#it doesn’t help that i’m going about college in a kinda wonky way already | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

disruptedvice · 6 years ago

Text

2019 writing meme

i was tagged by @startofamoment, no doubt because I’ve been talking up that b99 porn star au that I started writing in 2016 but never completed.

It looks like how this meme goes is two lists: Things I am definitely going to write (or things I am definitely most likely going to write from startofamoment’s post) Things I’d like to write, time (and creativity) permitting

But I’m gonna do mine a little different, cause the thing is, I’ve already started writing drafts for literally all of these, like years ago in some cases, so- I mean, I’ve already started writing every single one of these, and have 4+ pages on some, 16+ pages on others, and there’s no telling what year they’ll actually be posted, but here’s some things from my technically wip stuff

Basically, works that I’ve already started the process of writing but who knows when they’ll be completed and just damn, I’ve got so much

The starmora/thorkyrie one shot where Valkyrie reacts to meeting and finding out who Gamora was the way that everyone expected Thor to react to Gamora in IW (confrontational AF- cue Valkyrie harshly whispering “How can you trust them?” and Thor just deadpanning “You literally sold me into slavery when we first met”)

Starmora college AU + artist!Peter and kickboxer!Gamora

Peraltiago Contract killer!Amy and target!Jake AU

Peraltiago Conceptual photographer!Jake + Model!Amy (also, former Art Student!Amy)

Childhood friends starmora AU/both raised by ravagers

Post IW/Post Endgame thorkyrie reunion one shot

Flight attendent!Jake Peralta + hates flying passenger!Amy Santiago

Pornstar peraltiago AU + coworkers to friends to lovers trope

The married peraltiago pregnancy multichapter fic I’ve been planning for AGES

Peraltiago Actors AU (Jake and Amy are actors on a TV show called Brooklyn Legal)

More and previews/excerpts under the cut ~

(And because tumblr mobile is going wonky, if this post looks weird, you can just open this post in your phone’s browser and tada! It’s in a readable format and looks like how I actually posted it!)

Dude, so I’ve got some previews for some of these, but I literally just copied and pasted without editing the slightest, so you can see while I may have pages and pages written out for all these stories on microsoft word/google docs, they are still very clearly not ready to post

That multichapter peraltiago pregnancy fic that I’ve had planned since, oh, FOREVER and still haven’t gotten around to-

“I just realized I'm gonna have to stop making sex tape jokes and switch over to dad jokes.” ”Jake, you already make way too many puns to be healthy and tell soul crushingly lame jokes all the time. You already make dad jokes, but they were just called lame jokes before you had a kid. Now your lame jokes can be called dad jokes. But you always had them.”

[In baby fic Jake still tackles her and pulls her to the ground, but its a careful tackle and he always makes sure to catch her and break her fall. It's kinda amazing how quick he does it, how they'll be chasing each other and he'll pull her to the ground, pull her into him. It's almost strange, how quick and gentle he is with it. With her. At first she might have worried about his rough housing, but he was always delicate. Careful but still fun. And she never had to worry about losing her balance with him]

Jake tackles her and she's laughing and hitting him on the arm and saying ”The baby, the baby!” And he pulls back and says “You know, you can't keep using that excuse. It's not fair.” And Amy says “I've still got months and months of that excuse” and he says ”It’s like saying you have to pee during a tickle fight. Now I have to let you go.”

{When Jake says excuse not fair cause its like saying she has to pee during a tickle fight and she thinks that's a fair excuse too not just baby, Amy asks jokingly "do you want me to pee on you?" And he says "you don't know. I might be into that."}.

Contract killer!Amy and target!Jake AU-

where they used to be childhood friends but hadn’t seen each other since they were like 9 years old, and then Amy realizes she recognizes the person she was just hired to kill

She's been struggling with this dilemma in her head for the past few days and even though it's completely irrational she decides not to do it. She decides to help him. She decides to help keep him alive. She actually did a coin toss. Heads she goes through with it and shoots him, tails she helps him. She flipped the coin. It landed on heads. And that cemented her decision.

She was going to help him.

She breaks into his apartment that evening since she learned he would be out.

She wears gloves. Looks through any papers he had, trying to find financials, but there's nothing to suggest why someone wanted him dead.

She wouldn't be much use keeping him alive if she didn't know why someone wanted him dead in the first place. And all the wire transfers for who hired her were anonymous. She turns on his computer and it isn't even password protected. It was a desktop and not a laptop, but still.

He must be the most naive and trusting idiot in the world.

She looks through the files on his computer and nothing useful turns up. He's so normal it's pissing her off.

She looks through his emails and there isn't even a hint of one lousy affair.

And she doesn't feel an ounce of guilt invading his privacy because it was a whole lot nicer than killing him.

She deserved a thank you.

But she can't find anything on why anyone would want him dead.

His plans were dinner with friends or something and it's been an hour at this point and she knows he could walk through the door at any moment and catch her.

Catch her having broken into his apartment. And she still had nothing.

And she decided to fuck it and just ask him. Just sit down on the couch in his living room and ask him who would want to kill him when he gets home.

This whole operation was already fucked, why not fuck it up some more? ___

she hears him unlock and open the door when he gets home. She hears him enter, shut the door, lock it behind him.

He walks down the hallway, finally to his living room and sees her.

He just stares at her and she says "c'mon dude, why the hell is it so hard to find out who wants you dead?"

And Jake blinks a couple seconds and then he says "uh, are you okay? Do you need help or something? Do you know where you are?" He asks like she may have accidentally gotten into his locked apartment cause she had a concussion and didn't know who the hell she was.

And she says "seriously? Seriously, man? I broke into your apartment and you ask me if I'm /okay/?" She sounds frustrated.

And he says "I think that's a fair assumption unless you were the worst robber in the history of ever. I walk in and there's a stranger sitting on my couch. Not stealing my couch, sitting on my couch. Correct me if I'm wrong but professional robbers are A: supposed to take stuff and B: supposed to be gone by the time the home owner comes back. So an empty handed stranger sitting on my couch who just starts talking to me like it ain't no thang instead of trying to flee the first thing my mind jumped to was not a criminal mastermind. Though that actually might be a smart plan after all. If you would've gotten a bowl of cereal and kicked back with the TV on the only logical assumption would be that you just walked out of a hospital ward and and the homeowner would probably call an ambulance to take the obviously confused and concussed woman back to the hospital and you could just walk out the door with all their valuables while they're making that call. That would actually be a great plan."

And Amy's like "don't give me tips on how to rob you better! What the hell is wrong with you?"

And Jake says "but you're not actually robbing me, are you? Cause you're doing a pretty piss poor job of it. Since you're not actually stealing anything can tell me what the hell you are doing here?"

Pornstar peraltiago AU + coworkers to friends to lovers trope

After the confessing feelings for each other part and kissing the heck out of each other:

“Okay, this is really nice and I'm loving it, but I also wanna be with you, not whoever we're supposed to be at work. I want to be touched by Jake Peralta, you know?” Her voice tiltered out, almost wincing, but she was sure he got what she meant. “Fuck, that's all I've ever wanted. Amy Santiago. Who I watch movies with and laugh and who falls asleep on my couch and I have to resist kissing her on the forehead every time.”

Brooklyn Legal - Peraltiago TV show actors AU

Eliza was essentially the let loose wild card character in their cast ensemble, something that could not be more opposite of the actor playing the character, Amy Santiago. Jake's character was in the main cast too, Lucas, who was the awkward book type, preferring hard cover law books when he had to research any preferences for cases instead of just using a computer. Jake and Amy still end up falling for each other.

Starmora college AU + artist!Peter and kickboxer!Gamora

“Your drawings. They’re not bad,” she said simply. “And either you messed up on this one here, or that man was not showing proper form,” she pointed out, down at one of his figure drawings of a man kicking the open air.

“Would you like me to show you how it’s actually done?” Gamora offered with an air of disinterested professionalism, though he’s certain he can see a smirk that’s just begging to be brought out from her lips.

He stared at her, blinking like an idiot. Then he started nodding, still like an idiot.

She gave him a single, curt nod in return before heading back to the mat she was practicing on, this time with a specific move in mind.

Gamora moved into position, breathed out, and let it overtake her.

