can’t even talk without it feeling fake."

"Okay, you have problems connecting to the guy," Shikamaru replied. "But what does that have to do with us going on a date with you two?"

"Well, Sai tends to be more...open in a more...friendly group setting," Ino said slowly, thinking of the words to explain her thought. "And I feel like he'd feel more comfortable being in more of a group setting with me for a bit, you know. On missions and stuff, it's easier to get to know him because he's with other people he knows. So maybe we can do the same, but in a more romantic dinner setting?"

"You don't even sound like you believe what you're saying right now," Shikamaru duly noted, while Ino groaned, planting her face into his arms.

"Where were you even thinking about going?" Choji asked, curious now, the talk of dinner piqued his interest.

"I don't know, maybe Korean Barbecue or something?" Ino mumbled, face in her arms still, now embarrassed having to explain why she wanted a double date.

"If you're paying, then I'll definitely come!" Choji immediately exclaimed happily, but Ino shook her head.

"Nah, it's okay, it's a stupid idea anyway," Ino sighed, finally lifting her head up, a dead look on her face. Ino continued, solemnly, "By the way, Shikamaru, what were you looking for again?"

Ino rarely behaved this way over a person, much less thought about ways to get to know them with the help of her friends. She really didn't care for a second opinion- and rarely did she need it. She was a people's person after all; she knew how to make someone trust in her within a few minutes of meeting them, getting more details than even she bargained for. To see her lament like this made Shikamaru uncomfortable.

And that's the last thing he wants to be right now.

He was having a nice day, and for it to end with Ino being a puddle of despair was not on his "not troublesome day" list.

"Fine," Shikamaru finally sighed, holding the lighter in his pocket firmly. "I'll do it. When do you want to go out?"

"Really!" Ino immediately had colour on her face, a smile gracing her lips, and her blue eyes twinkled with delight. Another feeling settled in his stomach, an uneasy one, and now Shikamaru partly regretted agreeing to Ino's intent. "How about we do it this Friday? Temari should still be in town by then, right?"

"Yeah, she's leaving on Saturday," Shikamaru replied, rubbing the back of his neck. She was still an ambassador to Konoha from Suna, thought now she stays around much longer than before. Still, the idea of their last night before she leaves for home is going to be spent with Ino and Sai is…

Such a drag…

"You wanna come too Choji?" Ino asked, with a little thumbs up. "I'll pay for your dishes if you want!"

"I can't, Kakashi got me booked for a mission that weekend," Choji groaned, the missed opportunity of having free barbecue in his stomach making him pout.

"Don't worry, we'll go on another one when you come back!" She said, her mood much lively than before. "Just the three of us!"

"Ino, you're a godsend!" Choji said, humouring her, and Shikamaru just shook his head, feeling a slight delight from their energy.

"Ino! It's past 9, why haven't you closed up shop!"

The high voice of her mother called from the door, and Mrs. Yamanka opened the door, peering through. Having only Ino living in the house must have added a few grey hairs in her brown tresses; they were more evident when her hair was pulled back as it was now.

The moment she saw her daughter's friends, her frown immediately turned into a smile, "Oh! Hello boys!"

"Hello," the men replied in unison, and Shikamaru could feel his back straightening itself.

"Mom! Calm down!" Ino grumbled, crossing her arms. She started to make her way out of the counter towards the front door. "I'm just helping Shikamaru get some stuff!"

"Really? What is Yoshino looking for this time?" Her mother asked kindly, leaning into the doorframe with a gentle hand.

"It's not for her," Shikamaru replied, slightly abashed, all eyes on him peering for his reason making him uncomfortable. He caught what he said, and quickly fumbled out, "I'm just looking for some plants for myself."

"Uh huh," Ino rolled her eyes, a sly smirk on her face. She looked at her mother, and quickly dismissed her, "We'll be fine! You can go back inside now!"

"Sometimes I wish you didn't have such a mouth," her mother replied with a sigh, as she retreated back, unbothered by her daughter's request.

Once she was out of sight, Ino continued, "So what type of flowers does Temari like? Did you guys get into a fight and you want to make up? Maybe something to get you laid?"

"You're so--" Shikamaru scoffed, pressing his tongue against the roof of his mouth, not wanting to give Ino the satisfaction of annoying him. "I'm just looking for any plants from Suna, that's all."

"That's the worst place for plants; you do know that right? It's in the middle of the desert?"

"I'm aware of that," he replied sarcastically, glancing away. He didn't want to admit it, but he continued, trying to repress his cheeks from blushing, "Temari's always saying she misses the desert every time she's working here, so I thought maybe I should get her something to remind her of home."

"Well aren't you a soft guy, Shikamaru," Ino squealed happily, both hands on her cheeks as she made kissy faces to the man.

"Temari really softened you up, huh," Choji cooed as well, joining Ino in mocking him, a grin on his face.

"Just show me what I can get so I can leave already," he grumbled, while Ino walked towards the other side of the shop, where there were more plants than flowers.

"The only thing I could think about are cacti," Ino replied as the two followed her, looking at the small array of plants that sat on rows of shelves along the wall. She gestured to the small cacti that were lined in columns, all in various shapes and sizes. "How about it?"

"Doesn't Gaara grow them?" Choji asked, and Shikamaru nodded along.

"Yeah, and they're way bigger. I don't think she'd want one this small," Shikamaru replied, glancing between them. "Maybe something that's bigger and less...spikey?"

"Then what about some succulents?" Ino nodded, gesturing beside the cactus to various sized plants, with thicker looking leaves that it almost looked plastic, a few smooth and a few with subtle spikes.

"Aren't these cactuses?" Shikamaru asked, pointing out the spikier ones and Ino scoffed.

"Cacti," she corrected him. "And no; cacti have areoles where the spikes come from. Succulents do not."

"Plants have boobs?" Choji asked and Shikamaru had to stifle a laugh.

"I can make a succulent bowl with a few of these," she ignored her friend's comment, unfazed. "They're expensive because we import them, but I'll give you the "Friends of Ino" discount."

"Can you add it with the "Old Teammates" discount?" Shikamaru pressed with a quirked smile, and Ino rolled her eyes.

"I guess since you are doing me that favour," she said, as they continued on to choosing a few of the succulents for Ino to arrange.

After they found an appropriate few Ino planted them in a bowl, Shikamaru and Choji having to get their hands a bit dirty to tease out the dirt from the roots and replant them in the dirt, before placing it gently in a cute white paper bag with the Yamanaka Flower Shop logo on it.

"Now, the good thing is that these things are low maintenance," Ino explained as she rang up the price. Shikamaru took his wallet out, not wanting to argue over the price. "So when Temari's not in Konoha, you don't really need to watch them. They just need to be in a sunny place, but if they look orangey, make sure you keep them out of the sun. They don't need that much water, but do it at least once a week, and make sure the soil is actually moist."

"Uh huh," Shikamaru said mindlessly for the tenth time during her explanation.

"So what time are you two free," Ino continued, as she quickly typed on the register.

"Let's try for 8," Shikamaru replied, and Ino nodded along.

"Text me on my cell to confirm, alright?" Ino said, and handed him his change.

With that, Ino walked them out of the store and bit them a goodnight, with Choji walking with Shikamaru towards Temari's apartment, it being en route to their way home. The two men eventually separated, and Shikamaru carefully made his way to see his girl, clutching onto the paper bag with shaky hands.

***

He's rubbing off on me, she thought as she laid on her bed, glancing over to the unfinished paperwork that laid sprawled on her desk.

Always the timely one, Temari was better at keeping up with deadlines compared to their siblings (but not amazingly better), but lately, she's been a bit of a bum whenever she was in Konoha. Times have changed; the stuff she has to look over and monitor aren't as high risk as before. Now it was just about maintaining peace.

It could be, though, that Shikamaru's procrastination has been seeping into her work habits. Looking at documents and organizing data all the time for the Shinobi Alliance is as boring as what managing data is supposed to be like. And besides, this trip is technically a half vacation for her…

I want to say that it's a drag, but then that would confirm I'm spending too much time with the guy, she thought as she rolled off of the bed, and stumbled towards the desk. She wasn't expecting anyone, there wasn't anything interesting to watch on the TV, and she already cooked and ate dinner. She could always call Shikamaru over, but she didn't want to call him at this time and give him any ideas.

I'm way too tired to do anything, she continued, stretching her arms out as she took a glance over the paperwork. After glancing over the letters indignitely, Temari picked up all the documents and pens and started to make her way towards the bedroom door, towards the living space.

She'd much rather watch the latest Konoha soap than read. Maybe it was Yoshino who was rubbing off on her.

It might do her some good to have some background noise while she did her work- there was something about the silence of her apartment that was driving her insane. She often felt like this since she started to live in Konoha regularly; there was no point for an ambassador of Suna to live in a hotel room if she spent more than a month in the village. It saved money, and besides, it felt like a second home to her anyways.

Still, sometimes whenever she woke up in the morning in Konoha, she missed the bleary sunlight of the desert sun rather than the subdued ones of Konoha that was always covered in clouds at this time of year and the sounds of the shifting sand made by the wind.

As Temari settled down on the floor in front of the couch, all her items neatly arranged on the coffee table, she turned on the television, leaving it on the first channel that played something she could tolerate, and decreased the volume with the remote until it was more like a buzz.

As she tried to concentrate on her work, however, she unintentionally started to glance more and more at what was happening on the screen- until she completely abandoned the documents and started to stare at the show playing on the screen, completely absorbed.

"Todoho! But I thought you died!" The young woman on the screen cried as streams of tears stained her face, her face looking too perfect for its own good.

"Of course not, my love," the young man replied valiantly as he embraced the woman in her arms. "While you're still alive, I'll always be there for you!"

"What the fuck?" Temari mumbled to herself at the dialogue as the couple kissed, the kiss being filmed from multiple angles and slowing down, a song playing in the background as they showed the kiss in multiple ways. "Why'd she take him back? He had multiple affairs and didn't even tell her about them until he got caught."

"I didn't know you were a fan of this show," a raspy voice said suddenly with a squeak of the door, and Temari quickly got on her feet to look at the front door, immediately, a hand on her kunai that she secretly stashed along her waist sash at all times.

She let herself breathe, the tension leaving her body to be more springy when she realised who it was, and started to spin the kunai lightly with a finger.

"Can't you knock?" Temari asked as she walked up to the man as he was taking off his sandals. She caught a strong scent coming from him, and she immediately stopped in her tracks. "Did you try to cover up the cigarette with cologne? Because you failed."

"Damn, you caught me," Shikamaru replied half-heartedly, holding a white bag with one hand as he walked in, glancing over to the television with furrowed eyebrows. "Did my mom introduce you to 'Love Struck'?"

"That's the name of the show?" Temari almost gagged at the title. "It's the most annoying thing in the world."

"Hey, it has a big following," he replied with a crooked smile- his cute crooked smile. "And it's great if you want to lose brain cells."

"Well, I'll be sure to keep that in mind," Temari replied.

She had recently given Shikamaru a key to the apartment, finding it annoying to have him knock on the door during odd hours of the day to see her or needing to deliver some things his mom made for her when Temari was out on a meeting. He's been really pushing the extent of the key, finding that he had made himself too much at home and showing up unannounced a lot more often than he had even before they were dating.

"Can't you let me know when you're coming over next time?" Temari asked, allowing him to enter. Thought, she truly didn't mind, she quite enjoyed having him over most of the time, she still needed to keep him on his toes. They've only been together like this for half a year. "You're not my fiancé to just drop in like this."

"You're the one who gave me the key in the first place," Shikamaru shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck. "Is this really how you greet your boyfriend after not seeing him in a few days?"

"Should I make you tea and massage your back while I'm at it?" Temari asked with a grin, mocking him as she saw the tips of his ears turn red, the latter comment on his mind.

She walked towards the kitchen to boil a pot of water. He wasn't going to leave anytime soon, she knew for sure. "Did you eat yet?"

"Yeah; I was at Ino's place with Choji," Shikamaru managed to reply over the open counter across from Temari, placing the white bag on the side. He found his voice, and continued evenly, "Had something to eat while I was there."

"Is that why you have flowers for me?" She asked with a smile, not bothering to look up.

