#instant omni

[halcyon-writings]

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sinister!invincible is an enigma and I want to put him under a microscope, happy s3 yall !!

— “I could kill you in an instant,” He says casually. He could, in fact. You had witness him turn cities to dust simply because he felt like it or turned people to mush just because they looked at him wrong. You could never know what he was thinking and what.

“I’m sure you can,” You agree, flipping through a magazine with more bloodstains on the cover that you barely see what’s written on it, “But would that make you feel better?”

He’s silent. Which can be a good or bad thing depending on his mood.

You, at least, think you have a semblance of a good reading on his moods. Otherwise, you’d have been turned into paste by now.

“Hm, true,” Invincible says eventually.

You know he’s listening. Well, listening to your heartbeat. How it doesn’t skip or stutter, a learned skill during your time as his so-called “only” friend.

When his hands wrap around your neck, as he marvels at the fact that he could easily just… squeeze, and the muscles of your neck would just give way to his grip, he notices your pulse doesn’t jump once. You simply stare at him, a singular eyebrow is raised in morbid curiosity.

Was this how you would go? He can hear you ask. His thumb presses down, but not enough to harm you any further than a thumb shaped bruise.

“You’re worried about something,” You say, one night after he returns from another excursion with his father. Mark only stares at you through his goggles. It’s a sight that’s frightened others enough that they submit to his whims, but it never saves them in the end.

“Am I?” He asks rhetorically.

You press no further than that. Simply letting him sit beside you, as his head dips against your shoulder. Soon soft exhales of breath means that he’s sleeping. For someone so frightening, he seems almost docile like this. If it wasn’t for the blood all over his costume and some even in his hair. You know a bit of it is going to stain your clothes, and he’ll simply burn them and get you more.

Omni-Man stares from the doorway into the small living room area you’re both currently in. You know that the former superhero had his own qualms about you.

He had told his son that attachments were a distraction. Viltrumites viewed companionship differently after all.

You meet his gaze. Unflinchingly so.

He leaves without a word.

[earlgreylatte]

Of Moons, Birds, & Monsters

Where Mark Grayson having a sister changes everything and nothing.

You were privileged in a lot of ways; a nice house in the suburbs, a mother that worked in real estate, a father that wrote travel guides after seeing his novels weren’t doing so well, and they both never laid a hand on you. They were reasonable and raised you with a firm but kind hand. Well, maybe your mother more than your superhero father. But even with his usual absences, you and your brother were without a doubt loved. You are grateful, you really are. On top of the warmth provided by your household, you’re special. You’re different than the rest of the general population, with your father sure you’d inherit the powers inherent to his, your, alien heritage. You had the means to do something greater. A purpose. A higher calling.

People lamented not having such a clear path. Yet, you only felt a growing hollowness in your chest. As if you were barely tethered to reality. And you had no real reason to feel that way, at first. Your mom made sure she was there at every moment, every milestone. Your dad, while busy with his heroics, who would always throw you in the air and catch you in his strong arms, always picking up your favourite pastry from a bakery in the Netherlands. Your younger brother looked up to you with stars in eyes, pestering you to play with him.

But even then, you felt aimless. Apprehensive. Empty when you’re left alone, no one to distract you, and only your thoughts to reign freely.

Your dad had shared his origin with you and Mark when you were twelve and nine year olds. Adding to the puberty talk your mom had already given to you. Mark was excited. Why wouldn’t he be? Awesome powers and a future wearing spandex? That was every kid’s dream. Even you felt anticipation at being able to fly one day.

But the planet your father came from, Viltrumite, only gave you anxiety. Devoting yourself to protect the weak, to the point you’d have to leave your own home planet was a daunting task. You don’t know how your father could do it. Protecting strangers so far from home. You liked the comfort of home. Of being with your family. You didn’t even know what you wanted to be when you grow up.

After your dad sent you two to bed that night, you started up at the glow in the dark stars that covered your ceiling in quiet contemplation. You heard your bedroom door slowly creak open. From beneath your blanket, you slowly pushed yourself up.

“Get in here already,” you call and in an instant, he’s climbed onto your bed, starting at you with barely restrained energy. “Getting a bit too old to need a sleep buddy, Mark.”

Your brother shoves at your shoulder indignantly, “I can sleep by myself! And you sleep with stuffed animals!”

“Hey, stuffed animals are for all ages, you’re never too old for them.”

“That’s not what I came here for!” He protests, “We’re aliens!”

“Half-aliens,” you correct, bringing your knees to your chest.

“Same thing! And—and dad’s Omni-man!” He babbles, a far cry from his quiet awe while he listened to your dad earlier.

“I mean, yeah, Mark. I don’t understand how people don’t know, the moustache is a dead giveaway,” you respond. “And you know I like Darkwing and War Woman more.”

Mark calls out your name in frustration, “Aren’t you even a little psyched? We’re going to be heroes! We could be…Omni Boy and Girl!”

You squint at him in the darkness of your room, “Maybe workshop the names a bit more, and that’s not going to happen for a while. I mean, you should be more concerned on whether or not you’re going to grow or not. It’s not looking good, midget.”

Mark, done with your jackass behaviour, lets out a war cry and tackles you off the bed, landing on one of your ridiculously big stuffed animals. You two laughed as you grappled and shoved at each other, only freezing when the light flickers on.

Your mom stares at you menacingly from the doorway.

Your powers came in when you were thirteen. You had been in school, a teacher droning on about trigonometry, and you felt the telltale signs of tinnitus. When your ears popped, you could hear more than you could even comprehend. You slammed your hands over your ears but you could still hear everything. Dozens of teachers talking to their own classes, the gossip of students, the pipes below, and even the creaking of your school’s infrastructure. Ignoring your teacher’s protests, you left. Running through the halls, for the first and not last time, you ditched school, exiting the building.

Your dad found you across town, in a desolate park, grass overgrown and with splintering benches. It was quiet. Quieter. Away from the noise of traffic and crowds.

He had simply stared at your huddled form before picking you up, and flew high. Higher and higher until the only thing you could focus on was the infinite blue of the sky, fluffy white clouds surrounding you two. Your dad rubbed a large hand over your head comfortingly.

“Usually, strength or flight kicks in before the enhanced senses gradually appear for Viltrum children. But it happened all at once for you. Not unheard of, but definitely unlucky,” your father explains, looking down at your with a complicated look in his eyes. “I knew you would get your powers, but I didn’t…prepare myself or you for it.”

At your silence, he continues, “Your mom was worried when she got that call from school. It’s not everyday your kid pulls a jailbreak from school. So why don’t we go let her know you’re okay and we’re going to start training you. Get you up in the sky and you’ll be able to go to that pop cafe you like so much in Tokyo.”

“Pokémon cafe, dad,” you correct, “Mark’s going to be so jealous.”

He laughs, “Soon enough both of you will be like your old man, thrashing monsters and then…”

When he trails off, he only shakes his head and asks if you want to pick up some food before you go home.

Your brother groans and moans at how he’s going to have to wait to get his powers while you’ll be out with dad. Your mom forbids you from going out as a hero as a middle schooler, not that you’d object. Your dad…

Your dad has always had his obligations. You wouldn’t call him absent, but your mom was the one you’d come home to and the one to tuck you and Mark in every night. So it felt like you were getting to really know him for once. He told you more about his home as he helped you fly, not unlike how any other dad would help their kids learn how to ride a bike.

You don’t really go into detail about your lessons with Mark because you know he’d sulk.

You don’t tell your mom because don’t you want to be cause of a disagreement or fight.

You wouldn’t call yourself an inquisitive kid, but there was something unrealistic about Viltrum. You could believe that food shortages and illness could be eliminated. That technology beyond what you could even imagine what out there. What you couldn’t believe was that indisputable peace could exist.

Conflict, idiocy, and more polluted humans. Any living being that had thought that went beyond survival and instinct would inevitably have their own selfish and nefarious thoughts. The cost of free will. Were humans worst off than other species out there? Surely strife was equal.

Humanity isn’t all bad, of course. That’s why even though there’s hurt and pain in the world, people will always have the ability to make their own choices.

Your dad’s brow knitted whenever you discussed this particular topic. There was a certain superiority he had, which was understandable when you were the strongest on Earth, but it seems to have bled into a certain resentment towards the people he was supposed to protect.

Other times, he described beings like you as shepherds, to herd the flock of sheep. He emphasized duty and responsibility, having to make the hard choices that no one else could make. What those ‘choices’ were, you had no idea.

(Sometimes his face contorts when he thinks you’re not looking. With what emotions is a question you stay up thinking about.)

Your dad is patient with you, a good teacher, really. But there are instances where he’s anxious, rushed as if there is something looming behind him.

(He hits hard enough to having you tearing up at his worst moment before his face twists with regret as he moves to comfort you.

Frustration shines through his eyes when you seem disinterested in your training, wanting to play games with Mark instead. A moment later, he relents. His strange mood remains for a couple hours before disappearing like it never happened.

Neither of you mention it.)

When you’re in high school, your dad takes you to get a proper suit from Arthur. The old man reminiscing with your dad with a comfortable ease. They’re friends, you note. It’s nice to see your dad have these moments with people outside of your family.

Your brother had recommend ‘Omni-Girl’ as a your hero name, but you immediately vetoed it. A title wasn’t too important to you since you were just shadowing your dad. You didn’t feel too motivated to throw yourself out in to the thick of it.

(“You see, sometimes it takes more then one punch to finish the job,” your father explains while holding up an armadillo like beast, “So, don’t become discouraged and don’t be afraid to just let them have it.”

And with that he began pummelling the beast.

“Okay, dad.”)

Eventually your dad’s gentle suggestions to be more proactive become firm orders.

(Your dad is cruel sometimes. To his enemies. Even to you. His grip on you too tight and his words too demeaning. He backs away in regret, apologizes, and buys you whatever food you want afterward.)

You begin to patrol aimlessly. You started out with minor conflicts; muggings and other assholes looking to take advantage of other people. Then you began fighting with super powered criminals, ones that could actually stun you or even hurt you. You weren’t too invested in your hero responsibilities, especially since there were more than enough people to pick up the slack. It was a good after school activity at least.

(You used to be on the field hockey team, but after getting your powers, it would just be unfair. People could get hurt.)

You noticed things getting increasingly difficult. You never anticipated how much things would weigh on you. Having to ignore the screams of helped you were forced to tune into because you didn’t want to fail a midterm. People getting hurt or killed because you weren’t fast enough, that you making the wrong choice or move would always have consequences. The same villains would continue to break out and continue to hurt others, you would beat them to a pulp, take note of the casualties, and the cycle would restart.

You alone had the power and capabilities to make a difference in the lives of so many people. People that can’t rely on the Guardians or Omni-Man to be everywhere. Your inaction alone outweighs the sins of many, you realize.

(Mark calls your name. You jolt out of your thoughts. He had out walked you and was now looking back at you in confusion.

“Why are you so slow? Come on!” The now teen complains, urging you to speed up.

“Dude, it’s not like 7/11 is going to suddenly run out of slushies,” you retort, but jog to catch up with him.

“Why can’t you just fly us?” Mark asks, “We would have been home already.”

“What,” you laugh incredulously, “someone could see us and then they’ll know there’s a super in the neighbourhood, and then boom. You’ll have gotten us doxxed, Mark, and we’ll have to put you and mom in some protection program!”

“Overdramatic much? And it’s not like anyone cares about ‘Singularity’,” Mark whispers the last part, quickly glancing around the empty street. “And that’s such a lame hero name, by the way!”

“You don’t even know what it means,” you scoff.

“And you do? I bet you got it from one of those RPGs you’re always playing!”

“Nah, I just got it from some song.”)

Mark is thirteen and he still hasn’t gotten his powers like you had. Outside the house, your dad looks more worried than Mark does. He rests a hand on your shoulder, tells you that one day you’ll have to step up more. That you need to watch over your brother while he’s just human. When he says that, he looks more calm then you’ve seen him in a long time.

Your mom looks at you worriedly when your back is turned. You get it, you aren’t the most social and your beginning to think your mom knows you don’t really have any friends at school now that she no longer tries to get you to invite anyone over.

You just tease Mark and debate with dad until you feel her worry lessen.

You’re tired. You don’t really have a plan for the future. You try not to think about it too much.

(“We Viltrumites…far outlive humans. Eventually, your aging will slow down enough that while your peers will be old and grey, you won’t even look thirty,” your father reveals one evening. The two of you stand at the peak of Mount Everest, watching the sun set in a mirage of pink and orange. It’s beautiful. “Just, don’t get too attached. One day, it will just be us. Don’t let your heart get broken.”

“What about mom? Mark?” You ask. “If…he’s not like us.”

Your father is silent, he doesn’t deny the possibility, “Then we stay with them. Till the end.”

You don’t ask what you do after.)

You wonder if this is how you’ll spend your days. Fighting and fighting as everything changes around you. Do you stop when you can’t recognize what this planet has become?

You’re not particularly skilled or even much of a good person. You’re more than aware of that. You’re selfish. You’re just human, despite your alien blood. Maybe humans and Viltrumites aren’t too different.

(You’re falling. A giant mecha just tossed you out of the city. People are screaming and running away in terror. No matter how much you punch it and how brutal you are in tearing it apart, it keeps rebuilding itself. It’s been hours. By now, people have already evacuated. You’re exhausted and hungry. You want to go home. You don’t want to be here anymore. But, no one else is coming, it’s just you. This can’t be anyone else’s responsibility but yours.

But, you let yourself fall. You could catch yourself. You don’t. The absolute idiot you are, you don’t catch yourself. You can fly, but you don’t.