"Would you like me to show you how it's actually done?" She offers with an air of disinterested professionalism, though he's certain he can see a smirk that's just begging to be brought out from her lips. Peter blinks once, twice. Like an idiot. Then he starts nodding, still like an idiot. Gamora nods at him once before walking away, walking back towards the mat, positioning herself right where she was practicing before. This time, though, with a specific movement in mind, putting on a show. She goes through her practice arsenal of moves, throwing in that one basically two or three moves, since his goal was to capture figures in motion, not figures in a pose. She kinda loses herself in the routine, and what he probably expected to be a 30 second demonstration turns into 5 minutes of her exercising and moving fluidly through her practice until she's breathing heavy and broken out into a sweat. When she decides to pause and take a break, she looks back over to her new friend/acquaintance, who is furiously scribbling in his sketchbook. Well, that's not quite true. His pencil is gliding across the page in a swift and fluid fashion, much like her movements were earlier. They're both getting their practice in of the art forms they've done a thousand times before, moving through the motions.

Conceptual photographer!Jake + Model!Amy (also, former Art Student!Amy)

When they're about to get started Amy says “I - I like your works.”

And he gives her a soft and polite smile with a “Thanks.”

And she realizes that everyone probably tells him that. Everyday. And they're probably all lying. And if they're not it was probably because they looked them up the night before and memorized all the facts so they could impress him.

That's why she got the polite smile. Because he hears that lie a million times a day by people trying to be polite or something.

And she recants immediately “No I don't. That was a total lie. I didn't even know your name until two weeks ago.” And she's totally flabbergasted but his smile is genuine now instead of polite and she doesn't know what to say or where she's going, but he has a really good smile and she just wants to keep talking so he'll keep smiling. “I like a work of yours. It was the only one I'd seen, and I didn't even know it was yours until two weeks ago when I looked you up and I saw it and I saw you made it, but I just recognized it by sight cause when I heard your name I didn't think I knew anything you ever did, but I was scrolling through it all and I realized that I'd seen it before. And I really liked it, I just didn't know who made it. I mean it's in a museum by my house and your name is on the plaque but all the times I looked at it I never even bothered to read the plaque. Not because I didn't like it, I just never read the plaques in art museums even on the stuff I really love. So I don't like you works or even really know any of them. I just really like the one.”

Childhood friends starmora AU

Later that night, after the eclector had left port, Gamora and Peter were sitting in Peter’s room, just talking.

“How come you didn’t tell me you could fix ships?” He asked, thinking that would have been something good for him to know to convince Yondu to let them take her aboard.

“I don’t,” Gamora said simply. At the confused look he gave her, she grinned something mischievous, like they were partners in crime. “I lied,” she admitted, laughing into her hand.

Peter in turn laughed that much harder.

“But I am a quick learner!” Gamora added quickly. She was pretty sure she could trust Peter, but she had still only met him today, and she had lied to his- captain? From the insolence he spoke to Yondu with, he seemed more like his father. Not in the way that Thanos insisted on calling himself Gamora’s father, but his actual father. She had come up with the lie spur of the moment, because her situation was urgent, and she needed to get off the planet as soon as possible. Anything was better than her siblings finding her and taking her back. Any repercussions from that fib paled to what would be in store if she was brought back to Sanctuary. “I’m good at memorizing stuff, so I can learn how to fix engines if the mechanic on board shows me how. I meant that, about earning my keep. I can be a- a apprentice or something. It wasn’t a total lie.”

“You’re not gonna tell him, are you?” She asked worriedly.

“What? No! I’m not a tattle tale!” Peter told her immediately, and even though she didn’t know what a tattle tale was, she could figure out what it meant from context clues. “He’ll probably figure it out on his own, though. But that’s okay-” he added quickly, when he saw the look of genuine fear in Gamora’s eyes. “Yondu says he values ‘ngenuity ‘‘n stuff. That just means if you manage to pull one over on him he’ll prolly laugh and give you a pat on the back and maybe a smack on the head for being a smart ass, but that’s it. I wouldn’t be here right now if Yondu wasn’t impressed by the few times I’ve managed to actually trick him. I mean- many times. I’ve tricked him oh so many times. Lots.”

Gamora laughed at that, because Peter was such a horrible liar. She didn’t think that was such a bad thing. No, it wasn’t bad at all.

Then flashforward like eight or so years and of Peter and Gamora fall in love because of course they do. So it’s really more of a raised by ravagers falling in love with your best friend starmora AU with a childhood friends prologue (plus some good ol fashion Peter whump with him almost dying on a solo mission they undertake cause yessss)

Post IW/post endgame Thor/Valkyrie reunion fic

“Hey! It’s me! It’s really me! I swear!” Thor held his hands up in a defensive posture, but that only seemed to anger her more.

“I know it’s you! That’s why I’m hitting you!”

She took another swing at him that he easily blocked- either she was too sleep deprived to at least hit him well, or she wasn’t trying as much as she wanted to seem.

They’d sparred before, and this definitely wasn’t even close to the full force of the Valkyrie. Still enough to hurt, though. Her movements were sloppy in a way she’d scolded him for when they had trained together following Ragnarok (“You’re too open, your majesty,” she informed him, with her trademark mocking tone at his title. Thor didn’t really mind. The teasing tone. He definitely minded the kick to the ribs he just got- it felt like they’d been punted into him. “When you swing, you swing wildly, and you make so much of yourself a target. You need to keep your hands up, when you punch, pull back, keep your shoulders tucked. It’s like you’re expecting your opponents not to hit back. Sure, you’re fine if you knock them out on the first punch, anything other than that, your technique leaves you wide open and your ribs prime for kicking,” she informed him, smirking while he was still struggling to breathe evenly again.)

It was the same too open critique she’d criticized him for months ago, the one that she said was fighting like he was expecting his opponents not to hit back. Her swings left her wide open, now.

Though, if she knew it was him, then she also knew he wouldn’t hit back. So maybe the too open fighting made sense right now.

“Aren’t you glad I’m alive?” He asked, blocking an elbow strike and deflecting the punch that followed. He caught her wrist, wrapped his hand around it before she could pull it back (“You’re too open”)

“Of course I’m glad you’re alive,” she growled, sounding much more mad than glad.

Starmora AU where they live in a seaside town and go to college together, and have a competitive rivalry going on as captains of the swimteam, then one day Gamora’s out on the ocean and a storm comes rolling in and she’s tossed overboard, only to be rescued from crashing waves by mermaid!Peter - like seriously, what the hell? This idiot that she’s known for years has a motherfucking mermaid tail???

Oh, and there’s a Sentinel/Guide AU with sentinel!Gamora and Guide!Peter

Plus, some lovely Elspeth Quill prompts that make my heart glow

Also, the B99/Peraltiago Daemon AU where Jake’s daemon is a badger named Jeremiah, and everyone’s like, how did the most cuddly person of a human being get something as scary and confrontational as an American Badger? They took on bears and wolves! On purpose!

Almost forgot about the multichapter Peraltiago space ark AU- it’s technically a series of one shots in the same universe, and a song fic, based on a concept album (so there’s 11 chapters, since the album has 11 songs in it) - I have the first chapter of this completely done, but nothing close to the other 10, and I feel bad about having so many multichapters open at the same time and updating them so slowly (hence why all this crap is in my unposted junk), but I might post chapter one of this soon just as a little ‘screw you (I say to myself and sense of obligation/anxiety), I’m having fun writing this, that’s the only mandatory thing about fic writing, if I’m enjoying myself and taking forever, that’s something to rejoice in, not feel bad about

So yeah, goodness knows when all this shit will be out. I think the closest things I have to done are the Peraltiago space ark ch 1 AU and the Thorkyrie reunion fic

Ima tag @peraltiagoisland, @nymphrea, @star-munches, @marypoppinswasmyfatherbitches, @thingssunspokenorotherwise, @interabangs, @perilinpeace @elsaclack

Please don’t feel obligated to participate if I tagged you, and if you’re looking for an example for the way you’re actually supposed to do this ask meme and not my weird way, startofamoment’s post here is good

(cough cough elsaclack i almost didn’t tag you cause i didn’t want you to be pressured cause i know how that be sometimes, but i love u, and your writing, and also wanted to wave some of my peraltiago stuff that i’m exctied about in your face and be like ‘look what I made!’/’haven’t made yet’)

But really, same goes for everyone here, you’re tagged because ily and i love your stuff, and don’t feel obligated to participate, don’t do this if it’ll stress you out/make you feel pressured in the long run, only do it if it sounds fun cause you’re all so freakin’ great and i want you to have fun

#b99 #gotg #thorkyrie #peraltiago #starmora #fanfic #MCU fanfiction #AU #writing meme #thor x valkyrie #my fic #ask meme

8 notes · View notes

akalegos · 5 years ago

Note

Could you tell us a little about your characters?