She could see Shikamaru shuffle slightly at being caught, a slight fluster look on his face, as he asked, "How d'you know?"

"The logo," she said, pointing at the Yamanaka's logo on the front of the bag. She noticed it the moment she saw it in his hands, with it's bubbly letters and pink font, and a cute little boar mascot drawn on. "What's the special occasion?"

"Do I need a special reason to get you something?" Shikamaru asked, as he slid the bag between them. "I thought you like these kind of things."

"I don't mind them, but I don't think I've ever told you what my favourite flower is," Temari said. It wasn't the first thing that would come up in conversation, and it was not like she expected to receive anything like it. Flowers were frivolous things for the sand kunoichi- but get a few poison plants, then Temari could list a few she would need.

"Is it cacti?" He guessed and Temari shook her head, a small grin on her face.

"Did you just say that because I'm from the desert? They're not even a type of flower," Temari replied as she let the tea leaves steep in the pot of water.

"Roses?" Shikamaru continued with a smirk, seeing it as a sort of guessing game, intently looking at Temari for anything that would give him the answer.

"No," Temari said, holding the gaze, not giving him anything as she slowly blinked.

"Violets? Daffodils? Narcissus'?"

"You sure know a lot of flowers for a guy who doesn't care about these things."

"I'm friends with Ino," Shikamaru scoffed, unflattered. "She's always telling us everything about plants and flowers like we care about it."

"It's not a bad thing," Temari hummed. "At least you know something about romance. Did you learn to be this romantic from Love Struck?"

"Very funny," Shikamaru replied, leaning his head on a prompt up hand, tilting his head slightly. "Are your favourite flowers expensive?"

"Perhaps, but you wouldn't be able to get them for me anyways," Temari replied, pouring the tea into two cups gently. "They're found in specific places. We have a few of them in Suna, actually."

"..." Shikamaru thought about it for a moment, eyes staring at Temari still, and Temari didn't back down, taking a sip from the tea, raising her eyebrows.

"Do they come from the ground?"

"Technically," Temari replied. "But it would be obvious if I tell you."

"Then they live in water," Shikamaru confirmed with a nod, as he raised an eyebrow. "Water lilies?"

Temari took another long sip from the cup, the bitterness a film over her tongue and filled her body with warmth, silence her answer.

"Yeah," she said nonchalantly, as if this were a trivial matter. She explained in a dull tone, not wanting to seem like the sentimental type, "The closest thing we could get to a fresh garden was the greenhouses for medicine. We have a freshwater lily pond there. My mom liked taking me and Kankuro there sometimes."

Shikamaru gave her a soft look, a glint of interest in his eyes, for Temari rarely ever talks about her childhood, those being rare and intimate moments. He didn't press on though, instead raising the cup to his lips, waiting for her to continue.

Something about the way he watched her when she talked made her feel comfortable, as he had often made her feel before, and the words tumble out of her mouth without her realising, "Sometimes she had a vase of water lilies in the living room. Just to add a little freshness in the room."

There was silence, a comfortable silence, that settled between them, neither of them saying anything more than they needed to.

"Well, I don’t think we have space for a pond here," Shikamaru spoke first, gesturing mindlessly around the apartment. "But I did buy you something else that might make this place feel like home."

Temari’s curiosity piqued as she glanced over the bag, and glanced over to Shikamaru, who continued to enjoy his tea and had picked up the daily newspaper that Temari had left on the counter, scanning over the front page. She gingerly took the paper bag, surprised at its weight as she placed a hand underneath, and peered in.

She felt her heart squeeze lightly as she reached in, taking out the bowl gently and observed it. It was a small little terrain of succulents of various sizes, from short and leafy to tall and sharp, with various colours from pale greens to dusky purples, all fitting together into a beautiful mismatched puzzle. Temari felt a small smile grew on her face, the plants being so rare to see and paling compared to Konoha’s luscious forests, but something homely emitted from the plants as she admired them.

From the corner of her eye she could see Shikamaru trying to watch her reaction without looking up from the newspaper, attempting to hide how antsy he was for her response.

Rarely does Shikamaru get nervous; he was always a hundred percent sure of everything he did, rarely thinking twice of his actions, knowing the outcome from a mile away. And although this arrogance is more apparent when he’s planning, when it comes to Temari, he tends to let his guard down and she knew his habits when he was nervous or something bothered him. He would rub his index and thumb together, always his right hand, like he was rolling a cigarette between them. He did it even before he picked up the smoking habit; now it was more obvious because he would usually has one in hand.

“Who gave you this idea?” Temari asked as she turned the bowl in her hand, setting it down. “I know you didn’t come up with this yourself.”

“Can’t you give me some sort of credit?” Shikamaru said, letting out a sigh. “And I can be romantic when I want to be.”

“Right,” Temari smirked. “But plants wouldn’t be the first thing on your mind. Did you choose these out yourself?”

“Does it matter? I got some help,” Shikamaru insisted.

“And did you make this whole arrangement as well?” Temari asked, an eyebrow raised. Shikamaru sucked a side of his cheek in before releasing it, trying not to break face, but Temari’s gaze broke him. “Or did Ino make it.”

“Troublesome...She did,” Shikamaru finally admitted, mumbling slightly. “But I actually did help put them in and everything. And I did decide on which ones I thought you’d like.”

Temari nodded along, content with his words, and she gazed at the bowl a bit longer before placing in on the corner of the kitchen, near the window sill where the sun would peer through and light up the room at high noon. She twisted the bowl a few times, getting it to a corner that would be the most appealing in the room, and she stared at it, not looking at Shikamaru.

“I love it,” she finally whispered, looking over her shoulders to him, and he looked up to meet her eye. She walked out of the kitchen around to the counter where he was still leaning on his arm, keeping the distance between them small, and cautiously, yet gently, placed a hand over his arm. He inhaled sharply, and she could feel his body go rigid at the touch, before relaxing, his eyes locked on her. “Thank you.”

He was expecting something, she knew it, and as she looked up to him, she could see his throat raise up and down, swallowing saliva, the red from his ears starting to creep to his cheeks.

Cute, Temari thought, but she didn't want to give him the satisfaction. He started to lean in, craning his neck, and Temari immediately placed a finger over his lips tenderly, smiling sweetly.

“By the way, text Ino for me and say I said thanks,” Temari said softly, patting his chest with her other hand. Shikamaru stared at her blankly, blinking a few times, digesting what she said, and now he was more lost than anything.

It really is too easy to make him this way. She couldn't help it- it was too cute.

“You could tell her yourself this Friday,” Shikamaru replied half-dazed, without skipping a beat, but stopped on his last word hard, as if suddenly waking up from nap.

"This Friday?" Temari asked, her softer voice dropped as quickly as it came, catching his jaw tightening as he clenched his teeth, and she retracted her hand from it's place on his arm. She placed it on the counter instead, but she didn't move away from him. "What's happening this Friday?"

"What a drag," he mumbled under his breath, rubbing the back of his neck. "Ino wants us to go on a double date with her and Sai."

"Who? Us?" Temari repeated, taken aback. Then she started to rack her brain through to remember who this Sai fellow was.

Sai...Sai…right.

Now she remembers who he is. Ino pointed him out one time while they were out in the town, and she had seen him in passing often. She could feel her face break into a frown- Ino was dating that guy?

"I know it's a drag," Shikamaru started with a groan. "But she's practically begged me to do this. She's saying something about how she thinks being with other people would help him open up to her, or something."

"Since when did she need help with people?" Temari asked, slightly bewildered, trying to imagine Ino begging Shikamaru of all people for a favour for something so trivial.

She was more surprised that he agreed to it, if anything. It seemed way out of his way, despite him being much more receptive to people's requests.

"And you agreed without asking me?" Temari continued after Shikamaru shrugged.

"I assumed you wouldn't care," Shikamaru replied nonchalantly.

"That's a bad habit of yours," Temari said. "Assuming things."

"Well, it's not like I really want to do something like a double date," Shikamaru said, an eyebrow raised. "But I'm doing it because she's my friend and I somewhat care. I thought you would feel the same way."

"I do feel that way," Temari explained, frowning slightly as she thought of the words to describe what she felt. "But I don't know if us having a dinner with those two is going to be...the best way for Ino to get what she wants."

"Trust me, I tried telling her, but she thinks it'll be good," Shikamaru replied. His eyes flitted over her face, before asking, "Do you want me to tell her you're busy Friday?"

Temari bit the bottom of her lips gently, thinking for a moment. She was never one for anything of this sort. A date is a date; why double it with friends? If anything it sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Particularly with that Sai guy. She has spoken to him a few times, none of which were bad, but according to Shikamaru, was much more civil than he had ever seen from him. He had a knack for being blunt with no filter or shame, his social skills being skewed from being raised as a Root agent from a young age, yet he was so quiet and observant. The idea of the overconfident Ino being with a guy with the social skills of a paintbrush was odd and sounded like a recipe for disaster.

Thought she would have been more on edge if Shikamaru hadn't accepted this proposition, and the fact that he already did means that Shikamaru at least expects it to be alright. And it wasn't as if she had any sort of plans that night, but it would be nice to spend it with Shikamaru.

Though, Ino has always been kind to Temari, giving her advice without hesitation when she was too embarrassed about anything romantic with Shikamaru and needed a second opinion. She definitely owed her this date, in the least.

Besides; how bad could it be?

"No," she said lightly. "I'm fine with it."

"..." Shikamaru stared at her for a bit, waiting for her to continue, but when Temari didn't say anything more. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," Temari replied nonchalantly, shrugging her shoulders. "It may be fun, for all I know."

"I didn't think you were the type to be fine with it," Shikamaru grinned slightly.

"And I didn't think that you were the type to buy a girl plants," she replied just as quickly, gesturing to the succulent bowl. "But you still manage to surprise me."

"Is that a good thing?" He asked, and he suddenly raised a hand to shortly trail up along her free arm to lure her closer, taking Temari by surprise by the sudden initiation. Usually she would be the one to start anything, an unspoken habit between them.

"Why are you asking something so troublesome?" Temari asked with a light hearted chuckle, as she extracted herself from his hand and started to walk backwards, leaving only her fingertips touching his. She glanced over to the television, the ending theme song in the background playing. "You want to watch this trash with me? It's back-to-back episodes."

"And fry my brain?" He asked with faux-excitement, following her as she walked towards the couch, not breaking away from her look. "I would love to."

#shikatema #inosai #saiino #shikamaru nara #temari #shikamaru #ino #sai #my fanfiction #my post

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jojotier · 6 years ago

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Jojotier Fic Masterpost

Just a lil masterlist of the 18 Golden Kamuy fics I currently have on ao3, just in case anyone has anyone wants to have a read! There are 11 gen fics and 7 ship fics (5 OgaTani, 2 TsukiKoi, 2 SugiShira - one fic is a multiship project with all 3)

All will be underneath the cut, divided into complete and incomplete, so I don’t clog up the tag.

Completed:

Excuse You - Tanigaki/Ogata - T - Fluff, Romance Quick Summary: Local Sniper Gets Jealous of a Literal 5 Year Old Because She Says She Wants To Marry Tanigaki. Osoma is literally five. She doesn’t realize that Ogata is taking her actions as rivalry. She just wants to play Angry Birds. Has a quick, sweet ending.

The Cat Came Back - Tanigaki/Ogata - T - Angst, Slowburn Quick Summary: Set primarily in the same modern au that Excuse You is, which is a modern au owned by @xenongazella and @wormgata ! Basically, after Ogata fails to assassinate Tanigaki and is patched up, he spends time in his apartment, dealing with a strange thing called “loneliness”.

Evil is He Who Claims It - General - M - Angst, Violence, Supernatural TW: Character Death, War Quick Summary: Sugimoto, a newly made wen kamuy, has come to terms with his existence as an evil god and punishes himself by fighting on the battlefield. A fellow soldier talks sense into him and shows him that he’s more human than he gives himself credit for. This AU, which was originally going to be a Guardian Kamuy au, has been abandoned, due to my inability as a college-aged American writer to have access to resources that would allow me to tell a primarily Ainu inspired story with the respect that it deserves.