You land on someone. You can’t tell their gender or even how old they are. How could you, when you’re sitting in the red, mushy remains of them. They’re nothing more than a bloody mess on the ground. You’re covered in a mix of their fluids and organs. You’re screaming. You can’t stop.

Your dad finds you.

“It’s not your fault.”

“It happens.”

“One life versus thousands.”

“They’re insignificant…in the grand scheme of things. People die so easily. Disease, traffic accidents, even just fading away in their asleep.”

You don’t feel any better.

When you get back home, the two of you eat dinner as mom complains about a client.

You two don’t mention anything about the mecha, despite Mark’s begging, besides that it’s been taken care of.)

You stop fighting the evil geniuses and beasts that were always around, demanding attention from the public. You focus on the monsters that hide in the shadows. The ones that aren’t broadcasted on the news. The ones that take advantage of those weaker. Traffickers and gangs. Women, children, and drugs seem to be what’s circulated. Every time you take down one ring, ten more seem to pop up. It’s just as relentless as the usual villainous devastation.

They work in even the most populated cities, keeping everyone down. Girls go missing and people find themselves in debt to loan sharks that never yield.

No one’s around to see you beat normal people and the occasional super-powered thug to mush.

(“You’re doing good work,” Cecil compliments you, watching as his agents usher victims away from the remains of their prisons. They glance at you as they pass. You pretend you don’t notice. “Wasn’t expecting you to start handling the dirty work. We tend leave this kind of thing to our agents.”

You remain silent. Your father doesn’t answer to him. Neither do you. It was nothing personal. You just didn’t want to feel like a tool, more than you already do, at least.

“I get it. You like to work alone, just like your old man. But it would be better for the victims if you’re at least in contact with us. I— we can help.” Cecil offers you an earpiec .

You hesitate, “Don’t contact me for anything besides leads. I don’t do the whole public hero thing anymore.”

He smirks, “Sure, kid.”)

Your dad stares at you in confusion, and then irritation. You two argue.

“You don’t have to deal with this,” he struggles to find the words, “We’re above this. Squashing insects doesn’t make you any smarter or stronger. This isn’t growth. You’ll never change things, not really. You can’t change humanity.”

“I thought you were here to make a peaceful world,” you interject, “How can you do that if you think people are doomed to be infinitely cruel? Have you given up? You’re literally on a committee with the express purpose of helping people, which I’m doing! Throwing the same morons back into prison isn’t doing anything either!”

“Are you really prepared to change things? To change this world? To see the actual value of humans?” He questions with an intensity that cuts the words in your throat. “Do you think you’re ready?”

“Ready? What are you talking about?” You watch him place a hand over his face before turning away. “Dad?”

“Right now, you can’t make the hard choices,” your father concludes.

You two don’t resolve your disagreement, neither of you willing to bend.

Your mother and Mark try to ease the uncomfortable tension when the both of you are home.

“So, uh, how goes the heroing?” Mark asks, cutting into his lasagna.

“Fine,” you and your dad grunt before glaring at each other.

“And this isn’t awkward at all.”

(Your mom strokes your hair. “Why didn’t you tell me you’re going after…a different kind of danger?”

“Not really something to talk about over dinner,” you mumble, laying your head in her lap. “Or brag about.”

“I’m so proud of you.”

You stiffen.

“You’re helping so many people, my baby is a hero. You’re doing so good,” she whispers as your body shakes with sobs, “You always see what others don’t. My considerate girl.”)

You graduate. Rather than go to school, you pick up a camera. You get pictures of heroes no one else can get, see views that only you can find. You also don’t mind doing wedding pictures for some extra cash. You travel, you sometimes run into your dad in the skies. You two are better now. He probably sees your motivations as a phase. And maybe he’s right when it comes to near immortal beings.

Things are okay. Everything seems kind of grey, dull, even, but it’s okay.

Mark calls you one night. He got his powers. Something in you shrivels up. A foreboding feeling washing over you.

You come home. You and your dad sit at the kitchen table.

“You look like the world is ending,” you comment, narrowing your eyes when he doesn’t immediately reply. “I thought you were waiting for him to…become like us.”

“Things are going to be busy with me training Mark for the next little bit,” he speaks up, “I’d appreciate it if you stepped up a bit more.”

“…why? You seemed on top of things when I got my powers,” you note.

“We don’t have that kind of time anymore, Mark is already a late bloomer. I need to get him to your level as soon as possible. You’ve been slacking off on your training too. You’re only getting faster and your senses might be better than mine, but you need to get stronger, to stop holding back,” he stares down at his hands, clenching and unclenching them.

“You’re acting like you’re on a deadline,” you observe, “Are you okay?”

“Just,” he breathes out, “keep an eye out.”

Before you can say anything else, you hear your mom shuffle out of bed above you.

“Alright.”

Mark begins his training and your dad is weirdly wired. A tension residing in him. It’s noticeable to you and your mother.

(You find yourself comparing Mark to a cocoon. Metamorphosis. It’s hard to believe how much he’s grown. How much he’s growing. Who he’ll become.

Invincible, he declares as his name.

“Why can I still see you?” You ask, lounging on his bed.

“You’re not funny,” he scowls. You push yourself up.

“It’s a good name,” you smile at him. “But you do know we can still get the crap beaten out of us, even dad.”

“I know that!” Mark protests, throwing a pillow at you. You catch it and throw it with more than a little force.

Mark huffs as he catches it before, sending it back. And before you know it, you two are tussling like you’re kids again, trying to put the other in a headlock.

“Someone is suddenly a little too confident,” you laugh, before shoving him into the wall.

“And I think someone needs to knock you down a peg, you tyrant! You can’t bully me anymore!” Mark lunges at you but you simply step out of the way as he crashes onto the floor.

He huffs before letting out a chuckle, “We haven’t roughhoused like this since…you got your powers, I think.”

You pause, “I mean if I bumped into you too hard, you’d probably explode.”

“Hey! I wasn’t that scrawny!”

“No, that’s not what I mean. Just be careful around other people.” You warn before grinning, “I mean, yeah, you’ve always been a bit of a late bloomer so I did have to be extra delicate with you—!”

With a battle cry, Mark charges at you as you two begin grappling again. You both freeze when you hear your mom clearing her throat at the doorway.

“Sorry, mom.”

“My bad.”)

You meet your dad at the peak of Mount Everest once again. You’ve both gotten into the habit of visiting when you needed to think. He hasn’t come in a while.

“Sweetheart, do you trust me?” He asks finally turning to stare at you, bathed in orange light as the sky turns to dusk. “That I want the best for you and your brother. Your mother.”

“Of course I do, dad,” you say honestly. Despite his faults, he’s your dad and you know that he loves his family above all else.

“Then I need you to be strong. Stronger than you’ve ever been before.” He brings you in for a hug, cradling your head as if you were still a little girl. “You should go home tonight. I’ll be out late.”

“Okay, dad.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, get some rest.”

You don’t see him tomorrow, not really.

Your mom and brother jolt when they see you come down the stairs, wiping the sleep out of your eyes. Both of them already ready to start their day, unlike you.

“Honey, I didn’t realize you were here!” Your mom exclaims.

Your brother shoots you a look, “When did you even get here?”

“A couple of hours ago,” you yawn halfway through your words. “Dad not home?”

Your mom frowns, “No, he didn’t come back last night.”

“Mom, stop worrying,” Mark reassures her, “he probably got buried under a mountain again or something.”

You remain silent as she chuckles, “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

She heads to the door after telling you she bought more of your usual tea from the store as Mark picks up a box of cereal. “Don’t be late for school—“

You hear her gasp as two men in black stand outside your door.

Donald leads you into a government operated hospital, his exchange with Mark passing over you.

You’ve been here before. A couple of times. When you were inexperienced. You’ve never seen your dad beaten enough to warrant a visit.

Your brother and mother rush into his room, your father laying unconscious on a gurney, hooked up to different beeping machines. You stagger a bit behind them, noticing Cecil in the corner, who nods at you.

Your ears are buzzing as you look away, watching your mother already hover above your father.

“Who did this?” Mark asks sharply.

“We have no idea,” Cecil cuts in, as everyone turns to look at him. “Not yet, anyway. But we’ll find out and when we do, they’ll look a hell of a lot worse than your dad over there.”

He introduces himself to Mark, shaking his hand before acknowledging your mom. “Deborah. I’m so sorry.”

She stands up, glaring, “Cecil, you’ve got a lot of nerve—!”

“Someone murdered the Guardians of the Globe last night,” he interrupts as your mother gasps and your brother lets out an astonished ‘oh my god’.

It takes every muscle in your body to not flinch as you stare down at your comatose dad. Your dad never joined their team despite their numerous offers. He said liked to work alone. Even if attended their numerous parties and get togethers. Even when he laughed with them.

Cecil sighs, “All of them. Tore them down limb from limb. We tried like hell to bring them back, but Nolan was the only survivor.”

“How is that even possible?” Mark asks.

“We don’t know yet. We also don’t know why your dad was at Guardians HQ,” Cecil continues. “A working theory is whoever killed the Guardians, lured him down there to try to wipe them all out at once.”

You ignore Mark’s confusion and Cecil’s pragmatism. Your mother’s tearful demands wash over you, distraught that even your father could have a brush with death.

But you can’t focus on that.

You exit the room.

You might have been the last person your father saw before the attack yesterday. No, you know you were the last one.

(“—do you trust me?”)

“Your brother is out dealing with an invasion,” Cecil informs you, finding your crouched form in the hallway over.

You jolt up, “Where?”

He raises an eyebrow at you, “Not your area of focus, right? I’ve already sent the Teen Team to assist him.”

You’ve met them before. Members in between yours and Mark’s age. They asked you to join them, maybe two years ago.

“He’s new,” you remark, “I should—“

“Singularity,” Cecil interrupts, something he seems fond of doing, “You’re currently the strongest person on Earth.”

You freeze.

“I respect you. You do the work no one notices or wants to notice. The stuff that’s hard to digest. You don’t do it for the fame or recognition. I understand why you don’t want to get involved with the government, but I need your cooperation right now. Whoever did this could come after you next—“

You doubt it.

“And we need someone to pick up the slack more than ever. Can I count on you? Even if it means you’ll be out in the light?”

“Okay,” you nod.

“That easy?” He asks. You shrug.

“What do you need me to do?”

“As much as you can.”

You’ve never not lived in a cycle. You’re back where you started. Just beating down the bad guy that Cecil points you at.

Dragons, hairy beasts, and the Lizard League.

You’d rather you do it than Mark. He has enough to worry about.

You wonder what’s going to happen now. Cecil was using you to close the power vacuum the death of the Guardians would leave. You had to be fast and efficient so no one would notice their absence. So no one would get any smart ideas. You were sending a message that there were plenty of other heroes to fear. At least for the next few days.

You wish time would stop moving forward, just for a little bit. You feel so tired. You don’t want to do this. You’re sick of seeing people hurt other people. Of having to hurt people. But what would you be if you looked away? What would your family think of you if you didn’t help when you had the ability to do so? Were you anyone without these powers at this point?

Your life consisted of nothing but the job, whether it was black market dealers or experiments gone wrong, you had to wear the suit.

(“—be strong.”)

You almost dread the moment your father will awaken. It won’t be long. They might not know much about your species’ durability, but you had a guess.

(“Hey,” Mark’s voice echoes from your phone. “I saw you on TV. Back in the limelight, a bunch of theorists think you’re trying out for the Globe.”

He pauses.

“If,” he starts, “If you need any help—“

“Focus on school,” you interject. “And I heard you fought off those Flaxans pretty well yesterday.”

You hear his breath stutter.

“I know mom left some stuff in the freezer, but do you want me to pick up anything?”

“Sushi,” Mark replies instantly.

“Yeah, I think there’s a place near me—“

“From that one place in Nagoya.”

“Bro.”

“Bro,” Mark pleads, “I know you carry that insulated bag with you. I’ll pay you back.”

“With your burger money?”

“Elitist, but yeah.”

“I’d feel like a bully, so just buy me, like, fifteen milkshakes.”

“I think that’s still just extortion.”)

You get a frantic call from your mom that he’s awake. When you burst into his room you narrowly avoiding your brother crashing into you.

“Careful,” you chide him but he ignores you to approach the now conscious man.

You watch them.

After changing out of your costume and into your civvies, you watch Mark brush off your father’s hand. You sigh. Your mother told you the older woman he had saved hadn’t made it. Your father didn’t seem too concerned, instead turning to the nurse at the front desk, demanding his costume back.

“Manners,” you scold, walking to stand next to him. He only glances at you as the nurse leaves to retrieve the damaged suit.

“You did good, covering for me,” he commends.

“Guess I’ll have to do it a little longer while you recover,” you note. “Don’t take too long, I have my own stuff to get back to.”

Your dad only scoffs before your mother intervenes.

“I’m just glad we’ll all be home again!”

You and your father share a glance. He knows you know.

“I gotta get going,” you step away, “I just wanted to make sure dad was okay. Cecil needs me to go do…something.”

(“Why didn’t you and dad ever tell me that there’s an orange, telepathic cyclops alien that shows up every once in a while?” Mark demands.

“Oh, I don’t know. Three years ago, while I was chilling on the moon, he showed up, I punched him, and then I got to dad to deal with it,” you explain, “Freaked me out.”

“And you didn’t try to talk to him?”

“I was in the middle of some really deep thinking when he showed up,” you defend yourself, “But, he had the wrong planet? That’s funny.”

He groans out your name in exasperation.)

“Singularity,” Cecil’s voice rings out in your ear, “You’re needed. Your brother and the Teen Team aren’t doing so hot—“

“Send me the coordinates.”

When you’re fifty kilometres away, your dad joins you.