Y E S !

but due to me having at least over a thousand characters I’ll just give a quick summary of the 25 I manage to dig up over 3 sketchbooks.

Y’all can pick and choose which of them interest yall or who you wanna hear more about!

Also because I’m extra, I made sketch icons for the 25 characters, info under the cut

I’ll talk a bit more about my actual Original Characters first, starting with

Aiko! Otherwise known as Echo

- A marked individual in a steampunk world that gets mixed with magic, because I like both of those things

- Echo runs an underground lab that does helps the underground world with replacing body parts, illegal surgeries etc etc

- Even though she marked, which puts a bounty on her head already, she is well respected by the community for not cheating for your money, stealing your cash, or shanking/killing you mid-surgery

- however, Echo does long for adventure and sometimes do get bored in the lab

oh yeah,, Echo like stealing eyeballs, so if you’re low on cash and wouldn’t mind losing an eye, you know who to call!!

Bonus:

Here’s Echo’s boring, undeveloped sidekick!! I don’t like her and I don’t know how to make her better. Yes, she doesn’t have a name.

here’s my god playboy that left “heaven” due to having an early mid-life crisis, I call him God boi cause;

- He goes by many names!

tbh, he’s probably the closest character I have to being genderfluid/-neutral? I’m not sure,,

- The god has many powers, from lightning to shapeshifting

- The shapeshifting part allows him to change every part of himself, allowing him to change depending on his situation.

- God boyo, or originally Aristide, is obsessed with the idea of perfection. A god should be perfect, if a god is out of line, he is no god.

- Same goes for him, which means whenever something is wrong with him, it affects him, extremely

However, leaving the land of gods to live among humans aren’t all perks

- Aris isn’t immune to diseases or injuries. In fact, he actually fell down and died on impact when he came to earth, being reborn into another child immediately.

- He doesn’t gain his memories back automatically tho!! He has to have a major shock to the brain in order for him to remember his previous lives

- Sometimes the shock isn’t enough either, when you have a thousand over lives, you won’t remember every single one of them. So forgotten lovers coming back to haunt because your brain hates you? That’s everyday for him!

i just,, i like playing with the concepts of god,,

Up next we got Ayeka Himura! A japanese student going to a neighborhood, but still a pretty good, school living close to poverty due to her father’s constant spending habits and obsession with art supplies. With the household lacking a mother due to wacky shenanigans, Ayeka takes care of her two younger siblings and the house, all while maintaining a very well-paid job and slowly loosing interest in actually studying for a good, honest job.

also she likes birds!!

Yes her design is heavily “based” off Toga but I love her current design too much to change it, h e l p

So like,, I suck at chinese and I made ocs that exclusively spoke in chinese to help with that but I’m still stuck at 40~marks

I forgot his scar but remembered his earring i hate myself

my og chinese kiddo! he was was first to come and I love his design ever since

he radiates fuck you energy except the girl below. He’s neighbors with her and they acknowledge each other existence ever since. he has a dumb cliche crush on her and is a bit protective of her because nothing says having issues than latching onto someone that makes you happy

Only this girl got named!! even tho she was the second character.

Li Shen, yes she doesnt have a surname, is apparently main ho now, according to my old oc chart of my “main” ocs

She’s the group’s resident sweetheart and really does not want you to do stupid shit, stop doing stupid shit. She tutors my son up there ^^ even though he’s actually smart and just refuses to do his work properly. But she still deeply cares for him.

As well as the girl below shdifhd

the last girl of the ching chong trio and the reason I had to switch up my son’s design is this girly over here! Her design was too business-y and formal so I enrolled all of them into college. A rich girl who doesn’t know how to deal with her g a y thoughts. Tried sending Li Shen some flowers once. She didn’t realize attaching her name would be a good idea and son got a good laugh.

i like paranormal stuff so they apparently look into that shit in their spare time. They’re all actually really fun characters to do prompts with I swear!! send some in and I’ll write them

I had a previous concept for son and Li Shen before last girl came and if yall want me to talk about it,,, i found my sketchbook with the old ideas,,

NEXT UP IS MY OLD GIRL ELORA!!

Elora herself used to be a fan character but I pulled her out and wow\

cant fucking believe she used to be straight for Vylad

shes the outgoing, fun adventure type! bit of mommy issues here and there tho,, I don’t want to say too much since I have an entire for her +

her now upgraded bro, Vincent

i really like the name vincent,,

also now he has mommy issues

Ead, the knight who used to have armor

I hate drawing armor

he also have issues

AND IRIS MY SWEET GIRL IM SO SORRY

she doesnt have that much issues tho

basically I made elora and her bro have mommy issues, I’m sorry in advance if that spoils anything

I, sometimes, post about these 4 over on @eloradiesismydocsname and its a gay ol’ time

not that gay tho because uhh,, medieval times,, but I need prompts for a modern au of them and I am happy to talk about their personalities and even go semi in-depth for any of them!!

here we have ghoster.png,, which is her file name cause I didn’t name her,,

A horror enthusiast + film student that goes to a supposedly haunted shack to film her upcoming project with the boys. wacky shenanigans occur and the boys left leaving ghoster here to starve and eventually fall to her death. But because it’s my oc i get to bring her back from the dead, now hungry as ever and will fucking eat you, its not a kink thing, shes just that hungry and angry

tax fraud.png

a robo girl that i created during social studies cause they were talking about taxes and i just went, “what if,, a robo runs on taxes,,, and like,, she haunts you down for not paying your taxes,,” thus she was born! I don’t know what to name her but she is set in the future so-

Time to go future-apocalypse style because I love that setting too and was upset that I didn’t have any ocs in that style. So I created Alex A. ! A cybrog filled with memories of the previous generations as a sad attempt to preserve human life.

He’s accompanied by his sister/cousin idr i didn’t draw an icon for her, didnt like her design. they go on a hunt for food and to return with nothing. She gets to meet this other dude who has a plant arm im pretty sure i based him off someone’s elses oc but i cant remember. The 3 are forgotten. Kinda want to bring them back tho.

Neon! A character set in the future utopia of lazy people, where gamers rise up. its the best I can describe her story without getting too deep. She the new hacker on the block, joining the underground gang of elite hackers. She’s another one of those wacky characters that just has fun. I mean, when you know your way around codes and the world you live in is full of it, would you not take advantage of that?

as for fan characters,, uhh,, i have em

STARTING WITH MY WIFE!

Alexzandra Zara oh my god i forgot to draw her necklace and shirt

anyways,, Alexzandra is one of the more older ocs I have that didnt get a big revamp. Only an au I develop to the point I forgot the actual shows and the original cast are a little different from the source haha what? She’s the emotionally unstable german war veteran, yes the wife thing isn’t mutual, and haha shes only 27~. I cling onto her so much?? She’s hits a lot of “edgy” points but I still love her cause idk,, the story I made for her is something I hold dear cause Alexzandra was one of my first ACTUALLY DEVELOPED CHARACTER. Is it wrong to say I hold her really close to my heart? Is that weird? probably a little cringy sorry haha. I probably project a little into her which might have strengthened my love for her ack. Her story delves more into the depression very unstable needs to talk to someone side and i get scared talking about my wife’s story online so uhh, idk ask me specific questions about her, I’ll be more inclined to talk.

Dr Watts! The spoiled ass dick that stole dst Wilson’s house and yes this is a dst oc, yes im slightly sorry.