Happily Ever After - General / Igogusa/Tsukishima - T - Angst, Canon Compliant TW: Mentions of attempted suicide, but kept extremely vague Quick Summary: During the events of Karafuto, Koito and Sugimoto pass around lingonberry wine. Tsukishima, tipsy and pressured to tell a ‘fairytale’, tells the story of two lovers who never see happily ever after.

Human Eyes - General - T - Modern Magic, Superheroes Quick Summary: Sugimoto and his bionic fists investigate the sounds of a creature that’s seemingly killed and eaten Tsukishima. Based on a vaguely unsettling dream where events are more or less the exact same as are written here.

Law of the Mountain - General - M - Horror, Gore, Canon Compliant TW: Character Death, Gore, Blood Quick Summary: A story from the perspective of one of the thieves that stole from Nihei, detailing his attempt to escape and subsequent, brutal death.

Love This Dead Man Walking - Tanigaki/Ogata - M - Humor, Modern, Romance Quick Summary: It’s time for the theatre department karaoke night! After Ogata loses a bet with his weed dealer, Shiraishi, he’s forced to attend alongside Tanigaki, leading to general shenanigans and to Tanigaki having to sing a certain sexual number from a certain musical about three girls with the same name...

This is Fine - General - T - Modern Magic, Fantasy, Humor (Part of my Sinfonietta Papers and mine and @xenongazella ‘s Siren Au) Quick Summary: Everything is on fire because Koito is both a genius and a complete disaster of a fire mage. Tsukishima, resident water mage and tired babysitter, deals with it.

Shadows on the Wall - General - Angst, Surreal (Part of the Sinfonietta Papers and shared Siren au) Quick Summary: Ogata’s grandmother died that day. Or she died yesterday. Who’s to say. Ogata goes to a funeral for the first and last time. This fic was inspired in large part by Albert Camus’s The Stranger, and I certainly hope it shows...

The Red Sea - General - T - Mystery, Fantasy, Suspense (Part of the Sinfonietta Papers and shared Siren au) Quick Summary: Mishima, on behalf of Koito Heiji and the council of mages, investigates a cargo ship crash near Otaru. The cause of the crash? A siren. Here’s a story told in the style of an audio log, and the only Mishima fic in the tag to date!

Spy Outing - Tanigaki/Ogata - T - Humor, Fluff Quick Summary: Tsukishima gets dragged by Koito onto a “mission”. The mission? Their mutual acquaintance from boxing is apparently dating a shady dude, and Koito is worried for his safety not wanting to be out of an interesting boxing partner! Then, Tsukishima recognizes Tanigaki’s apparent new boyfriend- Ogata Hyakunosuke, a delinquent he once knew and beat the shit out of.

Ice Nabe - General - T - Angst, Surreal, Psychological Horror Quick Summary: Ogata wakes up, cold and weaponless, held captive by Sugimoto and his allies. He needs to find a way out.

Incomplete:

Not All Sunshine - Tsukishima/Koito - G - Parody, Crack Quick Summary: Literally all this is is Tsukishima being put in the role of a happy go lucky protagonist in various anime genres, except his personality is the Exact Same as canon. For the moment, there’s only one chapter, and it’s basically Ouran High School Host Club, but the rest of the fic after this will just parody entire subgenres instead, like magical girl animes, or slice of life, or idol...

Faces - General - G - Slice of Life, Family, Light Angst/Humor Quick Summary: Just a little collection of snippets from mine and @xenongazella ‘s shared ageswap au, focusing on two main groups- First Lieutenant Koito, Superior Private Tsukishima, and Second Lieutenant Tsurumi; and an adult Asirpa and Osoma, and children Sugimoto, Tanigaki, and Ogata.

Vainglory - Sugimoto/Shiraishi - T - Fantasy, modern/historical, humor, angst (Part of shared Siren au) TW: Character Death, body horror Quick Summary: Sugimoto is a ten thousand year old storm spirit who loves humanity with all of his heart. The years can be lonely, but he lives anyway.

Starchasers - General (with a SugiShira bonus epilogue!) - space opera, action/adventure TW: Character death, some gore Quick Summary: In the year 2060, humanity has begun to slowly travel beyond their galaxy. In the decades before, as technology advanced, the Embassies of the Moon and Sun were established, housing the personification of celestial bodies which wanted to send diplomats to the humans. After the son of the man in the moon, Hanazawa, makes an ill advised wish, seven stars are hidden throughout earth’s atmosphere and surrounding orbit. The price for finding the 7 stars is great- the Man in the Moon himself will grant any wish!

This is a choose your own adventure that follows Asirpa, Sugimoto, and Shiraishi as they search for the 7th Star, including a myriad of neutral and bad ends- ends where one or all three may die- and 2 lone Good Ends. The rest will be uploaded in two Tiers with swaths of chapters being uploaded at once- after some irl stuff is resolved... ;;

A Nugget of Happiness - General - G - Slice of Life, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff Quick Summary: Tsukishima adopts a pitbull deemed “undesirable” and makes it his ESA. As he and his dog, Nugget, bond, Tsukishima slowly begins to manage his Post-Traumatic Stress better. In the end, the world is much kinder than it seems.

Artificial Enemy - Tanigaki/Ogata, Sugimoto/Shiraishi, Tsukishima/Koito - M - Superhero au, fluff, angst, horror, action/adventure, Surreal to the max TW: Character Death, gore, amnesia and illness Quick Summary: One year ago, three things happened- Shiraishi downloaded a strangely human AI by the name of Denji-A007 into his computer; Koito, who was helping Tsurumi research t̴̵͢͟͜h̨͢͞e̵̷͜͟ ͜҉h̢͢e̛͠҉̴ą͘҉̢͝t̸̷̨҉ ̡̀͠h̶̨̨͟͜a͏̸̡́̕z̛̀͜͜e҉̴̶ died, and then came back to life with strange powers; and Tsukishima disappeared without a trace. A year later, both Shiraishi and Koito’s lives become increasingly tangled as more people with powers start coming together, including Sugimoto, and all seemingly with one goal. They all want to find Tsukishima.

It’s a Kagerou Project au, but I hope to still put a big spin on everything, with powers not found in the actual source material and new motives and the like, haha

In any case, I hope you enjoy all of these!

#golden kamuy #ogata hyakunosuke #tanigaki genjirou #sugimoto saichi #koito otonoshin #ogatani #tsukikoi #sugishira #my writing #fanfiction #here we go!#i try to keep the genres and plots of my fics really varied #so hopefully there's something for everyone

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killmvnger · 7 years ago

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What You Need (Part 5) Part 4 / Part 3 / Part 2 / Part 1

Killmonger/Black!Reader

Warning: Sexual content, use of n-word

Summary: You didn’t go to the club to find a man, but you sure as hell leave with one. (I seriously need to change this summary, so much has happened)

"Bitch, start talking!"

You jump at the loud voice, then groan, wiping the sleep from your eyes as you continue ambling through the kitchen. The last thing you needed to hear at the crack of dawn was Aaliyah Richmond and her country ass deep accusatory voice shouting at you. You had successfully avoided her when you got in last night since she was too busy yelling at her boyfriend over the phone to even acknowledge that you were, in fact, alive and well, but now that some time has passed it's only inevitable that she starts grilling you. You pull down your favorite coffee mug, the one with the Captain America shields on it, and turn towards Aaliyah - arms folded in front of her chest, glaring at you with those amber eyes.

"It's too early to talk, ho." You grumble, then quickly get back to working the coffee brewer. You hear her open the fridge and grab the water jug, sloshing it around before uncapping it and taking a sip. "Maybe if you hadn't been yelling at your cracker on the phone last night..." you trail off, smiling a little bit. Aaliyah started dating Clayton a few months back and she's yet to hear the end of you and Casey referring to him as 'her cracker'. She had to expect this with a name like Clayton. He was a dirty blonde surfer looking guy with green eyes and a heartbreaking smile, plus he stood about one foot higher than Aaliyah's short ass, so she was smitten from the start. You've been around Clayton enough to know that he's generally a nice guy, albeit a little clueless as to how to hold conversations with black women without mentioning hair.

"Well, my cracker had me fucked up last night." She sighed. You could hear her trying to sound typically angry, but her tone wavered too much, her voice lowered too quickly, and you knew that sound all too well.

"Do I have to kill him?" You ask casually, pouring your coffee into the mug, adding some cream and sugar.

"I don't know yet." She says, deflated. You turn back to her and frown. "Let's not even get into all that, girl, I wanna know how you pulled a nigga that drives a Bugatti Chiron. I saw you pulling up wearing his baggy ass clothes, limping up the stairs like your back was blown the fuck out. Stop playing and give me the tea, bitch!"

You almost spit out your coffee from laughter. "I was not limping!"

"You was a disabled ass hoe. Did you talk to Casey about it last night?" Aaliyah asks. She moves out of the kitchen space gesturing for you to follow her out into the dining room. You take a seat beside her at the small, circular wooden table and set your coffee down.

"I tried to, but her stoner ass fell asleep on me. She probably doesn't even remember half the shit I said."

"Okay, bitch, start from the very beginning. You told us to get the fuck out so you could talk to the dread-headed nigga at VIP." She reiterates, earning an eye roll from you. You sigh, then begin telling her as much as you could remember. She forced you to get into the explicit details, which is something you would've liked to keep private, but her eyes were hungry for a good story so you gave it all up. You explained his dirty kisses as well as his innocent ones, and the way he handled you like you've always wanted, how excited you grew every time he smirked just wide enough so that you'd see his gold caps, the way he kept pulling you into bed with him whenever you tried to go anywhere else. Aaliyah hung onto every word like she was watching an episode of some soap opera, nodding and gasping at all the right parts. When you explained the royal situation, she didn't speak through that at all, which was terrifying because her mouth never stays shut about anything.

"After we had sex in his closet, he took me back downstairs to the living room and we cuddled on the couch and watched a few episodes of Martin. By then, it was starting to get dark outside, so I went to get my stuff. He pulled five hundred dollars out of his wallet like it was nothing! Handed me them bills and we were on our way." You conclude the story, anxious by the vague look on Aaliyah's face. The quiet begins getting uncomfortable as you await your friend's reaction and it seems like it's never gonna come. Until she jumps on you.

You fall back and out of the chair with a scream, immediately calling for Casey as Aaliyah tackled you to the ground with a war cry. No regard for anyone's safety, this girl!

"Bitch! Ohhhh, bitch! You little slut!" She shouts, lightly slapping you in the process. You try to fight against her, still screaming for Casey.

"Casey! Abuse! Abuse!" You yell as Aaliyah lets out an evil cackle.

"It's love taps because I love you! Stop tripping!" She presses a wet kiss to your cheek, which you immediately wipe off in irritation. Aaliayh finally gets up and off of you, doing a little dance in the process.

"You went out and bagged a prince! This is the proudest moment of my fucking life! C'mere, bitch, give mama a hug." She opened her arms, welcoming you, but you just scoffed and stood up.

"No! Stop beating me up whenever something good happens!" You reply. She ignores that and goes in for the hug anyway, rocking you back and forth as you stood there annoyed.

"Now, I have a question." She pulls you away at arms distance with a serious expression. "It's important, so treat it as such because I don't take this shit lightly." She says. You nod for her to go on. "How did King T'Challa smell?"

You huff, but decide to throw her a bone. "Like mint leaves and cocoa butter."

Aaliyah groans, closing her eyes like she can just imagine it. "What was he wearing? I didn't get my notification from T'Challa Daily yesterday. I bet he looked good."

"He had on a denim jacket, v-neck, and jeans. Girl, he looked like a snack." You smile thinking back to when he grabbed your hand in his. Aaliayh moans.

"Couldn't've been me! I would've risked it all! You know me, I only serve kings, baby!" She raved, sticking her tongue out playfully. You squint, unimpressed.

"Oh, really? Explain the cracker then."

"Um! Stay outta grown folks business." She replied, looking salty. "But you got the next best thing, girl. This nigga gave you five hundred dollars? And you didn't even suck his dick? Tuh! Keep him forever."