“Shouldn’t you be resting?” You ask.

He ignores you, “These Flaxans are on their third attempt to invade?”

“That’s right.”

He grunts, “Let me show you how to nip this kind of thing in the bud.”

“What?”

“Follow my lead. We’ll talk after. I know I owe you that much.”

When you arrive, Mark is being beaten by a Flaxan in a mech suit. Speeding up, you punch the alien off your baby brother, before tossing him into the air with a yell. Omni-man catches him as you turn away.

“Are you okay?” You fret as you crouch down to lift him out of the crater he was slumped in. He groans in pain before perking up at seeing your dad.

In his usual effortless fashion, Omni-man has the army’s attention as he wipes the aliens out in an instant after proving that their attacks could do nothing to him.

Your brother watches in awe as he forces the intruders to retreat back into their portals.

“Singularity,” he calls out from above you, nudging his head toward the last of the Flaxans. The one in the mech suit, the one that wanted to beat your brother to death, still wasn’t keen on leaving, despite the portal behind him.

You close your eyes before turning to your brother, giving his shoulder a squeeze as he stares at you in confusion. “You did good.”

And in the next instant, in tandem, you and Omni-man fly at the enemy with a burst of speed, the three of you disappearing into the portal. The last thing you hear is Mark call out for your dad, and for you. Your name echoing from behind you. You couldn’t even blame him for the secret identity thing.

(Their planet was red. The rocks beneath your feet, the lighting, and even the fear in their eyes as they started at you like you were their reckoning.

“You don’t seem to understand,” Your dad speaks with a menace in his tone unlike anything you’ve ever heard, “Earth isn’t yours to conquer.”

“Dad?”

He looks back at you, and he’s almost remorseful, “Just watch, and I promise I’ll explain everything.

You couldn’t even move if you wanted to. You watched a civilization fall to ruin, buildings collapsing, innocents screaming. It wouldn’t stop. Your dad, who used to throw you in the air until you were screaming with joy, always catching you with strong hands, was now the cause of pure terror.

With a surge of courage, you tackle him, both of you plummeting down to the ground.

“What are you doing?” You cry, gripping his face, “Just stop!”

He says your name, hands grabbing your wrists, “This is what needs to be done.”

“You’re insane,” you state, “you’re actually insane—“

In a quick turn, he throws you down by the wrists before you can react, with a strength you’ve never experienced before.

When you sit up, the screams are louder. Your crash created a crater, but your eyes widen at the sudden warmth you feel, covering your legs, back, and hands.

It’s red. Not again. It’s red.

It’s in your mouth, in your nose, and the only thing you can see is red.

You think you’re screaming, crying. You’re fourteen again, the same idiot that fell and caused devastation. You can’t breathe, you’re choking on your own sobs. You don’t know how much time has passed, only blinking into awareness when you feel your father pulling you into his arms, shushing you as he presses your face into his shoulder.

You cry out in defiance, pushing your hands against him, but his grip only tightens against you.

“It’s okay, it’s over,” he whispers.

“You killed them,” you hiccuped, “The Guardians—“

“I had to—“

“You didn’t! You didn’t have to—“

“I know this is hard, that you never wanted to be a hero,” he interrupts, “And a part of me was always glad about that. That you recognized the futility of it all. But, that only makes it worse on you. You more than anyone knows how crooked and violent that world is, that no matter how many so called heroes appear, it will never end. Not unless people like us step in. Force them to stop, even if it means having to be cruel, to be the monsters in their eyes. For the greater good.”

“Dad—“

“From the moment I stepped foot onto that planet, its fate was already decided. That Earth would become a part of our empire. No more disease or famine. No more lives being sold or slaughtered. But, I faltered. If you and Mark were just human——I couldn’t let them find out about you. But you’re not human. And you don’t need to have these human problems anymore,” he continues, stroking your hair with his bloodied hand. “But I need you to be strong. For your brother and mom. For yourself. For your survival and theirs. We can’t defy the empire. The weak aren’t allowed to live among us, so you need to stop crying.”

“No, no, I can’t,” you try to object.

“You can and you will. For a better world, one where your mom can grow old in, where you and your brother will have each other as everyone around you ages and dies. This is the only way, your empathy will only doom you. Us. So let me—-let me make the hard choices until you can.” He finishes as you cease struggling, only lying limply against him.

As your vision blackens, you hope you don’t wake up.

(Time passes on a different rate on this planet. Your father forces its inhabitants to send you back home, something they are more than willing to do. The days blur together, your father gently cajoling you into drinking and eating in your detached state, cradling you to his chest like you’re a kid. Maybe you still are one. Still unable to handle the pressure, stupid and weak as you are.

You leave behind death and destruction as you return back to your planet, guided by your father.)

You and your father leave those issues outside of the house, so when you return home, your gait is casual even if you look battered.

Entering first, your father walks in, only a bit tired, as if he hasn’t doomed a whole planet.

“I need a shower,” he sighs.

“I called dibs,” you shoot back, following behind him as if you hadn’t spent days crying and cursing him out.

Mark and your mom jump from their seats, pulling you two into an embrace.

“Woah, group hug?” You laugh as your dad holds all three of you in his arms.

You stop when you hear the announcer on the TV declare that the Guardians are dead.

A day later, you find yourself dressed in black, accompanying your family to the televised funeral of the Guardians; heroes, civilians, and the press all attending.

Your father, the murderer, begins his eulogy. You clench your coat in between your fists, scrunching your eyes closed. It’s almost laughable.

Your mom nudges you, “Are you alright? You look…anxious.”

You smile at her, “Just a bit crowded.”

Hours later, you attend the second, and real, funeral. Olga sobbing as the actual caskets lay in front of you. You hold an umbrella over your mother’s head as your father begins to speak. You wonder how sincere he’s being.

“Good to see you again, despite the circumstances. I didn’t realize you three were all related,” Eve greets you.

“Don’t want any nepotism accusations. You know how it is,” you joke with Mark scoffing at you, but you notice his lips twitch.

People soon begin to leave as the rain continues. You watch from a distance as the detective from hell stands off against your father. He’s onto him. You shudder.

(When you turn to leave, your parents stop you.

“Honey, are you sure you don’t want to come home with us?” Your mom looks at you in worry, you feel like that’s all you do to her now.

“Come on, you can choose what we have for dinner,” your dad bribes. You keep your face flat.

“Some publishers approached me about some of my action shots. For the Guardian’s memorial pages,” you explain, squeezing Mark’s arm before turning away.

You feel your father’s stare until you disappear from sight.)

“You sure you won’t consider a place on the team? I wouldn’t even ask you to tryout,” Cecil offers.

“You said you had a ring you wanted me to dismantle?” You deflect.

The man studies you, “Are you okay? Looking a little worse for wear there.”

“Not a fan of funerals.”

“Who is?” The man clears his throat, “You know, we offer a lot of services for heroes. In case, you needed someone to talk to. Our NDAs are ironclad.”

You jolt, “What? I’m fine. Just…tired.”

You don’t meet his dubious gaze.

(Your mom pulls you aside one day.

“You know you can talk to me,” your mom says, “I know you’d want Mark to talk about his problems. You can do the same. You don’t have to leave it out of the house, like your father says to.”

“I know, mom,” you reply.

She frowns at you, “Cecil told me…about what happened when you were younger. It wasn’t your fault.”

You hum, “It was a long time ago. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, I asked dad to keep it secret. I didn’t want to…”

When you trail off, she wraps her arms around you, “You’ve helped so many people, but you don’t have to keep doing it. Not at the expense of yourself. It’s your life, you’re still young. Do what makes you happy. You can stop.”

Once, those words would have been your salvation. Now, it’s no longer an option.

“I know, mom,” you smile.

She pulls away to cup your face, “When was the last time you ate something?”

“I had a light breakfast,” you lie.

“Then you’ll have room for some soup. I made your favourite,” she declares confidently, but you see the defeat in her eyes.)

“You have a girlfriend?” You question.

“Why are you saying it like that?” Mark demands.

“Dude, you’re a superhero, high school student slash part timer! How are you going to have any time left?” You ask.

“I’ll make it work,” he insists.

“You’re delusional.”

“And you’re mean.”

(“…are you okay? You’re a bit quiet.” Mark later asks as you two play your usual racing game.

“Need to focus to beat you.”

“You’re in last place. Like always,” Mark teases, “And I meant it in, like, general.”

“Just adult stuff.”

“I’m literally eighteen now.”

“You’re a baby.”

“You can’t even legally drink alcohol yet!”

“In this country.”

“I’m telling mom!”

“I didn’t say I actually drank anything, you snitch!”)

You avoid going home for a while.

Your father hasn’t made any moves. He won’t make any. He’s hesitating. The childish part of you thinks it’s because he’s your father before a Viltrumite. Even if you don’t visit home, you visit him. You argue. You scream. He threatens and bargains. Sometimes he almost reveals something human. Other times, he berates you. Telling you that you’d be the cause of Earth’s destruction, unless you listen.

You can’t fight him.

No matter how many times you try to imagine it, you don’t see yourself beating your dad. You don’t think you could even try.

(Mark calls you one night. He wants to help take down a gang. You already know your father wasn’t happy about that.

“If you feel like your intel is legitimate then go for it. Dad’s never appreciated anything that doesn’t involve some epic battle.” You explain. “You need backup?”

“Nah, I’ll be fine. It’s just this teleporter dude I have to worry about.”

“Remain vigilant, you never what kind of BS desperate idiots will pull.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m more worried about Amber—“

You groan, “You high schoolers are actually so annoying.”)

The next time you see your family, Mark is half dead and being operated on. You can only watch as your parents argue behind you. Your mom pulls you away from the operating room window.

You and your mom stay overnight while your father visits after his patrols. He doesn’t wake up until nearly a week later.

You almost laugh when the first thing on his mind is how he blew off his girlfriend.

(As you’re leaving, Cecil pulls you aside.

“Hey, is everything alright with you and your dad?” He asks. He almost sounds like a CPS worker.

“Yeah, why do you ask?”

“You seem to be avoiding him like the plague, is all. I thought you two were close.” He comments.

Your mouths opens but no sound escapes it. You almost tell him. But you hear your dad’s footsteps approaching.

“Didn’t take you for a gossip,” you chuckle, “I really have to get going though.”)

You’re in Iceland, taking photos of puffins, living in existential dread. This is your life now.

You nearly cry when your phone’s ring rouses you from your sleep. You look around in confusion before realizing you’re in your hotel room. The ringing ends, only to begin again, vibrating noisily against your nightstand.

It’s your mom. You pick up the phone.

“Honey, listen to me carefully—!”

The call cuts off.

“Seriously?” You huff, realizing your phone just died before getting up to search for your charger, rooting around your bag.

After ten minutes of less than fruitful looking, you exit your hotel room to go ask the front desk if they have one instead.

When you walk out of the elevator, you notice a crowd of employees huddled around the lobby television.

When you take a closer look, you notice a familiar kaiju beating up Omni-man and Invincible. Your dad and brother. And Immortal is back from the dead. And now trying to kill your dad.

Phone forgotten, you fly back to your room ignoring the people blown back, looking around confused.

With your costume now on you take off faster than you ever have before. Iceland to somewhere outside of Chicago. Yeah, definitely easy.

By the time you arrive, you see that the kaiju is tied up and that the Immortal is in two pieces on the ground. But your father and brother are missing.

You close your eyes and listen. Before turning to look at where Chicago is; people screaming, buildings collapsing.

“Oh, fuck.”

You find them in a destroyed subway tunnel. Mark covered in red. Your dad’s hand tainted with the same colour. You can smell it. The remains of hundreds of people scattered among the rubble.

Mark whispers your name. He’s scared and he’s hurt, and it’s all Omni-man’s fault.

“Mark,” you begin gently, “Get out of here. Go find mom.”

He starts to protest, but your dad interrupts him, calling your name sternly, eyes red and bloodshot. “Neither of you are anywhere. Not until you both understand.”

“You’ve lost it,” you laugh before charging at him in an instant, arms hooking around him as you break through the damaged ceiling, throwing him into the orange sky above, away from the crying city. Before he can regain his balance, you strike him again, to create more distance.

“You’re still not listening,” He admonishes before closing the gap, gripping you by the shoulders. “My time here has been a speck in the span of my life. You don’t know me, neither of you do. I will burn this planet before I spend another minute living among these animals.”

“Animals?” You’re almost hysterical at this point, “Are you saying that you’d start a family with an animal, you sick fucking bastard—“

He goes to strike you, but you place a hand between his shoulder and neck, and you squeeze—

He shouts in pain but you ignore it, you have to ignore it, as you bring your other hand to punch him down.

You’re not stronger than him. But you are faster. And he’s weak. Tired.

You tackle him in the air, head against his hip as you crush back into the ground a couple hundred miles away from where you left Mark.

He growls your name throwing a punch that you duck under, kicking him in the ribs with punishing force.

He stares at you shocked. For the first time, you’re brutal with your blows, unrelenting. He can take it.

With a cry, you charge again.

Kicking, punching, and even biting, you exchange blows with your father as if you two were nothing more than beasts that are beyond reason.

With a quick kick to his knee, you force him to stagger, seizing the opportunity to wrap your hands around his neck and push him down, following him as you crouch above, and squeeze, trying to crush his windpipes so he can never let out a breath again, never hurt anyone again.

One of his hands grips your forearm, breaking it, but you don’t relent. His other hand, slams against your ribs repeatedly until your choking back blood, but you can’t relent.

As you watch his eyes grow redder and dazed, you realize he’s crying.

No, he’s not crying. Your own tears are falling onto his face.