He’s just fun?? almost ran a blog with him and a friend’s oc. He’s your typical uptight old science gramps that took advantage of the fact that no one knows his real name that he calls himself a doc. He’s not. I put everything about him up to a 9-10? He’s one of those wacky characters and I love him for it! His story is really wonky tho so might need help solidifying that part

and from the angry old man to my sweet man that will adopt you even if you’re noisy or call him ginger. Pilot here is a TF2 OC I made to interact with other tf2 OCs cause some of them are fun and i wanna join in :((

He’s the Canadian stereotype, and yes, he adopted scout, that was one of my character notes.

Like the actual cast of tf2, there’s barely any real story to him. I only gave him a vague I don’t know my past but hey, i fly really really well. He participated in war unlike certain men but he’s still really nice and will only kill you if you hurt his family. Which he doesn’t know so he just considers the cast his family. He keeps mentioning a wife though, pretty sure he doesn’t have one but you do what makes you happy son.

Ai! an oc I HEAVILY revamped oh my god i hate her old vers. So if yall remember my random shouting of missing my og son, Aru. Here’s his bff. cause he barely has any actual friends that give a shit. And I just cant have that. but here’s your yandere revamped into a last minute addition. I actually feel like I did Ai a lot of justice. I don’t want to delve too deep cause I will start making charts. I’ll do that in a separate post if yall are keen

Isamu Aena! a mp100 oc I made by accident cause idk,, I was thinking about lolita fashion and all of a sudden, the actual oc I was going to make turned into a mob psycho oc. She’s one of my few ocs where her sexuality matters (she’s gay yeah) cause it plays a role in her storyline. She went from being “manipulated”/used to Mob’s wingwomen. She spots out things that can help him in the romantic department cause she’s into romance. A student of the school Mob infiltrated and a fantastic tailor, not to mention a pretty decent pyschic. wait where do models get their lolita stuff from,,

im gonna ignore that and move onto Lillian Yi! Who, i swear i did not meant for it, is very close to lloyd. I mean,, none of the ninjas were with him after s3, who you think he’d meet. Lillian is a survivor from the Great Devourour and yes I’m still pissed LEGO stole my backstory for Lillian to use for Harumi. FUCK YOU LEGO, i still love both of em tho,, The event did leave a big scar and it made Lillian job jumping for a bit, ending at Chen’s Noodles in S6~, where ya know,, stuff got better. She was a medalist for gymnastics and continue the activity, even after her parents’ death, to please others. She was already lost at the time so staying in the sport would help, right? Needless to say, after being rejected at a cop academy for youths, or something similar, she gave up for a while but got back into the idea of saving people by using her skills she already had. It helped with the weight and feelings and meeting the green ninja was a very big bonus. Also Lloyd dubbed her the “mysterious stranger” when she refused to speak in fear of her identity, slight shame, and maybe a bit of being star struck. It helped Lloyd too in a sense where he had something to distract him from Zane’s passing.

Their relationship was eventually formed, strong and almost unbreakable, except for harumi but uhh thats a different story. Throughout the seasons, they stayed close and lloyd was always comforted by Lillian went times get ruff.

Also Lillian is my most light-hearted characters and I think that says a lot

Then there’s Nite “I don’t want to be your dad”. A character that is supposed to be in the ninjago world but barely interacts with the main story and only stays in his self contained plot. He was supposed to get a bf but uhhh idk. He’s the master of shifting and streams that online, taking out small crimes, and is actually really shy and doesn’t like interacting with people.

also haha fortnite

Nora Akino, the sin of despair! its an ad thing, I think. She speaks only in a foreign language that only Odin understands and is either big gay for Ava or Maggi, she can’t pick. And yes she did drink the vial, when TITAN attacks your planet and you accidentally die, how else can you meet your family again? also my grandpa walked in and said she looks like royalty. cool-

she wouldn’t leave my hand for like,, 3 days or something

Petri, a fellow troublemaker at camp campbell’s music camp. She managed to pick the camp because apparently a parent who doesn’t acknowledge your hard work don’t read the fine print! Please let David adopt her,,

LASTLY! Yukimaru Atsuko, hero name; Gummie. She goes by Yuki and is a big dick. She’s a studious student but gets more thrills on the actual battlefield. Living with her uptight grandma and her big bottom energy bro, she has the dom energy thing going. and apparently folks on G+, or the people who comment about her, thinks she’s really pretty, which was oddly a thing back before UA. She’s the dick you can like, not like Bakugou but she will definitely want to fight Bakugou.

A gum-related quirk is not full of perks when its only your hands. I’d dive more into her like her insecurities and stuff but I’ve been here for probably 3hrs. Sorry anon.

Also I’m so sorry to anyone who reads this all the way through.

#not an ask #bkanvas' ocs #ocs

1 note · View note

theawkwardterrier · 6 years ago

Text

2018 fic roundup

Buffyverse

well tell her that I miss our little talks So Hurry Up and Lose Me, Hurry Up and Find Me (Again) Here We Are, Trapped (But Is It a Trap If I'm With You?) To All Our Histories Which Haven't Yet Happened

MCU

But A Walking Shadow Out of the Frying Pan Hand in Hand, Side by Side to walk to where you are sleeping To The Neighborhood Oh, But Aren't You Already My Darling? By Those Who Show Up Stitch Together In Spirit of the Season Childhood Friends

Veronica Mars

not just about being new (it’s about a change)

1. Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d predicted?:

Still not predicting, but probably around the predictable amount? I've gotten a little longer, I think, but I'm writing fewer stories overall, and I've really fallen into a few specific fandom categories - haven't added a new one in a while.

2. What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January?:

Dick/OC. Dick/anyone was a surprise. I'm generally frustrated and uninterested in Dick, so taking him on as a main character - when typically he's been a side role in my fic at best - is unexpected. I was just really drawn to the prompt.

3. What’s your own favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest?

I'm really proud of To The Neighborhood. I like the POV, I think the character flowed well, it has a particular tone throughout, and everything is built using small details without info dumps. And I'm always a big fan of domesticity too - sweet, settled life is always a joy for me to write!

4. Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?

It's weird to say at this point, but I think I've been playing around with AUs a little too much. Here We Are, Trapped (But Is It a Trap If I'm With You?) and Hand in Hand, Side by Side are really prime examples of this: they aren't just timeline changes or ways of placing the characters in similar roles in non supernatural settings, they are way, way big and entire AUs. I really like them conceptually - ya girl loves a good (or not good!) romcom - but they are really quite out of the ordinary. I guess I learned that I kinda don't care - I wrote it because I liked it, and I had fun with it!

5. Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?

Nah. I finished my Woman Borne sequel, which was the goal I had set at the beginning of last year, and I'm probably just going to resign my work on my too ambitious Chase/Cameron fic, so I'm good.

6. From my past year of writing, what was…

Story Most Underappreciated by the Universe:

But A Walking Shadow. I'm not afraid to say how sad I am about this. I'm really, intensely proud of this story: the writing is good, the characters are good, it's lengthy (for me), it's chapter fic, it's part of a universe I've already worked on, there's action instead of just Emotional Talking - it felt like I did everything right, and it still didn't make a difference.

Most Fun:

Hand in Hand, Side by Side probably - I like Steve/Peggy and a Virtue/Moir AU for them was a blast to write. But I actually had a lot of fun with a bunch of them!

Most Disappointing:

By Those Who Show Up is a little too liberal wonky - too much political talk, not quite enough emotional buildup. To All Our Histories Which Haven't Yet Happened is also a little exhausting and repetitive in concept and would have probably been better if there were more substance between the little stories, but I really like the title, so that helps it out.

Most Sexy:

Steve and Peggy end up in a bed and kiss there in Oh, But Aren't You Already My Darling? so ha ha ha, that is extremely sexy!

Hardest to Write:

They kinda ended up in either the "it took four days from beginning to final edit" category, or the "I'm afraid I might just be writing this for the next several years" one this time around. I took a lot of care with But A Walking Shadow, and I stopped writing Childhood Friends for a while to work on other stuff and there was a point where I couldn't make In Spirit of the Season not incredibly depressing and a piece of Peggy character assassination, but most of my Buffy fics were like this (well tell her that I miss our little talks was the exception - that's why it's listed as posted like three weeks before the rest of them).