Your eyes widen. Forever is a bold claim and a hell of a stretch to be thinking of when you haven't even been on one date with him. You don't know much about him besides the fact that he's a rich, overly confident prince with family issues. You can't keep things that you know nothing about, that's moving too fast, but Aaliyah wouldn't get that concept since she and Clayton started looking for a place to live together one month in their relationship.

"Keep him? Leah, I just met him. I'm not really sure how I feel about him. Who knows if he's even for real about this stuff? Like, what if it's just...a game? Even you have to admit that this whole situation doesn't sound real." You reason to yourself. As exciting and satisfying as he was, you still had your doubts.

"The only reason I'm not dragging you right now is because I know you've been through a lot. But...not every guy you meet is like Marvin."

You still. That name gave you hives, creating the searing rage inside of you to come to the surface. You glare at your friend, not understand why she'd bring him up when you were finally feeling better.

"I told you not to say that damn name anymore." You say more harshly than you intend, but Aaliyah doesn't take offense to your tone.

"He's not Voldemort! We have to address the real shit sometimes." She explained, treading lightly around the mess that is your love life. Your ex-boyfriend isn't someone who you can just address without feeling some type of way.

"You're telling me to address real shit when you've been avoiding yours this entire time?"

She nods reluctantly. "I'll take that." Her bright eyes grow darker as they take you in. "But, my shit ain't stopping me from having a relationship with a perfect guy."

You roll your eyes. "He's not perfect."

She gave you a dry look, then shook her head. "You may be too guarded to see it, but you need someone like him right now. You look happy. You can't fool me, bitch, I know you like him." She raises a brow at you. You couldn't even disagree with her. "Now, let's go wake Casey up from her weed induced coma before she's late for work. Lord only knows how she managed to get an office job living like she's in How High." Aaliyah starts walking to the hallway that led to your bedrooms.

You followed closely behind.

"Light skin privilege." You answer with a laugh.

"You damn right." Leah huffs, then starts doing her loud ass 'mom waking the kids up for school' knock on Casey's door. "Ay! High-Yellow! Wake yo ass up before you get fired! Let's go!" She yells without stopping her knocking. You hear Casey having a fit from inside, whining and begging for a few more minutes.

"You got a class today?" You ask Aaliyah, examining her clothes. Usually, you couldn't tell her choreographer clothes from her street clothes. Aaliyah's been a dance instructor for about two years now, hosting her classes at a studio downtown, averaging about twenty people a class. She nods.

"Hell yeah, girl, I been working on this routine all week! It's gon' get a little freaky today, actually. You should drop in and learn this shit. Impress ya man." She winks. You blush. You and Aaliyah used to dance together for fun back in high school, but it was only a hobby for you and it was Aaliyah's whole life, so naturally, she branched off into the dancing field. Sometimes, if you're in a good mood, you attend a few of her classes. Almost everyone already knows who you are and basically thinks of you as an assistant coach, but that's only when you're in the mood to dance.

"Maybe. We'll see. If I do end up doing some shit, it'll be a miracle because my body is still aching from yesterday." You admit with a smirk.

"Eeeeooowwww!" Aaliyah whines, nailing her Cardi B impression.

Casey's door flung open at the noise, revealing her pouty freckled face.

"Y'all irritate my soul!" She groans, pushing past you and Aaliyah to get to the bathroom. You ignore her attitude, knowing she's the worst morning person ever. She may be the sweetest person you've ever met, but in the morning she's pure evil.

"Mhm. Love you too, bitch!" Aaliyah calls out, smiling. "I'm 'bout to leave, but I think you need to talk to Erik."

"I'll talk to Erik if you talk to Clayton." You try to bargain. Talking to him on the phone seemed just as awkward as talking to him after sex. You truly aren't looking for a relationship and you wish everyone could see that.

She sighs. "Clay and I will be fine, eventually. You can't use my issues to prolong whatever weird phobia you have towards affection." You were about to make a comment on how rational and philosophical your friend was being until she quickly followed her previous statement with:

"Wow, my mind! I really am that bitch in this household. I really am the glue that holds you two unstable ass hoes together. I'm like y'all anti-depressant and shit, I should be getting paid for single-handedly solving all y'all problems!"

Your eyes roll so far back into your head that it hurts.

"And I should be getting paid for putting up with you for all these years! Now, getcha broke ass down to that studio and dance for that rent money."

"Don't you got work today, too?" She asks, stepping back down the hall to slip into the shoes she left by the door.

"Not with five hundred dollars in my bag, I don't." You laugh. Before you even got up from the bed, you got someone else to take your shift today because there's no way you'd be able to make it in after yesterday.

"It truly blows my mind how quickly you turn boujee with a few dollars in your pocket. Ay, if you stay with Prince Charming, you could probably quit that tired ass barista job and just let him hand you the checks." She opened the front door.

"Taking the money that he offers me is one thing, but I'll be damned if I'm relying on some nigga to pay my own bills. I'm not a charity case, I'm a grown ass woman with morals and integrity." You say as she lingers by the door.

"Again. Couldn't've been me." She laughs at you. "Bye, girl, love you!"

You wave goodbye as she saunters out.

Your idle hands twiddled nervously around your phone, gripping it as if you were about to make a call but never actually following through with it. His name was entered in your contacts as 'Daddy' with a couple tongue emojis when he returned it to you, which you quickly changed to his actual name when he wasn't paying attention. Would calling first make you seem desperate? You debated that question in your head as you continued staring down his name on the phone screen. Casey was ironing her work shirt in the background as you sat anxiously on the couch in the living room.

"Baby doll," Casey's soft, lullaby voice removed your eyes from the phone. "I think you need a distraction. This boy has got you sitting there in a tin foil hat."

"I'm not crazy. I'm not even that worried about him."

She harumphs, smiling. "I'm so glad that I no longer have to deal with that nonsense, the waiting rules, and constant worrying." Casey begins what you know is about to be an hour long rant about how much better it is to be a lesbian. "Funny story! My girlfriend, Jessica, and I started our relationship solely through text messages because --"

"Because we were so awkward in person. So, we never worry about double texting or triple texting because we understand each other so well. I love my girlfriend. Jessica, Jessica, Jessica." You finish for her. The goofy smile still hasn't left her face.

"I do. I do love my girlfriend. That reminds me, Jessica has a show next week at the park. She's performing a few new songs and she asked if you and Leah will be there."

"Not sure about Leah, but I'll try to make it." You promised. Jessica is basically an extension of Casey by now, so it's second nature to support her endeavors as much as you would your best friend.

"It's gonna be insane! I've been working on this new brownie recipe especially for it, which includes walnuts because I know Jessy's been craving walnuts so much lately."

"...And weed?"

"I thought that was a given. You think I'd waste my time baking anything that doesn't have marijuana in it? I'm not an animal." She snorts. You glance back to your phone, thumb hovering over the call button. "Forget whatever foolish bullshit Aaliyah's pitching to you. You don't know this guy and you shouldn't feel pressured to continue messing with him just because he thought your pussy was so good that he had to clear his wallet for it. You know better than me that there's no such thing as Prince Charming. Don't play yourself."

Casey finishes her ironing and then puts her wrinkle-free shirt on, buttoning and tucking it into her oversized slacks. She has a point. With your mind made up, you set your phone down on the table. Casey's right, she's usually always right about everything else, so she has to be right about this as well. It's not like he'd be torn up that you never called him, you'd probably never even run into him again, your apartment is a hell of a long way from his estate.

"Good point. I'll just get dressed, go for a walk, maybe visit Aaliyah at the studio, and enjoy the rest of my vacation day before work tomorrow."

But even as you say the positive words, it feels wrong. It doesn't feel like it'd be this easy, which is what unnerves you about it.

Just as you're about to move from the couch, your phone buzzes. You turn to Casey, but shes already put the ironing board away and has earbuds blasting in her ear. She waves goodbye to you as she dances her way out of the apartment, clearly not noticing your dilemma.

It buzzes three more times before you pick it up.

"Hello?" You answer although you know exactly who it is.

"Good morning, beautiful."

Okay, maybe you didn't know exactly who it was after all. You blink in surprise.

"T'Challa?" You ask, already smiling. There's some scuffling over the line before his voice comes in clearly again.

"Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you would like to accompany Erik, Shuri, and I --" There's more movement and scuffling from the other line and you could distinctly hear Erik's voice angry-whispering Xhosa at T'Challa. It sounds like they were fighting over the phone, so you wait patiently for someone to get it. A young woman's voice joins in the fray of chaos, followed by a smacking sound and a slew of curses.

"Hello?" You ask again, trying to get their attention.

"Ay. Sorry 'bout my dumbass cousin." Erik apologizes.

"He didn't bother me." You clarify and he snorts. "I guess I'll just let you go now if all this was just a prank." You say. He's quiet for a moment.

"Do you want there to be more?" He asks. How does he always place you in a position of power while still remaining dominant?

"Nah, I'm good." Is your quick reply. You try to remember what Casey was talking about, but it's so much harder going through with it as you actually talked to him.

He sucks his teeth. "Oh, you good?" He sounds a little irritated, which really didn't make sense to you. It's not like you said 'fuck you, go away', but he's creating this unnecessary tension like you did.

"Did you not hear me the first time?" You ask, getting quite irritated yourself. It's not like he even called you in the first place.

"You know, I'm really sick of that attitude."

"I don't care."

He laughs. "Oh, you really brave now that we not in the same room. You better calm yo ass down."

"You can just give the phone back to T'Challa if this is how you plan on talking to me right now."

It's painfully quiet on his end.

"Get fucking dressed, we going out." The line clicks before you could even protest. The nerve of this man. Still, despite his abruptness, you jumped to your feet and ran back to your room to look for an outfit.

(Sorry for the lack of Killmonger in this one. I just wanted to give you a quick one that establishes friendships before continuing. Love you guys!)

@sweettea-and-honeybutter @coldcrevices @nakh-es @shesfromwakanda @nyxieso @jaaystaar95 @tiava143@lafayettes-baguettes-1 @tenxouttanine @ashleychristina73@panthergoddessbast @artpoetx @im-not-always-a-jellyfish @thehomierobbstark @muffytheaardvarkslayer @k-michaelis @yung-glvdn-goddess @localtrapgod @scrumptiouslytenaciouscrusade @pumpkinmcqueen @lalasparkles @princessstevens @maya-leche @coldcrevices @youreadthatright @buttercup812 @sicksadgen @purple-apricots @nyxies @muse-of-mbaku (sorry if I missed anyone, thanks for the love & support)

#black panther fanfiction #erik killmonger x reader #erik killmonger x black reader #erik killmonger x you

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fyrapartnersearch · 8 years ago

Text

Hello I am here and so are you, so we have one thing in common already

✿Short and Sweet✿

I am looking for an 18+ long-term partner whose primary pairings are M/M. I don’t want anyone who takes things too seriously, RPing is a relaxing pastime and if I’m stressing about replying constantly/meeting word counts I’m going to hate it. That being said I do like doing paragraph replies with anywhere from 300-1000 words, depending on how long my replies are I can reply every day or every week (it really just depends on my motivation/mood/schedule)

Please skim over my interests and the like at the bottom to see how compatible we are. Since I’m looking for a long-term partner, I’d like for us to have several things in common. Please don’t contact me if only one or two of our interest match up. <3

✧Settings✧

Sci-fi/Space Opera

Post-apocalypse

Medieval/Fantasy

Modern Day (No generic High School/ Domestic stuff)

Historical

War

Fandom: Warhammer 40k, Star Trek, Star Wars, Mass Effect, Voltron:LD, Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Dragon Age, W.o.W., SnK, Tokyo Ghoul, (I only do OcxOc in fandom settings. I will not play, or play against canon characters)

✧Kinks/Other✧

Likes

Size Differences

Power Bottoms

Gentle Giants

Fem Boys/Crossdressing (both as a sexual and non-sexual thing, really just depends on how it’s presented)

Monster boys/Men

Robots

Aliens

Toxic relationships

M/S Relationships

Bondage

Dislikes

Standard dislikes (Toiletplay, Bestiality, Pedophilia Etc.)