Mark shouts your name, and you stop immediately, pulling your hands back, frightened.

Your dad struggles to breath again, staring up at you.

“You were almost there,” he exhales, and maybe you imagine it, but you see guilt flash across his expression, before he jabs four of his fingers through your stomach, before pulling out, blood coating his knuckles as you gasp. You feel frozen before you begin to tip, falling onto the ground as your father gets up. He turns you to your side as blood gushes out of your mouth. The gentleness contrasting his cruelty.

(When you were younger, every Christmas, Mark would wake up at the asscrack of dawn to run downstairs. Your mom would have to stop him, telling him he would have to wait for you to wake up before you could all open your presents as a family.

So, every Christmas, he would burst into your room, jumping onto your bed, shaking you as he called your name over and over—)

He’s calling your name over and over, begging you to get up. Mark, your baby brother, hovers above you. He’s crying. You try to ask why didn’t he leave. To warn him that Omni-man is behind him. You’re forced to watch as the man you called dad wrenches Mark away from you despite his struggles, taking off into the sky again.

You slowly but surely begin to shift your legs, moving your unbroken arm against the ground to push yourself up. You ignore your trembling limbs and the way your body cries in protest.

You nearly fall back down, when a sphere like drone begins to speak. Cecil.

“Stay down, we’ll send help—“

“Where,” you breathe out, ignoring the blood seeping out as you talk, “are they?”

Cecil tries to stop you in vain but you push yourself up into a kneeling position, watching blood pour out of your stomach.

“Coordinates.”

Nepal. Mount Everest.

Should you laugh or cry?

You find them in a crater. Because that’s what you Viltrumites do, get beaten until the ground cracks beneath you. Mark is worse off than you, you think. Face bloodied and brutalized. Omni-Man standing above him, a weird tension in his body. He’s distraught. He turns to meet your gaze.

He leaves. Straight into the sky, away from you.

Mark murmurs your name. You stagger over to him before dropping to your knees.

“It’s over, it’s okay, you’re okay,” you nearly snivelled, gripping his hand. He’s battered and beaten, but he’s alive. Your brother is alive. “…I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Mark.”

You stay there for hours, as Mark loses consciousness. Only perking up when you hear the noise of Cecil’s helicopter. Your mom jumps out alongside paramedics. Her hands hover above you brokenly, as she takes in your injured body, tears in her eyes.

You watch as Mark is carried away.

“‘M sorry, mom,” you apologize, feeling your sight blur before collapsing, as your mom holds onto you, calling for help.

You hope you don’t wake up.

You wake up before Mark. Your mom at your side. You feel like a walking bruise. Your arm in a cast, and your stomach flickering between numbness and agony.

She’s stroking your head. You can tell she’s still holding back tears.

“You did so good,” she sniffed. You fall asleep to her assurances.

Despite seeming to be in worse state than you, Mark is out of bed before you. Your stomach wound is particularly annoying, it seems. You did not enjoy having to use a feeding tube.

He stares down at you, with teary eyes. “I’m—“

“Thanks for stopping me, Mark, I don’t think I would have survived, otherwise.”

His face cracks.

“He told me before you.” You admit. “It’s my fault, not yours. I didn’t want you or mom to know. I thought I could stop him, change his mind. I guess I didn’t really know him. Don’t blame yourself.”

“You shouldn’t either,” Mark responds, gripping your hand, “It wasn’t right, how he was treating you, what he told you——you were just a kid. Even now, it’s still not okay, you’re his daughter. He shouldn’t have treated you like that.”

When you look at him in confusion, he elaborates, “He mentioned some of the stuff he told you. It wasn’t fair of him to make you hide that stuff. You were only thirteen, and even now…”

You close your eyes when you feel them water. You didn’t want him or mom to feel guilty. Not because of you. Because you were too weak to even have made a difference.

“It’s going to be okay, he’s,” your brother chokes, “gone now.”

When your brother is cleared to go home, you insist they return without you. That they’ve spent enough time in a hospital. Your mom acquiesces. You feel worse because she probably thinks you’re trying to avoid her. For not knowing. But that was your choice, your fault, not hers.

Nolan Grayson is dead. Omni-man is a traitor to humanity. You know things are only going to get worse from here.

You startle when you hear a knock on your temporary room’s door.

“We need to talk.” Cecil states, making himself comfortable in the chair adjacent to your bed.

You sigh wearily.

“Let’s talk.”

Omni-man: Sweetie, you’re not like other girls, and I mean that in a non-misogynistic way.

Singularity:

*

Omni-man, watching as Singularity has a panic attack on the bloodied remains of Flaxans: I really need you to not snitch on me. We’ll literally all die. It’s your fault, by the way.

*

Omni-man: I made her strong!

Cecil: You gave her PTSD and depression??

*

Singularity, staring into the mirror: you stupid piece of shit, go kill yourself

Debbie:

*

Rex: Yeah, and Invincible has a hot sister—

Mark: Yeah—wait, what!?

Rex: you have a hot sister?

Mark: We are so not cool anymore!

*

Omni-man after gravely injuring Singularity: Oh my Shaylaaaaa

Omni-man after beating the shit out of Mark: Why did you make me do this!?

*

Rex: So, I’m single, you’re single, so why don’t we—

Mark: No, not doing this, nope.

Singularity: how to kms

*

Singularity after being dropped in DC: No, you can’t adopt me! Wtf is wrong with you, besides your dumbass name

Batman: I will get you therapy

I somehow finished this before season 3, omg. Yeah Nolan isn’t a good person and definitely put too much pressure on an actual child. I think I did decent with hinting that even before season one, he had issues, especially having to train his daughter. And most people wouldn’t notice because he screams girl dad but he’s actually bad!!

Also please, please tell me if there are any grammar errors in this behemoth. The notes app doesn’t have spellcheck! Or word count…

Masterlist, Series Masterlist

[definegodliness]

Come alive (again)

Disintegration. Every subatomic particle, unbound, Independently floats omni- Directionally. Aglow, then, Insubstantial Within the colossal breath; The primordial sigh, Once thought void — now, Recognized as life's propelling agent, Beyond the veil; this Canvas Of creation.

What remains, Marvels at its simultaneous Expanding, and contracting Into, and, then, As The infinite,

Until the mind gives in.

No more Thoughts, now, At the end of all craving.

No more time. No more weight.

What is all, is all that remains; Is all I am, and I am all, as I am (…)

A spark:

Consciousness. The tangible world Washes over the ethereal implosion In myriad Revivified colours.

I am love.

Your kiss, my instant death. And I would die, every time, Just to come alive In your arms Again.

--- 2-2-2025, M.A. Tempels ©

[lumaconstante]

A Forbidden Love [Ominis Gaunt x Muggle!READER]

Warnings: Forbidden love, fluffy, wizard x muggle

Summary: Omnis Gaunt discovers he is in love with a muggle girl.

Ominis walked through the corridors of Hogwarts with a restless mind. It wasn’t uncommon for him to seek refuge in solitary strolls, far from the stares and judgments that had followed him since birth. However, lately, these moments of solitude led him to think about only one thing: the escapes to the Muggle village.

More specifically, about you.

It all started simply. He was exploring the village for the first time, fascinated by the everyday life of Muggles. You were sitting on a bench near the fountain in the square, engrossed in a book. He couldn’t see, but the sound of the pages turning and your light breathing drew him in inexplicably.

— Are you lost? — your voice came, filled with curiosity.

He hesitated for a moment before replying:

— Just… wandering.

You smiled, not knowing he couldn’t see it, but he heard the warmth in your tone. That was how a connection began, one that Ominis never thought possible.

Ominis began visiting you whenever he could, justifying his escapes as a need for “fresh air” to Sebastian and the other students. Whenever you met, you captivated him with stories about your life, your dreams, and the simple things in your day-to-day. He, in turn, shared only carefully selected fragments of his world, omitting any mention of magic.

You made him laugh, something rare for him. Your view of life was so simple and uncomplicated that it made him question the values wizarding society had taught him. He felt more human with you.

But he also felt conflicted.

It was on a cloudy afternoon that he realized the truth. You were sitting with him in a modest café, describing how autumn painted the village leaves in shades of gold and red. Your voice was like soft music, and he found himself smiling for no reason.

Then, you laughed at something he had said — a laugh so genuine and unpretentious that it made his heart race. In that moment, he knew.

He was in love.

The thought scared him. He was a Gaunt, heir to a family that despised Muggles. You knew nothing about magic, let alone the darkness that surrounded his name. But, at the same time, he couldn’t stay away.

Ominis began hesitating in his visits, fearing that his presence might put you in danger. He was aware of the rising attacks on Muggles. He knew his own family might be responsible.

But every time he thought about leaving, he remembered the sound of your laughter, the way you made him feel less alone. He was selfish, he knew, but he couldn’t give you up.

One night, as you walked through the village lit by lampposts, you noticed his unease.

— What’s wrong, Ominis? — you asked, stopping on the sidewalk. — You seem distant.

He took a deep breath, his fingers lightly gripping the wand hidden under his sleeve.

— Reader… — he began, his voice faltering. — There’s something I need to tell you, but… I don’t know if you’ll understand.

You looked at him, silent, waiting for him to continue.

— I… feel something for you — he admitted, the words almost choking in his throat. — But my life is complicated, more than you imagine.

You smiled, gently taking his hand.

— Everyone has complications, Ominis. — Your voice was soft but firm. — But that doesn’t change how I feel when I’m with you.

He remained silent, trying to process what he had just heard. Perhaps you didn’t know about magic or the dangers that surrounded his world, but in that moment, he realized that, for the first time, he didn’t have to carry everything alone.

Ominis knew that love between a wizard and a Muggle would be difficult, full of obstacles and secrets. But as he held your hand, he decided that, for you, any challenge would be worth facing.

For the first time, Ominis Gaunt chose not to be defined by his family but by the love he felt. And in that instant, he swore to protect you, no matter what lay ahead.

[rottmnt-residuum]

Any other LGBTQ+ Headcannons that are canon is the comic??;)

*patiently awaits Cupioromantic Donnie*

hmm... had to think about this for a while and talk about it with co-author, but here's what we got. we mostly base this stuff on how plausible it is in show/if there's evidence for it. with a dash of personal experience. This only applies to residuum, btw. I have different personal headcanons for these characters outside the comic.

april: lesbian. this is mostly based off of the fact that most aprils get with their caseys & the comment she said to dale. which could be taken as disinterest in dale specifically, but she seemed more concerned with impressing that popular girl earlier and that reads as more... saphic, i suppose. or at the very least homoromantic.

raph: raph is just raph. we look at him and basically just *tv static*. go crazy. all we got is jokes or stuff that has too little evidence to support. so, yeah, he's whatever you want him to be i guess?

leo: trans. already said my reason in the other post. also, gay. if gay were a power source he could power the entirety of the united states for five months straight without a single power outage. failing power grid notwithstanding (< thats the actual word. its supposed to be mushed together like that. wack.).

donnie: as much as i'd like him to be ace/aro spectrum rep, he just doesn't have the evidence in show for us to apply it to him in this comic. it's funny, for being hc as ace so often he sure is the most outwardly romantic/sexual turtle in the show lmao. one! cherry: "you're so cute, but you're so mean! why do i always go for your type?" two! astrogirl?? (whatever her name is) he is very very romantic with her. he has a type y'all. also just look at those two, he's a leg man lmao (bootyyshaker9000 anyone? ha!) anyway. and with the bromance/instant chemistry he had with that one guy in the purple dragons... Pan. or possibly Omni as he does seem to favor... cute brutal femme... Yeah. Omnisexual.

(you have no idea how fucking bad i want this boy to be ace spectrum. hes got the colors y'all!! The Colors!!!!! but alas... i am bound by my canon plausibility creed for this comic)

mikey: ace. possibly ace/aro. he shows interest in literally no-one. we're aware that the common hc is pan but... we know a pan 13 year old, and let me tell you ahahahaha, kids going through puberty are very uncomfortable to be around sometimes, especially around their partners. or crushes. and mikey... well, that boy is ace behavior personified lmao. aces in the back you get what we mean right?? right??? anyway commiting to aroace

[arbiterlexultionis]

Instant Eternity Pt. 2

So, Danny has the infi-map and uses it to go on vacations and the like to enjoy his now eternal life. The infinite realms are Infinite, really and truly. But locations within the realms correlate to spaces in the “real” world, so what happens when you travel beyond what should be the ends of the “real” universe in the realms? You find other universes. All universes, realities, multi and Omni verses connect with the Infinite Realms, hence the name kind of implying the existence of infinite realms. With the infimap Danny’s able to visit and explore these other planes of existence to his hearts content, and over the course of his travels makes a number of close friends.

He can’t just say goodbye forever, can’t leave them with no way to call for aid or call for small talk so, he comes up with a bit of a crazy plan to make sure all his new friends can meet each other and stay in contact. A combination of the infi-map, Fenton portal technology, time medallions/assistance from clockwork, help from the yeti’s and maybe even some help from Dr. Strange or Dr. Fate all come together to make a private club that connects to who knows how many dimensions. In a Ghost King AU his royal palace has all the normal palace stuff but surrounding Phantom’s Keep is a whole town for inter-dimensional travelers. The portals themselves are all in a massive tower, either leaning tower of Pisa style or a massive clock tower because of how much Clockwork helped out, arranged kind of like how all the statues of the avatars are arranged in the air temple in ATLA.