Most Unintentionally Telling:

As I was writing In Spirit of the Season, I literally said aloud, "I think I might have something weird going on internally with motherhood."

Choice Lines:

From But A Walking Shadow:

The force of her fingers, the directness of her gaze: for a moment he fears that she is about to kiss his mouth with the desperate confidence he’d felt before he’d boarded Schmidt’s plane. But instead, she leans up and presses her lips beneath his ear. He shivers; he always does, there, and she knows that.

He just can’t think of the noise and the flames, the collapse, when his mind and heart and guts weigh so human inside him.

The anger is worn and so tired inside of him.

"I don’t want to kill you,” says the man, pushing the words out. The soldier's arm, built to last, built to kill, shakes at the thought that he will die gasping. “And I don’t want to die. And I can’t bring you to meet my family like this.” His frame trembles. His eyes are magnified, wide as the stars.

There is such future and fragility in yet.

He remembers the way she fit in two hands the first time he held her, how she sometimes trips downstairs and curls up sleepily in his lap when he comes back from a run early in the morning. He loves her so much. Finally, he hugs her. “Have a good day, sweetheart,” he says, and lets her go.

From to walk to where you are sleeping:

“Enough is enough,” she tells herself most mornings, when she wakes up gritty-eyed and already teary from dreaming. “Enough is enough,” when she wants to tell Steve about her day, when she spots hair like his from the corner of her eye, when she has another lonely cup of tea at her table, when she wants just a bit of his optimism to drive her onward. “It was two years out of more than twenty, it is time to be done with mourning, enough is enough.” And then one night she opens her eyes into the darkness of her bedroom and tells herself, “Enough.”

He is here, he is here: what fragile and disturbing joy.

She watched so many good people die - not just Steve, not just her brother, but the boys who came from her home village, and the sweet air force pilot she’d kissed on the New Year of 1940, and the lady who’d sold ice cream through the Blitz and been suffocated by an improperly constructed Anderson shelter - and perhaps she doesn’t have to turn her grief out of doors and lock herself up.

From To The Neighborhood:

For a moment, she regrets not having one of those emergency call buttons that her daughter Joan (Dr. Oglethorpe hasn’t been allowed to call her Joanie in years) recommends when she makes her monthly call from Columbus, or at least a cellular phone.

From Oh, But Aren't You Already My Darling?:

Steve rests his hands on her wrists, so gentle, and she wants to cry. “Peg,” he says quietly, “can you maybe track me down a pair of pants? I know my legs aren’t really working yet, but I’ve had enough of showing off in a hospital gown for one lifetime.”

From By Those Who Show Up:

“Hell yeah,” says Bucky. “I was over there ten years and only lost an arm. Six months of doing this with you and I’ve basically lost my life.” He runs a hand through his hair. “I’m thinning up top, Steve, I swear to God.”

From well tell her that I miss our little talks:

(Note to self: start organizing things on the kitchen calendar. Note to self: get a kitchen calendar.)

There's basically cartoony whistling sound, like her optimism is Wile E. Coyote falling off a cliff.

She hugged a pillow against her chest. She’d sign him up for a couple of community college mailing lists; maybe sitting in the back of some dense philosophy class would remind him why college wasn’t for everyone, or at least distract him. Her luck: he’d get all nerdy enthusi-Angel and just double down on the college fun talk. She really missed him. “Anyway,” she recalled herself. “I’m thinking maybe going all in on the spick and span could have something to do with you turning the dial up to Angel on the Broodometer.”

"....You’re allowed to think that you’re worth more than him, even if he was the one with the pulse.”

From So Hurry Up and Lose Me, Hurry Up and Find Me (Again):

Also, Angel has to be worried about being ‘busted, and not just in the Dust way.

How glad she is for him, knowing what he’s been through, knowing for herself how frightening it is to dangle unsupported and exhaust yourself hoping for a loving hand.

When Willow is like this, firm steps and a commanding voice, closed eyes as she puts a hand on the last sorcerer's shoulder, it’s hard for Buffy to hold in her mind Willow shy and sweet at sixteen. But then Will nods to Buffy, and without a thought, Buffy fells the robed woman. They’ve both changed. Neither of them will ever be sixteen again.

From Here We Are, Trapped (But Is It a Trap If I'm With You?):

“No. I’m counting on you to do the right thing for everyone, even if it might happen to include you.”

From To All Our Histories Which Haven't Yet Happened:

“He was younger than I am now, and older than you would want to be.”

From Childhood Friends:

Peggy, who had spent the afternoon she received the letter holding the hand of a boy - and he had been a boy - as he screamed and screamed toward death, had delayed replying, as she had not been able to summon a response to such grievances for nearly a week.

That she had spent her childhood at this very house with her dresses in a hopeless muddle and her knees insistently grass-stained, and that Steve had recently seen her in both a wrinkled nurse’s uniform after a night shift and indifferent mourning crepe below a tear-stained face, made her only more determined to put her best foot forward in this encounter.

...and Peggy concentrated on the feeling of his hand in hers, on the heat of him through his jacket, and felt despair and grave hope.

But her husband, who remembered a similar expression on his own mother’s face when he had professed his intention to marry Amanda, upon hearing whose surname even Charles II would have replied “Whom?” pulled her toward himself once more and said only, “Let them dance.”

#the only thing i still post on livejournal #my fic reflections for the year

5 notes · View notes

emospritelet · 7 years ago

Text

Empty Corridors - chapter 32

I know, I know, it’s been 84 years...

Last time, Neal turned up in Storybrooke just in time to catch Gold beating the crap out of Moe. He reluctantly agreed to go to dinner at Gold and Lacey’s house. Here’s what happened next. (please ignore the wonky formatting that is the latest tumblr glitch - it disappears when you click the Read More)

AO3 link

Gold watched Neal as he stepped into the lounge, his eyes flicking from left to right as he tried to take everything in. He had laid a fire that morning, and Lacey must have lit it when she returned home, because there was a cheerful blaze in the hearth, warming the room. Hagrid and Minerva were curled on the couch, and Gold lifted the cushion next to them, smirking as a pair of green eyes looked up at him from a soft dome of black fur. Severus blinked, purring briefly before breaking off to yawn, and Gold grinned, leaning his cane against the arm of the couch.

“There’s my boy,” he said, and picked up the kitten, letting him nestle against his chest and butt his head against Gold’s chin. Gold smiled at Neal, who was watching him with an unreadable expression on his face.

“This is Severus,” said Gold, and nodded to the two cats curled on the sofa. “The black and white one is Hagrid, and the calico is Minerva. Careful of her, she’s a minx. Has a tendency to chew shoelaces and she’ll take a bite out of your sandwich if you give her the chance. But she’s adorable.”

Neal reached over to scratch Hagrid’s ears, glancing back at Gold.

“Never imagined you’d be a Harry Potter fan,” he remarked.

“Lacey named them,” said Gold. “They’re hers, really. But since she’s moved in - well, I guess I’ve sort of adopted them. It’s nice to have some company in the house, if one of us is home alone.”

“They’re cute,” admitted Neal, fingers tickling beneath Hagrid’s chin. “We can’t really have pets at the moment. Emma’s more of a dog person, anyway, and that’s never gonna happen as long as we’re renting the apartment. Landlord’s not a fan of animals.”

“Hmm.” Gold’s smile was wry. “Yes, I didn’t exactly agree to Lacey bringing them into the apartment she rented from me. It was more a case of her getting my permission after the event.”

“You were her landlord?”

“I own most of this town,” he said. “But I’m more than happy to be losing out on that particular monthly rental payment, I assure you.”

He gave Severus a final petting, and lifted the kitten off his shoulder, handing him over to Neal.

“Here,” he said. “Put him next to his brother and sister. I’ll get us those drinks.”

He picked up his cane, walking off to the kitchen, and feeling Neal’s eyes on his back. Lacey looked around when he entered, her eyes sending him a silent message of love and support, and he couldn’t help smiling, despite his nerves. His son had agreed to come to dinner. It was a new and fragile thing that they had, but every step in the right direction was to be treasured.

“Do you need help?” he asked, and she bent to open the oven door.

“Nah, I’m good,” she said, lifting out a casserole dish and setting it on the stovetop. “Pour the wine, and I’ll serve up.”