Incest

Mpreg

✧Contact✧

Email: [email protected]

Skype: Dunkmastersassquatch (Kaptain Krunch)

✿Long and Detailed✿

I am looking for a totally rad person who is 18 years of age or older and who places value in long-term partnerships/friendships. I like to get to know my partners and would like to be able to speak casually with them about our ideas or whatever. If you are also looking for someone who just wants to kick back and have some fun making our characters miserable then please continue below to see how well our interests line up!

✪ About Me✪

Age: 20

Times Zone: Central Time

Occupation: Severely depressed college student

Hello, I write and also draw and also am looking for an RP partner who shares many of my interests so we can write together for many, many years and over many RPs.

I’m pretty laid back about most things. I just ask that you communicate with me about things instead of just assuming and that you are fairly literate. (Text speech/ Lingo is a-okay as long as it’s OOC or fits the RP)

I’d like for us to be friends as well as partners because it helps motivate me to write/draw/ feel the good vibes ™. So please, please talk with me about your interests/ fandoms/day as well as any plot ideas or twists you may have because I will certainly jabber on about mine. BTW Feel free to say no to my ideas if you’re not interested, I’ll be disappointed, but I’ll get over it. (I will assume the same goes for you)

✪ About My Roleplaying ✪

Comfort level word count: 300-500

Tense: Third Person, Present (will do past if it’s super important to you)

Frequency: Depends, but if I’m at my comfort level I’ll probably be able to respond multiple times a day. Anything above that will of course take me longer.

I would prefer to RP over skype or some other IM system ( I could be convinced to get a Discord, but the thing is my internet is super slow and downloading it would take an hour, I’m not exaggerating it’s that bad, and I just really don’t feel like doing that right now) however, E-mail is also okay.

Skype: Dunkmastersassquatch

Email: [email protected]

Grammar and what not is kind of important I guess, but not as important as content. I’m not sure if this ad is really an accurate example of my writing potential as I’m just kind of spewing out whatever. That being said if you’re okay with the level this ad is written at, then you’ll probably be okay with my actual writing. If you’re not okay with it then, eh, take a chance?

As for my characters, I play Doms, Subs, and Switches and don’t really have a preference for one over another. Keep in mind that sometimes my subs are whiney, uke boys and sometimes they will twist your nips and call you a cuck. AKA my character’s personalities are not dependent on their position in bed, HOWEVER sometimes their personality will, coincidentally, line up with the stereotype of their position.

✪ Pre-existing Ideas/Interest✪

Just to show you kind of how my mind works. Feel free to ask for one of these (and add to them <3) or not. The summaries don’t indicate which character I want to play (because I’m mostly good with playing either) so let me know if you have a preference towards a character.

✧General✧

Sci-fi/Space Opera:

1. I have this alien race that are essentially gender neutral, like there’s no way to tell their gender unless you get in their pants. They pretty much consider even KNOWING what gender they are as extremely intimate and somewhat taboo. So they take forever to choose a mate and when they do it’s for life. I’d be pretty down for doing something with that.

2. A near-homeless man finds an old broken down robot behind one of his favorite restaurants. It’s an old, outdated model, but he thinks he can fix it up with just a little time.

Post-apocalypse:

The world is broken, it’s times like this when people need to come together to rebuild what was lost. Like that’s going to happen, every semi-competent faction is vying for control of more land, more money. Its times like THIS when smart people, really smart people can get ahead. That’s just what the tactician is doing. He’s a smart guy who’s never lost a battle and he’s up for grabs to any faction that’s willing to shell out the cash. However, smart guys like that tend to make enemies and the faction he’s working for insists he have a bodyguard.

Supernatural:

1. It’s an equal exchange, the vampire bites you and gets fed and the represents they release gives you the high of your life. It’s only good business to do it in a hotel room or something so you’re not tripping on the streets, but what happens when your vampiric dealer doesn’t want to leave. (I have a bit more to this world so just ask if you’re interested)

2. He’s always been a bit of a loner, a ghost to society. When he moves into his new apartment he doesn’t really see it as much of a change, until he lays down to sleep and feels hands running through his hair.

Medieval Historical/Medieval Fantasy:

1. (Medieval Fantasy) This was the big expedition, this cave was going to have all the riches of his dreams. The cave-in however, that wasn’t to be expected. These cave were abandoned right? So why can he feel something watching him.

2. (Medieval Fantasy) After 10,000 an evil necromancer awakens from the curse that paladin put on him, he’s ecstatic to find out his Orc bodyguard was cursed too. Now they can continues their plans for world conquest and also get some revenge.

3. (Medieval Historical) He’s a highwayman all he wants is your money or your life. One day an unsuspecting priest comes along and tries to bargain for his life with the word of God. It’s didn’t work, but something in his eyes kept him from killing the priest.

4. (Medieval Fantasy) Someone’s plotting to kill the king and all bets are on the shady court magician. There’s no proof though, so the king assigns personal servants to all within his court as a “gift” (to spy) Maybe the court magician isn’t as evil as everyone says….or maybe he’ll have his new servant face down in the gutter by tomorrow.

Modern Day:

1. He’s been crushing on the cute boy in his precalculus class since the semester started. He finally gets the never to ask him out, only to later find out that his love interest is a furry. What’s a furry?

2. He had no clue his dorm mate was a mass murderer, what even more surprising is that he’s in love with him. (Killing Stalking sort of thing)

3. Crime Bosses weren’t supposed to fall in love, especially not with someone in law enforcement, even if that “law enforcement” is a mall cop.

Historical:

I don’t really have any prompts of my own I just put this here to let you know I’m into this too. Do refrain from using real people from history, I’m not into that. (Including real events/facts is A+ tho.)

Superheroes (actually mostly villains) and stuff:

1. He’s the number one fan of the number one bad guy in the world. Sure he wants to see the world burn, but if the posters on this nerd’s wall say anything it’s that he wants to watch it burn too.

2. The boss isn’t the smartest guy around, but that’s why he’s here. His henchman and unofficial bodyguard, he’s content to let his boss run about with his foolish plans even if the ones in his own head are 10x better.

✧Fandom✧

I will only do OCxOC in fandom settings. I will not play or play against canon characters. It’s just not my thing, sorry. v-v

Warhammer 40k:

*While I’m not a super lore whore I will try to keep pretty close to it. This means that, yes, I expect any Space Marine characters to be impotent. But I mean hey have you SEEN the size of their fingers, I mean, tsk, come on…COME ON…*

1. A Tzeentch/Slaaneshi psyker finds an ancient deamonic staff of domination (it’s prolly Slaaneshi too, let’s be honest) which forces its user’s will on one other person. Being a whimpey little psyker he decides to use it on a chaos lord of Khorne, who is pretty upset about the whole thing, to say the least. (this is actually based off two of my O.C.s we can keep as close to their story, or as far from is as you’d like.)

2. Love can bloom…or it can violently explode within the chamber of an ancient Eldar long rifle. While exploring some ancient ruins one day, a lone rogue trader finds a discarded rifle on the floor. Upon picking it up he finds that it…speaks to him? It’s really got a tongue on it too, but hey it’s too awesome of a weapon to give up. (Yes this is a relationship between a man and the soul of an ancient Eldar that resides in a gun….)

Star Trek:

1. The son of a prominent Romulan commander abandons his duties and becomes a notorious smuggler. Now he’s on the run from the Tal’ Shiar (who are trying to drag him home), a Ferengi trader (whom he may or may not have sold faulty weapons to) and a Klingon bounty hunter (who he’s tempted to be captured by.)

2. Comfort women were a common sight within the quarters of Cardassian soldiers during the occupation. However, this Gul would rather seduce a known Bajoran resistance fighter. After all the greater the challenge, the greater the reward.

Star Wars:

1. An admiral is supposed to be reliable, smart, and efficient he is, after all, in command of an entire fleet of ships. This admiral, as CT-7465 has found out, is a little too young and laid back for the job. (Clone Wars Era)

2. They were supposed to stay together, best friends fighting side by side against the Sith, until he became a Sith. (Pre Prequels.)

Voltron:LD:

1. A Galra commander is dragged along by one of his friends to one of those ridiculous slave auctions. He expected to sit there bored as his friend lusted over all his new “options”. For the most part he was right, but why does that boy keep catching his eye? (A sort of sweet Galra bby)

2. A Galra commander is fed up with spending his nights alone, he needs someone to share his bed and he wants them to be perfect. So he picks up one of those slave order catalogues and starts filling in all his specifications. When his slave finally arrives, he’s not quite what was ordered. (An abusive Galra bby)

3. (Alt. Universe) The Human Empire dominates the galaxy under Emperor Shiro Takashi and a recently promoted chancellor now has the kind of money he needs to fulfil one of his most devious fantasies: owning a Galra pet.

Fallout:

I don’t really have any plots for this either, but I would absolutely love to do something in this universe!

Elder Scrolls:

He’s a nord: strong, hearty, well endowed, and he’s got Talos to thank for it. Now these elves come in and tell him Talos is no God, well that’s just not right. But the Thalmor agent that’s threatening his arrest is really, really handsome.

Dragon Age:

1. The Inquisitor is just a normal guy who happens to have a glowing hand. Completely normal right? And normal people don’t really find the company of extravagant Teventer mages and buff Qunari spies to be all that appealing (no matter how handsome they may be.) No, he needs someone simpler, someone who can remind him he’s still just a normal guy. (I don’t really consider the inquisitor to be a canon character b/c they’re kinda player based.)

2. Seheron belongs to no one but the ones who live here, he wishes the Qunari and the Teventers would learn that and leave his home alone. He’s getting sick of only feeling safe when the fog covers him. (Fog Warrior/Qunari Soldier)

W.o.W.:

Does it count as necrophilia if they’re Undead?

Blood elves are pompous stuck ups and orcs are barbaric savages, so why are they fighting on the same side?

Tokyo Ghoul: *Trigger Warning for suicidal thoughts*

A recent high-school graduate learns he’s contracted a terminal disease. His parents are too poor to afford treatment, in fact they’re too poor to support him or his four siblings. Since he’s going to die anyways, he might as well spare them the cost for the few months he has left. But he doesn’t like the idea of anyone else having to clean up his dead body. Maybe he can at least be useful in killing himself, ghouls eat people, right?

✧Tropes✧

Monsters: I love QT monster boys (slime boys, nagas etc.), but I also love big bara giants. My thing is either: their head and torso are humanoid and everything else can be whatever OR they have to be a full blown, all out monster (they have to have sentience though, I’m not into bestiality stuff.)

Size Difference (ranges from slight difference to HOLY HELL YOU ARE MASSIVE WTF I ONLY COME UP TO YOUR STOMACH): I love big bara boys who fall in love with small tiny babes. The big bara can be all super macho or whatever I’m into that too, but what I really, really like is when they’re a squishy romantic who is completely devoted to their bby. Like they are willing to do anything their tiny love says at a moment’s notice. Bonus if the tiny boy is an absolute argumentative spitfire.

Age Differences: I don’t care how big the age gap is so long as the youngest is 18 or older.

Hey, Listen: This seems like a good place to put one of those “if you’ve read this far” things, not that I expect everyone to. However, if you have read all this then put the words “coco for cocoa puffs” somewhere in your message to me. <3

Toxic Relationships: Physically or mentally abusive (or both). Things can either work out in the end with the abusive cunt changing their ways, or not. I’m good with either.

Angst: I’m completely okay with letting characters straight up die. If that’s not something you’re into just say so and we can keep it fairly happy. However, if it’s something you’re willing to do HIGHFIVE!

Hopeless romance: In complete contrast to Toxic relationships I’m also into 100% fluffy and supportive relationships (so long as they both go through some hell. Can’t keep things too happy)

One-Sided: I love when characters think they are in a hopelessly one-sided love (but in fact aren’t). What would make it even better is if they are casually having sex with each other (because their friends with benefits/ one of them thinks the other is imagining someone else/ whatever) while both of them are secretly in love with each other, but neither of them knows it. Love is confusing.

Yandere/Ice King: Self explanatory

Unlikely Lovers: This could be characters who hate each other, but are hopelessly attracted to each other, people on opposing sides (Good Guy/Bad Guy) who fall in love, or characters who hate each other at first due to prejudices (ex. Orc/Elf) but are forced to work together and fall in love along the way.