Danny’s sitting at his desk in his office while 7 Gokus, 13 Vegitas, 4 Beeruses(Beerusi? A pod of Beerus? Flock?) 10 Piccolos and 1 Gohan crowd the rest of his office. “Two Hundred and Forty. 2-4-fucking-0. That is the number of of Territories that have lodged official complaints about the ruckus your fights have been causing! Queen Patet sent a fifty seven page long letter asking me to give every single one of your dimensions eternal travel bans to all of your dimensions and every dimension where even one of you exist. Because the shockwaves from your fights were still strong enough to shatter glass when they reached her Territory. The territory of Vitrum, which makes Fucking Everything from glass! Including the Goddamn Buildings! They build their cities in massive glass orbs! More than thirteen hundred buildings torn down in one day. Including every single hospital they had. You fought for nine days straight. Get out. Get the crap baskets out of my office. Now. Go home. Let the Bulmas know that they’re paying the reparations.” They all file out of the office, Vegitas and the flock of Beerus mumbling about how they shouldn’t have made their buildings out of glass if they didn’t want them to get broken. The one(1) brain cell the group had, otherwise known as Gohan, was apparently the only one with manners, profusely apologizing and offering to help with the clean up even as he got shooed out of the office.

More then a dozen Quirckless!Izuku vigilantes come together to form a great big club to share intel that match’s across their various worlds, analyze quirks, train and give each other therapy. It’s all going well. Then the Batmen stop developing contingency plans for literally all the beings they meet here juuust long enough for their adoption senses to start tingling. The Dad Mights, Dadzawas and Dad for Ones put aside their differences to combat this new threat. The Spider-men are sitting in a corner grateful that their spider senses and Peter tingles helped them avoid all that nonsense. Until the Iron Dads show up. Then they’re all to busy running and cursing their Parker luck to be grateful.

Passing through a gateway to another universe that isn’t yours require approval from no less then half the visitors from that verse and/or Danny himself. Same thing goes for leaving the compound to explore the Realms.

All the adoption addicts from across the multiverse take one look at Danny, listen to all the rumors about his parents and go “Mine!”. Luckily for Danny he doesn’t really have to to worry to much, doesn’t even notice really, because 2.3 seconds after they did that they all turned to each other and went “No! Not yours, Mine!” The infighting has kept them busy ever sense. However, according to an ancient, sacred prophecy(something that Clockwork mentioned in passing 2 months ago) they will eventually all decide that Danny having a proper support network is more important then who his favorite supporter is. So he’s going to get parented so hard by all three hundred and eighty of them. More moms, dads, ma’s, pa’s aunts and uncles then he’ll know what to do with.

[ziggy-stardust-is-in-love]

when someone mentions omnis or I see an Omni flag.. 🤤 INSTANT JOY. THANK YOU.

I was looking up uno reverse cards and THIS CAME UP??? TODAY IS A GOOD DAY

[roguesscribbles]

Sorry I've been so dead recently! I've got a little project going on that's taking up my art time. Hoping to unveil it soon!

In the meantime, here's my new OC! I made her for a Mass Effect DnD group I'm joining! Her name is Raina Akiyama, she's a human engineer that abandoned her smothering military life to explore the galaxy, settling on Illium following the Reaper invasion.

You can read the full backstory under the cut:

Raina Akiyama was always destined to join the Alliance Military. From the day she was born on an Alliance ship to two parents with a decent military ranking, she spent the majority of her formative years on various Alliance ships or bases following wherever her parents were stationed.

At the time, she could count how many times she has been to Earth on one hand. Her father was from Japan and her mother was from Britain, so she had been to visit family members that she doesn’t remember the faces of. Her upbringing was lonely at times, her parents were busy working and other children were not that common. However, with the absence of people, she found her love in the mechanical instead.

She could always be found tinkering away at some piece of tech she found, sneaking into the engine room to look at the inner workings or pelting the engineers with all sorts of questions. And the Alliance were happy to support these dreams of hers, educating and pushing her towards a career as an Engineer.

There was just one problem, Raina didn’t like the way the Alliance ran things. She was never a fan of the authority, of the training exercises and the expectation to give it everything she had, with instructors and crew members who were always a bit too strict with a child, most likely already seeing the soldier she would become. She always felt trapped, forced into enlisting, because where else would she go? She was raised here, with a line of family all expecting her to join as the next generation as they once did, and she knew very little of the habited planets that dotted the galaxy.

Eventually, when she turned 18, she enlisted officially as an Engineer, continuing her training and enhancing her skills. If there’s one good thing she can say, it’s that the Alliance provided her with almost unlimited funding to tinker with whatever gadgets were put in front of her. She became intimately familiar with both the massive hardware of the Alliance vessels to the weapons and armour the troops relied on. She never fully felt like she belonged, but she could at least surround herself with the things she loved.

Things changed about 2 years later. She was stationed on a small base with an equally small squadron. Something that was meant to be safe, somewhere to train her and other recruits. For the first time in her life she felt like she had friends, people she could rely on and actually talk to, who had her back. Things finally started to fall into place, and she started to feel that yearned-for feeling of belonging.

Then, the raid happened.

A group of bandits attacked the base in the night, where there was minimal activity. They wanted the equipment that they had in storage. It wasn’t even very much, they most likely saw them as easy pickings, and they weren’t entirely wrong. Almost all of her squad was killed in the incident, though in the end Raina’s squad managed to barely win. During the scuffle, a confrontation with one of the assailants left her scarred after they slashed her face with an omni-blade. When she came to in the medical wing of an Alliance vessel, she found herself blind in her left eye.

Her entire world came crashing down. Almost all her friends were dead, that belonging ripped away from her in an instant. She was back to the cold, sterile vessels with people who saw her as little more than an asset, who wanted her back up and running as soon as possible as if a great tragedy hadn’t just occurred. As soon as they were able, they installed a cybernetic eye in the one she lost, patching her up like a broken piece of machinery.

Not even her parents were here. They contacted her as soon as they knew she was awake, but neither of them could leave their post to see her. Something in Raina just snapped. She needed away from this place, away from the military. She expressed her concerns to her parents, but they disapproved, encouraging her to just get better and push on. This was the family way. That just made the need to leave even more prevalent.

She was able to push for her to be medically discharged, quoting physical trauma and PTSD. She sent one final message to her parents telling them she was leaving and not to contact her. She grabbed all her belongings and money that she saved, grabbed the first civilian shuttle she could and started exploring the galaxy.

Over the next few years, she moved from planet to planet, exploring and experiencing and just living. She met so many new people, made new friends and went on her own adventures. She used her skills for work, either taking on odd jobs or temporarily joining a crew, which improved her abilities even further. She began to discover herself more as a person, get better at social interaction and just breathe for the first time. Life was good.

Then, the Reapers arrived.

Once more her world came crashing down, but this time it was different. She wasn’t alone. She had been staying on Illium when the news spread, and it wasn’t long before the Reapers made their way to them. Raina sprang into action, helping wherever she could to help the planets militia fend off the invasion, as well as help the people who had been displaced and evacuated to the planet. It kept her busy, and when the Reapers eventually fell, her positive presence put her on a lot of people’s radars as someone who was reliable.

Following this, she decided to take up a more permanent residence on Illium. They may have fended off the attack, but there was always work to be done. Plus, as a mercantile hub, other planets more affected turned to them for aid. She never found herself short for work, and she was keen to continue to improve her skills with the variety of machinery and tech that passed through. She dreams that one day, she can open her own mechanics shop, and make her role on Illium that much more permanent. Because she belongs.

[serendipitys-teapot]

Guys, guys, guys 🥰

Loyalty and Limerence just hit 🎉700 kudos🎉, and I'm just so touched and joyful that so many people read and enjoyed my last fic. Thank you to all my lovely readers!

I'm currently writing the last chapter of my next fic, which I'm really hoping to have edited and out the door in the near future. Side note, I think I'm going to look into commissioning some art for it, do I have any artist friends who might be interested before I go searching? I'm hoping to find someone whose style matches the vibe of the fic.

Speaking of which, I'd like to share a snippet from this fic for those who are interested!

“Who is she?” Shepard whispered as Jack took a few tentative steps closer to the asari standing by the fountain. “A Spectre.” Garrus growled under his breath, and she felt a shiver run down her spine as her entire body chilled. “It might not be the worst case scenario, but it’s damn close.” Shepard forced herself to stillness, even as every fiber of her being screamed for her to run. If Garrus thought it was safe to stay, then perhaps it was. But it was hard to not begin inching back into the shadows of the alleyway. Somewhere in the back of her brain, a voice chuckled as memories prickled across her skin like needles, pressing into all her most sensitive spots. I win again, Jane.

“I wasn’t sure if you’d show up.” Vasir announced flippantly, and Shepard looked up as Jack appeared to stiffen. “I gave you my fucking word, didn’t I?” She snapped angrily, and the asari’s amused brow crept further upward. “Whatever. You’re here now, and that’s what matters.” “Now what the fuck do you want from me? Who are you, and how did you get my contact info?” Jack took a step closer, and both began to speak with low voices that didn’t carry well across the space. They listened for a minute or two without picking up anything they could understand. Garrus cursed. “I don’t understand.” Shepard frowned as she looked at him in confusion. “Why isn’t Vasir attacking her? Don’t Spectres try to kill people like her?” Even as the words left her mouth, Shepard remembered the proposition given to her the instant before Saren had thrown her from the rooftop. “Or is Vasir trying to use her to get to us somehow?” Garrus seemed to consider his words before responding quietly as he looked back at her. “Spectres don’t always want to kill them. Sometimes they recruit them instead.” Shepard’s eyes widened in shocked surprise.

“Recruit them? So, you think Vasir wants to make Jack a Spectre?” “It’s possible. Either that, or she wants to recruit her to join Cerberus. It’s impossible to tell at this point.” They both watched as Vasir gestured to Jack, her expression turning serious as the human woman turned and rolled her eyes at something the asari had said. Vasir took a step closer, her smile returning as she placed a hand on Jack’s shoulder, causing her to look back up at her with suspicion. “Come on, we need to get out of here.” Garrus murmured as he gestured for Shepard to back up. Carefully, she scootched backwards before slowly getting to her feet, her heart suddenly hammering in her chest again. She’d been training for months, and yet this was the first time she’d truly been within danger’s reach since joining the crew. It made her knees weak, and she worked hard to reign in her fear. Taking one more step backwards, she froze as something clattered to the ground behind her. She turned to see a metal garbage bin on its side, the lid rolling to a stop noisily. Turning, she looked up in horror as Vasir’s and Jack’s eyes landed on their hiding spot. Vasir’s smiled widened like a snake’s as she brought her omni-tool up and said something under her breath. “Run.” Garrus hissed as he turned and took off down the alleyway, Shepard hot on his heels. “Liara, we’ve been spotted. We need an exit. Now!” “On it!” Their footsteps were now the ones echoing off the walls as they sprinted back the way they’d come, and though they couldn’t hear anyone pursuing, they could hear the far-off sound of sirens as they exited the alley into the busy shopping district. “She’s called C-Sec on us.” Garrus stated as he started off down the sidewalk, and Shepard noted with relief the difference in her stamina from the last time she’d followed him at a full sprint through the Citadel. “Do Spectres hold official ranks? Is that why they can command C-Sec officers?” Shepard asked as she caught up to him, the sirens growing ever louder. “C-Sec,” Garrus spat with a sneering flick of his mandibles, “are nothing more than pawns. The Spectres and the GETH move them around the board like game pieces for whatever purpose they need.” The words were said with such vehemence and spite that Shepard blinked in surprise. “Okay, I have an route for you, but you’re not going to like it.” Liara’s voice interrupted her thoughts, and Garrus groaned. “How far?” “You’re going to need to get all the way to the Silversun Strip.”

[chaotic-space-goop]

Hiya! The names Astra, i got bored so now i have an ask blog

I can do magic, and always appreciate a gift or art

Im a busy person so dont expect an instant reply, i'll get to it when I can

Current tags

#🌟speaks

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OOC:

Hi, im the mod for this blog, call me Omni

please do not be nsfw, homophobic, transphobic, or anything along those lines

I may not get to some asks when they first come in, but i'll try to get to them

Im still figuring this app out

Anything sent before this message (oct 17) is ooc

This blog is not dedicated to a specific fandom, i'll just stick with the fandoms im in

Fandom list:

FNaF

Gravity Falls

Undertale

MD

TADC

Object Shows

Mod Tags:

#Omni

[astrxlfinale]

It's a brand new day! The Express chugs along through the sea of stars, and a new adventure is sure to lay over that astral horizon. And to send this day off on a high note, who else is to greet Caelus than his good buddy, Pom Pom with a cute and floppy salute! "Mornin', Big C!"

A lazy yawn escapes from the Express's newest legend maker. A sign of comfort, a sign that even the most avid of potentials can cherish a casual day, it left him feeling pretty damn good in just smelling the fresh cooking prompted from the Omni-Synthesizer. Giving a few idle scratches at his bared belly due to his disheveled clothes, there was a step before the lead conductor that certainly added an extra bit of pep to his day. Good ol' Pom-Pom!

Life couldn't go wrong with Pom-Pom, since normally life was going wrong for them, something he really needed to chip in and help out more once he got the chance. "Yo. I see Mr.Yang already got a headstart on ensuring we were hooked up. Man, after late night's missions, I feel like I could eat three damn cows." He adds in earnest, only to be unprepared for the following statement to come.

Mornin' Big C!

BIG C...

BIG CO--

A storm of freshly bleached trauma immediately slammed into the forefront of his mind. A thorny scratches that left scalding welts across the heart, for an instant the interior of the Astral Express spins as the raw disbelief slammed into heart, ribcage and soul all within a single swoop. It led a question to spiral in the depths of his mind. WHO IN THE HELL HAS BEEN GOING ON GIVING HIM THIS MONIKER!?