He reached for a bottle from the rack, and she put a hand on his arm, giving him a brief, reassuring squeeze.

“Just take it slow,” she said softly. “It’ll be fine.”

He nodded, and she leaned in to kiss his cheek before carrying the casserole dish to the table. There was a pan of potatoes already cooked, and he watched her mash them with milk and butter as he uncorked the wine.

“I’m nervous,” he whispered, and Lacey looked up, chewing her lip.

“I know,” she said, and reached out to touch his arm. “But he seems like a good guy.”

“Yes,” he said softly. “He does. I’m - I’m proud.”

“Yeah, I think it says a lot about him,” she went on. “I know you never wanted this for him, but from his perspective…”

She broke off, shrugging, but he could understand what she was trying to say.

“I - I think he’s hurting,” she said, “and he thinks you’re a different person to the man I know, but he’ll come around. It might not be instant, you have to be prepared for that.”

“I know.” He pulled the cork from the bottle with a pop. “Shall I bring him through?”

“We’re all ready.” She held up the bowl of mashed potatoes. “Is this okay?”

Gold set down the wine bottle and dipped a finger into the mash, transferring a large blob to his mouth. It was savoury and delicious, rich with butter and creamy milk and seasoned with fresh-ground salt and black pepper. He grinned at her, and she almost blushed as she returned the smile.

“That’s delicious,” he said. “Don’t ever tell me you can’t cook again, alright?”

Lacey sniffed.

“If you think you’re getting out of making me awesome food, think again,” she said. “Just because I haven’t poisoned us yet doesn’t mean I should be let loose in this place.”

Gold grinned, and swept her a tiny bow before heading back to the lounge. Lacey bobbed up and down on her toes for a moment, nervous on his behalf. She decided to sit down to hide her restlessness, and took a seat just as the two men walked in.

“Sit down and help yourselves,” she said with an air of carelessness she didn’t feel. “There’s plenty, so don’t hold back. You know, unless it’s inedible.”

“It smells great,” said Neal, and took a seat across from her, leaving Gold to sit at the end.

There was silence for a moment as food was spooned onto plates and wine poured. Lacey was pleased to hear noises of enjoyment from her fellow diners. Pride in her cooking was a new feeling for her.

“That’s excellent, sweetheart,” said Gold, lifting his wineglass.

“Really good,” agreed Neal, and she wanted to wriggle in pleasure. She decided to try to coax Neal into speaking instead.

“So,” she said. “How are Emma and Henry?”

Gold shot her a look at that, and she sighed inwardly. Yeah, okay, I never told you about visiting your son, or the fact that I met his family. Guess I’ll be hearing about that later, huh?

“They’re good,” said Neal. “Really good. Emma’s thinking about going back to work when Henry turns one, so that’ll be an adjustment.”

“What does she do?” asked Lacey.

“She’s a bail-bondsperson,” he said. “Not the easiest job when you’re pregnant, so she’s thinking about re-training. Police, maybe.”

“I guess at least then you don’t work alone,” offered Lacey, picking up her wineglass, and he nodded.

“Yeah, she’s got a few friends in the police force that have been pushing her to apply, so it’s something to consider,” he said. “We’ve been kind of getting by on my wage since we found out Henry was on his way.”

“And - and what do you do?” asked Gold tentatively, and Neal eyed him for a moment, spearing a piece of chicken on his fork.

“Web design and helpdesk assistance,” he said. “Not the area I thought I’d end up in, but the money’s not bad, I guess. Enough for us to get by.”

Gold opened his mouth, and Lacey kicked him under the table, giving her head a tiny shake when he shot her a look. Offering money at this early stage would be counterproductive.

“Will you get a sitter when Emma goes to work?” she asked, and he nodded.

“I guess. If we have to. She’ll probably work a lot of nights, so I can look after him then.”

Gold shifted in his seat, and Lacey was convinced that given an opportunity to speak he would be offering to move to New York just to babysit. She squeezed his thigh under the table, making him start.

“Ah - Lacey is going to college this year,” he said. “Boston University.”

“Really?” Neal’s face brightened. “Hey, well done! What are you studying?”

“Business, I guess,” she said. “Might as well make myself useful, huh?”

“There’ll always be a job for you here, as long as you want it,” said Gold gently. “I wouldn’t be able to run the place without you.”

“Well, that’s true,” she agreed, winking at him. “Did you get a replacement for me yet?”

“Who could ever replace you?” he asked dryly, and she grinned.

“I meant to take over running the website sales, you smooth-talking bastard.”

Neal bit back a laugh, and shoved a forkful of mashed potatoes into his mouth to cover it. Gold was giving her a very level look, which only made her want to grin more.

“No replacement as such,” he admitted. “But there’s plenty of time.”

“So - does this mean you’re moving to Boston?” asked Neal, and Lacey wrinkled her nose.

“Not sure,” she admitted. “We’re still talking about it. Deciding what to do for the best. We have the business here, and I want to work when I’m not in college. I need to think about the cats, too.”

“I can look after the cats,” said Gold patiently. “I’ve told you that. If you want to go and - and have the full student experience, that’s fine. We’ll get you a dorm room, or a shared house.”

“And have a bunch of teenagers throwing up in my bathroom when I’m trying to study?” She rolled her eyes. “Been there, done that. By which I mean I’ve been the teenager throwing up when I should have been studying. Kinda want to leave that behind.”

“So what are you thinking of doing?” asked Neal, and she shrugged.

“Maybe getting a room with some sweet old lady who’s in bed by nine,” she said. “Staying there during the week and coming back at weekends.”

“Not your average student life,” said Neal, and she shrugged again, taking a drink.

��Not like I’d be going if a certain person hadn’t convinced me to try,” she said. “Can’t exactly leave him on his own with only the cats for company.”

Neal shot a look at Gold, and Lacey sipped at her wine again. Gold was paying attention to his food, but she noticed that he glanced at Neal whenever he thought his son wasn’t looking. It was a glance full of longing, and it made her want to hug him.

“So,” she said, speaking to fill the silence between the two of them. “New York, huh? How’s that working out for you?”

The dinner had been awkward, the conversation that wasn’t initiated by Lacey broken and stilted, but Gold came out of it feeling a little less anxious. It was a start, at least. Neal insisted on helping to clean up, and so Gold washed the dishes while he dried. Lacey watched them, sitting on one of the chairs with her glass of wine, and afterwards they went into the lounge, sliding onto the couch next to the cats.

“I should probably get going soon,” said Neal. “I’ll stay at that inn tonight, head back tomorrow.”

“Right,” said Gold, turning his wineglass around between his fingers. “Uh - perhaps we could have lunch?”

“Take him to Granny’s and get him a burger,” suggested Lacey, curling her legs underneath her. “They’re awesome, Neal, seriously.”

Neal glanced between the two of them, scratching Minerva’s ears as she crawled into his lap.

“Okay,” he said. “We’ll do lunch.”

Gold had been quiet after Neal had left, and Lacey decided not to push him to talk about how he was feeling. She was aware that he was already somewhat nervous about her going away to college, although of course he hadn’t said anything, and she didn’t want to add to his feelings of potential isolation by bringing up his fragile relationship with his son. She got up early the next morning and went to meet Ruby for a run, the spring air cold in her throat as they jogged along the forest trails.

“A son, hmm?” said Ruby, when Lacey had finished explaining. “Estranged for all those years, and then you show up out of the blue. Not sure whether I feel more sorry for him or for Gold.”

“Yeah, I hear you,” sighed Lacey, tucking a curl behind her ear. “I’m glad he came, though. I didn’t think he would. Connor has a grandson, you know.”

“So I just get my head around the fact that you think he’s a DILF, and then you go and drop GILF on me too,” said Ruby, and squawked as Lacey shoved her. “Come on! It’s pretty funny.”

“Well, he is a fucking GILF, I guess, if you want to get technical,” said Lacey dryly. “Maybe even a GIFOARB.”

Ruby stumbled.

“What the hell is that?”

“Grandpa I Fuck On A Regular Basis, obviously,” said Lacey, and Ruby burst out laughing.

“Okay,” she said, when she had stopped giggling. “So, do you think the reunion’s going well?”