✪ About 18+ Content: ✪

✧Violence/Cursing✧

I am okay with gore and death and the eternal void so long as it’s fitting/ pre-planned/ we’ve been writing together for a while and you know what you want to do won’t upset me.

I’ve avoided doing it (I think) in this ad out of respect for other’s preferences, but I my cuss level is that of someone who has recently stubbed their pinkie toe against the corner of the bed. So, if you want to contact me please be okay with that, it’s understand able if you yourself don’t want to cuss, but don’t try and force that standard on me. (This goes for pretty much everything else involving ideals/morals)

✧Sexual Situations✧

Obviously, you have to be 18+, even though I kinda said that at the very beginning I want to say it again. If you’re not 18+ and I find out you’re not I will immediately drop you and also likely report you as underage to which ever site you came to me from. You are endangering people when you pull that kind of stuff. So, if you’re under 18 (even if you’re 17 and your birthday is just two months away or the age of consent in your country is below 18) don’t contact me.

Anywhoo, I love smut, but I don’t want it to overtake the RP. I am pretty kink friendly, but I do have limits (which I’m about to list) if there’s something you’re having doubts about just ask, please don’t assume what I’m okay/not okay with.

Kinks I enjoy:

<3 <3 BDSM: Collars, bondage, S&M

<3 Violence: Biting, Scratching, Light asphyxiation

<3 <3 <3Power Bottoms: AKA I love when the smaller guy gets it in the bum, but he’s got complete control of how his top moves (demanding that he slow down/speed up that sort of thing)

Kinks that I think are pooie:

Pooie

Watersports

Necrophilia

Pedophilia

Bestiality

Incest

Mpreg

#oc rp #multiple paragraph #long term #email #messenger #submission

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notagreenlantern · 8 years ago

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So.. ... can you sum up the space opera for us?

Yes. But you are all gonna wish I didn’t do it... Gather round, because I am incapable of being brief...

It all started when avillainous bug dude named Annihilus (spelling? Who knows. Someoneknows. Not me), who chilled in the Negative Zone until he noticedthat the regular universe was expanding, and this cause the NegativeZone to shrink (because comics!) and he went “Fuck this shit!”And decided to invade the universe outside the Negative Zone. Heunleashed the Annihilation Wave.

This wave of reallyferocious supercharged bugs and ships and what have you, tore throughmost of the universe, leaving the Skrull Empire crippled (like, theyhad nothing going for them. They didn't even have a single ruleranymore, it was just complete shambles. They had no business goingthrough with an invasion of Earth after this, but they did. BecauseSkrulls??? IDK).

The wave also killed everysingle Nova Corps member, except for my babe Richard Rider, who hadto take over the entire Nova Force (don't ask me, this goes intostuff I don't know. But it's like the entire power of the corps whichis usually shared between the members of the corps. And like it candrive someone mad to have all of it, but the Worldmind is helping himnot go mad [this is an important plot point for later]). There's alsothe Worldmind, which is an A.I. as well as the memory bank of theentire culture and civilization of the planet the Nova Corps wasfounded on, Xandar. This Worldmind is sort of in Richie's head or thehelmet. I don't remember. Anyway. They get along very well. Worldmindis only interested in protecting itself, and Richie is very muchinterested in not letting the frelling bugs overrun the galaxy.

Richie also runs into Draxand a girl called Cammie (who is... Not that important in the end?).Drax is not Drax the Destroyer. Except he is. But he also isn't(COMICS!)

There's also theseplotlines involving the Super-Skrull (I actually started to miss him,he wasn't in the story at all towards the end. Actually, the Skrullsin general were not present for a lot of it in the second half. Thefailed Earth invasion probably had something to do with that), andRonan the Accuser(for the life of me I can't remember his plot atall, but he drags Gamora into the story). These two later on have tointeract on several occasions, and it is always great. I ended upreally liking both of them as well.

Quasar is killed (he getsbetter).

The war starts. Likeactual war. It is made clear that Richard gets the commander role andthat he is forced to take a lot of hard decisions, and this is wherehe grows up, and becomes an adult. A lot of characters show up. PeterQuill (formerly Star-Lord. It's a whole thing), Gamora, Ronan andDrax are on Richie's team, and he's later joined by the Super-Skrullfor a bit, Phyla-Vell who takes over the mantle of Quasar, a bunch ofGalactus former heralds (like two, it's not a bunch. Surfer dude goesback to being Galactus Herald. Surfer dude and Galactus are thencaptured by Annihilus, who tbh has some help), also help Richie out.

Thanos, and a fairy (whichaccording to wikpedia was a creature created at the same time as theuniverse was created) join Annihilus because Thanos is bored and justwants to see how it all plays out (no seriously, that is hismotivation). They kidnap Moondragon. I don't remember why.

I am making this way toodetailed. I need to rein this shit in...

Thanos turns Galactus intoa weapon. Moondragon convinces Thanos that Annihilus is playing him.Thanos is about to disable the Galactus weapon, so that Galactus canfuck up Annihilus. At this point Drax, who found out aboutMoondragon's kidnaping from Phyla, caught up with Thanos and pushedhis hand through Thanos' chest and pulled out Thanos' heart. It wasbloody. And extremely bad timing.

Elsewhere there was somepolitics shit going on with the Kree? The Kreeleadership made a dealwith Annihilus? Ronan was not impressed. He and Super-Skrull went tothe homeworld of the Kree and fucked things up there. They found outthat the leaders had killed... I can't remember what it was called,but some sort of head in a jar or something? Something that usuallylead the Kree anyway. Regardless. The Kree made Ronan the leader,despite his protests.

Richie meanwhile got readyfor a suicide mission, but first sent a detailed message to ReedRichards about the annihilation wave, and that if Richard failed, thewave would reach Earth

In the end, the war iswon, the Annihilation wave is stopped, Richie put his hand downAnnihilus throat and pulled out Annihilus heart (there were a lot ofhearts being ripped out of people... Technically not people since nothuman...)

Richard went home to Earthfor a little rest. It did not go well.

Ronan impressed with PeterQuill's performance during the war, made him security advisor orsomething.

Now, let's see if I canexplain this... The Kree homeworld had some sort of security net,something computer based security system, which was damaged duringthe war, to patch it up, Peter took an offer from some sort of spaceknights (no seriously. Space Knights. I have to look that up. Itsounds badass and awesome) which had a fix that would be patched intothe Kree system. However it turned out this was an evil plot and itall got infected with a virus (techno something the virus wascalled), created by a lot of robots called the Phalanx.

This kicked off three tiein books leading up to the main book + the Nova series which startedafter Annihilation. One tie in featured Star-Lord and the notGuardians of the Galaxy, not yet anyway. Another was about Phyla-Velland the third about some dude named Wraith. We are pretty much gonnaignore Wraith completely in this summary. Unless I suddenly rememberthat he was super important... I doubt it.

Phyla is the new Qusar andshe has some serious self doubt issues, about taking over this role.Also her girlfriend is Moondragon, and Heather is having issues withheadaches. But it's Phyla who starts hearing a voice telling her shehas to find “the chosen one”. So she and Heather head off to dothat, chased by the Phalanx, who also finds out she is looking for achosen one. Moondragon is turned into a literal dragon.

We get a quick re-cap ofPeter Quill's history and some shit he did where he had to make achoice which led to the death of a lot of people, and how that madehim retire the name Star-lord. Anyway, he ends up with the Kreeresistance movement, and they assemble a team for him, to infiltrate.And they had to do it without as low tech stuff as possible becauseanything technlogical can be infected by the techn-something virus.

This virus also infectspeople, and it doesn't brainwash them, they can still act likethemselves, but they want to do things for the Phalanx (brainwashingand/or mind control are pretty huge things that creepy me out alot... Like actual things I'm terrified of creep me out. Which... Iknow, irrational. But whatever). So they are more or less under mindcontrol. Ronan is controlled by them, for a while. He breaks free romit eventually.

It is revealed that theleader of the Phalanx is actually Ultron, who builds a massive toweron the Kree homeworld and then projects a shield preventing anyonefrom coming in or leaving Kree space (which is huge and includes alot of planets). Ultron's motives are... Badly explained.

Phyla and Moondragon find“the chosen one”. The chosen one turns out to be Adam Warlock.Ultron shows up. Ultron kills Moondragon (fucking asshole!). Someonenamed the High Evolutionary (also an asshole and a huge dick) joinsPhyla and Adam as they escape from Ultron.

Meanwhile Richie almostburns to a crisp. While he is being healed, a Kree woman is deputizedand made a Nova. Gamora is brainwahsed and hunting Richard. Richardis infected with the virus. Gamora kills the woman who was made anova. Richard fights off the virus, and with worldmind keeps it atbay. Rich manages to escape Kree space and ends up on Knowherewhere he meets Cosmo the dog (who isa good dog). Stuff happens there. I'm not going to get into it.

Iam only halfway through Annihilation Conquest here. Jfc. I have gotto stop being so fucking verbose.

Iam so sorry.

Alot of stuff happens. Like a lot. A lot I can't even explain.

Youknow what, let's just skip to the important bit. They defeat Ultron.

Peterdecides that the galaxy needs guarding and he assembles the Guardiansof the Galaxy, and they take up residence in Knowhere. Which is thehead of a dead celestial, floating at the edge of space, and whereCosmo is head of security. The important point is that they haveteleportation technology there.

Meanwhilethe Kree are very defeated after first the Annihiltion wave, and thenthe whole Ultron business.

Richie gets into a fight with Galactus. Worldmind crashes. Richie goes backto Earth and gets involved in the Invasion business. He meets up withDarkhawk who works as head of security at Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S wherealso Richie's brother Robbie is a scientist. They get Wendell back,though he is kind of an energy being.

Theyalso get Worldmindback, but after the invasion is over Worldmindstarts to go crazy, after crashing, and having put so much energyinto not letting Richie go mad, it itself went mad. It was alsoheavily influenced by Ego the living planet (IT'S A PLANET WITH AFACE! WHY????). There is a whole storyline about Worldmindconscripting hundreds of humans to becoming nova corps members.Richie opposing this, because he doesn't want to send young untrainedpeople out into war, and everyone just calling Richie jealous. Richieis then stripped of all of his powers (wich is why he got to beQuasar for a bit).

TheGuardians meanwhile do a lot of guarding the universe. Mostly bydealing with rifts in space. Drax and Phyla go off to findMoondragon. Phyla makes a deal with Oblivion, stops being Quasar andstarts calling herself Martyr and has a pretty dramatic personalitychange.

AdamWarlock, is. Adam Warlock. They somehow pick up Jack Flag..... Fuck,what happened to Jack Flag???? I don't think he showed up in the lastevent? Where was he???

Anyway.The Guardians had their own series, so while everything is eitherleading up to soething or interconnected with the over arching plot,they had a few solo things the got to do. Just like Nova. Though Novagot more solostuff to do than the rest.

Alright.Now we get to the really complicated bit.

Fromwhat I gathered from the backstory recap, the Inhumans got shit on alot. Especially lately, with people attacking them and then findingout that Black Bolt had secretly been a Skrull for months, and thatlots of Skrulls were n the moon where they used to live. So theInhumans decided that enough is enough “fuck everyone else, we aretired of being treated poorly” said Medusa. They had been createdfor war, so after they retrieved the real Black Bolt the Inhumans dida serious number on the Skrulls, before going to the Kree where theydecided that they now ruled the Kree (I can not be expected to gointo the actual politics). Also to make it a proper royalarrangement, Crystal was betrothed to Ronan and they got married, anddespite Crystal repeating like a million times that it was just apolitical gesture and an arrangement. I think they actually startedto are for each other? She definitely started to care for the Kreepeople, much more than the rest of her family.

MeanwhileVulcan was a mad king. I really can not go into the politics oof theShi'ar because I can't remember how to spell their name. Anyway. Theyescaped from all the recent disasters, so they were still a strongempire, an empire ever growing. Anyway. Vulcan brother of, fuck,what's his name? Havoc? Something Summers, and Scott Summers (Iassume you know their names. Why am I telling you...) had somehowtaken over leadership of the Shi'ar empire, instead of Lilandra whowas sister to the previous emperor?