All strength proceeded to leave his limbs at this moment, an intrinsic understanding continuing to dawn the more this comes to be noted.

Who in the fuck calling themselves BIG C wouldn't be overcompensating about something? He's never called himself that a day in his life!

"P-- Pom pom.. Pom pom- WAIT" He manages to croak, leaving his mortal coil crashed until those freshly swept floors as spiritual damage courses through his being. A look of sheer desperation is etched into his features as he glances up, giving the conductor a pleading look for what could be a veritable hell in space. "We.. no.. Man hold on, that ain't no name of mine..! Do you know how boned anyone could get havin' that as a nickname!? It's Caelus you're talkin too!"

[imaginariancathouse]

𝐃𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐄𝐑.

Arcana / Angel / ᐋᓐᔐᓃ • 24 • Mixed Native / Indigenous & Ashkenazi Jewish • Transmascfem Two Spirit • Genderfluid • Trans/Nonbinary • Intersex • Bi/Omni Vincian/Lesbian/Enbian • Romance & Sex Ambivalent Aspec • Ambiamorous • Disabled & Neurodivergent • Chimera Multigenic HC-DID System

POINTS OF INTEREST:

THRONE WISHLIST | KO-FI

𝐁𝐘𝐅 . . .

• Main blog is l*d*i*********m. • This space is closely monitored by protectors of our system. • I will usually be the one posting on this blog, but other adult members of the system may post here too; our littles & middles are forbidden to post here. • Commissions for NSFW ASMR & erotic literature pieces are available. Don’t ask for pics, I don’t share NSFW content for free unless we’re partners. • Absolutely no discourse, bigotry nor fakeclaiming of any kind is tolerated here, nor are any debates. This is my personal space. Do not waste my time. • Top Leaning Switch. I’m mostly in a dom mood & I only sub for people I trust, which in my case for numerous reasons usually takes quite a long time to establish. When in domspace, my titles are Mistren or Goddexx. When I am subspace, I go by Princex. I'm interested romantically & sexually in any & all genders although I have a slight preference for women & nonbinary folx. While it’s not necessarily always going to be my cup of coffee nor my main focus, if all parties are consenting, I’m open to entertaining couples as long as all boundaries and consent are discussed between all parties involved beforehand. I will never do physical meetups unless I've known you for literal years & a strong bond is already pre-established beforehand, otherwise, don’t even ask, because it’s not happening. I’m an experimentalist & am kink/BDSM friendly. Open to asks & occasional DMs, may not always answer, keep this in mind, fantasies & whatnot are fine but I’m not gonna sext, don’t automatically DM me if you’re gonna ask me to dom/sub for you. Unsolicited pics, pressuring me to sext, ignoring my hard limits, & any general disrespect are an instant block, & furthermore, don’t expect me to sext you in general. Consent & mutual respect is everything. I don’t like being hit on out the gate, I may be ambiamorous but I’m also on the aromantic & asexual spectrums and I am traumatized, please respect this.

• Keep in mind that we're& a H.C-DID system & we& may talk about our& experiences as a system & how that effects us& sexually, others of us& may also post here.

• I'm here to reclaim sexual experiences for myself and indulge myself in a controlled way that will help me heal; I also take this seriously as an act of devotion to one of my goddesses Aphrodite so when I get paid, I am honoring Lady Aphrodite and honoring myself; being a sw brings me closer to Lady Aphrodite as a sacred, holy act.

• I'd love to get into more practice with voicework (I do both SFW & NSFW ASMR/voicework) as practice, so please do send in ideas/requests in asks.

• The following lists are my no means exhaustive & they may be edited as I get to know myself and grow as a person more. • Anon asks are free. If you message me here & we aren't mutuals, I won't respond unless you pay me or you get me a gift on my wishlist. My time is precious & I'm not wasting it on random strangers. I’m open to either financial payments or gifts from my wishlist as compensation; it’s a part of self care & it helps a multiply disabled person get by & I love to be spoiled. If you're going to pay us cash or give us a gift, leave it blank, unless it's to wish me a happy birthday or something like that. Kinks: praise, oral, edging/teasing, primal, dirty talk, “heats”, collars, gentle to moderate femdom, femled relationships, findom, god/goddess/goddex worship, jerkoff instruction/JOI, pegging, dick/pussy worship, outercourse, sumata, frictation/tribadism, scissoring, cockwarming/pussywarming, lapdancing/airdancing/frictiondancing, handjob/fingering, loving ownership, light bondage, light spanking, orgasm control/denial ( on the sub ), light forced masturbation, public play, & certain types of roleplay like experimentation kink & fantasy kink. Soft Limits: blood, light choking / breathplay, kidnapping, bratting, loving degradation. Hard Limits: bad manners, poor hygiene, bullies, thieves, arrogance, gossip, haters/jealousy, cheaters, backstabbers, liars, noshows, ageplay, DDLG, incest, rape, pedophilia, petplay, homophobia, transphobia, biphobia, detrans/misgendering kink, abdl, bestiality/zeta/zoo, snuff/gore, hard breathplay, dehumanization, feederism, guns, fat fetishism, s/h fetishism, ed fetishism, heavy burns / branding, misogyny/patriarchy, orientation play, any unsanitary kink, raceplay, slavery, breeding / pregnancy / birthing, abandonment, sub/sub competition, any degradation / humiliation, & my genderfluidity & intersexuality not being respected, on some days I’m a man, others I’m a woman, other times I’m both & sometimes I’m neither or anywhere outside of the Western binary, although I usually present androgynously, I’m fine with all pronouns as long as you don’t strictly refer to me as she/her. I, personally, hate being degraded, it reminds me too much of my trauma & I’d rather not deal with it. I don’t want to be called stupid or dumb or treated like I’m worthless, been there.

𝐃𝐍𝐈 𝐈𝐅 . . .

Minors, ageless blogs, blank blogs, creeps, cishetallo men & women, homophobes, transphobes, queerphobes, intersexists, anti-kink, anti-BDSM, if you don't pay sex workers, if you're the type of person to be morally outraged at what other consenting adults do on their own time, antisemites, anyone who's a discriminatory cunt & TERFs/SWERFs, as well as sex repulsed individuals, system littles, system middles, & age regressors tread at your own risk & keep yourselves safe; this is not a safe place for you.

[tealenko]

Didn't Have the Heart (Chapter 8)

Chapter 8: Just Checking in

Yo! I'm on fire... I wasn't expecting to write this one so quickly (given the crazy ammount of work I have right now) and yet here we are. Hope you like it!!

Summary: Shepard and Kaidan finally meet for the first time since she abandoned his room the previous night, but first, they’ll both have to endure a few more conversations with Garrus and Javik about their relationship.

Words: 5483 Rating: Teens and up Warnings: language, of course

Read in AO3 -> [link]

Previous Chapter -> [link] Next Chapter -> [link] All Chapters -> [link] Through Hell and Back series -> [link]

------------------------------------

“We'll be entering Quarian space in less than an hour.” EDI says through the ship’s comms, alerting the crew to get ready.

Kaidan switches on his omni-tool and takes note of it, as he always does, making sure every bit of the day is planned in his schedule.

“Okay, I got fifteen minutes, give  or take…” He says half joking, trying to ease the mood of the room a little. “But if this is really important I can bargain a few more with our boss… I’m on good terms with her.”

Garrus laughs and relaxes a bit, joining Kaidan on the couch and sitting by his side.

“That’s kinda why I’m here…” His friend looks at him with confusion for a second, until he’s able to clarify his statement. “I think… You get Shepard in a way no one is remotely close to achieving…”

“God, I hope so.” He says in between giggles, winning him a push on the shoulder from his friend.

“You know that’s not what I was talking about…”

“Yeah, sorry… I couldn’t help it.” He replies leaning backwards a bit, getting comfortable on the sofa, before asking directly about his problem. “So what’s eating you up Garrus? Had any problems with Mio?”

“Ehrmm…” Garrus’ sentence gets stuck for a moment, still not used to link that name to his best friend. “Ah, no… Not per se. It’s just that…”

Kaidan looks at him for a second, observing how he struggles to find the words to name what’s really bothering him, wondering what may have happened to them, before his own mind offers him an answer faster than his friend.

“Did she shut you off?” He asks with the more casual tone in the galaxy, like it’s not a surprise at all for him, which it isn’t. 

“Yeah…How..?”

He doesn’t need to finish that sentence either.

“Well, I know how you’re wired… And, as you said before: I do know her quite well.” Kaidan replies right away. “But so do you… So, what’s new?”

“Ha…” Garrus finds at least some encouragement in Kaidan's powers of deduction. “Of course, you see that too.”

“You’ve been her friend for what, more than four years? You know how it works, as well as I do.” Kaidan explains slowly, taking his time to find the right words. “So I imagine you said something you shouldn’t.”

“Yeah… Guess I overstepped a line I should not have…”

“But…”

Garrus smiles again, still amazed at the accuracy of Kaidan’s words.

“But, for the first time, I have no idea where the error lies… And is freaking the hell out of me.”

“Mmm…” He just hums, taking a small pause before continuing. “And you want to run it by me. See if I’ll be able to notice something you didn’t.”

“Kinda, yeah… If you’re okay with it… Are you okay with it?”

Kaidan laughs a little and takes another look at his omnitool.

“Yeah sure…” He agrees. “But you have only ten minutes left.”

He doesn’t even need half of them. 

Garrus starts talking right away, happy to find someone to share this with, and replays out loud his last conversation with Shepard, chapter and verse, in less than five minutes.

“The thing is, she actually talked to me about stuff she’s never had the nerve to even mention before… Everything was fine, the conversation was over, and then… Puff. She disconnected. Found, in an instant, an excuse to run away and vanished from the room before I knew what was happening.”

“That is weird…” He admits, amazed that Shepard made it through the tough part of the conversation just to run away in the middle of a joke. “But if you sensed something off… There has to be. I trust you gut.”

“Yeah? Because I’m starting to question it…”

“You said you were joking about knowing her better than anyone else?”

“Yeah… Something on the line of: do you know the amount of buzz and effort it’s taken me to get to know you?”

“And nothing else?” Kaidan asks a bit lost, not understanding where there could be a problem.

“No… Said that and I finished the whole thing joking, saying that I deserved it, for having a human as my best friend.”

Kaidan’s expression changes in the blink of an eye, losing entirely the smile he was wearing just a second ago.

“Oh well… Shit.” He murmurs, quickly catching the attention of the turian, who stares at him as he stands up and takes a few steps while facing the window.

“You know what the problem is…” He affirms more than asks.

“Yeah.” Kaidan admits while staring at the void of the galaxy.

“But you cannot tell me.”

Now he is the one surprised by the accuracy of his friend’s deduction, dedicating it a soft smile before turning to look at him.

“Yeah.” He admits one more time. “Sorry…”

“Nah, it’s okay… I get it.” He replies, standing up, taking a few steps to stop at his side. “I’m just glad I’m not crazy.”

“No, you’re not.” He waits a second, while a rogue smirk appears on his face “At least about this.”

The smile turns into a laugh right away, winning him a sigh from his friend before this one joins in on the fun.

“Ha, serves me right.” Garrus says while laughing. 

“Sorry again… Couldn’t help it either”

“I think Shepard is really becoming a bad influence on you, Alenko.”

“You know, you’re not the first to tell me that today.” He admits, smiling from ear to ear. “Am I really that bad?”

Garrus laughs a little and shakes his head a couple times.

“Course not… It’s a pleasure to see you like this, Kaidan.” 

He gives a soft pat on his shoulder and smiles at him, knowing that both their conversation and time left are over, ready to say goodbye to his friend. 

“Thanks for the talk.”

He starts talking towards the door but stops after hearing Kaidan calling for him.

“Garrus…” He turns to face him. “About Shepard��”

“Yeah?”

“You did nothing wrong… But she had a great deal of a reason to freak out.”

“I see…”

“Just… Give her time. She’ll tell you herself. Trust me”

Kaidan smiles and Garrus replies with the same coin, giving his friend a subtle nod right after.

“Thanks, Kaidan. I… Thank you.” He says, summing up his feelings, aware that they have no time to say something else. “Means a lot.”

Kaidan nods back at him, completely understanding his feelings.

“Anytime.”

~

“We'll be entering Quarian space in less than an hour.” EDI says through the ship’s comms, alerting the crew to get ready.

Shepard hears the announcement almost as if it was an echo, that slowly disappears as the door on port cargo shuts close behind her.

“Looks familiar”

She says as she gets closer to the screen, staring at the displayed plans of her old ship, taking in the view as flashes of what happened in Alchera come back to her mind.

“I’ve been studying this ship, its crew. There was a Normandy before this one, you died in an attack.”

“Something like that.”

She smiles a little, eyes still glued to the pictures of her past, acknowledging how absurd the whole story seems when you hear it out loud.

“But then you were resurrected… To fight the reapers.”

“Maybe you and I have a thing or two in common.”

She closes her eyes for a second, focusing on her breathing, casting away her usual demons in order to keep present in their conversation.

“But you have something else: the reasons you fight are still alive. The friendships of the people around you.” Javik makes a small pause, building the anticipation for what he’s about to say. “And more.”

Shepard turns slowly to look at him, surprised to see where their conversation is heading.

“You and the human soldier are… Joined?” He affirms, more than he asks, more hesitant about the correct use of the terminology than about the facts he’s stating.

“You could say that.”

“I’m not. Your pheromones are.” 

This type of comments would've bothered her a few weeks ago but, after everything she’s endured in the past few days, plus the whole sexual itercorse thing that he said in front of Liara and Tali, she’s more than used to this type of statements coming from Javik.

Instead of replying, she just shrugs her shoulders, not knowing what else to add to that statement, and turns back once again to stare at the images shown on the screen.