Lacey wrinkled her nose.

“Not sure,” she admitted. “It’s sort of - fragile - you get me? Could go either way. We’re going for lunch at Granny’s later. Kinda hoping they’ll talk to each other a bit more. Most of the conversation last night was shit I was saying.”

“I guess they’ll have to take it slow,” said Ruby. “Not gonna be the sort of thing that you fix over a plate of ribs and a beer, is it?”

“Yeah.”

Lacey fell silent as the trail turned uphill, puffing air out through her mouth as her legs pumped. They crested the hill, breathing hard, their pace quickening as they went downhill before settling into a steady pace.

“What about you?” asked Ruby, and Lacey gave her a quizzical look.

“Me?”

“Yeah. College. You decided what you’re doing yet?”

Lacey wrinkled her nose.

“Not really,” she said. “Gold says he’d get me a dorm room or a shared house if I wanted one, but I’d rather rent a place that isn’t gonna be full of drunk teens whining about their love lives, you know?”

“So get a private rental,” suggested Ruby. “You could stay there Monday through Friday and come back at weekends.”

“I guess,” said Lacey. “Maybe find a roomie who likes cooking for other people and who goes to bed at a reasonable hour.”

“Weirder things have happened.”

Lacey snorted.

“What, like me wanting to go to bed at a reasonable hour?”

“Never thought I’d see the day.”

Lacey chuckled, and they started up another hill, the climb making them breathless.

They ran for half an hour before turning back, jogging down the hiking trail on the approach to town just as it turned eight o’clock. Lacey was flushed and gasping, but she felt better for the exercise. A familiar figure appeared on the trail in front of them, hands shoved in his pockets, and she slowed to a stop as Neal drew close.

“That’s him,” she whispered to Ruby. “Hey, Neal!”

He looked up at the sound of her voice, and waved, grinning at her.

“Hey!” he said. “You’re up early.”

“It’s Ruby’s fault,” said Lacy, jerking a thumb at her. “Given the choice I’d still be in bed.”

“Pleased to meet you,”said Ruby, and he nodded.

“Likewise. I’m guessing it’s your grandmother that owns the diner, then? She said I might bump into you.”

“Guilty as charged,” said Ruby, with a grin, and glanced at Lacey. “Speaking of, I should head back. If you guys want to drop by, coffee and donuts are on the house.”

Lacey gave her a grateful look, and Ruby set off at a sprint towards the town. She glanced at Neal.

“You want to walk a little?” she asked, and he shrugged.

“Sure.”

They settled into an easy stroll, and Lacey hugged herself, trying to keep warm now she had slowed her pace.

“How are things at Granny’s?” she asked.

“Yeah, it’s a nice place,” said Neal. “She does great waffles, and the coffee’s strong enough to make your eyes water. Emma would love it. Plus everyone’s real friendly.”

“Yeah, I used to work there, before your dad gave me a job,” said Lacey. “Pros of living in a small town, I guess. Everyone knows your business.”

“Even when you don’t want ‘em to,” he remarked.

“Especially when you don’t want ‘em to.”

There was silence for a moment as they walked on, and Lacey chewed her lip.

“He’s happy you’re here, you know,” she said. “But he’s nervous. I don’t think he really knows what to say, and he’s scared whatever he does say will chase you away again.”

“Yeah.” Neal drew up his shoulders, pushing his chin into the scarf wound around his neck. “Look, I can’t promise that this is gonna end how he wants. How you want.”

“I know,” she sighed. “At least you came. I didn’t think you would.”

They walked on a little way, birds chirping in the trees around them, and Lacey glanced across at him.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Shoot.”

“When you came to the house, you seemed - I don’t know - surprised, maybe? By me and him, and - and the kittens.”

Neal huffed in amusement.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

“So…” Lacey chewed her lip. “So I guess my question is, what did your mother tell you about him that would cause that?”

Neal was silent for awhile, hands shoved in his pockets, and she thought he wouldn’t answer, but then he looked across at her.

“She told me he was an abusive bastard,” he said. “That he smacked her around. That he’d smacked me around, too. That he was controlling.”

“Oh,” said Lacey, in a small voice. “Do you - do you remember any of that?”

He shook his head.

“Nah,” he said. “Oh, sure, I remember them fighting. She told me that’s why she left. Of course, she left after he went to jail, but it took me awhile to work that out. Timelines get kinda wonky when you’re six, so when you get older, you think maybe you’re remembering it wrong when your mother insists on it.”

“And - and the violence?” she asked, and he shook his head again.

“Talking about it with Emma - well, I think it kind of opened the floodgates,” he said. “I can remember her screaming at him, words I didn’t understand back then. I remember he’d just turn his back and walk out. I think maybe that made her madder, but - ah, I don’t know! You can block stuff out, right? Maybe she told the truth. I mean, the first time I saw him here, he was beating the crap out of your dad.”

“I - what?”

Lacey stopped, staring at him, and Neal winced.

“Shit, he didn’t tell you?”

“Must have slipped his mind in all the excitement,” she said dryly, and he gave her an awkward shrug.

“He said it was self-defence, if it makes a difference.”

She ran a hand over her face.

“Look, my dad’s an abusive piece of shit, so I’m guessing he probably deserved it,” she sighed. “Seems we all have fucked-up families.”

“Got that right.”

They walked on a little further, and Lacey watched him out of the corner of her eye.

“Will you tell him?” she asked. “What your mother said?”

Neal’s mouth twisted.

“Maybe,” he said. “We’ll see how things go. I think - I think since I’m here, maybe I need to find out what really happened, you know? I only had my mother’s side of things, and she left whenever she found a new boyfriend. Which meant foster care. If ‘care’ is the right word.”

Lacey winced.

“I can’t imagine what it’s like to grow up in the system,” she admitted. “I know Connor told me that was what he hated, what scared him the most. Not knowing what you had gone through, and being powerless to change it.”

“Yeah.”

Neal didn’t elaborate, and she didn’t want to push it. He shrugged, huffing air out over his teeth, a plume of white in the cold air.

“Maybe Emma’s right,” he said eventually. “Maybe I should give him a chance. From what he says, he came looking for me as soon as he could, so I think I need to hear things from his side, too.”

“That makes sense.”

“But I can’t promise we’ll be family again,” he added. “I got my own family to think of.”

“I get that.”

They walked on a little further, and Lacey looked over at him.

“Will you guys have more kids?” she asked, and he grinned.

“Maybe when Henry’s a couple of years older,” he said. “I know Emma wants to get her career back on track first.” His grin turned wicked as he looked at her. “What about you guys?”

Lacey stumbled, eyes wide.

“Me, have a kid?” she said disbelievingly. “I can barely take care of myself!”

Neal burst out laughing.

“Yeah, that’s how we felt,” he said. “I think you’d surprise yourself.”

“Yeah, well, I’m definitely doing college first,” she said firmly. “And don’t put ideas in Gold’s head, I don’t think I could take the yearning looks and puppy eyes.”

Neal chuckled at that, and she nudged him.

“Come on, let’s get to Granny’s,” she said. “Ruby said coffee and donuts on the house, right?”

"I'm in."

They quickened the pace, heading back into town along the forest path at a brisk walk. As the trail wound around a large maple, a familiar figure came into view, clad in black with a cane in one hand, picking his way along the path. Lacey pulled up, surprised.

"Hey," she said. "What are you doing out here?"

Gold smiled briefly, shrugging a little.

"I needed to walk," he said, and met her eyes. She felt a rush of understanding, and gave him the tiniest nod.

"I'll - um - go grab us a table," she said, and jogged off towards the town.

Gold looked at his son, standing with his hands in his pockets and his chin pushed down into his scarf. The pose was so reminiscent of him as a boy that it made tears prick his eyes. So many years lost.

"I know you're still mad at me, that you feel abandoned and betrayed," he said quietly. "I don't blame you for that. But please, son, if you're gonna be angry, at least be angry about something I actually did. God knows there's enough of that."

Neal was silent, and Gold sighed.

"What did your mother tell you about me?" he said. "That I was a crook first and a lawyer second? That I was stupid enough to get involved in someone else's scheme and wound up in jail because of it? That because of that, you grew up without a father? It's all true."