Eitherway, Vulcan is mad and my favorite mad king. He decides he's gonnaconquer all of the universe, because that's the sort of thing a manlike him would decide to do.

Now,on Vulcan's side he has the Imperial guard which is a group thatalways protects the emperor, like they are totally loyal to them nomatter who they are or what their actions are (and for some reasonall the imperial guard members are like counter parts to DC's Legionof Superheroes???? according to wiki... I am unfamiliar with most ofthe legion. And mostly just wondered why one of them reminded me ofBrainiac). The leader of the Imperial guard is Gladiator (and I likedhim... And for a purpe dude with a mohawk he was pretty hot... I meanIliked him for other reasons than just how shallow I am)

Theresistance against Vulcan consisted of a very random group of people,some of them x-men. Havoc was there. A woman with green hair whoseemed to be dating Havoc, I think her name might have been Lorna (orsomething). Someone who may or may not have been a future relative ofJean Grey?????????? and some other people I can't remember at themoment. They called themselves Starjammers.

TheStarjammers had Lilandra and were protecting her. They found outabout the wedding between Crystal and Ronan, and the green hairedlady had some connection to Crystal they decided to flee to Kreespace to attend the wedding. The Kree still had that shield, thoughnow they operated it, and they let the starjammers through, and thenput it up again so that the Shi'ar ships that followed were destroyedupon impact with the shield. I think that is what happened. I am notsure.

Anyway,Vulcan got really mad and saw it as a sign of aggression that hisships got destroyed and decided that he would have a war against theKree, and the Inhumans who were still the leaders of the Kree.Because they had promised Ronan that they would evolve the Kreepeople (because Comics?).

Sometime passed before the wedding. At the wedding day, a suicide bombertook down the shield protecting the Kree space. The Imperial Guardattacked the wedding, and kidnaped Lilandra.

Thisstarted the war between Vulcan and the Inhumans.

Somany things happened all over the place. I have to try and keep thisshorter. So I don't think we need to summarise the Darkhawkstoryline. We're skipping Blastaar and the Negative Zone and hiseventual move into regular space. We are gonna skim past some thingsI'm not entierly sure when they happened chronologically. Most ofRichard's storylines. Which is mostly battling a Worldmind gone mad,getting his powers back, and not much else connected to the war.

TheGuardians tried to get the both parties in the war to see the factthat the universe was fragile after the recent disasters, and thatall the rifts in space were a bad sign. But both Inhumans and Vulcanrefused to listen to them, because they had never heard of theGuardians.

Vulcangot more and more mad.

Gladiatorturned against Vulcan. I don't know if he was in love with Lilandra(maybe he was and I missed it in the backstory recaps), but it'sheavily implied.

Lilandrawas rescued. She was also brought to the throneworld and about to bereinstated in power, when sadly she was assassinated.

Afew of the Guardians traveled through time in a side plot, whichactually tied into the main plot, but is too complicated to get intoright now.

TheInhumans having lost the one thing that could have turned the waragainst Vulcan (Lilandra taking back the ower) decides to use a lastditch plan. A terrigen mist bomb that would “evolve all of theuniverse like it evolved the inhumans, exept the kree which areimmune to it so why they thought it would work on anyone else is amystery” It was a fucked up plan. The bomb was also powered byBlack Bolt (there's a whole plot about the Inhumans weapons andshields and stuff being powered by Black Bolt's voice. I can't getinto it), and it was a suicide mission. Crystal decided that fuckthat, that shit is fucked up, teleported with Lockjaw to the bomb andturned it into just a immensely powerful bomb. She and Black Boltwere about to teleport away again when Vulcan attacked in person. Sheand Lockjaw teleported away.

BlackBolt and Vulcan fought. The bomb exploded killing both Black Bolt andVulcan. As well as opened up The Fault. A massive hole in space whichopened up to the Cancerverse.

TheShi'ar surrendered.

Thena lot about politics.

Gladiator,against his will, was made the new emperor.

Therewas a lot of stuff with the Inhumans and the Kree which is lessimportant right now.

Richardhad a run in with Monark Starstalker (seriously what happened to thatdude? Can he come back?). Also Darkhawk. Also the Sphinx x2. Also hebrought back Namorita.

Everyoneexplored the Fault and took readings of it.

AdamWarlock turned into Adam Magus the evil version of Adam Warlock.Peter Quill tried to stop him using a cosmic cube, but Magus fooledhim into thinking he had been stopped.

Alsothere was that thing with the chuch of universal truth which Icompletely forgot to talk about. I have forgotten to mention so manythings. So much happened.

Ahuge cocoon hatched and Thanos came back to life.

Quasarwent deepest into the Cancerverse and discovered the evilcounterparts of Earth's heroes. An evil Quasar went to visit Earth.Richard Rider and Darkhawk took care of him. Darkhawk was badlyhurt... Oh my god, I have to check what happened to Chris! He nevergot to see Richard Rider again.If he even survived. Or maybe he waskilled off later on. I doubt he was much more than a d or c-listhero.

Thecancer verse started to come out of the fault, first just monsters,but soon enough the real infection from the cancer verse started andthe evil counterpart heroes showed up.

Okay,so the deal with all of this is...

Theuniverse has death and life these are constants and they are alwaysat odds, but they keep a balance. In the cancer verse death waskilled off, meaning that universe no longer was in balance. Andthings just kept growing, hence the name. They filled that universeto the brim and now that the fault has opened they want to get outand start to fill up the next universe. This means finding the marveluniverse's avatar of death (=Thanos) and killing him at a specificplace in a ritual.

Idon't think I need to get into the ending of it.

Sothat's it. I am sorry I can't do short and concise. And it bothers mehow much I left out and forgot about...

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captainignatiuspigheart · 4 years ago

Text

Wow, the last couple of weeks alternating surging heat and grim weather has thorough melted every bit of my desire to do anything, including remembering the time before the heat haze. Still – we shall prevail! It was a quietish couple of weeks in any case, though did have a couple of cool things in it. Not least that I’ve been able to live outside in my gazebo office, and keep a close eye on our ridiculous cats and their shade seeking antics. We were all sad when the thunder and hailstorms drove us inside… Taking keen note of the foul weather I finally picked up some serious LEGO storage towers and did some reorganising. They don’t take up less space, which is unfortunate, but I can access key bricks sets much more easily!

Big fella in a hedge

Little lady in her rooftop fort

Last week turned out to be a mini podcast week, so I’ve spent more time talking than usual (taking up precious drinking time, alas). More We Are What We Overcoming, which has become a cornerstone of my fortnightly routine, and really does help me think about how I feel and how I’m behaving in this quarantini time. That’s not the same as actually changing my behaviour, but being aware that I’m doing little but drinking and sighing at the sun is a start… My other half and I were also interviewed for the Knot Ready podcast: a look at marriage from a modern, feminist perspective, since we’re nearly twenty-two years into a non-marriage we have some insight into why folks may not get married, or at least, possibly, why we haven’t. It was a lot of fun to chat about how we got together (half a lifetime ago!) and other stuff. I’ll definitely remember to share when our episode is out, but you should subscribe to the podcast anyway because Lucy is pretty ace and it’s a genuinely interesting subject.

View this post on Instagram

I am KNOT READY 💍😘 . I am ready to tie the knot! I am lucky enough to have found an amazing person who makes my life better and who I want to commit to fully 💕 . So when I say I'm freaked out by marriage – it's not a commitment thing! . I'm freaked out that this institution, this human invention, controlled by religion and the state and shaped through time by patriarchal narratives, has become synonymous with romantic love, and not just culturally but for me personally! Something has got it into my head that our relationship is incomplete without marriage, despite suspecting on an intellectual level that nothing much will change afterwards. . Why am I spending a silly amount of money on one day? Why did it make me sad to not be engaged to my person? Why is marriage so important to me? . Freaky questions! For some answers, turn to Knot Ready 💍😘 Episode one comes out this Friday! Link in bio to subscribe or learn more 💖

A post shared by Knot Ready (@knotreadypodcast) on Jun 23, 2020 at 12:13am PDT

We’ve also seen a few more genuine humans in the meatspace, a thing which makes me feel ever so odd. I suspect that I have been at home for too long… But we had a lovely slow wander around the University Park lake and a bit of the radically altered campus up the back of the Portland Building. Lots of baby birds, and our friends’ new baby of their own.

Building: LEGO Hidden Side’s Newbury Haunted High School #70425

OK, so I built this ages ago, but it’s really pretty. Thing is, in its standard configuration it sprawls a little wide, and is distressingly not quite a modular building. So I fixed it! My goal was for it to fit in with the other modular buildings, but of course it’s four studs wider than a baseplate, so something had to go. In my first attempt I tried to compact the bay windows but made a horrible mess, so dismantled the whole thing and rebuilt it using the instructions and deviating where necessary. Where necessary was a bit of a pain – to keep the play functions I needed to keep the bay windows and the full width of the clock tower. My only viable option was removing the four silver unicorn spires with their supporting arches, and that hasn’t really hurt the build much. I’m not super-happy that the decorative ground floor arches are now somewhat obscured, but I’m chuffed with the overall result. That it gave me a chance to go nuts on a swirly tiling pattern in coral pink was a massive bonus. I’ve kept all the play features, but lost some of the details inside. I may remove all the worn detailing too and just have a lovely school in between the detective’s office and the bank. As was noted in the Brickgeekz Facebook group, its colours do rather resemble the now-exceedingly rare Town Hall which I could never quite afford. Win!

Four studs too wide…

It fits!

Beautiful flooring

Play features intact

Watching: Space Force

This is certainly quite fun. A show about Trump’s cretinous “space force” which supposedly satirises the idea, but instead gets caught up doing a sort-of sincere NASA knock-off to get Americans back on the Moon. It doesn’t seem to be sure what it’s taking the mickey out of, leaving the comedy unfocused and swaying madly in each episode. The characters are pretty stock fodder: uptight air force general played by Steve Carell, who looks rather lost, desperate to make it funny by crashing in and out of character while relying heavily on clearing his throat to cover all forms of emotion; very smart scientist guy who isn’t that great with people in the remarkable form of John Malkovich, who shows off his comedy chops nicely (largely by staying in character); total arsehole PR guy Ben Schwartz, who is utterly hateable (in a good way) but of course redeems himself, sort of; space force pilot/astronaut Tawny Newsome, desperate to get on the moon and be somebody; the air force general’s neglected daughter who just wants to have some fun / get any attention at all from her dad. The supporting cast do a great job too, but the tone constantly swinging from idiots messing up the mission to “hurray USA” sentiment leaves them all out in the cold. It’s just odd. I did enjoy the show, and it certainly has some splendid moments, mostly as they get towards the moon landing itself, but I’m not going to be racing back for season two. The Chinese are the main rivals in this new space race, and it’s a bit… broad… for 2020.

youtube

Doing: We Are What We Overcome

The next of our “lockdown specials”, lovingly recorded by Zoom and broadcast live in Facebook. Didn’t quite work last week, for no clear reason, so we popped it up on Tuesday instead. We talked about the thorny subject of change, which we seem to have to deal with all the damned time! It’s an interesting issue, covering not just what change is and how it feels, but how we learn (or don’t learn) to deal with it. All terribly pertinent and that. We came back yesterday Monday 19th to discuss how we feel about the easing of lockdown (or whatever the fuck this shower of wank called a Tory government are doing): check that one our here: Facebook Live.

Kickstarter Reward: Munchkin Bricks 2

With all the global lunacy I’d quite forgotten these were on the way! The last-but-one project of Guy Himber, aka CrazyBricks. These are pretty silly accessories and things to accompany the equally silly Munchkin card/boardgame. I just thought they were really cute, god knows what I’m going to do with them. Particular favourites for me are the chibi cthulus (some may become gifts for others…) and the splendid octobricks!