“Is this why you wish to continue living? For their affection?”

Despite his usual way of phrasing his thoughts, this takes Shepard quite by surprise. Javik is often direct and ignores any of the harm that his words tend to inflict, but something in his tone of voice is different this time around. 

She finds something in that last sentence that she's not willing to let pass like it's nothing.

“Yes.” She admits right away, with a firmness in her speech that she hasn’t used with the prothean until now. “Is that a problem?”

“A surprise.” He replies without a second thought, still unaware of the effect of his words on the commander. “War is the only thing worth occupying your mind right now. That kind of feeling, that ‘affection’... Should be beneath you.”

“Without that ‘affection’, all I have in my life is death.” She says with the calmest tone of voice she’s able to summon. “And that’s not enough.”

Javik, who already had another comment prepared, stops himself from talking once he hears the beginning of what she has to say, suddenly shocked by the impactful reality of finding someone in this foreign universe who may be able to make him realize that he’s mistaken about something.

“Without feelings, without pain… I’d be just a machine.”

He looks at her, quite surprised by her statement, not expecting her to have such firm ideals and neither to be defending them with this level of conviction.

“And believe me, I’m not fighting and suffering just so that I end up turning into my enemy.”

The prothean stares at her for a couple seconds, still not knowing what to do with all that information.

“That’s a nice sentiment, I must admit.” He agrees but, after some hesitation, he goes back to his original line of thought. “Nevertheless, it is one that’s only allowed in fiction… And that, is the main difference between us.”

Shepard looks at him with a severe expression, but doesn’t interrupt him. Instead, she lets him talk, allowing him to expose what he truly thinks.

“I’ve done my research.” Javik adds, pointing at the screen. “You have fallen… You have risen. But you haven’t lost… Or at least, not yet.” 

She keeps listening in silence as he talks, knowing quite well where this is heading, but still not knowing how to react to it.

“Once you have seen every single person on this ship die, massacred in front of your eyes one by one… Once you have no other option than to sacrifice every single one of them… Along with what’s left of you. Sacrifice all that you are… Only then will you clearly understand that behaving like a human is not always an option.” 

Shepard stays submerged in her silence for a bit longer, investing her pause to breathe in, with a very long inhale, taking all the time in the world before formulating her reply.

“Ahhh…” She exhales. “You need to get better at researching…”

He is not only surprised by her answer, but also by the expression that follows it.

Shepard smiles a little at her own comment, but there’s a residual sadness in her demeanor that doesn’t pass by the prothean.

“Meaning?” He asks, not truly knowing how to interpret her reaction to his words.

“Everything you said, all you just described… That’s already happened.” 

She stops facing him, casting one last stoic glare into his eyes, and walks towards the door, stopping at the threshold after taking a few steps. 

“Akuse.” She states as an explanation, but not without fighting with herself just to be able to say it. “Start there next time.”

“Care to elaborate?”

“I do care, actually.” She turns, still at the door’s threshold, so that she can look directly at him once again. “As I told you before… We have more in common than you think.”

“I see…”

Things start to click for Javik, who right now, would start to feel sorry about his previous comment if he was able to recognize such feelings. 

Instead, starts to grow inside of him a new wave of respect for the woman that now stands on the entrance of his room.

“I’ll give it to you, though… You were somewhat right.” She admits, after thinking about it. “Didn’t feel human for the longest time, but… But…”

Her words choke on her throat before they’re able to come out. Nevertheless, they aren’t needed at the end, for Javik already knows and understands them, to the point that he’s able to step forward and put an end to her struggles.

“But..”

“But that wasn’t enough.” He finishes the sentence for her, mirroring the answer she gave him only a few seconds ago.

“Exactly.”

“You’re an interesting subject… Commander Shepard.”

Javik gifts her with the faintest smile she has ever witnessed but, given his record, is more than good enough for her to recognize the change of lane in the prothean’s opinion.

“Glad to know.” She smiles back as she replies.

“Very… Unique.” Despite his choice of words, there’s no hint of mockery in his tone of voice, to Shepard’s surprise, who is waiting patiently to see where this is heading. “No wonder your people choose you to lead them.”

“Thanks…” She replies, with hesitation, knowing there’s a second part to that statement that she isn’t gonna like as much.

“You would not have lasted more than a day in the Empire, though.”

Shepard starts laughing right away, with Javik’s comment caughting her completely by surprise, not expecting something of sorts to come out of the protheans’s mouth.

“Seems probable…” She admits in between giggles, given the whole hypothetical a second though. “Would’ve taken a lot with me in the process, though.”

“Seems probable too.” 

His smile expands just a millimeter, but that is enough to make her feel satisfied about the effect of her comeback. So, after a few seconds of smiling back at him, while mentally celebrating her victory, she nods her head as a goodbye gesture and states it out loud.

“See you around, Javik.”

“Commander.”

~

Shepard takes the elevator to the crew deck and, as she steps out of it, she sees Garrus, who is leaving Kaidan’s room.

She freezes for a second before her instincts kick in, which desperately tell her to turn around and run away, but that brief moment of hesitation is more than enough for his friend to acknowledge her presence.

“Shep!” He calls her as he hastens his step to reach her as fast as possible. “Have a second?”

“No… You see…”

He doesn’t let her finish.

Before she’s able to refuse his talking invitation, he grabs her by the arm and starts walking towards the poker room.

“It will only be a moment.”

The whole thing happens so fast that Shepard isn’t even able to complain before they get into the lounge and, by the time they’re already there, she is too shocked to know what to say, giving him the chance to break the ice, which he isn’t willing to waste.

“When are you gonna get tired of avoiding me?” He states right away, quoting the same words she said to him a few weeks ago.

There’s a moment of silence, but it’s quickly followed by a laugh.

“Nice one.” She replies, relaxing a little. 

Shepard looks around for a few seconds, taking the opportunity to calm herself, and lets out a big sigh before sitting on the coach completely defeated by the situation.

“Very clever, Vakarian… Using my own argument against me.”

Garrus smiles, or does whatever it is that turians do when they’re happy, and sits in front of her, taking a second before talking again.

“Just… Forget it, Shep. Let’s just pretend it didn’t happen.”

“What about?”

“Wish I knew…” He starts laughing, still replaying their last conversation in his mind. “But I obviously said something that triggered you.”

Shepard starts to scour the room, unable to look directly at his friend.

“...”

“So we can just act like I never did.”

To say she is shocked by his words doesn’t come close to describing Shepard’s feelings but, after putting aside her initial hesitation, she finally musters the courage to start taking an active role in their current conversation. 

“Really?” 

“Yup.”

She laughs a little in disbelief, surprised by Garrus’ approach to this whole situation.

“You don’t wanna know?”

“I sure do… But not if you don't wanna tell me.” She’s about to correct his words, afraid she’s giving the wrong impression about the true reason behind her silence, but he steps ahead, once again, and does it for her. “Or if you aren’t ready.”

“I…”

“And… If you ever change your mind, well… You know where to find me.”

She stares at him for a few seconds, dedicating him a faint smile, before finally being able to reply to his answer.

“...Thanks.” She states, with said smile deepening even more on her face, grateful to see that her friend is willing to give her all the time she needs before she opens up to him. “Means a lot.”

“No problem.” Garrus leans forward and gives her a couple pats on the leg on his way to standing up, stretching a little before heading to the bar. “Want something to drink?”

“Unfortunately… No. We’ll be deployed in less than thirty minutes.”

“Oh.. Sorry for you, then.” He says this as he opens himself a bottle and starts drinking. “Gratefully, I know you won’t pick me to go on this one.”

She looks at him, completely silent, quite surprised by his statement.

“Am I wrong?” He asks, with a big grin on his face.

“No… No you’re not.” She laughs a little and smiles back at him, in awe by the accuracy of his deduction. “How you knew that?”

Garrus goes back to the sofa area, but this time around he sits next to her.

“Come on… You have to go with Tali, it’s her people.”

“There’s another spot on the crew.”

“Yeaaaaah… Right.”

Shepard sighs and slaps him on the arm before pushing him a little in a playful manner.

“Shut up.” She orders.

Unfortunately for her, it’s already too late to stop his words.

“Like you’re not gonna pick Kaidan to go along with you.”

They both start laughing at the same time, and keep doing it for a few seconds, before she stands up, casting an amused look at her friend as she starts talking.

“There’s been missions where I haven’t picked Kaidan to go along with me…” She tries to defend herself from his statement.

“Yeah, I know… But only when it’s back to back to another one and you have to give him time to rest.”

“Hmm…” She complains, mad at herself for not knowing what else to say.

“Am I wrong?” He asks again, with the same big grin back on his face.

“No, you’re not.” She smiles, amused by his comeback. “...Of course you know that too.”

“Well, I’ve been in his place… Back with Cerberus. I couldn’t catch a break unless we had no time to rest in between missions, ironically.” Garrus brings his talon to his head while faking to be affected by the change in her preferences when it comes to choosing a squad member. “I thought you loved, Shepard.”

She laughs, extremely amused by his words..

“God, you’re an idiot…”

“You’re probably right, but you have to stop saying things like that, Shep.” He reprimands her, with a hint of his joking tone still engraved in his words. “You’re becoming quite a bad influence on poor Kaidan.”

“Why? Is he no longer suffering in silence while you and Vega aim at him every stupid comment that you’re able to come up with?”

“Even better… He’s the one making them now.” He states, both proud of him and happy to see Kaidan in his element. “Fearsome thing to behold, to be honest.” He says, tuning back to his half joking tone of voice.

“Good for him…” She takes a moment to think before taking a few steps towards the door. “Speaking of whom, I should go give Kaidan the specs for the next mission… We’re almost there.”

“Yeah, right…”

“What!?” She asks, almost like she doesn’t already know the answer.

“Come on Shep, it’s me… You don’t have to fake it. I know why you’re really going to see Kaidan.”

Shepard just stares at him with an annoyed look, unable to deny his friend’s statement.

“Or now you’re gonna tell me there’s no ulterior motives behind your visit?”

“Well, hell yeah. Of course I have ulterior motives!” She admits right away, almost laughing. “But that doesn’t mean I was lying, though. I intend to give him a report for the mission too.”

“I see.” He smiles back, amused by the honesty in her answer.

Shepard returns his smile and nods, considering this small gesture more than enough to signal her goodbye, and starts walking towards the door.

“Hey, Shep.” He says on her way there, making her stop after a few steps. “This whole Kaidan thing…”

“Yes?” She turns to face him, not knowing at all where this is heading.

“You sure about it?”

She casts him a confused look.

“I thought you weren’t gonna give me the Kaidan talk, Garrus.”

“No, of course I’m not… It was more in the line of a Shepard talk, if you know what I mean.”

Shepard’s jaw drops a little, surprised to see where his friend’s worries lie.

“You are worried about him.”

“Yes.” Garrus admits right away.

“You think I’ll hurt him.”

“I know you’ll hurt him… But I still don’t know how.” He states without hesitation before sighing and looking directly at her. “It’s plain math. When you love someone that much, there’s countless different possibilities to get hurt. I’m just trying to avoid one of them.”

Shepard considers his comment for a second, finally understanding what he’s really trying to imply.

“Soooo… You’re scared that I’m treating this like a port in the storm kind of thing.”

“Here we go again with the idioms…”

Shepard laughs a little, still amused after many years of friendship by any occasion where she needs to explain human argot to her best friend.

“Don’t tell me Vega hasn’t covered that one yet.” She says while smiling. “What a pity.”

“Well, I think I get it based on context.” He replies, after thinking about its meaning for a second. “Never too late to learn something new.”

“Good to know.”

She nods and proceeds to leave the room.

Walks out of it and stands in silence in the hallway, staring at the door of the room situated on the opposite side of the corridor.

“Ahhhh…” She sighs, before turning on her feet and heading once again inside of the lounge.

Garrus, surprised by her sudden reappearance, doesn’t say anything. Instead, he just stares at her while she states what she really needs to get out of her system.

“He’s not.”

She tells him, taking her a few seconds to realize she may need to say share more information for him to understand her.

“A safe port in the storm.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning…” She takes a second to breathe. “You don’t have to worry about Kaidan.”

“I see.” He replies, now with a sense of relief, happy for both of his friends.

“You can leave that to me.”

They both laugh at her comment and, once again, she nods at him and leaves, although this time around she doesn’t stay frozen outside of the port observation.

~

With hurried steps, she quickly reaches the opposite side of the hallway and enters, without hesitation, in the room she was staring at only a few minutes ago.

Shepard isn’t surprised to see what she finds once she gets into it.

She’s quite used by now to the vision of Kaidan, sitting in his favorite chair, reading and writing reports of their previous missions, completing with grace and calmness all those tasks that she detests so much to do.

"Hey there." He says as a greeting, taking his eyes from his datapad to cast a loving look at her.

"Hey, Kaidan--Just checking in..."

Reality hits Shepard, and she suddenly feels like it’s been a lifetime since she last saw him, even though it’s been only a few hours since she sneaked out of his room.

"I'm glad.” His smile deepens as she gets closer to him, leaving completely forgotten all the work he was doing just a second ago. “Say, you left without waking me."

She smiles back at him, taking a moment to think, trying to find the appropriate words to express why she did so.

After a few seconds of self reflection, she finally finds her answer.

"Didn't have the heart."

There’s a mixture of both endless worry and deep affection that melts together in between her words, giving her sentence a double meaning that not even she is aware of.

"Aw, thanks, but next time--wake me.” 

Shepard’s body acts on its own, as her hand instinctively reaches for Kaidan’s, searching for the contact that she’s been missing since she abandoned it the previous night in complete silence.