"Didn't find out about the jail thing until I was old enough to do my own research," Neal said stiffly. "She told me you were violent. That you'd hit me, and that if she tried to protect me, you'd hurt her. That you'd left, and you were never coming back."

The words were like shards of ice piercing his chest, cold and painful enough to make him clutch at himself as he shook his head fervently.

"I'd never hurt you like that," he whispered. "Never! I swear it! I never once laid a finger on you, or on her. God, son, please tell me you know that!"

"How can I know that?" demanded Neal. "How can I know what the hell happened between you? The only thing I know is that you left! Both of you, you just - you just left!"

"I didn't exactly have a choice in the matter!"

Neal threw up his hands.

"Yeah, yeah you did!" he said. "You could have done the right thing! You could have told whoever it was that asked you to be a part of their fraud to go screw themselves! You could have been a good man!"

Gold was silent, hands opening and closing on the handle of his cane.

"You're right," he said quietly. "I was a coward, and I made a terrible mistake. There's no taking it back, I know that."

"No." Neal scuffed his boots on the forest floor. "No, there's no going back."

Gold swallowed, blinking hard.

"You were all I thought about, all the time I was in there," he said gently. "When Milah didn't visit - well, that wasn't a surprise, not really, but I thought she might at least let me see you. I - I tried to find out why no answer came to my letters, but they wouldn't tell me anything."

"I didn't get any letters," said Neal. "I told you. Not a thing."

"The moment I got out I went looking," he went on. "You know that. And when I found you - I - I wanted so much to make it work, son. For us to be a family again. I understand why you're so angry, believe me, I do. So - so I backed off, but I never gave up, I promise. I hoped - I hoped one day you might come around."

Neal was silent, shoulders a little hunched as he studied the earth beneath his feet, leaf mulch and pine needles stirred up by the toes of his boots.

"You can't change the past," he whispered. "Not mine, not yours."

"I know that," said Gold, his voice cracking a little. "I know. All I can say is that I'm sorry. For not being there for you, for not making the right choices. If I could go back and do it over, I would, believe me, because there's nothing more important to me than you."

Neal glanced up at him then, pain and uncertainty in his eyes, and Gold wanted to pull him into his arms.

"You're the best thing I ever did with my life," he said softly, and Neal shrugged, but stepped a little closer.

"I'm still angry," he muttered.

"I know," said Gold, his voice a broken whisper. "I know, and I'm so sorry, son! I'm so, so sorry!"

Tears welled in his eyes, and Neal took the final step towards him, pulling him into a fierce hug. Gold wept as he held his son for the first time in twenty-two years, tears pouring down his face, and Neal let out a sob as he tightened his grip. It felt like a release, as though years of pain and hurt were leaking away with their tears, and he let himself weep, let himself feel. He felt drained afterwards, Neal's coat damp from his tears, but he smiled a little as he drew back, as he reached up to touch his son's face.

"I love you, son," he said. ""I've always loved you. And I want us to be a family, if - if you're willing."

Neal wiped his eyes, dashing away tears with the heels of his hands, and nodded.

"I'm willing to try," he said. "How about we start with coffee at Granny's, and take it from there?"

Gold smiled, trying not to cry again.

"I would like that."

#fic: empty corridors #golden lace fic #my fic #golden lace #rumbelle

39 notes · View notes

julietookoff · 7 years ago

Text

Update from Home

Several new things to report. As usual I will post them in chronological order since the last post.

First, the bunnies at the campground. One day I noticed the chubby bunny was very much thinner. I don't know how many babies she had, but only the charcoal-grey one is still bouncing around. There are a lot of hawks, eagles, and owls around.

We found a local Escape Room right in Holiday, so I booked an adventure for Corny's birthday. The staff/owner were super nice and gave us tons of clues to make sure we made a successful escape. http://www.racetoescapellc.com/

Shorty and I flew to Indiana to surprise the grandparents. Shorty got glammed up (complete with fake cigarette) to deliver some flowers to grampa. He knew something was up and caught us out back as Shorty was going to start walking around the yard suspiciously.

We got together with my siblings and watched DVDs at mom's house. We were only there six days but Shorty packed his big computer and monitor to keep up with his on-line course at the hotel. It made for some interesting check-ins at the airport.

As promised, Corny got his van - yay! A mid-height Ford Transit. He has installed A/C, roof vent/fan, insulation, and grey tank. We're thinking New England next spring. Corny bought a saw to do the interior work. He has a good one, but it is in a barn in Ohio...

We moved to an end site with wonky electric at Fay's. It's nice not having a close-by neighbor (whom I call "Eagle Eyes" or "Crazy Debbie"). It felt so relaxing right away. The view outside my window is of a big banana tree. We can have all the curtains open, and a place to park both Jeep and van. Yay!

I've been to the Oldsmar 20 AMC several times. They have remodeled to install recliners in all the theaters. Some smaller screens only hold 30-40 people now. It doesn't stop me from binge-watching. I've seen The Mummy, Alien Covenant, Snatched, King Arthur, Pirates of the Caribbean, Beauty and the Beast, Boss Baby, Despicable 3, Ghost in the Shell, Beguiled, Hero, 47 Meters Down, Big Sick, Get Out, Zookeeper's Wife, Lost City of Z, Baywatch, The House, Wonder Woman, Everything, Case for Christ, Life (creature from Mars), Going in Style, Snatched, Alien Covenant, King Arthur, Unforgettable, Phoenix Forgotten, and several more forgettable movies.

I attended my 98th geocaching event. It was a nice one in a park/big sports complex in west Tampa.

Corny was invited to an Outback Steakhouse taste-testing in Tampa. He hated to see the food wasted but they gave the testers full-size samples, more than they could eat. We promptly used up the $50 gift card reward.

I've been making a lot of blueberry and strawberry pies. Sam's club had 2# strawberries for $3.98. I modified my Baked Spaghetti recipe to use on the stove - it's one of our favorites now.

Dolly had some surgery and came out like a trooper. We were so impressed with how well she did and behaved at the vet. She wore an elizabethan collar for a week and had no problem taking her pills. The results of the biopsy on the mammary tumor were benign.

Shorty has been cranking through the computer classes at St. Pete College since we're here to kick his butt.

I broke down and applied for a real job. Well, kinda real - weekend nights Sat & Sun 11-7. If I can stand it until we leave next spring I'll have a few thousand $$$ in savings. I'm clinging on by my fingernails to make it at least six months (three down). It helps that I have 5 days off to forget about the pain every week. In Florida if an RN doesn't work for three years, she has to take a Return-to-Work course (about $300 and many hours of boredom).

Oh yes, and something else exciting - I bought a rug for under my "desk" and a floor lamp. With three bright bulbs that point every which way. Yay!

After (I swear) a month of rain, we have daytime mosquitos despite the county spraying every week or so.

Corny intercepted a neighbor on the way to the dumpster with some old nudie magazines from the 1950's. I put five mags on feeBay and made over $50!!!

We saw a guy try to beat the red light on Hwy. 19 in front of Aldi - and flip his car about eight times. We re-watched it on the dash-cam video. After the 6th roll it deposited him on the street. He was already dead, probably snapped his neck. There was no blood. I still wonder what he was in such a hurry for - and if he thought whatever it was couldn't continue without him...

I had a cold (got it from coworkers) and told Corny, when he wanted to go to the beach, "Yeah, how about next week, when you have a cold." He never got one. Dammit. We've been to Anclote River Park a couple times. Even in a swimsuit in the shade, I don't like being outside in the heat.

For my birthday we went to Hard Rock Buffet with Shorty. Yep, I had forgotten how gooood food can be.

One night coming home from Planet Fitness, we saw a little white dog run across the street. He hopped right into the Jeep. A friendly little poodle/bichon frise mix. We scoured neighborhoods for lost dog flyers, hung eight found dog flyers, and posted him on multiple websites. No owner. After a week we took him to the Humane Society. He'll find a family who will love him and keep him safe. We just called him "Fuzzhead". He was an unneutered hyperactive dominant male, cute as all HECK! Our house was a lot calmer after he left. Nothing like a little hurricane to remind you how well-behaved your own dogs are.

Life is Godd. We fit out!

1 note · View note