Swag

Swagger

You should definitely check out his current project, which is already very well funded and heading for far-reaching stretch goals: Dino Dudes! Yep, it’s just what it sounds like. Go get em! Nicely covered here by the excellent Beyond the Brick channel:

youtube

Reading: Provenance by Ann Leckie

My first Leckie, having not yet gotten around to reading the acclaimed Ancillary Justice series, though this one is set in the same universe. It’s perfectly fine small-scope space opera, focusing on a young woman’s attempts to secure her future (by being named as heir to a senior politician – her adopted mother in a society with interesting communal creche arrangements) by breaking a thief out of prison and lording her victory over her brother. The thief has apparently nicked some precious vestiges, Leckie’s intriguing concept of highly-prized mementoes of the past, which might be anything from an actual artifact, eg a bell used in the first summoning of parliament, to a signed bus ticket on a special day. The Hwaean people are obsessed with the things, and it would be a terrible shame if they turned out to be fake… There’s lots of running around with aliens and robots and occasional murder of diplomats and so on, all risking the failure of a super-important peace accord between humans and some potentially terrifying aliens. Provenance is neatly written, though it loses something in having the plot summary on the back cover take only the first chapter or so to resolve, leaving me unsure where it was going after the exciting sounding heist was dealt with so quickly. It never quite recovered for me, which definitely confirms that I should not read the back cover of books I’m about to read. The author’s interest in diversity and multiple genders, modes of address and interesting social set ups are fun and satisfying to read about, so I suspect I’ll enjoy getting properly into the Ancillary Justice vibe; I just shouldn’t have started here.

More LEGO. SCUM: A Star Wars Story

I’ve now built the main cast of our Star Wars RPG! Clockwise from top-left: my Tusken raider with savaged translator droid strapped to my back, Jon’s Twi’lek bounty hunter, Ben’s Nautolan hacker, Diarmuid’s hapless and much abused Imperial officer, Joe’s GH7 medical droid (a real delight to assemble) his Mandalorian bodyguard (played by Charlie). It’s fun! Now I wanna build some of our missions…

Watching: Agents of SHIELD season 4

I’m sure you’re growing weary of this, but Agents of SHIELD is a goddamned delight. Best show on TV? Maybe. (Warning: many spoilers ahead.) This was the last of the seasons that I’d seen before, so was by far the most familiar. And yet, in the style of all their seasons, a MILLION things happen, overwhelming any sense I had of how long any of the events took. To give you some idea of just how wild this season is, we go from introducing Ghost Rider, in a surprisingly coherent way, to another Avengers nightmare of AI coming to life and taking over various characters with robot duplicates (in this case, Ada, built by splendid returning cast member John Hannah), followed by an incredible immersion of the main cast in a vast virtual reality “The Framework” (built by Ada, John Hannah, and Fitz) a terrifying alternate reality where Hydra has won and rules the world, busily oppressing and annihilating inhumans so that Ada can build herself a real body. Jesus Christ, it’s a lot. Add to that a new director of SHIELD, the ongoing friction between SHIELD and the inhumans vs the rest of the world, plus god knows what else that I’ve forgotten, and I’m happily mindblown. Of course, it’s also the doomed FitzSimmons romance show too, as those two get yet another absolute kicking when we see that Fitz is the chief Hydra scientist, experimenting and murdering all sorts of folk, like Simmons… How will they put themselves back together? Who the hell knows because at the end of this season most of the team is abducted and wake up in SPACE! In truth I’m already a good way into season 5 and I could not be happier.

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Doing: MissImp’s virtual improv comedy drop-in

I’ll admit, I’m as behind on these as I am on everything else… First up, The Tiny Glass Person with Feña Ortalli:

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Followed by the marvellous David Escobedo in Discovering Your Dynamics:

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Last Week: LEGO, Knot Ready, Space Force, Provenance, MissImp, CrazyBricks, Agents of SHIELD, We Are What We Overcome… many things! I’ve gotta get back to doing this weekly… TV, books, much LEGO, some improv and podcasts. https://wp.me/pbprdx-8Gx Wow, the last couple of weeks alternating surging heat and grim weather has thorough melted every bit of my desire to do…

#Agents of SHIELD #Ann Leckie #custom lego #David Escobedo #Dino Dudes #Knot Ready #lego #LEGO Hidden Side #MissImp: Improv Comedy Theatre Nottingham #Space Force #Star Wars Edge of Empire #TV review #We Are What We Overcome

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theamazingstories · 5 years ago

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(Note: voting closes in a bit more than ten days from now on 7/21/19. Membership sales (required for voting rights in most cases) also close soon. Visit the Dublin in 2019 website for more information.)

This being a Monday, and Mondays being slow, I figured it was about time to share my 2019 Hugo Awards Finalist Ballot, which ballot will be used to help tally the vote for the 2019 Hugo Awards, which will be presented – for the first time ever – in my ancestral lands of Ireland.

(Start at 30 seconds in; the important part comes at 54 seconds)

Sadly, I will not be in attendance, but I am a supporting member and therefore, get to vote.

Below are screen captures of the individual categories and my placements (the Hugo Awards use a preferential voting system where you rank your picks).

The Retro Hugo Awards follow the contemporary Hugo Awards.

Some general comments: I don’t vote for works I’m not personally familiar with, which happens for one reason and another; I also don’t consider reading an excerpt from a longer work to be sufficient exposure to judge it properly.

This also means that I don’t necessarily rank everything in a category.

There are a handful of categories I didn’t vote in or opted to select No Award for – excercising my Ghu-given right to “vote” by not selecting anyone or picking No Award to indicate that I disagree with the inclusion of the category in the awards.

This is not pique over disagreeing with a categorie’s inclusion when I campaigned against its inclusion but lost the vote. It’s actually three reactions: 1. I really don’t think that it should be an award category, find it problematic for various reasons and see it as more (eventual) trouble than it is worth – which gets a “No Award”; 2. I disagree with the category but don’t care enough – or think it harmful enough – to bother with it and 3. I’ve no interest in the category and therefore can’t vote because I really don’t engage with it. Let those who do decide who should win without interference from me.

Note: the screencaps are a bit difficult to read, so the email summary of my ballot is included after them. I’m showing the screen caps first because the summary only includes those Finalists that I actually voted for.

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This category, over time I think, is going to cause problems, what with the possibility that a “series” can find itself up for the award in multiple years; not to mention some possible entrants getting short shrift because of availability & etc.

Hoo boy. I completely disagree with the Administrators on the eligibility of Archive of Our Own – not because it showcases “fan fic”, but because it is not a “new” work and has not been updated sufficiently broadly enough to be eligible. Making a website that updated some back-end capabilities eligible is like making The Moon is a Harsh Mistress eligibile again because they changed the type font in a new edition. Further, I am deeply concerned about A: AO3’s members deliberately misconstruing their individual status AND B. even more concerned about large internet “tribes” being able to sway the vote and using their numbers and reach to possibly negate the regular membership’s vote*. And, finally, this category needs to be refined in future to refocus it on academic and critical work within the field.

As stated earlier, if I don’t engage, I don’t vote – but, while I have mild reservations about this category’s inclusion, they’re not strong enough to want to deny others their fun.

It’s really, really difficult to figure out who did what in this category. I believe that editorial work should be awarded, I just think we need a better way to do it. What that might be, I’ve no idea,. so, therefore, I stay mum.

Another category whose inclusion I heartily disagree with. I am PERSONALLY far better off because when I began reading science fiction, there were no distinctions made over what was or was not appropriate for me to read. I believe this is an artificial, marketing-based divide, is detrimental to young readers by suggesting limitations and that we should not be basing awards on marketing categories.

*I’ve been vocal on the AO3 “controversy”. Early on I asked that they detail the “sufficient” changes made to the site that would make it eligible in a year in which it was not first produced. (In fact, I think its TEN years AFTER it was first created that we are being asked to vote for it. As if The Martian appeared on the ballot AFTER the film rolled out, in a year in which the novel itself was not first published in English.)

I am not objecting to “new voters” coming into the fold here. We absolutely want that. What I am finding issue with is an internet community that does not normally engage with the awards doing so to get their “thing” a win. Just like the gamer gaters that were recruited by the Sad and Rabid puppies. (No, they are not pups; some of their actions are ‘puppy-like’.)

If this kind of thing becomes common (and I suspect it may), the awards turn into a defacto “popularity” contest: how many people who never heard of the Hugo Awards before can we get to vote because their “friends” are up for an award?

But putting that argument aside for a moment: the public display on the part of AO3 members (yay, all of my fan fic works are now Hugo Nominees: I’m a Hugo Finalist author – gonna put that right up on my website!) AFTER being informed that they are not entitled to such honors individually, is, to me, more than enough reason to not vote for it.

Prior coverage of this debate here

Finalist Vote Summary:

Novel:

The Calculating Stars

Trail of Lightning

Space Opera

Novella:

Artificial Condition

The Tea Master and the Detective

Binti: The Night Masquerade

Novelette:

“The Thing About Ghost Stories”

The Only Harmless Great Thing

Short Story:

“The Tale of the Three Beautiful Raptor Sisters, and the Prince Who Was Made of Meat”

“The Court Magician”

“The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington”

Related Work:

Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction

An Informal History of the Hugos: A Personal Look Back at the Hugo Awards

Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Writing

http://www.mexicanxinitiative.com: The Mexicanx Initiative Experience at Worldcon 76

The Hobbit Duology (documentary in three parts)

No award

Dramatic Long:

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Sorry to Bother You

Black Panther

Avengers: Infinity War

Annihilation

A Quiet Place

Dramatic Short:

The Good Place: “Janet(s)”

The Good Place: “Jeremy Bearimy”

Editor Short:

Gardner Dozois

Neil Clarke

Semiprozine:

Strange Horizons

FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction

Fireside Magazine

Beneath Ceaseless Skies

Uncanny Magazine

Shimmer

Fanzine:

Rocket Stack Rank

Galactic Journey

Journey Planet

nerds of a feather, flock together

Fan Writer:

Foz Meadows

James Davis Nicoll

Alasdair Stuart

Fan Artist:

Spring Schoenhuth

Series:

No award

New Writer:

Jeannette Ng

Lodestar:

No award

The Retro Hugo Awards

(The older I get, the closer the Retros come to being THE Hugo Awards….)

Yes, seems that this year I have a ‘thing’ for Don Wollheim, Eric Frank Russell and C. L. Moore.

(Pretty sure I’ve always had a thing for them.)

Symbiotica (EF Russell) makes me laugh. Every. Single. Time. I think it takes the prize for most vomitous novelette in the history of the genre (though Sturgeon’s The Girl Had Guts comes a very close second). And by vomitous, I don’t mean on the part of the reader. I mean, more people vomit in that story than in any other.

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Summary

Retro Novel:

Conjure Wife

Earth’s Last Citadel

The Weapon Makers

Gather, Darkness!

Perelandra

Retro Novella:

“Attitude”

“Clash by Night”

The Little Prince

“We Print the Truth”

Retro Novelette:

“Symbiotica”

“Mimsy Were the Borogoves”

“The Proud Robot”

“Citadel of Lost Ships”

“The Halfling”

Retro Short Story:

“Q.U.R.”

“Yours Truly – Jack the Ripper”

“Doorway into Time”

“King of the Gray Spaces” (“R is for Rocket”)

“Death Sentence”

Retro Graphic Story:

Flash Gordon: Fiery Desert of Mongo

Buck Rogers: Martians Invade Jupiter

Wonder Woman #5: Battle for Womanhood

Retro Dramatic Long:

Phantom of the Opera

Münchhausen

Heaven Can Wait

Batman

Retro Dramatic Short:

Super-Rabbit

Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman

The Ape Man

Der Fuehrer’s Face

Retro Editor Short:

Donald A. Wollheim

Mary Gnaedinger

Dorothy McIlwraith

John W. Campbell

Raymond A. Palmer

Retro Pro Artist:

Margaret Brundage

Hannes Bok

J. Allen St. John

Virgil Finlay

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

William Timmins

Retro Fanzine:

The Phantagraph

Le Zombie

Futurian War Digest

Guteto

Voice of the Imagi-Nation

Retro Fan Writer:

Jack Speer

Morojo (Myrtle Douglas)

Wilson “Bob” Tucker

Donald A. Wollheim

Forrest J. Ackerman

Art Widner

The 2019 Hugo Awards – Publisher’s Picks (Note: voting closes in a bit more than ten days from now on 7/21/19. Membership sales (required for voting rights in most cases) also close soon.

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