“Fine…” She complies with an almost ethereal tinge in her voice, feeling the pressure of her heart smothering her words as it keeps pounding with the strength of mass relay against her chest.

Kaidan uses his free hand to bring her closer and sits in a more useful position so that he can wrap her arms around her.

“Missed you..” He whispers, completely glued to her, tightening the embrace even more.

Shepard rests her head on top of his, bringing her right hand to his hair so that she can play with it. 

She messes it up a little, combing it different directions for a few seconds before forming a reply to his comment.

“Me too.” She shifts a little and kisses the top of his head before returning to her previous position. “Unfortunately…”

She doesn’t need to say anything else. The mention of that last word is enough to let him know what comes next. 

Kaidan sighs, coming back to their reality, leaning back a few inches so that he can move his head to be able to look at her.

“We need to get ready?”

“Yeah, we’ll be entering quarian space in no time.” 

“What a shame…”

One of his hands starts to move up her body, but she stops it before it’s able to travel too far, taking a step backwards to avoid starting something they do not have the time to finish.

“Kaidan…” She says, half breathless once again, both reprimanding his behavior and begging him to stop for their own sake.

“Sorry.” He stands up and takes a step to close the distance between them, adding to his apology a repentant look. “I couldn’t help it.”

Shepard’s body leans forward a little, pulled once again by the gravity that Kaidan always seems to hold against her.

“I…” She manages to stop herself just in time, placing her hand on top of his chest to ensure she won’t get even closer, despite how much all her soul is asking her to do so. “We…”

After taking a moment to breathe, followed by a sigh, Shepard finally manages to regain some control over the situation and, summoning all the strength she’s able to find, and clearing her throat to speak again, she is somehow able to look up at him and hold his glare.

“We…” She insists, now with a more decisive tone in her voice. “... should be getting ready.”

There’s a moment of silence filling the room after Shepard says this. She looks away, with a cheeky smile forming on her face that immediately catches his attention, making him enjoy the moment way more than he should.

“But I really don’t want to…” She finally adds in between laughs, smiling from ear to ear as she focuses her eyes back at him.

Kaidan starts laughing just a moment after, instinctively surrounding her with his arms and lifting her up from the ground, doing a couple spins while at it.

“Kaidan!” It’s all she’s able to say, or half scream, in complete surprise, before she starts laughing again, holding tight around his body and hiding her face against his neck.

This lasts for a few seconds, in which the tired couple are able to completely forget momentarily that there’s an actual war spreading through the galaxy, or better said: two, thanks to the narrow-mindedness of the top hierarchy of the quarian conclave.

Nevertheless, nothing can last forever and, after their idyllic scene is finally over, they both sight and smile at each other, aware that they need to go back to work no matter how much they don’t want to.

“So… Gear first.” Kaidan says, after coming back to reality, finally focusing on the task at hand. “My weapons are already prepped, so I think I should go change clothes now.”

“Need an extra hand for it?”

“Hmm…” 

Kaidan laughs and coughs at the same time, looking away for a moment while smiling uncontrollably, taking a few seconds to calm a little before rewarding Shepard’s comment with a soft kiss on her forehead.

“Maybe later.” He adds, winning him a deep laugh from Shepard.

“Definitely later.”

And just like that, they go back to their programmed schedule.

The couple walk together to the elevator and get to the shuttle bay in record time, heading directly to the lockers where they store their gear and doing their best to pretend they aren’t aware that Vega is staring at them from afar with a stupid smile on his face.

They help each other, without talking too much, way too used by now to both their respective bodies and armors to be in need of speaking out loud for the other to understand what they need to do.

The ride to the bridge of the ship is also a silent one, especially the few seconds they spend alone in the elevator, almost as if they feared that taking would lead them to tangle around each other once again.

The silence only ends once the door opens after they make it to the combat center, shattering the calm and beautiful atmosphere they shared through all the way before they got there.

Shepard is immediately stopped by one of the lower ranked officers as Kaidan excuses himself and keeps waking forward, dedicating Samantha a smile and a pat on the arm when he goes past her post.

He gets to the other side of the room in record time, allowing him to spend a few seconds to greet Joker and EDI from the threshold of the pilot’s cabin before heading to the door on his left, standing alone in the small room for almost a minute before Shepard joins him.

“Something important?”

“Nah… Bureaucratic stuff, I’ll do it later.” She replies while sitting on the ground, resting her back against the exit door of the Normandy. “Called Tali too, she’s on her way.”

Kaidan smiles, taking a few seconds while his eyes roam through the small empty room before he surrenders, sighs, and sits next to her, instinctively reaching to grab her hand.

“Penny for your thoughts.” He says, entangling his fingers between hers.

“Oh… Believe me.” She replies, raising her head to stare at the ceiling as she takes a deep breath. “You don’t wanna know.”

“I’m not so sure about that.”

Shepard giggles and nudges his arm, shaking her head a couple of times before turning it and shifting her body a little to look better at him

“At least right now…” She smiles at him, unable to keep her feelings to herself. “We need to focus on the mission.”

Kaidan gifts her with a gentle laugh, completely defeated by the way she looks at him, needing a second or two before being able to react to her comment.

“Well then…” His free hand travels to cup her face and, with a slowed and unhurried pace, he leans forward and plants a soft kiss on her lips, keeping the nonexistent distance between them even after said kiss is over. “And later?”

“Hum… ”She agrees right away, not even having to give a second thought to her answer. “Definitely later.”

------------------------------------

Fiiiiinaaaally!!! Oh my, they finally meet again in chapter 8/10 lol. Took a while but we're finally here yaaaaaay~~~ Get ready people: next one is smut time!!!! And Shepard will sucher punch a quarian too!!! What more can you ask for in a fic??? XDDDDDDDD

[foodtricks]

Southern Peach Cobbler

With the sun coming out, so are the grills and family plans! Everyone knows to bring one dish to the cookout and I have made just the right dish. Some good old peach cobbler, soul food edition.

Now, this recipe took some time when it came to preparations but in the end came out just right. It's better to use fresh peaches in my opinion because of all the added sugar in canned fruits that I wouldn't want. I decided to make this meal because of the fact that at a cookout, there's always one person in charge of the desserts everyone gets and considering peach cobbler can be made in large portions with ease, it would be a good thing to make.

Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 50 minutes Servings: 8

Ingredients for filling:

4 cups of fresh peaches, peeled and sliced (or two 28 oz. canned peaches, drained)

1 cup of brown sugar 

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

½ a teaspoon of ground nutmeg

½ a teaspoon of ginger, minced

¼ cup of cold water 

2 tablespoons of cornstarch

Ingredients for the Bisquick peach cobbler batter:

2 cups of Bisquick

1 cup of milk

¾ cup of granulated sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

½ cup of melted butter

How to make homemade Bisquick

Makes 5 cups  

This recipe calls for 2 cups.

4 cups of flour

2 tablespoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

¾ cup of shortening

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Then fold in the shortening.

Southern peach cobbler recipe instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. 

Place the butter in the baking dish and then place the dish in the oven to melt the butter while the oven is preheating.

Remove the melted butter from the oven after a few minutes and set it aside.

Peel and slice the peaches into quarters, and then halve the quartered peach slices. (If using canned peaches, use a colander to drain the peach juice before slicing them).

In a medium-sized bowl, mix the ingredients for the peach filling: peaches, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. (I mixed the peach cobbler filling in my Instant Pot inner pot with the lid off and the ‘keep warm’ setting on.)

Add the cornstarch to the cold water and stir until smooth.

Pour the cornstarch mixture into the peach mixture.

Stir the peach mixture to combine the ingredients and then set aside.

In a second medium-sized bowl, whisk the ingredients for the cobbler batter: Bisquick, milk, sugar, and vanilla. 

Pour the Bisquick mixture over the melted butter in the baking pan.

Then, pour the peaches into the Bisquick mixture (the dough will rise around the peaches as it bakes). 

Bake at 350 degrees F for 50-60 minutes in the conventional oven. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35-45 minutes if using the Instant Pot Omni Plus oven. Watch the cobbler while baking, and bake until the cobbler dough is golden brown.

To test if the cobbler is done, insert a toothpick into the center of the cobbler dough. If it comes out clean, then it is done. 

Serve and enjoy!

In the end it came out exactly how I hoped it would be. Serve it with a side of vanilla ice cream and all the flavors just melts in your mouth. I'd say this is definitely a must to bring to the family reunions and friend gatherings.

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Super 041

“Hey, this arc sucked.  We should have a better one.”

Last time, Champa was about to destroy his entire team for losing this tournament, when a new god suddenly appeared on the tournament stage.  Shin doesn’t recognize him, and the Elder Supreme Kai has to explain that it’s “Grand Zeno, the Omni King��.  I still think of him by the name given in the subtitles: The King of Everything”.  But I guess Funimation had to juice it up a bit with “Omni-King”. 

So this is a welcome change, as this whole U6/U7 arc has been Beerus and a second, fatter Beerus rubbing it in everyone’s faces that they can pretty much do whatever they want without any consequences.  As it turns out, they have a boss of their own, and they tremble before him just like everyone else trembles before them.  Zeno is the ruler of all twelve universes, and he could destroy them all in an instant if he wanted to.  Naturally, all the gods bow before him. 

Turns out Zeno found out about this tournament, and came to scold Beerus and Champa for doing this instead of... you know... their jobs.  Whis and Vados wholeheartedly agree, and complain that all Beerus does is eat and sleep, and all Champa does is eat and eat.  Zeno suggests finding new Gods of Destruction, but then he says he’s just kidding. 

As for the torunament, Zeno seems mildly disappointed that no one told him about this thing, but when he watched the matches, he was pleased with the idea.  And he believes that this could be even more fun if they included the other universes. 

Goku is all for that idea, and he steps forward to talk with Zeno.  His guards take exception to this, but Zeno agrees to talk with Goku, and they basically just agree to do the thing he just said he wanted to do.  Goku offers a handshake, and this is treated like a suspenseful moment, but Zeno returns the shake and says Goku is “funny”. 

After Zeno leaves, everyone gives Goku crap about how dangerous it was for him to approach Zeno, but Goku doesn’t see the big deal.  Just because he can destroy the multiverse doesn’t mean he will.  And if he wants this big tournament he’s proposing, then he needs fighters to participate in it. 

And this informs the entire dynamic between Goku and Zeno.  While everyone else is horrified by Zeno’s power, Goku understands him.  He sees that Zeno just wants to have a good time, and Goku is honest enough and genuine enough that he can simply speak his mind without Zeno feeling disrespected. 

Anyway, Champa and Beerus now realize that this tournament they’ve thrown is basically meaningless now.  At best it was just practice for the next one. So Champa can’t destroy his team after all, because he’ll need them later.  But Beerus still won, so Champa surrenders the six Super Dragon Balls to him and leaves.  Goku asks Hit to schedule a rematch, but Hit isn’t interested in that anytime soon.  Cabba calls Vegeta “Master”, which Vegeta isn’t too happy about.

And guess who’s awake.  Majin Buu slept through this whole business, but he’s up now.  Also, Mr. Satan wants Monaka to join his dojo.  I’m not sure if he bought into Monaka’s performance, or if he recognizes that Monaka was just pretending, the way Mr. Satan does.

That leaves the matter of the last Super Dragon Ball, which Beerus will need to get his wish.  Bulma has a radar to detect it, but she asks Beerus to promise not to wish for anything bad before she uses it.  At first, she thinks it isn’t working, but then Android 18 notices there are seven blips on the radar, indicating that they’re already together somehow.  Monaka suggests this is a matter of failing to think in three dimensions, something that comes up a lot in his line of work, since he has to read cosmic maps and such.  That gives Whis an idea, so he tells everyone to hop in the Hexahedron and get off the planet.

As it turns out, the planet they were standing on this whole time had been the seventh Super Dragon Ball all along.  Piccolo speculates that it ended up here and collided with an asteroid.  Over time, the debris would have been drawn in by the Dragon Ball’s gravitational field, and formed the rocky surface of the “Planet With No Name”. 

This leads to an elaborate, overwrought sequence where the Super Dragon emerges from the Balls.  At first he seems to be the size of a planet, but then he keeps getting bigger, until it looks like he’s dwarfing entire galaxies.  I’m not sure how much of this is literally happening, and Whis informs the rest of them that this is all merely necessary to interact with the dragon.

Finally, they face a smaller (though still enormous) version of the dragon, and Beerus relays his wish to Whis in the “language of the gods.”  He then tells Bulma and the rest that he wished for a more comfortable bed to sleep in, which seems very anticlimactic.

But then we cut to Champa and Vados on their way home, and Vados detects something new in Universe 6.   She shows Champa the planet Earth, which doesn’t impress him until she explains that it’s the Earth of Universe 6.  Apparently, Beerus wished for it to be restored, along with its population, so that Champa could enjoy its cuisine.  Awwww. 

This undoubtedly the best part of this arc.  A lot of it was just pointless filler and unsatisfying matches, but I like the poetry of Beerus and Champa having this wager over Earth, and then Beerus winning the bet and using his wish to give Champa what he wanted.  “What would a god wish for?” indeed.

On Beerus’ planet, we see Monaka return to his normal job, which is some sort of delivery truck driver.  And Beerus has loaded his truck with more cartoon treasure as payment for his services.  In spite of the stress Monaka was placed under, he seems to find this a worthwhile experience.

And that’s it for the tournament, although we do have one more episode with an epilogue of sorts...

[ekp0133f]

Annoying Orange vs Omni-Man who wins Omni-Man: obvious strengths

Orang: has the knife skill, instant kill attack, functionally immortal

Only one can live.